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Talk: 20000809-Larry_Rosenberg-CIMC-discussion_on_practice-8142 Leandra Tejedor.json Start_time: 00:25:14 Display_question: How do I explain about mindfulness, in simple terms, to my daughter? Keyword_search: mindfulness, meditation, practice, tetrads, Mindfulness in Plain English, Bhante Gunaratana-Sri Lankan monk, preconceptual, clear mirror, sensitive, CIMC, Buddha, arises & passes away, electronic microscope, telescope, clear seeing, reflective, Buddhism, Jon Kabat, Zinn Question_content: Questioner: I’m really disappointed in this, not in the practice, or anything, but my daughter says, what is that? What is mindfulness? And what is that mindfulness thing that you're doing? And it's so hard to explain it to her, in simple terms. So, I try to call it a practice, rather than a meditation, because people get these ideas about meditating. So, in your book, the tetrads, the 1st through the 4th, I've been practicing those, and then I went into the first one. It's like the body. I started reading again, this is the second time around. I started reading about the body, and it was so clear to me, what I was doing. You explained it so beautifully. So, I get on my computer… Larry: Right. Questioner: And I typed the whole-body thing… Larry: Right. Questioner: So, I could send it to her, and I asked her to read it. She did it, and then I hit a button, and it totally disappeared. Larry: You know what? You lost it to cyberspace, but you're fortunate you did. No, I think so. Leave her alone. Questioner: I know Larry: It's not I… you know, I've been down that road. I think we all have. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. But, you know, there's other help on the way. In fact, it's here. There's a very fine book called, Mindfulness in Plain English, by Bhante Gunaratana, a Sri Lankan monk, and he really goes to great pains, and it's just extraordinarily clear about what this mindfulness stuff is. But let me just give you the gist of it, some of it, and then it would be a useful book to read. And if you if your daughter shows some interest, then this wouldn't be a bad book for her to read. I think I cut... there's too much in my book, 16 Tetrads, you know, drive her crazy. Questioner: I know Larry: No. Okay. Mindfulness, first of all, it's preconceptual. It's not an idea. It's more like a clear mirror. It just sees what's there. Mindfulness only happens in the present time. That's the only time it can ever happen. Mindfulness as a mirror, is not for or, against what it sees. Real mindfulness. Here, the mirror shows the palm of my hand. I turn it around; it shows the back of my hand. I take this away. It shows you Brad. Okay? So, we're developing a quality. It's already there. Everyone has it. If you're human, we have this unique ability, as we live out our life, all of us are living out our life. We also have the capacity to be sensitive to what that experience of living out our life is. So, we already have the mindfulness. It's not like you picked it up here at CIMC. What the Buddha is teaching us how to do, is how to develop it, refine it, apply it, so that it becomes extraordinarily, like, really clear, like an electronic microscope, if you need to go small, and like a telescope, if you need to go big. And we have that capacity, and it's like any other art. If you practice it, it gets refined, and it's all about clear seeing. So, it's non conceptual. It's not for or against. It only happens now, and it's reflective. It shows what's there, and it turns out that that's very, very useful. One of the main things it shows is, that everything that arises, passes away. And…but, read the book. It's useful. Questioner: It’s clear with the body and the mirror thing. How the mind is just mirroring… Larry: Oh, good. Okay. You sound fine. About your daughter, though, I mean, there is really... many of us have really learned this one time. I learned it with my parents. Don't pedal Buddhism. Be a Buddha. It's quite a difference. Don't convince her of anything. Don't feel she's got to join. Questioner: She asked me. Larry: Okay. Questioner: I do bring it up once in a while. I don’t try to sell it to her. Larry: Good. Questioner: I think she's on a path now. I think she needs something like that. Not insight meditation, but she’s very very stressed. Larry: Well, you know, there are other books that have less Buddhism, with a capital B in it, that might be more appropriate for her. Jon Kabat Zinn's work. Questioner: Oh, I read that. Larry: Yeah. And Bhante Gunaratana’s book is a very, very useful introduction. It might help her. Yeah, but sounds like you're doing fine. Yeah. End_time: 00:30:36
