Everything Changes

Is it the first time meditation for you? No, the first time, yeah. First time? No, the first time. Okay, how was it for you? Fantastic. Yeah? Yeah. Kind of uncomfortable though, right? Sitting on the floor? Yeah, my feet fell asleep and I was like, so stressed out about it. I was trying to not worry about it at all. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So in the beginning, when it's hard to sit, cross-legged, there's nothing wrong with sitting on the chair. You know? As long as you keep the back straight, your feet flat on the ground, and you can practice it that way. And then start becoming a little bit more flexible to be able to sit. Because if you don't be careful when you're sitting without having kind of trained your spine, you start to go like this, and then it becomes a habit that way, too.

And also, in the middle of sitting, if you feel like you need to switch your legs, you can do that. But it's good if you just watch, also, sensation, the intensity. If you watch it long enough, you know, maybe a few days, it'll go away. But it does take maybe a retreat to discover that. If you, let's say, participate in about 10-day retreat, about 7th or 8th day, you know, after your legs are intensely painful, for several days, it felt like it was on fire. And then all of a sudden, phew. Yeah. So, I think everybody can experience that if you try. So, for the benefit of new folks, and also reminder to everybody, our meditation here is

about coming back and staying in the present moment, open to what is. Okay? So, we're disciplining our mind to come back and stay. Come back and stay fully open to what is. That way, we're training our mind to be more proactive, that we can choose our own beingness. We can choose how we respond to what's going on, instead of react all the time. Everybody has this habit of reacting, right? And we tend to react negatively to things we don't like, you know, to people, to circumstances. If it doesn't go my way, we get upset, anger, frustration, you know, and then there's fear about the future. And there's regrets about the past. I should have done this, I should have done that.

All of those are negative emotions, negative thoughts that are not beneficial. And a lot of people, especially the young people, that are thinking about the future, their careers, their schools, whatever, you know, tend to be future-oriented. And that brings about a lot of fear, because there's unknown, right? Future is unknown. So if we can accept that, it's unknown. That we're not going to know. And it's okay that we don't know. That you focus on the present moment. What can I do now? Right? So it may or may not work out your way, but that's okay. You do the best you can, right here, right now. Because the only thing you can do is what you can do right here, right now. Right? So you focus your attention back to the present moment without worrying about, "What if it doesn't work out?

What if I don't get my way?" You know, it's really the story in our mind that's causing that suffering. It's not what it actually is, right? I mean, there's potentiality. But it works out better if we send out positive energy, versus negative energy of fear and anxiety, right? Even if the world is pretty chaotic right now, you know, we want it to be more peaceful, more loving, you know? But it's not. What can you do about it? What can you do about it? Complaining about it is not going to help. Because you're sending out negative energy to negative energy. So you're actually adding negative energy to it. So you're not helping. So why not focus on our own beingness? And focus on how can I be more positive?

How can I make a positive impact with those around me?

At least for myself. Find that peace of mind and joyful heart right here in the now. Because that's the choice. That's our choice to be. No one can take that away. No one can make you feel miserable. No one. No situation. Only if we choose it to be. That this is a miserable mess. Right? So it should be our choice. But we're always giving up that choice. Habitually. To the people. Relationships.

To circumstances. Because it's not the way I want it. You know? But if we go back to our three dharma seals that I always remind you of. What's the first one? Come on, Michelle. Law of impermanence. What does that mean? What does that mean? Next one. Everything changes. Everything changes. There's nothing that remains permanent, right? Is there anything that doesn't change? Absolute truth. What's that? Do you know what that is? Don't know. Okay. Well, then, that's not an answer. It's what we're looking for. Yeah, but what is impermanent? That's the question. The question is, is there anything that doesn't change that you know of?

Everything changes. We have to accept that fact. That's a fact. And we even call it law of the universe, law of existence. Everything changes.

But when we don't want it to change, that's when that suffering happens. You know? For people with children, your children's change, right? Your relationships change, right? Everything changes. Yeah. But if we deny that, if we don't want that, that's when that suffering comes. It's not because of them, it's because of my own expectation. You know? And how fast does it change? Like lightning. We do. Yeah. So the Diamond Sutra talks about that, right? Like a dew, everything. You look at everything like a dew, like a lightning, like a bubble, you know? Because that's how everything just changes. As soon as I say now, boom, it's gone. It's gone. Literally gone. That word gone is also gone. Right? That's how fast everything changes.

But we like to maintain that, you know, continuity through our memory. You know? Thinking that things are lasting. That's the misperception. Everything is changing. There's nothing to hold on to. Nothing you can hold on to. That's why holding on to, being attached to things, is the cause of suffering. Because it's foolish. Because you don't see it. And the second is what? Non-self. Yeah. Well, non-self means there's nothing that's independent, inherent, intrinsically independent by itself. Everything is dependent on something else to exist. Right? Everything is conditional. That's what it means. Everything that exists only exists based on supporting conditions that allows it to manifest. Right? So it always has supporting conditions. So that's where you can really kind of understand karma. Karma just means that everything is supported by supporting conditions.

So if you want positive energy, just generate positive energy. If you want positive outcomes of life, if you want to experience positive, then you have to build the right supporting conditions for it. That's karma. If you understand that, then now you know what you have to do now to create the experiences. Meaning, you just have to be happy right here. You have to be compassionate. You know, I sent out the information through the Band app that I kind of accidentally came across. There's been a lot of studies done, right? People that read that. Just being altruistic, compassionate, okay? Your hormones, your brain activity changes, or you're actually benefiting right away, okay? Something that I've been saying. It's not the boomerang of karma that comes back for you.

By being generous, by being compassionate, being loving, kind, caring, you're benefiting right there because that's the energy you are when you are being loving. When you're angry, that's the energy that you are, right? When you're frustrated, when you're anxious, fearful, that's what you're becoming. That's the energy that you're generating based on your choice. That's the energy you have to be suffering, right? So why choose that when you can choose to be happy, no matter what happens? Allow it to be, and say, how can I show up here to be more positive? Can this thing work out my way? What can I learn from this so that I can improve? I can enhance the situation. So those are the attitudes that we want to have.

What can I learn from this? How can I become more loving, more compassionate? And the love, true love that we talk about from the Four Immeasurables is not something that's transactional. Everybody has this transactional life. You don't love me, I don't love you back, you know? So give and take things. But loving is actually your qualities of your true nature. Lovingness is your beingness. So by being loving, you're just sending out all this positive energy of kindness, caring, and understanding. Right? That's just who you are. And that's what you are already within. It's just all these stories, you know, thoughts, judgments, opinions. They all get in the way. So how can we return to this, the original essence of being love? Just gotta let go of what I am not.

Right? All the stories we have in our head, it's not who you are. Your true essence. Everything is just thoughts, thought forms, stories, projections of our mind. How do we return to that? By paying attention to what is the truth? What am I? What is this? And we're returning. Initially, not knowing what is this truth.

We become more comfortable with that. Does that make sense? I'm trying to make it as simple as possible. That's why wisdom and compassion go together. And compassion is really the foundation for wisdom. That's why I emphasize so much that we have to make the effort to become more open to others

and to set that intention to make a positive impact on other people's lives. That's when your life will become more positive, more meaningful, more purposeful. That's when that energy is going to start making an impact on the results of your efforts or come from that positive energy instead of being stressed out, which is sending out negative energy. Everything is energy, right? We all know that now with science, that we're all made up of energy. We're changing based on energy, right? It's all just different formations of different types of energy. The thing is, those energies that makes up who we are, is based on what I choose to be. It's based on my choices. Whether you make that choice consciously or subconsciously or unconsciously, it's all made up.

Our mind, our mind makes everything. That's why your world, your individual world, is projection of your own mind. So, make it a good one. Make it a loving one. Make it a happy one. That's right? It's better that we're doing it to ourselves than somebody's doing it to us. It's our own mind, right? At least we can. No one else can do anything to you anyways. Yeah. It's your mind that's blaming others. It's not your mind can be whatever you choose to be, no matter what anybody says or does. But they can't do it unto you unless you allow that or reject that. Everything is in mind. Everything you're experiencing right now is happening within your own mind. It's your own projection. When you're listening to me, seeing me.

It's your mind you're experiencing. Experienced by your own mind. Everything is mind. Okay? We always thought that it's something else. It's not. Right? Because if you close your eyes and you didn't, you know, want to experience me, you don't have to experience me. Even if you're sitting here. Right? Because your mind is shut down and is not experiencing this. But you're opening me. You're experiencing me. You're creating me. All of this experience is creation of your own mind. That's why there's no one else to blame. Not even myself. We take full responsibility for our experiences. Even the relationship problems. Full responsibility. Whatever the karmic energy we've built up is the consequence that we're experiencing. So if you want to change that relationship, if you want to transform your experiences,

then choose. Choose that. Choose to be. Choose to be. That's all it really takes. It's just that our mind's not disciplined. Our mind's not fit. The mental fitness is not there. We're just getting swindled by the circumstances and situations and the people because it's habitual way of being, the old way of being that we are so accustomed to. So we have to transcend that through certain levels of training. That's what this meditation is about. That's what this teaching is about. So you can choose to be what you choose to be and make those choices. You have to first accept that as my responsibility. My experiences, all of them, whether it's good or bad, is my responsibility. How to perceive it, transform it, add different supporting conditions to it, because it's all based on that law of interdependence and change.

Change means there's fresh moments every time. That means it doesn't have to be this way. If you don't like it, you can always transform it. A fresh moment is there all the time, right? So it's like being reborn every moment. It's just that that weight of the past karma is there, but that's why we built up more positive karma as much as possible.

That's why there's so much opportunity we try to create to give. You gotta give. It's just that. You gotta learn to give. Because why? We're so habitually doing this, clinging, holding. Right? That's why we encourage you to give. To let go. Let go.

That's how you create positive energy. To share. Not just about me, me, me, me, me, but increase that boundary of that me. Not just to this body and my family, but to people that I don't even know. How do we do that? How do we do that? Increase that loving-kindness.

Caring and understanding. Trying to alleviate somebody else's suffering. That's compassion. And when we start to do that, our boundaries increase. That means our influence increases. You know? Some people talk about it as a circle of influence, right? I think there's a book called How to Make Friends and Influence Others. Anybody read that book?

Yeah. They talk about the deposit, you know, emotional deposit to increase that circle of influence. It's a very famous writer. It's a very similar concept.

But that's how karma works. Yeah. So even if your intention is not spiritual intention to become awakened, if you're trying to benefit from this practice, then you have to understand that you have to do the work. Daily, consistent practice of being compassionate, being kind, and being open to what is.

And watch yourself. This is really about self-awareness. Watch your reactions. Am I reacting right now? Okay. What do I want to choose? Do I want to continue to react? But first you have to even know that you're reacting. Have that self-awareness. The power of observation to know whether I'm reacting or not.

Then you can choose. Should I continue this path? That's gonna be cause suffering that I know. Or should I just take a deep breath?

And just let it go? And focus on how can I be more positive? How can I be more beneficial? Right here in the now. That's the practice. That's the practice. But you have to do that. I can't just go poof. Buddha said that too. I can't wash away your karma.

Only you can. Okay? Any questions? I have some time. On Wednesday we get people a lot of time to ask questions. Any questions? Don't be shy. What are the ten directions? Ten directions? In Buddhism, ten directions, relative level, north, south, east, west, that's four, right? And then you go front, back, sideways, diagonally. That just means everywhere.

Yeah. And everywhere is what? Here. So when we say here and now, you know, if you say here and you project this room, that's your here. Right? That's your projection. But if you took away the wall and you just said here, what's that? It's everywhere.

Right? So true here is everywhere. It's infinite. Now, the same thing. Whenever you say now, doesn't your mind create something? Your mind creates a projection of a timeline, a moment. But if you didn't do that, now is always now. Has it ever not been a now?

Right? It's always been now, right? It is now, right now. But that no longer is that, but still, it's still now. Right? Do you see that? So it's always now. Always been here and now. Right?

But only when our mind projects it, you know, creates a boundary of this wall, the state, this earth, this galaxy, we're creating that boundary. Everything is mental projection, remember? Everything you're experiencing is your own mental projection. So if you can let go of that, you can be free.

It's just that letting go is hard because you're so attached to your own identity. You don't know what that is, I keep asking, what is it? Anybody find the answer? What is this? That's a word. Other than what you think, concept-wise, what is it?

But we're still attached to that. That identity, that individuality. But what evidence do you have that there's a seer behind seeing? What evidence do you have there's a thinker behind the thinking? If you do, let me know.

Speak out. Yes? Well, that's the thing that's tripping me out. Yeah. Who is that that's tripping? You know, when I meditate at home, I ask that question, and it's like, there's gotta be something. There's gotta be something. That's an assumption, right? I mean... Then what is it then? If it's gotta be something, then what is it? I don't know. Right.

But like, what's putting the thoughts in my mind? Why do you think there's something that's gotta be putting, you know, the thoughts in my mind? I don't know. I just... Yeah. That's just your assumption. That's your imagination. That's a thought. Okay. So let it all go and look at it. Is there such a thing? Is there such a thing? Is there such a thing? And neuroscientists are now actually showing that based on the brain scan alone, like fMRI, there's choices are being made before this self comes up. You know, this identity comes up. So the identity is created, but choices you make comes before that identity. That takes claims of that identity. That identity takes claims of that choice, but that choice already happened. Where did that choice come from?

Where is that thinking coming from? It's just karmic energy that you've been building up. That's just manifesting. See, I've been telling you this, right? All this karmic formation is just happening. There's just ING. Meaning there's only activities of the mind. But we claim that as me. Because there's gotta be something behind this. Don't know what it is, but there's gotta be. That belief right there is creating that ego. That sense of me. Yeah. That sense of me is the source of all illusion, all suffering. So find out.

Is it safe to say that there is no thing there? Nothing there? No. Can't say that. Can't say that. Can't say that. Because what happens when you say that is now you jump to the conclusion of something not being there. So you have to transcend is or isn't. Existence than nonexistence. Those are dualistic thinking that goes against each other. Right? So as soon as we climb there's nothing, then you've fallen into nothingness. That is still an identity. So this is a little bit deeper than, you know, your logical, linear thinking mind can handle. That's why we have to transcend that dualistic mind to be able to truly experience. This is all there is. This is it. What am I? This is it. Right there.

Give you the answer. If you can't understand it, then look inside to find out the answer. That's the answer. Somebody raise their hand. Yeah, but I lost my thought. You lost your thought? Yeah. It's confusing, because your mind is trying to figure it out. What is this? What does it mean? What does it mean? That's just the thinking. That's just the mental activity. You can't figure it out. You can't see it with the linear. Yeah, you're in that logic, that dualistic logic. And this truth is beyond that. That's why the logic of is, isn't, both, neither, doesn't work. And you're like, what's left after that? Right? Well, that's why you have to see it. You have to experience it. So you explained this early on, and I kind of forgot.

I got mixed up, but because Alexa used the word tripping, it reminded me that there are

some people that have taken, you know, alternative drugs, different things to find that. Yeah. And, but do they really find it then? Do they get so relaxed that they find that? I know the answer is not really, but I just want to hear it again for me to understand it again, or try to understand it. What they're experiencing is chemically-induced hallucination is probably the best word for it, maybe not the exact word for it, but it's the mental activity based on chemical-induced mental activity. So it feels like they're unhinged from their karmic pool, so that's why it feels so free when you listen to them describe how they feel like they're free, they feel like they're one with everything, but there's that experiencer, right, that is experiencing this oneness.

That's still ego. That's still the ego. That's why anybody that comes and says, "Oh, yeah,

everything's one. Everything's blissful." That's the ego. That's why you have to go beyond that. And this is why this takes a lifetime, maybe several lifetime. Buddha takes 500 lives. I don't have that long. Huh? You don't have that long? What? You've been living for an infinite amount anyways. What's 500 more lives? Yeah, as soon as he made that determination, like, I will become enlightened and start seeking. So they say. It might be just a number, but still, it takes a while. But eventually you will. As long as you set that intention, that I will have that full, complete enlightenment, means you are completely liberated. Fully liberated from this cycle of karma. Continuously will take you. As long as you're in this karmic world, you have to suffer.

Right? That's the first noble truth. Life is dukkha, because it's unsatisfactory. Why? Because of your own craving. Because of your own craving. So if you don't let go of that craving, that clinging, that desire, attention, that attachment, then you have to continuously suffer. So what we're working on here is at least reduce that little bit by being attentive to ourself, being more aware, you're generating positive karma, so that you can live a little bit less negative impact for life. But when you jump into spiritual life saying, "I want to be liberated for good," that's when you live spiritual life. So, if someone was to become enlightened, such as Buddha, and all their karma is gone,

they're liberated, so do they come, what happens after that? Do they come back? No, they're done. Why do they need to come back? Come back to what? This worldly samsaric life? No. You could return to your essence. But that's not logical, right? Because I can't explain to you logically. That's why he used the word nirvana. Vana is a fire. Nir is end. The fire's been put out.

So don't worry about that. Just pay attention to this. Yes? So through our practice here, we should see a diminishment of suffering in our daily life. Little by little, moment by moment, choice by choice. Yeah. By becoming less reactive. By becoming less reactive. Anybody that's been practicing with me, you know, have you been benefiting?

And when you say benefit, what do you mean by that? Lexa.

I'm definitely more self-aware than when I first came here, before I came here. How about you, Michelle? You said you benefited. What do you mean you benefited? I was able to, instead of reacting immediately, I mean I was always so angry and frustrated all the time and banging hands constantly. Now I could step back, kind of watch what's going on before I react.

And that's big for me because I was constantly... As long as you can practice that, at least be able to become more proactive so you respond accordingly to what is necessary. And then what is beneficial to that situation, then you are becoming master of your life.

Okay? And take that full responsibility is when you become master of your life. So you direct the direction you're going. At least that's the benefit you can gain. And as you're doing that, you want to end this for good, meaning this whole suffering samsara, then you have to, you know, take that quick leap.

Okay? But until then, at least make your life, you know, more peaceful, more joyful. Right? Peace and joy. Peace of mind and joyful heart. Right? And that only comes from what? Tering all those negative energy and becoming more altruistic, more compassionate. More about others than me. Okay? And if you don't see that right now, at least take my words for it right now. And try to be more compassionate, more giving, sharing, and see what, see what that feels like.

Okay? Then you'll experience it yourself. Yes? What does the Diamond Sutra teach? Diamond Sutra? Yeah. Oh, that's pretty complex. I'm familiar with the Lotus Sutra. Yeah.

I want to know the differences and similarities. It's all pointing towards one thing. The truth of emptiness. There's nothing that's inherently, intrinsically a self. And that everything is changing. That's why it's empty of an inherent self. So that's inherently the teaching behind all. That everything is interdependent.

Everything is interdependent. Given the speck of dust right here. It's only here because the entire universe is involved in it. Yeah. That's the essence of the teaching. That make sense? Mm-hmm. Got it? No more question? All right. So we're going to meet downstairs for our tea time. So you're more than welcome to join us.

Any announcement? We're just working on the yoga fest coming up.

Yeah. If anybody has tea or time and can help out that day. Yeah. Saturday, September. So September 19th is a yoga fest in Memorial Park. Nyack. Nyack. And at 2:30, we're going to do meditation for world peace together. Kind of like what we did at The Angel Nyack. We're going to do it there. So if everybody want to join us, and I think we're going to set up a booth to share the information about our sessions. And probably need volunteers to kind of man the booth throughout the day. So talk to Elaine and let her know your name if you can volunteer. Okay? And I did harvest some lavender from my garden today. I have it in the wire basket. I'll put it by the door. Please help yourself.

I bundled it together. There's also some fresh sage, or if you prefer bags, there's a couple of bags of lavender. It's cooking great, or you can just make sachets. Thank you. All right. So we're going to end with our metta prayer. At this time, think about everybody, all sentient beings, but if there's specific people

that you want to pray for, if you want to call out their names, that's fine. Anybody? You can call out their names to be included in our prayer. Okay, anybody else? Jody? Okay. I would do it. Okay. Anybody else? Alright, let's include them in our prayer. As we always pray, we pray for all sentient beings. Okay, all sentient beings. So, visualize all beings that are conscious and alive. And repeat after me. May all beings be safe. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be joyful. May all beings be joyful. May all beings awaken to their true nature. May all beings awaken to their true nature. May all beings be free. May all beings be free.

Thank you. Have a wonderful weekend.