Okay,
So here we go.
There's a type of meditation which we're going to talk tonight about,
Getting the inner heat to warm you up from inside.
And this is a type of meditation which the Tibetans are very good at.
And if you really succeed in this type of meditation,
The final test according to the old traditions when the monks were still in Tibet,
Was to take you at night time in the middle of winter into the snow-rimmed lakes to break the ice on the lake.
You'd be sitting there all night without any robes on.
In the cold,
Snowy,
Wind-swept wastes of Tibet.
But you were allowed to wear a blanket as long as it was dipped in the water of the lake first of all.
And the adepts could dry three blankets every night just with their body heat,
Okay,
To do meditation.
And so I tell that story when you won't feel that cold now.
But nevertheless,
One of the monks who went to England once,
He sort of wrote to them,
Said,
Can you teach us that meditation?
And he got the answer back and he said,
You're just like the person who just asked for the car heater where we sell the whole car.
And to this evening we're going to sell you the whole car.
The whole way of meditating so it becomes so peaceful,
So still,
So happy that cold or heat doesn't bother you at all.
When the mind is peaceful,
The body just relaxes and it doesn't worry about heat or cold,
Sounds,
Past or future,
Business,
Worries,
Concerns,
Doesn't worry about anything because it finds peace in the moment.
So sitting in your meditation posture,
Calming the mind,
Calming the body,
Closing the eyes,
We feel our physical body just sitting here.
Just asking the body,
Is there anything you can do to make the body more comfortable?
Asking that question you might get an answer.
The body might answer,
Please move my legs,
Please move the bottom,
Please scratch this itch.
Whatever it is at the beginning,
Please do whatever is necessary to get the body more comfortable.
It usually takes a minute or two for your awareness to grow enough to be able to feel the body properly because you're not being distracted by sounds or sights,
You can feel.
Wonderful.
Be in time to your body.
When the body is nice and relaxed,
Then you can be kind to your mind by deliberately letting go,
Being uninterested in anything to do with the past or the future.
What's gone has disappeared.
What's in front of us is in the future.
We'll leave till later.
It's unpredictable so we don't worry about it at all.
In this moment we don't do any planning.
All this travelling which we do in time,
Now we stop.
And we think the word stillness to allow the mind to be still in time,
Not moving into the past,
Not moving into the future,
Being still in the timeless present.
You can't hold the mind still.
You just have to let it be still.
Relax so much.
Take off all this controlling and then you find the mind is naturally still.
It's so content it doesn't want to move anywhere,
Being happy just to be.
Okay.
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Just being in the moment,
Seeing how much you can just let go,
Not being a driver of the meditation bus,
Just being a passenger,
Someone who can know what's happening but doesn't react at all.
And you can stay in this moment so easily.
Okay.
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So the mind settles into stillness.
See if you can get so still that thoughts don't really occur.
You need to have a commentary.
Just don't move,
Not even the mind into thinking.
Okay.
Okay.
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Okay.
For those of you who now want to focus on your breath or do loving kindness meditation,
Now's the time to do that.
If you want to watch the breath,
Just ask yourself,
How am I breathing in or breathing out?
How do I know?
How do you know what the breath is doing?
You just watch that knowing,
The knowing which tells you where the breath is in its cycle.
Not forcing anything,
Being so gentle.
Okay.
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So how do you feel now,
Coming close to the end of another meditation period?
What's it like inside with your eyes closed,
Feeling your body and mind in this moment?
Be mindful of any peace,
Any contentment,
Any freedom which you can discern inside.
When you become familiar with peace and its beautiful taste,
You want to go back there again and again.
And what kind of time when you don't need to tell the mind what to do?
It knows the way so well and just runs towards peace.
Like you'll cross the street to see your favourite friend.
Now I'm going to ring the gong three times.
Please listen to every sound from the gong and only when the third ringing from the gong disappears.
And then open your eyes to end the meditation.
Very good.
Very good.
