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 if 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 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 have 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 these 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 you become one with the meditation object. 00:07:04.250 --> 00:07:07.250 So your 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 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 satisfactoryness 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 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 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 So 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 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 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 nothingness. 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. 00:23:19.750 --> 00:23:22.458 XXXXXXXXXXXSo so not everybody, you know, 00:23:22.458 --> 00:23:26.833 there is this in Buddhism, they call it the dry path. 00:23:26.833 --> 00:23:30.750 You know, the the inside path where you don't 00:23:30.750 --> 00:23:34.583 necessarily go through, you know, rapture and, 00:23:35.750 --> 00:23:36.500 you know, this, 00:23:36.500 --> 00:23:39.750 this unfolding of Kundalini and all this stuff. 00:23:40.375 --> 00:23:43.500 It's possible for this flip to happen in a in a 00:23:44.125 --> 00:23:47.750 just a more direct way without this unfolding. 00:23:48.333 --> 00:23:49.958 So it's kind of mysterious. 00:23:49.958 --> 00:23:51.583 I'm not sure why that is. 00:23:51.583 --> 00:23:54.125 Some people 00:23:54.125 --> 00:23:56.333 know they have all, all the bells and whistles 00:23:56.333 --> 00:23:59.333 on them, on the path and, and 00:24:00.416 --> 00:24:05.875 this, this whole unfolding of genres and for other people 00:24:06.625 --> 00:24:09.625 it's it's not necessarily 00:24:11.708 --> 00:24:16.166 yeah so any questions 00:24:16.166 --> 00:24:19.166 about that before we 00:24:19.583 --> 00:24:22.083 move on, 00:24:22.083 --> 00:24:24.000 I have a question about. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:24.625 Mm hmm. 00:24:24.625 --> 00:24:28.166 Disturbing to hear you say that the current gets burned off very, 00:24:28.458 --> 00:24:32.041 very end instead of is there no 00:24:33.125 --> 00:24:36.166 processing and working with karma 00:24:36.166 --> 00:24:39.166 along the path along the way or. 00:24:39.750 --> 00:24:41.166 No, but everything that we're doing, 00:24:41.166 --> 00:24:44.208 all this purification of Sam scars, this is all 00:24:46.208 --> 00:24:47.500 you could say. 00:24:47.500 --> 00:24:50.500 Purifying or becoming free of karma. 00:24:50.875 --> 00:24:53.375 Yeah, of course. Yeah. 00:24:53.375 --> 00:24:54.208 To me, that's. 00:24:54.208 --> 00:24:54.958 That's all. 00:24:54.958 --> 00:24:59.125 It's all what we're doing every time we're we're seeing, 00:24:59.166 --> 00:25:03.750 you know, a big mind pattern and we're able to let it go. 00:25:04.333 --> 00:25:04.833 We're. 00:25:04.833 --> 00:25:08.416 Yeah, we're becoming free of that karma, you know? 00:25:08.416 --> 00:25:14.750 And there's an interesting thing with karma, you know, for me, like. 00:25:14.750 --> 00:25:19.166 Like when we finally have that flip to awareness, 00:25:19.250 --> 00:25:24.458 you know, where we realize, like, I'm actually not this, this character 00:25:25.083 --> 00:25:28.041 that is going through this whole process. 00:25:28.041 --> 00:25:31.708 You know, the crazy thing is that awareness 00:25:31.708 --> 00:25:34.916 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 --> 00:25:40.625 So so yeah, so, so the whole thing with karma 00:25:40.625 --> 00:25:45.416 is kind of a red herring, you know, like it's, it's like it's 00:25:45.416 --> 00:25:49.791 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 was never bound in the first place. 00:25:53.875 --> 00:25:57.375 So, you know, who does karma belong to? 00:25:57.375 --> 00:25:59.250 It belongs to the character. 00:25:59.250 --> 00:26:03.166 So it's, it's kind of ridiculous, you know, 00:26:03.625 --> 00:26:06.000 the whole the whole worry about karma. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:11.291 And, you know, there's this whole thing in Buddhism about about one's returners 00:26:11.291 --> 00:26:17.125 and, and, you know, like, you know, coming back and like, who comes back? 00:26:17.208 --> 00:26:21.916 You know, it's it's all awareness playing hide and seek this one awareness. 00:26:21.916 --> 00:26:24.958 So to me, it's a it's a little bit of a, 00:26:25.291 --> 00:26:28.500 a non-issue, you know? Yeah, 00:26:29.541 --> 00:26:30.000 yeah. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:30.833 Good. 00:26:30.833 --> 00:26:33.833 Yeah, yeah, 00:26:33.833 --> 00:26:35.708 yeah. 00:26:35.708 --> 00:26:39.666 In the military go quite deep in, 00:26:41.083 --> 00:26:44.041 in our meditation practice more easily 00:26:44.041 --> 00:26:49.333 because we're like stuck in the retreat and you know, it's no escape for the mind. 00:26:49.333 --> 00:26:51.166 Mean all that. 00:26:51.166 --> 00:26:54.166 And as, as the retreat progresses, 00:26:54.500 --> 00:26:56.875 the mind is quieter and quieter, 00:26:56.875 --> 00:27:00.083 so it goes further in communication. 00:27:00.750 --> 00:27:02.625 My question is, 00:27:02.625 --> 00:27:06.125 when we get out of this retreat, like I meditate, 00:27:06.125 --> 00:27:10.458 it's interesting when our enough is 00:27:10.458 --> 00:27:13.458 it is it going to 00:27:13.750 --> 00:27:16.750 is this death, this profound 00:27:18.291 --> 00:27:18.916 experience? 00:27:18.916 --> 00:27:21.208 Is this can we 00:27:21.208 --> 00:27:26.250 just in an hour a day and then, you know, all the rest of your life going on? 00:27:26.291 --> 00:27:28.166 You have all your worries? 00:27:28.166 --> 00:27:29.000 Mm hmm. 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:29.541 Yeah. 00:27:29.541 --> 00:27:33.333 It's that's the question that always comes up. And. 00:27:33.875 --> 00:27:36.500 Yeah, so, you know, the truth is 00:27:37.583 --> 00:27:40.583 and, you know, this is something we talk about all the time. 00:27:40.583 --> 00:27:43.041 You know, it's it's, 00:27:43.041 --> 00:27:45.208 you know, we have 00:27:45.208 --> 00:27:47.375 awakenings, you know, we put ourselves 00:27:47.375 --> 00:27:50.875 in these conditions of no escape and then go back to life. 00:27:51.333 --> 00:27:55.375 And like, the truth is, it doesn't always get easier. 00:27:55.416 --> 00:28:01.916 It actually, you know, we get very sensitized to the pattern. 00:28:01.916 --> 00:28:05.416 We can see the patterns so clearly, you know, like 00:28:05.541 --> 00:28:09.875 so 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 some scars or so patterns in play. 00:28:14.291 --> 00:28:17.500 There's just still, you know, like, like the 00:28:17.541 --> 00:28:21.708 the character goes back to life. So, 00:28:22.750 --> 00:28:27.416 so it becomes very, very clear that those patterns are there 00:28:27.416 --> 00:28:30.500 and we feel them fully when we go back to life. 00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:32.375 So in some ways, 00:28:33.375 --> 00:28:33.708 you know, 00:28:33.708 --> 00:28:37.125 I always say it's the beginning of a, 00:28:37.708 --> 00:28:42.625 you know, a really accelerated purification process. 00:28:42.625 --> 00:28:46.750 And when we go back to life because we feel and see whatever 00:28:46.875 --> 00:28:51.291 is remaining to be purified and it'll it'll be more obvious. 00:28:51.291 --> 00:28:54.291 It'll come up more clearly. 00:28:55.041 --> 00:28:58.041 So but at the same time, like, 00:28:58.291 --> 00:29:01.291 you know, so the key for for coming 00:29:01.291 --> 00:29:04.333 to, you know, a practice like this 00:29:04.625 --> 00:29:09.500 and doing this and finding out the truth, you know, that 00:29:09.875 --> 00:29:13.625 that conditioned mind that was seeking and doing something 00:29:14.583 --> 00:29:17.000 isn't you and that it can't do it, 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:20.750 it has to drop away and essentially fail. 00:29:21.166 --> 00:29:24.083 So so the main difference 00:29:24.083 --> 00:29:27.458 is the end of seeking you know, there's no more seeking. 00:29:27.458 --> 00:29:30.500 You don't need to be seeking anything when you go back to life. 00:29:30.791 --> 00:29:32.291 You don't need to be 00:29:33.291 --> 00:29:34.375 searching for who you 00:29:34.375 --> 00:29:37.625 are because who you are is always right here. 00:29:38.166 --> 00:29:41.708 You know, it's it's got that fundamental delusion 00:29:41.708 --> 00:29:44.875 of the mind that it has to do something. 00:29:45.250 --> 00:29:50.250 You know, or, you know, that the the piece that I'm feeling in this, 00:29:50.583 --> 00:29:56.166 you know, meditation retreat, you know, the mind will always go, it's so sneaky. 00:29:56.333 --> 00:29:59.333 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 --> 00:30:05.666 You know, the mind is saying that always, you know, like how do I hold it? 00:30:05.791 --> 00:30:07.500 How do I integrate it? 00:30:07.500 --> 00:30:08.083 You know? 00:30:08.083 --> 00:30:11.125 But that's the delusion of the mind, right? 00:30:11.125 --> 00:30:13.083 Like the mind can't do it. 00:30:13.083 --> 00:30:16.333 There's nothing the mind needs to do. 00:30:16.500 --> 00:30:20.625 So we can we can go back into life and and 00:30:21.750 --> 00:30:24.666 operate the same way we're operating in this retreat. 00:30:24.666 --> 00:30:26.250 Just let it happen. 00:30:26.250 --> 00:30:27.750 Just let it unfold. 00:30:27.750 --> 00:30:31.958 You know that that purification is going to happen 00:30:31.958 --> 00:30:35.791 just by you being you just by being. 00:30:36.416 --> 00:30:38.666 Yeah, yeah, 00:30:38.666 --> 00:30:40.166 yeah, 00:30:40.166 --> 00:30:40.375 yeah. 00:30:40.375 --> 00:30:45.458 So, you know, the truth is, it's it's not an easy ride always. 00:30:45.458 --> 00:30:49.250 You know, we we go back, we fall, fall, and, you know, 00:30:49.333 --> 00:30:55.708 we get snagged over and over, you know, we fall into a pattern, 00:30:55.791 --> 00:31:00.041 you know, we then, then we realize who's falling into pattern or what's, 00:31:00.666 --> 00:31:06.500 what's happening and yeah, and it's and this is part of that purification process. 00:31:06.500 --> 00:31:10.250 And, you know, by coming back into being over and over, 00:31:10.250 --> 00:31:13.250 there's this purification that happens 00:31:13.333 --> 00:31:16.166 and eventually the outer life 00:31:16.166 --> 00:31:19.458 will, you know, will rearrange in 00:31:19.541 --> 00:31:24.208 as a reflection of more true expression of who we are. 00:31:25.208 --> 00:31:26.250 Yeah. 00:31:26.250 --> 00:31:29.458 So the quest to change the perspective is to know where you are. 00:31:30.791 --> 00:31:31.791 Just. 00:31:31.791 --> 00:31:33.833 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that. 00:31:33.833 --> 00:31:36.166 And that 00:31:36.166 --> 00:31:40.250 and that and that energy, you know, that is alive as well. 00:31:40.250 --> 00:31:45.750 Like that sensitizes you to you know like the, the, a lot of the, 00:31:45.916 --> 00:31:50.750 the big patterns that need to shift in the outer world become so obvious 00:31:51.083 --> 00:31:55.833 that you can't put you know you can't go back in that box 00:31:55.833 --> 00:31:59.458 right like the energy is is out now and it's free 00:31:59.750 --> 00:32:05.125 so it's like it's really obvious and so it's not even a choice anymore. 00:32:05.291 --> 00:32:09.291 You know, it's it's like the energy is is has made the choice for you. 00:32:09.791 --> 00:32:11.583 Yeah. 00:32:11.583 --> 00:32:12.041 Thank you. 00:32:12.041 --> 00:32:14.708 It's very, very helpful. 00:32:14.708 --> 00:32:17.708 Extremely helpful. 00:32:18.666 --> 00:32:21.666 Thank you. 00:32:25.250 --> 00:32:28.083 You remembering your this 00:32:29.416 --> 00:32:33.000 film of your hand and my hands here. 00:32:33.375 --> 00:32:36.375 Yeah, yeah, about that. 00:32:36.833 --> 00:32:39.291 Because I was asking the same question. 00:32:39.291 --> 00:32:42.500 It's like, yeah, saying that is fine by me 00:32:42.833 --> 00:32:45.833 because everyone is like thinking I'm asking, 00:32:46.708 --> 00:32:48.375 you know. Yeah. 00:32:48.375 --> 00:32:51.000 And as I remember that, I love that 00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:54.000 the filmmakers of the story itself, 00:32:55.125 --> 00:32:58.125 the a disappointment or, 00:32:58.708 --> 00:33:01.166 you know, the the battle took in on that 00:33:01.166 --> 00:33:04.166 he went to the end in that game 00:33:04.250 --> 00:33:06.916 just didn't and 00:33:06.916 --> 00:33:09.916 didn't buying the piece and all the other time 00:33:11.333 --> 00:33:16.666 like going right by that kind you need to be in America 00:33:16.666 --> 00:33:21.500 you need to be in this piece calls for it because 00:33:22.750 --> 00:33:24.291 you need to. 00:33:24.291 --> 00:33:27.291 You got them like in the end, 00:33:27.833 --> 00:33:29.541 because he wasn't a kid, 00:33:29.541 --> 00:33:33.708 because he was doing his lessons in a normal life. 00:33:33.875 --> 00:33:37.375 Yeah. Yeah. That's, yeah. Where they can 00:33:38.833 --> 00:33:40.250 become like them. 00:33:40.250 --> 00:33:43.041 And is this the same question? 00:33:43.041 --> 00:33:45.000 So just sharing. 00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:45.791 Yeah. 00:33:45.791 --> 00:33:48.875 This film's beautiful and experience completely. 00:33:48.916 --> 00:33:50.250 And how could you have. 00:33:50.250 --> 00:33:52.375 Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. 00:33:52.375 --> 00:33:53.083 Yeah. 00:33:53.083 --> 00:33:58.791 And explain completely this part of being the, you know, the things. 00:34:00.083 --> 00:34:02.708 Yeah, yeah, that's it. 00:34:02.708 --> 00:34:03.291 That's it. 00:34:03.291 --> 00:34:06.541 So it's different for everyone, you know, the that 00:34:07.416 --> 00:34:11.375 flowering of the, the lotus or whatever you want to call it, you know, it's like 00:34:11.708 --> 00:34:17.250 he, he listen to that direction, you know, 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 --> 00:34:26.875 That was his path and he he listened he aligned with that energy. 00:34:27.375 --> 00:34:30.291 And and that's that is enlightenment. Yeah. 00:34:30.291 --> 00:34:34.541 When we aligned with that inner direction that, uh, yeah. 00:34:34.541 --> 00:34:36.208 Whereas for somebody else, 00:34:36.208 --> 00:34:40.500 maybe it is going in that cave, you know, maybe that's their, their path, Right. 00:34:40.500 --> 00:34:45.666 So we just never know, you know, or it could be absolutely anything, 00:34:45.875 --> 00:34:51.875 you know, it could be, you know, being an artist where we, we, you express 00:34:51.875 --> 00:34:55.875 what's coming through in, you know, or a musician or whatever, you know. 00:34:56.458 --> 00:34:57.458 Yeah. 00:34:57.458 --> 00:34:57.875 Yeah. 00:34:57.875 --> 00:35:01.250 So, yeah, it's just that willingness to 00:35:03.083 --> 00:35:06.833 just follow and trust that inner guidance. 00:35:07.250 --> 00:35:08.833 And it's so simple. 00:35:08.833 --> 00:35:11.208 It's just what excites us. 00:35:11.208 --> 00:35:12.625 That's all it is. 00:35:12.625 --> 00:35:15.625 You know, It's very childlike, really. 00:35:15.625 --> 00:35:20.958 It's not, you know, it's sometimes people, you know, at the end of the retreat, 00:35:20.958 --> 00:35:24.041 they'll, they'll be like, okay, I know who I am, but what's my purpose? 00:35:24.416 --> 00:35:28.291 You know, and, and, and it's it's like, you know, 00:35:28.875 --> 00:35:32.166 that's that's such a burden to have a purpose. 00:35:32.500 --> 00:35:35.333 You know, it's like a projection into the future. 00:35:35.333 --> 00:35:36.708 Right. Again, that's the line. 00:35:36.708 --> 00:35:39.500 That's the trap of the mind. Like, what's my purpose? 00:35:39.500 --> 00:35:43.625 Like what a what a heavy burden to have, 00:35:43.833 --> 00:35:46.916 like some mission that you have to fulfill, you know? 00:35:46.916 --> 00:35:49.916 So to me, it's more like 00:35:49.958 --> 00:35:52.916 in, you know, like people, people look at my, 00:35:52.916 --> 00:35:56.000 my website like a wake in the world dot com and think, oh, 00:35:56.000 --> 00:36:00.000 you've got some big mission, you know some big purpose or something. 00:36:00.416 --> 00:36:04.583 But it's that that moment to moment, you know, following 00:36:04.583 --> 00:36:09.875 your excitement is is it, you know, like Joseph Campbell said Yeah, yeah. 00:36:09.958 --> 00:36:11.791 Follow your bliss. That's it. 00:36:11.791 --> 00:36:12.166 Yeah. 00:36:12.166 --> 00:36:13.583 And it's, it's, it's 00:36:13.583 --> 00:36:17.375 very you know like a little kid doesn't, doesn't say what's my purpose. 00:36:17.750 --> 00:36:21.625 You know, they don't they don't try and figure out their mission in life. 00:36:21.625 --> 00:36:22.583 They just go and play 00:36:22.583 --> 00:36:26.000 with the next toy or, you know, they're just excited naturally. 00:36:26.541 --> 00:36:30.583 And it's that that feeling that is our compass. 00:36:31.208 --> 00:36:33.000 Yeah, they're all just kind of 00:36:34.208 --> 00:36:35.166 Joseph Campbell. 00:36:35.166 --> 00:36:35.541 Yeah. 00:36:35.541 --> 00:36:38.750 He, he, he's famous for that that phrase. 00:36:38.750 --> 00:36:41.750 Follow your bliss. Yeah. 00:36:42.041 --> 00:36:45.041 Yeah. 00:36:45.041 --> 00:36:46.833 Compass. 00:36:46.833 --> 00:36:48.791 Yeah, 00:36:48.791 --> 00:36:51.708 yeah. 00:36:51.708 --> 00:36:54.208 All right. 00:36:54.208 --> 00:36:57.291 So yeah, I will take a short break and then 00:36:58.333 --> 00:36:59.500 come back for a meditation.