Good morning,
Good evening.
Good afternoon.
And leave those people out listening in the afternoons.
So.
On the highest teachings,
Not that it really goes into highest teachings,
But it sort of works.
And as Zen monasteries,
You know,
Not,
You know,
Doing hours and hours of meditation or doing your prostration practice or praying to the Buddha or anything like that,
It's actually stirring the porridge.
Just a very simple everyday activity.
Because that's what life is.
Is made up of.
You know,
You go on holiday.
Let's say you go to Australia for your holiday,
What do you do?
Very simple,
Everyday activities.
I'm not saying don't have holidays,
I like my holidays myself,
But they're made up of going to the bathroom,
Walking up and down stairs,
Waiting for people,
Drinking tea,
Eating.
Drinking wine.
And that's what we do.
We stir the porridge.
Life's always made up of those very little.
Some things.
Very little activities.
Can't get away from them.
But what the human being does,
Most of us do,
We do what I call nexting.
Not interested in this little thing,
Which is actually absolute in itself.
It's just what,
We could say it's just what is.
It's life,
This very present moment,
This very moment.
I mean,
Stirring the porridge,
Being here,
Just doing it.
But we're often not just doing it.
Physically we may be stirring the porridge,
But mentally we're nexting.
Onto the next thing.
And it's just a mental,
It's just mental gymnastics.
In that way there is no next thing,
It's just imagined.
The so-called next just falls into place.
As we move through life.
I'm not talking about.
.
.
Intelligent planning,
We have to do that.
But it's this almost constant.
Horizontal living.
We're here,
I want to be there.
The next thing,
Over there,
In front of me,
Must be better than this.
Sometimes it's going to be worse,
But it's still a kind of hoping that something will come along,
Something will be better.
And our lives fluctuate between.
Hope and fear,
We're hoping for this something better and we're fearing that it won't be.
So that's what our lives do,
We just fluctuate,
Hope and fear.
So look out for it.
When does thought of nexting come?
And they'll happen in meditation,
Of course.
Allow them just to die away.
Allow them to just die.
And when you need to think functionally practically,
It'll be there.
That's part of natural functioning.
But our natural functioning is being contaminated.
Like a dog has natural function for a dog.
It's those decals.
It's a drink.
We have natural functioning.
When we need to work,
We work.
To think about the future,
We think about the future.
Do planning.
So just let those thoughts die.
Don't feed them.
Stop feeding.
Pretty good.
Prostrate with yourself.
Oh,
I can't do this.
That's just more feeding.
Just let them die.
Just let them wither away.
Meet them in silence.
Neutrality.
So it doesn't sound very exciting.
Neutrality.
I want something exciting.
That's part of the problem.
The piece that we're looking for isn't in excitement.
All this imagined excitement.
So let's just have a.
.
.
Are looking out for the next in meditation so we're here Just stirring the porridge.
Just feel the breath if you wish,
Breath is not a thought of the fall of the sun.
You'll keep skimming across life.
Lost in past and future.
Or vertical.
Stay here.
As best you can.
Listen to the traffic.
To the birds.
To the silence.
And really see what's happening It's just what appears to the senses now.
That's how we relax.
The mind becomes a tool.
Can't relax if you're pulled around.
By thinking.
You're lost in thought.
Just let the thought wither away.
Don't let them die.
Is die away.
And just listen to the silence or feel the hands or the breath What's happening now?
If you are in self-tense.
Take a breath.
And remind yourself there's nothing to return.
This is part of a dream.
Where is the attention?
OK,
That brings us to the end.
Thank you guys.
Have a good day.
