Buddha's Approach to Meditation | Ajahn Brahmali | 25th February 2022

Ajahn Brahmali clarifies some misconceptions about meditation. Ajahn explains how mindfulness doesn’t grow by practicing mindfulness alone, it requires sincere practising of the Buddhist path, especially of kindness and right view.

Guided meditation - 0:00
Dhamma talk - 28:40

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Recorded at Dhammaloka Buddhist Centre, Perth, Western Australia.

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Nice to see you all again,
nice of you to come to Dhammaloka

even though we have this Covid situation.

One of the things I always find
is that when the world goes wrong

and the world goes funny,
actually spiritual life becomes

more powerful and more useful
and more we can start to understand

why we have a spiritual life
because the world kind of going

the wrong way and then we have uh…

makes more sense to come
to Dhammaloka in some ways.

So it's great to be here.

It's great to kind of focus
on the spiritual side of existence.

So let's start as usual
by doing some meditation together.

So sit nicely and comfortably
and let's get started.

[Meditation session begins]

And the first part of meditation
is always about establishing

a degree of mindfulness or allowing
mindfulness to arise if you like.

And very often
it's just a matter of just sitting back

and just waiting patiently, allowing
the world to fade into the background

and allowing the presence
of the mind to arise by itself.

And as you carry on,
be careful to let go properly

of the past and the future,
remember there's nothing really

interesting in the future
just more of the same

going on and on
potentially forever.

If you want to escape that trap
of the present world,

there's only one place to go,
to go inside

into the world of bliss and peace within.

That is the escape from
the troublesome world outside.

And as you gradually abandon
the distractions of the future and the past

and then you can feel yourself
slowly coming into the present

and just notice the delight
of being in the present

is as if you are becoming alive
you're feeling what is going on.

Notice every stage on the path
when things are improving

why it is delightful
and how it is delightful

and then you will incline towards
those states in the future.

What a wonderful thing it is
that we have this beautiful place of peace

and sanity in the world right here
in the heart of Perth.

What a marvelous thing that is.
And sometimes maybe

just to end off meditation,
send a few thoughts of compassion

and metta to all the beings
in the world who are suffering,

so many problems going on everywhere.
It means that there is also

a lot of suffering in the world,
may all the beings out there,

may you also find the kind of refuge
we have right here

may you find peace
and happiness.

Okay so coming close to the end
of the meditation.

Before we come to the end,
just take a few moments

to reflect on the progress
you have made

and why you have got
where you have got.

If you are feeling a bit more peaceful
now ask yourself why that is the case.

[Meditation ends]

okay that's the end of the meditation
so please sit comfortably.

Okay everyone.
So nice to see you all again

and we're going to start tonight's
dhamma talk.

I'm going to talk about the Buddha's
approach to meditation practice.

And the reason for that is very simply

that we are doing a course
as you heard before -

a workshop on Satipatthana practice

and that means that we're talking about
all of these issues right now anyway.

So it's good to kind of talk about that
while these topics are fresh in mind.

And there’s so many
interesting things that come up

when you do a workshop like that.

Little things that actually turn out to be
very significant for meditation practice.

How to think about meditation
in the right way

so we don't waste time,
we don't do things that are

actually contrary to the
Buddhist teachings.

And one of the thing
that really kind of stand out

when I do this sort of course
and workshop,

is that how important it is
to always go back

to the teachings of the Buddha.

It's kind of…, the suttas are so… the
suttas are the words of the Buddha right.

The suttas are so rich
there's so much information in there.

If you know how to kind of
read them in a certain way,

if you know that every word matters,

if you know how to interpret these things

because you have a broad understanding
of the suttas in general.

There's so much information,
there's such a richness in these texts

and it's just a shame that sometimes
we don't read them carefully enough

to be able to take away all the…
all the very valuable advice

that actually is found there.
And if you look at the world of meditation

often it's very hard to find your way,
to navigate this world of meditation

because there are so
many different teachers.

Teacher A teaches like this,
teacher B teaches meditation like that,

teacher C teaches like this,

Ajahn Brahm, we know
that Ajahn Brahm is right.

So he teaches like that (laugh)

and this is, of course, if you are
a disciple of Ajahn Brahm

you tend to assume that
Ajahn Brahm is right, yeah.

But even with someone like
Ajahn Brahm it's good to check

against the Buddha
and then if it turns out

that it kind of checks out
which usually it does with Ajahn Brahm

then you gain more confidence
which obviously is very useful as well.

Sometimes it's so confusing,
yeah who is right?

Are they all right?
Are some of them right?

Are none of them right?
What is going on there?

How do we decide? Well, there's
only one way to really decide

and that is going back
to the word of the Buddha.

This is one of the reasons why the word
of the Buddha is such a treasure.

The Dhamma is such a marvelous thing
because it stabilizes Buddhism.

It gives us access to the gold standard
of what Buddhism really is about.

So it's extraordinarily useful
to have these teachings.

And that's why I really enjoy
these workshops

but sometimes the workshops
get really technical

and I may lose many people
if I use too many Pali words.

I enjoy Pali words but that's
because I like translation

and this kind of thing.
But so I thought

it might be nice to also extract
some of the valuable guidelines

in, kind of, a single talk like tonight.

And one of the things that is very
significant, understanding

Buddhist meditation. So this is really
about what we call Satipatthana.

In Pali, Satipatthana means
something like

the focuses of mindfulness,
the applications of mindfulness.

There's various translations,
the establishing of mindfulness,

these kinds of things.
And one of the things

that is important when you start
reading the suttas is

to understand the purpose of Satipatthana.

Why are we doing this?
And of course,

there's all kind of technical
answers to that question

because the Buddhist path
is laid out very systematically.

The Satipatthana is here,
the next stage comes there, yeah,

and kind of ding, ding, ding
and everything falls into place.

The problem with technical answers
to this question;

actually technical answers
are very important of course,

the problem is that they're not
all that inspiring necessarily.

It's kind of intellectual,
it's systematizing things.

It doesn't really
get to the heart of things.

Yeah, it doesn't get to the feeling,
emotional state of things.

And what drives human beings
is feelings, is emotions.

Logic - we tend to think
we're logical

but logic usually works in the service
of the emotions.

First we feel good
and we think yeah okay

I gotta better find
a logical explanation for that

otherwise no one is gonna believe me.

Actually we don't even think that,
that's just how we operate.

So what is the kind of feeling purpose
of mindfulness or meditation?

And what the feeling purpose is that
when you are mindful

you feel so much better
about the world, yeah.

It's not just to gain insight
or gain some kind of, you know,

ability to function but it actually
feels good to be mindful.

And please take notice of that
in your meditation practice.

When the past and the future
start to die down and you start

to feel the present moment, yeah.
Sometimes you maybe, you feel,

you know, a bit of sloth and torpor,
you fall asleep

so you don't feel so much,
other times maybe a bit restless

but sometimes
I'm sure your meditation kind of

hits that beautiful note
where it's just right

and mindfulness starts to rise.
Notice the beauty of that,

it's like you're
waking to reality,

feeling of being alive
in an entirely new way.

And very often
if you have that mindfulness,

very often a sense of gladness and joy
also comes with that at the same time.

These are very beautiful
states of mind

and if we notice
the beauty of these things

they become far more powerful
because we get drawn towards them.

And it's easier to access
that mindfulness in the future

if you're drawn towards it

because your mind leaps towards it
when it has a chance.

So this is kind of the purpose
in one way.

This is the purpose which
should draw you into this.

The purpose is much more than that,
the purpose is really the entire...

going all the way
to the end of the Buddhist path.

That's more technical
also feel right here and now

the joy, the happiness,
the contentment, the satisfaction

that comes from states
like mindfulness.

But I want to come back to some of
the lessons that we find in the suttas,

about how meditation is practiced.
And how mindfulness in particular

how it actually works.
And what are some of the hints

on how to do this in a way
that it gives more…

get more value for each breath
so to speak, yeah,

you get more out of these things.

And one of the first things
that occurs to me very often,

when we talk about these things
is that, very often,

there seems to be this idea
in Buddhist circles

that mindfulness begets mindfulness.

If you are mindful, yeah,
consistently all the time

that makes you more mindful in the future.

So if I really try to be mindful then
mindfulness will grow because of that.

And the idea is a bit like it's as if
mindfulness is like a muscle,

the muscle of mindfulness,
like if you train a muscle

obviously a muscle will grow
and become strong as a consequence

of training your muscles,
that's how a muscle works.

But does mindfulness
work like a muscle?

Does it become strong merely by the fact
that you try to be mindful,

that you use this?
Is that how it works?

It's an interesting question
because this is kind of

one of the assumptions
very often in meditation circles.

And it's really worthwhile
investigating that.

And the answer is,
and this is one of the things

that you learn from
someone like Ajahn Brahm, yeah

and of course then you learn it
from the sutta and

you learn from your own experience
after a while

is that if you try too hard to be mindful
it has almost the opposite effect.

Yeah, I'm going to be mindful, be present,
be present, don't think about the past.

And if you try too hard
it exhausts you, yeah,

after a long day of being mindful
you kind of ready to crash out

because it is so exhausted
from being mindful all the time.

That's kind of counterproductive isn't it?

It’s supposed to give rise
to more mindfulness.

Very often trying too hard to be mindful

has the reverse effect than
actually what is supposed to have.

So don't take these things just..
what you hear in Buddhist circles.

Don't take it on board too quickly yeah,
have a little bit of, kind of,

look at things a bit more deeply
and see what is going on.

So I say, of course, if you are able
to be mindful in a more gentle way,

it may be, it will have a positive effect
but even then it is not quite clear.

So this is the first thing, yeah,
it often can easily backfire

if you get it wrong.

But there's an even better reason
to think that this doesn't work

and that other reason is that

the Buddha never says that if you are
mindful that begets more mindfulness.

Mindfulness begets mindfulness
not actually found in the suttas.

In the suttas,
in the word of the Buddha

they are very different things that lead
to mindfulness but not mindfulness itself.

There's heaps of things there but not
mindfulness itself.

So what are the things that
the Buddha says gives rise to mindfulness?

I've talked about this here before,
I'm sure many of you know this already

but the most obvious thing is morality,
virtue, kindness.

I always say if there's one thing
you should focus on, on the Buddhist path,

it's kindness.

Because that is kind of the foundation
for everything else

including mindfulness itself.
So if you really want to be mindful

be kind, be caring, be compassionate,
be understanding,

look after yourself and other people.
By body, our actions in the world,

through our speech which is often
quite difficult to, you know,

reign in and make sure
we only say the right things.

Everyone slips up every now and again
and that's okay.

But also in mind,
in mind itself.

Are you able to have a sense
of loving kindness and compassion

for the people around you
generally during the day?

This is the holy grail of mindfulness,

if you can do that I guarantee you
you will become mindful.

This is exactly what the
Noble Eightfold Path is about.

All the virtue factors come first.
Right speech, right action,

right livelihood then right effort.
Which is all about purifying the mind

then comes right mindfulness.
There's a reason for that.

The early factors are the cause,
they are the condition,

they are the source that enables you
to access right mindfulness later.

So virtue, this is the cause,
not mindfulness.

Mindfulness is not the cause
for mindfulness.

Virtue, kindness, goodness,
that is the cause for mindfulness.

And there's another one and that is
interestingly enough it's right view,

yeah, right view or straight view,
thinking about the world in the right way.

That, too, is the cause for mindfulness.
Why is that?

And I will give you an example
I think it becomes kind of obvious

that the reason
why we are not mindful

very often is because our mind
has desires for all kinds of things.

When you think about things
in your meditation

it's because there's some desire
underlying that thinking

which takes you to these places.
You're thinking about your future,

got to resolve certain problems
you are thinking about…

I don't know if you had dinner,

hopefully if you haven't had dinner
you may think about dinner later on…

I don't know..... it's going to be
a very late dinner.. however.

And yeah so
we're thinking about things why?

Comes from desire, you almost always,

actually always the thinking that we have
some kind of desire somewhere.

So one of the things about right view
is that it reduces our desires.

And one very beautiful little sutta
that I've been reading out recently,

on various places,
is a sutta that call the Attadanda sutta

which means the taking up of weapons
or the taking up of sticks

or violence or something like that.
And the Attadanda sutta is

one of these autobiographical suttas
where the Buddha talks about

what made him become a monk, yeah,
before he was a monk

he was still living the household life

like all of us have, yeah,
and then become monk.

What made the Buddha become monk?
Well obviously,

it was some kind of right view obviously,

otherwise he wouldn't become a monk.
What was that right view?

There is this beautiful verses
I probably can't remember them now

but there's something about, you know,
where he looks at the world

and he said the world is floundering
like a fish in a small puddle.

Yeah, fish in a small puddle
floundering, kind of flapping about

not really knowing what to do.

The fish is kind of doomed
in that little puddle.

There's nowhere to go,
there's nowhere to escape.

The world is like a fish in a puddle.

You know, we're all on this
little earth together

and the earth is always
becoming smaller

affecting each other all the time,
around this globe.

And then there's climate change,
you know, the kind of the gases

that let out on the opposite side
of the planet

are going to affect us
right here in Perth.

Everything is so interconnected
with the news and everything.

There's no escaping
and the Buddha says

even though we are floundering
like the fish in water,

still we are quarreling and arguing
with each other,

using violence against each other.
Kind of really fitting right now

seeing the war is being started
in Europe between Russia and Ukraine.

People are mad!
Who wants to have war in this world?

War is so much suffering,
kind of craziness.

But this is what people do
and the Buddha says

when I saw that
we live in this tiny world together

and we keep on taking up weapons
and being violent towards each other,

always being in aggression
always having these problems

either within the family
or within the city,

within the Buddhist Society, not so often
in the Buddhist Society fortunately.

Within any kind of grouping of people.

There's always a little bit of conflict,

it's very hard to avoid that
conflict entirely.

Nation between nation,
tribe between tribe,

family between family,
within families sometimes themselves.

This is the human condition,
you cannot really avoid it.

And when the Buddha saw that he realized,
I got to give up this world,

I got to find somewhere else.
That somewhere else is within.

There is no end to this
in the world itself.

We've been trying for millennia
to create the perfect society

through this-ism, through that-ism,

we cannot create
the perfect society without.

Because the Buddha says
there is a dart stuck in our heart

and the dart stuck in your heart
is the dart of craving.

And craving and desire is what drives
all these problems in the world.

So in a sense it is a bit like sometimes
you give up a little bit on that world.

You reduce your desire for the world
to be a beautiful perfect place.

You start to realize
maybe it is impossible.

And when you see that and you know that
there is happiness to be found within,

you turn within instead.
You practice the spiritual path.

Right view leads to mindfulness.

Right view leads to your ability to practice
meditation right here and right now.

Right view and morality together
supporting each other,

enable meditation Satipatthana to happen.

These are the causes,
these are the conditions

that enable mindfulness and meditation,
not mindfulness itself.

That's kind of radical, yeah
this is really radical.

Why is it so radical? Well,
one of the reasons why it is so radical

I would like to draw out a bit more
of the practical implication of this.

Well, there's a lot of practical
implications there already

but I will draw out a few more.
One of the reasons why this is

radical is because it is very common
in the Buddhist circles to think of

meditation as something we do
in daily life. Be mindful in daily life,

wash your dishes mindfully,
mindful eating yeah,

you hear about mindful eating.
Okay, Satipatthana while you're eating,

mindful walking back and forth,
mindful going to the toilet,

mindful going to the toilet… okay,
that's actually…

And all of these things,
where did they come from?

Well, actually in a certain way
they come from the suttas

because in the Satipatthana sutta
I'm talking about Satipatthana now

which is all about mindfulness.
One of the kind of exercises, if you like,

one of the ways of practicing
Satipatthana is precisely said to be,

you're mindful while going forward,
going back, eating and drinking,

sitting and sleeping and waking
and talking and being silent.

And it's a whole list yeah
including going to the toilet

is actually included there,
that's why I said that.

So that is where it is taken from.

But actually and this is kind of the point
of this workshop we have been doing.

When you look very carefully
at the suttas,

you notice and it becomes quite clear

that it doesn't really belong
under the aspect of meditation.

It belongs earlier on in the path
leading up to meditation.

And once you see that
you realize that this whole idea

of meditation in daily life
is actually misplaced.

There is no point in just
being mindful for its own sake.

In other words,
the idea that mindfulness gives rise

to more mindfulness later on,
that doesn't work.

Mindfulness in its own right in this way
is not really part of Buddhist meditation.

And this is a radical claim
because, you know, it disagrees

with what you often hear
in meditation circles.

So what then should we do in daily life
if we shouldn't be mindful?

This is kind of the second question
that arises

if we shouldn't just go around being
mindful of everything, what should we do?

And the answer is that the Buddha says
things that, remember,

lead to meditation is virtue.
So what we should do in daily life,

we should try to have enough mindfulness,

enough clarity about how we live,
that we are aware of how we live.

How am I treating the people around me?

How am I speaking? Am I speaking
with gentleness and kindness?

All of these kind of things.
That is the kind of awareness

and mindfulness that is required.
It is mindfulness directed to our conduct

then it becomes powerful
because then you're actually fulfilling

one of the things that do give rise
to mindfulness, which is kindness.

Most importantly of all, you are mindful
of the state of your mind.

Yeah, what is my mind like?
Okay, I'm getting a bit upset,

okay oh chill out,
relax, stand back,

think about what are the good
qualities of this person, yeah.

I was… one of those nice things
that happened the other day,

I was sitting in my kuti, kuti is
my little hut at Bodhinyana monastery.

If you haven't been to Bodhinyana
monastery, come down, check out our kutis.

They are really cool little boxes,
my kuti is 7.2 sq meters.

When your kuti is so small
you know exactly how large it is.

It’s 7.2 sq mts, so you can almost
reach across the walls.

It is that small.
So it's the best place

you can possibly imagine to live yeah,
almost no cleaning right,

really really good, it's really
easy to clean, don't need any kind..

of anyone to kind of help you out
or anything like that.

And the best thing about my kuti
is that it's secluded.

It's away, it's not like you have
a house next door.

When I'm in my kuti, I can't see anyone,

it's like, really in the bush
but beautiful bush.

The only neighbors that I have are
kangaroos and that kind of thing,

the odd ticks of course but that
we can deal with that after a while,

even ticks we can have compassion for.

So I was sitting in my kuti
and I have a desk in my kuti,

a beautiful desk that was made
by one of the other monks before.

Not all monks have desk
but I have a desk

because I do quite a lot of kind of
various desk related work,

So I have a desk in my kuti.
And I was sitting back

and I was looking at my desk.
And I looked at my desk,

I looked at some of the items there,
and there's not that much there.

There's a little bit more than
there should be probably

but it's not that much there.

But two of the items caught my mind

and one of the items was a little like
a mug, not a mug, but like one of these

insulated cups, yeah, a cup that
you drink hot beverages from.

And I thought wow this is one
of the things I use the most.

I use this cup all the time,
this is where I drink my coffee.

I'm one of these coffee addicts.
I drink coffee from this cup every day.

What a marvelous thing it is that I have
actually been given this cup by somebody.

And then I looked at my desk
and I saw another thing

on the other side of my desk and
that was a little flashlight and

I realized that flashlight and that cup
had been given to me by the same person.

And I thought, wow! isn't that wonderful.

Here is someone who
is so careful, so generous,

knowing the requirements
of the monks, yeah,

trying their very best to do
acts of kindness, do something supportive

and it was just such a beautiful moment
when I realized that I haven't really

connected those things before.
And I felt wow! what a beautiful thing.

And this is kind of the life
we want to live, this is kind of where

mindfulness arises from
these beautiful acts

that we do in our daily life,
of kindness, of supporting people.

That is where it comes from.
That is the kind of mindfulness

that is required - seeing what are
the good things in life.

So this is already quite radical,
so forget about being mindful all the time

know that mindfulness
has to have a purpose.

Purpose of mindfulness
should be kindness.

So if this is not what mindfulness
is about well then mindfulness is

obviously about meditation practice.
And if meditation practice

then what kind of meditation practice
are we talking about?

Well, first of all, we're talking
about real meditation practice,

meditation where we sit down,
we cross our legs and

we do some kind of formal act
of meditation.

This is kind of what meditation means.

But what exactly is it that we do
in that meditation?

And very often in mindfulness circles
the thing that we are said

to be doing is vipassana practice,
insight meditation.

So is satipatthana
is that about vipassana?

Is that the right way
of thinking about it?

What is vipassana anyway?
And one way of thinking about vipassana

is to think about it as insight,
another way that I think

think about is more like clear seeing.
Because clear seeing is more broad

and it involves
all of these kinds of things.

Is that what Satipatthana practice
is about? and the answer is not really

or maybe that is part of it
but it's much more than that.

And one of the things
that you find out

again when you read
these suttas carefully

is that Satipatthana
and meditation is about two things,

it has two results,
those results are

calm and clear seeing
or calm and insight.

These are two aspects that always
go together yeah.

And the main aspect actually in this
dual thing is actually the calm side

because there's a calm side
that eventually leads you to

very deep states of meditation.
So this is really what we are

looking at and it is very…
this is very fascinating

because very often the idea that
there is different kinds

of meditation practice,
calm on the one hand and insight

or clear seeing on the other.
This does not fit with

how things are taught in the suttas.
What you find in the sutta

is in fact the exact opposite.
What you find is that calm and insight

calm and clear seeing, they're not
actually meditation practices at all.

What they are, they are
outcomes of meditation practice

and they are outcomes that
always come together.

When you practice meditation
in the right way

you always get both calm and insight.

Why is that? Well, because the reason is
because when you are calm

you tend to see clearly,
when you see clearly you tend to be calm.

Yeah, these are two sides of exactly
the same thing.

Insight comes when you're peaceful,
when you are peaceful

that's when you have insight.
When you have insight

you tend to be calm afterwards.

These things build up together,
they cannot really be divided.

So meditation practice has both
of these factors, being built up together

as you practice meditation.
It is not one or the other.

You cannot say that Satipatthana
practice meditation is about insight.

These things are indivisible,
they always build up together.

So, how exactly does this work?
how do we… what do we do

when we practice meditation so that
it builds up to these things.

And very often what we do
when we practice meditation

is that we observe something, yeah,
typically you will observe something

like the breath maybe or you observe
some kind of other object

in your meditation practice.
This is basically what meditation is about

and very often the idea
in the Buddhist circle is that

all you have to do is observe.
And everything that we're trying

to achieve on the Buddhist path comes out

of that direct observational phenomena.

So just observe,
just be with what is going on.

And from that comes all the calm,
all the insight

that you can expect
on the Buddhist path.

This is kind of the very common way
of thinking about meditation practice.

And unfortunately
it is not the full truth.

It's part of the truth
but not the full truth.

If you imagine there are
certain meditation subjects

like we do here for example,
you practice the mindfulness of breathing.

And if you practice the mindfulness
of breathing, of course,

then you are just observing.
You're hanging out with the breath,

that is a pure observation exercise.
You don't do anything else

and the more you hang out
with the breath

and the more you're able
to stay with it

the calmer you become,
the more clear seeing you have.

So in that case obviously
it works in that way.

But let's say that you do
body contemplation yeah

this is kind of one of
the classical Satipatthana subjects

where you focus on the body
and you look at the body

and you can do that in different ways
you can take the body apart

look at the various parts of it.

It's called the contemplation
of the 31 parts of the body.

Or you can look at the body
as if it is elements,

the earth element, the water, the air,
heat element these kinds of things.

But these exercises are not
exercises of observation

because you cannot observe your liver.

Okay, liver, you know, it's there,
are you there?

I guess you are in there somewhere,
you've got to be,

better be there otherwise
I'm in serious trouble.

So you know it's in there yeah
and you may have seen a chart of the body,

okay, the various parts, in various ways.

Skeleton, okay, skeleton,
skull is in here.

Are you there, skull? Speak.
No, it doesn't want to.

Okay, this is a way to make it
speak, yes? Ding, ding, ding. Talk like…

So you know, it's all there.
But of course, it is a…

it is an exercise in imagination and
also recollection of memory,

when you do the contemplation
of the 31 parts of the body.

So memory and imagination is also part
of Satipatthana practice.

This is also how we do this exercise,
we can't do it without that.

So now we can see we're expanding out,
it's not just about observation,

this is actually fundamentally important
because this is how very often

meditation practice is taught.
We have to expand this out.

Even more importantly,
meditation is also about

what I would call inference or deduction.

Whereby you have the bare data
through your meditation practice

and then you infer from that
to expand your understanding.

So for example, in the present moment

you may be able to observe the breath
or you may be able to observe, you know

whatever is happening here and now.
But to have real insight

you have to expand that and to understand

that this not only applies
to the present, also applies to the future

it also applies to the past.
This is called inference

where you expand what you are seeing
to other instances

that are not immediately visible.
Or if I have this body yeah,

legs, fingers, other people
probably have it too, right?

So, you know, we all basically
have the same kind of body.

And that is also a kind of an inference.
We don’t know that but once you kind of

look at your own body you can assume
that other people have the same.

This is called inferential knowledge.
Knowledge that comes from inferences,

expands out the whole idea
of meditation

makes it much broader
than mere observation.

So why does this matter?
And I'll give you an example

why it matters and why it is
really significant.

So one of the kind of standard ways
of meditation

that we are taught in Buddhism
is the idea that

you have to watch the pain in the body.

You can go on a meditation retreat
and you can say:

Oh! I got so much pain, what should I do?

Watch the pain. This is very standard
meditation instruction

on meditation retreats around the world.
One of the few exceptions to that,

Well, Ajahn Brahm is a big time
exception to that one.

He does not believe in pain meditation,

he believes in happiness,
joy, ecstasy, bliss meditation.

That's what he's famous for.

So, why do we hear this so often
that we have to watch pain in the body?

And before I go to that I should say
it often has disastrous results.

I know so many people who have
destroyed ligaments in their knees

and have destroyed,
monks especially monastics,

because if you do this all the time,
have experienced lots of pain

eventually the joints of the body
get completely destroyed.

I know lay people who have been
on these meditation retreats

and they said “I've never in my life
felt so uncomfortable as I did

on this "blooming" meditation retreat.”
“Meditation is bad. Meditation is evil.

It just leads to pain and suffering.
Who wants to meditate for goodness sake!

it's crazy, I'm never ever in my
entire life am I going to meditate again”.

This is what people have said to me
quite literally.

I thought, whoa! okay, I said
relax, yeah, okay try out Ajahn Brahm’s.

Ajahn Brahm is pretty cool,
he doesn't believe in pain,

check him out before you throw
everything out with the bathwater.

“No, this is it.
I'm finished with meditation,

i don't want to hear about Ajahn Brahm.
I've had it.”

Okay, this is what I heard first time
and I thought this is terrible.

The whole purpose of
the spiritual path

is to add value to our lives,
to make it something more,

to have a place
where we can find a refuge

when we have suffering,
when the bombs are falling in Kiev,

when the Corvid virus is kind of
going around the world,

when climate change is kind of
wreaking havoc with everything,

when the large powers in the world
are clashing or whatever.

We need a place to find
some kind of refuge - that is here.

This is the whole purpose
of the spiritual path.

We need to find,
use this path in a skillful way

that it actually provides the refuge
it is supposed to be.

Otherwise we're destroying
something so beautiful.

So this is the problem
with pain meditation.

It's actually a very,
very significant problem.

And of course, if you know the first
thing about the Buddhist teachings,

you know that the very first thing
the Buddha said was "the middle way".

Don't torture the body,
don't indulge too much either

but certainly don't torture the body.

I would say if you're gonna go wrong,
indulge a little bit extra instead yeah,

that's not going to hurt you that much

but torturing actually could
really end up hurting you a lot.

That's the first teaching of the Buddha,
it's the first thing that we forget!

Maybe because it's so long ago,
it's the first teaching,

it’s the longest ago. Maybe we…
I don't know,

I'm not sure if that really
works as an idea.

So it is very, very problematic.
So why is it like that?

And the reason why we think like this,
is that again,

if you read the Satipatthana sutta,

the main sutta that almost everyone
uses to explain meditation practice.

In there you have a section called
the vedananupassana,

vedana means like feelings
or sensations in the body

and nupassana is contemplation,
the contemplation of feelings.

And if you read that section
it says you contemplate

pleasant feelings, unpleasant feelings
and neutral feelings.

You contemplate worldly or sensory pleasant
feelings, sensory unpleasant feelings.

By sensory, I mean anything related to
the five senses, sensory neutral feelings.

And then you have spiritual pleasant
feelings, spiritual unpleasant feelings.

That's an interesting one isn't it?

I'm not going to talk about that tonight.
That's just an advertisement

for the next talk I'm going to talk
about spiritual unpleasant feelings,

just to excite you
about the next talk coming up.

Actually I probably won't talk about it.

Um, the last one is
neutral spiritual feelings.

But you will notice there
that this text says specifically

that you have to contemplate
sensory unpleasant feelings.

Well, what are sensory
unpleasant feelings? - pain in the body -

that’s sensory unpleasant feelings,
watch it, yeah

it says in the Satipatthana sutta,
you must watch those feelings.

Actually it is wrong, yeah,
it doesn't actually mean that.

And very interestingly
if you look at Satipatthana

and meditation from
another point of view,

from the point of view of
mindfulness of breathing,

because mindfulness of breathing also
talks about contemplation of feeling.

And what you find there is that
you contemplate rapture, yeah,

rapture is like joy,
you contemplate bliss, sukka.

You contemplate these
emotional experiences

and then you calm these emotional
experiences of bliss and rapture.

It's all about happiness.
And then the Buddha says

well, this way of contemplating joy
and happiness going with the breath

that fulfills the whole meditation
process of watching feelings.

It's all you have to do.
So what's going on here?

One place that says
just focus on the bliss,

the other one says focus on the pain,
what is going on?

How can this be the same?
The Buddha says they are the same.

How is that possible?

And this is where this comes in,
what I was saying before,

meditation is not just about
observing directly,

meditation is also about recalling,
it's about memory, it's about inference,

it's about understanding things;
not through necessarily direct experience,

but understanding it
through more of a bird's-eye view

because you have an overview
of what is going on.

So when you come to the blissful
feelings of meditation

what you find is that of course
the pain is no longer there,

the body has maybe even disappeared
in this very profound state of meditation.

And what that means is that
you can understand the painful feeling

not by observing it but by its absence.
Because absence is

the most powerful insight we can have
when something is completely gone.

Remember what we're
trying to understand in Buddhism -

we have what we call
the three characteristics:

impermanence, suffering and non-self.
Three characteristics of existence.

And these are the things
that we focus on

when we talk about insight
or understanding or clear seeing.

What is the best way
to understand impermanence?

Well, if you watch it you can kind of
see it coming and going.

But if it's completely gone
that is absolute impermanence.

The complete ending of a phenomena
is the most powerful insight

into impermanence that you can have.
It’s also an insight into suffering

because when the suffering
is completely gone you think wow!

Now I understand how painful
those painful feelings actually were.

I thought I could deal with them
but once they are gone

and all you have is bliss
then you really fully understand

the suffering or the pain
of that experience.

And also you understand non-self
because it's gone,

you no longer have access to it
and that lack of access means

that it is non-self.
It's got nothing to do with you

because you are still here,
it's completely gone and you're fine.

So this is actually not only
do you not have to watch the pain,

it is not even the best way to understand
and to get insight into pain.

A far more powerful way
to get insight into pain

is to look at it in retrospect
through enjoying the joy

and the bliss
and the happiness of meditation.

Isn't that good news?
You should be jumping up and down now.

Yay, wow! this is the most wonderful
thing I've learned all day.

Because… I don't know,
some of you may never be aware

that these are teachings that are
taught commonly in the Buddhist world

but some of you will be aware of that
and you will think wow! yeah.

Because to me this is a very
important point

and it makes a spiritual life
so much more worthwhile.

It makes it so much more joyful,
so much more happy.

It makes it a real refuge
that we can go to

we don't have to go through
all of these painful things

on the path to achieving
something worthwhile.

I think there's something
deep in the human psyche -

we think that pain is gain,
we think that when we, kind of,

mortify the flesh, the evil flesh,
when the flesh feels pain

then the spirit is released.
Yeah, okay, mortified the flesh -

maximum pain, maximum gain.

Actually it doesn't work like that
said the Buddha.

So but there's something psychological
if you look at religious experiences

around the world, it is very common
this idea of mortifying the body,

creating pain in the body.
Somehow that would release

the spirit or the soul
or the mind or whatever it is

depending on what kind of religion
you're holding onto.

You see that in Christianity,
you see it in Islam,

you see it in Hinduism.
And lo and behold,

you see it in Buddhism as well.
And this is problematic

especially since the Buddha
warned us precisely against this.

So, yeah, very practical ideas
about Buddhist teachings,

about meditation practice specifically.

One of the things I was just saying now
is that when you go to the mindfulness

of breathing sutta
which also really is about

Satipatthana practice,
how to fulfill Satipatthana,

you can get some understanding
of things like

contemplation of feelings
that otherwise you would not.

So actually the whole idea of mindfulness
of breathing is very interesting.

And according to the sutta, mindfulness
of breathing is all you have to do.

Mindfulness of breathing fulfills
all the four Satipatthana.

There are four Satipatthana,
four applications of mindfulness:

body, feeling, mind and principles,
you know, something like that,

dhammas is the last one.

Four, all of those are fulfilled
merely by watching the breath.

And again, this is also quite radical

because if you read
the Satipatthana sutta,

it starts off
and all it tells you there is that

while you watch the breath,
is only connected with body contemplation.

It doesn't talk about
the breath after that.

So many people think
“okay, I just stick with the breath

doing body contemplation
and then when I go to feelings,

got nothing to do with breath”.
Well, that's wrong!

Because when you come to
the feeling section of Satipatthana

it doesn't say how
you're supposed to do it.

It doesn't give you a context,

it doesn't talk about
the meditation object.

All it says is that you're supposed
to contemplate feelings.

And the only place where you
actually find that context is

in the mindfulness of breathing sutta
- Anapanasati.

The context is ‘watch the breath’.

And when you watch the breath
feelings will arise

and because feelings arise
while you're watching your breath

you're doing feeling contemplation
right there.

The breath contemplation is the context.

So the Buddha really gives some
very powerful pointers.

What we should be doing is
breath meditation,

not just focusing on the body
without context,

but in the context of a larger
or a specific way

to kind of anchor you to mindfulness
through the breath.

That is how we do the whole thing.

So mindfulness of breathing
is really the whole path

of Satipatthana meditation,
is all you have to do.

Can you do it in other ways?
Are there some additions to that?

Yes, there are some additions to that.

But this is the exercise
the Buddha recommends to fulfill this.

So I say that is what we should be doing.

And then of course,
as you do the mindfulness of breathing,

what is the purpose
of mindfulness of breathing?

Well, in the suttas, the mindfulness of
breathing often is said to lead to samadhi

Yeah, samadhi is
the deep stillness of the mind,

the profound bliss,
the profound peace we can attain by

practicing meditation in a good way.
And so Satipatthana leads to… no,

mindfulness of breathing
leads to samadhi

that must mean that
Satipatthana leads to samadhi.

But most people say
Satipatthana leads to insight.

Well, actually it is true that
Satipatthana leads to samadhi.

This is one of the things
I've been pointing out

during this course on Satipatthana
is that in the suttas,

Satipatthana always leads to samadhi,
always leads to the stillness of the mind.

This is the purpose of Satipatthana.
This is the main purpose of Satipatthana.

So how does it do that?
I say mindfulness of breathing,

does that mean that all we do is calming,
calming, calming, no insight?

Actually no, it doesn't even mean that.
Because remember I said before

samatha - vipassana,
calm and insight always go together.

So you use your right view,
you use the wise reflection about reality,

you contemplate your meditation practices.

This is why I like to do at the end
of every meditation - think back-

what happened during the meditation,
how does it work?

That is an aspect of that inquiry into how
the mind and how meditation works.

So that you still do
both vipassana and samatha

because they are the outcomes
of meditation.

But the purpose of both
the vipassana and samatha is samadhi.

Even vipassana has the purpose
of samadhi, yeah

not deep insight into the nature
of reality, why?

Because deep insight into
the nature of reality

is actually impossible without samadhi.

Samadhi is the cause for seeing things
in accordance with reality.

So as we do the mindfulness of breathing,

we're fulfilling Satipatthana
meditation practice,

achieving the samadhi which actually
is the purpose of all of these practices,

the whole Satipatthana is geared towards

achieving samadhi and
stillness of the mind.

And then what happens?

Well, this is where finally Satipatthana
starts to become a little bit different.

Once you achieve samadhi,

and if some of you here have
achieved samadhi, then marvelous,

because it means you've gone a long way
on this Buddhist path already.

But if you do achieve samadhi
that is where deep insight can happen

and that is where you can say
the extended version of Satipatthana

which actually is aimed at deep insight -
this is where it is to be found.

Because based on that deep stillness
of the mind,

insight into the nature of reality
becomes possible.

And this is where Satipatthana takes you
all the way to awakening itself,

all the way to enlightenment.

Not before samadhi but after samadhi.
This is where the deep's insights happen.

So, just to summarize for you,

very briefly, the things I kind of
have been saying tonight.

Remember, it is not mindfulness
that leads to mindfulness.

It is kindness and right view
that lead to mindfulness.

Meditation is not really
to be done in daily life.

The purpose of mindfulness
in daily life is to ensure

that your conduct is pure,
that is the purpose

not just to be mindful
in its own right.

Keep your mind in check,
keep your actions in check.

Remember that meditation is much more
than mere observation.

Meditation is also about
looking back on things,

understanding things from the perspective
of a higher point of view.

From the perspective of things ending,
ceasing, completely being out of control

that is where the real insights and
deep understandings of the nature happens.

Which means you don't really
have to go through pain meditation

to understand that pain is bad,
you can do that from a higher perspective.

And then finally,
all the meditation can be done

through mindfulness of breathing.
That mindfulness of breathing

eventually becoming samadhi
and eventually you take that samadhi

deep enough and you then
watch the nature of existence.

That is where awakening itself can happen.

Okay, there you are.
That is the talk for tonight.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Okay, so any questions
or comments on tonight's talk?

Are we allowed to have microphones still
or is that illegal now

according to the rules and regulations
of the WA government -

no microphones at Dhammaloka centre?

Ok, does anyone here want to
say anything?

Everyone here just completely…

Oh, thank you so much Mr Bill,
Mr Bill Prince by the way.

Okay so I'm going to take some questions
from overseas.

Some of them are from locations withheld.
Not sure what that is

but that's not… not here presumably.
Maybe it's from here,

location withheld,
I don't know.

Anyway, we have the first one.
This is from Poland. Hello Poland.

Q- May I please ask you to tell us what's
your approach to the situation in Ukraine?

I'm trying not to send negative thoughts
to the invader but it is so difficult.

Ajahn: “Yes, well, I try to touch
on that in my talk very briefly

because obviously it is very
topical right now

but the answer is very simple,
the answer is that

this is the nature of human existence.

The problem is that
we are deluded about it.

We think that we should be able
to live without war.

We should be able to live
without aggressors, without invasions.

But actually that is not
how the human realm works.

The human realm always
is going to have these things.

Why is that? One of the reasons
is because we live in the world,

the sensory world is inherently limited,

we're always chasing
after the same things,

chasing after the same relationships,

chasing after the same pie in the world.

The economic pie is only so large,
if the rich people get more

the poor people might get less
and this kind of thing.

So we're all chasing after the same thing

because the external world
out there is limited.

And because everyone wants more
of the external world

It's guaranteed to be
clashes in that world.

So that sensory world is
inherently problematic, inherently violent

Inherently is always going
to have clashes in that world.

So this is a very profound insight.
Because once you start to see that

it makes the whole world outside
less interesting.

When Ukraine gets invaded by Russia
you think, oh yeah, I expected that.

Of course, it happens.

It's not because the Russians are
particularly evil or anything like that,

it's just because this is
the nature of existence.

One day it's going to be
someone else and we think

maybe we live in Perth,
Perth is far away, is really safe.

It's really safe until
it's no longer safe.

Certainly one day it's not safe anymore
because I don't know what might happen

but things are going to happen,
guaranteed yeah.

Even in this kind of,
kind of far away corner of the world

which is kind of great,
it's great to live in a far away place

but still trouble is going to come
here as well. You can't avoid trouble,

it's absolutely integrated
into the human realm.

So don't think of it as, you know,

the reason why you get upset with this
is because somehow you think

of these Russians as the aggressors
and then you personalize.

The moment you personalize it
that's when you get upset with things.

But it's not really personal, this is
a phenomena in the world happening

as they must happen. When the world
is structured the way it is,

with greed, with ill will, with delusion,
that the world is.

Actually the meaning of this
is not that I should get angry.

The meaning of this is
I should turn away from this

because it is inherently problematic.

I should move on to the spiritual path,
it's the only refuge we’d have.

You will never find a solution
in the world outside,

the solution is to be found inside.
This is the beauty of the spiritual path.

Q- Does anyone else's body go heavy

almost like it is melting
the quieter your mind goes?

I really don't like the feeling
whenever I become aware of it,

gives me a little jolt and
makes me want to stop.

Ajahn - The body going heavy, um..
you know, that meditation is very varied

and meditation really is the perceptions
that arise in the mind as you meditate,

vary enormously from person to person.
All kind of perceptions can arise

in the mind that is peaceful and
very often it's just created by the mind

and heaviness is yeah it may be one of
those mental creations

that is happening inside of you.

But ideally if your meditation really
takes off, yeah

if you go on a meditation retreat
or something like that then

what you will find is that actually
your body becomes lighter usually.

If your meditation really goes well,

your body becomes very light
before it sort of disappears altogether.

So the heaviness may just be a kind of
preliminary thing, yeah,

preliminary going through, maybe
the mind becoming a bit dull,

may be or a bit restless or you know,
you have to go through something

before you come to a brighter state
on the other side.

And that may just be that you have
to go through

that kind of heavy state so to speak.
But if you keep on going, it goes well

my prediction is that
you will find brightness

and lightness on the other side.

Q- From Indonesia,

Dear Ajahn, how do we really stay
in the present moment even if

it feels unbearable, chaotic in the mind.

Some people are easy to enjoy the present
and meditate and some are not.

Is it because of kamma?”

Ajahn - “Um, is it because of kamma?
you know, forget about why

people often want to know
why this is happening to me?

Oh, I lost my job, why did I lose it?
is it because of kamma?

Don't know if it's because of kamma
who knows? it's irrelevant,

it doesn't matter
if it's because of kamma,

because the other person is evil,
because we made a mistake or whatever

it's kind of completely irrelevant.

The point is that this is what life
is like, yeah, forget about that.

We think that if we can sort of blame it
on kamma then we can have a solution.

Actually it doesn't really solve anything
if you blame it on kamma.

So try to enjoy your meditation,
try to do a kind of meditation

which is enjoyable. Make it shorter
if you find it hard to meditate.

Don't meditate for too long, use some
kind of guidance to get you going yeah.

The voice of Ajahn Brahm
if you like Ajahn Brahm's voice yeah

and some of Ajahn Brahm voice
can be really powerful

if you listen to it in the right way
or the voice of someone else

that you enjoy to get you in
the right mood for meditation practice.

It can be very, very helpful

because some people have
the spiritual feeling about them.

Ajahn Brahm is one of those people.

When Ajahn Brahm is in the right mood

it's one of the most kind of, woo!
powerful feelings.

At least in my mind when he gives
a teaching at the monastery

during the rains retreat,
the hall is absolutely quiet,

Ajahn Brahm is almost like
completely still, yeah,

and you just become peaceful
just by listening to what he has to say.

That is the power
of spiritual qualities.

Meditate at the right time, maybe
in the morning when you are fresh

your mind is reasonably fresh
after a long night, good night sleep.

Don't go on the internet just before
you go to bed,

have an hour before you go to bed
with no internet, turn it off,

lock your phone away.
Don't have access to that - lock,

afterwards give the key to
someone else, tell them I don't want

to see that mobile phone
before tomorrow morning.

Do something that you know
you can't access it

because if you can access it, you will.
The temptation is too high.

So be wise about why it is that
your mind is so, you know,

all of these things.
And then hopefully you will find the kind

of meditation that you will enjoy.
But don't do it just because

you have to do meditation
because you are a Buddhist.

Because if you have to do it
you don't enjoy it,

again you are destroying the
potential of the path.

So then what you have to do
is work more on the first six factors

of the noble eightfold path.
Can you be more kind,

can you have more compassion,
can you look at other people

and see their good qualities more,
all of these kind of things yeah,

that is what you should be doing.
And the more you do all that

the more ready the mind will be
for meditation.

There are people in the world
who had bad experience in meditation

and the main reason for that is
because they're not really ready.

And this is the problem with extracting
meditation from the rest of Buddhism

saying meditation is a path
in its own right.

Well, if it doesn't work what do you do?
You don't have any recourse

to any further teachings of the Buddha.

If it doesn't work
just try to be kind, yeah,

something everyone can do,
try to be more kind.

So just go back to those first
six factors instead.

Be more kind,
be kind as much as you can.

Be kind all the time, take every
opportunity to do acts of kindness

even if other people think
you are silly sometimes

it doesn't matter whether
people think you're silly

as long as you're doing
the right thing.

And if you keep on contemplating
in this way you'll find the way forward.

Q- “Sometimes memories from the past,
some intimate scenes with my ex-partner

come up during meditation
and this disturbs me a lot

and I feel bad about myself
how can I meditate better?”

Ajahn “Yes well the reason
why these kind of things come up

is because you are thinking about
something that you think is more fun,

more interesting than meditation,
you're probably not enjoying

the meditation enough so you … these
kind of sensual thoughts arise instead.

So how can you avoid that?

Well basically by trying to enjoy
the meditation more yeah,

shorten down the meditation,
do shorter things,

have some guidance
during your meditation

listen to someone's voice,
if Ajahn Brahm is talking in your ears

you will be afraid of having
sensual thoughts right? [laugh]

I can't think this maybe Ajahn Brahm
is listening, gee! this is scary [laugh]

so you'll be a bit worried about those
sensual thoughts

if Ajahn Brahm is right there or whatever

there's always ways around this.

The other thing is to remember
the limitation of those sensual thoughts.

The sensory world, the whole sensory
world, sensual world is interlinked.

So the fact that the sensory world
outside is problematic,

there's wars, there's Covid,
there's pandemics, there's climate change,

there's what have you,
there's people dying, there's you know

all kind of things going on,
bad things in that world.

Well this ordinary sensuality
that we enjoy in everyday life,

whether it's relationships
or food or whatever,

all that is interlinked with that,
it all comes as one package.

So if you understand that
the whole world is dangerous

because actually it full of
conflict and problems.

You may be able…you may be able
to let go of those sensual thoughts

a little bit more.
But be gentle with yourself

understand that it's quite hard
to let go of the sensual world,

it's one of the most difficult things,
it's one of the things that

make monastics disrobe very often.
Because that world is very hard

to let go of. So don't expect
very quick results with this.

It takes time to overcome these things,
be gentle, keep on investigating,

meditate in a way that sort of supports
your ability to not think

about these things
and gradually you may overcome it.

More important is to overcome anger
and ill will

because it's far more destructive
than sensual things.

Q “Ajahn Brahmali can you chant
for Ukraine? I'm from Poland

and they are my neighbors
I try to see good in people

but it's so hard to find
something good in Putin.”

Ajahn “Remember Putin himself
is conditioned, yeah,

he doesn't know what he's doing.
He's blind, he's walking around

in darkness, he's creating enormous
amount of suffering for many people

but probably much more
suffering for himself,

who knows what's going
to happen to Putin in the future?

Especially when you take into account
the Buddhist ideas of many lives

Oooh you know someone who is bad
gets very bad results-that's the reality

and Putin is blind
he's walking in darkness,

he doesn't know what he's doing,
he too deserves compassion ultimately

even though he may have made
some mistakes.

So the best thing is
not to judge anyone

the best thing to do is to have
compassion all the way around yeah

and then you're doing the right thing.

But yeah I'm sure we will, the monastery
will probably do some chanting for Ukraine

I can imagine that happening and
we'll get Ajahn Brahm as well on board

because Ajahn Brahm will give
the extra blast to Ukraine.

So there you are.

Last question for today I believe
oh no (unintelligible?) you have really

kind of put it in there. So please
feel free to leave any time of course

because there's a few more questions here
three more questions to be precise.

Dear Ajahn, I'm experiencing the craziness
of the mind in a very intense way,

I feel like I need liberation
and there is an urgency, any advice?

Ajahn - “I'm not sure exactly
what you are saying now

when you experience the craziness
of the mind

whether you mean the mind is
out of control while you meditate?

I did talk about that just before
a little bit.

If you feel the mind is out of control
while you meditate,

well then maybe….,
be careful not to take that too far.

Because this out of control mind may,
you know, sometimes people go nuts

in the meditation if they take it too far.

So be gentle with yourself, make sure
your meditation works in the right way.

It’s supposed to make you more peaceful,
more gentle, more calm,

more kind as a person, then you know
meditation is working in the right way.

So if that's what you mean
then be careful.

If you mean that you understand
the craziness of the mind

more in the kind of general sense,
that the mind is kind of out of control.

Well then good on you because that
of course is very much true, yeah.

The mind often is crazy in the sense

that it has weird ideas
and it does weird stuff

and that is kind of an insight
into the mind

to see that you are not really in control.

There's all these causes and conditions
that are in control of the mind

and the mind then, you know, follows
along those causes and conditions.

So that also is an insight into
the inherent suffering of existence.

The mind is… we're not in charge
of our own minds.

Our minds are held by bad habits
from the past, by the conditioning

of the past, by the programming that we
have laid down in that mind in the past.

We are trapped by that
and that is maybe what you are seeing.

So it depends a little bit on
what you are talking about here.

One of them you have to be careful
if you feeling crazy in meditation,

step back a little bit
because it can be problematic

but if there's a more general
insight into the nature of reality

then it’s probably a good thing.
So, use this as grist for the mill

and to take you forward on the path
and whatever is happening there.

Q- “What do you do if a loved one
says horrible things and you bottle it up

and then explode at them
then they call you hysterical.”

Ajahn - That's really unfair isn't it?
You really try your best to kind of

hold it back
and then they call it hysterical.

Well that's really, really unfair.
Life is unfair, don't get upset

because life is unfair because life
just is unfair, unfortunately.

So what do you do, instead of bottling
it up, you say “darling listen!

please don't say horrible things to me,
say nice things to me, yeah,

say I love you, say it is wonderful
to have you as a partner in life.

Here are a couple of roses for you
because I like you so much,

give me a kiss on the cheek.
Please do that partner then we can have

a really good relationship together.

So when you are feeling in a good mood,
take them aside and give them a hug

and say well this is…can we
let's treat each other like this yeah

then we have such a beautiful
thing together.

So just be open, try to talk
about problems.

Problems are usually resolvable
if we talk about them and communicate.

Don't bottle things up too much
because quite rightly as you say

then you end up exploding.
It makes things worse yeah and then

you become hysterical on top of it.
That's really bad news.

So that's what I would recommend
and then see if that

can make things work better.
And last question for tonight

“I have a question concerning
contemplation of inner organs.

Are there any examples of meditators
who actually can become aware

of them directly?
They say ancient Taoist women

meditators were aware of the fetus
when it was a few weeks old

and gained medical knowledge.”
Ajahn “All right, okay.

That's interesting. um..
I mean the mind is an interesting thing

and you know the awareness
of inner organs. There are obviously,

there are ways you might be able
to do that with the mind.

It can be just like a visual thing
but that visual thing can be

so powerful that it feels like
you're seeing things for real.

Can also be possible if your mind
is incredibly powerful

to actually see your own inner organs
yeah maybe possible.

So these things may be possible

but this is not what is meant
in the Satipatthana Sutta

because Satipatthana is meditation
leading up to samadhi,

you haven't even got to samadhi yet.

And samadhi is required to be able
to see these organs

in the way you are describing here

so this is not what is meant
in the Satipatthana context.

There we are talking about imagination

and recollection of things
that you have learned before.

But yes, I think it is astonishing
what the mind can do

if it really is trained enough

but everything at the right time
in the right place.

Okay everyone, that's all for today.

So let's pay respect to the
Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha.