Four Immeasurables Retreat with B. Alan Wallace - Sydney 2014 (part 6)

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0:52 breathing, and phase of the I'd just like to highlight the importance, the great importance these three qualities and the sequence of the three. I won't elaborate a lot. I think a lot of you are familiar, but maybe not everyone. So it's, of course, relaxation. It's very easy to kind of jump the gun, we say, to want to go to stability and kind of overlook relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 0:52 Highlight the passage at 0:52

1:20 Relaxation is for sissies, right? People can be California people. True grit. Let's really concentrate. And that's, of course, what is done in the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:31 high-demand activities, whether it's athletics, business, and so forth, when we concentrate, then we contract, and we really try hard and burn ourselves out. But the contemplative way, the yogic way, develop samādhi, very powerful, very focused and sustained attention, really has to be, first of all, with relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 1:31 Highlight the passage at 1:31

1:55 But I've been teaching a long time and when people get into relaxation, it is just such a blessing for them. I've heard it so many times, I know it of course from my own experience, but it's something that simply for our modern world especially cannot be overemphasized. Because we're out there in a very individualistic modern society, every man for himself, the self-made man, all that kind of business. And it's all about achievement and goals and ambition and striving, true grit and all of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:55 Highlight the passage at 1:55

2:23 And that has its place, I'm sure. But actually not very much in samādhi because it just ties you up in the knots, especially if you do it a lot. So the relaxation. We'll see in this path, this isn't really a shamatha retreat per se, but you can never skip it, but on the path of shamathas you actually proceed along this contemplative path to realizing shamatha, which is really a sublime state of attentional focus. Report an error in the passage at 2:23 Highlight the passage at 2:23

2:46 When you come to the culminating phases of this practice, you can actually slip into and sustain your samādhi effortlessly. Report an error in the passage at 2:46 Highlight the passage at 2:46

2:54 And it's superb Samādhi, extremely highly focused. But then we see that along the progression, the evolution of developing Samādhi, you're really cultivating three qualities. Often only two are highlighted. And that would be probably okay in nomadic Tibet during the time of Tsongkhapa, 14th century Tibet, nomadic. Really, how much do they need to learn how to relax? Report an error in the passage at 2:54 Highlight the passage at 2:54

3:15 It's a very rural, very quiet, frankly, slow-paced society. And traditional societies generally were. So we have, we in the modern world, And again, wherever we're living, we have a lot of remedial work to do to try to tone down our nervous systems, to slow down, to get grounded, so that we can back up and at least approximate the kind of nervous system that a rural Indian or Tibetan nomad would be bringing to the practice. Report an error in the passage at 3:15 Highlight the passage at 3:15

3:43 And I'll tell you, it's almost unimaginable the difference of their body. And not that they're virtuous or they're better people and so forth. It's just that our nervous systems get configured in a certain way through habituation and the way the modern nervous system is configured is dysfunctional. But the good news is it's not irreparable damage. But this requires then a lot of emphasis on the relaxation. So the path of Samatha then is explicitly developing greater or unveiling greater and greater degree of stability and then on that basis vividness. Report an error in the passage at 3:43 Highlight the passage at 3:43

4:19 That's what's explicitly stated in virtually all of the texts. But underlying that is equally an ongoing deepening, a cultivation of relaxation. It's not just getting to your relaxation point, like a relaxation response, to use the term from Herbert Benson, a Harvard medical doctor and researcher. It's not just getting to a relaxation response, and now let's get on with it. But in fact, along the whole course of practicing shamatha, as your stability and your vividness are increasing, the relaxation has to increase. Report an error in the passage at 4:19 Highlight the passage at 4:19

4:52 That's how you achieve it, and you don't achieve it otherwise. So sometime ago I learned about some Westerner who has been practicing shamatha very diligently and believed that he had achieved, I think, stage seven out of nine stages. In other words, very, very far along. I have some students who have achieved that far, and this is really quite formidable. But then I asked, well, how long are his sessions? And he said, 45 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 4:52 Highlight the passage at 4:52

5:14 And I said, uh-oh, you're at stage seven and you can't meditate for more than 45 minutes? That just implies to me much tension. If you're on stage four, you should be able to meditate two or three hours at a stretch. No sweat. Report an error in the passage at 5:14 Highlight the passage at 5:14

5:31 So that's what we tend to overlook. So the sequence is enormously important. It really is the key. And that is for as long as it takes, learn how to unlock. Report an error in the passage at 5:31 Highlight the passage at 5:31

5:42 The real key here is the breathing. I've trained some people for weeks and weeks and weeks who never learn how to breathe. And then one in particular, I mean of course he can breathe, he's not suffocating, but never learned how to totally release the breath into its natural rhythm. Still forced, still constrained, still some anxiety around the breath, kind of a tightness. Report an error in the passage at 5:42 Highlight the passage at 5:42

6:14 so the first point is relaxation, and the key to that is the breath. And the key to the breath is releasing all control allowing the body to breathe of its own accord, however that may be. Report an error in the passage at 6:14 Highlight the passage at 6:14

6:27 so, first of all, that cultivation of relaxation and the balancing act, as I've emphasized already, Shantideva, His Holiness the Dalai Lama And so that's the first one. And then on that basis, and linger as long as you like there, some people are bringing in major tightness, blockages and so forth in their bodies, in which case they may need to spend hundreds of hours, literally, hundreds of hours in the infirmary. Report an error in the passage at 6:27 Highlight the passage at 6:27

7:11 And the infirmary is just my shorthand term, what I described last night. Supine position, full body awareness and big, big emphasis on relaxation. And allowing the breathing to settle in its own natural rhythm. If it's hundreds of hours, well, that's hundreds of hours well spent. But during those hundreds of hours, you really must not be kind of judging your practice. Report an error in the passage at 7:11 Highlight the passage at 7:11

7:32 How's my stability? I'm not getting clarity. Where's that bliss? I've heard this is supposed to be blissful. My mind should be calmer. You know, all that kind of business. Chill. Everything in its own time. But the first thing is just learn how to chill. Relax, be at ease. And can you be at ease there, lying in the supine position, even hour after hour, and not feel edgy, not feel restless, not feel agitated, frustrated, and so forth? Report an error in the passage at 7:32 Highlight the passage at 7:32

7:58 Can you be at ease? Can you be content simply to be lying there, fully awake, wide awake, and just breathing and being aware of breathing? If you can, that's really quite an onus already. That's a big deal, to be able to be content. Because what you're doing is you're getting some degree of contentment, some degree of a sense of ease that's not stimulus-driven. In other words, you're like a cocaine addict who's gradually finding that you don't need quite so many fixes. Report an error in the passage at 7:58 Highlight the passage at 7:58

8:28 You can actually be content without getting jacked up with more entertainment, more rumination, more work, more activity. You're kind of like, wow, this is not so bad, just to be there and be present and breathe. And it can have that soothing quality. We've all experienced it. Nice, warm, sunny day, lying on the beach, nice bit of shade, and just watching the waves. You don't think, how long do I have to do this, a 24-minute session over again? Report an error in the passage at 8:28 Highlight the passage at 8:28

8:57 How many waves was that? I need to count the waves. Am I achieving? Are the waves coming faster? Am I doing better? Am I progressing? How far up? Report an error in the passage at 8:57 Highlight the passage at 8:57

9:08 It's the ambience of watching waves fall up the shore, and not falling asleep, but simply enjoying the rhythm, and having no control over the waves. That's kind of important. No control over the wave. No control over the breath. And not wanting to control and being at ease in relinquishing control. In other words, you're practicing egolessness. That's good. Before you realize egolessness, whatever that means, we'll get to that maybe, we'll see. Report an error in the passage at 9:08 Highlight the passage at 9:08

9:37 But practicing it, acting as if you already had some insight into egolessness. Ethics is behaving as if you knew the nature of reality and you're acting in accordance with it, even if you don't know the nature of reality. You know, do unto others as you have them do to you. Well, if you behave that way, that would kind of indicate, well, I think you've got reality figured out. Because that's how people who know reality behave. So even when you don't know reality, well, at least you can fake it until you make it. Report an error in the passage at 9:37 Highlight the passage at 9:37

10:02 You can pretend as if you know natural reality by acting in accordance with the reality that you don't understand yet. That actually primes you, prepares you for realizing the reality. Report an error in the passage at 10:02 Highlight the passage at 10:02

10:16 So the ethics is not simply an add-on, it's the soil in which the samādhi grows. The samādhi grows from a laxation without losing drowsiness and then gradually shifting over to an explicit and mildly effortful. It's never, you know, just true grit, really bearing down and trying your hardest. In shamatha practice, if you're ever trying your hardest, you know you're totally out of whack. Report an error in the passage at 10:16 Highlight the passage at 10:16

10:40 You're totally trying too hard. It's never trying your hardest, at any time. If you are, just practicing incorrectly. And that's when you can start getting migraines and tension and arrhythmia in the heart and a lot of problems that can be quite difficult to eradicate later on. So no reason to create bad habits. But that second phase again, and having spent as long as you need in the first phase of really learning how to unwind and see the breath finally flowing, flowing, flowing in a nice rhythm, not forcing the rhythm. Report an error in the passage at 10:40 Highlight the passage at 10:40

11:12 Not having a better idea. I know how the body should breathe. I'm going to make it do that. Uh-uh. Let it work itself out. And in that first phase, if the breathing is going sometimes long and sometimes short, sometimes the in-breath is short and the out-breath is long, sometimes vice versa. Sometimes there's a long pause after the out-breath and sometimes there's not. That's all good. Let that happen. That's the body working itself out. Report an error in the passage at 11:12 Highlight the passage at 11:12

11:36 That's the respiration settling in its natural rhythm. Sometimes long, sometimes short. But after some time, I'll give away the plot. What's it like when you do it for a long time? And it's not just N equals 1, not just me. I've been watching this, teaching this a lot, listening a lot. But after some time, I'm going to leave that wide open. It could be hundreds of hours, it could be tens of hours. For a Tibetan nomad, who knows? Maybe it's a few hours. Report an error in the passage at 11:36 Highlight the passage at 11:36

12:01 Who knows? The breathing becomes rapid. The Buddha said, breathing in short, one knows I breathe in short. Breathing out short, one knows I breathe out short. So it's short breath. Report an error in the passage at 12:01 Highlight the passage at 12:01

12:18 It may be rather deep, it may be rather shallow. The body will work that one out. You don't need to control that one either. But you do find after some time that the rhythm of the breath starts to really stabilize. It remains the same for a sustained period and it's relatively quick, relatively fast. Maybe deep, maybe shallow, but fast. Not at all fast in the sense that it agitates you. Report an error in the passage at 12:18 Highlight the passage at 12:18

12:41 You feel even remotely like you're hyperventilating. Nothing like that. This is coming after you really deeply relaxed. Not when you're huffing and puffing because you've just been jogging or something like that. And so after the breathing has worked out its jagged edges, long, short and so forth and so on, then when the big bumps have been worked out, the big kinks have been worked out, then it settles into more like a sinusoidal wave, which is to say simply a nice rhythmic breath, relatively short, relatively short. Report an error in the passage at 12:41 Highlight the passage at 12:41

13:13 And then it's in that point really that you're major challenged. is to see if you can attend to the whole body of the breath, that's according to the Theravāda tradition, and that is to be mindfully engaged with the whole course of the in-breath, the whole course of the out-breath, but it's rhythmic. Report an error in the passage at 13:13 Highlight the passage at 13:13

13:29 So it's kind of like, I'm not a horseback rider, but I don't really know how to ride horses, but I've seen when a horse is really galloping, then there's kind of a unity of the rider and the horse, there's a rhythm there, and they're just both kind of fluidly, but it's a clear rhythm, you know, like that. Report an error in the passage at 13:29 Highlight the passage at 13:29

13:46 And so we see it, and I said, wow, that looks pretty smooth. That's because the rider's kind of melted into the horse, right? You're not bouncing up and down on the saddle, but just moving with it. And so there's a constant engagement, a closeness, an embrace, one could say, of the rider and the horse galloping along, the horse loving to just let loose, and the rider, of course, enjoying the ride as well. Report an error in the passage at 13:46 Highlight the passage at 13:46

14:08 Your mind is the rider, and your prāṇa is the horse. Classic, classic metaphor. It's the mount, it's the rider. And you want these to be really close-knit, smooth, smooth, smooth. What happens then? As you are really now not getting kicked off the horse, which is to say you're not falling into course exaltation and not just forgetting about the object altogether and wandering off into some meandering thought. Report an error in the passage at 14:08 Highlight the passage at 14:08

14:35 When you're really there, there, with this kind of this relatively fast rhythm of the breath, and you're continually engaged with it, then I'll tell you what happens too, because our time is short, I have to prepare you for the next six months or so. Report an error in the passage at 14:35 Highlight the passage at 14:35

14:51 What happens then is that when you enter into this rhythm that is quite, again, regular, the volume may be fairly large. It could be fairly deep. But as the whole system continues to calm down, you're just getting more and more peaceful, the mind less and less agitated, getting into this flow. Report an error in the passage at 14:51 Highlight the passage at 14:51

15:10 Then the volume of the breath subsides, the volume of the breath, the amplitude of the breath. So it still stays pretty much the same frequency, cycles per minute, about the same. Report an error in the passage at 15:10 Highlight the passage at 15:10

15:24 But the volume gets less and less for the very simple reason is your body doesn't need as much oxygen. You're not exercising, your mind is not exercising, the whole system settling into more and more state of equilibrium, in which case it's really fine-tuning itself. And as it's doing that, it's kind of like having an already polished knife and then just kind of sharpening the blade, sharpening the blade. And Report an error in the passage at 15:24 Highlight the passage at 15:24

15:50 when it follows that trajectory, then that increasingly fine breath, that's really the best term, subtle is fine, but fine is fine. The breathing becomes finer and finer and finer, till after some time, if a person's watching from outside, just kind of observing you right up close and watching, maybe even have your, you know, just a t-shirt or something, they can pretty much see, you know, your first torso, whether you're breathing or not. Report an error in the passage at 15:50 Highlight the passage at 15:50

16:19 A physician could, a medical doctor, they have all kinds of technology, but just naked eye, you'll know, you'll know, because you've now moved from cultivating relaxation without losing. clarity, the second phase of cultivating stability, the continuity, the coherence. You've been moving through that. And now you're in that third phase. And now you're explicitly attending very, very closely. Report an error in the passage at 16:19 Highlight the passage at 16:19

16:50 You're cultivating vividness. Vividness, acuity, high resolution. You're Report an error in the passage at 16:50 Highlight the passage at 16:50

16:59 cultivating that. And once again, it's a balancing act. You're cultivating clarity without losing stability. So these ones are worth memorizing. The first three balancing acts. The first one, deepen the sense of relaxation without getting drowsy, without losing clarity. The second one, cultivate explicitly with some effort, stability without losing sense of relaxation. And the third one, now explicitly cultivate vividness, and that's by attending very closely, with a lot of interest, really focusing, but without destabilizing your attention, being edgy, agitated. Report an error in the passage at 16:59 Highlight the passage at 16:59

17:41 So that's the whole sequence. Now as you go into this, there are a number of very pleasant surprises coming up. And one of these is the synergy among these three qualities. And that is kind of like, we speak of the wheel of dharma, we speak of the wheel of saṃsāra that perpetuates misery, the wheel of dharma that leads to liberation. Report an error in the passage at 17:41 Highlight the passage at 17:41

17:57 There's the wheel of shamatha that leads you to shamatha. And the wheel is these three spokes. The three spokes are relaxation, stability and vividness. And you see the real wheel of shamatha. I've invented the term, but the content has always been there. And that is... And this is totally experiential. You don't have to believe this to see whether it's true or not. But I'm laying out the future so you can experiment with it. And also, I have no qualms about this. Report an error in the passage at 17:57 Highlight the passage at 17:57

18:22 If my talking about this, if this somehow is, how do you say, causing you to lean into this, to kind of like want to realize what I'm saying, I don't see any downside to that. Report an error in the passage at 18:22 Highlight the passage at 18:22

18:37 Call it a placebo effect. I don't mind. It's your mental effect. But if you start to expect, to anticipate, to long for, boy, I'd really like to get into that mode. where it's really stable and relaxed and then after that they say clarity let's maintain the stability i'd really like that i think it's going to happen okay i can live with that so i biased your practice Shantideva, Shantideva, His Holiness the Dalai Lama Which is going deeper, the sense of coherence, stability, temporal continuity, getting finer and finer, less and less interrupted even by little fleeting thoughts and other distractions. Report an error in the passage at 18:37 Highlight the passage at 18:37

19:23 And then you go into clarity and the sheer resolution, the acuity of awareness is increasing. Then the wheel of saṃsāra is finding, through your own experience, and I'm encouraging you to do so, that in fact that calm, the calm of the mind that comes from stability, it's quiet. It's not so conceptually agitated, distracted. Report an error in the passage at 19:23 Highlight the passage at 19:23

19:44 Calm actually helps you to become more relaxed and Report an error in the passage at 19:44 Highlight the passage at 19:44

19:50 not agitated, like, oh, let's rest, and then you relax more deeply. But as the vividness comes in, I would say there's a linear relationship between vividness and how interesting we find things. So whatever it is, whether it's what they call an action-packed movie or a page-turner novel, you know, something else, entertainment is supposed to be really, really entertaining. Report an error in the passage at 19:50 Highlight the passage at 19:50

20:17 If you attend any of these things, even a horror movie, like blood and guts all over the screen. If you look at it like this, you'll Report an error in the passage at 20:17 Highlight the passage at 20:17

20:32 not find it interesting. It doesn't matter what it is. Sex, food, movies, entertainment, music. If you bring a dull quality of awareness to it, you're going to find it probably pretty boring. You might even fall asleep right through the middle. Not because it was any fault on the part of the object, what was happening to you. The quality of awareness you bring is already bored. Report an error in the passage at 20:32 Highlight the passage at 20:32

20:55 It's dull. But now, I think it's true, and I found that to be true. Things that other people find entertaining, and I just, Report an error in the passage at 20:55 Highlight the passage at 20:55

21:10 conversely though, and I know this to be true, and I know I've taught this many times and many other people teach it, of course. Conversely, this is a gradient, it's not yes or no, it's a gradient. Insofar as you accentuate the clarity, the vividness, the acuity, the high resolution of your awareness, nothing's boring. Report an error in the passage at 21:10 Highlight the passage at 21:10

21:31 I mean, breathing isn't boring. Breathing is pretty boring, isn't it? Where's the entertainment value? Where's the stimulation? Oh boy, and the breath coming. It doesn't happen. Report an error in the passage at 21:31 Highlight the passage at 21:31

21:42 Even in the absence of breathing, you're not bored. You can be remaining like, here's my little mudrā, simply resting in awareness of awareness. You're not even attending to the entertainment of the breath. In-breath, out-breath, well, there's a lot of variety there. Wow, in-breath, out-breath, got something to do, page-turner. You're not even attending to that. Report an error in the passage at 21:42 Highlight the passage at 21:42

22:01 You're just resting awareness insofar as the awareness that you're resting in its own nature is clear, cognizant, sharp, luminous. Oh, you can do that for hours and hours and hours a day, day after day, month after month, and never get bored. I know that to be true. You say, well, but now there's no entertainment value at all. Report an error in the passage at 22:01 Highlight the passage at 22:01

22:24 I mean, there's no stimulation. I mean, you're just being aware of being aware. Yep. So that synergy, that if you're really interested in something, whatever it may be, a beautiful piano concert, for example, and you just find it just exquisitely beautiful music, and you're listening to it with great interest and great attention. Report an error in the passage at 22:24 Highlight the passage at 22:24

22:49 Well, we all know it's very easy to maintain continuity of attention because it's so interesting. Why would you want to, when you're having steak here, why would you want to go out for a hamburger elsewhere? It's the old American cliche. If this is really interesting, why would you want to go to something less interesting? Because this is really interesting. And so you can see then that when insofar as the vividness arises, that returns the favor to the stability. Report an error in the passage at 22:49 Highlight the passage at 22:49

23:16 As stability provides a foundation for sustained clarity. But the stability makes you feel at ease, relaxed, loose. It's nice to have inner calm. And so that's returning the favor to relaxation. But the more relaxed you are, the easier it is to maintain a continuity of attention. Because you're loose. Report an error in the passage at 23:16 Highlight the passage at 23:16

23:36 So that's the synergy. That's the synergy among relaxation, stability, vividness, each one supporting the other, and its top-down support as well. And then you have a wiki right to shamatha. That's the key. What I just said is actually extremely valuable. It will save you a lot of time because that happens very, very often, including among Buddhist practitioners, very, very commonly, because they're human beings and they're raised on this planet without the human being, is when we sit down to practice shamatha, we say, okay, this requires a lot of effort and I know what I need. Report an error in the passage at 23:36 Highlight the passage at 23:36

24:11 I need stability. And that means I need the mind to shut up all that distracting thought. I've had it. I'm fed up. No more. Damn it. Shut up, mind. I'm really busy now. I need to focus. I'm going to do this. I'm going to really succeed here. Let's get going. Mind focus and stay focused. If you don't, I'm going to punish you. Report an error in the passage at 24:11 Highlight the passage at 24:11

24:32 You can. You know that you're talking to yourself. I'm going to punish myself. And you will. And you'll get burnt out, tired, fatigued, stressed out. Report an error in the passage at 24:32 Highlight the passage at 24:32

24:45 That's putting stability before relaxation. It doesn't work. Or it works for a short time. Otherwise, nobody would ever do it. But it does work for the short time. The jet fighter pilots, the professional chess players, etc., etc. It does work for the short time. And then afterwards, you go out for a beer. Or if you're a monk, you just go home and be stressed out because you can't have beer. Report an error in the passage at 24:45 Highlight the passage at 24:45

25:07 So they have to be more careful. They have no release. They can't go for sex, booze and all that kind of stuff. They just have to live with it, which means you don't want to make mistakes. Report an error in the passage at 25:07 Highlight the passage at 25:07

25:20 So it's very easy to go for stability and overlook relaxation, especially if one's a man. You know, because men have to be my jaws Report an error in the passage at 25:20 Highlight the passage at 25:20

25:33 full, bro. I used to play football. Report an error in the passage at 25:33 Highlight the passage at 25:33

25:40 So that's one way to burn yourself out. And then there's the other way is vividness, especially if you're doing visualization practice. It's very big in Tibetan Buddhism. And you sit down and you're practicing shamatha. You say, OK, I'm going to do it classic way, the way Tsongkhapa, Sakya Bandit, Atisha and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 25:40 Highlight the passage at 25:40

25:58 The classic way is I'm going to look at a Buddha image like this one right here, a statue. I'm going to drench my mind in it so I get all the details. And I'm going to sit down and I'm going to recreate it. I'm going to generate that image right in my mind. I'm going to hold on for dear life. But I also wanted, I don't like that blurry image. Oh, it's not nearly as good. Oh, that really sucks. Report an error in the passage at 25:58 Highlight the passage at 25:58

26:21 That really sucks. I mean, that is so faint, so weak. That's not good enough. Okay, let's try that. I Report an error in the passage at 26:21 Highlight the passage at 26:21

26:35 see some detail here. Because looking at a blurry image, this is really, really boring. I want to see the Buddha glowing with light. I want to see all the details. I want to have a good image here. I want HD visualization. Where is that? Bring on the vividness. Report an error in the passage at 26:35 Highlight the passage at 26:35

26:52 That's another way to burn yourself out. No relaxation, no stability, you just want vividness. It happens not only with people doing visualization, but it happens not infrequently when people go on mindfulness retreats or vipassanā retreats. And there's a big emphasis, depending on the teacher. Okay, now, every move, eat slowly, maintain total silence, walk slowly, extend your hands slowly, everything slowly, and be totally hypervigilant to everything you are doing. Report an error in the passage at 26:52 Highlight the passage at 26:52

27:27 Teeth slowly, Report an error in the passage at 27:27 Highlight the passage at 27:27

27:38 so you become hypervigilant. Which means you become very, very sensitive. Which means as soon as the retreat's over and you step out into traffic in downtown Sydney, it blows all your fuses. And you're engaging with people who have not spent the last ten days meditating. And they say, you asshole, what are you doing there? Report an error in the passage at 27:38 Highlight the passage at 27:38

28:02 It's so rough out there. Like, surrounded by savages and barbarians and they're all having mental afflictions and don't even need to notice. Report an error in the passage at 28:02 Highlight the passage at 28:02

28:11 Craving, hostility, jealous, rudeness, abusiveness, contempt. Where's my retreat center? To become a retreat junkie, you use up your money for one retreat and all you're thinking about is saving up for the next one, the next fix. So you can go into your cloistered virtue and cultivate that very delectable vividness that has a half-life of about 30 minutes when you're outside the retreat center. Report an error in the passage at 28:11 Highlight the passage at 28:11

28:41 So that's the problem with that. You become hypersensitive and then therefore incapable of dealing with this rather rough and tumble reality around us. That's not a sign of spiritual maturity. It's a sign of spiritual fragility. And the reason for it is not that you have too much sensitivity. I don't think there's anything such as. Report an error in the passage at 28:41 Highlight the passage at 28:41

29:00 I don't think that there is such a thing as too much sensitivity. I don't think there's such a thing as too much vividness. But there definitely is too much vividness without an underlying support of stability. Report an error in the passage at 29:00 Highlight the passage at 29:00

29:12 And there is such a thing as too much stability. There's no such thing as too much stability, but there is if there's not an underlying support of relaxation. And there's no such thing as too much relaxation. The most relaxed person in the Buddhist view, the most relaxed person in the universe is a Buddha because all of a Buddha's activities are spontaneous and effortless. Report an error in the passage at 29:12 Highlight the passage at 29:12

29:32 Now that's relaxed relaxation, that's real relaxation. Spontaneous and effortless. So we have this little path of shamatha where when you come to the ninth stage you can slip into samādhi effortlessly and you can sustain it effortlessly, let alone achieve shamatha, which is right next door. That's the little mini path, the local train. Report an error in the passage at 29:32 Highlight the passage at 29:32

29:50 But the big path is following the five paths, the ten bhumis, the ten Arya-Buddha-sattva grounds of spiritual evolution, and you come to the culmination of the big path, and that is, again, culminates in total spontaneity, total effortless of all your activities, which are now are unprecedentedly vast, inconceivably vast activities of a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 29:50 Highlight the passage at 29:50

30:10 So we see this theme runs everywhere, the relaxation. It's not, in the Dzogchen tradition, it's really strongly emphasized. Nagalupa, not so much. You have to look for it. It's there. But you really have to look for it. So I have found over the last 24 years that I have a lot of remedial work to do through my engagement with Dzogchen, really learning how to relax more deeply. Report an error in the passage at 30:10 Highlight the passage at 30:10

30:34 And it's not just a technique. It's not just a talent or a skill. Because insofar as we have to dig deeper, this is about loving kindness and how loving kindness could be. Deep and enduring and wise and not just a positive emotion or a warm and cuddly kind of feeling. That's easy to do. It's also very superficial. Report an error in the passage at 30:34 Highlight the passage at 30:34

30:57 But if we're really speaking about being deeply at ease, relaxed, how is that possible if your mind is totally caught up in the eight mundane concerns? Report an error in the passage at 30:57 Highlight the passage at 30:57

31:07 I don't want to lose the stuff I have. I want more pleasures. I don't want to have displeasure. I want people to praise me and not ridicule me. I want to have a good reputation. I want to be accepted, acknowledged, admired. Report an error in the passage at 31:07 Highlight the passage at 31:07

31:19 And I'm going to really relax. I've just set up a whole bunch of desires over which I have almost no control or very little control. And the older I get, it just appears to me the less control I ever had for all of those issues. And so I've now placed my hopes, my aspirations, but also my fears into a whole array of aspects of my life over which I have almost no control. Report an error in the passage at 31:19 Highlight the passage at 31:19

31:44 How will the stock market do tomorrow? It lost about a thousand points in America over about a week. If I'm invested, which I'm happily not, then insofar as I'm attached to that, or other investments or this and that, and I'm banking on that, that's where my happiness lies, I really hope my investments are turning out well, etc., etc., all my stuff, and then all the intellectual pleasures, sensual pleasures and so forth, praise and blame, reputation, insofar as I'm really kind of investing pretty deeply in those, how exactly am I going to be relaxed? Report an error in the passage at 31:44 Highlight the passage at 31:44

32:20 Because I'm investing my sense of well-being, of happiness, of security in things that are fundamentally out of my control, which means welcome to anxiety forever. Report an error in the passage at 32:20 Highlight the passage at 32:20

32:32 That's the nature of hedonia. Welcome to anxiety. The more attached we are to hedonia, to any hedonic pleasure that is driven by pleasant stimulation, the more attached we are. Just get used to general anxiety disorder, because that's the reality response. Report an error in the passage at 32:32 Highlight the passage at 32:32

32:51 That's a realistic response. If you're not feeling anxious, you're not paying attention. You're living in a delusional world, a fantasy world. The stock markets are going to go better. The environmental problems will be solved. My personal relationships will all turn out really well. My children will all grow up happy and healthy. And I'm going to have health, health, health until I finally just drop over of just sheer pleasure. Report an error in the passage at 32:51 Highlight the passage at 32:51

33:14 And I'm going to live happily ever after. I'm going to think positively. I'm going to have learned, acquired optimism. That everything's going to turn out swell. You may then maintain a lack of anxiety and also living in a fantasy world. Report an error in the passage at 33:14 Highlight the passage at 33:14

33:32 Eudaimonia, that actually has a big promise of being able to live happily and free of anxiety. And this practice is a key to that. This is all about loving kindness. Nothing I've said this morning is really outside the context of loving kindness because this is an enormous act of loving kindness to ourselves insofar as we can find contentment. Report an error in the passage at 33:32 Highlight the passage at 33:32

33:56 So I'll give away one thing and then go to the practice. And that is, how does this turn out? Of course it varies from one individual to another. There's no homogeneity. But in terms of broad themes, as you do cultivate a deepening sense of ease in your body and mind, that's the first thing you start picking up in terms of the affective quality, the feeling of it. Report an error in the passage at 33:56 Highlight the passage at 33:56

34:19 And that is, feel more relaxed than I have in a long time. Not only when meditating, it becomes just more loose, more relaxed, more at ease in the body and mind. in between sessions, and I kind of like that. comes out of relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 34:19 Highlight the passage at 34:19

34:37 Then we have the stability. It's kind of a clunky term, but there it is, stability. I don't have a better one. And what does that feel like when that starts to really rise up and embrace you and engulf you? Peace of mind. Peace of mind. Even when other people are chattering and bouncing off the walls and getting excited and up and down, up and down, up and down. Report an error in the passage at 34:37 Highlight the passage at 34:37

34:58 It's like visiting a zoo. I'm visiting a monkey cage and they're jumping all over the place. That's what monkeys do. But you don't have to do monkey see monkey do. You can simply watch the monkeys. Watch everybody being agitated, hopes and fears, mundane concerns. This is going up, that's going down. Say, yeah, I sympathize with you. Report an error in the passage at 34:58 Highlight the passage at 34:58

35:20 But an inner calm, an inner peace, which money can't buy. Even drug-induced, it wears off. This is not drug-induced. This is from the ground up. This is rooted in reality. A sense of calm and inner serenity and inner peace of mind. It's not blissful, but it's certainly soothing. When Report an error in the passage at 35:20 Highlight the passage at 35:20

35:42 the vividness kicks in, that's when you actually start enjoying the practice. Not just feeling contented and soothing and like that, but you actually say, you know, that session, I really enjoyed that. Report an error in the passage at 35:42 Highlight the passage at 35:42

35:58 When the chime went off or I had to get to work or the session was over, I said, oh, you're really in the flow there. I was enjoying that. But just as I'm saying it right now, I'm not speaking of something bouncing off the walls, blissful, ecstatic. I was enjoying that. I didn't want to stop. That's called pritti in Sanskrit. You're enjoying it. Report an error in the passage at 35:58 Highlight the passage at 35:58

36:21 It's joy. And it's rooted in a sense of well-being that comes with stability, that peace of mind. It's not blissful. You may not quite say, I'm really enjoying this, but it certainly is not negative. It's a sense of well-being, a sense of kind of like subtle, calm, serene. But again, when the vividness comes in, that's when you start to enjoy it. Report an error in the passage at 36:21 Highlight the passage at 36:21

36:41 And I've now listened to hundreds of... I have interviews, hundreds of interviews, over, what, ten retreats, with about 36 people in each of them. And so I've heard a lot of reports. And quite frequently, people come in for their weekly meeting with me. And they're practicing mindfulness of breathing, maybe practicing awareness of awareness. And they'll talk about bliss, you see, getting a lot of bliss, a lot of bliss coming up. Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

37:11 So I'm hearing this, and, oh, good, good, yeah, that's good. When I hear they're also being very relaxed, then that makes me very, very happy. But when the bliss comes up, you might wonder, well, where's that bliss coming from? Romance on the side, or are they getting more chocolate? Report an error in the passage at 37:11 Highlight the passage at 37:11

37:28 Which is it? It's actually chocolate. It's got to be one of the two, right? And, of course, it's neither one. They're actually getting, this is a word they use. I'm not feeding them this. I'm not suggesting, oh, please make me happy and say the word bliss. Just what's the word that comes to mind? Experiencing bliss. And there it is. Report an error in the passage at 37:28 Highlight the passage at 37:28

37:46 So where's it coming from? Well, what we know it's not coming from is stimulation. Report an error in the passage at 37:46 Highlight the passage at 37:46

37:58 or you're watching your thoughts but generally speaking when you're watching the thoughts which we'll get to probably tomorrow or so generally speaking you're not watching blissful thoughts they're not very common actually memories, emotions, all kinds of stuff but generally not blissful let alone just resting in awareness of awareness well that If bliss is coming out, it's coming right out of the awareness but not coming in response to some stimulation. Now, to state the obvious, when you're experiencing bliss, and this is eudaimonic well-being, eudaimonic happiness, eudaimonic bliss, because it's not stimulus-driven, I'll state the obvious. Report an error in the passage at 37:58 Highlight the passage at 37:58

38:34 When a person is experiencing that, is there some corresponding neural correlate, that is a complex of neuronal activity that corresponds to, is strongly correlated with the bliss you're experiencing? Of course there is. How could there not be? I'd be utterly astonished if it were not the case. And I don't think I'd be astonished. And so he said, oh, well, then you have the stimulation. Right? Report an error in the passage at 38:34 Highlight the passage at 38:34

38:55 You have the stimulation. And that is the brain is stimulating you, so you're having this bliss. And I say, no, you actually got that entirely wrong. The brain is showing those correlations because you've developed the bliss. The bliss is not coming from neurons. It's coming from your awareness. And that's influencing the neuronal activity of the brain. And they're side by side. They're closely interrelated with each other. Report an error in the passage at 38:55 Highlight the passage at 38:55

39:16 But if you said, well, never mind. Once again, I'm really busy. I don't have time for all that meditation business yet. It's kind of mumbo-jumbo, woo-woo stuff. You know, the brain is doing everything. So just, you know, get one of those meditators. Report an error in the passage at 39:16 Highlight the passage at 39:16

39:32 Find out what their narakara is when they're entering into bliss. This new demonic bliss comes from samādhi. Nail it. Find out exactly what it is. Freeze dry it. And then come over and make it happen. Here's my brain. Report an error in the passage at 39:32 Highlight the passage at 39:32

39:48 Feed it in. Whatever you need to. EEG, chemicals, whatever. I'm ready. I have no time to meditate, but I really want that. So imagine they can do it. Science fiction. Report an error in the passage at 39:48 Highlight the passage at 39:48

40:02 Any more than the neurochoralist of a person who's experiencing the well-being of having led a very meaningful life. Not the same. The neurochoralist could be, in principle, exactly the same. But it's not the same. Because this is rooted in reality. This is rooted in a deep and meaningful transformation of your whole body-mind and not just something happening in the brain. Report an error in the passage at 40:02 Highlight the passage at 40:02

40:25 So, no quick fix. Might there be ways, drawing from technology, from modern methods and so forth, to accentuate this, to accelerate it a bit? I'm wide open to that. Certainly possible. But to simply take the end game, okay, what's the brain state of a person who's achieved that? Report an error in the passage at 40:25 Highlight the passage at 40:25

40:41 I'm not going to hold my breath on that one. This is too deep. It's too radical. It entails a deep and lasting transformation of body and mind, and that's the last thing I'll say about shamatha. And that is what is characteristic of shamatha as a whole, is it's not simply developing relaxations to build it in vividness. Report an error in the passage at 40:41 Highlight the passage at 40:41

40:58 That's good all by itself. It doesn't need any further justification. But a central theme, and I don't know anybody who emphasizes this with greater clarity and emphasis than Tsongkhapa, this great 15th century Tibetan master, and that is the word prashrapta in Sanskrit. And it's translated variously as suppleness, malleability, lightness, buoyancy, and as a body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 40:58 Highlight the passage at 40:58

41:22 That's the very important thing. Your whole energetic system in the body is getting a total tune-up. It's getting really, really, how do you say, refined, that would be the word. Your body is shifting on an energetic but very real level. There's nothing imaginary about this. And simultaneously, in this profound entanglement between your nervous system or the prāṇa system and your mind, the two, your body-mind, Your body and subtle mind, your body and your nervous system, body and prāṇa system, they're both becoming more supple, malleable, buoyant, light. And then the word is lesuruma, fit for action, fit for action. Report an error in the passage at 41:22 Highlight the passage at 41:22

42:08 That the further you go along that path, when you wish to do anything with your mind, that is artistic creation, working on a business plan, getting your kids off to school on time, whatever it may be, remembering, imagining, create creatively, analytically, whatever you want to do with your mind. Your mind is there, fit for action, suitable for service, the body and mind integrated, very subtle, and that goes for the body as well, on a subtle energetic level. Report an error in the passage at 42:08 Highlight the passage at 42:08

42:38 So it's a very much integrated body-mind venture about very deep transfer. Therefore, you see, it cannot possibly be equivalent to simply some activity up here in the brain. It couldn't be. The root system is, this is the flower, this is just the outer manifestation in the brain, but the root system is so much deeper. Report an error in the passage at 42:38 Highlight the passage at 42:38

42:58 It has to do with ethics. It has to do with all this cultivation. And you see, now again, I've never strayed from the theme of loving kindness. Do this for yourself. That's going to be a really nice thing to do for yourself. Happy birthday. What a gift, what I've always wanted. A supple body and mind that is relaxed, stable and clear, that brings forth a sense of ease, of inner calm, of peace and even bliss. Report an error in the passage at 42:58 Highlight the passage at 42:58

43:24 Oh yes, I would like that. Dear Santa. So, now we're going to move to a third... Not quite final, but a third method of shamatha. And without talking more about it, let's just go right in. So please find a comfortable position. Step Report an error in the passage at 43:24 Highlight the passage at 43:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

44:43 by Report an error in the passage at 44:43 Highlight the passage at 44:43

44:49 step, settle your body, speech and mind in the natural state. Your Report an error in the passage at 44:49 Highlight the passage at 44:49

· · · silence, 1 minute

45:48 awareness be still. Still not because you're tightly grasping onto it, maintaining its stillness, but rather the stillness that comes from releasing all grasping, all hopes and fears, desires and aversions. Let Report an error in the passage at 45:48 Highlight the passage at 45:48

· · · silence, 1 minute

46:49 the light of your awareness illuminate the whole somatic field. And the fluctuations within the whole field of the body corresponding to the in and out breath. We Report an error in the passage at 46:49 Highlight the passage at 46:49

· · · silence, 2 minutes

49:28 focus our bare attention on the tactile sensations of the rise and fall of the abdomen, arousing the attention with each inhalation and relaxing with each exhalation, of Report an error in the passage at 49:28 Highlight the passage at 49:28

· · · silence, 3 minutes

52:41 the vividness of it to Report an error in the passage at 52:41 Highlight the passage at 52:41

52:48 elevate the attention. So we now elevate it and more narrowly focus the attention to the tactile sensations of the passage of the breath itself in and out of the nostrils. You may sense the... These sensations just above the upper lip. Report an error in the passage at 52:48 Highlight the passage at 52:48

53:13 Keep your eyes soft. Do not focus your eyes on the target area of attention. Your eyes may be open, hooded or closed as you wish. But what's ever so important is keep your gaze unfocused, your eyes soft, with no contraction of the muscles around the eyes. All soft, open. Focus just your mental awareness, not your visual awareness. Report an error in the passage at 53:13 Highlight the passage at 53:13

53:46 The apertures of the nostrils or above the upper lip, wherever you most distinctly sense. Report an error in the passage at 53:46 Highlight the passage at 53:46

53:54 of the passage of the breath. follow the breath inside, but like a gatekeeper. gate of a walled medieval city, right at the gateway of the brass. Remain there and still. Report an error in the passage at 53:54 Highlight the passage at 53:54

54:10 sensations as the breath flows in? Report an error in the passage at 54:10 Highlight the passage at 54:10

· · · silence, 2 minutes

55:53 sensations of the passage of the breath Report an error in the passage at 55:53 Highlight the passage at 55:53

56:01 challenge here is to attend closely. Report an error in the passage at 56:01 Highlight the passage at 56:01

56:14 increasingly refine the clarity of your awareness so that no matter how subtle the Sensations become, you remain engaged, ascertaining them for a moment, Report an error in the passage at 56:14 Highlight the passage at 56:14

56:35 to see that the breath Report an error in the passage at 56:35 Highlight the passage at 56:35

56:41 on your face, to see no tightness or contraction is occurring in the eyes or around the eyes. With Report an error in the passage at 56:41 Highlight the passage at 56:41

56:57 the inhalation, relax. With the exhalation, as Report an error in the passage at 56:57 Highlight the passage at 56:57

· · · silence, 8 minutes

1:04:41 quickly as possible, the occurrence of either excitation or laxity. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:41 Highlight the passage at 1:04:41

1:04:49 As soon as you see that excitation is set in, let your mind Report an error in the passage at 1:04:49 Highlight the passage at 1:04:49

1:05:04 return. And Report an error in the passage at 1:05:04 Highlight the passage at 1:05:04

1:05:11 as soon as you note introspectively that your mind has lost its clarity, become more spaced out, refresh your interest in the practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:11 Highlight the passage at 1:05:11

1:05:22 Restore your attention to the object of mindfulness and retain the flow of mindfulness. Continue practicing now in silence. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:22 Highlight the passage at 1:05:22

· · · silence, 5 minutes

1:10:24 I am interested in the area, intensely but somewhat. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:24 Highlight the passage at 1:10:24

1:10:31 To my mind it's just perfectly clear that having neural correlates without the practice, without the meaning, does not correspond to the same experience. But on the other side, if we experience the joy of some sensual pleasure, whether it's food or whatever it may be, music or anything like that, sex of course, whatever, Report an error in the passage at 1:10:31 Highlight the passage at 1:10:31

1:10:53 of course, there'll be neurocorrelates in that. If you could replicate the neurocorrelates without the ice cream, let's just say ice cream, if you could really enjoy ice cream, and then a lot of pleasure is arising, and it activates, let's say, the left prefrontal cortex, for example. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:53 Highlight the passage at 1:10:53

1:11:10 I would say the experience is pretty much the same. I don't see either one as being any more significant than the other. One's not fraudulent. not a fake it's just it's pleasure it's flat Report an error in the passage at 1:11:10 Highlight the passage at 1:11:10

1:11:29 So whether you get it triggered by the ice cream or triggered by electrical stimulation. I'm not sure there's much difference. And then when it's over, it's over. There's an utter contrast to that when you experience eudaimonic well-being. For example, if you've really gone out of your way to be of great service to someone, I know a lot of people have done that, then afterwards there's this lingering sense of... Report an error in the passage at 1:11:29 Highlight the passage at 1:11:29

1:11:54 That was well done. It's not self-congratulation, not narcissism. It's just like, I'm so glad I did that. So glad I did that. I know one good friend of mine about my age. For years and years now, she's been living right near her mother, who is very old and needs her help. And so this friend of mine, a very sincere Dharma practitioner, but hardly ever comes down for retreats, living with hardly any Dharma friends around. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:54 Highlight the passage at 1:11:54

1:12:16 But she's just really there to take care of everyone. And I just congratulate her. I say, well, that's Dharma practice. You're really doing something wonderful. That's what you should be doing. That's your best arm practice. Not to abandon her and come down and meditate with me. And so one can imagine, she has a very good heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:16 Highlight the passage at 1:12:16

1:12:32 She's not just doing this out of sheer duty. And so eventually her mother, of course, will pass away. She's already very old. And eventually she'll pass away. And then my friend can look back on those years as she really, in a very devoted and loving way, took care of her mother, who took good care of her when she was a child. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:32 Highlight the passage at 1:12:32

1:12:49 And she'll be able to look back on that time. Did the right thing. Did the good thing. I did it. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:49 Highlight the passage at 1:12:49

1:12:58 compassionate motivation, I'm so glad that take care of my mother, because there's nobody else to take care of her. She's the only one. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:58 Highlight the passage at 1:12:58

1:13:07 the brain core for that and it's the same even remotely. that's a big difference. So now we move on to the big question that was raised earlier. Somehow that half-hour conversation with Dania kind of kicked off a lot of things for this retreat, so I keep on alluding to it. What's the point? cultivating loving kindness in a way i think we've already answered that but the This is right from a discourse by the Buddha on page 4, the bottom, Benefits of Love and Kindness. When sleep's in comfort, so there's the answer, there's the other answer to Mark's question last night. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:07 Highlight the passage at 1:13:07

1:13:50 Sleep's in comfort means you're not having insomnia. And so it occurred to me again, knowing what was coming, it just occurred to me that there are at least three ways to sleep in comfort, three ways that would all be kind of flowing into the same stream. of having a good night's sleep. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:50 Highlight the passage at 1:13:50

1:14:06 One of these is ethical, and that is, you remember the Buddha said, among the different types of pleasure, pleasure of ownership, pleasure of wealth, pleasure of being debt-free, and then the pleasure of having good conscience. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:06 Highlight the passage at 1:14:06

1:14:20 If you get into bed at night and you just look back on the day, and you do so with satisfaction, this was a good day. I brought my best to the world, no unnecessary harm. I didn't act out of my mental afflictions. When they came up, I just kind of relaxed until they passed on. Like a little bout or a little fit of malaria. When it comes up, you don't want to be active. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:20 Highlight the passage at 1:14:20

1:14:41 Okay, wave on through. Okay, I'm okay. And then you're back. But you don't act when you're having a malaria bout. So it's better, just rule of thumb, great big rule of thumb in Buddhism, when you're really like a chronic disease, when your mental afflictions flare up, whether it's hostility, resentment. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:41 Highlight the passage at 1:14:41

1:14:57 Craving, greed, selfishness, arrogance, whatever it is, when they flare up from this old chronic disease called saṃsāra, that's a good time to kind of quarantine yourself and ease off and say, okay, I'll wait until this passes. Keep it to myself and try to make it not contagious because they're very contagious actually. They're contagious through words. You can even get it through email. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:57 Highlight the passage at 1:14:57

1:15:18 You can have a mental affliction and send an email and the other person gets contagious and gets the same trigger up. They get a flare up. It's really contagious, much more than Ebola virus. This goes through email. This thing goes through just a facial expression. So Report an error in the passage at 1:15:18 Highlight the passage at 1:15:18

1:15:46 clear conscience, clear conscience. Probably get a better night's sleep with a clear conscience than with a bad conscience. So there's ethical route. And then there's the cognitive route. I've elaborated on that a lot. Shantideva is my response to Mark last night. That's a cognitive response. That will really help. I mean, I guarantee it. It really does help a lot. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:46 Highlight the passage at 1:15:46

1:16:08 I've done that a lot, because I kind of have a high-trigger mind myself, high-energy mind. But this is another one. This is more from the heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:08 Highlight the passage at 1:16:08

1:16:17 Cultivation of kindness, of loving kindness, benevolence, a warm heart. And then you sleep in comfort. So we have three different avenues, and you don't have to choose. You can do all three. So one sleeps in comfort. And then you wake up in comfort. You wake in comfort. There you are at the end of the day. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:17 Highlight the passage at 1:16:17

1:16:36 And your first thought is kind of like... Kind of a freshness, kind of a gladness of waking up and facing the new day. As you slept in comfort in this kind of this ambience of loving kindness and you wake up with a sense of goodwill. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:36 Highlight the passage at 1:16:36

1:16:51 The Dalai Lama has been asked on at least two occasions, probably many more, what's his first thought when he wakes up? And I've heard two answers. He said, I wake up. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:51 Highlight the passage at 1:16:51

1:17:05 That's one thought. Let's have a happy day. And the other one is bodhicitta. He just wakes up and then bodhicitta is kind of like, you cold? You cold? Oh, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:05 Highlight the passage at 1:17:05

1:17:16 He's right on track. The bodhisattva in gear. So one wakes in comfort. One dreams no evil dreams. So it goes so deeply into your subconscious, it really percolates down like a root feeder. When you're watering your garden, it gets way down into the deep root system. The sense of benevolence, of loving kindness, trickles deep down into your subconscious, which you can say this is the source of your dreams. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:16 Highlight the passage at 1:17:16

1:17:41 Well, you won't have evil ones. You'll have more benevolent, gentle, pleasant, virtuous dreams. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:41 Highlight the passage at 1:17:41

1:17:50 One is dear to human beings. It's kind of obvious. Don't expect to be dear to everyone. Jesus wasn't dear to everyone. Not everybody liked the Buddha or the Dalai Lama or any of the great beings of the past. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:50 Highlight the passage at 1:17:50

1:18:04 Somebody's going to be jealous. Somebody's going to be angry. Somebody's going to be competitive and so forth. And they may kill you. But overall, if you attend to the world of sentient beings around you in a spirit of love and kindness, people generally like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:04 Highlight the passage at 1:18:04

1:18:21 And so they hold you dear, the one they take care of you. So you're dear to human beings. Anyone is dear to non-human beings. So many cases of the Shantideva was one, St. Francis of Assisi was another, that you don't have to have a high IQ or a large frontal cortex to pick up loving kindness. A story I love from the youth of the Dalai Lama, when he was a little boy, the Dalai Lama, little boy, probably like six, because he was taken off to the big palace when he was three years old, separated from his family. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:21 Highlight the passage at 1:18:21

1:18:54 He told this story in one of his biographies. A little kid, he's living in this great big cold palace, the patama, the winter palace, man, it must have been cold. They had no heating, and it's all adults, this little, let's say, five-year-old kid, and they're all adults. So his best friend was one of the custodians, one of the janitors. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:54 Highlight the passage at 1:18:54

1:19:15 This particular janitor had a pet parrot that he kept, of course, in a cage. And the janitor really loved his bird, to feed it, take care of it. And so the Dalai Lama recounted that whenever the... The parrot would see his master, his owner, come. Then the parrot would sidle over to the side of the cage and want a little cuddle. And then, quite clearly, the parrot really enjoyed it. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:15 Highlight the passage at 1:19:15

1:19:47 The owner, too. And the young Dalai Lama was watching. It's probably pretty safe to say he's kind of lonely. All these adults around, he's being trained to become head of the country, principal Lama of the country. And so he saw how much affection was exchanged between this janitor, this custodian, and this parrot. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:47 Highlight the passage at 1:19:47

1:20:12 So the Dalai Lama said, I want some of that. The little boy. And so he would come over to the cage. The parrot wouldn't give him time today. He had no idea. Dalai Lama is just a kid as far as he's concerned. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:12 Highlight the passage at 1:20:12

1:20:33 Aloof parrot. Boy, the little boy was really disappointed. He kept on coming, you know. So Report an error in the passage at 1:20:33 Highlight the passage at 1:20:33

1:20:43 finally he got a stick. Started poking it. Love me. Love me. Didn't work out. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:43 Highlight the passage at 1:20:43

1:21:00 The St. Francis of Assisi. We all see the iconic bird on his shoulder. Shantideva, very much of a... I read accounts, even not only like warm-blooded animals like birds and mammals, but I've read accounts. There's a book you might check. I read it, oh man, 35 years ago, almost 33 years ago. I remember it vividly because I read it when I was a monk living in Sri Lanka. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:00 Highlight the passage at 1:21:00

1:21:32 It somehow came to my head. It's called Kinship with All Life, I think it is. Kinship with all life. Written by a Hollywood somebody, a screenwriter or somebody like that. It was just all about loving kindness with animals and seeing how they resonate, even down to very basic, very primitive animals. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:32 Highlight the passage at 1:21:32

1:21:50 They're just sending them love, actually, where they can work. I remember one, I'm lingering here, but this is not trivial. He recounted, this is a book I read so many years ago, 33 years ago. It took place in America. He gave a lot of accounts of this, but this is one. And he was one doing it. He was one kind of running the experiment. And he was very genuine. He's not a play acting, of course. And so they brought a great big rattlesnake. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:50 Highlight the passage at 1:21:50

1:22:25 Great big one. Diamondback, I think a big diamondback, but a great big whopper. You know, like six, seven feet long. Big, thick, and a big flat head. And this big rattlesnake had been kept in a box and was really pissed off. Didn't like being in the box. And so they... Report an error in the passage at 1:22:25 Highlight the passage at 1:22:25

1:22:43 The helper then opened up the box on a big pool table. Cobra, the rattlesnake, immediately slithered out and then immediately went into a coil. He got rattled, just rattling away in his head. He's just looking, give me a target, just give me a target. I'm so pissed, I'll bite anything. Really one angry snake. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:43 Highlight the passage at 1:22:43

1:23:05 And this fellow, the author, standing at the far end of the pool table, doesn't want to get killed. So he's just waiting. But he's just gazing at the rattlesnake. It was just really tense, really wound up. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:05 Highlight the passage at 1:23:05

1:23:19 Really rattled. Shall I use more puns? Meanwhile, he's off there at a safe distance. And he's just attending to the rattlesnake and just sending loving thoughts, thoughts of admiration, thoughts of affection, thoughts of well-being. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:19 Highlight the passage at 1:23:19

1:23:36 And he's not moving like Report an error in the passage at 1:23:36 Highlight the passage at 1:23:36

1:23:41 a statue, but just sending from his heart his thoughts of loving kindness. And then gradually, the rattlesnake, seeing no target, nothing moving, nothing to strike, starts to uncoil, loosening up a bit. relaxation, stability, that's right. Rattlesnakes have to do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:41 Highlight the passage at 1:23:41

1:24:05 then when you see he's really kind of unwound, I think much calmer now, not so explicitly pissed off, ready to coil with the drop of He takes out one of those little things, I don't even know what it's called, but instead of a cue stick, it's one of those things, a little bridge. Bridge? Bridge, yeah. Takes out the bridge. Oh, it's got a nice velvet. It's really soft. That little U there. He takes that out very slowly. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:05 Highlight the passage at 1:24:05

1:24:30 Takes out the bridge. And then he reaches out and he just starts stroking the rattlesnake very gently with a velvet. One Report an error in the passage at 1:24:30 Highlight the passage at 1:24:30

1:24:52 of many stories. It's not dramatic, but maybe it's not silly that even a cold-blooded reptile can relate to loving kindness. He had a lot of other stories. I don't know if the book is still in print, but I certainly enjoyed it when I read it a long time ago. And it's certainly true. I think a lot of us know that from pets, just generally animals, send out loving kindness. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:52 Highlight the passage at 1:24:52

1:25:13 They pick it up in some kind of a non-verbal way, intuitive way. So one is, there's a non-human beings, deities guard one. So when I was reflecting upon that, it just suddenly occurred to me, eudaimonia, eudaimonia, remember Socrates? And that is when you experience this eudaimonia, this type of well-being, this is a type of well-being which is in accordance with the will of the gods. It makes them happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:13 Highlight the passage at 1:25:13

1:25:35 And it makes them happy then if there are gods and one think they would return the favor. You know, you're living in accordance with what we would consider to be good and they come and protect. So this is Buddhist view. Not God as some creator God, but simply higher beings who are generally quite benevolent. So deities, gods, or devas, a guard one. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:35 Highlight the passage at 1:25:35

1:25:53 Here's a dicey one. Fire, poison and weapons do not affect one. Be very careful on that one. Don't try that at home. But there it is. You look at all the rest of them, they're quite... So everything thus far, okay, if you believe in gods, fine. Sure, everybody believes in non-human beings. You look at the last three, no sweat, no sweat. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:53 Highlight the passage at 1:25:53

1:26:13 But this, the number seven, it's like, what? What? Come on. I mean, really. Fire is fire. Poison, poison. Weapon's a weapon. Couldn't you have left that one out? We would have been so happy. We'd have no qualms if you left that one out. Even the last one. Okay, if you're leaving me, the last one's fine too. But this one, what? But the Buddha said it, and the Buddhist tradition sticks by that. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:13 Highlight the passage at 1:26:13

1:26:36 But it's also not silly. It's not to say, okay, first day one of loving kindness, put your hand over a match and see how that works out. You know how it's going to work out. You're going to get a burnt flesh. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:36 Highlight the passage at 1:26:36

1:26:46 But there's a phrase I like. And I think there's reality to it. And that is in physics. There's a parallel in physics. You have non-relativistic physics. So I'm going to set aside quantum mechanics, just deal with relativity theory, special and general. You have non-relativistic physics. And that is bodies of matter moving through time and space, one can say. They behave in nice, orderly ways, kind of predictable ways, ordinary, good mechanical ways, very predictable. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:46 Highlight the passage at 1:26:46

1:27:13 As long as they're not moving near the speed of light, so you have non-relativistic physics, Newtonian mechanics and so on, everything quite predictable. But then the closer they get, when they're like 75 % the speed of light, things are definitely getting weird. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:13 Highlight the passage at 1:27:13

1:27:28 Because neither their location, nor their speed, nor their mass, nor the energy remains the same. All of that shifting. There are no absolutes there. Space, time, matter and energy, they're all relative. They start shifting. They start getting really weird as you're approaching the speed of light. And the closer you get to the speed of light, the weirder they are. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:28 Highlight the passage at 1:27:28

1:27:51 And just then now you see, well, oh, I see. Absolute space, time, matter and energy never existed because it's all relative to the speed of light. And so now you have to have a whole other dimension of physics, which accounts for everything Newtonian mechanics. But Newtonian mechanics does not account for non-relativistic, for relativistic physics. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:51 Highlight the passage at 1:27:51

1:28:11 There is no way to understand, in terms of classical physics, what happens when you're traveling with the speed of light. It just does not compute, which means the earlier assumptions were false, and now Einstein's theories account for everything in classical context, but they also account for, in a very elegant way, the anomalies, the weirdnesses, the kind of paranormal qualities that occur when you're traveling near the speed of light. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:11 Highlight the passage at 1:28:11

1:28:36 That's standard. I didn't say anything that anybody who's studied physics doesn't know. But now I'd say the parallel, since we have this fantastic growth, awesome growth and progress and refinement of physics for the last 400 years, it is still the most advanced science. It's gone through two revolutions, biology only one and the mind sciences haven't gone through one yet, not even one. So there it is. Physicists like to say that other scientists have physics envy. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:36 Highlight the passage at 1:28:36

1:29:02 The biologists, psychologists, they want to emulate physics as much as possible because that's the paradigm of excellence. That's how everything started with physics. And so we've seen no comparable advances in psychology, of course, since the time of Galileo, and not a single revolution thus far. And so what we have thus far for the last 135 years of the scientific study of the mind, I would say, is non-relativistic psychology. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:02 Highlight the passage at 1:29:02

1:29:25 I mean it very, very seriously, very literally. And that is they're studying ordinary people's minds. Overwhelmingly, the minds that are being studied are either psychotic, brain damaged, or normal. And occasionally they'll study somebody really exceptional. But extremely rare. There's not a whole lot of money for that. But there's a lot of money for studying ordinary minds, minds of the people whose brains have been damaged or are ill in one way or another, you know, injury, sickness and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:25 Highlight the passage at 1:29:25

1:29:53 That's where almost everything goes, which means you're studying ordinary minds and sub-ordinary minds. But what about yogis who have meditated for 40,000 hours? I mean, really advanced ones, never mind the numbers. I'm not an advanced yogi. I meditate a long time, but I'm slow. But there are ones that I've known that are really exceptional. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:53 Highlight the passage at 1:29:53

1:30:13 exceptional. would display what we'd have to call the paranormal abilities. I've seen some of them, and I know a lot of people who've seen extraordinary things. There are three people, all trusted close friends of mine, in totally different contexts. You don't have to believe what I'm saying, I'm just going to tell you what I've heard. But by people I know, you don't know them, so I do. So I know whether they have credibility or not, and I can talk about them, but that doesn't mean they have credibility for you. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:13 Highlight the passage at 1:30:13

1:30:41 I know three people who've seen yogis be levitate. No sleight of hand, no tricks, no nothing. In two out of the three cases, they didn't even know they were being observed. And one was in a Kagyu Monastery outside of Lhasa. And the person who told me about this is Geshe, Geshe Genizombo. He came to our monastery in Switzerland many years ago. And in this Kagyu Monastery, once a year, almost like a county fair, the yogis would come out and they could show what they could do, just to inspire people. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:41 Highlight the passage at 1:30:41

1:31:07 We can still do this stuff. In plain daylight, the levity, he saw it himself. Like six feet off the ground and no gimmicks, no smoke and mirrors, no David Copperfield, no nothing, no props. They're just levitating. And he saw it. But two other cases I know. One a Tibetan saw it, another a Western friend of mine saw it. They were living with yogis and both of them just got up in the middle of the night to pee or something like that and then cracked open the door where the yogis were meditating. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:07 Highlight the passage at 1:31:07

1:31:37 They saw it. They didn't know there was any audience. They saw them hovering. I believe that because I've understood how that occurs. I've had training in it. I've not accomplished it myself, of course. But that would be relativistic psychology. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:37 Highlight the passage at 1:31:37

1:31:54 And I've witnessed this three times myself, things for which there is no explanation whatsoever scientifically that I've witnessed. And it all comes by very, very high training of the mind. And Buddhism and Hinduism and Taoism and so forth, they all speak of this. But we in the modern West, that's not our strength. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:54 Highlight the passage at 1:31:54

1:32:14 And so a whole realm of relativistic psychology. When the mind really takes on some power, some focus, some samādhi, or very, very deep benevolence, profound benevolence. And we have this in Christianity too. It's called faith healing. It does happen. It's not just smoke and mirrors and placebo effect. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:14 Highlight the passage at 1:32:14

1:32:35 Sometimes something really exceptional happens. And so there's that whole domain. Sometimes the power is coming from compassion or loving kindness. Very frequently it's coming from samādhi. And it can also come from wisdom. Direct insight in emptiness? Look out. You're entered into the realm of relativistic psychology. And by relativistic, I mean that now, when the mind has been empowered by compassion, by the power of samādhi, by the power of insight in nature reality, then something was always true. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:35 Highlight the passage at 1:32:35

1:33:07 Now it becomes manifestly true. And that is that there is a profound entanglement of the subject and the object. of the observer and that which is observed. They're not two things that may be slapped together. reality is a fabric in which consciousness plays an integral role and it's completely entwined with the opposite of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:07 Highlight the passage at 1:33:07

1:33:25 Shift one, you shift the other. One of the greatest cover-ups in the history of modern science is called the placebo effect. I think it's maybe the biggest misnomer of the 20th century. The one thing we know indubitably about the placebo effect is that it is not an effect of a placebo. So what do they call it? They can't stand, the materialists can't stand calling it a mental effect because the mind's not supposed to have an effect. It's supposed to be an epiphenomenon. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:25 Highlight the passage at 1:33:25

1:33:56 It does. The pharmaceutical industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars trying to exclude it so they can make profit on that which is not the placebo effect. And they keep on calling it placebo effect. And you'll even get phrases like the power of the placebo. Look in the literature, you'll see that phrase. The power of the placebo. It's like they've suffered severe dementia. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:56 Highlight the passage at 1:33:56

1:34:18 But wait a minute, the placebo is a sugar tablet. What are you talking about the power of a sugar tablet? There's power here, but duh, it's not the placebo, it's the mind. The power of anticipation, of expectation, desire and belief and trust and faith can bring about in a totally mysterious and inexplicable way thus far in modern science, because I've spoken with world experts. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:18 Highlight the passage at 1:34:18

1:34:40 Not that just you feel better, but you have the expectation if you take this tablet that it's going to bring about a very specific effect in your body and lo and behold it does. Not always. But statistically, more than just washes out. How is that possible? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:40 Highlight the passage at 1:34:40

1:34:55 How is it possible that a person with Parkinson's disease could take something that's placebo, expect that it's going to really help, and lo and behold, having taken this sugar tablet or something comparable to it, taking that with the expectation this is going to help alleviate the symptoms of his Parkinson's, lo and behold, right after he takes it, there's an increased production of endogenous dopamine in his brain, which helps to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson's. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:55 Highlight the passage at 1:34:55

1:35:18 And that has happened. How did that work? In materialistic framework, it's like, I've spoken with Boyle experts and they say we've stopped asking the question. Literally, that's what one person told me. How do you explain that? I don't know, so I don't ask the question anymore. I'm not going to question my materialistic assumptions. I'd rather stop asking the question and stick with my assumptions and leave that one totally a mystery. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:18 Highlight the passage at 1:35:18

1:35:41 So, that's part of the relativistic psychology, is that people, you know, faith healing, placebo effect, and so forth. has worked in mysterious ways because of the entanglement of the mind and body. The mind evidently is not simply an epiphenomenon of the brain. So in this case, I would leave this wide open and I certainly wouldn't start running experiments, but the assertion here is a very deep one, and that is if you, to a very, very deep degree, call the weight loving kindness, you Report an error in the passage at 1:35:41 Highlight the passage at 1:35:41

1:36:13 may find unusual effects coming out. I'll tell you one story that I've heard, I've told it many times, I'm going to tell it one more time, just because it relates to the fire business. And it's from my own teacher, Gyalto Rinpoche, who has been my Lama since 1990. Impeccable Lama. Absolute integrity. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:13 Highlight the passage at 1:36:13

1:36:31 I've lived with him for two years, translated for him for seven years, known him for almost 30. Absolutely devoid of guile, pretense. I've never seen him deceive anybody about anything. And he told me, I was translating for him, and then later I was so flabbergasted. But I went to him even some years later and said, Rinpoche, this is what I remember that you said. Did I get this right? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:31 Highlight the passage at 1:36:31

1:36:55 And I told him his own story back to him. I said, did I get that right? He said, yeah, that's it. So here, you ready for the story? Some of you know it already. So here's my teacher when he was a young boy. I don't know exactly how old, maybe six or seven, something like that would be a pretty good guess. And he was living out there in eastern Tibet. And there was one great adept, highly accomplished Dzogchen master that was giving teachings on Dzogchen, I believe it was, to a small group of disciples, including the tukus. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:55 Highlight the passage at 1:36:55

1:37:21 The tukus are the privileged ones that get set in the front row. And so my teacher was a tuku. lama. And so, but maybe 20 monks or so, and it's at night, at night out in the starry skies. Might have been very romantic. And to give them some light, they had a bonfire. That is to say, they do totally unpredictable things. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:21 Highlight the passage at 1:37:21

1:37:41 Dzogchen, this small handful of students. But this yogi was known as kind of mad yogi, wild yogi, crazy wisdom type of yogi. That is to say he'd do totally unpredictable things. Not malevolent, but just like, what? Like off the charts, like didn't see that coming. He's known as a wild yogi. And so he's giving these teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:41 Highlight the passage at 1:37:41

1:38:02 And this is all from Catherine, which is lips to my ear, and I'm passing it on. And then in the middle of this Dharma talk, he gets up. I can just imagine it. I mean, obviously I wasn't there. I can imagine it. He gets up kind of like really wild-eyed, and he looks around among his students and said, it's time to send one of you to hell. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:02 Highlight the passage at 1:38:02

1:38:24 And then he targets in on my teacher, Yatra Rinpoche, and he comes over, he's a little kid, and he picks him up and he puts him right down in the middle of the bonfire. He just plunks him down in the middle of the bonfire. And Yatra Rinpoche then shifted over to his first-person perspective. He's sitting there, the flames all arising around him, with an expression something like this. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:24 Highlight the passage at 1:38:24

1:38:45 Not Report an error in the passage at 1:38:45 Highlight the passage at 1:38:45

1:38:49 like that. No pain. He said, no pain. A pleasant warmth, flames coming up all around him, kind of like, whoa, dude. And just sitting there by just like... Report an error in the passage at 1:38:49 Highlight the passage at 1:38:49

1:39:03 And he's there for 15, 30 seconds, and then one of the monks in the little congregation there starts to freak out and thinks, you know, I have to save the boy. So he reaches in and rescues Gyatronobuchi. His arms get a bit singed as he's going in and out of the fire. Gyatronobuchi is taken out of the fire, not even his robes are singed, nothing. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:03 Highlight the passage at 1:39:03

1:39:23 And that's what he told me. So you can either think he's delusional or he's a liar, or I'm a liar, I'm delusional, or you can think maybe there are mysteries out there that we just haven't found yet. Whatever you think is fine by me, and I've heard many things, but that's from his own experience. So maybe there's really something to this. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:23 Highlight the passage at 1:39:23

1:39:43 Worth testing, but the way to test it is not by putting people into the fire, but cultivating very deep loving kindness and see what happens. The next one's very encouraging and very true, and that is one's mind is easily concentrated. If you're very interested in developing shamatha, well, you might want to couple that with the cultivation of loving kindness. It will only do you good. The expression on one's face is serene. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:43 Highlight the passage at 1:39:43

1:40:04 That would make a lot of sense. One dies unconfused. That would be very helpful. It would be marvelous to die lucidly, to pass through all the stages of death, maintaining the flow of cognizance. That can be very, very useful and very unlikely if you're still dying with a lot of attachment to what you're leaving behind, sadness, grief, oh, my loved ones, all my stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:04 Highlight the passage at 1:40:04

1:40:25 Then you're going to just die confused. But if you can release all attachment before you die and you're leaving on a flow of benevolence, Report an error in the passage at 1:40:25 Highlight the passage at 1:40:25

1:40:37 That will bode well. That will serve you well. Whatever's coming, it can't be bad. And then finally, in terms of the can't be bad part, if one achieves nothing higher, one reappears in the Brahma world as one who wakes up from sleep. Brahma world is not like a Christian heaven or even a Buddhist heaven so much, like a pure realm. It's just a higher realm of existence, a more subtle, refined, blissful realm. In the form realm, there's desire, form and formation. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:37 Highlight the passage at 1:40:37

1:41:01 So it's really when Plato, when Socrates and Plato, They speak. It's hard to, of course, distinguish between the two because Plato, because Socrates didn't write anything. But when they talk about the dying process and then what's the destiny, what's going to happen to the philosopher? And back then the philosopher was not simply a professor of philosophy, but a person who was truly a lover of wisdom within philosophia. Then when Socrates hyphen Plato described that, that... Report an error in the passage at 1:41:01 Highlight the passage at 1:41:01

1:41:34 To be a true philosopher, you must really release all craving and clinging for embodiment, clinging to the flesh, clinging to physical re-embodiment. You need to release that, totally release, let alone release stuff to central pleasures and possessions and so forth. A true philosopher is one who has released attachment to this world and is ready to go with no baggage, just free, footloose and fancy free, heading on beyond this life. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:34 Highlight the passage at 1:41:34

1:42:03 And being released from this life, released from this body, free of all attachment and with a very benevolent mind, imbued with eudaimonia, then Socrates describes going to a higher plane or higher realm. Sounds an awful lot like the former realm, if you compare the two. Looks like a spitting image. And they're tracing their lineage back to Pythagoras, a very interesting guy, incredibly interesting. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:03 Highlight the passage at 1:42:03

1:42:27 It seems that he trained in the east, at least as far east as Egypt and maybe even further east than there. But one way or another, he must have picked up Samādhi. It wasn't a strength of the Ionian early thinkers, the early Greek philosophers, but Pythagoras was an anomaly. He wasn't like the others. We have all the rest of them, Thales and all the rest. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:27 Highlight the passage at 1:42:27

1:42:46 But Pythagoras was unusual in the sense that he was known as a mystic, a great addict, a sorcerer, a siddha, like a siddha who was a miracle worker. And it is said it was widely renowned during his time. He wasn't so known as a mathematician. Nowadays Pythagorean theorem and all of that. But Pythagoras, above all, was known as a miracle worker and a contemplative, and it's widely stated, widely believed, among all the great philosophers of Greek antiquity, that he didn't believe in reincarnation. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:46 Highlight the passage at 1:42:46

1:43:19 He actually could recall 20 of his previous rebirths. He could recall them. You can do that if you have achieved very deep samādhi. So if one follows implication, he must have had, unless he had just made this all up, but it's said that he could recall his past lives. And then Socrates and Plato. He also fell in line with that and also believed in reincarnation and the possibility of both lower and higher rebirth. So in one case in Pythagoras, he saw somebody kick a dog and he called and said, don't do that, the dog was a friend of mine last night. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:19 Highlight the passage at 1:43:19

1:43:50 So, interesting, keep the mind open is a good exercise. Let's break there. We'll come back and meditate and then we're going to go really do some fine tuning, some enormously important distinctions as you'll see here on the top of page five. Loving, kindness and attachment. Very, very important. We're going to go into it soon, but let's take a break, come back at about 11. We'll meditate for Report an error in the passage at 1:43:50 Highlight the passage at 1:43:50

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:45:03 this session and we'll turn to a classic method for the meditative cultivation of loving-kindness and we'll follow the Theravāda tradition, specifically the teachings in a classic text, perhaps even the most renowned text or commentary in the Theravāda tradition known as the Path of Purification by Buddhaghosa, composed in the 5th century, I think it was. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:03 Highlight the passage at 1:45:03

1:45:25 So, a method that's been practiced for many, many centuries. Many people have found it helpful. We'll just begin it. We won't try to go through all the stages in this session. But without further ado, please simply find a comfortable position. Begin, Report an error in the passage at 1:45:25 Highlight the passage at 1:45:25

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:46:27 as always, by settling the body, speech and mind in a natural state. And having done so, spend a few minutes calming, soothing the mind and body by way of mindfulness of breathing, choosing any of the three techniques of your choice. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:27 Highlight the passage at 1:46:27

· · · silence, 3 minutes

1:49:41 We direct our attention on ourselves. To begin with, but we'll not stop there, with Report an error in the passage at 1:49:41 Highlight the passage at 1:49:41

1:49:52 this self-directed benevolence, this self-directed aspiration for our own well-being. In this classic method, we attend briefly to the toxicity of the mind that is utterly antithetical to loving kindness, and that is any tendency of hatred, of animosity, enmity or malice, ill will. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:52 Highlight the passage at 1:49:52

1:50:17 We all know from our own experience that when the mind is dominated by this affliction, loving kindness is nowhere to be found. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:17 Highlight the passage at 1:50:17

1:50:27 They cannot coexist in the same mind stream at the same time. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:27 Highlight the passage at 1:50:27

1:50:34 So in this cultivation of loving kindness, we begin with the aspiration. May I be free of enmity. How Report an error in the passage at 1:50:34 Highlight the passage at 1:50:34

1:50:49 others treat me, no matter what adversity I encounter. If Report an error in the passage at 1:50:49 Highlight the passage at 1:50:49

1:51:14 you wish to set the rhythm, you may arouse this aspiration with each outbreath and you may swiftly imagine the realization of your aspiration, namely imagine being free. That that tendency no longer arises, no longer captivates your mind. Be Report an error in the passage at 1:51:14 Highlight the passage at 1:51:14

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:52:30 free of physical affliction. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:30 Highlight the passage at 1:52:30

1:52:43 May Report an error in the passage at 1:52:43 Highlight the passage at 1:52:43

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:53:41 I be hedonically well and eudaimonically genuinely happy. Rouse the aspiration and then imagine its fulfillment. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:41 Highlight the passage at 1:53:41

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:55:43 Monastics encouraged, simply a dear friend, someone for whom you feel no attachment, for whom you do feel a very deep and genuine sense of affection, simply Report an error in the passage at 1:55:43 Highlight the passage at 1:55:43

1:56:03 gazing upon such a person, meeting this person. You feel a warmth in your heart, a sense of connectedness, affinity. A spontaneous sense of caring. Bring this person vividly to mind, as if actually here, now. This Report an error in the passage at 1:56:03 Highlight the passage at 1:56:03

1:56:41 person may indeed have attractive qualities, but rather attend to the lovable qualities. The qualities that make this person dear to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:41 Highlight the passage at 1:56:41

1:56:51 Arouse a deep sense of caring, of affection, of warmth. It's Report an error in the passage at 1:56:51 Highlight the passage at 1:56:51

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:57:38 a sequence of aspirations as you've done for yourself. Arousing first of all the yearning, may you be free like myself. May you be free of enmity. Feel well in Report an error in the passage at 1:57:38 Highlight the passage at 1:57:38

1:58:16 this person experiencing the serenity and the peace of mind, of a mind undistorted by these toxins of the mind. Each Report an error in the passage at 1:58:16 Highlight the passage at 1:58:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:59:00 out-breath arousing aspiration may be free of physical affliction. You may know of challenges this person meets, or faces, of injury, of illness, physical distress. With each out-breath arousing aspiration may be free. And breath by breath, imagine that wish being fulfilled. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:00 Highlight the passage at 1:59:00

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:00:22 May you be free of mental affliction, all the distresses of the mind, in terms of delusion, craving and hostility, but also the symptoms of depression, anxiety, all the other qualities that torment the mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:22 Highlight the passage at 2:00:22

2:00:37 May you be free of mental afflictions Report an error in the passage at 2:00:37 Highlight the passage at 2:00:37

· · · silence, 2 minutes

2:02:15 and realize your heart's desire and Report an error in the passage at 2:02:15 Highlight the passage at 2:02:15

2:02:21 the fulfillment you seek. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:21 Highlight the passage at 2:02:21

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:03:28 Let the appearance of this person fade back into the space of your mind. And now, if you will, bring to mind someone else, another dear friend, perhaps not quite so close, but nevertheless someone you... Report an error in the passage at 2:03:28 Highlight the passage at 2:03:28

2:03:43 feel Report an error in the passage at 2:03:43 Highlight the passage at 2:03:43

2:04:07 way of the mental imagery, attend to that person wherever he or she may be. to them closely so that they become real for you. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:07 Highlight the passage at 2:04:07

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:04:48 the aspiration may you like myself And like my very dear friend, whom I have already been attending to, like myself and this other person, may you too be free of enmity, practice as before, free Report an error in the passage at 2:04:48 Highlight the passage at 2:04:48

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:06:08 of physical affliction. For Report an error in the passage at 2:06:08 Highlight the passage at 2:06:08

· · · silence, 6 minutes

2:11:55 each of these four measurables, we'll find a very clear definition, should be conceptually utterly lucid and transparent. This brilliant analysis of them that we find in Buddhaghosa's classic text, The Path of Purification. For each of these four... He unpacks them as we will see. We'll see his analysis, which is very full. I'm not going to go into the full analysis now, but just highlight one aspect of this. And that is for each of these, we'll start with loving-kindness. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:55 Highlight the passage at 2:11:55

2:12:24 There's loving-kindness, which is now very clear, transparent, nothing complicated about it. It's a heartfelt aspiration, as we attend to any sentient being, and it could be ourselves. We attend to any sentient being, and it is simply that aspiration. May you find happiness in the causes of happiness. That is so simple. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:24 Highlight the passage at 2:12:24

2:12:41 But for each of these, there's also that which is diametrically opposed, such that if that which is diametrically opposed is present in your mind stream, in that moment, the one among the four measurables won't be. It'll be nowhere in sight. It'll be invisible. So part of this is just linguistic. That is, we can infer what is diametrically opposed to loving-kindness by just looking at the words. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:41 Highlight the passage at 2:12:41

2:13:07 So here's the aspiration. May you find happiness in the causes of happiness. Loving-kindness. And I just put not. We attend to a person for whatever reason. They've gotten under our skin. They just irritate us. We don't like them. Maybe they've treated us badly or treated someone that we care about badly. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:07 Highlight the passage at 2:13:07

2:13:22 Maybe they're the enemy, like in a war and so forth. But for whatever reason, and we'll always have our justifications, because we always do, we're attending to some sentient being. Very often it will be a human. And the aspiration, although we probably never say it, is may you not find happiness or the causes of happiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:22 Highlight the passage at 2:13:22

2:13:42 And that's enmity. That's it. That's enmity. Ill will, malevolence, malice, enmity. When you say it like that, it sounds so disgusting. You think, but I don't want that. You actually watch your life in gear and it's possible it might come up. Or you see somebody where you just feel you're not deserving of happiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:42 Highlight the passage at 2:13:42

2:14:04 You don't deserve happiness. You shouldn't find happiness. You shouldn't have success. You shouldn't be famous. People shouldn't love you because you're really an awful person. So that's enmity. It doesn't matter who it is. So that's why the Buddha said earlier in that Mettā Sutta, let's just kind of get it directly, let no one despise any person anywhere in anger or ill will, let no one wish any harm to another. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:04 Highlight the passage at 2:14:04

2:14:29 Well, that's it. It's not quite may you suffer, it's just the opposite of loving kindness. May you not succeed, may you not find happiness, may you not cultivate the happiness, the causes of happiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:29 Highlight the passage at 2:14:29

2:14:45 That's called the far enemy. It's a nice word. It's a literal translation. The far enemy is like in warfare. In warfare, you have all your troops over here and then there's the battlefield to begin and then there's the enemy over there. We've all seen that, at least in movies, but of course it happens many times in real life. And so then it's very clear cut. Everybody over here, you're on our side, right? You see those people over there? Report an error in the passage at 2:14:45 Highlight the passage at 2:14:45

2:15:08 Kill all of them as you can. And so those are the far enemy because you see them way over yonder and they're saying... Death on you, death on you, and we're saying death on you, death on you. So it's very clear cut. It's kind of like an honest fight. We want to kill you, you want to kill us, so let's begin, shall we? Report an error in the passage at 2:15:08 Highlight the passage at 2:15:08

2:15:22 That's the insanity of warfare. But at least it's straightforward. There's nothing conniving or tricky about it. You're even wearing different colors. These people are wearing the gray and those are wearing the blue or what have you. So then, okay, gray people, they're the bad ones. You've got to kill them. Blue, look out, don't kill them. So we know it's like a basketball team or a football team. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:22 Highlight the passage at 2:15:22

2:15:43 You know them by their colors. It gets messy, too, when they get all mixed up together in old-fashioned warfare with knights and bayonets and so forth. You want to make sure you stab the right color. It doesn't matter who's inside of it. It really doesn't matter at all. But the color is the thing that counts. They can be fat, ugly, handsome, whatever, but get the right color because they're the enemy. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:43 Highlight the passage at 2:15:43

2:16:03 That's the far enemy, the distant enemy. But the sneaky ones, because this is the analogy, the military analogies crop up rather often. Often in Buddhism, but never in the sense of launching military campaigns against the infidels like Hindus or Buddhists or atheists, anything like that. That happens, but it's a complete violation of everything the Buddhism stands for. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:03 Highlight the passage at 2:16:03

2:16:22 What's happening sometimes in Myanmar, where the Buddhists are teaming up against the Muslims, complete disgrace. Doesn't matter what the Muslims have done. Complete disgrace. Shameful. Doesn't matter what they have done. Doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen because they're human beings. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:22 Highlight the passage at 2:16:22

2:16:39 Buddhism is not free of that type of violation any more than any other political party or religion and so forth. But we have the near enemies. And the near enemies, they're the sneaky ones. And this is where the enemy has gotten somebody from their side to put on your colors. And they've gotten behind the lines. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:39 Highlight the passage at 2:16:39

2:16:58 They come in behind you. And then they're, hey, Chang, they seem to be your friend. And they're spies, of course. They want your total annihilation. But they're coming in. Good to see you. Good to see you. Let's sit down and have a cup of tea before the battle starts. As soon as the battle starts, they're going to whack you in the back. So that's the near enemy. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:58 Highlight the passage at 2:16:58

2:17:15 They look like your friend. And they are just as set against you as the ones over yonder. But these are the near enemies. And so far enemy, distant enemy, near enemy, or that which is diametrically opposed and that which is the false facsimile. The false facsimile. So of each of these four measurables, there's that which is diametrically opposed. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:15 Highlight the passage at 2:17:15

2:17:37 And that which appears to be, can easily be mistaken for the virtue of the heart, but definitely isn't. And if you make the mistake, you're going to be really screwed up. It's going to really harm you. Just like mistaking a spy as a trustworthy comrade in arms. And so that which is the near enemy, the false facsimile of love and kindness, is simply called self-centered attachment. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:37 Highlight the passage at 2:17:37

2:18:03 English is really, I mean, it's a wonderful language, very, very rich. But we have this word that, you know, it's like love is a many-splendored thing. God is love. Love is all there is. It's everywhere, you know. But the problem with it, it is so enormous. It covers so much territory, from sexual love to love to your parents, love to your children, love for chocolate, love for your motorcycle, love for country, love, you know, etc. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:03 Highlight the passage at 2:18:03

2:18:32 And so it's all mushed together, including infatuation. D-D-D-D. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:32 Highlight the passage at 2:18:32

2:18:36 I love you so much I can't bear to be parted from you. If you try to leave, I think I'm going to, I'll either kill you or me, whichever feels, you know, whatever the whim is at the moment. Because I just can't live without you. I just love you too much. That kind of thing. We've heard it. It comes up in, let's say, romantic songs all the time. I love you. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:36 Highlight the passage at 2:18:36

2:18:55 I need you. I want you. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Something's off there. That's not loving kindness. But they often get bundled. So the word love can be truly. Wonderfully benevolent, not emotion, but feeling, aspiration, really aspiration above all. So the false facsimile, I think the person who nailed this very clearly, and he doesn't happen to be a Buddhist, he happens to be an existentialist Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber, but very well known for these distinctions he draws between an I-it relationship, I-you relationship and I-thou relationship. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:55 Highlight the passage at 2:18:55

2:19:31 The I-you is very well known. The I-it is enormously important and relevant here. And it crops up all too often. Once I've described it, it may feel a bit uncomfortably familiar. It sounds quite steely, an I-it relationship. And this is when we attend to any sentient being, not only human being, but any sentient being. And as we're attending to that sentient being, and we can say for the time being it's a human, but it can be an animal just as easily, and often is. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:31 Highlight the passage at 2:19:31

2:20:03 As we attend to the human being, we're seeing it as an it, as an object. So when you go grocery shopping and you'll be looking through the different types of cereal or fruit or maybe you're a meat eater and what kind of meat do you want, you'll be looking for that which will give you the most pleasure. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:03 Highlight the passage at 2:20:03

2:20:20 It is healthy, but you want it. It's going to be good for you. And then you say, that one. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:20 Highlight the passage at 2:20:20

2:20:28 This is an I-it relationship with the food. You're not thinking, would this cereal like to be eaten by me? There's no relationship. It's just like, this is an object and I like it because it's going to give me some pleasure. Good vitality, health or what have you. When you're out shopping for a car, it's the same thing. You're looking for, well, where's a good deal? Where's a car that's going to give me some pleasure, security, safety, maybe a little bit of some good horsepower and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:28 Highlight the passage at 2:20:28

2:20:54 So that's all. When it's an it, it's perfectly appropriate. In fact, actually, it's only appropriate to enter into an I-it relationship with an it. And an it is something that's not looking back, something that has no perspective, that is unaware, has no feelings. Emotions, desires, or anything like that. A pair of glasses, a car, a tomato. There's a lot of its out there, and it's perfectly appropriate to treat an it as an it. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:54 Highlight the passage at 2:20:54

2:21:21 The problem is, throughout human history, and animals do this to each other as well, the problem is that often, all too often, we enter into an I-it relationship with sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:21 Highlight the passage at 2:21:21

2:21:34 So Descartes actually laid a template for that in a grotesque way. I don't think he was a grotesque man. But he came up with a grotesque conclusion, and that is that animals are not sentient beings on the theological grounds because animals don't have an immortal soul. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:34 Highlight the passage at 2:21:34

2:21:55 And he equated consciousness with the immortal soul. And since animals are not judged, they don't go to heaven, hell, limbo or anywhere else. They just die and they're exterminated, they're terminated. Since animals don't have consciousness, since they don't have an immortal soul, they don't have consciousness, therefore they have no feelings. They appear to have feelings, but don't be misled. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:55 Highlight the passage at 2:21:55

2:22:14 It's just an appearance. They're acting as if. But they're actually mindless machines. And I guess he believed that. I guess he didn't have any pets. But that view actually had, because he was, you know, he's a man of tremendous influence for Western civilization. That view actually had a lot of impact. A lot of impact. Whenever I think of her, I have such a good feeling for her. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:14 Highlight the passage at 2:22:14

2:22:42 What's her name? We saw her in Brisbane. The woman who's done all the research on chimpanzees. Jane Goodall. Heard her speak. Always was I impressed. Deeply impressed. What a human being. My goodness. It was just incredibly, it was just feeling these waves of loving kindness and affection and respect for her. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:42 Highlight the passage at 2:22:42

2:23:01 Remarkable woman. I had an opportunity to have dinner with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Jane Goodall and some other people at the table. I forget who they were, but there's Jane and there's the Holiness. That was a good dinner. Lunch at that conference in Brisbane several years back. But in any case, she commented that when she was doing her doctoral work, Report an error in the passage at 2:23:01 Highlight the passage at 2:23:01

2:23:21 At Cambridge University, which is nowadays often regarded as the best university in the world, there she went and entered the biology department and wanted to study chimpanzees. I think she wanted that from the time she started. And she was told by these senior professors that chimpanzees, these higher primates, have no emotions. That's what she was told. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:21 Highlight the passage at 2:23:21

2:23:39 They have no emotions. They appear to, getting angry and happy and so forth. No, no, no, no. Don't anthropomorphize the chimps. That's what she was told. They're not like us. They appear to have emotions, but they don't, you know. They're primitive animals. And so even the stain Report an error in the passage at 2:23:39 Highlight the passage at 2:23:39

2:24:00 of Descartes made his way into the mid-20th century at Cambridge University. Now, if that's for chimps and they're our closest neighbors on the family tree, then consider, now, go down the lane. I was told when I was a kid, my uncle, beloved uncle, truly a wonderful human being, a devout Christian, but when we went fishing, we went fishing up in the Sierra Nevadas in California, and we... Report an error in the passage at 2:24:00 Highlight the passage at 2:24:00

2:24:23 And it's so much fun hauling in the trout, these silvery, beautiful fish, landscape absolutely spectacular. And I was told by my uncle, you know, when you haul in the fish and it's wiggling, wiggling, wiggling, it's got a big hook right in its mouth and it's wiggling all over the place. He said, the compassionate thing to do is take a rock and just bash its head in, you know. They won't feel anything, don't worry. They won't feel anything. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:23 Highlight the passage at 2:24:23

2:24:47 But that's the compassionate thing to do. Because otherwise he'll wriggle, wriggle, wriggle and then finally die. You know, it's better just to... Give him a one-two right over the head and crush his skull with a rock. But he said, I don't feel anything. And this is a very good man. I mean, you can take my word for it, you'll lie. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:47 Highlight the passage at 2:24:47

2:25:03 He's benevolent, he's kind, he's really, he's been one of my heroes for a long time. Just not in his attitude towards animals. But that was it. Intelligent man, but fish don't have any feelings. Then why are they going flip, flip, flip like that? And why would you want to crush them over the head if they don't even feel anything? Then why would you want to bash their brains in? So that's made its way into the 20th century. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:03 Highlight the passage at 2:25:03

2:25:24 And what really makes me just want to cry is when we have materialists telling us that we're just animals. And then some materialists telling us, this boggles my mind, but influential ones telling us that in fact we don't actually have any subjective experience at all. The most prominent philosopher of Miami in the United States, Daniel Dennett, that's what he says. Very prominent physicist, Michio Kaku, that's what he says. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:24 Highlight the passage at 2:25:24

2:25:56 And now we have Michael Graziano. Neuroscientist at Princeton University, writing an article published in the New York Times, and he says, you have no subjective awareness of the information I'm imparting to you right now. I Report an error in the passage at 2:25:56 Highlight the passage at 2:25:56

2:26:14 think they have no idea. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:14 Highlight the passage at 2:26:14

2:26:21 Because if you have that idea for animals, you can do anything to them. You can give them cancer, you can torture them, you can do anything you like, for the sake of science, for example. Or food, or whatever you like, or sport. Sport. Anything. Because it doesn't matter. They look like they're crying, but they don't really mean it. They don't really have feelings like we do. You can do anything to animals. It doesn't matter what it is. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:21 Highlight the passage at 2:26:21

2:26:45 Zero. Anything you like, if you assume they have no feelings. And now we're getting top philosophers, physicists and neuroscientists telling us, we have no feelings. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:45 Highlight the passage at 2:26:45

2:26:55 It's the most grotesque view of humanity I've ever seen. And it appeared in the New York Times about a week ago. And it was widely read. I think incredibly dangerous. I mean, it's insanely idiotic. But it's not just idiotic. Thinking the world was created 10,000 years ago, that's idiotic, but it's not harmful. But telling us that we're just animals, that we're just machines, that you can infuse awareness into a silicon chip with a program, that's idiotic, but it's terribly dangerous. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:55 Highlight the passage at 2:26:55

2:27:25 And so, that kind of worldview almost forces us to have an ideal relationship with each other. That's why I'm so hard on materialism. Not just I disagree with it, I disagree with a lot of views, but this one, this is toxic to the highest degree. Because it's saying, really, the only relationship you can have with another sentient being is an I-it relationship. Do you love brains? Do you love brains? The Dalai Lama nailed it in 1989. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:25 Highlight the passage at 2:27:25

2:27:50 So, if we do this without being materialists, Buddhists do it, Christians do it, agnostics do it, where we look upon another sentient being as an it, we don't look beyond the veneer, we don't look into the depth, we don't look into the eyes and have that strong sense somebody's looking back. When you bash the fish's brain in with a rock, you don't have a sense of those glassy eyes that somebody is actually very afraid and in pain already and is about to receive the death blow. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:50 Highlight the passage at 2:27:50

2:28:19 You don't have any sense. No, it's just a fish. Yummy, yummy. So the I-it relationship is what Martin Buber called this, where we treat another sentient being as an it, as an object that has no three-dimensionality, no depth, no subjectivity, radically, fundamentally not like myself. Because I know I suffer. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:19 Highlight the passage at 2:28:19

2:28:37 I know, I want happiness, I experience happiness. But you are fundamentally, radically, right down to your core, you're not like me. And therefore you are to be used. So whenever we enter into a relationship, including when we come waiting in a queue in a grocery line, waiting for the food, and we finally get there because the grocer has been chatting and chatting and chatting with the person in front of us, driving us nuts, when are you going to stop? Report an error in the passage at 2:28:37 Highlight the passage at 2:28:37

2:29:00 I'm in a hurry here. And finally we get up and say, now my turn. Now finish it, goddammit. Let's call it an I-it relationship with the person handling the cash register. You don't matter to me at all. Just get the damn job done. I'm really in a hurry here. I don't want any small talk. I'm well, you're well. Now get on with it. That's an I-it relationship. It passes unnoticed, except for the person who receives it. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:00 Highlight the passage at 2:29:00

2:29:30 If you've ever been treated like an it, you might pick that up pretty quickly. That you don't count. That you're a tool to be used. You're an obstacle being surmounted, but you're not a person. So you can see it's, because Report an error in the passage at 2:29:30 Highlight the passage at 2:29:30

2:29:51 there's no hold barred. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:51 Highlight the passage at 2:29:51

2:29:55 A friend of mine, Mark Smith, some of you know him, he sent me a little clip, an excerpt from a book by a person who just won the, I think, Nobel Prize for Literature. Just got it. And he wrote a book apparently about this, that great railway in Burma during the Second World War when, what was it, 100,000 people, I think. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:55 Highlight the passage at 2:29:55

2:30:15 It was an enormous number of people died. I can't quote it, I really should because this is a brilliant writer and I'm not. But he said the tragedy, the grotesqueness of this, of working people literally to death by the tens of thousands, the tragedy of this didn't begin when they began the railway. It was called the railway of death because the British had conceived of it, thought maybe they would do it, and then they saw, oh my goodness, if we build this railway, so many people will die, we can't even start. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:15 Highlight the passage at 2:30:15

2:30:41 So the British had some decency there. But in wartime, as the author said, where the tragedy began... was from the Japanese side, the Japanese military, where they already viewed these prisoners as less than human, less than persons. And as soon as you've taken that stance, oh, now anything can happen. Anything at all can happen. And they did. 100,000 died. But it wasn't there up from the crust that the tragedy occurred. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:41 Highlight the passage at 2:30:41

2:31:12 That was just the cutting edge of the blade. The tragedy was already there as soon as they viewed this group. Because they're so cowardly, so subhuman that they actually surrender rather than taking a bullet like a good man would do, a real man would do. They surrendered. Well, now they've got what's coming to them because they're not even persons. They're not worthy. They have no human dignity. They've already sacrificed that by the fact that they surrendered. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:12 Highlight the passage at 2:31:12

2:31:37 And so, therefore, do with them as you will. Use them like a shovel. When the shovel breaks, just throw it away. Get a new shovel. So that's why I'm so hard on views. Because the tragedy wasn't down on the cusp, the tragedy is there under the cusp. That's where it always began. And it's just waiting to manifest and you know it's going to be bad. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:37 Highlight the passage at 2:31:37

2:31:56 So it's an ayat relationship. The ayat relationship when Pāli Yasu spat into the face of his torture and he smiled back. He smiled back knowing there's someone here and I'm not going to let you die. That's an ayat relationship. He glimmered that there's somebody looking back just enough so they can say, aha, I know I have to be a bit reserved in the way I torture you. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:56 Highlight the passage at 2:31:56

2:32:16 Because I don't want to kill you, all the fun would be gone, and you'd win. So the I-it relationship, it happens in romance a lot, in infatuation, kind of sexual infatuation, happens a lot. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:16 Highlight the passage at 2:32:16

2:32:31 So many marriages, I think, I suspect, hit the rocks and crush because it starts out largely with an I-it relationship, and after a while that it over there is not so attractive, is not so amenable to one's own desires. When I was in the monastery in Switzerland, most of us, we were about 17 Western monks, most of us were in our mid to late 20s, but there was one guy who was really old, a Westerner, must have been 35. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:31 Highlight the passage at 2:32:31

2:32:56 He was losing his hair, he was so old. I mean, he was kind of a bald pate, you know, the guy was over the hill. And he had also, unlike all the rest of us, he had been married. He was an English guy, lived in London. I remember this so vivid, I've told it many times, which makes it easier to remember also. But he told us about his marriage. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:56 Highlight the passage at 2:32:56

2:33:16 None of us had been married at all. Fresh monks. And he said, well, I was in my little flat in London, been married for some years, and when the marriage was just about coming to an end, I remember he said, my wife was on the other side of this little table, breakfast table, and I'm on my side, and I got my newspaper up, and I'm kind of glaring, he said, I'm glaring over, glaring at her over the top of the newspaper. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:16 Highlight the passage at 2:33:16

2:33:39 And the thought in my mind, it was so candid, I really appreciate that, he said, as I glared at her over the... The whole Report an error in the passage at 2:33:39 Highlight the passage at 2:33:39

2:33:51 notion that somebody else is out there to make us happy, that they were designed by somebody or genetically programmed to make us happy is a delusional idea. But the whole notion, just generally speaking, of using any sentient being as an instrument. in my mind is, supposed to be making me happy and Report an error in the passage at 2:33:51 Highlight the passage at 2:33:51

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:34:21 Especially human beings, but any sentient being, is really opposed to the cultivation of loving kindness. Because we're using another sentient being as a means to our own end. And we may flower it. That is, this happens a lot in romance. We really want something from another person. The woman wants what she wants. And that can be just as self-centered as what the man wants. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:21 Highlight the passage at 2:34:21

2:34:41 I don't think men or women are more self-centered one gender over another. We're just who we are. But the woman may have her own agenda of what she wants out of this relationship. Often does. The man has an agenda. You can count on it being sex, but maybe other stuff as well. And so they both have an agenda and it's both self-centered in many cases when it's an attachment relationship. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:41 Highlight the passage at 2:34:41

2:35:00 And so they come together and they're smiling and they're coquettish and they're suave and they're giving gifts and embraces and talking in a very pleasant way. And both of them have an independent agenda. Doesn't it happen? I don't think I'm making this all up. But look outside. Oh, they're so in love. Look how they smile at each other. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:00 Highlight the passage at 2:35:00

2:35:19 Look how beautifully she's dressed. Look at that nice gift he brought her. And look where he took her out to dinner. Oh, look at their dancing. Isn't that sweet? They must be really in love. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:19 Highlight the passage at 2:35:19

2:35:28 They may be. But what on earth does that mean? And what it means, I believe, from speaking from the Buddhist perspective, in love, it's some kind of an alloy, a mixture of two things that are entirely different. Self-centered interest. I want this out of the relationship. I hope you deliver. And over the long term. And, oh, by the way, I care about you, too. I really like you. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:28 Highlight the passage at 2:35:28

2:35:49 I want you to be happy. If I can help you to be happy, I'd like to do that too. They're very different though. Quite different, aren't they? And they'll be bundled in the same package. The gift be given may actually have a mixed motivation. You're giving something very precious, something that you feel will really bring delight to the other person and you're looking for them, you're looking when you give it to see whether they light up with pleasure. And when they do, you're really happy. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:49 Highlight the passage at 2:35:49

2:36:10 That's loving kindness. But you're also thinking, okay, you owe me. You owe me. You saw what I gave you. And Report an error in the passage at 2:36:10 Highlight the passage at 2:36:10

2:36:24 that's a self-centered attention. One gift. Multiple motivations coming in. And that which gives rise in romantic relationships, in relationships where there are a lot of love in the Western sense of the term, often it's fraught with anxiety. Isn't it true? Often, whether it's a love relationship, parent-child relationship can be a lot of anxiety, going both ways. It can be very close, but a lot of anxiety. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:24 Highlight the passage at 2:36:24

2:36:51 The anxiety is directly correlated to the amount of attachment. You say, I'm so fearful for you, I'm so fearful for you. You're going away, I'm so fearful that you'll be harmed or what have you. I love you so much, I'm really, really afraid. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:51 Highlight the passage at 2:36:51

2:37:08 Actually, I have so much attachment for you, I'm really afraid. Because if it's really love, then there's really nothing more precious about this person than any other person on the planet. So you're going to be afraid for all of them? People are going away all the time. During the wartime, how many millions of young men go off to war? How many people are we concerned about? Report an error in the passage at 2:37:08 Highlight the passage at 2:37:08

2:37:29 That's attachment. So it's tough love to draw the distinction like that. But in the Buddhist tradition, Buddhist understanding, It is important. And as one of my teachers said years ago when I was translating for him, about 30 years ago, he said, you know, as a non-monastic, he was a monastic, and I was a monastic at that time, but he's speaking to non-monastics, and he said, you know, in your relationships, romantic relationships, parent-child, friendships and so forth, your relationships are bound to be alloys, bound to be, in terms of your own side, what you're bringing to the relationship, bound to be an alloy. Report an error in the passage at 2:37:29 Highlight the passage at 2:37:29

2:38:05 And that is, there's bound to be some degree of attachment, self-centered attachment. What can you do for me? Can you bring me happiness? Can you bring me security? Can you bring me pleasure? I hope you do. I want you to. I've been investing in this relationship, hoping you're really going to deliver. On the one hand. On the other hand, also, I really care about you. I want you to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:05 Highlight the passage at 2:38:05

2:38:23 If you're suffering, I want to help. And that's loving kindness. That's compassion. And it's going to be all in a bundle. It's going to be all entangled together. They're not the same. But it's really like an alloy. And he said, Addressing the Dalai people there, he said, you know, the challenge for you is not to say, oh, I have attachment to my wife, therefore I'm going to divorce her. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:23 Highlight the passage at 2:38:23

2:38:45 I have attachment with my children too. Oh, I don't want attachment. Buddha said, you shouldn't have attachment. I have attachment for my kids and for my wife and for my family. I've got a lot of attachment, clearly. Okay, I'm going to cut loose. I don't want this. Buddha said, don't have attachment. Okay, kids, bye. I'll be back when I'm free of attachment. Good luck. Take care. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:45 Highlight the passage at 2:38:45

2:39:03 And I'll be back when I get you, you know. Not that, right? I'm waving by Daddy. I hope you get pure fast. Not that. Don't do that. Better be like this monk. You didn't leave any children behind, I don't think. Now this man is clean. Then it's no problem. I didn't either. Nice sufferance from a girlfriend, really sweet, clean. Report an error in the passage at 2:39:03 Highlight the passage at 2:39:03

2:39:23 It's no problem. My parents were pretty unhappy, but couldn't help it. So that's not an option. Children, friendly friends in society. You're doing meaningful things there. You have meaningful social relationships. So what's your challenge? Your challenge is to be like a groundskeeper on a golf course, especially for the greens, the greenskeeper. Report an error in the passage at 2:39:23 Highlight the passage at 2:39:23

2:39:47 And there's a lot of good grass there. That's your love. That's your affection, your warmth, your kindness, which is genuine. And it really is about the well-being of the other person because you truly care about them. That's the green. But we all know green sometimes little weeds sprout up, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:39:47 Highlight the passage at 2:39:47

2:40:04 You just can't have weeds on your green. So the good groundskeeper is keeping a real sharp eye out for even a little sprout of some little weed coming out. Report an error in the passage at 2:40:04 Highlight the passage at 2:40:04

2:40:14 Plucks that out. Report an error in the passage at 2:40:14 Highlight the passage at 2:40:14

2:40:18 So in the interrelationship with other beings, when you see that surge of the mental affliction of self-centered attachment, that surge of you're an it and I want you to do something for me. This relationship is for me. I'm not getting what I want. This is what I want. That grasping, that clinging, that craving. And it's really all about me. Report an error in the passage at 2:40:18 Highlight the passage at 2:40:18

2:40:40 pluck that one out and see if you can be a good weeder and weed out the tendencies these toxic tendencies of self-centered attachment and so that's what's left is a nice smooth green Report an error in the passage at 2:40:40 Highlight the passage at 2:40:40

2:40:54 So, wrapping Report an error in the passage at 2:40:54 Highlight the passage at 2:40:54

2:40:59 this Report an error in the passage at 2:40:59 Highlight the passage at 2:40:59

2:41:16 up, Martin Buber called companion, your lover, your family, if they're actually practicing. Report an error in the passage at 2:41:16 Highlight the passage at 2:41:16

2:41:17 This, where we're attending to another human being, for example, as a human being, we're looking into the eyes of another person and we have a strong sense there's someone looking back who's essentially like me. In some superficial ways, of course, different. It could be a woman, man, old, young, or what have you. Good, good, whatever. But at core, our yearning for happiness, wishing to be free of suffering, you can elaborate on that a bit if you like, but just emphasizing the common ground and attending to a you as a you, you as another sentient being. Report an error in the passage at 2:41:17 Highlight the passage at 2:41:17

2:41:49 Inter-subjective relationship, that's an I-you relationship. So you have a sense of the other person being over there, not you, somebody else, but nevertheless the common ground, the commonality, the inter-subjectivity, the kind of sense of common ground. So that's the I-you relationship. And then the I-thou relationship is even subtler than that. It's quite noble, it's quite sublime. And that's where that polarization, that sense, and you may have experienced it, it's not that esoteric. Report an error in the passage at 2:41:49 Highlight the passage at 2:41:49

2:42:15 Where we attend to somebody, maybe when you're on the grocery line and next time you see somebody there behind the cash register, you're really attending to them. And when they ask, how are you, you say, whatever you want to say, and then you turn to them and say, and how are you? But you actually mean it. And they might actually, wow, that person actually said it. And there was something behind it, it wasn't just a formality. And you maybe attend to them and they actually pick that up. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:15 Highlight the passage at 2:42:15

2:42:37 That's I-you. The person's over there, but you really are connecting with them as a human being. The I-thou is something quite remarkable. And that's where the sense, that polarized sense of I'm over here and you're over yonder, the barrier between I and Lama, the demarcation of subject and object, starts to fade out. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:37 Highlight the passage at 2:42:37

2:42:58 Parents experience that with children, don't you? When you're holding your child in your arms, you don't feel I'm holding somebody over here. It's kind of like that merging, isn't it? Of course, it can happen in romance, but this is really sweet because I know, I'm with my grandson. I mean, he loves to give hugs. He's a very affectionate boy. And I'm an affectionate grandpa, too. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:58 Highlight the passage at 2:42:58

2:43:17 And so when you hold, that sense of polarization, that sense of I'm holding somebody else, doesn't get that fuzzy. More like this is just an embrace of affection. And it kind of like, just it's a field of affection. That's the I-Thou, where the clear polarization of subject and object, I and you, is faded out. Report an error in the passage at 2:43:17 Highlight the passage at 2:43:17

2:43:36 And it's more of an encompassing sense. That's quite sweet. Report an error in the passage at 2:43:36 Highlight the passage at 2:43:36