This. Is the ten percent happier podcasting dan harris? I cannot tell you how it asked. I was by Michael imperially Actually I can tell you that just tell you right now: it's ridiculous expression. Anyway. I've been watching Michael imperially for decades and good fellows. Sopranos and, most recently on white lotus, I vaguely knew that he was interested in buddhism. But it wasn't until I sat down with the guy face to face that. I realized what a deep deep, practitioner he really is he actually grown into something of meditation teacher. In fact,. In this conversation, we talked about the classic celebrity life crisis that brought him to buddhism. The important

of consistent practice as a way to get familiar with your mind, so that your thoughts the motions and urges don't own you, the spirit tibetan buddhist tradition in which Michael imperially practices, what his day practice, looks like whether meditation helps and be more creative. How acting meditation are actually pretty similar weather, in older effects or does not your ability to grok impermanence why he started teaching meditation online. How meditate off the cushion in daily life and the two most common things Michael hears people who are just starting to meditate I should say this is the first in a series big name interviews we're to be doing this month. It's a new series were calling bold face every monday and may were talking to a celebrity who has the guts to spill. Their guts a tune from mighty in meal. Digress thyssen come up and then on wednesdays this month, we're gonna do some deep darpa. We ve got a bunch of buddhist teachers on the show to break down.

a classic buddhist list, the eightfold path- kicking it all off in two days with that. Da Williams, I figure like it we're gonna weave throughout the month of may, which, by the way as mental health awareness month, Monday's we've got celebrities wednesdays, deep dharma. Let us know what you think: it's a little bit more to say about Michael imperially before we dive in here, As some of you may know, he played Christopher Malta's anti, sopranos, for which he won in any ward for outstanding, supporting after and a drama series in the early part of his we're imperially start as spider in Martin. Scorsese is good, fellows iconic I'll, be brief role. Yes, sporting rules and films, including jungle fever, bad boys, the basketball diaries shark tail and the low We bones: imperially so co wrote the screen play for summer of sam was speedily, and wrote five episodes of the sopranos. He also wrote and directed the feature film, the hungry ghosts

most recently, he started and the second season of the outstanding hbo drama series, the white lotus, which, by the way here is gonna be set in asia. Three in involves and themes of eastern spirituality of MIKE white brighter creator, director of the white lotus. If your listening, this love to have you on the show anyway, today Michael imperially, it's a great conversation. Hey it's dan. As you may already know, may is mental health awareness month and while mental health is important every month, this month is an opportunity, to share some resources that can really help showing spirit. I want to tell you about some of the other podcast. I we admire and respect in this space by the pot casts meditative story, a slight change of plans last day and are, being are all doing incredible, work to advance mental health and explore the human condition, this month, I'm going to share a little bit more about each one of those shows so this week

I want to share one of my favorite part casts it's called meditate story and it blends immersive storytelling with gentle mindfulness, prompts tab. You improve your inner weather as you know, my own mental health improvements, really began in earnest. When I found meditation for myself and since then, it's really become an invaluable tool. Tell me deal with anxiety and depression and just the regular ups and downs, life. So the format of meditative story really feels like an intuitive way to experience. Mindfulness every effort It is also wrapped in a breathtaking musical score, which I personally find pretty relaxing. Some of the storytellers tellers, overrun meditative story or people you might already know, including sharon's ellsberg christa tippit David do company And me I actually recorded an episode with them myself not too long ago. Others are newer voices, but every episode is really extremely cool. Seventy people, listen to the show, have said that it is just a crucial resource for them and in supporting their own mental health and maybe you'll end up following me,

native story wherever you get your packets We eat a lot of eggs around my house cetera. It would be very nice to to have some comfort that there's no cruelty involved in that process anywhere in the chain. Many of us are trying not only to eat healthier, but also to choose our foods with some degree of responsibility. If eggs are a regular part of your diet, check out happy eg, a free range egg company that makes easier for you to choose happy happy eg partners with small family farmers to raise their hands on eight plus acres, the standard of care they provide their birds, coupled with their nutritious feed, leads to eggs with beautiful orange yolks that are rich in color and full of flavor. The proof is inside the shell visit happy egg dot com, slash happier to find a store near you that carries happy egg. That's happy egg dot com, slash happier

to state the blazing obvious. It is not easy for many of us to make working out a habit, especially if the work out feel boring. Palatine has some ideas for making exercised more exciting there more than just a by company. They actually make a treadmill in a row were too so you can discover a whole new world of classes. That transform working out from dreaded task so something you might actually want to stick to it, no matter where you're starting from helstone. Expert instructors are there to guide you with contagious energy and supportive instruction. I myself literally stepped off palatine, by which we have in our jim here at home moments ago. I try to do

at several times a week mixing your name with a bunch of other kinds of exercise, and I find it incredibly helpful. I love many of their instructors, as I've said here before. I'd have to give my favorite to Alex tucson, but I also love alley, love and many many others on there get a lot of great exercise and a lot of fun out of using my peloton on the regular, try, peloton, tread row or bike risk free with a thirty day home trial. New members, only not available in remote locations, see additional terms at one peloton: dot, com, slash home, dash trial. Again, that's one peloton dot com, slash home dash trial. Michael imperially welcome to minister thank you for having eaten supporter.

I've been a fan since your spire days and all the way up through white low too. So I followed your career. A kind of vaguely knew you were individualism, but wasn't until my producer gabrielle put together this research pack, it on you that I saw I was blown away by you really dedicated a lot of time and energy to this here I know it's the kind of thing that, over time as become a bigger and bigger part of our lives, my wife returned that we went to our first teaching in two thousand and seven here in the city. Oddly enough, it was only a few blocks from where we were living and we had no idea there was each was books which was at that time on fifth avenue, sucker no new age books or whatever and we saw a poster and we were and We walked and we realized in the eightys. It was a very decadent nightclub. Like sex drugs and rock and roll joint.

If both of us had been to before we met in a latent, crazy night place, and now it was a tibetan buddhist center. It was run by a guy named geller crimper Shea, who was a wonderful tibetan buddhist teacher. He became Allen, Ginsburg's teacher after chug, em, trump or bush died was Ginsburg's first tibetan buddhist teacher. He had a wonderful centre in tribeca he passed away a few years ago and he had a centre in an arbor and in two thousand ten. I lived in Detroit from nine months and I would go see him on the weekend but he was a wonderful wonderful lama and that was the first teachings. We started going turn and it made an impact in the motivated you to seek this out in the first place, misery dissatisfaction depression. I guess I may not an oak or of clinical depression, but just kind of disillusionment. You know I spent my twenties pretty much Working I used to produce a lot of theatre. When I was my twenties and love,

dependent movies. I was involved in it. indy scene and stuff. But also trying to get were trying to get an agent getting an agent. You know trying to build a career. I was very, very, very driven to do that. Barely left the city unless it was for work or something and in a really wanted to be successful, not just work? I wanted to have a certain degree of success in this business. And when they finally happen, you know it was gratifying on a lotta levels creatively in and work wise, but there was a whole other piece of my life that wasn't addressed. I thought it would take care of everything because it meant a lot to me. I mean artistically, I don't just mean financially. Success was artistically as well. It meant a lot, was fulfilling in a lot of ways a me I kind of mean round the Sopranos one that started happening, but the same the bigger picture, I think that I was missing mean when I went to access, was particularly alcohol and drugs, and things like that. Not unlike so many people especially artists, nothing

outrageous, sir particularly romantic about it and destructive, and I started seeking a lot of different spiritual parts: I started reading a lot of teachers like criminal. t good. You ve spent ski suzuki, even kind of more. Stuff like Heston ada I got really obsess, was for a while, and some are called stuff too. You know cause. I was interested in special, but also kind of the more mystic specks of it as well: mystic an esoteric aspects of spirituality and Some of them were more interesting to me than others in some of them felt more true path, wise and others, like some electrician emerge to even garage, you have to some degree, but then none of them offered me a practice, So I would read these books I'd, get kind of inspired and agree with all these things on the book would be done and I ll be back to. the dissatisfaction that brought me there and then we no stumbled into jewel heart in tribeca

the thing that set apart for me was air was a living authentic tradition and lineage. That was still happen, And still being offered still being taught in a very authentic way and It was open as much as you want her to delve into it. You could. And there was absolutely a practice. I wonder taking refuge vows with a different teacher, for if he buddhism is a kind of officially becoming a buddhist biscuit and this teacher said okay, this is what you gonna have to do every day and it was like twenty minutes basically- and I was like twenty minutes a day are you out of your eyes. It there's no way get up in the morning and do this practice for twenty minutes. and then go about my day. I said this is probably gonna go by the wayside, like everything else You know slowly, we started in it unfolded in a lot of different ways. In the events you met our current teacher gotcha membership, who really made

all the difference in the world and are connection relationship to him and you know were fortunate to live in an era where there are some amazing. If this kind of tradition appeals to there are some amazing or centred lol, teaching in a very meaningful, authentic, lineage and the wonders of technology. You can have access to these teachings and people taken refuge roused to resume and online and stuff like that. Your people, in the past, used to go on foot for three months to take a vow with a with a great lama like that and can do that by making that election, it's just as authentic doing it. online in own, because it's about the connection and the intention and all that, so it's kind of amazing. I think I agree.

That was a long winded answer to your first question. You're in a safe place went along. The wind is about gas. Where design our lot away, then I'm in the right place this so much of what you said that I was kind of scribbling notes, as you were, talking gets going back to the top of it. How This is it such a common story, but you may have learn this over and over again, you had everything you're on the proposed, arguably the best television show ever made an it wasn't enough yeah and it was really good. The work was really good. I loved every minute of it. I loved the people I worked with. I love the work. I did. I love the character. I love the acting. I did on that. I got to write for the show and do some producing on the show, and then we had a theater that my wife and I built where we ran and produced new place that have never been done. We were both car to stick directors there. I started making music with the bands Oklahoma. Still today- and it was a very fruitful tom creatively, ida kids, grateful. His great family, all that

yeah yeah, there is still something I felt I had now. Tapped into, and had not learned had not learned. Really, I think that's it more than ever I never really said that before but I think so learned? What do you mean by that? Why is that a revelation as the word issues forth from your mouth, because kind of the most important thing and buddhism is the view of buddhism and all the methods that come from what the view is about our methods to bring you to the truth, to what reality is and who we are, and why were here and all those things like the right, so the view and buddhism can be really broken down to like it. Dependence impermanence dependent arising, meaning we always have this illusion that everything is about our volition when things happen to us or things, happening in, a vacuum almost under our true reality is. non do right the idea of

I have my vision from this objective point of view and then there's this objective world that lose out there, and I see it as two distinct things and the reality is it's not so buddhism offers methods to. make that view take root and blossom in your consciousness, if you will so you're, not just. A victim of this ego driven mind that seeks only to benefit itself all the time or benefit the others in their media world that they deem worthy of benefit. That kind of thing so learning that norway, a that's it probably many lifetime process to learn all those things. But the goal is not to be a good buddhists. Tribe who does is well like they say the ship that takes you across to the shore of truth, simply, and wake not from that delusion and when you, at their.

We need that ship anymore. It's a method which I find very interesting about buddhism, and I dont really see it like a religion, because there's Oh god put it wasn't a god is not worshipped ass, a god and its more about your own mind. Dealing with your own mind how your mind works. There's! No! a creation myths that you have to believe that there is this super omnipotent creator that did everything in? Does everything is pulling the strings I find that view appealing, because I problems with more dogma, a kind of things and buddhism is not really interested in a lot of social structure, for instance at least- our tibetan buddhist years, and there is no buddhist marriage ceremony. You know what I mean, like my wife and I teach a meditation class that began to be more about basic buddhism a little bit and very people s. What's buddhism, stance on this premarital sex, france and someone actually asked and that site buddhism is not about. Stance is so much like. This is bad. This is good, it's much more about like well.

your basic sanity tells you. If you doing something that harms yourself or other people, you probably shouldn't be doing it. If it's abusive right, if you're victimizing someone if you're in power and you're using that power to manipulate someone- or you know, you're, cheating and You'Re- going to ruin your relationship or you're going to do something dangerous or it's ok. This is bad. This is good. It's like use your basic sanity. The walk, some kind of spiritual path. There has to be some kind of basic ethical discipline, you can't just be growing everybody over left and right and expect to have some kind of continuity in peace and compassion and all those things that we consider spiritual qualities like patients and generosity and kindness and all those things and I like that about it- it's not so much about a buddhist said this and you gotta do that. You know it's much more about working with your mind why meditation is important, as you have to start to be really honest with yourself on how your mind works.

What your mind is doing what you're mine is trying to do it's going after all these little decisions that we make during the day, though we justify as a while this no, this is a good idea. No, this makes sense to me. You know meditation can give you a little bit of activity to start to really got all wait. A second. I'm being very competitive here. You know I'm being impatient here. You know because I feel, like my thing, is more important than this person's thing do I want to act from that plays a lot of its about creating space. I find talked about the view: buddhism, yo, everything's, changing all the time. If you try to claim you're going to suffer and who is this you anyway, and to suffer anyway, well right well, once more, one could conceivably at the further edge of the shore not suffer much yet a beta. Yes, if you are able to see

at this. You is really an illusion, and so I guess what my question for you is how you doing with that path, that how long are you on this ship wow? You know, I don't really know. I mean that's a good question. I dont really try to gauge that you know what I mean: the thing is just to keep doing it in our own, keep practising by I find a lot more meaning. I find my. Exchanges with people not even relationships like, of course, friendships and family and colleagues, I find, those relationships have a lot more meaning to me. There are a lot more dear, but I find that just interacting with people in general, especially the last year and last couple of years. I interact with a lot of people, especially being in new york city cause you're on the street and you're out, and people come up and say hi and stuff, and I guess it's through practice and whatever teachings and stuff. I find a lot more meaningful exchanges with people and that's, I think, very lovely.

I see the same thing in my own practice. I wonder sometimes, though, if were roughly the same age. You just like a tiny bit older than me. What We have been able to do this in our twenties. Is the kind of acronym, idi and friendliness that sets in after a certain amount of practice? Is also tied to getting older and realizing how quickly things are passing, and I mean do you think most people get older, find the idle. I look around and see a lot of people would stay exactly the same. Now. That's fair point, what people I know doing the same exact thing same very similar mindset and the fact is, we didn't do it in our twenties. You know it's like they would say in buddhism. Wasn't our karma to do in their twenties? I wish I did. I can feel wistful at the time, but you know I heard an interview with a very famous thumb: I'm not gonna say who is gonna like talking should about people, but Somebody I admire and he said,

It was getting on in age around this interview was probably mid to late. Somebody says I'm older now I don't feel any wiser at all and it's like cause basically you're doing the same thing. times too clever for our own good. Somebody, like him very, very, very smart, probably figure thought he figure all out in his late twenties. And not a lot of. You know- maybe worldly things learn more about, but like these questions. Probably never pursuit of profit was brought up in a traditional religion. I know he was and then moved away from it like a lot of us do never found any kind of other people contemplated practice, let alone spiritual practice. So why would you gain wisdom? What just from you know repetition. I don't know. I think there has to be something else that opens up I must say. It comes from buddhism or even meditation, or something like that. Sometimes it can come from great upheaval

Great tragedy, great change in all, went well the rug really gets pulled under, and you really see that name. Of impermanence and how well That is reality we have this illusion that we can. I got it altogether, but we have no idea what's gonna happen. Second, by second That's really the truth, think, if you have some space for that, in your mind, life can become a lot more meaningful maybe a little bit of europe. Motivations can start to change that. I agree with basically everything you just said age. So do. I guess where I was going with. That is that we know now that I'm in my fifties and watch my parents get older, it feels I'm having a little bit more of them understanding of impermanence and mortality. I'm just curious, like what I have been able to grasp that in any meaningful way, even with high dose buddhism in my twenties, but

The question is knowing about impermanence and seeing evidence of because, as you get older, more people around you die right. That's just what look in the mirror. Yo, you look in the mirror and you know, but death is a very strong wake up about impermanence, but it's what do you do it that so realizing impermanence is a fact and that death is unfair, The bull and the moment of our death is coming and we don't know what it is. What what are you going to do with that sure? As you get older, you see the truth of that, but the you integrated. How does that change how you do things, that's what I'm saying alot of people don't yeah they they see it happening, but I dont know without either some kind of contemplated practice, spiritual path or, like I said, some great people, some kind of that intervenes. I don't see how it really changes. Someone I wish I did, but I know I just see them people. I know

people around me people, my family? I don't you make it powerful point about practice when talked about this little bit earlier, that you would doing all of this studying in travelling within court. Unquote, spiritual circles! Reading all these books and you'd, criminal. Thirty and then be inspired and then just fizzles, because our whole wiring were programme to forget the stuff. You know we're right back into our usual grooves. That society is pushing us down, not alvin terrible necessarily, but you know individual know individual purchasing stuff getting the next. It would also mean and the only way I found two like really start to shave down on any of this stuff- is to have a say Consistent practices, as I just said I think about how one of the original translations of the word saki, which we often translated as he is actually recollection or remember,

scatter remember to do that stuff. Remember the view that utopia and into bed the word for meditation is gone, which means to habituate to get familiar. Where, with your mind, I mean just because practice ceasing. This is, as you know, I'm still subject to all these petty little human. The motion that we all go through by non and conquered these things, but the devil a bit over to view of things. From my point, Do you know how I looked what I'm doing in the world and unhappy for that to be honest, now, I can't imagine life without the dogma. Because then it becomes like what are you doing here? Is it the next job and you know more success, a bigger house, you know you kids get old in them. Why am I here? You know they they talk of. Our now is like

in fifty years, people are going to live to one hundred and eighty well, what are they going to do from eighty to one hundred of those hundred years? They better have stuff to do. You know and then everyone thinks that it's going to be so great we're going to live that long. It's like well, I hope we're really useful if we're going to live that long and not just be consuming stuff and like watching tv and scrolling through instagram and stuff, like that, I dunno, but I'm incredibly grateful dare to these teachers out of kept these traditions alive? How it impact your craft of acting. I just finished watching you in the white lotus you're fantastic? The show was fantastic by the way, how cool that that you're in course of your career, two of the most iconic and critically lauded it shows yeah. That's luck! I guess I mean why this came out of nowhere kind of for me. I was really fun and very meaningful. You know mike is aware spiritual guy and he did the show in london. He studied various

stern trains of thought, and if you look at the white lotuses people have all this there wealthy they have whatever they want. They have this comfort, they have success and and yeah miserable everybody, everybody and it's an interesting entry. in point. How's. It affected my work. You know I don't. I don't really know. Definitely the themes of the stuff that I do, the more personal work like. songwriting or fiction writing or screen writing software, I'm working on no acting like on the white lotus, using someone else's wurzburg stories that are creating absolutely buddhist as an effect there you know and turning towards themes that relate to it as an act. Technically, I'm not really sure I mean I imagine meditation, is helpful.

concentration, but you know the true point of meditation is so much more important than it is doing. A good job on a tv show really it's kind of like driving a ferrari down the coroner meadow got no per second story, but still, I guess at its best it should. influence everything in ones- I fear children, travel crochet was a variant and to ben buddhist lama, who was really one of the first Bring tibetan buddhism to the west, started. The first put his university in the way it's called naropa out in boulder and he was very interested in dharmu art. One papa opened in the seventies. He encouraged a lot of artists like elegans virgin and warm and started the jack Kerouac school. Do somebody poetic there because he felt You know his goal was to Create an enlightened society in her

you've planted the flag of dharma and planted all the seeds and there's shamballa centers that he started that are in different parts of the country and the world, and this university and his books that keep coming. he been dead. For you know thirty something years and every year a new book comes out because there's all these transcripts and recordings that he made died very young in his forties. His vision was too an enlightened society where there's enlightened doctors and enlightened firemen, lighten teachers or those on the road to enlightenment, but he felt a lot of that movement and shift needed to come from the artists. First to a lot of nerve opus programmes were art. The psychology of up to a lot of his students were hippies. You know like in the sixties and early seventies, and I bet a bunch of them a lot of them. becoming artists and therapists. So I think the intersection of buddhism not just buddhism, but mechanic.

Contemplate of practices and a very vital once and I think, I noticed for some reason, buddhism is less intimidating to a lot of young people. You know people are not intimidated by the concept of buddhism. I think they feel, like there's kind of a. user friendly thing too, and I think a lot of younger people are very suspicious of organized religion and theism, god I think that when they start to realise that buddhism is not a theistic religion, it peaks a lot of interest. You know cause people is where our future is for real. You know, and I mean we're out a very strange place in history right where technology is so. Advance in our minds are so busy and occupied all the time so different than a hundred years ago. I'm in just like, I guess we have to some hope- and I have a lot of hope for the younger generations. I really think they're a lot more

open minded than my generation certainly was More tolerant of differences in people. It gives me a hope, just back The acting thing. Your point is well taken about how art is so important in terms of. Changing the world really didn't Very tactical level, though I can imagine how having a meditation practice, could put you right there in the moment in a way that would be helpful for acting, maybe boost your spontaneity, etc, etc. I guess so to be honest, you know what I saw. Training at seventeen o entered the least strasbourg cedar institute. Would came out of the actors studio, which is right, a block away from here. Actually actor studio was really beginning of. The great american film acting tradition, started out of that cause. That's where brando and James dean, those great actors, came from, and the first thing you do is you do relaxation exercising you see the chair,

and you let all the tension in your body go. A new breeze. And you try to be aware of wherever this tension in your body and we they start to relax. and breathe and then maybe make a sound like. That's the first thing that you do before you anything else. That's pretty Damn similar to meditate in the eyes like a mantra nome or whatever minutes extremely similar, and that does is you know, because you're letting attention got and then the next thing you do add like a thing to concentrate tension answer your create send solely say, a coffee cup. That's the first exercise they do at strasbourg, and you pretend They don't like to say pretend you kind recreate that sensorial experience of holding a coffee cup and really try to feel the he. Smell it sooner.

Focusing all your senses in all your awareness on this object your concentration is an all like. Oh, my god, you know the class Looking at me in the teachers were know, your concentration is just here on these things and you really try to hone in on this object through the use of your imagination, your senses, your concentration and your will very very similar. You know so I can't say meditations so different than that Maybe it's another aspect of that, but I don't isolate meditation from the teachings of buddhism and a lot will do and get great benefit from that. I'm not diminishing that for me. I don't really separated as a thing unto itself again at the clustered victorian I teach we say. What trying to be good meditated is a trial, be good people The goal is not to it's not I'm gonna be really good at the treadmill. You know.

the goal is be healthy. That's why you on the treadmill, I'm the guy, was not to be I'm a great meditated. Now the ghost We better person happy person happier in away. That's not just about the self serving selfish happiness that includes others and. ultimately all being citing the in my hyaena tradition, a buddhist coming, Michael imperially talks about what his daily meditation practice looks like what he means when he talks about praying, why he started teaching meditation online and the significance of his buddhist name and why, after dismissing it for years, it's actually now become central to his practice.

If you're a busy and successful professional looking for a partner who shares your ambition and drive them elite, singles is the perfect dating platform for you. Stop wasting your precious time on people who don't share your values and on apps, geared toward casual dating with elite singles psychologist backed personality test. You will receive tailored matches in less Twenty five minutes to help millions of like minded singles enjoy a secure dating experienced. Their team performs regular safety checks and thereon hand. If you experience many issues sign up at a leak, singles dot com, slash happier complete your personality test and start making meaningful connections with people that gets you don't wait any longer download the elite singles app on the app store or on Google play or visit elite singles dot com. Slash happier today.

Over the last few years, with all learn more than we ever wanted to know about indoor air quality, but there really are things we can do to improve the air we breathe. Rio is a new room, air purifier that uses patented electrostatic technology to remove both fine at ultra fine pollutants, view of allergies using rio to remove small particles like bolts, boris, tat, danger, just

in poland can make a big difference and will make hanging out with your cat or dog a lot more fun. Rios down, clogging filters can last two three and four times longer than half a filters. Rio is an investment in your health in the filter savings over years of use. Make it a good value to. We just got one in the mail. I really appreciate how easy it was to set up one of my least favorite things in life is buying a product and then having to build the thing. So I just took it out of the box plugged it in by my wife's desk press the power button. Then were already a breathing easier, save a hundred dollars to get free shipping. When you order at rio, air purifier dot com- that's be, are I owe air purifier dot com and the code to use at check out is happiness. Having just heard, you say that you don't separate the practice from the buddhist tradition. I'm curious, though, like what your practices like an do. You do retreats and on retreats were kind of meditation. You doing there well

the vodrey out of traditional tibetan buddhism, which is a bit more of an esoteric tradition that has a lot of different methods that incorporate liturgical. You know sadness which are like liturgies. You know and practices visualization practices. Those all have to be given through a teacher There's a kind of a formal ceremony call an empowerment. Where, basically The teacher is offering you the connection to the lineage. These teachings out have been handed down. It's a formal ceremony to make a connection to this lineage. So the teachings, not just you learning this method, but it's? U learning this method in the context of this lineage and being a part of this, its contract, buddhism, tantra connection. So it's your link to the are your teacher going all the way back to the buddha, basically so

There's times will I do a practice that my teacher is given me in that tradition this times I'll just do basic mindfulness meditation, but the important thing usually this practice has three parts The first is setting your intention making inspiration so you're setting our intention that when you do this practice is not just for you, and when we say something called the four measurables you know which is: may all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness? May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering? May all beings not be separated from the happiness that has never known suffering? May they rest in equanimity free from attachment, anger and aversion? That's the first thing you say: you're, not just saying it by rote, but really trying to create some kind of altruistic motivation through your practice that it's not just for you to feel good is not for you just to feel distracted from the day or whatever. There's a bigger picture yeah. It is for you, as well as your among these beings,. but that there is a bigger picture and maybe it's our practice or maybe it's just sitting

mindful meditation. Sometimes by also do certain pray, it's for people who have passed. It might be that kind of thing, so that's the meat of the practice per se that second component of the practice and then the third is dedication. So when you do some kind of practice, Because if you have these positive intentions, you gain a certain degree of merit basic your kind of creating positive karma something and then what you do is you dedicate their merit to the benefit of all beings? you- and we say this prayer by this merit: may all beings obtain the omniscient state of enlightenment. How could the enemies of faults and illusions made? They be liberated from this ocean of some sort and its pounding waves of birth, old age, sickness and death? That's the closing dedication prayer. As those beginning, an endings are very, very important. Because it's almost like, if you don't dedicate the merit them,

It gets used up very easily. It's almost like you get a little credit and you'll burn that. But if you take that credit- and you put it in and it's like this great cosmic hedge fund or something then we're all you know- you're putting in and taking a drop of water and putting it in the ocean. So now that drop of water becomes the ocean, that's kind of the theory, but there Oh, is that aspect of pretty much always an aspect of just quite mind meditation, just like. Really and stone ass. If what comes in letting it go and let it dissolve and there's there's always an aspect to that, even if you're doing some kind of Adriano practice or something like that use the word prayer a couple of times in there when a voyage around a buddhist uses, the term prayer in my understanding is quite different from the way you know a catholic or a jew might talk about prayer where you're at king, a higher power to intervene or intercede in some way. Yeah they tricky thing in buddhism, because well, if

non duality is one of the views of buddhism. More who are you asking so it's not so much supplication per se in asking for intervention, but it's it's more acknowledging knowledge left this out. This is very important and buddhism. all sentient beings, not just people have put a nature, which means the enlightened nature is already in us. It's not something we get from outside. What we do is uncovered. And how we do. That is clear away. The observations of the south. no the mental constructs, the habitual patterns and negative ideas about things and all that, so we're kind honouring that put a nature. When you take refuge to take refuge in the buddha, but ultimately you kind of by saying you take refuge in the buddha in some ways are also saying I'm taking refuge in my own true nature, which is buddha

started the meditation class during the pandemic online. You know on promoted through instagram and it's free he just sign up further zoom invite, through my via an incident but a start out just a secular meditation. I asked my teacher. I said dorothy full or writing me all over her meditate should, I teach me, said yeah. If you have the tension to benefit people than go ahead and teach meditation we started teaching completely secular, mindful samatha meditation Fuck you and I and people were really interested in things like reincarnation and karma. Universal- owes a lot of them things people have questions about our interest in and then other things about buddhism and I went Back to my teacher, said the asking a lot of questions about the dome. What should we do? He said you can talk about it, but keep the focus on the mind because Buddha, is not the name of a man, it's the name of mind. So

This buddha nature that I'm talking about that we all innately have is exactly the true nature of our own mind, does everything we do everything we experience. We, what do the mind right Every impulse we have said, stems from the mine every stimuli that comes in. We take it into the mine. We translate it through the mind. We reacts admires like the operating system or whatever of us and that true nature, when it's in its essence, its without the like we said, these two visual tendencies in these conditioning in this impulses and selfish number one, really is resting. That's pollination and that is enlightenment, and that is buddha. The way I think about it. One m wishing for all being to be free from suffering? It's not me.

I personally don't use the word prayer, but that may be just cause. I don't know enough yet, but I, think of it as a training for myself to get better at having an altruistic intention. I think that's exactly what I think is the same thing. That's what I'm saying exactly because we need a lot of training At least the people at the table. Ninety nine point: nine percent of all new, a absolute exactly what you said. Yes, that's exactly right. And it's an incredible concept that we are trainable in this way that we're not stuck with factory settings that are unalterable. You know you can, work on this. Or pound, or whatever pound globule of cells in between your years. That's incredible news. we're not stock and were not frozen and were not doomed to a certain mine said no, no, no! no not at all

and transformation, is possible. Yeah, absolutely that's the beauty of learning these things. Come back to you and your path here. As I understand it, when you are going through of your earliest ceremonies of becoming a buddhist. You got a buddhist name, you'll, remember it. I won't, but I remember, the translation of the name is patients, and that word and that concept, that capacity has become increasingly important for you, why they are when you take refuge. You get a buddhist name and my, but his name is conscious of zyobor. So now so contract is the family name that teachers lineage and his students and saw no means auspicious. Zobeida means patients itself in the name of my band, but when I took refuge or got you repay, he said your name is over because when you lose your patience, you lose your love,

when I heard that whatever fifteen fourteen years ago. You know it sounded very pithy In a very like hallmark car fortune cookies, you know what I mean like oh yeah, when you lose your patience alone right, and I never really gave our thought Patients is one of the parent as you know, one of the spiritual qualities that we try. Cultivator that that arise, when you clear up the junk but at some point I started thinking about it. he gave me this name deliberately. and he said this to me. On the day I became a buddhist and became his student. Maybe Should think about the saloon and maybe Patients is really the key to my practice, maybe I just kind of glossed over like something very kind of pretty in one pity and not essential. Chug him tremble and perceval so referred The patient's. Often we think of patients is like forbearance and he called it,

Especially if you're buddhist an obligation, if you're practitioner, patients is not, being generous per se forbearing some kind of hardship or something it obligation when I heard that something really shifted For instance, so if your online the coffee shop, The person in front of you, is taking her ridiculously long time to figure out what they want to order, what they want to pay for what they want and you're in a rush every impulse. You have said this persons and asshole it the coffee shop. They should know what they want. They should have their money ready they in every impulse. You because you have some way to go. Obligation if you're a practitioner is that your thing is not about. You so you're about kind of opening? to this situation, opening to the situation saying persons gonna take whatever it takes for them to do it right and

How does that shift? My experience of this moment because if you can go there, something else starts to happen rather than you just looking at your watch when this person gonna go in making all this judgments about, because the judgment about the person's kind of irrelevant it's about you and what are you doing with this situation and what happens? What energy is getting expanded? What positive and negative thoughts are arising? So this everything starts to become an opportunity for practice. One thing we tell the people in our class time and time and time again being a buddhist is not about being a doormat this project, The patient's doesn't mean you. Let people abuse yourself, others. You may often be in a position where its inherent an important for you. To intervene in a situation where someone's being abusive or abusing others. You know you can't be on the subway and watch somebody abuse another person like well, I'm a buddhist and I'm I'm in my mindfulness, whatever the hell you may have to get in there and help.

Patients, yeah so think, as an obligation And listen, I get impatient all the time among lots of times, but if you are too take these things seriously and try to find ways of working with them in life, things the new life becomes a little bit more spacious. In that connection to loves interesting, because I, like you, I think if I had heard that not too long ago, I would have thought okay, what kind of an empty bromide I used to have a nanny when I was a little kid, we need it and when I have my brother and I were being a pain in the ass, she would gripped the steering wheel of your yellow, viii, w bug and say patients is a virtue and yet like that. Yes, just like that probably louder, and I just never really thought about the word beyond some thing that we need a might say, but I had experienced a couple years ago. It was very tough moment from our? I just got in a bunch of very negative feedback about how, like, kind being a jerk

what's called the three sixty review, where the people in my life gave me feedback on how I was doing, and what did you ask for it? I didn't really ask for it in every sense of that phrase. Absolutely so I was on my way after reading it to talk to my active coaches are active. Kristin was on the board of Naropa university, so he's a very interesting guy. His name is jerry Colonna and on my way to see jerry, I was late and I was taking the subway was July, sweltering hot and the tiny little moment was running up the stairs to get to jerry, to talk to him, becoming a more compassionate person, and I jostled a woman not an a significant way, but I gotta hit her purse a little bit. Normally I would turn around some. So sorry, but I was I didn't have time for that. I just kept go and jerry to his credit, really just Only in that he didn't I told them about it and he just Came back that over and over as a metaphor for like when you are in your own shit when you're

rushing when your hurried, just don't have the bandwidth to give a shit about other people and that's what I hear when your teacher said when you lose your patience, you lose your love. And you can justify being in a rush. Impatient all you, I envy probably really correct. But Do you want to be right, or do you want to be free? Coming up michael talks about bringing mindfulness into your daily life, the two most common things he hears from people who are just starting to meditate and why he encourages meditation curious people to find a teacher from an authentic lineage,

with audible. You can enjoy all your audio entertainment in one app as an audible member. You can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog, including the latest best sellers and new releases. They've also got mysteries and thrillers motivation, wellness, celebrity memoirs and more. My kids and I are currently listening to the how to train your dragon series by cressida cowell when we're in the car it's a great way to enjoy books together. New members can try audible, free for thirty days, visit, audible, dot com, slashed, ten percent or text. Ten percent to five hundred five hundred, that's audible, dot com, slash ten percent or text ten percent to five hundred five hundred to try out a bowl free for thirty days, audible, dot com, slash ten percent.

the show is sponsored by better help with our busy and hyper connected lives. It's easy to get caught up in what everyone else needs from you and never take a moment to think about what you need from yourself and before you know it you're stretch to thin, maybe even burned out there it can give you the tools to find more balance in your life. So you don't leave yourself behind in the midst of taking care of everybody else. I personal

I am extremely grateful to my therapist who helps me with all sorts of issues, including avoiding burnout which we've as a team in semi, successful, and sometimes I still fall into that rut. Old habits are hard to break, but nobody's offering perfection here, we're just offering better tools for managing the inevitable fixations and vicissitudes of being alive. If you're thinking of starting therapy give better help a try, it's entirely online just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist. You can also switch therapists anytime for no additional charge, find more balance with better help, visit better help, dot com, slash happier today to get ten percent off your first month. That's better help. H, e l, p dot com, slash happier so there a book called thirty. Seven practices of a body suffer. I want to ask but a couple of the thirty seven practices. But can you just try for people what a body suffers about? Software is someone who's

primary focus- and this is my definition, I wish I had the more accurate one but primary focus in their life. Primary motivation intent. And is to be of benefit to all beings and in their mouths, the outer tradition of buddhism take a bodies up avow you are committing to returning in here it's lifetimes to come back rather than just reach enlightenment and be in some kind of nirvana state. for eternity. You're gonna come back in whatever form human. animal, whatever, whatever form you're coming back and to be of benefit to others, to help them towards enlightenment and new, will not stop that ah sentient beings, become enlightened That's true body supper, so if we think of buddha nature as this,

capacity that is obscured for most of us at least partially for unbridled compassionate bodhisattvas has removed all those obscurations and is purely for ass or there, on the way to that. I think all bodies offers of necessary completely enlightened and of kind of like really eliminated every aspect of kind of volition and things like that, but they make a serious commitment to that path and you know they make up a very authentic commitment towards that's what they're gonna dedicate their lifetime So if we are interested in moving Some are part of the way or all the way towards being a body as these practices are of interest and number thirty. Six. Is wherever you are whatever you do, always examine the state of your mind. Because that's where everything happens, you know it's like. You

can't trust that your impulses are always gonna, be correct orbit. Official to others. So you have to use your mind your mindfulness, to look at those. we can justify an awful lot of things that are south selfish, there You know self serving that are not with the benefit of others in mind. You have to look at your mind and scene was still them and that's what meditation offers I sometimes say in the class: it's like you know, and radio or television they have a seven second delay right. So there's seven seconds they have before goes out on the airwaves. If you do in live tv or live radio So if you say some what profanity doesn't have to go all the way into the world. meditation does that a little bit it gives you this little delay. That normally we would necessarily have you know we can say. Ok, how do I want to respond

because the emotion arises, somebody does something makes you angry and their motion arises and then are you gonna? act out of that anger compound. The anger And compound that situation, that's happening where you gonna find a way to diffuse it. not engage with it in a fine another angle of interaction, burmese teacher I've never met but incorporate some of his teachings into my own meditation practice and in one of his little one of the little montrose he recommends to students, is to ask yourself regularly: what's the attitude in the mind, right now, it's like shining a black light on a hotel sheet. You know it's like you see all these terrible fluids. When you ask yourself that question and it's just useful, you see my acting right now out of desire to commit a homicide, a mind acting right now. Out of you know, it desire do hoover up somebody's see no orioles what whatever and it can wake you up. It's the seven second delay

and if you are doing that, no matter where you're out, that's amazing, because eight they use this analogy is like, if you turn a lie on in a room. That's been close up and dark for three thousand years. Once you put that light on theirs line that room so you could have a mind. That's been like the size of a postage stamp for lifetime after lifetime and Somehow you get the benefit of someone giving you some teachings, and you have this moment where you actually look at the minor have a little spaciousness. Spaciousness at them over a piece of spaciousness. It's like We talk about this in the class again meditations, not just for the cushion again canyon, I just meditating to be a good meditated sitting on the cushion it trying to bring whatever you this awareness Mindfulness at your cultivating, while on the cushion while doing these practice, you trying to bring that into life sitting the cushions

It's not easy right. I mean it's meditations difficult, especially when you just starting, but even if you ve been doing it a long time is difficult but have that kind of spaces and working with the thoughts in the minds of on the cushion it's one story, doing it on the subway and rush hours is a whole other thing, but that's really why you're doing us ass? You not doing it just begun on the cushion I've. people were thereon, a cushion like I've been in retreat situations, and you see people saying a cushion in perfect gallop. Posturing stillness and for hours? And then you know they'll complaint to the chef about the food in the cafeteria, something like that is where the mine has gone and I've, I'm sure done the same thing myself. I say it's like that's. You know it's not just on the cushion ass. We don't meditate

to become better meditators, although that's good, we meditate at the great red life yeah and that's the point, but I try not to in teaching it. I try to steer people away from this pass fail! Good bad! Yes, you know what's really interesting, everybody says the same thing about meditation: everybody always says I've tried to meditate- and I have a particularly busy mind- and I can't meditate it's like so thinking that the people who meditate are these people, who are already very kind of serene meditators and that's why they are able to do it. Everybody's mind- is busy everybody especially if you haven't done this practice, the mine thinks that that's what it does- and I that time and time again from people who at least they tried or they didn't try. They don't think they can especially A creative people think that's my thing! I'm creative, I'm always thinking you know it's like you're, no more special than anybody else, we're all a bunch of you know. Thinking too much monkey mind people we're all the same.

and the other misconception is that people think meditations about not thinking which is a horrible negative thing. You know what I mean it's like I. I can't just not think this thoughts comments. Like that's what the mind does it thinks it's not going to stop thinking where working with the mind were working with the thoughts. That's what we're do. Those are too giant misconceptions that I get all the time from potential meditators or you know, people are starting to meditate. Amen above those points, just leave the question we talked earlier about causes and conditions, and you know how everything that's happening right now: we're always unlit on the crest of a wave of unfathomable ocean of gauze and conditions way back to whenever, but as its manifesting in EU. It's very interesting that you have this.

a platform that you have, because the universe put you on all these incredible tv shows and movies, and also to have a clear understood it obviously this what I do for a living attacked, meditation teachers and clearly have a real cellular understanding of this stuff it is awesome, to have these two things simultaneously, and it leads me to my question, which is: do you consider yourself, a teacher. I teach meditation. I dont consider myself a teacher buddhism, although we do answer people's questions, but we do more, as fellow students just talking about what I've been taught But meditation is think very, very, very, very simple thing to teach, and a kind of mechanical almost, really really encourage people who do the meditation class with us tat if they have any interest in this too far,

the teacher from an authentic lineage, I think there's a lot of pop culture. Watered down versions of things that are living traditions are connected to the source You know if you're interested in this, rather than do some watered down new age, he kind of distillation go to the source it still here. It made b a hundred years from now- but it is now there Our teachers from these authentic lineages living amongst us and some of them have really made great attainments in Working with the mind I mean do you think about having a kind of an understanding, a self? My aspiration is that my actions of body speech in mind, somehow kind of reach at least

my theoretical understanding of what it should do, cause there's still a large gap between those things but boring himself, some water, but so there's a there's, a large gap at like look. I think it's reassuring for me to hear and for anybody to hear that you retain the capacity to be a schmuck. I mean that's all. That's that part of it is that you don't want to over promise said this is marginal improvement over time. The path isn't like a hockey stick where it's unbroken progress up into the right forever, it's up and down and up and down, and hopefully the overall trajectory is up into the right. Well, you know. I think being exposed to these teachings. It's like. what else am I gonna? Do I try at the other way and as such, is not going to work in order me I tried, getting all my satisfaction, arab material and some not material things, some things that had a lot of heart like art and family, and things like that. But there are still other things said. I need to learn and again

Your question about being a teacher teaching meditation is like I'll teach acting so once in a while to those things I can teach are very simple: can, while acting so actually harder, the teeth of meditation of bananas, but buddhism again encouraging people to find really authentic teacher is really important, because that's how you really, The progress you note. My thing was: if people are asking for that- and you have an opportunity to share, that. I feel a responsibility to sound like I wanna be imitation tightened. If you told me, class has been going on two and a half years. If you told me two and half years ago, the union going to be teaching meditation and discussing buddhism with people, you know kind of all around the world, because we have people tuning in from lots of different countries and lots of different spiritual, traditions and stuff jews and muslims, and christians in all. people who are interested in meditation and maybe a little bit about buddhism whatever, but It was really because people were asking me

I mean. If you can share these things. I feel an obligation to do that. It's not that I feel like I know these things and I should be teaching I just color was in that position. You know, because I was on a tv show that many days legally, we shoulda before You go is there something? I should have asked that I didn't anything you wanted to talk about that. I didn t like to talk about well. You talk about all the good stuff. I mean we get to talk at length about these things. Costs must have some people are not familiar with it like you are with all these this isn t kings and things like that, such really fun. For me to talk about it, I will say that teaching meditation, and discussing buddhism with, people who knew to it- some not new to it and stuff like that, has really help my practice because it forces you to really breakdown how you doing it by articulating it and breaking it down. Reinforces your own life.

stability a little bit of practices- and you know if you're gonna, be, spinning some of these things to people- you better at least attempt to pray, that's what you preach. If you are not allowed to think about his preaching, but at make an attempt, but I'm not saying pretend that you succeed and pretend that you, you figure lockers Lord knows I have it, but you know I have a lot of respect for these people who come online and do these things. Some of them have been with us for two and a half years now, and they really take it seriously and they really very important questions and vulnerable and really make an effort and the putting their trust in you in something that is very important in precious and that's very humbling really is- I have a lot of affection for these people not easy to do this world. You know to be moved to that point to want to do that. It's pretty pretty amazing.

Just in closing here. Are there other things you're working on that be worth reminding people, but we talked about sopranos and white lotus sends open your band and all the meditation teaching you're doing online anything else that we should just mentioned before such a fool not, I think you covered it. Well, grateful to you for doing some grateful that you, brought me hollows one through the fund Talk about these things got my life, I'm doing just that lucky I am lucky. I am lucky yet for don't think you're sharing server fun

Thanks again to Michael imperioli, thanks to you for listening rate and review us wherever you listen to your podcasts, that really helps thanks. Most of all to everybody who works so hard on. This show. Ten percent happier is produced by Gabriel Zuckerman DJ, cashmere, justin, davey, lawrence smith and tara. Anderson are supervising producer, is marissa Schneiderman and can be regular. Is our managing producer scoring and mixing by Peter bonaventure of ultraviolet audio and nick thorburn of the great band islands wrote. Our theme will see you all on wednesday for an episode with Dr Williams, the first in our series on the eightfold path. a prime members. You can listen to ten percent happier early and ad free on amazon, music

download the amazon music app today or you can listen early and ad free with one re plus in apple podcasts. Before you go. Do us a solid and tell us all about yourself by completing a short survey at wondering dot com? Slash survey trying to grab all the groceries in one trip: oof, not how you would have done that you know. Sometimes less is more like when you drive less and save with the usa, a annual mileage in usa. I get a quote today: hey I'm broke and I'm erisa and were the hosts of wonder a podcast, even the rich, where we bring you absolutely true and absolutely shocking stories about the most famous families and the biggest celebrities the world has ever seen. Our newest series is all about the teen movie icon, Gabrielle union. After spending her childhood trying to assimilate and breaking into a racist industry, Gabrielle thought her sixties.

Spent some one else had to fail, but when she space with hard choices beyond her control, she realizes that the only way to find real success is to come together and build community in our series. Gabrielle union, bigger, batter, better, will tell you how she shook off her need for perfection found her true self created the life. She always wanted, follow even a rich. Wherever you get your podcast, you can listen ad free on amazon, music or the wondering app.