Day 031/365: Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm

Good afternoon everybody and welcome to the ongoing Advance the Elite Meditators of the Universe group.

This is for those people who have meditated before.

So if you've come for the introductory meditation class,

The introduction class,

The 4 lessons for those who have never meditated before,

That is in the room to my right,

With excellent teachers,

Well trained in order to guide you on the first steps of meditation.

But if you haven't done much meditation before and you come into this class,

Ooh,

It can be very difficult,

Where you have to sit for 45 minutes without moving,

Just one nod,

One burp,

And that's it,

You'll be blacklisted.

Not true of course,

I'm already exaggerating.

But if you can't do the 45 minutes or 40 minutes set,

It is a bit difficult for others,

So that's why we try to get people started off in the intro course and then they can come in here and see how they go.

But in this course we take a different part of meditation and the part which I'm going to introduce today is bringing joy into the meditation because sometimes people feel that meditation is like going to the dentist,

Sorry dentist,

Anyone dentist here,

But it's much happier than that.

This is meditation where we relax our body so deeply,

Even the body feels happy.

This is one of the reasons why people like laying on recliners by the beach just in the beautiful weather,

Not too hot,

Not too cold,

Because it is no aches,

No pains,

No force on the body.

The body relaxes,

Opens up,

Eases up,

And you know that when you are afraid or you try,

You're in control,

You can feel the body contracting,

Tensing,

And causes a lot of health issues,

But also before that time,

When it relaxes,

Opens up,

Not only you know this is really healthy,

But it feels very,

Very pleasant,

The pleasure of a relaxed body.

And these are little simple pleasures which people miss because when you notice that,

When you are mindful of the pleasure of relaxation,

Then you can stay in that position for a long period of time.

You don't have to move.

It's effortless.

And then the very same reason why you can just let go and relax your body,

That you use that on your mind as well.

Every now and again,

I just come back from teaching over in Sydney,

Every now and again you see people,

They complain,

Oh meditation is so tough,

And I say,

What on earth are you talking about?

So,

I've got to try this and try that and I think,

Oh my goodness,

Where have you been getting your teachings from?

Meditation is like relaxing the body,

You don't tense up the body,

You don't tense up the mind,

You let it be loose,

Free,

Relaxed.

If you try and tense up the body,

You have to sit this particular way,

You can never get relaxation,

You can only hold that through force.

But when you are laying back on a recliner by the beach,

Does that take any effort?

And you feel very,

Very healthy and easy and happy.

The same with your human mind.

We learn how to look at our human mind and stop pushing it around.

It's a magic word in meditation.

You talk about it a lot but you do it very little.

Let it be.

Stop controlling.

Stop trying to make things happen.

But just be with life as it happens,

Without driving it according to your agendas.

Let it be.

So,

We do that in meditation.

And after we've been doing this,

Relaxing the body,

Which is really important,

Because if you don't relax the body,

Your body becomes very painful sometimes,

Especially if you've got to sit for 45 minutes.

And often people complain that they get so tense afterwards,

There's something wrong there.

Meditation should be ease of the body,

Ease of the mind.

So when we get to the ease of the mind,

Because I've been away for a couple of weeks teaching meditation over in Jhana Grove and the last few days over in Sydney,

That I invented something called the peace-o-meter.

And if you want to know what that is,

It's,

Ask yourself right now,

Are you agitated or are you relaxed and peaceful?

Give it a number from 1 to 10,

How peaceful you are,

How agitated you are.

1 is very peaceful,

10 is agitated.

Now I don't care what that number is.

The whole point of that exercise,

When I ask you to assess,

Give it a number,

How peaceful,

How agitated you are,

I got you to look at what I call the peace-o-meter.

What you were aware of to give a number to how peaceful,

How agitated you were,

What you were looking at,

That's what I call the peace-o-meter.

The dial in your mind which you can be aware of,

Which tells you just how relaxed,

How peaceful,

Or how agitated you really are.

Now once you are mindful of that,

Once you can focus on that,

Once you can keep looking on that,

You can actually learn just how to move that needle closer and closer to 1,

To really peaceful.

And you learn.

It's called what mindfulness gives you,

The feedback business.

You learn from your mindfulness.

You're watching that peace-o-meter,

This makes it more tense,

Going in the wrong direction.

So do the opposite.

Don't try and struggle and strive,

Just let things be.

Be in the present moment.

Forget about the past,

It is unchangeable.

And you don't learn from the past as much as you learn from the present.

That's why many people are stupid.

They're not learning from the past,

They're avoiding the lessons of the present.

So we stay with the present moment.

Future is made in the present moment.

So look at the present moment again.

That is where all the action of life is.

So you find out when you stop worrying about past and future,

It goes closer and closer,

Closer to 1,

Closer and closer to peacefulness.

You learn from watching this peace-o-meter how to be peaceful.

It gives you feedback.

And you'll find the more peaceful you become,

The more happy you become.

Peace is happiness.

You're enjoying the meditation,

This is so nice,

Aah so peaceful,

Aah.

After a while though,

Sometimes people get bored of peace.

All you need to do is start thinking again of all your problems.

And you say,

Aah,

I'm going back to peace.

I did this once with somebody.

They were on a 3-month range retreat at Bodhinyana monastery and they were getting bored.

My solution was I needed something,

The monastery needed something from town so I sent them to the shopping mall.

When they came back,

They went,

Aah,

I'm not bored anymore.

Please don't send me into that crazy world again.

So sometimes we can take for granted the joy,

The happiness of being at peace.

But in the meditation,

Look for that.

Look for that quality when you get peaceful of joy.

And then usually those who have been meditating here before,

You can stay with peace as long as you like if you can really be aware of it.

But for most people,

They don't know how to be aware of such a subtle thing called the peace-o-meter.

Maybe for a few seconds,

But because of lack of training we don't really know where to look sometimes,

We lose it.

Which is one of the reasons we then go to the more traditional Buddhist meditations of watching the breathing,

Breathing in and breathing out.

But I was talking,

Even this morning and yesterday about one of my favourite monks,

Still alive,

Called Ajahn Ganha.

And it's so hard to get any teachings out of him.

He came and spent a time here many,

Many years ago.

And when he did teach meditation,

It was so simple,

But actually quite profound.

When he gave any meditation instructions,

It wouldn't be like me when I could talk for hours,

About 30 seconds and he was done.

So I told him what he would tell people.

When you breathe in,

Breathe in,

Sabhaaa.

The word sabhaa means nice and easy and joyful and blissful and happy.

So intentionally when you breathe in,

Add sabhaaa to your breathing.

And as you breathe out,

Breathe out,

Sabhaaa,

Oh that's really nice.

So what you're doing,

You're actually generating joy with every in-breath and every out-breath.

Breathing in,

Sabhaaa,

Oh yes.

Breathe out,

Sabhaaa,

Ohhhh.

And after a while you get into it.

You add that happiness and it becomes real.

You're breathing in and breathing out with joy and happiness.

It overcomes the negative mind which people have in the Western world,

Always looking for the faults in things,

The mistakes,

The things which people do wrong,

The flaws.

We always look at the flaws,

Never the ceilings.

Our mind is always looking down,

Never up to the happiness of life,

Which is there,

If you ever want to look at it.

So we deliberately,

Intentionally,

We don't use force,

We just change our breath,

Breathing in,

Sabhaaa,

Breathing out,

Sabhaaa.

And after a while you don't need to say that word anymore because it is.

What I said many years ago,

The beautiful breath,

The delightful breath,

You look for it,

You find it.

And with the delightful breath,

One of the reasons why this is very,

Very effective,

It means you don't need to put any effort at all in the meditation.

You don't need to try anymore.

Anything beautiful.

If you're lucky enough to have a free evening and you watch the sunset,

It's one of these gorgeous sunsets over the Indian Ocean,

The reds and purples and golds and explosion of streaky colour,

Do you put effort into watching that?

Those of you who like sport,

Do you have to put effort into watching a tennis match?

If it's your favourite movie,

Do you put effort into watching a movie?

Is it a struggle?

Halfway through you think,

Oh,

I managed to do an hour,

It's only an hour to go.

It's effortless and timeless.

Same now,

If you can do that with your meditation,

Because it's joyful.

Breathing in,

Then 45 minutes,

Go so fast.

Enjoy every moment,

You're cultivating the perception of joy,

Which aids the meditation because it takes out the effort,

The struggle,

Which people are always trying to do stuff in this world,

Instead of letting it happen.

And it also increases your mindfulness.

The more there's joy in the mind,

The more powerful is your mind.

The mind can see deeper and it can feel deeper.

It can know more when it's empowered by joy.

That's why negativity actually closes off the mind.

It actually masks the glitter of the world,

The sparkle of the world,

And only sees grey,

Terrible stuff.

So if you want to develop beautiful meditation,

Strong mindfulness and a happy mind,

Then breathe in,

So by,

And breathe out,

So by.

And then it makes your meditation much better.

And if it's not just for you,

It's for all the people who have to put up with you this evening when you go home.

When you are happy,

You're a much easier person to live with.

Trust me on that.

If you don't know that,

Ask your partner,

Ask your kids.

When you come home from meditation,

Ah,

Daddy,

Mummy,

You're so nice when you've been to meditation.

Instead of being a pain in the new you-know-where.

So,

That is the instructions for today.

So,

Now is the time to walk the talk.

When we don't do walking,

We sit the talk here.

So if you like to get yourself in a nice meditation position,

You can be sitting on a chair,

Sitting on the floor,

Some people being in their own little chairs,

We still haven't yet got anyone bringing in their armchair,

Which is technically allowed,

But I don't know how you get it through the doors by yourself.

So,

Imagine getting a lazy boy rolling in here for your meditation.

That would be really cool.

Should I carry on giving people ideas like this,

Mr.

President?

No,

Be careful.

So,

The chairs here are good enough.

So,

You've got your chair,

Your stool,

Your cushions,

Your favourite cushion.

And,

Now close your eyes to begin the meditation.

Did I say something profound?

Okay,

Must be a complaint then.

With your eyes closed,

Start collecting your mind,

Bringing it together into this moment.

It doesn't matter what you have to do after this meditation session,

Or this evening or tomorrow or the next day,

Doesn't matter where you come from,

What experience is present or unpleasant in the past.

It's like being those tentacles into this moment.

In the Hindu meditation tradition,

They liken it to a tortoise bringing in its head and its limbs,

Bringing it inside its shell.

Your body,

Your mind,

Now.

And when it comes into this moment,

Then be aware,

Put your mindfulness on your physical feelings,

On your bodily feelings.

It's easy to watch bodily feelings.

Sometimes we don't have the opportunity,

We're too busy going somewhere,

But now we can feel our body.

And in order to get the best possible posture,

Posture means the position in which we sit in meditation,

Start with your legs,

Be aware of your legs.

If you don't know what I mean by being aware of your legs,

Ask your legs,

How are you doing,

What's it like down there?

.

And if when you're asked a question,

You become aware how the legs feel,

Then the next thing to do is if there is a problem,

You know your legs aren't comfortable,

Then please move.

It's not a question of enduring.

Use mindfulness to find solutions,

To find the optimum,

The best position for your legs.

.

Once your legs are comfortable,

You move up to your butt,

Your bottom.

How is that?

If you want to fidget,

It's best to fidget now rather than during the middle of the meditation.

Fidgeting is just a mindful way,

A kind way of getting into a good position,

So your bottom doesn't hurt.

It's not just for comfort,

This is an essential part of the practice of developing mindfulness,

Arousing it,

Finding the ability to take the mindfulness in this moment and focus it on one area of your life.

This is your body.

So then you look at your back,

Include your shoulders.

Do you need to straighten your back or let it go loose,

Lean forward,

Lean back?

Sometimes it's good to experiment,

Trial and error,

Until you find the best position for your back,

Mindfulness and kindness.

So right now I'm aware of the feelings in my back,

Straightening a little bit,

Stretching it,

Which I always love doing.

Now my back likes to stay in this position.

You find this out because you're aware,

Looking in the correct place and not being limited by what you're told to do by books and experts.

Buddhism,

Meditation's always said to find out for yourself.

Discover how you feel,

Aware right now of the feelings in your back until you get the best position.

Then you don't tend to have back problems.

Then your hands,

Where your hands are defines the position of your arms.

So ask your hands and your arms,

Are you comfortable there?

Asking a question arouses mindfulness.

How are they?

Move them around if you need to until you find the best position.

Then your head,

Head upon the neck.

People do have aches and pains in their neck and sometimes even migraines,

Headaches,

Cause because the head is not properly balanced on top of the neck.

Not too far forward,

Not too far back,

To the left or right.

You can move it around just to make sure you find the best position.

Mindfulness together with kindness.

Once you've done the best you can for your body,

See it takes time,

We don't rush through this stage.

If you want to get deeper later on,

Your foundation has to be very meticulous.

.

.

.

.

And once you're really comfortable and happy with your bodily position,

There'd always be some irritations in your body,

Aches or pains.

This is a great opportunity for learning one of the marvellous ways we can use mindfulness and kindness to improve our health.

I go focusing on the part of my body which is irritating,

Even painful.

Like last night,

I don't know why,

But my neck is a bit stiff.

I'm focusing on that feeling.

You look at your body,

Zoom in on one part which needs some attention.

This is also practice for later on in meditation.

Be mindful,

Keep the mindfulness there,

And see what happens when kindness walks side by side with mindfulness.

So I feel the ache in my neck,

You may have an ache or pain somewhere.

Be aware of it,

Kind to it,

And see if the ache or pain gets less.

As we discover what alleviates tension,

Which is one of the big causes of the ache or pain.

Stay with it.

Not only are you developing awareness and the ability to maintain awareness,

You soon find this is a highly effective way of healing your own body and keeping it strong.

Tightness in my neck is loosened up now.

I know how my mind affects my body and how to use that connection to relax and heal my body.

I usually go on with this until my body feels so relaxed,

Feels comfy like when I first wake up in the morning.

So you know you don't really feel like getting out of bed.

You're comfortable.

Like I imagine people feel after they've been to a spa,

Had a full massage,

Hot baths,

But if it's really no tension at all,

That's usually the feeling I get.

It's really pleasant.

And I look for that pleasure.

I focus on the delight of relaxation.

When you do that,

It has an effect.

Your relaxation goes deeper when you focus on the bliss of it.

No tightness,

Nothing pulling any of your bodily parts,

Nothing pressing against anything.

Your body is expanded,

Loose,

Free.

Even the sound of the birds,

You don't push against that sound.

Your mind goes out and embraces everything.

No tension,

No struggle,

Perceiving happiness.

A happiness of peace.

Enjoy this as long as you like.

Those of you who want to now focus on your mind,

Hopefully by now your mindfulness has been developed strong enough through these preliminary exercises,

You can have a better look at the peace-someter.

Asking yourself,

How peaceful am I?

How agitated?

From 1 to 10,

What's your number?

What you look at,

What you're aware of,

Is this thing which God says how peaceful you are.

When you can maintain your awareness on that,

Just like awareness on an irritation,

You soon find how to make your mind more peaceful.

How to get less tense inside.

You find out for yourself aspirations,

Goals,

The frustration when you don't get there,

Bodies don't get there as fast as you expect.

That just increases the tension,

The irritation.

When you let it be,

Stay in this moment,

Just being here,

Not trying to improve anything,

Just being here,

Then you find the needle gets closer and closer to peace,

Deep peace.

See if you can also notice how peace is associated with happiness,

Particular flavour of joy,

The joy of contentment,

Being at ease,

Free of a burden,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

You pull it down,

Put your feet up and relax.

Keep being aware of the peace-o-meter,

See how far you can get that needle to be close to absolute peace.

You can also feel the joy of being here,

Being at ease,

Free of a burden,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

The same happiness when you've been carrying a heavy backpack,

Breathing in,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing in as joyfully,

Peacefully,

Happily as you can.

Don't just focus on the breathing.

Also focus on how free and how joyful it is.

See if you can develop that perception of joy with the breath.

What you look for is what you find.

You are going to be peaceful and silent until the end of this meditation session.

Breathing in,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Breathing out,

Subhive.

Getting very close to the end of the meditation.

So how do you feel?

How much joy did you manage to generate?

How much peace,

Awareness,

Freedom?

This is the result of meditation.

I'm now going to ring the gong three times.

As usual,

Please listen every sound of the gong.

When the gong finishes sounding for the third time,

Then come out from your meditation.

GONG RINGS Very nice.

So any questions there?

Very good.

Okay,

From Indonesia,

From Costa Rica,

And from Germany.

First of all,

From Germany,

Can meditation help to overcome fear?

Really a lot of fear,

Yes.

I know my preceptor,

The Thai meditator here,

Somdev Pudhajan,

He told me that,

He was a very senior monk in Thailand,

In the hierarchy,

He got very busy.

But he told me that when he was a young monk,

He trained in meditation,

That must have been about 60 years ago.

He was meditating in the jungle,

When he came out of meditation,

He found this big snake in his lap.

The snake had just been attracted to monks,

Loved lots of kindness and softness,

And just the snake wanted a warm place,

To have a kip,

Have a nap.

So he chose this monk's lap.

The amazing thing was,

When he opened his eyes,

He recognized that was a totally venomous snake,

One bite and he'd be dead.

Well,

He had no fear.

Not the slightest bit of anxiety or fear.

He just waited there,

Giving kindness to the snake,

Sit there as long as you like.

And then the snake just,

No one had finished,

Just got up and slithered away.

He said the amazing thing about that experience was the total lack of fear.

And there was an example that when your mind is very,

Very peaceful,

You don't get afraid.

So meditation does help overcome fear,

But you've got to get nice and peaceful first of all.

If you have,

What is fear anyway?

I always say that most fear is the anticipation of losing something that you're very attached to,

You cherish,

You think is central to your existence or your happiness.

When it's about to be taken away,

Ahhh,

What am I going to do?

But,

You know,

People survive.

So you don't,

It's not essential,

Nothing is essential there.

So it does overcome fear.

And also,

So much of what we're afraid about never happens.

I usually tell people,

Whatever you're afraid of,

It doesn't happen at all,

It's usually something much worse.

Okay,

I cracked somebody up.

But it's true,

Isn't it?

Because we don't know what's going to happen,

Actually,

I shouldn't say that,

It's being very negative.

Whatever you're afraid of,

A lot of the time,

Sometimes you make happen.

But if you just let it be,

It usually doesn't happen.

So one of the stories,

I recall being a kid,

I got my first bicycle when I was about 11 or 12,

Saved up,

Mother and father,

They put something in,

It's my birthday present.

And as a kid,

Riding a bicycle for the first time,

I was afraid of falling off.

I had fear.

And in the meantime,

I grabbed onto the handlebars so hard,

I remember my knuckles went white,

And I was so stiff.

And that is why I kept falling off.

Fear kept pushing me over because I was too tight,

Too stiff,

You couldn't move your body when you went around corners.

But when I just relaxed and let go,

Then you can go so fast like kids do,

Look mum,

No hands,

Look mum,

No teeth,

You weren't afraid at all.

So that was when you were not afraid,

You tended not to fall off.

So yes,

Meditation can certainly help overcome fear,

Even just some of the chronic fears and anxiety people have.

And from Costa Rica,

How can I use meditation to deal with rejections towards the evil thing that people do so that I can keep my peace?

I see people hurting each other,

I'd like to learn how to let go of my negativity towards others.

If somebody hurts another person,

Says really bad things,

Hurtful things,

Or does really bad things,

There's something you can do to intervene,

Wonderful,

Just intervene,

But a lot of times there's nothing really you can do.

And so then you try and understand what I said yesterday about judging people,

Why do people do bad things to one another?

And sometimes they think it's a good idea at the time,

They're into things like punishment,

You hurt me so I'm going to hurt you.

And again,

Just remember from my childhood,

The old tit for tat,

He started it,

Teacher,

No,

No,

He started it first,

No,

He started it.

You can't really blame others,

You both started it.

So because of that,

It's like Kim Jong-un and Mr.

Trump,

He started it,

No,

No,

Kim Jong-un started it,

No,

No,

USA started it.

Only they're playing with big toys,

That's why it's dangerous.

And they don't have a teacher in the playground to stop them.

So I see people hurting each other and I'd like to learn how to let go of my negativity towards others.

You know there's sometimes we open the door of our heart,

As I was saying last night,

It's one of those great similes,

Open the door of your heart even to life,

To people doing stupid things to each other.

You know that those of you who have children,

We would never like to see our children getting hurt,

Falling off their bicycles or getting diseases.

But medicine knows that you have to let your children get those fevers because that's where they build up their immunity.

You have to let them get their skin scraped so they can build up again.

Infections actually teach the body how to deal with them in the future.

So if you wrap up a kid in cotton wool,

So it never gets a scrape or a scratch or a sickness,

Of course they become very vulnerable later on in life.

It's the same way that with the difficulties and pain of life,

If we don't have them,

We don't learn very much,

We don't get resilience.

So when you see people hurting each other,

There's something you can do,

Please do it.

But if there's nothing you can do,

You know sometimes the hurt teaches us a lesson,

Teaching them a lesson,

Why do people do this?

Sometimes the really gross stuff is unimaginable but hopefully people learn that you don't need to hurt people to make improvements in your life.

What problem gets solved by hurting others?

What solution to crime is achieved by putting people in jail or by punishing them?

I can't see that myself.

So anyway,

What you can do is to make sure you don't hurt yourself.

And if people do say rotten things about you,

You always maybe have a choice.

You don't need to be upset.

You have a choice not to be.

Exercise that choice.

Lastly,

From Indonesia,

How to sit up well for 45 minutes without tension.

When I don't put force on my back,

It becomes slouch quite bad because I spent my childhood with a bad posture.

So one way is to wear a straight jacket when you meditate,

Put a stick down your back so you're really straight.

Those are extremes.

First of all,

If you want to get good posture and you've got some posture problems,

It's best to do exercise,

Yoga,

Stretching,

Getting your muscles really good.

But if you want to do without tension,

You can sit on a chair.

I know that some people are quite proud,

They don't want to sit on a chair thinking they're not really first class meditators.

People who sit on a chair are namby-pamby,

Green puffs,

They're not real meditators,

They're buddha-nivasaan-ma-shah-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba,

Which is really bad.

So instead what we do is,

The only reason I sit on a chair,

I'm really comfortable like this,

I'm in more pain on a chair,

Because I haven't really sat on a chair for that length of time except when I'm on the aircraft.

Even then it's great if you can get a spare seat next to you and cross your legs.

But for those of you who,

It's okay to sit on a chair to meditate.

So from Indonesia,

If you want to sit well 45 minutes,

Get a nice chair and even lean back,

Get yourself nice and comfortable.

So there's hardly any tension on your back.

And in fact somebody did send me an article that the best posture for your back,

The one which causes less problems later on in life for most people,

Is to lean back 15 degrees from the vertical,

They say.

That's the best,

Most comfortable posture for most people.

There's always exceptions.

Here's why,

If you look at those chairs you're sitting on,

The back is never vertical,

It's actually at an angle,

15 degrees.

I know there's a physiotherapist over there smiling at me because she knows that's true.

Because back a little bit,

Best posture.

So if you have problems with your back,

Just get on one of the chairs and just lean back,

Not too far,

And that's most comfortable for you.

So don't think that one posture is better than another posture,

That you have to sit like this,

You have to sit like that.

No,

You find out for yourself.

It's Pali Pacha Tanve Ditta Bawinuhi,

To be understood each wise person for themselves.

That goes for your posture.

Okay,

So thank you for those questions from Indonesia,

Costa Rica and Germany,

Hope I answered them to your satisfaction.

Now how about some questions from Perth?

Always remember I got a question here from somebody from Indonesia,

That's what they brought over here,

And it was actually they were sitting over there,

Because they said we will never get a chance to ask questions,

So they pretended to be someone from Indonesia,

So we can answer the question.

A few weeks ago we had a question here from Mohammed from Yemen,

And I said where are you sitting in the hall here?

Because you put your name as Mohammed from Yemen,

You're bound to actually get your question answered.

So all you out there,

If you want your questions to get priority,

Put a funny name,

You know I used to like Jimi Hendrix,

So put Jimi Hendrix when it comes to the country from heaven,

And I'm sure you get your question prioritized.

Okay,

Any other questions from the floor?

Going,

Going,

Gone,

Okay,

So let's pay respects to the Buddha,

Dhamma,

Sangha,

And then we can do what we want to do.

There is a K.

M.

Meeting this evening,

Kalyana Mitta Group meeting,

And also should actually announce Sunday week,

7th of May,

We have our Way Sakh celebration here.

Celebration of the birth,

Enlightenment and final passing away of the Buddha,

An event not to be missed.

I often say in these celebrations we have an increase in merit,

I think probably for Way Sakh it must be triple merit at least,

Not double demerits,

Triple merits.

Okay.

Okay.