1 00:00:02,697 --> 00:00:12,391 analogy of watching the rising and falling of the abdomen like a hunter waiting for the mind to show up with its tendencies is very useful. 2 00:00:14,254 --> 00:00:15,936 I think it's in the commentaries. 3 00:00:15,996 --> 00:00:17,638 It may have been from the Buddha himself. 4 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:20,422 I think the Buddha used it as well. 5 00:00:20,543 --> 00:00:22,225 But the commentaries talk about this. 6 00:00:23,470 --> 00:00:25,972 After a while there is nothing but a pleasant glow. 7 00:00:26,613 --> 00:00:30,116 Does wisdom arise spontaneously or do I need to do more? 8 00:00:31,518 --> 00:00:36,463 But if it were so easy we could just sit with a pleasant glow and wisdom would arise. 9 00:00:36,503 --> 00:00:36,903 No. 10 00:00:37,864 --> 00:00:47,513 That pleasant glow is a problem for you because you find it pleasant. 11 00:00:47,533 --> 00:00:51,317 The single most common 12 00:00:52,900 --> 00:01:00,649 hindrance in meditation that we come across is pleasant sensations. 13 00:01:03,903 --> 00:01:33,083 that whenever I go to give a talk somewhere there will always be at least one person in the audience who has this problem who has been practicing maybe for years and feels like they're not getting anywhere because they come to a situation where there is nothing but a pleasant glow I've answered this question many times on YouTube as well I'm sure many of you or some of you have listened to this answer and know what I'm going to say 14 00:01:35,071 --> 00:01:41,083 The pleasant glow could be classified as piti, rapture. 15 00:01:42,045 --> 00:01:46,012 It could be classified as sukha, happiness. 16 00:01:46,914 --> 00:01:52,044 It could be classified as tranquility, though probably not. 17 00:01:52,064 --> 00:01:55,291 It depends exactly what the experience is. 18 00:01:55,391 --> 00:01:57,535 You describe it as a pleasant glow. 19 00:01:57,515 --> 00:01:59,217 I would call that rapture. 20 00:01:59,237 --> 00:02:07,468 I would guess that that's probably not just happiness, but it's kind of a static charge, this excitement in the mind. 21 00:02:08,249 --> 00:02:15,298 It may be kind of a calm excitement, but there's an energy involved with it. 22 00:02:15,558 --> 00:02:19,083 Now, whatever you classify it as, it's an experience. 23 00:02:19,203 --> 00:02:23,168 It's an experience that comes as a byproduct of meditation practice. 24 00:02:23,148 --> 00:02:24,390 It is impermanent. 25 00:02:24,871 --> 00:02:28,177 It is unsatisfying in the sense that it can't last forever. 26 00:02:28,237 --> 00:02:34,228 And it's uncontrollable in the sense that you can't turn it on and turn it off. 27 00:02:34,609 --> 00:02:40,680 When you sit down and meditate, meditate sometimes or maybe all the time, it comes by itself. 28 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:43,485 It's not yours to control. 29 00:02:43,465 --> 00:02:53,318 You happen to be in a situation where it comes often based on the activities that you undertake, but it is not under your control. 30 00:02:53,358 --> 00:03:12,443 To confirm that, you can give up your attachment to it and start to say to yourself, happy, happy, or liking, liking, or feeling, feeling, however it... 31 00:03:12,423 --> 00:03:13,725 presents itself to you. 32 00:03:16,209 --> 00:03:25,624 And you'll find if you're persistent in acknowledging both the happiness and the liking of it, that just like everything else, it begins to disappear. 33 00:03:26,626 --> 00:03:30,492 But when you don't do that, you're actually encouraging it. 34 00:03:30,832 --> 00:03:32,575 And so the question, well, is that a bad thing? 35 00:03:34,006 --> 00:03:45,516 It's a bad thing if you want to gain wisdom, because no, wisdom will not arise unless you're being objective, unless you have a clarity of mind, which you're lacking by enjoying this pleasant glow. 36 00:03:45,636 --> 00:03:53,564 Nothing wrong with a glow or a feeling or a sense of rapture. 37 00:03:53,624 --> 00:03:59,509 They can actually be quite useful because they provide you with energy and tranquility in the mind. 38 00:04:00,029 --> 00:04:04,013 But as soon as you begin to find it pleasant and enjoy it, even subtly, 39 00:04:03,993 --> 00:04:07,827 Usually it is quite subtle and it doesn't feel like you actually are clinging to it. 40 00:04:08,751 --> 00:04:12,906 But if you're not acknowledging it, then 41 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:38,742 in almost all cases you're clinging to it and you can realize this by at the very least you have delusion about it the idea that it's me that it's mine and by acknowledging feeling feeling happy happy liking liking whatever however it appears to you you'll see that it ceases and you'll see that it isn't you'll come to realize that it isn't actually something that you can depend upon 42 00:04:38,722 --> 00:04:44,372 isn't actually the true, isn't the path, it isn't the true goal of meditation. 43 00:04:45,073 --> 00:04:51,344 And that is a piece of wisdom, it's an understanding. 44 00:04:51,424 --> 00:04:58,857 So that is wisdom, and that is the path, and that will lead you closer to freedom from suffering. 45 00:04:58,837 --> 00:05:15,197 So, wisdom is not something that you can create, it's not something that you should try to actively cultivate in the sense of thinking or reflecting or puzzling out reality, asking questions about reality. 46 00:05:15,858 --> 00:05:19,022 It is something that will arise by itself, but it will only rise 47 00:05:20,217 --> 00:05:27,586 You only arise if you are objective, if you have the clarity of mind, which you don't have when you're clinging, when you're enjoying. 48 00:05:27,726 --> 00:05:31,010 So be very, very careful about pleasant sensations. 49 00:05:31,050 --> 00:05:31,931 They are not the path. 50 00:05:32,732 --> 00:05:38,599 I did a video about the ten of them some time ago called What the Meditation Is Not, I think. 51 00:05:39,220 --> 00:05:42,945 And you can watch that if you want to learn about the others as well. 52 00:05:42,965 --> 00:05:47,490 There's lots of good things that can come up that will only get in the way of your practice if you cling to them.