Vipassana Meditation: Day 11 - Morning Discourse + Metta

Vipassana is the most powerful ancient technique for attaining mastery of the mind. Taught by the Buddha, Vipassana meditation is arguably the most famous & effective form of meditation. Retreats are held in cities and towns all over the world & have been instrumental in the transformation & healing of countless millions of people.

During the retreat, you will be guided to practice the foundational techniques of Vipassana, and follow the core principles of the philosophy.

Transcript

To say that I love meditation is a vast understatement.

I think it's like saying that fish love water or something like that.

And I think now you can start to understand why I have such a deep love,

Deep love for meditation.

It supports everything.

It's a beautiful thing.

Day 11,

The course is over,

We're done.

Well done to all of you for making it.

Congratulations.

I also like to think of this as day zero,

Day zero again.

Because it's just a new beginning.

A new beginning where we all get to choose what we're going to do with this skill.

What we're going to do with ourselves.

And where we're going to take this afterwards.

And also a new beginning because we've just been through a process where we're going to be different than we were at the beginning.

And that's true generally speaking anyway.

From now until now we're different as well.

Everything changing within the body.

But I think going through this,

Learning this will be a lot more different than that.

It can bring a lot to ourselves and the world that maybe we wouldn't have been able to bring before.

There's a French author and meditation teacher called Arnaud Desjardins.

Forgive me French people if I grossly mispronounce that.

And he said something that I used to read all the time when I was younger.

Me and my friend used to repeat it to each other in letters we'd write to each other.

Let me see if I can remember it correctly.

It goes,

Daring to live means daring to die.

But also daring to be born.

Daring to cross over great stages of life and allowing the person that we have been die.

So that one with a renewed vision can be born.

But also recognizing that there will still be many obstacles for us to overcome towards our ultimate goal of enlightenment.

Bit of a long one.

But the daring to live means daring to die and be born kind of encapsulates it.

And I feel like that's what we've been doing here.

Daring to fully engage with ourselves means daring to be able to let go of the things that aren't really a part of us.

They're just patterns that have locked us into a shape that we're ready to burst out of.

I love Zen Cohen's and I came up with this one about 14 years ago when I was living in South Korea.

Why is a human more similar to an egg than a jar?

And I love it because people have lots of different answers to it.

My friend at the time who I wrote it to on a napkin while we were sitting in a bar,

His answer was that an egg contains one thing,

A definite thing,

Whereas a jar can contain many things.

And we all contain one thing.

We have one thing inside of us.

A definite organism as opposed to this refillable container.

My answer is because a human and an egg must first be broken to open.

But if you break the egg from the outside,

The best thing you're going to get is an omelet or poached eggs.

The worst thing is a mess.

But if the egg breaks from the inside,

The best thing we get is new life.

It's the chicken finally becoming big enough and strong enough to crack that shell and step into a new state of existence.

And I feel like that's what we've done here.

We've learned a skill that allows us to be able to feel our shell,

Feel what's been encapsulating us and crack out of it into a new stage,

In a new state.

Go through this alchemical process.

So what are we going to do with it?

What have we learned and what are we going to do with it?

We've learned some very simple things that produce wonderful results.

Like I said in the beginning,

We're learning to do an extraordinary thing in a very ordinary way.

And now you can see that's literally true.

We have basic steps to take that will lead us towards unimaginable realities.

We've learned to master the mind.

Even that on its own seems like a big goal to achieve over 10 days.

But now I'm sure we all realize here it's not a big goal at all.

We can all do it.

We can all get to that point where we are in control of our minds and we decide what to do with it.

We've learned to be able to heighten our awareness at will.

We've learned to be able to feel and not react.

We've learned to be able to move our awareness and encounter anything with it with clarity.

And we've learned to be able to extend that into the world and towards other people so that we can clean this line between us and everything.

To share everything that we've been experiencing with the rest of the world.

And so the technique becomes a teacher on its own.

We can see there's a directional movement there like we discussed yesterday.

Picking in an area,

Developing focus and then taking that outwards and extending it.

So this technique is not about putting ourselves in a box and existing within that box that supports this system we're talking about.

This technique is about becoming so full of life and love that we break through the box.

And we extend out over the borders into everything.

So it's not about restriction and tying ourselves down to a system and away.

It's about allowing this genuine direct access we have to reality to allow us to be able to take our awareness everywhere.

Extend it everywhere.

And that's what we should do.

We should go back to our lives and re-encounter everything again.

Re-encounter everything as a position of awareness.

Just like we go through our body and we re-encounter ourselves.

Re-acquaint ourselves with us.

Now we can go back to the world.

Re-encounter the world and everything in it as a position of awareness.

And see how it looks and how it feels now that we have this new ability to sense,

Feel,

Focus.

And then from there who knows what you're going to do with it.

Maybe you're going to do wonderful,

Marvelous things that I can't imagine myself.

There was another great meditation teacher,

Ramana Maharshi,

Who founded Transcendental Meditation,

A completely different technique from this one.

And he proposed a theory that's become known as the Maharishi Effect,

Which is that if a small group of meditators meditate seriously and intensely,

They really meditate,

They don't just sit on the mat and look like they're meditating,

Then they can create change within their environment.

They can bring down the rates of violent crime and all other horrible things that may be happening in the area.

He said it only takes 1% of the population to do that,

Which sounds like a ridiculous claim,

But it's been tested in many areas,

In many situations,

Even with people who weren't seasoned meditators.

And some people proposed that it takes even less than that.

And so what we can really do now is we can start to take part in this effect.

As we start to meditate deeply and what we're doing starts to resonate outwards,

We can help the world to be able to start to clean things up.

And it's what we've already been doing.

By us focusing here on the breath and focusing minutely,

We start to develop this point of clarity so powerful that it cleans everything around it.

It starts to clean the slate and clean the mind.

And then we take this and we move it around the body and it starts to clean everything else.

This is the Maharishi Effect.

And then we become a point of awareness,

A point of awareness.

If I and I become singular,

The whole body will be full of light.

So we become full of light,

We become a point of awareness so that we extend what we've been doing outwards as well.

And we help to build a harmonious environment.

Wherever we are in the world,

We can come together with other people and meditate,

Have communities of meditators so that this effect starts to extend outwards and spread into our area.

An African dictator wanted to test this effect and he didn't have meditators in his country.

So he got his army all to meditate at the same time and see if it would have the same effect on the country.

And it did.

His army being 1% of the region that they were in,

He got enough people to meditate and he measured the results so it can work with everyone anyway.

There was an English football club a few years ago that had no right winning the premiership.

They were,

Forgive me for saying this,

They were a sub-quality club that didn't usually compete.

And in one year,

They just took over and they were unbeatable and they won by a huge margin.

And it was found out that they had a very high proportionate rate of Buddhist meditator followers who've been coming to the matches meditating.

So who knows?

Whether you want to win football games or you want to heal the world of its ills or pains,

This can help us.

This effect can help us.

And we can feel it.

We can start to feel this connection between us and the world,

Us and people resonating outwards.

I love horses and anyone that's spent a lot of time with horses realizes what truly beautiful creatures they are and what a special connection humans and horses can have together even without training.

Just this resonance we're talking about really has an effect there and you can feel it.

You can feel it coming back from them as well as extending from you.

And the HeartMath Institute did research a few years ago,

About a decade ago I think,

Where they measured the heartbeats of a human.

And we know it extends out about 12 feet,

Something like that.

Some people more,

Some people less,

Who knows?

It extends out.

But the measurable range is about that with the waves.

And they did the same with the horses heartbeat.

And what happened is that when a human's heart field came in contact with a horse's heart field,

The horse's heartbeat would sync with the humans and it would start to resonate with them.

So they would beat together.

I was thinking about this while I was on one of those subway cars in London meditating one time.

And if anyone's been to London,

They know the Underground,

They know it's way too packed full of people.

So on a subway car you've got like 50 to 100 people there.

I was sitting there in this small space about the same width as this room with about 50 to 100 people packed into this tight space.

And I was thinking,

All of our hearts are touching right now.

All of our heartbeats are crossing over.

And so if we're all here meditating together,

Then we can start to let this beat together.

Start to spread this outwards.

So it can be applied everywhere.

How are we going to apply it?

Like Tony Robbins said,

We're always investing.

Whatever we're doing with our money,

It's an investment.

We're always investing our awareness.

And when we leave here today,

We're going to choose again,

Where do we want to invest our awareness?

Where do we want to place it?

And that's something that we can decide very clearly now.

As we start to encounter something,

Before we choose to give it our awareness,

Realize,

Oh,

That's an investment.

That's a piece of me I'm extending into this thing.

And I'm going to leave it there and see what happens.

And maybe we've got some investments that we want to pull back.

And we can wisely choose where to place our awareness.

Where to go with it.

Everyone who's here in Bali,

Practice this course with us.

And the people in Bali doing it online.

Whenever you want to come together with a group of people to meditate,

This hall is open.

We have daily sessions where the hall is open for anyone who wants to come and meditate here or with a collective of people here.

So now you have a place to meditate in the area if you want to continue your practice.

If you're at home,

Or one of you here that's going to go and live somewhere else and stay somewhere else,

Then it's easy to form a community of meditators.

Make a Facebook group,

Connect with other people who've been doing a similar practice and start to bring it together.

And this can help to strengthen your practice.

Help to extend it outwards into everything that we do.

I don't have much more to say.

I just feel so good I wanted to keep on standing up here for a second.

We're about to take all of this down.

We're about to go back to our lives and end it and start something new.

As I walked through the door and I approached the gate that would lead to my freedom,

I knew that if I did not leave my bitterness and hate behind,

Then I would still be in prison.

Nelson Mandela.

We're about to leave.

We're about to go outwards.

Let's make sure that we leave anything behind that we know is restricting us.

That we know is stopping us from really going out and being the person we want to be.

And taking that everywhere.

So let's do a last little session of Metta.

And let's just leave it all behind.

Let's leave everything behind.

And let's leave here and extend out of here with love.

So if everyone wants to find their space on their mats,

Start to collect themselves and start to feel this loving awareness inside of us.

Let's see how many horses we can sink up with us through our field.

And the humans too.

Let's not forget about them.

So let's slowly collect ourselves.

Let's find that loving awareness within us.

Whether we do it by going to a point in the body,

The center of the chest,

The top of the head.

Or we do it by bringing someone to mind that we deeply love.

Something to mind that we deeply love.

Or whether we do it by simply finding that loving,

Pleasant sensation within the body.

Whichever method we're using,

Let's find that position of love.

And let's slowly feel it extending outwards from us.

Through yourself.

To everyone you're in the room with.

And then let's think of all the people who supported us in our lives.

Maybe for long periods with deep love,

Parents,

Friends,

Lovers,

Or maybe just small acts of kindness.

Sometimes small acts of kindness from strangers can leave a lasting impression.

Let's let our mind move back through our lives and see all these people who've been good to us.

And let's feel this loving connection to them.

This web of love extending out from us.

And then let's spread this love through our local area.

Here in Uluwatu or wherever you are.

And just feel your love extending outwards.

Resonating out from you like a heartbeat.

Extending through your environment.

Touching everyone in this area.

All beings in this area.

Humans,

Animals,

Immaterial beings.

Nature.

And then let's continue to extend that out to your entire country.

Feeling this heartbeat expand.

May they also be happy.

May they also be free.

May they also be liberated.

And then let's keep on growing it.

Expanding this love outwards to your entire continent.

Feeling this love for this land that you're in and all the people within it.

And then it's just a small step from there to expanding it out to the whole world.

And everything in it.

Everything on it.

Feel our love sinking deep down into the core of the earth.

And resonating outwards throughout it.

I don't particularly care about teaching meditation.

But I do care about helping people come out from suffering.

And giving them the tools they need to do this.

So let's send our love outwards into this world.

Hoping that everyone has the tools they need to come out of suffering.

Into happiness.

Into bliss.

To stop being prisoners.

To be liberated from whatever it is that's holding them back.

And then let's feel this love extending outwards to the sun that sustains life on this planet.

Feeling gratitude and appreciation for that.

Just the fact that we're alive is a miracle.

And then just let this bubble of love extend outwards infinitely through the whole universe.

And then bring this love back to yourself.

Where is the point inside you that you feel this love resonating outwards from?

Feel both the point and the ripples.

And this wave of love extending outwards,

Touching everything.

And then let's send this love to this long line of teachers that has brought us this technique.

All the way back to the Buddha.

This beautiful,

Pure thread of awareness.

That survived all the way from the Buddha to us.

To that amazing human who dedicated his life to teaching others how to end suffering.

And then to all the Buddhas that came before him.

And all the Buddhas that will come after him.

These amazing beings.

Let's feel our love and gratitude extending out to all of them.

Then let's come back to ourselves.

Feel this love and appreciation for ourselves,

For making it here today.

Think of everything we had to go through to be here today.

To not just survive,

But to thrive.

Think of the race that you won with billions of other sperm to make it to the egg.

Feel love and appreciation for yourself being such a fast swimmer.

Learning to walk and talk,

Interact,

Create things.

Build relationships.

Live a life.

Coming up against the sometimes hard edges of the world and making it through.

Think of everything it took to get you here.

Everything you had to go through to be this human being today.

And feel your love and appreciation for yourself for carrying you through all of that.

Now let's take that love and let's leave this prison.

Leaving anything behind that restrains us.

Let's help Aaron to go and take these ropes down and free ourselves from this pen that we've contained ourselves within.

And let's take our love to as many horses and humans as possible.

Remembering that everything we encounter after this is simply a new object of our awareness.

A new object for our meditation.

A new thing for us to lovingly get to know.

Thank you all for making it here.

Thank you all for practicing this course with me and us.

It's been a pleasure to practice with you.

And let's not end it here.

Let's take this into our lives and use it as the Buddha intended us to use it.

For the good of all.

May all beings be happy.

Do you guys just want to gather into a circle for a second?

Reviews

Wonderful

Absolutely amazing. Coming back from serving at a Vipassana , this popped up. It was such a gift. Many blessing to you 🙏

🙏🙏Beautiful course! Thank you! ♥️

I feel my soul can actually be liberated. Thank you 🙏