Guided Meditation With Ven. Pomnyun Sunim (Aug 9, 2020/S18)
[With English interpretation] Ven. Pomnyun Sunim answers a question during one of his Sunday Meditation sessions. Learn Vipassana Meditation from a Zen Master, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim. "We meditate not to make money or attain fame but to find our way to true happiness and freedom, or nirvana and liberation." by Ven. Pomnyun Sunim.
Transcript
Allow me to invite Venerable Pongnyung Sunim to start today's session.
Hello.
Hello.
Hello.
I'm Jana Neelju.
I'm a teacher at the Chinese University.
Did you have a good week last week?
In Korea,
We are experiencing the longest monsoon season in years or even decades.
The coronavirus is a major issue in Korea.
The coronavirus is a major issue in Korea.
The news every day is the coronavirus.
But these days,
It's all the rain from the monsoon that's really being featured.
In Korea,
We are experiencing the longest monsoon season in years or even decades.
In Korea,
We are experiencing the longest monsoon season in years or even decades.
So when China and Japan were being hit by the floods,
We thought that Korea had fortuitously escaped it.
Except now,
We are actually facing the same severe flooding.
Not just South Korea,
But we believe North Korea has also suffered intense flooding.
What do you think about the situation in Korea?
After experiencing about a month straight of heavy rains,
It feels like I'm back in India during the rainy season.
I feel like I'm back in India during the rainy season.
So today,
Likewise,
Before we start meditation,
Let us address a few questions we got.
I often find myself thinking too much about my problems and about fatalistic thoughts about the pointlessness of life.
Can meditation be a tool to help me?
Even if meditation does not actually give me joy,
Is there at least a way it can help to take away pain?
I think it's a great way to learn about the world.
I think meditation is a tool to help you.
I think meditation is a tool to help you to learn about the world.
Is meditation a tool to help you?
I think you made a great discovery.
Life is meaningless inherently.
Whether you're a rabbit living actual life or a squirrel living actual life,
Whether you're a human being living actual life,
It's all the same.
If you're a human being living actual life,
It's all the same.
If you're a human being living actual life,
It's all the same.
So the mistake we're making is that we think there's an intrinsic meaning to life,
So we look for it,
But we can't discover it.
So we think there's something wrong with our not discovering.
I think we can't discover it.
We can't discover it.
We can't discover it.
However,
If you think along the way you are and you actually logically progress to the end,
The question you ask is,
Why do I need to continue my life when it's meaningless?
And thoughts of suicide start creeping in.
I think that the question we're asking is,
Why do I need to continue my life when it's meaningless?
So there may not be intrinsic meaning to life.
However,
We actually continue our life by imbuing certain actions with meaning.
We manufacture some value and meaning to life for ourselves.
Religious people put faith and salvation as meaning in their lives.
Business people put money,
Earning money as meaning to their lives.
Politicians imbue their life as meaning with power,
Authority.
And if you're a celebrity,
Popularity becomes a deep meaning in your life.
And for people in poverty-stricken areas,
Daily survival is a great meaning to your life.
Every individual,
Every thousand,
Ten million yen,
Every individual has very different meanings that they imbue their life with.
I think that the world is a very different world.
We have to be very careful when we think about our lives.
However,
We make the mistake in thinking there's one constant,
Consistent,
Deeper,
Foundational meaning that everybody has to live with.
We have to be careful when we think about our lives.
That's why we engage in this debate of whether a meaning exists or not,
And that leads to suffering.
But all these have been manufactured by our brains,
By our thoughts.
But if you just let this construction go,
There's no problem at all.
We have to be careful when we think about our lives,
Our lives,
And our lives.
That's why the purpose of meditation is to let go of all this cognitive construct that you have created,
And just focus on the awareness of the breath coming in and going out.
But if you think about the awareness of the breath,
The awareness of the breath,
And the awareness of the breath,
Then you can't really think about it.
But then we make a mistake in thinking,
Imbuing meaning to the fact whether we achieved awareness of the breath or not.
So we are actually taking our habit of meaning to the breath.
Yes,
We are taking the awareness of the breath and the awareness of the breath.
So what we are saying is just let go of your thoughts.
Because you don't really need your thoughts to breathe.
Breath happens naturally.
But your head will continuously create this thought construct that creates suffering for you.
That's why you can't imbue any thought or any thought.
That's why you can't imbue any thoughts with meaning.
Just let them stream by and just focus on the breath at this moment and the now as it goes in and out.
And if you are able to achieve that state,
The actual question you had about the meaning or meaninglessness of life actually becomes a moot point.
It's overcome by the events of you focusing on your breath.
In that sense,
Meditation will be a great help to you to get to that state.
Yes,
It's a great help to you to get to that state.
As the awareness becomes more evident after sittings,
I can't explain this ambiguity.
Are these sensations and motions part of the meditative process?
I think it's a great help to you to get to that state.
I think it's a great help to you to get to that state.
This is a phenomenon that you are experiencing during your meditation.
It's part of your meditation.
To that end,
The sensations,
Feelings,
Thoughts that you are feeling have been part of your subconscious that is being surfaced during this meditation.
I think that the mind is a great help to you to get to that state.
These are the factors that have been driven and churning in your subconscious that you were not previously aware of.
This set of cognitive and emotional habits,
Patterns,
What we call karma,
Is now being surfaced during your meditation session that you were not previously aware of.
It's like one looks something like this.
And to be able to see deeper into your subconscious,
And sense and become aware of all the different turns,
All the different factors that are affecting your foundational makeup.
And this is the awareness you are experiencing.
So,
It is true that meditation has allowed you visibility into this.
However,
Meditation is not the cause of these sensations and feelings.
This has been with you.
Because your awareness has become clearer and more acute through meditation,
You are just becoming consciously aware of what's been happening.
This is the most important thing.
This is the most important thing.
So,
Imagine for example,
If you are focusing on something intently,
Some external distractions of noise you can't really hear.
You don't become as aware of those.
If you are focusing on something intently,
You can't really hear.
You can't really hear,
But you can hear the sound of the sound of the sound.
But if you calm your mind,
And allow everything to calm down,
Then even the slightest sound or noise you can hear.
This is the most important thing.
You can't really hear,
But you can hear the sound of the sound.
You can't really hear,
But you can hear the sound of the sound.
However,
If your inside becomes calm,
And you are able to acquire that awareness that's that acute and sharper and clearer,
You are able to delve down and see what's been happening deep in your subconscious.
It's not created because of meditation,
But you are able to now see it through meditation.
Then it allows you to realize that all the negative emotions that you have experienced when you actually encounter a situation was not created by that encounter or that situation.
It's actually created,
It has always been with you deep underneath that you just realized it was there.
So this is not a good thing or a bad thing that you do,
And do not make the mistake of further imbuing what you are just becoming aware of with any meaning,
But just continue your practice and continue sharpening your awareness.
At some point in time,
You might actually experience these negative emotions or the sensation you're experiencing kind of disappear.
And it is that consistency that's important of practice.
Now let us start the meditation.
Strain your posture.
Hands to the front.
Close your eyes.
Let your body and mind be comfortable.
Do not try to do well.
Do not tense.
Do not imbue anything with meaning.
Do not give up if you don't think you're doing well.
Just let your mind be relaxed.
And focus on the tip of your nose.
And become aware of the breath coming in and going out.
If you feel like you're doing well,
You can do it by yourself.
You can do it by yourself.
So it's not a matter of trying to breathe well.
Just pay attention to the breath,
Because breath is already naturally happening to you.
If you feel like you're doing well,
You can do it by yourself.
If you feel like you're doing well,
You can do it by yourself.
Besides this breath,
Any great thoughts in your head,
Even thoughts of the Buddha,
Are just distractions and can't pay any meaning to it.
Even thoughts of the Buddha are distractions.
So even your thought of not wanting to have a thought,
Even that is a distraction.
Even thoughts of the Buddha are distractions and can't pay any meaning to it.
Even thoughts of the Buddha are distractions and can't pay any meaning to it.
So let these streams or waves of thoughts just appear and crash and disappear by itself without imbuing them any meaning while you focus just on the breath.
If you feel like you're doing well,
You can do it by yourself,
But if you feel like you're doing well,
You can't pay any attention to it.
The mistake that you make is that you imbue certain thoughts with meaning,
And you pursue it and you chase it,
And that leads to other thoughts,
And it ultimately becomes a distraction.
If you're not able to see the thoughts of the Buddha,
You can see them in the mirror,
Or in the mirror,
Or in the eyes of the Buddha.
You can see them in the mirror.
You can see them in the mirror.
Once again,
Let me emphasize that any thought is a distraction if you imbue it with meaning.
And if you allow those thoughts to turn itself and you pursue it,
You're not doing meditation anymore.
You're just thinking.
But of course,
This may happen automatically without you actually being consciously aware of it.
And that is the reality you are,
You face.
At that point,
Realize that you have lost that focus on the breath and return it.
So it's not a matter of you doing this well or not.
So if you can maintain awareness of your breath,
Just continue doing that.
And if you lost that awareness,
Refocus.
That's all you do.
Now,
Let us try.
Let's try for 35 minutes today.
So Sam says 30 minutes is too short and 40 minutes is long,
So we'll compromise right down the middle today.
Let's try for 35 minutes.
Let's try for 35 minutes.
Let's try for 35 minutes.
Let's try for 35 minutes.
Let's try for 35 minutes.
Let's try for 35 minutes.
Let's try for 35 minutes.
Let's try for 35 minutes.
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Let's try for 35 minutes.
Let's try for 35 minutes.
Dang.
.
.
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