¶ The Practice of Continuous Mindfulness
So we'll um have another Short period of uh walking meditation and then after that it's the time for the uh the meal offering and the the middle part of the day. Uh on retreats I always like to encourage us not to think of in terms of the practice starting and stopping. You might think, okay, the bell's gone
Now we're stopping the meditation, but uh I I don't feel it's that skillful or useful to to think in that way. Rather thinking that there's it's more helpful to think in terms of their practice has formal and informal aspects. So that uh a formal a period of formal practice comes to the end with the the ringing of the bell and then there's the informal bit. oherwydd yn ymwneud â llawer o'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud.
we uh we start the a formal piece again, then the bell goes and then we have our um lunch and then uh it's the informal time. But it's much more important, as Ajahn Cha would often say, y you're able to suffer in every posture. So it's important to be uh ready to wake up in in every posture and to to stop suffering in every posture.
So as we go out to do some walking meditation then and then gather back together at the uh the the kitchen, dining room uh for eleven thirty for the the meal offering, to throughout that time to be sustaining a quality of mindfulness. And uh I'm not sure of the exact instruction that Joseph might have given before the last period of walking meditation. Rydyn ni'n ymwneud â phobl, ac yn ymwneud â phobl, yn ymwneud â phobl, ac yn ymwneud â phobl.
¶ Cultivating Presence and Letting Go
So before we gather back together this afternoon and and really throughout the day, just to be holding in mind that that same reflection uh I was mentioning this morning of uh yeah, if this was If we only have a few seconds left to live, well what do we want to be uh dwelling upon? If this was my last act on earth Do I really need to be worrying about, you know, the laundry? Do I need to to to be concerned about uh uh whether I get a a a second helping of apple crumble?
Maybe that is the what you prefer to be thinking about as our our last act on earth, to be thinking of Apple Crumble. But uh But uh just to to take that as a a way of looking at our moods, our our reflections and seeing how that helps to when we we look at things in that way, uh we bring the attention to the present and uh
to use that reflection. If this was you know the last few footsteps I was gonna take, if this is the last time I walked through a door, what would I want to be dwelling on? What's a a priority in my life? And that uh and just seeing how that reflection changes things and then using that uh that say um that quality of waking up to help us to to let go. And then when we let go, when we c say drop that preoccupation or that secondary concern, notice how that feels when when the clinging stops.
ac mae'n ymwneud â'n ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r hyn. So uh we have a shorter period of walking now. It's just after eleven, so um Please uh uh uh uh head uh uh out to the your uh walking place for the for the next little while and then uh the bell will go just before half past and we'll gather at the kitchen dining room.