Are you saying that you analyze the act of sexual activities including masturbation in order to stop the act entirely?
Yes.
Yes, exactly.
That's what I'm saying.
But the point is that you need not engage in masturbation.
That's not part of it.
It's a delicate line.
Why I say that and why I emphasize that is because masturbation will actually decrease your awareness.
It's not something you should feel guilty about.
Guilt is a negative mind state and it's not going to help.
But you should never get the idea that if I don't masturbate, I'm going to start repressing it.
This is, I think, a pervasive misunderstanding.
When the desire comes up and you start engaging in bodily activities that are the precursor to masturbation, start to watch those.
If it happens that you start to engage in masturbation, then watch yourself.
And you'll see, and it may be that in the beginning you can't stop yourself, but you will begin to see, no, you will not begin to see, right away you will see the misunderstanding that there's actually no pleasure, no happiness to be found here.
Once you look and you accept this pleasure, because the funny thing about engaging in sensuality is we're not engaging in the happiness, indulging in the happiness at all.
We're engaging in the desire for the happiness.
We're focusing much more on the desire than on the happiness.
And when you focus on the happiness,
suddenly you reassure yourself that, you know, I don't need to do this because the happiness is right here.
And you look at it and then you see it's nothing.
You don't reject it and say, this is horrible, this is actually suffering.
You see it's useless.
You don't even really see it as useless, but you experience it.
There's happiness and that's it.
There's no reaction.
There's no thought, this is good, this is bad, this is me, this is mine, this is this, this is that.
It's happiness.
And it's nothing.
It is what it is.
It's there and then it goes.
You don't become angry or frustrated or disgusted by it.
You just become disenchanted with it.
You lose this enchantment.
The desire disappears.
The happiness doesn't disappear.
Or the happiness is not the issue, but the important thing is that the desire disappears, because the happiness will disappear, it will be gone.
But as you watch the happiness, I'm referring to the pleasure here, focusing on the pleasure will, first of all, allow you to stop the whole seeking process.
And second of all, we'll allow you to give up the desire for the happiness entirely.
We'll allow you to become free from the desire.
We'll allow you to become disenchanted.
We'll allow you to come to terms with the pleasure and let you see that it's actually just an experience.