WEBVTT 00:00:16.666 --> 00:00:23.500 So I'm going to talk about the Jhanas. 00:00:23.500 --> 00:00:27.710 The stages of meditative absorption. 00:00:27.958 --> 00:00:32.041 And I want to kind of put them in context. 00:00:32.166 --> 00:00:40.173 So these stages of absorption are something that come from very 00:00:40.173 --> 00:00:46.958 ancient traditions. So this is sort of pre sectarian Buddhism 00:00:46.958 --> 00:00:51.041 from the Upanishads you know, long time ago. 00:00:51.083 --> 00:01:00.188 So a lot of modern Buddhism, is now about insight meditation. 00:01:00.625 --> 00:01:03.625 There are still people teaching the Jhanas, 00:01:03.666 --> 00:01:10.583 And often these things are taught separately. 00:01:10.583 --> 00:01:17.638 As there are practices for the Jhanas and practices for insight meditation. 00:01:18.083 --> 00:01:23.125 Practices, for direct inquiry or the non dual practices. 00:01:23.750 --> 00:01:29.933 And I see them all at a certain point converging 00:01:29.933 --> 00:01:33.958 and I want to kind of point in that direction. 00:01:35.083 --> 00:01:42.500 That's where I'm going in this talk, and I want to kind of make it clear that 00:01:42.500 --> 00:01:48.833 these are all facets of what unfolds, when we start to really inquire 00:01:48.875 --> 00:01:53.166 or meditate, or whatever you want to call this process we're engaged in here. 00:01:54.193 --> 00:01:59.500 And so this is part of the landscape or part of the phenomena. 00:02:00.375 --> 00:02:09.485 And I'm going to go into the Theravada sort of framework 00:02:09.958 --> 00:02:17.041 of the Jhanas, just because it's very thorough and complete. 00:02:17.041 --> 00:02:19.958 But I don't consider it to be like a map. 00:02:19.958 --> 00:02:22.958 I don't considered to be definitive. 00:02:23.625 --> 00:02:27.291 People have awakenings without encountering any of this stuff. 00:02:28.541 --> 00:02:31.541 But I think it can be helpful for some people, 00:02:33.333 --> 00:02:37.955 especially when we're really going into a meditation practice. 00:02:38.125 --> 00:02:41.833 You know, the Jhanas are really related to practice. 00:02:42.208 --> 00:02:49.458 So as we're cultivating concentration, attention, equanimity, 00:02:49.458 --> 00:02:53.472 there are these stages that seem to unfold. 00:02:54.583 --> 00:02:59.791 So, we can also completely forget about all this stuff. 00:02:59.791 --> 00:03:04.708 And as Dogen said, we just sit. Just sit and just be 00:03:05.083 --> 00:03:09.416 and we can end up awakening through that path as well. 00:03:09.958 --> 00:03:13.890 So again, it always comes down to this 'Always being Buddha, 00:03:13.890 --> 00:03:15.666 always becoming Buddha'. 00:03:15.666 --> 00:03:22.108 This is a developmental process, so it's unfolding through time. 00:03:22.291 --> 00:03:25.291 So it's pertaining to the self structure, 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:29.340 but yet we can wake up from the self structure at any time. 00:03:29.833 --> 00:03:34.783 So with these Jhanas in our practice, 00:03:35.333 --> 00:03:40.583 as we cultivate these meditation skills, then we can, 00:03:40.583 --> 00:03:46.000 jump into these different stages of absorption more easily. 00:03:46.208 --> 00:03:49.208 So the more advanced we are in our practice, 00:03:49.375 --> 00:03:52.833 the later the stages we can just jump into. 00:03:52.833 --> 00:03:55.916 So we don't have to go all through them in every sit. 00:03:56.833 --> 00:04:00.500 These are found in all different traditions. 00:04:00.500 --> 00:04:04.875 So, Patanjali talks about these in the Yoga Sutras, 00:04:06.100 --> 00:04:12.378 sometimes when people are talking about stages of Samadhi, 00:04:13.166 --> 00:04:19.986 they're talking about the Jhanas, basically. It's just different terminology 00:04:20.541 --> 00:04:28.500 But sometimes Samadhi is used to refer to the final awakening or the final merging 00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:31.375 like Savikalpa or a Nirvikalpa. 00:04:31.375 --> 00:04:37.500 But other times they divide up all these different Samadhis, and when you get 00:04:37.500 --> 00:04:44.125 into that, then it's the same as these stages of Jhanas absorption. 00:04:44.125 --> 00:04:47.896 So I have Patanjali's teaching here, 00:04:49.656 --> 00:04:56.605 and even in Christianity, the Christian mystics, they call it sometimes 00:04:56.605 --> 00:05:04.965 the Religious Ecstasies. So there are energetic unfolding in these Jhanas. 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:13.201 So if you listen or read the works of Saint Teresa of Avila or Saint John of 00:05:13.201 --> 00:05:19.333 the Cross, or Saint Francis of Assisi, you find 00:05:19.333 --> 00:05:23.125 these religious ecstasies as they go deeper into prayer. 00:05:23.541 --> 00:05:27.875 And there are these different stages that unfold. 00:05:28.333 --> 00:05:34.916 And they don't all exactly correlate. But you get a sense that 00:05:34.916 --> 00:05:39.920 it's the same landscape, it's the same phenomena unfolding. 00:05:41.041 --> 00:05:48.833 So in Patanjali's teachings, and the last three limbs of yoga 00:05:48.833 --> 00:05:55.971 are essentially what we're doing here, in this retreat. This is called Samyama, 00:05:57.505 --> 00:06:06.083 There is Dharana, which is concentration Dhyana, which is the meditation, 00:06:06.083 --> 00:06:12.833 and then Samadhi which is sort of the fruition of that practice. 00:06:14.642 --> 00:06:23.632 So what he says, as we spoke about previously, Dharana is the 00:06:23.632 --> 00:06:29.750 fixing of consciousness on one point, or one region, which is concentration. 00:06:29.750 --> 00:06:32.750 So focusing on one point. 00:06:33.500 --> 00:06:40.833 Then Dhyana is the continuous flow of attention towards the same point or region 00:06:40.833 --> 00:06:46.160 So that continuity through time is the attention span. 00:06:46.166 --> 00:06:53.751 And then he says, when the object of meditation engulfs the meditator appearing 00:06:53.751 --> 00:06:59.750 as the subject, self-awareness is lost. and this is Samadhi. 00:06:59.750 --> 00:07:04.250 So you become one with the meditation object. 00:07:04.250 --> 00:07:07.250 So your concentration and attention 00:07:07.375 --> 00:07:14.071 becomes so focused, so single pointed, that the distinguishing, 00:07:14.071 --> 00:07:19.125 between subject and object falls away. That duality falls away. 00:07:19.125 --> 00:07:25.250 So there's just the breath and it's you, essentially, 00:07:25.250 --> 00:07:30.160 or there's just whatever that meditation object is. 00:07:32.875 --> 00:07:40.583 So this is pointing towards the Jhanas, this absorption, meditative absorption, 00:07:40.583 --> 00:07:44.033 you becoming absorbed in the meditation object. 00:07:44.333 --> 00:07:48.641 So the first Jhana is... 00:07:49.625 --> 00:07:53.875 you know, we start out in meditation and we have the monkey mind, 00:07:54.083 --> 00:07:58.991 it's busy, and we have these hindrances that are coming up, 00:07:58.991 --> 00:08:01.171 which we've been talking about. 00:08:01.171 --> 00:08:07.871 And so the first, Jhana, is when that monkey mind is settling down, 00:08:08.791 --> 00:08:15.958 the hindrances are not a problem anymore. We sort of move beyond the hindrances. 00:08:15.958 --> 00:08:21.000 And we're not necessarily continuously 00:08:21.375 --> 00:08:26.416 present with the meditation object, but we're starting to really stick with it. 00:08:26.916 --> 00:08:31.125 And so the monkey mind is settled down, 00:08:31.416 --> 00:08:34.416 and we're generally staying with the object. 00:08:34.916 --> 00:08:40.416 So there's at this point, still thoughts arising from time to time, 00:08:40.416 --> 00:08:44.493 But generally you're you're doing something that really looks 00:08:44.493 --> 00:08:49.208 like meditation at this point. You're actually sticking with it. 00:08:50.798 --> 00:09:01.563 And so there's what they call Piti, in Pali, starts to arise, which is an energy 00:09:01.708 --> 00:09:06.416 So the energy that was going into these old patterns starts to become present. 00:09:06.458 --> 00:09:11.000 There's this feeling of of energy and a generally feels good. 00:09:11.208 --> 00:09:14.208 It's a good feeling at this point. 00:09:17.151 --> 00:09:24.528 And so we start to go deeper, and so the Dukkah at the beginning, 00:09:24.528 --> 00:09:29.705 that unsatisfactoryness, because of the hindrances, is starting to fall away. 00:09:29.750 --> 00:09:36.500 and then this satisfactoryness starts to grow. So this is called Sukha. 00:09:36.500 --> 00:09:44.833 So we have Dukkha and Sukha. So this Sukha also sort of comes and goes as well. 00:09:44.833 --> 00:09:48.833 Sometimes it'll be there, sometimes it isn't there. 00:09:49.166 --> 00:09:52.833 And so this is a really important point. 00:09:52.833 --> 00:09:59.564 A lot of people really stall out, they get what Shinzen Young calls 00:09:59.564 --> 00:10:01.793 'Stuck in a good place'. 00:10:02.138 --> 00:10:08.500 So there is this satisfactoriness that comes, 00:10:08.500 --> 00:10:14.458 and what happens is we can start to play this game of sensation. 00:10:14.958 --> 00:10:22.041 So with the hindrances, we can learn to surrender. 00:10:22.041 --> 00:10:26.791 We're not labeling our pain as pain anymore, 00:10:26.791 --> 00:10:29.958 we're just, being equanimous with what is. 00:10:30.375 --> 00:10:38.691 And then we find that it produces this kind of bliss or satisfactoryness. 00:10:40.375 --> 00:10:44.708 And so we can start seeking that. 00:10:44.708 --> 00:10:54.866 So the good blissful feelings will be there and then they'll subside, 00:10:54.866 --> 00:10:57.581 and then we'll be craving to get them back again. 00:10:57.708 --> 00:11:01.250 And, there's this game of sensation, 00:11:01.250 --> 00:11:08.741 there's this subtle seeking in the mind of wanting that state or that bliss. 00:11:12.166 --> 00:11:15.710 We don't progress beyond the second Jana 00:11:15.710 --> 00:11:21.708 until we really have no preference towards that Sukah. 00:11:21.708 --> 00:11:25.916 until we're willing to let that phenomena come and go. 00:11:26.875 --> 00:11:34.875 So, even that bliss that is born out of progress in our meditation, 00:11:34.875 --> 00:11:39.360 we're really surrendering, if that's coming, can just become 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:42.390 another prison or another attachment. 00:11:42.458 --> 00:11:45.458 So we have to even let that go. 00:11:45.583 --> 00:11:53.291 And so the next stage, the third stage, is really being equanimous. 00:11:53.291 --> 00:11:58.708 We're really being sort of grounded in equanimity, 00:11:59.333 --> 00:12:03.750 having no preference of any phenomena that's coming and going. 00:12:04.375 --> 00:12:13.250 And it's with this equanimity, if we can really be okay with whatever 00:12:13.250 --> 00:12:17.916 is coming up in our practice, this equanimity kind of goes hand in hand 00:12:18.333 --> 00:12:25.866 with the next thing that arises, and that is true single pointedness. 00:12:25.958 --> 00:12:31.410 That's the true single pointedness, where you're really there continuously 00:12:31.410 --> 00:12:35.458 with your meditation objects. So there's there's no more break. 00:12:35.458 --> 00:12:41.833 So it's like what Patanjali was talking about, that continuous attention 00:12:41.833 --> 00:12:44.833 that leads to Samadhi. 00:12:47.583 --> 00:12:54.916 So that will lead into the fourth Jhana, which it's sort of characterized 00:12:54.916 --> 00:12:59.541 by this feeling that you can meditate forever. 00:12:59.875 --> 00:13:09.771 There's just this feeling that there's, total focus, total presence, 00:13:11.458 --> 00:13:16.258 just this this energy is present, because the energy now 00:13:16.258 --> 00:13:19.333 is single pointed, or the focus is single pointed. 00:13:19.333 --> 00:13:25.075 So that energy, all of that energy that's normally going into the conditioned mind 00:13:25.075 --> 00:13:34.215 becomes present and it somehow supports this single pointed presence 00:13:34.215 --> 00:13:36.333 with your meditation object. 00:13:36.333 --> 00:13:41.746 So this is the point at which that that merging starts to happen 00:13:41.746 --> 00:13:45.436 or that Samadhi state happens. 00:13:45.833 --> 00:13:47.666 And I'm going to read, 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:53.791 this is from the Buddha himself. 00:13:53.791 --> 00:14:00.291 This is on his night of enlightenment, and he's talking about the Jhanas. 00:14:00.291 --> 00:14:03.833 He's talking about how he's going into the Jhanas. 00:14:03.833 --> 00:14:08.125 So he's at this point where he says 00:14:08.541 --> 00:14:17.250 'Tireless energy was aroused in me, and unrelenting mindfulness was established. 00:14:17.250 --> 00:14:25.121 My body was tranquil and untroubled, my mind concentrated and unified, 00:14:25.541 --> 00:14:31.250 quite secluded from central pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states. 00:14:31.500 --> 00:14:38.741 I entered upon, and abided in the first Jhana, the second Jhana, the third Jhana, 00:14:38.741 --> 00:14:40.950 the fourth, and so on. 00:14:42.166 --> 00:14:51.090 So he talks about how .... This is his big sitting under the bodhi tree, 00:14:51.090 --> 00:14:55.810 really going for it. He had that absolute determination. 00:14:55.833 --> 00:15:01.430 You know, the story goes that he decided he was going to sit 00:15:01.430 --> 00:15:04.755 under that tree, until he got to the truth. 00:15:04.755 --> 00:15:10.686 Whatever happened,, he was going to be unrelenting in that. 00:15:12.333 --> 00:15:18.231 What really stands out to me is, you know, unrelenting mindfulness was established, 00:15:18.875 --> 00:15:25.180 tireless energy was aroused. So this is the Jhanas. 00:15:28.708 --> 00:15:39.500 So as we go deeper in our practice, we have these capabilities, 00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:49.716 the attention, concentration, equanimity, these literally get wired into this avatar 00:15:52.958 --> 00:16:01.306 It's like our baseline of meditative capacity just gets increased 00:16:01.306 --> 00:16:06.625 as we progress through the Jhanas. 00:16:06.958 --> 00:16:15.501 So one of the things that is described in the teachings of the mystics 00:16:15.501 --> 00:16:23.375 is , as we progress on the path, at every stage there's this sort of dropping off 00:16:23.375 --> 00:16:31.958 of mind, and there's an increase in the benefit of that dropping off. 00:16:31.958 --> 00:16:43.666 So we go deeper into these feelings of joy or energy or ecstasy, rapture. 00:16:43.666 --> 00:16:48.416 And the deeper we go, the more beautiful these experiences are. 00:16:48.791 --> 00:16:58.388 And simultaneously, the more sticky they are, because, when the real rapture 00:16:58.500 --> 00:17:07.860 starts to come, these non dual experiences of being one with God, 00:17:07.860 --> 00:17:11.208 everything in our being wants to stay there. 00:17:11.541 --> 00:17:19.825 So to be equanimous with that as a temporary state is is challenging, 00:17:19.825 --> 00:17:22.008 it's very challenging. 00:17:22.008 --> 00:17:28.458 So it's like the stakes get higher as we go further with the Jhanas. 00:17:28.458 --> 00:17:36.848 It gets very difficult for the mind to not be attached. 00:17:37.333 --> 00:17:46.125 So in direct inquiry, we intend to directly experience our true nature. 00:17:46.125 --> 00:17:52.708 It's always in the now, we're not progressing through these different stages 00:17:52.708 --> 00:18:03.041 And when we awaken, we find a peace and a joy and happiness 00:18:03.041 --> 00:18:08.583 that is not contingent on anything, on anything external. 00:18:08.583 --> 00:18:20.135 So in all of these Jhanas, all of the experiences that come and go are temporary 00:18:20.458 --> 00:18:29.000 They're all contingent on this practice that we're doing, 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:32.791 This letting go, and this dropping off of mind. 00:18:32.791 --> 00:18:39.256 But eventually, when we go to the end of the Jhanas, 00:18:39.703 --> 00:18:44.541 you know, the first four Jhanas are what they call the material Jhanas, 00:18:44.541 --> 00:18:48.833 which are pretty equivalent to the Salvikalpa Samadhi. 00:18:48.833 --> 00:18:55.033 Sometimes it's called 'Samadhi with a seed'. 00:18:55.041 --> 00:19:01.684 So there's a seed of form, there's a seed of pattern there. 00:19:01.684 --> 00:19:05.999 So it's temporary. 00:19:05.999 --> 00:19:10.250 The pattern will grow back, basically. The seed is still there. 00:19:12.416 --> 00:19:20.166 So they call those the material Jhanas. Material having to do with form. 00:19:20.166 --> 00:19:29.125 And the Immaterial Jhanas, are when we enter into that Savikalpa Samadhi state. 00:19:29.125 --> 00:19:34.845 So we merge with our meditation object, then there can be the dropping away 00:19:34.845 --> 00:19:41.066 of the mind and body, and we enter into the immaterial Jhanas. 00:19:41.125 --> 00:19:46.043 So there are four immaterial Jhanas, and I'm not going to really talk 00:19:46.043 --> 00:19:50.591 about those, because they're, not really good to talk about, 00:19:50.591 --> 00:19:53.995 they're best left for direct experience. 00:19:54.416 --> 00:19:57.708 But I'll just say what they are. 00:19:57.750 --> 00:20:02.666 So the first one is infinite space. 00:20:02.846 --> 00:20:08.381 There's a sense of infinite space, and then that will drop away, 00:20:08.381 --> 00:20:16.650 and there's a sense that infinite space is infinite consciousness. 00:20:17.416 --> 00:20:28.875 And that infinite consciousness drops away into this even more subtle no thingness. 00:20:28.875 --> 00:20:36.565 And that nothingness drops away into what they call neither perception, 00:20:36.565 --> 00:20:42.120 nor non-perception. So it's getting pretty abstract here. 00:20:43.916 --> 00:20:47.250 and you don't have to learn these things. 00:20:47.250 --> 00:20:55.983 These are just phenomena that unfold naturally as a result of practice. 00:20:57.041 --> 00:21:05.261 And so hanging out in either perception or non perception, then the final sort of 00:21:06.083 --> 00:21:13.333 realization in that Jhana progression is what they call Nirodha Samāpatti, 00:21:13.333 --> 00:21:18.521 which is what the Buddha experienced. 00:21:18.850 --> 00:21:28.013 So it's a very rare phenomenon, where the beings that enters into that, 00:21:30.458 --> 00:21:35.125 they're able to meditate for an insanely long periods of time, 00:21:35.125 --> 00:21:39.625 they go into essentially a meditative state for weeks, 00:21:39.625 --> 00:21:43.708 and basically burn off all the rest of their karma. 00:21:43.791 --> 00:21:46.250 So nobody does that. 00:21:46.250 --> 00:21:51.000 So it's like very rare, but it's a thing, you know. 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:58.670 And some of the the great masters have experienced that. 00:21:59.781 --> 00:22:09.003 So, the convergence is in that total dropping off of mind and body, 00:22:09.541 --> 00:22:15.041 is realizing what remains in that state. 00:22:15.583 --> 00:22:21.170 And no one can tell you what remains in that state, and you have to realize it. 00:22:22.291 --> 00:22:26.287 So, this is where, the direct path 00:22:26.287 --> 00:22:31.250 and the Jana path converge is in that final realization. 00:22:31.250 --> 00:22:34.952 They're both coming to the same place. 00:22:35.333 --> 00:22:41.118 So it ultimately doesn't really matter if you are just sitting, 00:22:41.810 --> 00:22:46.041 if you're just sitting, you're going to go through all this stuff anyway, 00:22:46.041 --> 00:22:50.500 whatever's in the unconscious, is going to present itself. 00:22:50.833 --> 00:22:55.966 Energy will be freed, these stages of bliss, and all this stuff. 00:22:56.250 --> 00:23:00.905 And, some people experience it. Really strong energy, 00:23:00.905 --> 00:23:04.958 and other people have different phenomena. 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:13.070 they have different 'letting gos' or, different ways that 00:23:13.070 --> 00:23:19.056 letting go pattern will manifest in experience. 00:23:23.588 --> 00:23:31.410 In Buddhism they call it the dry path, the inside path, where you don't necessarily 00:23:31.410 --> 00:23:40.203 go through rapture and this unfolding of Kundalini and all this stuff. 00:23:40.375 --> 00:23:46.235 It's possible for this flip to happen in just a more direct way, 00:23:46.235 --> 00:23:48.333 without this unfolding. 00:23:48.333 --> 00:23:51.583 So it's kind of mysterious, I'm not sure why that is. 00:23:51.583 --> 00:24:00.416 Some people have all the bells and whistles on their path, 00:24:00.416 --> 00:24:09.905 this whole unfolding of Jhanas, and for other people it's not necessary. 00:24:11.708 --> 00:24:21.226 Yeah. So any questions about that before we move on? 00:24:22.083 --> 00:24:24.000 [ Participant ] I have a question about karma... 00:24:24.625 --> 00:24:39.456 ( inaudible ) 00:24:39.750 --> 00:24:43.904 [ DAN ] Yeah, but everything that we're doing, all this purification of Samskaras, 00:24:43.904 --> 00:24:50.097 this is all, you could say, purifying or becoming free of karma. 00:24:50.875 --> 00:24:53.375 Yeah, of course. Yeah. 00:24:53.375 --> 00:25:00.787 To me, it's all what we're doing, every time we're seeing a big mind pattern 00:25:00.787 --> 00:25:07.883 and we're able to let it go, we're becoming free of that karma. 00:25:08.416 --> 00:25:14.750 And there's an interesting thing with karma. For me, 00:25:14.750 --> 00:25:21.300 when we finally have that flip to awareness, where we realize, 00:25:21.300 --> 00:25:28.041 I'm actually not this character that is going through this whole process, 00:25:28.041 --> 00:25:34.916 the crazy thing is that awareness was never bound at all by karma. 00:25:34.916 --> 00:25:37.083 It was never touched by karma. 00:25:37.083 --> 00:25:43.205 So yeah, the whole thing with karma is kind of a red herring, 00:25:45.416 --> 00:25:49.791 it seems like there's something to do there, but yet when that flip happens, 00:25:49.791 --> 00:25:53.291 it's like a awareness was never bound in the first place. 00:25:53.875 --> 00:25:59.250 So, who does karma belong to? It belongs to the character. 00:25:59.250 --> 00:26:06.000 So it's kind of ridiculous, you know? The whole worry about karma, 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:11.291 And there's this whole thing in Buddhism about once returners 00:26:13.581 --> 00:26:17.125 coming back, and... Who comes back? 00:26:18.768 --> 00:26:21.916 It's all awareness playing hide and seek. It's ONE awareness. 00:26:21.916 --> 00:26:27.508 So to me, it's a little bit of a non-issue, you know? 00:26:28.703 --> 00:26:31.323 Yeah, yeah, 00:26:35.708 --> 00:26:39.666 [ Participant ] inaudible 00:26:41.083 --> 00:26:46.841 in our meditation practice more easily, because we're like stuck in the retreat 00:26:46.841 --> 00:26:50.813 and, it's no escape for the mind, and all that 00:26:51.166 --> 00:26:56.875 And as the retreat progresses, the mind is quieter and quieter, 00:26:56.875 --> 00:27:00.553 so it goes further in meditation. 00:27:00.750 --> 00:27:06.125 My question is, when we get out of this retreat, like I meditate, 00:27:06.125 --> 00:27:09.518 each day for one hour. 00:27:09.518 --> 00:27:18.898 It is enough, is this depth, these profound experiences, 00:27:18.916 --> 00:27:26.249 can we just sit an hour a day and then, all the rest of your life going on, 00:27:26.249 --> 00:27:28.111 where you have all your worries? 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:33.811 [Dan] Yeah. That's the question that always comes up. 00:27:33.875 --> 00:27:41.403 The truth is, and this is something we talk about all the time. 00:27:43.041 --> 00:27:49.009 You know, we have awakenings, we put ourselves in these conditions of no escape 00:27:49.009 --> 00:27:55.416 and then go back to life. And the truth is it doesn't always get easier. 00:27:55.416 --> 00:28:01.916 Actually, we get very sensitized to the patterns. 00:28:01.916 --> 00:28:05.416 We can see the patterns so clearly. 00:28:05.541 --> 00:28:09.875 When you know who you are, you know you're not that conditioned mind. 00:28:10.208 --> 00:28:14.291 But yeah, there's still Samskaras or some patterns in play, 00:28:14.291 --> 00:28:21.220 still the character goes back to life. 00:28:22.750 --> 00:28:27.416 so it becomes very, very clear that those patterns are there, 00:28:27.416 --> 00:28:30.940 and we feel them, fully, when we go back to life. 00:28:31.160 --> 00:28:37.035 So in some ways, I always say it's the beginning of a 00:28:37.035 --> 00:28:42.625 really accelerated purification process. 00:28:42.625 --> 00:28:47.890 And when we go back to life, because we feel and see whatever is remaining 00:28:47.890 --> 00:28:54.351 to be purified, it'll be more obvious, It'll come up more clearly. 00:28:56.761 --> 00:29:06.286 But at the same time, the key for coming to a practice like this, doing this and 00:29:06.286 --> 00:29:14.583 finding out the truth; that conditioned mind that was seeking and doing something 00:29:14.583 --> 00:29:21.166 isn't you and that it can't do it. It has to drop away, and essentially fail. 00:29:21.166 --> 00:29:27.458 So so the main difference is the end of seeking. There's no more seeking. 00:29:27.458 --> 00:29:30.791 You don't need to be seeking anything when you go back to life. 00:29:30.791 --> 00:29:35.731 You don't need to be searching for who you are because 00:29:35.731 --> 00:29:38.166 who you are is always right here. 00:29:38.166 --> 00:29:45.560 It's that fundamental delusion of the mind that it has to do something. 00:29:46.760 --> 00:29:52.403 That the peace that I'm feeling in this meditation retreat, 00:29:52.403 --> 00:29:59.458 the mind will always go, (it's so sneaky), it will just say, 'How do I keep it, 00:29:59.458 --> 00:30:01.333 how do I hold onto it?' 00:30:01.333 --> 00:30:08.083 The mind is saying that, always. Like how do I hold it, how do I integrate it? 00:30:08.083 --> 00:30:13.083 But that's the delusion of the mind, right? The mind can't do it. 00:30:13.083 --> 00:30:21.750 There's nothing the mind needs to do. So we can go back into life and operate 00:30:21.750 --> 00:30:26.250 the same way we're operating in this retreat. Just let it happen, 00:30:26.250 --> 00:30:31.958 just let it unfold. That purification is going to happen 00:30:31.958 --> 00:30:36.416 just by you being you, just by being. 00:30:36.416 --> 00:30:40.146 Yeah, yeah, 00:30:40.375 --> 00:30:45.458 So, the truth is not an easy ride always. 00:30:45.458 --> 00:30:55.791 We go back, we fall, we get snagged over and over, we fall into a pattern, 00:30:55.791 --> 00:31:01.796 we then we realize who's falling into pattern or what's happening 00:31:01.796 --> 00:31:06.500 and this is part of that purification process. 00:31:06.500 --> 00:31:10.250 And, by coming back into being over and over, 00:31:10.250 --> 00:31:16.166 there's this purification that happens, and eventually the outer life 00:31:16.166 --> 00:31:24.968 will rearrange as a reflection of more true expression of who we are. 00:31:25.208 --> 00:31:26.250 Yeah. 00:31:26.250 --> 00:31:31.791 [ Participant ] inaudible 00:31:36.166 --> 00:31:42.800 [ Dan ] Yeah, and that energy, that is alive as well, that sensitizes you. 00:31:45.916 --> 00:31:50.750 A lot of the big patterns that need to shift in the outer world become so obvious 00:31:51.083 --> 00:31:59.213 that you can't go back in that box, the energy is out now, and it's free. 00:31:59.750 --> 00:32:05.125 So it's really obvious, it's not even a choice anymore. 00:32:05.291 --> 00:32:09.291 It's like the energy has made the choice for you. 00:32:09.791 --> 00:32:11.583 Yeah. 00:32:11.583 --> 00:32:17.551 It's very, very helpful. Extremely helpful, thank you. 00:32:18.502 --> 00:32:20.202 Thank you. 00:32:25.573 --> 00:34:02.208 [ Participant ] inaudible, commenting on a film... 00:34:02.208 --> 00:34:03.291 That's it. 00:34:03.291 --> 00:34:09.756 So it's different for everyone, that flowering of the lotus or whatever 00:34:09.756 --> 00:34:17.583 you want to call it, he listen to that direction, he knew something in him 00:34:17.583 --> 00:34:23.000 was saying he had to go to America and that was clear, 00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:27.345 That was his path and he listened, he aligned with that energy. 00:34:27.375 --> 00:34:34.541 And that is enlightenment. Yeah. When we aligned with that inner direction. 00:34:34.541 --> 00:34:38.308 Whereas for somebody else, maybe it is going in that cave, 00:34:38.308 --> 00:34:40.500 maybe that's their path, right? 00:34:40.500 --> 00:34:45.666 So we just never know, or it could be absolutely anything, 00:34:45.875 --> 00:34:54.005 it could be, being an artist where you express what's coming through, 00:34:54.005 --> 00:34:56.458 or a musician, or whatever, 00:34:56.458 --> 00:34:57.458 Yeah. 00:34:57.875 --> 00:35:06.980 So, yeah, it's just that willingness to follow and trust that inner guidance. 00:35:07.250 --> 00:35:12.625 And it's so simple. It's just what excites us. That's all it is. 00:35:12.625 --> 00:35:15.625 You know, It's very childlike, really. 00:35:18.055 --> 00:35:22.248 Sometimes people, at the end of the retreat, they'll be like, okay, 00:35:22.248 --> 00:35:24.546 I know who I am, but what's my purpose? 00:35:27.556 --> 00:35:35.333 And it's such a burden to have a purpose, it's like a projection into the future. 00:35:35.333 --> 00:35:39.500 Again, that's the mind. That's the trap of the mind. Like, what's my purpose? 00:35:39.500 --> 00:35:46.916 What a what a heavy burden to have, like some mission that you have to fulfill 00:35:46.916 --> 00:35:56.000 So to me is more like, when people look at my website awakentheworld.com 00:35:56.000 --> 00:36:00.240 and think, oh! you've got some big mission some big purpose or something. 00:36:00.416 --> 00:36:06.553 But it's that moment to moment, following your excitement is it. 00:36:06.553 --> 00:36:11.791 Like Joseph Campbell said, 'Follow your Bliss'. That's it. 00:36:13.576 --> 00:36:17.750 And it's... like a little kid doesn't, doesn't say what's my purpose. 00:36:17.750 --> 00:36:22.583 they don't try to figure out their mission in life. They just go and play 00:36:22.583 --> 00:36:26.406 with the next toy or, they're just excited naturally. 00:36:26.541 --> 00:36:30.583 And it's that feeling that is our compass. 00:36:31.208 --> 00:36:33.890 [ Participant ] inaudible 00:36:34.208 --> 00:36:35.166 Joseph Campbell. 00:36:35.166 --> 00:36:42.041 Yeah. He's famous for that that phrase. Follow your Bliss. Yeah. 00:36:48.791 --> 00:36:51.708 yeah. 00:36:51.708 --> 00:36:54.208 All right. 00:36:56.017 --> 00:37:02.000 So yeah, I will take a short break and then come back for a meditation.