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  • >>Rinpoche: Now I would like to share you a little bit about some meditation techniques.

  • What we call- there's two things: wisdom, wisdom and second is experience. Technique,

  • meditation technique. Should I tell you wisdom first or experience first? Direct meditation

  • experience first or the wisdom aspect first? Wisdom first, raise your hand...okay. Meditation

  • first raise your hand...okay. [laughing]

  • >>Rinpoche: Most people like wisdom. Okay. And this wisdom what we call "finding balance,

  • finding balance." So anything when you meditate first important is you have to know the balance.

  • Sometime what we call inner-balance. And the balance is not being too tight, not being

  • too loose. That's the balance. And this is the balance not only with meditation, also

  • important in your life in your daily life. And special here, you guys working in company,

  • Google, and in any work, any job you need balance. If you have balance, then you can

  • do much better. You can do easily, happy, and the effect and actually is more powerful,

  • more- effect, effective. You can achieve your goal more quick and more easy, okay.

  • The first I would like to show you some kind of like magic show...

  • >>audience member: hehehe

  • [everyone laughs]

  • >>Rinpoche: Would you like to learn some magic show?

  • >>audience member: Yes.

  • >>Rinpoche: No, no, no, not the magic but any way. Let's say, water here, yeah, water?

  • In order to drink this water, you need balance. So that's just a simple example. I'm saying

  • that balance, balance is important in daily life, yeah. Okay let's say there's three style,

  • three style, to drink this water. The first style is: OKAY! I have to drink this water.

  • Grrrr. WATER! Haha. Oh, water spill out. Whew! That's first style, yeah.

  • And the second style: Gosh, I have to drink this water, you know. I'm going to drink this

  • water, awe, yawn, maybe tomorrow. [laughter]

  • >>Rinpoche: I have to drink water you know, whew, the water, yawn, maybe next week. Next

  • week become next year. And that's the second style.

  • Now third style: Relax your hand, your arm, just relax, and then grab it. Grab the cup,

  • bring close to your mouth, and drink water. Mmm, that's a bubble water.

  • Three style, which one you like? [laughing]

  • Third style? How many of you like third style? First style? Second style? Why most of you

  • like third style?

  • >>female #1: inaudible

  • >>Rinpoche: Pardon?

  • >>female #1: It's efficient.

  • >>Rinpoche: Efficent?

  • >>female #1: Afficient.

  • >>Rinpoche: Afficient. Why first style, you don't like?

  • >>male #1: Stress.

  • >>Rinpoche: Stress. Too tight, yeah. There's a lot of extra effort, extra tensions. No

  • need, but then it's too tight. In order to reach your hand from here to here, need a

  • lot of effort, yeah. So too tight. So you cannot drink your tea, your water very well.

  • Second too loose, you know. Tomorrow, maybe next day. So you're not making any effort.

  • So you're not making any effort, there's no result. The third style: Relax, just relax,

  • you know, relax your arm, Don't grab it too tight, And I grab the cup and I drink, you

  • know. Bring close to your mouth. Yeah, this one "How to have balance" now.

  • [clears throat] The balance is you have to set in your mind

  • first. So it what we call "inner-balance". How to set this balance in your mind. First

  • important is- try your best- with anything, because we all have good potential. Everybody

  • has wisdom, capability, special talent-talent, skills, powers, love, compassion, maybe you're

  • not good at that but you're good at others. So everybody has good things, actually. Scientists

  • said, if we have ten qualities within us, one of them is a negative and nine of them

  • is positive. But what we see's only one negative, and we don't see nine good qualities. We just

  • deny nine good qualities and exaggerate one bad quality and make'em all. That's why it

  • very important to recognize, we all have good things within us.

  • Do you believe? Somehow yes, but you cannot recognize, yeah? Do you have love and compassion?

  • Everybody has that, should I introduce you? Your basic love, basic compassion. For example,

  • you come here, yeah. Why you come here?

  • >>female #2: Stressed out.

  • >>Rinpoche: [laughing] Stress out.

  • >>male #2: Because it's free.

  • >>Rinpoche: Pardon?

  • >>male #2: Because it's free.

  • >>Rinpoche: Because it's free.

  • [laughing loudly]

  • >>male #3: Because you need to learn to drink water.

  • >>Rinpoche: You want to drink water.

  • >>male #3: Gain wisdom.

  • >>Rinpoche: Gain wisdom. It's like, actually, you come here- Why? Looking for something,

  • yeah. To achieve your wish and your desire, your goal, and want to be happy. So, you all

  • come here looking for happiness. I don't know how much happiness you can get from here,

  • but anyway, you all want to achieve something. And so, wishing to be happy is love, basic

  • love. So everybody has this love and kind. You have love about yourself also. You want

  • to be happy, yeah, but we are not recognize. That's a problem. So very important to recognize,

  • and mature. How you say- mature, use it, recognize it. And you have compassion, because you don't

  • want to be suffer. You don't want to have problem, yeah? No? You don't want to have

  • obstacles. This wish to be free from problem suffering is compassion.

  • Wish to be happy is love and kindness. Everybody has this. This is small example. This is why,

  • try your best to use. Try your best to achieve your goal, try your best to use your knowledge,

  • capable of whatever, but your mind, don't be too tight on the result. Because you cannot

  • achieve everything what you want. You cannot success all the time 100%. You cannot loss

  • all the time 100%. So our life is like wave of the ocean, you know. Or another example,

  • our life is like stock market. Up and down. That's good, yeah? Our life is up and down,

  • that makes our life colorful. Otherwise, no suffering there's no happiness. The stock

  • markets goes up and down that's why it makes money, yeah? If stock market always flat,

  • always same, you can't make money. Do you? No, it's up and down that's why it's good

  • to-good to have business. Same with our life, up and down's good. See

  • important is to accept this. Accept life's up and downs, consequences, you know. I will

  • tell you one story, oh, two story. One is with the stock market and one is with the

  • lottery. Which one you like?

  • >>female #2: Lottery.

  • >>Rinpoche: Lottery, raise your hand. Stock Market, raise you hand. Okay. Lottery. Okay.

  • There's one old man, I have problem, sick, emergency. He have to go to hospital, emergency

  • hospital, and he have to stay there for a few days. And, actually, he had bought lottery,

  • you know lottery? And next day he win the lottery, but he don't know, because he's in

  • hospital. But his wife and children they know, and they're so happy and come to hospital

  • to share this good news to the father. And first they met doctor. And Doctor say oh,

  • don't tell this good news to your father, because of special type of disease, you know.

  • If you tell this to your father is too much excitement, over excitement, and he will die

  • right away. So don't tell this good news to your father. But the children doesn't believe

  • that, no, no, no. We should tell this our father, you know, good for him, you know,

  • and they have long discussion. In the end, they make decision that okay tell good news

  • to tell father, but who going to tell father? The doctor. But not directly first, try indirectly

  • and doctor see how things going, you know. And doctor went to his room and said different

  • things. Hello, you know, good morning. How was today, you know? And the doctor asked

  • him, did you bought lottery? The old man reply yes. Well, that's good. How you feel if you

  • win lottery? Doctor said well, I mean-Old man said well, that's nice, but I'm old man,

  • you know. If I win lottery nice, if I don't win lottery, okay. You know, it's no big deal

  • for me, you know. I'm happy and I'm happy with my life, you know. Doctor said no I don't

  • believe you. I think if you win lottery you have over excitement. Old man said no, no,

  • no, I'm serious, you know. Doctor say I don't believe that. And Old man say I'm serious.

  • If I win the lottery I will give you have half, you know.

  • [laughing] And doctor says no, no, no. I'm just kidding,

  • I'm just curious, you know. I'm just asking you. Old man say yes I'm serious, you know.

  • If I win I will give you half. And doctor say will you, it's true? Old man says yes.

  • Could you write it down? Doctor say yes of course. I mean the old man say yes of course.

  • And old man write down. It said: If I win lottery this time, I will give half to the

  • doctor. And he sign, everything. Give it to doctor. And doctor look at it, you know and

  • doctor was so happy and die right away. [loud laughing]

  • >>Rinpoche: And then old man thought, what happened here, you know? Push emergency button.

  • And all the nurse, you know, rush in to his room. And the children, they saw that they

  • thought wow our father has past away now. And they were comforting each other, you know.

  • They have regret. And one thought you-you say you have to tell your father, and they

  • say no-no you say. They complain each other and they come to room and their father is

  • okay, you know. But the doctor has past away. And then they tell this good news to father

  • and father was recovered, you know, and after few days later come back to home. Why? Because

  • the doctor is too tight, yeah. Too tight, too much concentration. So much grasping,

  • fixation mind. Too much attached to the money so he cannot enjoy to have lottery. How they

  • say- over 100 millions, you know. He could enjoy 50 millions. But the old man is more

  • accept the life situation, appreciate what he have, and he more accept impermanence,

  • changing, I'm okay. I have everything. I have good life. So he's not died, you know. Even

  • he-he heard the good news. He can enjoy the rest- the rest of money and then back to home.

  • So that's just simple example with the lottery. And now, if you try your best and you mind

  • don't be too tight on the result, then you can do much better. You can do better things,

  • you can have better result and easy for you. Small effort, you will have big result. Balance.

  • Okay. That's wisdom. Now finish. And the second next is the method. I would

  • like to teach you about meditation. So actually, what I taught this morning. I would like to

  • teach some meditation technique, you know. Sound, but we don't have much sound right

  • now. Before there were good sound, I thought it good for sound meditation here. But now

  • every body's gone, yeah. But we have- Do we have any other sound? Good. Air conditioning,

  • yeah? That's good. Okay. First, I'm going to ask you, can you hear

  • the sound? Listen, listen, check...hear? If so raise your hand. You can hear sound clear?

  • Clear, raise your hand. Great, that is meditation. Now you know how to meditate.

  • [laugh] Why? This meditation just listening to sound

  • that's all, you don't have to do any special thing. Mind, when you listen to sound, mind

  • and ear together, that's it. But you cannot listen too long, you forgot. Listen to sound

  • after a few seconds later you're in the where? In the office, worry about your job, or worry

  • about deadline. Want to go to sleep or want to go to the pizza shop eating pizza. Okay

  • come back, listen too sound, okay. Show time, any time. You're going to practice this.

  • First, please keep your spine straight and if you have back you-you can use chair as

  • support for your back. Just relax and please feel your body now. What we call mind and

  • body together. Just recognize that just realize that you have body. And feel sensations in

  • your body like gravity, weight, and light. Just relax your muscles, just relax, non-it.

  • Rest to 100%. Only 100% relaxed. Why I say not 200%? Because you just relax so you have

  • tension, tightness, pain is allowed, stress is allowed. Just relax. Now please listen

  • to sound.

  • You move to sound to sound, just listen to. People are chatting, sound of air conditioner,

  • or anything. [long meditative pause]

  • Okay, that's finished. How was it?

  • Can you listen to sound? How many of you liked the sound meditation? Raise your hand. Okay

  • good. It's very easy, you just listen that's all. No need have very strong concentration.

  • Okay now next is. Yes.

  • >>male #4: I just naturally closed my eyes. Are you supposed to close your eyes when you

  • do that?

  • >>Rinpoche: With sound, yes close eyes. It's better. But this is, we're talking about formal

  • meditation, but you can apply meditation everywhere, anytime, it alright. If you practice sound

  • meditation while you're walking you have to open your eyes, yeah. While you work you can

  • do that, in the office, in the street, in the bus, in the car, everywhere. It's your

  • time anytime. And this is what we call "mental exercise". Scientists what they call "brain

  • fitness". Okay. Now next is with the breath. How many of you like to learn breathing meditation?

  • Okay. But there's one, another one is how to connect with breath. So how to connect

  • with breath first, breathing meditation first. Pardon?

  • >>audience member: inaudible

  • >>Rinpoche: Connected with breath. Connected with breath first, raise your hand. Okay and

  • breathing meditation first, raise your hand. Okay, okay. How to connect with breath. Can

  • you bring your attention on your breath right now? See that you have breath or not. Do you

  • have breath? And you can check for half minutes, you know. Just-just connect with your breath,

  • you know. See that's your breath and just see the breath in and out for half minutes.

  • You don't have to meditate on your breath. And you- now you count your breath three times

  • and after you finish three times raise your hand.

  • [meditative pause] Great. You're already connected with your

  • breath right now. And now next is breathing meditation. Breathing Meditation is only breath,

  • okay. Don't let your mind go here and there. No Starbucks, no food in Google, no sour dough,

  • no pizza, no organic vegetables. Only breath. Don't listen to sound, don't go to the past.

  • Past history, go to future plan. Just now with the breath just concentrate one point

  • in this and no any other thought. Okay, I will say 1, 2, 3, and then you focus your

  • breath, okay? 1..., 2..., 2 1/2..., 3. Only breath.

  • [meditative pause]

  • Okay, finish now. How was it? Which one is easy? To connect breath easy or breathing

  • meditation more easy? Connects more easy? Just connect with your breaths more easy,

  • raise your hand. And breathing meditation's more easy, raise your hands. Only a few people,

  • you don't like meditation? Why you come here? Okay, now I will tell you my secret. Some

  • of you know already my secret, yeah. Should I tell you or... How many of you know my secret,

  • raise your hand. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...not many. What is secret?

  • >male #5: You work for the Chinese Government.

  • [laughter]

  • >>Rinpoche: Many years. [laughter]

  • >>male #6: It was the same thing.

  • >>Rinpoche: They both is meditation. Or which one is the better? The first one is meditation also. Just connect

  • to your breath. Maybe that's more better than second one. Because second one you're too

  • tight. I make you too tight, you know. Only breath. Don't let your mind around here and

  • there, you know. No pizza, you know, no sour dough, you know, only breath, you know, no

  • any other talks, concentrate on your breath. And you say breath. Oh dear, I have another

  • thought what should I do? Please, no thought. BREATH. Sour dough, no no. Breath. What should

  • I do next, you know? Breath. You know, that's why become more difficult. If you wanted more

  • concentration, you cannot have more concentration, yeah.

  • Do we have here nice spot here, inside Google, small dock, garden? Where? What do you call

  • this name? No name, the bird with the dinosaur, yeah. Well maybe I give you another example.

  • I like Golden Gate Park, you know, near here. And you want to spend there for whole day,

  • bring a lot of sour dough, and you know, pizzas or organic vegetables, you know. And a soon

  • as you arrive there police car chasing after you. Wowwow. There's four policemen come.

  • They say you have special order for you. You have to stay here for whole day. And we going

  • to watch you. There's four policemen from four directions are watching you and no smiling.

  • Even you try to smile them they try to control, you know. One time I was in London, London,

  • you know? Huh, palace, big palace in London. And there's guard, you know, with the hair,

  • you know, and this fancy hat, you know. And I went in front of him and I say hi, you know.

  • The guard... So if the police told you this, you have to

  • stay here. Then what are you going to think? You want to stay, or you don't want to stay?

  • You don't want to stay, yeah? You don't want to stay even five minutes. Even you eat organic

  • vegetables, no taste, even pizza no taste. But if police say you have to stay here, if

  • police doesn't say you have to stay, if there's no police you can enjoy for holiday. Same

  • focus, no thought, concentration. Then you can not have concentration. Actually, no need,

  • just realize the breath in and out, in-out. That's all. That's the meditation and what

  • we call non-meditation. Meditation of non-meditation, because it's naturally, you don't have to

  • make a new one. And by doing this again and again, then automatically your mind become

  • calm and peaceful and pliable and workable. Because normally what I call monkey mind,

  • the crazy monkey mind, controlling you. You don't know how to control the monkey mind.

  • So now this meditation is giving training to monkey mind. So if you say hello, listen

  • to sound, who is boss? You are the boss. You are telling monkey mind hey listen to sound

  • and monkey mind also happy, because monkey mind love job. So if you give job, monkey

  • mind also happy and you are happy. Win-win situation, you know. And traditional example

  • is if you meditate then the goal of meditation is become calm, peaceful, pliable.

  • An example of that is now your mind is like monkey and slowly it will transform into tame

  • elephant. In reality it's impossible, yeah. Monkey cannot transform into elephant, but

  • for example it's possible because you can use anything for the example.

  • One time I was in India. Delhi, New Delhi. I was walking in the park. I saw giant animals

  • coming. Look, first time in my life seeing elephant. Big almost one floor, maybe one

  • and half floor, very big. Back of head there's one tiny guy controlling elephant. Elephant,

  • you know, taking how to say- bananas, apples, people give them and they eat some give them

  • money, and the elephant give money to this tiny guy. So who is the guide of elephant?

  • You awareness and the monkey mind become elephant doesn't make unnecessary problem. It's become

  • calm, peaceful and also powerful. Yeah, that's finished and do you have any questions?

  • Yes, you can ask.

  • >>female #4: ...can you tell us how to become friends with the panic?

  • >>Rinpoche: Panic?

  • >>female #4: Yes.

  • >>Rinpoche: Okay.

  • >>male # 7: Could you repeat the question?

  • >>Rinpoche: Repeat the question? She asked me that I in the period start I talk about

  • how to make friends with panic, because when I was young I have panic and I make friends

  • with my panic and my panic become one of my best friend. How to do that?

  • The style is right now you are using sound as support for meditation, yeah. Your breath

  • is support for your meditation. There's two things right now. And you have to do this

  • first, again and again. And slowly, slowly your gonna use other things as support for

  • meditation. Anything you see, smell, taste, physical sensation. And then you can do with

  • thought, and then rather you do with even emotions. Do we have thoughts?

  • >>male #8: I think so. [laughing]

  • >>Rinpoche: If you have thought raise your hand. Great. If you don't have thought raise

  • your hand. I don't have thought is also thought, yeah? Okay, should we have tried with thought?

  • Good. Please keep your meditation posture. And please watch your thoughts, thoughts same

  • as watching your breath. Be aware of sound. Same style, your breath come in and out, your

  • thought also come in and out. same as your breath just watch.

  • [meditative pause] Okay, how was it? Did you watch your thought?

  • And what is your experience? You can say... Pardon?

  • >>male #9: Wasn't as easy as [inaudible]

  • >>Rinpoche: Not easy as control breath and sound how?

  • >>male #9: ... I did not find it that easy [inaudible].

  • >>Rinpoche: Pardon?

  • >>male #9: I did not find it that easy at all.

  • >>Rinpoche: Oh, you cannot find easy because when you try to watch they're gone?

  • >>male #9: Yes, my thought go [inaudible].

  • >>Rinpoche: What I am thinking and try to make names, give it names, something like

  • that?

  • >>male #9: I have more thoughts when I trying not to have thoughts, avoid thoughts, but

  • I don't have thoughts now that I need them.

  • >>Rinpoche: To me there's more thoughts come out when you try to avoid thought, but not

  • when you need the thought the thought doesn't want to come? Okay, pardon?

  • male #9: Where's the thought?

  • Rinpoche: How many with this experience raise your hand. When you try to watch thought and

  • as soon as you watch they are gone. Raise your hand again. Great. Good. And this experience

  • we call "open awareness". When you try to watch them, they're just gone. You cannot

  • find them. What we call this experience almost like you're waiting in the bus stop and waiting

  • for bus. When bus will come? No bus. Oh, there one bus coming. You are so happy. Soon as

  • if you tried to enter the bus, the bus just left. Huh, no bus again. So you have your

  • thought, I need you. Please come now. Normally I have a lot of them, today what happened?

  • That's open awareness. You are not lost, too. You have awareness, but at the same time you

  • don't have any- you lost focus. But another thought pop up. Happy. But as soon as watch

  • it's gone. The watcher- who's watcher? The watcher's awareness.

  • And the second experience, how many of you can watch your thought? You can watch? Raise

  • your hand. Good. That's also very good meditation experience, because what we call this experience,

  • like watching television, very big screen. IMAX, 100 and what- 90? 190 degree of screen?

  • Very big, 3-dimension and what I call inner-television. There's words, image, bah, blah, blah, yadda,

  • yadda, yadda, many, many, many different. Oh, it's so nice. If you watch them, you are

  • already out of them. If you see the river that means you are out of river. If you fall

  • into river and carry by river you cannot see river. If you see a thought that means you're

  • out. You are watching television, you are not inside the television, you are not part

  • of program, you are watching it. Who's watching? Awareness watching. This is so you can be

  • with yourself, and this what I call inner television, and when ever you feel board watch

  • inner-television. And this is very, very good price, you know. Zero price, you know. You

  • don't have to buy this inner-television and you don't have to worry about monthly payments

  • for this inner-television. And whenever you want to go, this inner-television will follow

  • you. And no one can steal your inner-television. Thieves, no problem with thieves, you know.

  • But there's one problem. Should I tell you problem? The programs are quite old.

  • [laughter]

  • >>Rinpoche: You have old, boring programs comes again, again, again. Even you change

  • different channels they're all running same programs, but it's okay. Watch old, boring

  • program again, and again, and again. The result is different like playing football- soccer,

  • soccer. How many style to play soccer? Only one style? Or two style? Pardon?

  • >>male #10: three means that many...

  • >>Rinpoche: Many, many...50? huh, infinite. And in USA how many styles go to Olympic?

  • >>male #11: One style, we always lose.

  • [laughing]

  • >>Rinpoche: One style always lose. To swim how many style? Six style they say, yeah. Front, right, left,

  • back, jumping, I don't know. I have friend they say, six or seven styles total. But anyway,

  • it's like learning football. You have got to learn football every day that you play

  • football, yeah. If you style, you have to choose one style first to master, yeah. So

  • you have to repeat the style again and again. So this year one style next year same style,

  • but after ten year, each time you play results are better, better, better. So watching old,

  • same, boring program again and again, the results different. The same, similar with

  • emotion also. Watching thought the same style with emotion, but first put it difficult,

  • special ear you'll have, measure strong emotion, you cannot watch, cause if you try to watch

  • you feel overwhelm. Go back to sound, back to breath. Okay.

  • >>Ming: Do you want one or two last question, okay.

  • >>Rinpoche: one or two last question, okay.

  • >>male #12: If everything in the external world can be used to help with meditation.

  • Why are there traditions [inaudible].

  • >>Rinpoche: Can be used as support for meditation, right. Can help for meditation.

  • >>male #12: [inaudible] why are there traditions about what you eat or whatever in monasteries

  • if they are staying away from modern world?

  • >>Rinpoche: -stricter in monasteries? -away for outer world? -why the mon-better? In general

  • there's many mentalities and many different ways, because you can meditate everywhere,

  • any time, but we are busy and lazy. It's like meditation wise you can, but personal wise

  • you cannot. Because too busy and lazy. So if you go to the special retreat and you can

  • put more effort to the meditate and spend all time, something like that. Yes.

  • >>male #13: Some people believe that like for chronic injuries that there's a mental

  • [inaudible] mental there's like a part of chronic injuries [inaudible].

  • >>Rinpoche: Mental...yes

  • >>male #13: Could you talk about some meditation techniques for like dealing with chronic injuries

  • to help as a tool in healing.

  • >>Rinpoche: Yeah, I think many people now are using meditation as too to recover mental

  • disease.

  • >>male #13: No, no, no, like physical problem like some people have back pain for a lot

  • of years [inaudible].

  • Rinpoche: Physical problem, right...oh...mmm mmm. That's not just like magic. You can meditate

  • now and tomorrow, boom- finish, no. But never-the-less it helps. For example, I'm guinea pig and

  • scientist put me inside machine and the put inject- kind of like chemical and it produce-

  • what you call this, blister, blister and then meditate. And say how you heal the blisters

  • and this is a dramatic result. The meditator heal the bli-blister much faster than people

  • who control diet and physical exercise, the control group. There's some kind of like-

  • when you meditate change in you're the cells and develop immune systems that really helps.

  • But also depends on what kind of problems. Actually it's good for the mental for the

  • mind. It's good. Can take on any problem as support for meditation. For example, I used

  • to be by panic and, but that's what we call natural suffering. Getting old, see, die,

  • these are natural suffering. So this is not easy to transform, but self-created suffering

  • can transform. The worst suffering for us, death and fear of death. Which one is more

  • painful? Fear of death. The fear of death is self-created suffering. Death is natural

  • suffering. That's why most suffering for us is self-created suffering, and that can liberate

  • by meditation. Thank you. [applause]

>>Rinpoche: Now I would like to share you a little bit about some meditation techniques.

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