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Talk: 2013-10_09 Dharma Talk.json Start_time: 00:58:52 Display_question: How does one become an advanced practitioner at CIMC? Keyword_search: advanced practitioner, beginner, PhD, Thailand, retreats, walking meditation, awareness, active present Question_content: Questioner: I read on the website that some courses are for advanced practitioners, and there's a definition, so many years and so on, and I'm a beginner, and I'm wondering, how does one get certified? Is there a bell you ring, or what's the process for that? Larry: A very crude distinction. Questioner: Okay. Larry: So, you've hit on something… for example, if we say a year or two as a prerequisite, it's very crude. Because that implies that the longer you've been here, the wiser you are. Not true. It's not true anywhere. So, but we need some… what it does suggest is, you've had some instruction. You've already... you've put your butt down, and tried to look at yourself. If you've just walked in the door, it would kind of be harder on the people who are there. So you're quite right, there isn't some test. It's a very crude indicator. But then again, everything is too. I mean, you have to get a certain degree. I don't know. I have a PhD. I felt there were a fair number of people much smarter than me. They didn't get their PhD, for emotional reasons. They were much smarter than me. They never got it. I just plowed ahead. One pie in the face, kept going. Another pie in the face, just kept going. So even ordinary folks, like me, could get through. Where some very smart people just got discouraged easily. But then I have a certificate that says I'm a doctor of yada yada. But it says something. It's not meaningless. Questioner: Is there an alternative? A time frame? Larry: What? No, because time it's not about time. Questioner Right, so? Larry: Time is a rough indicate. It depends on what you do, with the time. Or, as one of our teachers in Thailand said, frogs can sit for many, many hours without moving and they're not particularly wise. Let's say, if you lead long retreats, sometimes I do long... and people wear… residential retreats is what I mean. And people say, come in proudly to an interview and say, I did walking meditation until four in the morning, and then I just had one hour's sleep. Good. It's sort of endurance. You have strong will. Did you learn anything? Did you learn how to let go of... what did you see... any do you see what I'm getting at? So in a way, your question I can't give you a satisfactory answer, Break_line: But you see what does save the day. Let's say if you wanted to come, you're really beginning. So what I'm teaching tomorrow night, please don't come because I do assume certain things. But finally, whether you've been practicing for 100 years, or just walked in, it's always going to be about, developing the quality of awareness, to what's happening, right here, right now. It's this… the active present, and that's the skill that, again, and again, all I feel I do is in interchanges, is try to get people to look at what's happening, right here, right now, not just internally, but internally, and externally. And the mind doesn't want to do that. It prefers an imaginary future or a past that’s over with. And my job is, uh huh, see that. How is it for you right now? How is it for you right now? Break_line: So, in that sense we're all in the same boat, because no matter how advanced you get, you're going to be doing that. However, if you were in a class that everyone's been practicing for 10, 15, or 20 years, I don't think that's the best way for you to learn. So, I don't have a satisfactory answer. If you come up with a new system, maybe science will come up with something, with meters, and buzzers, and something will go off. You can go to the Thursday night retreat. You have a 7.8 score and seven is considered a cut off. I doubt it, but it's possible. End_time: 01:03:05
