Simple Practice Matthew 2 09 29 24

Video

Transcript

Dhammarato: So one of the skills to be developed is the skill of remembering and that there is little remembering and big remembering. And that when we’re talking about remembering here, we’re not talking about remembering the past that we do. We’re actually quite good at that. What we’re in interested in is remembering to be in this present moment, when you’re already in this present moment. The only thing that’s not in this present moment is your thought process, which is generally in the past. That in fact even the future is nothing but a modified past. For instance, when you see a problem and then later you think of that problem and you think about fixing that problem, a solution, you’re not thinking about the future, you’re thinking about fixing the past. So here’s what we’re going to do for bringing up a skill. And one is over and over again, practice. Over and over and over again we practice. So in Anapanasati there is several ways of practicing in fact, starting with the breath itself. In other words, if you let the breath just be, then there’s not much remembering to it. I, I know of teachers who say just watch the breath and then the mind will wander away very easily. But if you’re actively engaged in the breath, you have to remember to be actively engaged in the breath. You say that again so that it sinks in. When you are passively watching the breath, there is not much happening and so the mind can easily get distracted and wandering away. But when you are actively engaged in watching the breath, actively engaged in it, then that active engagement is actually not only a change, but you have to continue to remember to be actively engaged in it. Hence the idea of having a long breath, taking a long breath requires you to remember to take a long breath. So that means then that every time you take an in breath and every time you take an out breath that is mindful or that you’re watching or that you’re controlling, you have to remember that. So that’s two times on every breath cycle to practice remembering, to practice the sati, to come back to the here now to take another long deep breath and then remember to take another long deep out breath. So if you practice with your breathing over and over again, you’re actively developing the skill of remembering to be in the present moment. Isn’t that interesting?

Speaker B: Yeah. The issue I ran into with that is it became so natural to do that, you know, sort of like when.

Dhammarato: You learn natural, we’re talking about actively engagement. When you talk about natural, that means that you forget all about it and Let it happen naturally. Stop doing that. It’s not natural.

Speaker B: Well, so I started off, you know, when I learned about Ajahn Lee’s method, trying to control the breath. And that worked well enough at first, but as it became something I would like. When you’re riding a bicycle, you won’t be distracted as you’re learning to ride a bicycle. But then once it becomes, once it becomes something that is easy, even as you’re controlling it, the mind wanders. So even as I may be, that.

Dhammarato: May be true for ordinary people who have ordinary bicycle accidents. But if you’re going to be a racer, you got to pay attention. If you’re going to be in a marathon bicycle race, you got to pay attention. We’re not talking about becoming an ordinary person with ordinary breathing. We’re talking about becoming a world class human being by practice. Think of yourself as having a different kind of a goal. And the goal is to remember to practice right now because you’re developing the skills. And as you have those skills developed, you become a world class human being as opposed to having a goal of being a world class human being. We’re not trying to have a goal. That’s in fact one of the biggest problems with Western Buddhism is that they set goals like enlightenment or all kinds of attainments. We’re not looking for attainments, we’re looking for development of skills through practice. And so as soon as you let the breath become natural, that means you’re not practicing anymore. Just like the bicycle rider, once he learns how to ride the bicycle, he can molly gag and do all kinds of things. And he might have problems with that bicycle. He might be in fact having an accident, having a wreck, not watching what he’s doing, not watching where he’s going, falling into a pothole, running off the road, all kinds of things. Because people are not watching themselves ride that bicycle. So the right thing to do then is to take that as an example that you’re not going to just get basic skills and then let the bicycle riding be natural. That’s dangerous. If you’re going to learn to ride a bicycle, learn to ride that bicycle so that you can pay attention to that bicycle. Same thing as with motorcycles. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why so many people have automobile and motorcycle and bicycle accidents is because they want to let it become normal so they don’t have to pay attention anymore. This is one of the important points about the Eightfold Noble Path is effort, right? Noble effort to pay attention to that bicycle. And in this case to start paying attention to your breath. Long, deep in breath, long, deep out breath. And that’s going to develop the skill of mindfulness, the skill of remembering to be in the present moment. Now there’s also other things while you’re learning to breathe in and breathe out and watch that, you can also start paying attention to what the body is doing as it’s breathing. The rising, the falling, the touching of the cloth, your posture, all of that is very body oriented. And the Buddha recommends that you get to know the body very well with the intention of the better you know the body, the easier it is to relax it. So now we have some another thing. So we have the in breath, we have the out breath, whether it’s long or short. We have what’s the body feeling, touching, the experience of the air, the touch of the cloth, our posture, everything about that. And then we’re paying attention to all remembering to relax the body, to keep the body relaxed. And that’s just four of the items of anapanasati. There’s a lot of other things to pay attention to. One is how good you feel developing suka. And what is suka? It’s beginning. It’s mindful of your fear. Are you safe? Are you secure? Can you remember to come back to be safe and secure? A lot of people in Western society have anxiety, a low grade level of fear and in fact almost every thought that they have is a thought of fear. Like, oh, I’ve got to get this done and there’s fear that it’s not getting done.

Speaker B: Yes. So that’s my, that’s my favorite kind of meditation because so I’ve tried doing all the steps together, I know, as opposed to steps and it’s difficult. So when I break it into baby steps, what I’ve done recently is after some of paying attention to the breath, then I’ll just pay attention to fear and non fear. And that is that I can remember to do better than the breath. It’s easy. The fear tends to go away very quickly just by looking at it. The body feels good, the mind feels good by just looking at what’s fear and what’s not fear and apply any relaxation.

Dhammarato: Okay. So recognize also that fear. Remember also that fear is a bodily component.

Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. I see it in the body, I see it in the mind. I’ve gotten better, it’s had great results. But combining it with the other steps of Anapan asati, doing all of that stuff at once, it’s hard for me to do all that stuff at once is the problem, we don’t even want.

Dhammarato: To do it all at once. Remember this phrase, one by one as they occur, One by one as they occur. So when you’re taking an in breath, then you can see and recognize the tightness of the chest that people will call anxiety. And so you can breathe deeply into it. Okay, now another one would be to pay attention to your mental state, which would be, let us say, the attitude. Attitude of a victim. Oh, I need this. Oh, I want that. Or the attitude of a winner. Oh, this is great. I like this the way that it is. Remember that the victim’s mental attitude is always being dissatisfied and wanting it to be different. And so we develop the attitude that everything is good, everything is just fine the way that it is.

Speaker B: I have a quick question about. You said the. The fear and the tightness in the chest. So I normally notice it in my throat. Just whenever I’ve been tried trying to do that. Breathe in the way that feels good. The last few months, especially when I was at Wat Mehta, where that’s mainly what Ajahn Jeff teaches, I found that I could. The rest of the body, I could get feeling pretty good, but that throat often would feel worse the more I tried to breathe in a way that felt good. And the way that would make that soften up and the whole body feel good was that.

Dhammarato: All right, so here’s what you can do about the throat. Here’s what you can do.

Speaker B: Switch to just looking at watching what the mind is doing and seeing whether it’s watching the breath or not is. And then bring it. And then tell it to watch the breath or see if it would catch itself. And if it didn’t, I would bring it back.

Dhammarato: All right, so here’s what you can do about tightness in the throat. One is to intentionally swallow. Number two is to move the neck and the head around with the. With the thought of, wow, this feels good. Wow, this is okay. When you swallow. Wow, I really like to swallow. Stay with the positive gain. That positive attitude. Begin to like what you’re doing. When you find tightness in the throat, don’t think of it as tightness that needs to be gotten rid of. Think of it as a new toy to play with. When you think of tightness has got to be gotten rid of. That’s the victim’s attitude that sees it as a problem. And we need to change our attitude about that to where it’s not a problem. It’s not tightness. It’s just a sensation in the throat. And it’s a new toy to play with by swallowing and moving the head around and relaxing and enjoying what you’re doing. And when you start to see that the thoughts that you’re having are unwholesome thoughts, don’t treat those as a problem. The hindrances, for instance, are just hindrances. They’re not a problem like, for instance, being confused. I don’t know about this. And what about that? And all of this kind of stuff. And you can. You can just relax and say, I know enough just to relax and be happy. And so what about questions? Come, we can just say, I don’t need to ask any questions. I’m already. Okay.

Speaker B: So Ajahn Buddha Dasa does talk about. There may even come about a most intense satisfaction. In Dhamma, the ability to remain unmoved by anything becomes so strongly developed that it may even delude the meditator into believing he’s already attained the fruit of the path in Nirvana itself. These things are a great difficulty for anyone encountering them for the first time.

Dhammarato: So you have not been a monk for 20 years and you’re reading stuff that was intended for a monk for 20 years. Be where you are now and listen to the instructions that I’m giving you now, rather than comparing them to something that Bhikkhu Buddha Dasa said in Thai language to monks that got translated into English. All right. But in fact, go ahead and enjoy being in a really good state. That your delusion is, is that you’re not in a good state. Vika Buddha Das is talking about the delusion of being in a good state when you still got work to do, of checking out what’s left to do. Right now, we already know what you need to do.

Speaker B: Well, there’s times I’m in a pretty good state, and I feel like times.

Dhammarato: When you are, yes, okay, but you don’t argue with me. You got to listen to what I’m saying. That in fact, you continue to have those good moods by remembering to have them. Sometimes it’s not enough. You need to continue practicing to remember to practice to remember to be in that good state. Now, there are several steps along the way. In fact, the main two steps is to move from unwholesome to the wholesome. Move from ordinary mind into exalted mind. Moving from victimhood into the winner’s position. All of this is the first step. And then from moving to winner to nothing. Moving from the exalted mind into nothing at all. Moving from a good state to no state. But you’re not ready to take that second step yet. You’re still trying to get the first step going. First phase takes about 20 years, is to get your mind into a really, really good state. Learn to control your feelings before you learn to remove them completely. Just like a great big ship, a battleship, a tanker, a. An aircraft carrier, a cruise ship. Got no brakes. You can’t stop a freighter. What you can do is learn to steer it. Right now, you can’t stop your thoughts right now, you can’t stop your feelings. But you can learn to control them. You can learn to steer them. To learn to control your mind by remembering to control the mind. One of the ways of controlling the mind is letting the mind, by controlling the mind, control the breathing. Remember to take in long, deep breaths and remember to take out long outbreaks. Remember to see the fear and to remove it. Remember to see the body in a state of comfort, get it to relax, and then we can get the mind into a state of satisfaction. The state of satisfaction is that state of having the mind feel like it’s a winner, not a loser. A loser always needs something. The victim is always being victimized by something or another. And you can get yourself into the state of being okay, but that takes effort. Never mind, I’m all right. Never mind, I’m okay. Everything is good. Everything is just fine. When the hindrances come up, like drowsiness. One of the things that you can do about drowsiness, by the way, is start taking long, deep breaths, because that’ll take you right out of the drowsiness. The drowsiness is generally due to lack of air. There’s also the possibility that you’re not just drowsy and tired, but you’re also in the victim’s position of, oh, I can’t do anything. Oh, there’s no place to go. Why should I bother? Okay, that’s much more of an issue of laziness. Or it’s the loser’s attitude of I can’t, therefore I won’t even try. Now, in the English language, these two things are called sloth and torpor. So torpor is actually tiredness, dullness of mind. And that could easily be changed by taking a deep breath. Sloth is different. Sloth is the attitude of, oh, I can’t get anything, therefore I’m not even going to try. You’ve heard of Esau’s fables. The fox that was jumping for the grapes, and then he walked away because he couldn’t reach the grapes. With the thought of all the grapes must Be sour. This gives rise to that common phrase, sour grape grapes. That’s the slothful position. But the. And that’s the loser’s position. The correct attitude is wow, everything is really okay. The grapes are not sour. So you can come out of that slothful position of I can’t do it so why should I try? So you can remember, I can do this. I can clean out my mind, I can bring in wholesome thoughts. I can be having that attitude of being a winner. And all of this is based on the Satya Patana which is the basis of. In the fulfillment of the Anapanasati. When you fulfill an upon a Sati and do it one by one as they occur, whichever one comes up, that’s the one that you’re looking at when you do this. That fulfills that Satya Pathana which is the mental attitude, the mental thoughts, the feelings of uptightness, of sadness, of grief, of anxiety. All of that can be manipulated into feeling good. And this is how you practice over and over and over again. You build the skill of Sati by practicing it over and over and over again. Practice remembering, look at how you feel. Practice remembering to look at how you what your attitude is. Practice looking at what kind of thoughts you have. Practice it. Taking that long deep breath and long out breath. Practice, practice. That develops these skills that you need. The skill of looking, the skill of remembering to look, the skill of taking the right effort to make the change are all skills that in fact in the Anapanasati Sutta every one of the steps is with the phrase. Thus one trains oneself which is an exact point about developing skills. You train yourself into looking at that mind state and changing your mind state. You train yourself to look at, to remember, to gladden the mind, to brighten it up, to change your attitude. You train yourself to look at these feelings. You train yourself to come into a state of sati or excuse me, Sukha. Train yourself into becoming satisfied. Train yourself into having that. Wow, this is really great. This is how we practice so we can train ourselves.

Speaker B: So my experience with some of these antidotes you’ve mentioned is similar to some things. Ajahn Tomato has said that I’ll try, I’ll try these antidotes like trying to wake up with the breathing and often it sometimes it works, often it doesn’t work. And train myself to.

Dhammarato: Well, if you stop breathing and say it doesn’t work, that’s the loser’s attitude. When it doesn’t work you can say aha, I see that Thought it doesn’t work. Let me take another breath. See how quickly you move into the victim’s position. So often you can keep remembering to take the effort to come out of being a victim.

Speaker B: Well, often what does help, though, is using. So what I found often what gets rid of the hindrances is dropping the effort for a little while and then when. So, for example, say I’m trying to use thoughts to good thoughts to counter bad thoughts. That sometimes works, but a lot of the time it will stop.

Dhammarato: It always works when you’re doing it. It doesn’t work when you stop doing it. It always works when you’re doing it, and it doesn’t work when you stop doing it. And having the thought this isn’t working is a negative, unwholesome thought. But if letting that negative. When you see that negative, unwholesome thought, you can say, aha, I see that negative, unwholesome thought. Let me just take another easy, deep breath now. One of the points that you’re making about the right effort is the effort that you’re making is not right effort. Part of the quality of right effort is to keep doing it and keep going and keep changing and you give up way too fast.

Speaker B: Well, if I, if I find that other strategies work better, they’re all the same strategy.

Dhammarato: There is only one strategy. The Buddha only taught one thing, and that is to see the dukkha and to come out of it.

Speaker B: And if sometimes coming out of it happens as a result of letting go and watching it for a little bit.

Dhammarato: No, no, no, no, no, that does not come out. That’s what everybody already is doing. In fact, that’s the noting method. You do not allow the hindrances and the dukkha and the unwholesome thoughts just to sit there because I’m too lazy to do anything about it. That’s again, back to the sloth. That’s not practicing.

Speaker B: Even if they go away, it’s not.

Dhammarato: Even taking a break, it’s just going back into ordinary mind state.

Speaker B: Well, it’s not ordinary for me. Ordinary for me is when I engage with them, just watching. When I look at them, often they go away on their own. And in the. So in the satipatanas, of course they do.

Dhammarato: That’s within a natural state of the monkey mind. But they come back off and on and back and forth. The monkey mind is just jumping and jumping and jumping and jumping and jumping. You need to find a way of getting it to come and settle down into wholesome thoughts. And so when Those unwholesome thoughts jump back up, settle them down too. Always with the idea. This is good, this is all right, this is fine. Not, this is not working. I got to go try that. Oh, that’s not working. Let me do nothing. This is what you’re telling me. That’s the slothful way of just letting the hindrances, letting the unwholesome thoughts be. No, when you see them, change them. Be glad that you can see them and glad that you can change them. Brighten the mind instead of trying to explain to me what you’re doing. That’s not working. You called me because what you’re doing is not working. Let me give you the skinny on how to get it to start working again is to practice over and over again to remove those unwholesome thoughts and have wholesome thoughts. It doesn’t take that kind of effort that you’re thinking about. Right, noble effort. Let me define it for you. Right noble effort is taking the least amount of work possible to actually get the job done, to actually make the change. And here you are just letting the hindrances go, letting the unwholesome thoughts go. Taking a break from your practice is just wallowing in on your own self pity. It’s like, oh, it’s too hard to do right now. And the answer to that would be, aha, I see that one too. Aha. I see that. This is the way of the Buddha is to see those unwholesome thoughts, see those hindrances, and take the right noble effort, a tiny little bit of effort once you get the ball rolling, to change it into wholesome thoughts. Can you do that? Can you remember to do that?

Speaker B: I can do that. I should remember to do that most, most of the time. The remembering is, it’ll work at first and then very quickly, like very quickly. I’ve been really trying and I’m continuing to, you know, I’m continuing to, with the, these all sorts of sati practices, it just, it just hasn’t really, the remembering hasn’t really gotten that much, that much better.

Dhammarato: Okay, let me give you this one. Learn to be on guard, be mindful, start to watch. Remember that you’re going to be there sitting, practicing correctly. And when those unwholesome thoughts, you’re not any different than anybody else. Everybody has to practice this way. Instead of just saying, oh, I can’t do it. Now that’s an unwholesome thought. See that as an unwholesome thought. It says hot dog. I see that unwholesome thought and I’m still okay, I can practice now. I can take a deep breath and everything is fine. So you’re giving up too quickly. You have victim’s attitude.

Speaker B: I’m still. I’m still trying. I’m just calling you because it so far, it hasn’t gone very well, but I’m still trying.

Dhammarato: Those all of that, what you just said is a victim’s mentality. Can you see that? I’m still trying. It’s not going the way I want it, but I’m still trying is the way of the victim. Instead of saying that, you can say, I can do this. I will practice. I will practice. I can do this. I can remember. And then when you forget, you’re beating yourself up instead of just saying, aha, I see. I’m beating myself up. Never mind. I’m okay. Okay. Try is a word that you can take out of your vocabulary, because try is what people do when they expect to fail. Try is a victim’s word.

Speaker B: I can do it with caffeine. Is that. Is that okay? Does that break the fit?

Dhammarato: I don’t care. I don’t care. Take all the caffeine you want. If you want, just drink some coffee. I don’t care. Pretty soon you’ll recognize that it’s not the coffee that’s doing it, that you’re doing it, thinking that it’s the coffee doing it. If you don’t drink coffee and then don’t practice versus drinking coffee and then practicing, go ahead and practice. If you need coffee to practice, then practice.

Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I practice with and without coffee. I just only use coffee occasionally because I don’t want to get addicted. But it goes so much better with coffee. Or.

Dhammarato: That’S a thought. It goes so much better with coffee. Why don’t you have the thought it doesn’t need to copy? That’s a different kind of thought. It’s not the caffeine. It’s not the coffee. It’s your thoughts. It’s the victim’s mentality relying upon the copy rather than actually saying, I don’t need to copy. I’m okay. It’s still your attitude that needs to change.

Speaker B: It does feel okay without the caffeine. The meditations are enjoyable. A lot of the time. I’m just not a lot of the.

Dhammarato: Times, okay, well, never mind. Start again when it’s not.

Speaker B: They’re enjoyable. The mind just isn’t usually very concentrated.

Dhammarato: I’m not looking for a concentrated mind. I’m looking for you to remember to come back to Wholesome thoughts. Remember to come back to a wholesome attitude. We’re not looking for results like concentration. We’re looking for, can you remember to change your attitude? Can you remember to change the thoughts that go with the attitude that you have?

Speaker B: Yeah, when distractions happen, I’m able to remember to come back to the. Watching the breath, watching the mind. It’s just, they happen a lot when.

Dhammarato: I’m, you know, that’s the victim’s attitude. The right attitude is, is that when they do occur, err, how often they occur, I’ll catch them, develop the attitude, I can do this. And you’re having the mental attitude of there’s a lot of it. Oh, there’s so much of it. And in fact, another way of talking about it is that you’ve got a goal or a standard. You’re supposed to do it this way and you can’t do it that way. Yet like a piano student, he can play some things, maybe an etude or so, but he can’t play a polonaise. And so he feels bad because he can’t play very, very high quality, difficult to practice to play pieces. And so he gives up. Do what you can do and take the effort to do it correctly. And when the unwholesome thoughts come back in, like, wow, there’s a lot of unwholesome thoughts. That’s just another unwholesome thought. Can you see that that’s an unwholesome thought and say, never mind, I’ll come out of this one too.

Speaker B: Yep, yeah, I can do that. And I do do that. My main.

Dhammarato: Continue to do that. I’m not saying that you’re not ever doing it. I’m saying that you have to keep practicing doing it.

Speaker B: Yeah. So the main issue, I’m just wondering if I need to change anything because I’m. I’m doing these things you say, you know, these other practices I mentioned, those are things I do. In addition, I have blocks of time where I just do these things that, that you’re saying just do the Anapanasati and, and the Satipatthana attached to it. But it, and, and my attitude about it is usually good. And, and I am trying to catch it. It’s just that after.

Dhammarato: Just that now you’re. Just that you just started an unwholesome thought.

Speaker B: Well, it’s a, It’s a thought of noticing what’s going on. So yes.

Dhammarato: And you can say, aha, I’m glad I can see you. I can notice what’s going on. Be happy that you can see what’s going on, that you can notice that you’ve got unwholesome thoughts, that this isn’t good enough.

Speaker B: Nope. That’s what I’m about to ask is whether it is good enough. Whether if there hasn’t been any noticeable progress in.

Dhammarato: Don’t try to make progress. Stop with your stupid progress. Progress is what a victim wants to do. No progress needed. You’re just okay right now. This is good enough right now. No need to say this isn’t good enough. And I’ve got to make progress. That’s a victim’s mentality again.

Speaker B: So there’s no need to change the method regardless of progress.

Dhammarato: There is only one method. There is only one method. Any change of method is because you want to do something. Because this isn’t working. And that’s an unwholesome thought and you wanting progress. It means that you’re still in the victim’s position. Can you change your attitude? There is only one practice that the Buddha gave that’s been highly researched by Thai scholars. There is only one practice, only one method, and probably anything that Ajahn Sumedo or Achahn Tenesuro say is in this practice that I’m talking about, not outside of it, not different, not another practice or just one practice. And that is to change. To change your thoughts, to change your feelings, to change your attitude, to change your posture, to change your breathing into relaxing the body and feeling good and satisfied and content. Satisfied that in fact suka satisfaction is exactly opposite of dukkha being dissatisfied. And when you’re wanting to practice some new technique, that’s because you’re in a state of dissatisfaction. Can you see that? You get yourself into a state of dissatisfaction and then you can change it back into state of satisfaction. Yeah, this is good. Everything is fine. Looking for progress because this isn’t good enough is a victim’s attitude. This is okay right now. The way that it is is all right. It’s just fine. That’s the winner’s attitude. So this is what you have to practice. The practice of everything is already okay. Everything is just fine the way that it is.

Speaker B: So for example, if my roommate is playing music and it sounds really good and I’m really liking it, I don’t need to go contemplating the drawbacks of the looking at it as this is unsatisfactory.

Dhammarato: That’s downright unwholesome. Can you not see that it’s unwholesome to do that?

Speaker B: Well, because isn’t there a suta where it talks about intentionally viewing anything pleasant as being unsatisfactory.

Dhammarato: You’re not ready for that teaching yet.

Speaker B: So if the time to do a.

Dhammarato: Graduate degree when you’re still just learning numbers, okay, if you like it, enjoy it, stay in a state of liking. If the music is pleasant, it’s pleasant. And here you are going off on and using Buddhism to boot to get yourself into a state of dissatisfaction. I’m glad to see you smiling. Finally, it’s about time that you begin to get it that it’s okay to feel good. Practice feeling good whether there’s music or not. Here you are using music to feel dissatisfied. You like the music, therefore you should be dissatisfied.

Speaker B: Yeah, most of the time the present moment is okay. I just feel like, oh, I need to be not.

Dhammarato: That’s the time to remember that it’s not. To see that it’s not and make a change to it.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Dhammarato: I mean, even though saying the same thing over and over again and you keep saying, yeah, but I can do it most of the time, but. And when you use that word, but that’s the same as going, okay, I’m in a good state, but I’m going to go into a bad state. Now.

Speaker B: The present moment is like always.

Dhammarato: Okay, it seems, well, then stay there. Stay in that place. Remember to stay in that place. Remember to look at all the kind of thoughts you have that pull you out of that state. Here is, the music’s playing, you’re not playing it, the music is just playing. And here you are putting yourself into a bad state because you like to music. How ridiculous is that? Oh, you’re not supposed to like music. Oh, you’re a bad boy. You should not like it. That’s what you’re doing to yourself. Now. Remember, in the time of the Buddha, they didn’t have any recorded music. All music was in a live performance. And he didn’t like the monks going to live performances. Let me give you an example of that. There is a video, he’s probably more than1 on YouTube, full long videos of an opera. And the video starts before the opera starts. And just as it starts, the Pope comes in bringing his entourage. He very gracefully sits down on the throne that they have in the box for him. And everybody in the audience is paying attention to the Pope. Everybody is clapping for him for a moment. And then the conductor of the orchestra takes over. And now while the performance of that opera is going on, the Pope is nothing. He is no longer the center of attention. This is what the Buddha forbade monks to do, is to Go and be part of an audience. To be in places where ordinary people are, to enjoy ordinary things. If the music is there, it’s just there. But if you go to the show to hear the music that took action on your part, that had to do with desire on your part, you had desire to go and listen to the music, which is a completely different situation than the music is just playing. And now I’m supposed to hate it.

Speaker B: So a lot of these instructions in the suttas are for people who have been practicing for a very long time.

Dhammarato: Yes, exactly. But there’s a lot of stuff in the sutras for very big beginners. But the beginners, like everybody else, they don’t. They don’t want to go through the steps that they need. They want to. They want to play the very fancy music without learning the chords and the scales. An example of that would be baseball. The kid wants to knock the ball out of the park, when in fact what he needs to learn is how to catch, how to throw. And in fact, all of that has to do with keep your eye on the ball, watch the ball. But the kids will get distracted. They’re not watching. Mom’s in the stand, she says hi, and the kid misses the ball, okay? So there’s basics that you have to go through. And the basics are, remember to look at what you’re doing. In the case of the music, you had a thought, oh, I should not be listening to this. And so you’re beginning to have a bad thought right then and there. And you’re not watching these thoughts. You’re making a bunch of rules instead. So forget about all the rules and start paying attention to what your mind is doing. Pay attention to what your feelings are. Pay attention to your mental attitude. Pay attention to what the body is doing. This is what is the basic practice. Look, remember to look, watch and change. This is the Eightfold noble path for the beginners. Changing your attitude.

Speaker B: I really like paying attention to the mind, body and feelings. Are you supposed to. I have trouble doing all of those at the same time.

Dhammarato: You can’t do it at the same time. What does same time even mean? The same nanosecond, the same microsecond, the same millisecond, the same second. What does at the same time mean? Remember I gave you the phrase one by one as they occur, so forget all about the same time kind of statements and say, I notice this, I notice that, I notice this, I notice that. I can change this one. I see you. You can’t do anything all at the same time. We do one thing at a time. That’s like trying to wash two dishes at the same time or washing three dishes at the same time. How can you wash three dishes at the same time? And the Satya patana is four. You can’t wash four dishes at the same time. One by one as they occur, you pick this one up, you clean it, you take the next one, you clean it, you take the next one, and you clean it. Now you can say, I did it all at the same time. Where in fact it took a minute to do one, and then another one, then another one, then another one, all in that one minute. So what is your time reference for all at the same time?

Speaker B: I guess I was wondering if the scope of attention can. Can be wide enough to see them all in one moment.

Dhammarato: No, but your attention is broad enough so that anything that comes into that realm, you can catch it one by one as they come in. But when you get stuck on one of them and something else comes in, you’ll miss it. That’s what concentration is all about, is focusing down. So you miss something else. We want to broaden our attention one by one as they occur. And what mostly people focus on is what they’re thinking or what they’re feeling. Then they’ll get stuck not watching the whole show.

Speaker B: When you’re at work and it’s. It can be difficult to. Since you can’t do more than one thing at a time, how do you. How do you focus on mind, body and feelings as, as you’re trying to focus on?

Dhammarato: One by one as they occur, One by one as they occur. And they can occur in rapid succession, but they’d all, all happen at the same time. Not if you’re thinking of it in the sense of nanoseconds. I would like to use the analogy of a computer, but very few people nowadays, in fact, ever understand the instruction set on the computer. The actual instructions that the actual computer does is in a cycle of one instruction at a time. For instance, addition is load into the register. The second one is to load the second number, add them together, and then store. So addition actually takes 1, 2, 3, 4 steps. In a real computer, if you know where the number is, often you’ve got to go look up the numbers that you’re going to refer. And so there’s going to be even more instructions. So get back to the point about one at a time, one little thing at a time. Stop thinking that you can do it all at one time. You can’t do it all at one time, but you can be fast so that you can move from one to the next to the next and open so that you can do that rather than being stuck. Does that make sense for you?

Speaker B: Yeah. If this effort becomes stressful, does that mean you’re doing it wrong?

Dhammarato: Yes, absolutely. That means you’re working too hard, you want too much, you’re wanting something. Can you see that you’re wanting something. That’s why you stress yourself out. It’s not actually the effort itself, it’s the fact that you’re putting that extra I want into it, right?

Speaker B: I want to do it fast, but I feel slow.

Dhammarato: Then allow it to be slow and enjoy that with knowing that the skills will increase and then you’ll get faster later. Right now it’s good enough, as your skill develops again back to piano or maybe violin, that in order to learn a passage, you’ve got to do it slowly and then build up the speed doing it correctly. But almost every student wants to play it at full speed and then screws it up because they want it. Take the desire out and enjoy doing it instead. That’s what you’re missing is that you’re not letting yourself enjoy it. Let it be a game. When an unwholesome thought comes in, enjoy that unwholesome thought, Aha, I see you. And then enjoy changing it. You’re in a habit of not liking. You’re in the habit of that being a victim. You’re wanting so much. Can you see that that’s happening? And say, okay, never mind, I’ll change my attitude. And now everything is okay, everything is fine. Can you maintain everything is fine? If you can maintain the your attitude and position that everything is okay, everything is fine, not a worry in the world. What else do you want? You can’t want anything because you’re satisfied. This is the state of the Buddha. The state of the Buddha is awake to all the wants, desires, rules, everything like that. And I’m okay without them. Everything is just fine. Can you practice that? Can you practice being in a state of everything is fine, not a worry in the world, because then you’re on your way to Sunyata. No worries, nothing to it. Everything is okay because nothing needs to be fixed. He’s already okay just the way that it is.

Speaker B: And you can still understand the first Noble truth with that attitude.

Dhammarato: That is the first noble Truth. That is the first noble truth. There is Dukkha. Stay out of its way. Don’t let the duka in. Be on guard, be satisfied. Aha, I Saw it. There goes the dukkha right past me. I didn’t have to stand up and let it. It’s a really easy practice when you gain the skills to practice. So practice those skills over and over again. This is the recommendation of the Buddha. See those unwholesome thoughts and throw them out.

Speaker B: That sort of. I’m trying to get a good feel for that. I know words are difficult, but what that throwing out feels like, what it, what it looks like. Because I’ve found some strategies that seem to help with that, but they’re, they’re a little bit less on the active side, I think, than what you’re getting at. What kinds of ways, what kind of feel should I be looking for with that? Throwing out?

Dhammarato: You gotta see it as duka. And then throwing out is easy enough, isn’t it? Aha, I see you. And that change is from oh, poor me into aha, I see that. Oh, poor me. And when you say aha, I see it, that’s already been changed now, hasn’t it?

Speaker B: Yeah. So that’s what I’m talking about with this. How. Just often, just being aware, just open awareness will often make me feel like Teflon to these things. It’s like the dukkha is there and it, it goes away just from seeing it.

Dhammarato: So we’ll be happy that it goes away when you see it. Yeah, that’s the change, as opposed to what you’re mentioning is I see it and it goes away and I still feel bad. Anyway, the dukkha didn’t go away.

Speaker B: No, no. A lot of the time I feel good. It opens up into this.

Dhammarato: Well, then what’s the point? Other than when you say a lot of time, which actually indicates that there is a lot of time that it doesn’t.

Speaker B: Yeah, that’s true.

Dhammarato: All right. And so what that also means is I’m going to be careful. I’m going to start watching. This is what I’m trying to get out of you, and you won’t give it to me. You keep going back into the negative and I haven’t heard you yet. Yeah, I can do this.

Speaker B: Isn’t it something that isn’t done by the person? But like, isn’t it like there is.

Dhammarato: It’s not asking way too many questions. You’re not getting it because you want to find something. You want to get it perfectly, get it good enough, Start practicing correctly. Stop asking so many stupid questions. That’s doubt. You know, asking a bunch of stupid questions is just the hindrance of doubt. And you can say. Never mind all of that stuff. I see that. And now I’m just going to sit and relax instead.

Speaker B: Cool. Well, thank you very much. Have. Have a good night.

Dhammarato: You too. You start to practice. Stop with all the stupid questions and just be happy.

Speaker B: You too.

Dhammarato: All right. Thank you. See you later.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Summary of this Dhamma Talk

Dhammarato discusses the fundamental practice of developing mindfulness (sati) through active engagement rather than passive observation. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining a “winner’s attitude” rather than a “victim’s mentality,” and explains that there is only one practice: changing unwholesome thoughts to wholesome ones, moving from dissatisfaction (dukkha) to satisfaction (sukha). The key is remembering to practice consistently and recognizing that everything is already okay as it is. Rather than seeking progress or different techniques, focus on practicing correctly in the present moment.

Outline of this Talk

Developing the Skill of Remembering (Sati)

• Small remembering vs big remembering
• Focus on present moment, not past
• Future thoughts are just modified past thoughts
• Practice over and over again

Active Engagement in Practice

• Passively watching breath allows mind to wander
• Active engagement requires continuous remembering
• Practice with long breaths requires remembering twice per cycle
• Don’t let practice become “natural” - stay engaged

Winner’s vs Victim’s Attitude

• Victim always sees problems and wants things different
• Winner sees everything as okay as it is
• Move from unwholesome to wholesome thoughts
• Move from victim to winner position
• Eventually move from winner to “nothing”

Right Noble Effort

• Use least amount of work needed to get job done
• Don’t give up too quickly
• “Try” is a victim’s word - remove it from vocabulary
• Practice changing unwholesome thoughts to wholesome ones

One Practice, One Method

• Only one practice that Buddha taught
• Change thoughts, feelings, attitude, posture, breathing
• Move from dissatisfaction (dukkha) to satisfaction (sukha)
• Practice one by one as things occur
• No need for different methods or techniques

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