Meditation for Everyone - Methods for starting or reigniting your meditation practice (3 April 2010, 2)

0:00 You can find your seats. I did want to mention it's not such a great idea if people put their Dharma books or their materials on the floor. So that's what the little tables are for. So if you aren't working with it directly, then to just try to put it on a little table or something like that. There's more little tables in the window seat. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:25 I think some upcoming classes. Yeah, maybe that's good. We did the... Oh yeah, Tenzin Chogkyi's upcoming class on the 17th, Saturday the 17th, so that's two weeks from today, she's going to do one called, it's actually misspelled, Choosing Hope and Transforming Anxiety, which would be anxiety in English, into action. Report an error in the passage at 0:25 Highlight the passage at 0:25

0:56 It's actually about confronting the really big things, especially like global warming, that just make us want to curl up into fetal position and not do anything. So she's actually going to take that one off. She's kind of kicking off some new teachings and we're going to kick off the place. So I'm kind of proud of that. She's going to do, I think, maybe a whole weekend on it down at Rajapani. Report an error in the passage at 0:56 Highlight the passage at 0:56

1:20 Let's see. We have... Venerable Rita is coming in May, who is a Swiss nun, and she's going to do a Sunday on May 9th. That's really an intro course, but it's going to be kind of like, how is meditation going to help me? Like that. Something along those lines. We haven't worked out the title. She's really great. She's a tough former bar owner who became a nun many, many years ago. Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:48 Lived and worked in India for years. That's where I met her, at Tushita Dharamsala. But she also came here last year and taught. And she's come a couple times, I think, here. She's really great. I like her a lot. So that's a day long on May 9th. And then on May 13th, she'll be back again. That's a Thursday night. And she'll talk a little bit about that kind of, this one came from Barry. We were asking different students ideas. And this one came from him. Report an error in the passage at 1:48 Highlight the passage at 1:48

2:13 How do you know when to take the leap in the Dharma and how to balance it with your regular life? And, you know, those kind of questions. And she's going to use her life story. Her choices to kind of get that discussion going, and that's the 13th. Then the evening, Friday evening the 22nd, I think is the right date, May 22nd, and Venable Antonio, who's an Italian monk, is going to talk about, it's unclear, but I think it's non-conceptual meditation. Report an error in the passage at 2:13 Highlight the passage at 2:13

2:45 Meditating, not doing analytical meditation. His big specialty within the FMT anyway is Combining Vipassanā practice which we studied in Sri Lanka with Mahamudra. And so we will then follow that with a retreat, a two-day retreat, but we're not going to hold it here because of, as it was displayed this morning, the loud noise. Report an error in the passage at 2:45 Highlight the passage at 2:45

3:12 So actually those of you who know Jack and Judith have a really lovely home up in Marin. So we'll try to figure out a way to bus people up so that people who don't have cars like me and others can, you know, maybe your SUV would come in perfect for that. Report an error in the passage at 3:12 Highlight the passage at 3:12

3:27 And they've got parking. But it's a lovely home and we'll do the same thing. We'll probably make all the food in advance and bring it up there so they don't have to. And that's that weekend, whatever that is, 22nd, 23rd, that third weekend in May or I think it's like that. We'll get it on the website soon. Report an error in the passage at 3:27 Highlight the passage at 3:27

3:45 And then I think the next class after that, well, Emily's going to start another term of Buddhism from A to Z, and that's going to be talking more about the six perfections and the four means of gathering disciples. That starts, thank you, Tuesday nights, it's starting on the 27th, and it's a full semester, and it's fine for people to join. Report an error in the passage at 3:45 Highlight the passage at 3:45

4:10 She's fine with that now. It's going on. She's doing the entire... Lamrim, so it's taking a couple of years, so she's just letting people in at each semester. And then I'm going to teach a class on bodhicitta also, developing bodhicitta, discovering Buddhism version. So it'll be topic-based rather than following a text. We'll just talk about how you experientially gain this realization of bodhicitta and we'll learn the little limitations of that. Report an error in the passage at 4:10 Highlight the passage at 4:10

4:37 That will be like an eight-week class. It starts the first or second, third day in June. All of these things will be on the website soon. I'll go get her. Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

4:55 She's here, thank you. I decided to grab them while they're all full and satisfied and give them all of our answers. A Report an error in the passage at 4:55 Highlight the passage at 4:55

5:25 little more things to say about distraction and dullness before we carry on with more obstacles and answers. A fitting topic. A fitting topic. Report an error in the passage at 5:25 Highlight the passage at 5:25

5:39 I couldn't eat light with that meal. I'm so sorry. It's always great having known the person that plans the menu for 28 years. To be honest, it cooks my favorite thing. If you don't like Brussels sprouts, they're really hot. Report an error in the passage at 5:39 Highlight the passage at 5:39

5:58 So, distraction and dumbness. So, even before applying the antidotes, what do we have to do? Anna. it's going to be a special basketball. Report an error in the passage at 5:58 Highlight the passage at 5:58

6:12 Here's her a minute to catch her. Well, I think you have to know what the problem is. Yeah, exactly, right? So even before we can apply the antidotes, we have to recognize that there's a problem. She just came up with that. Report an error in the passage at 6:12 Highlight the passage at 6:12

6:33 So the way that we do this, there's a certain quality of the mind that is... love the name of the prompter and the name of the set down. Very good. Report an error in the passage at 6:33 Highlight the passage at 6:33

6:39 Usually translated, the Tibetan Sanskrit word is often translated as vigilance or introspection. And this is the part of the mind that notes that we have a problem with our meditation in the first place. It's like a watchdog of the mind to note when we're off the object. Report an error in the passage at 6:39 Highlight the passage at 6:39

6:59 It doesn't do anything about it. It's just the part of the mind that notes that you've lost the object. You've either lost it to destruction or you've lost it to dullness. So it's just that part of your mind that kicks in and goes, I'm off in Hawaii lying on the beach and I completely lost the breath 15 minutes ago. Report an error in the passage at 6:59 Highlight the passage at 6:59

7:24 So vigilance, introspection, so it's that part of the mind that just Kicks in, it's like a watchdog. And so this is a part of the mind that is useful to train in, this watchdog of the mind. I remember when I first went to India, I was living at this Buddhist center in Dharamsala, Tushita Meditation Center, some of you may have been there. Report an error in the passage at 7:24 Highlight the passage at 7:24

7:47 And I remember the first week I was there, I kept hearing this weird thumping noise in the middle of the night, this like regular thumping noise. And then I realized that in India there's this... A person called a chokidar is the Hindi word that's the night watchman. And to let you know that he's still awake and not asleep on the job, he carries his eight staff to chase away the leopards and the burglars and the rabid dogs and whatever it is he's protecting against. Report an error in the passage at 7:47 Highlight the passage at 7:47

8:15 And then he just thumps it on the ground throughout the night to let you know that he's on the job. So we need an awake chokidar to our mom. One that's alert. And thumping this staff on the ground. So this part of the mind, this vigilance or introspection. Master Shantideva in the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life that Geshe-la I think is teaching right now. Report an error in the passage at 8:15 Highlight the passage at 8:15

8:38 It's on chapter 5. Whole chapter on this vigilance, introspection. So it's the part that just notes that you're off the object. One way to train, and some of you that may have done Vipassanā meditation may have been training your vigilance without even knowing it. Because one really nice way to train Is labeling the distraction. Right? Like let's say we're trying to meditate on our breath for 15 or 20 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 8:38 Highlight the passage at 8:38

9:04 Right? And so we keep trying. One thing we do sometimes to keep the mind anchored on the object is say counting cycles of 1 to 10. Every exhalation and inhalation. 1, exhalation and inhalation. 2, exhalation and inhalation. Then another way... That we train this other part of the mind, the introspection of vigilance, is labeling when we notice that we're distracted. And we can just briefly label, oh, fantasy, back to the object. Report an error in the passage at 9:04 Highlight the passage at 9:04

9:33 Pain in the knee, back to the object. Daydream, back to the object. Sound of the fire engine, back to the object. So we can just label. We have to be careful with the labeling that we don't get off into the whole storyline. Sound of the fire engine that... It's responding to the fire that might be torturing my car even as we speak, you know, that you don't get carried away. So sometimes it's helpful to have really brief labels, right? Report an error in the passage at 9:33 Highlight the passage at 9:33

10:01 Like thought, pain, you know, sensation, sound, and then come back. And that's a way to train our vigilance because we want our vigilance to kick in right away, right when we're off the object. Not 15 minutes later, after we've been carried away in the fantasy or the story, you know, for 15 minutes and then suddenly vigilance starts thumping the staff and going, yo, hey, remember the breath. Report an error in the passage at 10:01 Highlight the passage at 10:01

10:30 And then you look at your watch and it's time to end the meditation session. So one of the ways to get good at single point of concentration is to get that vigilance to kick in as soon as possible when you've lost it. So that's one way that we can do it. And we're going to do a single point of concentration meditation, I think, tomorrow morning, first thing, where our minds are fresh. Report an error in the passage at 10:30 Highlight the passage at 10:30

10:55 And we'll practice that labeling process. That's really helpful. There's another quality of the mind that we often call mindfulness. And it's kind of an unfortunate word because mindfulness refers to all kinds of different things. This is one of the problems with our limited vocabulary. Tibetan has something like 36 different words for mind. We have like mind, awareness, consciousness. We have a really limited vocabulary when it comes to words for consciousness in English. Report an error in the passage at 10:55 Highlight the passage at 10:55

11:27 So we have this word mindfulness that refers to all kinds of different things depending on what Buddhist tradition that you're in and how you've trained and all this stuff. In this context, mindfulness refers to tethering your mind. Keeping your mind on the object. That's different from the vigilance. So we need to train in both this mindfulness and this introspection. Report an error in the passage at 11:27 Highlight the passage at 11:27

11:53 So mindfulness is just keeping your mind tethered. And in the ancient Indian text, they talk about when you're training an elephant, and first you kind of put a chain around their, you know, whatever. Do elephants have ankles? I don't know, whatever it is. Leg. And then chain it to like a tree or something, right? So it's like tethering so that your mind won't go away. So we've got mindfulness and introspection. Report an error in the passage at 11:53 Highlight the passage at 11:53

12:23 Mindfulness, keeping the mind on the object, vigilance, noting when it's off. It doesn't do anything to bring it back. Then that mindfulness brings it back. Okay, yeah, Lynn has a question. Yeah, I do. Wait, it's coming. I have a lot of students and clients. asking about hearing about mindfulness meditation asking me to help them and I give them recording Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 12:23 Highlight the passage at 12:23

13:06 that's different. Yeah, that's different. the mindfulness meditation, often supposed to sit and not have a focus. Report an error in the passage at 13:06 Highlight the passage at 13:06

13:09 And that's our inadequate language, because that's different. Sometimes we use the word mindfulness to refer to keeping this quality of the mind that keeps to an object. Sometimes and a lot of times in the Vipassanā tradition and mindfulness-based stress reduction, so-called mindfulness-based stress reduction, it's all about keeping aware in the present moment, being aware of the sensations that arise in the body. Report an error in the passage at 13:09 Highlight the passage at 13:09

13:37 Vipassanā... is actually a Pāli word, the Sanskrit word is Vipashyana, that means insight, which is a whole other thing. So we're using this mindfulness of, for example, we talk about the four foundations of mindfulness, mindfulness of body sensations, to actually get an insight into the nature of reality, namely what we would call in Tibetan tradition, subtle impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 13:37 Highlight the passage at 13:37

14:00 So that's one of the problems with the language. I'm talking about something... different which is just the quality of the mind that can keep it on an object I'm not talking about the kind of analysis and insight that arises from example noticing the ever changing fluctuation of things like our thoughts of things like sensations in the body that leads you to an insight into subtle impermanence which is the point of that other I have been recommending that we don't do that. Report an error in the passage at 14:00 Highlight the passage at 14:00

14:32 floating around like I'm anxious, but instead do single point concentration. You know, the way mindfulness is taught in other techniques is definitely valuable in getting an insight into things like subtle impermanence. Just spacing out and floating around, no value. So if that's how they're misinterpreting mindfulness and thinking it just means trying to make your mind blank of thoughts and just spacing out. Report an error in the passage at 14:32 Highlight the passage at 14:32

14:41 You know, Report an error in the passage at 14:41 Highlight the passage at 14:41

15:02 Lama Zopa says that just creates the cause for rebirth in the animal realm. Who needs that? Been there, done that, you know. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 15:02 Highlight the passage at 15:02

15:15 So it's really, you know, you have to, it's a shame that we don't have really precise terminology, but we need to make sure that when we hear these words like mindfulness... Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 15:15 Highlight the passage at 15:15

15:27 That we know exactly what the person is referring to because it can mean all kinds of things and people can also misinterpret it to think, oh just sit there and space out. Report an error in the passage at 15:27 Highlight the passage at 15:27

15:39 Try and be aware of the moment and that's going to solve all your problems. Well, you can be really angry in the moment and really aware of that and it's really a drag. So just being completely aware in the moment of what's happening is not the solution to everything. It's great and it's a start but it's not the answer. Oh, I'm really aware in the moment I am furious in order to throttle somebody. Report an error in the passage at 15:39 Highlight the passage at 15:39

16:03 Well, sorry, it's not going to get you out of some sorrow. It's a good first step. So it's good to be aware of terminology. Good. Good question. Okay. So any other questions about mindfulness and introspection? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 16:03 Highlight the passage at 16:03

16:25 Just a segue to what she was asking about and what you just mentioned, you know, you're just aware of the anger. I don't know if it's going to be off topic by asking this, you know, just being aware of the anger does not really. resolve or it does not, you know, you have to go beyond just being or not being or is that within meditation as well that you. Report an error in the passage at 16:25 Highlight the passage at 16:25

16:51 the next step? Well, for I often recommend to people that when they are feeling a strong emotion, that they do sit with it and breathe and feel the energy of that emotion. Report an error in the passage at 16:51 Highlight the passage at 16:51

17:06 Then transform it, right? That's the next step, to somehow transform it by applying the wisdom side, by applying what you know about the nature of reality, for example, by applying what you know about impermanence, what you know about emptiness. The first step is becoming really aware of what you're feeling. And I recommend that because often we don't know what we're feeling or we'll feel a secondary... Report an error in the passage at 17:06 Highlight the passage at 17:06

17:31 emotion, and not be in tune with what the more primary... I find that's often true with anger, and what's underlying it is often fear, hurt feelings, insecurity. So if we don't sit and feel what we're feeling, we don't kind of drop down to that more fundamental level, then once we've really understood what it is that we're feeling, which that awareness is definitely the first step, then we can apply Our understanding of basic principles about the nature of reality. I'm seeing, for example, a strong attachment is arising, right? Report an error in the passage at 17:31 Highlight the passage at 17:31

18:12 And the definition of attachment, which many of you have heard me say many times when we've talked about emotions, is we're exaggerating the positive causes of an object, thinking that by possessing that object, we'll have lasting happiness. So there's this whole delusion going on of like just totally exaggerating and then we're relating to our story if it's a person. Our whole story about that person, poor thing, we're not even relating to that person at all. Report an error in the passage at 18:12 Highlight the passage at 18:12

18:41 So we feel that strong attachment is arising, right? We get in touch with that's what's going on. You know, that gritchy feeling you feel when you feel that the person you love is starting to pay attention to somebody else and you start to like... You know, that thing. We all know what it feels like. Be aware that that's what's happening and then start to analyze. Wow, how am I exaggerating this situation? Report an error in the passage at 18:41 Highlight the passage at 18:41

19:08 Use what you know about the very definition of attachment, what you know about the nature of reality to see that you're reacting and responding to your projection about reality and not to what's really happening. So that's how we use the analysis after the awareness of what we're feeling, for example, for dealing with disturbing emotions. Report an error in the passage at 19:08 Highlight the passage at 19:08

19:33 So just being very aware of something like strong attachment or strong anger isn't really going to do much to solve it. Then we need to apply an antidote to it, something based on wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 19:33 Highlight the passage at 19:33

19:48 Based on analyzing, is that real or not? Is that situation, am I just making up in my head this whole story about how if I'm separated from this person I'll never be happy ever again and they're the source of my lasting happiness. And you start checking, is that really true? You know, what my, recently I heard that Lami Eshi used to say, question appearances, question appearances. Report an error in the passage at 19:48 Highlight the passage at 19:48

20:15 It was like a mantra for him. And I advise the simplest approach at all, if you feel some kind of disturbing emotion, question the appearance of whatever it is that's giving rise to that emotion. And that's how you can use this stuff that comes up in our life as food for our meditation practice. Feeling a strong emotion. Go sit on your cushion. Breathe. Anchor yourself with your breath. Feel what you're feeling. Report an error in the passage at 20:15 Highlight the passage at 20:15

20:45 And then question, is it true? Am I just reacting to some story my mind made up and I'm not really reacting? We get so far ahead of ourselves. Oh, if this happens, then I'm really going to freak out. I heard a definition of anxiety, and this was just a Western psychologist, and he said, anxiety is reacting to how you think you're going to feel if the thing you're afraid of happening happens. Report an error in the passage at 20:45 Highlight the passage at 20:45

21:17 Isn't that ridiculous, right? And all these people that have panic attacks and anxiety disorders, what they're reacting to is how afraid they expect they're going to feel if whatever they're afraid of happening comes about. Like, oh, if there's a big earthquake and California slides into the ocean, then I'm really going to freak out. Report an error in the passage at 21:17 Highlight the passage at 21:17

21:40 So you're already freaking out about how you think you're going to respond when the thing that you're afraid of happening happens. Hello, hello, like does that have anything to do with right now? So, like that, like just check how much are we responding to some big story that we've made up, often about something that, has it happened yet? Report an error in the passage at 21:40 Highlight the passage at 21:40

22:04 Does it have really much likelihood of happening? Or just re-reacting to some possibility, and worry, anxiety, you know, fear, anger, all those things. So the first step is definitely awareness. But then transforming it by doing that analysis. Report an error in the passage at 22:04 Highlight the passage at 22:04

22:24 Can you say that again? Anxiety is... Oh, I wish I could remember anxiety. Oh, you know, I have it on my computer. I'll get the exact quote. Because when I was asked to do this presentation, I was echo anxiety, right? Anxiety about the environment. I was doing research and I found this psychologist who'd written a book about anxiety. Report an error in the passage at 22:24 Highlight the passage at 22:24

22:43 And I'll find the exact thing, but it was something like, anxiety is the fear of how you might feel if what you're afraid of happening. comes to pass or something like that. But I'll try and get it. I think I've got it on my computer for a minute. Reacting to what you think you're going to feel if something might Yeah, yeah, something like that. Report an error in the passage at 22:43 Highlight the passage at 22:43

23:06 Right, right. So the thing that you're afraid of hasn't happened. You haven't reacted like that to the thing that you're afraid of happening. And then you're already afraid of how you might. react to the thing that might happen, happen. So there's like way too many conditions in there for it to be anything to be losing sleep over. So accurate. Yeah, yeah. But I'll try and get the exact quote from the psychologist in this book that I've been, you know, it's on my list of books to read when I have free time, like that's ever going to happen in this life. Report an error in the passage at 23:06 Highlight the passage at 23:06

23:36 But something about how to respond to anxiety. Lynn may know, do you know what I'm talking about? I'll look it up. I've got his name and everything. Alright, where were we? Let's see. Vigilance, that's right. My phone. Report an error in the passage at 23:36 Highlight the passage at 23:36

23:57 That checks to see whether we've fallen into agitation or dominance. So training that vigilance is a big part of our practice to be good meditators, training in that vigilance. Report an error in the passage at 23:57 Highlight the passage at 23:57

24:13 In terms of dullness, we've talked about these antidotes to dullness. There's one kind of flavor of dullness that is especially problematic because it's so easily mistaken for a really good meditation. And Lama Tsongkhapa talks about this a lot. And we call it subtle dullness. Subtle dullness. And it's this kind of zoned out... Report an error in the passage at 24:13 Highlight the passage at 24:13

24:42 Sort of blissed out state of mind where you're not losing the object, so you think you're doing really well. Subjectively, it feels kind of good. It feels kind of like, ooh, nice, mellow, right? But you're just subtly spaced out. It's not a good meditation and it's so often mistaken for really good meditation. And if you're a beginner, And you're so proud of yourself because you can sit for an hour without fidgeting in this really blissed out state, you're probably in subtle boneless. Report an error in the passage at 24:42 Highlight the passage at 24:42

25:18 Sorry. But it's really dangerous because it's so often mistaken for a good meditation. So there's three qualities of a good meditation that a good meditation has and subtle boneless is missing one of those qualities. So let's talk about these three qualities. of a good meditation, okay? The first quality is fixation. So not losing the object. So you've got fixation on the object meaning you're not losing it. Report an error in the passage at 25:18 Highlight the passage at 25:18

25:53 You're not either going into distraction or gross dullness. Gross dullness is drowsiness, falling asleep completely, losing the object due to grosser levels of dullness. Fixation on the object. You've got clarity. And that doesn't refer to the clarity of the object. It refers to the clarity of your mind. Report an error in the passage at 25:53 Highlight the passage at 25:53

26:16 Your mind is sharp and clear. Clarity to the mind. Your subjective state is quite bright, clear, with a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. We have this idiom in English, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, bright and clear. And then the third quality of a good meditation is intensity. And that means you're into it. Report an error in the passage at 26:16 Highlight the passage at 26:16

26:47 You're engaged with the object. Remember last night I used the example of the seventh Harry Potter novel. I think it was the fourth one too, the Triwizard Tournament one? I mean, forget it. By the time we were halfway through, we couldn't put it down. I was living in a yurt in the middle of the desert, and twice a year we were allowed to take a break and read a book, and for me it was always Harry Potter. Report an error in the passage at 26:47 Highlight the passage at 26:47

27:10 And I had this oil lamp. That needed to be refilled. And halfway through the Triwizard Tournament, I kept having to get up and put more oil in and I was up all night. Because once you are in Voldemort and the graveyard and the whole thing, you can put the book down. Report an error in the passage at 27:10 Highlight the passage at 27:10

27:27 Most of you that have no idea what you're talking about, I'm so sorry because it's awesome. That's intensity. You're into it. You're on the edge of your seat. You're like totally engaged. It's like when you're a little kid and you're reading a book and your mother's calling you for dinner and you don't even hear her. It's that level of engagement in the object. Report an error in the passage at 27:27 Highlight the passage at 27:27

27:48 Those are the three qualities of a really good meditation. When you've got it right, you've got the fixation, you've got clarity and you've got the intensity. Now, for subtle dullness... You've got the fixation okay, you're not losing the object, you even have the clarity, but what you don't have is the intensity, right? Report an error in the passage at 27:48 Highlight the passage at 27:48

28:12 So subtle dullness, you think you're doing well, you're not losing the object, your mind is quite clear, but you don't have that engagement with the object. So that's something, those three qualities are good to get familiar with, because then we can check our meditation, especially checking for subtle dullness. Report an error in the passage at 28:12 Highlight the passage at 28:12

28:31 It may seem like it's going to be a long time before your main problem is lack of intensity, right? You may feel like, God, I'm still working on the fixation and that's going to take a long time. And that's okay, but it's good to know about. And by the way, that's why it makes you meditate with your eyes slightly open, because this is an antidote to that subtle drama. Report an error in the passage at 28:31 Highlight the passage at 28:31

28:54 Much easier when your eyes are closed and you're drifting into that nice, mellow place, right? But if you're sitting in your posture, your back really straight and your eyes just slightly open so some light is coming in, that's a good antidote for that subtle thomas. Report an error in the passage at 28:54 Highlight the passage at 28:54

29:13 So any questions about subtle thomas? Yes. Remind me of your name. My name is Matt. You mentioned something that we're reading about meditations, especially when we do visualizations. Report an error in the passage at 29:13 Highlight the passage at 29:13

29:35 I don't know, maybe part of my brain is broken. Nobody's brain is broken. But when we're visualizing the throne and the white lions and the moon disc, what I feel like on a good day is I can get a hazy picture of all of that. That's great. That's awesome. That's fine. I just wonder if... Advanced meditators get like they're standing in a gallery staring at a picture and it's all right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, that's a great question. Report an error in the passage at 29:35 Highlight the passage at 29:35

30:13 I'm really glad that you brought that up. Some people are just really good at visualization and some people are not so great at visualization. Report an error in the passage at 30:13 Highlight the passage at 30:13

30:23 If you're using something like a visualized image as your object of meditation, or if you're just doing it in the context of this preliminary, right, that we're doing for any meditation session, whatever we do, they say even if you get what you described, just sort of a very rough, hazy image, that's okay. Report an error in the passage at 30:23 Highlight the passage at 30:23

30:47 And then you use that as your object. You work slowly at building up the detail. And there's several ways of doing that. Very few people can get the, you know, art gallery thing right off the bat. You know, that's, that's, some artists are amazing that way and they really can. I have a friend when I was in New Zealand, this friend that's been meditating, he's been doing banjo tap for practice, he was saying, 35 years and he goes, there's some vague white guy on top of my head. Like after 35 years he's like, I'm on a good day. Report an error in the passage at 30:47 Highlight the passage at 30:47

31:22 It's just some like blob on my top of my head. So the point is not necessarily to get all the detail like an artist would of everything and the shading and whatever. It's just more to get the sense of whatever level of detail that you can and then hold on to that. One way that they say you can build up the details is, like for example, start with an image, like if you're using an image for your meditation, start with an outline and then just start slowly, slowly trying to build in more detail to that vague outline, just kind of work at trying to get clear. Report an error in the passage at 31:22 Highlight the passage at 31:22

32:03 Another thing that they mention is start with part of the image, like the face. And get the face really clear and then have the rest of it just be a blob and then slowly start getting more and more detail. So it progresses. I think it really, really progresses. And some people are just not good at visualization and then it's just very amorphous and that's okay. Report an error in the passage at 32:03 Highlight the passage at 32:03

32:29 And it's good to experiment with different objects for development of single pointed concentration because it may be. If you're not a super visual person, it's really hard. Then you pick another object, not a visual image because it might just be too hard to sustain the intensity unless you do have a lot of detail in there. Report an error in the passage at 32:29 Highlight the passage at 32:29

32:49 You know, easier to remain engaged when you can see it really clearly. And then for some people the visualized image is super easy. You know, it's just there, boom, clear, compelling, engaging, whatever. So yeah, your experience isn't at all uncommon. But still, whatever level it is, you just focus on it. Yeah, you're not broken. Report an error in the passage at 32:49 Highlight the passage at 32:49

33:15 I just remember something that happened this morning. I had the opposite problem, and he said, visualize the white throne with the parents and the lions, and they were a little too big, so I just, like, I got like... And I was like, oh, I have to imagine they're a little smaller because they were too small. Report an error in the passage at 33:15 Highlight the passage at 33:15

33:35 so I think Can you talk about skill? Because I know there's something to do with how big we should imagine. You just talk about the distance, but also, you know, the size. You know, it's really good. And I've said that we use an image in our mind's eye and we don't use a picture. But it is good to have a really well-drawn, like tanka, for example. Report an error in the passage at 33:35 Highlight the passage at 33:35

34:01 Because when people learn tanga painting, there's these grids and everything has exactly a certain proportion. So get an image that's really well drawn by somebody who's trained in all those proportions. And then you can use that as a guide. Like have it on your table. You're not staring at the picture. That's not your focal point. Report an error in the passage at 34:01 Highlight the passage at 34:01

34:25 It's the external picture. But you can refer to it as sort of a... As a guide, and then look and go, oh yeah, and then lower your gaze and then go to the visualized image in your mind's eye. But it really is good to have a properly drawn image to refer to to get all the details. And there's a couple. Report an error in the passage at 34:25 Highlight the passage at 34:25

34:50 I think there's this one that Lama Zopa loves, that he gives reproductions of it. I don't know if you have that one here that he almost gives everyone a signed copy, and it's one of Shakyamuni Voodoo on the Throne. He apparently really likes the proportions of that one, but there are many that are really well done, and then you can kind of look at that to check. Report an error in the passage at 34:50 Highlight the passage at 34:50

35:12 The lion shouldn't be so big that they're freaking out. But how big is it when you're visualizing? Yeah, they usually like a cubic, which is like between, oh no, maybe it's the top of the wrist in your elbow. So about two meters in front of you and about this big. And then they say, as your concentration develops, you can make it smaller and smaller and smaller, and then that helps your concentration. But in the beginning, about this big, about two meters in front. Report an error in the passage at 35:12 Highlight the passage at 35:12

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

35:54 let's talk about another problem that arises in our meditation, and that is the obstacle of laziness. Now, this is one of the first Tibetan words that I remember learning. Because it sounds exactly like what it feels like. And the Tibetan word for this is Lamo. Report an error in the passage at 35:54 Highlight the passage at 35:54

36:19 So, laziness, which is defined as just not feeling like sitting down on your meditation cushion in the first place. So just being like, oh... No, no, I just ate something so I can't meditate now. No, no, I thought something better to do so I can't meditate now. That whole mind trying to come up with excuses and just not wanting to sit down on the cushion in the first place. Report an error in the passage at 36:19 Highlight the passage at 36:19

36:44 So we talk about four antidotes to that problem that are really not four different ones but it's really kind of in order. We go through these four. And I should have put numbers. The four are understanding the benefits, aspiration to practice, effort and clients, and then all of these five are understanding the benefits. Report an error in the passage at 36:44 Highlight the passage at 36:44

37:10 So it goes in order. Understanding the benefits. Oh, good. Thank you, Marcella, my lovely assistant. She's going to go over there and put them one, two, three. There she can open. That works. works. I'll like maybe push it. Oh, push it. Thank you. So one under understanding benefits. Report an error in the passage at 37:10 Highlight the passage at 37:10

37:37 then two, aspiration to practice down here. Report an error in the passage at 37:37 Highlight the passage at 37:37

37:43 I could. Report an error in the passage at 37:43 Highlight the passage at 37:43

37:54 So this is how we develop in order. So understanding the benefits. First, The thing that we do when we don't feel like sitting down on our cushion, we start thinking about the benefits of meditation and understanding the benefits. So the first benefit to our meditation, physical health and pliancy. So we talk about some of the benefits of meditation being in terms of our physical health. Report an error in the passage at 37:54 Highlight the passage at 37:54

38:31 Pliancy means flexibility. And one of the reasons for this is meditation has an effect on our subtle energy body. In Tibetan Buddhism, in yoga tradition, in Chinese medicine, we talk about a subtle energy body, channels, chakras, right? So the same thing. So meditation straightens out and It cleans up the energy in our subtle body and as a result of that we have improved physical health and flexibility. Report an error in the passage at 38:31 Highlight the passage at 38:31

39:10 Often you'll see these people that have been meditating a lot, they look a lot younger than their chronological age. I have one teacher and I think he's something like four or five years older than His Holiness the Dalai Lama and he looks like 55. You know, he's 78 or something, and we're always like, Geshe-la, Geshe-sepal. Oh, wow, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's unbelievable. He looks so much younger. Report an error in the passage at 39:10 Highlight the passage at 39:10

39:33 And then we always go, Geshe-la, he looks so young. And he goes, oh, don't say that. I'll get a big head. And I was like, no, no. So physical health and pliancy is one of the benefits. Report an error in the passage at 39:33 Highlight the passage at 39:33

39:47 Mental pliancy. Okay, mental pliancy. Mental flexibility. And what this means is, You have a mind that's not so easily thrown off base by things that happen. You bounce back. You have a joyful, cheerful mind in general. You don't get so thrown off when things happen. You know, the ups and downs of life, not so upsetting, not so disturbing. So you bounce back. Report an error in the passage at 39:47 Highlight the passage at 39:47

40:17 You tend to be more cheerful, more relaxed, happier. Mental pliancy. Another benefit. Creative thinking is another benefit. And this is a really interesting one. When you start to meditate and when you learn how to meditate well and your practice is developing, you have an ability to see creative solutions to problems, right? Report an error in the passage at 40:17 Highlight the passage at 40:17

40:46 Where otherwise you would have seen a dichotomy. You could see some creative way of solving problems. This is very interesting. A side effect of developing concentration is this creative thinking. And I had an example of this that happened to me a couple of years ago and when it happened I thought, oh, that's that thing. Report an error in the passage at 40:46 Highlight the passage at 40:46

41:09 Of these friends of mine, I was living down at Land of Medicine Buddha near Santa Cruz. And these friends of mine were going to visit relatives in like Michigan or something for a week. And they said, could you take us to the airport? It's really early in the morning. Well, really early in the morning is not a problem for me, the way it is for other people. So I'm like, sure, we have to leave at 3.30. Report an error in the passage at 41:09 Highlight the passage at 41:09

41:30 It's okay. So we're driving to the airport and they said, oh, and you can borrow our car while we're gone. You know, because I didn't have a car at that point. You can borrow our car. Oh, good, that would be useful. So I'm driving them to the airport and I go, oh right, when are you coming back? You know, I haven't checked when they're coming back and they said, oh, we'll check the ticket and we'll email you. Report an error in the passage at 41:30 Highlight the passage at 41:30

41:50 Okay, so I drop them off at the airport, I come back, they tell me, they email me that they're coming back at like 7.20 the following Monday night. So I'm like, that's cool. So, what happens? Lama Zopa shows up in town, sort of unexpectedly. And he's going to give a teaching Monday night at Land of Medicine at 7. So, what do I do? I've got my friend's car. Report an error in the passage at 41:50 Highlight the passage at 41:50

42:16 I told them I'd pick them up at the airport. I feel like I've got one of three options. I go and miss the teaching. I really don't want to do that. I ask somebody else to go pick them up instead of me. Everybody else wants to go to the teaching too. That's not fair. Or they show up and I have them wait at the airport for God knows how long until I'm done with the teaching and can come pick them up. Report an error in the passage at 42:16 Highlight the passage at 42:16

42:43 That doesn't really work either. So none of these options are very satisfactory. So I'm going, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do? And then I thought, hey, wait a minute. San Francisco Airport was where they were flying into. I thought, all kinds of people from here want to go to that teaching too. Report an error in the passage at 42:43 Highlight the passage at 42:43

43:00 I'll drive your car, I'll call them up, see if they've got a spare key. I'll drive your car to the airport, park it in long-term parking, or even like medium-term, leave 20 bucks in the car to pay for the extra parking charge, and get somebody to pick me up at the airport and take me back to my emergency room. Report an error in the passage at 43:00 Highlight the passage at 43:00

43:22 So it worked out perfectly. I drive to the airport, I park their car, I call them on their cell phone to tell them what parking space it's in, third level, A7. You know, I leave money in the car to pay for the extra parking. It's only 20 extra bucks, it's no big deal. If somebody picks me up at the airport, we go to the teaching, they get to the airport, get in their car and drive home. Report an error in the passage at 43:22 Highlight the passage at 43:22

43:46 And when I thought of that solution, I said, oh, that's that thing, you know, what seems like a dichotomy. And then I thought of this other way, a workaround, right? A workaround to what seemed like a difficult situation. Either I miss the teaching or they have to wait at the airport for hours. No, just take the car early and leave it there, you know, and work it around that way. Report an error in the passage at 43:46 Highlight the passage at 43:46

44:10 So that kind of thing, that kind of thing. Sometimes you'll find these... Experienced meditators, these Tibetan Lamas, know how to fix things that they have no business knowing anything about. A friend of mine was driving Lati Rinpoche, this really venerable Lama, around, he was driving, you know, he was his driver for some event a long time ago, like 20 years ago or something. Report an error in the passage at 44:10 Highlight the passage at 44:10

44:35 So he's got Lati Rinpoche in the translator and he's driving. And all of a sudden the car's like, ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk, breaks down. So they pull over, and he's totally embarrassed. Here's Lati Rinpoche, he's like 80 years old or something, and he's like, pulls over, lifts the hood, he's fiddling and fussing, and he doesn't know what to do, and he's starting to kind of panic, oh god, here we are, late for teaching. Report an error in the passage at 44:35 Highlight the passage at 44:35

44:58 Lati Rinpoche gets out, you know, comes around, looks in the hood, I mean, he doesn't know from auto mechanics, and he goes, what's that, says Surya Chanceli, what's that little wire? Jiggle that, you know, and my friend jiggles it off, vroom. Report an error in the passage at 44:58 Highlight the passage at 44:58

45:17 How did you know that? So this kind of thing, it's kind of cool, and that's one of the byproducts of meditation and developing concentration, that creative thinking increases. Just to add to that, the 9-1 Institute meeting was an education. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Report an error in the passage at 45:17 Highlight the passage at 45:17

45:38 Where Dalai Lama was conversing with Richard Davidson. They said they had done studies and discovered that meditation where just the act of bringing life back over and over and over has a profound effect on analytic ability. Right, right, right, right. Developing that concentration. Right, right. Exactly. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 45:38 Highlight the passage at 45:38

46:09 Now, the ability to concentrate. Another benefit of meditation, our ability to concentrate on everything improves. You get better at work, right? You get more effective at anything that you're trying to do. Not just your ability to concentrate when you're meditating, but the more you build up that ability, it affects every part of your life. Report an error in the passage at 46:09 Highlight the passage at 46:09

46:34 You get more efficient at work. the ability to concentrate. Report an error in the passage at 46:34 Highlight the passage at 46:34

46:37 You know, you get better at your hobbies, whatever they are, everything, all across the board, you have this ability to concentrate that increases. And then, of course, the main point, the main benefit of meditation is to develop the realizations of the path. That's the main reason that we're meditating. Report an error in the passage at 46:37 Highlight the passage at 46:37

46:56 So thinking about that, that's like the ultimate benefit for developing concentration, developing our ability to meditate. to develop their realizations of children. But it's great to think about all of these benefits. So the next time that you don't want to sit down on your meditation cushion, think of the benefits. Report an error in the passage at 46:56 Highlight the passage at 46:56

47:18 Don't just sit there and go, oh, I'm useless because I can't sit, you know, I don't feel like it. Don't make up a bunch of excuses. Apply the antidote that Master Kamala Shila taught. It may work. You start thinking about these benefits, and then you want to practice, and that's the next step. You have that aspiration. You think, wow, I want that. Report an error in the passage at 47:18 Highlight the passage at 47:18

47:42 I want that mental pliancy. I want that creative thinking. I want that ability to concentrate. And I really want those realizations. That would be great to have those realizations. So you start reviewing the benefits, and then you have that aspiration. You want to practice. You want to engage in your practice. Then after developing that aspiration, which is a result of meditating on the benefits, effort. Report an error in the passage at 47:42 Highlight the passage at 47:42

48:17 You're willing to put the effort in. You're willing to do that concert pianist level of effort for your meditation and really Suddenly your life just rearranges itself and it's really okay to wake up early in the morning and do your meditation. Magically, time opens up. Because your priorities have shifted. Because you've meditated on the benefits, you have that aspiration. Then you're willing to put the effort in. Report an error in the passage at 48:17 Highlight the passage at 48:17

48:48 And then you start to develop that pliancy, those results. You start to see some of these results. So that's the last step. You put in the effort and then you start to see the results. So that's the antidote to that obstacle of laziness, just not wanting to sit down in your meditation Krishna in the first place. Report an error in the passage at 48:48 Highlight the passage at 48:48

49:09 So apply these antidotes. Don't just sort of sit there going, oh what do I do? I'm just not into it now. Oh I'll guilt trip myself. Oh yeah, we all know how well that works. Don't do that. Do this. This is what Rinne does work. The questions about this obstacle. So I prepared a little chart for you summarizing some of these, okay, summarizing these obstacles and the antidotes in the order in which they appear usually. Report an error in the passage at 49:09 Highlight the passage at 49:09

49:52 And so let's go over this as a summary of what we've been talking about. The Report an error in the passage at 49:52 Highlight the passage at 49:52

50:08 classical on one page has the five cultivate antidotes and one... It's called the Sages of Shina and the Sixth Powers and we'll get to that tomorrow. But let's look at the page that says the five faults and new antidotes. And this is directly from Master Kamala Shila. So laziness is the first fault and we just went over that. Understanding the benefits of aspiration and practice. Report an error in the passage at 50:08 Highlight the passage at 50:08

50:34 Thank you. Effort and pliancy. Then the second fault, losing the object of meditation. Which is called in the scriptures, forgetting the advice. But this is kind of weird, because it doesn't just mean, oh I forgot what Tenzin Chogky told me to do that Saturday that we did that workshop. It means just losing the object of meditation. So for that we apply mindfulness. And remember I said mindfulness is that tethering the mind onto the object. Report an error in the passage at 50:34 Highlight the passage at 50:34

51:09 So in order not to lose the object, We develop our mindfulness, that's the antidote, which in this context just means keeping the mind glued, fixed on the object, that quantity of fixation on the object. Report an error in the passage at 51:09 Highlight the passage at 51:09

51:27 Then the next fault, laxity and excitement. And I'm sorry, I should have used the words that I used on the flip chart. Dullness and distraction or agitation, same thing. Laxity is a synonym for dullness. Excitement is one brand of agitation. Sorry, I shouldn't use consistent terms. Dullness and agitation. Report an error in the passage at 51:27 Highlight the passage at 51:27

51:52 Introspection, vigilance, and that's that watchdog thing, right? So that's the antidote that notes when we're off the object, is that vigilance, that introspection, noting that we're off the object. And we'll practice that in the morning when we do our meditation. We'll practice with a single object, practicing single-point concentration, and we'll do the technique of labeling the distraction as a way to build up our vigilance. Report an error in the passage at 51:52 Highlight the passage at 51:52

52:24 And then the next fault, not applying the antidotes. So, in the previous step, we noticed that we had a problem. That's all vigilance does. It says, hey, you're distracted. It doesn't do anything about it. So now, So our job is to apply the antidotes. So the fault, non-application of the antidotes, the correction for that is applying the antidotes. Report an error in the passage at 52:24 Highlight the passage at 52:24

52:53 And we just talked about those. You know, they do these things over and over and over again, just in case we don't get it. So application of the antidotes for distraction. You don't think so, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 52:53 Highlight the passage at 52:53

53:07 Loosening up the focus, thinking of a sobering topic, returning to breath awareness for a few minutes for dullness, tightening up, thinking of an inspiring subject, briefly get up, walk around, get fresh air, splash your Facebook order, apply the antidote. And now the next fault, really interesting, over application. When your meditation gets really good, it's a fault if you apply an antidote that you don't have to. Report an error in the passage at 53:07 Highlight the passage at 53:07

53:36 Your meditation is going great. And then you freak, you know, we panic. We sort of second guess our own good meditation. Oh wait, it's going really well. She said that thing about some bonus. I bet it's some bonus. Okay, I'll correct for that. And then you spin out into agitation. And this is the way a lot of these nine levels leading up to really good single point of concentration. Report an error in the passage at 53:36 Highlight the passage at 53:36

54:01 At one level, you're correcting for a certain problem and then it tips you over into the other problem and then the next level is like making that mid-course correction for that problem that tips you just slightly over to the other extreme. So it's like that. But then when you finally got it really right, leave it alone. Don't correct for something that isn't a problem. Report an error in the passage at 54:01 Highlight the passage at 54:01

54:26 So just leaving it alone. So any questions about these five faults and these eight antidotes? Report an error in the passage at 54:26 Highlight the passage at 54:26

54:40 A kind of a summary of what we've been talking about so far today. And keep these in mind. Think of these. Apply the proper correction for the problem that you have. And your meditation will really progress. Just try and apply the really proper antidote for the problem that you have. kind of a summary. Report an error in the passage at 54:40 Highlight the passage at 54:40

55:07 Let's take a break and then we'll do another meditation. Has everybody digested enough so that you can maybe meditate on loving kindness? If I give you a tea break for a bribery. So let's take about, let's come back at ten after and then we'll do loving kindness meditation and then we'll start, maybe if we have time. Report an error in the passage at 55:07 Highlight the passage at 55:07

55:34 We'll do a brief version of the preliminaries, and then we'll start talking a little bit about how to set up a daily meditation practice. Okay, so take down about ten after, about twelve minutes, and then we'll come back in the evening. Report an error in the passage at 55:34 Highlight the passage at 55:34

· · · silence, 1 minute

56:37 a baby. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 56:37 Highlight the passage at 56:37

56:44 distracted, boy. Oh, really? Yeah. You're distracted, boy. No, everyone. Are you having a boy or a girl? Report an error in the passage at 56:44 Highlight the passage at 56:44

56:58 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 56:58 Highlight the passage at 56:58

57:07 cool. Report an error in the passage at 57:07 Highlight the passage at 57:07

57:15 we've got to go. We're just going to keep an eye on each other. And we don't have any other problem. We don't have any other problem. We don't have any other problem. We have any other problem. Report an error in the passage at 57:15 Highlight the passage at 57:15

57:26 don't know what happened. Report an error in the passage at 57:26 Highlight the passage at 57:26

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58:21 I'm going to get too cold in here. Report an error in the passage at 58:21 Highlight the passage at 58:21

58:30 here but talking about it Report an error in the passage at 58:30 Highlight the passage at 58:30

58:44 that's it. Report an error in the passage at 58:44 Highlight the passage at 58:44

58:57 Hello, Koa. How are you still working? Oh, ok. No, I wanted to know how you were. Is everything okay? Oh, that's good, that's good. Is the gardener ready? Okay, I can talk with him. I can talk with him now. I can talk with him at 2 o 'clock in the afternoon. called to know how they were, and yes, I talked to him, but ask him if he wants to talk, because he sent me quickly. Yes. Report an error in the passage at 58:57 Highlight the passage at 58:57

59:27 No, tranquilo, no lo vienes si te habló. How are you? Are you playing? Report an error in the passage at 59:27 Highlight the passage at 59:27

59:39 you playing? Are you playing? Report an error in the passage at 59:39 Highlight the passage at 59:39

59:48 Oh, very good! Report an error in the passage at 59:48 Highlight the passage at 59:48

59:57 No, ¿tienes o no tienes? But this one has the... Dali, ¿tienes o no tienes? Por eso, pues mañana te alistas rápido y te vas con el Papi a Trader Joe's, ¿ok? Report an error in the passage at 59:57 Highlight the passage at 59:57

1:00:12 ¿Ok? Te amo, mi amor. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:12 Highlight the passage at 1:00:12

1:00:20 Dali, te amo. Gordo. Ya, mi vida, cuídate pues, que puedes... mean... Report an error in the passage at 1:00:20 Highlight the passage at 1:00:20

1:00:24 'accordo. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:24 Highlight the passage at 1:00:24

1:00:36 viendo una película de Garfin? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:36 Highlight the passage at 1:00:36

1:01:02 8-15-8-20 Report an error in the passage at 1:01:02 Highlight the passage at 1:01:02

1:01:09 815, 820. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:09 Highlight the passage at 1:01:09

1:01:18 Oh, but she didn't sound like Indula, who spoke to me. How was everything? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:18 Highlight the passage at 1:01:18

1:01:26 Oh, but what do you want to say? I don't think so. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:26 Highlight the passage at 1:01:26

1:01:33 How was everything? Okay, good. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:33 Highlight the passage at 1:01:33

1:01:49 I don't know, but how are you? you very much. Okay, and this, oye, and cuéntame, estaba bien feito? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:49 Highlight the passage at 1:01:49

1:02:06 Okay. Okay. Bueno, y la hija le explicaste que hicieron lo mejor, le dijiste, sí, ¿y ella qué te dijo? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:06 Highlight the passage at 1:02:06

1:02:15 Okay. Ella sí entendió. Okay, pero la viejita no. Y no hablaban, no hablaban inglés ellos, pues. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:15 Highlight the passage at 1:02:15

1:02:30 Oh, okay. Oh, mira, pues. Pero por los nombres, ¿no? Por los nombres. Pero, bueno, hiciste lo mejor. Eso va a ser. ¿No es cierto? Y ya, pues, si tenemos hijos, si podemos sacar en buena hora. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:30 Highlight the passage at 1:02:30

1:02:56 Claro. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:56 Highlight the passage at 1:02:56

1:03:03 ¿Cuánto le cobraste? ¿200? Well, yeah. She has all the ratings. She has all the ratings. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:03 Highlight the passage at 1:03:03

1:03:24 be equal. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:24 Highlight the passage at 1:03:24

1:03:29 no. Mañana me das. Mañana. Para no en tanto pirijala. Mañana me das. And then abstentious. But well, I was curious to see how you had gone, how you had been. You did your best, that's very important. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:29 Highlight the passage at 1:03:29

1:03:51 It's a bit difficult to make them happy, it's a bit difficult. Yes, it always happens. But well, the important thing is that our intention was good. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:51 Highlight the passage at 1:03:51

1:04:04 Okay, well, I wanted to know how you were and how you had gone. Thank Report an error in the passage at 1:04:04 Highlight the passage at 1:04:04

1:04:15 you. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:15 Highlight the passage at 1:04:15

1:04:32 entonces ya hijo, listo pues para apuntarle, pues dos y veinte era como dos y veinte era, ¿no? Ok, listo, cuídate pues. Bye. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:32 Highlight the passage at 1:04:32

1:05:06 We'll be in 10 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:06 Highlight the passage at 1:05:06

1:05:30 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:30 Highlight the passage at 1:05:30

1:05:40 incense from my... No, this is the whole world. Maybe it's just you. Yeah, yeah. I think it's embossing. I used to wear... I used to have a headband with these beautiful lines. It was like an unknown one. I think it was really loud. And people would come back to me and say, wow, that's so sad. That's so sad. That's official. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:40 Highlight the passage at 1:05:40

1:06:04 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:04 Highlight the passage at 1:06:04

1:06:09 I think it's, you know, combined. No, this is real. That is real. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:09 Highlight the passage at 1:06:09

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1:07:00 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:00 Highlight the passage at 1:07:00

1:07:21 Because of the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:21 Highlight the passage at 1:07:21

1:07:33 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:33 Highlight the passage at 1:07:33

1:08:00 I'll judge on matches there. I don't want to do that. I don't need to hold. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:00 Highlight the passage at 1:08:00

1:08:26 And Report an error in the passage at 1:08:26 Highlight the passage at 1:08:26

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:09:46 I mentioned before that the definition of love in Buddhism is the wish for others to have happiness. That's the definition of love. We could go into a whole big conversation about the difference between love and attachment. When we think about love, often it means a lot of other things. But just simply the wish for others to have happiness. The qualities that we're trying to strengthen in ourselves. It exists in us as a potential. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:46 Highlight the passage at 1:09:46

1:10:15 Sometimes it exists in terms of us having this wish for the people closest to us and maybe we don't have this wish for others. So in this meditation we'll look at broadening that natural wish that we have for someone close to us to have happiness and try and generate it for others, right? So maybe people that aren't so close to strangers and then maybe even to the people that are difficult. This is one of the things that we're working on in Buddhism is this equanimity or equality, overcoming our partiality, having these warm, close feelings only to the people. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:15 Highlight the passage at 1:10:15

1:10:54 That have done something nice to us or that we feel personally close to. So this is a type of meditation. We're not doing so much analysis in this as we are just trying to build up this question. So we'll do it in the context of our preliminaries. And what I wanted to do for this meditation is an example of a more abbreviated preliminary practice. And in terms of preliminary prayers and meditations, we'll just do refuge. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:54 Highlight the passage at 1:10:54

1:11:24 in Bodhi Chita and the seven moon prayer. That's kind of the minimum. So it's a way of doing it a little bit So if you find yourself short of time, instead of doing all of the four immeasurables and the mandala offering and everything, we can do it a little bit more briefly. Okay, so let's get in our meditation posture, our back straight, just Report an error in the passage at 1:11:24 Highlight the passage at 1:11:24

1:11:55 spend a minute or two focusing on your breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:55 Highlight the passage at 1:11:55

1:12:10 reminding me anna just reminded me and let's do that we'll also do the body scan Report an error in the passage at 1:12:10 Highlight the passage at 1:12:10

1:12:27 we focus on the breath, we'll do the body scan I mentioned before. So let's start at the crown of the head and start to sweep down, noting if there's any tension that you're holding in your body. Sweeping down from the crown of the head, especially the area around the eyes, if you're holding any tension through the forehead, heightening the eye, squinting down and just relax. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:27 Highlight the passage at 1:12:27

1:13:11 Imagine, if you will, warm water just flowing down from the crown of your head, just loosening and relaxing, so relaxing your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:11 Highlight the passage at 1:13:11

1:13:29 Tighten the muscles of your face, Report an error in the passage at 1:13:29 Highlight the passage at 1:13:29

1:13:37 not letting your jaw hang open, but just making sure your jaw is going to clench and tight, Report an error in the passage at 1:13:37 Highlight the passage at 1:13:37

1:13:53 relaxing as this warm wave goes down through your body, your shoulders often will tighten, hold so much stiffness in our shoulders, so while keeping an upright posture, just relax. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:53 Highlight the passage at 1:13:53

1:14:15 Almost as if your spine is like the trunk of a tree and then your body just relaxing around it like the branches of a tree hanging down. Your Report an error in the passage at 1:14:15 Highlight the passage at 1:14:15

1:14:30 shoulders loosening Report an error in the passage at 1:14:30 Highlight the passage at 1:14:30

1:14:35 any tension, relaxing your muscles down through your back and your arms down through your hands. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:35 Highlight the passage at 1:14:35

1:14:49 If there's any tension through Report an error in the passage at 1:14:49 Highlight the passage at 1:14:49

1:15:00 your torso, especially notice the small of your back often you hold tension there. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:00 Highlight the passage at 1:15:00

1:15:09 Keeping that upright posture, the calm of the spine, just relaxing the body around it. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:09 Highlight the passage at 1:15:09

1:15:21 Down through the hips and pelvis, Report an error in the passage at 1:15:21 Highlight the passage at 1:15:21

1:15:53 with loose tension there. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:53 Highlight the passage at 1:15:53

1:16:11 Come off this relaxation process with three long, deep breaths. Having all the stale oxygen out of your lungs, take three big, deep breaths. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:11 Highlight the passage at 1:16:11

· · · silence, 33 minutes

1:48:56 It's almost like mentally, mentally cold water on your face, sort of mentally just sort of like, you know, tightening your grip. Gosh, it's hard do it, but you notice that you're just a little slack, like the object's sort of you know, you're kind of, oh, loving kindness, right, like in this vague... Report an error in the passage at 1:48:56 Highlight the passage at 1:48:56

1:49:21 It's just about making it more immediate and more clear. It's kind of that quality. Clarity is what we're looking for there. Like we could still have the object in our grip, you know, just in a very kind of slack way, but it's getting that sharpness and kind of tightening up the clarity a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:21 Highlight the passage at 1:49:21

1:49:45 It's just kind of a shift to make it more sort of bright and clear and immediate. It's kind of like that. You know, you haven't lost your grip completely, but it's almost. It's just sort of borderline slipping into that. of drowsy stage just you know imagine just if you did kind of throw I can ask Report an error in the passage at 1:49:45 Highlight the passage at 1:49:45

1:50:16 another question. When you're generating feelings of loving kindness, how much effort do you feel? I don't know how to explain it. It's almost like you're taking a breath in and you're shooting through me. How much effort and how much stability is Yeah, and it keeps getting better. That's whether you start with someone easy. Because then you flow going in. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:16 Highlight the passage at 1:50:16

1:50:50 Like you start with someone really easy for you to feel loving kindness to. And you know the way, you know, they say sometimes it's almost like pouring hot water into a cold bathtub. You almost feel from your heart this feeling of warmth. Like you think of your best friend or your most beloved. And this one student who would always ask me if you could think of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:50 Highlight the passage at 1:50:50

1:51:10 he doesn't have one in anything, you know. And then you naturally feel this sort of outpouring. You visualize them sitting in front of you and you're like, wow. And then it's just really a natural outpouring. And then you just try and extend it. Then switch the object. Trick yourself. It's coming out. There's this flow. Now think of maybe somebody not so close or that next level like we did in this meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:10 Highlight the passage at 1:51:10

1:51:42 Keep that kind of effortless flow going. You know, that's sort of the way we're progressing with this, like tricking ourselves by starting with somebody that's easy to get that flow of loving kindness going and then you just kind of keep like chunk, chunk, chunk. Keep putting up the next object and see if you can just keep it going. When it gets blocked, when it's just kind of like, ooh, that X mother-in-law. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:42 Highlight the passage at 1:51:42

1:52:12 Sometimes the advice is back up one level and get it flowing again, you know, instead of just, you know, pushing and like, whizzing it out. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:12 Highlight the passage at 1:52:12

1:52:25 I had this friend who's a Buddhist and she was talking about doing loving kindness meditation with her father that she had this really difficult relationship with. And he'd sort of, you know, she was sort of one kid too many and she was just so devoted to him when she was a little girl but he just sort of had it with the kids by the time she came along she was number four or something and she just felt like she couldn't do anything to please him. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:25 Highlight the passage at 1:52:25

1:52:51 She was talking about doing all this loving kindness meditation with him during this long meditation retreat and she said she felt like it was flowing from her side but she felt this resistance coming from his side. Like I don't want your loving kindness. You just keep your learning kindness to yourself. But it was really flowing from her side and she felt like at one point she was just like, you're going to have it. You're going to have my learning kindness. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:51 Highlight the passage at 1:52:51

1:53:17 So sometimes we feel resistance from our side, sometimes we feel resistance from the object side. But that's why we kind of start up with the objects that are effortless and then just try and kind of get into the groove of that flow. And when we feel the flow... slacking off, just sort of back up one level and kind of get it going again. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:17 Highlight the passage at 1:53:17

1:53:38 When we practice in stages, we don't start with the most difficult object because it's too hard to generate it and then we get discouraged. So when we get to the enemy, it's like the language of the godly meditation shifts a little bit. Oh, let's see if we can do it. And we might not be able to and also not making ourselves wrong for not doing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:38 Highlight the passage at 1:53:38

1:54:00 being able to do that. And if you're just with the closed objects for a while to really get in touch with what that feels like, that's okay too. That's okay too. You know, so we have to just of progress with it and just be really okay with wherever we are and not like make ourselves wrong that suddenly the flow is sort of stopped. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:00 Highlight the passage at 1:54:00

1:54:26 To continue in regards to the question. It's easy, as you said, if we imagine the people we're closest to. When you go to the next level, maybe at every session you tell yourself, I'm just going to do two. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:26 Highlight the passage at 1:54:26

1:54:45 And every session will be two different people. So it's kind of like a little bit structured. Yeah, no, that's great. That's a really good idea. Just decide ahead of time. I want to go up to this level with these. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:45 Highlight the passage at 1:54:45

1:54:59 That's what I'm going to do for this session. Because we just have such a tendency to make ourselves wrong for not being perfect already. It's called practice for a reason. And then we just get discouraged and we make it so huge. Like, oh, I have to do the whole universe by 4.15, you know? And then it's sort of just like, oh, God, you know? So I think that's a great idea. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:59 Highlight the passage at 1:54:59

1:55:25 You know, when we lead through with this one, we kind of go to all sentient themes, but I think it's really good to do it in, you know, stages. And that's why it's nice to sometimes have like a retreat day or a retreat weekend. You can even just take one topic like love and kindness and really explore and keep kind of pushing the boundary little by little. You have enough time to really sink into it, enough time to generate that feeling for the close ones, and then enough time to try and kind of get the feeling generated even for the ones that aren't that close. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:25 Highlight the passage at 1:55:25

1:55:59 But yeah, it's really good to just decide ahead of time so you're not... Setting yourself up for the feet of a temp level bodhisattva every meditation session and then you're just like, oh god, I can't do it. Yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah, Roger. Is there any meditation process that you do at work when you're having one of those days? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:59 Highlight the passage at 1:55:59

1:56:23 Oh yeah, we can do a whole weekend. That's a good one, time for a whole weekend. We have another weekend in June. They have me do a class in New Zealand and they called it Play on Words of the Heart Sūtra. Emptiness is the office, the office is empty. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:23 Highlight the passage at 1:56:23

1:56:49 Yeah, yeah. And that thing of questioning appearances is great, you know. Look at what you're creating with your mind. How much is really there and how much are you creating? And so I created this huge story this week. I think it was Wednesday or Thursday. I mean, I create many stories on a daily basis. Let's get this straight. But a really big one. I think it was Wednesday or Thursday. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:49 Highlight the passage at 1:56:49

1:57:15 And I saw what I was doing. So there's this part of me that's just like, girlfriend, what are you doing? And then this part of me is all into the story. You know, I have made up the story. And it's so funny, I woke up this morning thinking about the story, and it had just exploded somehow overnight. And I was just like, what was that all about? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:15 Highlight the passage at 1:57:15

1:57:36 Like I was just in this fixed view of this certain situation, even though part of me knew that I was doing it, but it was still, I was really into it. And then this morning I was just like, it's just gone. Like that whole story I have about that situation, it's like, just gone. And that's the way it always is, especially those stories that stir up so much emotion. So, you know, the more you study, you said you're kind of new to Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:36 Highlight the passage at 1:57:36

1:58:06 The more you study and the more you practice, it's like you feel kind of like you're given an empty tool case. And then every class you get a couple more tools to put into your tool kit, right? And so you have the right tool. For that situation that happens at work, and then you're just like, oh, pardon me a minute, oh, the impermanence, wrench, right, like this isn't going to last forever, the way it feels to me, and you pull out the appropriate tool. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:06 Highlight the passage at 1:58:06

1:58:36 And that's a big part of what Buddhist practice is. And by the way, when we talk about meditation, we mentioned it briefly this morning, the point of meditation isn't to get a 45 minute break from real life every morning. The point of meditation is to use that 45 minutes to make the other 23 hours and 15 minutes different. And that's the only reason to meditate, is for that 23 hours and 15 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:36 Highlight the passage at 1:58:36

1:59:02 It's not about a little vacation from real life. It's using those insights, that deepening, those realizations and applying it. So your question is like, really the reason for meditation is to be able to use those Those insights that you get when that situation comes up at work. And it's a really interesting process. You know, when you notice that you've applied something that you heard Saturday afternoon at Se Chin Ling on Wednesday morning at the staff meeting, and you notice that something that you learned or something that you meditated on actually changed that knee-jerk reaction. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:02 Highlight the passage at 1:59:02

1:59:43 That's cool. That's success in your Buddhist practice. And if it doesn't change the way you react at the staff meeting Wednesday morning, something's wrong and your practice isn't working. And gradually, gradually you get your toolkit kind of kitted out with all of your, you know, special... Tools, and then it becomes kind of second nature to pull them out to deal with those situations. Yeah, yeah. But we could, we can do a whole, I think there should be support groups for that, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:43 Highlight the passage at 1:59:43

2:00:14 I think T.J. should run an, like, emptiness in the office support group. Everybody can train their stories about how it works in real life. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:14 Highlight the passage at 2:00:14

2:00:26 Any other questions? People are looking a little glazed. to use it for 4 o 'clock, so they would just... We'll leave it at that for today. And then tomorrow what I want to, well we'll start with the meditation and we'll do, why don't we try a single point of concentration with that visualized image of the Buddha that we set up at the beginning. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:26 Highlight the passage at 2:00:26

2:00:48 We'll just try that as an object. Because often people are familiar with the breath as an object. People have tried that and maybe haven't tried so much that visualized image. So we'll experiment with that. We'll also do the noting. The distraction thing to try and train our vigilance. So that will be our first thing in the morning. We'll experiment with that. And then what I wanted to get into after that, just to make sure that we don't run out of time because it's so important, is talking more about how to set up a daily practice. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:48 Highlight the passage at 2:00:48

2:01:20 Some of these questions like Matt's question about, okay, I've got my toolkit. What do I do now? Which ones do I pull out when I'm sitting on my cushion? What practices do I try? Because that's one of the beauties of the Tibetan tradition. It is also something that makes it kind of confusing. You've got a lot of different techniques. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:20 Highlight the passage at 2:01:20

2:01:39 It's not just like watching the breath like it is in some other traditions. It's like you've got all these different things. How do you decide? We'll talk about that and more about how to set up a daily practice, so we'll try and get practical about talking about that. And then I think we'll still have some time. We have a shorter amount of time tomorrow because we just have the 10 to 1 session. And then we'll talk, if we have more time, we'll go quickly through these levels of developing single-pointed concentration, just talk about those a bit, and then talk a little bit about a longer retreat, whether it's like a weekend, you know, we'll talk about daily practice in the morning. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:39 Highlight the passage at 2:01:39

2:02:20 Time near the end of the session, we'll talk more about the qualities to look for and the things to sort of put into place if you want to do a slightly longer, whether it's a weekend or six years, whatever, or anything in between. Same qualities that you're looking for. Okay, so we'll go through that. So that's our agenda. We'll try to pack all of that into three hours and give you a tea break. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:20 Highlight the passage at 2:02:20

2:02:47 Let's see, can we do it? We'll try. All right, so just dedicated the merit about 10 minutes ago, so add on the extra 10 minutes to that, and I'll see you in the morning. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:47 Highlight the passage at 2:02:47

2:03:19 put some hat pins in the Bible Punchbowl in the cafe. A Report an error in the passage at 2:03:19 Highlight the passage at 2:03:19

2:03:35 couple of people have asked about appointments. At this point, Tenzin Chogkyi has already booked student appointments for after today. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:35 Highlight the passage at 2:03:35

2:03:45 And after tomorrow, since she can't. She is coming back up in two weeks, so if people are interested in an appointment, maybe send me an email right now, like within the next day or two, and then we'll try to set that up for her next visit. And then if that doesn't work, then she's coming in June, fortunately. Thanks. 10 a.m. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:45 Highlight the passage at 2:03:45

2:04:09 tomorrow, so try to be here so that we can all be ready by 10 a.m. And allow for difficulty of parking, those of you who are driving. Sunday mornings we'll talk. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:09 Highlight the passage at 2:04:09