Hello. Tashi delek!
Last month, I talked about the general idea of
how to deal with situations like terrorism, shootings, and wars.
There are many problems in this world now.
So, the way to deal and help with this situation is by first helping yourself.
If you help yourself, it means you're helping the world.
So, you change the world by changing yourself.
Or, you help the world by helping yourself.
How to help yourself?
Make your mind calm. Promote nonviolence to others.
You can influence others.
These things I told you last time, right?
Now, this talk will be a more practical one.
You might wonder, "How to make my mind calm?
"I know I have to make my mind calm, but the problem is that I can't!
"How do I do it?"
So now, I want to talk about this in a more practical way.
There's what we call "view, meditation, and conduct."
If you really want to help yourself,
if you really want to change yourself, you need these three.
One time, one of my friends who's a psychologist said, "A, B, C."
"A" is "affect." "B" is "behavior."
"C" is "cognition."
If you really want to change yourself, you need these three.
Cognition is similar to the view. We say, "view is cognition."
So, the view helps, of course, but to a certain limit.
The view doesn't go very far, but it helps.
So, you need emotion.
And here, emotion means meditation. Meditation goes directly to the heart.
It's not just cognitive or intellectual,
but it directly goes to the heart. So, meditation.
Then you need action, behavior.
"B" is behavior. We call it "conduct."
So, view, meditation, and conduct. You need all three.
The view for making your mind calm...
Of course, there are many, but I will just give you a simple one.
You can ask a question when you're facing these problems:
"Can I change these problems or not? Do I have a solution or not?"
If your answer is,
"Yes! I know the solution, I have the solution,"
then you don't have to worry.
Normally, we worry and make small problems into big problems.
We exaggerate. If we have too much panic,
and too much anxiety,
then we don't know how to deal with the problem,
and we're making extra problems, also.
You make problems.
Last time, I mentioned the story about the young monk
who carried the girl all the way to the monastery, right?
And the other one was, if you have a problem at your office,
you're thinking, thinking, and thinking,
and bring this thought into your family,
into your home. Like that, we make problems.
So, If you have a solution, there's no need to worry.
But, if you don't have a solution, worrying is of no benefit!
If you don't have a solution, if you don't know of a solution,
then too much worrying is of no benefit
because you don't know the solution and you don't have the solution.
So, when you ask this question,
if you have a solution, there's no need to worry. It's OK.
You have a solution. If you don't have a solution,
or if you don't know the solution,
don't worry, because there is no solution.
But this doesn't mean you should give up.
At the same time, try your best to come up with a solution.
Try your best to help the world. Try your best to help others.
But, with your mind, don't fixate and worry too much about the result.
Some days there will be a result. Some days there will be no results.
Even when you try, some days it works and some days it doesn't work.
That's the general attitude. It's very important.
So, there's the view, how to calm yourself.
That's the view. And the second is meditation.
There are many different techniques of meditation,
so maybe breathing meditation will be good.
How to practice breathing meditation? It's very simple.
Keep your spine straight. Relax the muscles in your body.
Close your eyes. And put your attention on your breath.
Normally, our mind goes to the past and the future.
Past memories like, "Oh, that shooting, that war, that problem."
So, you have a past memory.
And then, "What will happen?"
You exaggerate the future.
Our mind lives in the past and the future.
So now, bring it into the present.
Bring your mind to your breath.
Change your focus onto the breath.
Now, please be aware of your breath.
Breath in. Breath out.
Mind and breath together.
It's very simple. You know you are breathing.
Like that.
That's the meditation. That helps you.
Whenever you feel worried, go back to your breath.
Whenever you feel anxious and anxiety, come back to your breath.
That helps.
The third is action, conduct.
The conduct here is to promote nonviolence.
You can just share your idea of nonviolence with your friends,
family, colleagues, and with whomever you can.
So, just talk.
And if you can do anything through an organization,
without an organization, or in a different way,
through different skills, any way you can contribute will be very good.
Try your best to influence others toward nonviolence.
The best way to make world peace is to promote nonviolence.
That's very important.
So, view, meditation, and conduct.
This is a really practical way to help yourself.
And by helping yourself, you're helping the world.
Thank you!