Good morning guys,
Afternoon,
Good evening I'm going to start off sitting up and we'll see how it goes So I'm going to read something I've read it before but it's so pertinent that I often read it Every so often in classes and retreats Because the desire to get somewhere,
To achieve something is so deeply rooted It's probably the main route,
Get somewhere,
Get something,
Achieve something,
Have an experience Expecting an epiphany,
A single moment of insight That will forever banish the experience of fear,
Anger and neediness May prevent us from noticing the slow and almost imperceptible ways That our practice subtly transforms us With patience and perseverance,
Our reactive patterns slowly erode Until one day we find ourselves in a situation that has always made us anxious And the anxiety is just not there And that's been exactly my,
Well almost exactly my experience For years and years I was pushing for an experience To get out of the shit,
That's what I want,
I just want to get out of the shit Pushing,
Pushing,
Pushing and it never happened It just reinforced it,
That's part of the shit,
That's part of the problem Until I met some teachers who turned me around It actually wasn't that long ago,
I did over 20 years like that How I kept going I don't know And so even now with having a bad back and the flu Where I came from I don't know It had to come when I had a bad back So when I cough it's like oh my god But it's like what happens with those thoughts,
The thoughts arise Thoughts around health and they just melt There's no traction They don't necessarily stop,
They thin out but there's no traction The other one I may pay attention to,
There's something,
Oh okay Life on the doctors was an easy one,
A functional one It wasn't self-centred,
It wasn't catastrophising And that's what happens if we have the patience just to stay here In presence,
In the body With whatever's happening,
Without elaboration With one of my mentors used to call it,
Without elaboration Just feel it,
In Joko's words,
Joko Beck Just feel it And see that the thoughts arise and they pass away It's so simple,
And I keep saying the same thing Dzogchen,
The highest teaching of Buddhism It's saying the same thing,
It's the highest teaching Relax Let go Relax into being There's nothing you need to do You need to turn up,
You need to sit down And let awareness do the work You don't do it,
You as the ego self,
So called ego self I won't go into what that is right now You don't do the work,
You're the problem You're the problem We are the problem The problem can't solve the problem But that's the way we approach it,
See I will work on myself When someone ever says to you,
You're out of your mind Just congratulate and say,
Yes I am,
Thank goodness for that You need to be out of your mind Get out It won't help Now I think this work,
This practice,
This approach I think there's a beauty to it I think simplicity is beauty Elegant,
It's elegant It's simple There's nothing,
Not one thing to work out Not one thing to solve with mind,
With thinking Thinking is a useful tool But a tool by itself is useless A hammer is a tool Can you imagine a hammer?
Hammering away when the workman's not there Just hammering away through the house all day Just by itself Nightmare And that's what this is like It hammers away all day It doesn't know what to do It's just patterns And we believe it's all true,
Most of it's true There's your suffering That's what the Buddha discovered Hammer,
Hammer,
Hammer,
Hammer,
Hammer,
Hammer Just take a deep breath or two and relax Just feeling the body Feel around the face And that's all you need to do And watch the show That's it Just feel the breath And just stay with it Don't madly want to explain your life away Go into some theory or story Don't do it Having a thought Where are you now?
Are you holding anywhere?
If you are,
Just feel it Oh,
It's okay Where's the attention?
You don't pick the thoughts up They just dissolve Don't leave a mark Okay Thank you guys Thank you See you tomorrow morning Bye Bye Bye Bye Thanks Sam,
Bye Bye
