"Dozing" Sunday Sutta Session AN 7.62 with Delson Armstrong

Can everyone see my screen? Definitely, looks good. The sutta I'm going to be reading from is Anguttara Nikaya 7.61, and it's translated as dozing. Dozing as in taking a nap or falling asleep, which we more often than not do on the first and second day of any retreat. This is what Bhante refers to as the second day blues.

I was just going through the different suttas and I came across this one. It was interesting because a lot of the solutions and the antidotes that we've offered up for how to deal with sloth and torpor are mentioned in the sutta, plus some others that are not, and then it's interesting how the Buddha then goes towards a much deeper teaching. So let me start. Now on that occasion, the Venerable Maha Moggallana was sitting and dozing at Kalavala Mutagama among the Magadans.

With the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, the Blessed One saw the Venerable Maha Moggallana sitting and dozing. This is interesting because we have Moggallana, who is an arahant. Oftentimes we've heard that arahants do not have sloth and torpor, but it seems like here Moggallana is dozing off. I think it's more physical than it is mental. At least that's what the note says when you go here on 1548, that Moggallana was walking up and down, contemplating all day long or many days, and was tired. That is why he was experiencing this. But if you go back to the ten fetter model, you will see there that sloth and torpor is not mentioned, or it's not even implied.

There is restlessness as something to be let go of. And restlessness here means anxiety about the future and remorse, which is remorse about the past. Then, just as a strong man might extend his drawn-in arm or draw in his extended arm, the Blessed One appeared from the deer park at Besakala Grove and reappeared before the Venerable Maha Moggallana. The Blessed One sat down on the seat that was prepared for him and said, Are you dozing, Moggallana? Are you dozing? Yes, Bhante. Therefore, Moggallana, you should not attend to or cultivate the object that you were attending to when you became drowsy.

By such means, it is possible that your drowsiness will be abandoned. So this is the first solution. Very interesting one. He says you should not attend to or cultivate the object that you were attending to when you became drowsy. When you were meditating, the object that you were taking, whether it's the breath, loving kindness, infinite space, whatever it might be, that could have led to the mind experiencing this dozing, this sloth and torpor, this drowsiness.

Indeed, there's another sutta in which the Buddha talks about this, and he says that when you over-meditate, over-concentrate, have too much collectedness, yes, there can be some restlessness, but oftentimes there can also be sloth and torpor. Because the mind gets so deep, so quickly, and so unmoving, to the extent that it becomes like a dense field of gravity, and it just sinks. And that translates into this sloth and torpor. So the Buddha is saying you should not attend to or cultivate the object that you were attending to when you became drowsy. So let go of that object.

Be away from that for a moment and just watch the mind. Watch what's going on. Stop meditating if you must. And then you will see that your mind clears up. Your mind becomes lighter, your mind becomes brighter, your mind becomes more elevated. But if you cannot abandon your drowsiness in such a way, you should ponder, examine, and mentally inspect the Dhamma as you have heard it and learned it. By such means, it is possible that your drowsiness will be abandoned.

This is the second solution. Very interesting one. If you still can't let go of the sloth and torpor, you should ponder, examine, and mentally inspect the Dhamma as you have heard it and learned it. This is an interesting trick. So when you are on retreat or when you are on self-retreat, if it's not possible for you to let go of the object, take some time away from the practice, and then come back. If you're still experiencing this drowsiness, make an effort to review the things that you have learned in reference to the Dhamma. What does this do?

It starts to wipe away the cobwebs in the mind. It starts to recirculate energy in the mind. It starts to move the cogs and wheels in the mind. And especially when you're doing it with reference to the Dhamma, when you reflect on the teachings, when you reflect on your insights, when you reflect on the things that you have not just learned but intuited, what does it do? It inspires.

It invigorates. It says, yeah, this is great, this is wonderful. And you feel elevated. You feel elated. You feel, dare I say, excited. Back and meditate in such a way that it creates a Dhamma buzz in your mind, and this is what we're referring to. But if you cannot abandon your drowsiness in such a way, you should recite in detail the Dhamma as you have learned it or heard it and learned it. By such means, it is possible that your drowsiness will be abandoned. So if you can't reflect and understand what's going on in the mind with reference to the Dhamma, if you can't recall the Dhamma just by thinking about it, contemplating it, reflecting on it, and then being inspired by it, recite it.

So this can be mental, this can be verbal. Obviously, when you're meditating with others, you may want to do it somewhere else where it's not disturbing other people if you're doing it verbally. But what does this mean? One little trick that I like to do with reference to this is to actually go through the links of dependent origination, forward and reverse, and go through that process and say, with what as condition does suffering arise?

Birth as condition, suffering arises. With what as condition does birth arise? Becoming as condition, birth arises. With what as condition does becoming arise? Clinging as condition, becoming arises. With what as condition does clinging arise? Craving as condition, clinging arises. With what as condition does craving arise? Feeling as condition, craving arises. With what as condition does feeling arise? Contact as condition, feeling arises. With what as condition does contact arise? With the sixth sense basis as condition, contact arises.

So when you're doing this process, you're starting to work the cog in the machine of the mind, right? So you're actually going through the Dhamma. It doesn't have to be that. It could be transcendental dependent origination. With what as condition does the knowledge of liberation arise? With liberation, the knowledge of liberation happens. With what as condition does liberation happen? With dispassion, liberation happens. With what as condition does dispassion arise? With disenchantment as condition, dispassion arises. With what as condition does disenchantment arise? With yathabhuta nanadassana, the knowledge and vision of things as they actually are, disenchantment arises, and so on. You can do it with the enlightenment factors.

When there is mindfulness, what arises? Discernment. When there is discernment, what arises? Energy. With energy, joy. With joy, tranquility. With tranquility, collectedness. With collectedness, equanimity. So when you do this, you're starting to not only create this activity, the mind that starts to sweep away the drowsiness, but you're inspiring yourself again with the Dhamma. But if you cannot abandon your drowsiness in such a way, you should pull both ears and rub your limbs with your hands.

By such means, it is possible that your drowsiness will be abandoned. In India, and when we, this doesn't happen in schools, as far as I know, and I haven't really experienced much of it, but I do recall when I was much, much younger and very mischievous, both at home and in school, you would get this punishment where you would have to do this and squat up and down. The deeper understanding with that is when you rub your ears, this is actually creating some kind of pressure related to the brain, related to the mind, related to memory. So it's quite possible that this is what's going on.

Pulling both ears, rubbing your limbs. What does that mean? You're starting to create some circulation. So the other thing you can do is walk, as we will see. drowsiness in such a way you should get up from your seat, rub your eyes with water, survey all the quarters, and look up at the constellations and stars. By such means, it is possible that your drowsiness will be abandoned.

So, can't do any of that? Go and wash your face, preferably with cold water. It creates this nice, refreshing sort of response. And when you do that, go around, look around your surroundings. Maybe go outside, and if it's nighttime, look at the stars. The idea is you take in some fresh air, and when you're looking up at the constellations, you get inspired, you get elevated, you become buzzed, and you go back and sit.

But if you cannot abandon your drowsiness in such a way, you should attend to the perception of light. You should undertake the perception of day thus: as by day, so at night; as at night, so by day. Thus, with a mind that is open and uncovered, you should develop a mind imbued with luminosity. By such means, it is possible that your drowsiness will be abandoned.

The perception of light. This is interesting because we talk about light in many different ways in the suttas, primarily four or five different ways, if I recall correctly. The Buddha says, and he calls these obhasas. So the first light is the light of fire, and brighter than that is the light of the moon, and brighter than that is the light of the sun.

And brighter than that is the light of wisdom. So if it is daytime, you can walk outside and sit in the sun, preferably where there is some covering, where there is some shade, but be out in natural daylight. This also helps to elevate the mind. But suppose it's nighttime and you're feeling drowsy. Depending on the time, you can either go out again and watch the stars, if there are stars, living in places where we have light pollution. We can't really see any stars.

So the Buddha talks about an internal light, the light of wisdom. But this light of wisdom is shedding light on the darkness of ignorance. So it may be that you review again what you know, what you have understood, what you have intuited, what you have wisely seen. And for some people, what they do is they go into, and perceive light in the mind. Some people can do this quite automatically. Another thing is to, and this is something that you don't want to do too often because it can create a lot of singular one-pointedness, look at a flame, look at a candle flame. That creates energy in the mind, but don't do it so often.

This, with "but he talks about you should develop a mind imbued with luminosity." What do we mean by luminosity? Clarity of mind, the clear nature of wisdom mind, the intuitive mind coming back into the space where verbal thoughts cease. And it's easy, as just relaxing into the moment, allowing your mind to be reflective in its mindfulness. Relaxing back into the moment and observing what sounds, if any, are arising, what sensations, if any, are arising, what thoughts, if any, are arising. And when you do this, mind becomes alert, and therefore what you are doing is regaining mindfulness, bringing up discernment and having energy, which will eventually translate to joy and tranquility and so on. And this is luminosity. Luminosity is the natural presence of mind without any artificiality, without any contrivance, without any effort, just to relax back into the awareness of awareness.

And then there's nothing to do. But if you cannot abandon your drowsiness in such a way, you should undertake the exercise of walking back and forth, perceiving what is behind you and what is in front, with your sense faculties drawn in and your mind collected. By such means, it is possible that your drowsiness will be abandoned. So walking around, doing some walking meditation, or not even doing walking meditation, just walking around and looking at things around you, but not getting distracted by them. Having a mind that is collected, having a mind that is mindful in each moment. Walking back and forth can also mean literally walking backwards. They're more what? They're more attentive. They're more collected.

And when they're more attentive and more collected, the mind starts to become brighter. But if you cannot abandon your drowsiness in such a way, you should lie down on the right side in the lion's posture, with one foot overlapping the other, mindful and clearly comprehending, after noting in your mind the idea of rising. When you awaken, you should get up quickly, thinking, I will not be intent on the pleasure of rest, the pleasure of sloth, the pleasure of sleep. In this way, Moggallana, you should train yourself.

All else fails, take a nap. But don't take a three-hour nap. Take a 20-minute nap, right? We have the modern-day invention of something called coffee and tea. And some people might say, oh, well, you know, we're getting dependent on that. Sometimes you need it. Use it as medicine. Take a small shot of espresso. Take a nap. Get up. You will be buzzed.

So, therefore, Moggallana, you should train yourself thus: We will not approach families for alms with a head swollen with pride. Self, it may be, Moggallana. So now the content is switching to something deeper. It may be, Moggallana, that bhikkhus approach families with a head swollen with pride. Now, there are chores to be done in the families, and for this reason, when the bhikkhu turns up, people may not pay attention to him. In such a case, the bhikkhu might think, who has turned this family against me? It seems these people have now become indifferent toward me. Through lack of gain, one feels humiliated.

When feeling humiliated, one becomes restless. When one is restless, one loses one's restraint. The mind of one without restraint is far from concentration, from focus. I think that's pretty self-explanatory. Go to places and people without expectation, and more importantly, with gratitude. I'm not saying I'm perfect. There are times when I have had a head swollen with pride and I expect something and it doesn't happen and I get frustrated, and I immediately see and say, well, that sucks, and try to recover from it. But more often than not, I have the good fortune of being a traveler, somebody who goes around teaching the Dhamma. And I will continue to do that, probably until my last breath.

But we'll see how it goes. And more often than not, I have the generosity of my fellow practitioners who will invite me to their home or let me stay at a place. And I accept that with gratitude and with loving kindness. And I have a great time. I have a wonderful time. There with, yeah, I deserve this. I should get this. Yeah, they should make me breakfast. They should do this. They should do that. And nothing like that happens.

Then I'll get pissed off because I have too many expectations. And such it is in life. No expectations. Easier said than done. But the nature of the thinking mind is to ask, what do I get out of this? And that's the worldly mind, right? Leave that to words. Finance. Leave that towards transactions. Leave that towards those kinds of things.

But even there, if you just put your head down and do what you have to do, then the fruits of your action will be whatever it is. And when you do it with an attitude of patience and gratitude and love and kindness, really that in itself makes the action fulfilling. When you have contentment, you have no expectations. And so anything that comes your way, supposedly small or big or whatever it may be, becomes a delight, becomes the icing on the cake, the cherry on the top. And when you do this, your mind does not become agitated. It doesn't look towards the different vicissitudes of life, and it becomes content in each moment.

Contentious talk could be debates, arguments. No, this is not what it says in the suttas. No, this is not what the Buddha said. Or, no, this is not how I understand the Dhamma. This is what my teacher told me. This is what I read. And this is what's true. This is what's untrue. Or anything as simple as, yeah, I put the dishes in the dishwasher last night. What are you talking about? It's this contentious talk. It's like trying to win an argument all the time. I've done this many times and I've experienced that same thing. An excess of words can be expected. In the past couple of years, I have had the misfortune of being public in many different things when you're a Dharma teacher, which is something I do not wish on any of you, for your good fortune is to

Shut up when you need to shut up. Be quiet when you need to be quiet. And I have learned that the hard way. Because when you deal with contentious talks, when you go, especially making an ass out of yourself in public, you use different kinds of words and you don't realize how they come off. And then later your mind becomes agitated.

And your mind becomes restless. And then you lose restraint. So what is the solution to this? Noble silence. Keep your mind and your mouth shut and quiet. Moggallana, I do not praise bonding with everyone, whatever or whatsoever, nor do I praise bonding with no one at all. I do not praise bonding with householders and monastics, quiet and noiseless lodgings, far from the flurry of people, remote from human habitation and suitable for seclusion.

So what the Buddha is saying here is that really he's not saying that we shouldn't or we should. We need to have discernment. We need to be in spaces where we need seclusion. We don't need to be around people all the time. But at the same time. And this is something that I know Mandekuswara told me about in Sri Lanka. When somebody goes, when one of the monastics goes into seclusion, they may go into a kuti, into a khatib in the forest.

But they are required to come back into the life of their chores, making sure that they are getting their meals and so on. Why? So that others can keep an eye on them, to make sure that this person has not lost their mind. Because that can happen when you're isolated. We are a social species. We need to be around people for us to feel the good feelings that we feel. That is the whole point of having beautiful friendship.

But what the Buddha says here is, when we bond too much, this can create distractions. This can take us away from our practice. On your specific life situation, what you ought to do and what you ought not to do is up to you. What makes sense is up to you. But it also is up to you to know, hey, I need some alone time.

And when I have this alone time, my mind will feel unagitated. I can take some time to rest, relax, and contemplate. When this was said, the Venerable Maha Moggallana said to the Blessed One: Briefly, Bhante, how is a bhikkhu liberated in the extinction of craving, best among devas and humans? One who has reached the ultimate conclusion, won ultimate security from bondage. What is the other thing?

Lived the ultimate spiritual life and gained the ultimate consummation. A bhikkhu has heard, nothing is worth holding onto. Nothing is worth holding onto. I have said this many times with reference to the three characteristics. When you realize that everything in our existence is conditioned, with this as condition, this arises. When this condition falls apart, so too does this fall apart.

And therefore what we are seeing is the instability of experience, instability of existence. And this is the real translation, true translation, according to me, of what anicca means. Oftentimes it's seen as impermanent. That's one shade of it. But life in general is unstable. And when we do this, we also realize that indeed anything we take as an object, any intention that we have, will ultimately lead to its instability, will ultimately lead to dukkha. And so what do I say? Nothing is worth holding on to, which means letting go of any experience with the sense of this is mine, this is myself.

I always say experience everything fully without the sense of me, mine, or myself. And the instructions therein are from the Baha'i Yasutta. In the seeing, there's only the seen. In the hearing, there's only the heard. In the sensing, there's only the sensed. In the cognizing, there's only the cognized. When there is no you, in that and there is no you before that and when there is no you after that when there is no here or there or in between the two which means you have let go of contemplating what it is without with the sense of self and just allow experience to flow fluidly naturally in the way that it will just that is the end of suffering Thus says, when one has heard nothing is worth holding on to, he directly knows all things.

Having directly known all things, he fully understands all things. Having fully understood all things, what does this mean? He has directly known all things. He has seen through the experience as from a disenchanted mind, from a dispassionate mind, because he has the knowledge and vision of things as they actually are. Those things. He has contemplated and seen for himself. And so whatever one feels, whether pleasant, painful, or neutral, they dwell contemplating impermanence in those feelings, contemplating fading away in those feelings, contemplating cessation in those feelings, contemplating relinquishment in those feelings.

As he dwells contemplating impermanence, the instability, the anicca, the seeing of the experience coming and fading away, the cessation of that experience, the letting go of that experience. He does not cling to anything or anyone in the world. You don't have any sort of association, rationale, clinging or anything. You remain fluid. Your mind's attention remains clear, luminous and fluid. He is not agitated, not going in one or the other direction. Being unagitated, he personally attains Nibbana.

Nibbana is here and now, always available to us. But only if we learn how to truly relax. To come back into this moment and let go of all conceptual proliferation. let experience be as it is, to let attention be neither inside or outside or in between the two, and let it be completely free and luminous. In that space is Nibbana.

And so one understands destroyed is birth. The spiritual life has been lived. What had to be done has been done. There is no more coming back to any state of being. Briefly, Moggallana, it is in this way that a bhikkhu is best among devas and humans, one who has reached the ultimate conclusion, one ultimate security from bondage, lived the ultimate spiritual life, and gained the ultimate consummation. Any questions?

I'm trying to escape the light here. We go, you can't get away from the light. I know, I'm so lit up. I wonder if this is a talk to Moggallana before he was an arahant? It's quite possible. It's quite possible. We'll have to look into it. But yeah, I mean, he wasn't, he was an arahant within seven days. So how much was the Buddha really instructing him in those seven days? The whole sutta is instructions to him as though he doesn't know. But there's also the case, I think, in Mahakassapa where there'd be instructions. He would ask a question to the Buddha and the Buddha would say, but Mahakassapa already knew the answer.

He was just doing it to show people. Yeah. Yeah. It's quite possible. But I have to tell you that one of those, well, a few of those things in there really hit home. If you're in the Starbucks line and the person in front of you is just taking too long, of course, oh, I don't know where my credit card is. And then you start to feel restless, frustrated.

What's going on? And I was just realizing that that really is, it's conceit. I am better. You should hit me first. But this restlessness is just so quick to arise. Yeah. Expect service immediately from anywhere, anybody. So that's one expectation that we have to watch. Yeah. Yeah, conceit really is the glue for the higher fetters. When there's conceit, restlessness can arise to experience this particular state, whether it's the form realms or the formless realms. And because of that, the mind can falter and become agitated and we lose our focus. So, yeah, can we, that's the lesson for all of us. Can we approach things by just being in the moment, without any kind of reflection on I need to do this right now.

Or, you know, this person needs to serve me right now or whatever it is and be completely content in the moment. It looks like there is a question here. Ken doesn't remind us the exact definition of conceit. So the way I like to define conceit is, you know, it comes from the word mana, which means to measure. And so we're measuring up our egos with the other. someone or when we get into victimhood i'm worse off than others and you know oh i'm a terrible person oh i did this and i did that or even the sense of equality i am equal to these people because there's still the i am and the i am is essentially the protection mechanism that is natural to the mind that requires or seeks stability in an otherwise

always unstable world. Yes, Patty. Yeah, going back to the beginning of that sutta, I don't say never, I have rarely experienced sloth and torpor. My primary hindrance is the wandering mind. Even when I'm in a good meditation period, the mind tends to wander off like it does. And I found, let me ask you, that as a skillful means to return to where I want to be, is to recall the indriya or the enlightenment factors and go through them.

Like yesterday, I was doing walking meditation and it was kind of, it was later in the day and there was a lot of meditation. And so I, because I know the metta sutta, I didn't say it out loud, but I said it in my mind, the metta sutta, which really, of course, may all beings be at ease, may all beings be free from suffering and so forth.

So those are certainly skillful means, but I guess I'm asking how to balance it, how to not just stay there in the recollection of the Dhamma, but to use it to, I guess, return to the collectedness of the meditation. The key here, and I would encourage you to do this because this is a great way of looking at it, is when you get restless and you, what you're doing is you're redirecting your attention to something that allows you to become collected again. And what is required here, I would suggest, is discernment. And what is discernment? Discernment is checking in with yourself and being like, okay, where's the mind now, what's going on? Because there was discernment when you realize that the mind is wandering around.

And so with that discernment, you decided to take an effort to look into the enlightenment factors or anything else. Yeah. And then you sense that the mind is collected by checking in with yourself. Okay, where is my mind now? What is the quality of my mind now? It is collected. And I can direct my attention back to the object. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other questions? I guess not. Somebody has got a question. Somebody give us an example of how these things happen, have happened to you. This sutta is really, I think, really brilliant because he's listing out everything. I think it's good to think about it. Somebody's got an example of how that sutta's happened with them. Anybody?

I have an example. Okay. My example would be when I'm shopping with the conceit, when I'm shopping at Jewel. In front of me is checking out. I don't know if you guys know, up there I'm in Chicago, and the Jewel, they have, you can use your phone to get special discounts off of stuff, and people don't do it, so of course the price that's being charged is different, and there's an argument, and I only have three things, and I don't understand why this person is so whatever, that I have to wait now another five minutes till someone runs and checks the price. And then I remember that was me months ago. And then I remember the conceit, on the other hand, how shameful and embarrassed I was because I couldn't get it right. So within the Jewel checkout I get experiences of the practice all the time. So it's amazing how quickly the mind goes and starts judging and critiquing, whether I'm the one behind or I'm the one out there. And then what's interesting is sometimes I'll find myself going to the self-checkout

Just so I don't get annoyed. So there's no possibility of getting annoyed. That's one way of doing it, yeah. It occurred to me when you were saying this that it just shows the fragility and instability of the sense of self, in the sense that we think that we know who we are. We think that we know what we are. We think we have a sense of identity or have a sense of this is me, who I am, but it's always fluctuating, and it is in that fluctuation that we identify ourselves that causes us to have these disturbances as well. I've been taking your example of seeing yourself six months ago or three months ago or whatever it might be and then comparing it to now, and then seeing that you realize, oh, it is fluctuating. The sense of self is always fluctuating. So what are we really holding on to? We're holding on to that, just continuously grasping, and it just flows past our fingers.

And I think one of the best ways to deal with that is to acknowledge it, accept that. And, in those moments that we're annoyed and we're like, okay, can this person hurry up? Or, can I get my order? And all of these things. That in itself is not the concern. That in itself is not the concern. But what might be the concern is, how do I deal with it? How do I acknowledge it, accept it, and maybe learn from it, but maybe let go of it? Can I use those moments as trigger points of wisdom rather than as trigger points of craving? Can I say, oh, here I am getting annoyed.

Here I am getting upset. relax back can i accept that i'm upset in this moment but can i allow the process of the chain of reaction not to happen in terms of the links of dependent origination easier said than none but every moment every moment of annoyance every moment of irritation even every moment of too much joy when we're having too much of a good time can we come back to our senses and say hey this too shall pass I wanted to make a comment. I forgot how to raise my hand on this thing. But anyway, so I started just laughing at myself because if we're not the doer anyway, then there's these innate tendencies or habits.

So, you know, I mean, impatience arises and you go, oh, look at me, you know, it's kind of funny. You know, so it's kind of, I don't know. I've changed it to no, I shouldn't be like that too. Oh, how funny. Look at this cloud or something like that. You know, like, cause that's what the little girl does. I mean, she's just like that. She's impatient. She's this, she's that. That's not, it seems like those are tendencies from, you know, I don't think they're necessarily going to go away, but I can laugh. Right. This is so, this is so vital. And thank you for sharing that because this reminds me, and I should remind all of us of what Bonte would always say.

Being able to laugh at yourself, being able to laugh at your mind, being able to laugh at the absurdity of the things that come and go from your mind. And when you do that, it goes from, as you would say, it goes from, oh, this thing, to, oh, it's only this. Yeah, this is comical to see how advanced we're not. It's very humbling. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so great. Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, to think further about the line issue, I was just thinking, first of all, look, I'm very important. I have much to do, and why am I being held up? And then the next thing is, oh, you're restless. I got to go. Come on, let's go. And you got to ask yourself, where the heck is it that you're going? You've spent an hour shopping.

Another 20 minutes is going to kill you. And do you actually have to get home? Is there anything there to do? Probably not. So this whole process, you have to pick it apart. And I think that we should make a determination that every time we get into a line, make it a Dhamma meditation. And watch for that first moment where the mind gets disturbed.

Because at times you can see that and you'll go, well, that ain't me. Because ultimately it's just some process that happens without your control. And it's like, oh, it's not even me. So I'll just shut up and stand here. So, but also, isn't the line what we're doing at that moment? We're not somewhere else. So impatience, it doesn't have to be there. No, it's an irrational impatience. I have to go. Yeah, but where, what's the rush? Yeah, it's just wrestling, it's the nature of restlessness. I have to go, well, if you're sitting, I have to get up and do something, or I can't take it anymore, or

Well, that's more like a version. But there's this, it's I have to become. Yes, exactly. Exactly. I have to be. Yeah. And it's so funny. That is funny sometimes, when you're like, you have to go and you want to go and sit. And that could be the objective. And there are things getting in the way of that. And you're like, I have to finish my chores. I have to do this. I have to do that. And now I can sit. And then as soon as you sit, what happens? Have to do this, I have to do that, I don't want to sit now and I got to do that. So the mind is constantly going, anticipating the next moment, the next moment, the next moment. So it is a constant retraining. It is a constant retraining. Standing in line is actually a great, great practice. Yeah. I'd like to give a hooray for the paramis. One of the best ones is khanti, patience. Yeah, and

That's why they're called the Ten Perfections, right? So very valuable. Also, I have an acronym for you for the talking thing. Wait, why am I talking? It comes from another discipline, but. But it's useful. That's very useful. Yeah. What am I doing? Why am I talking? Yeah, that is great. Bill. Yeah, I just wanted to let everyone know that if you click on your area on the Zoom screen, there's three dots and there's a hide self-view. You can also turn the camera off. It's great. It just really improved my motivation for a while. Hide self-view is for the techies. The other people just ran off. The other thing I was going to say is one issue with sleepiness I have is in the afternoon sometimes I think I could take a nap or I could meditate.

Usually I could take a nap when zero actually. The afternoons I think are generally a time when humans physiologically just want to take time away and not do anything. It's the afternoon slump, and I think we should be able to listen to our physiology and listen to our bodies. And if we need to take that nap, take that nap, especially after a heavy meal that happens. But going for a walk is even better. And then seeing how you feel.

That's a good one. Take the dog out for a walk. Yeah. Thanks. I have a question as well. Yeah. I don't know how to raise my hand on Zoom yet, so I said this way. But if you're in line and you're in that mindset and you're trying to 6R, essentially, what should be your focus or your refocus, essentially? Because I know during meditation, I'm focusing on, but if I'm in that state, what should I focus on? Give me anything. It could be compassion for the idiot in front of you who's taking too long.

Right. It could be equanimity. It could be loving kindness. It could be whatever it is. Patience. Yeah. Can I watch my mind, the mind itself as an object? Can I watch my mind and say, what am I feeling in this moment? And having that awareness of what's coming and going. Yeah, I'll just jump in here and say that Bhante V would always suggest loving kindness.

Yeah. That was his go-to. And he would go throughout Asia on his alms round. He would just practice loving kindness constantly. And Delson, if you look at the next sutta, it's 62. Bhikkhu Bodhi did that one yesterday. I was at his little session. And it's a great one about how much merit is made. Oh, yeah. It's unbelievable.

The power of wholesome states, and so it's, if you don't... Yeah, yeah. What's the number of that sutta? Yeah, it was... So the one that we did today, I'm going to turn to AN 7.61. Yeah, 62. This one is 62. That's it. Sharing merit, or just merit. Thank you. And it's interesting to read. Yeah. Okay, well, I've got a stowaway here. My good friend John, whose place I'm staying at, due to his generosity, has a question. So he's going to ask the question. It's on that spectrum of things to do if you're changing power, changing meditation object, the throwing water on the face, the contemplating.

It starts me that most of these are for subtle dullness. Subtle. It's like you're really there, but you're just there. There's that you're not making good contact. And for me, most of the time, my wellness, just because of the way I lead my life, you know, I'm rushing around like a fool so much that it's coarse wellness. I need the last option. I need sleep.

And I think it's useful to recognize how much we need sleep. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes it's going to be awful, but when I go on the retreat, the first day I might as well just assume I need to sleep six hours and then go to bed at the normal time. Because it's that shift in pace. It takes you out of balance. If I'm running around and running around, then I say, oh, now I'm going to stop.

Oh, hey, that takes a balance. That's a balancing act. It's going to require a lot more sleep in my day. Sleep is the first step. Yeah, I like that. I think during retreats it's so important, and this is something that we will always talk about on retreats for beginners and advanced people alike: make sure you're getting enough sleep. For some people it is that case. So maybe most people, as you rightly say, it's a change of pace. When we come to someplace like Dhammasukra or a retreat area, we've spent the time traveling. We spend the time with the stressors of traveling and getting to the place, and getting up at odd times, possibly for flights. So we should give ourselves a couple of days at least to just recalibrate. And if sleep is required, then sleep is required.

Anyone else? Well, if there's nothing else, I want to remind everybody we have put up the retreat dates at Dhammasukra for next year, and Delson will be doing now. We've just added a fourth one. I believe it's fourth in August. So there's going to be four retreats with Delson, and a number of them are already halfway full, and it's barely November, so you might want to get in there and get your place. But we're going to have a really long retreat season next year, and everything should be quite nice. We've got our facility, we have our new study center, we're furnishing it now, and things are good, things are good. So yeah. It looks like Ace was asking, are there online retreats with Delson? Indeed there are, absolutely, conducting one right now as we speak. Do you want to just share that link, because I will... space is open for, yeah, there's a bunch. Yeah, let me find that here.

Okay, I think December, other options for December still open. Yeah, yes, we have a few spots left, and then the next one we start is February, so we have February, March, and April, possibly. I think April. Get on the link. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We got space on this. Yeah. Where did you send the link, David? Into the chat, into the chat here. Okay. Thank you. All right. I'm hungry and I'm going to have some breakfast, so I'm going to see you guys next week. Thank you. All right. Wait a minute. We have to share our merit. Yes, that's right. Because, of course, now let me, I've got to, there it is. Okay.

Bhikkhu Bodhi shares merit as well. He shared Pali. Same thing you can hear in the Pali devas and nagas, it's all quite the same. We know which sutta it's from, or which part of the Pali canon it's from. It'd be interesting. It's a parita, it's a chant, and I've seen it in a number of the books. I don't know about sutta, though. We'll share some American my suffering ones be suffering free and the fear struck fearless be. May the grieving shed all grief and may all beings find relief. May all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired for the acquisition of all kinds of happiness.

May beings inhabiting space and earth, devas and nagas of mighty power, share this merit of ours. May they long protect the Buddha's dispensation. Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu. Thank you everyone. Bye. Thank you.