The Sangha US 144 11 30 24

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Transcript

Dhammarato: So welcome to the Saturday morning call. It is the 30th of November, and that today we will talk about several topics. One will be about restlessness. Now restlessness is part of what we would call the group of hindrances. The Pali word for it is Pañca nīvaraṇā’ are the five hindrances or the five things that prevent us from basically being in a good mood. And that restlessness is a key feature of that. In fact, you could say that it’s interrelated with all of them. So if you want something that you don’t have, you will become restless in order to get it. If you have doubt, you will have restlessness in order to appease the doubt. If you have ill will, then you want to grab whatever it is that you have ill will for and choke it. And so there is also restlessness. Now restlessness is a word that has been all translated from the Pali. And it also has the quality of anxiety, agitation, worry and this sort of thing. And that the cure for this, well, hello, Michael. The cure for this is not to try to get rid of it, but rather to see it clearly and then relax into it. You can tell yourself various things. Now one of the also quality of restlessness and doubt has to do underlying with fear. Fear is the major underlying cause of almost all dukkha. An example of that is that if you want something you don’t have, then there will be some sort of anxiety in the sense that if I want it, that means that I would be better off with having it, which means that I’m not good enough because I don’t have it. That being not good enough then is a cause then for anxiety, worry and restlessness or anxiety. Another word that we could use for it would be tension. And Achan Tenissero loves the word stress. But I’m an engineer and I know what stress is from an engineer’s point of view. And that stress almost always comes from the outside in the engineering. Like something is too heavy, so it’s gravity oriented, or it’s got shearing force, or it’s got compression force or something like that. And so stress is not possibly a very good word to use simply because this anxiety and this tension that we’re talking about comes actually from within, not from without. And the within part is that it’s normally starting off with thought. Now one thing that we can say about thought is that there’s many kinds of thought. When we use the word thought, we almost always think of discursive thought or talking to oneself. But there are Many other kinds of thought. And one of them, this most common, I would say, would be visualizations. Now reflect upon this. You’ve all had dreams. When you have a dream, it’s not a verbal dialogue. It’s not a story you tell yourself with words is almost always visualizations. You see things. And very rarely do we actually talk. We see ourselves talking rather than actually talking. And so we visualize now often the visualizations that tell a story in a dream. We also do a lot of daydreaming. And visualizations actually can be very, very fast. And so we see something as an image kind of flash by, and then we tell ourselves a story about it. An example of that would be on the screen that is here. Yahoo emails have a red background as a maroon kind of background. And all that’s necessary is to have a quick visualization of that red background, that maroon background. And then thoughts, dialogue kinds of thoughts will be about emails. But the red screen doesn’t say emails. That’s the association within the mind. So what I would recommend is that you, in fact, part of the process of discovery is speed. How fast can you see those images if you can see them? And most people, when they get started. In fact, one of the things that I hear a lot from beginners is that when I start to practice annapon sati, or meditation anxiety comes up. It’s there. And the question that I would have is, is that anxiety new being caused by the meditation or is it an old thing, kind of like a habit? And everybody says, oh, it’s an old habit. Now the interesting thing is, is that when they say that they have this anxiety, that’s like, oh, maybe 10 or 12 steps after a process. And the question is, can we back up into this process to see things at its root cause now the anxiety that people feel in meditation, Actually, many people are so blind that they don’t see the agitation popping up and reoccurring all day long. So if you can see restlessness and worry come up throughout the day, you’re a mile ahead of those who have to sit and get really quiet before they begin to see their agitation. You can see it because it’s strong enough for you to be able to see it throughout the day. So we need to start backing up. What was the thought that we had, possibly the discursive thought that we had that led to the anxiety or the restlessness. And then later we can begin to see the instantaneous visualization kind of thought that gave rise to the dialogue. And if we can see this sequence of events that lead to it, then the, the skill would be, how quick can you see that this thing that’s happening, this sequence actually leads to dukkha or dissatisfaction, or is in fact already dissatisfaction. So if we are able to see it, then we have a chance to be able to change it. If we can see it, we have an opportunity to change it. If we can’t see it, for instance, if we’re already in full blown anxiety, that’s hard to work with. It’s a big thing already. But if we can see what led up to that agitation and that worry, then we can make a small course correction. It’s almost like driving a car. And if you can see a pile up a mile ahead, you can slow down. You may be even able to take an exit. But if you are not looking, not aware of that pile up, you might crash right into it. Or if you can see it just in time, then you can slam on the brakes to avoid it. All right, so we can take that sequence of events. If you can see what’s happening with your mind a mile away, then you can just merely divert. If you have to slam on brakes or actually crash into it, then that means that we’re pretty slow. We’re not catching up to see what’s going on. So in that regard, if we already have anxiety, we can start to undo it. But in fact, the breathing is what helps us undo it. We don’t necessarily have to do the breathing part of Anapanasati if we can catch it a mile in advance. But the breathing is what we would do when it’s full blown. And that is, and this is the sequence that happens is that as you’re breathing deeply, consciously taking long, deep breaths, you’re beginning to bring more oxygen into the bloodstream. Also when you’re breathing out, you relieve the dirt that’s in the blood. This breathed out, that’s mostly in the form of carbon dioxide, but there’s also a lot of other very small particles called amino acids that get breathed out. So when someone is full of anxiety, tension, uptight fighting with it, the fighting of it wanting it to go away, actually increases it. That what we need to do instead is start to breathe in and out long. Because basically what’s really going on at the chemical level, at the medical level, is that the body has adrenaline. Now adrenaline is a chemical that was, I guess it’s in almost all animal life in the sense that when a gazelle is being chased by a lion, both of them are pumped up with adrenaline. It’s the fight or flight chemical. Well, guess what? Most of the time when we have anxiety, we’re not ready for a fight and we’re not ready to flight. Imagine that you’re sitting at your desk at work and you see the, out of the corner of your eye, the boss walking down the hall. And immediately after you see him, anxiety pops up. Well, guess what? You’re not going to fight with the boss and you’re not going to run away from him like the gazelle would from the lion. But the same chemical process is there. So how do we deal with this then is by getting rid of that adrenaline to get it out of the system. And the way that we can get the adrenaline out of the system is by naturally letting it break down. Most of the adrenaline that collects can be felt in the chest area because there’s a. There’s a big pool of blood there. It’s part of the heart, part of the arteries and veins and all of that. So there’s a huge amount of blood in the chest area. And this is one of the reasons why anxiety is felt in the chest is almost like we’re buzzing. We would call it restless, we would call it nervous. The whole body may twitch. But if we can actually start to deep breathe, then we can let this adrenaline that is actually breaking down naturally the bloodstream, whether we get up and run away or not. And so there’s two qualities that we have to work with. One is to stop the adrenaline being pumped into the system, and then number two, to dissipate the adrenaline that’s already in the system. So the breathing will help dissipate it. But also, surprisingly enough, if you are focused on your breathing, making sure that each breath is a long in breath and each breath is a long out breath, by thinking about your breathing and possibly having words like, oh, I can just relax now. In fact, we can start talking about it in the sense of the reality is that there’s nothing dangerous. Even if it’s the boss walking down the hall, he’s not dangerous. He might be dangerous one time and then he’s going to get fired. The big corporations don’t like dangerous bosses. So him being not dangerous, we can tell ourselves, oh, the boss is not dangerous. Or if we’re sitting alone privately in our own room, we can actually see that there is no danger there and talk to ourselves about, there’s no danger, everything is all right. So that’s going to attack the adrenaline issue from the perspective of stop pumping it. But most people don’t. They don’t like being uptight, they don’t like being stressed. And that for most people, possibly the most beginners thing that could be done is to take a walk, take a hike. Actually, if you start walking, get up from your desk and start walking, that actually automatically changes the way you’re breathing anyway. But you don’t have to get up and take a hike. You don’t have to run like gazelle to get away from the boss. You can instead just start taking long, deep breaths. And this will actually then start to dissipate the adrenaline in the system. So that’s what we can do if we already have the anxiety, but we can be a little faster than that. One of the ways that we can be faster than that is by remembering often to look at the kinds of thoughts that we have so that we don’t build up with a bunch of thoughts about how bad it’s going to be. Oh, no, the boss is walking down the hall. Oh, I haven’t been doing my job. I’ve been watching video games. And I don’t want him to know that. Let me hide the video game quickly so you can see all of that activity that we get into that helps build up that anxiety. But if we can have the kind of thought of, oh, yeah, the boss is coming down the hall, but he doesn’t care whether I’m playing a video game or not, it’s not important, then that will help us relieve that anxiety. We can actually start to have thoughts like, I’m safe, I’m secure, there is not any danger here. Well, that’s especially true if we’re sitting alone. If we’re sitting alone, then why should we have thoughts about the boss coming down the hall? Because there’s no hall for the boss to walk down. The boss is nowhere near. But we can have thoughts like that, especially people who are working from home. And so the reality is, is that we can take a break, we can calm down by first off breathing well and second off by having thoughts that are much more wholesome. So this is the way that we would handle it. But as I said, if we can see the kind of thoughts that bring up danger, then we can change those thoughts before the adrenaline system gets going. And that’s the way of beginning to practice more correctly is to start on a more often basis to have the thought of everything is safe, everything is okay, we’ve got no problems, we’ve got no worries. But that’s not the normal habit we have. The normal habit we have is, oh, what could go wrong? Oh, this might be dangerous. Oh, well, what if. What if this happens? And so we start to invent problems that don’t really even exist. In fact, I would go so far as to say that 99% of all the problems that have been thought up by humanity over the course of the past millennium never even happened. We made that stuff up. We invented problems. And then we give ourselves anxiety, and then we’re all uptight and restless, and then we don’t like the restlessness, and so we try to fight with it, which brings even more restlessness. And the kind of thoughts that we could use instead would be, everything is okay, everything is fine, Not a problem in the world, no problems, no worries, and I can just relax. This is where deep breathing really comes into play in the sense of everything is all right, not a problem in the world. And this is when we begin to feel really that that tension has gone away. And so another thing that we can remember to check on is to remember to check on your chest. Check often. Is there any niggle, Is there any touch, Is there any stress, Is there any anxiety? Go looking for it often. You’d be surprised at how uptight we are and we don’t even know it. So checking for it. And if you can see, oh, there’s anxiety. And I know why, because I just had thoughts to the boss, or I had thought, I’ve got to go to the bank, or I’ve got thoughts of I got to get a new credit card, or I’ve had thoughts about I’ve got to go to Thanksgiving and be with Uncle George. Any of those kind of thoughts will bring on tension and anxiety. And so we can check that often so that we can help the chest by monitoring that to see if there’s any anxiety there. And then we can go back and reflect upon what kind of thoughts were we having right before then. And then with that kind of wise looking right investigation, we can then change those thoughts into, wow, Thanksgiving. Let’s enjoy the day. Let’s be friendly with Uncle George. Uncle George is probably so uptight about the election, he probably won’t even show up for our Thanksgiving. Wow, what a relief it is. I don’t have to think about George making a big scene, because he probably won’t unless I make the scene first. I’m ready for you, George. And then we actually are the ones who created the problem. But if we can be ready for George, why? Because we’ve seen that anxiety that we have every time we think about Thanksgiving, we think about Uncle George, then we think and then we start to get uptight. So let’s not get so uptight by seeing this anxiety when it’s at a very low level. And so all of this comes back to can you remember to look at what’s happening? Can you remember to look at what’s happening in your body? Can you begin to remember to look at how you feel? Can you remember to look at what kind of attitude you have? Going back to that statement about the Thanksgiving, when we say, oh no, about Uncle George, guess what? We’ve got an attitude of a victim. We’re being victimized in our own mind about Uncle George. That’s the issue is that we’ve got a loser’s attitude. Oh, no. What happens if George comes to Thanksgiving and now we’re uptight, but if we have the attitude instead, oh, I’m going to be very happy to see Uncle George. Well, I haven’t seen him since he clobbered me last year. Going to be very happy to see him. So if we have that kind of attitude, then we’re not going to have the kind of thoughts that lead us into fear and uptightness. So what I’ve actually just covered now is what is called the four foundations of mindfulness. It’s actually in the Pali is Satipatthana and that it is mentioned in so many sutras, I don’t even have a list. There’s whole suttas about it. Suttas. Number 10 in the majam Nikya is the Satipatthana sutta. And then in the Marjram, excuse me, the Dinga Nikaya I think is number 22. The Dinga Nikaya is called the Maha Satipatthana sutta. But the Satipatthana is also referred to in many other suttas and has especially got an interesting point about it in the Annapanasati sutta, which says that we. First off, the Anapanasati sutta is structured around the Satipatthana. It’s structured around the body, the feelings, our mental attitudes and our mental thoughts. And then in the sutta it says that we practice anapanasati for the fulfillment of the Satipatthana. In other words, we practice anapanasati to see when we’re breathing, what kind of breathing is it. We become aware of our body. That in fact one of the very most important parts, item number three is to become familiar, to investigate the body, to know your body, to know where your agitations are, to know where your uptightness is, to know where your anger is associated in the body, to know how you feel in the body, because that’ll help you also to know how you feel in an emotional way. And then there is the emotions. I like it and I don’t like it are the basic emotions. If we don’t like something, then that not liking it is going to place us in the position of having the attitude that I’m a victim to that which I don’t like. And so instead of saying I’m a victim to what I don’t like, what I can say instead is I’m not his victim. It can’t hurt me. Guess what? When you can see religion, it can’t hurt you. The time to be anger at religion is when it’s got you. But now that you can see religion for what it is, you don’t have to be its victim anymore. Now that’s just one example. We can say victim of the irs, victim of the government, victim of the cops. How many different ways do we play victim? Ivan, I’ll ask you that question. You live in Malaysia. How many things do you feel victimized by?

Speaker B: Better than too many to call.

Dhammarato: Too many to call. Exactly. And yet by seeing that you’re victimized by it, you can change your attitude. And in fact, when’s the last time you saw a government official?

Speaker B: I don’t remember.

Dhammarato: You don’t even remember it’s been so long. So why are we feeling victimized by the government of Malaysia?

Speaker B: It’s like fearing the boogeyman behind the clothes. Like I don’t even see it. It’s just the stories that going around talking about a bunch of corruption stuff and you know, you buy into it because people keep talking about it. And then you feel like, oh, maybe I should, maybe I should be warned.

Dhammarato: Uh huh. Well maybe that’s the right kind of question to ask these people who feel victimized by the Malaysian government. When’s the last time you saw a government official? When’s the last time you saw a government official robbing his own bank, his hand in the till? And they’ll say, wait a minute, I just heard stories.

Speaker B: People picking out the pitchfork. And then you know, like, at least for me back then, it’s like, oh, you know, maybe I should pick out the pitchfork too. Join the victim parties, something like that.

Dhammarato: Yeah, right. But the reality is, is that if it’s been that long since you’ve seen a government official, then why have any thoughts about government? And when we do have thoughts about the government, we can have thoughts like, wow, I haven’t seen a government official in so long. But instead of we have thoughts about that darn government is so corrupt. And then we feel bad, we feel victimized by the government, where in fact, the government doesn’t even know you. You’d have to go knock on their door to get them to take care of you. And I’m talking about it in the sense of pulling a gun on you or something, right? So this is the way that we can begin to look at the kind of thoughts that we have are based upon our attitude. And if we can begin to change our attitude, how do we do that? Is by changing the thoughts that we have, because the thoughts influence the attitude as well as the attitude influencing our thoughts. And if we can change our thoughts and our attitude, we can also begin to change the way that we feel. And if we could change the way that we feel and change our attitude and change our thoughts, we can also change our breathing. And if we can change our breathing, we can relax the body. And so these are the four foundations of mindfulness. And we have to talk about it every time we talk about practicing, because these are the four foundations that we need to pay attention to. Wisely reflecting upon the interchange between the feelings, the body, the attitude, and the thoughts that we have. So anytime that you experience something that you’re calling restlessness, also recognize that that restlessness is strongly associated with worry. Are having thoughts that are happening over and over and over again about a particular topic. And underlying that is the attitude of being a victim to that which we’re worried about. And if you can say, hey, I can handle that, there’s no worry here, nothing to worry about. Everything is okay, everything is fine. And you’re doing that while you’re breathing in and out, deep in breath and deep out breath, then those anxieties, those worries, those restless feelings will melt away. Now, a while ago I mentioned about anger and religion because that seems to be a topic whenever anyone begins to see in depth the religion that they were raised in, they get really pissed off. The thing that’s really funny about me in particular is that I was really pissed off at religion very early in my life and got over it very easily. How old was I when I got pissed off at religion that I could see through it? I remember it well that I was three years old because my mom was pregnant with my sister. And that the situation was is that she was a nursery worker. She loved to work on a nursery. She was quite a helper. And that after church service, everybody went home. But not my mom. She had to Linger and linger and linger until the last child and the last child wasn’t picked up until the preachers got the woman stopped crying. And so it was an hour or so after church was over, before the last kid was picked up. And I wanted to go home. And I remember very specifically, my mom says, with all those tears that you have, you could row home, go get a canoe and row yourself home. Well, at that particular age, I wasn’t quite able to walk or row myself home. But I sure was able to get pissed off at the religion. I blamed the church, and I was really, really lucky. There was something else that happened around that same time, and that was that my dad talked the preacher and into getting a tape recorder and also setting it up so that there was a live broadcast to the radio station for Sunday morning services. My dad, in that way, was a genius. And here’s what I mean by that. As I remember, in order to get a good audio signal, they had to have three telephone lines all connected together to give a good signal to the radio station. And also he had a very early version of tape recorder. We’re talking about 1950 now. And so I would go into church service not by myself, because my mother was in the nursery. And my dad was in his wizard of Oz room with all the electronic stuff. And so naturally, I’d want to be with my dad. Well, here’s what happened. Every Sunday morning, as soon as he turned the equipment on and the church service started, he would take off and take me with him. About a block away was a newsstand. Well, in 1950, newsstands on Sunday morning sold beer. I’d get a Coke, and my dad. I don’t know how many beers he would have, but he would be there for that hour while I would be reading Little Lulu and other comic books. And then we would go back to church service just in time for it to be over. And everybody was applauding him for what good work he was doing. And he was able to get rid of the church out of his own mind completely. He didn’t care about the church at all. And that was his way of appeasing my mom, who was really heavy duty, a church lady. All right. Those two things together got me kind of over my anger at the church when I was very, very young. Many people are not so lucky. They have to wait until they’re 15 or 16 or something like that. Until they begin to see through the relig. In fact, that seems to be an important age to get rid of religion out of one’s life. We can, if we’re Muslim, we begin to read the Quran and we would say, hey, wait a minute. This dude we call Muhammad that is so magnificent. When we’re a kid and we’re supposed to praise him, he winds up being a thief, a murderer, a charlatan, a really, really bad news, dude. Why do they have a religion based upon Muhammad? The answer was, is he had power enough then. In fact, that’s how Islam was spread. It was spread through direct fear. And yet all the little kids are told how to praise Muhammad. And it’s not until they’re in their teenage years is they begin to see what a vicious criminal he was in that regard. That winds up having two different kind of Muslims. One of them who begin to hate their religion because they see the foundation. And the other ones are the ones who go get an AK47 and say, if Muhammad can kill people and get power, so can I. Let’s go get a caliphate. Let’s get all of this stuff going. Okay, so in both regards, in Islam, there’s hatred. The whole religion is founded upon hatred. You either hate the religion or you hate everybody who’s not Muslim. So how do we get out of that? Well, the first thing that we can begin to recognize is that the religion itself is propagated by fear. In Christianity, they had to invent something called hell just to get the kids to keep coming to church. I didn’t have to have hell as a fear to go to church. Even my mom, I was afraid of. You’ve heard the story about as soon as the church doors open, that your family is there. I was a little bit different than that because my mom was the one who had the key to the church. She’d go open it, and I had to be right. I was be the first one through the door. But what I did about that was, is that I became a little bit of a Bible scholar so that I could fight with the people who were at the church about their religion. I remember having several arguments with several different preachers about what a piece of crap they were selling. And the reason that I have these conversations with the preachers was because the Sunday school teachers were overwhelmed by me and they didn’t want me in Sunday school because I was creating a bunch of atheists. Now, that was in 1950 through, let us say, 1960 or so. In fact, I think it was about 1960 where the arrangement was with my mom and the preachers. I didn’t have to go to church anymore. And wow, was everybody relieved Especially the preachers, to not have to deal with me. So I have, I actually went so far when I got into university of teaching Ancient Greek just so that I could study the New Testament in Ancient Greek. And wow, was I surprised because the, the teacher that I had was not only very famous as a teacher, having a number of books on Greek language and mythology, but she was also teaching Koine Greek, the Greek that the New Testament is in, simply because she hated it too. And so she gave me a whole bunch of new information about what to do with Christianity in the sense of, oh, there’s a lot of places where we talked about it, but in fact in, in one place they have the, the Jesus, they say, changed water into wine. And the reality was is that he watered down the wine that they had left so that it would go around better and it actually tasted better. And so there was no real miracle there. The other one that I remember was, is that they were on a ship and the storm came up and everybody was afraid. But Jesus, he could sleep right through that storm. And they woke him up and says, do something about this storm. And in this, the Bible, it has the passage, it says that Jesus says, peace be still. And as if it was the storm he was talking about or talking to. But in fact the reality was that he was saying in a very loud voice to shut up and leave me alone. And he was talking to the crew. Well, guess what? The storm was over, everybody was happy, and by the time they wrote it down, they made it into a magic story. So this is the kind of stuff that I got from my Greek teacher. And that the reason that I’m telling you this is because somewhere along the way we have to give up our anger and our frustration at these religions because they’re designed to make people afraid. They’re designed to make people hate other people. Christians hate non Christians, Muslims hate non Muslims. A lot of people who are Muslims hate Muslims and they hate the religion. Right? But here’s the point is that if you really understand the religion, that means that you’re free from it. Most people don’t have a clue about what a piece of garbage these religions are. Whether it’s Hinduism or whether it’s Islam or whether it’s Christianity, whatever the religion is, is based upon mind control. They’re trying to control you. But in fact, the Roman Empire knew this specifically, that they wanted to change the religion from the religion that they had at the point in time which was, oh, I’ve forgotten the name of it, but it was highly involved with the military. And there are churches throughout all of the Roman Empire, wherever the military was. And Constantine wanted more power and more control over his military. And so he converted it to Christianity so that he could in fact control the. Because he couldn’t control the religious leaders of the old religion. He actually threw out all of those religious leaders and populated those churches and worship places into Christianity so that he could control them better. So the story of Christianity is a story of control. This, by the way, was the root foundation of the Catholic Church was to help the government of Rome control. And guess what? That happened all throughout the Middle Ages. Whatever kings there were, they. The king, they say, had divine right of rule, but who gave him the divinity to rule was the Catholic Church. It’s always been a control issue. Now in the Southern Baptist where I was raised in the deep south of South Carolina and Oklahoma, it was in fact an issue of control to keep the kids off the street, to keep them afraid, to keep them down. But in fact, at the school that I went to, the high school that I went to, I could not wait to graduate from high school so I could get the hell out of that town. But I was about the only one. All the other kids had to stay in that town because their moms and dads didn’t want them to go to university. They didn’t want them to be educated. They didn’t want them to know about religion. They wanted to keep them under their thumbs, to keep them under control. So, Karan, you are very, very lucky to have learned about Islam. You’re really lucky to have learned about it. You’re no longer under its control, but guess what? You’re still under the control of it through your hatred of it. Now, as I said in that post, a hundred years ago, you would have never, ever had been able to learn about Islam. It’s only in the modern times where the, the information about these religions is coming public mostly, surprise, surprise, through the Internet. Well, guess what, the Internet’s brand new. It’s still in diapers. It only got started in the 1990s and only got really popular by 2006. And so it’s at best in human years as a teenager. It doesn’t have all of the hundreds of centuries or dozens of centuries that the religions have had. And yet information on the Internet is destroying these religions at a very rapid pace. Christianity has really fallen apart in the United States. In fact, the Republican party is the last vestiges. It’s almost like the death call. It’s a swan call. They call It Why? Because Christianity is dying in America. Well, guess what? Islam is pretty feeble now compared to the power that it had over Northern Africa, all of the Middle east, way up into Europe, and all of those stands like Tajikistan and Baluchistan. And I don’t remember all of them. I think that there’s six of them. And all of them were under the control of the Soviet Union. But really the Soviet Union was using the moolahs and the religious leaders in order to hold down the population. So now that information is getting out, people are beginning to work. Wake up to Islam. Also, when the US invaded Iran, excuse me, Iraq, so many Iraqis and Syrians and whatever they wanted out of the war zone. Where did they go? Did they go to other Islamic countries? Oh, no, they didn’t want to go to an Islamic country. They wanted to go to Europe. Why? Because they already knew that Christianity was getting weak and they wouldn’t have to deal so much with Islam’s governmental system. And for quite a number of years, there was a lot of power being gained by the Muslims. In fact, in France, especially in Paris, there were areas of Paris where the French police were afraid to go because of the power of Islam. Well, guess what, that power has started to wane. Even in Germany, they’re actually physically closing mosques. They’re throwing them back out, especially those who are still involved with it. But one of the things that we know about immigration has happened over many, many centuries is that there’s three aspects to a culture. One is food, the other one is language. And the third one is religion. And almost always religion. And then, excuse me, language first, because they’ve got to learn a new language, they’re in a new country. And then religion, because the religion that they’re in is non dominant. And so it loses. And the last one to go is food. Okay? And an example of that is in Hamtranic, there is a big, big population of Polish people. And the Polish have a particular version of Christianity. Well, guess what? All the Poles, they learned English. And then the Polish Catholic churches began to fall apart. I was there in the 1970s and that was a big topic of that. The Polish churches are dying out. Poles are not going to church much anymore. But one thing for sure was, is that half the restaurants in Hamtramck were Polish restaurants. And you could get blintz and all kinds of other Polish food. It still lasted. So the Polish food or whatever culture that you’re in, the food is the last to go, language is first, then the religion dies, and then the Culture will cling on to the food. If you look at the immigration of the Hindus, the Hindus, first off, they learn the language, they learn English. The second thing is that Hindu religion, it goes for a while and then it begins to fall apart. But the last thing to go is Indian food. So if you can understand it like that, you can understand that religions don’t have the power that they used to have. If you can see that every time you see something about Islam, instead of hating it, you can say, aha, look at it, it’s falling apart. If you’re an ex Christian, every time that you think about or look at Christianity, you can say, ha, ha, it’s falling apart. I didn’t have to do it. I didn’t have to do anything. I’m just watching it fall apart. If you can begin to change your attitude about the religion, you won’t hate it so much anymore. Just like your grandpa. You might have hated him when he was in his 60s, but when he’s getting into his 70s and 80s, he’s an older, decrepit man. He may be as ferocious as he ever was, but now we can begin to have pity on him because he’s falling apart. He’s gotten old. So begin to see religion like that. See, religion is the old vestige from the old days when they could keep the people ignorant and then keep them afraid. And now you’re not so ignorant anymore, so why do you still have this fear and hatred for the religion? You should have pity for them instead. And so this is again back to our practice. You see, when you first get out of the religion, you still feel victimized by it. When you’re stuck in it, you’re a victim. But you don’t know that you’re a victim. And when you begin to understand the religion, you become a victim to it. And you recognize you’ve always been a victim to it. But when you can see that victimhood come up, when you see that the oh, that Ayatollah has bombed this or that, and you start hating Islam because the Ayatollah did this or that, then you can say, wait a minute, that Ayatollah is not nearly as powerful as he used to be. Look, he’s got to defend himself. He’s got to go bomb this and bomb that because he wants to stay in power and he’s losing it. Ha ha. So this is the way to start looking at a religion, is looking at it as if it was falling apart. And the only hold it has left upon you is not real. In fact, the only hold that it has upon you is how you feel about it. And if you hate that religion, then it’s your own hatred that has you by the balls. It’s your own anger, it’s your own hatred. And so if you could be mindful of that and see these thoughts of hate, see these thoughts of anxiety, see these thoughts that lead you into a state of being agitated because what the mulas are doing, then you can say, ah, I see that. And I don’t have to hate them anymore. I don’t have to hate them anymore. Wow. What a relief it is. I can be free from them. Hello, Diamond Dos. Good to see you. Hello. It’s good to see you guys. And by the way, Dhamma Das, I wanted to thank you yet once again for doing those video calls that you’re doing. Thank you so much. I’ve heard you. Yeah, I’m seeing the comments and I’m hearing stuff from people, and you’re quite a star, so keep up the good work. Oh, thank you so much. So, Kirstan, do you have any. Caroline, do you have any comments about what I’ve been talking about?

Speaker C: I think you are very right, but I was just thinking the whole time about you. You didn’t make any mention about Judaism. And I think maybe that’s how Judaism.

Dhammarato: Has already fallen apart. It’s no longer. All they’ve got left is their food. They’ve lost their language, they’ve lost their religion, and all they’ve got left is food.

Speaker C: Because I thought, you know, if you talk about them and we can get blocked on YouTube, you know, we can. We can’t. We can’t talk bad about Islam, about Christianity, about Judaism. We are not allowed to openly criticize them because the whole Internet is.

Dhammarato: Yeah.

Speaker C: Anyway.

Dhammarato: Yeah, I’m glad they don’t listen to our videos.

Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, yeah. What she says very correctly, I suggest be aware of my anger. I mean, my hate, and not. And not hurt myself with it, because they are not worth it.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: And also also said in many Islamic countries, I know that the mullahs are complaining because the mosques are empty. They build any big mosques, but actually not many people go. Go inside.

Dhammarato: No. Yeah. So the answer is, let’s build a bigger mosque. Maybe somebody will come then. Yeah. Isn’t it marvelous? If you start looking, you can see that all religions are falling apart. They’re all falling apart. I’m glad that you recognize that. Yeah. Especially Indonesia. That Islam is falling apart in Indonesia. And that’s the largest Muslim Country?

Speaker C: Yes, surprisingly, actually, it’s Indonesia. And after Indonesia, I think it’s India. Well, also, people don’t think about. But India is the second of the third largest Islamic country.

Dhammarato: Accident. You know, in the 1970s, there was always clashes between the Hindus and the Muslims. And now you don’t hear about that anymore. All you hear from India is they’re going to make electric cars and they’ve got high rise buildings and they have call centers. But fights between the Muslims and the Hindus, nobody cares anymore. What about Malaysia, Ivan? Do you think that Islam is falling apart in Malaysia too?

Speaker B: Religion in here is always related to politics. It’s just a bunch of politicking. Well, it falls apart in a sense that people start to see through the bullshit. So it’s just marshal control, like you said, huh? I have my personal grudges for Islam too. But yeah, it’s interesting not to care about it anymore.

Dhammarato: Yeah, it’s not interesting enough to even care about anymore. Mikey, what do you think about Oklahoma’s Christianity?

Speaker D: Yeah, definitely less younger people that are Christian, for sure.

Dhammarato: You know, in 1950, every kid in Tulsa was either a Baptist, a Methodist or a Presbyterian. And now you’ve raised in a Tulsa in the 2000s of. Where most of the kids, you know, are not even Christian. Isn’t that marvelous? It only took 50 years for Christianity to fall right apart. So, Samantha, what do you have to say about restlessness now? Oh, my God. Yeah, that’s good. Somebody’s having a ball.

Speaker C: He truly is.

Dhammarato: So, Aaron, you have something to say?

Speaker B: No, I mean, just been listening.

Dhammarato: All right, how about. Jonas, welcome, Jonas, good to see you. Okay. So, Michael, do you have something to say? Michael Belmont.

Speaker B: I think he left. Oh, no. Okay.

Dhammarato: Sorry. Say what?

Speaker B: No, no, I thought he left, but he’s there.

Dhammarato: Yeah. Turn your video back on, Michael. Let me hear you.

Speaker B: Oh, that’s Jonas.

Dhammarato: Jonas, you’re breaking up. I can’t hear you. Are you able to make anything out of that, Mikey? No. So, Michael, do you have something? No, I do not. Thank you. All right. So does anybody have anything to say?

Speaker B: I have a quick question. D like earlier on you were mentioning, like, emotion. Basically, just like, either you hate it or you like it. I was wondering, like, it’s more like we can see the hating and liking and not believing it. It’s just that the choice we are trying to practice here.

Dhammarato: Yes, that’s exactly right. And stop believing that. It’s important to get what you like and it’s important to hurt what you don’t like. That’s the ignorance. And when you stop believing that, you can see that it has any power over you anymore. Whether it’s that new Mercedes that you want or is that religion you don’t want, it doesn’t matter. They don’t have any power over you. That when they do, you’re a victim. When they no longer. When you no longer believe they have any power over you. Now you’re a winner. But we have to keep practicing over and over and over again because those victim thoughts will come up immediately. Why? Because that’s our habit. And so, Caroline, you have been hating Islam for 15 years now. And those hateful thoughts will keep coming back. You need to see them and say, wow, why should I hate this old man? He’s decrepit. He’s on his last legs. Ha ha. Watch him die.

Speaker C: Yeah, that’s a very nice refrain. Very nice way of changing. Yeah.

Dhammarato: Just let it go. No power over you anymore. You stop having that belief. It doesn’t have any power over you. Yeah.

Speaker C: By the way, I practiced the thing that you told me last time with when I woke up in the morning. The first few hours, I would feel very bad. And now I’ve practiced just not care about how I feel when I wake up. And I’m very okay with them. Basically, when I hear the call of this call, I was still sleeping, so I woke up. I feel like this, but I’m slowly just not caring about how I feel and how all the pressures in my body and just being okay with it. And I’m smiling and being okay in the mornings. Yeah. So thank you for that.

Dhammarato: Yeah. All right. Anybody else have any last things to say? Oh, Jonesy. Hey. Good to see you. All right, Mikey, why don’t you take this thing home? Yeah.

Speaker D: Happy to see so many friends here today, both old and new. This was excellent Sangha call. If you could go ahead and head on over to opensongafoundation.org and sign up, be sure to add your profile picture and your real name. Make some friends on there, send some messages, write up a blog post. You can add some Watson facilities. Open. Sangha foundation is a huge database of teachers, practitioners, and what we could call noble locations to go hang out at and practice the Dhamma.

Dhammarato: So go ahead. Go ahead.

Speaker D: Dhammarato.

Dhammarato: We have quite a search engine you can search on. Oh, zip or city or name or county or not county, but state, country. And we’ve got places from all over the place, even Buddhist sites in Croatia, of all things. So enjoy looking around to see all the various places that we have on it. You can see them at a glance on the map that we have. And also I would like to encourage people, especially folks like Damadas that are older, to start posting comments on the Sangha group. The Sangha group, we would like to get it really active. Ivan, you post something too. Mikey, post something. Samantha, please post on the. On the Sangha. Yes, go ahead.

Speaker C: Can I say something about it? I think maybe would be a good idea. Maybe for one week or two week that all of us don’t use Skype and. And discard Discord and only use the website. Because I know many conversations happening on inside the Discord and on the Skype different channels. You know, if you bring maybe everything to the website, maybe for one or two weeks. So we get used to using the website and then it will.

Dhammarato: That’s what I’m starting to encourage. Yeah, the last thing that we need to do is to get the speed of the website up. It’s a little slow, but other than that, it’s got really good facilities for people to post. So I encourage people to start posting. We’ve got forums, we’ve got groups and also many of the pages, including the post, you can make comments directly about that page or that post or in general on the groups. So thanks for mentioning that, Kirwan. All right, Mickey, anything last to say?

Speaker D: No, that’s it. Go ahead and take care everyone and enjoy.

Dhammarato: Thank you, everybody. Glad to see you.

Speaker B: Have a good day.

Dhammarato: May you remember that you’re the boss, not those feelings. Bye, everybody. Bye.

Brief Summary

This Dhamma talk centers on understanding and overcoming restlessness (uddhacca), one of the five hindrances. Dhammarato explains that restlessness is interconnected with other hindrances like craving, doubt, and ill will, and is often rooted in underlying fear. He emphasizes that the key is not to suppress restlessness, but to observe it clearly, tracing its origins back to thoughts and visualizations. He introduces the concept of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (satipatthana) as a practical tool to observe the interplay between body, feelings, mental attitudes, and thoughts and to ultimately free oneself from the victim mentality. He concludes by encouraging a shift in perspective towards seemingly powerful forces like religions, viewing them as weakening systems with no power over us besides the power we give them. The core message is that by developing mindfulness, we can understand and transcend the cycle of suffering caused by restlessness, fear, and misguided beliefs.

Outline of this Dhamma Talk

• [0:03-0:24] Introduction:

  • Opening remarks, date announcement.
  • Introduction of the talk topic: restlessness.

• [0:24-1:37] Restlessness as a Hindrance:

  • Restlessness is introduced as part of the five hindrances (pancha nīvaraṇā), things that prevent one from being in a good mood.
  • Explanation of how restlessness is connected to craving, doubt, and ill will.
  • Restlessness is defined with qualities of anxiety, agitation, and worry.
  • Key Concept: Pancha Nīvaraṇā - The five hindrances.

• [1:38-2:22] The Cure is Not Suppression but Clear Seeing:

  • The correct approach to restlessness is not to get rid of it, but to observe and relax into it.
  • Restlessness stems from underlying fear.
  • Key Concept: Clear seeing as a means to relax and deal with restlessness.
  • Interpretation: Clear seeing is presented as a crucial tool to overcome the hindrances, which is a common theme in Buddhist thought.

• [2:22-3:21] Restlessness, Fear and Tension:

  • Explains how wanting things leads to feeling “not good enough” which causes anxiety, worry, and restlessness.
  • Restlessness is linked to tension.
  • Discusses how stress is not a good term to describe restlessness/anxiety, as stress usually comes from external sources.
  • Interpretation: The cause of restlessness is identified as coming from within, through thought, as opposed to external stressors.
  • Analogy: Stress is an analogy as an engineer would think of it: a physical force that comes from the outside, such as gravity. This highlights the different use of the word ‘stress’ when applied to mental conditions.

• [3:21-4:43] The Nature of Thought:

  • Explores different kinds of thoughts beyond discursive (verbal) thought, with visualization highlighted.
  • Key Concept: Visualization as a non-verbal form of thought.
  • Analogy: Dreams are used as an analogy to show that thought can be primarily visual.

• [4:43-6:17] Visualizations and Discursive Thought:

  • Daydreaming and the speed of visual thoughts are discussed.
  • Example of the Yahoo email red background used to illustrate how a quick visualization leads to associated discursive thoughts.
  • Analogy: Yahoo Email red background is an analogy to exemplify the sequence of events that leads to thoughts.
  • Practical application: The listener is encouraged to be aware of the speed at which these visualizations arise in order to see them better.

• [6:17-7:30] Anxiety in Meditation - Root Causes:

  • Addresses the common issue of anxiety arising during meditation (e.g. anapanasati).
  • Posits the question of whether the anxiety is new or a habit.
  • Emphasizes the importance of backing up to see the root cause, which is key to understanding the sequence of mental formations.
    • Interpretation: Meditation is presented as a tool for introspection and awareness to uncover our habitual patterns of thinking and feeling.

• [7:30-8:09] Seeing Restlessness Throughout the Day:

  • Highlights that agitation and worry occur throughout the day, not just during meditation.
  • Encourages awareness of restlessness in everyday life.
  • Practical application: Not waiting for quiet conditions to investigate restlessness is presented as a step in the right direction.

• [8:09-9:09] The Sequence of Events: Thought, Visualization, Dukkha

  • Urges a step-by-step approach to seeing restlessness: First by identifying the discursive thought, then the visualization, and finally understanding how it leads to dukkha (dissatisfaction).
  • Key Concept: Dukkha - Suffering, dissatisfaction, unease.
  • Practical application: The ability to recognize the sequence of mental formations is the skill needed to address them.

• [9:09-10:11] The Opportunity to Change:

  • Seeing the cause and effect allows for change; full-blown anxiety is more difficult to deal with.
  • Analogy: A car pile-up is used as an analogy for how one might divert the course of action if one is aware of the causes of the problem beforehand.

• [10:11-11:04] Seeing It From a Distance, Breaking the Cycle:

  • Diverting when seeing the sequence of mental events (anxiety) early on (like seeing a car pile up from a distance) as opposed to slamming on the brakes or crashing into it.
  • The practice of anapanasati (breath meditation) helps “undo” anxiety.
  • Practical application: Catching the problem (anxiety) earlier makes it more manageable.

• [11:04-12:36] Breathing and Adrenaline:

  • Explains the physiological processes that happen when one breathes deeply: increased oxygen and removal of waste (CO2 and amino acids).
  • Anxiety increases with fighting/wanting it to go away.
  • The body releases adrenaline as the ‘fight or flight’ chemical.
  • Key concept: Adrenaline is linked to the biological response of the body.
  • Analogy: A gazelle being chased by a lion is used to highlight the body’s natural reaction to the ‘fight or flight’ response.

• [12:36-14:27] Handling Adrenaline:

  • The ‘fight or flight’ response is not usually necessary for modern anxieties (like a boss).
    • To combat anxiety, one needs to allow adrenaline to break down naturally through deep breathing.
    • Adrenaline is felt mostly in the chest area.
    • Practical application: Taking slow, deep breaths helps to get rid of the physiological aspects of anxiety.

• [14:27-15:15] Two Qualities: Stop and Dissipate Adrenaline:

  • The two-pronged approach to reducing the effects of adrenaline: stop adrenaline being pumped into the system and also to dissipate existing adrenaline.
  • Focusing on breathing, in breath and out breath, and speaking words that encourage relaxation can help.
  • Practical application: The combination of both breathing and positive self-talk is needed.

• [15:15-16:08] Talking Oneself Down from Anxiety:

  • The importance of using logic to reassure oneself when feeling anxiety.
  • Practical application: Self-talk can be a tool for changing one’s perspective and stopping the production of adrenaline.

• [16:08-17:38] Taking a Walk:

  • Walking can naturally change breathing and help with anxiety.
  • Encourages a gentler approach as opposed to fighting with tension or stress.
    • Practical application: A simple activity such as walking is presented as a tool to alleviate tension.

• [17:38-18:56] Thoughts that lead to Anxiety:

  • One can also focus on the kind of thoughts that one is having to prevent them from spiralling out of control.
  • One should have thoughts that are wholesome and reassuring, rather than focusing on things that can go wrong.
    • Practical application: Thinking of positive outcomes prevents a negative feedback loop.

• [18:56-19:35] The Four Foundations of Mindfulness:

  • Introduces the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (satipatthana)
  • Links awareness of body, feelings, mental attitude and thoughts to the process of mindfulness.
  • Key Concept: Satipatthana - The Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Body, Feelings, Mental Attitudes, Thoughts).
    • Interpretation: The importance of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness as a base for the practice.

• [19:35-20:27] Habitual Negative Thoughts:

  • The habit is to have thoughts that focus on negative outcomes, and this leads to anxiety, restlessness, and a desire to fight these feelings.
    • Interpretation: Human beings have a tendency to invent problems, and then suffer because of them.

• [20:27-21:29] The Power of Positive Thought:

  • Positive and reassuring thoughts can be used to break out of that negative loop, and induce relaxation.
  • Encouragement to feel the tension and stress within the body (chest area).
  • Practical application: Relaxation is a practice that needs to be repeated in order to be able to take effect.

• [21:29-22:21] Checking on the Body:

  • Encouragement to check the body often for uptightness, stress, anxiety, and to trace that back to the original thought.
  • Practical application: Checking the body for anxiety often is a useful tool to become aware of the issue.

• [22:21-23:24] Changing Negative Thoughts:

  • Changing negative thoughts into more wholesome ones is a means to be released from victimhood.
  • Practical application: Changing negative thinking into positive thinking is a means to reduce anxiety.

• [23:24-24:42] Attitude and the Victim Mentality:

  • The importance of checking our attitudes, because a victim mentality often accompanies feelings of anxiety.
  • Interpretation: A loser’s attitude is connected to negative feelings of anxiety, victimhood.

• [24:42-26:40] The Sati Patthana Sutta:

  • Mention of the satipatthana sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya and Digha Nikaya.
  • The anapanasati sutta is structured around the four foundations of mindfulness.
    • We practice anapanasati in order to fulfill the satipatthana.
  • The body and our feelings help us understand our emotions better.
    • Key Concept: The Sati Patthana Sutta (MN 10, DN 22) and Anapanasati Sutta.

• [26:40-27:33] Not Being a Victim:

  • We must move away from the victim mentality and recognise that we are not powerless.
  • Analogy: When you can see religion, it can no longer hurt you.
  • Practical application: The ability to see something for what it is renders it powerless.

• [27:33-30:30] Victimhood: An Example:

  • An example of feeling victimized by the government of Malaysia is explored.
  • Many people believe in stories that promote a sense of victimhood.
    • Practical application: The ability to see through the power that one gives a system removes the sense of victimhood.

• [30:30-31:05] Changing Attitude and Feelings:

  • Changing our attitude changes our feelings and our thoughts, and our breathing.
  • All of these factors are related to each other and can be changed through mindfulness.
  • Practical application: Change the thought, change the attitude, change the feeling, change the breathing, and therefore change the body.

• [31:05-32:27] Summary of Practice and Core Message:

  • The Four Foundations of Mindfulness is a practice that requires paying attention to the relationship between feelings, the body, attitude, and thoughts.
  • Restlessness is strongly linked to worry.
  • Underlying worry is the feeling of being a victim.
  • Breathing, together with wholesome thoughts allows us to melt the negative feelings away.
    • Practical application: The combination of mindfulness, breathing, and positive self-talk allows to reduce negative feelings.

• [32:27-34:27] Anger at Religion:

  • Discussion of anger towards religion and how it can arise when one begins to see through the system.
  • The speaker narrates his personal experience with his anger towards religion as a child, and how he overcame it.
  • His father’s way of “avoiding” the church is highlighted as a solution that allowed him to get over his anger about it.

• [34:27-38:30] Islam as an Example of Religion Built on Fear and Hatred:

  • Another example given to highlight that once one understands the structure of a religion, it can no longer hold power over them.
  • Interpretation: Islam is used as an example of a religion that is spread through fear.

• [38:30-41:52] How Religions Use Control:

  • The use of hell by Christianity is cited as a means to keep people going to church.
  • The speaker’s method of fighting the teachers with knowledge of the bible is explored as a means to fight against the religion that he felt trapped by.
  • His university teacher’s methods of showing Christianity as a non-miraculous collection of stories is discussed.

• [41:52-42:41] Getting Over Anger at Religion:

  • The important point is to let go of the anger at these religions because these were designed to make people hate others.
    • Interpretation: Religions create a system of control that leads to fear and hatred.

• [42:41-46:25] The Roots of Christianity:

  • The Roman Empire’s decision to adopt Christianity as a means of control and maintain power over the people is discussed.
  • Southern Baptist control over the people in the town where he grew up is explored.
    • Interpretation: Religion is discussed as a means of political control and of maintaining the status quo.
    • Analogy: The control of religion is likened to being “under their thumbs”.

• [46:25-47:24] The Weakening of Religions:

  • The speaker says that the internet is a key tool for exposing the religions’ flaws.
  • Christianity is losing ground in the US, and Islam is waning.
  • Interpretation: The internet is a tool for destroying the traditional power structure of religions.
  • Analogy: The internet is called a teenager in human years, to demonstrate that it is still in its infancy stage.

• [47:24-49:47] Islam and the West:

  • An example of Syrians and Iraqis going to Europe as opposed to Islamic countries because they knew that Christianity was weakening there is given.
  • Islam’s power is waning in Europe too.

• [49:47-51:45] Food, Language and Religion:

  • Three aspects of a culture are explored: food, language, and religion.
  • Language goes first, then religion, and then the last one to go is food.
    • Interpretation: Food and cultural practices are the last aspect to die in any given culture.
    • Analogy: Hamtramck is given as an example of a town populated by Polish people, where the language and the religion fell away, but the Polish food remained.

• [51:45-52:29] Religion has no Real Power:

  • Religions don’t have the power they once had.
  • The message is to start having pity on them as they fall apart.
    • Practical application: Viewing religion as a system that is falling apart helps take away its power.
    • Analogy: The power of religion is likened to a decrepit old man that once was a terrifying figure.

• [52:29-55:15] Victimhood is Based on Fear and Hatred:

  • When one leaves a religion, one still feels victimized by it, even when not stuck in it.
  • The only hold religion has on you is how you feel about it.
  • Hate and anger have to be seen as thoughts that arise, and then they can be released.
  • Practical application: The recognition of negative feelings as temporary states that need to be released through mindfulness.

• [55:15-57:20] Transition to Q&A:

  • A thank you to Dados for his work.
  • Transition to Q&A with the group.
  • Karan mentions that Judaism was not mentioned and that is probably because it’s falling apart, and that he feels as though we cannot be critical about certain religions on Youtube.
    • Interpretation: The silence around a particular religion, or other issues, can be an indication of its weakening power.

• [57:20-58:16] All Religions are Falling Apart:

  • The speaker agrees with Karan that the religions are all falling apart.
    • The speaker highlights Indonesia as a country where Islam is falling apart.
    • Practical Application: The ability to see that all religions are weakening can help break their power.

• [58:16-59:04] The Fading Importance of Religion in India:

  • India is mentioned as a country where the clashes between Muslims and Hindus is becoming a thing of the past.

• [59:04-62:04] Further Group Discussion:

  • Discussion with Ivan about Malaysia and how religion is also used in politics.
  • Discussion with Mikey about the waning of Christianity in Oklahoma.
  • Discussion with Samantha where she is unable to say anything due to being “overwhelmed”.
  • Further discussion with other participants.

• [62:04-63:23] Q&A: Hate/Like Emotions:

  • A question about the practice of not “believing” in the emotions of liking and hating is answered by the speaker.
  • Interpretation: The ability to see and not believe the emotions is a key aspect of the practice.

• [63:23-64:52] Q&A: Victimhood and Habit:

  • A discussion about victim thoughts and how they keep coming back because they are part of a habit.
  • Analogy: Religion is likened to an old man that one should have pity for.
  • Interpretation: Habits are hard to break and require ongoing mindfulness and practice.

• [64:52-65:11] Q&A: Not Caring About Feelings:

  • Karan explains how he has been using the advice given previously and not caring about his negative feelings.
  • Practical Application: Not caring about negative emotions helps alleviate their power over us.

• [65:11-66:02] Closing Remarks:

  • Mikey brings the session to a close and encourages listeners to join the Oponga Foundation online.

• [66:02-68:15] The Website and Further Action:

  • The website’s search function and other tools are mentioned.
  • Older members are encouraged to post on the S-group.
  • Karan makes a suggestion for everyone to use the website for a week or two to get used to using it as opposed to Skype or Discord.
  • Practical application: The use of the website is encouraged.

• [68:15-68:33] Farewell:

  • Closing remarks and farewell to the group.
  • Key Idea: May we remember that we are the boss and not our feelings.

3. Special Attention:

• Precise Use of Terms and Translations:
  • The speaker uses Pali terms like pancha nīvaraṇā, uddhacca, and dukkha, with explanations that align with traditional Buddhist teachings.
  • He also explains Satipatthana (Four Foundations of Mindfulness) both in Pali and in English, and ties in the anapanasati sutta to it.
  • There is careful explanation of dukkha, not just as suffering, but as unease and dissatisfaction.
• Distinctions between Traditional and Western Interpretations:
  • The speaker clarifies how the concept of “stress” in Western culture differs from the kind of mental tension that is being discussed. He explains how “stress” usually comes from external sources, whereas the anxiety that he is referring to is mostly self-generated.
  • He emphasizes the importance of observation and clear seeing as opposed to the common Western approach of suppression.
  • The speaker provides examples of how a “miracle” as depicted in the bible could have been a simple event that was embellished with time.

How to Practice

• The talk is rich in practical advice:
  • Observing restlessness throughout the day and not just during formal meditation.
  • Tracing thoughts back to their visual roots.
  • Using deep breathing to address the physiological aspects of anxiety.
  • Using self-talk to challenge fear-based thoughts.
  • Understanding and changing one’s attitude.
  • Not fighting the negative feelings, but letting them be.
  • Focusing on the physical symptoms of anxiety in the body.
  • Seeing the pattern of the mental formations that bring about restlessness.
  • The importance of focusing on the present moment.

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There is nothing like direct transmission of the teachings in a one-to-one or one-to-group (Sangha) format from a skilled teacher. We encourage you to participate in our weekly Sanghas.