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- 3:50
From the Pāli Canon, from the Samyutta, Samyutta Nikaya, the Buddha says, and what monks is the faculty of Sati, or mindfulness here, monks the noble disciple has Sati, he is endowed with perfect Sati, and introspection, he is one who remembers, who recollects what was done and said long before. So this highlights really the core, kind of the inner core of mindfulness. Actually, it's understood in all traditions, the Sanskrit-based traditions, the Pāli, and I've checked out in the Chinese and in the Japanese Buddhist traditions. And each of these has a term, that is, the term, it's translated here from the Pāli.
- 8:03
You need to remember those. If you're not remembering those, then you're just not doing the practice. So in something that looks so present-centered as mindfulness of breathing, implicitly, It already entails some recollection. Now, as you become more adept in the practice, familiar with the practice, you're not thinking about something that an instructor said an hour ago or a year ago or ten years ago.
- 18:40
But this is again from one of the great, this is kind of the lamrim chemo, the great exposition of the path in the Theravāda tradition. I mentioned the text by Tsongkhapa, this is by Buddha Gosa, the path of purification. And by the way, I just noticed recently that you can download it for free and legitimately. A lot of Buddhists are putting Buddhist texts up on the web for free. You can download this whole text now for free if you just punch it in on Google.
- 21:51
And finally, in terms of metaphors, he said it should be seen as like a post. Due to its state of being set in the object, that is, it really fastens you, sustains your attention on a particular object, and it's like a gatekeeper because it guards the gate of the eye and so on. So again, it always has a quality of not just losing it into rumination, into mind wandering, into just fading out. So there's a very precise, very sophisticated definition of mindfulness.
- 28:13
This is definitely a Buddha statement because it comes from that continuum. Then Shantideva, then we just jump up three centuries to the 7th and 8th century. Shantideva, another of the great contemplatives, scholars of Indian Buddhism, Mahāyāna, at the end of his fifth chapter in the Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, he said this, in brief, this alone is the definition of introspection, the repeated examination of the state of one's body and mind, one's own body and mind.
Transcript
0:10 We'll have two sessions. The first one will be guided. We'll go back to this third phase, kind of classic phase of mindfulness of breathing. Second session, just have it silent and then I simply invite you to gravitate to or focus on whichever of the three methods you find most useful. Report an error in the passage at 0:10
0:27 Find a comfortable position, you're probably already there. Report an error in the passage at 0:27
· · · silence, 1 minute
1:53 So for the actual method of mindfulness of breathing, we pretty well covered it. But to have a theoretical understanding can enrich... And also inspire, can inform the practice. So I'd like to spend a little while looking very closely at the definitions, the Buddhist understanding of these two faculties that are really the engines that drive the practice of shamatha that are actually relevant for all forms of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:53
2:17 I would say all forms, whether Buddhist or non-Buddhist. And to go back to the most authoritative sources we have, so when we're speaking of a Buddhist understanding of mindfulness and introspection, we actually have a basis for making that statement. Report an error in the passage at 2:17
2:31 Nowadays, There are many references to mindfulness meditation. And there's nothing wrong with that. There is such a thing as mindfulness meditation. It's basically, again, John Kabat-son's definition. It's perfectly good. And it's not wrong. It's emphatically not wrong. There's no one right definition of mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 2:31
2:50 It's just that if you're interested in the Buddhist definition of mindfulness, or definitions as a kind of a cluster, then you can't make up your own that's unrelated to, not even in dialogue with the Buddhist sources. So just that. So there actually is no such thing in Buddhism as mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness is a mental factor that is absolutely indispensable in the practice of shamatha, plays a crucial role in the practice of epashana, of insight meditation, and then in all other forms of meditation as well. Report an error in the passage at 2:50
3:16 But to set aside, okay, but this is mindfulness meditation, that doesn't exist. But it does exist in the modern context, a secular context. It's very useful. But it's neither shamatha nor vipassanā. I would say it's kind of preschool to shamatha. And that said, it's very useful. We can use a preschool. Let's go back to some original sources here. Going right back, first of all, to the statement by the Buddha, often quoted about his foundational, kind of the initial launching of what is meant by sati, or mindfulness, according to the Buddhist teachings. Report an error in the passage at 3:16
3:47 We see this on page 8 of the notes. From the Pāli Canon, from the Samyutta, Samyutta Nikaya, the Buddha says, and what monks is the faculty of Sati, or mindfulness here, monks the noble disciple has Sati, he is endowed with perfect Sati, and introspection, he is one who remembers, who recollects what was done and said long before. Report an error in the passage at 3:47
4:09 So this highlights really the core, kind of the inner core of mindfulness. Actually, it's understood in all traditions, the Sanskrit-based traditions, the Pāli, and I've checked out in the Chinese and in the Japanese Buddhist traditions. And each of these has a term, that is, the term, it's translated here from the Pāli. Report an error in the passage at 4:09
4:30 It's Sati in Pāli, it's Smriti in Sanskrit, it's Temba in Tibetan, it's Nen in Japanese and Nyen, I think, in Chinese. And all of these, so that covers all the big languages of Buddhism in Asia. And all of these terms that we translated as mindfulness all have a primary connotation of recollection. Recollection, as we see from the Buddhist own teachings here. Report an error in the passage at 4:30
4:52 Recollection, remembering what was said and done long before. That core meaning is completely evaporated in the modern kind of mindfulness meditation where it has no relevance to the past. It's just what's happening right now, moment by moment, what's arising. So the dialogue is severed. It's not even in dialogue with the Buddha's own statement. So there's a middle way here. It's easy to be rigid or orthodox and dogmatic and say, no, exactly what did the Buddha say? Report an error in the passage at 4:52
5:19 We have to cleave to that as if Buddhism is immutable and there's only one right answer. And that's totally fundamentalist. So there's one extreme, because Buddhism has clearly evolved over the years. But the other extreme is mindfulness is whatever you say it is. And you can say it's Buddhist if you like, because after all, Buddhism is whatever you want it to be. And, well, that's nuts. Report an error in the passage at 5:19
5:39 That's like saying Freudian psychology is whatever you want it to be. That's not true. Freud said something. He didn't say a lot of things. You can't just add whatever you like and then say this is still Freud. If you want to say this is my school of philosophy or psychology, then say whatever you like. And so there's the start. So let's just start there, linger a little bit on this notion that mindfulness means recollection. Report an error in the passage at 5:39
6:01 Well, when we look at this term that recollection can actually be... Parsed out in three different modes. One explicitly, as the Buddha refers to here, remembering something was said or done in the past. Well, when it comes to Annapanasati, mindfulness of breathing, as we're doing that, we just did it, are we recalling, while doing the practice, are we recalling anything said and done in the past? Report an error in the passage at 6:01
6:26 I think you better be. Because if you're following the practice that was taught here, according to Bodhicitta, and I've been passing this on, my primary teacher, by the way, from the Theravāda tradition, was Balakota Andanamaitreya. I had the tremendously good fortune to train with him for some months in a little tiny village outside of Colombo. So he was my primary source, tremendous scholar, world-class, renowned throughout the country. Report an error in the passage at 6:26
6:48 So I just had great good fortune to be able to live with him after he retired. If I'd come earlier, when he was before retirement, I would be... Among thousands of His disciples, I wouldn't have had a chance, but I was just fortunate. Only a handful of us in this little tiny temple. So that's my source, that's kind of my lineage, and I'm passing on something that goes for hundreds of years. Report an error in the passage at 6:48
7:08 When you're engaging in the practice, according to Theravāda tradition, that's what we're doing right here, then as you're doing the practice, are you needing to remember anything from the past? Report an error in the passage at 7:08
7:21 How about the instructions? There were instructions there. And so what are you attending to? Are you attending to the belly? Are you attending to the chirpings of the birds in the trees and how they breathe? Clearly, you need to be recalling what the instructions were so that you can implement them. If you've forgotten what they were, then you may be doing something, but it's not Ānāpānasati. So already in something it looks like it's so present-centered, which it is. Report an error in the passage at 7:21
7:47 The breath flowing in now, the breath flowing out now, right now. Nevertheless, you're following a certain method which you learned earlier and you have to retain that and recall what is mindfulness, what is introspection, what's laxity, what's dullness, what are the remedies if laxity or excitation sets in. Report an error in the passage at 7:47
8:03 You need to remember those. If you're not remembering those, then you're just not doing the practice. So in something that looks so present-centered as mindfulness of breathing, implicitly, It already entails some recollection. Now, as you become more adept in the practice, familiar with the practice, you're not thinking about something that an instructor said an hour ago or a year ago or ten years ago. Report an error in the passage at 8:03
8:24 You've totally assimilated it, like riding a bicycle. Somebody probably taught you how to ride a bicycle a long time ago. But can you even remember who it is or who it was? No, now it's in your system. And so it's an implicit recollection that you haven't forgotten how. So we start there. So we call that retrospective recollection. Report an error in the passage at 8:24
8:45 So recollection, recalling something from the past. But now as we're now in the flow of the practice, practicing mindfulness of breathing, trying to maintain that ongoing flow of mindfulness for the whole course of the inhalation, the whole course of the exhalation, now there's present-centered recollection, which is to say the opposite of recollection, do you recall your address? Report an error in the passage at 8:45
9:11 And what would be the opposite of that? Have you forgotten your address? Those are antonyms, right? And so, if you're practicing moment-by-moment recollection of the breathing, then you're practicing the opposite of moment-by-moment forgetfulness of the breathing. So it's a present-centered recollection. Ongoing flow is the opposite of entropy, mental or attentional entropy, where your attention just kind of unravels, dissipates, floats off. Report an error in the passage at 9:11
9:40 It becomes dispersed, caught up in one wandering thought after another. That would entail forgetting the breaths. But here there is an ongoing flow of not forgetting. And not forgetting means retaining or recollecting. And it's present-centered. Present-centered sati or mindfulness. But now you'll recall some of the instructions pertain to experience that may arise in your meditation but maybe not right now. Report an error in the passage at 9:40
10:06 So right now, that is if you are practicing right now the mindfulness of breathing, right now you may find I'm right there on the object, I'm attending to the breath, the breath is flowing in, I'm arousing. Now the breath is flowing out, I'm releasing but still sustaining that flow of mindfulness. So right now, so far so good, I'm there maintaining the mindfulness, it's stable, it's clear. Report an error in the passage at 10:06
10:28 But it could happen in the future, in 30 seconds, in a minute, it could happen that either excitation or laxity could set in. Could happen. Stranger things have happened. And so should that happen, what do you do? It's not happening now, but it might happen later, that you're carried away by some thought, or you're just kind of slipping, falling into nebulous, never-never land. Report an error in the passage at 10:28
10:51 So should that happen in the future, what do you do? Well, that's called prospective memory. Should this happen in the future, if later on, not right now, but later on, if I then recognize, whoop, I've lost my mind. Tension is trailed off, being caught up in thoughts. This is what I'll do. I'll recognize it, but then I'll relax, I'll release, I'll release, relax, release and return. Report an error in the passage at 10:51
11:14 And I'll apply the antidote and likewise for laxity. So as you're doing, as you're resting there in the present moment, implicitly you're sustaining a recollective, a retrospective recollection of what were the instructions you heard previously. But also as you're resting there right in the moment, you're also sustaining a prospective recollection. Report an error in the passage at 11:14
11:35 You don't have to be thinking about it, but it is that kind of that on-guardedness, that awareness, should it arise, I will recognize it and here's what I'm going to do. That's prospective recollection. So mindfulness turns out to be pertaining to all three times, past, present and future. And now we have a much, much richer understanding of this than just moment by moment whatever comes up, which can entail a complete unraveling of attention. Report an error in the passage at 11:35
11:58 Just kind of like... Like this, and then you hear the tweet of a bird, and then you feel a twinge in the knee, and then there's a jet going overhead, and there's some light coming from the window, and there's some thoughts, and there's some breath, and that's not shamatha, and it's also not vipassanā. Report an error in the passage at 11:58
12:11 It may be useful to really maintain a present-centered mindfulness, but it's neither shamatha nor vipassanā. It's mindfulness meditation, which is very useful, but it's not a Buddhist meditation. So there's for starters, and then we see in this next quote from Nagasena, this is about the second century before the Common Era, An Arhat was having a dialogue with a Greek king of a certain province, king, a governor of a province, I believe, of northern India, King Menander, in this dialogue called the Milinda Panya. Report an error in the passage at 12:11
12:42 The king asked this great sage, Nagasena, the monk, the Arhat, asked him, what is the meaning of mindfulness or sati? And he said, sati, when it arises, It calls to mind wholesome and unwholesome tendencies with faults and faultless, inferior and refined, dark and pure together with their counterparts, that is to say other mental factors that go along with the mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 12:42
13:05 Sati, when it arises, follows the courses of beneficial and unbeneficial tendencies and it recognizes these tendencies are beneficial, these unbeneficial, these tendencies are helpful, these unhelpful. Thus, one who practices yoga or meditation Rejects unbeneficial tendencies and cultivates beneficial tendencies. So here, once again, the modern definition has just departed from traditional or classic definitions. Report an error in the passage at 13:05
13:34 And this gets emphasized a lot. And that is, if you're practicing mindfulness, it must be non-judgmental. You don't apply any labels, no preferences. You don't think good or bad, wholesome or unwholesome, virtue nor non-virtue. And moreover, you don't tinker with it. You don't try to fix anything. Whatever comes up, you just accept it. I've heard this many times. I'm not saying that all teachers of mindfulness meditation teach this, but a lot do. And so be absolutely not judgmental. Report an error in the passage at 13:34
14:00 Which would imply then, if your mind starts becoming really dull, they say, oh, my mind's becoming dull. And if it becomes really agitated and wandering, they say, oh, my mind's becoming agitated. Not judgmental. But then once again, call it what you will, but it's not shamatha and it's not vipassanā and it's certainly not the Buddhist definition of mindfulness either. This Buddhist definition does not anywhere imply to be judgmental. Report an error in the passage at 14:00
14:23 It does imply to be ethically discerning, to recognize that not all mental impulses, mental states, mental processes are equal. Some are very conducive to your well-being. Some are really destructive. Report an error in the passage at 14:23
14:37 It could actually damage your immune system, your endocrine system. It could actually damage your heart if it gets really intense. People have heart attacks by really having very malevolent, sustained thoughts. It can be terribly damaging. So to say they're all equal or they're all even or let's suspend all judgment is, frankly, it's foolishness. And some are ethically neutral. Report an error in the passage at 14:37
14:55 They have no particular impact one way or another. And then some mental states are very, very, how do you say it? Very useful, very beneficial to your own well-being. And then as you manifest them in the world by way of behavior, they're very beneficial to others as well. So there's nothing moralistic about this any more than there's something moralistic by going to the Whole Foods store or some really good organic grocery store and choosing foods that are really healthy for you. Report an error in the passage at 14:55
15:21 They're organic, they're healthy, they're non-fattening, you're not allergic to them. That's called sensible shopping. Or if you go to a cafeteria or a restaurant and you choose food that you know you can digest, not too fattening, and so forth and so on, that's not being judgmental, it's being sensible. Report an error in the passage at 15:21
15:37 And so we should be just as sensible with respect to whatever the mind is dishing up from moment to moment as we are sensible with respect to what a grocery store sells or a restaurant sells or the kind of food that we choose to eat in a cafeteria. Report an error in the passage at 15:37
15:52 Clearly mindfulness has a very powerful ethical import to it and it does definitely entail, that is when we apply mindfulness, it entails recognizing the unwholesome or unbeneficial tendencies that come up and releasing those, not cultivating them, not just kind of hanging out with them. And when we see the beneficial tendencies, then cultivating them. It's kind of common sense. But a common sense that's often abandoned in the radical secularization of Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 15:52
16:19 A lot of people are How do you say? Championing that. This is the great step forward to secularize Buddhism. And to teach Buddhism without a lot of underlying metaphysical framework or worldview and so forth, it's perfectly legitimate. Not everybody wants to hear about reincarnation, karma and so forth and so on. And in fact, His Holiness the Dalai Lama back in the year 2000 asked a group of scientists, one of whom accepted his invitation, to develop a secularized Form of training that would help people cultivate emotional balance. Paul Ekman accepted that. He drafted me. We did it. And so we have this 42-hour training that is secular. Report an error in the passage at 16:19
16:59 It's secular. I mean, anybody can practice it. So the meditative practices are drawn from Buddhism. It's shamatha, the four applications of mindfulness, the four immeasurable. Anybody can practice those. But we don't make any references to reincarnation, karma. Report an error in the passage at 16:59
17:13 Buddhahood, the five paths and so forth. You just hear the practices. Whether you're a fundamentalist Christian or a flamethrowing materialist, anything in between, welcome to the party. You can do this and it will help you cultivate emotional balance. So that's secular, but it's not devoid of ethics. Because to encourage people to develop emotional balance and say, oh, by the way, however you behave is irrelevant, is foolishness. Report an error in the passage at 17:13
17:40 It's idiotic. Obviously we can behave if we act in a belligerent way, exploitative way, manipulative, deceptive and so forth, mean-spirited, malevolent. That's our mode of behavior. And then we add on meditation cushions and I'm practicing meditation or I'm trying to cultivate emotional balance. Clearly your whole lifestyle is going in the opposite direction. Report an error in the passage at 17:40
17:59 So without being moralistic or having to appeal to God or to commandments or karma, there's still ethics, ethics oriented around what modes of behavior are conducive to your own and others. Genuine happiness. So that's what Nagasen is getting at here. And so it is not judgmental, but it does entail the exercise of ethical discernment and then rejecting unbeneficial tendencies like rumination, like excitation, like dullness, laxity and so forth and the cultivation of relaxation, stability, vividness. Report an error in the passage at 17:59
18:34 Those are beneficial. So there's mindfulness. Then we have a technical one. I won't try to unpack it in great detail. But this is again from one of the great, this is kind of the lamrim chemo, the great exposition of the path in the Theravāda tradition. I mentioned the text by Tsongkhapa, this is by Buddha Gosa, the path of purification. Report an error in the passage at 18:34
18:51 And by the way, I just noticed recently that you can download it for free and legitimately. A lot of Buddhists are putting Buddhist texts up on the web for free. You can download this whole text now for free if you just punch it in on Google. Path of Purification, Buddhagosa, you'll get the whole text. Pretty sweet. So I've downloaded it now so I can refer to it on my computer and don't have to bring around this five pound book with me everywhere I travel. Report an error in the passage at 18:51
19:13 So it's quite sweet. Somebody did that and I'm grateful to them for having done so. And so, Buddhagosa, who is by himself, he did not present himself as an accomplished yogi. He may or may not have been. What he was accomplished is a tremendous systematizer, rather like a Thomas Aquinas of Theravāda Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 19:13
19:32 Thomas Aquinas was in fact very brilliant, unifying Aristotelian philosophy with biblical theology, so he did something quite grandiose there. But Buddhaghosa didn't combine multiple traditions, but he did systematize and write authoritative commentaries on so many of the discourses of the Buddha, but he laid out a whole path, starting with ethics, then moving into the many, many aspects of Samādhi, and then step by step by step, the stages of Vipassanā. Report an error in the passage at 19:32
20:00 So it's really an absolute classic, extraordinary source. And in it, of course, he defines mindfulness. How could he not? And so he says, by means of sati, they, that is other mental processes like desires, memories, aspirations and so forth, the mind, that is by means of sati, these mental factors, they remember, or it, sati, itself remembers, or it is simply just remembering, thus it is sati. Report an error in the passage at 20:00
20:26 So we see that as he's defining this, he's in direct dialogue with the Buddhist comment. So he hasn't just kind of launched off on his own. But now it gets very interesting, and I think you may be able to relate to this experientially very quickly. What's its characteristic? It's not floating. And floating is where you get a little bit unhinged, a bit detached, kind of nebulous. You're no longer really engaged, like two hands clasped. Report an error in the passage at 20:26
20:51 It's kind of you're floating apart and like that. Just hovering but with no clear object. So it's not floating. It remains engaged. Its characteristics is not floating. Its property is not losing, as in not forgetting. Its manifestation is guarding or the state of being face to face with an object. So this full engagement, face to face, that is your attention and the sensations of the breath, it's a lock. Report an error in the passage at 20:51
21:19 You really engage with each other face to face. Its basis is strong noting, that is very clear, discerning, sharp, intelligent. Or, when it's applied to Vipassanā, it entails the four close applications of mindfulness of the body, feelings, mental states and phenomena. So we see the segue from Samatha over to Vipassanā. You cultivate mindfulness in Samatha, you closely apply it in the Satipitana, or four close applications of mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 21:19
21:51 And finally, in terms of metaphors, he said it should be seen as like a post. Due to its state of being set in the object, that is, it really fastens you, sustains your attention on a particular object, and it's like a gatekeeper because it guards the gate of the eye and so on. So again, it always has a quality of not just losing it into rumination, into mind wandering, into just fading out. So there's a very precise, very sophisticated definition of mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 21:51
22:20 And then we go to introspection. It's translated in different ways by translators from the Pāli. Most common is clear comprehension. It's also translated as full awareness, translated as vigilance. I translate it as introspection. Not to say the other ones are wrong, but I think they don't quite hit the target or they're just too large. Report an error in the passage at 22:20
22:39 Clear comprehension. I have a clear comprehension of arithmetic, but that's not Sambhajanya. It's not this mental faculty. So clear comprehension, to my mind, is way too vast. It covers way too much territory. Vigilance also, and be vigilant to all kinds of things, Full awareness just strikes me as vague. I don't know what that's supposed to mean. Whereas introspection at least has the connotation of specting intro, looking inwards. Report an error in the passage at 22:39
23:04 And this is a defining characteristic of introspection or sambhajanya in Pāli. And that is when you're practicing this or exercising the faculty of what I'll call introspection, it's always reflexive. Now this is true for all schools of Buddhism. It's always reflexive. I may practice mindfulness as I maybe direct my mindfulness to the color of your blouse. I could do that. Do it right now. Report an error in the passage at 23:04
23:25 I'm not forgetting, not forgetting, so there it is. Mindfulness can be directed to anything. Another person, an abstract concept, really anything. But introspection is always reflexive. So I may apply introspection to my body, the movements of my hand, my posture, the sensations within my body. That can be introspection. Report an error in the passage at 23:25
23:45 I can monitor my speech, is what I'm saying, how meaningful. Am I speaking too quickly, too loud? Am I speaking in a non-virtuous way, abrasive or harmful way? Or is it wholesome? So introspection, we can monitor our own speech. And of course then we monitor the mind as well. Our own minds, not other people's minds. Report an error in the passage at 23:45
24:03 So introspection in the Buddhist context has a broader connotation than Cartesian introspection, which is just monitoring your own mind and that's all. Buddhist introspection is reflexive, but it entails monitoring your body, speech and mind. In shamatha, since there's not much happening with your body, just check up once in a while to see whether it's okay if you're in the supine position. Report an error in the passage at 24:03
24:25 Probably not much to check up on. There you are. You're flaked out. And then the breathing. Check that out. That's still part of the body. So in shamatha practice, when you're practicing introspection, it's overwhelmingly really focusing on the mind. And within the mind, it's especially attending to, like its marching orders or its job description, is primarily be on the lookout for the occurrence of either of the two attentional imbalances. Report an error in the passage at 24:25
24:53 Laxity, excitation. And then be prepared to remedy them. But now here's a statement from the Buddha where he just simply refers to introspection that shows what it does, what the task or function of introspection is. Again from the Pāli canon. Herein a monk should constantly review his own mind thus. Reviewing his own mind, well he's referring to introspection. Report an error in the passage at 24:53
25:15 But with a question. Introspection, this sampajanya in Pāli, is actually an expression of intelligence which is banya. in Pāli, or prajna. It's wisdom, but as a mental factor, it's just intelligence, discerning intelligence. So introspection is a type of, a narrow range, a groove of intelligence. And that means it's got some question involved. It's discerning. So what's the question? Does excitation concerning these five chords of sensual pleasure ever arise in me on any occasion? Report an error in the passage at 25:15
25:48 In other words, kind of the grasping or the excitation. Agitation of the mind pertaining to sensual desire, does that ever occur? Well, you know that by way of introspection, if on reviewing his mind the monk understands, excitation concerning these five chords of sensual pleasure does arise in me on certain occasions, then he understands. Report an error in the passage at 25:48
26:08 Desire and lust for the five chords of sensual pleasure are not abandoned in me. So he's not an arhat yet. He still has work to do. In this way he has introspection of that. But if on reviewing his mind the monk understands no excitation concerning these five chords of sensual pleasure arises me on any occasion, then he understands desire and lust for the five chords of sensual pleasure are abandoned in me. Report an error in the passage at 26:08
26:33 In this way he has introspection of that. And so this is just one instance. The Buddha went through the same kind of liturgy, so to speak, or the same phrases with respect to all of the five obscurations. So ill will, does ill will ever arise? Sensual craving ever arise? Does excitation and guilt ever arise? Laxity and dullness? Debilitating uncertainty? So it's all about introspection. Report an error in the passage at 26:33
27:00 Well, that's what introspection is. And it also clearly shows here that, I mean, it's certainly an implication that if they're arising at all, you're not an arhat yet. And then we move on. That was the Buddha. Now we move to Asanga. Now we move into Mahāyāna territory. Asanga was one of the greatest scholar contemplatives in the whole of Indian Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 27:00
27:18 Writing in the 4th and 5th century, he addressed mindfulness and introspection, saying these two are taught, for the first, namely mindfulness, prevents the attention from straying from the object. In other words, it has that quality of not forgetting, not losing the object, whereas the second, namely introspection, recognizes that the attention is straying. Report an error in the passage at 27:18
27:40 So it's this internal monitoring. Or in another text of his, the Abhidhamma Samujaya, the same author, Asanga writes, what is mindfulness? The non-forgetfulness of the mind with respect to a familiar object, having the function of non-distraction. So, quite clear. And we see that even though this is now close to a thousand years or 800 years after the Buddha, he continues to be in dialogue. He's not just parroting what the Buddha said in the Pāli Canon, he's fleshing it out a bit, he's elaborating, providing some nuance, but it's clearly in a continuum. Report an error in the passage at 27:40
28:13 This is definitely a Buddha statement because it comes from that continuum. Then Shantideva, then we just jump up three centuries to the 7th and 8th century. Shantideva, another of the great contemplatives, scholars of Indian Buddhism, Mahāyāna, at the end of his fifth chapter in the Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, he said this, in brief, this alone is the definition of introspection, the repeated examination of the state of one's body and mind, one's own body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 28:13
28:40 So there it is. So to contextualize mindfulness just a little bit, because so often, Mindfulness in this popularized version of Vipassanā, I mean they simply equate mindfulness with Vipassanā. If you're mindfully walking, that's Vipassanā. If you're mindfully watching your breath, that's Vipassanā. Everything becomes Vipassanā. If it's mindfulness, which again is now just straight off of the track of what Buddhism has always been, it's interesting to look at where mindfulness as one of the eight factors of the Eightfold Noble Path, where that fits in. Report an error in the passage at 28:40
29:12 And this is again from a Pāli source, the Pāli canon. We'll map this Eightfold Noble Path onto the three trainings of ethics, samādhi and wisdom. So among the Eightfold Noble Path, right livelihood, right action, right speech, these clearly pertain to ethics. But then in the classic sources, right effort, that is the right amount of effort, right mindfulness and right concentration, all of these fit into the category of samādhi. Report an error in the passage at 29:12
29:43 That's where you're really developing them. Then when it comes to wisdom, it's right intention or motivation and right view that are most closely connected to wisdom. So mindfulness actually doesn't connect most directly to wisdom, but to samādhi. But it's equally relevant to both. Report an error in the passage at 29:43
30:04 I mentioned the next one before, so we just glossed right over it, but when you achieve the first jhāna, then as Buddha Goza says, for a whole night, And a whole day, just as a healthy man after rising from his seat could stand a whole day, you can sustain your samādhi for 24 hours at a stretch. I've already discussed the next section, S. Report an error in the passage at 30:04
30:24 So let's just look briefly, before we take a break, at these five jnana factors. I call them the five factors of stabilization. The five jnana factors. And these are emerging over the course of your samatha practice, which eventually leads to achieving Access to the first jhāna, if you want to continue, then full achievement of the first jhāna. So these five jhāna factors are slowly emerging out of that very process of attending, let's say, a mindfulness of breathing to the preliminary sign and to the acquired sign and then finally to the counterpart sign. Report an error in the passage at 30:24
30:59 But I find something actually utterly fascinating about this and that is these five factors are slowly emerging out of the practice. You're not adding them on from outside. They're coming right through the practice itself. And they in turn are counteracting or acting as remedies for what are called the five hindrances or the five obscurations. The five obscurations. Report an error in the passage at 30:59
31:20 And so the five obscurations, just to run through them, the five obscurations, usually the first one given is here under T, the obscuration of sensual craving. Sensual craving. Let's just unpack a little bit because it's actually quite important. That is, what's getting in the way when we're trying to practice shamatha? Report an error in the passage at 31:20
31:40 And we find that maybe we're not progressing as fast as we wanted to. Surprise, surprise. What's obstructing us? What's getting in the way? What are the hindrances? What are the boulders in the path? Why am I not just going on and just achieving shamatha in a week or so? Well, there are obstacles, hindrances, obscurations. Report an error in the passage at 31:40
31:58 And the first of these, it says, I've written sensual craving, which for a real shorthand that's okay, but it's not that accurate. In Tibetan, it's Dubeyundan Lachapa. It's attachment to the bounties of the desired realm. So it's really attachment to all kinds of hedonic pleasures. Of course, that includes the sensual. So really tasty food and beautiful music and so forth. It's not to say that one mustn't enjoy them any longer. It's that attachment, that clinging to them, that's the problem. Report an error in the passage at 31:58
32:28 But it's not just sensual. It's also, how about just sensual, the craving for wealth. That's not something sensual. It doesn't look like anything or sound like anything. But craving for wealth. How about power? Power to be dominating other people, be a big shot. How about craving for fame, notoriety, the respect, the love, the appreciation, the acknowledgement of other people? So in Tibetan Buddhism we often refer to the eight mundane concerns. Report an error in the passage at 32:28
32:56 Well, they'll all fit into that category. So insofar as that's where our priorities are. Really hoping, oh if people love me more then I'd be happy. If I had greater wealth, then I'd be happy, greater prestige, power, more sensual pleasures and so forth. Then that clinging, that attachment, that just winds up being enormously distracting. Report an error in the passage at 32:56
33:18 When you're sitting trying to watch something as unenticing, as unstimulating as your breath, these kind of things just hammer on your mind. And if you're really still tendering them, if you're still nurturing them, still kind of invested in them, they'll harass you indefinitely. Report an error in the passage at 33:18
33:37 Just they will. They'll really harass you indefinitely. It's a matter of competition. They're hammering on the door and you're trying to follow your breath. Which one's going to capture your attention? Well, if you've given up on these and say, for the time being... Give it a rest. They're hopeless. They'll never give me the happiness. They'll never provide liberation. They're totally hopeless. So take a hike. I'm finished with you. Right now I'm going to try something different. Report an error in the passage at 33:37
33:57 I'm turning off that tap and I'd like to turn on another tap. Then they can't pound on your door so loudly. And when they do, you say, whatever. I'm not interested. I already know what you have to offer. Report an error in the passage at 33:57
34:07 And it's boring. And that's one of the, to my mind, that's one of the great advantages of living in this media-saturated environment. That not many of us, maybe none of us, I don't know, maybe none of us here. Will be fabulously wealthy and worldwide famous and incredibly powerful. But all you have to do is just check on the internet or watch the news and you can learn about people who are fabulously wealthy and powerful and incredibly famous. Report an error in the passage at 34:07
34:35 Like Whitney Houston. She was beautiful to do. And a voice like an angel. And she was beloved by so many people. And she had to be rich. And she was really famous. And she died of a cocaine addiction. Report an error in the passage at 34:35
34:51 Well, you could be a loser of all losers. You could have failed in everything in her life and died of a cocaine addiction. Right? It's tragic. And I'm not speaking of judgment or trying to place myself above her. I speak with sadness. But boy, she's sending a message to the whole world. You can be as famous, as beautiful, as incredibly successful as me, one of the greatest vocalists of the modern era, and still, you don't die of cocaine addiction because you're so happy. Report an error in the passage at 34:51
35:23 So what a wonderful lesson that she shared with us through her death. Wow, even if you succeed, Report an error in the passage at 35:23
35:34 where's the joy? Where's the satisfaction? And is she alone? Well, all we have to do is check it out. Check it out. Not too long ago, I think it's totally vague, but I was probably with the wealthiest man I may ever encounter in this lifetime. I'll keep it very vague. I don't know him well at all. Report an error in the passage at 35:34
35:55 Super wealthy. We had dinner. There were just three of us. A really wealthy guy. This super wealthy guy. And then me. And I'm like, what are you doing here? And we were enjoying a pleasant meal. But this super wealthy guy hardly said anything. And his face was almost like what you'd find in a casket. Report an error in the passage at 35:55
36:19 It just had no life to it. And then we got about halfway through the meal and the guy just said up, I'm sorry, I've got to go. And he went up with his Blackberry and he's checking out the stock market because he's managing billions of dollars. And he can't even enjoy a meal before he's having to go and how's the stock market doing right now. Report an error in the passage at 36:19
36:39 And that's what you get for being a multi-multi-billionaire. You're wearing the anvil of your Blackberry around your neck and you can't even enjoy a meal. Report an error in the passage at 36:39
36:49 I thought, wow, I got off lucky here. I don't have to worry about that. And so there we have so many lessons from around us that we don't have to wait to see whether we can become billionaires or world famous and so forth and so on. See, hey, even the people who succeeded, as Lily Tomlin, the comedian, said, in the rat race, even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat. Report an error in the passage at 36:49
37:17 So when you recognize that, it does give rise to a certain disillusionment with the rat race. Why don't you just get out of the cage and say, oh, I think I'll sit still for a while. And so that gives you some freedom from this attachment to the craving and attachment for hedonic pleasure. Then we have ill will. Well, that doesn't need much explanation. Report an error in the passage at 37:17
37:35 We know it feels awful when the mind is kind of in the grip of malevolence, malevolent rumination, resentment, negative thinking, violent thinking and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 37:35
37:47 It's like throwing a hand grenade into your mind. It just blasts any type of serenity, continuity. You can't even get a good night's sleep. So not much needs to be said about that. And then the next two are laxity and dullness. Well, that's obvious. We already know about that. That's an intentional imbalance. So that's obvious. Report an error in the passage at 37:47
38:04 And the next two are excitation and anxiety or guilt. They're obvious. Either one. They're going to disturb the equilibrium of the mind. And the final one is just uncertainty, but kind of debilitating uncertainty. Not to say that to be uncertain is a bad thing, but when it gets so vacillating, so wobbly, that you can't do anything with full commitment, because you're always second-guessing yourself, then that really throws you off as well. Report an error in the passage at 38:04
38:29 So those are five hindrances, five obscurations that we bring to the table from the first time we practice shamatha. But what I find remarkable about this is that on the one hand, developmentally, developmentally, If you come to the practice of Buddhadharma and you say, well, I've really been, I'm still kind of hung up in attachment and craving to hedonic pleasure. Do you have any antidotes for that in the Buddhist repertoire? Report an error in the passage at 38:29
38:55 And a good Lama will say, oh boy, do we ever. We got meditations on impermanence. We got meditations in the 18 hell realms. That'll still be real quick. We got meditations on the three types of suffering and the six types of suffering and the, what's the other one, nine types of suffering, eight types of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 38:55
39:13 We've got meditations up the yazu. We can really fix that one by these discursive meditations that will just, you know, really tap out, fell the tree of attachment. So there's all kinds of things you can bring to bear. Oh, one of the classic ones from the Buddhist time is, in fact, this happened. There was one very gorgeous woman. Report an error in the passage at 39:13
39:32 I think she was a courtesan, courtesan, radiantly beautiful. And right in the prime of her life, the peak of her beauty. And then she just up and got sick and died real quickly. Fever or something, but just boop, then she was. And so the monk said, okay. And what did they do with the body? Well, they did what they often do. They just placed that up in the charnel ground. Charnel ground. Report an error in the passage at 39:32
39:52 It's vulture food. So the Buddha accosted some of his monks who were probably young and lusty and said, monks, you remember how beautiful she was? Hang out there for the next week or two and watch your radiant beauty. The one that you so much wanted to make love with yesterday. Okay, now watch. Report an error in the passage at 39:52
40:14 And man, did that cure them. And after two weeks, you just want to run the opposite direction. You're seeing worms coming out of the eyes and the smell is overwhelming and so forth. And you see how, oh, that's what that was. So there are many, many techniques. And these are developmental approaches to antidoting and mental fiction of clinging and grasping and attachment. Report an error in the passage at 40:14
40:36 But now what I find so fascinating is just by practicing mindfulness of breathing, for example. Shantideva in general, but we're focusing for right now on mindfulness of breathing. Just through practicing mindfulness breathing, an antidote arises from within the system without having to go off to Buddhism and say, teach me some technique or some discursive meditation to help remedy this. Report an error in the passage at 40:36
40:59 And likewise, Shantideva has a great big chapter on how to counteract ill will, anger, hostility and so forth. It's a marvelous chapter, full of wisdom. And there are a whole bunch of it. It's a whole cabinet full of antidotes for all of the flavors of anger and hostility, dealing with forgiveness, of course. Report an error in the passage at 40:59
41:17 And likewise there are many, many antidotes for the other afflictions, the other obscurations. But what is so fascinating here, so naturalistic, so to speak, is that by simply continuing in the practice of mindfulness of breathing, as we did in the last session, the antibodies, I think it's a strong analogy, I'm going to use it, the antibodies for these obstructions, these mental afflictions, they naturally emerge and they counteract. Report an error in the passage at 41:17
41:42 The obscurations of the five jhāna factors arise one by one and it turns out they act as natural remedies one by one for each of the five obscurations. It's a self-healing unit and you never actually have to go to Buddhism for it. Unless by going to Buddhism you mean watching your in-breath and out-breath, which is a pretty skimpy dose of Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 41:42
42:02 So let's see how this lines up. I find this absolutely fascinating and actually true, which is all the more interesting. Report an error in the passage at 42:02
42:09 You'll recall among the five jhāna factors, one of these is course examination. Once you've achieved access to the first jhāna or fully achieved the first jhāna, then your ability for course examination, that is, examining something but not really probing in detail, analyzing it with great subtlety, but just more about taking it in, in broad strokes, your faculty or your mental factor, your faculty of course examination, which is now one of the jhāna factors that arises through the practice of shamatha, This arises and it naturally counteracts or serves as an antidote to the obscurations of laxity and dullness. Report an error in the passage at 42:09
42:47 It's sharp. It clears away that vagueness, that ambiguity, the dullness of the mind internally. And then there's a more precise investigation or precise analysis that you can definitely do. You can do it at any time. But now it's been honed razor sharp through the practice of shamatha. It just arises naturally. Report an error in the passage at 42:47
43:08 That serves as an antibody for uncertainty. Whenever uncertainty arises, you just apply that precise investigation and it solves the matter. It dispels it. It's gone. As you practice shamatha, and as you cultivate it and develop it, as the Buddha said, then over the course of time, first a sense of peacefulness, serenity, soothing quality, and then after some time, a sense of well-being. Report an error in the passage at 43:08
43:35 It may not be blissful, but kind of just an overall sense of well-being. And we've already experienced this. Just sometimes you may wake up in the morning and you just feel, it feels pretty, I got up on the right side of the bed today. It's not that something blissful has happened or I'm, you know, exceptionally joyful, but I feel well, I feel quite balanced, I feel healthy in body and mind. That's sukha. Report an error in the passage at 43:35
43:58 That's well-being. And that emerges right out of the practice of shamatha. Sukha in the body, sukha in the mind, both. That factor of well-being or sukha, This just naturally serves as an antibody for malice or malevolence, ill will. And it makes perfectly good sense. If you have that just overall sense of well-being and then malice crops up, you say, you're not welcome here. Report an error in the passage at 43:58
44:23 Take a hike. Bye-bye. You're less than useless. Off with you. Because I'm well. I don't need you to try to fix things. And then, as you go deeper into the practice, you'll get spikes of bliss more frequently, and then you achieve shamatha, and then it just comes like a rush. And so the factor of bliss, which has a sharper edge to it, it's called prtti in Sanskrit, this factor of bliss removes the obscuration of excitation and anxiety. Report an error in the passage at 44:23
44:54 The term excitation, from the Sanskrit, the Tibetan, and so forth, excitation as it's defined, is, of course, a type of agitation. Or hyperactivity of the attention. But excitation is a technical term. It's always driven by desire. It's driven by craving. Now obviously not all the agitation we experience is driven by craving. It may be driven by faith. You could have a surge of faith or reverence come up and that can kind of give rise to a lot of thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 44:54
45:22 Well, we'll just call that agitation. Or it could be anger that disturbs the mind. Well, we'll call that agitation as well. But a lot of the agitation that arises in the mind That we see very clearly in practicing shamatha is driven by desire. And so that we'll call excitation. Well, desire for what? Report an error in the passage at 45:22
45:41 Desire for bliss, desire for joy, for happiness. But if you already got it, then it doesn't arise. If you're sitting right in front of your favorite dessert, right in front of you, you're not looking at other people's table. What do they have? No, you got exactly what you wanted. This was the dessert you always wanted. So you're not looking at other people's. You're not looking, oh, I wish I had. No, you're right here. And you're enjoying it right now. Report an error in the passage at 45:41
46:06 Then you're not going to be distracted to anything else because you already got it, right? And anxiety and all of that just fades out because your mind is saturated by bliss. It's a natural antibody. And then finally, and this is, to my mind, maybe even the most interesting one. And it really does turn out to be true. That the fifth of these jhāna factors. Report an error in the passage at 46:06
46:27 It's single-pointed attention. You become really focused, unified. That factor serves as a natural antibody for the obscuration or hindrance of craving for hedonic pleasure. Quite interesting. But you might be able to imagine it. That is, when you're just following the breath and you're just kind of like settled there, you're focused, you're really wholly present. Report an error in the passage at 46:27
46:54 That's what we're talking about. The mind is unified. It's right there and it's on the breath. Well, that simply displaces all hedonic desires. There's no room for them, because your mind is now unified, and it's unified on something that is not sensual craving. You're unified, you're focusing right there on the second tap. You're right there where eudaimonic well-being, sukha, priti, well-being and bliss can start to arise from within, but you're so totally there, the other tap is entirely turned off. Report an error in the passage at 46:54
47:26 It's only when we get caught up in excitation, distraction and so forth, then, oh, how about the other tap? I'm not getting much here, how about, oh, there's a nice wandering thought, that makes me happy. So, to my mind, this is very, very powerful psychology. And overall, while Buddhism as a whole is about a path of liberation, it's salvation, it's liberation, it's something transcendent, going to ultimate reality, nirvāṇa, so clearly, it's not just a school of psychology. Report an error in the passage at 47:26
47:53 But when we narrow the range of what we're focusing on, And that is just focus on samādhi. If we just focus on samādhi, let alone the wisdom, which is where you really go transcendent, but on the basis of ethics, then there's samādhi, and then there's wisdom. If you just look at the samādhi realm, that domain of Buddhist practice, which is really about meditation, and then of course the practice of shamatha being very central to that, then at whole mid-range, to my mind, that is psychology. Report an error in the passage at 47:53
48:23 And it is positive psychology. It's a psychology of optimal performance, A psychology of extraordinary mental health and balance. A psychology of discovering genuine happiness that arises from within, from a sublimely balanced mind. Not from liberation, not from realization of ultimate reality, but just a mind that really, really works well, like a finely tuned engine or a really healthy plant or what have you. Report an error in the passage at 48:23
48:50 But it's superbly healthy. Your psychological antibodies are up and rearing away. Your immune system is up. It's robust. So even if mental afflictions arise, you kind of repel them like water off a duck's back. So you're really resplendently healthy. You're not liberated, but boy, you're in good shape. Report an error in the passage at 48:50
49:05 So I would say that whole domain there of samādhi is really all about psychology. Now the strength, to my mind, now here comes an opinion, the strength of modern clinical psychology, which is not so much a strength of Buddhist psychology, is lots of research, detailed analysis, deep thought, and a wide range of interventions. Report an error in the passage at 49:05
49:26 To heal mental disease from schizophrenia and paranoia and a wide range of psychoses and even a wider range of neuroses. But people whose minds are so debilitated, so imbalanced, that it's very difficult for them to even function in the world. And we have more than a century of a lot of altruism there, benevolent motivation, a lot of intelligence. Report an error in the passage at 49:26
49:52 Drugs can be helpful there. They sometimes play a very important role. Talk therapy, very important role, and so forth. So that's really one of the strengths of modernity. And it's a wonderful thing. And it's not a strength of Buddhism. If you look in Buddhism, okay, where's the list of mental diseases? Well, 84,000. 84,000 mental afflictions. Okay, we all have them. Okay, yeah, but mental diseases. Report an error in the passage at 49:52
50:15 Okay, three poisons. Yeah, but we all have them. Okay, five poisons. Yeah, but we all have them. And so in Buddhism, from the most debilitating, absolutely debilitating psychosis, A person is just down and out, all the way up to liberation or enlightenment. The Buddhist view is that mental disease is an absolutely smooth spectrum. Report an error in the passage at 50:15
50:36 There's no real cut-off, or if there's a cut-off it's rather arbitrary for who's mentally healthy, who's mentally diseased, who's ill, who's not, who's clinically diagnosed as having mental disease and who isn't. Report an error in the passage at 50:36
50:50 It's smooth. And the writers of the current edition of the DSM The Encyclopedia of Mental Disease are facing that right now. Exactly where do we draw the line in the sand? And they're having a hard time. They're getting a lot of flack when things like grief and shyness are now considered mental diseases. Report an error in the passage at 50:50
51:08 And according to one critic, mental disease is something you can treat with a drug. And if you can't treat it with a drug, then we say, okay, it's not a mental disease. Or what's even worse, but it goes hand in hand with that, is viewing all mental diseases as brain disorders. And there are people who are saying that and they're believing that. Report an error in the passage at 51:08
51:24 Which means all of the weight of diagnosis and therapy all goes to the brain and drug treatment. Which to my mind is simply, frankly, catastrophic. So there is a lot of strength there. There's a lot of dogma there as well. But either way, the diagnosis and treatment of mental disease where people are really debilitated, that's not a strength of Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 51:24
51:46 Buddhism is really primarily, number one, it's primarily not for kids either. You don't find a lot, if any, Dharma for children. In Buddhism, I don't think that's, that's just the way it is. It was really, frankly, it's a spiritual path for adults who are of relatively sound mind. Men and women, monks and lay people, that's fine for everybody, but nothing specifically for children, but children could use from Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 51:46
52:10 And that's why I so appreciate what Susan Kaiser Greenland is doing and others as well. Mindfulness for children, social emotional learning in the education system and so forth. That's drawing on modern knowledge. We can be inspired by Buddhism. But Buddhism doesn't have a prepackaged, oh yes, here's our social emotional learning for children 5 through 11. Report an error in the passage at 52:10
52:27 You're not going to find anything like that in Buddhism. Which means Buddhism has something to learn from the modern world as well. Because our Buddhist kids, Tibetan kids, Thai kids and so forth, they can get a lot of benefit. So, once again, I'm coming back to my central theme of complementarity. But now, if we look at modern psychology, where does it start to get pretty thin? Report an error in the passage at 52:27
52:48 That is, once you're normal. Once you're normal, you're not diagnosed as having any particular mental disease. Now what? And good questions are being raised over the last ten years. Okay, how about going a little bit above normal, exceptionally above normal, and so forth. But it's a discipline in its infancy. Report an error in the passage at 52:48
53:06 And it's not really wrapped its mind yet around ethics and the significance of ethics for mental health. And so I would say it really is asking good questions and sometimes tap into old wisdom like that of Aristotle and so forth. But the questions that have been raised in modern positive psychology for 10 years have been raised in Buddhism for 2,500. So there's a bit of a head start there. Report an error in the passage at 53:06
53:28 And this is where I think you see the strength of Buddhadharma and other contemplative traditions. To, okay, you're normal? Oh, good. Now, recognize now that you're normal? Good. You have a dysfunctional mind. Unserviceable. Let's roll up the sleeves and see if we can really get somewhere and go way beyond normal. Report an error in the passage at 53:28
53:46 Or I have to quote, what was his name? Bruce. Not Bruce Springsteen. Another Bruce. But the trouble with normal is it always gets worse. Report an error in the passage at 53:46
53:59 That's his song. And that's his lyrics. There's something to that. I've forgotten his name right now. So in any case, those are the five obscurations. And this whole understanding of shamatha and how these factors of jhāna arise and how they overcome these obscurations strikes me as really natural psychology. Report an error in the passage at 53:59
54:17 A natural psychology to achieve exceptional mental balance, mental health, so that a sense of well-being, namely well-being and bliss, arise from within and not contingent upon drugs or sensory stimulation or even intellectual and aesthetic stimulation. They're rising because your mind is sublimely healthy. I would imagine that people who have done lots and lots of yoga start young and they've got a good body to start with and then do lots and lots of yoga. Report an error in the passage at 54:17
54:44 Or they're gymnasts and they have a really good coach and they train, they mold, they shape, they exercise their body. Or swimmers, you know, like really professional swimmers, five hours a day in the pool, where the body is just so beautiful. Just for starters, I'm not talking about physical beauty. It is physical beauty, but I'm not talking about cheekbones. But boy, that's a fine body. It's slender, it's strong, it's supple, it's got endurance and so forth and so on. Report an error in the passage at 54:44
55:10 Whether it's dance artists, whether it's gymnasts, whether it's swimmers, but I would imagine, never having been a professional of any of those things, that it must just feel good to have such a body. Report an error in the passage at 55:10
55:24 It's just so well-tuned. know, just must be filled. Report an error in the passage at 55:24
55:26 As a professional gymnast, you can imagine, it must feel good to have a body like that. You say jump and it says how far. So a really healthy, well-tuned body must feel really good, just on an athletic sense. And a really healthy, well-tuned mind should feel good without having to be stimulated. So a really healthy body should feel good before the massage, before eating ice cream and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 55:26
55:52 It already feels good. And so why not for the mind? So there we are. But now here the Buddha is raising the bar on what we'll call mental health. Now we're going to take a break very quickly. Let's end on this notion or on this. Actually we can end very quickly. So he refers to these five obscurations and now we see what he's doing is raising the bar on what shall we call being well or sane. He says so long as these five obscurations are not abandoned, you're still prone to them. Report an error in the passage at 55:52
56:20 One considers himself as indebted, sick, in bonds, enslaved and lost in a desert track. So don't count yourself as healthy. Right? So that would imply in the next version of the DSM, these should all be included, and then all the editors can count them in as mentally ill, which is fat chance. You know, fat chance. But that's what he's doing, is that you may be normal, but normal is always relative to who you're around. Report an error in the passage at 56:20
56:52 If you're living in the Deep South, in America, in the 1940s, Where it was the 1950s, some young, I just read this recently, some black kid, teenager, whistled at a white girl and he was beaten to death. And then it went to trial and they were all let off. And that would be considered for people of that mindset, well, but that's just normal. That's just normal. Report an error in the passage at 56:52
57:18 I mean, if a black guy does that to a white woman, well, you have to teach him a lesson. This is normal after all. This is just, but everybody knows this. You have to keep the blacks in their place. Everybody knows this is normal. It's completely standard. And of course, it's absolutely psychotic. But it was normal for them at that time. And then happily, we did have a civil rights movement. Report an error in the passage at 57:18
57:38 That's no longer normal. That's no longer normal. During the Second World War, in my state of California, it was illegal for an Anglo to marry a Japanese or an Oriental. Illegal. Right? Mustn't mix the races. Not our pure race with, you know. And that was normal. That was state law. In California, which we can, oh, cutting edge of America, liberal and all of that. Yeah, Second World War. So it was normal. So we shouldn't get too excited about normal. Report an error in the passage at 57:38
58:06 Sometimes normal is psychotic or it's just deranged and so forth. So the Buddha is saying, well, wherever you live, whatever culture, whatever is considered normal around you, if you're still subject to these five obscurations, you're one sick cookie. Report an error in the passage at 58:06
58:22 The analogy of the warrior and the wise minister, I think I gave that earlier, so I won't go back. And then just now, this will take a minute or two. In terms of this whole issue, are we really flaking out here in going into the supine position for meditation? The Vimuthi Maga was one of, really one can say there are two greatest classics in all of Theravāda Buddhism after the Buddha's own teachings. One is the Vimuthi Maga, and that's quite early. Report an error in the passage at 58:22
58:45 I don't remember exactly what century, maybe the second or third. But it's one of the great, definitive, authoritative, Classic commentaries. And in it, the author says that among the four postures of standing, sitting, walking and lying down, the standing and walking postures are particularly suitable for lustful natured personalities. Report an error in the passage at 58:45
59:05 So walk it off, walk it off. While sitting and reclining are more suitable for anger natured personalities. So there's a certain kind of personality typology there. But he's clearly saying, This sitting and reclining is suitable for some people, especially, you know, if you're kind of hot-tempered or angry-nated. So there's from one classic, and then we come right back to Buddhagosa, the Sudhimaga, and they said, whichever posture among the four is effective for developing concentration, that's the one you should adopt. Report an error in the passage at 59:05
59:37 So whether it's sitting in an easy chair, whether it's lying down flat, whether it's sitting upright in full lotus, in half lotus, in the comfortable position, However, whatever works. So they're taking a totally pragmatic stance here. Absolutely non-dogmatic. It's just what works and then follow that. Report an error in the passage at 59:37
59:55 I love that aspect. So, that's it for now. It's already ten past the hour. But that will pretty well do it. We've now covered both the theory and the practice of, I think, fairly comprehensively given the short time we have together. That pretty well does it for mindfulness of breathing. So there may be points of... Report an error in the passage at 59:55
1:00:15 Further points of clarification and so forth. But what I'd like to share with you, I pretty well have shared. So then it's time for more practice. And then this evening we'll have plenty of time again for discussion. So let's do take a break. It's now 10 past. So let's come back at 25 past the hour and go right back to practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:15
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Talk by B. Alan Wallace. Original at Vajrayana Institute via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/ShamathaRetreatWithAlanWallace2012. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Transcript generated automatically and may contain errors; the audio is the authoritative version.
Recorded at Vajrayana Institute, Sydney, and archived by the institute on Internet Archive. More from Vajrayana Institute