«Дар освобождения», курс 34 «Победа над негативными мыслями», занятие 3

[Speaker 2]
Okay, here you go.

[Speaker 1]
Try to stay quiet. Try not to disturb the other people. Okay, here we go.

Then please relax your mouth. Small smile. Relax your eyelids.

Pulling your neck a little bit. Shoulders go back a little bit. Fingers are relaxed.

Back is very straight. Forehead is relaxed. Eyelids are relaxed.

[Speaker 2]
Thumb and first finger almost touching.

[Speaker 1]
And we're going to do the lion's dance. It will have two parts. First part is just a warm-up, not real meditation.

[Speaker 2]
And then we'll take a break. And then we'll go to our past life. So, let's come to the sound of the air conditioner.

[Speaker 1]
Put your mind on the sound of the air conditioner. In the same way that you put your head on a pillow.

[Speaker 2]
So, in a very relaxed way, very happy way, put your ears on the air conditioner.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, here we go. Now please come to the sound of your heart beating. Feel your heart beating in your chest.

[Speaker 2]
When you breathe out, please push extra breath out.

[Speaker 1]
So, try to empty your lungs. And the inhale is normal. And let's go inside our heart.

Inside the heart is a very beautiful meditation room. Very comfortable meditation cushion. Nice sunlight.

And the air smells fresh. But it's one strange thing about this room. The walls are beating a little bit because it's our heart.

Now let's pretend there's an inner meditation room inside the heart meditation room. It's even more quiet.

[Speaker 2]
Let's go inside that inner room.

[Speaker 1]
Still lots of fresh air and sunlight. Still we are doing long long exhales. But it's more quiet and almost we cannot hear the walls beating of the heart.

[Speaker 2]
More quiet place.

[Speaker 1]
There's a small table next to me. Meditation table.

[Speaker 2]
And it has a small pot of sugar on it.

[Speaker 1]
And I dip the third finger of my left hand into the sugar. And a small piece of sugar stays on the end of my finger. Then I think, oh it would be so quiet inside of that single piece of sugar.

I will go inside.

[Speaker 2]
I will put my mind inside the sugar crystal.

[Speaker 1]
So, a small window opens on the sugar crystal. My mind squeezes inside.

[Speaker 2]
And inside, surprise, there's a big meditation room.

[Speaker 1]
Lots of beautiful sunlight coming through the sides of the crystal.

[Speaker 2]
Very comfortable meditation room.

[Speaker 1]
Lots of fresh air, but much much quieter.

[Speaker 2]
Now let's stretch our mind.

[Speaker 1]
Let's make our mind very big. So, inside the sugar crystal, my mind becomes the Pacific Ocean. It stretches to the whole sides of the world.

And it goes very deep down.

[Speaker 2]
And all of this is my mind.

[Speaker 1]
Then, amazing, it's still inside the sugar crystal.

[Speaker 2]
But the whole Pacific Ocean, my mind, very calm, very deep.

[Speaker 1]
Now my mind also stretches to the blue sky above the sea.

[Speaker 2]
Very very high.

[Speaker 1]
As wide as the ocean. Now my mind is much much bigger. Still inside the sugar crystal.

It would be more quiet if I can turn off my mind. Same way I turn off a light in my house. I can turn the switch on the wall, and then the light goes out.

Let's try that with our mind. We're going to turn off the switch of our mind. If thoughts come into the mind after that, let's look at them and push them out.

Okay, here we go. Turn off the mind. No thoughts in the mind.

Push them out.

[Speaker 2]
Now, last step. Then we take a break.

[Speaker 1]
Even more quiet.

[Speaker 2]
I will turn off the light of my mind.

[Speaker 1]
Then I will stay very very quiet. And even if thoughts come up, I will ignore them.

[Speaker 2]
Let them come.

[Speaker 1]
Let them go.

[Speaker 2]
I won't think about them.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, here we go.

[Speaker 2]
And you can slowly open your eyes.

[Speaker 1]
Take a stretch.

[Speaker 2]
Drink something.

[Speaker 1]
If you have emergency pee-pee, you can go pee-pee. But we're going to just say, okay, I'm not going to do it, and I'm not going to do it, and I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, Sit up straight. Try not to move.

Try not to move.

[Speaker 2]
If you feel like coughing, focus on the place where your throat tickles, and it will stop the coughing.

[Speaker 1]
Let's take ten slow breaths. Long exhale.

[Speaker 2]
Now let's invite our teacher to come and then, sometimes we had a very great school teacher, or the person who taught me my job.

[Speaker 1]
You can also invite Buddha or any other famous person that you'd like. They are very happy, and they come in the room, and they will sit in front of you. And we will meditate together.

They are not a statue, they are a real person. They are watching you with their eyes.

[Speaker 2]
Your eyes are closed, but their eyes are open. And they're looking at you with great love.

[Speaker 1]
They are very proud that you are meditating. Let's get this person very clear in our mind. Now let's think about something that we love about this teacher.

What is a very beautiful quality that we love about this teacher?

[Speaker 2]
Maybe they are very patient, and they never get angry.

[Speaker 1]
Maybe they like to work hard and help other people.

[Speaker 2]
Maybe they are always taking care of sick people.

[Speaker 1]
Maybe they are always taking care of older people. So, think about some quality in your teacher that you really admire, and you would also like to have this quality. Why do I see this good quality in my teacher?

Teacher is the same as a pen. What I see is coming from my own seeds. So, it must be I planted seeds to see that beautiful thing in my teacher.

If the teacher loves to help older people, if I see this in my teacher, it means long ago I put those seeds in my mind. And I was also helping a lot of older people.

[Speaker 2]
Could be this life, could be past life. Then most of us, I cannot remember my past life, but I can guess what I was doing.

[Speaker 1]
I was definitely helping old people, because my teacher loves to help old people. So, maybe I will pretend that I can go to my past life. I can try to imagine myself helping many old people.

Maybe it was hundreds of years ago.

[Speaker 2]
Maybe I lived in a different country. Maybe I spoke a different language.

[Speaker 1]
Maybe my face and my body were completely different.

[Speaker 2]
Maybe I was a man, maybe I was a woman. Even a bird or a fish. But I took care of old people.

[Speaker 1]
So, let's go to our past life.

[Speaker 2]
Let's pretend we can see.

[Speaker 1]
Let's make a movie about my past life.

[Speaker 2]
Try to make a lot of detail, and have fun.

[Speaker 1]
We are just pretending, but even pretending is coming from seeds. Okay, here we go.

[Speaker 2]
Have fun.

[Speaker 1]
We will take a little bit longer.

[Speaker 2]
After that, we'll take a break. Please come back to your teacher.

[Speaker 1]
Look at them again.

[Speaker 2]
Appreciate where they came from. We made a lot of good karma this morning, and the best way to protect that karma is to share it with other people.

[Speaker 1]
So, I will take three long exhales.

[Speaker 2]
Each exhale I will send some of those seeds to other people. Tonight, we will make a fire offering. And on the smoke from that fire offering, we will also offer all of our seeds to the whole world to make peace.

[Speaker 1]
So, now let's do three long exhales.

[Speaker 2]
Each exhale is a golden light, and it spreads to the whole world. And those good seeds bring happiness to other people.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, let's go. And slowly open your eyes. Let's take a stretch.

We're going to take a break, but before the break, does anybody have a question about this meditation? And I'm going to need a microphone. Okay, up to you.

[Speaker 2]
I want to understand the difference between meditation and when I have a dream. Sometimes it looks like the dream and meditation, they come up with similar images. They look very similar.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, good question. In the Abhidharma, there are five kinds of physical things. Things you can see.

Things you can hear. You can smell. You can taste.

And you can feel with your skin.

[Speaker 2]
And those are coming from the seeds. And they are real. We can touch the microphone.

We can hear the sound.

[Speaker 1]
But in the Abhidharma, there's another kind of physical form. It's called CHOS KYI SKYES CHOS KYI GZUGS.

[Speaker 2]
It's a special kind of physical form.

[Speaker 1]
For example, if I imagine a big elephant.

[Speaker 2]
Purple color. Two heads.

[Speaker 1]
Actually, don't exist in the world.

[Speaker 2]
But I can imagine.

[Speaker 1]
Then in the Abhidharma school, this is real.

[Speaker 2]
This is a kind of real thing, because that's also coming from your seeds. So, the pictures you see in your meditation about your past life, and the pictures you see in a dream, in the Abhidharma system, these are real physical things.

[Speaker 1]
But there's a difference about motivation. Most karma, well, all karma comes from motivation.

[Speaker 2]
So, in the meditation, our motivation is very strong. Purposely, we are seeing pictures, we are making pictures.

[Speaker 1]
In a dream, there's not so much motivation. In the Vinaya, in the ethics teachings, they say, if you dream, and in the dream you kill a person, do you make karma? And the answer is almost nothing.

Because in a dream, you cannot control. So, but in meditation, we have a lot of motivation.

[Speaker 2]
We're purposely trying to make a picture.

[Speaker 1]
So, in the Abhidharma way, the dream picture is actual physical. We call mental physical.

[Speaker 2]
But there's no motivation much. But in a meditation, we're trying to see something important.

[Speaker 1]
So, the meditation picture has ...

[Speaker 2]
it plants powerful seeds.

[Speaker 1]
Because it's coming from inside the mind. And inside the mind is where your most powerful seeds are planted. Then dream is also a mental picture, but not so strong emotion, not so strong motivation.

So, meditation plants very powerful seeds, most powerful seeds. But dream doesn't really plant much seeds.

[Speaker 2]
Both are mental pictures.

[Speaker 1]
Cool, man? Okay, okay, thank you. Maybe one more question.

[Speaker 2]
You decide, you decide. During my meditation, I saw a lot of images. And some are from the TV play, TV shows that I have watched.

Some are from Qing Dynasty, Han Dynasty. There are so many images. And I was trying to concentrate myself, but I cannot control at all.

The images are just flashing up all the time.

[Speaker 1]
Good question. After the break, we're going to read more of the jing. And they're going to talk about where does the negative emotions come from.

And oftentimes it comes from movies we see, or TV we see. So, every time we watch anything, we are planting seeds. So, it's better we don't watch too many zhenlang-er.

Okay. If we watch those movies killing many people, actually we are not ... we are just relaxing.

We are not trying to kill somebody. And I like to go to the movie.

[Speaker 2]
Take a break.

[Speaker 1]
Relax.

[Speaker 2]
That's a good thing.

[Speaker 1]
To relax properly is a big Dharma activity. And if you work, work, work all the time, you will get tired, and you will get grumpy, and you will fight with other people, and you will make very bad seeds. So, relaxing.

Having fun. Go to the beach. Make a big fire.

[Speaker 2]
Relax for two, three hours.

[Speaker 1]
That's a very good meditation. So, go to the movie is good. Sometimes relax is very good.

[Speaker 2]
But choose the movie carefully.

[Speaker 1]
When I was a kid, we have four brothers. One mom.

[Speaker 2]
Her job is a school teacher.

[Speaker 1]
This is the most low-paid job in Arizona.

[Speaker 2]
So, we can't afford to go to the movies.

[Speaker 1]
Maybe once or once or twice. Later, then I grow up. Everybody gives me red envelope.

Everyone gives me red envelope. I have lots of money to go to the movie. Now I go pretty frequently, and I will go with my partner, Veronica.

[Speaker 2]
Then because I couldn't see movie when I'm a kid, I will go to any movie.

[Speaker 1]
I don't care if it's a love story, or science fiction, or lots of killing. I don't care. It just feels special to me to go to the movie, because I couldn't go when I'm a kid.

So, I will go with Veronica.

[Speaker 2]
Then if they start killing people, she will take my hand. She ... Let's go.

Then the other people are, what are you doing? She said, we are leaving. She refused to watch the killing.

[Speaker 1]
Then actually, I feel a little bit irritated.

[Speaker 2]
Killing is okay with me. It's a movie. Then she said, no no, it's a bad sin.

Just watching it, you will put some seed in your mind.

[Speaker 1]
Then when I did a three-year silent meditation retreat, after six months meditation, strange thing happened. I heard ... what's it called?

I heard a sound. Then I thought, oh, Buddha's talking to me. Very, very quiet sound.

[Speaker 2]
Good translation.

[Speaker 1]
Then I thought, oh, Buddha talking to me.

[Speaker 2]
Then I get very quiet. Uh-oh spaghetti-o. Uh-oh spaghetti-o.

[Speaker 1]
Then I learned, what's that? When I was five years old, there's a TV advertisement for spaghetti.

[Speaker 2]
It has a song.

[Speaker 1]
Uh-oh spaghetti-o.

[Speaker 2]
Uh-oh spaghetti-o. Uh-oh spaghetti-o. Uh-oh spaghetti-o.

I didn't think about it for 50 years, but coming in my mind, I'm like, that's not Buddha. That's a TV advertisement from 50 years ago. So, everything you watch, it stays in your mind.

[Speaker 1]
When you do three-year meditation, you will realize everything you watch stays in your mind.

[Speaker 2]
So, be careful.

[Speaker 1]
You don't have to go to the movie they are killing people. That's like Kanduji and McDonald's, those violent movies, 戰狼. That's all bad influence from America.

The Kanduji and McDonald's, they give diabetes to your kids.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? Don't let them eat those things.

[Speaker 1]
And don't let them go to the violent movie. It gives them mental diabetes. Okay?

So, try to watch ... it's fun to go to movie. Go to movie.

[Speaker 2]
But watch a sweet movie, which is inspiring.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Thank you. Okay.