← B. Alan Wallace

Four Immeasurables Retreat with B. Alan Wallace - Sydney 2014 (part 8)

B. Alan Wallace · 2014 · 1 h 30 min · Vajrayana Institute via Internet Archive

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  • 1:20

    Or disheartening. So, I have two responses to that. Go deeper. Continue practicing. Not many people when they first start practicing shamatha are really good at it. But they find, well, I'm making some progress. And here, don't expect to be really good at it when you begin. There are very few things that are really meaningful that you're just, unless you're extremely gifted, that you're immediately very adept. So sometimes if something is really worth doing, then it's worth persisting.

  • 3:54

    of all of the preceding three, because it evens everything out. It's basically the same. But now finesse that, smooth it out, so that whoever comes, whoever comes, your heart is equally open. That's what the equanimity is, right? And she said, yeah, I can work on that too. That's really doable. That I can do. And so my response will then go with your strengths.

  • 29:51

    Whereas aspirations, especially in Mahāyāna Buddhism, this is the current, went north-south up to Tibet, Mongolia there, the Bodhisattva ideal, all that. The centrality of motivation cannot be overestimated. The significance, the meaning of any type of endeavor that we engage in is defined in part by the nature of the task itself. Are you punching somebody or giving them something very nice? Well, that's not motivation, that's an action. But when this broad bandwidth of activities that we engage in, and we'll just set aside those which are by nature malevolent,

  • 40:57

    And one can ask this question, would I like to be a person? This is something I even aspire to. Would I like to be a person so that whoever I engage with, my heart is equally open? Whether they're attractive, unattractive, male, female, young, old, rich, poor, what have you. Human or non-human. But I would like my heart to be equally open and attentive, such that I care about them equally. Whoever it is. The way of phrasing this is a bodhisattva ideal. The bodhisattva is everyone's unknown friend.

  • 1:18:52

    I wasn't the first person to think of something like that. So this is where the whole spirit of the Mahāyāna, the Bodhisattva ideal, comes in. That there's something noble here, to free your mind of all mental afflictions, and therefore to be free of all the actions that come out of them, all the genocides, all the horrible things that human beings have ever done. They're all coming out of mental afflictions. None of them sidestep them. They're all coming by way of mental afflictions. So if you cut the mental afflictions, then none of that awful behavior will happen. These are all rooted in delusion, craving and hostility, and the derivative ones like jealousy, pride and so forth. And so this came very early on in the Buddhist tradition, that there's something noble there, something authentic, something good, something virtuous.

0:22 So we'll have two silent sessions. I just invite you to engage in whatever practice or methods that you would find most beneficial. Just this one brief comment before we start, and that is, with shamat, it's pretty straightforward, and a lot of people pretty quickly find some benefit, see the value, and actually do continue in the practice. Report an error

0:41 Also, they're quite straightforward. When it comes to the four immeasurables, again, we don't need to make any big leap of faith, so that's not an issue. But just the whole nature of this type of discursive meditation. Quite a number of people, when they first start such practice, they have just a sense that it's not working. Report an error

1:00 You know, they're going through the routine. They're following the instructions and they're visualizing this and attending this. But they just don't feel much coming up at all in terms of any positive emotions or even any real meaningful aspirations coming up. It just seems kind of like just simply conceptual. And that can be a bit frustrating. Report an error

1:20 Or disheartening. So, I have two responses to that. Go deeper. Continue practicing. Not many people when they first start practicing shamatha are really good at it. But they find, well, I'm making some progress. And here, don't expect to be really good at it when you begin. There are very few things that are really meaningful that you're just, unless you're extremely gifted, that you're immediately very adept. So sometimes if something is really worth doing, then it's worth persisting. Report an error

1:53 And seeing if you can kind of dig deeper, dig deeper, and then see something opens up. So part of that is just kind of continue practicing and see how it turns out. Report an error

2:03 But there is another aspect too, because I know some people who, I have some students who have trained with me for some years. I met one just recently, I mean I know her quite well. And she's very sincere, very dedicated, very little attachment to this world. Report an error

2:18 Very dedicated to practice, there's really nothing else she really wants to do, so she has very strong motivation. Life is simple. No husband, no grown children and all of that. But she commented to me that when she does these four immeasurables, she knows that they're good. I mean, they're virtuous. She recognizes that. She's a very decent person, good-hearted person. But she just doesn't find that work. Report an error

2:42 But she really loves Shantideva. And so she asked me. I just saw her now. Report an error

2:51 And I said, well, how about when you're engaging with other people? Do you find it's not too difficult to engage with them in a very attentive way? Very attentive way? Perfection? Care about them, act with loving kindness, act with compassion. When you see other people really enjoying something, whether it's simply children at play or a person engaging in something very meaningful, very virtuous, do you find it difficult to give them empathetic joy in their successes, their joys, their virtues? Report an error

3:24 And the answer all the way as long was, no, that I can do. She's a good, horrible person. And so, yeah, I can, when I'm engaged with people, yes, I can really bring fondness to them, affection. I enjoy acting with kindness. I can do that. And when I see people in distress, people having difficulty or animals in difficulty, I'm happy to go out of my way and act in a compassionate way. Report an error

3:46 And empathetic joy, oh, that's fun. Sure, I don't find any problem with that. And then equanimity is kind of the crown jewel of all of this. It's kind of the seal. of all of the preceding three, because it evens everything out. It's basically the same. But now finesse that, smooth it out, so that whoever comes, whoever comes, your heart is equally open. Report an error

4:05 That's what the equanimity is, right? And she said, yeah, I can work on that too. That's really doable. That I can do. And so my response will then go with your strengths. There are two different ways of cultivating the four imaginables, and they're very complementary. You can do both. But one, as you now very well know, is sitting on your cushion. Report an error

4:24 Going through the practices and cultivating, cultivating. And there are people for whom that's worked spectacularly well, so they're good methods. But the other method is fine too. And that is, when this retreat is over, if you find that maybe it's not all that wrong, just sitting on the cushion and imagining people and so forth and so on, but if you can take the seed of it, all the essential... Report an error

4:48 Practices are right there on the notes. If you can bring that out into the world, maybe you'll be one of those people who develops greater loving kindness, compassion and so forth by acting in a loving and kind and compassionate and empathetic way. And whatever works, because the whole point of the meditation, right, you remember it, the whole point of meditation is you're poised to act in a very loving and kind way. Report an error

5:11 You're poised to act in a very compassionate way. If you're not, then the practice doesn't work. It was phony. Because if you're not arousing a genuine aspiration, then you're not arousing love and kindness. But if you generate an aspiration, like for example, if you're sitting here thinking, I'd really like something, I'd really like a hot drink. Report an error

5:30 I'd really like a hot drink, but I can't have one right. Report an error

5:39 And then the session's over, and you walk out there, and then there's hot chocolate. What are you going to do? You're going to drink hot chocolate, right? Because you arouse the aspiration, and now you can do it, so you act on it. Because you're arousing the aspiration, you're poised, and now, oh, there it is, you can do it. So it's the same. Report an error

5:53 You arouse the aspiration, and then when you see someone to whom you can actually offer some service, they will do it. When you see somebody having troubles, or maybe you can prevent them from having troubles, you'll do it. The aspiration is already there, and they're just giving you the opportunity to carry through with it. So I hope that was encouraging, because there really are different approaches, and we can always do a combination. Report an error

6:17 But please don't be discouraged. I've been teaching meditation a long time, and the one thing you really want to avoid, if you possibly can, Is avoid chronic frustration. Report an error

6:30 Just generally the sense that I'm not doing it very well. Kind of reminding yourself, I'm not doing very well, right? I'm not doing very well. Imagine you're a parent. So, imagine you're a parent. Imagine really hard. Try hard. And imagine telling your children on a regular basis, you're really not doing as well as I expected. Report an error

6:52 I was hoping more from you. You're a little nine-year-old. I was really hoping more from you. A bit disappointed. Just every day, every week. Somebody should fire you, right? He's a terrible parent. So if that's really atrocious parenting, then it's atrocious to ourselves as well. Let's be nice here. Give ourselves a bit of a lift, a bit of encouragement. This doesn't help. So chronic frustration, chronic sense of not doing it well, not doing it well. Report an error

7:25 If you want to make sure that your meditative practice, your spiritual practice in general, will fizzle out, that's the best way to do it. That's the best way to engineer it. Have the sense you're not doing well, kind of frustrated, it's not working, etc., etc. So confidence, confidence. So even for the six days, then I always, whenever I'm leading a retreat, I always have the same motivation. Report an error

7:49 I'm just, every time the same, nothing special. And an aspiration. Motivation is trying to be of service, of course. But I have an aspiration as well. And the aspiration for every retreat, even if it's a weekend retreat, is that whatever I'm teaching, My aspiration, of course, is to teach as well as I can, but in terms of aspirations of people attending, participating, I'll tell you really simply, it's the aspiration that people leave with confidence. Report an error

8:14 In terms of conceptual understanding, this is not terribly complicated, so there's no reason you shouldn't come out with a clear understanding of this material. So that's a good starter. But then we're not here just as a workshop or a colloquium, not just an information transfer, but as we'll do right now, we'll have two sessions in silence. It's to really get some experience. Report an error

8:33 Of knowing how to do the practices, knowing that you're doing it well, doing it correctly, and having some confidence. Yeah, for that one, mindfulness of breathing, different modalities, I know how to do those, and I found that one helpful. And then we'll move on to different shamatha practices over the next few days, and I'll teach it as clearly as I can, but the aspiration is that if you venture into it, that if you find it helpful, then when you leave here, you leave with the confidence, I know how to do that practice, and I actually have a pretty good sense that could be helpful. Report an error

9:01 That's competence, right? So that's what I'm aspiring for, your confidence. I said two silent sessions, whatever method you do like, whatever something. I Report an error

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10:05 don't always do this in a retreat, but I'm going to do it this time. I would like to invoke what I call the toggle rule. Some of you know the toggle rule. The toggle is to go like that, like to toggle a rope. It's the toggle rule. And the toggle rule is that, especially if you go into the supine position for meditation, while you're there, You are placing your hands and your feet in the public domain so that if you should start snoring at any time, your nearest neighbor, hopefully within hand's reach, has the right to toggle your hand or your foot until the snoring stops. Report an error

10:46 You don't have to wake up. If you want to sleep, that's fine. But snoring, if one person's snoring, 50 people get to meditate on snoring. Which is actually not one of the techniques I was teaching here. You know, we have enough on our hands. But that's it. So the rest of your body is private property, hands off, but just your hands and your feet. And I would encourage, if you go into a supine position, that you are within hand's reach somewhere. Report an error

11:10 So they can just toggle your foot or your hand just until snowing stops. And then they stop toggling. So if you refuse, you can raise your hand. Anybody refuse to have your hand or foot toggled? Okay. Okay, we're all in agreement. So there we go. Report an error

11:31 Toggle roll. Yay. Yay for toggles. Come on, Lama. So, questions or comments? Any hand. Dani is the first to punch. Go ahead. It's coming. Report an error

11:47 Before I ask my question, I have a little three questions. Before you give your talk, I can take a deep breath. What goes on in your mind before you have an information for you to talk? And also, I think your snap. I was wondering about that. Oh, yeah. Sure. then answering my question, you know what I mean? It's a curiosity. Report an error

12:11 Sure, sure, sure. When I'm leading, especially general retreats like this, I don't tend to have much ritual. In general, I just don't have much ritual at all when I'm teaching. Report an error

12:23 So, you want to know the innermost steps of my mind. Oh, wow. Nosy, nosy. Report an error

12:35 Sure. First of all this, when you sit down, this is a tradition and I like it, it's meaningful for me. And that is, I'm sitting here, this is by the way, this isn't just a chair, this is a Dharma throne. That's what it's called, Dharma throne. Because it's a place to offer Dharma and that's something sacred and something very meaningful. And so when sitting there, then it's an old tradition, I mean it's centuries old, that when the teacher sits down, you snap your fingers. Report an error

12:59 And the meaning of that, which I do pretty much remember, is it's just a reminder, not to anybody else, it's private. The message to me, it's a reminder of impermanence, my own, my own mortality. It's really refreshing, it's very relaxing, actually. And so when I sit down, it's just, the way I phrase it, I like to do phrases, dead man talking. Report an error

13:26 In a very nice way, a very relaxed way. But I'm here simply to offer my best. And some people will like it and some people probably won't like it. And some people respond with respect and other ones not. And I have no control over that. Report an error

13:43 And so if this were my last night, if I'm going to die in my sleep tonight, really then what other people think of me, they appreciate, they don't appreciate, they respect, don't respect. What does it matter? I'm going to be dead by tomorrow morning. So it's very helpful then. It makes it very light. And I do a lot of public speaking and I basically never get nervous. Report an error

14:01 It doesn't matter how many people. It doesn't matter. I just offer my best. If you don't like it, don't invite me back. It's really simple. So that's what that's about. Just keep it clean. Keep out the eight mundane concerns, all the mundane concerns. Just offer your best and then you're finished. It makes it very light, very much at ease. And I like that because I don't like being anxious. Report an error

14:23 So that's one point. And then the other one, I'm not quite sure how much I want to tell you, but I Report an error

14:41 want me to be altruistic to you. You want me to be altruistic to you. No, no, it's fine, I'm just teasing, I'm teasing. Sure. Genetically programmed. What's that? Genetically programmed. Genetically programmed. So no, I'm not happy to share because there's nothing really secret about it. Report an error

15:00 I have a great reverence for the teachings I'm passing on. They're not mine, otherwise I just think I'm a really clever guy, let me tell you how clever I am. But I don't have that sense. Report an error

15:10 There's a kind of a current, a lineage that comes through. Sure. Report an error

15:14 I've had marvelous teachers who I really revere. But even more than the teachers, I revere the teaching. They really are sacred. They're sacred in the sense that not that they're simply holy, holy, like something transcendent, but the benefit can be so deep. Report an error

15:28 And so when I sit down and I sit quietly, I'll do this even at a big conference. I'm going to be speaking at a conference in a couple of days. I'll probably do the same thing I generally do. I'll stand at the podium and I'll just pause for a minute. Report an error

15:44 Cleaning out, clearing out, emptying out, and then really calling for blessings. Calling for blessings. Because I've found many times, actually frequently, that when I'm teaching, if the motivation is as pure as it can be, as pure as I can make it be, just no strength attached, nothing, no grasping. Call for blessings. I often find that what comes through is actually better than what I can offer. And I'm not saying, and this doesn't imply, I think you, but just by your body language, I think you get what I'm saying. Report an error

16:15 This is not something, it's not something, oh look how special I am. I'm divinely blessed or something. It's nothing like that. It's just that when one opens oneself up, blessings can flow. I often hear people will say, I just offer my best, but it happens especially when I'm doing the long-term retreats where I'm really kind of into a flow. Report an error

16:36 And people will say, you must be clairvoyant because what you talked about this evening was just what I needed to hear. And I'm not. I'm not clairvoyant. But it often happens that what is offered does strike a note. And I'm just happy and I'm grateful. what's happening. This is kind of a call for blessings. I don't know what a reason that means. Report an error

16:59 No, it's fine. It's a really good question. It doesn't translate into science. Poetry doesn't translate into science. Are you really talking? No, I'm not really talking. Report an error

17:13 Are you asking someone to help you? No, I'm not asking anybody to help me. These are all perfectly good questions. In my worldview, and it's really Mahāyāna Buddha's worldview, each of us has our ground state, our Buddha nature, is something that is truly sublime. It's divine if you like. It's sacred. It's pure. It's primordial. It's beyond space and time. And so it's basically invoking the depths of one's own Buddha nature that what's coming is coming from a very deep place and not a shallow place. Report an error

17:50 So calling for blessing, not from someone outside. For the last 24 years, my orientation of my practice has been very much embedded in a teaching I'm not giving here, but I'm alluding to it now and then. It's called in Tibetan Dzogchen, or The Great Perfection. And I really, utterly stand in awe of these teachings. Report an error

18:09 I mean, they just, they pull me over. The depth of them is just quite stunning to my mind. And when I was 20, it was a book on that. That I picked up. Hardly understood anything. But intuitively, it just hooked me. And it was 20 years before I had the opportunity to start studying it. And that's what I've been really immersing myself in ever since. And so that's the context. And I mention that right now. Report an error

18:39 Because there's a phrase. We had Dzogchen Lama come to Santa Barbara. I invited him there and he came and gave a marvelous couple of days of teaching. Really one of the greatest, perhaps the greatest Lama of Bhutan. Quite remarkable Lama. I have a lot of respect for him. And at the end of these two days of teaching that he gave, which were really, truly outstanding, he said, all right, now there's one kind of pledge, kind of like a pledge, a commitment you make when you receive Dzogchen teachings and you only want to practice. Report an error

19:08 And here's the pledge. Don't look for the Buddha outside yourself. Don't look for the Buddha outside yourself. And so when I'm sitting there quietly, I'm not calling on some other being, here I am, please help me, give me a hand here. But it is an invocation, but it's really an invocation, speaking to my own depths, that the very best can be offered. Report an error

19:31 So that's about it. Thank you. I think you're patient with my three questions. Oh, they're perfectly good. Perfectly good, yeah. I have many questions, but I'll... Just to point out, Report an error

19:50 when we're talking about how, again, just going back to this paradigm that we're having, this paradigm of the mind-gashing effect or creating reality, I was hoping that you could give some sort of framework to mention that view is very important for any intention, spiritual practice, etc. So we know that. Report an error

20:16 is our representation of reality. Even though this is... What do I... A little bit farther away from your mouth. Yeah, that's bad. It gets quite blurry when it's right next to the mouth. So we know, what do we know? Well, that reality, well, even though we can't understand reality, because we don't have a conscious experience of it, we know that reality affects mind, right? Report an error

20:39 So one will think, let's say, this fascinating part 5, and he's about what love is. So the trouble is which emotions do you follow and which emotions are just an illusionary trick, let's say. And as far as which emotions are worth cultivating. So this is my confusion as to why it goes on to my conscious experience. Report an error

21:13 What do I want to do? What do I cultivate? So, for instance, love and passion and mental disorders the same way the mother loves her child. But to my understanding, this is also... Report an error

21:27 of an evolutionary trait. So, for instance, prairie goals, regarding the lack of this experiment, prairie goals are not... Prairie? Prairie goals. I'm still not kidding. A prairie vole, I wasn't expecting that. I didn't see a prairie vole, so I'm jumping into your conversation. Prairie voles are monogamous. Report an error

21:49 Monogamous. If you hold the microphone a little bit further. There we go. Prairie voles, I'm getting a lesson on prairie voles. Actually, the reason why I'm here is because my business coach told us to put the microphone here, so I'll just condition it. Report an error

22:06 Okay, so prayer calls. Are monogamous. Yeah, bond for life. Okay. Got it. Now, medical roles are polygamous. Now, if you block the race of the press of the press of the press of the press of the press of the press, they become polygamous. So someone who they're faithful with, you know, I only have ice cream in my darling, I'm going to be faithful to you. If you're the race of the press of the press of the press of the press, they become polygamous. Report an error

22:37 not only that, if you insert the genes through a virus that can be found in the genes that are involved in those receptors, if you replace little sequence of genes in the particles with the ones in the metal hole... I've got it. you can probably hear all those, it starts with these right obstacles in the air, and you can really feel like emotions that people think are so human and so worthy if there's a correlation between people who commit adultery. Report an error

23:17 Thank you. Thank you. a speaker of truth, and I'm going to go back and hear my views just as a speaker of truth. Yeah. So... Report an error

23:31 frame where it's going to stand there. is going on unconsciousness that affects as well, but could you give some sort of framework that will help clarify? Report an error

23:57 it, but I in my whole life. You hate kids your whole life? Just don't like kids? You want to have some so you can have somebody close by to hate? I don't want it. You don't want it. I don't want it to live a lasting life. You just better say, Ah, sorry. I'm very, you know, driven. I don't want to waste my time. Report an error

24:17 So, please don't waste my time. It is apparently 700 year. Report an error

24:25 I've heard yeah I think we should probably wrap up Report an error

24:31 one had a child. Report an error

24:40 how you know it stays in Report an error

24:46 this, know, this whole mind-body problem you're praying with. Report an error

24:53 I've had a Report an error

25:02 lot of conversation with Paul Ekman, my very dear and respected friend, who is very, very enthusiastic. A follower, an admirer, and he's also written quite eloquently about Charles Darwin and his theory, his life. He's really studied him extensively. And Paul is quite persuaded. As his working hypothesis, he's a materialist and he's very open-minded. And I just love to see how he keeps on being open-minded as he gets older and older. But the point here being that his view, which I'm sure is shared by many, many people, perhaps everybody who's an evolutionary biologist. Report an error

25:34 Is that every emotion we have has proven itself to be, in some way or another, adaptive. Somehow good for us, in a very specific sense. Survival and procreation. It pretty much boils down to that. So he's quite convinced of that. I'm not, but Report an error

25:59 that's my working hypothesis. But rather than tackle your question head on... adaptive, adaptive. Report an error

26:03 I'd like to go back to the content of what we're doing here for the whole six weeks, because I hardly ever use the word emotion, except for, oh yeah, they tag along. Report an error

26:14 People by temperament, obviously I'm going to say something really obvious, people temperament, some people are just more feely, just more strong in emotion, they tend to be just more emotional, and I don't think it all has to do with gender, maybe, I've never seen any study, but some people clearly are more emotional, they respond emotionally. Report an error

26:32 More strongly to a given circumstance than other people do. The fact that one responds, some people are strong emotors, that doesn't imply to me that they're more loving or more compassionate. It just implies exactly what it's stated. They have more emotion. Other people are less emotional, but their aspiration, their caring and their concern may be very strong. Report an error

26:54 It just doesn't come with a great big emotional charge. And I'm quite persuaded that's true. And so this is really, I'll just have to re-emphasize it because you've used the word emotions so frequently and I use it so rarely. I have nothing against emotions at all. I think I have a whole bandwidth of them. Report an error

27:10 But that's just not the focus of the training and not the central theme of anything I'm teaching here. Whether or not all emotions are biologically adaptive, they may be. Report an error

27:23 I've pressed Paul on this point because from a hedonic perspective. We'll have his seven. He has seven. You probably know he correlates with facial expression. It's really good science. So happiness. Adaptive, yes. Unhappy, sure, could be very useful. Anger, definitely, for warding off. As he said, removing obstacles. And then surprise, could be very useful. Report an error

27:47 Fear, definitely, big time. Contempt, that's one of the ones that shows up with a very specific signature on the face. And then disgust. And disgust is generally for inanimate things, like disgusted by dog feces, something like that. But as Paul has defined contempt, it's always for another, usually as a human being, at least a sentient being, and it entails a sense of moral superiority, that I'm looking down on you, you're less than I am. Report an error

28:14 And it's the only, of all the facial expressions, I won't run through them, but they're pretty simple, it's the only one that's asymmetrical. All of the rest of them, it's even, left and right. Contempt is the only one that goes like this. It goes off, either way. Report an error

28:30 But it has that asymmetry of it. And that's the real signature of it. The contempt has that slant to it. So I've asked Paul exactly how is that biologically adaptive, contempt, because that's the one that really jumps out at me. And we kind of go back and forth. Not really clear. But what I have noticed in our conversations, because we've had many rich conversations now over 14 years, is to try to come up with biological explanations. Report an error

28:59 For every human impulse that we have, it looks to me like it gets a bit far-fetched. And where it really far-fetched is compassion. I've read so many hypotheses, Paul has too. And compassion, what's it good for? Well, if a male is compassionate, females will be attracted to him and he can have more sex with him. That's when it just doesn't wash for me. Report an error

29:20 It just doesn't do it for me at all. But coming back to the central point, I'm going to sidestep your question and go right back to the core here. Report an error

29:31 Our aspirations, our desires. Because emotions, again, they're so fleeting. They're so fleeting. Just by definition, they're fleeting. So I'm just not going to spend any time. I don't remember having spent one minute saying, I'm going to not cultivate an emotion. Because as soon as I've cultivated, it's going to be gone anyway. So, I mean, what's the point? Report an error

29:51 Whereas aspirations, especially in Mahāyāna Buddhism, this is the current, went north-south up to Tibet, Mongolia there, the Bodhisattva ideal, all that. The centrality of motivation cannot be overestimated. The significance, the meaning of any type of endeavor that we engage in is defined in part by the nature of the task itself. Report an error

30:16 Are you punching somebody or giving them something very nice? Well, that's not motivation, that's an action. But when this broad bandwidth of activities that we engage in, and we'll just set aside those which are by nature malevolent, You're going to set those aside. Whatever your motivation is, don't do it. But there's an awful lot left over that's not malevolent. Report an error

30:38 It gets to be neutral or it can be virtuous. What determines how significant, how meaningful, how beneficial that action is? And it keeps on coming back to motivation. Motivation, motivation. Sitting and watching your breath for 15 minutes. Really, how significant is that? I would suggest, number one, if your technique is good, you know how to practice and all of that, okay, we're taking care of that. Now, how meaningful is that? And it comes back to not how much emotion is coming up, it doesn't come back to how much bliss is coming up. Report an error

31:08 You can't really control that, sometimes it comes, sometimes it doesn't. Motivation. And so, what's your motivation? And so, one motivation is, I want to be more productive in the marketplace, I want to make more money, there's a promotion that's coming up and I really want to get it. So I'm going to be really composed. I'm going to follow my breath. And so when I come to the next board meeting, I'm going to make a real impression. Okay, that's hedonic. Report an error

31:32 That's not Dharma. That's, okay, you want a promotion. Okay, that's one of your techniques. Maybe it's yoga. Maybe it's getting a spa. Maybe it's taking a jacuzzi first. But it's not Dharma. And why? It's not because of your technique. The technique could be the same one we're practicing here. It's all motivation. I'll give another example I really like. Report an error

31:51 I've thought of it many times. When I was a graduate student at Stanford, we had a big bookstore there. It was quite a large, very good bookstore. And part of this bookstore was just selling office supplies, paper, pencils and so forth. And I went in there one day just to buy ordinary stuff. I don't know what it was. It doesn't even matter. But the woman behind the counter, maybe 30 years old, 35, I don't know. Report an error

32:15 I don't really remember what she looks like because that's not what impressed me. What I remember is that I was just... You know, picking the stuff up and then engaging with her as a human being. It's kind of normal. I just sensed this goodness from her. I don't know what else to call it. A goodness, a graciousness, a presence, a kindness in her face, the tone of the voice. Report an error

32:36 Just her whole way of engaging was, I thought, wow. I just like, oh. I didn't say anything. I just, you know, but wow. That was really nice. And she was selling pencils. There was nothing special about it, but the activity itself. She really made an impression on me. I thought, wow, she's quite an exceptional individual. The way she was simply there and engaging and attentive. That was it. Report an error

33:04 I left the bookstore. It was very nice to meet that person. There was nothing more to it. I didn't want to get her name or anything like that. It was just what I said. Nothing more to that. And then about a month or two later, I was reading the Stanford Daily, the newspaper, and there was a whole article about her that didn't surprise me. Report an error

33:24 I wasn't the only person that had that impression. A lot of people had noticed, she's really quite an exceptional person, go buy some pencils, you'll find out. And so it wasn't the act, because there was nothing exceptional she did, nothing at all. But it was the presence, the quality of awareness that she brought to it, that she clearly touched the lives of many people, including my own. And that was before I read the articles, I had no expectations. Report an error

33:50 And so if we come to, not to emotions which come and go, they're kind of unpredictable, a bit uncontrollable also. As Paul said, emotions happen to us. Whereas aspirations don't happen to us. I mean, a desire comes up. But then when a desire comes up, if we've developed our metacognitive ability, which is to say we're aware of a desire coming up before we act on it. Paul Eichmann calls this a spark and a flame. Report an error

34:16 An impulse comes up. A desire, something like that. An impulse to say something, what have you. And if we're aware of the impulse, the desire, before it comes out. Then there can be a bit of monitoring there, what I call cognitive intelligence. Something's coming up, an impulse to say something. If there's a bit of a monitor there, before it comes out unedited, maybe a little bit of evaluation. Report an error

34:42 Is this worth saying? Is this meaningful? Might this be helpful? If in doubt, you know. That's something we actually can hone that ability. And as Paul Ekman so rightly points out, there are many points where he's completely right on the spot with Buddhism. I mean, right in the court, that's why we've had a lot of common ground, is that if one has some wise monitoring of the impulses coming out, not the emotions so much, but the desires which give rise to intentions, which give rise to actions. Report an error

35:12 Emotions come up, they don't necessarily give rise to anything except for we emote, that is, some facial expression. But that doesn't necessarily imply a desire to act or an intention to act. But desires and intentions, well, that's really where the rubber hits the road. And so Paul's point here as a very astute psychologist is that this is an invaluable trait or quality, ability to cultivate, to be aware of the impulses that are arising with wisdom so that when we see them coming up, we can screen them and see is this something to share with the world or is it not? Report an error

35:44 And if it's not, if we don't have any sense that this would be really actually helpful or meaningful. In any way, then it comes up almost like somebody in junior high school. I don't know where you went to school, but when I was in junior high school, we had these dances. It's really awkward for a 13-year-old. But you come in, would you like to dance? Would you like to dance? And then the girl says, no, thank you. Report an error

36:10 If she wants to, no, thank you. She doesn't have to accept. And so it's like that. A thought comes up, would you like to dance? Would you like to join with me? Would you like to go for a spin? And if you see the dance, if the desire is really not going to be helpful, not meaningful, not constructive in any way, then you can simply say, no, thank you, and wait for the next inviter to come up. Report an error

36:33 So in this regard, whether our desires are biologically driven, whether they're not biologically driven, how can we know? It's hard to sift out exactly what's coming from where. But we can use our imagination and our memory and our intelligence when an impulse comes up, a desire comes up. To see it, see whether it's worthy, if it's in accordance with our own ideals, whether it's likely to make something beneficial, something meaningful in our engagement with the world around us or not. Report an error

37:01 I know that in my case, sometimes I'll see some behavior that I think is inappropriate and suitable on the part of somebody, maybe a spouse, maybe somebody else I know. And so an impulse sometimes comes up, I could make a suggestion here, right? I could make a suggestion, I think maybe I could help you improve some behavior. Report an error

37:20 And as soon as I see that impulse, then the thought will come up, do you think it's going to be helpful? And very, very often, no. No. I have no reason to believe at all that this person has any interest in what I might suggest. So why don't you just give it a rest? And so that's much more than emotion. Report an error

37:40 It's the desires. So if we go back to that Kalama Sutta, that rather long discourse right at the beginning, where the Buddhists... So it's suggesting that there's such a thing as really healthy skepticism that we, for those of us, you and me, and I'm sure probably everybody else in the room here, who are really interested in truth. Report an error

37:58 It doesn't have to have Buddhist before it. It doesn't have to have scientific before it either. It's either true or false. And I'd like to know the true part so I can live in accordance with that. And that is really actually a big, long passion for me. A life of meaning, definitely, and a life of truth. That pretty much summarizes what I want out of life. Report an error

38:15 I want my life to be true in accordance with truth as much as I can, and I want it to be not only true but meaningful, because the two are not equivalent. They're not equivalent, not in my mind. And so in that regard, then the cultivation of meaningful aspirations, and they can be cultivated, and then following through with them. Report an error

38:36 So final point with regards to the mother, and that is, the Dalai Lama has really pointed this, I think he's really nailed this one, and he said, It's not only mothers, of course. Mothers are paradigmatic, but many, many fathers, too, are truly loving fathers. They're not straining at it. It comes very naturally, especially for their own children. Report an error

38:55 So it does come, of course, for both genders. And so that's clearly biologically given, because if parents didn't have that, their kids would die really quickly. So there's no question about that. And so we have some kind of capital. We have some money in the bank there. That we got, we didn't earn it. It came because we were warm-blooded. Now, cold-blooded, not so much. Snakes and other kind of reptiles, amphibians, generally, they'll often just drop their eggs and that's it. Report an error

39:22 So, none of that. But the warm-blooded ones, the mammals and the birds, that's very, very common. And so we know we have kind of a biological imperative there. That's kind of like money in the bank that we inherited and were born. But it does tend to peter out. fade out pretty quickly, and that is if you're watching your child with a bunch of other kids in the playground, there's one child you're really monitoring. Report an error

39:49 And so the point of spiritual practice, if we want to call it that point of Dharma, point of... Seeking greater and greater eudaimonia, greater meaning in life, is to take the biological momentum we already have, which is there as a given, and then see where it starts to break off, where it starts to fizzle out, taper off. Report an error

40:23 That's where the barriers are. That's where the barriers are. And then, here's where our spiritual evolution becomes deliberate. As you very well know, other evolution are not deliberate at all. It's genetic mutation and adaptation, that's it. Report an error

40:38 But I think the phrase spiritual evolution is not hokey or silly or new-agey. It can be extremely meaningful. And it's conscious and it's intelligent, it's deliberate. And it sees an ideal, sees something that at least in our own lives does not yet manifest but could be. And one can ask this question, would I like to be a person? This is something I even aspire to. Would I like to be a person so that whoever I engage with, my heart is equally open? Report an error

41:10 Whether they're attractive, unattractive, male, female, young, old, rich, poor, what have you. Human or non-human. But I would like my heart to be equally open and attentive, such that I care about them equally. Whoever it is. The way of phrasing this is a bodhisattva ideal. The bodhisattva is everyone's unknown friend. Report an error

41:33 It's a nice phrase. You don't know that person's your friend. But if you encounter that person, you'll find, oh, I actually... He's already my friend and I didn't have to earn it. But that ideal right there, is that an ideal that you would like to at least more and more embody? Is it a North Star you'd like to navigate by? Report an error

41:51 Christian called it unconditional love. That however people treat me, I'd like to have my heart open and care for them because they deserve it already. If that's an ideal, that would be part of a meaningful life. That would be part of the cultivation of virtue. If understanding virtue and genuine happiness... Report an error

42:10 Are all significant for leading a meaningful life. That's definitely virtue. And so when one sees a virtue like to cultivate, then one does so. And if one also sees on the other side of the ledger, mental afflictions, self-centered detachment, sense of superiority, pride, arrogance, this, how do you say, craving. Report an error

42:35 I haven't defined it, but it's good to find it. I know this is going on long, but I think this is relevant to everyone. A very important distinction that I could have made earlier, but now's a really good time, a little mini Dharma talk here. And that is, it's often said by people who don't know Buddhism very well at all, that the root of suffering is desire. Report an error

42:53 Has anybody ever read that in Buddhism? The root of suffering is desire. I like the word bullshit once in a while because it really nails it, and that's bullshit. If one follows, again, follow the implications. The desire is a root of suffering. In other words, don't desire to be sitting there right now, but then don't desire to stand up. Report an error

43:13 Don't desire to meditate, for heaven's sake, that's more desire. Don't desire to eat if you get hungry. You see, it gets to be stupid immediately. Desire, number one, you're going to starve to death. Except you might want to starve to death, so don't desire that either. So desire is not the root of suffering. What we're cultivating here in the cultivation of love and kindness is desire. Report an error

43:37 It's an aspiration, it's a yearning, it's a desire for heaven's sake. I desire that you may find the happiness you seek, that you can flourish, be truly happy. That is clearly a desire. Report an error

43:47 So how are they misspeaking here? Because they miss the word. Desire is not the right word. We can desire many things that are very benevolent, virtuous, wholesome, meaningful. I desire to get a good education. I desire to be of good service. I desire to be a good grandfather, a stepfather, a husband, and so forth. What's wrong with that? And the answer is nothing wrong with that at all. Report an error

44:09 But then what were they trying to say? And what they're trying to say is that there's a mental affliction called... Different translations that craving is pretty good. There's a mental affliction called craving, and that is a form of desire, but it's rooted in delusion. And that's the difference. Desire isn't necessarily rooted in delusion at all, but the mental affliction, the klesha of craving, greed, attachment, all three of those words are used. Report an error

44:37 That's rooted in delusion. How so? It's actually quite simple. I'm going to take just a symbol. So this can be my symbol. But this can be a person, it could be an object, it could be a possession, it could be my body. It's just going to be a symbol. If I look upon this glass of water, not much left, this glass of water with attachment, then I'm looking upon it and I'm reaffining it as if it exists there, decontextualized. Report an error

45:02 It's all by itself, by its own inherent nature. It's self-contained, it's independent, it's right there. And I'm looking upon it and I'm seeing it from its own nature as being desirable and more I'm seeing this. That will give me happiness. That will give me pleasure. So I'm seeing it as a variable source of pleasure. That will, that person, place, object, status, what have you, that will make me happy. Report an error

45:26 This glass of water, that's going to make me happy. If I can only acquire it and hold on to it, that's going to make me happy. And as I'm looking at, I'm falling in love with, becoming infatuated with this glass. Bear in mind, of course, it's just a symbol. I'm doing so, I'm seeing all the attractive qualities of glass. I'm seeing it as 100 % attractive. Report an error

45:46 Desirable. I've got to have it. That's my better half right there. That's what's going to give me happiness. And whatever negative qualities, like it's a bit stained there and so forth, you don't see those. Those get filtered out. So I'm filtering out anything unattractive. I'm seeing only the attractive and then I'm accentuating the attractive. I'm elaborating, embellishing, exaggerating. Report an error

46:05 That's called attachment. But it's rooted in delusion. If there's no delusion, it's not attachment. There's no delusion, it's not attachment, it's not a mental affliction. Mental afflictions are all rooted in some misapprehension of reality, by definition. So we can take the example of anger. Report an error

46:23 Now there's an interesting one. That is definitely, it is an emotion. Is it biologically adaptive? Definitely yes. You want to protect your meat, you just killed an animal, you want to protect it. Your spouse, your partner, your mate, you want to give a lot of babies to, or give babies to, I don't know. Report an error

46:40 Protect like that, protect from somebody else taking and so forth. So anger is very clearly, can be biologically adapted. Is anger necessarily afflictive? Is it necessarily a mental affliction? Paul Ekman and the Dalai Lama have had a lot of conversations about that. And of course I know something about it myself, I'm a student of Buddhism. Report an error

46:59 And the answer is not necessarily. Anger is not necessarily a mental affliction. Report an error

47:06 Now the Dalai Lama has commented, he never experiences hatred. He's very candid. By and large, I say, if he says something about himself, it's probably true. Unless he's doing that, I'm so Buddhist monk business. I wouldn't take all that all that seriously. But in terms of something, he said, I never experience hatred. Report an error

47:22 Never comes up. Not part of his repertoire. Not towards the Chinese communists, not towards anybody else. He said, I just never feel hatred. Anger, yeah. Anger comes up. Report an error

47:34 So when anger comes up, might it be constructive? Paul's very interested in that one. Might anger be constructive? Not only not a mental affliction, but... Can anger be something constructive that could be actually part of your Dharma practice? Not a bump, not a deviation, not a detour. But could anger actually be part of something you embrace in your spiritual practice? Report an error

47:58 The answer is in principle, yeah, can be. It all depends on what it's directed to and whether or not, if it's rooted in delusion. If it's rooted in delusion, no. It doesn't matter whether you're angry at a paperclip. If it's rooted in delusion, then it's a mental affliction. But might anger be clean, not rooted in delusion, intelligent and directed towards something that needs to be dispelled? Report an error

48:22 The answer is yeah, it could be. But one wanted to handle that like a snake. Handle a snake very well and you might be able to squeeze its head and get the venom out and make an anti-venom serum, right? But you want to be very careful with the snake. The snake actually symbolizes anger in Buddhism. Report an error

48:38 So anger is one of those things that is an emotion, but most mental afflictions are not. But now to give a short answer, because we do tend to have long, long dialogues here. I have to be careful of you. I would just say this, that it's much, much more about the cultivation of aspirations and motivation than it is about emotions. Report an error

49:01 Our lives are largely defined by our motivations. Meaningful life, unmeaningful, malevolent, benevolent, motivation, really core. And they gave that example of the woman selling pencils and so forth. Because one can say, boy, what a dead-end job. Trivial, meaningless job. She's selling pencils. It wasn't meaningless. Not for her. For other people it can be. Exactly the same job, same salary. Just a way to kill time just to get some money. That's it. Nothing at all. Report an error

49:30 But for her, she brought to that a grace, a benevolence, a kindness. Something really from the heart. Quite tangible. That was a very meaningful job for her. Report an error

49:44 So it's everything motivation. Final word. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify that when I said, hey, and I need kids, does everyone think badly to me? I never actually see them purposely because I don't really have that experience of, hey, I just didn't notice them. You didn't notice children? don't want to think of that person. Why? Report an error

50:10 I think you're surrounded. I think I understand. You don't notice kids. I understood, yeah. And I saw all these fierce frowns. One of those. Do you like Dalmatians? Report an error

50:36 Do you like clothes made out of puppy skins? Report an error

50:42 No, I don't think. and do the television. I don't know. Report an error

50:45 you confirm that? Okay, you're getting a thumbs up from prison. Report an error

51:07 back to the goals okay the monogamous or the polo Report an error

51:15 I've got to get them fixated. I didn't see those bowls coming in. They really caught my attention. Report an error

51:25 Goals, goals, yes. Report an error

51:29 it's useful if it supports our goal, right? That's right. So our purpose in existence, let's say, is enlightenment, fashion, whatever. I was going to ask you a little bit on what? Report an error

51:43 kids. But from my understanding, I was reading from That's right. Oh, that one. Oh, that one. Report an error

51:55 aspirations of kindness. Report an error

52:01 our well-being and becoming an eflon So we don't attach to anything in the world, and then we can slowly vanish. Vanish. What vanishes? Vanish. Well, there's a flame going out. So my acquaintance of the, when I read for Buddhism, it's the early Buddhist text. Right, right. So I read the comparative, I said between the Atmas and the past. Right. Report an error

52:30 So that's my understanding of the language. But I was going to ask you later, maybe another day. Why don't we just go there right now? This is important. There's not a deviation because all of these practices, all these practices, these four measurables, which is a thing for these six days, it's all oriented toward one's own freedom, one's own liberation. Report an error

53:00 Then we can say, freedom from what? Let's set aside just for the time being reincarnation and karma. Because in Buddhism, you don't have to believe that stuff first. In fact, you don't have to believe anything first. I can tell you three qualities, remember? I don't think, maybe I've said it this time. But to venture onto, in a meaningful and successful, productive way, to venture onto a Buddhist path, according to classic text, Ayodeva, the 400. Report an error

53:23 Only three qualities are needed. If you say, I'm interested in Buddhism, how do I venture? How can I go forward? Is it okay? Do I need to believe something first? And the answer is, no, you don't have to believe anything first. But you do need three qualities for this to be a really meaningful venture for you, and not just get detoured. Report an error

53:39 And so it is. The first one is being open-minded. And open-minded means one is willing in an utterly searingly honest way to critically assess one's own beliefs, one's own assumptions, one's own preconceptions, and not simply be holding on to them because they're mine. So open-minded means... When one hears anew of you, or hear evidence and so forth, be as critical as you like. Nobody's asking you to be less intelligent, but in fact you're open to evidence that may contradict your own beliefs. Report an error

54:14 And if you're not, then you really can't do very well in Buddhism. And that's not easy. Scientists know that's not easy. Buddhists know that's not easy. To be truly open to evidence that jars, which is not compatible with your current belief system. And so that's the first point. It's a big challenge, but there it is exactly. Open-mindedness, especially with being willing to critically assess one's own, even one's own deeply rooted, entrenched beliefs, assumptions, and so forth. Report an error

54:44 So that's the first one. The second one is one must be perceptive. It's not saying you have to have 120 IQ or 130, 150. It just means that you need to be attending closely to what's taking place. Don't be blurry-eyed. Don't be complacent. Don't be dull. Attend closely, close application of mindfulness. Develop a perceptiveness, coming from not necessarily great problem-solving ability, but by attending very closely, taking seriously, examining closely. Report an error

55:12 So that's the second one, being perceptive. And the third one, third and final, is that one really has a passion, a true yearning, to put teachings into practice so you can test them. In other words, you're not simply here to develop a big library of Buddhist books to think about them a lot and say, boy, it's really cool or it's not so cool or it's pessimistic and I've understood that. Report an error

55:35 But rather like a person who's really hungry coming into a restaurant to read the menu. And you may read the menu, you may study the menu, but you're really there for us to eat the food and not just to memorize the menu and then write a book about the menu. And so one studies Buddhism. If one is really serious about it, in order to find those practices that are amenable, suitable, seem meaningful, and then put them into practice. And if you don't have any real interest in putting in the practice, then this is not the path. Report an error

56:05 So those three, and that's it. So you don't have to believe in this, that or the other thing first. And reading the Pāli Canon, one thing that really struck me when I was reading fairly intensively in the mid-70s and then when I lived in Sri Lanka in 1980, 81, Report an error

56:22 In the teaching of the life of the Buddha, there are quite a number of occasions, because he taught for a long time, that people would come to him seeking guidance. They want to know what's true. They'd like to know how to be free. And he would give them some instruction, give them some teaching. And they'd say, okay, got it. And they'd go off and practice. Report an error

56:41 And then, on many occasions in these accounts, they'd actually gain realization of Naman. A very, very deep, liberating realization. They become stream-enter. Okay, stream-enter. And having become stream enter, then they return to the Buddha and then they would take refuge. Taking refuge means they become Buddhists. They say, you've earned my trust. Report an error

57:03 I entrust my spiritual being, my life, the future of the direction I want to go. I'm placing my trust in you. That's what it is. And I'm tracing my trust in your Dharma. I found it to be good. And I place my trust in your Saṅgha, the followers of yours who have integrity, who have depth, who have some deep realization. Report an error

57:23 But that came after the realization, which is so interesting. In religion, they pretty much want you to sign on the dotted line first and you get the goodies later. If I can be a bit crass. Where here, that often happens. But the Buddha is often called the great physician. That's one of the epithets of the Buddha. That he's not called the great doctrinaire person passing on a doctrine. Report an error

57:45 But the fundamental point of the Buddhist teachings altogether is not to get a whole belief system right or to get grace because you've been obedient. All of that kind of business, which we associate with religion. He's a great physician because he's offering teachings that if you put them into practice, you'll find that you're really identifying the roots of suffering and dispelling them, identifying the roots of eudaimonia and cultivating them, and in so doing, finding greater and greater freedom. Report an error

58:14 So that's what this practice is really fundamentally about. So to wrap up, and this is all meaningful, so I don't have any problem that I'm not just fixating on one person here. These are big topics, and they're all very relevant here. And so if we go back to the Pāli Canon, these are the foundational, the bedrock of Buddhadharma as a whole, the most uncontested record of the Buddha's teachings. There's Mahāyāna, many Mahayanists believe it, but the Theravadans don't. Report an error

58:37 There's Vajrayana, Theravadans don't believe it, and all Mahayanists believe it, but Vajrayana do. But here's the one that's the least contested, widely accepted, even by Western scholars. And in this regard, you're quite right, that the ideal, this candle flame burning out, The ideal here, and it's not a judgment, it's just a straight report, because I've studied this and I think I know what I'm talking about. The ideal here is freedom. Report an error

59:04 Now, if we place this in the context of this life, without any reference to future life, karma and all of that, freedom in this life, what does that mean? I can tell you exactly what it means. That we are born with certain afflictive tendencies. You used the word toxicity, I believe. Toxicity is good. Report an error

59:23 Poisons. But afflictive, that is, we're born with certain afflictive tendencies, and the root one, the tap root, that gives rise to suffering is ignorance and then delusion, and delusion is misapprehending reality, getting it wrong. So ignorance is simply not knowing. That's kind of innocent. But getting it wrong is an act of misconstrual. And so that is a root mental affliction. Report an error

59:50 And out of that stem two derivative ones. And one of these is that craving where we latch onto objects as this is going to make me happy. This is going to be the wellspring of my happiness. If I can just latch onto that and keep it, I will be happy. Report an error

1:00:05 Well, that's delusional. That's delusional. Because if you think about anything in the world, any hedonic pleasure that gives you, that you go to that, whatever it is, you pick your own example. Report an error

1:00:21 Think about doing that for five hours straight or ten hours straight. Your favorite food, sex, music. Sunsets. Just name it. You say, I really enjoy this. Good. Now, you enjoy it for six hours straight. And so there's an interesting question here. What is a veritable source of happiness? Because many things can catalyze it. That's rather attractive blanket. I mean, it's rather nice when you have it on your lap. Report an error

1:00:48 It's nice. It's pleasing. I like orange. Now, do I want to gaze at it all day? No. But I kind of like orange. I mean, it's kind of fresh. It's sunshiny, you know. No. Report an error

1:00:59 When I trigger it, I get a mild sense of pleasure by looking at the pattern of the blanket. Mild. But if I keep on looking at it, that pleasure is going to vanish. Can I change the channel, please? I like maroon, too. And so that's a catalyst for a bit of pleasure. But clearly it's not a source of pleasure. Report an error

1:01:18 Otherwise, the more I gaze at it, the happier I become. So the very notion of source is the second noble truth. What's a source of suffering? What's a source of suffering? All kinds of things catalyze it. All kinds of things. In fact, virtually anything can happen for somebody. But what's the source? What's the actual source? Report an error

1:01:40 And we can ask the same question about happiness. What's an actual, is there such a thing as a source of happiness? And by source I mean something very specific, very clear, easy to understand. An artesian well, an artesian well, one that really springs to mind in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains in California where I used to live, right out of the granite. Report an error

1:02:01 This pure spring water is just flowing, flowing, flowing. So whenever you go to that artesian well, there's always water. Every single time. It's just year around, 365 days a year. And as long as you stay there, you just get more water. Whenever you go, you get water. For as long as you stay, you get water. Report an error

1:02:19 And if you stay a really long time, you're going to get a whole lot of water. Because that's a source of water. Not ultimate, but it really is a source of water, right? It's all clear. So now consider, have you ever encountered a source of happiness? Report an error

1:02:32 Catalysts for sure. Attractive people, pleasant places, nice car, etc. No question about that. But have you ever, let's just have a dialogue here. Have you ever encountered a source of happiness? There's a source of happiness, as an artesian wall, there's a source of water. Every time you go, you always get water. Report an error

1:02:50 For as long as you stay, you get more water. Anybody encountered a source of happiness? Meditation. Every time you meditate, you always experience happiness. It depends if it's deep, not to get to that. modal level, I suppose. Report an error

1:03:07 In other words, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. If you get that deep, it always is. Have you experienced that? I've experienced it as, yeah, if I get that deep, yes, it always is. Okay, I'm not going to refute that. Any other sources of happiness? When you experience love? And I know you mean it in this very meaningful way. Report an error

1:03:28 I presume so, yeah? Something like this, not sexual infatuation or loving chocolate. Yeah, sure. I'm perfectly happy. There's no reason not to call that love a source of happiness. Could well be right. Not only. Not only, of course, no. What's that? Not only, but always present. What is always present? What is always present? Report an error

1:03:58 Yeah. That is attached to love. Yeah. It's always present. Report an error

1:04:08 Yeah, maybe. It's a good question, though, isn't it? Well-being, that's what I mean. I don't mean hedonic pleasure. Well-being. Well-being. I mean something meaningful. Because again, if all I was really after was hedonic pleasure, I think I'd go for brain stimulation. And I'd cut out the middleman. Who needs donuts and sex and all that? Hit the pleasure center. Because the sex is hitting a pleasure center, right? That's what's actually stimulating it. So who needs sex? Report an error

1:04:37 Have the same pleasure without all the messiness. Report an error

1:04:47 That's a really interesting question. This is nice. Let's just do this. Sure. I think... What's that? Report an error

1:04:56 Peace of mind? Fleeting moments. Fleeting moments, yeah. Report an error

1:05:02 Yeah. Report an error

1:05:06 Sure. By everlasting happiness, if by that one means, and I don't think you do, if one means everlasting hedonic happiness, I don't want it and I don't think it exists. If you're meaning something much deeper and more meaningful, because I don't really find hedonic pleasure as hedonic pleasure meaningful. Report an error

1:05:03 I'm singing the songs together. Yeah. Yeah, so the... do you mean, will it be? Sure. Report an error

1:05:24 Pleasure, well sure, I like pleasure as much as anybody, but is it meaningful? But eudaimonia, how do you say? It's good. There's a sense of well-being there, it often manifests, it comes up in a wave of happiness, it's sure. Is it possible to be dwelling in a state of eudaimonia constantly? Report an error

1:05:51 And is there any downside to that? And the Buddhist answer, I will say unequivocally, yes it is possible, and it is good. But it doesn't mean you're always in the same mood or having the same emotion. It's something deeper than that. It's deeper than emotion. It's deeper than mood. It's a sense of well-being. Report an error

1:06:11 Now, I mentioned before, it can come from ethics. I'd be very happy to be having that quality all the time, of just having that confidence that I'm leading a non-injurious life, a benevolent life, and that sense of well-being that, all right, at least I got that part right. And then deeper, cultivate such fine mental balance, cognitive, attentional, that would be in shamatha, cognitive, where I'm seeing clearly what's taking place without messing it up with my projections and so forth and so on, emotional balance, resilience and so forth. Report an error

1:06:44 Is it possible to maintain a very, very high level of mental or psychological balance and hence a very high level of psychological well-being through all the vicissitudes of life, through war and peace? Birth and death and so forth, the answer is yes. Is there even a deeper level that's beyond psychological? So there's the ethical, there's the psychological. Report an error

1:07:05 Both of those are, I think, very, very meaningful. But is there something deeper than that, a sense of well-being that's beyond the psychological? And the wisdom traditions of the world all over the place say, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what this is all about, is the deepest sense of eudaimonia, the deepest one, is knowing reality as it is. Report an error

1:07:27 Well, there's many aspects of reality. Knowing how many moons around Jupiter? No, that's not going to take you anywhere. How about knowing DNA? No, that's good, but that's probably not going to do anything for eudaimonia. And also knowing what kind of voles are polygamous and monogamous. I mean, that's mildly interesting, but probably not going to take you a big stride towards eudaimonia. Okay? Report an error

1:07:50 And so what? Because there's many things to be known, an infinite number of things to be known. So what? Well, we can go back to one of the most ancient aphorisms in Western civilization, the Delphic Oracle. Know thyself. Report an error

1:08:08 And just how far does that go? Because we can know, I mean, you're an individual, please give me your bio sketch, you can tell me up in a paragraph, kind of salient features of who you are, and that would be a good start, getting it right. And then, keep on going. Keep on going. And so, the truth shall make you free, know thyself. We get this cropping up a lot. Report an error

1:08:30 I think I've already mentioned in the Dzogchen tradition, it says there's one difference between a Buddha and a sentry being. Sentry beings are the ones wandering around in saṃsāra. A Buddha, I have to say he here because we just don't have an it, can't say it. A Buddha, Buddha's not put in plural, Buddhas know who they are. Sentry beings don't. That's interesting. And so a truth that shall make us free, a truth that transforms the Nora of the truth. Report an error

1:08:57 A truth, the knowing of which liberates the mind, now liberates the mind from what? Ignorance and delusion? Liberates us so that we are forever and erratically, irreversibly, free of these delusional tendencies of craving, of greed, of grasping, free of afflictive anger, hatred, malevolence and so forth. Report an error

1:09:17 So no matter what happens, that's just not our response. It's no longer in the repertoire. So freedom in this lifetime, the freedom of this early Buddhism... Is that our minds are now healed irreversibly of all mental afflictions. And no matter what happens to us, they will not arise. One's response will be realistic. One's response will be benevolent. It will be ethical. It will be sane. And will not be tainted by mental afflictions. Report an error

1:09:43 So that kind of freedom. But now what Danya was getting at, looking at this whole notion of the candle burning out, to... Oh, it's nine o 'clock. Okay, I'm finished. Report an error

1:09:56 I'll give a couple more minutes. Here's something that in Southeast Asia, I've lived there now quite a long time, Thailand must be about two years by now, taken very seriously in Theravāda Buddhism. For those who take their Dharma seriously, the ideal actually, within now, of course you have to understand it in the Buddhist framework, you don't have to accept it, but the ideal of freedom really can only be understood within that framework. Report an error

1:10:20 The continuity of consciousness, the continuity of individual consciousness from lifetime to lifetime is accepted. Very, very widely, as much as you and I accept gravity. You may not be able to see it, but any informed person knows that gravity, the word for gravity does refer to something. And in this Buddhist context, and I've lived with Buddhists for a long, long time, the evidence is considered to be overwhelming. And the evidence for materialism looks like a joke. Report an error

1:10:49 And that actually is my perspective. I just can't take materialism seriously. I know a lot of intelligent people that I respect do, but I look at the view itself, I just gotta, you gotta be kidding me. And then I look for the evidence for the continuity of consciousness, primarily from the contemplative side, but also there's some scientific evidence that's not to be shrugged off. But I'm not giving a pitch, I'm just saying this is a fact, that in traditional Buddhist countries such as Tibet, for example, I mean, they believe in the continuity of consciousness from lifetime to lifetime, like you and I believe in Report an error

1:11:21 DNA, gravity, Newton's laws. Any intelligent person must know about that. So within that context... So that's a belief system. If they're wrong, then they're wrong. But that is really just flowing all through. And of course, they have many, many individuals throughout history that say, but I know this for myself. Report an error

1:11:40 There's a movie called Yogis of Tibet, and one old yogi looked right into the camera and he said, I can remember all my past lives. Big claim. And he's not regarded, that statement is not taken in a trivial or lighthearted fashion. But just as a working hypothesis, just for this conversation. So let's imagine it's true. You don't have to believe it's true, but let's imagine it's true. Report an error

1:12:00 Well, in the context of that, this continuity of consciousness, as you sow, so shall you reap. And that is the good fortune, the felicity, the adversity that we encounter from lifetime to lifetime. Nobody's doing it to us. Nor is a blind chance, a great big mindless machine just beating us up on occasion. But we're actually creating our future by means of our actions, our voluntary actions. Report an error

1:12:21 And so we're thrown by our karma, and our karma is conditioned by our mental afflictions. So that's the basic premise. And so freedom here in the big picture is, yes, in the short term, you have freed your mind, healed your mind irreversibly from mental afflictions. But what this plays out is that you've placed yourself in a position of liberation, so you're no longer thrown into another life by the power of your karma. Report an error

1:12:46 You're no longer thrown. So that was the end of that methasutta, where verily one does not take birth in a womb again, is that you're no longer thrown. So what happens to you? You become an arhat, you become liberated, you're free. The mind is irreversibly free from all afflictions. And then you die. Now what? What I'm about to say is not contested in the Theravāda Buddhist tradition. I mean, there's consensus here. Report an error

1:13:15 What occurs then as you're about to die as an arhat is the continuum of your body, the continuum of your mind, your consciousness and your memories, your individual psyche, all of that is terminated. Report an error

1:13:35 So it sounds like annihilation. I've had some really good conversations, dialogues by way of correspondence with a really, really good scholar who I've never met. We've had some good correspondence named Bhikkubodhi. He's really outstanding. So on the surface it looks like annihilation. Finally you'll no longer be reborn. Report an error

1:13:56 You're finished. You'll no longer be thrown into the next rebirth. But then the Buddha, when he's describing Nirvāṇa, and he does so quite elaborately, He describes it as immutable bliss, a sublime state, the deepest refuge. There's a long quote that I have from Bhikkobodi that I have in my notes. Report an error

1:14:20 It makes it pretty clear that when the arhat dies, that individual does not become a non-entity, just extinguished, blown out like a candle. Report an error

1:14:31 There is just a release into transcendence, into a state of timeless, immutable bliss, the highest good. It's nirvāṇa. That's how the Buddha describes it. But you never come back. And you can't find any really words to describe this, but you can just try to kind of point to it, intimate it somehow. That once you've slipped into nirvāṇa, and every way of phrasing is going to be misleading, but once your life has come to an end and you just go transcendent, you are now completely unaware, absolutely oblivious of what's going on in our world. Report an error

1:15:13 No, I have not a clue. World wars. Supernovas, extinguishing planets and so forth, whatever it is, you're just completely out of touch. You have no awareness whatsoever. You've gone totally transcendent. Report an error

1:15:27 And for many people, that's satisfactory. Go to Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, and if you ask an informed Buddhist, is this your ideal, to achieve Nirvāṇa, to never be reborn again, to be forever, immutably, transcendently free? And the answer is, yeah, that's the goal. That's what this is all about. Freedom to escape from the cycle of saṃsāra, this ongoing perpetuation of rebirth, rebirth, rebirth. And so let's say that. Are all Buddhists content with that? Report an error

1:15:58 No, I'm not. But I'm not the first one. There's something inadequate about it and something unsatisfying about it. And for a very simple reason is that if we look horizontally at all directions around us, at least there's a lot of suffering. Report an error

1:16:19 And so imagine this. Father. Imagine that you're in your house with your kids, your spouse, and the house somehow, you know, a gas leak. The house is going up in flames. Report an error

1:16:34 You're probably, I imagine, you look like a strong guy. I bet you can run out of the house very quickly. And so he says, man, this place is burning down. I'm getting out of here. He runs for the door and calls back, good luck, kids. Report an error

1:16:53 There's something a bit off about that, isn't there? Like, good luck. I mean, I'm out. I hope. I'll write a book. I'll send you a postcard. Here's the exit. There's something really off about that. Not satisfying. Report an error

1:17:11 And that's what the Arhat's done. There's a fire sermon. It's one of the great discourses of the Buddha where it describes the whole of saṃsāra as like a house on fire. Everything is ablaze. Everything is ablaze with delusion, craving, hostility and so forth. Everything is ablaze. And so get out of the house. Get out of the house. Report an error

1:17:32 But if you get out by yourself and you leave everybody you've ever known behind and you never look back, you can't even look back, and they're still confused and roaming around and wondering what, what, what? Report an error

1:17:45 I find that an inadequate ideal. I can't give my life to that. I miss that. Yeah. Report an error

1:18:03 Are they just on their Coney Island forever? Is that what the simplicity is to else is suffering? They are. That's it. That is true. Ask any really good Theravāda Buddha scholar and they will tell you that's it. They wouldn't quite say Coney Island, but... Report an error

1:18:24 And it's not a heaven either. It's not some place. It's just inconceivable. And that's why when the Buddha was asked, what happens to an arhat after death? The response generally was noble silence. He said, whatever I say, it's going to mislead you anyway. So simply consider that it's going to be the cessation of all suffering and the causes of suffering. And that should be enough. Report an error

1:18:45 And so I'll continue a little bit. And so the issue, the dilemma here of the dad escaping from the house and leaving everybody behind, I wasn't the first person to think of something like that. So this is where the whole spirit of the Mahāyāna, the Bodhisattva ideal, comes in. That there's something noble here, to free your mind of all mental afflictions, and therefore to be free of all the actions that come out of them, all the genocides, all the horrible things that human beings have ever done. Report an error

1:19:11 They're all coming out of mental afflictions. None of them sidestep them. They're all coming by way of mental afflictions. So if you cut the mental afflictions, then none of that awful behavior will happen. These are all rooted in delusion, craving and hostility, and the derivative ones like jealousy, pride and so forth. And so this came very early on in the Buddhist tradition, that there's something noble there, something authentic, something good, something virtuous. Report an error

1:19:37 And these four immeasurables are designed to help you achieve that end. So you're developing benevolence, compassion and so forth and so on in order to purify your mind so you can get the hell out. These are to help you get out. Individually get out and never come back. But early on, just the thought arose, but you know, I feel connected with everybody around me. Report an error

1:20:01 I don't want to get out all by myself. And so a higher ideal comes up. And it's a bodhisattva ideal. And it's really very different. It subsumes it earlier. That is, yes, freedom. Yes, we want freedom. But something larger. And that's why it's called Mahāyāna, a greater vehicle. And it's the aspiration for something much greater. And that is, if we look at the life of the Buddha, historically, this is again uncontested, within the whole Buddhist field. Report an error

1:20:35 The Buddha had greater wisdom than any of his disciples who became arhats. As a Buddha, his wisdom was greater. He had greater compassion than any of his disciples also. And whether you take this literally or not, I don't care. But in terms of the powers of his mind, called paranormal abilities, what have you, His were greater than any of his disciples. That's uncontested. He was a Buddha. So he surpassed all of them. So among his disciples, Sāriputta was very wise. Report an error

1:21:05 He was exceptionally wise, but not everybody was as wise. And then others, Moggallāna Buddha was said to have great paranormal abilities, more than any of the other disciples. And other ones had great, so they varied a lot in their virtues. Some had greater virtues here, greater virtues there. They all had common denominator. They're all free of mental afflictions. Report an error

1:21:23 But in terms of positive virtues, they differed a lot. But Buddha surpassed all of them. So the ideal in the Mahāyāna or the Bodhisattva ideal is to strive for the highest possible awakening, the awakening of a Buddha, perfect awakening, perfect enlightenment. And that is whatever capacity we have, the capacity of consciousness, the potential of consciousness, the three qualities, wisdom, compassion and power. Report an error

1:21:48 Power motivated by compassion and guided by wisdom, not just power for power's sake. But power is good. If it's motivated by compassion and guided by wisdom, then the more the better. So wisdom, compassion and power. Whatever the potential of consciousness is to manifest in terms of wisdom, compassion and power, may it manifest fully to its full perfection, totally unleashed. Report an error

1:22:11 So perfect awakening. That's the ideal. Perfect awakening. Beyond any of the Arhats. To come right to the level of Buddha, him or herself. And there are female Buddhas. And then why? In order to be of greatest possible service to the world. So it's going to the highest possible state of awareness, of awakening, of enlightenment, in order to come back and be of greatest possible benefit to the world. Report an error

1:22:39 So it maxes out vertically and it maxes out horizontally. And so it's said that when one becomes a Buddha, it's said that one dwells inconceivably in what's called non-abiding nirvāṇa. Non-abiding nirvāṇa. And that is non-abiding in the sense that you realize nirvāṇa, as much as an arhat has, you realize nirvāṇa, that immutable bliss and so forth and so on, but you're not absorbed in it. Report an error

1:23:09 You're not dislocated, you're not removed into it. You're experiencing it, but not absorbed into it to the exclusion of anything else. While at the same time as experiencing nirvāṇa, you're also experiencing the phenomenal world, saṃsāra. And you're experiencing the two simultaneously. Report an error

1:23:27 You're not sucked up into saṃsāra like an ordinary person just wandering around in confusion. You're not sucked up into nirvāṇa like an arhat. You're not sucked up into anything. You're simultaneously present in, aware of, both the ultimate and the relative simultaneously. And then there's a bodhisattva prayer, and then my voices can be completely finished. Report an error

1:23:49 But it's a magnificent prayer. The Dalai Lama quotes it very often. And I have to say it means a great, great deal to me. Because this is the worldview that I'm living in. It's my working hypothesis. And it comes in the 10th chapter of a classic text, A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life by Shantideva. Report an error

1:24:08 And here's the Bodhisattva ideal. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, so long may I remain to alleviate the suffering of the world. Report an error

1:24:26 I'm satisfied with that. Now myself, okay. As long as it takes to realize that, that's going to be okay. Report an error

1:24:35 But once that's held up, then nothing else can match it. Other ideal. Quite rises to that level, in my view. Report an error

1:24:50 So then the cultivation of these four immeasurables, the motivation for cultivating them, is not simply to free your own mind so you can escape and leave everybody else behind. Report an error

1:25:01 The cultivation of these is to deepen the motivation, deepen the motivation, until one genuinely cares more about other sentient beings than oneself. Report an error

1:25:13 And then with that motivation, you see you really have only one choice, to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all beings. Report an error

1:25:23 So there's a lovely phrase in Tibetan, rama mebi ninje. On the one hand, this path is a path of increasing freedom, greater and greater freedom. In Buddhism, we don't ask whether people have free will or not, because it's so obvious to a very large extent we don't. We're driven by our impulses, biological impulses, cravings, delusions, jealousies, and all kinds of stuff. Report an error

1:25:44 We get drunk. How free are you when you're drunk? If you have brain damage, how free are you then? If you have malaria, how free are you? If you have AIDS, if you have senile dementia, if you have Alzheimer's, how free are you? Or if you just get really angry, as Paul says, you get in the grip of an emotion. Report an error

1:26:01 When you're in the grip of some emotion, how free are you? Whether it's some kind of infatuation or rage or jealousy, how free are you? It's silly to say you're a human being. I mean, if I should ask any of you, I'm... We'll do a little skit here. I'm clairvoyant. Okay, in this skit, I'm clairvoyant. I can see your mind crystal clear. I can see everything going in your mind. And I've got a stack of $100 bills here. Report an error

1:26:27 I've got $10,000 cash. And I'm going to now give you a task. Focus on your breath for one minute, quietly, with not a single interrupted thought. And I'm going to give you $10,000 at the end of one minute. That's a good salary. So here it is. Here's my stack. But I will know. So now I'll give you 60 seconds. Just follow your breath. But don't think other thoughts. Don't wander. Don't get distracted. Just follow your breath for 60 minutes consecutively. Report an error

1:26:52 And I have a whole stack of these. If there are 50 people, I've got 50 stacks. And I'll give them out to you. How many of you are going to collect the $10,000? I mean, it makes you really arousal of some aspiration. I mean, that's a good salary. $10,000 for one minute of just watching your breath? If you can't even do that, how can you possibly say you have free will? Because that's a pretty good incentive. Report an error

1:27:14 So no, we're not free, of course. But then the question comes, okay, but we're not totally entrapped either. We're not robots. Nor are we free. We could be freer. Report an error

1:27:24 And that's what the path is about, to become freer. Free to make wise decisions that are conducive to our own and others' well-being. That's freedom. To make wise decisions that are truly conducive to our own and others' well-being. That's the only kind of freedom I care about. I don't want to have the freedom to get angry or be an idiot or to be selfish, to be crafty and sneaky. Report an error

1:27:44 I don't want that kind of freedom. But I like, no matter what happens, to be able to make wise choices that are truly conducive to my own and another's well-being. That's a freedom I like, and I don't always have it. Because sometimes my mind gets dominated by mental affliction, and then to the extent it does, I'm not free. Report an error

1:28:01 So this is a path not of having freedom, but cultivating freedom, becoming more and more free until your mind is totally free of all mental afflictions, and you're able to act with wisdom and compassion at all times. But a wonderful irony, and this is where I will stop. A wonderful, delightful irony is that when cultivates this great compassion, the great compassion of a bodhisattva, you cultivate this bodhicitta, which is the aspiration of a bodhicitta, of a bodhisattva, to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. Report an error

1:28:31 The more deeply that becomes, how do you say, filling one's being becomes your prime directive, your desire of desires. The more fully you enter that stream of the bodhisattva. Report an error

1:28:46 You experience something called in Tibetan, helpless compassion, helpless compassion, in the sense that you have no choice whether to be compassionate or not, Report an error

1:29:04 because there's nothing else to do. How you're compassionate, well, you have some choice there, but you can't choose. You can't turn it off. You're helplessly in a stream of compassion. Report an error

1:29:17 So that's a good helplessness. Report an error

1:29:24 Somebody toggle my hand. Have a good night's sleep. Mindfulness of breathing can be really helpful. Where's Mark? Mark there, yeah? How did you sleep last night? Ah, good. Sweet beans. See you tomorrow. Report an error

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Talk by B. Alan Wallace. Original at Vajrayana Institute via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/BAWFourImmeasurables. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Transcript generated automatically and may contain errors; the audio is the authoritative version.

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