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Talk: 19880716-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-questions_and_answers-1554 Leandra Tejedor Start_time: 00:45:56 Display_question: Do you have to go on a retreat to develop deep levels of samadhi? Keyword_search: samadhi, retreats, daily life, delusion, kilesa, meditation in action, wisdom, silent awareness, Vipassana, sila, Corrado, moral integrity, moral sensitivity, ethical, five precepts, lying, stealing, Canada, anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, enlightenment, meditation hall, yogi, wholeheartedly, washing dishes, breath, killing life, giving life to life, calm, concentration, steadiness, happiness, irritability, impatience, IMS Question_content: Questioner: Can some of these deeper levels of samadhi be reached normally, with strong daily practice, or are long-term retreats really kind of necessary for that? Larry: It's really hard to generalize, but if I had to, I would say…I really have worked hard. Delusion has worked hard. My kilesa for quite a few years was sort of… meditation, in action. That we can all do the whole thing, right in the middle of the marketplace. And what I've learned is good ruck. It's not that there isn't tremendous wisdom that can’t come from that. It can and it does. And people in this room are doing it. But I just haven't found… I don't see a way of escaping, the tremendous help that comes from periodically going away to a place, that allows you to just drop all of your cares, and obligations, and responsibilities, and just devote yourself to silent awareness. So, I would say it's essential. Break_line: Now, during your daily life, there are things that you can do, which can help samadhi practice, dramatically. And again, I wouldn't dream of generalizing. There probably could be people who never do a retreat, at least logically it's possible, but who practice with great sincerity, at home, whenever they can, and who attain what is needed. But here are a couple of things that are necessary to do anyway, or helpful to do anyway. We've been talking so much about samadhi, and Vipassana, and balancing those two, and we've left out sila. Corrado mentioned it early on in the retreat, and we haven't talked about it much, because you can't do a whole lot wrong here. I mean, that is, for example, when you're sitting following the breath, you're probably not also stealing, lying, sexual misconduct, killing someone, and shooting up drugs, or taking alcohol. Good chance that you're not doing that, or you've all worked out sophisticated ways of getting around that. Break_line: So that by and large, when you're on a retreat, moral integrity, or personal integrity, is at a higher level, because it keeps us out of trouble. It's sort of get those kids off the streets, and send them to summer camp, somewhere in the city. Well, this is the summer camp, and we're the kids. So we haven't had to talk about, let's say, moral sensitivity, sensitivity to one's own personal integrity so much. But when you leave here, it's going to come back, in a big way. All kinds of ethical issues, in work, and in life, come up. Now, the foundation of the practice is that, is the five precepts. Probably you all know that by now, which what I just mentioned. And so if you can take a look at your life, and if there are loose ends, and there are, for all of us, ways in which we're cutting corners, in terms of our integrity, little lying here, a little stealing there, you know, and try to smooth that out, try to be honest with yourself, because there's no way that any real samadhi can develop. Break_line: Oh, I have to tell you this story. Some a few people here know this one. There was a fellow, some years ago, who came down from Canada, and he was involved in extortion, and kidnapping, and dealing in drugs, only just those three, but he wanted to attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, total, complete enlightenment. And he was so frightened of the, I don't know, the Royal Mounties coming down there, or something. One time, we were in a meditation hall, and he was so tense he fell off his cushion. And in the conversation, we thought, well, what happened? He said, well, suddenly it occurred to me all of the things I did, I participated in kidnapping a child. I have other mobsters after me, because of money I withheld from it. And I just became so frightened, and tense, that I lost sight of where I was, and I fell off the cushion. Break_line: So, if we're doing a lot of things wrong, and we want to have bliss, and calm, and serenity, how can that be? It just it makes no sense. So one thing we can do, because daily life really challenges us a lot, it's very easy to be a little holy yogi here, but as soon as we go out into the marketplace, it is quite a challenge, as we all know. And so, if you take that on, that's a kind of refinement of your life that is very, very beneficial, and helpful, for Samadhi practice. Break_line: The other thing that has helped Samadhi, is attempting to do each thing thoroughly, and wholeheartedly. That is, it's a great way to live. I mean, it's not easy to do, but even the project, just attempting to do it, whenever we do it, it's wonderful. When we wash the dishes, to attempt to really wash the dishes. So that our attention's on what we're doing. And let's say you see your mind wander, from the dishes, after all, dishes are not worthy of such an important person's work, or effort. But then you see that, and you come back to the dishes. Is it that different from the breath, so that it's a kind of samadhi in action, someone's talking to you, and the mind spaces out, and you come back. Well, as you try to do that in life, just gently, because otherwise you'll get very tired, before it's even 09:00 in the morning. Come back, come back, come back, and attempt to live that way. So that whatever it is we're doing, from the most menial in quotes thing, to really important, significant things, that we're fully there. Break_line: Some of the Ancients had a way of looking at this. An interesting use of the precept, on not killing. On one level, not killing is not killing another being, something that's alive. A deep level meaning of not killing, is something like this. It's not killing life. So that, for example, if you're drinking a glass of water, and your mind is on champagne, you've just killed life, because you neither are fully with the water, nor do you really have champagne. What you've killed is, the quality of your life, in that moment. And so, they would call that killing life. And if you are drinking a glass of water, and fully drinking a glass of water, they call that giving life to life. I think that's a neat way to put it. So something like that is very, very helpful as well. That's samadhi in action. Break_line: And finally, since calm is so helpful, it's not just a concentration exercise, a kind of grim, narrow concentration exercise. The development of calm, I hope that has come through. When the mind becomes steady, and steady and collected, what comes along with that, is a calmness, and a happiness. The heart fills up with happiness. And as it does, it's more able to investigate. So if that's so, start to become sensitive to ways in which we're tense in everyday life. You're waiting online, at a supermarket, and someone is fumbling for their money or their wallet and you start going like that. Well, if you're trying to develop calm, any little thing like that is helpful. And it's not that you punish yourself, but you just see, in that moment, there's irritability, or impatience, and you let it go. And then, if you can, you come back to something, that's a little bit more calm. Well, those seconds add up. And so, there's a lot we can do in daily life. And if you can periodically come to places like IMS or whatever. End_time: 00:54:12
