The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at audioderma.org. So hello everyone and welcome to this meditation on Friday. And there's a little story from the ancient text with the

teachings of the Buddha

his own experience of going off to practice on retreat

before he was enlightened and there were no retreat centers back then, so he was going into the forest.

And at the end of this teaching he says he still goes into the forest to practice even now that he's fully awakened.

And some people might think that the Buddha does so because in fact he's not awakened fully

and he's going to keep he needs to keep practicing but it's not that way he is fully

awakened but he goes into the forest to practice going retreat for two reasons

for his own ease and well-being and for to be an example to be an example to be an encouragement or he says, actually what he says is out of compassion or care

for future generations.

And this idea that the Buddha would go and meditate because he wants future generations to meditate, meaning us.

We're in that, and to a great extent we're continuing something the Buddha started.

Without the Buddha starting his teaching, starting his own practice, becoming awakened and teaching, there would be

no Buddhism.

This particular gathering and teachings that we have and people would not exist in the way we know it now.

And we have it survives down through the generations

because from time to time there are people like the Buddha who would love the

who out of their love their care their friendship their saying meditate, it's good to meditate. It's for your own benefit

and the benefit of the world to meditate.

Go on retreat, go on a short retreat, a short retreat right now from your home on YouTube.

And this idea that there are people in the world who are,

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