How many hours do we have to sleep? Most people sleep eight hours. That means one-third of our lives is spent unconscious. Think about that. If you live to be 60, it means you have spent 20 years sleeping. That is outrageous. What about people who sleep nine, ten, or twelve hours? Not just one-third of their lives, but more spent on sleeping. You are not even awake to enjoy how good you feel when you are asleep. Sleeping is funny, isn’t it? You go to sleep, you are unconscious. There is absolutely no pleasure during all those hours you are unconscious. Then you wake up and say how good you feel having slept that long. But you were totally blacked out.

We must have a bed that is not too soft. If it is too soft our back hurts. Not too hard. If it is too hard our back also hurts. We must have a bed at the right angle according to what our body likes. Then, you need a rug right under your bed. A rug to step your feet on. And just enough blankets. The room must be of a certain temperature when we are sleeping. When we are awake, the temperature has to be right too. Especially during a retreat, the temperature of the room is of utmost importance. You get up and open the window because it is too stuffy, and the person next to you stands up and closes the window because it is too cold. Wait until you get hot flushes! You want half of the window open and the other half closed because half of your body feels warm and the other half feels cold. Then it switches after 30 seconds. But the temperature has got to be exactly how I want it. Not too hot, not too cold. You have some work to do on cutting the attachment to this body if you are going to die peacefully.

What about the karma we create in protecting this body? The karma we create in pleasuring this body? The karma created out of attachment? We kill others to protect this body. We steal from others to protect this body. We have unwise and unkind sexual relationships to give pleasure to the body. Lie to protect the body. Talk behind other people’s backs, speak harshly, all these things solely to June | 245 give this body pleasure and protect it from harm. At the end of this life, the body stays here. It becomes a rotten, stinking corpse that nobody wants to go near. Our consciousness goes on alone carrying all the karma that we have created with it.

I think there is something important to meditate on here. If we can have a good relationship with our body, we can free ourselves from creating so much destructive karma and have a whole lot more time to practise for a mind that is much more relaxed and at peace.

“365 Gems of Wisdom” e-book is out now!