So with this theme of anxiety about impermanence and impermanence of anxiety. Um I think one of the things that that is uh um and I addressed it a bit in terms of looking at at uh you know both anxiety and impermanence. Um but that sense of approaching the uh um the physical experience um uh paying attention to how we feel it, where we feel it, grounding attention in the in the uh uh in the body. Um so as a uh a means of of anchoring awareness but also giving some um um ability or confidence that we have a place to focus or direct attention. Um because one of the I think one of the things that that uh really spins us out with um say anxiety, worry um is that uh we don’t have control. The things we don’t have control over um just you know really you know really spin us out. So that uh being able to And of course when you don’t have any control over it then there’s there’s no resolution. Um so it keeps on spinning . Um so being able to direct attention to something that one does have control over and uh of course one of the things we don’t have much control over at all is our thoughts. So why bother directing attention in there. Um the uh uh directing attention to our emotions, how we feel. Um it’s pretty up and down body. Okay, we’ve got some control over that in the sense. Okay, I can sit here. I can bring attention to the body. I can feel uh where my arm is. I can feel what my back is doing. I can feel So that that’s that’s a uh an an aspect that I think gives us a bit more confidence and and a certain comfort because we do say we do seek comfort in um uh things that we can control until you realize that we don’t have much control over anything. So Uh but then it’s it that that’s a that’s actually uh you know a really helpful insight um because there’s there’s that that that kind of wish that hope assumption uh that or you know that we really should be able to control . Um you know if we were if we, you know, actually worthwhile human beings. We should be able to control everything. It’s no wonder we’re so miserable all the time cuz you know there’s assumptions. The assumptions don’t accord with reality. So that that uh uh that ability to to uh say okay what do I have control over and then to direct her attention there. and make it simple and make it fundamental basic. So, okay, I can pay attention to to the breath coming in, the breath going out. I can pay attention to my my posture. I can pay attention. I don’t have to sit up straight. I don’t have to uh do anything dazzling or particularly special, but I can just be with this and and that that that is exercising a certain control that I think we can gain gain some confidence with. Um the uh uh learning how to just be be uh um o okay with the um the inevitable. Uh and to uh um not to to uh not to take it personally . Um the uh I just remember one time we had to one of our monks was was one of the things that we do at the monastery. We sew all our robes. So that uh uh so you have to learn how to use a sewing machine and uh uh and of course you know ing machines always uh fall apart, go wonky, and you have to so you have to learn how to to maintain it and make sure that it’s running properly. And um I was in the days when when we didn’t was still all in the in the house. We didn’t have many facilities and hear this plaintiff cry coming out from the next room. I said, “This machine has it in for me.” because that’s how it feels . The sort of it its sole function in life was to was to frustrate me and you know so to to to actually being able to to to rather than taking that personally and picking it up and I was seeing that absurdity in that the uh um you know things we have again sort of what we we don’t have any control over it uh yeah it’s like the uh you go to a giri or northern California away from the coast and it’s going to be hot and you know it’s not you know, it feels like it’s there just to personally torture me, but but uh I don’t think that’s the case. It’s hard for me to after all these years of practice to work up the case that it is really. It’s just out to get me. It’s only hot because I’m there. If like I’m sure it’s cool at the monastery today. because I’m not there . So, but you know our mind goes in these ways and we get you know either you know get upset or worried or fearful or agitated and and uh you know it uh so we have to be alert to the things that the that the mind does you know where do I mean it it’s it it’s suffering But it’s also, you know, looked at in another way. I mean, you know, it’s kind of absurd. The the things we do to ourselves just for the fun of it. So, and they uh and just learning how to accept okay this this is it’s like this and so the heat is like this . Doing a particular task is like this dealing with a certain person is like this and it’s their uh it’s like I told the uh the community the other day I’ve been been uh been listening to uh a biography of a a very senior monk in Thailand and uh for those who don’t know the Thai forestry tradition sort of like the grandfather of the forest tradition is Ajan man great meditation master great uh meditative powers wisdom skills in teaching uh he was uh ajancha’s teacher uh he also had a contemporary u uh who was his original teacher, but then he went Ajan, his name was Ajan Sao, a little bit older than him. And then but after Ajan Man was fully enlightened, he went back and taught his teacher Ajan Sao and Ajan Sao became enlightened. Anyway, one of the things that Ajin Man did was um convinced his his uh mother to come and uh ordain as a nun, practice, live in the monastery and uh but uh she’d never listened to him . She had to he said he had to ask a Saul to take his mother and and she and and his mother really respected Ajan Sao. So then that was a it worked really well. But it was just like you know your enlightened master and your your mother doesn’t you don’t get along with your mother. I mean just the way this has always been like this. So you know there’s this ability to sort of see yeah it’s like this and isn’t a source of of duka sort of ajan man going off somewhere and pouting and I went through all those aesthetic practices and my she still doesn’t the absurdity that is is okay that’s okay it’s like this but yeah she really respects that gentle okay so that that uh it works so that that it’s like uh the image that uh uh image simile that that Ajenta Ajenta uses sort of the sense of of you know expecting something that is impossible or or trying to make something the way that you think it should be rather than than the way it is . And he said it’s like that’s like something somebody going into the village in sic in northeast Thailand very rural very agrarian and and he said you go into the village and and there’s ducks and chickens around and he said that’s like starting to why aren’t the ducks more like the chickens you know you know the chickens they make they can run really well and you know they they they crow in the morning and Ducks, they don’t do anything. They They can’t walk very well. Why not? They don’t They just quack all the time. You know, why aren’t ducks more like chickens? You know, that’s you think, “Oh, that’s really dumb.” I mean, it’s it’s just is absurd. So, that, you know, much of our, you know, why isn’t the world like this? Why isn’t that person like this? Why aren’t I more like this? Why, you know, why aren’t ducks more like chickens? And it’s just ducks a duck, a chicken’s a chicken. And that It’s just it’s really clear and and that that’s uh we’re not making a problem of existence . We’re not making a problem of reality. We’re not making a problem out of the inevitable. The world is like this. Human mind is like this. Existence is like this. That sort of and that’s where you’re making this clarity and and there’s we don’t need to add anxiety or fear or worry or or just attachment to control it. It’s just sort of it’s like this. It’s a really simple uh perspective that is really liberating and it takes practice. So that that learning how to to practice to train to to encourage ourselves so that that um Another image that Ajin Cha used one time he says you know we just as practitioners we just have to learn how to do the math and huh you know he said yeah you have to learn how to add subtract multiply and divide you know cuz Sometimes all we do is keep adding and we forget to subtract. You know, sometimes we just multiplying things and we forget to divide . Or sometimes we divide when, you know, maybe we’re undermining something and we should be multiplying, you know. So that we have to learn how to do the math. You know, what is it that’s useful? Again, you’re the the the the uh um What you keep coming back to is what is it that helps the mind increase wholesome qualities, decrease the unh wholesome qualities, increase the the skillful qualities, decrease the the the the unskillful. Yeah. Sometimes you need to add, sometimes you need to need to subtract. And so that that those are skillful ways of working working with the mind. that that learning learning these skills. Of course, the the uh uh the tools of uh looking, investigating uh impermanence, unsatisfactory, not self. These are the um universal characteristics. Uh aspects of the the way things are. And there’s an interesting teaching uh where the Buddha points to say the fruits of insight into say into impermanence . Um so that the the say the liberation of the heart or the freedom of of mind that arises uh is um you say in the scriptural language is called anime. So anime we moa sort of the liberation of signlessness. So but what it is is in the sense that because one attends to the impermanent then the mind doesn’t start grasping at the signs of things in the sense of um you know something displays the sign of what is pleasing and delightful and but the mind doesn’t grasp onto it because it’s it has this liberation to to move towards or to absorb towards uh to delight in. And so that that there is a kind of a a non entanglement in in in the signs of how things present themselves. So that sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, mental formations, mental thoughts, the the sign of that uh feelings that we experience, it has a it presents itself . It has a it has a an image or a uh uh an impression and we don’t we can turn to the to the recognition of its uncertainty, impermanence, instability and then it can it can it’s not that we don’t see it, experience it, but it doesn’t hold uh we don’t spin off with spin off with it. And that Uh so this this quality of sinusness and it’s not sinlessness in the sense of kind of space cadet not aquar uh but it’s sort of like it isn’t it isn’t grabbing the mind and pulling it down the uh the insight and and and and development of say of the the investigation into into duka um unsatisfactoriness, disease, um stress, anxiety and the u is in this scriptural language what’s called apanita. We moa the the moa is like liberation and apanita is like literally means desireless. uh so that there’s a attempt that the mind doesn’t get moved to that that desire craving attachment mode because it’s it is it’s sort of like it it’s seen the it’s seen the pain in it. It’s seen the complication of it . It’s seen the uh the the inability of it to really satisfy. So there’s a cool there and it’s a liberation. It’s not just sort of a shutting off, but it’s a it’s sort of like, oh, I don’t have to do that. It’s a real relief, a real release. And so that that that desireless is is a is a real cooling. Um, and then the the uh say the insight into the characteristic of anata is is And I I spoke about that earlier. That’s why it stimulated my my memory. Uh that that uh there’s a liberation of of emptiness. Um but then as I was saying, it’s not a a metaphysical emptiness or or a thing, a place, but it’s a it’s a relational to that. One is not one is there’s like an insubstantiality to both the external and internal world. So that there’s a the mind isn’t building identities out of it. It’s not building building the world or building the self. It’s just oh it’s like that. So there’s a uh so these are are our liberations of are are accessible . And and it’s that those contemplations of um impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, not self that that are the the gateway. Um and it’s important to to again in a sense because sometimes um the uh uh that uh some Sometimes the teachings are presented uh in a way that you know there’s this constant refrain of a nicha that’s just is so boring in the sense that wow it doesn’t really inspire the mind but so it’s important to see where is it what’s it leading to u and and then what does it rely on what’s its base Um so that and this is where the the context of the path like in the the uh uh say the path that the Buddha teaches the path that the Buddha gives um say right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration, each aspect of the of the path uh is actually a basis of happiness and well-being. I mean you you practice the path and there that is its immediate result that and it’s quite explicit . Um that that that what that’s what one is uh eliciting as one practices. Um it’s like the um Buddha. Uh there’s a whole series of discourses where the Buddha speaks of the the uh a natural progression of the path and sometimes he gives different entry points whether it’s faith or or or duka or uh investigation or virtue and uh uh And but then it there’s these whole series of of with these very entry points and there’s the arising of well-being with the arising of well-being. There’s the um cause and condition for the arising of joy for the rise with the rising of joy. It’s a cause for condition for rising of tranquility with tranquility as a base . A rising of of happiness with suka uh and then with the arising of happiness um it’s the condition for the arising of samadi concentration and I don’t know about anybody else but I know for myself for years it was my practice was sort of sort of like like when I get my samadei together when I get my meditation together then I’m going to be happy and Uh that’s sort of direct opposite of what the Buddha teaches is get your happiness together then your meditation goes really well as with that that that say when the the arising of samadi uh that’s when one sees things clearly and knowledge and vision of the way things truly are and the uh And it’s with that that there’s a uh that there’s a sense of of dispassion and relinquishing. So it’s like the it’s the happiness that one cultivates and the well-being that one cultivates that gives one the the uh uh the the kind of motivation impetus uh to relinquish . It’s not that I’ve got to get rid of all my desires before I can meditate or I’ve got be uh um I’ve really got to be, you know, super restrained in order to to you just learning how to live in a a skillful way. That that really lays the foundation for for a a happiness and well-being that is is rooted in what’s wholesome and skillful. Uh and you find that that the heart really settles, the mind becomes clear and it become then it’s it’s it’s obvious what what one needs to do. Uh so just it’s sort of like you know like duh the no-brainer. Um why do I keep why do I keep suffering? It’s a it’s it becomes much more clear and say we’re hardwired to prefer happiness and well-being to suffering. It’s just is it’s just what we do which is fortunate because when we can really see it clearly then that’s what we will do . So it’s uh uh of course the tools that the Buddha gives us I mean I think are the most uh of course I’m biased though I think the the the absolute, you know, perfect tools for for really accomplishing uh that that goal of happiness and well-being. Um, so anyway, those are some thoughts for reflection. Maybe I’ll open it up for a few more questions. See if I have some any more questions. Is this so? Yeah. Um, with with great respect and listening carefully, I’m having a hard time. Um, I’ve looked at impermanence for a while, long time really. But once I got older and turned 70. There are I see I see clearly that things that I would have grasped at and thought would make me happy will not. They all change or they pass and go away. And when you talk about I know I know I I want control and you and I see that that’s not there. The old I get I I just fractured my back. So my body is not a place where I have control . Um and I I know that if I meditate and get out of my thoughts, I have less suffering, but I don’t really have much happiness. I simply have less suffering. And I I see and am close to many people who have meditated a lot longer than I have. And I I don’t mean to be judgmental, but I don’t see them much happier than I am. And it’s it’s discouraging. It really is. I I just had one one little thing. Well, I’d like to know what you think, but I did have one little moment today when I was doing the walking meditation and I got out of my head. I was just there. I just noticed that the breeze was beautiful and the light was beautiful and I felt I felt some joy. So, I did say to myself maybe One of the things of impermanence is to just be where I am in the moment and if it happens to be joyful to really experience that . Okay. Um yeah, life sucks sometimes. The uh you know I think that the the uh the sense of of coming back to the because impermanence isn’t say because I was saying we have to use impermanence it isn’t just by saying convincing ourselves of impermanence of everything but there’s also this the doorway into that non-grasping of how thing that how things present themselves. So and and of course with with physical pain and particularly say spinal pain that’s really oppressive. So that that’s uh that’s something that is a is a is a is a major obstacle in terms of of experience. So that one really has to pay attention to well how can I actually get some ease around it? Um the you know like sometimes just sitting with a a uh u um impediment like that is is is really difficult. So that walking or standing or lying down uh are ways of alleviating that on a physical level, but then giving some space to be able to reflect and investigate on the things that that we we that we actually can exercise some um control over or we can relax around or we can be alert to. And seeing these the that that that the habit of mind of of of that um cuz it becomes very heavy. when it’s um when it’s my pain and or my you know my aging body which you know I was saying before I mean I’m 67 so um I’m getting along there too and and carrying around a body that’s in in uh you know not constant pain but pretty consistent uh they uh and and so like that was like uh that was one of the things that uh when I was coming to America uh the only thing that Ajan Amaro asked me to do was make uh special determinations and uh requesting blessings. from uh uh say senior monks to not uh have major injuries and because I had a reputation of of uh I mean this is as a monk living a pretty safe exist life you really uh this you know uh and the thing that’s come back to haunt me And I did. I was actually worked. I haven’t actually been hospitalized in the States yet at all. So it uh but uh yeah fractured pelvis come back to haunt me. So then that uh that’s yeah it’s uncomfortable. Um but it’s also you know that sense of yeah well yeah bodies are like this. Um and you know definitely don’t take my refuge and as my body. Uh or even say the uh say the mind of the the intellect or the the uh uh kind of the the certainly don’t take refuge in my memory as I remember remember when when When our child passed away, he uh uh one of the things that uh happened was we invited many many teachers to come and and uh and give teachings to uh uh to the community, the monastic community, lay community. And um one of the teachers who came uh was uh um uh he was considered the at that time probably the foremost meditation master um uh of that era considered fully enlightened and uh and he uh he got up on the dhamma seat he was teaching to everybody he was over 80 at the time and uh and about halfway through the talk he sort of said ah you people are really lucky he said I’m over 80 now and My memor is not very good but what you know I keep forgetting where I am so I have to start over. So you get your people are getting you know sometimes two three four dumb talks out of me. So it’s sort of you know so yeah there is a a you know obviously we have to rely on our bodies we have to rely on our minds um but you know, we can’t take them as a refuge. Um, and but there is a refuge in in the in the perspective and how we hold it and in this I’ve mentioned it a few times in this quality of knowing and in that knowing there’s a place of peace where we can put down other things. It’s not that we don’t experience it, but we can we can relinquish it. We put it down. We don’t have to carry it. things. And that’s that’s a that’s a real blessing . Hi. Um, you spoke a bit about attachment. Um, and I’m curious if you could speak a bit to what, um, that looks like in intimate relationships, um, whether romantically or deep friendships. Um, Um because you know we’re conditioned in so many ways to relate to such relationships with a certain level of grasping. Right. Right. So I’m wondering if you can talk about what attachment looks like in relationship to loving. Well part part attachment is is the expectation that that sort of the attachment that somebody’s going to fulfill all your desires for you and make you happy. And uh uh that’s a scenario for disaster especially in intimate relationship. That’s was I and I and you know I’ve been a monk for over 40 years so I’m not the I may or may not be the uh uh the person to ask but they uh remember somebody Or you know, you know, reading somewhere where that that sense of, you know, you know, men go into relationships expecting the woman never to change and women go into the relationships thinking that the men will change. It’s it’s difficult, man. So, so but to to actually recognize you know what what what expectation am I placing on somebody else to fulfill me. So that’s that that that’s where that relinquishing of attachment uh is is is essential in the sense of because that’s where we’re going to end up creating either conflict or sorrow in different ways. Uh and and uh and then that that frees up an opportunity for uh cuz certainly in terms of of in terms of uh attachment uh uh uh in the sense of of you know one forms a bond of care and love. that one is really uh faithful to and has an integrity with, you know, that’s really important for a a successful relationship for for a long ongoing relationship. Uh so those bonds of of integrity and care and and and empathy uh those are those are essential for for a su successful relationship. So that that Uh um but then to pay attention to where where you know where that attachment of of what I want or how I think it should be or trying to make a duck into a chicken. Okay, there’s a whole bunch of people. Let’s see where the uh where the microphone lands. Here’s one. Um would you talk about how you use the word refuge in colloquial English? The only way that comes up is as refugees which as people from economic disaster or war and then um and then apparently it’s a common word in your circle. So I’d like you to talk about it. Yeah, that’s a uh um Say Buddha, Dhamma Sanga are called refues and I think uh say a refuge in terms of a place of safety, a place of trust um a a place of of um maybe stability or or uh where there is a a uh uh uh this aspect of of of refuge and is uh but it’s also where you know the the nature of the mind is that we take the mind takes refuge in what it thinks will give it pleasure, safety, security And that’s what we’re drawn to. Uh and so that’s why it’s important to make it a very conscious process of okay, this what are we what are we going to refuge when we go to refuge to the Buddha? And I mean there’s the this historical Buddha, but but that’s history. Um but there’s the qualities of the Buddha. uh that are universal qualities that we can uh the the Buddha exemplifies and we can begin to take that as a refuge for our heart. So this the sense of said the the the traditional translation from from the Thai when they translate the word Buddha say one who knows one who’s awakened one who’s radiant and those are the qualities that we want to take as a refuge for the heart or the that say dhamma uh is a um I mean there’s the external teachings but then there’s the internal quality of of truth and what what’s true what is actually true what is actually accords with the way things truly are and so that’s what we want to be taking as refuge and sa in terms of uh a quality of I mean there’s external SA but it’s also pointing to the internal qualities of of goodness of integrity of virtue um and and one who say seeks truth. So those are qualities we we can take as refuge . But you also say um it’s a mistake to take refuge in your body or your intellect. or your bank account or Yeah. All the things that we normally look to for safety. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I think I mean it’s quite natural to to be drawn to look for something that is that is actually safe, secure, um trustworthy. Um the uh the the the the monastery abayeri um say giri means mountain so it’s up in the mountains up in the hills but abaya means uh say literally it means fearless but it’s also an epithet for say say a place of security that which is secure uh a place where one goes and one doesn’t feel fear or shouldn’t feel fear. So that that’s that’s one of the reasons why we named it. So like giving it a place of of of safety and security . Would you call it a refuge? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Most of the time we’re human beings living together. And what would you call yourselves refugees. Yeah, we’re absolutely refugees. Thank you. Hi. Whoops. Oh, hello. Should I go? Okay. Hi. I was wondering just if um to follow up on the duck chicken story if from your own experience you could describe a story of sort of skillful non-acceptance. So this idea that humans um you know don’t fly but then someone decided that we could fly. So you know I I just wondered if I’m always trying to find this middle way. It seems easy for me to say okay this is what how things are. She won’t listen. I can accept and then there’s this other way where I can sort of try to change things the other extreme. But there’s some in between this middle way you know the serenity prayer. Like I love an an example from your experience maybe with your monastery or um where you saw things could change but you started accepting where things were and then you strived in a way that was skillful if if there’s an example. Well, that’s the life that describes the life of an abbot. Like I know lots I really know how it should be, let me tell you. But it’s rarely and it’s rarely the way I want it or how it should be according to my views and opinions and the perception of my ideal monastery. Uh, and that’s actually one of the good things of of u practicing and and it’s like uh uh living in community having this ongoing practice you get sort of pounded into into submission. You have to accept how this is the way it is but at the same time do you also strive for growth or or how do how do you do that in a healthy way how well I think that’s that’s where you try to to you know you you you inc and often times that’s in a monastery one of the things that’s we encourage each other um that’s it’s really skillful like having really good spiritual friendships is something that lifts us all up uh And and because we see the good examples that that that people people exhibit and and how they live and you know of course you can always dwell on their faults but you know that doesn’t doesn’t really uh uh uplift them uplift the mind but you can really pay attention to their their their good examples or good qualities and then it it it encourages us. So that’s like a uh it’s a uh it’s a multi it’s doing the math and multiplying in this sense uh so where where it really gives a tremendous support for everybody you got thank you lumpa I was wondering what is the um role of impermanence in karma as it’s coming to fruition now um why Think part of that is is that uh again they the the way that especially the way that Ajent Cha holds it in the sense of unsure uncertain because again we can get locked into ideas of of karma or ideas of um I did this and it’s going to turn out like that or this person did that and it’s going to turn out like this and and just to be be able to not a sure thing. And uh then it’s then you got some space around it uh to to to let it let it manifest however however it is . Okay, you pass the mic back. Thank you. Um So I um h I guess my question is about like understanding when is it plays a little bit on your question of like when to accept things as they are or when to say this is unacceptable. I mean or I don’t want this in my life. Like I don’t want to be continually chasing the dollar in the Bay Area as prices go up and things get crazy here. It’s like I you know it’s like I wake up and I’m like this is not tolerable. I don’t like it. And then there’s the whole thing of causes and conditions. Well, should I just sit with it and be like, well, this is okay. But then there’s something that just keeps rising up and be like, this is not the life I want. And so then I don’t really know how to use um Buddhism skillfully because I feel a little oppressed by the oh well, it’s just causes and conditions because I should just really be happy with what I have. And so so it’s like where do you go with that? Um that’s where you just have to trust your trust your heart and and uh and but one shouldn’t be just falling back on because that’s like falling back onto a kind of a doctrinal idealistic um you know party line which is is really not you really have to pay attention to what what’s what’s going to work for me. Uh which isn’t just sort of me but you know in a sense of uh obsessed with oneself but is this no this has to work for me because I’m the one who is experiencing it and then you know takes it you take into account other people um but uh um you know those decisions are are are we need to have some confidence in in ourselves of saying well this is really u I need a change uh or it’s similar in like in a like in a monastery. So it isn’t like you accept everybody. It’s like no, you need to change. Uh so that that that and that isn’t necessarily unkind or uncompassionate uh because it affects ourselves and affects others. So you have to be really sort of that sense of of clarity of okay, what are the values? What are the what’s the goal? How to get there? Thank you. You got it. Thank you for Thank you for being here teaching us today. Um my question is being that we have little or no control over most thoughts and emotions. How are we to understand um the instructions to discipline our body, speech and mind? Where do we where do we put our hopes in that we can accomplish that if we have so little control? Yeah. Yeah. I mean I think that again there’s that sense of okay, no control, but then yeah, the injunction is to discipline, body, speech and mind train uh in in the eight-fold paths. Uh and uh but I think also one of the um um like the the um um say the path is in in the uh that’s called the three trainings sort of virtue of meditation. and wisdom. But another way of of um um say translating that word um but I think in in the in the Sanskrit it’ be shuk shuka and and same polyika trica uh it’s a is is that it’s also a learning so train is also learning and education. So that that’s part of the this qual this fundamental quality of knowing is when you know something you’re also learning about it. When you learn about it, you can understand it more clearly and then you can act on that. And so then that is that is what feeds the process of of of the say the the training the discipline uh uh in in our body speech and mind in a sense we learn what what actually works and doesn’t work what’s helpful what’s not helpful uh so that learning through our actions of body speech and mind uh then we we we incline more consistently to to that which has a a beneficial effect on ourselves and others wisdom and that’s your and that’s that’s wisdom. Yeah. That which is another uh people are getting a poly lesson lessons today but they the the word that’s normally translated as as wisdom. Um another re very valid translation is discernment and and that’s a really important distinction because I mean one in in the poly language is it’s derived from the verb panity which is so makes it a garand. So jirens are are nouns that are based on verbs. So there’s an implicit action involved and wisdom tends to elicit a feeling of it being static. It’s a thing that’s sort of you know it’s just sort of there. Whereas discernment is something you engage in. And I think that’s more the feeling that the what the Buddha wanted us to do because the verb pani is is to to the verb the verb to understand. And so that that that sense of engaging in that process of understanding, discerning, seeing clearly. Okay. Why don’t we have a time to finish the day and it’s a silent meditation. Come back to our bodies. Come back to our breaths. Had a lot to uh reflect on, a lot of great discussion, good questions uh to bring all of that into the heart. That’s one of the qualities say in in our Buddhist um chanting or the that we do on our daily basis recitation of the qualities of the of the dharma of the Buddhist teachings um it’s their um open which means leading inwards to be able to draw these teachings into the heart to be able to draw our experience into the heart and and to feel it, experience it. Be attentive to it. Be alert to to the reactions, responses we have and then seeing how can we transform this? How can we present be present with this. How could we understand it? That’s our um and it’s in a in the context of sort of our mindfulness, awareness, attentiveness, alertness, say as opposed to figuring it out intellectually. Allowing that teaching to be drawn inwards to draw into the heart. So as we sit here attentive to the experience of the the breath allow that awareness to settle in the heart. Experiencing the body allowing that awareness settled in the heart. Sense of bringing it all back home. So you can sit quietly for a while

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