Morning,
Good afternoon,
Good evening.
So I'm going to read a little something from Charlotte Yoko Beck.
I might say a few words.
Charlotte Yorke-Cobaig taught that our thoughts are rarely reality.
Instead,
They are habitual self-centered stories we use to avoid the present moment.
Rather than suppressing thoughts,
Her practical approach to Zen involves noticing and simply labelling them as thoughts.
To return to clear,
Wordless awareness.
She taught.
And emphasise that we cause our own suffering by backing off from difficult emotions like anger,
Fear or sadness and seeking comfort instead.
Her core teachings on managing our mental landscape revolve around a few key ideas.
Observation over analysis.
Instead of getting swept away by the content of our thoughts,
You're advised simply labeling them.
Labelling the mental activity to see the mind in operation.
The thought system trap.
Most of our daily struggles arise not from reality itself,
But from our heavily conditioned opinions and judgments about reality.
She's got nothing there.
She says nothing there about becoming calm.
Trying to become calm.
There's absolutely nothing there.
I don't find it anywhere in all her writings.
It's not meditation as we think of it.
As we've come to know it.
And when I talk about coming back to just the hearing,
The seeing,
This sense of presence,
It is that wordless awareness.
That is all we are doing.
But we find it tricky because we're not at the centre then,
We're not telling ourself a story about ourself or about.
.
.
What somebody's done to us are about my future.
Because that's where the suffering is.
So the labeling is simply.
You can't label it as just thinking.
And then silence.
Or you can actually label if you have a thought like.
He's such an idiot.
Or I'm so useless,
I'm having a thought,
I'm so useless,
And then silence.
You don't analyse it.
That's it.
And just feel what's here.
When I say just feel what's here,
I mean experience what's here.
That includes the hearing,
The seeing.
If your eyes are closed or open,
It doesn't matter.
But if you have your eyes closed,
Just be aware of.
.
.
Going a bit drowsy,
Just open for a few minutes.
So rather than achieving some.
.
.
It's a magical state that doesn't last.
She's talking about,
And this is what Buddhism is,
It's about bringing an end to self-inflicted suffering.
Which is brought on by belief thoughts.
It's actually quite simple.
You don't need a degree to understand this.
There's really nothing to understand,
It's very few basic concepts.
And it's.
.
.
Repetitive that's why we just keep on doing that's why i do the same thing every day Surprising thing is,
I never get bored of it.
I think of,
I try and read and think of different ways of saying the same thing,
But it's still the same thing.
So just settling into your.
.
.
Posture.
We should just take attention to the breath.
Just the rising and the falling.
And then ping.
We're away.
On some ride.
It's labelled as thought,
Thinking.
And back to that.
Open,
Spacious.
Awareness.
And just feel the breath.
.
.
Is hearing the traffic.
And that's it.
You can count the breaths if you need to or use the mantra if that helps.
Their tombs.
Use them for a few minutes.
And put them down again.
What's going on right now?
Your mind is presenting you with an alternative reality,
That's what she's talking about.
Just dance.
Just meet them in silence.
Label them if you want to.
Thinking.
Where is the attention right now?
Just relax.
And know why you need to be.
Nothing needs to happen.
What's happening.
If you lose your way,
It's okay.
Just stop meditating for a few moments.
Around the room.
Just take a breath.
And relax.
Just watch you're not straining.
Striving.
Where are you?
When are you?
OK.
That brings us to the end of the session.
A little stretch.
Thank you guys.
