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These buttons Okay hi everyone now I have all the Buttons pushed I think so let's see if This buttons Hi Stefan and Stuart and Sam and Linda Jan Burr [Music] Patricia's There thumbs up must be thumbs up for Sound so wonderful so I look forward to being with you in a Few minutes again And uh And um See you soon Foreign Thank you Foreign Foreign Foreign Foreign Bye-bye So good morning everyone and welcome Good day I trust that you can hear me and um And here I am the last day here at IRC And um You know I haven't seen much of it Except for this The Altar and it's me Sitting here but I do feel very Kind of Content and happy to Introduce you to
IRC for those who've never been here Kind of have you here in a sense [Music] And um So So one of the wonderful Expressions that I like is the two words together A breathing room And since I do a lot of my time Connected to my breathing meditation Throughout the day as I go about things It's kind of second nature for me to Stay connected to breathing There is a breathing room Having room to breathe such a you know I think it's the sense of relief that People can have and a space you know to Have A lot more personal space when we feel Claustrophobic and feel really nice Uh to be in a large Vast natural setting Where it seems that the vastness of the Setting can hold all of who we are Without any judgment That um maybe in some ways I've been in Some settings where it's vast natural Settings where I felt simultaneously Very small like a small little piece of This universe At the same time uh kind of acutely Aware of Being alive and the sensations and the
Body being conscious being aware And being aware of it where there was Lots of space to be as I am And so meditation as a place to create Space create room to create time Lots of time It may be one definition of meditation Is to Give ourselves Infinite time As if we have all the time in the world As if there is no time Give ourselves all the space in the World as if there's no limitation to The fast space in which we belong or Which holds us or allows all of us to be And one of the ways that Buddhism has Kind of use this kind of ideas is to Liken awareness to space Or to the sky And when birds fly through the sky they Don't leave any traces they don't Disturb the sky This guy has infinite room for the birds To fly through in a sense Or if a rock gets thrown through the air There it doesn't mind words go through The air the air doesn't mind there's Lots of space for it And so awareness is that way That awareness is like space there's Something about knowing sensing feeling Know that to being aware That can be vast and
Open And lots of breathing room So perhaps for this morning sitting There can be as we connect Here and Now To our present moment experience Maybe there can also be a sense of vast Space lots of breathing room For whatever is here In a sense not disturbed by anything not Bothered by anything Not needing anything not wanting Anything to be different except To hold whatever is including desires And wants in vast space So to Begin Assuming a posture That maybe Takes up more space than usual Another way it may be saying Being a little more erect and open in The chest and Within head and neck that a little bit Alert upright Gently closing the eyes And slowly gently Expanding The Torso as you breathe in Deep inhales Making space Becoming larger bigger Lungs fill with air I said diaphragm pushes down and The stomach out
And releasing relaxing as you exhale And letting the breathing return to Normal And as you inhale Maybe you can see imagine that your Awareness Also expands now with the inhale Expands out To stretch and to meet wherever in your Body there is tension Expand outward To touch caress tension tightness As if it's no problem but just being Touched with the inhale with awareness And on the exhale Relaxing the tension Softening in the body Breathing normally Imagine that you have lots of breathing Room In which to breathe Maybe There's a lot of space around your body And imagining that two three four five Feet Distance From your body Is a broad soft welcoming space Into which to Breathe in breathe out In exhaling exhaling and settling in Relaxing in Deeply into the body Inhaling from the depths of your body
Outwards With the expansion of the Torso in the Chest On the inhale Inexpensive expansiveness that spreads Beyond the body even Sometimes the more the Thinking mind relaxes quiets And more space quiet silent space there Can be For the breathing room For all things That are occurring in the present moment Each thing allowed to be its own thing As it comes and goes Thank you Wherever you're sitting now imagine the Space around you Between you and the walls and the Ceiling Or if you're outside in vast space Beyond you And however far away you can imagine the Space In a certain kind of way that's the Distance How large The bubble of awareness is In some movements of the Mind Contract The awareness Sets limits on it boxes it in And other movements of the Mind open it Expand it
With no limits The Buddha said that Greed Boxer limits the mind creates a limit But boundary to the Mind awareness Generosity expands Animosity Boxes the mind in Love Expands it without limit Delusion Narrows the mind Wisdom makes awareness expansive [Music] And then as we come to the end of the Sitting To mention that the love the compassion That Can flow out of Buddhist practice Is a love compassion that has lots of Room Lots of breathing room So much room at some point It can hold all the suffering of the World Without being Oppressed by it or troubled by it And it's an amazing phenomenon That the heart has the ability To be present for suffering Without being troubled We can be the opposite That if we practice and are mindful Aware
It's almost as if we're making more room All the room that's needed And by not being troubled There's more Opportunity more space in our hearts To care To Aspire To move into action to care and care for Others Care for oneself To wish others well To love others May all beings Be happy May all beings Be safe May all beings Be peaceful And may all beings everywhere be free And may those who can use companionship Know that we accompany them With our care our good wishes our love May all beings be happy [Music] [Music] [Music] Thank you Foreign And welcome to this Final talk about The seven factors of compassion And um we've been talking about Compassion for some time Uh two weeks ago and now this week
And one of the things I would try to Convey is that um There are many characteristics of Compassion there are many Supportive conditions that come together In order to have a healthy form of Compassion That maybe many people don't realize That if People are have a capacity to feel Compassion They might just kind of assume that Whatever way they happen to feel Compassion as their way to experience it And it might be that in doing so having Just one way that it might be a good way Sometimes but it might not be Universally useful if for example Uh the suffering of the world Kind of touches in wounds that we have Or insecurities we have If uh if the being present for the Suffering of the world Um frightens us or Distresses us or depresses us That all those things can happen and if That's mixed up or entangled with the Compassion Then the compassion is not You know it you know is being kind of Influenced by It or The Compassion might Not be the most healthy way to be in the World And to learn to bring in these other
Qualities to bear on a compassion and to Have them included is a protection From the suffering of the world Um Harming us and causing us to be Exhausted and fatigued and Troubled and depressed it kind of keeps It keeps US fluid Keeps Us open Keeps Us Kind of Um Transparent in a certain way to the Suffering of the world So they're suffering the world it Doesn't land on the places we're holding On to a sense of self protecting a sense Of self or asserting a sense of self or The ways that we want to see ourselves Or know ourselves and And so sometimes that suffering it Doesn't you know get interfered with our Desires and our animosities And so to begin appreciating that these Different characteristics of qualities That can come along with compassion So for example that there's awareness That can come along mindfulness can come Along That there is a sense of Investigation Of really seeing the distinction between Being present for suffering in ways that Cause a harm to ourselves to limit Ourselves cause causes us suffering in Ways of being present with it there's More opening and freeing
To really feel that and see what's Happening inside as we meet suffering To be able to make effort to make to be Able to choose the fork the path of the Suffering of less strain less tension That A path of creating more space more peace More openness around The capacity to meet suffering To appreciate the uh that that Compassion can come with a Sweetness in Fact if there isn't something that feels Sweet or feels a rightness in it then Probably it's the compassion is mixed up With things which are unnecessary And then we go back to the awareness Practice to really see what's going on Here And back to the just making a Distinction seeing clearly the two Paths Of what leads to what's leading us to Feel stressed and what's leading us away From that And then choosing it acting on one Living into in the one that's more Beneficial And then Compassion can have a Tranquility for it And so if if we're compassionate and we Feel agitated Restless Um that's you know it's it's very easy To that that to happen and um But to know that then the compassion it Is not going to be so clean or so
Spacious or then we're more vulnerable To some of the kind of Undermining ways that we can be impacted By suffering if we if we're agitated And then the samadhi vector a sense of Being really at home Stable unified centered I mean this bubble of compassion of care Love Um it's kind of like our home we feel Like we're home with it as opposed to Something that we should do or we have To kind of gear up or so uh you know Tense up to try to have it Or constantly being distracted from it And then finally today the Equanimity Factor of compassion And sometimes it's hard for people to Appreciate that compassion and Equanimity can come together So there's can be a very strong kind of Feeling or idea that we have to Um We were supposed to be distressed we're Supposed to be upset we're supposed to Feel the suffering of the world in a way That we suffer as well And if we don't feel it that way and Suffer then we're not really connected To it But in fact we don't have to feel the Suffering of the the same suffering of The world the feeling or sensing the Suffering of others is a a is a uh is a
Kind of a Kind of a loving recognition is a kind Of a It's sensing without suffering we're not Suffering with them Then it's a kind of you know I don't know I don't know if there's any Hope then but it is feeling them knowing Them fully so there's a kind of Accompanying a kind of recognition a Kind of kind of sense of uh capacity of Caring and accompanying and And respecting others but without us Suffering as well And Equanimity is part of that That the heart of compassion the Capacity to be untroubled or unagitated Or non-reactive In the encounter with suffering And um and for some people hearing that It can seem like then the compassion is Aloof or indifferent but in fact it's It's the opposite That the capacity the ability to have Compassion have lots of breathing room For suffering lots of space for it Without clamping down without Creating limits and contractions and Tightness and awareness Actually allows us to be more fully Present to be more sensitive to be more Sensing and intuitive and and attuned to Other people So one of the one of the meanings of
Equanimity Is a very satisfying A kind of peaceful Non-reactivity of the Mind And I say satisfying and peaceful Because Non-reactivity by itself can be a kind Of a indifference or disassociation or Something Like not caring Um but or kind of closing down Neutrality but this is not a neutral State it's very satisfying it's very It's a peaceful And it's available to be present for Things And it's not reactive and it's a it's Such a delightful Kind of Medicine relief for the joy for the mind To feel like The mind is not being hijacked by Reactivity It's kind of like kind of when we're no Longer being having a reactive mind they Can finally say oh now I'm home now you know Um you know I can now I'm more fully Myself Now this is a kind of a healthy state That we're very reactive agitated mind Doesn't really feel like it might if you Don't know anything else it might feel Like that's who we are
But Um the Deep Equanimity it's more like oh No I am who I am it's that satisfying So the um So These seven factors of compassion Are reference points for understanding The full potential in the full Beauty And the full Strength of compassion And so to have these as a kind of list To kind of refer back to When you're Encountering suffering and feeling Compassion and care for it and and Bringing along mindfulness in the middle Of it don't forget to be mindful Or recognize that mindfulness is coming Along It's a sensitive Recognize how it how Being careful about where the suffering Is where the freedom of suffering is is The movement of compassion And effort and joy and tranquility and Samadhi and equanimity It there part of the reason why it's Such a beautiful thing a reference point And maybe sometimes practice is to bring This along with compassion Is that When compassion is strongest and most Healthy and most I don't know Itself clean
These seven factors of compassion Come along with them effortlessly We don't have to practice them they're Just there And uh so if they're not there Then uh you know then we know where to Work we know what to explore and Practice with so we can evoke or release This natural capacity of compassion to Have these seven beautiful qualities So um It's uh It's a kind of a life work to explore This It's not something that we can expect to Do overnight or do well all the time or But rather compassion is a wonderful Mirror for ourselves to see ourselves Better and see where we get hung up see Where we limit the mind or limit Awareness to some more contracted state And uh and you know it's a lifetime Exploration and And the idea of spending a Lifetime on The Journey of discovering and Practicing and enacting and living by Compassion it's a great journey it's a Great adventure it's a great Um Kind of valuable treasure it's a gift we Do to ourselves and a gift we do to Others So um May
Compassion Be a heightened these talks this week May give you a heightened appreciation Maybe even love for compassion As it does a heightened appreciation and Love for people maybe all people that You meet So thank you very very much And then I have some announcements There's three announcements about the Upcoming 7 A.M YouTube Program here and A program at IMC tomorrow and then a Community meeting we have at IMC for all You know online on Sunday So the first I'll be I'll be away for the next couple Of weeks And um and uh and then I'll be away for A couple of weeks in May And then I'm going on a self-retreat in June I'm going to go do a month-long Retreat Um in a cabin somewhere And um so you know It's a good part of the next uh You know I guess 10 weeks or so I'll be Away And uh And uh I have we have wonderful guest Teachers coming I think they're all People who have taught here before from On the YouTube And uh it'd be nice if you would
Remember to support them a little bit as They teach that kind of Enriches the whole The whole our whole community in many Ways The um other thing is Um So tomorrow for those people who live Close enough to IMC the Earth care Committee at IMC is having a redwood Crea Redwood City has a creek kind of Running through it that goes down to the Bay and there's going to be a a Creek Cleaning morning from 8 30 to 12. and um That uh that the city is organizing but The Earth care is going as a group to go And participate in that and If you're close enough and like to do That you can look at the IMC website Under what's new and there there's a Description and there's also a little Sign up you can do if you want And the IMC members who are organizing It are RAM apalaraju and Hillary borison They'll be there and and they're Wonderful people and it should be a nice Time And then Sunday at 11 o'clock here in California The um We have a online community meeting for Anybody who part of the IMC Community or Feels part of it or like to be part of It or just simply wants to learn a
Little bit about what's happening at IMC In the state kind of the state of State Of the Union for IMC and what's Happening is we come out of the pandemic And some of the issues around covid here And how they're shifting and Some of the ideas for as we go forward From here So I'll be hosting it and um the the Zoom link is right now it's available on The what's new on the home page for Imc's website where it's there is a Little Announcement and also on the IMC Calendar for Sunday at 11 o'clock California time So uh I hope you come I'd love to see you There or participate and wait to tell You and with that kind of event And um Thank you all very much
