Four Immeasurables Retreat with B. Alan Wallace - Sydney 2014 (part 11)

0:28 Are Report an error in the passage at 0:28 Highlight the passage at 0:28

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:32 there questions or observations about what we've covered today? There are many, many interesting things, but if we can be focusing on the content here, that would be really good because our time is very short. Report an error in the passage at 1:32 Highlight the passage at 1:32

1:56 I've got a question about limitation practice, going behind this. Report an error in the passage at 1:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56

2:03 wondering, I understand the instructions of the phrases and I understand the point of it, but I just find what I'm doing and I'm guided. Report an error in the passage at 2:03 Highlight the passage at 2:03

2:16 it just feels like, can't quite it. Like with all the other ones, it feels very easy to know what I'm doing and focus on. But then when I'm taking myself through my own moments, it's like I bring the I just messed that up. what happens in your mind when you're doing it you hold your teachers and people and you're repeating the words or is it you're trying to tap into sense of that caring feeling yeah it's Yeah, it's, you know, we keep on coming back to feeling and emotion and it's really not that so much. It's really aspiration. Report an error in the passage at 2:16 Highlight the passage at 2:16

3:11 So for myself, if you'd like to have a little inside view on my meditation, I can't really convey it to you because it is what it is. Report an error in the passage at 3:11 Highlight the passage at 3:11

3:22 So all I can convey is what you would understand of my meditation, but I can't convey my understanding of my meditation. But I can say what I do is I don't tend to really get involved so much in the phrases. They're in the background or not. It's really more of an issue of attending, attending, attending closely. Report an error in the passage at 3:22 Highlight the passage at 3:22

3:46 And we can do that as I can attend to you right now, even like I'm seeing your body and that's not you. I'm seeing your face. That's not you. So I'm seeing appearances, right? But by way of appearances, you know I am attending to you. And in a similar fashion, we can attend to people right here and now who may be very far away. Report an error in the passage at 3:46 Highlight the passage at 3:46

4:02 Christians do it all the time in prayer. They'll have a group. I was raised in another group, and they say, we have a prayer group. Okay, well, we know this person, and they'll do that in the churches. This person is ill. Please pray for this family. And it's a very nice thing. It's a very virtuous thing. Report an error in the passage at 4:02 Highlight the passage at 4:02

4:16 But they're not praying for images and not focusing on images so much. They're really attending to the person. So it's much more that. And if you think about the richness of the word attend, you remember it. Attend to watch over, care for, and look after. Report an error in the passage at 4:16 Highlight the passage at 4:16

4:34 I was thinking of this man who was so abusive to his wife. And I would actually focus on him much more than the wife who was abused. Because she knows a lot about Dharma. She is actually quite well prepared. So I'm concerned for her, but I think she's going to do fine. Whereas he I'm much more concerned for. Report an error in the passage at 4:34 Highlight the passage at 4:34

4:52 To be so uninhibited in abusing another person is really quite a matter of real concern. And so I was just focusing on him. Report an error in the passage at 4:52 Highlight the passage at 4:52

5:03 And just attending, just that, it's actually so simple. But attending and attending and trying to sense, you know, from here, what's going on. I'm not trying to psychoanalyze them because I have no equipment, no skills for doing so at all. But just trying to understand the depth of unhappiness. And frustration and so forth. It would give rise to that speech. And I've experienced frustration and I've experienced depression. I mean, you know, I've experienced everything. Report an error in the passage at 5:03 Highlight the passage at 5:03

5:31 And then coming from that space, really. So may you be free of enmity. That's the first thing. I really do. I really wish him to be free of enmity because that was a lot of enmity there. And then may you be free of physical distress. He is in some physical distress. But then psychological distress, big time. Problem of alcohol, problem of drugs. Report an error in the passage at 5:31 Highlight the passage at 5:31

5:49 That's really tough. I've never been there. But I have some idea, I can imagine it somewhat. And so it's much more that, it's just more personal. And the phrases and the visualization, all of that is there as backup, auxiliary. But it's much more a matter of simply attending to the person. And there's this phrase from William James, I'll say it again, for the moment what we attend to is reality. Report an error in the passage at 5:49 Highlight the passage at 5:49

6:14 And if we attend to a person who's really troubled, deeply troubled, you know, it's just a natural thing. You don't have to be a special person or a spiritual person. Anything special in anyone. Report an error in the passage at 6:14 Highlight the passage at 6:14

6:35 One example that comes to mind is when a loving parent is out, and they see their child right there, and then they see the child get hurt. Like when I was a kid, I played baseball, and my parents were watching, like next up at bat, but the guy right before me, he was swinging his bat, and he swung his bat and hit me right in the face. Report an error in the passage at 6:35 Highlight the passage at 6:35

7:00 Right there. Bam! Like knock my head off. So I'm sure my parents watched that, my mother especially. When she saw the bat whack me right in the face, I bet she hurt. Because parents do, right? When you see your child, it's just so whacked like that with a baseball bat. Report an error in the passage at 7:00 Highlight the passage at 7:00

7:18 I'm sure she would go, and why? Because she's attending to it. She didn't have to visualize, she didn't have to sing, may you be free of suffering, may you be, you know, it's just like that. So it's much more of that, simply a matter of attending. And then insofar as helpful, the visualizations, the phrases and all of that. Report an error in the passage at 7:18 Highlight the passage at 7:18

7:43 Can I give other people a chance? Yes, right here, please. Yes. Report an error in the passage at 7:43 Highlight the passage at 7:43

7:55 Your name first? Report an error in the passage at 7:55 Highlight the passage at 7:55

8:00 But it is about something today, yeah? Report an error in the passage at 8:00 Highlight the passage at 8:00

8:05 About? Okidoki, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 8:05 Highlight the passage at 8:05

8:18 Yeah, it's a very good question. There are different types of retreats. Tibetan retreats very often aren't silent, and they often entail five or six hours of teaching every day. So a major download of teaching, and no silence. And then the idea is when the retreat's over, then hopefully, then people will go back home, having been hit by a fire hose. Report an error in the passage at 8:18 Highlight the passage at 8:18

8:39 A week or whatever, just oh, oh, oh. Then they'll go off and hopefully it assimilates and it sinks in and they really get some benefit. If you go to a vipassanā retreat, that's often maybe one hour of teaching a day and then maybe 11 hours of meditation a day and really strict. It's all assimilation and really strict silence in between. So there's a lot of bandwidth there. And I don't think either one of those is wrong. So I'm not saying that's an extreme and I found the middle way. Report an error in the passage at 8:39 Highlight the passage at 8:39

9:05 I don't think that. But I am doing something in the middle. Which is neither better nor worse, it's just a different approach. So a fair amount of teaching, but then we keep on coming back to meditation. And then for myself, I'm doing about nine hours a day, because that's what I love to do. So when I'm not here, I'm pretty much meditating. As for the silence in between, I don't know exactly what was said, but I know what I say when I introduced silence at the beginning of retreat. Report an error in the passage at 9:05 Highlight the passage at 9:05

9:35 I imagine Claudio did, Rwanda. I'm sure they did fine. But the way I teach silence, the way I encourage silence is, in between sessions, let the silence be your default mode. And that is over dinner, walking and so forth. It's very easy just chatting and chatting and chatting and chatting. And what that does, it diffuses the mind. So if you're practicing here, you're really collecting the mind, gathering the mind, unifying and calming the mind. Report an error in the passage at 9:35 Highlight the passage at 9:35

9:59 And then you go off to dinner, and we're just talking about all kinds of stuff. Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. After dinner, your mind is just all over the way. It really disperses the mind. Not in a negative way necessarily, but it's just like a flock of pigeons that flew in every direction. And then when you come back to the cushion, you have all those replays. Report an error in the passage at 9:59 Highlight the passage at 9:59

10:19 All the replays, the conversation, this, and I could have said that, I don't know about that. And so it just tends to clutter the mind. Now, so that's a good argument for silence in between. So you can maintain this composure, the collectiveness, the groundedness, the ongoing flow of mindfulness. So when you're going from session to session, You're really retaining it, holding it, and the assimilation is deeper right while you're here. Having said that, I've never been an advocate, neither for short retreats or long retreats, for absolutely strict silence. Report an error in the passage at 10:19 Highlight the passage at 10:19

10:50 I see no problem with it if other people want to do it. I have no criticism of it. But whenever I'm leading retreats and silence is the default mode, I say, look, many times couples come, or people who are friends, or already friends come, or they make new friendships here. And during the breaks, if two people decide, two or more, Let's say two people beside, you know, maybe a jamban, you know, a jamban, you know, maybe just for buddies. Report an error in the passage at 10:50 Highlight the passage at 10:50

11:16 See, I'd really like to talk about the practice, my practice, and I think you've been practicing longer than I would. Do you mind going for a walk with me? I'd just like to talk about some practice things. And if he's amenable, he'd say, well, sure, happy to do it. It's a darn friend, right? And so then we're out walking and we're talking about something really meaningful. Report an error in the passage at 11:16 Highlight the passage at 11:16

11:33 And we're talking about something very related to the practice here. I share my experience with him. I learn something. Maybe he learns something from me. We go for a nice walk. At the end, thanks a lot, Shantideva. That was really helpful. Back to the question. And we don't have a lot of yada, yada, yada in the mind. Because that was all for enriching the practice. And so whenever there are two people who consensually agree, well, let's go for a walk and have some good conversation. Report an error in the passage at 11:33 Highlight the passage at 11:33

11:56 I never have any qualms. So something, once again, a middle way. Not yakety, yakety, yakety, yakety, which is disperse of the mind. And not being so rigid that we feel, you know, I have to do sign language to ask you to pass the salt. Report an error in the passage at 11:56 Highlight the passage at 11:56

12:13 Something in between. That's reasonable. Report an error in the passage at 12:13 Highlight the passage at 12:13

12:22 Chris, thank you. Yes. I can hear you. Yeah, and if it's held there and you articulate quite quickly, because you have a pretty strong accent for my ear. So go ahead. Report an error in the passage at 12:22 Highlight the passage at 12:22

12:44 I missed that. That can be nice, yeah. If you're awake, it's very good. Report an error in the passage at 12:44 Highlight the passage at 12:44

12:53 So to get around that I need to be playing under the law Report an error in the passage at 12:53 Highlight the passage at 12:53

13:02 couch and I just try to do shimata Yeah, cool. Report an error in the passage at 13:02 Highlight the passage at 13:02

13:13 Wonderful, Report an error in the passage at 13:13 Highlight the passage at 13:13

13:20 very good. Wonderful. the focusing my attention though, I'm feeling frustrated that it's quite hard to hold my attention to a extended period. It's like in 24 minutes, probably 19 minutes of thinking about something and flashes while I'm meditating. just now, this is quite good. my question is really around, I think you said, there's two questions, you said one who retreats the the backhand, right hand. too, that a certain meeting. Report an error in the passage at 13:20 Highlight the passage at 13:20

13:52 I think you said something around doing three hours. So you might probably not even do that. Report an error in the passage at 13:52 Highlight the passage at 13:52

14:04 going on to see that balance the God and the... Report an error in the passage at 14:04 Highlight the passage at 14:04

14:19 Can you hope to? Report an error in the passage at 14:19 Highlight the passage at 14:19

14:29 It's Report an error in the passage at 14:29 Highlight the passage at 14:29

14:38 an important theme in this context, because you're living what I would call a socially engaged way of life. I think it's a nice description. If you're meditating, let's say it winds up being about 50 minutes a day, if you're doing 24 minutes, roughly, order of magnitude, 50. Fifty minutes a day. And let's imagine you're awake for sixteen hours. Ballpark, correct, yeah? Eight hours, a lot of people sleep. So you have almost an hour, and then you have fifteen hours. Report an error in the passage at 14:38 Highlight the passage at 14:38

15:06 So between those two, what would you think would be more important? The one hour or the fifteen? Fifteen's going to win, yeah. And so that being the case, the primary emphasis of your practice should be on the fifteen hours and not on the one hour. The one hour is to prepare you to have the fifteen hours be as rich, as meaningful, As wholesome as possible. So it's kind of the one hour of a day is like boot camp. And the 15 hours a day are out in the... Report an error in the passage at 15:06 Highlight the passage at 15:06

15:38 So how to do that? Well, number one, having those times, having the session in the morning, session in the evening, can be really, really helpful. Like bookends of the day. It's really nice to launch the day with some exceptional degree of sanity, of wholeness, of groundedness, clarity. Report an error in the passage at 15:38 Highlight the passage at 15:38

15:57 Relaxation, awfully important in our world. And then at the end of the day to bring some closure again to clarity, to stillness, to some really clear space. It's really, really good. So even though it's a relatively small percentage of the day, it can be enormously important. Just like boot camp. If you go to war, yeah, boot camp or no boot camp. Report an error in the passage at 15:57 Highlight the passage at 15:57

16:14 That's a big difference. Even though it may be a short six weeks or whatever. Now, to make it practical, and then I'll answer your question. There's a phrase I like a lot. Because I think it's very, very apt. Have you ever heard the phrase, seasoning the day? Heard that one? Well, I think it's really, really useful. So I like salt. Report an error in the passage at 16:14 Highlight the passage at 16:14

16:34 But if I'm having, so I had my plate of rice and I put salt on it, but the amount of salt compared to the rice, of course it was very small. But it seasoned all of the rice, just as much as I want, so it brings out the flavor. And so this, as much as you can, you season the, you salt the day, you season the day, as frequently as you can. Report an error in the passage at 16:34 Highlight the passage at 16:34

16:55 With these moments of 30 seconds here, a minute, 2 minutes, 30 seconds, 15 seconds, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, where you're just coming back. And you don't have to do anything special. You don't have to be sitting like this. You can be in front of a stoplight if you're out driving. But many may get you've just put down the phone and coming back to whatever practice you like. Report an error in the passage at 16:55 Highlight the passage at 16:55

17:18 It could be mindfulness of breathing, very grounding, very soothing. Coming back to awareness of awareness, very still and clear. If you've just engaged with someone. Like reading this email this morning, I really gave a lot of thought. It just pulled my heart to think about these two people and the difficulties that we're going through. And so if you just engage with someone on the phone or Skyping or in person, and then that person's gone his or her way to reflect and maybe love and kindness. Report an error in the passage at 17:18 Highlight the passage at 17:18

17:47 But then you have this nice variety with them. Because if you see, there's really something you're hoping for, aspiring for. You know, like maybe it comes across in the conversation. Loving kindness is really obvious. But if you see they're really struggling with something, then compassion. But if you see they're doing really well in some way, then it's empathetic joy. Report an error in the passage at 17:47 Highlight the passage at 17:47

18:07 And if you find they're a little bit disagreeable, or maybe they're agreeable, maybe really attracted, then again the equanimity. So the more you can just introduce these brief moments throughout the whole course of the day, I'll ask a bigger question than yours. You asked, I know, can your concentration skills increase? Report an error in the passage at 18:07 Highlight the passage at 18:07

18:24 When that's going to be your life for the foreseeable future, I imagine. You're not going to be heading off to a six-month or a new retreat for the foreseeable time. That's fine. No problem. But I'm going to ask a better, I think a more important question, and then I'll answer that question. In the context of that kind of life, and I'm assuming, I'm sure quite rightly, that your overall way of life is a wholesome way of life. Report an error in the passage at 18:24 Highlight the passage at 18:24

18:46 Your livelihood is the right livelihood. It's not harming people and so on. So given that, that's kind of baseline. Here's the important question. In the context of that life, with that much formal practice each day, is it feasible, is it reasonable to anticipate, to aspire to, really mature in your practice from month to month, year to year, that you're really growing in very meaningful ways. Report an error in the passage at 18:46 Highlight the passage at 18:46

19:10 That is, in terms of attention skills, there is greater composure, greater sense of ease, greater sense of centeredness, greater continuity of attention. There's one. Is there greater clarity of mindfulness, discernment? Are you more engaged? Just the opposite of dissociation. Are you more engaged with the people, attending to them closely, just like in our conversation? Report an error in the passage at 19:10 Highlight the passage at 19:10

19:31 Attending to them closely, listening closely, giving them your full attention. If a person is in front of you, they're either, in my view, they're kind of either, don't give many attention, give them all. I'm kind of an all-or-nothing kind of person. If they're right in front of you and they're engaging with you, then give them everything you've got. A dear friend of mine is a Benedictine monk. Report an error in the passage at 19:31 Highlight the passage at 19:31

19:51 And Lawrence Friedman, he's a very, very good man, he said, we were leaving a leading retreat many, many years ago on Santa Barbara, and he said, the greatest gift you can give to another person is your attention. A lot of wisdom in that. And so if you find you're doing that more, when you're engaging with whoever it is, loved ones, family, business colleagues, or strangers out in the marketplace, but when you're with them, they're the center of your attention, including the woman or man who's giving you the change or the grocery counter. Report an error in the passage at 19:51 Highlight the passage at 19:51

20:22 And for that moment, they're right in front of you. What else do you want to do? That's a person. These are just groceries. That's a person. So that person deserves your attention. And if you find this happening spontaneously, it's not strained, it's not trying to be good all the time. It's just coming naturally. That's a cognitive aspect. And then over just from the day to day, week to week, if you find your heart is just more open, you actually simply spontaneously find you care more. Report an error in the passage at 20:22 Highlight the passage at 20:22

20:48 That's the nice simple verb I like. You just care more about the people around you. When you're reading in the news and media, you find you You care more about what's taking place. And I said, you've got a very rich anarchist. And in terms of streaking along those nine stages up to shamatha, but Report an error in the passage at 20:48 Highlight the passage at 20:48

21:11 then actually that's secondary. I'm sure there are some snipers out there, highly trained, professional snipers. I'll bet they're way up there. Report an error in the passage at 21:11 Highlight the passage at 21:11

21:23 Really good concentration. Report an error in the passage at 21:23 Highlight the passage at 21:23

21:27 So that by itself, the Dalai Lama once said, when I was with him, I was translating it for him in Dharam Zala. He said, shamatha? Shamatha's not Dharma. He knows I'm like Mr. Shamatha, a cheerleader man, you know? He said, Samatha is not Dharma. And I knew very quickly what he was getting at. It's right there in the core of Buddha Dharma. It's Shila Samādhi Prajna. Report an error in the passage at 21:27 Highlight the passage at 21:27

21:50 Samādhi is Samatha. So he's not exactly throwing out the Buddha Dharma. But he is saying decontextualize Samādhi, decontextualize Samatha. Use that for basketball. Use that for shooting people. Use that for air traffic control. Playing chess. Good topspin in your backhand. Report an error in the passage at 21:50 Highlight the passage at 21:50

22:09 It may be Dharma. Then we come back to the conversation with that lady right there. Clonation, clonation, clonation. Motivation, motivation, motivation. If the motivation is sound, if the motivation is meaningful, then yeah, Shantideva definitely does. So that's the bigger picture, I see. And then we have this, what I like to call the outer mandala and the inner mandala. You're still quite young, including some good years ahead of you. Report an error in the passage at 22:09 Highlight the passage at 22:09

22:35 So the outer mandala is the commitments, the obligations, our social relationships, job, family, just things that demand our time. I have that too, you know. I have a very full year planned. I don't know whether I'll live through the year, but if I do, I've got a lot of things to do. And so, that's the outer mandala. And the inner mandala is just your inclination, your aspirations, the priorities, the shift from month to month, year to year, year to year. Report an error in the passage at 22:35 Highlight the passage at 22:35

23:00 The inner mandala is what would you really love to do? And the outer mandala is what are the opportunities before you write on a palm tree. And so, in a life that's going well, the inner mandala and the outer mandala are in sync with each other. You're right where you really want to be. In a place you really feel you can flourish, and you can really be of service, you can live a good and meaningful, and that's the outer mandala lining up. But all of our mandalas are changing, right? Report an error in the passage at 23:00 Highlight the passage at 23:00

23:26 Everything's changing. And so the outer changes, the inner changes, often in unpredictable ways. But if at some point in your life, five years, ten, twenty years from now, who knows? If at some point the outer mandala shifts, where suddenly there's right in your lap opportunities presented, well, here you could go into a six-month retreat. Report an error in the passage at 23:26 Highlight the passage at 23:26

23:47 Simplicity, solitude, conducive, teachers available, good Dharma friends available. And right in that phase of your life, you say, boy, I've taken care of a lot of obligation, taken care of, taken care of. Boy, there's nothing I'd rather do than take off six months and just go much deeper. Maybe explore those further reaches of the path of Shantideva. Report an error in the passage at 23:47 Highlight the passage at 23:47

24:06 That's the time to do that. Report an error in the passage at 24:06 Highlight the passage at 24:06

24:16 Yeah. had to put the ice cream on mine. Report an error in the passage at 24:16 Highlight the passage at 24:16

24:15 I started doing friends of mine so I come to the friends who think a lot of clients in meditation I come around and on the couch and I talk to them in meditation and I love it Report an error in the passage at 24:15 Highlight the passage at 24:15

24:31 How sweet. Report an error in the passage at 24:31 Highlight the passage at 24:31

24:36 It's all right there, sure. I'll just let it float around. I'll try to keep my answers a bit shorter also so that Mark will have a chance to. Report an error in the passage at 24:36 Highlight the passage at 24:36

24:44 You're very well. Good question, relevant. I think probably everybody in there. Report an error in the passage at 24:44 Highlight the passage at 24:44

25:12 Jenny, hi, Jenny. I've seen you many times. Good to see you again. We'll see you Report an error in the passage at 25:12 Highlight the passage at 25:12

· · · silence, 1 minute

25:17 I'm quite confused with a lot of your hands and meditation still. So, yes, I'm going to answer that. I missed that. Yeah, the sequence. I missed that. Yes, it does. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 25:17 Highlight the passage at 25:17

25:43 Then you go through from a strong fashion, then we'll not last fashion at And then to anti-affection. And that was okay, but today, in South America, we brought awareness into that, and this, we started to get into the awareness sign, and so now, we're supposed to just now allow a stream of individuals, like that that just goes through the line, pass by, and... Report an error in the passage at 25:43 Highlight the passage at 25:43

26:16 did a lot of comments, but that seems like it's actions. I'm now confused with today's version. What do you mean by attachment, when you say attachment? Report an error in the passage at 26:16 Highlight the passage at 26:16

26:35 Anybody. I'm kind of thinking the start of the moon will be supposed to be the annual Australian consciousness of... a digital dream of one new goal, one new goal of being, Anybody. Anything coming through and then giving the force of loving kindness. Was that a practice for the self-review? Report an error in the passage at 26:35 Highlight the passage at 26:35

26:52 Yeah, yeah. It's a method I dreamed up because I found it helpful. And it kind of was in the spirit of my teacher's comment many years ago when he clarified to me what I should really think of when I think of all sentient beings. It's just whoever comes to mind over the course of a day or a lifetime. I'm not going to meet all of them, but that's a pretty good sampling. As in the poll, you get a sampling of a much larger number of people. Report an error in the passage at 26:52 Highlight the passage at 26:52

27:22 In that method, it's first of all coming to rest. That's a really good place to keep on coming back to, coming to rest where there's a stillness there. And you are attending, among the six fields of experience, you are attending to the mental domain. And in that mental domain, if you've already had, because you've been to a number of retreats with me, so you've had some experience in the past of settling the mind in its natural state. Report an error in the passage at 27:22 Highlight the passage at 27:22

27:46 So that's pretty clear, isn't it? Do I practice? Yes. And so you know that when you're doing that, Then an image of this person comes up, and an image of that situation comes up, and that place comes up, and this object comes up. Whatever, you just let it go free flow, right? Yet when you're settling in mind in its natural state as a shamatha practice, you're sitting there and whatever comes up, you allow it to come up, and you simply attend to the mental appearance as a mental appearance. Report an error in the passage at 27:46 Highlight the passage at 27:46

28:10 And then it dissipates, dissolves away, and something else comes up. So that's all clear, isn't it? That's a shamatha practice, and you're attending to appearances that arise in the mind. But now analogous to that, not the same, but has something of a similar ambience, once again you're settling the mind, that stillness, once again you're directing the space of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 28:10 Highlight the passage at 28:10

28:31 But now it is with a certain interest, because here's the practice, you know, it's going to be loving-kindness practice. And so you're going to be more interested in the appearance of a person than a football, a bowl of jello. You know, this thing is football, pass, pass. Report an error in the passage at 28:31 Highlight the passage at 28:31

28:52 So people. Pass. Report an error in the passage at 28:52 Highlight the passage at 28:52

28:53 People, animals, but probably mostly people, when they come, and I like to just, you know, metaphoric, like to say, when they come knocking on your door, you're sitting there quietly, and then someone comes to mind. Now, someone coming to mind means an appearance comes to mind. But this time, as a loving-kindness practice, instead of simply attending to the appearance as an appearance, figment of your imagination, you attend to the appearance, and then if your kind of heart moves you, like, yeah, I'd like to linger here. Report an error in the passage at 28:53 Highlight the passage at 28:53

29:21 Just that. Like I was lingering thinking about this young man. And he came to mind, a troubled soul. So I thought, yeah, I'd like to linger there. I've met him, I know a little bit about him, so I'd like to wish him well. And so then I lingered there. So it wasn't attachment. I have no attachment for him at all, I don't think. Clingy, graspy stuff on my side. Report an error in the passage at 29:21 Highlight the passage at 29:21

29:45 But I do care for him. I don't want people to suffer. And so I kind of invite him to stay. It's like somebody knocking on the door and you invite them. Oh, it's you. Oh, sure. Come on in. And then you linger there, the same point as earlier. You linger and you attend now to the person by way of things. I've heard of this person, I've seen him on one occasion, I know things about him, I've heard from different sources and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 29:45 Highlight the passage at 29:45

30:08 And then lingering and then lingering and focusing there and then focusing, letting him, the person, the person become the object of my attention. Not a figment of my imagination. I'm attending, the person is alive, he is on place and I'm focusing on him wherever he is. I don't need to know really. I can still focus on him without knowing geographical location. It doesn't really matter. And then focusing on that real person. Then arousing, first of all, compassion. Report an error in the passage at 30:08 Highlight the passage at 30:08

30:37 Because he's really troubled. He's making other people suffer as well. That's double whammy. So lingering there. And then after some time, all of it is very intuitive. After some time feeling, all right, I wish you well. And release. Release the appearances. Release the recollections of that person. You come and rest. Report an error in the passage at 30:37 Highlight the passage at 30:37

30:57 And then somebody else comes to mind. And then you attend there. That's simple. So I like it for the looseness of it. It's not structured. It's not formulaic. I sometimes get very tired of formulaic practices. Now think this, now think this, now think this. It can work. But I spend a lot of time in a retreat. And you're in a retreat and you're not seeing anybody. It feels like pulling them out of a drawer. Okay, now think of a person you like. Report an error in the passage at 30:57 Highlight the passage at 30:57

31:25 Oh yeah, I remember you. I did you yesterday. Report an error in the passage at 31:25 Highlight the passage at 31:25

31:44 Very good. So we'll come down here, please. Down to Susan. Report an error in the passage at 31:44 Highlight the passage at 31:44

31:58 I saw it in this discussion, one before, I Report an error in the passage at 31:58 Highlight the passage at 31:58

32:06 guess you were speaking about appearances versus reality. Appearances of reality? Yes. Yeah. And the discussion of, I think, therefore I am. Yeah, I remember that. And I kind of must have, I didn't really get it, because at the end of it, I thought, I am what? Report an error in the passage at 32:06 Highlight the passage at 32:06

32:30 And so I sort of felt pretty unsettled about that because I wondered, I'm not quite sure what I am being. That's not bad. It's better than an illusion of knowledge to loosen up a little bit. I mean, we tend to, I think just generally speaking, not just Westernism, but just kind of throughout history, human beings, this conate, it's called conate, we're born with, born with a type of ignorance and delusion. Report an error in the passage at 32:30 Highlight the passage at 32:30

33:02 That's a Buddhist view. One of the types of... Conate ignorance and then delusion that we're born with. So we can't blame anybody on it. Not parents, not materialism, Christianity or anything else. We just came with it. Is a reified sense of self. Now reified is actually a very useful term. It's a philosophical term. To have a reified sense of self is a sense that I'm really here. Report an error in the passage at 33:02 Highlight the passage at 33:02

33:25 There's some entity here. Ethereal entities, psychic energies, something really here that really is me. Well, just whatever it is, I'm really here. When I say the word I, first person, that actually refers to some entity here, right? Something nuclear, something, there's my mudrā, there's my symbol, something here. And if you praise me, remember the jerk and you're fabulous kind of business? Report an error in the passage at 33:25 Highlight the passage at 33:25

33:55 There's a target for that. If you say I'm a jerk, then I feel a spasm, like you just hit me. Whereas if you say I'm just fabulous, then I go... Report an error in the passage at 33:55 Highlight the passage at 33:55

34:08 But there really was a target for either one. Now I feel better about myself. Or now I feel worse about myself. As if there really is a self here that, you know, is nuclear. Report an error in the passage at 34:08 Highlight the passage at 34:08

34:21 In the Buddhist view, there is such a sense of self, but there is no such self. So just like the issue of, you know, I may think that I'm Napoleon, and there really is a sense of I am Napoleon. That does exist in the psychotic case. I really think I'm Napoleon. But is there a Napoleon here? No. Report an error in the passage at 34:21 Highlight the passage at 34:21

34:42 Well, no Napoleon, for starters. Report an error in the passage at 34:42 Highlight the passage at 34:42

34:48 I can't guarantee that. It would be really bizarre if I turned out to be a later incarnation of Napoleon. I'd be so embarrassed. I think the chances are small, so I'm going to rest easy on that one. Report an error in the passage at 34:48 Highlight the passage at 34:48

35:02 No Napoleon. But then likewise, if I have a sense that I really am someone, that's one way we phrase it in English. Here's how it will come across. A little bit bold. Susan, do you know who you're talking to? Report an error in the passage at 35:02 Highlight the passage at 35:02

35:19 Ever heard that one? Do you know who you're talking to? I'm Dr. Ph.D. Alan Wallace. You know, blah, blah, blah. But kind of like, I really am someone. Report an error in the passage at 35:19 Highlight the passage at 35:19

35:30 Now I've finally made it. I've published my 40 books. Now I'm really now someone. People know me. I'm really someone. Like that. Like there's a real entity there that now people know. Well, that's thinking I'm Napoleon. And that is grasping onto that kind of identity that I really am someone. There really is. When you say I'm fabulous or I'm a jerk, either one, that actually has a target. There is really someone here who is elevated when you say I'm fabulous and deflated when you say I'm a jerk. Report an error in the passage at 35:30 Highlight the passage at 35:30

36:05 If you look for that, you won't find it. If you look for that anywhere, in your body, your mind, anywhere else, that nuclear self, that autonomous self that's in charge of the body and the mind, it said in Buddhist view, we are born with that delusional sense of self. Report an error in the passage at 36:05 Highlight the passage at 36:05

36:24 And that delusional sense of self does exist. Just like I could be thinking that I'm Napoleon. That sense, I'm Napoleon, does exist. But is there any corresponding self? The answer is look for it. And the chances are you're not going to find it for a very good reason that doesn't exist at all. That self. But here's the point. And this is subtle and it's complex. And I ran through it fairly quickly this afternoon. I was just highlighting one of the many points of how to deal with resentment. Report an error in the passage at 36:24 Highlight the passage at 36:24

36:53 If we don't exist in that way, and that is the Buddhist premise, we do not exist autonomously. There is no ego substance here. From day to day, we can ask this, you fall asleep at night and then you have a sense of self the next morning. Report an error in the passage at 36:53 Highlight the passage at 36:53

37:09 Is the self in the morning the same entity as the self of the preceding day? And the Buddhist view is no. Not the same. Not one immutable psychic or spiritual or existential entity. That somehow made it to the next day and it's plunked into the next day. Or in the bigger Buddhist worldview, that gets plunked from one lifetime to another lifetime. That gets reincarnated. Report an error in the passage at 37:09 Highlight the passage at 37:09

37:32 Some kind of a nuclear identity, self, person, I. That's exactly what's refuted. And refuted because it's nowhere to be found. Now, an interesting point here is if you have, like in the conversation with, I think it was with Chris, if you have a rounded practice, it was Chris, if you have a rounded practice, You're not just trying to develop concentrated skills, you're just trying to do this. You have a rounded practice. You're developing the attentional balance, the composure, you're developing your insight, greater mindfulness, understanding, also developing your heart, kindness, compassion, a rounded practice. Report an error in the passage at 37:32 Highlight the passage at 37:32

38:10 And you're attending more and more to other people, loosening up, the space of your heart increasing. In the midst of a rounded, mature practice like that, when you start getting some insight into the sheer emptiness, Absence, the sheer absence, the sheer absence, best word, absence of a nuclear self is way over here. Report an error in the passage at 38:10 Highlight the passage at 38:10

38:32 It's so refreshing. Report an error in the passage at 38:32 Highlight the passage at 38:32

38:38 Whereas if one leads a very egotistical life where it's all about me, my ambitions, my desires, my possessions, my career, my mind, really about me, self-centered and really nuclear. If such a person should gain some insight into the absence of self, that can be quite devastating. Report an error in the passage at 38:38 Highlight the passage at 38:38

39:03 So it's said that for the one person who has really developed a mature, reality-based, meaningful way of life, if he starts having some insight into the emptiness of yourself, the absence of that nuclear, autonomous, substantial, separate, polarized self, if you start having some insight into that, it's like finding the greatest treasure. Report an error in the passage at 39:03 Highlight the passage at 39:03

39:25 And a person who's been living a very self-centered life, totally hedonic, And so forth, I mean mine, I mean mine. That person may, could conceivably happen, also have some insight into the sheer absence of such an autonomous self. And when that experience occurs, it feels like you've lost your most precious treasure. Report an error in the passage at 39:25 Highlight the passage at 39:25

39:47 And so how to move around that? Well, the four measures are really good. They're really, really good. Because what that does is it develops a sense of kinship, a sense of relation. So I mentioned before, in my view, and I've spent some time looking into that, I really have not found, and in fact I'm quite, Persuaded there is not to be found some type of a nuclear self named Alan Wallace. I think I would have found it by now. I've looked repeatedly. Report an error in the passage at 39:47 Highlight the passage at 39:47

40:14 But it feels so at ease to arise in one circumstance. Right now I'm sitting in this chair, so I'm rising as a Dharma teacher. Report an error in the passage at 40:14 Highlight the passage at 40:14

40:24 But on Sunday I'm going to be teaching in more of a secular context. So then I'm going to be more of a workshop leader. And then after that I'm going to be giving a lecture in a conference. And after that I'm going to be in dialogue with... A wonderful mom, Denson Paul, she's outstanding. That's going to be a real privilege. But after that I'm going to be a husband and after that I'm going to be a grandpa. And it's all fluid, it's all light. Report an error in the passage at 40:24 Highlight the passage at 40:24

40:47 And if one of those should drop out, like any of them, I'm not invited to conferences anymore. Just piss them off one time too many. Report an error in the passage at 40:47 Highlight the passage at 40:47

40:58 That's okay. I don't need to be a conference dude. That's just kind of one arising is not happening anymore. And my life isn't dependent on it. I'm going to starve if I don't get any invitations to conferences. And if then after some time I'm simply not needed as a Dharma teacher, one less thing I need to do. And likewise all the other ones. Report an error in the passage at 40:58 Highlight the passage at 40:58

41:18 That my existence doesn't hinge on any one of them. Because there's simply a rising. And what's arising here is just an ongoing flow. Report an error in the passage at 41:18 Highlight the passage at 41:18

41:28 Always nothing to hold on to. Like just a stream. It's called stream. Because there's nothing to hold on to. Nothing static. Nothing moving like a fist through time. Just an ongoing flow. It's very relaxing. And then also in that way, the nuclear self. Report an error in the passage at 41:28 Highlight the passage at 41:28

41:45 It's alienating. It's really alienating. Because if I really am confident of my own living as if this self really does exist, this autonomous, my head always goes into that mudrā. It's kind of like, you see how it's drawn into itself? And it's drawn into, I'm obviously holding on to something, because that's why people hold a fist. But also you see all the knuckles here? Report an error in the passage at 41:45 Highlight the passage at 41:45

42:06 Get in my way, you know what's coming. A knuckle sandwich. So it's both a symbol of aggression, but also holding on tightly. My own security, my... My wealth, my reputation, whatever. So this is really holding on tightly, isn't it? But it's also ready to strike out. So there you have attachment and diversion. Report an error in the passage at 42:06 Highlight the passage at 42:06

42:29 But insofar as it's a gradient, it's not good people, bad people. Insofar as this starts to loosen up. I'll put it the opposite way. Insofar as this is really tight, really solid, really reinforced. You're way over there, Susan. You're way over there. There's 12 feet of empty space between the two. Your problems are your problems. Report an error in the passage at 42:29 Highlight the passage at 42:29

43:03 Your problem is not my business. Report an error in the passage at 43:03 Highlight the passage at 43:03

43:11 That is actually a basis for all the atrocities that people commit over history. Every single kind. Spousal views of children, ethnic groups and so forth. It's always a sense of, you're not on my side and I've got two fists. Report an error in the passage at 43:11 Highlight the passage at 43:11

43:40 And so, the more that loosens up, this is what's called method and wisdom. Method and wisdom. The more that loosens up, this is the wisdom coming in. Where it becomes more porous, it becomes more fluid, it becomes more relational. Here I'm a rising grandfather, here I'm a customer, here I'm an author, here I'm an editor, here I'm a translator. I rise in many, I've got many, many hats, you know, and all these legs. Report an error in the passage at 43:40 Highlight the passage at 43:40

44:04 And see that there is actually no nucleus that holds them all together. It's just all arising, all different contexts. The more that happens, then I see that every aspect of my identity in the world is all relation bound, all arising relative to. Will this mean in all of these roles I don't exist independently? I'm not going to be a teacher all by myself. Report an error in the passage at 44:04 Highlight the passage at 44:04

44:25 That doesn't mean anything. A teacher with no students? A teacher doesn't teach? I'm not a teacher. It's kind of a word with no reference. And likewise, everything else. And so then when you see your whole multiple identities within the world are all relational, arising relative to husband, to brothers and sisters, parents, family, friends, and so forth, then when you see that, then empathy is the only realistic response, a sense of connectedness. Report an error in the passage at 44:25 Highlight the passage at 44:25

44:53 It's the only realistic response. Because that's how you exist. You exist in interconnectedness. And you don't exist as a ball bearing over here versus a ball bearing over there that once in a while bump into each other. So it's not a Newtonian view. It's a relativistic view. And I didn't coin the term, did not coin the term, ontological relativity. Report an error in the passage at 44:53 Highlight the passage at 44:53

45:13 Ontological, ontological means being. But our very being here is one of interdependence, interrelationship. But then opens a way for empathy. That opens a way for loving kindness and compassion. Report an error in the passage at 45:13 Highlight the passage at 45:13

45:24 And then all the stink goes out. I always forget his name, but there was one Hindu sage. And I can paraphrase him closely. He said, when I look upon myself with the eyes of wisdom, I see that I am... Report an error in the passage at 45:24 Highlight the passage at 45:24

45:51 We'll go to the other side. Listen to me in the back, please. Report an error in the passage at 45:51 Highlight the passage at 45:51

46:02 Hi, my name is Rie. I just missed it. Rie. Rie. R-E-E-V. Say it once again. R-Y-N. R-Y-N. Report an error in the passage at 46:02 Highlight the passage at 46:02

46:16 This is a question about adoption. And in Mahamudra, I don't have dodging, but I do have limited exposure to the Mahamudra. One of the things that I read often and heard from various people is that dodging is more suited to people whose primary digital affections are not. Report an error in the passage at 46:16 Highlight the passage at 46:16

46:45 And Mahamudra is more suited to those whose affliction needs attachment. Do you agree with that or do you think that's a false distinction? Report an error in the passage at 46:45 Highlight the passage at 46:45

46:55 It's a question that it's puzzled me for some years now. Yeah, I'm not going to refute anybody who says that because I don't know why they say it. And I don't know what they have in mind when they say Mahamudra and Dzogchen because people do have different views. So I'm not going to refute it. I just don't know where that's coming from. Report an error in the passage at 46:55 Highlight the passage at 46:55

47:14 I can tell you where I'm coming from, is that really virtually everything I know about Mahamudra and Dzogchen, almost everything is coming from one Lama. And he's truly, he's really an exceptional Lama. He's one of the old, the old school, he's 90 now. He's Yatra Rinpoche, and I can go on and on about him, but he's a man of great distinction. Report an error in the passage at 47:14 Highlight the passage at 47:14

47:37 He was the personal representative of Dujum Rinpoche, the head of the Nima Order. He's personal representative for all of North America. And he was asked to teach by Gyawa Kama, and he was asked to teach by the Dalai Lama. And so I could go on and on, but he's a wonderful teacher and just inexpressibly kind to me. Report an error in the passage at 47:37 Highlight the passage at 47:37

47:57 And I mean that literally, I cannot express how kind he is. And so he's a lineage holder both for the Mahamudra tradition, because he is a lineage holder of what's called the Bayu tradition, which is Mahamudra, but also the Dzogchen tradition, especially the Dujung Lingpa. But also other lineages, Kama Lama and so forth. So there's multiple lineages that flow into him. Now, where I've learned about the relationship between these two was from him. Report an error in the passage at 47:57 Highlight the passage at 47:57

48:22 But he was teaching a classic text, and it's really widely regarded as a classic text. There was a great scholar contemplative in the 17th century named Karma Chakme. He was the secondary tutor for the fifth Dalai Lama, so a man of great stature. Extraordinary scholar, tremendous erudition. But also very deep contemplative and widely renowned as being truly a great, great master of both Mahamudra and Dzogchen. So he wrote a text called Changso Dzongju in Tibetan, which means simply the union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. Report an error in the passage at 48:22 Highlight the passage at 48:22

48:58 The title is a bit longer, but that's the essence of it. And Gertrude Rinpoche taught that text over a period of months, and I was his interpreter. And as he was teaching it, I do what I often do. When I see something really good, I want to share it. So he was teaching this text, you know, line by line. Report an error in the passage at 48:58 Highlight the passage at 48:58

49:14 A word commentary, a close commentary. And I just thought the text was so fabulous, I decided to translate it. And then other people then edited my translation of his commentary, and that became two books. One is called The Spaceless Path of Freedom, and the second one is called Naked Awareness. And it's really the main body of the text by Kama Chakme, and then he wrote a long addendum, really long, like 300 pages, an addendum where he went over a lot of the same material, but with a difference of anger. Report an error in the passage at 49:14 Highlight the passage at 49:14

49:45 He just kind of filled it in with greater richness. And so this is one of the classics by a man who is regarded as a great accomplished master both by the followers of Dzogchen and by the followers of Mahamudra. Okay? And you can check all of that. If you know Mingyur Rinpoche, Dzogin Rinpoche, Kyukin Yimur Rinpoche, their father, Tuko Ogyen Rinpoche, that's a pretty formidable family there. Report an error in the passage at 49:45 Highlight the passage at 49:45

50:10 And they represent this union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen there. Kanyin, they call themselves. They call it Nyingmapa and Kanyupa. And they teach all over the place. They're very well known. I never met the father, but I've met all the three sons. Well, there's more sons, but I've met those three. But they're very, very. And so it's that lineage. And my teacher was training that lineage as well. So with that preface, I've never heard and have not a clue what they're referring to when they say Dzogchen is for people with anger and angry temperament and with attachment. Report an error in the passage at 50:10 Highlight the passage at 50:10

50:41 I just don't know. So I'm going to criticize it or affirm it. I just don't know. I don't know where that's coming from. What I do know is what Kama Chani said, and he's regarded as a great expert in both, by Gagyupas and by Nyungapas, the two traditions. And here's what he said, is that, and I'm going to elaborate a little bit, but always on solid ground, so you're not going to get any opinion from me. I have opinions, but I'm not going to share those with you now. Report an error in the passage at 50:41 Highlight the passage at 50:41

51:07 I'm going to tell you what comes right here from this group. Report an error in the passage at 51:07 Highlight the passage at 51:07

51:14 So what we know there is in the Gagyu tradition, Mahamudra is couched within or embedded within. A matrage of other practices. And for example, the six yogas of Narada. In the Gagya tradition, that's really prominent. And this includes things like Dummo and dream yoga and other practices. In the midst of that, the Mahamudra is embedded in those. They're called stage of completion practices. It's very well known. So it's not presented as a stand-alone practice. Report an error in the passage at 51:14 Highlight the passage at 51:14

51:43 But it's assumed if you're practicing Mahamudra, you're probably practicing Vajrayogini or chakras and Lala. And you'll probably practice the six-year-old yogas in Naroba sooner or later, because that just goes with the territory. Stay in that tradition. You're going to get this. And they're going to introduce Mahmudra, but it will be in that context. Report an error in the passage at 51:43 Highlight the passage at 51:43

52:02 Now, in Dzogchen, once again, it often comes with a lot of other practices. But Dzogchen, I'm just finishing now doing the final touches of about a thousand pages of translation at that time of Dzogchen from the Jujung Lingba lineage. And it's pure Dzogchen. Report an error in the passage at 52:02 Highlight the passage at 52:02

52:23 And what's clear there is that there are these stages of the path in Dzogchen, which can be and very frequently are augmented by the stage of generation, the stage of completion practices. And for new people, this simply refers to the practices involving mandala and the meditation deities and mantra and so forth and so on. Report an error in the passage at 52:23 Highlight the passage at 52:23

52:45 It's a thumbnail sketch. So these core Dzogchen practices are very often practiced in conjunction with. These other practices, like stage of generation, conviction, dumo practice, and so on, often. But, what's very clear in these translations, in these texts that I translated, which are classic, really classic, is that these other practices, such as the six yogas and narupa, extremely useful, not disputed. Report an error in the passage at 52:45 Highlight the passage at 52:45

53:11 Indispensable? Not indispensable. In the Dzogchen, if you want to trim down, sleek, essential practices, with no elaboration, No non-essentials. I can tell you exactly what they are. And there's no opinion from my side. It's just straight from the text. You have to have shamatha. This is for people who really are looking for achieving a lifetime in this lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 53:11 Highlight the passage at 53:11

53:36 You've got to achieve shamatha. You don't do that. You've got a broken car. It doesn't work. You've got to have a very finely tuned, highly focused, pure, luminous, clear mind. And then you use that. So the first thing is you've got to achieve shamatha. Secondly, you must... cultivate and gain some real realization in the Basha. Report an error in the passage at 53:36 Highlight the passage at 53:36

53:55 And above all, the realization of emptiness, and above all, the realization of emptiness of your own mind. And by implication, then, the emptiness of inherent nature is crucial. Report an error in the passage at 53:55 Highlight the passage at 53:55

54:12 And then there's the first phase of kind of the bona fide central practice of Dzogchen itself. It's called tekcha. Tekcha means cutting through, cutting through. And what you're cutting through is your mind. Even the subtle dimension of mind, called substrate consciousness, you're cutting through to pristine awareness, which is the ground awareness, primordial awareness, beyond space, beyond time, beyond all conceptual constructs. Report an error in the passage at 54:12 Highlight the passage at 54:12

54:44 Well, that's the core of the whole practice, is to cut through to the ground state, the ultimate ground state of your own awareness. It's pristine awareness. And then there's a final phase, which is called tut gel, which is a direct crossing over, where it's as if you've drilled a well. It's a bad metaphor, but maybe not terrible. It's like you've drilled a well from the surface level of your mind. Report an error in the passage at 54:44 Highlight the passage at 54:44

55:09 And you've just penetrated all the layers of the psyche. And you tap down into the substrate consciousness, which is a subtle continuum of consciousness that carries on from lifetime to lifetime. You just keep on drilling. Just keep on going. And you drill down until you come finally to the... Groundwater, you come to the ground awareness, atemporal, non-local, inconceivable, but it can be known as you put in nature. Report an error in the passage at 55:09 Highlight the passage at 55:09

55:35 You come to that, and that's what you cut through to in this third phase. You have shamatha, impassana, and this cup to actually finally learn who you've always been, what's your actual nature, who are you? So the question is, who are you? That's really good news. When you've seen all the things you're not, then that's what's left, and that's what you've always been. Report an error in the passage at 55:35 Highlight the passage at 55:35

55:57 And so that's cutting through. And then the final thing is called turt gyal, the direct crossing over. Now that you've tapped into that, let's say, that groundwater, you get that water out on the surface. And so the direct crossing over is tapping into that ultimate ground. And then the practice is for bringing the full splendor, the full majesty of that awareness to the conscious level. Report an error in the passage at 55:57 Highlight the passage at 55:57

56:22 So the depth of compassion that's there becomes manifest. The depth of wisdom, of awareness that's there, flows out. It's manifest. And the power of consciousness, because it's one of the primal forces in all of nature, is not located in heads. That's the superficial configuration of consciousness. It's grounded. And you're bringing that out. So bring out the full power of consciousness. Bring out those three. The full compassion, the full wisdom, the full power. Report an error in the passage at 56:22 Highlight the passage at 56:22

56:52 Bring out those completely. And now your Buddha. So that's what you... It has nothing to do with whether you're angry or you're attacked. Stupid. Report an error in the passage at 56:52 Highlight the passage at 56:52

57:02 Now, what Karmachane says, I'm just quoting him. What do I know? I really don't, but I know what he said. He said in Mahamudra, if you look at Mahamudra and the practices, it's view, meditation and way of life. That's always a trap, right? View, meditation and way of life. And he is a consummate scholar. And he's written on it. You see his orientation. He's brilliant. He said for Mahamudra, you look at the view, meditation and way of life as it's taught in Mahamudra. Report an error in the passage at 57:02 Highlight the passage at 57:02

57:30 And then hop out of the fence, stay outside of the fence and look at the view, meditation and way of life taught in Dzogchen. Especially, specifically, that cutting through phase. He said they're identical. Different terminology. The method is really the same. The way of life is the same. The view is the same. The whole point of it is the same. The whole point of Mahamudra is to cut through to pristine awareness, primordial consciousness, Buddha-nation. Report an error in the passage at 57:30 Highlight the passage at 57:30

57:54 So they have the same agenda, the same methods, the same views. Different terminology a bit, a bit of nuance here, a bit of nuance there. But he said the two are identical. For all practical purposes, the two are identical. Now what Mahamudra doesn't have, and Dzogchen does, because they both have shamatha and vipassanā, and extremely similar, basically same. Mahamudra, shamatha vipassanā, Dzogchen, shamatha vipassanā, tomatoes, tomatoes. Report an error in the passage at 57:54 Highlight the passage at 57:54

58:19 And then the cutting through phase in Mahamudra, tomatoes, tomatoes. Really same. But now in the Dzogchen, it's like we have this, this direct crossing over, that tapping into and making manifest. It's called spontaneous actualization, where it's just like if you... Like for oil, they tap down and there's so much gas down there, it just comes whooshing up. We've all seen that. Well, that's what happens. You tap down deep enough and then just whoosh. Report an error in the passage at 58:19 Highlight the passage at 58:19

58:47 You have these qualities of that deepest dimension who whooshing up spontaneously. That direct crossing over, you don't find in Mahamudra. Those teachings are not there. So does this mean that Mahamudra is incomplete or inferior? Nope. Everything you get from the Chutgyam, the direct crossing over practice and Dzogchen, Report an error in the passage at 58:47 Highlight the passage at 58:47

59:10 That's what you have the six yogas of Naropa for. They bring up all the same thing, it's just different methods. And both lead to exactly the same result. So that's what I've heard. That actually makes a lot of sense to me. The other one I have no idea what they're talking about. And that doesn't mean what they're saying doesn't make any sense. It just means that from what I've received, I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 59:10 Highlight the passage at 59:10

59:34 And that's ignorance, not an illusion. I suspected that they were inseparable. Report an error in the passage at 59:34 Highlight the passage at 59:34

59:52 I completely wanted you to go too much for a drink. Report an error in the passage at 59:52 Highlight the passage at 59:52

59:59 it's practical but she will grow up one day yeah Yeah, that is what we'll do next summer. We're going to cover exactly that material from exactly those texts. And then people conceive of themselves, anybody can read it. I mean, it's Spaces of Path of Freedom, Naked Awareness, you can read it and look at it. In Spaces of Path of Freedom, that's where he really lays it out systematically, step by step. Report an error in the passage at 59:59 Highlight the passage at 59:59

1:00:22 Naked Awareness, he just swoops right through again, goes through it all again, but again, different embassies. But in Spaces of Path of Freedom, he lays out the shamatha, the vipassanā, and the mahamudra, and then he lays out the Dzogchen, each time showing his tremendous erudition. It just seems like he read everything. And then you go back to back. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:22 Highlight the passage at 1:00:22

1:00:42 Here's a chapter of Mahamudra, here's the one on Dzogchen. And then you see for yourself, you know, because he's citing the classics. And there's nothing, how to say, unorthodox or weird about him. He's really representing the main currents of these two and bringing them together in a seamless fashion. But, you know, the thing about the eight-week retreats is it seems like the outer mandala is not quite set, not only of a small child. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:42 Highlight the passage at 1:00:42

1:01:11 Listen to it at your leisure, at your own pace. And there it is, everything is there, the guided meditation, the discussions, everything is there, and the text you need. So then, Report an error in the passage at 1:01:11 Highlight the passage at 1:01:11

1:01:24 yes please. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:24 Highlight the passage at 1:01:24

1:01:30 Christine? Christine. Christine, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:30 Highlight the passage at 1:01:30

1:01:58 How does it help? Yeah. Good. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:58 Highlight the passage at 1:01:58

1:02:07 If one goes into the understanding and the practice of loving kindness, and really brings as much wisdom as possible, so you're not just arousing nice thoughts or nice aspirations, may everybody be happy, may everybody be happy. It can be quite superficial. If one's not doing that, really trying to bring wisdom to it, then the whole theme of yodamonia, the whole theme of genuine happiness, of release, and then tracing that to its source becomes important quickly. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:07 Highlight the passage at 1:02:07

1:02:36 So the Buddha in the Pāli Canon made the comment once that he said, find what makes you truly happy and then pursue that to its source. That's a paraphrase, but it's pretty close. It's almost like Joseph Campbell's Follow Your Bliss. And that can be interpreted in many different ways, but it can be interpreted in a very, very meaningful way. And I'm sure that's what he meant. And so, as you more deeply experience, understand and experience the sense of genuine well-being that's not contingent upon pleasant stimulation, then that's going to already take you in the direction of Dzogchen, pristine awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:36 Highlight the passage at 1:02:36

1:03:14 Because the source, the ultimate source of genuine happiness is your Buddha nature. Everything else is fragrance, it's up there on the surface. But follow the fragrance back to the source, take you right down to the ground. So that's how loving kindness would already lead to that. Now as we'll see over the coming days, tomorrow then we'll go right into compassion and empathetic joy, unanimity. That is when this is actually, it is actually a very meaningful sequence. I'll try to make that clear in the next two and a half days. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:14 Highlight the passage at 1:03:14

1:03:45 That as one cultivates these, it's taking you deeper and deeper along the path to realizing bodhicitta. To realizing bodhicitta, you come to equanimity. I want to give you a little thumbnail sketch. And that equanimity, there's just kind of like an oceanic evenness, an evenness of loving kindness, an evenness of compassion, an evenness of empathetic joy. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:45 Highlight the passage at 1:03:45

1:04:09 Just so smooth, no barriers, no bumps. And then if one moves into Mahāyāna territory, so now you know, I think, the bodhisattva path. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:09 Highlight the passage at 1:04:09

1:04:20 Because the Dzogchen really makes sense only within the context of the bodhisattva path. You can't practice Dzogchen. For your own individual liberation, run out of the house, it's on fire. You can't practice the Dzogchen for that. It's a total misfit. So Dzogchen makes sense, actually, only within the context. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:20 Highlight the passage at 1:04:20

1:04:42 And so, if you go to equanimity, then the next major step, we did this, by the way, for the podcast, for the eight-week retreat we just finished, we did this, it was really quite splendid. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:42 Highlight the passage at 1:04:42

1:04:54 Just to see the sequence, how it unfolds. And we did this, we did it twice, actually, during the last month or so of the eight-week retreat. You move from there to what's called great compassion. Great compassion. So you've already done immeasurable compassion, right? That's coming tomorrow. You've moved through that. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:54 Highlight the passage at 1:04:54

1:05:11 You've cultivated that. It means something. You've experienced it. But now you move to what's called great compassion. And it's actually bigger. It's greater. It's more majestic than immeasurable. That terminology is a bit odd, but that's the way it is. And great compassion is where, once again, you turn your eyes to the world of sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:11 Highlight the passage at 1:05:11

1:05:30 And with this profound sense of interconnectedness, so it relates back to the point with Susan, deep sense of interconnectedness. You so profoundly empathize, really with everyone around you, that the sense of barrier, the sense of you're over there and I'm over here, it's kind of melted away. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:30 Highlight the passage at 1:05:30

1:05:49 And you see every sentient being striving for happiness, every single one wishing to be for yourself, and not doing a very good job. You know, so much unnecessary suffering just being perpetuated, perpetuated, as if people are blind. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:49 Highlight the passage at 1:05:49

1:06:08 The great compassion arises. And great compassion arises more than simply an aspiration. It arises with a kind of sense of responsibility. And that is, and Report an error in the passage at 1:06:08 Highlight the passage at 1:06:08

1:06:30 I've liberated everyone. But if you arouse that thought, and it's not megalomania, and it's not crazy or silly idealism, if it's coming from, if you say it, you think it, I must free everyone from suffering and its cause. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:30 Highlight the passage at 1:06:30

1:06:48 Just having that thought come up, if it's sincere, it's heartfelt. Just that thought coming up. You know that thought cannot... Be sustained on the level of you as this person. Because you're going to be dead in some decades. Hopefully quite a few, but still, you're going to be dead in some decades. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:48 Highlight the passage at 1:06:48

1:07:09 And so that notion from that platform of this psyche, this person will live 80, 90 years old if we're lucky. From that perspective, to say I must free everyone is silly. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:09 Highlight the passage at 1:07:09

1:07:23 It's ridiculous. 90 year lifespan? Even if you're a Buddha, what's your chance? Hopeless. So don't think that. But that means you either stop thinking that or you drop to a deeper level. So a deeper level is a continuum of consciousness. It's a stem consciousness. It's not configured as a human being yet. That's what carries on from lifetime. It's deeper. But it's still slender. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:23 Highlight the passage at 1:07:23

1:07:51 It's like a silver thread that goes from one life to the next to the next. And so if you're coming from that platform, it still is not realistic. One slender continuum. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:51 Highlight the passage at 1:07:51

1:08:02 So you can't stop there. It just doesn't hold. It doesn't hold. So if you're going to hold that thought, that aspiration, that resolution, I must free us all. Then the sense of who's talking when you say I must, what's the referent? It can't be this woman here. It can't be simply that slender continuum of consciousness going fine in a lifetime in a lifetime. It can't bear it. It's not big enough. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:02 Highlight the passage at 1:08:02

1:08:27 It has to drop. You have to cut through that. And there's actually only one perspective from which that is a realistic result. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:27 Highlight the passage at 1:08:27

1:08:37 That's your Buddha nature. From that perspective. That's actually a meaningful response. It's realistic. So by way of compassion, your very sense of identity, the bottom drops out. And from that perspective, it's realistic. And then from there, you move to great loving kindness, great empathetic joy, great equanimity. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:37 Highlight the passage at 1:08:37

1:09:02 And from there, you move into bodhicitta, the aspiration, the resolve of a bodhisattva. And that resolve is, I must achieve enlightenment, perfect enlightenment for the sake of all centuries. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:02 Highlight the passage at 1:09:02

1:09:16 And that's very authentic. But really only from that deepest image. And so in that way, by way of compassion, it just knocks the bottom out of your sense of identity. You can't be way up here because it just melts, melts. Let's go deeper. So there are two doors there. You can come through the realization of pristine awareness, the deepest ground, to know actually who you are, to become awake. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:16 Highlight the passage at 1:09:16

1:09:42 You can go through the door of compassion and bodhicitta, that way. Or some people by temperament. I'm much inclined to go through the wisdom door. So they may be wanting to practice much more awareness of awareness, just resting there in the very nature of awareness, seeing that sense of awareness melting, melting into a deeper, this substrate consciousness, blissful, lumen, but then releasing all the grasping there, Report an error in the passage at 1:09:42 Highlight the passage at 1:09:42

1:10:14 right down to the ground, this wisdom track. But if you come all the way down to the ground and you have this non-dual realization of pristine awareness, so you realize you're both in nature. You realize you are your Buddha nature, not something you have, but you are. Then when you emerge from that, then relative bodhicitta arises spontaneously out of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:14 Highlight the passage at 1:10:14

1:10:35 Deepest compassion arises out of that, out of wisdom flows compassion. But compassion can also lead you to wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:35 Highlight the passage at 1:10:35

1:10:55 So it's time for bed, or at least time to head off out of this room. So as you do go to bed, whether it's ten minutes from now or whenever you go to bed, when you finish the day, brush your teeth, everything's finished, then... It's very meaningful to have a good segue from your activities of the day, and it's pretty much Dharma activities today, a meaningful segue or transition from your daytime activities to going to sleep, kind of a smooth transition. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:55 Highlight the passage at 1:10:55

1:11:27 And so for people who find it difficult to fall asleep, the mind being quite active, so maybe it takes you a long time to fall asleep quite often, for such people... What I would suggest is get into bed when everything is finished, when everything, get into bed, supine position, and go into that Shavasana. And just go into the infirmary, just that, as I was talking about, to Mark last night. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:27 Highlight the passage at 1:11:27

1:11:54 Just go into that full body awareness, bring the awareness out of the head, and breathe, and release, and release, and just really mellow out, until finally you feel that wooziness, and then switch postures, even slightly, and then a good category of sleep. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:54 Highlight the passage at 1:11:54

1:12:10 But not everybody is like that. People have different constitutions. Some people can fall asleep. So if you're one of those people that find it generally quite easy to fall asleep, then I'd have a different suggestion. Same thing, get in the supine position, there you are. But now instead of practicing mindfulness of breathing, what I would suggest is totally mellow out, subtle body, speech and mind in the natural state, totally mellow out. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:10 Highlight the passage at 1:12:10

1:12:37 And then from this very soft, very gentle perspective, just direct your awareness to the space of the mind and whatever's coming up. Be present with it. Just rest there in stillness. And as long as you can, Keep on the light of your awareness. Keep cognizant. Keep awake as your body is falling asleep and your mind starts to fall asleep. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:37 Highlight the passage at 1:12:37

1:13:03 If you can, just keep that little... Report an error in the passage at 1:13:03 Highlight the passage at 1:13:03

1:13:10 And so it's possible, actually, to have your body fall asleep and your mind fall asleep and still remain lucid. And you may slip right into draining sleep and be lucid when you get there. Be deep asleep and know it. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:10 Highlight the passage at 1:13:10

1:13:32 But if you're one of those people who has a lot of activity in the mind and you try to do that, you're not going to get to sleep. You're going to just lie there. So you better figure out what type you are. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:32 Highlight the passage at 1:13:32

1:13:44 Either way, it's very important to get a good night's sleep. And on that basis... Report an error in the passage at 1:13:44 Highlight the passage at 1:13:44