Welcome everybody to this ongoing meditation class.
There's still a few people coming through so we'll wait for a minute or so.
But I do announce that anyone who's come for the introduction to meditation,
The series of four lessons where we introduced how to meditate,
That lesson is being taken in the room to my right.
So anyone coming for the first couple of times,
Not really used to meditation,
Introduction to meditation class is again in the room to my right.
This is the ongoing class.
So just a few more people to come in.
Very good.
So as you all know,
For the ongoing class,
Where people come every week on a Saturday afternoon,
We do some teachings on the meditation specific to one particular aspect of meditation.
So we'll be sitting for about 40-45 minutes after about 15 minutes of introduction.
And of course one of the biggest problems in meditation,
One I'm going to deal with today is the restlessness.
And the only reason why a person is restless,
Why they can't sit still,
Why they want to go and think about something or move or go somewhere else,
It's always because where they want to go,
They believe is better than where they are.
It all comes from what we call wanting.
So a way to overcome that restlessness is to keep saying to yourself,
This is good enough,
This is good enough,
This is good enough.
Because a word like this is good enough,
In Thai,
Podi,
Podi,
Podi,
That is a word which stops us wanting something more and realize we can appreciate what we already have.
It's one of those great definitions of the meaning of suffering in Buddhism is when we want something more,
We can never enjoy what we already have.
So in order to enjoy what you already have,
We have to somehow just to calm down this wanting mind which always thinks that something else,
Something more,
Something different is better than what you already have.
So we say that this is good enough,
This is good enough,
This is good enough until we brainwash ourselves and convince ourselves that this moment,
This body,
This time is good enough.
And just going somewhere else is just more of the same.
As Ajahn Chah used to often teach,
He would often quote one of the stories from the Buddhist scriptures of the dog with the mange.
And that dog having mange would go into the forest thinking,
In the forest the itch would go away.
And when it went to the forest,
The itch was still there,
So then it went into the village and the itch was still there.
And then into the water and then into the sunshine,
Then into a cave in the dark.
But wherever that poor little doggy went,
There was always the itch went with it because it was on its skin.
And that's the same with our wanting.
We may think,
Oh,
I'm going to get up and do something else,
I'm going to think of something else,
I'm going to try something else.
And the itch always goes with you.
So what restlessness does,
It just makes more restlessness and more restlessness.
And that is called the mange of meditation,
The itch which makes you restless.
So the only way to overcome that is the anti-mange medicine,
Here given for free,
Is called this is good enough.
And if you pour that over the itchy skin of the poor animal,
This is good enough,
This is good enough,
This is good enough.
It means you stay still.
And the thing which happens once you stay in this moment long enough,
It gets more and more peaceful,
More happy,
More clear.
And the reason is,
As I say every other week,
To understand that it is through stillness that the mind becomes strong,
Peaceful and happy.
You keep it still for a little while and when it settles down,
It's very happy to be settled down.
It's very free.
Sometimes we think the restlessness is being free to go here,
Free to go there.
We actually will discover later on that that restlessness,
That wanting,
Is actually what keeps us from enjoying the moment.
That is like a prison guard who never lets us be still,
Always pushing and pulling us to go somewhere else to do something else.
So instead we say this is good enough,
This is good enough.
And that helps us stay in this present moment.
The first stage of the meditation is just being here.
And again,
As I've been teaching,
Being here means you become a human being rather than a human going.
Most people in the world are human goings,
They're not human beings,
Always going somewhere,
Doing something,
Trying to reach something.
They're not human beings.
To be is to be here in this moment,
Being with what you have.
And then you will find that what you have,
What you're always running away from,
What restlessness was always pushing you away from this and away from that,
What it was pushing you away from is peace,
Is happiness,
Is contentment.
So when you stop this wanting mind,
This itch called restlessness,
And just allow it to be,
Allow this moment to be,
This is good enough,
You will soon find that this moment becomes surprisingly much better than good enough,
Becomes so peaceful,
So still,
So delicious.
But once you get into the present moment and it starts to become delightful,
Then you start to wonder why you wanted all these other things,
Why you even indulge in thinking and planning and remembering things,
Why were you destroying this beautiful place of peace,
Which is there all the time for you,
If you can only stop wanting,
Realizing this is good enough,
And to experience the peace in the centre of now.
It's one of the reasons why I do emphasize the present moment awareness.
So just coming into the present moment,
Letting go of all the past,
Letting go of all the anxieties,
The plans,
The dreams of the future,
Letting all of that disappear,
Reveals this wonderful jewel of the present moment.
It's as if all this present and past stuff is hiding a deep secret inside every human being,
The joy,
The peace,
The happiness of just being in this moment.
First it doesn't feel like that,
But once the mind wakes up to this moment,
It takes a few minutes,
Then it does appear very,
Very delightful and very wonderful.
And it means that in this present moment when there is no past,
No future,
It's got nothing to worry about,
You're totally free.
Free of all of the plans,
Anxieties,
The things you have to do,
Free of all the guilt and worry and things which happened in the past,
You're actually free to be here.
And in that being here,
When there's no past and no future,
It's not that hard to be quiet,
To be still,
Because you'll notice that all the thoughts,
All the movement of the mind are 99% concerned with the future or the past.
As I saw one of my quotes written on somebody's t-shirt yesterday,
All craving is about the future,
What you want to do,
Where you want to go,
What you want to achieve,
All craving is about the future and all anger is about the past,
About what happened,
Who did what.
So just letting go of the past and the future,
You become free from so much craving,
So much anger,
You feel so at peace with yourself and the world,
If you can come to this wonderful state called now.
And it's important that when you do come into the state of now,
It is a timeless place,
The whole idea of time,
Today,
Yesterday,
Tomorrow,
Even minutes,
Hours,
Whatever,
It always is a measurement from the past to the present,
From the present to the future,
From the past to the future.
You always have to have a past or future in there to have the idea,
The concept of time.
And when you totally eliminate your perceptions of past and future,
When they disappear,
All you have left is the present moment and time loses its meaning.
You're not measuring anything,
You can't measure anymore.
You need a future,
You need a past to measure.
Now all you have is this present moment,
Just now.
And you find that in this present moment you go into the timeless state where time in its usual experience disappears.
You're not measuring anymore,
You're not worrying about afternoon,
Evening,
Daytime,
Night time,
You're just here,
You're now.
And that experience,
Being free from the tyranny of time,
Is a great release,
It's release from a prison.
You can understand how many of us have to keep looking at the clock to make appointments,
To get things done in a limited span of time.
And all of that vanishes when you're in this present moment.
You just have no idea of how many minutes have gone by.
You even forget what time it is.
And I mentioned that because the way I lived in the first year,
First few years as a monk in Thailand,
I literally did forget what year it was when someone asked me to fill out a form and I had to actually ask them,
Is it 77,
78,
Somewhere around then.
I didn't know what year it was and that was honest truth.
You didn't need to,
You're in this beautiful timeless present moment and you felt so much freedom,
So much lightness,
As if a big burden,
The burden of time had been let go of.
You could really rest,
You could get your energy back,
You could get your perspective back,
You could get wisdom back,
In silence in the present moment when time vanishes,
There you find freedom.
You are like a bird with no burdens.
A bird carrying suitcases can never lift off the ground.
A bird which carries nothing at all,
Just the weight of its own wings,
Can fly really high.
You carry the past and the future as your baggage is.
You'll never be able to fly high,
You'll never find peace,
Never find wisdom,
Never find a place where you can re-energize the burnt out mind.
So that's a little bit of instructions about the beauty of just being now in a timeless present moment.
Okay,
So we're going to do the meditation in a few seconds.
I think people are outside doing some walking meditation.
So those of you in here,
Maybe you can close the doors,
So that they can actually do their walking meditation outside.
Very good.
And this is the ongoing meditation class,
Those who have come for the introduction class,
That is in the room to our right,
This is the ongoing class.
Okay,
So let's get going.
So if you'd like to sit down and make sure your posture is just right,
And then close your eyes.
And with your eyes closed,
First of all,
Bring all your awareness to your body,
Even if you've been sitting for a few minutes,
Come back to your physical body.
How does it feel right now?
Is there anything you can do to relax your body?
Are your legs in a good position?
You can adjust them if you need to,
Be careful with your body.
Is your bottom well positioned on the cushion or chair?
The only reason people fidget is because they didn't put their bottom in a good position to begin with.
Feel your waist,
Make sure that it's curved in just the right way so you feel comfortable and not too tense.
Same with the rest of the back,
A lot of tension is in people's backs because of their inappropriate posture.
When you become aware of your own body part by part,
You will know what is a good posture just for you.
I don't care where you put the arms or the hands as long as they feel comfortable.
You can ask your arms and hands,
Is there any adjustment which will make you more comfortable?
Can you make your fingers,
Your hands more comfortable?
If so,
Do so.
And it has to be a comfort which you can maintain for the period of the meditation.
During the meditation,
You can always move if you need to,
Just to adjust the body here,
Adjust the body there.
But do it very gently in your head.
Can you pay attention especially to the muscles around your face?
That shows you how relaxed you are.
Notice the muscles around the eyes and the mouth especially.
Pay attention to those muscles and see if you can relax them so the eyes are closed but not screwed down tightly.
So the mouth is closed but not again tightly.
The whole face feels relaxed.
As if you've just woken up first thing in the morning,
Comfortable,
At ease,
Relaxed.
How can you feel the whole body relaxed?
With you inside it,
Like a vehicle,
And you're cozy,
Comfortable,
Noticing the many sensations on your skin,
In your bones,
Inside.
Just notice every feeling in the body which comes up.
Sensations in the body are useful because they bring you into the present moment.
And there's not much you can say about them.
Is your skin hot,
Sweaty,
Tingly?
Does your body feel heavy or light?
Get to know your body and how it feels.
You can also learn how to relax your own body.
Don't feel any heaviness or tightness anywhere in your body.
Focus your attention on it and give it kindness.
As if it's a pet dog or cat and the poor thing is very scared.
You stroke it,
Caress it to take away its fear.
Can you imagine that little being,
Your pet,
Begin to relax,
Soften.
Its hard body becomes soft and fluffy again.
Just like that hard pain or ache inside becomes loose.
So being aware of your own body.
And being kind to your body.
Once your body is relaxed as much as you can,
Then you let the body go,
Allow it to disappear.
As you focus on your mental world,
And in order to abandon the past and the future,
Once again I'm going to lead you through the two shopping bags exercise.
Can you imagine you've been carrying two heavy shopping bags?
Carrying heavy bags or suitcases makes your arms ache.
But these are imaginary shopping bags,
The one in the left represents your past,
The one in the future represents your,
Sorry,
The one in your right hand represents the future,
The one in the left hand represents the past.
And all your past,
Your concerns,
Memories,
When you carry them too long,
It makes your heart weak and painful.
And the shopping bag in the right hand,
Your future,
When you're so anxious about what's going to happen next,
You can't enjoy this moment,
You can't rest and prepare for the future.
So imagining these two heavy shopping bags,
The one in the left hand represents the past,
The one in the right hand is your future,
And they weigh you down.
Can you imagine the bag in your left hand?
Can you imagine you leaning to the left so you can lower that shopping bag down to the ground?
And when it meets the floor,
The weight disappears,
The burden is gone.
If you straighten up the back,
Lift up your hand so your left arm is hanging loosely by its side,
Resting,
Recuperating,
Relaxing,
Having let go of the bag representing your past.
And then you have the bag of your right hand,
All your anxieties,
Plans,
Future.
You lean to the right in your imagination,
When you lower the bag in the right hand,
The future to the ground.
And so when it meets the ground,
The weight vanishes.
Straighten up your back,
Move your right arm upwards,
Until your right hand and arm are hanging loosely,
Carrying nothing.
You put down your future,
A little mental exercise assists,
It helps in the real letting go of all your past and future.
And now you are standing,
As it were,
Between the past and the future,
In this wonderful place we call the present moment.
Now I ask you,
What does this present moment feel like?
What's it like to be free of the past,
Not concerned about the future,
Just being here?
This is the real world,
This is life,
This is the only place you can find peace and truth and meaning.
Right now.
And as long as you keep your hands off those two bags,
You don't pick up past or future.
You don't have to worry about how time passes.
The present moment,
That's all there is now.
Minutes,
Hours,
They just go by.
You have no concept,
Because you are not measuring time.
You're just being here.
Now.
Investigate this now.
What's it like until you notice the happiness of the present moment?
This is good enough.
This is good enough.
You can say that to yourself.
The Thai people here,
Pore Di,
Pore Di,
This is good enough.
Until you can feel contentment,
This beautiful happiness to be here,
And not wanting to go anywhere in the whole world,
Just being here.
Opening your heart to whatever is happening,
Without judging.
Letting this moment be.
Just noticing the stillness.
The mind is not moving as much as it usually does.
The agitation of always having to do things,
Think things and work things out,
That is lessened considerably.
Can you notice how your mental world is relaxed much more?
See if you can relax that mental world even further.
Until it feels totally at ease.
A mind which is comfortable,
At peace with itself and this moment.
Letting this moment be.
Letting this moment be.
Letting this moment be.
Notice the view who want to watch your breathing.
Wonderful,
Just notice the breath as it comes in.
Notice the breath as it goes out,
But don't abandon the present moment.
Just know the breath which is happening right now,
The feeling of the breath.
Breathing in as peacefully as you can.
Relax.
See if you are sitting by the beach,
Just watching the waves roll up the shore on a calm,
Windless day.
Watching the breath go out.
With nothing to do in the whole world,
Totally free of jobs to be done.
No plans to be made,
No appointments to be kept.
Nothing to do.
Free at last.
Breathing in freedom,
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Breathing out peace.
Just getting close to the end of the meditation now.
How do you feel?
See if you can recollect how you came here in the last 45 minutes and how that's altered the emotional world and the physical body.
To know the peace of meditation and the freedom from the itch of wanting.
Now I'm going to ring the gong three times to end the meditation as usual.
Please listen to every sound from the gong.
And when the first ringing vanishes,
The third ringing vanishes,
Come out for your meditation.
GONG Very good.
Okay.
So we do have questions,
Christina?
Again,
It's nice to know that these instructions are being listened to all over the world.
We have two questions.
One from United States and the other one from Romania.
Dear Ajahn,
I know you only want to be in the present moment in meditation.
I'll be having a major surgery next week.
A tube will be inserted into my bladder tomorrow and I'm scared of this.
To deal with this fear I'm thinking of using a visualization technique today.
Imagining being there and it's not bothering me,
What do you think of this?
Or should I try to begin and deal with it at the time?
The doctor kept telling me that I'll be on sedation and will not know anything.
Indeed,
So many people have this and you don't have to worry about anything there.
I just do remember the time,
Just anecdote time now.
How many years ago was I in hospital here?
About 20 years ago,
This last time I was,
20 years,
21 years ago?
Yeah,
Something like that.
But anyway,
I went into a hospital and was in a war with three other men.
And you know what stupid men do when they're in hospital?
We start talking about things,
We started talking about,
What's the worst procedure in hospital?
And one said,
Ah,
This procedure,
That procedure.
And then the guy in the next bedroom,
He said,
Oh no,
No,
There's nothing worse than a barium enema,
He said.
And then the guy opposite,
He went,
Why?
I'm having barium enema tomorrow.
It's a totally stupid conversation.
But this bladder inserted,
You'll be under sedation,
You won't know anything at all.
And it is actually true that sometimes it's a fear of things which makes it hurt.
That's why also when doctors,
They give you an injection or something,
They say this is going to hurt a little bit.
That's the most stupid thing to say,
Don't say that.
So it's going to hurt a little bit and you go,
Ah.
And it hasn't even penetrated your skin yet.
And I can't go past the story of,
Oh,
He doesn't mind people telling who it is,
Amandus at Bodhinyana Monastery.
Many years,
He's been in that monastery a long time.
Many years ago,
He took out his own tooth.
He got very bad teeth and I saw it.
I was walking up to the monastery workshop and I saw him coming out with a bloody tooth on the end of a pair of ordinary pliers.
I said,
What have you just done?
He said,
I've just taken my tooth out.
I said,
Don't bother going to the dentist.
You have to stand in queue and then you have to wait,
You have to pay all this money.
So I just took it out myself.
And I said,
How did you do that?
I don't remember what he said.
He said,
When I decided to take out my own tooth,
That didn't hurt.
When I walked to the workshop,
That never hurt.
And I picked up the pliers,
That doesn't hurt,
Picking up a pair of pliers,
Putting on my tooth and squeezing,
That didn't hurt.
When I wobbled that tooth,
That hurt for about,
Maybe three seconds,
Then it was out,
Finished.
Only three seconds of pain,
That's all.
Nothing at all.
Now,
I often say that when I even started that story,
It was hurting you,
And it's not even your own tooth.
Somebody else's.
You see how fear creates that pain and that hurts?
So one of the best things to do for Anna from the United States,
It would be actually wonderful to learn to be more in the present moment and you feel there's no pain at all.
Right now it doesn't hurt,
This evening it doesn't hurt,
The following morning it doesn't hurt,
And even just the only time it will hurt is when they give you a little needle to sedate you.
A tiny little thing.
It's amazing just how fear,
Which is projection into the future,
Creates most of the pain in the world.
I'm sure even in torture,
It's not actually the pain,
It's the thought you're going to get hurt.
That is what breaks people.
Not the pain itself,
Because that's in the media,
You can't do anything about it,
It's here,
But the thought it's going to happen again or in the future.
That is the worst pain of all,
The emotional pain.
So I would really suggest to Ellen,
Really gets into the present moment as the best way of dealing with this and all other pain and afterwards you'll find it didn't hurt after all.
The doctors were right,
You were sedated.
But it's the fear which hurts us more than anything else,
The fear of the future.
You see what I said,
All fear is about the future.
So if I can let go of the future and don't fear it so much,
In fact let it go completely,
Live more in the present moment,
That biggest part of pain,
The fear will be taken away.
It will now be much better for this and the future,
Our happiness and health of your body and mind is to live in the present moment and to enjoy this moment.
And I also can't go past that story of when I learned this when I was a kid.
I was having to go to the dentist.
Now,
This was,
I'm 61 now,
This was when I was about 8 or 9,
It was about 50 years ago.
And if anybody of my age knows dentists in those days,
They didn't have these fast drills.
They just had these old drills where you used to wind up,
You know,
They did nothing exaggerating there.
But they were really,
Everything was dull.
They didn't have high technology.
Even if they did give you an injection,
You should see the size of those needles.
They're not the really fine ones,
You can hardly feel when they put them in your skin these days.
This is really old fashioned stuff.
So as an 8 or 9 year old kid,
I was terrified of going to the dentist for good reason too,
It hurt,
Much more than it does these days.
So when my mother told me,
You've got a dentist appointment tomorrow,
I was really upset.
I really did not want to go.
I was crying and screaming and throwing tantrums and no way would my mother sort of say,
No,
I'm not going to let you go.
She said,
You are going to go.
So I hardly slept that night.
In the morning I figured out how to get out going to the dentist.
I fronted out to my mother and said,
Mother,
You don't love me.
Any mother who loves their kid would never send them to the torture chamber called the dentist.
Kids think they know psychology,
They don't know at all.
If there was like a children's abuse hotline,
I would probably rung it at the time.
But anyway,
My mother dragged me to that dentist,
Kicking and screaming all the way and crying.
And when we got to the dentist surgery,
Only then did I find out the appointment was cancelled because the dentist was sick.
They didn't have emails or telephone from the dentist surgery.
I remember that,
All that crying,
All that pain,
All that,
I don't want to go and it never happened.
That really told me a lot about fear of the future,
Projecting things which never ever happen.
So one thing I can tell everyone from the United States,
Whatever you imagine it to be,
It won't be like that at all.
If you fear it's going to hurt,
It won't be as you fear it.
It'll either be much better or much worse,
But it won't be exactly as you imagined it's going to be.
And it's usually much,
Much,
Much better.
So fear is the one to handle.
So the visualization,
I don't think that's really escaping from the real problem of fear of the future.
So I would really imagine you to look into the present moment.
And if you are going to look into the future,
If you look into the future with negativity,
In other words,
You always look about what might go wrong,
Think it's going to hurt,
It's going to be terrible,
They're going to make a mistake.
Actually somebody told me this,
They went to have this minor operation and the doctor kept on saying,
Whoops,
Oh dear.
And they did.
This is the last thing a doctor should ever say in front of a patient.
And they said it three times apparently,
As a young doctor.
It was only a small thing,
So it wasn't really bad,
Didn't I?
So see if you can overcome the fear.
So in the present moment,
Number two is,
If you are going to look at the future,
Look with a positive attitude.
In other words,
Fear,
Anxiety is looking into the future of all the things which may go wrong.
Instead of looking at the future,
Worrying about what might go wrong,
If you are going to look into the future,
Think what might go right.
Isn't that wonderful?
And I call that,
And apparently somebody emailed me,
Saying this is now a new word in the Urban Dictionary.
So it usually starts as a new word in the Urban Dictionary and goes from there into the Webster's and Oxford English Dictionary.
We always add a few words every year.
And this was coined by me,
It's,
Don't worry,
Be hopey.
H-O-P-E-Y.
I said that a few days ago in Friday Night Talk.
H-O-P-E-Y,
If you look in the Urban Dictionary,
It's got be hopey,
The opposite of worrying.
Lovely word,
H-O-P-E-Y.
We could use that a lot and that will be in the next edition of the Macquarie Dictionary in Australia.
H-O-P-E-Y,
A new word coined by Ajahn Brahm.
You heard it here first,
This is the place we innovate all the new words.
And also in Webster's Dictionary in the United States,
Ellen.
So don't worry,
Ellen,
Be hopey.
H-O-P-E-Y.
Look at the future with a positive mind,
Rather with so much negativity.
Okay,
Hopefully that's helping,
Ellen.
I'm going to be very honest about whenever it is,
Tomorrow,
It's easy.
No worries at all.
Question to Neelu from Romania.
The Buddha said that nothing is as soft and pliant as the mind.
What is then the thing in me which opposes so hard to get into this beautiful state of mind?
The thing which is opposing that Neelu is this person called Neelu.
The mind is okay,
It's you're the problem and you all know that,
Don't you?
It's you trying to make the mind this and make the mind that and do this and do that.
The mind is very easy to meditate when you get out of the way and stop doing things.
That's the problem,
This thing inside of us called the control freak,
Me,
The person who wants to get meditation to happen,
Someone who wants to get things done.
That is the problem.
The mind is easy,
You're the problem.
So if you can just get out of the way and imagine you just disappear.
You disappear,
Neelu,
And just let the mind be as it truly is.
As Vaphan said,
Ajahn Chah's simile,
The hand moving like this,
He wasn't trying to wave somebody away,
He said this is a leaf,
A leaf,
Neelu,
Which is waving up and down because the wind is blowing.
So it's not the leaf's fault,
It's the wind blowing.
If the wind stops,
Then the leaf moves less and less and less until the leaf comes to a perfect stillness all by itself because that's the nature of the leaf to be still.
It only moves because of the wind.
Your mind is soft and polite.
The only problem is wanting,
That's the wind which keeps moving your mind upwards and down,
Making it move,
Making it agitate,
If you can just protect it for wanting,
Just let it be.
Then your mind will become soft and polite and still as anything because that's its nature.
The nature of your mind is to be still.
But you keep making it move.
That's why in this meditation you've often heard me say,
Just let it be,
Stop doing things,
Just be still.
And when you stop doing things,
When you stop wanting things,
Your mind becomes still all by itself.
That's the trick of meditation,
For you to get out of the way and let meditation happen.
It's a tough ask but that's how it works.
So Neelu,
That's a problem.
When you disappear,
Then you get this beautiful state of mind.
It's not hard at all.
It's only hard when you're there.
When you disappear,
The mind is peaceful.
Okay,
So any questions from the great city of Perth?
Any questions from the floor or from the chair for those sitting on the chairs?
Yes?
You're asking about mantras.
Yes,
You can use mantras.
You can use mantras along with the breath if you like,
Breathing in,
Peace,
Breathing out,
Letting go is one of my favourites.
In Thailand they use the Budho mantra,
Breathing in,
Bud,
Breathing out,
To,
That didn't work with most Westerners.
So over here,
Instead of using Budho,
You know the one we use?
Breathing in,
Shut,
Breathing out,
Up.
Use the shut up mantra.
That works very well with Australian people.
So you're breathing in,
Shut,
Shut up.
You try it,
After a while you think it's funny but then after a while,
Wow,
This is really important.
So there's really,
Really those little mantras you can use.
So yeah,
We can use mantras.
Oh,
People are leaving now,
So I think I better close up for the day before more people walk out.
Okay,
So thank you everyone for coming and thank you for Ellen.
I wish you all success tomorrow in your operation and for your major surgery.
I hope everything goes well and you're back to a new woman after next week.
Much better than the,
Well your one wasn't that bad,
But even healthier and stronger.
And nelufarmania,
It is the sense of self that to the controller is the problem.
Okay,
So let's now pay respects to Buddha Dhammasanga.
