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Hey there, welcome to Tea with 
Mara. 

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Thanks for seeking out these 
recordings and listening. 

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My name is George and you may 
know me as Keoki in the 

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metaverse. 
These recordings are from my 

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live sessions in virtual reality
and in person at Two Hand Sanga.

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For the best experience of these
sessions, you can join me in 

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with No Spaces. 

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Join that group and you can find
me there at 8:00 PM Eastern Time

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on Tuesdays or 9:00 PM Eastern 
Time on Thursdays. 

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Now let's invite the bell and 
begin. 

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All right. 
Well, good evening and welcome, 

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and thank you to everybody for 
showing up tonight. 

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There's some things happening 
lately in the lives of some of 

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my friends, and it's not really 
anything Dharma specific as they

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are not practitioners. 
But of course, for me everything

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is Dharma. 
So of course I see the Dharma in

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it when I look at these things. 
And even though these people are

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not Buddhist that I'm thinking 
of, I see things that have had 

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me reflecting on something 
called spiritual bypassing. 

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And that's a topic that I always
think of as a sort of a 

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cautionary tale, at least in the
Dharma. 

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There's this way that the Dharma
can become a way of not dealing 

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with things, which is like the 
opposite of what the Dharma is 

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for. 
So spirituality and, and maybe 

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Buddhism especially can often 
become a good place for people 

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to hide out. 
And the people that they're 

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hiding from is themselves and 
whatever they're dealing with. 

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And from the sidelines it, it 
can be, it can very easily 

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appear to be an invitation to 
kind of withdraw from reality, I

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guess you could say from things 
that are going on in reality. 

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We meditate, we turn inward and 
that right away gives us the 

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external appearance to others of
being. 

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Some people call it navel gazers
or that kind of thing. 

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Be very self absorbed and we 
cultivate as we do that. 

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We cultivate equanimity, we 
practice acceptance, we learn 

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non attachment, we hear about 
letting go, we recognize 

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impermanence, and all of those 
things are legitimate practices 

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in the Dharma that we should be 
cultivating and working with. 

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But every one of them can very 
easily be misunderstood by 

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others and even unfortunately by
ourselves. 

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Sometimes acceptance can look 
like or even become resignation.

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Equanimity can look to some 
people like indifference or 

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apathy and sometimes can become 
it non attachment, especially 

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that one because it's almost 
built into the word. 

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But non attachment can turn into
not caring, letting go can 

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become avoidant. 
Meditation can be anything from 

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hiding to a sort of self 
soothing tool rather than 

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addressing challenges in our 
lives. 

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And even impermanence can become
well, everything changes, so why

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bother? 
Why get involved? 

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And so there's this line between
practice and just sort of 

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pretending or even worse, 
believing toxic positivity type 

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scenarios. 
And luckily for us, the Buddha 

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taught not to simply believe in 
things, but to verify them. 

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So it's built right into the 
practice to not fall into that 

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trap. 
And yet people do it all the 

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time. 
So the people in the most danger

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are the ones that aren't really 
applying much effort. 

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The Buddha always talks about 
ardently practicing, and if 

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you're not ardently practicing, 
you might slip into these 

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things, these spiritual 
bypassing kind of aspects. 

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People who are just going 
through the motions, and I've 

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met a ton of people like that 
can fall into this pretty 

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easily. 
They're out there, But that, 

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that last variety I mentioned is
kind of less common. 

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In other words, most people who 
are practicing Buddhism have 

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already dealt with that and kind
of got it out of the way early 

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on, learned early on that that's
a dead end road. 

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So I don't really meet a whole 
lot of people doing this, but 

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there's still plenty out there. 
I think the ones who don't get 

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it right away perhaps might sort
of eventually get to that 

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verification part that the 
Buddha said was so important. 

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You know, we've talked to many 
times about this suta called the

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Kalamas Suta. 
And that's the one where the 

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Buddha teaches this community 
that he is visiting. 

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And they're like, we get these 
guys through here all the time 

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and they're always selling some 
different brand. 

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How do we know which one's the 
right thing? 

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And he says don't believe in any
of them, test them, verify them,

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see if they work. 
And he gives them a lot more 

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advice. 
But that's like a core teaching.

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And I've been really fortunate 
to have had a lot of really 

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great teachers in my path who 
did a really good job of 

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reminding US students frequently
about that or keeping us focused

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on that verification and also 
making sure we knew not to fall 

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for the spiritual bypassing. 
I think that one of the early 

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communities that I was part of, 
the reason they came into being 

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as a sangha was because of some 
past bad experiences with guru 

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types. 
And so they tried to avoid that,

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although ultimately that 
community was destroyed by the 

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person who tried to avoid that 
doing the very same thing. 

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So spiritual bypassing can be 
very dangerous for us. 

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And it's it's using spiritual 
ideas or practices to avoid 

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dealing with things like painful
emotions and difficult 

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realities, relationships, 
responsibilities, or just even 

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just general suffering. 
And the problem is not turning 

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inward or being introspective as
some people tend to think is the

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problem. 
The problem is using that inward

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facing sort of practice so that 
we don't have to look outward. 

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Or you might just say that the 
problem is using the motions of 

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real practice to hide or run 
away and think that we've 

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conquered all of the outward 
facing realities of our lives. 

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And really we, if you're 
spiritually bypassing, all you 

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have done is delay them and 
create new ones. 

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So it's, it can be particularly 
bad. 

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Lots of people do this. 
Even teachers do this, which is 

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why it's so important. 
I mentioned a teacher a moment 

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ago who did that in my old 
community. 

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But even teachers do this. 
And that's why it's so important

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to observe your teachers and to 
see if they're doing the work, 

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not just talking about it, or 
even sometimes if they're 

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fooling themselves as well. 
And you can't know that, but you

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can certainly pay attention to 
it and discern whatever you feel

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for yourself about it. 
I know a teacher who many people

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see as an accomplished teacher, 
but they consistently exhibit 

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what I would consider to be from
the outside, some serious 

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spiritual bypassing. 
And it's not only unhealthy for 

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them, but when they're a 
teacher, it's quite dangerous 

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for the people who follow them. 
So it's something that I pay a 

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lot of attention to when I work 
with other teachers or 

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especially if I go to the 
teacher for as a student, 

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because I want to pay attention 
to that. 

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There's a teacher I used to 
follow a lot. 

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His name's also George, and he 
gave a talk on time that really 

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like, it kind of shaped my 
framework of how I approach 

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these things. 
And that was that he, his 

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framework that he gave was just 
a modern way of saying the 

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things that the Buddha said you 
should look for in a teacher. 

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And this isn't about teachers. 
It's just that I want you to 

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understand that not even 
teachers are above falling for 

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spiritual bypassing sometimes. 
And that gets to kind of an 

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important point, which is that 
those teachers aren't and 

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shouldn't be expected to be 
perfect. 

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I'm definitely not suggesting 
that teachers should be perfect 

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because that's if people were 
perfect, we wouldn't need 

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practice. 
I'm certainly not perfect, but 

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it also means that you should 
kind of pay close attention and 

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observe if a teacher that you 
follow is someone who is maybe 

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struggles, but shows how to 
apply the practice to work with 

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that struggle and is able to 
deal with it. 

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Everybody struggles, but do we, 
do our teachers and us know how 

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to work with it? 
Or is that person just 

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struggling and leaking and 
pouring their suffering out all 

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over the ones that they're 
supposed to be teaching? 

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So that's a thing you should 
look for. 

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I've seen it all too often, I'm 
afraid. 

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And if there's a teacher who is 
experiencing chaos in their life

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and they're showing how to 
practice with it, then that's a 

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good thing. 
But if their lives are 

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consistently chaotic and they 
bounce from one crisis to 

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another but never seem to 
successfully apply and resolve 

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those challenges in their lives,
then maybe there is some 

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spiritual bypassing going on. 
And again, you can't, you can 

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never really know what's going 
on in somebody else's practice. 

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That's why it's an individual 
practice for each of us to deal 

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with. 
But you can make your own 

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assessment for how it relates to
your life. 

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The Buddha's first teaching, one
of the first things he taught, 

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his first discourse, I suppose 
he taught the opposite of 

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spiritual bypassing. 
He didn't tell us to look away 

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from suffering or pretend that 
it was fine. 

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He actually taught a system or a
methodology for facing directly 

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into the problems and resolving 
them. 

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It's not as a going back to the 
teachers again, it's not that 

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teachers don't have problems, 
it's that they should have the 

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framework to work with them 
successfully. 

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That doesn't mean it's not a 
struggle. 

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But that system that the Buddha 
taught was the four noble 

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truths. 
And what is the first noble 

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truth? 
The truth of suffering, the 

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truth of duka, the truth of 
discomfort is probably a better 

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way of saying it, acknowledging 
or facing directly toward the 

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problem. 
That's the first noble truth, 

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and when the cart that we're 
riding in, in the Buddha's 

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language is giving us a bumpy 
ride, examine that cart 

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thoroughly and ascertain the 
root cause of that bumpy ride. 

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What is the first noble truth 
and what is the task associated 

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with it? 
That's actually the first 2 

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Noble Truths. 
What is the truth and what is 

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the task associated with it? 
Whatever that task is, it is to 

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be comprehended or understood 
according to the Buddha. 

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And that's the opposite of 
spiritual bypassing. 

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The Buddha didn't start out with
everything is fine. 

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He started out by saying, look, 
see, there's birth, there's 

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aging, there's sickness, there's
death, there's sorrow, 

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lamentation, pain, distress, 
despair. 

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These are things that we deal 
with as humans, and they're 

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unavoidable. 
We have to sometimes associate 

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with things that we dislike or 
be separated from things that we

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do like, or we sometimes just 
don't get what we want. 

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And he said, look directly at 
whatever is difficult about 

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being alive. 
And the Dharma isn't teaching us

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how to pretend that suffering is
not actually happening. 

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It's teaching us how to be 
together with that suffering and

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see it clearly enough to 
understand it so that we can 

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work through it. 
And a lot of times people hear 

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the in the Dharma, we talk a lot
about acceptance and they hear 

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that as hey, this is fine. 
And actually spiritual bypassing

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can be summed up with that 
single panel comic that you've 

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probably all seen, which is the 
little dog sitting at the table 

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with his coffee cup saying this 
is fine and the whole room is on

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fire around him. 
That's kind of pretty. 

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Some sums it up pretty simply in
one little comic strip comic 

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panel, even if you've seen that 
where he's sitting there and 

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everything's on fire and he says
this is fine. 

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That is spiritual bypassing 
everything around you is on fire

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and you're smiling and enjoying 
a cup of coffee saying this is 

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fine. 
That's being oblivious to the 

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reality and we also shouldn't 
panic. 

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But that's the that's what the 
Buddha taught is not ignoring it

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and pretending it's fine, but 
sitting there and going, OK, 

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this is a problem and I need to 
work with it. 

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What's the cause of this 
problem? 

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And then going from there, 
Acceptance means recognizing it 

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and saying this is what's 
happening right now. 

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It doesn't necessarily mean 
seeing what's happening and 

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saying this is this is what 
should be happening. 

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Those are completely different 
responses. 

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If someone's house is on fire, 
accepting responsibility, or I 

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00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:46,840
should say accepting reality, 
means going, hey, that house is 

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on fire. 
We need to put it out. 

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00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:52,400
It doesn't mean sitting across 
the street in a meditation 

232
00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:57,200
pretzel pose and saying, Oh 
well, all things are conditioned

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00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,680
and all things are impermanent. 
Watching the house burn 

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00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:07,640
acceptance should get us 
directly into contact with 

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00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:09,920
reality. 
That's its role. 

236
00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:14,800
And then wisdom should ask us 
what that situation requires. 

237
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So OK, that house is on fire. 
What does this situation call 

238
00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:20,480
for? 
I need to call the authorities. 

239
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,480
I need to help put out this fire
if I can, or whatever it is you 

240
00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,960
can do. 
Sometimes acceptance leads to 

241
00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:30,360
letting go of something, and 
sometimes it leads to taking 

242
00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:35,640
action. 
You can't wisely respond to 

243
00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:39,680
reality until you've stopped 
insisting that reality is not 

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00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,800
what it is. 
There's a beautiful anti 

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00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:47,520
spiritual bypassing story in in 
the Dharma. 

246
00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:52,880
There's this story of where the 
Buddha and Ananda encounter a 

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00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:57,280
monk who's suffering. 
He's old and very frail and he's

248
00:16:57,280 --> 00:17:01,240
sick and he's suffering a lot 
and he's laying in his own filth

249
00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:06,520
and he has dysentery and it's 
pretty gruesome, gross situation

250
00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:09,119
they find him in. 
And he's lying there in his own 

251
00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:12,880
urine and excrement and nobody, 
none of the other monks in the 

252
00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:16,440
Sangha in the monastery are 
caring for him. 

253
00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:18,160
They've just left him there to 
die. 

254
00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:22,800
And the Buddhist says, why is 
nobody taking care of this man? 

255
00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:27,720
And the explanation that he gets
is essentially this monk has not

256
00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,640
been useful to the community and
he's dying. 

257
00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:32,520
There's nothing we can do. 
We can't stop it. 

258
00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:34,360
So he's just, that's what's 
happening. 

259
00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:37,520
And so nobody's bothering to 
look after him because he never 

260
00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:40,040
helped anybody else. 
So we're just letting him, 

261
00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:46,360
letting him be. 
And the Buddha was very dis 

262
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:49,600
dissatisfied with that answer, 
as you could imagine. 

263
00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:54,880
And So what does he do? 
He doesn't give them a lecture. 

264
00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:59,680
He doesn't explain why it's a 
bad idea or anything like that. 

265
00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:03,000
He doesn't talk about the 
impermanence of bodily 

266
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,800
suffering. 
He tells Ananda, go and bring 

267
00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:11,400
some water. 
And together they both wash and 

268
00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:15,840
clean this monk up and get him 
into better condition. 

269
00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:19,960
And then they sit with him and 
comfort him and give him some 

270
00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:23,320
teachings and things like that, 
just to help keep him calm. 

271
00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:27,400
And then the Buddha later 
confronts the community about 

272
00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:29,800
why nobody was caring with him, 
caring for him. 

273
00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:33,720
And he says that if they don't 
care for one another, then who 

274
00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:35,520
will? 
Who's going to care for you? 

275
00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:38,560
If no, if, if we don't take care
of each other, who's going to do

276
00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:41,520
it? 
And he tells them that one who 

277
00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:45,400
would attend the Buddha should 
also attend the sick. 

278
00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:48,720
And there's another way that 
it's said usually, and it's a 

279
00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:53,840
very similar, I think this same 
teaching is in Christianity and 

280
00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,760
really all other major 
religions. 

281
00:18:56,760 --> 00:19:01,760
He something like you should 
take care of me as I take care 

282
00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:08,480
of them or something like that. 
It's a common example in 

283
00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:12,800
spirituality and yet people 
misunderstand or spiritually 

284
00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:18,680
bypass it all the time. 
Sometimes the Dharma response is

285
00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:21,840
to get the water. 
Somebody's suffering, Yes, their

286
00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:24,720
suffering is impermanent. 
Yes, their body is conditioned. 

287
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:26,920
Yes, they ultimately cannot be 
saved. 

288
00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:30,200
They're going to pass away from 
sickness or death. 

289
00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:33,920
But right now, go get the 
freaking water and let's get 

290
00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:38,240
this person cleaned up and do 
what we can for them to ease 

291
00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:43,960
their suffering. 
And so this kind of brings us to

292
00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:46,920
the word of equanimity. 
We probably all know what 

293
00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:52,680
equanimity is among us here, at 
least I hope so. 

294
00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:55,200
At least we're familiar with the
word if we don't know exactly 

295
00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:57,400
what it means. 
But it's one of the biggest 

296
00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:02,680
places where this sort of 
Buddhist terminology gets lost 

297
00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:06,920
or or confused or bypassed. 
Someone tells you about 

298
00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:09,720
something terrible that's 
happening, and there are some 

299
00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:12,640
Buddhists out there who will 
say, oh, well, you have to have 

300
00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:15,760
equanimity. 
You can't let that sway you. 

301
00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:17,560
You know, you have to be OK with
it. 

302
00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:20,560
But oopeka, or equanimity is not
apathy. 

303
00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:24,040
That's not the same thing. 
The Brahma Viharas themselves 

304
00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:29,160
make that very clear. 
Mehta is goodwill, Corona is 

305
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:33,400
compassion in relation to 
suffering, Mudita is sympathetic

306
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,280
joy, or you might hear it as 
appreciative joy, and Oopeka is 

307
00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:40,360
equanimity, and equanimity 
exists alongside of those 

308
00:20:40,360 --> 00:20:45,280
things, alongside of compassion,
not instead of it, and actually 

309
00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:48,280
probably more because of it. 
You could say the equanimity is 

310
00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:52,040
a natural byproduct of the other
three heart practices. 

311
00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:56,880
If you're practicing meta and 
compassion and joy, then you 

312
00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:01,040
you're developing equanimity 
naturally it will arise on its 

313
00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:03,200
own. 
Doesn't mean don't practice it 

314
00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:08,040
as well, but cultivated 
compassion you could hold in one

315
00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:12,560
hand and on the other hand you 
could hold harmfulness and these

316
00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:17,480
are treated as incompatible 
directions for the mind. 

317
00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:21,440
Equanimity is not I don't care 
what happens. 

318
00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:26,440
It's more like it's closer to 
stability that allows us to care

319
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,680
while not being swayed by hatred
or panic or despair or 

320
00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:38,440
compulsive control or whatever. 
We sometimes use this term 

321
00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:42,400
mindfulness to become less aware
of what's happening, which 

322
00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:44,800
again, is kind of a 
bastardization of what 

323
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:49,360
mindfulness is supposed to be. 
If we're using mindfulness to 

324
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,440
avoid looking at something else 
and be, let's be mindful of this

325
00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:56,880
so that I don't have to pay 
attention to that or don't pay 

326
00:21:56,880 --> 00:21:59,960
attention to politics. 
Focus on your meditation or 

327
00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:06,920
don't think about suffering. 
Focus on whatever the the flame 

328
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:11,600
on the candle or whatever. 
If we think that we're supposed 

329
00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:15,200
to avoid those things so that we
don't disturb our peace, we have

330
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,440
missed the point and we are 
spiritually bypassing. 

331
00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:23,840
Mindfulness is training. 
First of all, it's full stop, 

332
00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:27,240
it's training. 
Mindfulness is a training and 

333
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:31,000
it's a training in knowing what 
is happening, not how to ignore 

334
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,080
what's happening. 
There's an example of 

335
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:38,440
mindfulness and alertness in in 
involves knowing your body, your

336
00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,080
feelings, your mind, and your 
mental qualities. 

337
00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:44,560
That's the Sati Pattana Suta 
referencing there. 

338
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:49,080
But maintaining awareness is a 
thing that you do in in your 

339
00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:52,760
everyday ordinary activities 
such as walking and standing and

340
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,360
sitting and speaking and 
remaining silent and so on. 

341
00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:03,120
In Semuta Nakaya 36.7, the 
Buddha is visiting in that suta.

342
00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:07,160
The Buddha is visiting what's 
essentially a hospital sick 

343
00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:09,920
ward. 
He walks through with the monks,

344
00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:14,280
and he's sort of moved to tell 
them a monk should approach the 

345
00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:18,080
time of death mindfully and with
alertness. 

346
00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,480
This is our instruction for all 
of you. 

347
00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:25,240
And he's talking to the sick as 
well as his own monks. 

348
00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:30,440
And he goes on with this 
explanation in which he says 

349
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:34,640
there's a case where a monk 
remains focused on the body in 

350
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:38,200
and of itself, ardent, alert and
mindful. 

351
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:40,560
And then he goes on, closes it 
out. 

352
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,520
It's much longer than that, but 
he gets to the end. 

353
00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:49,480
And he says just as an oil lamp 
burns independence on oil and 

354
00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:54,840
WIC, and from the termination of
the oil and WIC and from not 

355
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:57,880
being provided any other 
sustenance, it goes out 

356
00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:01,320
unnourished. 
In the same way, when sensing a 

357
00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:05,360
feeling limited to the body, he 
discerns that I'm sensing a 

358
00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:09,960
feeling limited to the body. 
When sensing a feeling limited 

359
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,680
to life, he discerns that I'm 
sensing a feeling that's limited

360
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:17,000
to this lifetime. 
He discerns that with the 

361
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:20,720
breakup of the body after the 
termination of life, all that is

362
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:24,800
sensed not being relished will 
grow cold right there. 

363
00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:31,880
So practice is not, you know, 
stopping reality from disturbing

364
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:34,240
me. 
It's learning to meet reality 

365
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:39,480
without becoming lost in it and 
not being also also cultivating,

366
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:43,200
not being afraid of it because 
it's perfectly normal things 

367
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:49,320
that every human will deal with.
And so some of those things are 

368
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:52,880
not equal to one another. 
It might look like it on the 

369
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,520
outside, but usually that just 
means we're not paying 

370
00:24:55,520 --> 00:25:00,120
attention. 
So one of the worst forms of 

371
00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:04,960
spiritual bypassing, which is 
just kind of cold hearted and 

372
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:09,240
gross, is when we see somebody 
that's suffering and we say, Oh 

373
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,560
well, that's their karma. 
And I've known quite a few 

374
00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,800
people, usually early in their 
practice when they don't yet 

375
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,720
understand karma, but I've seen 
a lot of people take that 

376
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:23,440
approach. 
And even if we accept the karma 

377
00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:28,520
as part of the Buddhist 
teachings, using it that way can

378
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,640
become an excuse for apathy or 
indifference. 

379
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:37,560
And that sick monk story kind of
pokes a hole straight through 

380
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:40,720
that kind of reasoning, or lack 
of reasoning. 

381
00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:46,920
The Buddha would certainly have 
said this man's illness results 

382
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,200
from causes and conditions. 
His body is impermanent. 

383
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,200
His experience belongs to his 
karma. 

384
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:57,120
He would not have said it's just
his time. 

385
00:25:57,120 --> 00:26:00,200
He lived a long life, Wah wah, 
he wouldn't have done that. 

386
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,120
He would have understood that 
yes, it is karma, yes it is 

387
00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:05,800
these different things. 
And he also would have gone and 

388
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:09,520
got in the water and helped 
clean the monk up and wouldn't 

389
00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:13,080
have sat there telling him all 
the things he already knows. 

390
00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:20,480
The the relevant question when 
we confront suffering is not 

391
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:24,800
really why does this person, why
do I or why does this person 

392
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,560
deserve this, to have this 
happening to them or whatever. 

393
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:33,480
It's more like what wholesome 
action is available to me right 

394
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:37,480
now? 
What is the most generous thing 

395
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,880
I can do in this moment or 
what's the best I can do with 

396
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:46,400
what I have, where I am? 
Those are all just some 

397
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,320
different orientations toward 
karma, or really they're all the

398
00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:55,680
same orientation toward karma. 
Spiritual bypassing can happen 

399
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,400
with our own emotions as well. 
As I mentioned earlier, if we 

400
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:02,920
turn inward and someone has hurt
us, we might say, oh, I 

401
00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:05,400
shouldn't be angry. 
I'm a good Buddhist. 

402
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,840
If somebody dies, if we say, oh,
I understand impermanence, no 

403
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:15,440
big deal, That's avoidant. 
That's not looking at reality. 

404
00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:18,280
It doesn't mean you have to be 
shaken up by it either. 

405
00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,400
You can go, oh, yeah, this is 
devastating. 

406
00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:23,880
This is terrible to lose this 
person. 

407
00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:28,080
What a loss for us. 
And also be OK. 

408
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:33,040
It's OK to be OK. 
If you say, well, we're 

409
00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,320
frightened. 
Oh, well, fear is just a, an 

410
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,320
arising mental state or 
something. 

411
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:40,720
Oh, I'm devastated. 
Oh, attachment causes suffering.

412
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:43,840
You'll be all right. 
Those are not appropriate. 

413
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:50,440
That is spiritual bypassing. 
And all of those statements can 

414
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,680
contain truth. 
Yeah, those things are not 

415
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,680
incorrect. 
And every one of them can also 

416
00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,920
be used to avoid feeling what's 
actually happening in that 

417
00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:04,080
moment and just not having to 
face how you actually feel about

418
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:06,640
it. 
The problem is not the noticing 

419
00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:09,040
that anger is present. 
That's mindfulness. 

420
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:13,560
The bypass is a good Buddhist 
shouldn't be angry or I'm not 

421
00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,520
being a good Buddhist if I'm 
angry or something like that. 

422
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:22,480
We can't abandoned the things 
that we refuse to acknowledge. 

423
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:24,600
So we can't let go of something 
if we don't realize we're 

424
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:26,920
holding it. 
So we have to pay attention to 

425
00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:29,960
the fact that we're holding it, 
and then we have to work with 

426
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:36,080
being able to let it go. 
But nowhere in that recipe is it

427
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:40,400
does it say to ignore the 
reality of it. 

428
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:45,640
In fact, quite the opposite. 
And we talk all the time about 

429
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:50,160
letting go, but before we can, 
we have to pay attention. 

430
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:56,200
And sometimes if we don't pay 
attention, letting go is just 

431
00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:00,600
pushing something away. 
And that's just a version kind 

432
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:07,840
of dressed up as practice or as 
we say, sometimes in the South, 

433
00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:14,600
it's like lipstick on a pig. 
There's a big difference between

434
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:17,400
this is painful and I don't want
to look at it. 

435
00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,480
And I've already looked at this.
Clearly I've understood what I 

436
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:24,640
can and what I cannot do and I'm
acting where it's appropriate. 

437
00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:29,120
And now I'm going to release the
control and let go of that. 

438
00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:31,160
That's very two very different 
things. 

439
00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:34,800
The second one is practice. 
The first one is probably just 

440
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:40,000
avoidance, and this gets 
directly at the concern that 

441
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:45,000
prompted this talk. 
Buddhism absolutely values 

442
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:50,600
seclusion, meditation, silence, 
turning inward, guarding our 

443
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:53,560
senses. 
It definitely prioritizes those 

444
00:29:53,560 --> 00:30:02,760
things, but those practices are 
intended as training for being a

445
00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:07,240
human, for being responsible as 
a human, not for permanent 

446
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:11,240
withdrawal from being a human or
being some kind of robot. 

447
00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,360
We sit quietly and we cultivate 
patience, and then somebody 

448
00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,200
tests our patience. 
We cultivate meta, and then 

449
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:21,000
somebody comes along and is 
difficult for us. 

450
00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:25,520
We cultivate compassion and then
we encounter great suffering, 

451
00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:28,440
and it's hard to be 
compassionate sometimes for 

452
00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:32,720
certain situations. 
We practice generosity, and then

453
00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:36,120
somebody needs something and we 
don't want to show up with it. 

454
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:40,040
At some point, the cushion has 
to survive contact with the 

455
00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:43,080
world. 
And otherwise, what is it that 

456
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:48,360
we're training for? 
When applying the Dharma to 

457
00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,720
something difficult, you can 
ask, like, is this teaching 

458
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:55,280
helping me see more clearly, or 
is it helping me just avoid 

459
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:58,200
looking? 
And that's a really good 

460
00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:02,760
diagnostic. 
You can say, you know, 

461
00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:06,560
everything's impermanent, OK. 
Does remembering impermanence 

462
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:09,520
help me engage wisely with 
what's happening, or does it 

463
00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:11,680
just give me permission to not 
engage? 

464
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:15,880
And then the answer tells you if
you're spiritually bypassing on 

465
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,360
that. 
I need equanimity, OK? 

466
00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:21,480
Is equanimity helping me respond
without hatred? 

467
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:26,640
Or does it mean that I don't 
have to respond, I need to let 

468
00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:29,680
go? 
OK, that's good if I understood 

469
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,160
what needs doing first before I 
can let go. 

470
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,200
Or am I just pushing something 
away? 

471
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:39,520
It's all the same Dharma in all 
of those cases, but very 

472
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:45,320
different uses. 
Sometimes Dharma practice will 

473
00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:48,280
make us feel very peaceful, and 
sometimes it does not. 

474
00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:55,880
Sometimes practicing the Dharma 
is actually very unpleasant, and

475
00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:58,240
the Buddha said that that's what
we have to work with. 

476
00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:03,960
Sometimes seeing clearly is 
uncomfortable or painful. 

477
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:08,280
Compassion can be painful. 
Acknowledging our own anger can 

478
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:12,520
be unpleasant. 
Recognizing injustice can 

479
00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:16,160
disturb our peace. 
Admitting that someone that we 

480
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:22,080
love is dying certainly does not
feel peaceful, but peace is not 

481
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:26,640
necessarily evidence that we're 
practicing incorrectly. 

482
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:29,400
So just 'cause you're peaceful 
doesn't mean you're doing it 

483
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:32,520
wrong either. 
Sometimes it can feel very 

484
00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:36,040
peaceful to avoid looking at 
things for a little while, but 

485
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:39,240
that'll catch up to you. 
That doesn't mean don't do it 

486
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:42,560
sometimes if you need to, but 
just be aware that that's what 

487
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:45,200
you're doing. 
And the better question might 

488
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:48,080
be, am I seeing clearly? 
And from what I see, am I 

489
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:52,920
responding in a wholesome way, 
meaning a way that leads toward 

490
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:56,680
happiness. 
So if we go back to that sick 

491
00:32:56,680 --> 00:33:00,240
monk that the Buddha cleaned up 
and was caring for, there's 

492
00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:02,280
suffering right in front of the 
Buddha. 

493
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:05,600
And he knows better than anyone 
that the body is impermanent. 

494
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:09,400
He knows that he can't stop this
illness from happening to this 

495
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:14,880
monk, and he knows that monk is 
going to die. 

496
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:20,240
And none of that knowledge 
prevents him from seeing the 

497
00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:23,320
immediate reality which is here 
is a human being who is 

498
00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:26,480
suffering and needs help to not 
feel that way. 

499
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:30,600
And his and compassion is the 
desire to take that suffering 

500
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:33,520
away. 
And so he says go and get the 

501
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:34,960
water. 
It's that simple. 

502
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:39,960
Meditate, cultivate equanimity, 
understand impermanence, 

503
00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:44,600
practice non attachment, let go.
But when suffering is right in 

504
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:48,240
front of you, if there's 
something you can do to 

505
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:50,960
alleviate it, then do that thing
if you can. 

506
00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:54,600
Sometimes the most Buddhist 
thing that we're able to do is 

507
00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,160
just go get the water and start 
cleaning. 

508
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:01,920
So let's sit with that for a 
bit. 

509
00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:28,080
Go ahead and find a comfortable 
posture, something that will 

510
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:37,280
allow your body to settle any 
posture you like. 

511
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:46,719
Whatever posture you've taken 
up, see if you can notice 

512
00:34:47,639 --> 00:34:54,560
anywhere that the body is being 
supported, chair, cushion or the

513
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:57,560
floor. 
What part of the body is 

514
00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:04,760
touching those things? 
Just acknowledging the simple 

515
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:12,720
physical reality of being held 
and supported by whatever it is,

516
00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:18,000
the floor, the earth, the bed, 
the couch, whatever it is. 

517
00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:24,120
And you don't have to do 
anything special with that. 

518
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:35,310
You just or noticing it in a 
very sort of passive way, I 

519
00:35:35,310 --> 00:35:38,990
suppose that's that's the earth 
taking care of you right now, 

520
00:35:39,110 --> 00:35:46,670
holding you, supporting you. 
You don't have to have any 

521
00:35:46,670 --> 00:35:51,870
particular way of breathing or 
creating any sort of feeling, 

522
00:35:53,270 --> 00:35:56,310
just being with whatever feeling
you have right now. 

523
00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:03,880
Just breathing, knowing that 
we're breathing. 

524
00:36:13,010 --> 00:36:19,010
Mindfulness of that breathing, 
mindfulness of that body, 

525
00:36:19,210 --> 00:36:20,890
mindful of what it's telling 
you. 

526
00:36:24,570 --> 00:36:27,290
Remember that first noble truth.
Is there suffering here? 

527
00:36:28,570 --> 00:36:33,530
What's the cause of it? 
Can it be solved? 

528
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:37,760
Yes it can. 
And the way to solve it is the 

529
00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:40,560
4th Noble Truth, which is the 
Eightfold Path. 

530
00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:51,360
Maybe the body is uncomfortable,
something is aching, the mind 

531
00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:56,760
maybe feels peaceful or busy. 
Maybe you're happy or worried or

532
00:36:56,760 --> 00:37:03,840
sad or irritated or tired, 
whatever is here right now, just

533
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:07,120
seeing if you can resist the 
urge or temptation to 

534
00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:23,000
immediately make it different. 
Because that's what we do. 

535
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:29,640
We tend to push away the 
discomfort or pull toward the 

536
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:34,160
comfort or ignore things 
entirely. 

537
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:40,400
And that's that is craving 
happens in that moment when we 

538
00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:43,560
want it to be different than it 
is, that's craving. 

539
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:47,960
When we want it to stay a 
certain way, that's craving. 

540
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:54,040
And sometimes people think that 
ignoring it all is not craving, 

541
00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:59,120
but it is. 
It's craving for it not to be 

542
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:05,240
the way it is, to not have to 
face reality. 

543
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:14,080
So whatever's here, if we can 
resist that temptation to push 

544
00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:17,640
it away and make it different, 
we're not saying this is fine 

545
00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:20,880
while the house burns down. 
We're simply saying this is 

546
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:25,920
what's here and noticing 
whatever is different. 

547
00:38:26,720 --> 00:38:31,800
This is here. 
It's literally the name of this 

548
00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:34,000
session is what we're doing 
right now. 

549
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:37,160
It's like this. 
You're just that's recognizing. 

550
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:43,080
That's mindfulness of reality 
right now. 

551
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:47,200
There's this discomfort right 
now. 

552
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:52,400
There's also a lot of comfort 
right now. 

553
00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:57,160
It makes me feel this way about 
it, whatever that is. 

554
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,640
If their sadness is here right 
now, sadness is here. 

555
00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:05,760
If there's worry right now, 
there's worry present. 

556
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:14,160
If there's peace right now, it's
peaceful. 

557
00:39:19,570 --> 00:39:22,930
But we can be worried and just 
let that be. 

558
00:39:22,930 --> 00:39:26,650
We don't have to change that. 
We can also be peaceful and let 

559
00:39:26,650 --> 00:39:28,730
that be, and we don't have to 
change that. 

560
00:39:29,730 --> 00:39:35,080
Just noticing it. 
Don't have to deny anything that

561
00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:38,600
wants to be, don't have to 
exaggerate anything. 

562
00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:43,760
That is just knowing whatever is
present in this moment. 

563
00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:47,920
Just knowing that right now it's
like this and seeing that as 

564
00:39:47,920 --> 00:40:08,560
clearly as we can. 
Somebody I know once said that 

565
00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:13,480
Karma is just understanding that
right now cannot possibly be any

566
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:17,960
different than it is. 
There's nothing that could have 

567
00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:24,520
that can change how it is right 
now, but you can change how it 

568
00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:29,560
will be. 
If you just run on autopilot, 

569
00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:35,000
then whatever happens in the 
future is going to happen based 

570
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:49,280
on causes and conditions that 
you had no, no, no action over, 

571
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:55,400
no power over. 
But when you look at what is 

572
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,880
right now this unavoidable 
moment, because it's already 

573
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:05,520
here, right now, it's like this.
And what's the best I can do 

574
00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:10,000
with what I have right now so 
that the future moment will be 

575
00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:14,200
different? 
That's basically what the Buddha

576
00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:16,880
did. 
He sees the monk sick in his own

577
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:20,920
filth and he says, what? 
What's the best thing that I can

578
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:22,880
do here? 
I can't stop this man from 

579
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:24,680
dying. 
I can't stop him from being 

580
00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:29,360
sick. 
I can clean him up so that he's 

581
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:33,440
more comfortable in the future. 
Go and get some water. 

582
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:41,120
It's not overwhelming. 
It's just something to notice, 

583
00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:46,360
something to recognize. 
Sometimes something we don't 

584
00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:49,320
want to recognize, but it needs 
to be seen. 

585
00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:55,680
Maybe there's a conversation 
that needs to happen, or there's

586
00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:58,880
something you're worried or 
angry about or something you've 

587
00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:02,040
put off, and now it's time to 
deal with it. 

588
00:42:08,700 --> 00:42:13,420
And that's something I've seen 
in my own life so many times. 

589
00:42:14,860 --> 00:42:20,260
It's taken me my whole life to 
get a little bit good at it, at 

590
00:42:20,260 --> 00:42:26,140
not delaying because I have a 
tendency to think, oh, I'll get 

591
00:42:26,140 --> 00:42:35,280
to that, I'll do that later. 
And it has always cost me so 

592
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:46,960
much to do that tiny little 
piece of damage to my house 20 

593
00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:53,280
years ago became a full remodel 
on a house because I ignored it.

594
00:42:57,240 --> 00:43:01,120
And I could just list off so 
many things like that in my 

595
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:07,200
life. 
I'm learning I'm getting much 

596
00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:10,920
better about it. 
But it has come at great 

597
00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:13,720
personal cost for me to ignore 
those things. 

598
00:43:21,390 --> 00:43:25,150
Sometimes the mind just wants to
immediately explain things and 

599
00:43:25,150 --> 00:43:28,830
fix them and push them away and 
tell me why it shouldn't bother 

600
00:43:28,830 --> 00:43:32,440
me. 
Let's see if you can let those 

601
00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:34,000
things rest when they come up 
for you. 

602
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:38,000
See if just for a moment you can
just let it be what it is and 

603
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:39,560
learn from it. 
Remember it. 

604
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:46,320
I knew a teacher once who just 
described Buddhist practice as 

605
00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:55,080
remembering what's one word. 
You can describe Buddhism in one

606
00:43:55,080 --> 00:44:00,480
word, and they said remembering.
I was like, oh, that's good, I'm

607
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:07,600
going to remember that. 
But you don't have to solve 

608
00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:10,640
everything right now. 
It is helpful to remember it, 

609
00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:13,080
though. 
You don't have to pretend that 

610
00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:16,160
things aren't the way they are. 
You just have to notice how it 

611
00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:19,040
feels in the body right now. 
Right now it's like this. 

612
00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:28,080
Tension, pressure, warmth, 
heaviness, restlessness, calm, 

613
00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:37,640
patience. 
Whatever it is, notice it and 

614
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:41,360
ask yourself what does this 
moment require from me? 

615
00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:50,440
Not what do I wish was happening
right now, Not what would a good

616
00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:56,480
Buddhist do about this, or how 
do I make this feeling go away? 

617
00:44:57,400 --> 00:45:00,960
Just what does this situation 
need? 

618
00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:05,760
Maybe there's something that you
have to do. 

619
00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:09,640
Maybe there's something to say, 
or someone who needs your help 

620
00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:16,280
or an apology that you need to 
make, or create a boundary. 

621
00:45:19,320 --> 00:45:21,120
And maybe there's nothing you 
can do. 

622
00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:26,680
So the practice is simply 
genuinely to just let go, not 

623
00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:29,200
let it trouble you anymore 
because you can't do anything 

624
00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:33,520
about it, so why suffer? 
And that's the part where 

625
00:45:33,720 --> 00:45:37,880
sometimes people on the outside 
see that as apathy when really 

626
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:40,960
it's just, the reality is 
there's nothing I can do, and 

627
00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:42,960
there's no point in me suffering
over it. 

628
00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:51,480
And recognizing that if it is 
true, we're just practicing the 

629
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:56,640
willingness to ask the question 
honestly of ourselves and then 

630
00:45:56,640 --> 00:46:02,320
to notice, you know, the 
equanimity doesn't require us 

631
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:04,680
not to care. 
We can care without being 

632
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:08,560
consumed. 
We can acknowledge suffering 

633
00:46:08,560 --> 00:46:15,840
without being lost in it. 
We can see something difficult 

634
00:46:15,840 --> 00:46:20,200
and not look away from it. 
We can recognize something needs

635
00:46:20,200 --> 00:46:35,200
to change and not hate it. 
There's many teachings that the 

636
00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:39,520
Buddha could have given. 
Impermanence, non attachment, 

637
00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:44,120
karma, letting go. 
But first there was something 

638
00:46:44,120 --> 00:46:47,600
that needed to be done. 
He needed to get some water and 

639
00:46:47,600 --> 00:47:08,120
clean that monk. 
Just remembering that practice 

640
00:47:08,120 --> 00:47:12,160
is not about arranging your life
so that you never have to 

641
00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:20,240
encounter difficulty sounds 
wonderful, but it really just 

642
00:47:20,240 --> 00:47:26,000
isn't doable. 
Even if you tried, even if you 

643
00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:31,120
willingly bypassed and arranged 
your life so that you would 

644
00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:32,920
never encounter suffering, guess
what? 

645
00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:36,880
You will unavoidable in a human 
lifetime. 

646
00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:43,000
It's literally the foundational 
teaching of the Dharma. 

647
00:47:49,300 --> 00:47:52,660
It's just about learning to see 
clearly and understand whatever 

648
00:47:52,660 --> 00:47:55,340
is here. 
And then when action is called 

649
00:47:55,340 --> 00:47:59,540
for, act with wisdom and 
compassion and with as little 

650
00:47:59,540 --> 00:48:02,260
greed, hatred and delusion as 
you can manage. 

651
00:48:04,180 --> 00:48:07,860
Sometimes we sit, sometimes we 
let go, and sometimes we go and 

652
00:48:07,860 --> 00:48:22,160
get the water. 
So we'll go ahead and wrap up 

653
00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:25,480
there and start bringing our 
attention back into the space, 

654
00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:31,240
opening the eyes, moving a 
little bit as needed, making 

655
00:48:31,240 --> 00:48:33,480
yourself a little more 
comfortable if you like, and 

656
00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:37,400
ending with a nice big deep 
inhale stretch if you like, and 

657
00:48:37,400 --> 00:51:08,400
a longer, slower exhale. 
You're still here. 

658
00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:11,760
It's over. 
Go. 

659
00:51:11,760 --> 00:51:14,320
Practice. 
Go.