500 образов для медитации на шагах пути к просветлению, занятие 5

[Speaker 1]
Number five. When you meditate, the goal is to join these two things. Classically, in the Lamrim, when they explain the purpose of meditation, they often use a butter lamp.

Okay? Classically, when they teach meditation, they often use a picture of a butter lamp. And it's not any butter lamp, it has to be a butter lamp in a room where there's absolutely no wind.

And that's the picture here. Okay? It has to be a butter lamp in a room which has no wind.

Because if there's no wind, and if there's a beautiful Buddha Thangka, or Je Tsongkapa Thangka, behind the butter lamp, if the butter lamp is totally still, you can see the picture. If the wind is blowing and the light's going like this, you can't see all the details. Okay?

What's the comparison? It's right here. Vipasyana and shamatha.

Okay? Insight and stillness. Okay?

What's the stillness in the image, in the picture? Yeah, there's no wind. That's stillness.

Okay? Your mind has to be still before you can see emptiness. Okay?

Your mind must be windless, or you cannot see emptiness. Okay? And that's called, that stillness is called in Sanskrit, shamatha.

Stillness. Okay? Shamatha.

High meditation. High level of meditation. Easy to sit for an hour a day.

Or at least determined to sit for an hour a day. Okay? Even if it's not easy.

Okay? Shamatha. I reach shamatha.

My mind is still enough to see the Thangka. What's the Thangka? Emptiness.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Your mind has to be still to see emptiness.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Got it? Vipasyana means seeing emptiness. Shamatha means that state of meditation which allows you to see emptiness.

Shamatha is a tool. Vipasyana is a goal. Okay?

Shamatha by itself is like having a microscope without anything to look at. Or a telescope. Shamatha by itself is not a goal.

It's the eight levels of the elevator. Okay? Your mind becomes still.

But you got to aim it at something. Okay? You got to put it on something.

That's Vipasyana. I'm going to use it to see emptiness. Okay?

Don't go through the eight levels of the elevator for your whole life so you can watch your breath. It won't get you anywhere. Okay?

Duh. Okay? All right?

You want to aim it at emptiness. Okay? Okay?

All right. And by the way, Vipasyana doesn't even refer to the meditation. It refers to the emptiness.

So that's double wrong word. Okay? The meaning is wrong and the word is wrong, but everything else is okay.

All right. Just kidding. Completely wrong.

Okay?