San Francisco Lost Coin 
January 11, 2010

General Announcements
The meetings in SLC on Tuesdays are now recorded; if you are interested in seeing them, contact Rebecca.

The SF group has now officially started; we are the inaugural group.  Daniel will start marketing the group and getting the word out to others.

A 1 1/2 day retreat will be held in Park City (outside SLC) sometime in March.

From Last Week
When you sit, you can do some pre-sitting prep.  Tell yourself Im going to forget about everything, let go of my identity, of who I am, my gender, my worries, my financial concerns, and just drop it all.  

The SET is important.  

The SETTING is also important, like having incense, flowers, and sitting in the same place each time.  Make it nice to sit.

Negative thoughts.  We often try to figure it out, to resolve our negative thoughts.  Our practice now is to drop it.  How can we do this?  We can because its not real.

This is exactly what we do in meditation.  We are just passing through - we will never resolve our problems, that day will never come.  Were like spirits.  Whats the point of solving problems?  Theres nothing to figure out - this is radically different than what weve been taught.

Ox Herding Pictures.  Free to paint anything on our canvas. The first picture is searching.  You can find by not looking - youll find what is already there.  Or by looking for new things - you find things that arent there.  Both are legitimate.   

Understanding something doesnt really solve the problem.  Once you do, you still need to drop it.  Shaquille ONeal might understand why hes not getting a basket.  This wont help him.  He cant just go home with that knowledge - he still needs to stay there and practice.  

There are three kinds of bullshit (according to Fritz Perls):
 Chickenshit.  All the social interactions we have, being polite, etc. 
 Bullshit.  Everything personal and our points of view
 Horseshit.  Philosophy and religion.

You choose to believe something.  You can choose because youre free.

Remember that a 5% change is a lot.  Its a big change to notice 5% of your negative thoughts.

We are addicted to analyzing.  Were not taught that there is another way.  Thats what were learning now.

This Week
Pay attention to the desire to have things or people be different than they are. You can call this:   Discontent/ Force/ Manipulation/ Greed (in the Buddhist tradition)

Discontent:  doing nothing about getting what you want.  Things are not perfect and complete as they are.  Stop telling people how to do things, or that they should be different.  Buddhists describe this as the hungry ghost.

The Thin Line of Happiness.  Pay attention to whatever takes you off the the thin line of happiness, observe it and just drop it.  

Exercise:  Sitting with three different mind-sets.
 Want all the things that you want (this is mostly ordinary life:  SEEKING MIND)
 Want something and then embody it, as if you have it already (ATTAINED MIND)
 Not wanting anything, just being with what is (NON-SEEKING MIND) 

Another way to think about it is:
#1 - Seeking enlightenment
#2 - Attaining it, seeing your true nature
#3 - After enlightenment

The first state (#1) is a victimized state, and striving.  Doesnt feel good.  In the second state, you know what you want to do, youre committed.  You are walking across the dance floor confidently, to ask that girl to dance.  Or, go full-bore, with the extra postage.  Go for it all! #2 and #3 state are always available to us, when we remember ourselves.  

