Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Stephen Batchelor explores the Buddha’s pragmatic middle way by examining a short sutta passage on the pitfalls of cultivating concentration, effort, and equanimity in isolation. He unpacks how exclusive focus on any single quality—calmness, force, or detachment—can backfire: too much calm breeds indolence; too much effort breeds restlessness; too much equanimity can mean uncaring disengagement from suffering. Batchelor then introduces the four great efforts as the remedy: sustaining positive states once they arise without grasping; creating conditions for wholesome states to emerge through daily awareness practice; letting go of negative states by recognising their painfulness and impermanence; and preventing unwanted states by understanding the triggers and inner conditions that give rise to them. Throughout, he offers concrete examples from his own practice—anger while cooking, anxiety about Stephen’s death, tiredness leading to irritability—to show how creative awareness transforms reactive patterns into balanced, open engagement with difficulty. Pitched at practitioners on a meditation retreat seeking practical tools for daily life.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 IT.mp3
UUID: b2475bed-1854-47b2-954b-467d204e7b09
Teacher: Batchelor
Collection: Insight Tapes (Batchelor)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~6,396
Talking about contingency. And personally, I think it is what the Buddha is really trying to do. Also, of course, he talks about a lot of very lofty things. But a lot of the time, he brings you back to something which is, in a way, I would say, very pragmatic, very practical, very quite precise, actually, kind of looking at different aspects of a situation. And generally, in a way, encouraging us to try to go to the middle way, to see the experience, again, in a much more multi dimension.
And again, it seems to me a very creative approach to look at things in different ways. And so what I’d like to do first is to read just a very short passage, and then to talk a little about it in terms of practice and daily life. And so this is in the numerical discourse in the sutta called The Refinement of the Mind. And that’s what he says: If a monk devoted to the training in the higher mind should give exclusive attention to the item of concentration, it is possible that his mind may fall into indolence. If we should give exclusive attention to the item of energetic effort, it is possible that his mind may fall into restlessness.
If he should give exclusive attention to the item of equanimity, it is possible that his mind will not be well concentrated for the destruction of the defilement. And personally, find that passage very interesting, because in a way we’re told to concentrate. We’re told to put effort. We’re told to be equanimous. And here the Buddha said, Yeah, yeah, it’s good to be concentrated.
It’s good to put effort. It’s good to be equanimous. But you have to be careful. Do it in moderation. Be careful that if you actually just give all your attention to one thing, that actually might have slightly negative consequences because it creates certain conditions.
So it’s back. The thing by itself, concentration, in a way, is a good thing. But just to cultivate concentration, that actually could have, in a way, a negative result. And so I think it’s interesting to look at that in that way, and to see that concentration. And so, you know, we tell you to focus, but sometimes, in a way, if we are too focused, it’s kind of like we get into eternal vision.
And that, in a way, makes us a little indirect but also closes us off to other things that might be happening. And that’s why I was encouraged today to do the listening to the sound because generally that really opens up. We concentrate in a different way. Because often we associate concentration with this, what I would call closing the mind, which actually sometimes is not so helpful. Or also, sometimes if we focus too much, especially on the breath, I would say you can become too calm.
You become so calm in a way that you become in a way you get less energy. And I think that’s why he said, be careful, then it can lead to indolence. That in a way we lose energy. And I would say, on a day like this where it’s very hot. In the afternoon, I would say, yes, concentrate on the breath, but also really bring in the element of experiential inquiry of Vipassana to really balance out the calmness with some vividness, some freshness.
And that’s why that level, I think, sometimes it’s useful to leave the breath a little, to move to, like, for example, the body sweeping. As you move through the body, there is more movement, you can look more into the characteristics, and then that brings some vividness in the mind. So to see that, yes, we’re trying to concentrate, but just not to the detriment of some other quality that we can cultivate together. I think it’s very, in a way, important to see that, to kind of, when we meditate, to try to have a balance. We’re not just trying to get a certain state, but in a way to see.
Sometimes there is a little too much calm, then we need to bring a bit more vividness. Sometimes there is a bit too much vividness, then we need to bring a little more of calm. And in that way, becoming our own teacher in terms of the meditative experience. And then he talks about if we put too much effort, if we just kind of put exclusive attention to effort, then we become restless. And it is actually true, I think.
If we just think meditation is about, in a way, kind of, you know, kind of forcing yourself. You see again, often, what do we mean by efforts? I think the Buddha means a right effort, an effort which is, in a way, the middle way, which is creative. But to be careful when we force ourselves too much, I must be concentrated, I must be calm, actually you tense yourself more. And then you can’t be concentrated or calm because, you know, you’re forcing yourself too much to be so.
Also sometimes if we put too much effort, actually we we kind of heighten the energy. And so actually we can become restless to to push too much sometimes. Actually, you can’t find a stable place. You can’t find a still place. So again, to be careful to notice, in a way, is in a way my effort balanced, equilibrated, so that it gives me energy, but it doesn’t lead, in a way, to that agitation.
So again, to kind of have some balance, some equilibrium there. And at that level, I think also in terms of effort, to be careful with what I would call the idealistic impulse, the heroic, you know, I must be awakened now. I must be the perfect meditator yesterday. You know, and there is this kind of you know, and there to be careful with what I would say the difference, how it feels experientially, the difference between what I would call expectation and inspiration. Because if we sit with expectation, I must be like this, I must be like that, then actually this limit us.
This kind of, you know, encase us. And actually we feel a little again, a little kind of tense about it. But if we have what I would call aspiration, we aspire to be more quiet, to be more clear, to be more peaceful, for wisdom, for compassion. And this is something which gives us energy to practice, to cultivate, but it’s open ended. We’re not looking for a certain type of calm or a certain length of calm.
But it’s something that we aspire to, that in a way we want to work toward. So in a way, I think in terms of effort to see when we go into that, what I would call, the heroic mode. And when we are more in like the middle way mode, where we’re really there. But there is more of that, again, that openness, that ease as we sit or we walk in meditation. And it’s interesting that the Buddha mentioned equanimity, because if you talk to a lot of Buddhists, I mean, is a summum bonum apart from awakening.
This is the next kind of growl, equanimity. You know, we all want to be equanimous. But often I feel because we have this idea that if I really get equanimous, then I will be above it all. Nothing ever will bother me. You know, somebody dying, oh, well, too bad.
This is your karma. Oh, well, you know. And in a way, to be careful, really careful. Why do we think equanimity is about? Because I think here the Buddha is pointing out, if you just give your exclusive attention to equanimity, actually you might not remove work with the defilement because generally you will say, oh, it doesn’t matter.
Who cares? Often that’s the way we think about equanimity, that we reach a state where truly we don’t care about anything. But I don’t think that’s why the awakening we’re talking about in terms of compassion, in terms of, as Steven was saying, to be open to the suffering of the world and our own suffering. Of course, we need to care about it in an equanimous manner. What does it mean?
Or often with equanimity, there could be this feeling, I am above this, wanting to be above it all. Sometimes one hears this. When actually the Buddha is not talking about that kind of equanimity. I think he’s talking about what I was talking about yesterday, creative engagement. How can I encounter condition in a stable and open way that I can creatively deal with them?
It’s not telling us to go above condition. Because I think what he’s saying is that if you go above condition, you will not be able to deal with it. And recently, I met this woman in California, and she was telling me that, you know, for all her life, for a long time, thirty years, she practiced a different type of practice than in awareness meditation, a different tradition, not a Buddhist one. And the main point was to be concentrated, and through that, to be totally equanimous. And she said, you know, when I do that kind of meditation, I can get into incredible mystical state.
But this doesn’t help me whatsoever to deal with my problem. You know, recently she had cancer and that did not help her whatsoever. And she that’s why she did awareness meditation because she thought that really helps me to be within the condition and in a way to creatively engage condition, with my illness, with my situation. And I think this is what we have to be careful about. That the equanimity the Buddha is talking about is actually to be with conditions in a different way, to see them, to engage with them, and not in a way to be uncaring about them or above them.
So now what I’d like to look at is the four great efforts. Because to me, this very simple teaching, the Buddha presented his very pragmatic practical view about conditions. But actually, the meditation is not to go above condition into another realm. But on the contrary, the meditation is really to be here and to look at the condition, to see how we are influenced by conditions. Because in a way, and Stephen might talk about it tomorrow, that at the time of the Buddha, a person was what they were, what they were they were considered to be what they were because of their birth, because of their caste.
And the Buddha said, no, a person is not defined by their birth. A person is defined by what they do. And that’s why one of the Eightfold Paths, one of them is great effort. And part of the right effort is for great efforts. And that’s what they are, and some of you must know them already.
To sustain positive states once they have arisen, to enable positive states that have not yet arisen to arise, to prevent negative states that have not arisen from arising, and to let go of negative states once they have arisen. And the third one, the one I just said, to prevent negative states that have not arisen from arising. So let me take them each. That in a way the first one, to sustain positive states once they have arisen. So what the Buddha is saying is that in certain conditions, in certain ways, we are able, all of us, to experience positive, skillful, wholesome states where we feel at peace, we feel compassionate, we feel calm, we feel clear, we feel wise.
And in a way what he is saying, when you experience this, can you sustain it? How can you, in a way, without grasping at it, sustain this positive state. And to me this is very much what we do in meditation. And this is in a way we cannot sustain the positive state. And how do we do that?
And how can we do this? Because this is interesting. We sit in meditation and often we wait for one of these positive states to happen. I think a lot of our time spent on meditation is waiting for something different, special, positive to happen. We kind of wait, wait, wait.
And then what is interesting is that as soon as we start to feel different, we feel more calm, we feel more clear or we feel a sense of dissolution, or we feel great compassion, we feel, ‘Ah, this is it, this is it, I’m getting it!’ And as soon as we do this, it goes. This is what is interesting. And I would say that is not sustaining the positive state. But see, to me, this is part of the practice on a meditation retreat, is when we feel such a positive state, calm, peace, whatever it is, how can we sustain it? And personally, would say the way to sustain it is to be with it.
To be with it in this stable and open way. So you experience a state, you are it in a way, because generally the I dissolve a bit when you experience this meditative state, but you hold it in a very gentle way, not too loose, not too tight. And I find myself that when I do this, then the state will continue for a while. And then, of course, at some point, it will cease. But the state can come up again, and again, I can sustain it.
I can be with it if I have a certain attitude when it happens. So I think in a way what is important with this great effort is first to recognize, to see, to appreciate, oh, I feel well now. I feel at peace. I feel calm. I feel joyful.
I feel happy. Whatever it is. And also this is when we are in our daily life. To really know positive state, to really experiencing them fully, knowing how does it feel to be peaceful, to be happy, to be calm. And if we know them and if we are there with them in that not too tight, not too loose, Generally, it can sustain itself a little longer.
But at the same time, we know it will cease. We know it will go. And I feel it’s part of it sustaining. Now I live in Porto near my sisters. And once every two months, we get together, and we have a meal together on a Saturday.
We have a Saturday lunch, just the girls and not the husbands. And what is interesting, every time we have this lunch, we can’t leave each other. You know, we we don’t do it consciously. We cannot we try to make it the longest week. And then at one point, we had to, in a way, let go.
You know, everybody has to go home. But it’s interesting in a way, as we are together, we can really enjoy being together. And to me, it’s very interesting see that moment where we have to let go of it. But at the same time, by letting go of it, by the seizing of it, the state is still there. Because I love them, because I enjoy them.
The fact that they are not there doesn’t mean that the state is not there. So again, sometimes I think we have to be careful of thinking that we need exactly certain things for the state to be there. Because the state sometimes doesn’t need all the ingredients. Just having been in it, it can continue on its own without all the ingredients that made it possible. As long as we don’t grasp at it.
Because as soon as we grasp, then it will go. This is what is interesting. If we are open to the seizing, then the sustaining continue a little more. If we grasp at it, then it totally goes. Anyway, to look at that also in terms of the sustaining, being with the seething of the positive state.
Then there is the And for example, in this, I think, in terms of daily life, what I can also look at is love. Personally, I think love is a very positive state. If it’s what I would call a creative wise love, and I might talk more about this another time. But once I saw very early on, you know, in my relationship with Stephen, I saw that I could actually stop the love. If I continue with the negative frame of mind I was in, I could stop it.
And so sometimes I think we have to be careful. Sometimes we take positive state, positive feeling in a very light manner. And we don’t see how much we should treasure them, how much we should nurture them without grasping at them. And so sometimes I do feel we have the choice to sustain love or to actually destroy love. That it is our choice.
There is this moment where we can make the decision to let go of the negative, kind of the, what I would call the exaggeration, the proliferation or to, in a way, be with the feeling itself. To recover, to sustain that feeling. And this I think is interesting in terms of that effort to look at love, like it’d for a partner, for children, for family, whoever it is, to notice that we can sustain it in a way or we can also destroy it. Then there is a second effort, which I find very interesting, to enable positive states that have not yet arisen to arise. So as the Buddha is saying there, that we can cultivate condition in such a way that we could help positive state to arise.
To me, this is very much what meditation is about. That what we do in meditation here is that we are working on the conditions of positive state, skillful state, peace, clarity, wisdom, compassion are more likely to arise. And that’s why I think it’s very important that in our daily life, we don’t forget to continue with the meditation. Not just a sitting meditation or the walking meditation, but also this meditative awareness. Because I think the meditative awareness, that certain quality of being in life in a certain way, is what will make the difference for more likely the positive states to arise.
And then that level to really see that the tools of awareness are truly tools to help us to help those positive states to arise. And that’s why I present these various objects because I think these various objects will help. For example, breath. If we remember to watch the breath in our daily life, that will help us to be more calm. If we remember to come back to the body in our daily life, that will help us to feel more grounded, more stable.
If we come back to the sound, this help us often to be more open. If we come back to the feeling tone, which I will introduce tomorrow, I feel it helps us to be with feelings and emotion in a more spacious way, in a different way. If we do the question, as I will bring in the day after, I think it help us to unstuck ourselves. Because in a way, why the positive state often don’t happen? Because we are stuck.
We are fixed. And in a way, the question, what is this? Can in a way, unstuck us, destick us. And so we can, you know, come back to this liveliness, to this freshness, to this potential. Or the loving kindness often may become so self centered that in a way coming back to the loving kindness.
May you be happy. May you be at peace. May you be free from suffering. May I be happy. May I be at peace.
May I be free from suffering. That again shows us, yes, it is possible to wish myself well, to wish other well, to look at the world in a more benign way. So in a way to see that during this meditation retreat, we actually are cultivating the tools of awareness. We’re actually cultivating the condition of the second effort so that the positive state can arise. And to me, at that level, part of the meditation posture, sitting, is very important.
That feeling that stability with that openness. And whatever we do in our life to bring that posture, that when we whatever we encounter to bring, to come back to that posture, in a way to come back to this belly, to the posture we have when we sit, and to, in a way, internalize it. It. And that can also, we can bring that in our daily life. Then there is a third great effort which is to let go of negative states once they have arisen.
And I would agree, this is not an easy thing to do. You know, you’re kind of totally caught. I don’t know, in anger, in jealousy, in whatever it is, in self centeredness. And if we’re really caught in it, it’s very difficult in a way to just say, let go. Stop being angry.
Stop being jealous. Stop being self centered. This generally doesn’t work. And I think that’s why in a way, what is so important, what we’re developing is this creative awareness. This awareness so we start to see ourselves in it, in the negative state.
Not to judge it. The awareness is not judgmental. But the awareness see, this is not skillful. But also what the awareness see is that it is painful. And that’s why in a way, knowing suffering is interesting at that level.
That if we really know suffering, then we see when is it that I inflict upon me and it is really not necessary, Or inflict it on others and it’s really not necessary. And I know for myself, because I had some trouble with anger, I am the irritable type. And the breakthrough came when I was one day, I had a nice discussion with another Buddhist. So when you have a discussion, argument with a Buddhist, you generally don’t raise a voice because that’s a no no. But it’s very seizing inside.
So she would say, you did not do it. I said, but I will do it. You And then I had to go and do my job, which was to cook for a conference. So I had to leave the discussion cum argument. And so I was cutting carrots.
And I was cutting carrots, and suddenly I thought, I was cutting carrots like this. And I thought, wait a minute, this is a little dangerous. Then I went into the body and I looked inside the body. What am I experiencing in this moment? And what I was experiencing was shaking.
My whole body was shaking. My leg was And I realized in that moment of really knowing the experience, being with the experience, creatively engaging with the experience that this was painful and I was doing it. And I did not do that. I did not need to do that. And as soon as I saw it, in this way, it went.
And I was very calm again. And then I looked into my mind. What was I telling myself to provoke such strong reaction? And I was telling myself, I am right. She is wrong.
I am right. She is wrong. I am right. She is wrong. And suddenly, I saw that she must be doing exactly the same, but in the opposite way.
And I thought, this is ridiculous. I realized it was not about right or wrong. It was, you know, two different perceptions of a situation. And it went. So in a way, I am not saying it is easy to do this.
But I think with the creative awareness, we’re developing here, sometimes, yes, we can if we really go into the state and we see the pain of it, And we also we see sometimes the absurdity of it. And that thing really will just dissolve it. Also, I think sometimes we can let go of the negative state when we see the exaggeration of it. Again, not in a judgmental way. Because I remember I was in I was going to do some research in Japan, and I wanted you know, I was supposed to have a translator to interviews.
It’s a great Zen master nun. And I get there, there is no translator and I’m really stuck. I can’t speak Japanese. And I am starting this retreat, three day of walking and sitting like you’re doing. And what to do?
And I sit, and most of the first day I was sitting being resentful. This is a kind of very Buddhist negative state. You’re not angry, but you’re resentful. And I was chewing, you know, ruminating, you know. They said this, they could do this, what am I going to do?
And suddenly in the middle of the afternoon, I suddenly saw I was resenting. And it was exaggerated. It was proliferation. And I thought, this is not meditating. I don’t need to do this.
And again it went. But because I really saw it. And I think this is a thing about this awareness, is to really go into the experience, to see the whole of it, the body, the mind, the heart. And then you see it in a different way, in the acceptance of it, in a way, sometimes there is a transformation of it. It becomes light and it just it disappears.
And in a way also, I feel in this letting go of the negative state, there is also the knowing of the seizing of it. Because I think this is in a way the gift of impermanence. That good things change, yes, but bad things change too. So that, you know, the fact that we are angry or jealous or in pain, that too will pass. And I think often in the acceptance of the thing itself and the knowing of it ceasing, there is a coming, there is a letting go.
But as long as we don’t grasp as a ceasing, I want it to stop now, that is not going to work. But if we know, yeah, this too will pass. And in a way, sometimes that’s the way I feel when I’m in pain. That I have some problem with the stomach and sometimes when I eat certain things, it does not suit me. And then I feel not so well.
But I know this will pass. In twenty four hours or in eight hours, this will be gone. And so in a way, if we grasp and dramatize, then in a way, we don’t allow the seizing, the disappearing to happen. And we make things continue longer. And so I think in a way to see also how we sometimes force negative state to last longer but actually not seeing that they too will disappear.
And then we are much lighter with it. And so we can be with them in a different way while they are continuing. And then there is a fourth great effort, which is to prevent negative state that has not arisen to arise. And again, to me, this is very important to look at, to see that we don’t always are in a negative state, unskillful state. We’re not.
They arise. That’s why the Buddha was saying, this thing pain, suffering, difficulty, problem, negativity arise upon conditions. And I think this effort is about looking. What is it that triggers? So in a way, that’s why the problem is with being above conditions, is that you don’t see what is the cause of the condition.
And so if we can creatively engage with the condition, the outer conditions and the inner conditions to see, but how did this arise? And to see what triggers it? Because often there is a trigger. So back to my tendency to be irritable. And at the beginning of our marriage with Stephen, when I lived in England, sometime I would find myself We lived in a big house actually, very big.
And sometime I would be, you know, entering this big room, and Stephen was at the back, in a little kind of office at the back. And I would find myself looking for something to argue with Stephen. You know, and kind of the time I went there, you know, it was kind of, you know, one minute looking for something. And then you would think, why why does she look for an argument with me? What’s the matter?
I kind of and then I thought, but where does this arise? Why why this? Because he’s really not done anything, but I’m looking for something that is done. And then I realized this would happen when I was tired. So in a way, the condition was tiredness.
That when I’m tired, I’m more likely in those days, I was more likely to be irritable. So after that, whenever I started to feel tired, I would go the other way to the bedroom and lie down, which was much easier for Steven. But in a way, to see we are not always the same. Things arise upon conditions. So what is it in a way that triggers our negative state?
And a lot of the time it is tiredness, it is stress, it is sleepiness, it is all kind of different things, feeling blocked. And so in a way, to see that, I think the creative awareness is about discovering actually our inner condition and how they interact with our outer condition. And where are the points of trigger? And how can I, in a way, play with this? How can I work with this creatively?
And also to see that often in terms of negative state, we set ourselves up. I think a lot of the time we don’t need to do that, but we do that. We actually set ourselves up. We cannot actually create more anxiety, more fear, or more of something which is painful or distressing than is needed. And in a way, I think it’s important to see again what starts it and how do I exaggerate it, how do I propagate it.
In the past, many years ago, again at the beginning of our marriage with Stephen, I used to do meditation and then I would sit there, watch the breath or ask a question, and then I would thought, but what if Steven dies? You know? What am I going to do? What am I going to do with my life? And then I would go into all kind of proliferation.
And then at the end of it, I would be really sad and, oh, Steven. And, you know, what’s the matter with you? And then over time, I realized I was doing this. And I thought, but, yes, what? I thought, but why do I do this?
You know? And I could see it came from, again, insecurity. But then I thought, but this is weird. He is not dead yet. You know, I could, instead of thinking about him dying, I could appreciate him when he’s alive, which would be more the point.
So then, I thought, what can I do about this? And so the next time, there was a feeling, the kind of the fear, the insecurity, that I changed the question. I asked, what if I die? And then I totally was not interested. I died.
I was not there. I did not care. And I stopped doing it totally from then on. But to see in a way with creative awareness, how do we set ourselves up? How do we actually create the condition so that the negative state will arise when actually it doesn’t need to arise?
Because I think, again, there are enough difficult condition in our life without us, in a way, adding to it. So in a way, trying during this retreat, the time the rest of the time together to see, again, to work with the concentration, the effort, the equanimity, and also to try to see to get a feel for these four great efforts. Thank you. Are there any questions or comments? That when stated the quote that if you just focus on the breath for example, can get too calm.
I’m just wondering if there’s any need in some stages to just focus on the one method or, you know, how to use the different methods? Okay. What I would generally say is that it’s good to become familiar grounded with one method. Like, you know, if you’re comfortable with the breath, do this most of the time. If you’re comfortable with the sound, do this most of the time.
So that there is something you’re familiar with. And I think generally that’s what happens. People generally, after a little while, you know I mean, that’s why I think they have to try a little different thing. And generally, relatively quickly, people find one object which they feel most they feel comfortable. It’s not easy every time, but they feel relatively comfortable with.
So they can do it. So then I would say, yes. One will naturally do this. Myself, I started with the question, and I generally do the question. But actually, I do the question with a little bit of something else.
And so every day, I do the question either with the breath or with the sound or whatever it is because it’s so natural within me, but it can also accommodate. And that’s why for me, the focus is about more what I would call the foreground and the background. That in the foreground, you you put something, whatever it is, and of course, you will generally choose a certain foreground. But that is not to the exclusion of what is in the background, which is the sound, the sensation, and things like that. And if one read the Satipatthana Sutta, in a way the Buddha, in a way seems to see that where you start with the breath, then the body, and then you move to, you know, we can have wider and wider.
But I personally I think, you know, it doesn’t mean that, you know, every time we have to go through everything. I think generally, in term of the meditation retreat, most of the time you will be you will do one thing. But even that one thing, I think you have to use both, the concentration and the inquiry with that one thing. The Samatha and the Vipassana. I think the two are important.
So just to do concentration or just to do Vipassana, again, I think will not be so helpful. I think you have to do both. At time, you might do one, the other at time, you might do two together. I think, again, it depends on various things and how you do it. And in terms of why we present, why I present the different one is because I have found that one object, one method is not good for everybody.
I know in the text, some people say, the breath, everybody can do the breath. I don’t think so. If you are asthmatic, the breath often is not helpful at all. And to focus on the breath will give you headache. And I don’t think this is a good idea.
And etcetera, etcetera. So that’s why I present different things so that people can see. And that’s why I said at the beginning of the day, if you’re comfortable with the breath, continue with that. But if you want to try this, try it out. But one of the point of that is in order that in daily life you bring it.
Because I do feel that the different tools are useful in daily life for different people but also in different situation. But yes, I think it’s very essential to be grounded in one. When you said you usually start with a question, do you mean the same question of what is it or do you have a variety of questions that you pose? Questions that you post? No.
No. No. In the in the Korean tradition, you stay with one question. So I just stay with that one. But in a way, I will explain this more on in two days.
But the form of the question, the wording of the question is not so important. Although it is useful at the beginning to use a question, the word as an anchor like, what is this? The point is more to develop a sensation of questioning. So actually, in a way, when I practice myself, most of the time, it’s more the sensation that I would say I experience, I practice, I do, that each time really formulating the question. So at that level, the wording are not important, but generally in Korea, you don’t change the wording of the question.
Yes? Well, personally, I would say that start small. You see, if you say, I’m going to get up at five o’clock in the morning and sit for an hour, Possibly you will do it twice and after that forget it. So personally I would say start with ten minutes. See where you can put ten minutes in the day.
If you can put it early in the day, fine. If you can put it after breakfast, fine. I mean, Stephen and myself, we sit after breakfast because we find it’s a better time for both of us for thirty minutes. But I think everybody has to find the time they can find. Ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes.
If you have an hour, why not an hour? But again, you know, once a man came to me in Italy, he said