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Talk: 2016-03_02 Learning How to Live in Real Time_ Reflections on the Buddha's Bhaddekaratta Sutta 1.json Start_time: 01:15:04 Display_question: I notice when I practice I have so many thoughts. How does watching the breath develop, clear seeing? Keyword_search: breath, calming the mind, attention, clear seeing, thinking, future, Toledo Ohio, relax, art of not doing, art of allowing, Buddha, awareness, concentration, India, Buddhist, vipassana, Shamata, conviction, heart, science, brainwaves Question_content: Questioner: I have a question about practice. Larry: Sure. I thought all of this is about practice. If it isn't, I screwed up the whole talk, but all right, go ahead. Questioner: Yeah when I…I thought the goal is, when you sit, you try to follow the breath, calming your mind. Larry: It's one method. It's one method. Questioner: And then some thought keep coming. I thought that's a bad thing, because you're supposed to just pay attention, to your breath. Larry: Yes. Questioner: And you get deep concentration. So, at what point you think you start doing clear seeing? Because it looks like clear seeing. Larry: You're new to the practice, right? Questioner: What? Larry: Are you new to the practice? Questioner: Yeah, I’m new to the practice. Larry: Okay. I don't mean this. We're not giving you a pointed hat, it's just so I can better try to answer your question. First of all, you're in a war with thinking. There's nothing wrong with thinking. In other words, what are you going to do? You're going to try to stamp out thinking. It's more thinking. So here's I'll act it out for you. In out. In out. Just let it come, and go, as long as you don't get caught, in it. But typically what happens is, here comes a thought, about the future. You get caught, and it takes you on a train of thought. You get on the train, and before you know it, ten minutes are gone, and you're in Toledo, Ohio. Then you come back to the breath. But the bell is rung. It's over. So it's gentle and it's accepting. And if thoughts are coming, but you're still with the breathing, don't see them as the enemy. They're just clouds coming and going, coming and going. Because if you try to make yourself be calm, and peaceful, the trying itself is a form of disturbance, of vexation. Do you see what I'm getting at? Questioner: Yes Larry: So relax, enjoy the show. But the feature, what's featured is, the breathing. Allow the breath to happen. It doesn't look like you're convinced. Do you see what I'm getting? Now here's what we run into a lot, all of us. We're used to doing things, to get what we want. And here we're learning the art of, not doing, the art of allowing. It's a new skill. There are times when you have to actively do things. But here's the art of allowing. And what we're learning how to allow is, first we'll allow the breath to follow its own rhythm. Don't impose a rhythm on it. And if thoughts are coming and going, that's a fact. They're not good, they're not bad. The brain is constantly secreting thoughts like digestive juices, from a gland, blah blah, blah, blah blah. Break_line: But if you're able to mainly feature in, out, and wherever you've decided to pick that up, fine. But then as soon as you get caught on the... caught up, in either the thoughts about the past, typically, or the future, as soon as you see that, whether it's five minutes, or five years, as soon as you see it, what can you do? It's over with. So instead of wasting time beating yourself up, just gently return to the breath. Little by little, you settle into the breath, and what has happened to this, has been going on for thousands of years, way before the Buddha. The breath has been used to bring in calm, awareness, and concentration. Not just in ancient India, but thousands of years, way before the Buddha and thousands of countless, who knows how many people have used it. You don't have to be a Buddhist; you don't have to be religious. It's just factual. As you're more and more attentive to breathing, the mind and body settle down. Because the breath conditions... the breath is situated between the mind, and the body. If the breath smooths out, then the mind calms down, the body calms down, they're all affecting each other. But if you get into a war with thought, just see that. It's learning the art of allowing, and then just being present, to receive the breath. It's a different skill. It's learning how to just receive what's happening. Questioner: But we're clear seeing. So at this stage it's still not vipassana? Larry: Technically, if you want to use labels, it isn't no, it's shamata, it's called. But don't get caught up in the labels. All you can do is bring the level of clarity that you have. Can you bring more than what you have? Everyone has to start with their life, as it is. We have no choice. Are you going to be someone? Well, I'd like to be more like you. You've been practicing for, you say, 40 years. Well, why can't I be more? You can't. You have to be you. So whatever deck of cards you've been dealt, does that phrase mean anything? Whatever you... however, your mind, heart, emotions, body, that's what you have to work with. You have no choice. You have no choice. I have no… we start there. Break_line: But the awareness and you have to have preliminary conviction. Many people before you have done this. It's not mysterious, it's even being science…. there’s studies now, research being done that is proven, that this affects brainwaves in the body, and et cetera. But your attitude is one of struggle, and getting somewhere, and that's what's keeping you from getting somewhere. In other words, you get the calm not by trying to get calm, but just by being with what is. Questioner: Thank you. Larry: Does it make more sense now? Questioner: Yes. End_time: 01:20:20
