Серия ежедневной практики, курс 04 — Семичастная практика развития доброго сердца (1999, Голуэй), занятие 6

[Speaker 2]
This is the continuation of session four.

[Speaker 1]
Number three. Say karpo. Karpo.

Saban. Saban. Karpo.

Karpo. Saban. Saban.

Karpo means white. Saban means seed in your mind. Okay, white seed.

This is just mental seed management. Okay. This is mental seed management.

Okay, what do I mean? I mean, basically, two things stand between you and heaven. There's two reasons why you haven't seen angels yet.

There's two reasons why you can't walk on Galway Bay yet. Okay. First one is your old seeds.

You know, everybody, according to us, has thousands or millions of seeds in their mind, sitting there, waiting to happen. Why? You have, what is it, 64 or 65?

Sixty-four. Sixty-five? You have 65 discrete mental events happen every finger snap.

Sixty-four. Sixty-four. Anyway, whatever it is.

Okay, yeah, that's one. And I'm not talking whole sentences in your mind, and I'm not talking discrete thoughts in your mind. I'm talking mini-events.

They say that your perception of reality is really just like a film. You're having 65 pictures that are coming up in your mind every finger snap. And it looks like time is moving.

And it looks like I'm moving my arm. But really, you're just seeing like this. You see what I mean?

In that much time, you have planted 65 seeds in your mind, multiplied times your life. And that's how many seeds are sitting there. When I talk about mental seed management, this is a big thing.

We're talking millions, millions upon millions of seeds that are already in your mind. How you're going to see the next 25 people you ever meet is already sitting there. It's already ready to happen.

You're carrying that with you now. What you see tomorrow, how many good things happen to you, how many bad things happen to you, it's already there in your mind. The seeds are there.

So the idea is, can you destroy some of the bad ones before they come up? You see what I mean? And you can.

How do you do that? The main thing is to examine your life, find out what your worst habits are, and attack them. If you tend to get angry a lot, you can bet you have thousands of seeds in your mind to meet angry people in the next six months.

And to decide that you're not going to be angry anymore helps to destroy those old seeds. It's very interesting. If you have a thousand seeds in your mind to meet angry people in the next six months, and you know it, and you say, I don't want them.

I want to get rid of them. The best way is to work on your anger. Consciously.

And that's called mental seed management. That's all. Now, and obviously in the future, try to avoid it.

But the decision to avoid it can stop the seeds from growing. So, for example, if you've had an abortion. Buddhists believe that life starts at conception.

We're not talking three weeks, six weeks, nine weeks. We're talking when the sperm and the egg meet, there's a being there. That moment, there's a being there.

We believe mind enters this first cell. After that, it's abortion. After that, it's murder.

To stop that cell. If you know you've done that, if you've been involved in that in the past, and in my, when I was growing up, they taught me when I was 15 years old, this thing is not alive. It's okay to have an abortion.

That was what we got taught in the school. It's that it's not a being. Maybe six months, maybe three months, maybe nine weeks.

Okay, if you've been involved in something like that, you already have that seed in your mind. It's going to affect your health. It's going to affect your body.

It's going to affect how you age. You have to go after and get rid of it. You see what I mean?

You have to consciously go into your mind and get rid of that seed before it goes off, before it grows. And you do that by committing yourself to the opposite. You see what I mean?

You go out, purposely, and work in a hospital, or find some older person who's not well, and you take care of them for a while. And you dedicate that power to the old seed, and it will destroy it. You see what I mean?

We say destroy, not exactly, okay? It accelerates the seed, and it comes back to you as something less. You see what I mean?

For example, if you have a seed from an abortion in your mind, and it's going to go off in five years or something and give you cancer, if now you dedicate yourself to help some older person, not for much, okay, for a few months or something, and you say, I dedicate that energy to destroy that old seed, you will just get a small problem, like you'll get headaches for a few weeks or something like that, and then it'll be gone. It's very beautiful.

And I've seen it many, many times. I have many students like that. Most recently it was two weeks ago.

Somebody had a very serious bad karma. They dedicated a certain... They had done a new good karma, and they got this tumor within a few weeks in their back, and it started to affect their face.

You know what I mean? The nerve started. And the doctors went, and they asked me, they were afraid, should I have the operation?

I said, do it. And they said, what's going to happen? And I said, don't worry about it.

This is the karma, this is the seed that you planted a long time ago that was very, very serious. And they're going to cut it out, and you're going to be out of the hospital in two, three days. Don't worry about it.

And it happened. Just like that. It was beautiful.

It was that big. And there's supposed to be a five-day recovery. They sent him home after two days.

They said, just go home. It's over. And that's all.

It doesn't matter how heavy a thing you've done in the past. You can get rid of it by doing the opposite. You see what I mean?

And dedicate it to that. Dedicate the energy to that. And then you'll get some temporary small thing, and then it'll be over.

You see what I mean? Rather than some very life-threatening disease or something like that. She said, can you dedicate good deeds to someone else who's ill?

What do you think? He says it'll help you, but I think she's asking will it help them. Well, I'll tell you this.

The question is, can you do a good deed and dedicate that energy to someone else that they shouldn't be ill? To tell you, to be very honest, in one level, if it were possible, we would never be ill. Because there are great holy beings in the world, like the Dalai Lama or Mother Teresa used to be, or whatever, who would gladly give us their good energy.

They would gladly take it from themselves and give it to us. People wouldn't get sick. You see what I mean?

Buddha... I mean, there have been thousands and thousands of holy beings around the world, in every tradition, every religion. Of course they would have done it for us if it could be done.

The fact that anyone gets seriously ill sort of indicates that it's not possible. Does that mean you shouldn't pray for other people? Not at all.

You should pray for them. Does it help them? You can help them.

How does it help them? Now that's a big question. And we have to study it.

But of course it's very good to pray for other people. And this whole breathing thing, of course that's what you're doing. You're trying to help them.

And it does help. Now how it helps is a very delicate thing and we have to talk about it. So, that's seed management.

Get rid of the old ones. Don't make new ones. Number four.

[Speaker 2]
What if you feel incredibly guilty about something that you've done and it doesn't matter what you do, it doesn't seem to be enough?

[Speaker 1]
I think the question is like this. How do you know when the imprint has been knocked out? You know?

How many months do I have to go serve in a hospital if I had an abortion? You see what I mean? How do I know when it's finished?

You get some kind of... You will know in a rough way. You will feel happier.

A big load will be off your mind and you'll sense it. And you'll know it. And there'll be some kind of problem will come up and then it'll be over and then you'll sense that it's over.

And then, it's very important at that time to decide, finished. You see what I mean? Part of cleaning the old imprint is to decide, now, finished.

Completely finished. You see what I mean? In the Catholic Church you have final...

rites, it's called? What's it called? No, I mean, as a person is dying.

Last rites, yeah. The idea of last rites is that the priest takes a final confession and you're really honest because you know you're dying. You know what I mean?

Nothing to hide. So you're supposed to tell him the last... the terrible things you never wanted to tell anybody.

You know, and you didn't confess before. And then everything's clean and you die clean. It's very important.

That's very true. That's exactly right. You have to die clean.

If you're in trouble, if you're going to die soon, if you get in an accident or something, tell anybody. It doesn't have to be... If a priest is not available, grab some guy and say, I did this terrible thing and I regret it.

Then die. You see what I mean? No, really.

That last thing is very important. And it's important during your life. Okay, I made a mistake.

I did this thing to clean up for it. And it's important to decide it's done. It's vital to decide it's finished.

You know what I mean? And then get on. Get on with it.

You see what I mean? Guilt. The word guilt doesn't exist in Tibetan.

There's no such thing. There's a thing called intelligent regret of a person who understands these things. You see what I mean?

But there's no word for guilt. You see? Yeah, I understand that if I hurt somebody, I'm going to get sick in the future.

That was stupid. I won't do that anymore. But to sit there and, oh, I'm a bad person, and I'm no good, it doesn't help you.

In fact, it's probably a new problem.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. Yeah, go ahead.

[Speaker 2]
Like you were saying about abortion, if the child decides to reincarnate, the soul decides to reincarnate, and the mother of that child has an abortion, would that not be also an imprint that was already there in that baby, in that soul before it reincarnated?

[Speaker 1]
I'll tell you something interesting. And somebody asked me in Dublin last time I came here to Ireland. They said somebody's on the street.

A lady's carrying her purse. A guy comes up, a big guy, strong guy, this is New York City probably, and hits her and takes the purse. They said, what am I supposed to do?

I think I shouldn't do anything because she had an imprint to get hurt and robbed, and he's making a new imprint to rob her. So it's just Mr. Imprint and Mrs. Imprint meeting each other, and they both deserve it, and I shouldn't try to stop it. This is not how it works.

It doesn't work like that. If she's getting mugged or robbed, that is caused by her imprint. She hurt someone before.

If he's getting money from her, it's because he did something good in the past. If he's hurting her, he's creating incredible problems in the future for himself. And if I refuse to help, I'm going to create incredible problems for myself in the future.

If I try to help and I'm successful, who gets the credit? Who should the police give the medal? The woman.

Because she made the imprint for my attempt to be successful. Okay? And what happens if you help and you get stabbed?

And you die and she runs away? I had an imprint to get stabbed. She had an imprint to get away.

You see what I mean? Everything is airtight. You must try to stop it, or you're going to have problems in the future.

Now whether you succeed or not doesn't depend on you.

[Speaker 2]
No, but when does all the stuff stop? The vicious circle.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The vicious circle stops when you expand yourself to include other people. Okay?

As long as you're thinking only about yourself, you will continue to have this cycle. The key is to drop the line between you and other people. And it's a little strange at the beginning, and if you do it once for about a week or two weeks, you find out it's the most happy and fun thing you can do.

You just never tried it. I mean, you had this instinct that it would be painful to give away half your stuff. It's a lie.

It's fun. Christina Noble is really happy. I saw.

Okay. Yeah?

[Speaker 2]
You're referring back to, you know, you have to change the imprint or you have to do something, the opposite, right?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, yeah.

[Speaker 2]
So like in the old days, we're talking about pench.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, yeah. There's this big principle in the Bible and in the ancient books of Asia. It's the same thing.

Like causes like. You see what I mean? Killing causes bad health.

Lying causes people not to believe you. Stealing causes poverty for you. You see what I mean?

There's always a similar thread. So we believe it's important to do something similar. Okay?

Now does that mean it's not useful to go to a church and do a repentance of some kind, like do Hail Marys? Not at all. That's also wonderful.

We say both are good. Both are good. The most powerful one is to study these things.

Okay? That's another thing. How close does the mugging need to be before one has an obligation to...

[Speaker 2]
In front of your face.

[Speaker 1]
The hell is beating on Sandy when I have an obligation to mug you? Over in South Korea, the government is beating on so-and-so. I guess the question is are they you or not?

Both cases. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, do you take care of your knee better than you take care of your foot?

My knee's given in. No, I mean, honestly, frankly, although it's so hard to practice, there's no distinction. It's one body.

It's one body. You can't draw a distinction like that. Are you going to take care of your first finger first or your fourth finger first?

You see what I mean? It's really that, in the end, if you're going to be successful at this thing, it's going to have to be not a question. It's my finger.

I don't care if it's my first finger you're cutting off or my fourth finger you're cutting off. You see what I mean? It's me.

You have to get over this thing of it's not you. It is you. You see, we are one body.

And to take care of someone else is to take care of your own foot or your own arm or your own leg. You see what I mean? If the left hand gets hurt, will the right hand do anything?

I don't know. It's pretty far away. You know what I mean?

Until you reach that point, you won't be able to do it well. The idea is it's a lot easier to take care of other people if you forget that they are other. You see?

Then there's not all this stress of I don't know if I can do without half my income. It's our income. You see?

Get rid of the distinction first and then everything is easy. You see what I mean? But to hold that distinction and to try to be generous is very difficult.

You see what I mean? Yeah. Yeah.

What's the problem with the case of Gandhi? Was he shot? Oh, that's a great question.

Yeah. He's talking about Gandhi or Jesus. You know, I'll say it very easily in the case of Gandhi and then we'll talk about Jesus later tonight.

Although I'm not going to go very long. He got shot because he hurt someone in the past. And he's definitely in a very happy place right now because of all the goodness he did for other people.

You see what I mean? And that's a distinction you have to make. This is totally the essence of Christianity.

The essence of what Jesus said. And Buddha said the same thing. It's completely, entirely, 100% impossible for a good action to have a bad result.

Impossible. You don't get grapes from thorns and figs from thistles. You know, it sounds like Jesus is like, okay, look, I know I can't get a grapefruit from an orange.

What's the big deal? It is a big deal. It's very important what he's saying.

It's impossible to get shot by taking care of other people. It's impossible. Okay?

Impossible. One is a goodness and one is an evil. They cannot be cause and effect.

Any more than a thistle can grow into a grape. It's impossible. It's not necessarily exclusively one's own karma that creates a situation.

Every time I've heard this speech, I don't see it exclusively in terms of it's all because of me. Especially when we can say that the me doesn't have to be just this.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Speaker 1]
Oh yeah, no, it's triggered by that kind of thinking. But I wanted to get back to it. I mean, it's so simple that you don't get it.

You see what I mean? And it took me 25 years of intense training to see that this little sentence in Jesus' teaching is the whole point. It's impossible to do a goodness and have a bad result.

People asking me... I'll take a second and show you, okay? Offices all over the world.

And the boss will say, this guy has come with a $3,000 package of diamonds and he wants to sell them. So I say, how much can I offer? All day long in the diamond business, you do this maybe 100, 200, 300 times.

You're on four phones at once. And you say, how much can I offer him? He says, offer him $2,000.

You say, excuse me? He says, offer him $2,000. Come on, you know it's worth $3,000.

I don't care. Offer him $2,000. Maybe he'll take it.

How can I do that with a straight face? Lie. Just lie.

Tell him, I saw these diamonds yesterday. This is worth $2,000. And stand there and just lie into his face and see what he says.

Maybe if he has to pay rent this afternoon, he'll do it. Just lie. So you go out and you lie.

You say, the boss says these are worth $2,000 and we won't pay a penny more. And you can leave. I don't care.

Actually, when he gets to the door, you're going to say, wait a minute. But you don't admit it. You just stand there and you say, take it or leave it, $2,000.

They call it, what do they call it? There's a special word. Well, there's this joke that I won't pay a penny more and then they say I'll sell it for 2,001 cent just to rile you.

You see what I mean? But it's called, I forget. Anyways, take it or leave it.

It's final, final. They call it final, final. There's no final, final.

But anyway, you say final, final. $2,000. Final, final.

And let's say he says yes. So, there's a lie. By the way, this is the essence of all religions now.

In one minute. A minute and a half. No, I'm saying you've agreed happily to do it, okay?

Yeah, yeah. Because of that Christmas bonus thing? Okay, so there's a lie.

Lie is a bad thing. By the way, this is the essence of all religions. I don't care if Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Jew, it doesn't matter.

If you get this, you'll be happy forever. If you don't get it, it's okay. It's a lie, okay?

A lie. And here's a thousand... Well, I didn't draw that right.

Here's a lie. A smaller lie. And it looks like it has produced...

How much was that? Profit? $1,000 extra profit.

The boss is going to give me at least a dollar of that. My boss. Alright?

And the world believes this. The whole world believes this. Every person in this world believes this.

That the lie has created $1,000. Now, according to what we've said about imprints in your mind, this is impossible. This is a bad thing.

And this is a good thing. I mean, $1,000 is a good thing. Impossible.

Impossible. Jesus said, impossible. This is thistles, and this is grapes.

This is thorns, and this is figs. Impossible. Can't happen.

Well, what's really happening here? My boss gave somebody $10 happily. Maybe six months ago, maybe a year ago, maybe two years ago.

Or somewhere, truly, in a sincere generosity, gave someone a small amount of money. That has produced $1,000. Okay?

Now, as people say, oh, wait, he only gave away $10, how come he gets $1,000? Okay? Imprints in the mind and acorns are 100% the same.

The physical mass of the cause and the physical mass of the result is incomparable. We say it doubles every 24 hours. Okay?

And that's just a fact. It's 5,628 or something after 15 days. Okay?

I'm not kidding. It doubles every day. Every 24 hours it doubles.

Okay? It's like physical seeds. Why is it that one cell from the father and one cell from the mother, or just a pile, a handful of cells, creates this for 70 years?

What is it? What's in that thing? I mean, the ancients were obsessed with the power of blood and semen.

How can it be that a spoonful of stuff makes all the skin cells for 70 years that keep changing? You lose your skin every 7 years or something. The whole body changes.

What is it in that one spoonful of stuff that keeps going for 70 years? It's the nature of causes. Okay?

And it's not different from mental causes. I always make a joke. I read this story about Benjamin Franklin.

He helped create the United States system, democracy. They had a big debate. Half the guys wanted to make George Washington king.

Half of them wanted him to be president. And then one day they finally decided he'll be our president. Now, 200 years later, the federal budget for one year in America is I think $3 trillion.

Okay? Where did this start? All these two guys having tea in Philadelphia.

Okay? It's the biggest employer in the world. You know?

One out of ten people in America works for the government, doesn't do anything. Okay? Where did it start?

It started as an idea. It's a tiny little idea in one guy's mind. Don't tell me it can't grow like that.

It does. Mental things grow just as fast. Anyway.

What's the lie going to create? Problems. Nobody believes me.

Okay? I sit in a meeting, I give a good suggestion, and the boss says, that's the stupidest thing I ever heard of. That comes from lying.

Okay? You've seen it. If you've been in any company.

Happened to me. So you can cancel this one. That's the whole point.

Put that big X. You have to put that big X. This does not cause this.

Never did, never will. Bad makes bad. Good makes good.

This is an illusion. This is not true. This is the real lie right here.

You see what I mean? Forget it. Cancel it.

You cannot hurt another person and get something good out of it. Impossible. Okay?

Get used to it. What would happen if everybody acted on that? It would be a pretty interesting world.

Okay. Anyway. Yeah.

[Speaker 2]
This guy, which is the boss, who actually gets the thousand pounds. He's under the illusion that someone's lying to him.

[Speaker 1]
Oh, he believes in this one. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

And he's the beneficiary of this one. It doesn't matter whether you believe it, it works. It doesn't matter if you don't even understand it, it works.

It would make everybody very long-term in business. Yeah. By the way, I'm talking rich.

I'm talking big money. We made millions of dollars. The building is 15 million dollars alone.

We started with one table that we rented from the guy's office. We weren't allowed to go out of the room. We were renting the table.

The whole company is working on one table. You know what I mean? And you run it that way.

Yeah, let me do it tomorrow. Okay, here we go. Last thing, because I want you to go to bed tonight.

Oh, I didn't do Sun Jin. Back to... Well, that was the big lie.

That made big problems. Okay, say Sun Jin. Sun Jin means smash him.

Okay, smash who? The minute you start thinking selfish, just stop. On the spot.

The minute your hand reaches out for the first tea, you know, stop. Put it back. There's one scone on the plate.

There's three people waiting. Your hand goes out. Say, uh-uh.

You know, and just... You know, you have to get the skill of reacting immediately, instantaneously. Okay?

The minute a selfish thought starts... You know, my really good students in New York, I can tell that they're getting good. You know how?

They're always doing half sentences. You know? I'm thinking I would like...

What would you like? You know what I mean? And I really...

I have lots of students like that. They start to gossip about somebody else. I can't believe that...

And then they just stop.

[Speaker 2]
You know?

[Speaker 1]
And it means you've gotten so sensitive that you can stop your selfishness before the sentence is over. And that's the point that you want to get to. Okay?

Sun Jin means that. Immediate... Immediate reaction.

You can tell a really good Buddhist monk walking through the bus station in New York, they're like...

[Speaker 2]
You know?

[Speaker 1]
Because you're catching yourself as you walk. You see what I mean? You can't even walk a straight line.

You're pausing every few seconds. No, I'm not supposed to think that. No, I'm not supposed to look at that.

[Speaker 2]
And...

[Speaker 1]
You know, that's how you tell a really good Buddhist. You know? They're like...

They look like crazy almost.

[Speaker 2]
You know? Okay. All right.

[Speaker 1]
Last one is Munlan. I'll prove it. I'll put the pen down.

Students in New York, don't believe me. Say Munlan. Munlan.

Munlan. Munlan means... At the end of the day, when you lay down on your bed, you say, okay, I had a pretty good day.

I got angry a little bit less than the day before. I actually helped another person. I purposely put my mind in Phil's body for half a minute, thought about what he liked, and then I ignored it.

You know what I mean? Like that. But it's success.

You know, you sit down and you say, and I dedicate it to two wisdoms, two kinds of love. You see? The first kind of love is the one where you're willing to change your mind with other people, and think about other people.

And the second kind of love is not a kind of love at all. It's a kind of knowledge. It's the thing about the imprints.

Okay? It's to understand the imprints. So when you go down on your bed, and before you fall asleep, you do mun lam.

And mun lam means prayer. You pray. And you say, I pray that all the good things I did today will increase my ability tomorrow to put myself in other people's shoes.

And I pray that by tomorrow I will understand better this thing about where bad things really come from. Okay? Once you're on this path, once you've started this path, once you've heard what I said tonight, you're in trouble.

You can no longer blame another person for anything. Forever. I've already poisoned your mind.

You see? It's too late to go back now. I'm telling you, every single negative thing that ever happens to you, you meet an irritating person, it rains too much in Galway, you get in a traffic accident, it's too hot, it's too cold, you don't like dinner, everything is caused by one person.

And that's you. And you've got to understand it. So when you go down on your bed, you say, I pray I can understand that better tomorrow.

And then I pray that I can learn to fight it the best way there is, which is to think about other people. Think what other people want. Those are the two prayers you make.

These same five powers should be used on your deathbed as you die. There's a special meditation you practice, practice, practice. We do it at night.

We do it as we fall asleep. Why? Because falling asleep and dying are similar.

As you die, your mind starts to get fuzzy. You're frightened. Things aren't clear.

And it's hard to remember what you're supposed to do. It's a very critical moment. If you remember the right things, you're going to go very nice.

If you don't remember the right things, you're going to have a very bad time. And I'm talking like hell or something like that. That's the moment.

The moment of death is crucial, critical. And what we do is we practice every night dying. As you fall asleep, you practice dying.

After you do munlam, those nice cheery thoughts, I hope I can be more noble tomorrow. And then as you go off to sleep, you practice losing consciousness. Because we say that this is the critical moment in your life.

As you start to die, you have to be able to think a few things very clearly. So there's another version of these five that you're supposed to do as you die. And you have to practice every night.

So what we're going to do tomorrow, we'll be starting at 1.30 and we'll go right into that. It's a very specific practice. You should learn it.

And you should practice it every night. Death is always there. It could happen any time.

And you have to be ready for it. And what you do is you practice dying. And it's not depressing.

It's actually quite beautiful. It's quite similar to what Jesus did on the cross. Very, very, extremely similar.

It's so similar, the first time I heard it, I got goosebumps. I said, wow, that's what Jesus did. So we'll do it tomorrow.

It's a very, very sweet meditation. Okay, we'll do a little meditation. And I'm going to do a real one.

We don't have much time. And we're going to go through the real thing that somebody would actually do in a meditation. As you remember, there's about six preparation steps.

Six and a half, if you count the breathing. And then we'll do... We distinguish between a death meditation and a dying meditation.

Death meditation means you think about that you have to die. You think about that you don't know when it's going to happen. And then you decide to do something about it.

And you do that in the morning, before you get up, before you get out of bed, which is easy for me, because I don't like to get out of bed. So, just lay there, and say, I'm going to die tonight, and what do I want to do with the rest of my life today? Okay?

That's a death meditation. In the evening, at night, we do a dying meditation. Okay?

That's a different thing. That's where you practice dying, and how to die well. Okay?

In Tibetan, it's called poa, which means moving, moving your mind to the next life. So, I'm going to do the whole dying meditation, and this is something you can do in the evening. Okay?

Okay. Okay, here we go. Nobody die during the meditation, all right?

Disruptive.

[Speaker 2]
All right.

[Speaker 1]
Okay. Sit straight, feet on the floor. You can sit on the floor, if you like, at home.

You should make a place in your home which is your meditation place, and try not to use it for other things. In Mongolia, they're not very... they don't have much money, but every person tries to have extra room in their house as their meditation room.

But there you can have an altar. It can be a corner of your bedroom. You should have a little altar.

You should put on there a picture of great saints, holy people. Put out some nice offerings in the morning. Tibetans like to put out bowls of water, and flowers, and maybe some fruit.

And then clean up the area. The meditation space should be quiet, and clean, and neat, peaceful. And it's not a good idea to meditate on your bed, because you tend to fall asleep.

The bed has all this leftover sleep on it, and it's important to get off the bed and meditate somewhere else. So we'll start. Put your left hand down first in your lap, then your right hand down on top of it, and then join the thumbs like that.

And you should check yourself just before you start meditating. Do you feel really comfortable? Does anything hurt already?

And then you should move. Because whatever hurts a little bit now will hurt more in 20 minutes. So, it should be very comfortable.

Then relax your face, muscles, especially around your mouth. If it's more convenient, close your eyes completely. If you prefer, open them slightly and look downwards.

And then we're going to watch our breath. Try not to move. It will disturb the other people's meditation.

Sound is the worst enemy of meditation. And try to feel the air coming through your nose. This kind of meditation you can use for Christian prayer.

It doesn't matter what you use it for. It's a tool. And you can use it for your usual prayers that you've learned already throughout your life.

And you can use it for the new meditations that you're learning. So watch your breath. Feel the air coming through your nostrils.

Sometimes feel it on the inside of your nostrils. Now try to count to ten. Ten breaths.

The out-breath is the first half. The in-breath is the second half. Try to count up to ten.

If you lose count, if you think of something else, you have to start over again. Then invite a holy being to come in the room and meditate. They sit in front of you.

Some very beautiful, perfect being, almost like an angel or something. And whoever is easier for you. Could be Jesus.

But if you picture Jesus sitting with you, then make sure it's perfect. Every detail is perfect. And know his body is perfect.

His mind is perfect. He's very happy to be with you. He hears you asking to come.

And he comes and meditates with you in front of you, facing you. And gives you strength in meditation. Then in your mind you honor this person.

Could be Jesus or any other being. And honor them by thinking about the special good qualities they have that you would like to have. So you can just choose one, like patience or their morality, or their compassion, their ability to give to others.

Next thing is to offer this person a gift. And think of the most beautiful thing you can think of, like a dawn, or the ocean, or the sky, or a flower. Something of beauty and offer it to them.

Next step, it's very hard to meditate if you don't have a clear conscience. You have to not have any bad thing on your mind. Think about something in the last 24 hours that you said to somebody which was unkind, or something you did, or something you even thought, because that will block your meditation.

You won't be able to meditate well if there's something on your mind. So, go back over the last 24 hours, like a video recorder, try to play back the most negative thing you said, or did, or thought. And examine it, watch yourself doing it, and think about how unproductive it is, and how you'll try not to do it again.

That removes an obstacle to your meditation. Then your meditation will be more strong. And then the opposite, think of the best thing you've done in the last 24 hours.

Maybe you took time to say something kind to someone, you helped someone, thought about someone else, studied, meditated, prayed, and be happy. Think about what a good thing it is that you're doing something like that. Make it very specific.

Don't think, oh, I'm a pretty nice person yesterday. Find something specific which you said to someone, or you did for someone, something real that you did, and be happy about it. Next step is to ask for teachings.

Pray that you can meet good teachings, good teacher, to teach you about these holy things, someone that you can relate to, someone who knows the teaching well. And then don't forget to ask for those special teachings you get from the people who bother you, the people who irritate you, and ask for them, because these are what make you strong inside. You can't become strong in your meditation, you can't become strong in your spirit if you don't have some people during the day to give you problems.

So ask for that also. And then later today when it comes, don't complain. And the last one is to think about the great people in your life.

It could be your neighbor, it could be your wife, it could be your children, it could be the Pope, but someone, the people in your life who inspire you and affect you well, and pray for their long lives, and pray that they stay near you. And oftentimes we become exactly what the people around us are, and we're not strong enough to be good on our own. It's oftentimes the influence of the good people near us.

So pray. The last part of the preparation is to pray that those people stay close to us, and that we meet more of them. Now we'll start the actual meditation, and you have to do those warm-ups before you meditate.

We're going to do a dying meditation, and it's going to have the same five powers that we talked about last night, but now they're used for death. So try to imagine that you are sitting, laying down in your bed, and your relatives are standing nearby. The doctor is still telling you you'll probably be all right, but it's not true, and you're dying.

And imagine that you're laying there, and you've closed your eyes, and you can't see other people anymore. And then you're going to go through five steps. We did them before for a whole day.

You started out in the morning and thought about how you're going to fight your great enemy of selfishness, and different ways you're going to fight him. And then throughout the day you practiced. And then at the end of the day, you dedicated all that effort to overcoming selfishness.

And now that all those steps have a different meaning as you die. So the first one is, as you die, as you feel yourself dying, you say, wherever I go next, wherever I may be, may I not lose the love I have for other people, and the wish to serve them. Those three steps of watching them, and then putting your mind in their body, and finally breaking down the difference between you and them.

So, as you die, pray that you can remember those holy actions and thoughts. These are the most precious thoughts a person can have in this life. And that as I die, wherever I go next, at least may I carry that kind of thinking with me that I have to take care of others.

And eventually that there is no other, we have to take care of ourselves, one body. The second step is to actually do a little bit of that meditation while you're dying. And during the days leading up to your death, you continue to do those three meditations.

You can be lying on your bed, very weak, and you're watching the people around you, seeing what they like, what can you do to make them happy. Put your mind in their bodies. Look down at the dying person.

So this is like getting used to it again, and continuing it as you die. It'll be harder because you'll be in some discomfort, and you won't feel very well. But to be determined that during the last few days as you die, you shouldn't lose this practice.

It's the most valuable thing you can do, even if you're dying. So imagine that you're on your deathbed, and you're looking up at one or two people that you love, and you're practicing, looking what they want, putting your mind in their body, and then finally, breaking down the difference between you and them. The third step of this meditation, it's like the white seat, if you remember.

This is very important. It's to think of all your possessions. Remember, you're lying on your deathbed, you're looking up.

Think about your bank account. Think about if you own any property. Think about your clothing, books, everything you own.

Then, as you're dying, this is very important, to dedicate it all to other people. Make it clear to the people around you, I don't need any of these things anymore. Make sure my clothes go to poor people.

Make sure the house is sold or given to someone who needs it. Make sure the money is distributed in a charitable way. And even your own body.

My mother, when she died, she did this meditation very well. She was trained very well by Tibetan lamas. She even made her own casket arrangements and grave arrangements.

Even your own body, you're thinking, now I don't need this anymore. Give instructions for taking care of it and disposing of it nicely and not troubling other people. Even in advance, you make sure it's paid for and everything is going to be easy for other people.

So you're constantly, even up to the end, thinking about other people. If you die with any kind of possessions unattended, unaccounted for, it's very dangerous for your spirit because it will be still attached to things that you used to own. So it's very important before you die to practice divesting everything, making sure you've taken care of everything.

The house is given away, the money is already given away, clothing, books, everything you own, car, has been given away cleanly, happily, to people who really need it, to charities who need it. And you've even taken care of your own body, the funeral, the casket, and there's nothing left to hold you. Your spirit is free and it can fly and it can be liberated.

And we believe if you don't do this, then you would be held down as you die and you won't be able to die happily. And we do believe there's a hell and that would be one thing that might keep you in that place or take you to that place, if you haven't given up everything happily and joyfully. So practice right now.

Imagine what you're going to tell people on the last day and how you're going to take care of all those things that you own and what would be the most important way to give them away. Then your soul is free. Next part of the death meditation is...

we talked about... it's called destruction and it means try to remember the most harmful things you've done in your life, the greatest arguments you've had, the people that you still are not reconciled with, foolish things you did when you were younger, and go over them one last time in your own mind. Like in this meditation, you're doing almost like last rites for yourself and you're very honestly...

you have nothing to hide now. You won't be seeing these people again for some time and you admit everything openly. All the dark things you didn't want to tell anyone.

If you can speak, it's good to tell someone. If you cannot speak, if it's too late to speak, then practice going over them in your mind. Probably each one of us has three or four very dark things we're not proud of that we did in our lives.

Practice now. Get used to it. That's the meaning of meditation, is to practice.

Practice what you're going to confess or what you're going to clean from your conscience just before you die. Try to think of the three or four most harmful things you've ever done, the biggest mistakes you've made. Admit them.

And then it's very important to imagine that you're clean and free of them. They're not going to hold your spirit down either. And then the last part, and then we'll stop, is...it was called prayer or dedication during your daily practice. Now during death, it takes on a different meaning. And this is the most important one of the five. Just as you die, just as the death begins, it's very important to imagine all of the people...

as many people as you can remember, say all the people in Galway, and they're all trying to be happy. They're living their lives. Each one of them has made mistakes.

Each one of them has done things that are hurting them. And each one of them has many, many seeds in their own mind that were put there when they made mistakes in the past. And as you die, imagine that you're breathing in, taking into yourself all of those things from those people, and that they shouldn't have them.

That your one death should be... should stand for all of their deaths. And you're taking away from them.

In your last moments, you are purposely taking their sins and their bad deeds, their bad thoughts, all the seeds in their minds, and you're taking them into yourself, and you will die with them rather than they should have them. So your last conscious action is to happily take into yourself all the sickness, all the sins, all the bad thoughts, all the bad deeds of other people around you. And then, as you die, there should be some great flash of light in your body, and all of those evils are destroyed.

You don't want to die with them. They're destroyed and then you die happily. So, this is the most powerful way to die.

And this is the... If you can die this way, it'll just be the best death that a person can have. And this is what Jesus did in his last hours.

And I think it was an example. I think it was a teaching. We don't believe...

In Tibet, they don't believe Jesus really died. They believe he was just showing us how to die. And he didn't have to die like that.

He just wanted to show someone how to die. So, all of us can do the same thing. As you die, imagine all the negative things, illnesses, unhappiness around you.

Take it all into yourself. Destroy it with a strong white light. And then die.

So, imagine that last one. Then that's the end of the meditation. And then we do one last step.

If you remember, it's like throwing a stone in a pond. And try to picture the goodness of this going out. After this moment it began.

The ripples began to go out. You were here for two or three days. You heard beautiful things.

It slightly changed your life. And then the next person you meet when you go home, they will sense it. And then it'll change them a little bit.

And pray for that. Pray for that effect. That what we do here today would touch many people in the future.

Okay, then relax. Okay? Stretch a little bit.

Scratch that thing that you wanted to scratch. That's a perfect meditation. That's a whole meditation.

Okay? You should try to get a tape. Is there someone taping from Ireland here?

Okay. I think Kevin will have, okay? And what you can do is follow it on the tape.

Try to get a copy of the tape. And then in the morning or in the evening you can do it yourself. It's a very, very powerful meditation.

If you do this every night before you sleep, when death comes, you'll be ready. You see what I mean? You'll be used to it.

Oh yeah, I'm dying. I know what to do. And it'll be a second nature.

It'll be a reflex. By the way, I'd like to say goodbye to Sandy. I think she has to fly back to England.

Thank you. I thought she was going to fly during the meditation, but...

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Yes, please. Just a quick question about incense and music when you're meditating or in the bath. Meditation, which is a whole subject in itself, and I think Tom Flynn agreed to come and teach it, actually.

It takes about... It takes about ten days to explain it carefully, properly. The great books are especially from the 9th century, someone named Kamalashila.

But basically the exercise of meditation is to withdraw the senses in. So, in perfect meditation, if someone came up and did that in your ear, you wouldn't hear it. And if someone touched you, you wouldn't feel it.

It should be that deep. So the object of meditation, in the real authoritative ancient teachings, which we have a course on it, where you actually have those ancient books and they're translated into modern English, and it tells you what to do at each time. I think that might be a nice next course here.

You have a mental consciousness where you're aware of your thoughts. And the object is to shut off the first five and just have the sixth one working. Okay?