Meditation & Dhamma Talk With Guest Speaker, Bhante Sankichcha

Okay,

Good morning everybody.

Now let's begin our meditation practice.

In this very beautiful morning,

You all came to this spiritual shelter to spend some spiritual time,

Some meaningful time.

As this Blue Lotus Buddhist temple,

Your spiritual home.

So now maintaining the proper posture with upright body and gently closed eyes.

Keeping your posture the way you are seated.

Meditation practice is all about bringing our body and mind together.

It is about being aware of the moment.

So feel your entire body with the mind.

Appreciating this very moment,

Your spiritual practice,

Your Dharma practice.

Taking a few deep in-breaths and out-breaths,

Some long mindful and gentle breaths.

Releasing any tension and negative energies from your body.

You may bring your total attention to your inner experience.

So take a few deep breaths.

Sensing each breath throughout the body.

You may take a few moments to scan through your body.

Stretching from the top of the head slowly and gently down to the tips of the toes.

Gently touching each and every single part of the body with the mind.

Observing even the subtle sensations and feelings through the deep stillness.

Our body needs our love,

Our body needs our attention to be healthy and peaceful.

Going even deeper and deeper into the stillness as you listen to the bell,

The echo of it.

The bell is ringing.

Getting yourself well centered.

The bell is ringing.

See how you feel your body at this moment.

If it is relaxed,

If it is peaceful or if it is restless.

And remember,

Whenever you touch your physical body with your own love and compassion,

The healing process begins right from that moment.

We all have the healing powers to heal ourselves when we are deeply in touch with our heart and mind.

So withdrawing your complete attention from the external world,

Limiting your mind just to your psychophysical entity.

As you listen to your body with an empty mind,

Being very friendly to yourself,

Being very gentle to yourself,

You may allow yourself to be here and now in the present moment.

Feel the energy and feel the balance even in your physical body,

Within your posture.

Feel an engaged posture,

Especially maintaining the natural curve in the lower back.

As you listen to your physical body with an empty mind,

See if you can let go of all the thoughts,

Memories and mental images from the mind.

However,

You can see that you have the imagination to responding to whatever the present moment Now as you observe your physical body from the superficial level,

From the most outer level of your body,

Let's take a few moments to visualize even the inner experience of this physical body.

As this physical body,

The physical experience is a very important part of your everyday life.

So simply bring your mindful awareness to the head area.

Even though you have not seen with your naked eye,

As you have studied,

As you have come to know,

Simply locate the brain inside the skull,

Feel the shape of it,

Feel the delicacy.

Being the central processing unit of this entire physical experience and the mental experience,

Be aware of the functioning of the brain,

Its complexity,

Gently touching the brain with your own love and compassion.

Envision that most important part of the body to be functioning perfectly as it should be.

Envision that part of the body to relax and be peaceful and healthy.

Now simply locate both the lungs inside the rib cage,

Feel the shape of them,

Understanding the function,

Feel the rise and fall of them as you breathe in and out,

Being very compassionate to them,

Sending your healing energies.

And now simply locate the heart in between both the lungs,

Being a very vital organ in your entire body,

Be aware of its functioning,

Pumping and receiving the blood,

Its different chambers,

See if you can feel your heart,

Being very mindful,

Being very attentive.

And even feel the liver to the right,

Just below the right lung,

Being the biggest organ in your physical body,

Knowing its functioning,

Storing all the energy,

Even doing a very important function of detoxifying from whatever we take in.

Simply locate both the kidneys in the lower stomach and feel its functioning as the filtering system,

Wishing these both the kidneys to be working perfectly and healthy.

And feel the digestive system,

The ease of progress,

The stomach,

Small intestines,

Large intestines.

Now you may feel all the muscles in your physical body giving you the shape of this body,

Its appearance,

Its strength.

Even simply visualize the blood system throughout the body.

And even feel the skeleton inside the body which gives us the strength,

The shape to be able to move around.

So think about for a moment,

Think about this physical body right from the beginning up to this moment,

All these organs are working so hard without taking any break just to keep you alive,

Just to keep you alive.

So feel the gratefulness,

The thankfulness to your body.

We hardly appreciate our physical body,

Its functioning.

Even this physical body is a huge part of our identity.

This is what we call ourselves,

Our life.

But this physical experience,

This physical body is constantly changing.

We all have come to this moment as who we are and what we are as a result of this constant changing which is the impermanence.

And that process even will continue to the future until we die.

Most of the parts of this physical body and its experience beyond our control,

It is so complex and this is one of the most magnificent creations of the universe even.

This body is functioning as a result of causes and effects,

As a result of our own karmas.

Because of the energy of the food we eat,

The air we breathe.

Therefore we cannot identify this body as me,

Mine or myself.

But this body,

This physical experience is just like a vehicle for us to navigate through our life and to experience this beautiful life.

When you pay your mindful attention to this physical body,

Its experience,

This physical body is full of wisdom.

Only through the understanding of the mechanism of this body and mind we become able to live in peace and harmony.

Therefore this is our world.

We experience everything right within this body and mind.

All the secrets of this world and the universe are even hidden within this psychophysical experience.

So feeling your entire body with the mind now,

Feeling the deep sense of connectedness with yourself,

You may wish yourself and you may bless yourself from the bottom of your heart for your physical and mental well-being.

Repeating these positive,

Loving,

Compassionate thoughts and praises again and again.

Simply understanding the meaning of these words and praises,

Trying to experience the qualities of love within yourself,

Within your body and mind.

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be relaxed.

May I be peaceful.

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be relaxed.

May I be peaceful.

Letting these positive energies,

Positive vibrations,

Starting from your own heart resonate through each and every single part of the body,

Every single cell in your body and let it heal yourself.

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be relaxed.

May I be peaceful.

Even accepting yourself for being who you are and what you are.

Feel the love in the centre of your heart.

Even accepting yourself as a perfect human being,

As a spiritual being at this moment.

No matter what has happened in the past,

Embrace this present moment,

These positive states in your experience,

Letting go of the past,

Letting go of the future.

Letting your body breathe in and out gently and naturally.

Perhaps you can incorporate this loving kindness practice with your breathing exercise.

You may repeat each phrase of loving kindness with one round of in-breath and out-breath without rushing,

Taking enough time to experience the qualities of love within yourself.

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be relaxed.

May I be peaceful.

And now we can radiate our loving thoughts,

Compassionate thoughts towards all living beings.

Letting your love go to all beings.

Okay.

Do we have any questions or any comment about the techniques today,

Your experience?

Anything to ask?

Yes?

Okay.

It was mostly not in a physical sense,

But mentally,

Our inner experience to be centered means not to be engaged in external activities.

So you know,

Without letting your mind wander in other thoughts,

Imagination,

So other external experiences.

That's what it meant.

How did you feel about the,

As I call the inner or the internal journey?

How did you feel that?

Have you ever done that,

That way?

Okay.

So it's kind of similar,

But yeah.

I see a very powerful healing effect in that technique,

You know,

Because we hardly appreciate our body that way,

You know,

We don't have any clue about our inside,

You know,

What's happening inside our body,

But every single organ,

Part of our body is functioning,

Giving us a very important support to this entire life.

Therefore we cannot neglect any organ,

Any part of this body,

Right?

It's working as a collective experience,

But we don't feel it that way.

We don't appreciate it that much,

You know.

It can give us such a deep,

Appreciative connectedness with ourselves,

You know.

We neglect our body in our everyday life as we get very busy,

As we are always bound to these external activities.

We hardly bring our attention to our inner experience.

So it's a very living experience,

You know.

It can bring us to such a present moment experience when we become really conscious about our body that way,

You know.

So it's a very interesting technique as anyone can practice very easily.

It doesn't need any particular posture,

Any time or anything,

You know.

You can do it anywhere.

It can really help your body,

Yourself.

So today I would like to talk about this very special topic briefly,

Which is taking responsibilities,

You know,

How to become a responsible person in our everyday life,

You know.

This is very much connected to our spiritual life,

Our normal day to day life,

You know,

As we are living a very busy,

Hectic life.

Sometimes we forget about most important aspects of our life,

You know.

When we become a real responsible person,

We need to pay our mindful attention to some important areas,

Some aspects in our life.

Without taking that responsibility,

We can easily neglect them and these areas,

Aspects of our life can go unnoticed,

Unrecognized.

And even that way,

You can really miss this most important,

Enjoyable part of your life,

You know.

So when I think about how to become a responsible person,

I see these different areas very important to our life.

First thing would be,

As we spend this important time today,

During the techniques,

We have to be responsible for our body,

Our physical body.

That is important,

Right?

Because we all have that concern,

We all want to be healthy.

We all want to be very healthy and comfortable with our physical body.

But sometimes we are not taking that responsibility enough.

So how do you take that responsibility about your body?

Any thought?

Exercise.

Exactly.

We need to exercise.

What else?

Clean and healthy lifestyle.

Yes,

Clean and healthy lifestyle.

Anything else?

Right.

Healthy eating habits,

Right?

Eating healthy.

Yes,

That is exactly.

You know,

So unless we take that responsibility,

This body is not going to treat as well in return,

Right?

So it is our responsibility.

We need to take that responsibility seriously,

How to take care of this body.

You know,

No one else can do that for us.

We are responsible for it.

So when we take that responsibility seriously,

We consciously,

Mindfully change our habits,

Our attitudes,

Our way of life,

Even the things that we enjoy in our life,

Right?

So these kinds of positive changes,

Transformations can happen to our life that way.

So the physical body is a very important part that we need to have that serious responsibility.

And also I see,

We have to be very responsible for where we are.

That is also very important.

We have to be responsible for where we are.

That means we have to be somewhere all the time,

Right?

We have to be somewhere.

We have to exist somewhere in this nature.

It can be your home,

Your working office,

It can be the bathroom,

It can be your car,

It can be the bus station,

It can be the temple,

It can be your meditation cushion.

How can you take your responsibility,

What is your responsibility there?

Yes,

There is no conflict there.

Yes exactly.

That doesn't have any limitations,

Right?

We can be anywhere,

But we have to have some responsibility there.

I have seen in my temple in Michigan,

Great Lakes Bajjhudahara,

There was a young boy,

I clearly,

Mindfully observed his attitude,

I really appreciated that.

When he leaves the meditation cushion,

He takes a couple of minutes to spend there.

He wants to make sure if the cushion is exactly how it was before,

In the right place,

In the right order,

If it is clean,

Perfect for the next visitor.

I learned that technique from him,

You know,

That's a very important practice.

I feel that is my responsibility for that space where I was for that time,

Right?

Even when you get up in the morning,

Right,

First thing we do is you prepare the bed,

Right,

Nicely.

So that's my responsibility.

That's how I start my day,

Right?

We all do that.

So that's our responsibility.

You know,

Where we are,

We need to respect that place.

We need to acknowledge that dignity,

Keeping that place very clean,

You know,

And pleasant to others,

Pleasant to myself.

I think it's a very important responsibility.

Even little ones,

You know,

Especially kids,

Our kids should learn that important responsibility at home,

You know,

If we do not take that responsibility seriously,

Our place,

Where we live,

Can be a very disturbing place,

You know,

If you do not care,

If you do not take that responsibility,

It's my duty to clean it,

You know,

Make it a pleasant environment and attractive to others,

You know,

Visitors.

So then that place can be divine.

It can be very pleasant,

Enjoyable place,

You know.

So we have to have that responsibility,

You know.

You can just neglect those things,

But it becomes a very important asset.

It becomes a very important quality for your life,

You know.

And the other important responsibility is that we have to be responsible for our relationships.

That is very essential,

You know.

We all have these relationships,

You know,

We all have families,

Parents,

Siblings,

Right,

Friends and others,

Our spiritual friends,

Teachers.

So we all are connected with these different relationships.

We are not alone,

We cannot live alone.

So to have healthy relationships,

Positive relationships,

We have to have that responsibility also there.

That means I should protect these relationships.

If you do not take that responsibility,

These relationships are not going to last long.

And even these relationships are not going to be healthy and happy even,

You know.

So therefore we need to understand what is my responsibility in keeping the other party happy,

Comfortable.

What comes in conflict there is actually mostly the selfishness.

Sometimes most of the time actually people think about only themselves,

Right,

What I gain from this relationship,

What is the benefit,

Benefit for me.

That's the only thing people care about.

But they hardly think about what is my responsibility for the next person,

You know.

What can I do to make the next person happy and comfortable,

You know.

Being truthful,

Being honest,

Being loving and compassionate,

You know.

So these are some important tools to make our relationships very healthy and comfortable.

So we have to take that responsibility also very seriously,

You know.

And also we have to have this important responsibility of our whole life.

So we need to take that also very seriously.

Eventually even though we all have these relationships,

So many people around us,

We all are these individual travellers in this samsara in our life.

We call it the existence,

Right.

Because there are so many experiences,

So many times that we have to face alone that we cannot share them,

When we get old,

When we get sick,

When we die,

These kind of experiences we are going to face alone.

So therefore we have to think about the purpose of our life,

The meaning of our life,

What I should really appreciate in my life,

What should be the most important thing for my life.

So that type of thinking can completely change our attitudes,

Our lifestyle,

What we enjoy,

You know,

Reorienting everything according to that broad thinking,

Right understanding.

So we all have to take that responsibility for our life.

Eventually what is the outcome,

You know,

What is the most important thing in the end of my life that I can really appreciate and be very happy about,

You know.

We have to sort that out personally,

You know.

Others can help in that but eventually it's my choice,

Right.

So therefore understanding the true meaning of this life,

We have to take that responsibility,

You know,

How I should live my life.

We have to be very serious in that responsibility.

And also most importantly as we learn in the Dhamma,

In the Buddhist teachings,

We have to take the responsibility for all our actions.

We call it the karma.

It's a very important lesson,

You know.

When we learn to take responsibility for what we do,

You know,

What we speak,

What we think even,

You know,

As I was listening to you chanting,

You chanted,

Acting,

Talking and speaking generously,

Right.

This is how we watch our actions,

Our behavior.

We only should take responsibility for our behavior,

Our actions because eventually we are going to get the consequences of all these intentional actions as the karmic results.

So we are the products of our own karmas,

Previous karmas for what we are going through right now.

So that process will even continue to the future.

So therefore in order for us to be happy and comfortable in this journey,

We have to take that serious responsibility for all our actions,

Knowing that,

Understanding that theory of karma,

How the theory of karma works.

The theory of karma is no longer a Buddhist or Hindu concept.

Everybody talks about karma here.

They say,

Oh,

It's my karma.

It's your karma,

Right.

So that's how we understand for many of our life experiences,

Among many other conditions,

Karma,

The theory of karma is taking and playing a major role there.

You know,

That's what Buddha is teaching in the dhama.

So we have to take that responsibility.

So there what happens to us is very important that we become very mindful.

We become very conscious.

We become very careful of our behavior,

Our actions,

Knowing its consequence.

You know,

When someone does not have any clue,

Any understanding of how this theory of karma works,

They would do anything.

According to the Buddhist teachings,

For those who have no any understanding about the karma,

They don't have anything they cannot do in this world.

You know,

They can do the greatest harm to this world,

Because they don't care.

They don't have understanding.

They don't know that the negative consequences are going to come back to them.

You know,

So such behavior is very damaging,

Dangerous for oneself and others.

In both ways.

So as we have to become very dear to ourselves,

You know,

As we love ourselves,

We have to take a serious responsibility for our elections,

The karma,

You know.

And also as we all have a spiritual life,

That's why you all are here,

Right?

You appreciate some spiritual practice,

Something beyond this superficial world,

Normal world,

What people are generally appreciating.

We all are interested in learning the true meaning,

The true happiness,

Spiritual happiness in our life.

So we all have to take that serious responsibility for our spiritual progress.

That is also very important.

So we have to think about it,

You know,

Am I doing it up?

Am I learning the right thing?

Am I practicing the beneficial techniques?

You know,

What I should learn more?

What should I cultivate and practice more in order to achieve my spiritual goals?

You know,

So that also becomes a very important responsibility for us,

You know,

As no one else can give us this spiritual progress,

You know,

This right understanding,

Right way of life,

You know,

This is spiritual values in life,

We have to mindfully,

Intellectually select these things,

You know,

And change our life according to them.

You know,

That spiritual life is very important when we learn these important things and when we live according to them.

Only learning,

Only the knowledge cannot help us,

You know,

Until we live according to them,

Until we put them into practice,

Cultivation,

Then they can help us,

You know.

So we all have these spiritual goals,

Spiritual life that we need to take this serious responsibility for.

So it becomes very different.

You know,

We have this very important,

Very interesting story for that,

You know,

There was a carpenter,

Very smart,

Very skillful carpenter,

You know,

He built houses,

You know,

He worked for a company,

You know,

Construction company.

So after working for several years for that company,

He wanted to retire,

You know,

And as he was very skillful,

Very good friend to that company and all the co-workers,

They didn't want him to live,

So they insisted to stay longer,

But he thought it is the time to retire,

You know,

And he even went to the CEO and he requested that leave.

But CEO also wanted him to stay,

You know,

But as he insisted,

Nobody could stop him.

So the CEO of the company,

Construction company,

Gave him the final project,

You know,

To build a house,

You know,

As the final project.

So he took it very happily,

Knowing it would be the last project.

So he was so happy and he was really rushing through the process.

He wanted to leave soon.

He wanted to retire,

You know,

And there he finished building that house within a very short time.

So in the end,

After he finished that contract,

The company held a farewell party for him and in the end of the party,

They gave him a present.

They gave him a present.

What do you think the present was?

Yes,

The keys for the newly built house.

So there he nearly got a heart attack.

Why?

Because he never expected,

He never expected that final project,

Final house would be his present,

You know,

As he was retiring,

Because he knew how he built it.

How he built was very different,

Because his whole intention was to retire.

That was his only idea as he was building that house with others.

He didn't take enough time.

He didn't use the proper tools even,

Valuable materials,

And he was very careless.

So he finished the house very soon,

Very quickly.

But eventually,

As he spoke about the theory of karma,

It bounced back to him,

Right?

It came back to him.

So he could say no,

He couldn't say no,

You know,

That was the gift,

He had to accept it.

So this story really illustrates actually the meaning of taking the responsibility.

If he knew that house was going to be the present for him,

How do you think this carpenter,

This builder would build that house?

Careful.

And he would build the best house,

Right?

He could.

And he would use even the expensive materials,

He would not rush through the process,

He would have taken the longest time,

Duration to complete that house even,

Right?

So see the difference.

When you take the responsibility,

How it can change you?

You know,

How the outcome will be changed?

How careful,

How mindful,

How conscious you're going to be in every aspect.

But it won't happen when you do not take that serious responsibility.

You know,

Even though we talk about calling me,

Mine,

Myself to be wrong in the dharma,

In the teachings,

You know,

This ego centered attitude and our lifestyle.

But when you think about this responsibility,

We have to have some sort of feeling that belongingness,

Right?

Only then it's going to be changed.

Like you feel like living,

You know,

You feel this huge connection with relationships and all aspects of life.

You know,

When you do not take the responsibility,

All these things go unnoticed,

Unvalued,

You know,

Unappreciated,

So you don't feel like you are living or enjoying anything,

You know.

So to be very active and to be very present with all these experiences,

We need to take that responsibility very seriously.

Even for a single sitting session,

It is the same.

We need to take that serious responsibility,

You know,

How to make my mind peaceful,

Calm,

You know,

How to achieve some samadhi,

Clarity of mind.

So we need to seriously take that responsibility for that time.

Only then it's going to work.

So some people would do it without much attention,

Much care.

So it would not make any change,

Right?

So I think that taking responsibility seriously can change our life tremendously.

So that's what I wanted to share with you in this short time.

Do you have any thought,

Any question?

Yes.

I just want to think of a tremendous set of thoughts on that.

I came over to Michigan,

Michigan University.

Yes.

And,

You know,

It was free and the wall came and showed up.

And I was wondering if you had any thought about the economy of the world.

Yes.

I don't want to live in a world where there's 25,

000 people and 200 others.

I want to come here and say 25,

000 people.

I don't know how to come to grips with the thing with the,

And how to do it.

The kid had his thumb in the knife and everybody's walking by.

He's trying to convince himself that there's some sort of value in saving all these people that don't have a problem with understanding that.

I know.

It's a problem,

Question for all of us,

I think.

But we have to understand that how that happens in the world.

This is how the world,

Society functions.

You know,

This is the normal nature of human mind.

You know,

What people are mostly appreciating and enjoying this emotional excitement.

You don't see that here.

But this is something different you enjoy,

Right?

It is the difference exactly.

So mostly what people are enjoying today is these negative emotions,

You know.

So they are controlled by these emotions,

Emotional excitements.

They think they are to be very healthy and positive.

But they are having some limitations,

Right?

Some negative consequences even afterwards.

But some,

Only few people are seeing the value of this kind of spirituality,

Spiritual practice.

When these positive qualities are cultivated,

Developed,

How these things can bring us the real peace and harmony into our life.

This is how it has been all the time.

Only few people escape.

Escape the Mara we call the evil one,

All the negativities.

They are always caught up in these negativities.

So this is the conflict,

Ongoing conflict between our rational mind and the emotions.

You know,

The spiritual mind and the emotions.

So we should not get upset,

We should not even criticize them.

We should appreciate our practice and have compassion for them as well.

Right?

That's the only thing we can do.

We cannot change the world,

You know.

Yes.

Anything else?

No?

Okay.

I hope you enjoyed it and thank you very much.

All the blessings to you.

Sadhu Sadhu Sahib.