1
00:00:01,077 --> 00:00:13,911
While sitting, the effort to come back to the abdomen eventually ruins my vigilance and concentration, whereas following experiences mindfully as they naturally unfold helps me remain mindful.

2
00:00:14,673 --> 00:00:16,277
Isn't it contrary to the teachings?

3
00:00:16,377 --> 00:00:17,179
What should I do?

4
00:00:18,678 --> 00:00:22,872
No, it's not contrary to the teachings, necessarily.

5
00:00:23,594 --> 00:00:31,320
Now again, you have to be honest with yourself, which we often aren't, I'm sorry to say, when

6
00:00:32,853 --> 00:00:46,552
you're actually, when the problem is actually bringing the mind back or when the problem is simply the suffering that you have in the mind and the disinclination to deal with it.

7
00:00:46,632 --> 00:00:58,168
So sometimes when we come back to the present moment, when we come back to the here and now, it's unpleasant because our mind is inclined to

8
00:00:58,148 --> 00:01:15,203
go with it, to enjoy things and to be fluid and to just let the mind go as it, let the mind go after, chase after objects, which is disrupted by the practice of mindfulness.

9
00:01:15,384 --> 00:01:18,346
So there's two aspects.

10
00:01:18,406 --> 00:01:28,155
When you force your mind back to the stomach, that's wrong because it's not being honest with yourself about the nature of reality.

11
00:01:28,135 --> 00:01:37,214
you're deluding yourself about the idea that you have some kind of control and can benefit from trying to force things.

12
00:01:38,015 --> 00:01:46,633
But by letting your mind go and just following after whatever comes up,

13
00:01:46,613 --> 00:01:53,601
then you incline instead towards laziness and indulgence.

14
00:01:54,342 --> 00:02:01,990
There's the potential to indulge and to enjoy experiences and give rise to liking and attachment.

15
00:02:03,372 --> 00:02:08,638
So, one experience that comes up is not a

16
00:02:11,082 --> 00:02:20,914
It's not ruining your vigilance, but it's going to ruin your sense of enjoyment, which we call concentration.

17
00:02:20,934 --> 00:02:24,739
So it's quite common for people to say, this practice is ruining my concentration.

18
00:02:25,941 --> 00:02:31,167
It's designed to do that, because your concentration is not...

19
00:02:31,147 --> 00:02:33,210
Not necessarily wholesome, you see.

20
00:02:33,830 --> 00:02:35,593
You can be concentrated on a bad thing.

21
00:02:36,133 --> 00:02:44,524
Angry people can be, maybe not from an Abhidhamma point of view, but can be in some way very, very much focused.

22
00:02:45,165 --> 00:02:48,029
You can be very much focused on sensual desire.

23
00:02:48,690 --> 00:02:59,584
You get caught up in watching a movie or listening to a song and you can become very much entranced by it.

24
00:02:59,564 --> 00:03:05,892
in a bad way, you see, because there's a whole bunch of sensual defilement in there.

25
00:03:07,394 --> 00:03:09,457
And so by breaking that up, it's unpleasant.

26
00:03:09,517 --> 00:03:12,881
It's like crying like a child.

27
00:03:13,001 --> 00:03:19,490
When the child gets what it wants, it's totally at peace and it's totally focused.

28
00:03:19,650 --> 00:03:23,996
When you take its toy away from it, it starts to whine and complain.

29
00:03:24,016 --> 00:03:27,360
And so that's essentially what the mind does when you bring it back to the present moment.

30
00:03:27,380 --> 00:03:28,862
It whines and complains.

31
00:03:30,074 --> 00:03:38,478
So, I would say oftentimes you're not actually forcing the mind back, you're just choosing something neutral, which the mind doesn't like.

32
00:03:38,538 --> 00:03:44,033
The mind doesn't want to come back to the stomach, that's boring, that's useless, that's uninteresting.

33
00:03:44,131 --> 00:03:45,152
And that's the point.

34
00:03:45,313 --> 00:03:51,901
The point is to keep you on something that's not going to intoxicate you, which the mind doesn't like.

35
00:03:51,941 --> 00:03:56,267
So the mind is like, I'd much more prefer to go after these interesting things and enjoyable things.

36
00:03:56,908 --> 00:03:58,249
And that's mostly what you're feeling.

37
00:03:58,289 --> 00:04:06,700
Now, if and when you're actually forcing them, not you, but that's mostly what people feel, and I'd imagine much of what you're feeling is that.

38
00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:07,962
That's my guess.

39
00:04:07,942 --> 00:04:11,326
But there are people who force themselves.

40
00:04:11,507 --> 00:04:17,594
So when something comes up, they ignore it and instead go back, force themselves to stay with one object.

41
00:04:17,674 --> 00:04:18,676
So that's not good.

42
00:04:19,297 --> 00:04:21,740
When something does come up, you're to acknowledge it.

43
00:04:21,840 --> 00:04:30,591
Now, once you've acknowledged it, best advice is to go back to the rising and falling without paying attention to what's going to come next.

44
00:04:30,571 --> 00:04:36,486
it will be uncomfortable to do that in many cases because the mind isn't interested in the rising and falling.

45
00:04:36,506 --> 00:04:55,937
The mind wants to chase after more enjoyable things, which is not beneficial, which is a problem because it encourages defilement and delusion and the idea of permanence, of stability and so on, which we're all trying to, all of which we're trying to overcome.