Transcript
[0:17] [bell]
[0:37] [bell]
[0:59] [bell]
[1:37] Good morning, dear Sangha,
[1:39] today is February the 8th, 2004,
[1:44] and we are in the Deer Park Monastery
during our Winter Retreat.
[1:54] Our Bell Master today is Sister Mai Nghiem
[1:57] "adornment with Plum Blossom,"
[2:00] She's a French nun
[2:03] and she was ordained as a novice
at the age of 18.
[2:10] She's doing very well.
[2:19] Thay has received many letters from you,
[2:23] and there are letters
expressing happiness, joy,
[2:31] there are also a number of questions
that can be disturbing,
[2:37] because they are situations
that are difficult,
[2:45] we have to try to deal with them.
[2:56] There's a beautiful letter beginning with
"Thay, I have arrived."
[3:06] an another ending with:
[3:13] "Your transmission of the Dharma is the
most precious gift I will ever receive.
[3:25] I'll do my best to deepen my practise."
[3:31] This morning I'd like to read to you
three questions.
[3:43] The first: "If nothing is created,
and nothing dies, where is the beginning?"
[3:54] Where are the elements that come together
to form the beginning?
[4:13] The fact is that we've been learning
[4:18] about the sixteen exercises
of mindful breathing by the Bouddha
[4:25] and the first four
deal with breath and body,
[4:31] the second four deal with feelings,
[4:37] and the next four
that we're going to learn
[4:44] deal with the mind,
with all the mental formations.
[4:49] The last four are to deal
with our perception.
[4:55] and objects of our perceptions
[4:57] and this question is about perceptions,
[5:02] is about the object of our perception,
[5:08] the nature of reality,
[5:12] the nature of no birth, no death,
no coming, no going
[5:16] and so on.
[5:20] And there is a continuity
in our teaching and practise.
[5:26] If you can only come on Sunday,
you miss the talk on Wednesday morning,
[5:35] and that's why it would be good
[5:36] if you can get the tape
of Wednesday morning
[5:46] in order to better understand
the Dharma talk of Sunday morning.
[5:53] Today is a continuity in the teaching
and in the practise.
[6:01] On Wednesday we learned about
how to deal with pain and tension
[6:10] in the body and in our feelings
[6:15] we learned about the second arrow,
[6:19] we learned about
the practise of relaxation,
[6:22] not only for the body
but also for the feelings.
[6:29] If we can relax our body,
we can also relax our feelings
[6:35] we call it embracing
and bringing a relief to our feelings.
[6:42] Instead of trying to run away,
we recognize our feeling,
[6:48] we embrace it tenderly,
we allow it to calm down,
[6:53] exactly like we do with our body.
[6:57] and there are psychotherapists,
there are doctors
[7:00] who need to know these techniques
in order to help the patients.
[7:09] We need to go step by step
[7:16] in order to arrive at the contemplation
of the nature of reality.
[7:26] It means, the object of our perception,
[7:32] like the mountain, the stars, the river,
[7:36] the other person, they are all objects
of our perception.
[7:40] and to meditate means to have a chance
to look deeply into that reality
[7:46] to find out, to touch the ultimate
dimension of all these.
[7:55] In christianity or judaism,
you may call it God,
[7:59] the ultimate reality.
[8:04] In Buddhism, we call it
Nirwana or Suchness.
[8:09] So that is the aim of the four last
exercices presented by the Bouddha,
[8:15] inquiring about the nature of reality.
[8:18] So this question is about that,
[8:20] and we have to wait a little bit
before we come to this teaching.
[8:27] We just heard that
nothing is created and nothing dies,
[8:32] and we have a lot of questions,
[8:34] but we should know
how to allow our question to ripen,
[8:42] like making the compost.
[8:47] The second question: I often feel
I have no reason to continue to live.
[8:55] I often feel I have no reason
to continue to live.
[8:59] If there's no birth, no death,
no death, no fear,
[9:02] and I feel ready to leave, is it allright?
[9:08] So this question also belongs
to the kind of teaching
[9:16] dealing with the ultimate
dimension of reality.
[9:28] This question is very interesting.
[9:34] I feel ready to leave, is that allright?
[9:38] This is a very good object,
a very good subject of meditation.
[9:48] You are ready to leave,
but where will you go?
[9:51] and where have you come from,
and now you want to go.
[9:55] And when you go,
you leave all of us behind.
[10:00] Is that possible?
[10:03] Stop the world, I want to get out.
[10:08] So this is a very interesting
subject of meditation,
[10:11] it can bring you a lot of excitement,
[10:15] because you have a body,
you have a mind,
[10:18] it's very interesting to inquire about it,
[10:21] very exciting, very interesting.
[10:26] The person who has written this question,
she may be tired of life,
[10:36] because she doesn't feel interest in life,
[10:44] but we have our thirst, our desire
to understand and to love,
[10:57] and the seed of understanding and of love
in us, has not been watered
[11:02] that's why we don't feel
that strong desire to explore
[11:08] and to love,
[11:10] so this question is very important.
[11:14] It can save people, it can save yourself.
[11:19] It can make you into a Buddha,
a bodhisattva.
[11:25] The third question is longer.
[11:29] Dear Thay,
[11:30] for fifteen years I've been working
as a medical doctor in a health center
[11:36] with two other doctors.
[11:40] We provide health care for immigrants,
refugees, illegal people, prostitutes,
[11:48] and 15% Dutch people.
This doctor has come from Holland.
[11:54] The way the health system in Holland is
set up,
[11:58] is that the doctor has to have
a contract with the insurance.
[12:08] The doctor gets paid three consultations
per patient, per year,
[12:17] about 30 minutes per patient per year,
[12:21] even if the patient
comes 10 or 15 times a year,
[12:24] so the more extra time the patient comes,
the more the health center loses money.
[12:30] Because extra consultations,
more than three a year, are not covered.
[12:37] To keep the health center going,
we have to see 40 to 50 patients a day.
[12:45] and I have to be on call for any emergency
of my patients between 8 AM and 6 PM.
[12:59] I have to do house calls in life time,
[13:02] I have to plan meetings
with other health professionals
[13:05] like social workers, psychotherapists,
interpretors.
[13:18] 10% of my patients come
from Morocco and Turkey
[13:22] and don't speak enough Dutch
to explain the problems.
[13:27] In the lunch break, etcetera,
[13:29] my whole day is filled with consultations,
meetings, housecalls, et cetera.
[13:34] Our patients don't know much
about healthy living, healthy eating,
[13:38] healthy relationships.
[13:40] They are poor people with lots of debts.
[13:44] If they have worked in unhealthy work,
and they suffer a lot from overweight,
[13:51] high blood pressure, diabetes,
chronic lung and heart problems,
[13:57] they come on average six or seven times
a year to the health center,
[14:03] and we get paid only three times.
[14:05] So we always work too hard and go
from financial crisis to financial crisis.
[14:11] We are politically active
to change the system.
[14:17] but with any step forward,
there seems to be another step backwards.
[14:23] Now the economy in Holland is in decline,
[14:26] so there is less money
for health care centers.
[14:30] People suggested stopping,
to take 3 breaths when the telephone rings
[14:36] The reality is that there are five
telephones laying, ringing all the time
[14:41] and there is a backup of patients
on call waiting.
[14:49] And people suggest to not see
more than 30 patients a day,
[14:54] 30 maximum. This is impossible,
[14:57] we have to see each patient that shows up
between 8AM to 6PM.
[15:04] If we refuse to see them,
we are punishable by law.
[15:10] So after a day like this,
I come home tired and stressed out.
[15:14] If I meditate, I either fall asleep,
[15:17] or my mind goes over all the things
I did during the day.
[15:20] So I have come to Deer Park for nine weeks
to look deeply into my situation.
[15:28] Should I keep working at the health center
if the situation is so difficult?
[15:33] If I leave, I don't know
what will happen,
[15:35] because not many doctors will want
to work that hard for so little money.
[15:42] So this center receives immigrants,
refugees, illegal people without papers,
[15:51] prostitutes, and only 15% Dutch people.
[16:01] I think, when the situation
is difficult like this,
[16:03] you'd like to stay with us
and wouldn't like to go away.
[16:10] Because we need you to help.
[16:18] We have compassion,
we have the willingness to help the poor,
[16:24] the destitute people,
but we are on the process of burnout,
[16:41] we cannot continue like this.
[16:45] We have been advised to set a limit,
[16:50] we have been advised to practise
mindful breathing, mindful smiling,
[16:56] when the telephone rings,
[17:04] we've been advised to see
only a maximum of 30 patients,
[17:11] but it seems impossible
because you cannot just say no,
[17:19] and if you say no,
you'll be punishable by the law.
[17:24] Not only by your conscience,
but also by law.
[17:34] You have finished your education,
you had a job,
[17:38] and still you suffer like that.
[17:55] Last month, we got a report
from a friend from Washington DC,
[18:02] telling us about the outcome of a retreat
by Thay for members of the congress
[18:15] and they said, there's one congressman who
practises mindful walking on Capitol Hill.
[18:23] He said, he cannot survive without it.
[18:26] >From his office to the place
where he votes,
[18:31] he stops all the thinking alltogether,
[18:34] and focuses his attention on the path
and on his breath.
[18:40] and he said that is the only time
he could practise.
[18:50] In his office, things go on all the time,
[18:58] he doesn't have the time to stop.
[19:00] He has to see many people, with his staff,
[19:03] to meet so many people, and so on.
[19:09] And when he goes home,
he's also very busy.
[19:18] So the difficulty is not only for doctors
or for psychotherapists,
[19:22] but also for politicians
who have a lot of power in their hands.
[19:39] Members of the congress
who came to the talk and the retreat,
[19:45] they have benefitted a lot
[19:47] and many of them have put into practise
what they have learned
[19:52] and now they want a second retreat
for members of the congress
[20:00] and we don't know when we can offer it.
[20:15] I think, for the first element
of the answer
[20:23] we should look
at our way of organizing our day,
[20:45] We have agreed with each other
that we have to preserve ourselves
[20:52] in order to be able to continue.
[20:56] A monk like me, myself,
has to practise preserving myself also
[21:02] in order to continue.
[21:06] And we preserve ourselves
with the practise
[21:10] Suppose when you eat your lunch
or your breakfast.
[21:19] Everyone has to eat something
during the day.
[21:25] During the time of eating,
you are not supposed to do other things.
[21:31] Eating, we focus only on eating.
[21:36] So, eating becomes a practise.
[21:43] Our doctor has the time for breakfast,
[21:48] and he should practise
during his breakfast time.
[21:53] He can stop the thinking about the work,
[21:58] he just focuses his attention on the food,
[22:01] and eating in such a way that freedom is
possible during the time of eating.
[22:07] and get in touch with the food, deeply.
[22:10] If his family and his friends are eating
with him, then they form a sangha,
[22:18] while eating, and they support each other,
[22:21] and this is something we can do.
[22:26] When you go to your car, from your office,
[22:30] why don't you practise walking meditation?
[22:32] Like that congressman.
[22:37] Instead of hurrying, you enjoy every step,
walking in the kingdom of God,
[22:45] you can very well do that.
[22:53] and small things like that
can make a big change.
[23:05] Even if you have to move for short
distances, three or four metres,
[23:14] you can always practise
mindful breathing, mindful walking,
[23:19] and you do like a Buddha, a bodhisattva,
moving around mindfully
[23:24] and peace can be obtained
during these steps.
[23:35] In the Deer Park monastery,
we go to the meditation hall by walking,
[23:42] and we are allowed half an hour to go
from the place where we live and sleep,
[23:48] to the meditation hall. That's a luxury!
[23:52] Half an hour to walk from your tent,
from your dorm, to your meditation hall.
[23:59] I think our organizing committee
is very generous.
[24:05] They gave us half an hour to walk from
the Lower Hamlet, Clarity hamlet, to...
[24:15] There are those of us
who profit very well from the occasion
[24:22] and they can enjoy every step and get
release quickly during the time of walking
[24:29] Walking up to the meditation hall,
or walking down to the meditation hall,
[24:34] they walk like a Buddha.
They can afford to walk like a Buddha,
[24:38] because 30 minutes are given to them
to do so.
[24:45] And yet, there are those of us
who cannot walk like that.
[24:51] Who do not know how to profit.
[24:54] And even if we see other people
walking like a Buddha,
[25:00] we aren't inspired to do like them,
[25:03] because there is a habit energy pushing
us to do things quickly,
[25:08] because walking fast and thinking,
unable to stop,
[25:14] that is a habit.
[25:17] The energy of that habit
has been transmitted by our parents,
[25:21] our ancestors,
[25:24] and that's why the practise
of mindful breathing, mindful walking,
[25:29] in order to recognize the habit of energy
of running, is very important.
[25:39] And the sight of a brother or sister,
[25:41] whether they're monastic or lay,
walking freely, with joy,
[25:45] should be a bell of mindfulness
for all of us.
[25:48] We should be able to walk like that,
like Buddha,
[25:51] we have the Buddha feet, that have been
transmitted to us by Thay.
[25:58] You cannot say that well,
I don't have Buddha feet. You do!
[26:03] You have to use your Buddha feet,
and walk.
[26:07] to be nice to Thay, and to the Buddha,
and to yourself.
[26:14] When it becomes a habit,
you walk like that everywhere.
[26:21] I think it's wonderful,
[26:23] that congressmen can practise
their walking meditation on Capitol Hill.
[26:40] [bell]
[26:56] Our doctor who came from Holland
will be here until the 12th,
[27:02] so he'll still have a couple of days
in order to work it out,
[27:07] to look deeply and to see how he would
practise when he goes home there.
[27:24] What kind of practise he can incorporate
into his daily life.
[27:29] Walking, eating, breathing,
taking a shower, brushing his teeth.
[27:39] Of course he has already heard
about tooth brushing in mindfulness
[27:45] We have one or two minutes
for brushing our teeth,
[27:49] but it is possible to brush our teeth
in such a way
[27:52] that the kingdom of God is possible
during the time of tooth brushing.
[28:02] When you go to the bathroom,
you can do that.
[28:09] You can practise peace,
smiling, and so on.
[28:18] And when you drive from your home
to the health center,
[28:22] you can very well drive in mindfulness,
breathing and smiling.
[28:29] You don't need to go
into a meditation hall
[28:33] in order to practise mindful breathing
and smiling and relax.
[28:39] In your car you can do that.
[28:42] Many people are driving,
but you are a bodhisattva.
[28:47] An awakened person driving.
[28:53] That is the only way to cope
with a difficult situation,
[28:56] a stressful situation in our society.
[29:01] And then you have to sit down
with your colleagues in the clinic,
[29:08] in the health center, and discuss
the strategy of survival,
[29:14] because your colleagues are also facing
the same kind of situation.
[29:24] You have to help yourself first,
[29:31] and then the next step is to call
on the support of other people,
[29:34] because there are good-hearted
people in society.
[29:39] If they know you are helping poor people,
[29:45] destitute people, immigrants,
illegal people,
[29:53] if they know how helpful you are
to these people,
[30:00] then there will be people in Holland
that are ready to help.
[30:08] During the war in Vietnam,
we got thousands of Dutch people
[30:13] supporting us in the work of taking care
of orphans created by the war.
[30:26] Many thousands of Dutch people
have volunteered,
[30:29] have contributed to help orphans
in Vietnam, created by the war.
[30:37] Many Dutch people are very generous.
[30:41] and when you tell them what you are doing
and the difficult situation that you face,
[30:49] I think that many people will come
to help you, in one way or another.
[30:58] And not only in Holland.
[31:00] In Germany and other countries,
you must do the same.
[31:05] You are a doctor,
you are a psychotherapist,
[31:08] you are a schoolteacher,
you are a social worker,
[31:12] you face exactly the same situation.
[31:15] And the teaching of the Buddha,
[31:17] the practise proposed by the Buddha
can bring a change into your daily life,
[31:24] can make a big difference.
[31:26] And if you know how to set up
a sangha to nourish your practise,
[31:35] then your group will be
a refuge for many people
[31:41] The sangha will protect you,
the sangha will nourish you
[31:45] and support you in your work.
[31:49] Your sangha will be like an island,
like a refuge,
[31:56] so you won't be carried away
by the waves in the ocean.
[32:04] And when there is a practise center
like Plum Village or Deer Park,
[32:11] we do exactly that, something like that,
creating a refuge,
[32:19] so that you can be supported
[32:30] and you can offer yourself
as a refuge for other people.
[32:38] I think there are enlightened people
in our society,
[32:45] they know what is going on
[32:48] and they know the suffering,
the stressful situation of many people,
[32:57] they know the suffering of young people,
children and adults,
[33:02] and if they are presented with
a proposal,
[33:09] they can help deal with the situation,
[33:11] they are ready to come and help you,
[33:16] so I hope that these words
will bring you hope,
[33:21] and you go back to Holland
with more energy,
[33:26] and open up new doors for yourself,
for your colleagues and for your friends.
[33:40] So you might continue to write letters
to Thay and ask questions like this,
[33:47] so that the teaching
will be more appropriate
[34:14] Last time we spoke about
how to take care of our feelings
[34:31] The four exercices
on the realm of feeling,
[34:37] and the first one is
how to bring about a feeling of joy.
[34:44] The second exercice is how to bring
about a feeling of happiness,
[34:53] and we have learned that the practise
of letting go can bring joy and happiness
[34:59] the practise of mindfulness
can bring in a lot of joy and happiness,
[35:05] the practise of concentration
can also bring a lot of joy and happiness,
[35:16] and if you continue, you can see that
the practise of faith, of confidence...
[35:24] can bring a lot of happiness also.
[35:26] And the practise of diligence
can bring a lot of happiness also.
[36:10] Perhaps you have heard about
the five kinds of energy,
[36:18] the five powers.
[36:25] And the first power,
the first source of energy is faith.
[36:40] But this is better translated
as confidence and trust,
[36:50] as understood by the teaching
of Patriash lynchi.
[36:55] You who don't have enough
confidence in yourself,
[36:59] the confidence that you have
the capacity of becoming a Buddha,
[37:06] the capacity of transformation
and healing,
[37:08] and you're seeking these things outside.
[37:11] You who don't have enough
confidence in yourself,
[37:13] so faith, "tin", should be translated
as 'confidence', rather than 'faith',
[37:20] because faith is, you have faith
in something or someone outside.
[37:28] 'La confidence', and not 'la foi'.
[37:35] And when you have the energy of faith
in you, you're very strong.
[37:42] In the gospel it is said that if you have
faith, you can move a mountain.
[37:48] This is a poetic way
of describing that energy.
[37:55] And if you have put into practise
the teaching of the Buddha,
[38:02] and if you find out that
that practise, is effective,
[38:08] it can bring you mindfulness,
concentration and joy.
[38:11] Faith, confidence, is born from this.
[38:15] Not from someone that people say,
[38:18] faith, confidence, not only in ideas,
[38:22] but in the outcome of your practise.
[38:26] When you practise walking,
and if you succeed in mindful walking,
[38:33] you see that you are light,
you are solid, you are free,
[38:38] and your confidence is born
from that kind of experience.
[38:45] So this is not superstition,
[38:48] this is not relying on something
or someone outside of yourself
[38:57] and this can bring you a lot of happiness,
[38:59] if you don't have faith,
that energy of confidence, you suffer.
[39:07] Even the Buddha is inside,
[39:10] the Dharma, taking refuge in the Buddha,
in myself,
[39:13] taking refuge in the Dharma in myself.
[39:18] and the sangha in myself is very clear.
[39:24] The second source of power is 'pan',
which means 'diligence'.
[39:34] Diligence
[39:37] Your daily practise
brings about transformation.
[39:46] Diligence in the teaching of the Buddha
is very concrete.
[39:55] They're concrete things you do
in your daily life,
[39:58] and if you do it every day,
that is called diligence.
[40:13] Suppose this is our consciousness,
[40:18] and this is the lower part
of our consciousness,
[40:21] called 'store-consciousness'.
[40:38] This is like the land,
the soil, the ground,
[40:44] with many seeds reserved in it.
[40:50] In our store-consciousness there's a seed
of joy, of forgiveness, of mindfulness.
[40:58] Of concentration, of insight.
[41:01] Of equanimity.
[41:02] And there are seeds of anger,
of hate, of despair, and so on.
[41:10] And all these seeds are kept
by store-consciousness,
[41:13] one of the functions
of the store-consciousness is,
[41:16] to maintain all these kinds of seeds.
[41:31] In the Upper Hamlet we have the seeds
of arugula in the ground
[41:41] if you work the land and you water,
that plant grows.
[41:46] They are preserved by the seed.
[41:48] We also have the seed of understanding,
compassion, forgiveness in us.
[41:56] We cannot say,
"I don't have these seeds in me".
[42:02] The seed of awakening, understanding,
compassion are always in us.
[42:12] They're part of the Buddha nature,
the Buddha nature is innate.
[42:19] The problem is
how to help this seed to manifest.
[42:24] You need the practise of watering.
[42:27] You water not the negative seeds,
[42:30] like the seed of anger, or confusion,
[42:34] but you water the seed of mindfulness,
concentration, compassion and so on.
[42:41] And every time the seed is watered,
[42:47] it manifests itself on the upper level of
consciousness, called mind-consciousness.
[43:00] Mind-consciousness
is like the living-room,
[43:06] store-consciousness is like the basement,
[43:10] they're things you don't like to be
in the living-room.
[43:13] so you put them all
in your store consciousness,
[43:22] in a cave.
[43:28] If we water a seed of joy, of compassion,
[43:35] that seed will manifest itself
on the level of mind consciousness,
[43:40] and it can make the living-room
beautiful, pleasant.
[43:46] When you read an article,
when you listen to a conversation,
[43:50] you are watering these seeds,
[43:52] so be aware that the film you watch,
or the article you read,
[44:01] might touch,
[44:09] trigger the seed of violence,
the seed of despair.
[44:15] and they will manifest here.
[44:18] And diligence here means
the practise of selective watering.
[44:29] The first step is that the negative seed
in store consciousness,
[44:41] if it has not arised, not manifested,
[44:48] keep them down there,
don't give them a chance.
[44:51] That 's the first step.
[44:54] So in your daily life, be careful not
to allow these seeds a chance to manifest.
[45:05] You don't suppress,
but you just don't give them a chance.
[45:10] That's why you have practised
Yoniso manaskara,
[45:18] it means appropriate attention.
[45:29] Manaskara means attention.
[45:40] Yoniso means appropriate.
[45:43] Appropriate attention.
[45:48] When people invite the bell,
and you pay attention to the bell,
[45:53] suddenly, the seed of mindfulness
in you is touched,
[45:56] and you begin to breathe in
and out mindfully,
[46:00] paying attention to the sound of the bell
is appropriate attention.
[46:08] In your practise center and in your family
[46:11] you should have a sound, sight
[46:14] that can help you touch
the wholesome thing within yourself
[46:20] and try to not to expose the sight and
sound that will touch off the negative,
[46:32] the seed of craving,
the seed of anger in you.
[46:35] This is the first practise.
[46:38] And you need intelligence
in order to practise that.
[46:42] You have your partner, you have
your children, you have your friends
[46:46] Protect them.
Create a kind of environment,
[46:50] where they don't touch
the things that bring about
[46:55] the watering of the negative seeds.
[46:58] So the fifth mindfulness training is
about mindful consumption,
[47:04] the kind of consumption that will not
touch off these seeds of violence,
[47:09] craving and despair in us.
[47:13] So the negative seeds,
if they have not arised,
[47:18] do your best to keep them there.
[47:22] Don't give them a chance.
[47:25] The second step of diligence,
[47:32] is that if it has been touched
and it has manifested,
[47:43] the negative ones, then,
with intelligence, help them to go home.
[47:53] to this place.
[47:56] There are many ways you can do that.
[48:04] It's like you have a compact disc.
[48:09] You have taken the wrong cd and
when you play it, well, it's not pleasant.
[48:18] So you stop and you change the cd,
[48:23] and when the new compact disc is played,
it's very pleasant.
[48:28] So the Buddha, in his time,
he didn't have a cd,
[48:33] so he used the image of the peg,
a changing peg.
[48:43] A carpenter, in order to link the two
pieces of wood, he uses a peg.
[48:48] And when the peg is not good,
he cannot stand,
[48:52] and then you can use a new peg
and drive the old peg out.
[48:56] So that is change, change your idea.
[49:00] Change the object
of your mind consciousness.
[49:05] If an idea that is negative,
full of craving, anger, manifests,
[49:16] you can use your mindful breathing and
touch another seed that is wholesome, here
[49:22] and invite it to come up.
[49:24] And if it is interesting enough,
then the other seed will go down.
[49:29] But it should be more interesting,
[49:32] otherwise you'll be fighting.
[49:40] So with skillfulness, with intelligence,
[49:46] you practise the second step
in order to change the situation,
[49:51] helping the negative things
to go down here,
[49:55] and helping the positive thing to come up.
[49:58] and when the positive things are up here,
[50:03] the living room is occupied,
[50:07] with no chance
for the other guests to come.
[50:14] That is about the negative seed.
[50:18] Now we come to the third which is...
[50:22] positive seeds.
[50:26] Positive, wholesome seeds
in store consciousness,
[50:30] if they have not manifested,
help them to manifest.
[50:36] Read something,
[50:38] say something,
watch something that will water them,
[50:43] the seeds of compassion,
of loving kindness in you,
[50:46] so that it can manifest here.
[50:48] That's the third step.
[50:51] If you come to the practise center,
that is exactly what to do.
[50:56] You have come in order to expose
your store consciousness,
[51:00] so that the Dharma talk, the bell, or
the sight of brothers and sisters walking,
[51:05] will touch off the seeds of peace
and happiness and calm in you.
[51:10] So that is the third step,
[51:11] and you have to organize your life
in such a way
[51:15] that the good seeds in you can be touched,
several times a day,
[51:21] so that they can manifest themselves
on that level of mind consciousness.
[51:31] And that can be done very quickly.
[51:35] You invite a wonderful guest
to be in the living-room
[51:38] that can change the whole situation.
[51:42] The fourth step is,
[51:47] when the good mental formation
has already manifested,
[51:54] try to keep them as long as possible
in your living-room.
[52:00] It's so pleasant to have a good friend
sitting in the living-room.
[52:14] If there's rain, then you can say,
[52:17] "My dear friend, it's raining outside,
so stay and have another cup of tea."
[52:23] You try to persuade your good friend
to stay as long as possible.
[52:28] Because, according to Buddhist psychology,
[52:33] the longer the mental formation
stays here,
[52:41] the stronger it will grow at the base.
[52:46] This applies to the positive
as well as the negative.
[52:52] If you entertain a craving here
for five minutes,
[52:58] and then the seed of craving here
has five minutes in order to grow.
[53:01] Dangerous.
[53:03] That's why you're advised by the Buddha
to help this to go back,
[53:06] to go home as soon as possible.
[53:09] And to invite the good thing to come up
[53:12] and when the good thing has come up, try
to preserve them here as long as possible.
[53:17] because during the time
it continues to be here
[53:22] its base down there will be strengthened.
[53:26] So the practise is very clear,
very precise.
[53:33] When you use your intelligence and your
skillfulness to organize your practise,
[53:40] it's called True Diligence, and
True Diligence can bring a lot of joy,
[53:46] a lot of happiness to you
and to your beloved one.
[54:09] So this is Confidence, Faith,
[54:15] Diligence,
[54:19] and the third source of power you
already know, this is Mindfulness.
[54:29] The fourth one is Concentration,
[54:39] and the fifth is Insight.
[54:51] Because the insight is the fruit
of Mindfulness and Concentration,
[54:58] and when you have the insight,
it has the power of liberating you.
[55:05] It is by ignorance that we suffer,
[55:08] but when we begin to touch the insight,
[55:10] we have the insight touching
our true nature, no birth, no death.
[55:14] There's no longer any fear,
there's a compassion and acceptance.
[55:19] There's tolerance, and that's why insight
is a tremendous source of happiness.
[55:31] The other day we learned
[55:32] that you can bring in the feeling
of joy and happiness by letting go
[55:46] Letting go...
[55:49] and then the second source of happiness
and joy is Mindfulness,
[56:00] the third is Concentration,
[56:04] and today we add three others,
Faith, Diligence and Insight.
[56:13] And let us explore the five powers
[56:17] in order to create the source,
the foundation for happiness.
[56:29] Happiness is here, it's not made
of the five kinds of craving,
[56:41] like wealth, fame, power, sex and so on.
[56:47] It's made with the practise
of the five powers.
[57:03] [bell]
[57:21] Bala means power
[57:24] and this is the Buddha's teaching
of the five powers.
[57:32] Now, as a student of the Buddha,
you may create six powers,
[57:38] you add the practise of letting go
and you have six powers.
[57:47] Letting go is a power.
[57:50] This is also the teaching of the Buddha,
five powers.
[57:54] six powers are the tremendous source
of joy, happiness and liberation.
[58:11] Made in Deer Park: six powers.
[59:10] Now we come to the seventh exercise
of the Buddha,
[59:16] recognizing the mental formation,
[59:20] the feeling that is painful.
[59:31] The kind of feelings or emotions.
[59:36] That feeling, that emotion has its base
on a seat, here in store consciousness,
[59:53] and when it is watered, it becomes
a zone of energy here.
[1:00:03] Sadness, or fear, or anger,
[1:00:10] so the feeling is here,
as a mental formation.
[1:00:24] And when it is here, it is called a seed,
[1:00:33] bija in sanskrit.
[1:00:49] Mental formation is tam hanh,
citta samskara
[1:01:04] So when a bija becomes a citta samskara,
[1:01:08] and when it is painful feeling,
[1:01:13] the practise is not to allow that feeling
to overwhelm you.
[1:01:20] A good practicioner would know what to do
and what not to do,
[1:01:25] when a painful feeling manifests itself.
[1:01:31] She's familiar with the practice
of mindful breathing, mindful walking.
[1:01:36] The moment when a painful feeling arises,
[1:01:40] she comes home to her mindful breathing,
[1:01:46] and thus, she touches the seed
of mindfulness in her,
[1:01:53] and invites the seed of mindfulness
to come up
[1:01:58] to recognize the feeling.
[1:02:05] The painful feeling is
a zone of energy here,
[1:02:09] we can call it "energy nr. 1".
[1:02:14] Energy one.
[1:02:16] Mindfulness generated by
the practice of mindful breathing
[1:02:21] mindful walking,
[1:02:23] can also be called "zone of energy",
created in mind consciousness,
[1:02:32] "Energy nr. 2".
[1:02:37] Energy 2 is to recognize Energy 1,
[1:02:44] breathing in, I'm aware
of the anger in me.
[1:02:51] Breathing in, I'm aware
of the feeling of despair in me.
[1:02:55] Painful, difficult to bear.
[1:03:00] So instead of having one kind
of energy in mind consciousness,
[1:03:05] we have two kinds of energy,
[1:03:08] and the second kind is
the fruit of your practice
[1:03:13] of mindful breathing, mindful walking
[1:03:18] The second kind of energy is not there
in order to fight the first one,
[1:03:24] because in Buddhist practice,
there's no fighting, there's no violence.
[1:03:29] Mindfulness is you, but sorrow is you.
[1:03:34] So mindfulness doesn't fight
sorrow or fear.
[1:03:38] The first thing mindfulness
has to do is to recognize,
[1:03:42] breathing in, I know that the feeling
of despair is in me.
[1:03:47] Breathing out, I smile
to the energy of despair in me.
[1:03:53] recognizing, and not denying,
not trying to run away.
[1:03:59] Is very important, recognizing.
[1:04:02] In fact, the first function of
mindfulness is to be aware, to recognize
[1:04:12] Oh my dear, little painful feeling,
I know you are there.
[1:04:19] I will take good care of you.
[1:04:23] Then you continue to practise,
[1:04:25] so that the energy of mindfulness
continues to be generated
[1:04:29] and with that second energy
you embrace the first energy, tenderly,
[1:04:37] tenderly, with utmost non-violence,
[1:04:42] like a mother holding her baby.
[1:04:47] Baby anger, baby despair, baby pain.
[1:04:52] The mother is not trying to punish
or to go violent with her baby.
[1:04:59] The mother is there for the baby
because the baby needs her care.
[1:05:06] So, mindfulness is the mother
and the painful feeling is the baby,
[1:05:11] and you as a practitioner,
every time a painful feeling is born,
[1:05:20] you go home and take good care of your
feeling by the practise of mindfulness.
[1:05:25] Generated by the energy of mindfulness,
[1:05:28] generated by the practise
of mindful breathing,
[1:05:30] mindful walking
[1:05:35] No violence, no effort to run away,
[1:05:40] you have to be there for a fight.
[1:05:45] It's the practise of love.
[1:05:47] When your beloved one suffers,
you have to practise the third mantra
[1:05:54] darling, I know you suffer,
that's why I am here for you
[1:05:58] this is exactly the practise,
the third mantra.
[1:06:02] Darling, I know you suffer,
that's why I am here for you,
[1:06:06] that is mindfulness talking
to the painful feeling
[1:06:10] and if you can continue for a few minutes,
[1:06:14] the energy 2 will begin to penetrate
into the energy 1,
[1:06:23] and there will be a transformation,
a relief
[1:06:26] first, there is a relief,
and second, there is a transformation.
[1:06:31] It's like a lotus flower in the morning,
[1:06:34] in the very early morning,
it's still like this,
[1:06:39] but if there's sunshine
that continues to shine on it
[1:06:43] then, a few hours later, a lotus flower
will open to the sunshine.
[1:06:49] That is the energy
of the sunshine penetrating.
[1:06:53] So the energy of mindfulness doesn't
attack the energy of anger or fear,
[1:07:00] but it embraces it and begins to penetrate
into it, neutralize it,
[1:07:08] and then you get a relief,
[1:07:11] and with that element of looking deeply,
vipassana,
[1:07:18] there will be deep understanding
of the nature of the feeling
[1:07:23] and you can liberate
and transform it completely,
[1:07:28] but the first step is to recognize,
[1:07:30] the second step is to embrace,
[1:07:33] the third step is to bring a relief,
[1:07:36] and only with the fourth step,
with deep looking,
[1:07:41] you can be inside in order
to transform the feeling entirely.
[1:07:49] First step: recognize.
[1:07:55] Second step: embrace
[1:08:00] Third step: bring in a relief
[1:08:06] Fourth: transformation.
[1:08:15] But in the seven exercices, the Buddha
advices us to do the first thing only,
[1:08:25] to become aware of the feeling,
and the second thing is to embrace it.
[1:08:31] because the work of transformation
needs some practise of looking deeply
[1:08:38] that will be offered in the practise
in the last four exercices,
[1:08:53] because in the last four exercices,
[1:08:56] we practise looking deeply
into the nature of reality.
[1:09:05] If you have a copy of the book,
"The path of emancipation,"
[1:09:13] you can use that book
[1:09:20] to find out more
about this kind of practise
[1:09:34] About ten years ago we had a retreat in...
I think Burlington, Vermont,
[1:09:48] and we had 21 days in order to study
the Sutra on mindful breathing,
[1:09:55] the sixteen exercices.
[1:09:57] All the Dharma talks have been
transcribed and made into a book
[1:10:00] called "The path of Emancipation",
[1:10:04] so you might like to use
that book as material
[1:10:09] to help you understand this teaching.
[1:10:18] On Wednesday we will continue
[1:10:20] with the practise of how to take care
of the pain, the sorrow in us,
[1:10:31] and how to help transform them.
[1:10:42] [bell]
[1:11:09] Subtitles by the Amara.org community
