1996-07_03 Vipassana Retreat, Part 3 of 8 - Q&A 1

Talk: 19960703-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-vipassana_retreat_part_3_of_8-43307 Start_time: 00:47:29 Display_question: How do I get rid of dullness during meditation? Keyword_search: sloth, dullness, counting, count, distance, heavy, aversion, resistance, mindfulness, caught, mind, unfold Question_content: Questioner: What kind of instructions today and yesterday? Sloth, dullness. It was dullness, it was like <inaudible>… and I kind of worked with it in the afternoon. And the truth is I didn't remember to open it up. I was doing counting unsuccessfully, doing everything but standing up unsuccessfully. When I looked at it, it did kind of, the distance I guess did disappear a little, but I had a hard time kind of… there was a heaviness or a dullness here. Larry: Yeah. Can you hear in how you're speaking how much you want to be rid of it? Questioner: Oh, I really want to be rid of it. Larry: Yeah. So one of the things you have to look at is the aversion to it, how fed up you are, how much resistance there is. Enough. That's really, in a sense, when the mind unfolds, and here's what we're calling dullness. I know it's a complex state, has all kinds of little things in it. But really, the dullness then begets aversion: “I don't want this anymore, I hate it. Oh, no, not again.” And so forth. So, really, the mindfulness is of that. Do you see the difference, at least in terms of words? Questioner: I got totally caught in it. Do you know what I mean? Larry: Oh, yeah, of course. Questioner: I forgot that. It’s important. Larry: Yeah. End_time: 00:48:57