Let's see, I brought up last week this short teaching by the Buddha, short training method of the Buddha, saying, train yourself thus. In the seen, there will be just the seen. In the heard, there will be just the heard. in the sensed, the smelled, the touched, and the tasted. There will be just the smelled, the touched, and the tasted. And in the thought of, there will just be the thought of. In a sense, and then he goes on to say that when it When through training you that way, training yourself that way, then for you, that's how things are. When for you, in the scene, there's just a scene.

[01:10]

In the herd, there's just the herd. And in what you think of, there's just what you think of. When that's the way it is for you, then you will not identify with it. And if you don't identify with it, you won't locate yourself in it. You could also do it the other way. Say, when things are that way for you, you won't locate yourself in these things. And if you don't locate yourself in these things, you won't identify with these things. And then there will be no here or there or in between. And this will be the end of suffering. I'm not completely sure, but I feel that this level of training is spoken of in this basic mindfulness text.

[02:14]

And so where do you think that instruction might be in this mindfulness scripture? How is that kind of teaching expressed in this basic scripture on mindfulness? Yes? . Yes, it would be the body. Because in the scene, in the herd, that's body. So it would be the body. So in that sense, it's taught in the scripture. Where else? Yes? Did you say in the four right efforts?

[03:17]

Yes, that's right. Although that's not in the mindfulness scripture, it is in the scripture that puts forth the 37 limbs of enlightenment, the 37 wings. The second four is the four right efforts. And the four right efforts can also be seen as that instruction. But in this scripture here, what are the places where you see it? Yes? yeah I think so I think that this taught there so in the case of the body after it goes to the basic instruction and mindfulness of the body so the frame of reference in the meditation is the body under that when you're meditating under the foundation of mindfulness and body the body is the frame and So we're using the body now. And in the third level of meditation on the body, it says that there is mindfulness that, quotes, there is a body simply established in him to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and mindfulness.

[04:41]

So actually, to make things complicated for you sorry but in the expression quotes there is a body that is actually a case of the fifth category of that instruction where it says in the seen there will be just the seen in the heard there will be just the heard and so on and the last one in the thought of or in the imagined there will be just the thought of or just the imagined actually in quotes there where it says quotes there is a body unquote that actually is although it's under the heading of mindfulness of the body it actually is an example of where you're thinking of something called there is a body but that thought there is a body would be just to the extent of being aware And it would be just that in the thought there is a body, that's all there would be, would be just the thought, just the idea, just the concept, of course, there is a body, unquote.

[05:54]

But also in this scripture where it talks of contemplating the body as the body, that also is If you're contemplating the body as a body in terms of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, or tangibles, if that's the way you're contemplating body, in that way, then each one of those bodily sensations would be just that bodily sensation. Just to the extent of being aware of it, but not any further, not far enough to be able to identify with it. or locate yourself in it. So when it says body as a body or body in and of itself, I think it's pointing to, it's forecasting the third category, the third level of meditation under each section. And if you come to the feelings, the same thing happens there, that you accept feelings

[07:05]

usually aren't colors or smells or something, but when you see a color, there could be a feeling. And that feeling of pleasure, you might be aware of that and mindful if there's a feeling of pleasure. And there might be the feeling of, I guess it has, does it have that in it? yeah it says around mindfulness that quotes there is a feeling unquote is established just to the extent of knowledge so it could be just there is a there is the quotes there is a feeling unquote or there is a pleasant feeling unquote or there is a painful feeling unquote there is awareness of the feeling there is that thought that this is the type of feeling i have right now and in that there would just be that thought nothing more than that so this would be that where that instruction would go i think in every section of the sutra at the end of this after introducing the meditation of looking at the details pleasant feeling if it's a pleasant feeling she knows it's a pleasant feeling if it's a painful feeling if it's a concentrated mind she knows it's a

[08:38]

so you're aware of what's happening yes and so that's the establishment of your mindfulness is that you're aware uncomfortable painful feeling discomfort you're aware of that that's the first level second level which is we get into the complexities of the causation of this feeling but the third level in some ways is the simplest And that instruction is actually taking us, I think, to the third level. And it may be that it's not possible to do the third level unless you've done the second level to some extent. And of course, you can't do the third level if you haven't done the first level, because the third level is this very simple way of dealing with the information that you establish yourself in in the first level. and then it goes on to say in the scripture you won't cling to anything in the world when you're like this you won't cling to anything in the world when you treat things like this you don't cling to anything in the world and this is how

[10:07]

A monk abides contemplating body, feelings, mind, and mind objects, or mind qualities. Have you any questions about how to practice this very simple actually third phase of the meditation which in a sense is the most advanced but the simplest or it's not exactly the simplest because it's based at least on the first one It's just that it's the most radical. It's simply not adding anything to what you already have established from the first stage. The first stage, you've established mindfulness of something. In the third stage, you actually really clean up your relationship with whatever you're aware of.

[11:18]

You clean it up so much that you can't cling to it. And I say you can't cling to it. innocent calls that means that you are not over here in it's over there the distance between us also but cleaned up there's no distance and there's no identity is awareness yes there's enough There's mindfulness to the extent necessary to know the object. For example, color, a sound, a smell, a taste, a touch, or a thought, or an image like there's a body, there's a feeling, there's a mind, there's this kind of mind, there's that kind of mind.

[12:26]

There's this body, there's that body, but in this body there's no here or there, and in that body there's no here or there. Yeah, there's no place being positive. And if there is a place, you know, like if the body's like here, then the here, quotes here, is just here. There's nothing more than that. So it's the idea, the mental content of here can arise, quotes here, that thought can arise, here, or I'm here, or we're here, but in the thought, or in the image, or in the idea, I'm here, or we're here, there would just be the idea, I'm here. And there will be no identification with it.

[13:32]

No here or there in the here. And this will be the way of not clinging to anything in the world. Yes? Yes, so... Well, what you're describing there is, to some extent, the kind of effort that occurs in the part of the scripture where it's talking about the first phase where you're learning to establish yourself in one of these frames.

[14:46]

And in the process of learning to establish yourself or get sort of a foundation in one of the frames, like body, or even in the frame of listening to the scripture or paying attention to the words, even in that frame, that you observe that certain mental factors come into play which seem to undermine the foundation or the establishment of the mindfulness. So if the mindfulness of what's happening isn't firmly established, than treating it in this very simple way, is treating the object which we're mindful of, its base is somewhat unstable. You're still inserting yourself, yeah.

[15:49]

So if you insert yourself too much it may be hard to start training yourself and not inserting yourself because letting in the herd let letting training yourself in the scene there will be just a scene in some sense when you do that you're by doing that effort you're kind of like letting yourself kind of like I don't know what, let go of being so involved in what you hear or what you see. Like I said last week, you kind of wean yourself from the impulsive interference with what's happening or impulsive meddling with what's happening. So in the earlier part, not the earlier part, but if you're looking at

[16:53]

the body or listening to a sound and restlessness arises, doubt arises, sensual desire arises around listening to a color, listening to a sound or looking at a color. then it says that what you do is you are aware that sensual desire has arisen around this color. So by using the fourth foundation of mindfulness, which is the mental qualities, when you are in a sense distracted from just being aware of the sound, as the sound of the color, you then deal with the distraction of sensual desire as another thing to just be aware that that's what's happening, that there is sensual desire.

[18:01]

Sensual desire could be, for example, that when you see a cherry tree, cherry blossoms, you would like them to be a little bit more vivid, or you wish you had better vision or you wish you could stop the car and look at them, or whatever, you know, that kind of like wanting more of the pink. You desire more of that color. Then you can see, oh, then you're aware of sensual desire. So it has three foundations, and then those are things which naturally come to you. And then the fourth category is mental qualities. So it isn't exactly that sensual desire comes, it's more like sensual desire comes in relationship to the first three categories. That's maybe more the way it happens, that you feel sensual desire about bodily things or about feelings or about mind states.

[19:03]

I don't want to be too rigid about that. So then, and under that first category of mind objects or mind qualities those are things which you would deal with them the same way that you're supposed to be dealing with the body or with bodily sensations namely you contemplate these hindrances for example sensual desire or doubt you deal with them the same way in other words you You contemplate them in and of themselves. And contemplating in and of themselves will be part of right effort because the first part of right effort is to guard against or prevent the arising of unwholesomeness if it hasn't arisen.

[20:04]

so if an unwholesome thing like sensual desire comes and it's unwholesome in the sense that it's unskillful it's unskillful in the sense that it's kind of like somewhat taking away from letting the scene just be the scene because letting the scene just be the scene training yourself that way and when it is that way you are free of suffering in that sense It's skillful because it promotes your realization of freedom. So things that undermine the realization of freedom are called unskillful. However, when you spot something unskillful, you can be skillful about something unskillful. So you can have an unskillful reaction to an unskillful thing. So if you're listening to a... if you're seeing a color and you notice sensual desire arise, you can look at the sensual desire in a skillful way namely in the sensual desire there will just be sensual desire or first of all you'll know sensual desire has sensual desire and you'll know sensual desire you can see it kind of like shakes your mindfulness of the color a little bit you can notice that it kind of like destabilizes your presence with the color like there's the pink of the cherry blossom and then there's this

[21:35]

central desire and this kind of shakiness in the mindfulness. So then if it's shakiness in the mindfulness, it's hard to let the color just be the color. But you can actually, you can, you may be able to be skillful with that kind of destabilizing response to the color. so that no further unskillfulness arises in relationship to that unskillfulness now if the unskillfulness but actually in this case maybe better it was maybe a better example of it when unskillfulness has arisen you abandon the unskillfulness and you can't abandon an unskillfulness that's already happened so central desire arises in relationship to something you see or attractive person if some sensual desire arises then you could also say well that also seems to be seen as an example of an unskillful state that has arisen and now you abandon it and the way you abandon it is by simply saying that type of unskillful state has arisen and it's that type and you can discern why it's unskillful you can see how it's unskillful by seeing how it's unskillful

[23:03]

that the unskillfulness is abandoned it may arise again but again if you if you apply this skillful discernment to it it's abandoned again for the moment anyway it goes away because what's happening now is a skillful thing so it's replaced by a skillful thing now you're back on your back on board so to speak on the mindfulness thing and now you could then in some sense deepen it by then tidy up that mindfulness that color so there's not not only is there just the pink just the blue but there's not even any you because originally there could be pink and you still or blue and you now you look okay now we got the blue And I'm not wishing for more blue or less blue. I don't doubt the virtue of paying attention to this blue.

[24:09]

I'm not restless. I'm not sleepy. I'm alert. And I got a nice big blue here. But there's still me. So it's not just blue. It's not just the scene. So now I'm going to practice not only am I established with mindfulness of this color or established with mindfulness of the body, but it's just going to be the body or just the color. You train yourself and finally you come to a place where you see, yeah, it's just the color. That's all there is. And then you notice that there's no you the same as it or you different from it. It's not like you're eliminated exactly. It's just that you're not identified with or disidentified with it, so there's no clinging. So you're actually still there, and you're conscious, but you're not in a kind of identification-disidentification relationship with what you're conscious of. You could say I see think, yeah, but that's a little bit not as tidy as...

[25:18]

so you might tidy that up a little bit by saying there is pink rather than i see the body or i'm aware of the body which the language then sets up a kind of like it's a less tidy way of putting it a tidier way is there is a body or even quotes body unquote quotes body unquote body [...] but not i have a body or it's my body or i don't I like this body. I don't like this body. I want more of this body. I want less of this body. All that stuff has been abandoned partly by every time those things happen, you just treat those things that way, which maybe aren't so difficult. Like some people have more trouble perhaps letting blue just be blue without wishing for more. and some other people might have trouble not being hard on themselves for wishing that they wanted more blue like they have not so much trouble leaving blue alone but when they do get messed up with blue they get really hard on themselves for that so then they get unskillful with their unskillfulness they start beating themselves up for having sensual pleasure or ill will toward blue different styles you have different

[26:45]

inclinations in this regard. So we have to work with our own habits. And then also you can notice inclinations. You see that I have a tendency to do this type. I meet some other people who have tendencies to do other types. And you can observe that. Anything else? Yes? Another translation besides contemplating is focusing. So you might start... The Buddha is saying that the monks... who are practicing these foundations, they practice the foundation of mindfulness on the body by abiding, contemplating body as body.

[27:59]

So they're actually like abiding so they're actually like paying attention to the body as a body as an exercise in establishing mindfulness of the body because they heard that this will be a direct path to liberation so they're like contemplating the body as a body and they're trying to remain in that contemplation or they're trying to remain focused on the body as the body And then there's many, many, many, many, many, many ways of doing that in addition to just simply meditating on mindfulness of the body as the body. Like, use the breath. Use inhale and exhales. Use short ones and long ones. But whatever it is, be aware of it. And be aware, I shouldn't say be aware of it, be mindful of what you're aware of. So if you think it's a short breath, we're not trying to make short breaths or long breaths, but if you think that there's a long breath, if that's what you think is happening, then you're mindful, I think it's a long breath.

[29:09]

It says it is a long breath, but in other words, when you think it's a long breath, you understand you think it's a long breath. That's contemplating the body as a body. Same with feelings, same with mind states. It's not really true what you think of your mind state. and it's possible for you to check and find out what you do think of your mind state. You do think your mind's contracted or distracted. You do think your mind's concentrated or unconcentrated. You may not be right, but you do have an attitude about it. However, you may not be thinking right now about your mind state. You may be thinking about your feelings, or you may be thinking about your body. or you may be thinking about the body as a body which is in a sense of being a sense organ area. So in terms of colors, sounds and so on.

[30:10]

Now again as I mentioned last week, the Buddhist starts by saying, okay this is contemplation and this is contemplation. of the body this is contemplation of the feeling this is contemplation of mind states this is contemplation mental qualities or mental objects mind objects i don't know if he says in there you should stay with the mind what the body wants for a certain amount of time he doesn't really say that doesn't say you should do it for like one hour or two weeks or ten years on this first one But I would suggest that you could do the first one for a while, for a day or a week. You can go to the second one for a day or a week, and you can go to the third one for a day or a week. Or you could do the first one for a day or a year. The second one for a day or a year would be fine.

[31:18]

And if you choose the first one for a day or a year, then during that day or a year, other events would occur, like you'd become aware of feelings. It wouldn't be the case that for a year you would only be experiencing your body or colors. But if you chose, if you made a commitment to focus on the mindfulness of the body for a certain period of time, that might be good to follow that commitment. But when the other things happened, then this, I think this sutra is saying, when the other things happen, although you're focusing on this one, the other things are happening, then you practice mindfulness with those. they're not your primary frame of reference but they're happening so if they're happening you shouldn't he doesn't say when those are happening you pretend like they're not and go back to the thing you're supposed to be paying attention to so if you're practicing mindfulness of the body but you're having a feeling of pain he says the monk is aware of a feeling of pain so you would be it isn't that you wouldn't be mindful of feelings if you're practicing mindfulness

[32:29]

of your body you would be mindful of your body and that would be your foundation so that if feelings arose you could be mindful of your feelings and if mind states arose in other words arose means arose for your consciousness you would be aware of those and if the hindrances arose you would be aware of the hindrances but you might have made a commitment to being mindful of the body and these other things are sort of collateral mindfulnesses to the first one. Does that make sense? And of course you could choose the feelings and then the body states would be and mind states would be things that you would be aware of when they arose but you might still say I'm going to stay focused on my body today. my feelings today, I'm going to focus on feelings. And some people like to start with feelings because they're really, it's easier for them to get started on. Other people, most people, it's easier for them to start with the body, but some people are easier with feelings.

[33:35]

And, but after a while, you don't necessarily have to be focusing on the body or the feelings or the mind or mind objects. You can drop that. and just in the scene there'll be just a scene and so on and in the thought of there'll be just a thought of and in the thought of there could be the thought of you could think of your feelings in the thought of you could think of your body in the thought of you could think of your mind states in the thought of you could think of the hindrances so in the thought of actually the previous cases are also thought of the colors and so on so you wouldn't have to stay with one of those foundations for very long but you might not be able to do that uh... that simple instruction unless you train yourself at the more basic one for a while you have to and so some cases i'm afraid of people

[34:47]

but maybe they should focus on one of them for a while because if they don't, as their mind presents them with body data, feeling data, mind state data, or mental qualities, without putting emphasis on one of them, they don't settle on any of them. So they barely land on any of the states so then they can establish mindfulness in any of them so sometimes if you can establish mindfulness on one then you can establish mindfulness on another and you can establish mindfulness on another and then when you can do that you don't have to establish mindfulness on any particular one you can establish mindfulness on whatever happens and sort of that's part of what It's probably good to talk to a teacher about it to see if you're having trouble about whether you should be a little bit more, in some sense, focused on one of these aspects for a while.

[36:02]

Yes? I think that in the contemporary American society, North American society, feelings are used more widely than they are in Buddhist terminology. Buddhist terminology, feelings are basically having to do, they're basically evaluations and they're basically evaluations in terms of positive, negative, and either neutral or indeterminate. That's the way we're using the term feelings, usually in Buddhist translations. No, it's not like or dislike, no. It's not that.

[37:04]

And liking and disliking, I think, again, non-technical, non-meditative circles, people say, well, how do you feel about that? So you might say, I like it. So, you know, like and dislike, in other words, or, you know, like and dislike are often called feelings, I think. In this case, they would be called mind states or mental qualities. If like was not just appreciate, you could appreciate something in a way, I think, without it being pleasant. And you could dislike something, I think, without feeling pain. It's possible. So like and dislike don't equal pain and pleasure. and hate and ill will do not equal pain and sensual desire does not equal pleasure again you see you might see a blue color and feel a positive sensation regarding that blue and want more of the blue or want the blue to be a little bit more vivid a little bit brighter

[38:34]

and that wishing for it to be brighter is central desire so the central desire is in the fourth category under the hindrances because wishing the color to be a little different from what it is undermines your awareness of the color uh... it's not really it's not not it's not really stepping beyond feeling another mental event, which is based on, perhaps, a feeling of pleasure. But it might not be based on a feeling of pleasure. It might just be a feeling, just a color. You just, the color, and you want the color to be more vivid. And it may be, maybe you feel neutral about the color, actually. and you want to be more vivid, and maybe the reason why you want to be more vivid is because you have a disposition thinking that if it's more vivid, you will feel pleasure.

[39:42]

So there's a desire, a central desire for the color to be more vivid so that you will feel pleasure. So you're actually, again, the desire is partly seeking, connected to seeking pleasure. Does that make sense? The way we're using it here, feeling is pleasure and pain and neutral. That's the feeling, okay? But you can have sensual desire in regard to colors, smells, tastes, and feelings. You can have a feeling and wish to have more of that feeling. You could even wish to have more of a painful feeling, right? People can want more of a painful feeling. Like if you're exercising or something and you know that certain painful feelings are associated with certain kinds of affective exercise, you might wish for the pain to be greater. That's sensual desire or greed.

[40:44]

So likes and dislikes are desires or... Likes and dislike is desire and aversion or desire and ill will. Yeah. It's more... Likes and dislikes are more in the category of the hindrances to the practice that's where they would go you could also have a mind if you look at your mind state you could say your mind state is generally infused with ill will you could say this is a hatred filled state of mind you could see that but you could also then focus on the ill will itself and treating the ill will just as being aware of ill will as ill will in and of itself that would be a skillful response to ill will and then that's that awareness would itself be skillful based on our response to an unskillful state so this is the kind of this is examples of exercises in this mindfulness of this various examples you're offering

[41:52]

a feeling is a thought it's a mental evaluation it arises it's not exactly before your thoughts it's just that when a feeling arises there could be right away with it a dislike or a wish for more which is something else, right? And you can also have a feeling arise, it's possible, a pleasant feeling arises, period. And there's no... And the period is you have a mental, you have a mind which goes period instead of a mind which goes, I'd like more or less of this. And if you do have a mind which goes more or less of this, then it's possible to be mindful that you have a mind which wants more or less of this pleasure and be aware that the wanting more of it essential desire and then you can also observe the wanting more of this kind of like destabilizes my mindfulness of the pleasant sensation and then it's possible by being aware of that that then this awareness of this destabilizing central desire the central desire is at least for the moment abandoned and you might have another case of a similar type of pleasant feeling come up

[43:21]

and this time just pleasant feeling period and notice wow that mindfulness is a lot more kind of like immediate now it's just like pleasure period wow amazing it can happen right here that there can be just pleasure period Then there might be some joy arising with that, like amazing. I had a pure experience once in my life. And even this thought that I had a pure experience, that's also just sitting there like, and that's just like sitting there, boom. And then you're actually doing this, like seeing these thoughts just being them thoughts. And you're starting to tap into... this third phase where the awareness is just sufficient for you to know it and know more. So there's not clinging to anything.

[44:25]

And not clinging to anything in the world means not clinging to body in terms of like, you know, a body with arms and legs and a head, but also not clinging to body in terms of colors, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches because those are related to your sense organs, which are really what your body is more directly. and then not clinging to feelings, and then not clinging to mind states, and not even clinging to mental qualities, even negative mental qualities, treating them skillfully too, and positive mental qualities, treating them skillfully too, namely being aware of them to the extent necessary to be aware of them. If they're happening, you're aware of them. If they're not happening, you're not aware of them, or if you're not aware of them, they're not happening. If they're aware of them, If they're happening and you're aware of them, which is the same thing, you can be really more and more clear about it to the extent that you're perfectly clear about what's happening. Period. Just enough to be perfectly clear so that you're like, you know, undistracted, undisturbed.

[45:34]

The awareness is not undermined at all. It's perfectly clear and well established. Period. with no more added, which then will somewhat... It doesn't always undermine it, but sometimes it exaggerates it. It puts a conceit on it. So now you have a chance to penetrate to all the conceits that we overlay on what's happening. Like, it's mine, it's not mine, it's substantial, it's not. All this stuff is cleared away in this practice. So yeah, so this is, any questions? Yes? . As the others come in, if they do... Yes?

[46:45]

I've noticed that they have a kind of a distorted... I would describe it as distorted. I started to feel it. They're so distorted, it's not a big deal, but I just noticed what was in, whatever it was... It's got a story. Well, see, that can then again turn into something which you note as an apparent distortion. In other words, the relationship between my awareness of body and this mind state is that they seem to create some effect, which I'm calling a distortion. So that's also part of the causation. And when you start seeing that, that can, in some sense, if you're well-founded in the previous stage of just being established in mindfulness, as you start to see its relationship to these other things and you see distortion, you can then see the causal relationship between the arising of that distortion and these two factors.

[47:58]

And that might help you, actually, be more convinced that it would be good to try to find a way to just let the first one be the first one and the next one be the next one. Yes? Yeah, it's bare awareness. Or bare attention. Awake, being awake and also being kind of surprised.

[49:04]

The way you gestured just now, it looked like you were in bodhisattva, put her foot down and touched the earth and she was surprised by the feeling of the foot touching the earth. It was fresh. Well, it's not so much that the nothing was to be expected, but they weren't expecting. They weren't expecting what happened. And sometimes you expect something to happen and you don't notice what's happening, but sometimes you might be expecting something and you get surprised because you notice what actually does happen is not what you expected. If you have an expectation and you don't let go of it, you're not being present. But if you have an expectation and you notice the expectation, you can be present. No, they can have expectations. Just like they can have birth certificates and names. Boys' office can have anything, but they're not attached to anything.

[50:06]

They can have boyfriends and girlfriends and kids and uncles. They can have money and poverty. They can have anything. You name it, they can have it, but they're not attached to any of it. They're not attached because of this way of practice that doesn't allow attachment. So, but again, an expectation can arise. It's just that they're aware. Oh, expectation. And in the expectation, it's just the expectation. It's not my expectation. It's not your expectation. It's not not my expectation. It's just expectation. And there's not me in addition to that or separate from that. And there's not me eliminated either. But there's me surprised. by an expectation that I don't know who owns it. And it's a fresh, a fresh expectation. Expectation can be as exciting and exciting, but as refreshing and as fresh and vivid as no expectation or as a cherry blossom or as a dead tree.

[51:20]

Everything that arises in this space is fresh. Yes. Right. I don't know if I would say yes, that judging is interference. It's okay that you like that. No problem that you like that. But just like a cherry blossom could appear, a judgment could appear. But you could, in this walk that you're taking, you can treat your judgments like cherry blossoms. Now, for some people, treating judgments like cherry blossoms is really hard. I can just let a cherry blossom be a cherry blossom, but I can't let a judgment just be a judgment.

[52:24]

But I'm saying, I'm suggesting, do that exercise. On this walk you're taking, if a judgment comes up of, you know, it would be better if there were less cherry blossom petals on the sidewalk, a few less. I think a few is good, but this is too many. Or, these cherry blossoms, too many people have been walking on them. They're kind of squashed. I wish that they hadn't walked on them. Or even, this is the perfect number of cherry blossom petals on this sidewalk. I mean, it's exactly the right amount. That's a judgment about the quality of the cherry blossom petals. But you could also treat that judgment the same way you can say, that's a judgment. and treat that judgment in this very tidy way, which is just to let it be a judgment, period. And then, in that space, you want to identify with that judgment or disidentify.

[53:30]

And then this freshness will start to come alive. But you're not clinging to any of this stuff. You're not clinging to the judgments of what's going on. Because again, judgments are also basically feelings, positive, negative, and neutral. Or I should say, feelings are basically judgments. You can have feelings, walk down the street with feelings too. Or you can stop, you know, on the road, just stop walking. On the walk, you can stop walking. And you can just stop there and feel. And you can be surprised by the freshness of your feelings. And you can also notice that you're not surprised by your feelings and they're not fresh. And then I think you will find you're not doing this meditation. You're not doing it. You're getting involved in your feelings. You're wondering what they were before, what the next ones will be, and how long these will last.

[54:39]

Then you're not just letting them be. So then you say, okay, I'm not doing the meditation. Sure enough, it's not fresh. But when you recover it, when you get in touch with it, then I was just suggesting, take it for a walk, see? Take it out in the street. Some situation where you feel like it would be all right. if you didn't identify with your judgments. You'll be all right if you let go of your expectations. Even if you're expecting to be able to do the meditation of this walk, say, I think I do kind of expect that I'll be able to. Okay, fine. Just let that expectation be, and then you can drop it. And then the next step is not expecting it anymore. Now I'm just taking a walk. I'm going to see what happens. I can't even see what's happening. Okay? These are the success or failure at this meditation.

[55:40]

And then somehow you find yourself letting that be and then you suddenly, you may feel like, I think it's happening now. Okay, well that's another thing. Thinking that it's happening is not the meditation. That's just another, that's like a cherry blossom. That's just an opinion. I'm being successful at this meditation, okay? That's not the meditation. meditation is when you think the thought i'm successful at this meditation in that thought there will just be that thought that that would be success in meditation but thinking that you're successful at the time of the thought that you're successful thinking that that's true and grasping it is true that would be too much that wouldn't just be quotes i'm successful unquote it wouldn't be just in the thought that just the thought so you can learn this you can catch this you can notice And in one case, there's going to be freshness, period. And there's not going to be no gain or loss around it. In the other case, there's going to be gain and loss, and you're going to have these outflows, points of drainage and leakage around what's happening.

[56:44]

Any other questions? Yes? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of like that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes. You think about it in what? I think about it and I come to it with this whole sense of an upgrade, software upgrade, a reformat.

[57:59]

It's like there's a way that society Yeah, it is like reformatting. And it also says, over and over again at the end of these sections, it says, without covetousness or displeasure or covetousness or grief for the world. So in this meditation, you're taking a little break from how the world applies to this or how this applies to the world. You're creating a little vacation from worldly considerations, which are the considerations that don't allow you to do the meditation. They're the considerations which won't allow you to simply look at something in and of itself.

[59:00]

The worldly situations are, you know, what are you going to get out of this? What are you going to gain or lose here? Those considerations are the grief and the covetousness around whatever it is, body, feelings, mind. So we're trying to reformat or retrain our attention just at least for a while, take a break from that and look at something, giving up that gain and loss business for a while. And if you don't give it up, And that's in the fourth category of the hindrances. You're still hung up on what you're going to get or lose out of this meditation practice. You're still hung up on whether it's useful or good use of your time. You're still restless about it. You're still kind of bored about it, falling asleep while you're doing it. You're still worried about other things that are going on. You're not putting them aside for the time being to look at what's happening. And you recognize those. And if you won't let yourself recognize those, then they're going to keep, then those hindrances are going to flourish.

[60:07]

And maybe you can see that. And if you can see that, then you can let, see, oh, when I, yeah, when I don't like look at the hindrances, they get bigger. When I do look at it and they kind of like calm down. And when they calm down, then I can go back and do the meditation. But it means taking a break from being nauseated You know? It means taking a break from doing things with your mind that make you sick, that make you depleted and worried and sleepy and excited. It's taking a break, so it's a new approach. And it's actually nice if it's constantly a new approach, even though you're applying ancient tradition. There's some freshness in it. But you're trying it now. Okay, well, thank you very much.

[61:08]

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