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

Please visit our website at adioderma.org.

So, hello everyone and welcome to our meditation.

And one of the maybe unusual aspects of Buddhist spirituality

is its emphasis on absence, the absences of things.

And with some reflection we can appreciate that how much happiness can come from absence.

Right now I'm sitting where it's warm at IMC in the absence of the cold,

which is outside here. It looks like it might rain, and so it's absence of rain in this room.

I feel safe from the cold and the wet outside. It feels cozy and nice to have to be here.

Coming down to IMC this morning, there were beautiful sunrise in the slivers of empty space where the clouds weren't on the horizon.

So it was delighted by the beautiful colors, and the colors were there.

Partly, what stood out was the absence of clouds in those slivers, that slices of the sky.

Some, there can be the happiness of not having it to deal with any responsibilities.

To sit in meditation and not have to, you know, go to a meeting or do the chores or something.

It's just nice for the absence feels good.

Absence as a condition for a sense of contentment and happiness,

the absence of desires, absence of conceit, absence of hostility,

can feel so good, so wonderful.

Absence is not something that we're trained to focus on,

to look for.

The mind is always usually interested in something.

If we're thinking about a lot, we're thinking about something.

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