Latest / Lama Lena Teachings / [1/2] Inner Mind Rushen (Public) (Nov 2024)

Transcript

[1/2] Inner Mind Rushen (Public) (Nov 2024) · Lama Lena Teachings

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: You are live.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: So this is inner mind Russian.
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  We are doing it publicly and recorded because there were 400
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  people signed up for it.
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  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't want to do it by groups of 50.
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  That would have been eight times saying the same thing again
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  and again and again.
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  so next time somebody wants it it'll be nicely recorded up
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  there and I can say new
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  SPEAKER_01: things which we will all enjoy.
• 0:39
  Meanwhile,
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  why are 36 Spanish speakers waiting and what are they waiting
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  for?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Where are you seeing that?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Slack coming through on the banners.
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay, one moment.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let me...
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: So double check what's going on there.
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  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to start with the way everything starts.
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  SPEAKER_01: Rising Bodhicitta.
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  SPEAKER_01: And Refuge in the form of Guru Yoga.
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  SPEAKER_02: Njugu Kunduzongo Bombayi.
• 1:26
  Doerji Sempa Garab Doerji Dang Shere Singi Bardushin Labde
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  Deidam Avzan Tata Tusam
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  SPEAKER_01: Chi Zogchen Jupe Lama La Sol La Wadib Urgin Pema Juni La Sol La Wadib
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  Ndurjichang Chittiloh Narudang Marpa Milagomputsatsapa
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  Napupadang Paldenrupa Suk
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  SPEAKER_02: Kargyu Lama Namla Soluadeb Ochen Lama Namla Soluadeb
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  Kaginwari Lama Namla Sol Vahadev Ndruchen Lama Namla Sol
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  Vahadev Syakya Lama Namla
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: Sol Vahadev Nyandhu Dangyundran Lama Namla Sol Vahadev
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
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  SPEAKER_01: By the time you are doing Inner Mind Ruchen,
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  SPEAKER_01: you should be quite conversant with the Four Turning Minds.
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  You should have a clear understanding of what it means to be
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  fully human with the
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  SPEAKER_01: full range of human opportunities.
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  SPEAKER_01: You should be very clear
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  SPEAKER_01: on impermanence.
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  This will give you a hard time if you do not realize that
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  anything with a beginning will end.
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  SPEAKER_01: Just remember that.
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  SPEAKER_01: Contemplate it sometime in your spare time to see if it's true.
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  SPEAKER_01: So that said,
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  SPEAKER_01: the nature of the sufferings of samsara,
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  SPEAKER_01: how that works and why it hurts,
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  SPEAKER_01: and what it is about it that hurts,
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  SPEAKER_00: much of which has to do with impermanence,
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  SPEAKER_01: and how karma works,
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  the natural laws that govern the interrelation between
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  occurrences across time,
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  SPEAKER_01: and why this thing rather than that thing occurs.
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  SPEAKER_01: So, back to impermanence.
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  SPEAKER_01: Considering that anything that has a beginning will have an end,
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  SPEAKER_01: obviously,
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  SPEAKER_01: you cannot get enlightened.
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  SPEAKER_01: You cannot achieve enlightenment at some point in time
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  SPEAKER_01: If you could, it would wear off.
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  SPEAKER_01: And what would be the point?
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  SPEAKER_01: You might as well take acid and have a fun trip.
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  The thing to note here is that for enlightenment as it is to be
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  truly possible...
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  SPEAKER_00: Can I get a rice sauce?
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  SPEAKER_01: You need to realize that Buddha nature is already there.
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  SPEAKER_01: Kata.
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  SPEAKER_01: Unfuckuppable.
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  SPEAKER_01: Always present.
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  SPEAKER_01: One notices enlightenment.
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  SPEAKER_01: One realizes enlightenment.
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  SPEAKER_01: One does not achieve or get enlightened.
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  SPEAKER_01: See the difference here.
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  SPEAKER_01: This is a very important difference.
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  For if you do not recognize that enlightenment is already an
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  inherent part of you,
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  SPEAKER_01: none of these teachings will make any sense to you.
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  SPEAKER_01: And if you think it's something you can be good enough to achieve,
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  you will continue chasing your tail for all eternity across
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  time and space.
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  SPEAKER_01: So forget about that.
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  SPEAKER_01: These teachings,
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  SPEAKER_01: the inner mind,
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  SPEAKER_01: Ruchen,
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  SPEAKER_01: are how to bring your attention,
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  SPEAKER_01: which moves,
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  SPEAKER_01: to your mind itself,
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  SPEAKER_01: which does not move.
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  SPEAKER_01: The analogy standardly given is space and matter.
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  SPEAKER_01: Moves around in space.
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  SPEAKER_01: Space is unaffected by this.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now don't go giving me quantum physics here.
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  SPEAKER_01: We're talking about large physics.
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  SPEAKER_01: Big stuff.
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  SPEAKER_01: Stuff like atoms and molecules.
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  Space in normal physics is not in the least bit affected by
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  matter moving through it.
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  SPEAKER_01: And until you start putting in an awful lot of decimal points or zeros,
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  you don't get to any of the equations where space appears to be
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  responsive to
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  SPEAKER_02: matter.
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  SPEAKER_01: So leave that out and stay in the normal world around here with me.
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  SPEAKER_01: But not what you've been told reading the advanced physics texts.
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  SPEAKER_01: What you can feel and see with your own hands and eyeballs.
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  SPEAKER_01: what you know by your own experience and look and see that matter.
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  SPEAKER_01: Airplanes, coffee cups, cheese balls, persimmons, fluttering leaves,
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  SPEAKER_01: These move through space.
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  SPEAKER_01: Space, however, is not affected by the coffee pot moving around in it.
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  SPEAKER_01: In this way,
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  SPEAKER_01: Your mind has thoughts moving around in it.
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  SPEAKER_01: It has feelings moving around in it.
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  SPEAKER_01: As in,
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  SPEAKER_01: moving around as in,
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  SPEAKER_01: sometimes you feel this way,
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  SPEAKER_01: sometimes you feel that way,
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  SPEAKER_01: happy,
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  SPEAKER_01: sad.
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  Thoughts,
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  sometimes you think of lunch,
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  and sometimes you think of yesterday.
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  SPEAKER_01: Different thoughts and sensations.
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  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes your feet are warm.
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  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes your feet are cold.
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  SPEAKER_01: These different sensations occur.
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  SPEAKER_01: They change.
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  SPEAKER_01: They move around in your mind.
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  SPEAKER_01: Sensations of the six sense organs are noticed by mind.
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  SPEAKER_01: And we're going to talk about mind a lot.
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  SPEAKER_01: Maybe we better define that word in Tibetan sem.
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  SPEAKER_01: That's the word I'm meaning.
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  SPEAKER_01: And with sem, we say mind sem is the thinker of the thoughts.
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  SPEAKER_01: The
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  SPEAKER_01: feeler of the feelings, the sensor of the sensations.
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  SPEAKER_01: So this is how we define mind.
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  Even a jellyfish that senses if you poke it with a finger and
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  moves away from the
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  SPEAKER_01: stimulus has some level of mind
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  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't require a brain.
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  SPEAKER_01: Anything that reacts to stimulus has mind.
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  We define a sentient being as that which has attraction and
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  aversion,
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  want and don't want.
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  SPEAKER_01: An amoeba
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  SPEAKER_01: dropped on a slide alive in its surface water.
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  SPEAKER_01: If you drop something that is the amoeba's food,
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  SPEAKER_01: a bit of glucose on the slide near it,
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  SPEAKER_01: it moves towards it because it wants it.
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  SPEAKER_01: If you drop something noxious to the amoeba,
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  SPEAKER_01: such as alcohol on the slide,
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  SPEAKER_01: it moves away from it.
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  SPEAKER_01: Even an amoeba, a single-cell organism, has a mind.
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  SPEAKER_01: Not a brain.
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  SPEAKER_01: There's nowhere in there.
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  If you look at the anatomy of an amoeba,
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  go ahead,
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  look it up on Google later.
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  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing like a brain.
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  SPEAKER_01: Jellyfish don't have them either.
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  SPEAKER_01: Lots of things don't have brains.
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  SPEAKER_01: And they still have mind.
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  SPEAKER_01: They still respond by moving towards or away from stimulus,
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  SPEAKER_01: depending on whether it is desire that they feel or aversion.
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  SPEAKER_01: As such, moving towards and away, this is how we define a sentient being.
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  SPEAKER_01: We define human
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  as anything that can communicate abstract and squeaky abstract
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  concepts in a
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  language now that language could be sonar or colored patterns
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  on the skin it
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  SPEAKER_01: doesn't have to be an audio language
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  SPEAKER_01: And within sentient beings, human is one category.
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  SPEAKER_01: Homo sapien is only one category of human.
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  Within human,
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  there is a category in which some Homo sapiens are and some
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  aren't.
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  SPEAKER_01: This is called full human opportunity.
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  SPEAKER_01: The Tibetans say literally precious human rebirth.
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  SPEAKER_01: Read up on it, it's important.
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  SPEAKER_01: Know what the criteria is of having full human opportunity.
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  SPEAKER_01: The single chance towards free will.
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  SPEAKER_01: So,
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  once we have acknowledged that we defined mind as the thinker
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  of the thoughts,
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  SPEAKER_01: the feeler of the feelings,
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  SPEAKER_01: the sensor of the sensations,
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  SPEAKER_01: the next point is,
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  SPEAKER_01: and what is mind?
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  SPEAKER_01: Exactly where is mind?
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  SPEAKER_01: We know what it does, but we don't yet know what it looks like.
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  SPEAKER_01: So understand the Tibetans are a oral lineage.
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  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, things are broken down into easy to remember parts.
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  SPEAKER_01: So in this case, we have broken down
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  these teachings how to recognize mind how to find mind how to
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  notice your own
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  SPEAKER_01: inherent enlightenment into one teachings of the body two
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  SPEAKER_01: teachings of the speech and three teachings of the mind.
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  SPEAKER_01: So I will start here with teachings of the body.
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  SPEAKER_01: There are a variety of ways to sit.
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  SPEAKER_01: These teachings of the body are not required by me.
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  SPEAKER_01: They are not good rather than bad.
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  SPEAKER_01: Don't get all tangled up in them.
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  SPEAKER_01: They simply make it easier.
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  If you follow these instructions you will find your mind faster
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  and with more ease
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  SPEAKER_01: than if you don't.
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  So the first instruction of the body is to sit in either a full
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  lotus position
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  A Half Lotus Position A Maitreya Position Or a Japanese
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  Kneeling Chair Position For
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  those for whom there are reasons not to do this you can also
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  sometimes stand in
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  SPEAKER_01: what is known in martial arts as the Horse Stance
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  It also has enough balance,
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  but you can't maintain it nearly as long as you can the others.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's only good for brief periods.
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  Actually,
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  the mitria position is not that good for you for long periods
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  either.
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  SPEAKER_01: You're much better off with lotus or half lotus, if you can.
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  SPEAKER_01: If you've had your knees or your hips replaced, arthritis,
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  SPEAKER_01: Different things,
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  SPEAKER_01: back problems,
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  SPEAKER_01: make it difficult for you to sit in a full lotus or a half lotus.
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  SPEAKER_01: Then try one of the others.
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  SPEAKER_01: The full lotus.
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  SPEAKER_01: You take your left leg and you put it up on your right thigh.
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  Then you take your right leg and put it up on your left thigh
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  so your feet are
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  SPEAKER_01: sticking up flapping.
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  SPEAKER_01: Or at least wiggling toes.
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  SPEAKER_01: You'd think this wouldn't be that comfortable for that long.
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  SPEAKER_01: If you're young and skinny, you could spend the night like that.
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  SPEAKER_01: You can actually sleep like that.
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  SPEAKER_01: I've done it.
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  SPEAKER_01: If you're old and fat, it can be problematic.
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  The people of the dry jungle,
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  the men especially,
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  have really thin thighs.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's genetic.
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  SPEAKER_01: For them it's easy.
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  If you are a woman with really thick thighs it might be
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  problematic and you might
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  SPEAKER_01: want to try a half lotus.
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  There are meditation sashes that can go around you and are used
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  to support your knees.
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  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure they're for sale.
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  SPEAKER_01: There's different styles.
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  The one I use is quilted to give it a little turgor and twice
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  as long as I am tall
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  SPEAKER_01: and you just tie a knot however you want it tight.
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  SPEAKER_01: That way you can use it in a lot of different ways.
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  SPEAKER_01: There's some that are sewn in a loop.
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  If you're going to be serious about this you might want to get
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  yourself one.
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  I keep trying to get one of my students to volunteer to make
• 20:00
  them for people and
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  SPEAKER_01: sell them to people,
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  SPEAKER_01: or not sell them,
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  but give them to people and request donations from other people
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  to keep that
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  SPEAKER_01: perpetuating.
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  It's a really fun way of exchanging goods where everybody gets
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  lots of gaywa.
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  I'll talk more about that if you get interested,
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  but then you gotta let me know.
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  SPEAKER_01: Maybe someone in New Orleans will wanna do that.
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  SPEAKER_01: The point being,
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  get yourself a meditation belt or a long scarf and use that if
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  you need to hold
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  SPEAKER_01: your knees up a bit.
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  SPEAKER_01: Stick cushions under them if you have to.
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  SPEAKER_01: What's important is that your weight is not on your tailbone.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's on the joint between your thighs and your ass.
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  So it's slightly forward,
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  not too much forward or that's going to increase lordosis.
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  SPEAKER_01: And for me, I need a slight back rest in the lumber area at this time.
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  SPEAKER_01: So I'm always sticking a pillow behind my lumber.
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  That's to do with scoliosis and lordosis and stuff like that
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  that happens when you're old.
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  I think what I'm trying to the point I'm making for you here is
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  mess with your seat
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  SPEAKER_01: until it's comfortable.
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  SPEAKER_01: You want to be able to sit with your back straight
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  SPEAKER_01: Your arms out and loose,
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  SPEAKER_01: left hand in on the dantian,
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  SPEAKER_01: four fingers below the navel,
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  SPEAKER_01: right hand on top of it like a cushion.
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  SPEAKER_01: You should be able to stick an egg in your armpit, they say.
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  SPEAKER_01: Why you would want to do that, they don't say.
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  SPEAKER_01: But you should be able to, so there it is.
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  SPEAKER_01: Your elbows go out a bit.
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  SPEAKER_01: Tuck your chin back so your neck is not swayed.
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  SPEAKER_01: Make a little double chin.
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  SPEAKER_01: You should be balanced like this enough,
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  SPEAKER_01: sitting there in your full or half lotus,
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  SPEAKER_01: that if you doze off,
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  SPEAKER_01: you won't fall over.
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  SPEAKER_01: Practice it.
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  SPEAKER_01: Try it sometime when you're very, very sleepy.
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  SPEAKER_01: See if you've got the balance right to it.
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  SPEAKER_01: I gotta move that farther forward or I would fall over.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: There we go.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_01: Like that.
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  SPEAKER_01: Very relaxed.
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  That is the traditional position of North India in which our
• 22:46
  previous Buddha sat.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now all the pictures of Maitreya have him sitting in a chair.
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  SPEAKER_01: Remember we're continuing teachings of the body,
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  SPEAKER_01: which is how you put your body to make it easier.
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  SPEAKER_01: If you sit in a chair, your thighs are exactly parallel to the floor.
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  SPEAKER_01: Your calves are perpendicular.
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  SPEAKER_01: Your feet are flat on the floor.
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  SPEAKER_01: So if your chair is too tall or too short for you, you got a problem.
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  Either cut the legs off or put something under your feet so
• 23:26
  they sit flat.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: Or put something under the legs so that your chair is taller.
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  SPEAKER_01: Adjust.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now,
• 23:38
  Interestingly enough,
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  and your hands are just flat on the middle of your thighs.
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  SPEAKER_01: Interesting enough,
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  if you were to Google how to set up your desk chair for the
• 23:52
  best ergonomics,
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  SPEAKER_01: it would tell you all about the Maitreya position.
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  So if you forget these instructions,
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  that's where you look if you're going to chair sit.
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  I have not spent a lot of time practicing in the Japanese
• 24:12
  kneeling position,
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  but anyone in the Zen system can instruct you on that if that's
• 24:18
  the one you would
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: prefer.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: It also works.
• 24:30
  The horse stance is when there's nowhere to sit and you decide
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  to meditate for a few minutes.
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  SPEAKER_01: The horse stance is very simple.
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  SPEAKER_01: Your feet are directly below your shoulders, pointing directly forwards.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Your arms are round,
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  SPEAKER_01: near to your body,
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  SPEAKER_01: but not pressing on it at the Dan Tien,
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  SPEAKER_01: which is four fingers width below your navel.
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  SPEAKER_01: Round, and then relax them.
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  SPEAKER_01: Your knees are bent.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Do not lock your knees.
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  SPEAKER_01: How far your knees are bent will you just find your point of comfort.
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  SPEAKER_01: And that's the horse stance.
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  SPEAKER_01: Again, this is back.
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  SPEAKER_01: Shoulders are back.
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  SPEAKER_01: Your hands don't actually come together in front.
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  SPEAKER_01: They're sort of off a bit.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: But they would if you put them closer.
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  SPEAKER_01: But it's more rounded and relaxed.
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  SPEAKER_01: Horse stance is for temporary minutes.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: You're standing in line.
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  SPEAKER_01: The line is not moving.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you're going to take a few minutes to meditate.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: There's no wall to sit on.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that's how these positions of the body are used.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: I have taught you the gross positions.
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  SPEAKER_01: The subtle positions involve what you do with your eyeballs.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: You take them out and you put them over there.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: You believe me, you believe me, ha ha.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, seriously, I want you to notice something though.
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  SPEAKER_01: If you look over there,
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  SPEAKER_01: You will be paying attention to what's over there.
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  I bet you can't look in the other direction and not pay
• 26:15
  attention to what's over there.
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  SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
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  SPEAKER_01: Your attention follows your eyeballs.
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  SPEAKER_01: This is useful to notice.
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  SPEAKER_01: because in order to find your mind,
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: your innate Buddha nature,
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Great Mother Ocean Dharmakaya,
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: the nature of the three jewels as they are,
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: and George,
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  SPEAKER_01: Awa,
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: in order to find this,
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: you need to
• 27:04
  Look in a direction you have never looked in before It's not up
• 27:11
  there or down there
• 27:13
  It's not over there or there It's not back there or there So
• 27:20
  that's going to be
• 27:21
  like using a muscle you never used before Like trying to learn
• 27:25
  to wiggle your ears
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: when you weren't able to What you want to do
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: is look at a point in the air, in the empty space.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: If you are too close to the wall, move back.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: Look at a point about two meters in front of you.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: Call it two yards if you think in yards.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: Just a point in the empty air in which there is no thing.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, without moving your eyeballs,
• 28:06
  let go of your focus on the point allow the muscle that
• 28:20
  controls the lens of your
• 28:23
  eye and its depth focus to completely relax relax your eyeballs
• 28:33
  is the short way of
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: saying it
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Relax your attention as well.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: You do this until peripheral vision and central vision are equal.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's what the world looks like when you have relaxed the lens muscle.
• 29:05
  Usually there is a sharp point of vision directly in front of
• 29:10
  you at what you're
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: looking at and fuzzy around the edges.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: Change it.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: Eyes looking straight ahead.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: Point in space two meters ahead.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: Let go of point.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Let them relax.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: These are the teachings of the body.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: Some of you will find this easier to do with your glasses on.
• 29:48
  Others of you will find this easier to do,
• 29:51
  the eye gaze,
• 29:53
  with your glasses off.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: I suggest trying it both ways and see which way is easier for you.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: Nyando, are there any questions on this subject, the teachings of body?
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: How important is it to hold the eyes open during practice?
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: Extremely.
• 30:25
  Eventually you will hit a stage where there is no difference
• 30:28
  between practice and
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: not practice and if your eyes are closed you're going to bump into walls.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: Keep them open.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: You'll have to walk around in this at some point.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: You're allowed to blink though.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: Blink as naturally.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: Keep them open does not mean don't blink.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: It means don't close them and leave them closed.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: Continue.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: One other question here.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: I can experience an empty,
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: spacious quality,
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: but I struggle with...
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's not about how to position your body,
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: is it?
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: This is only about body positions right now.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: Other experiences you have in your personal practice, not yet.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, there is a physical question.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I just want the physical ones.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: If pain or discomfort sets in, should I adjust or sit with it?
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: You should adjust.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: You see,
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: there's the story of the yogi who was sitting in front of the fire,
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: sitting like this,
• 31:39
  but he was a little too close because it was the height of
• 31:42
  winter and he was cold.
• 31:45
  And he starts feeling pain in his foot,
• 31:48
  but he decides,
• 31:50
  oh,
• 31:50
  well,
• 31:51
  I don't need to adjust that.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's just my foot waking up and it had gotten too cold.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: And the pain gets worse.
• 31:59
  And then he starts to smell cooking food and he knows he has no
• 32:04
  pot on the fire.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: And he looks and he discovers that his sock is on fire.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: Got a little too close to the stove.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: Common sense.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: If it hurts, your body is telling you there's a problem there.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Adjust.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Fix the problem.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: It shouldn't hurt.
• 32:23
  Don't worry about fixing every little itch or minor twang that
• 32:29
  comes and goes.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: But if your knees are hurting,
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: the position you're in is not suitable to your knees at this time,
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: and you may need to put a pillow under it or something.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Next body question.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Is there an appropriate position lying down?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: There is not.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: For most cases,
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: because generally most people,
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: especially going through a long meditation session,
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: will fall asleep if they're lying down.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: So there really isn't.
• 33:15
  We can jury-rig things specifically for people with backs that
• 33:20
  can't sit up,
• 33:22
  but it is better to try to find a way to support yourself with
• 33:26
  backrests and
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: meditation sats sitting up.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: What about dry eyes, the eyes feeling dry while gazing?
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: Blink.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: Get some eye drops.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: If your eyes are drying out there and they don't normally dry out,
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: you aren't diagnosed with dry eye syndrome,
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: for which then you'd have eye drops to use just before you gazed,
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: then blink more.
• 34:04
  if it is often a problem do get it checked out it's a syndrome
• 34:09
  it can damage your
• 34:10
  vision in the end and you should see your ophthalmologist and
• 34:15
  find out ways to deal
• 34:17
  with it next question i am diagnosed with fibromyalgia and at
• 34:23
  some point my upper
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: back hurts a lot and i can't relax any advice
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: If you have fibromyalgia,
• 34:33
  you've been all through the different methods of causing
• 34:37
  relaxation and should by
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: now have figured out what works for you.
• 34:44
  If it's a new diagnosis,
• 34:47
  you can try massage,
• 34:50
  different types,
• 34:51
  gentle,
• 34:51
  deep.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: You can try a hot pack.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: You can try a hot bath.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: You can try many different methods
• 35:00
  to see what might work,
• 35:02
  including acupuncture trigger points and chiropractic.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's not something I can solve for you.
• 35:15
  But let me reassure you that for people I know with
• 35:18
  fibromyalgia,
• 35:20
  it is,
• 35:21
  oh,
• 35:22
  75,
• 35:23
  80% solvable.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: And you live with the 20.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: Is it okay to rest hands on my knees while sitting in lotus position?
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: Your hands should be in at the dan tien.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because you may happen to have,
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: oh,
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: a long torso and short arms,
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: you may need to put a pillow there to support them.
• 35:51
  But no,
• 35:51
  that is a different process,
• 35:55
  not this process where they rest on the knees.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Next question on this topic.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: Should I keep looking in front of me?
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: When I blur my vision and I try to keep my eyes still, they jerk.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: Don't try to keep your eyes still.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: Relax your eyes without intentionally moving them.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: If they want to jerk around, let them jerk around.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_02: They'll get over it.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's just the beginning.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: Let it pass.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: Let it pass through and be done.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: Not an uncommon experience.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: Anything else on body?
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: A lot to do with the eyes.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the eyes are important.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Issues with going cross-eyed while relaxing my eyes.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: Blink.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: Also a blink.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: Relax.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: Look,
• 36:56
  you're going to have some funny things happen while learning to
• 37:00
  relax your eyes
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: because you don't usually do this.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's a new skill.
• 37:05
  So accept that sometimes they'll go cross eyes or you'll get
• 37:09
  nystagmus or they'll
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: jerk around and sometimes your vision will white out.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: You haven't done it long enough to get that one.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: That one's kind of cute.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't mean anything.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: Just means your eyes are dilating.
• 37:22
  But do expect in the beginning of learning the skill of
• 37:26
  relaxing your eyeballs to
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: have an assortment of funny little things happen on the way.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: Should you ignore it when your foot or leg goes to sleep while sitting?
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: Nope.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: That means the blood circulation is cut off and you should fix it.
• 37:45
  It's not good to have the blood circulation cut off for your
• 37:48
  leg or your foot.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: Bad for the foot.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it won't be bad for it, but it's cumulative and you notice it's 70.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: Next question.
• 38:02
  What about the pose Tara is often depicted in with one foot on
• 38:06
  the ground?
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_01: That is a different matter for a different purpose.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: That is not this.
• 38:14
  There are other poses besides this done in different
• 38:17
  circumstances and times.
• 38:20
  This is specifically for this practice and many but not all
• 38:26
  other practices.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: Next.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: You spoke of blood flow earlier.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: One person asks, any advice for varicose veins?
• 38:38
  See,
• 38:38
  your doctor,
• 38:39
  there are both sclerosing agents which can be injected into
• 38:43
  some of them
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_01: and possibilities of removal.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: So medically that's treatable.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: Other than that,
• 38:53
  I would say don't use the mitria position with varicose veins
• 38:57
  because it will cause
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: them to become enlarged because your feet are hanging down.
• 39:02
  Find some method between the Japanese sitting or the lotus and
• 39:09
  half lotus.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: but a chair sit as in the mitra position will make varicose veins worse.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 39:21
  Are there specific exercises to help being in the lotus
• 39:25
  position comfortably?
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: Any yoga that involves stretching,
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: any basic stretching exercises will make that easier if done regularly.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's more of a comment, not a question.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: Don't want those.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: Do I need to keep my hands in mudra during the entire transmission?
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: I am in half lotus.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: Can my hands be on my legs?
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: Why would you not doing the transmission while I'm talking to you?
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care if you stand on your head.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: It will simply be easier if you follow the instructions as given.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_01: You can put your hands out to the side or anywhere you like.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: It just won't be as easy to see what is pointed at.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: In half lotus, does it matter which leg is on the opposite thigh?
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the left one should be up and the right one should be down.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: And if you can't quite put the left one up on your thigh,
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: it's still considered half lotus if you just sit cross-legged,
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: even though it's not a full half.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: Should the eyes be fully open or half open?
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: Relaxedly open.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: Not like that, bug-eyed.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: And not squinty.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: But just relax looking straight ahead.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: Look at me.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like that.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_01: Next.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just going through the questions here.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: When my eyes are relaxed, I see a rainbow.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: When I look at lamps, streetlights, etc., is this normal?
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, many things will happen.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's not abnormal.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: Besides, why do you want to be normal?
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: Never mind.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think we may be getting to the end of these.
• 42:04
  People are just sort of starting to talk about their
• 42:08
  experiences,
• 42:09
  which is this is not the time.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_00: Later.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: There is one more question about addressing spinal problems.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, go ahead.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you have anything to add for that.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: I already said stuff.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, do your best.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: Try a meditation sesh.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: Try a back rest.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: Try different meditation seats that support you in different ways.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: Put something under your elbows maybe.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: Mess around with it.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that is the teaching on body.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: The body will support you if you actually follow the instructions.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: There is no reason
• 42:56
  to change the instructions because in a different practice you
• 43:00
  did it a different way.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: So just it will make it easier if you do it this way.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: Next, we have the teachings of speech.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: They're much simpler.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_01: Shut up.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_01: Are there any questions on the teaching of speech?
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: Stop talking to yourself or anyone else.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: Just shut up.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: No questions on speech so far.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: We may need a couple of minutes.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, good.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: That was clear.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: So the next teaching is the teaching of mind.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_01: The first two teachings support this teaching.
• 44:15
  So by entering into the proper body position and shutting up
• 44:23
  the commentator,
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: Allowing your attention to open wide rather than point focus.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_01: A vastness.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: Indescribable spaciousness.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: Not the what of the thoughts,
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: but the where the thoughts,
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: feelings and sensations have been occurring.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: Mind itself, open awareness.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: Relax.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: Relax into this as it is.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: When you fully release the point focus of your eyeballs,
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: Your attention is able to release its point focus as well.
• 45:51
  And instead of paying attention to this and that in the moving
• 45:56
  moments of time
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_01: across space as you encounter it,
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_01: instead of paying attention to this thought and that thought,
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: this feeling and that feeling,
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_01: this sensation and that sensation,
• 46:18
  The attention expands from the point focus on this and that
• 46:23
  into the ineffable
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: vastness in which is its natural abode.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_01: Relax.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_01: Relax again.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_01: Let go of all the bits leaving things exactly as they are wide open.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: beyond time and space itself.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: This is Tawa.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: But
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_01: If that method was difficult for you, let's try a different one.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: Let's make a picture in our mind's eye, an imaginary picture.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_01: Let us imagine
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: A train.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: Big ol' freight train.
• 47:57
  Going by in front of us while we wait at the railroad crossing
• 48:00
  in our car.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: Waiting and waiting for the train to be done as it chugs by.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it stops.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_01: And you wait.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: See the picture of the freight train long and long in your mind's eye.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now the what of it is easy.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's a freight train, an imaginary freight train.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: Where is it?
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_01: Where's the picture?
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_01: Is it in your hair?
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_01: Your ears?
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: Your eyeballs?
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: If you think the picture is in your eyeballs, is it in the retina?
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_01: The vitreous humerus?
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: Perhaps it's in the eyelashes or the lens?
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: Where in the eyeballs?
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_01: The retina?
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_01: The cones or the rods?
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: the nerves that extend elsewhere.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: Instead of thinking about it to find the picture, feel around for it.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: Look with your feelings, not your intellect.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_01: Your intellect won't work here.
• 49:46
  You cannot turn a bolt with a screwdriver Any of you who have
• 49:57
  ever attempted to get
• 49:58
  a stubborn bolt loose by banging on it with a screwdriver know
• 50:02
  that all you get is
• 50:03
  bruised knuckles out of that Wrong tool Your intellect is the
• 50:13
  wrong tool here
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_01: Feel around for where that picture is Is it in your scalp?
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_01: In the blood vessels below the surface?
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: The bones of the skull?
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_01: The brain?
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_01: Where in the brain?
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: White matter?
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_01: Gray matter?
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_01: Frontal lobe?
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_01: Occipital lobe?
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: Brain stem?
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_01: Where?
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly Where's the freight train?
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: Go feel around for it
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_01: ears, nose, eyes, throat.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_01: Where is it?
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_01: Don't think about where it is.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: Feel for where it is.
• 51:00
  In the dark,
• 51:01
  when you want to find your glasses,
• 51:04
  you don't look for them with your eyes.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_01: You feel around for them with your fingers.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_01: Here, don't think about where the picture is.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: Feel around for where the picture feels to be.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_01: Is it in your shoulders?
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_01: Your heart?
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_01: Your stomach?
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_01: Your hands or feet, your knees, your asshole.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_01: Where's the train?
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_01: The picture of the train.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_01: Change the picture to something small, a teacup.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_01: Where's the picture?
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_01: Change the picture.
• 52:14
  to something big,
• 52:16
  a tanker ship,
• 52:19
  a mountain,
• 52:21
  or a big ol' live oak with moss draping from it.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_01: Picture's in your mind's eye.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_01: Your mind's eye is in your mind.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_01: Find your mind.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_01: Some of you are not visual thinkers, you're audial.
• 52:54
  In which case,
• 52:55
  instead of visualizing a picture,
• 52:59
  I want you to audialize a symphony.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_01: Or a favorite song.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_01: Where's the music?
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_01: Is it playing in your head?
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_01: Is it playing in your ear?
• 53:20
  Never mind what euphemisms we usually use like,
• 53:24
  I can't get that refrain out of my head.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's a euphemism, a turn of phrase.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_01: Where's the song?
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_01: Some of you will be more tactile.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_01: Tactilize the texture of velvet.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_01: Of a cat.
• 53:49
  of rock granite unpolished burlap where's that sensation that
• 54:05
  imaginary sensation
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_01: feel around for it it's in your mind
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_01: Go find your mind.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine your car.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_01: If you happen to be in your car, imagine your house, room, home.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_01: If you're in your home, imagine your car.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_01: See it clearly.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a car, try your bicycle.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_01: or your place of work.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_01: See it clearly.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_01: Did you go there to see that?
• 55:06
  Did something come from that other place to you to see that,
• 55:13
  to feel that,
• 55:14
  to perceive that?
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_01: How did it happen?
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_01: Don't intellectualize this.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_01: Don't think about it.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_01: Feel about it.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, check for me if there's any questions on teaching of speech.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, there are.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_00: So does shut up mean to stop thinking entirely?
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_00: We're working on speech right now.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_00: Question, in what way does the throat chakra relate to speaking?
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_01: It is the chakra that symbolizes speech.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: That was an intellectual question.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_01: We're not doing intellect today.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_01: This is an experiential teaching.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_01: You're thinking about it.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: Don't.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_00: So those are the questions I had on speech.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 56:43
  I was expecting one other,
• 56:44
  but we'll wait and see if someone comes up with it later.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_01: If not, I don't have to go into that whole bit.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'll take questions on teachings of the mind.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_00: You say feel around for where the image of the freight train is.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_00: What are you feeling with?
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_00: Your mind.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_01: Mind is looking for mind.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 57:33
  When I look at my thoughts as they occur,
• 57:35
  I don't see or experience anything.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_00: It appears that way.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_00: Am I missing something?
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_00: How is this about the teachings of mind?
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is about your personal experiences
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_01: I don't understand that question in this context.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_00: Looking around for questions on mind.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_00: If I have a mantra running on autopilot, should I try and...
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_00: hear through it or try to stop the mantra running while I practice this.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's better to stop the mantra running while you practice this.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's a different practice.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get your practices tangled with each other.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_01: They don't work well that way.
• 58:47
  Each one should be done as if it is the only practice for this
• 58:52
  moment in the whole
• 58:54
  wide world and the best practice and the one you care most
• 58:59
  about of all things.
• 59:01
  And in its time of doing,
• 59:04
  it needs to be done that way,
• 59:07
  not tangled up with another practice.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_01: Each one itself.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_01: There are certain practices that
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_01: can synergize with others if done in certain ways,
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_01: but until you have truly completed the effect of those practices,
• 59:26
  it will be hard for you to figure out which they are and which
• 59:30
  they aren't.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 59:37
  One of our viewers asks,
• 59:39
  when I imagine the train,
• 59:42
  am I doing this with my eyes open?
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_01: Your eyes are open in the gaze I showed you.
• 59:57
  A number of people reporting experiences,
• 1:00:00
  sensations,
• 1:00:01
  body sensations,
• 1:00:02
  or...
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well you may have sensations while you're doing this.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_01: If they are truly painful, see what's causing it.
• 1:00:15
  If they are just funny little sensations,
• 1:00:18
  yeah,
• 1:00:18
  that happens,
• 1:00:19
  don't worry about it.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:00:27
  I can hear thoughts a lot of the time,
• 1:00:30
  me giving myself instructions on how to meditate.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_00: Is that normal or what do I do?
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's normal, but you need to stop it.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_01: Or at least if you cannot stop it, at least pay it no never mind.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_01: Do not let it catch your attention.
• 1:00:52
  Like the babble of children next door when you've got a good
• 1:00:57
  book in your hands.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yes,
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_01: you can hear them playing in the yard,
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_01: but you're not responsible for them and you've got a good book.
• 1:01:09
  and you have no idea what they're saying and they're not
• 1:01:13
  receiving any of your attention.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's the analogy.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's what you do with your thoughts if you can't shut them up.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_01: Some of us can.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_01: You will eventually be able to simply
• 1:01:34
  Take the phonograph needle off the record and set it aside and
• 1:01:38
  it will stop making noise.
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_01: But again, that's different muscles.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_01: It has to do with relaxation, relaxing past the realm of intellect.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then you learn to relax past the realm of feelings.
• 1:02:04
  And then slowly over time you learn to relax past the realm of
• 1:02:11
  sensations.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's the hard one.
• 1:02:17
  Without being an idiot and destroying your knees to show off
• 1:02:21
  your lotus position.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_01: But that's a process that takes time.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_01: For now, find your mind.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_01: Other questions?
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_00: What if my attention wanders off from mind-mind looking?
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_01: Use the technique of mindfulness
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_01: which simply means remembering to return it.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:03:18
  Is it better to visualize a well-loved or familiar object that
• 1:03:23
  elicits a feeling?
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 1:03:26
  It is better to visualize a fairly neutral object that does not
• 1:03:31
  elicit a feeling.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_01: It is easier to work with such.
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_00: Next question.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_00: I had it just a moment here.
• 1:03:51
  Stopping thoughts completely is difficult for me and requires
• 1:03:56
  some forceful effort.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_00: How do I do that and relax at the same time?
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_01: You are suppressing thoughts, not relaxing past them.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_01: Here, use this technique instead.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_01: Instead of forcibly shutting them up, simply pay them no never mind.
• 1:04:24
  So relax and leave the thoughts to dance,
• 1:04:28
  but give them absolutely none of your attention.
• 1:04:33
  SPEAKER_01: do not put any attention into what they say.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_01: However, go look and see where they happen.
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_01: The train was a picture thought.
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_01: The symphony was a sound thought.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_01: The textures of burlap and velvet were tactile thoughts.
• 1:05:00
  imaginary tactile thoughts created for the purpose of
• 1:05:07
  discovering where they occur.
• 1:05:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you only can suppress your thoughts,
• 1:05:19
  SPEAKER_01: you don't know how to shift past them,
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_01: shift your attention away from them,
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_01: Work on developing that technique instead.
• 1:05:32
  SPEAKER_01: It really is just a shift of attention,
• 1:05:36
  similar to the shift of attention made when ceasing to point
• 1:05:44
  focus on the this's
• 1:05:45
  SPEAKER_01: and the that's of life and opening it up to a broad,
• 1:05:50
  SPEAKER_01: open awareness,
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_01: which is not point focused at all.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:06:00
  As soon as I look for the location of the image,
• 1:06:03
  the image vanishes,
• 1:06:04
  so I can't keep looking.
• 1:06:06
  SPEAKER_00: Any suggestions?
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_01: And where was the image before it vanished?
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:06:16
  SPEAKER_00: Questions.
• 1:06:16
  Are you seeing the train in space in front of you as if it were
• 1:06:21
  really there or...
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_00: No,
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_01: you're seeing it in your imagination.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_01: like a dream or a memory.
• 1:06:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_00: There was a question.
• 1:06:39
  I don't know if it's related to this or to the earlier teaching
• 1:06:42
  on the body.
• 1:06:44
  Someone asking about the breath and changes in the breath while
• 1:06:49
  practicing this.
• 1:06:50
  SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about it.
• 1:06:51
  SPEAKER_01: Just keep breathing a bit.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, you will.
• 1:06:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's autonomic.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_01: So don't worry about changes in the breath.
• 1:07:06
  another question let me find it can I focus on actual sounds I
• 1:07:16
  randomly hear while
• 1:07:17
  meditating no for using this method the sound must be imaginary
• 1:07:27
  the only purpose of
• 1:07:29
  SPEAKER_01: the sound
• 1:07:32
  the picture or the tactile is to simply give you an object that
• 1:07:41
  is occurring solely
• 1:07:43
  in your mind at this time to look for where that is in order to
• 1:07:52
  find your mind.
• 1:07:55
  SPEAKER_01: The point of this entire exercise is different methods
• 1:08:03
  of finding mind with mind,
• 1:08:07
  including the looking all through the body bit by bit.
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_01: Is your mind in your topknot?
• 1:08:17
  SPEAKER_01: Is it in the roots of the hair on your head?
• 1:08:21
  SPEAKER_01: Is it in the skull, the membranes, the blood vessels,
• 1:08:28
  the brain is in your eyebrows your eyelashes somewhere within
• 1:08:34
  the complex organ of
• 1:08:37
  the eyeball is it in your ears your nose your mouth tongue
• 1:08:45
  teeth in your throat
• 1:08:48
  perhaps your shoulders the back of your head where the
• 1:08:55
  brainstem and occiput are
• 1:08:59
  Maybe it's in your neck vertebrae Maybe it's in your heart
• 1:09:08
  Maybe it's in your
• 1:09:09
  SPEAKER_01: stomach Or your upper or lower intestines Could it be in your liver,
• 1:09:17
  SPEAKER_01: your spleen or your gallbladder?
• 1:09:21
  SPEAKER_01: How about your lungs?
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_01: Your sex organs, your uterus?
• 1:09:28
  Your vagina,
• 1:09:29
  your clitoris,
• 1:09:32
  your anus,
• 1:09:36
  your butt,
• 1:09:37
  your thighs,
• 1:09:38
  your knee bones.
• 1:09:41
  SPEAKER_01: Which knee bone then?
• 1:09:44
  SPEAKER_01: Your calves and shins?
• 1:09:48
  SPEAKER_01: Your feet, is it in your big toes, your little toes, your medium toes?
• 1:09:55
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go back and look at the arms.
• 1:09:58
  SPEAKER_01: Elbows, hands, palms, backs of hands, fingernails.
• 1:10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Where is your mind?
• 1:10:09
  SPEAKER_01: If in going through the entire body you do not find it in a place,
• 1:10:14
  SPEAKER_01: perhaps it is not inside the body.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Perhaps it's outside.
• 1:10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Is it in front of you?
• 1:10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Is it behind you?
• 1:10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Is it to the left of you or to the right of you?
• 1:10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Is it above you or below you?
• 1:10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Look in all the directions.
• 1:10:39
  SPEAKER_01: If you find it somewhere, how far away is it?
• 1:10:43
  SPEAKER_01: Can you move it around?
• 1:10:46
  Sometimes people habitually find themselves finding,
• 1:10:51
  say,
• 1:10:52
  the picture of a teapot
• 1:10:55
  SPEAKER_01: right about here in front of them.
• 1:10:58
  Well,
• 1:10:58
  if you found it in front of you,
• 1:11:01
  can you put it over your left shoulder?
• 1:11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Can you send it about one mile that way hovering over the bay?
• 1:11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Can you move it?
• 1:11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Remember
• 1:11:21
  SPEAKER_01: It remains imaginary, therefore, within your mind.
• 1:11:25
  SPEAKER_01: If you just send it a mile over the bay,
• 1:11:28
  SPEAKER_01: that means a mile over the bay is going to have to include your mind.
• 1:11:34
  SPEAKER_01: See how to do this exercise?
• 1:11:37
  SPEAKER_01: These are all methods.
• 1:11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Rue Shen.
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Preliminary Practices.
• 1:11:47
  SPEAKER_01: to draw your attention to mind itself.
• 1:11:55
  SPEAKER_01: They are not end-all be-alls and they are not meditation.
• 1:12:01
  SPEAKER_01: This is the inner mind rushen teaching.
• 1:12:08
  SPEAKER_01: The inner mind rushen is about how to find your mind.
• 1:12:16
  SPEAKER_01: Once you have found your mind and your mind sees mind with ease,
• 1:12:25
  SPEAKER_01: then this is not the class for you.
• 1:12:30
  SPEAKER_01: You would be at least in beginning treacher by then.
• 1:12:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is the how to do that class this weekend.
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_01: All the methods of how you sit to make it easy
• 1:12:45
  How you focus or not focus your eyeballs to make it easy How
• 1:12:51
  you relax your muscles
• 1:12:53
  to make it easy And where to begin the search and how to search
• 1:13:03
  With the trick of
• 1:13:04
  not searching exclusively with the intellect If you think you
• 1:13:12
  found it in a place
• 1:13:15
  SPEAKER_01: You may then check it out if that is possible with your intellect.
• 1:13:20
  SPEAKER_01: But you see,
• 1:13:20
  your intellect has many false belief systems that have been
• 1:13:26
  imposed on it by your
• 1:13:29
  SPEAKER_01: culture.
• 1:13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Good Lord, most of you even believe the world is round.
• 1:13:37
  SPEAKER_01: A few of you even believe it's flat.
• 1:13:43
  SPEAKER_01: These are
• 1:13:45
  SPEAKER_01: culturally imposed belief systems.
• 1:13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Personally, I think it's shaped like a tesseract.
• 1:13:57
  SPEAKER_00: But you do you.
• 1:13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Do we have any more questions here?
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:14:06
  SPEAKER_00: What happens if I get a PTSD flashback while doing one of the exercises?
• 1:14:12
  SPEAKER_01: Stop doing the exercise.
• 1:14:15
  Breathe and do what you have been taught by your therapist to
• 1:14:21
  do for a PTSD flash.
• 1:14:25
  If you've been relying on my teachings,
• 1:14:27
  you would stop the exercise and go do manis.
• 1:14:32
  SPEAKER_01: However, your therapist may have taught you some other method.
• 1:14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Use it.
• 1:14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_01: If something in this triggers you, stop and deal with that.
• 1:14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:14:48
  SPEAKER_00: The image of the train for me is not clear.
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_00: It is in my mind, but I don't know where it is.
• 1:14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Is the practice to realize that the mind cannot be found?
• 1:15:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, the practice is not to realize anything.
• 1:15:04
  SPEAKER_01: The practice is to go find your mind.
• 1:15:09
  SPEAKER_01: It is in the actual doing of the seeking that what is needed will occur.
• 1:15:23
  What can I do about a buzzing sound that I constantly hear
• 1:15:27
  inside my head and
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_00: sometimes prevents me from meditating?
• 1:15:32
  SPEAKER_00: There is no cure?
• 1:15:33
  SPEAKER_01: There is no cure.
• 1:15:34
  You've had it checked out and it's not like you're dehydrated
• 1:15:37
  or your electrolytes
• 1:15:38
  SPEAKER_01: are off or something.
• 1:15:40
  SPEAKER_01: If that's the case, get used to it.
• 1:15:45
  If there is no cure,
• 1:15:46
  then you're going to have to find a way to live with it.
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_01: If it truly prevents you from meditating,
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_01: then due to your illness,
• 1:15:58
  SPEAKER_01: you appear to not actually have a precious human rebirth.
• 1:16:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I suggest you find some workarounds for it.
• 1:16:10
  SPEAKER_01: How not to be bothered by it.
• 1:16:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay,
• 1:16:13
  SPEAKER_01: I was up for hours last night,
• 1:16:15
  SPEAKER_01: or maybe I was asleep and dreaming it,
• 1:16:17
  SPEAKER_01: I sometimes can't tell.
• 1:16:20
  SPEAKER_01: of a phone alarm going off for hours.
• 1:16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Eventually I managed to cease paying attention to it.
• 1:16:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then it was just the sound there in my ear.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Work on that.
• 1:16:40
  SPEAKER_01: Just because something is there doesn't mean it requires your attention.
• 1:16:47
  SPEAKER_01: There's always sound.
• 1:16:48
  SPEAKER_01: If you live near a freeway, you hear the traffic.
• 1:16:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's just there.
• 1:16:56
  SPEAKER_01: And if you live near the ocean, you hear the waves.
• 1:17:00
  SPEAKER_01: They're just there.
• 1:17:02
  And if you live during the monsoon,
• 1:17:06
  you hear the rain and it's just there.
• 1:17:10
  SPEAKER_01: Not even noticeable after a while.
• 1:17:13
  SPEAKER_01: I suggest you work on doing that with your buzz.
• 1:17:17
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:17:20
  SPEAKER_00: What signs arise if the practice goes right?
• 1:17:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you after.
• 1:17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:17:34
  SPEAKER_00: How is this practice different from zoning out or dissociation?
• 1:17:48
  in zoning out one is not specifically seeking something and
• 1:17:52
  looking for it you
• 1:17:53
  should be looking for your mind the way you look for your car
• 1:17:56
  keys when they're not
• 1:17:58
  where you thought you put them with that same determination and
• 1:18:03
  fervor that's not
• 1:18:09
  SPEAKER_01: zoning out that's a serious search
• 1:18:15
  SPEAKER_01: Nor is looking for your car keys, the feeling of that, disassociated.
• 1:18:21
  SPEAKER_01: So this is quite different.
• 1:18:23
  SPEAKER_01: This is a serious search for your mind.
• 1:18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Go search.
• 1:18:29
  SPEAKER_01: That is the homework.
• 1:18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:18:39
  SPEAKER_00: I am not able to locate where the picture is in my mind.
• 1:18:44
  SPEAKER_00: How do I feel the picture with the mind?
• 1:18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, of course you aren't able to locate it yet.
• 1:18:51
  SPEAKER_01: You haven't even had time to try.
• 1:18:53
  SPEAKER_01: I just taught you this a few moments ago.
• 1:18:58
  SPEAKER_01: What,
• 1:18:59
  you think I'm going to use my magic fairy dust wand and
• 1:19:04
  enlighten you like this in
• 1:19:05
  SPEAKER_01: a moment?
• 1:19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now give me a tutu and I'll try.
• 1:19:12
  SPEAKER_01: What you want to do is spend time seeking.
• 1:19:16
  SPEAKER_01: You're not looking to see where the picture is in your mind.
• 1:19:21
  SPEAKER_01: You are looking to see where the whole of your mind is.
• 1:19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Is it inside you or outside you?
• 1:19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Or both or neither?
• 1:19:39
  SPEAKER_01: Go find out experientially.
• 1:19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Just knowing the answer is worth diddly squat.
• 1:19:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's the experience of finding out that is precious.
• 1:19:56
  SPEAKER_01: So actually do the practice.
• 1:19:59
  SPEAKER_01: Don't just think about it.
• 1:20:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's what matters.
• 1:20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:20:06
  Are thoughts in words different than thoughts in pictures or do
• 1:20:12
  I shut up the words
• 1:20:14
  SPEAKER_00: and feel the pictures?
• 1:20:15
  SPEAKER_00: Is the practice different for those two things?
• 1:20:18
  SPEAKER_01: Thoughts in words and thoughts in pictures are exactly the same.
• 1:20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Some of us think more in pictures and less in words.
• 1:20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Some of us sometimes think in words and sometimes think in pictures.
• 1:20:34
  SPEAKER_01: And some of us always think in words and can't think in pictures.
• 1:20:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's really individual and it's moving what you think in.
• 1:20:45
  SPEAKER_01: So until you knew the language,
• 1:20:49
  SPEAKER_01: when you were a baby,
• 1:20:51
  SPEAKER_01: you thought in pictures,
• 1:20:53
  SPEAKER_01: in images,
• 1:20:54
  SPEAKER_01: maybe even in sounds,
• 1:20:56
  but you really didn't have enough words to do all your thinking
• 1:20:59
  in words.
• 1:21:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then over time,
• 1:21:04
  SPEAKER_01: by the time you were a year or two old,
• 1:21:07
  somewhere in there you learned enough words to start thinking
• 1:21:11
  in words and lost
• 1:21:14
  SPEAKER_01: track perhaps if you didn't go over them then and put them into words.
• 1:21:21
  SPEAKER_01: Lost track of
• 1:21:24
  SPEAKER_01: what you had been thinking without words.
• 1:21:27
  SPEAKER_01: But yes, they are exactly the same.
• 1:21:33
  A couple of questions about how often should people do the
• 1:21:38
  practice and for how long each time?
• 1:21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, this is a retreat, guys.
• 1:21:44
  So you should do the practice for about somewhere between 20
• 1:21:50
  minutes to 50 minutes.
• 1:21:54
  before the sun comes up then go have your breakfast do it again
• 1:22:02
  for a good 40-50
• 1:22:07
  minutes after the sun comes up go have your second breakfast
• 1:22:19
  take a break have a
• 1:22:20
  SPEAKER_01: cup of tea and do it again
• 1:22:24
  SPEAKER_01: Again, somewhere between 30 and 50 minutes, maybe a little longer.
• 1:22:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's time to make lunch.
• 1:22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Cook yourself a nice lunch and take a little break.
• 1:22:41
  SPEAKER_01: Go for a walk after lunch.
• 1:22:43
  SPEAKER_01: Refresh yourself.
• 1:22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Take a shower.
• 1:22:46
  SPEAKER_01: Do whatever you have to do.
• 1:22:50
  SPEAKER_01: As the light becomes golden in the afternoon,
• 1:22:54
  SPEAKER_01: which tends to happen perhaps around 3 p.m.
• 1:22:59
  SPEAKER_01: at this time where I am.
• 1:23:03
  It varies from place to place how far north you are,
• 1:23:06
  how far south you are,
• 1:23:07
  the season.
• 1:23:09
  SPEAKER_01: Then you start making another series of sessions.
• 1:23:13
  If they're 20 minutes long,
• 1:23:14
  you can make more of them with breaks in between.
• 1:23:18
  SPEAKER_01: If they're 50 minutes long,
• 1:23:20
  SPEAKER_01: You make less of them with breaks in between.
• 1:23:23
  Taking a break at sunset to sit and watch the sun go down and
• 1:23:29
  have your supper.
• 1:23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Then you should make another session.
• 1:23:36
  After supper,
• 1:23:37
  during these sessions,
• 1:23:40
  you should be looking for your mind,
• 1:23:46
  seeking it.
• 1:23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Investigating.
• 1:23:54
  SPEAKER_01: If you wish,
• 1:23:55
  SPEAKER_01: you may investigate intellectually as well,
• 1:23:58
  SPEAKER_01: if you're making enough sessions to have time,
• 1:24:02
  SPEAKER_01: but you'll get more bang for your buck,
• 1:24:05
  SPEAKER_01: if you know that phrase,
• 1:24:08
  SPEAKER_01: by investigating,
• 1:24:11
  SPEAKER_01: by feeling around for where the thoughts be happening.
• 1:24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Any kind of thoughts.
• 1:24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Try and make a picture and look for the picture.
• 1:24:25
  SPEAKER_01: Try and make some words and look for the words.
• 1:24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Make a sound, a tune, a music.
• 1:24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Look for the music.
• 1:24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Where is it playing?
• 1:24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Textures.
• 1:24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Look for where is that visualized imaginary texture.
• 1:24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Your imagination is in your mind.
• 1:24:42
  SPEAKER_01: So following an imaginary thing home
• 1:24:47
  SPEAKER_01: is one way of leading to your mind.
• 1:24:51
  Another way is to fish through all the parts of your body to
• 1:24:56
  see if that's where
• 1:24:57
  SPEAKER_01: the thoughts are happening.
• 1:25:00
  And if you don't find it there,
• 1:25:02
  to fish through all the outside possibilities.
• 1:25:07
  SPEAKER_01: And if you don't find it there,
• 1:25:09
  fish through all the parts of the body again and just keep
• 1:25:14
  going back and forth
• 1:25:17
  SPEAKER_01: Trying to find where the thoughts occur.
• 1:25:24
  SPEAKER_01: That is the practice.
• 1:25:27
  SPEAKER_01: And that is how often you should do it.
• 1:25:31
  SPEAKER_01: In these two days.
• 1:25:34
  SPEAKER_01: After which,
• 1:25:34
  SPEAKER_01: with any luck,
• 1:25:36
  SPEAKER_01: you will have found your mind and will not need to look for it anymore.
• 1:25:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, look, when you've got your car keys in your hand
• 1:25:46
  SPEAKER_01: and you're not my age.
• 1:25:50
  SPEAKER_01: You generally don't go looking for them.
• 1:25:54
  SPEAKER_01: I have been known to have something in my hand.
• 1:25:56
  Usually it's a pair of scissors and I'm going,
• 1:25:58
  where the fuck did I put the scissors?
• 1:26:01
  SPEAKER_01: So that doesn't count after you get to be about 70, 75.
• 1:26:05
  But for most people,
• 1:26:06
  when you have found something,
• 1:26:07
  you don't have to keep looking for it.
• 1:26:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's why we always find things in the last place.
• 1:26:13
  SPEAKER_01: We look.
• 1:26:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because you stop looking.
• 1:26:18
  So this practice,
• 1:26:20
  the inner mind rushen,
• 1:26:24
  is about seeking the whereabouts of the mind.
• 1:26:30
  SPEAKER_01: Once you have clearly found it, you'll know.
• 1:26:40
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:26:43
  SPEAKER_00: What advice do you have for people who are neurodivergent,
• 1:26:47
  say autistic or ADHD and have problems with getting frustrated
• 1:26:52
  easily or keeping
• 1:26:54
  SPEAKER_00: focus on one thing that isn't their hyperfocus,
• 1:26:58
  SPEAKER_00: for example?
• 1:27:01
  SPEAKER_01: Tough shit.
• 1:27:01
  SPEAKER_01: Do it anyway.
• 1:27:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm neurodivergent.
• 1:27:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not ADD.
• 1:27:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm hyperfocus.
• 1:27:09
  which gives me an advantage on some of this,
• 1:27:12
  but I am autistic and do it anyway.
• 1:27:19
  SPEAKER_01: I've taught you more than one method.
• 1:27:23
  I've taught you the looking inside the body and outside the
• 1:27:26
  body and I've taught
• 1:27:27
  SPEAKER_01: you following different kinds of thoughts home.
• 1:27:33
  SPEAKER_01: See which one works for you.
• 1:27:36
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you need to make more shorter sessions.
• 1:27:39
  Maybe 20 minutes ain't going to work for you and they're going
• 1:27:41
  to be 10 and a break
• 1:27:44
  and another 10 and a break and you're going to make four or
• 1:27:47
  five of those 10 minute
• 1:27:48
  SPEAKER_01: sessions in the time somebody else will make two 40 minute sessions.
• 1:27:54
  SPEAKER_01: You see?
• 1:27:56
  SPEAKER_01: So figure out we're not all the same.
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_02: us neurodivergent folks.
• 1:28:02
  SPEAKER_01: We are so different from each other that you really,
• 1:28:06
  SPEAKER_01: each one of you has to figure out your own workarounds.
• 1:28:10
  SPEAKER_01: Mine don't work for everybody.
• 1:28:13
  SPEAKER_01: I am generally hyperfocus.
• 1:28:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's my safe place.
• 1:28:25
  SPEAKER_01: When I was a child, nothing could get at me.
• 1:28:29
  SPEAKER_01: when I was hyper-focused on the book I was reading.
• 1:28:34
  SPEAKER_01: Completely safe.
• 1:28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, also I'd usually be at the top of a tree where nobody looked.
• 1:28:46
  SPEAKER_02: You all figure it out.
• 1:28:49
  SPEAKER_01: What method works for you?
• 1:28:51
  SPEAKER_01: The optimal point is to seek your mind
• 1:28:57
  You may seek it intellectually,
• 1:28:59
  but you must not only seek it intellectually.
• 1:29:03
  SPEAKER_01: You must seek it feeling around for it and almost tactilely.
• 1:29:14
  SPEAKER_01: Where do you feel your thoughts happening?
• 1:29:18
  SPEAKER_01: There is your mind.
• 1:29:23
  SPEAKER_00: Next question.
• 1:29:26
  Let's see,
• 1:29:26
  there's the question about awareness of the body while looking
• 1:29:33
  for your mind.
• 1:29:34
  SPEAKER_00: And is it possible for that to be a distraction from the practice?
• 1:29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it certainly is.
• 1:29:41
  SPEAKER_00: So what would you advise for that?
• 1:29:44
  SPEAKER_01: Don't pay attention to your body while looking for your mind.
• 1:29:47
  SPEAKER_01: Put your attention on what you're doing.
• 1:29:51
  SPEAKER_01: Attentions shift.
• 1:29:55
  SPEAKER_01: Your attention is under your volition.
• 1:30:00
  SPEAKER_01: You can choose to pay attention to this thing or that thing.
• 1:30:08
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, look at your palms.
• 1:30:10
  SPEAKER_01: Look at the lines on your left palm.
• 1:30:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now look at the lines on your right palm, how different they are.
• 1:30:24
  SPEAKER_01: See, you just paid attention to one palm and then to the other.
• 1:30:29
  SPEAKER_01: You can move your attention.
• 1:30:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's under your voluntary volition most of the time.
• 1:30:37
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, sometimes something will catch your attention.
• 1:30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Car backfires out there and it catches my attention.
• 1:30:44
  But then I can let go and bring my attention back to whatever I
• 1:30:47
  wanted to be doing.
• 1:30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:30:53
  SPEAKER_01: We coming near the end?
• 1:30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a lot of the questions are guesses on where they think the mind is.
• 1:30:59
  SPEAKER_01: No, I don't want to take your guesses.
• 1:31:02
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to go look.
• 1:31:04
  SPEAKER_01: What, you think you're going to guess the right answer and make me happy?
• 1:31:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's not what it's for.
• 1:31:12
  SPEAKER_01: You...
• 1:31:15
  by having the experience of putting every bit of your gonzo
• 1:31:22
  into seeking your mind
• 1:31:25
  SPEAKER_01: until it goes like a computer that ran in circles until it blew up.
• 1:31:37
  SPEAKER_01: There it is staring back at you laughing.
• 1:31:41
  That experience can only happen if you actually gonzo this
• 1:31:46
  practice and stop guessing.
• 1:31:50
  SPEAKER_01: When you see it, you'll know.
• 1:31:54
  Unless you're one of those people who always thinks they're not
• 1:31:58
  getting it right.
• 1:32:01
  SPEAKER_01: In which case, I'll work with you over time.
• 1:32:11
  SPEAKER_01: and throw shoes at your mother for teaching you that.
• 1:32:15
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Just looking through what's here.
• 1:32:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not doing people's guesses.
• 1:32:24
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 1:32:25
  SPEAKER_01: They haven't had time to do the practice.
• 1:32:29
  SPEAKER_01: You're supposed to do the practice after we separate tonight.
• 1:32:32
  SPEAKER_00: All by yourself.
• 1:32:35
  SPEAKER_01: It only works if you do it.
• 1:32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Just a clarification,
• 1:32:45
  SPEAKER_00: when you think of something to focus on in order to find the mind,
• 1:32:52
  SPEAKER_00: it should be a neutral kind of thought?
• 1:32:55
  It's easier with a neutral kind of thought so you don't get all
• 1:33:00
  caught up in the emotions.
• 1:33:03
  SPEAKER_01: If I think of,
• 1:33:04
  SPEAKER_01: say,
• 1:33:04
  SPEAKER_01: my lovely cat that died a year ago,
• 1:33:06
  SPEAKER_02: or,
• 1:33:08
  SPEAKER_02: well,
• 1:33:08
  SPEAKER_02: it's longer than that,
• 1:33:10
  SPEAKER_01: before COVID,
• 1:33:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm busy releasing the emotions according to the trained method of that.
• 1:33:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that distracts me from looking for my mind.
• 1:33:30
  Therefore,
• 1:33:31
  I don't recommend using emotionally charged objects of
• 1:33:38
  visualization.
• 1:33:39
  That's why I'm always picking like old shoes and teapots and
• 1:33:43
  pogo sticks and
• 1:33:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, random stuff like that.
• 1:33:51
  SPEAKER_01: Here's another method.
• 1:33:56
  SPEAKER_01: Go into free association.
• 1:33:58
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what that is?
• 1:34:00
  SPEAKER_01: Where you think random nouns with the picture and the word.
• 1:34:06
  SPEAKER_01: Ball.
• 1:34:09
  SPEAKER_01: Dog.
• 1:34:11
  SPEAKER_01: Fire hydrant.
• 1:34:14
  SPEAKER_01: Pickle.
• 1:34:17
  Persimon Bedbug Flower Shoe Fire Hydrant Ship Sailboat Train
• 1:34:38
  Truck Car Zoo Elephant
• 1:34:47
  aardvark sex you see your words will be different than mine but
• 1:34:59
  at about that speed
• 1:35:00
  just random association word and thought word and thought and
• 1:35:05
  as they're coming up
• 1:35:06
  sort of randomly oh they sometimes linking categories and then
• 1:35:10
  that leads to
• 1:35:11
  SPEAKER_01: another as you do the free association
• 1:35:15
  SPEAKER_01: without stopping on any one of those thoughts, words, pictures.
• 1:35:22
  SPEAKER_01: Look to see where they are happening.
• 1:35:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's another method you can do.
• 1:35:31
  SPEAKER_00: Any other questions?
• 1:35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Another one on focus.
• 1:35:39
  If in the first five minutes I don't find my mind,
• 1:35:42
  I get bored and lose attention.
• 1:35:45
  SPEAKER_00: How do I stay motivated to do a session for 40 minutes?
• 1:35:49
  SPEAKER_01: For turning minds, you haven't spent enough time learning those.
• 1:35:55
  SPEAKER_01: You don't really understand that you're going to die.
• 1:36:01
  SPEAKER_01: You don't actually understand how fucked up things are.
• 1:36:10
  you don't realize how rare it is to have the leisure interest
• 1:36:18
  and intellect to
• 1:36:21
  explore whatever question intrigues you you lack motivation to
• 1:36:28
  practice Dharma or
• 1:36:30
  to find your freedom therefore I recommend that you go back and
• 1:36:35
  study the four
• 1:36:36
  SPEAKER_01: turning minds
• 1:36:38
  SPEAKER_01: until you actually grok them.
• 1:36:43
  That's the foundation that gives the motivation to slog on
• 1:36:47
  through when things are
• 1:36:52
  SPEAKER_01: not fun in the first five minutes.
• 1:36:56
  SPEAKER_01: All I can assure you is if you will choose to keep going,
• 1:37:06
  SPEAKER_01: The results are bloody well worth it.
• 1:37:11
  SPEAKER_01: There is nothing like being free from yourself.
• 1:37:23
  SPEAKER_00: Next question.
• 1:37:25
  There's a question,
• 1:37:26
  I think it's about a condition I've only heard about.
• 1:37:30
  SPEAKER_00: The question is,
• 1:37:31
  what if your imagination is bad and you can't hear or see
• 1:37:35
  things in your mind and
• 1:37:38
  SPEAKER_00: it looks kind of blank?
• 1:37:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard of this where people don't have the normal internal dialogue.
• 1:37:44
  SPEAKER_01: Then use thoughts.
• 1:37:47
  SPEAKER_01: You can think things in your mind or you wouldn't be talking to me here.
• 1:37:52
  SPEAKER_01: And did you try tactile?
• 1:37:54
  SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine the sensation?
• 1:38:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't get tactile either, then just use thoughts.
• 1:38:03
  SPEAKER_01: Follow your thoughts home.
• 1:38:05
  SPEAKER_01: Try the free association even without the pictures, the words.
• 1:38:11
  SPEAKER_01: Where are you thinking that?
• 1:38:14
  SPEAKER_01: Try the looking all through the body to see.
• 1:38:18
  SPEAKER_01: Down to the toes and back up again.
• 1:38:21
  SPEAKER_01: Try the looking outside the body all every which way.
• 1:38:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then if you didn't find it there, looking inside the body again.
• 1:38:33
  SPEAKER_01: Until it... And there it is.
• 1:38:42
  SPEAKER_01: There ain't no there to that there where.
• 1:38:47
  SPEAKER_01: Nonetheless.
• 1:38:56
  SPEAKER_01: but nonetheless.
• 1:39:00
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:39:06
  Someone with a physical question about not being able to
• 1:39:10
  visualize things unless
• 1:39:12
  SPEAKER_00: the eyes are closed.
• 1:39:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's just your habit.
• 1:39:16
  SPEAKER_01: Practice.
• 1:39:18
  SPEAKER_01: Sit by a white wall or facing the sky.
• 1:39:23
  SPEAKER_01: Some distance away with nothing in front of you to distract you.
• 1:39:27
  SPEAKER_01: Blank canvas.
• 1:39:31
  SPEAKER_00: Does the direction of the gaze matter?
• 1:39:34
  SPEAKER_00: Upward, downward?
• 1:39:35
  SPEAKER_01: Straight ahead.
• 1:39:36
  SPEAKER_00: Straight.
• 1:39:37
  SPEAKER_01: In this practice it is straight ahead.
• 1:39:40
  SPEAKER_01: In Shiné it is downward.
• 1:39:44
  SPEAKER_01: And in certain other practices it is upward or even to the sides.
• 1:39:50
  SPEAKER_01: Different practices use different gazes.
• 1:39:54
  SPEAKER_01: This practice has a gaze straight ahead,
• 1:39:58
  SPEAKER_01: the eyes open but in a relaxed way,
• 1:40:00
  SPEAKER_01: not bug-eyed,
• 1:40:05
  SPEAKER_01: and the lens muscles around the eyeball relaxed.
• 1:40:12
  SPEAKER_01: Blink as needed.
• 1:40:16
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:40:19
  SPEAKER_00: Are we getting to the end?
• 1:40:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're on the end of the questions here.
• 1:40:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:40:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not doing guesses.
• 1:40:26
  SPEAKER_01: Just take a quick scan.
• 1:40:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:40:31
  When searching the mind,
• 1:40:32
  I focus on the search and lose the state of relaxation.
• 1:40:37
  SPEAKER_00: How can I balance this?
• 1:40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Using the skill of mindfulness,
• 1:40:42
  SPEAKER_01: return the state of relaxation when you notice it has disappeared.
• 1:40:49
  SPEAKER_01: Next question.
• 1:40:52
  SPEAKER_00: I will mention before we move on,
• 1:40:57
  SPEAKER_00: today we've had translation in French,
• 1:41:00
  SPEAKER_00: Spanish,
• 1:41:01
  SPEAKER_00: Georgian,
• 1:41:02
  SPEAKER_00: and Hebrew and perhaps more languages.
• 1:41:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so we had a lot of translators for this for which I am grateful.
• 1:41:10
  I hope all of you recorded your translation so that it can be
• 1:41:15
  attached to the
• 1:41:16
  SPEAKER_01: YouTube and the Facebook
• 1:41:18
  SPEAKER_01: so that people of your country can come and look at this later.
• 1:41:22
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, in Turkish.
• 1:41:22
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, good.
• 1:41:22
  SPEAKER_00: We did have Bilgi in Turkish.
• 1:41:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:41:25
  SPEAKER_01: Excellent.
• 1:41:27
  SPEAKER_01: So this is where we stop because you need 24 hours of practice.
• 1:41:37
  SPEAKER_01: You need to work really hard on this until we meet again tomorrow.
• 1:41:42
  SPEAKER_01: Traditionally back home, I'd send you off for three weeks to a month.
• 1:41:49
  but time was slower than before airplanes and cell phones and
• 1:41:58
  computers where we
• 1:42:04
  gathered firewood and cooked on a fire life was simpler and
• 1:42:11
  time was slower and I'm
• 1:42:13
  SPEAKER_02: old enough to remember it
• 1:42:20
  I bet you none of you these days could spend an afternoon
• 1:42:24
  watching a bug which
• 1:42:27
  SPEAKER_01: wasn't doing anything at all.
• 1:42:33
  SPEAKER_01: I remember that afternoon as a very delightful one.
• 1:42:38
  SPEAKER_01: Back up in my cave, the little one.
• 1:42:45
  SPEAKER_01: So,
• 1:42:47
  SPEAKER_01: In order to succeed,
• 1:42:49
  SPEAKER_01: to be able to actualize this practice,
• 1:42:53
  SPEAKER_01: in the time which we are allotted in the West,
• 1:42:59
  SPEAKER_01: you need to work harder at it.
• 1:43:05
  SPEAKER_01: Obsess with this for 24 hours.
• 1:43:10
  Even when you're not on the cushion and you're doing stuff,
• 1:43:14
  when you go for a walk,
• 1:43:17
  SPEAKER_01: this or that.
• 1:43:20
  SPEAKER_01: Look for your mind.
• 1:43:23
  SPEAKER_01: Perhaps it got behind the woodpile and got stuck there.
• 1:43:27
  SPEAKER_01: Go have a look.
• 1:43:31
  SPEAKER_01: That was a joke.
• 1:43:35
  I also want to invite those of you who feel you need an extra
• 1:43:42
  boost for your practice
• 1:43:45
  to merge your practice with some of our yogis and yoginis by
• 1:43:50
  sponsoring them in
• 1:43:52
  SPEAKER_01: their practices.
• 1:43:54
  SPEAKER_01: You feed them.
• 1:43:58
  SPEAKER_01: They practice.
• 1:44:00
  SPEAKER_01: The two of you get the realizations together.
• 1:44:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's a nice boost.
• 1:44:05
  SPEAKER_01: Not for starving students or retired folk on a minimal fixed income.
• 1:44:11
  This is for that time in your life when you hire somebody to
• 1:44:14
  cut the grass.
• 1:44:16
  SPEAKER_01: Where you got more money than time.
• 1:44:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 1:44:21
  SPEAKER_01: Send me an email if you want to become involved in this.
• 1:44:52
  SPEAKER_01: We are all in this together.
• 1:44:56
  SPEAKER_01: Tomorrow, same time.
• 1:45:00
  SPEAKER_01: Bye, guys.