The Four Establishments Of Mindfulness, Part Two

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so
good morning everyone
help you will be too disappointed but i decided after my last talk on the saudi patina suitor that i had merely
a scratch the surface
and i also recognized in myself
that i am
that i had dismissed it often as some kind of simplistic instructions and on what i have been
ah discussing actually ah turns out to be much deeper and wide and meaningful than an hour in my introduction so i'll review a few things from my introduction and then i'll take you through kind of mine a living experience of
actually penetrating the four foundations of mindfulness with some eggs and tate and it taking a lot of perseverance for me to go to do that
so during those sixteen i talked about the ceuta the four foundations of my mindfulness also called the for foundations or establishments of mindfulness and i noted that this was the cornerstone of the loop upasana insight meditation tradition
and i also noted that we think of insight meditation very differently and in contrast to our zazen and meditation
ah besides the meditation of our ancestors on which is called sharma tower try tranquillity practice
and i pointed out that the teaching of of buddha in the pali suttas
only used the word gianna
in describing meditation and when he talked about a samatha or of upasana these were simply qualities of mind that we may gain or be endowed with or develop i'm in our practice both of which were integral to her practice
and so the buddha taught that with the development of calm abiding shama to practice when it was we can we can overcome our unwholesome mental states at hand
with the suppression of the hindrances of these unwholesome mental states aren't we foster the development of insight
into what speak below and permeating these
destructive states and that frees us
from those
and i also pointed out that
that the word she can taza which we used to describe our practice
is much more complicated although in japanese the word she means shah motto or single pointed concentration or tranquility the con and she controls the means for personal or insight
so and and in studying these more and more the four foundations it becomes clear that both types of meditation are encouraged
in fact what
when it seems to be as that this is a curriculum for liberation through various mental practices and if we can or can we can if we can
bear with them it's quite vigorous
and it takes a really long time to actually masterpiece
ah so are getting to the saudi baton of ceuta
ah job
translation of sati is to stop maintain awareness of the object and sometimes is just defined as mindfulness or remembering
who befana me is a place of abiding
last time i also mentioned that there are four practices that permeate all of the four foundations or establishes mindfulness and i really talked about that and i only hinted at the fact that there were was a lot more to that
practice as we move through the for foundation so the for a permeating factors set net that were encouraged to each of the and the an engaging in each of the practices are contemplating our experience internally and externally and both internally
oh and both and her internally and externally and focusing on our breath and then expanding that it that focus to the rest of our body in our mind
that's that we know
the other the second thing is contemplating the nature of impermanence the arising and passing away and both the arising and passing passing away regarding all of our experiences whatever they are
the third is establishing and of mindfulness to recognize simply was unfolding in the moment without any mental commentary and then to remain mindful of what's happening
mental noting that's a very big practice in have a positive practice in fact sometimes dollars you'll hear a teacher describing things and just with one word after another word rather than any other commentary
so mental noting just recognizing what is that a at every moment we do that that's part of our our zamzam practice
and the fourth is abiding without clinging to anything that enters our realm of existence
so it's basically saying that it's a moment to moment practice
using bear awareness just observing and possibly noting
i'm at a and a continuity of mindfulness
we may notice other things up but where it were instructed to concentrate on these
so the first to foundations of mine to not going to talk about them very much because i talked about the last time but there might they're largely descriptive and they they they really direct us to notice the texture of what's arising in our experience
and weeks and we and hooks and to
the able to
see moment to moment in tranquility
and see more and more of what's going on in each moment as are armed with our awareness expanse
and so the first foundation of mindfulness mindfulness of the body and the body is basically
ah what some to the vase and a teacher say most of us go around in our minds three quarters of the time and ignore or been so this is really the first step in mindfulness which is getting back into your body your mud our bodies of our practices of body mind practice getting
back in your body
so you're all you're trying to do is get through that first cent store the first thing we experienced in the physical sensations of the body
and it's pretty much limited to the body
oh were not asked to think about anything about it would just to note note note note hundreds of aspects of the body and that practice of that's part of the practice of why this is such an elaborate curriculum is that we if you were to practices and actually
the practice meditating on all the things that the buddha mentions in the first foundation of mindfulness and really
and really do that it it takes out a it takes energy and time overtime which is weiss ticknor and tells his monks to put a copy of the saudi potatoes sutra under their pillow and a read read from it
at least once a day
so the second foundation of mindfulness mindfulness of feeling
as i said before involves a noticing the asset tone in other words noticing if something's pleasant unpleasant neutral
and that that goes for every sense object
we actually have either a pleasant unpleasant of neutral response weather where noting that response and part of this ah instruction and second foundation of mindfulness is to notice your response even if it's neutral that that's a good good place to notice whereas i'm having this
experience all raja just doing it mightily without any effective addition to the experience that when we noticed the absence we notice how that feels you know without any any attachment or feeling about about whatever it is
so
but what take note on does in in the second
discussion of the sent second foundation mindfulness was he adds something else that he doesn't he doesn't add in the first
he says when we mindfully observe our feelings we discovered their roots
when we mindfully observe our feelings
if for example if you have an unpleasant feeling because she stayed up late the night before your unpleasant feeling has a physiologic route nevertheless to be able to identify the root through her feelings is not enough we have to look deeply in order to see how these feelings manifest and to understand their true substance
to know a feeling it's not just to see its fruits but also to know it's flowering
oh and his fruits
this is something different right is something different then necessarily then mindfulness of the body he uses an example of whiskey which i felt was interesting timing of all the things that he could pick i thought the whisky was unusual but still good he says when some people take a sip of
whiskey and or inhale inhale from a cigarette for example they have a pleasant feeling if they observed this feeling mindfully they can see as physiologic and psychological roots without it we know that not everyone shares the same pleasant feeling when they drink whiskey or smoke cigarettes if some other people
where to do either these things they might choke or cough the feeling would be unpleasant
thus the roots of that feeling are not as simple as they appear at first
the elements of habit time in our own psychology in psychology are all present physiology and psychology are all present in the roots of any feelings so looking into are feeling we can see the cycle lot physiologic site physical and psychological habits not only in our own habits but in the
those of others
he also talks about
it added in a different way he says when we observe our feelings we can see their relative nature
it is our way of seeing the world that determines the nature of our feelings one person might feel that work as an app is nothing but an agony and he will only feel happy when he's not working there are other people who feel uneasy and oh when they have nothing to do and would be happy with any
thing but work
so he's talking about the same experience of going to work every day and the difference in how you would experience that thing called work is different depending upon
your background
your conditioning whatever and to understand for yourself that not everybody has the same feeling as you when they are exposed to us at the same object
so the second the second foundation of mount mindfulness kind of is
wants us to shift away from the cents stores of the body from the sense objects or the eyes and and looking on the tone of the experience
what is what is the characteristic of the feeling where is it in our body what states of mind or associated with that
so as much more e n n n evaluative process we're actually looking at things and and and looking at all the associations we have with things it's not just noting being with it's actually it's actually an expanded
way of checking of of actually seeing
ah the effects over time for example of eating too much or of
or of grasping at something too much the pain is associated with that
and then if we can let go about we experienced the we have the experience of
the hat though relief that happens when we like all of it when we make a decision sometimes so sometimes this experience of the pain or the suffering that we have when we're meditating
we have we know that's not good right i made it because we feel bad we have always unpleasant feelings
and then
after seeing ah the roots were able to for example
drinking too much whiskey
we're able to see that were able to see the effects of that and given that we have the opportunity to behave differently and recognize what it's like not to have the ill effects and that's transformative so that's what these things are pointing us to not just too
not just a kind of wrote meditation or a rope said of in l a instructions
so then we move on
to the third foundation of mindfulness mindfulness of mind and mental formations or psychological phenomenon and is a that is even more evaluative
we still notice impermanence and when there's attachment present we we see it in mind we know the minds attached
when that attachment is not there we notice the mind isn't attached
the same thing happens with a version also called hatred of resistance if it's arising in mind that we can notice the mind as be set by aversion and if it's not there then we notice the mind is without a version
did not answer says that in contrast to the way with label our feelings for body parts here we don't simply name a thought we recognize it and look deeply into it in order to see its fruits and the past and is possible fruits in the future using conscious breathing while we observe

so tick know how says we mindfully observe a rising presses the disappearance of mill phenomenon which are called mental formations we recognize them and look deeply into them in order to see their substance their roots in the past and their possible fruits in the future using conscious breathing while we observe it we should remember
for that when the lamp of mindfulness is lit up the mental formation under observation will naturally transform in a wholesome direction so he's really telling us we need to look at the roots
we need to have i hate to say insight into the ruse
use it the word that we don't like to
ah
so
when we get we we actually begin to experience these
these that a much more deep level

and we moved we in we're moving through these instructions and we look and we're we're really encouraged to look at the quality of every mind state
they shift us back the these instructions shift us back to the doorway of experience the time and mine door

for example
just experiencing desire
if we just name and let go and we know desire
the question is would anything change with our practice change would it help us by just doing that
and tick not as saying

whenever the practitioners mind and thoughts turned to desiring she immediately gives rise to the awareness of the presence of that mind this is a mind longing for wealth this is a mind of sexual desire this is a mind of desiring reputation this
the root of the arising of mine longing for wealth this is the feeling of pain caused by sexual desire
and the baton of suit to also tells us that is important to note when desiring is not present
but this time the mind desire wealth is not present sexual desire is not present at this time the mind desiring reputation is not present
this is the root of absence of desire for wealth this is the root of absence of mind desiring reputation
this is the sense of ease that accomplishes the absence of mind during riches desiring riches this is the sense that accompanies the absent of mine desiring all of these
so he's talking about actually
purposely cultivating purposely using meditation intentionally using meditation and your reflections
a best part of why i think it's a curriculum know it's not it's not a just sitting it is actually a curriculum ah was very specific instructions
so take note hand goes on to to talk about lot about anger he does that a lot and i'm in terms of a feeling state

says the benefit of mindfully observing the presence of anger is that we see that when anger is not present were much happier anger is like a flame blazing up and consuming our self control making us think say and do things that will probably regret later the actions of by
body speech mind that we perform while we're angry take us a long way toward the road to hell i love this we may never had have seen the vici house but we can see clearly see that whenever someone is angry he is abiding in one of a hot hills anger and hatred or the materials of which the beachy head
rules are made a mind without anger cool fresh sane is one of the eleven wholesome mental factors the absence of anger is the basis of real happiness and the basis of love and compassion
and then he says
when we do our mindfulness
when mindfulness is born in us
an anger can no longer monopolize our consciousness
awareness is a cure awareness it self awareness can can m kennedy can help us manage the anger and he says i know i'm angry this awareness is a companion for anger are mindful observation is to suppress hour drive
and drive out anger but just told but this technique hot is asking us not to suppress anger
but to investigate to be with it
to actually feel through feel her pain of it feel our bodies feel the stress in our minds
start to feel them that the the granularity of the anger when does the sangre come up what are my patterns of bankers asking us to actually look at our psychology understand our own conditioning

the system in mindfulness observations like a lamp the gives light it's not a judge it throws light on our anger sponsors it looks after it in an affectionate and carry way like an older sister after comforting her younger younger sibling
so he saying whatever comes up in are feeling states is okay
ah and we should treat the same way in other words there aren't there are dirty he'd been there are differences but there are differences of course there's there's key differences one is
when something comes up and we have and it's and it has an unwholesome effect on us of course
we don't wanna miss it this is the thing about the inviting something and fourteen we don't want to invite something and fourteen but that but we don't want to abandon
we don't want to abandon that feeling we don't want a bit because that's ourself in that moment that's our be that it does our condition being and we are instructed in this teaching
to penetrate that to be with it enough so that we can we can begin to get in a intuitive way on any even it even as accept up
psychological way how that works in us
by by shining a light and by
oh and by being with a companion and and being care and taking care of all of these all these aspects of mind
on the other hand if there's a beneficial
ah
wholesome state of mind
that arises generosity compassion it's really important to notice that too
because we might want to notice where that came from we might want to cultivate that then you might want to give that a little bit of water
oh so this is much more sophisticated than ah than the simple instructions that we often have and so did not answers
illuminate thanks to the illuminating light of awareness we can see the roots of our anger the point of meditation is to look deeply into things in order to be so be able to see their nature
the nature of things is interdependent origination the true source of everything that is if we look into our anger we can see it's roots such as misunderstanding or ignorance clumsiness or lack of skill
fear have it
these routes occur
both in in us and in any person that we encounter that played some role in in are at an angry reaction
so we observe mindfully in order to be able to see and understand seeing and understand the elements of liberation allows us to free to be free of suffering which accompanies anger
so again he's repeating and repeating the same way that the buddha repeats and repeats that
if we understand the nitty gritty of the if evolution of our experience
just by looking at it
oh just by being able to hold it in in calm meditation but then also by being aware by letting us see the roots by seeing the roots
then change can happen

so the other
the other town
okay ethically that so then moving on to
ha
the fourth foundation of mindfulness or the mindfulness of objects of the mind and the objects of mind or mental objects or mental phenomenon
am
when we get into an even deeper place
here in this in this it's really interesting because when we when i looked at the translation of this part of the sutra in
take our hands book it it
it seemed to not get enough space it felt like i didn't understand it it just had a list of objects
so so this is really but what i'm coming to understand that this is really kind of a curriculum for studying
basically the ib dharma
it's really it's is really saying through met at hate a meditative a meditation practice rather than an intellectual practice of reading about them about the web about the way the buddha understands the mind rather rather than going to a psychology class you know we
we we look at these all these hundred and eight mental mental health mental factors mean it's a daunting and has taken me many years to you know go through the for of this is the five a bad or the seven of that and always and always for free at least personally
on that was
an exercise
was an exorcist okay i know desires not good okay i know of laziness is not good i know generosity is good you know that kind of think without actually
ever going into them
through my meditative experience or my internal experience of them
so
the way that deposit positive people talk about this for foundation of mindfulness is is like it's like a guided meditation through the have hundred and eight mental objects
and some of them list them all you know and they have a sixteen about it that would really be
i don't be beyond my capability
but i'm coming to understand that all of these things if you take them apart in the same way
if you take them apart and use these guidance uses guidance you can actually ah
you can get a different feeling you get a different feeling it adds the stepped and granularity
because everything is included
the body the physio the physiologic workings of the month of the body the site that psychology the the levels of consciousness that we studied during during the practice period it brings all of those into a meditation of so
something and into a study of something so
we're not you know we leave behind
we leave behind you know our noting although we start with it right
but we actually are focusing on for example if we're talking about desire for actually focusing on ways to loosen
our attachments
to actually observe what it feels like if it loosens a little an advertiser what it feels like if it if it feels tighter
and it and were also where i'm also have to ask the look about look at what happens so we're looking in the in the fourth foundation of mindfulness of objects of mine were actually looking at the ways an object hits a set
since oregon his the sense consciousness and then they lie a consciousness kicks in or matos he provides ego we're we're we're looking at that as part of
our look at
one of the hindrances desire or version whatever we're looking at those were seeing the way the mind works
well we're wanting to see this dynamic you know ah dogan always talks of the dynamic working of the universe where there's the dynamic working at the university there's the dynamic working of arm are complicated physiology and psychology it is not it is not simple it happens
instantaneously but it's not simple
and so in this teaching the buddhist saying you've gotta get into that you've gotta get into that level of study
that level of really taking it apart okay so what happens when my eye sees their what what happens after that you know what happens after that what happens after that i'm looking i mean actually looking at the roots he's talking about looking at the roots and that looking at the roots with
kind and accepting mind
ah is which results in transpiration
someone is up one of the things tick not hundred i'm at in his book gum transforming and healing has a bunch of of exercises
and

ah we say that can find them
so one is a one of the
he talks about
two practices that we can engage in to be able to practice the forest foundation of my poems one is discriminative it into a discriminative investigation and he says ignorance and resolution is an erroneous perception of things in order to correct are erroneous
perceptions the buddha teaches us a method of discriminative discriminative investigation which relates to the establishment of the mind and the establishment of the objects of the mind can reminds us of the way our consciousness works use it the sixth sense objects as six sentence sense organs the six
since consciousnesses he reminds us that the basic characteristics of all dharmas there in and they're dependent interdependent coal rising in essence were able to understand the emptiness of all the dharmas he encourages us to look deeply
into what we encounter and see and understand the dynamic working this is really interesting is at some point in this discussion he talks about the heart sutra and of course all of located far as awakening and he really is talking about this type of meditation
this focusing on the dynamic working of everything in your mind
i'm allows you to see every all of the buddha's teaching and understand all of the buddha's teaching not just impermanence
oh but non-self
and i'm
and so
he says ah no i don't think i'm doing that
food discriminative investigation we realized the interdependence of all nature
this is to realize the empty nature of all things with insight into emptiness will go beyond concepts of it is and it is not birth and death one and many coming and going will transcend the fear of birth and death are concepts of it is it is not birth guess one many
coming going and so on will dissolve when we are witness to the interdependent nature of of what of what is to be able to end the concept of birth and death is the central port of disc point of discriminative investigation
so he then says when sitting meditation we concentrate or mind on the object of observation sometimes a physical phenomenon sometimes a psychological and we look deeply into that object in order discover the source
it's and its nature the role of our conscious breathing as to nourish and maintain our power of concentration on one object if we look carefully and deeply naturally we'll see the arising and during an ending eventually we'll see the true nature of all dharmas his birth listless and dismiss and that
that although dharmas are not everlasting they're never totally destroyed thus the mindfulness observation of interdependence is the road that leads to the to transcend the limits of birth and death
the student of buddhism who doesn't practice mindful observation of interdependent hasn't yet arrived at the quintessence of the buddhist path
this this reminds me of a story that somehow that signal hotels somewhere early in earlier of a layman lay person who was getting close to death
and
buddha said shari putra and ananda to be with this person and to help them in meditation
and the meditation he helped them with
was the fourth foundation of mindfulness
that was not for it but actually the set but actually the the last several
which were not taught to delay population is lay followers yes it was thought of as to harper them
and all the sudden while this lay person is meditating
he
all of a sudden has this wonderful beautiful smile on his face
and
shari putra and
and nada say what's going on he said i never realized i never understood reality and you've helped me to is a understand reality and then he said and please tell the buddha that he should be teaching this way people i thought this
was perfect in a perfect thing for so jan you know
it's like
don't save the good stuff you know that that were all this is kind of a way of saying everybody is buddha and everybody can awaken
and
and i thought was interesting for him to of couldn't fit to come across as historians in this study of the four foundations of mindfulness and i think because it's so easy to take the formula from the first foundations and just do those and think you're there
unless you're really set out to be dedicated
ah you know then
ah
dedicated to really pursue i we really take an interest to takes takes work to do this i mean if you were to take time to of
really studied one hundred and eight men i mean i'm i did at tassajara when i went there for one practice period i had a lot of time
and there was some teaching that was related to that as part of a practice ah
but it didn't mean anything to me in the same way that actually
setting the four foundations of mindfulness sense because it felt really intellectual and you know the words were hard the senses were trailer translated our they were but this is taking that complicated teaching and making it accessible for everyone
so this discriminative thinking is hard but not really that hard i mean how hard is it to look at what you you know your feelings and your anger and know how you gotten yourself into that not of anger
it's just commitment and bow and intention to stay in practice
so last thing i was just going to mention was another practice that could not han emphasized in case that's helpful to lay people
ah another practice he recommends and is observing internal formations
simply put he says psychological states of mind called nasir federer's arise from the conditioning by objects of mind
and he gives examples of
anger hatred
a death of a loved one causing sorrow seeing someone and fought desiring them sexually these are of internal formations
there's an activity there's something that happens and then we form the mental found it the mental formation of sorrow for the mental fat formation of sexual desire those things come to be and will of course we understand them

so there are lots of instructions but let me just give you a sense

when we're aware of what we're feeling thinking and doing we can ask ourselves questions like why do i feel uncomfortable when i hear someone say that
why do i always think of my mother when i see that woman to way i know about that why did i have this wider why did i why did i say that oh there's a good one
that's a that's a very good practice some item why didn't i like the character in the film whom the whom did i hate in the past and whom does that person resemble
so looking at our formations he saying note the formation but ask questions ask a question before you respond
why did that happen where did that come from i mean that happens to meet you know my mother comes out of my mouth and you know on an unrequested when i least expect it and my kids will point that out to me
your you've turned into mom they say
and then i say no no that can't be
of the other point he makes and and i think it's true so so ask a question and he also says don't respond until you finish asking the question
look closely enough to your and of internal formation and how you respond to somebody else
and make sure you really look at it before you start going all over the place with the with some kind of response some kind of triggered response
so the and then he says something else i think that's important
without judgment blame or criticism for having these feelings or images we just observe identify and accept them in order to see their source in their true nature if there's pain we feel pain if their sadness for sad if for angry were angry we don't lose ourselves in the pay
ain the sadness or the anger but we calm down even if we haven't seen the roots of the interphone internal formations the fact that we can greet our pain or sadness in our anger and mindfulness already changes that already changes the dynamic
so where were encouraged to
use our mindfulness but don't ignore
for try to label and and get rid of these
objects of mind that come in there are teachers every single time we have a strong feeling that's a teaching for us where did that come from why is this happening
so i think for me act actually this this the journey back to this teaching which i first did because hassan said i want you to do that
teaching for this machine i don't know i don't like that really not interested in the for family that dishes of my husband is that's the positive stuff and actually what i would i've come to come over over the last couple weeks is this kind of a deepened appreciation
this that that it doesn't even make sense to label types of meditation
if they all contained each other
it's like saying you know the the sudden awakening school when the slow awakening school or other you know black is black and white if they're not different their part they're part of this dynamic
way or mind works and processes things and it really makes sense for us to are also i think to trudge through a little bit of ah
these lists that we make fun of
i have went on my i saved when a long time ago in my file lines in the know all of the different a table with all the numbers and oh and all of the factors that went along with it but
periodically periodically i'll renew them but he's saying this is a hard practice and and that when we when we throw ourselves into the dynamic working of ourselves
that's it as a benefit to all beings
because what comes out of it is our understanding of
interdependency and from that compassion so
if you want to study those you can but
anyway i hope i hope this this is clear thank you

a jury we have a few months for kuno or ross plum asks
this talk was helpful and instructor for me thank you my question is you
is you your mention the question is your mention of inside being a word we don't like to use
how do we turn towards an investigation of what we've gained insight into vs turning away and keeping and quote unquote inside out of our practice
well i think thus i don't yeah i don't
i think up deciding and what i was trying to say was on
if we are going back to the four foundations of mindfulness which is the foundational on early teaching of the buddha
he encourages us
to embrace mindfulness
but not before you struggle your way through ah the rest of it so the reason i think why zan ah doesn't
highlight it if you will is because we with because for for a lot of people just settling down
just being able to be with an uncomfortable feeling is a lot
having some observations some ability to be with that ah that trauma that awfulness whatever ah
so we can get overwhelmed just by that and so it we we can release we really focus on the letting go the moment to moment experience the not not clinging to the experience but then when we are solid in our
our practice
when we can be with what comes up without being torn by torn apart and thrown around vast the time when we can relax and let ourselves be been a cute curious basically being curious i was a sin to me as a big question mark to
be curious to ask why
another question from the a judge judy as through him through a mahayana learns ah
the seems this approach to quote unquote mindfulness reveals mindful of our life is being a bodhisattva
in a world of different approaches in hidden biases how does sanga or dharma friendship come into this mindfulness teaching as a bodhisattva
that's interesting because there was something specifically that ah that was suggested by tick not han in his discussion of strong feelings and a stronger versions in southwark that he said find a companion
find someone
oh you who can help you and support you so he actually uses that that's that's actually part of the instruction of to find a supportive group or person
to help you when you get into it when you're when you're working on this
jerry house my volume right now is the is okay me or i'm linda has i invite you to unmute yourself and ask a question
i a good morning jerry and everybody to ah
thank you for talking about to so typical her suitor it's one of my
when the greatest symbol just of words that i had a
going in my life hum
oh
and as far as curriculum goes i think all skillful means our curriculum you know series of go on sword
almost any scuffled beans could be called a curriculum so i'm i'm with you on the non separateness of these approaches to meditation i wanted questioned something that occurred early in their talk where you use the word evaluative couple times and soon as i say that you'll know that old trap
her good
but really i i would like to highlight it because it can really be misleading you use i think you said the first foundation and mindfulness of the body is fair awareness and then you said the second one about feelings spent a third line about mental formation to use the word value
two and i would just like the question that a later you said in a nudge no judgment okay but i just want us to up he was
sure so i just was a i think all the four foundations of mindfulness m every part of that those practices his bare awareness what do you think
well i think it starts would bear awareness
ah but ah but a ends and certainly we want to
ah book without judgment just see what's there right but but we are comparing where the the value white by that the word evaluative i actually got from of a person a teacher i went to know then located
at home and i think he means comparative
in other words in a risk he wants because he wants us to notice it was in the context of noticing pleasant and unpleasant noticing not so we're noticing were noticing the absence of something by comparing it to the presence of something
well i would go to sing as something feels good there's something doesn't feel good so he's used that that that best the way he was using that
looking well i probably would have objected to him using it to happen
the just because it's all beer awareness said it if your first become aware of an that it's an unpleasant or a pleasant feeling than your awareness transforms into awareness that oh something else that may be associated with it but you know i i i think we yeah
usually used that term bear awareness for the sense organs
and we're and and and not when we're looking at the workings of the ally for example
what were we you know it's kind of like one when i when i and there's a there's a way that were look that we're seeing different thing similar where
looking at our responses that's evaluative costs comparing not doing it hello as i compare being peaceful and pleasant
ah and and i say that's better that's a better good mental mental factor and i compare that
and i can trust that with a negative are harmful and factor so we may be quibbling over how you did how we use the term evaluative and i and thank you i might not use it again
they might replace between the north oakland in the south berkeley school of buddhism as i might use i i might just you know whenever you use that summary term we can get into trouble right is better to just say the exact thing you be a manner that someone knows what you mean i fake teacher so i'm sorry that you're a
cognitive interpretation
this of knowing and you're a liar and knowing
knowing that evaluation means like student evaluations getting a grade being being some may be some skate some undesirable trait
and
my idea of evaluation went to my lawyer which had to do with i'm evaluating the situation i'm kind of checking out this situation
so are our perceptions and arm and our mental function and hearing the same word
totally different that's what is all about
right thank you
from the last question nathan britain ah please them and be yourself and ask a brief question
and you're going to him thank you for talk identify with a lot of this and for presidents roof some of my experience but in terms of most really to understood what our practices in this tradition i find myself totally confused
then the hum i particularly on thinking and i can't remember where but but i feel it recently i've come across examples of durham and or tmr being a pains to explain what our practice isn't and to differentiate it from
hundred practices hum and some of that if i understand correctly has to do with
come contention and solve it has to do with i think technique and mechanics and as i struggle to understand what the heck is chicken taza
yeah i listened to your trunk and i feel like i have to start a run totally lost because i'm i'm trying to understand how
i've i think i've understood that what i was doing was too much based and concentration and i've been trying not to do that and then what you're describing is
something different altogether and i feel confused so could you maybe speak about
relating to our tradition on for someone who's just trying to take got on and you actually not to worry
number one about what you're doing
just just follow the basic instruction
follow the basic construction know the things i mentioned before things that i mentioned you know
a moment to moment of letting go not clinging just follow that don't worry about it
ah as i said in that a early in the introduction know she means tranquillity practice and com means inside practice so she can toss includes both the question is the emphasis
and house how one thing might follow the other overtime
when you're com and when you learn how to sit with what comes up
ultimately your awareness will expand and without any effort you'll see more
without now if you want to understand all one hundred and eight
i meant of to stats a different the that's a different thing that is it put usually part of our curriculum so don't worry about that just just worry about the basics and the rest opens up over time
i'm fletcher net we have one more question and she doesn't talk very much so maybe you could just hear her question thank you jerry it's very brief
i wanna thank you for your scholarship your study and your i have to say playful earnestness and with the help of list
and i just want to wish everyone a happy interdependent day
as a very good way to and isn't it
thank you