Teaching Transcripts and Synopses 

The answer may be my mind. Once you are quite confident and convinced and clear that your body is not you, then you can go to the next step -- the mind. Again, the most immediate thing you can think about is that my mind is not me. We subconsciously know that mind is not me, but to make sure that mind is not only not me, but that also, mind does not exist, we can do some analytical meditation on mind.

Now we have to analyze vertically, which means chronologically, dealing with time. Which part of mind -- because there is a mind that I have this morning, a mind that I will have this evening and a mind that I have right now -- is mind? Is the past or the future or the present my mind? Can you say that the morning mind is the evening mind? Or can you say that yesterday's mind is tomorrow's mind? You can't say that the past mind is the future mind, because the future does not exist at the time of the past.

At the time of the past, things which were never present. They don't exist at the same time. Can there be the present mind without the past mind? Can there be the mind of the 3rd second without the mind of the 2nd second? It cannot be. Without having the 2nd second, you cannot have the 3rd second. Without having the 2nd second, you cannot have the 3rd second because the 3rd second follows the 2nd second. But the moment you have the 3rd second, you don't have the 2nd second and even the present mind has a part that is closed to the past and closed to the future. There is not even one single present mind that is one mind. It is dividable.

Firstly, we understand that my mind is not me. Secondly, we don't find an undividable mind. So now, we look for the "I" again. Where is the "I"? Such a practice is known as Vipashyana practice. We don't see the emptiness right now just by doing this meditation, but if you really do it seriously, you could get the sense of understanding emptiness. But that is not enough, because it could disappear again very easily. That is why we have to meditate not just once, but many times.

Now we will focus on Mahayana meditation. We will focus on loving kindness. Thoughts manifest in our words, thoughts manifest in our actions, thoughts manifest in our habits, and thoughts manifest in our characters. Therefore, it is important to let our thoughts grow or flourish from loving kindness. Imagine a mother and her child playing in a public garden. The child is playing with sand on the ground and falls down on the ground. The mother immediately comes forward, holds the child and dusts away the sand on his or her face and body. She hugs and kisses the child.

Think: is she expecting anything in return for such loving kindness? Her reaction is so fast, she does not have any expectations in return; she does it naturally. Now you can also think about your own parents or anyone that is kind to you. This is how you first generate loving kindness with effort, but after sometime, general loving kindness will flourish without effort.

Next step: Vipashyana again. Pick any object to observe. Let's choose one object, let's think of a tree. We believe that a tree is one thing. Tree is one of many types of vegetation; tree is one vegetation, flower is another vegetation. So we have the concept that the tree is one but now let's analyze this belief. Where is that one tree, where is that generic tree which represents all other trees? Because there are many kinds of trees-- palm trees, sandalwood trees, many other trees. Is that tree a palm tree? Is that tree a sandalwood tree? Is that tree an apple tree? It is none of them. So what is that tree? Is that now a tree or not? So you might know that it does not exist. That tree is not a tree anymore. Tree is a concept. You can also observe a car. A car has four wheels, doors, engine and several flat metal parts. None of them is the car but we think that when all of them get together, there is a car.

This is analytical meditation and a Vipashyana practice. Now let's try to do Shamatha meditation again focusing on the Buddha. Try to relax yourself, try to breathe normally and try to have a clear picture of the Buddha in your mind. If you can't visualize clearly, try to do that in part. Or you can even try to draw the Buddha in your mind. Starting from the lower part of the Buddha and moving upwards slowly. Try to visualize as clearly as possible so clearly, that you can even see each hair of the eyebrow. If you hear sounds and you can't concentrate, just focus on that sound. Let that sound be the object of your meditation.

Next step: the Vipashyana. Look at your mind, just look at the mind. But who is looking? Is the mind itself trying to look at the mind itself? When you look at your mind, it is best not to have the concept of the perceiver and the thing to perceive as two separate entities. Now breathe in normally and breathe out normally. Think of the kindness that you received from your mother for example or anyone who is kind to you. Now open your eyes.

Ok, that is the guided meditation we went through -- both Vipashyana and Shamatha through all the three yanas -- Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana are the three yana traditions.

Thank you.