BP: Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds (2 February 2015)

0:06 How is everybody? Are you cool enough? Report an error in the passage at 0:06 Highlight the passage at 0:06

0:36 Pardon? You've got a lot to do. How do you keep up with it? You're doing a great job. Report an error in the passage at 0:36 Highlight the passage at 0:36

0:49 Does anybody have anything? I know Sue was on Radio National. You want to tell us about that? She Report an error in the passage at 0:49 Highlight the passage at 0:49

1:09 repeated Report an error in the passage at 1:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09

1:20 on Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:29 Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 1:29 Highlight the passage at 1:29

1:40 Does anybody... Have anything you'd like to share? Anything that came up over the course of the week? Nice Report an error in the passage at 1:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40

1:51 to see you. Welcome Report an error in the passage at 1:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51

2:01 Margaret back. It's nice to see you. Report an error in the passage at 2:01 Highlight the passage at 2:01

2:27 So I'd like to begin with a quote by Lama Yeshe, the third from the left of these six pictures on your left. And he's talking about going for refuge. You know, this, uh... The process of readjusting our motivation, perhaps, unlike myself, you probably lead very busy lives. You have a lot to do, both in the home and outside the home at work. Report an error in the passage at 2:27 Highlight the passage at 2:27

3:09 So it's quite easy to perhaps lose sight of what is most important to ourselves. We have to stop speeding, stop acting in pause and to adjust our priorities. To get back in touch with some of our more central values. And values by that I mean most simply what is important to us, what makes a difference to us, what we really care about deeply. Report an error in the passage at 3:09 Highlight the passage at 3:09

3:39 We have to take care of the practical necessities of our everyday life, but within the context of how these express our central values. And then we're not quite as confused. Things, our life becomes a little more simplified perhaps. We know our way. Report an error in the passage at 3:39 Highlight the passage at 3:39

4:02 Maybe when we get out of touch with ourselves, out of tune with ourselves and life becomes confusing. We don't know quite what to do or where to go. Report an error in the passage at 4:02 Highlight the passage at 4:02

4:14 So this process of keep coming back to ourselves. And here, I guess one way of talking about that metaphorically at least is coming back to our own Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 4:14 Highlight the passage at 4:14

4:33 Our own basic sanity, our own basic wisdom and caring. Report an error in the passage at 4:33 Highlight the passage at 4:33

4:41 I want to, for some reason, a lot of what we're going to talk about tonight sort of touches upon that theme, that notion. Report an error in the passage at 4:41 Highlight the passage at 4:41

4:53 And I think sometimes we become orientated to seeing the good life, the successful life outside of ourselves, what is worthwhile, what is of value, what is important. Report an error in the passage at 4:53 Highlight the passage at 4:53

5:10 I think even in terms of our spiritual practice, we see the goal of the practice as somewhere far down the line, or we see what is in value, our teachers and the Buddhists somewhere outside of ourselves, some kind of abstraction perhaps. And we often lose sight of the fact that we're going for refuge ultimately to something. Report an error in the passage at 5:10 Highlight the passage at 5:10

5:45 Deep inside of ourselves. Something that we are ultimately the final transformation of. That's the only thing that we can depend upon. That's the only thing that we can rely upon is our own self-development, the qualities and our ways of being in the world. Report an error in the passage at 5:45 Highlight the passage at 5:45

6:05 That's the only thing that can help us in all situations in the best possible ways. We can't really rely upon a great deal and ultimately on what lies outside of ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 6:05 Highlight the passage at 6:05

6:18 So this is Lamyeshi talking about going for refuge and what it means. We often recite, I go for refuge to the Buddha, I go for refuge to the Dharma and so forth in Saṅgha. And does that have any meaning? Does it actually move our hearts? Does it actually touch us in some way? Sometimes Western people have a problem taking refuge in Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 6:18 Highlight the passage at 6:18

6:41 Who is Buddha? Where is Buddha? Did you see Buddha? I've never seen any Buddha in Canada. He was giving a retreat in Canada. Did you see God? When you take refuge, you don't see them. Oh, you people. If you can't see Buddha and God, then why do you take refuge? You must be really super-believing people. I don't know anymore. Report an error in the passage at 6:41 Highlight the passage at 6:41

7:08 First of all, we know it's possible to have some better understanding of wisdom. We all know this. In our own experience, sometimes we are clean, clear, and can handle life well. Sometimes we are depressed and relapse into darkness. We can't handle life. We all know that. We all know. Now, taking refuge in Buddha doesn't necessarily mean an outer Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 7:08 Highlight the passage at 7:08

7:32 You can take refuge in your own wisdom light. That's why, as I told you before, don't think you are completely foolish, inwardly only containing darkness or garbage without any good qualities. Remember, you have wisdom. For example, Tibetan used the symbol of a dorje and bell. Dorje is like a small scepter with four or six prongs. Report an error in the passage at 7:32 Highlight the passage at 7:32

8:01 It's used in ritual ceremonies and so forth. For example, Tibetans use the symbol of a dorje and bell. The bell symbolizes wisdom, the clear mind, the clarity of the clean, clear mind. When you have a clean, clear mind, you can handle things better, communicate better. Understand? When you are confused, then you can't. Report an error in the passage at 8:01 Highlight the passage at 8:01

8:22 Okay, what I'm saying is you have a clean, clear mind right now and you can trust that clean, clear wisdom. You can trust it more. You can rely on it instead of your grasping mind, your ignorant mind. That's simple. So don't worry and ask, I'm taking refuge, who is Buddha? Report an error in the passage at 8:22 Highlight the passage at 8:22

8:44 So, you know, the beginning of each session together, perhaps at the beginning of each of your personal practices, maybe you... Adjust your motivation. Maybe you adjust your priorities, what it is and what you're about. And one of the things that we can... I think it's more of a style or way of being rather than a particular formality that we might go through. Report an error in the passage at 8:44 Highlight the passage at 8:44

9:13 Where do we look for the solutions to some of our more fundamental problems? Report an error in the passage at 9:13 Highlight the passage at 9:13

9:23 Okay. Maybe I should just... Okay. Whatever you... this, you know. Report an error in the passage at 9:23 Highlight the passage at 9:23

9:33 Take refuge in air conditioning. Report an error in the passage at 9:33 Highlight the passage at 9:33

· · · silence, 1 minute

10:11 Yeah, I think you could. Yeah, I think the others probably are sufficient. Report an error in the passage at 10:11 Highlight the passage at 10:11

10:34 Beginning of the last. Report an error in the passage at 10:34 Highlight the passage at 10:34

10:42 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 10:42 Highlight the passage at 10:42

11:01 You know, what I'm getting at, part of what I'd like to get at, is over the years, my orientation in terms of how I approach my own practice. It's become more and more a sense of finding the resources inside myself. I don't mean that in a sense of arrogance. Report an error in the passage at 11:01 Highlight the passage at 11:01

11:31 I mean, I hold my teachers and the teachings with great reverence and hopefully and with respect and so forth. But in the end, I can't go through the mechanical motions of simply... Report an error in the passage at 11:31 Highlight the passage at 11:31

11:55 Repeating the words or going through the various rituals, it becomes very much like oil on top of water. It's not integrated. Report an error in the passage at 11:55 Highlight the passage at 11:55

12:13 I think for us, maybe I'm speaking for myself, okay? You're very welcome to challenge what I say. It's more of a, you know, there's... Report an error in the passage at 12:13 Highlight the passage at 12:13

12:25 But we approach our practice in a very top-down perspective as opposed to a bottom-up where we find the truth of the practices within our side of ourselves, where we get in touch with that wisdom and caring, intelligence, sanity, these qualities, this inner strength. And we identify maybe only glimpses. Report an error in the passage at 12:25 Highlight the passage at 12:25

12:58 And maybe in small ways, almost seemingly insignificant, but not really so insignificant that they can be dismissed or discounted. That's not really me. I think we have to really begin to tune in to our own self-worth, to empower ourselves. I think the entire path, in a way, is simply an empowerment of ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 12:58 Highlight the passage at 12:58

13:33 To find and to allow our own wisdom, our own caring, to develop and to find expression. There are two metaphors, and I'm sure I've touched upon this in the past. A path is a metaphor, isn't it? A metaphor is something which stands for our experience. It's like a shorthand notation. We talk about a path. Report an error in the passage at 13:33 Highlight the passage at 13:33

14:04 That means, you know, I'm here and there's a sense I want to get there. And how do I get from where I am now to where I went to get to? I travel a path. Report an error in the passage at 14:04 Highlight the passage at 14:04

14:18 There's a sense of potentiality going over into actuality, like a seed being nourished and germinating and growing. Report an error in the passage at 14:18 Highlight the passage at 14:18

14:36 So there's a sense of... Working through a self-development. And I think that can be a very useful notion. But there's another metaphor that's quite often used. And that is the metaphor of a lotus. The lotus opening, revealing a perfection, if you like, or some fully developed aspect of ourselves, which needs no development. Report an error in the passage at 14:36 Highlight the passage at 14:36

15:11 needs no, you know, which is It simply needs an opportunity to find expression. I think sometimes we, perhaps forgive me if I'm talking figuratively almost. Please don't hold me to being politically correct. But sometimes we act with the wisdom of a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 15:11 Highlight the passage at 15:11

15:40 Very clear, powerful, understanding, profound. We have moments like that of clarity, of insight. I mean, we tend to dismiss them or we tend to, oh, who am I? Report an error in the passage at 15:40 Highlight the passage at 15:40

15:57 So we have moments of real compassion, where there's a self-forgetfulness when we're completely there for another in a giving, an open manner. Our hearts are vulnerable and with. So I think what I'm saying is I think these are, These are what we're finding, allowing the means to find greater expression, like the petals of a lotus, exposing some primordial understanding, Report an error in the passage at 15:57 Highlight the passage at 15:57

16:49 compassion, love. Report an error in the passage at 16:49 Highlight the passage at 16:49

16:54 And I think that we can take refuge in that. I mean, we have to be attuned to it. We have to... I think that's why when I talk about setting your motivation or readjusting your priorities, it's sort of attuning yourself to some possibilities of who you might be already and allowing that to begin to shine. Report an error in the passage at 16:54 Highlight the passage at 16:54

17:20 I want to talk more about that tonight. And I think that's really going for refuge. I'm not saying that working with the various methods of the past, I think that's a... That's a very practical and meaningful way of self-development. But I think we tend to overlook or we don't accentuate the fact that maybe we already have some wisdom, we already have some love and inner strength that we can avail ourselves of, that we do express from time to time, maybe in momentary passing moments of real wisdom, real love. Report an error in the passage at 17:20 Highlight the passage at 17:20

18:02 So I'm just sort of, more than not, I'm just kind of encouraging you not to think that our only limitations are those we acknowledge. Report an error in the passage at 18:02 Highlight the passage at 18:02

18:18 To begin to believe in yourself and the possibility. But you don't have to take this on belief, as it were. Report an error in the passage at 18:18 Highlight the passage at 18:18

18:29 Maybe we can begin to actually see it with your own experience. You can validate it in your everyday life. In some small ways. And I think that becomes a great source of encouragement for us that we're not talking about something abstract, theoretic, something that belongs in a museum of long ago, which isn't perhaps meaningful, relevant to ourselves today, but it's something living and viable, the Report an error in the passage at 18:29 Highlight the passage at 18:29

19:05 possibilities. So Report an error in the passage at 19:05 Highlight the passage at 19:05

19:15 if you'd like to recite the verse of Refuge together. Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:28 I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Through the collections of merit and wisdom created out of generosity and the other practices, may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Through the collections of merit and wisdom created out of generosity and the other practices, May I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha through the collections of merit and wisdom created out of generosity and the other practices. Report an error in the passage at 19:28 Highlight the passage at 19:28

20:08 May I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. May all sentient beings be inseparable from the joy that is without sorrow. May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment for some and aversion toward others. Report an error in the passage at 20:08 Highlight the passage at 20:08

20:33 So Report an error in the passage at 20:33 Highlight the passage at 20:33

20:41 if you'd like to stand and stretch, and we're going to sit and meditate together. Report an error in the passage at 20:41 Highlight the passage at 20:41

20:58 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 20:58 Highlight the passage at 20:58

21:15 So you're welcome to sit on a cushion or a chair. You're welcome to lie down. last week. God doesn't need some and I got some. So if anybody needs... Okay. Report an error in the passage at 21:15 Highlight the passage at 21:15

21:22 Whatever works best for you, please do that. Report an error in the passage at 21:22 Highlight the passage at 21:22

21:36 Toward the end of our meditation session this evening, I'm going to ask you to take a look at these discussion questions. We'll just take a few minutes to reflect upon them. These small pieces of paper that were on the table when you came in. And then we'll break up into small groups and discuss these questions. Report an error in the passage at 21:36 Highlight the passage at 21:36

22:02 So taking a comfortable... Put firm posture, Report an error in the passage at 22:02 Highlight the passage at 22:02

22:29 bringing your awareness to the crown of your head, your scalp. And we begin by imagining or actually feeling the wrinkles between your brow and your forehead, smoothing out the Report an error in the passage at 22:29 Highlight the passage at 22:29

22:59 pressure in and around your eyes, diminishing the Report an error in the passage at 22:59 Highlight the passage at 22:59

23:12 muscles of the face, softening, relaxing. Report an error in the passage at 23:12 Highlight the passage at 23:12

23:30 Tongue is soft, Report an error in the passage at 23:30 Highlight the passage at 23:30

23:34 jaw relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 23:34 Highlight the passage at 23:34

23:38 And bringing your awareness to the back of your neck and perhaps gently turning your head to each side a few times, loosening, stretching the muscles of the back of the neck. Report an error in the passage at 23:38 Highlight the passage at 23:38

23:58 And bringing your awareness to your upper back and shoulders and perhaps drawing your shoulders up toward your ears and circling them to the back and down and to the front. Just rotating your shoulders a few times. Report an error in the passage at 23:58 Highlight the passage at 23:58

24:28 And eventually returning your shoulders back up towards your ears and just allowing them to drop comfortably to the sides. And with that, the feeling of some kind of burden or weight that you may have unknowingly been carrying around on your back over the course of the day, moving down and through your body into the ground. Report an error in the passage at 24:28 Highlight the passage at 24:28

24:52 A feeling of relief, as if some burden's just been lifted from your back. Report an error in the passage at 24:52 Highlight the passage at 24:52

25:04 And bringing your awareness. All the way down to your hands. Your hands are soft and loose. Report an error in the passage at 25:04 Highlight the passage at 25:04

25:19 Relaxing your lower arms, Report an error in the passage at 25:19 Highlight the passage at 25:19

25:31 your upper arms. Report an error in the passage at 25:31 Highlight the passage at 25:31

25:43 Your chest is at ease. Report an error in the passage at 25:43 Highlight the passage at 25:43

25:55 Relaxing throughout the heart area, the central space of the chest and Report an error in the passage at 25:55 Highlight the passage at 25:55

26:12 of the back. Report an error in the passage at 26:12 Highlight the passage at 26:12

26:27 And releasing the tension that we often hold in our stomach muscles, just allowing the belly to go soft throughout Report an error in the passage at 26:27 Highlight the passage at 26:27

26:47 the abdominal cavity and Report an error in the passage at 26:47 Highlight the passage at 26:47

26:59 keeping your trunk erect. Relax your lower back muscles and Report an error in the passage at 26:59 Highlight the passage at 26:59

27:23 throughout the pelvic region and Report an error in the passage at 27:23 Highlight the passage at 27:23

27:33 the buttocks, Report an error in the passage at 27:33 Highlight the passage at 27:33

27:39 eyes, Report an error in the passage at 27:39 Highlight the passage at 27:39

27:45 the upper legs and Report an error in the passage at 27:45 Highlight the passage at 27:45

28:01 then your feet soft and loose. Report an error in the passage at 28:01 Highlight the passage at 28:01

28:16 Scanning once again from the crown down through the central portion of the body and as you move through the central portion of your body with awareness, paying particular attention to any tightnesses or tensions. Report an error in the passage at 28:16 Highlight the passage at 28:16

28:42 Breathing in and following that breath with awareness to wherever you may notice some tightness or tension in the body, suffusing that area with a breath of awareness and then as if breathing out from that same area and with that out-breath and Report an error in the passage at 28:42 Highlight the passage at 28:42

29:04 letting go, imagining some kind of release. The tension diminishes, the tightness loosens, if only a little bit. Again and again breathing into those areas of tension and tightness in the body and again and again breathing out from those areas. Report an error in the passage at 29:04 Highlight the passage at 29:04

29:29 The body becoming comfortable, relaxed, at ease. Report an error in the passage at 29:29 Highlight the passage at 29:29

29:36 It's a nice place to be in the body Report an error in the passage at 29:36 Highlight the passage at 29:36

· · · silence, 1 minute

30:58 for a short while. Relaxed and at ease. Report an error in the passage at 30:58 Highlight the passage at 30:58

· · · silence, 1 minute

31:39 So I invite you to become aware of the fact that you're breathing and to notice the physical sensation of the body which is indicating to you that you're breathing in. And that you're breathing out, wherever it's most clear and obvious. How is it you know that you're breathing? There's some physical sensation which is indicating to you. Report an error in the passage at 31:39 Highlight the passage at 31:39

32:11 And just lightly rest your attention. Focus your awareness on that physical sensation associated with the natural breath. And if it's helpful, you can accompany this with counting the breaths. Breathing in, breathing out, counting one and out two and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 32:11 Highlight the passage at 32:11

· · · silence, 3 minutes

35:49 Mind back. Report an error in the passage at 35:49 Highlight the passage at 35:49

· · · silence, 6 minutes

41:24 Now we're going to put a few questions to ourselves and just I ask you to reflect upon these discussion questions. But think of them in terms of your own experience, what is meaningful for yourself, not so much what you've heard or what you've been taught, but what you actually feel in terms of yourself. Report an error in the passage at 41:24 Highlight the passage at 41:24

41:46 And the first one I ask you to consider, to reflect on is, what does it mean for you to travel a spiritual path? What does it mean for you? What is it all about for you to travel a spiritual path? Report an error in the passage at 41:46 Highlight the passage at 41:46

· · · silence, 1 minute

42:53 Okay, the second question. What are some of the indicators that you normally use in determining whether you are succeeding or failing in your efforts? So what are some of the indicators? What are some of the criteria that you might use in judging whether you're succeeding or failing? Report an error in the passage at 42:53 Highlight the passage at 42:53

43:20 In your efforts to travel a spiritual path, how do you tell for yourself? Report an error in the passage at 43:20 Highlight the passage at 43:20

· · · silence, 1 minute

44:23 And then finally, the last question that we're going to put to ourselves. What are some of the obstacles and what are some of the supports that you have in traveling the path in your practice? So for yourself personally, with your own experience, what are some of the obstacles that you have, that you feel you have? On the other hand, what are some of the supports, the assistance? Report an error in the passage at 44:23 Highlight the passage at 44:23

44:50 That you also have in your efforts. Report an error in the passage at 44:50 Highlight the passage at 44:50

· · · silence, 1 minute

45:56 And then bring your mind back. Report an error in the passage at 45:56 Highlight the passage at 45:56

· · · silence, 1 minute

47:07 So what I'd like for you to do is to maybe just self-select. I think we can have just Report an error in the passage at 47:07 Highlight the passage at 47:07

47:23 self-select into two groups of four and one group of five. And if you would, introduce yourselves and these questions that we just looked at. Report an error in the passage at 47:23 Highlight the passage at 47:23

47:38 So three groups. One group, two groups of four, one group of five. Report an error in the passage at 47:38 Highlight the passage at 47:38

· · · silence, 13 minutes

1:01:08 Begin to round out your discussion, please. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:08 Highlight the passage at 1:01:08

· · · silence, 5 minutes

1:06:18 Would anyone like to share some of the answers that they came up with for themselves? Reflecting on these questions. Thoughts or comments? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:18 Highlight the passage at 1:06:18

1:06:40 The perils of self-absorption. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:40 Highlight the passage at 1:06:40

1:06:46 That's great. That's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:46 Highlight the passage at 1:06:46

1:06:51 Can you list one of the perils that you see? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:51 Highlight the passage at 1:06:51

1:07:07 Okay, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:07 Highlight the passage at 1:07:07

1:07:14 That's a good comment, I think. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:14 Highlight the passage at 1:07:14

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:07:50 Yeah, what you say is quite true. I think that's one of the advantages of sharing in this way. It normalizes some of our private experiences that we think are quite unique to ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:50 Highlight the passage at 1:07:50

1:08:03 Yeah, something particularly wrong with me. That's quite right, yeah. Anybody else? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:03 Highlight the passage at 1:08:03

1:08:15 I'd like to share. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:15 Highlight the passage at 1:08:15

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:08:59 Yeah, yeah, yeah. That sounds great. I Report an error in the passage at 1:08:59 Highlight the passage at 1:08:59

1:09:11 think that's an excellent point. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:11 Highlight the passage at 1:09:11

1:09:16 I think we're encouraging ourselves with what we do, what we are doing. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:16 Highlight the passage at 1:09:16

1:09:29 Any other thoughts or comments? Report an error in the passage at 1:09:29 Highlight the passage at 1:09:29

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:10:12 developing this awareness and, you know, when things happen in your life, it doesn't matter what it is but, you know, if you do things right or wrong, it doesn't matter but all of a sudden you're aware oh yeah, this is way that is in your life you know, like that Okay, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:12 Highlight the passage at 1:10:12

1:10:35 Recognition of what you're all about and becoming aware of how you're leading your life and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:35 Highlight the passage at 1:10:35

1:10:53 Yeah, that's terribly important, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:10:53 Highlight the passage at 1:10:53

1:11:01 Really. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:01 Highlight the passage at 1:11:01

1:11:15 That's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:15 Highlight the passage at 1:11:15

1:11:30 That's also quite important, isn't it? Being kind to ourselves. If we're kind to ourselves, we'll be kind to others. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:30 Highlight the passage at 1:11:30

1:11:45 I'm curious. in all this harmony. there any disagreements? Anybody? Did you have any? Report an error in the passage at 1:11:45 Highlight the passage at 1:11:45

1:11:55 of opinions. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:55 Highlight the passage at 1:11:55

1:11:59 don't know what to afraid. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:59 Highlight the passage at 1:11:59

1:12:18 So last Report an error in the passage at 1:12:18 Highlight the passage at 1:12:18

1:12:33 week Report an error in the passage at 1:12:33 Highlight the passage at 1:12:33

1:12:49 we began our text. When you come from your own experience, that's quite right. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:49 Highlight the passage at 1:12:49

1:12:53 Which is the engaging in the bodhisattva deeds. So that's the standard translation that we'll be using. Bodhisattva deeds, Bodhicaryabhattara. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:53 Highlight the passage at 1:12:53

1:13:04 And we just talked about the fact that it was composed by an 8th century scholar yoga, yogi, Shantideva. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:04 Highlight the passage at 1:13:04

1:13:16 And it's one of most, I think, one of most profound and very fundamental texts within, especially within Mahāyāna Buddhism. The Buddhism, which is... Extent in Tibet and so forth, many of the northern countries of Asia. And we're making use of a particular commentary, which is by Gao Sapche. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:16 Highlight the passage at 1:13:16

1:13:39 And he was a direct disciple of Tsongkhapa. So his commentary is our basic text and embedded within the commentary in the verses taken from Shantideva, Bodhicary, Avatara, Engaging the Bodhisattva's Deeds. And we looked at the first three verses. So as I mentioned, we're going to try to work through the first seven chapters of Bodhisattva Deeds. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:39 Highlight the passage at 1:13:39

1:14:16 Altogether, there's ten chapters. And we're going to try to look at the first seven. So we have 19 weeks to look at seven chapters. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:16 Highlight the passage at 1:14:16

1:14:27 We won't be going through every verse, so it'll be a bit of cherry picking, just picking out certain verses, and you're welcome to do that as well. But I'll be just kind of going through and picking out the ones I think might be most relevant and really worth taking a look at. I think probably they all are, but we simply don't have the time. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:14:27 Highlight the passage at 1:14:27

1:14:57 14, okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:57 Highlight the passage at 1:14:57

1:15:03 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:03 Highlight the passage at 1:15:03

1:15:11 Okay. Good question. So there are two bodhicittas, conventional bodhicitta and ultimate bodhicitta. Okay? Conventional bodhicitta is very much of what we're discussing at present. It is the altruistic aspiration to become a Buddha for the sake of others. That's what we mean by... That's what we're training in. That's what we're... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:11 Highlight the passage at 1:15:11

1:15:43 Mainly looking at in the various chapters is conventional bodhicitta. Ultimate bodhicitta is the wisdom, understanding emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:43 Highlight the passage at 1:15:43

1:15:57 Conventional bodhicitta is an altruistic aspiration. It has to do with the heart, the effective aspect of ourselves, the complete, full development, bringing that to fruition. yeah. So, uh... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:57 Highlight the passage at 1:15:57

1:16:16 In terms of our emotional life, whereas ultimate bodhicitta is the development of our cognitive aspects of ourselves, bringing to full development our understanding as to the nature of the world. So we're trying to develop the way that we feel about things, how we relate with them, but also how we see them, how we understand them. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:16 Highlight the passage at 1:16:16

1:16:41 So these are termed, this altruistic aspiration is confirmed. There is a term conventional bodhicitta, which I'm using the term awakened heart. And then there's ultimate bodhicitta, which is simply the wisdom, understanding, emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:41 Highlight the passage at 1:16:41

1:17:01 Okay. So it says, as you said on page 14, it's appropriate to meditate on the two bodhicittas. So through conventional bodhicitta, developing a good heart, we will create a great deal of Report an error in the passage at 1:17:01 Highlight the passage at 1:17:01

1:17:28 virtue, actions, and will the quality of our life within psychic existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:28 Highlight the passage at 1:17:28

1:17:41 It's necessary to develop ultimate bodhicitta to be liberated from cyclic existence. It's like two wings of a bird. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:41 Highlight the passage at 1:17:41

1:17:58 Yeah, that's right. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:58 Highlight the passage at 1:17:58

1:18:02 Convention, we often talk about, you know, for a bird to fly it requires two wings. One of the wings is usually referred to as method, which are the various activities motivated by the awakened heart, or we can just say activities motivated by love and compassion. That's one wing, and the other wing is wisdom. And here by wisdom we mean wisdom, understanding, selflessness or emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:02 Highlight the passage at 1:18:02

1:18:32 The ultimate way things exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:32 Highlight the passage at 1:18:32

1:18:41 Are there any other questions? Okay, please. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:41 Highlight the passage at 1:18:41

1:19:05 Yeah, that comes up in the 15th verse. I think there are two types of bodhicitta. So normally, almost 99.9 % of the time when we use the word bodhicitta, we're talking about the awakened heart. Okay, that's okay. And the awakened heart, there are two types. last Report an error in the passage at 1:19:05 Highlight the passage at 1:19:05

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:19:24 One is wishing or aspiring bodhicitta, and the other is engaging or practical. So that's the two types of the awakened heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:24 Highlight the passage at 1:19:24

1:19:35 And that comes up in this first chapter. But as you said, one is the intention to go, wishing to go, and the other is actually going, taking up the practices of a bodhisattva, the six perfections. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:35 Highlight the passage at 1:19:35

1:19:57 Any other questions? the sixth ear. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:57 Highlight the passage at 1:19:57

1:20:01 So last time we covered the first three verses. It's a very standard formula in the composition of text. Usually there's the verses which cover going for refuge, a commitment to compose, Report an error in the passage at 1:20:01 Highlight the passage at 1:20:01

1:20:25 a verse on developing a sense of humility, and then a verse on... Not a complete verse, but partial verse at least, in developing a sense of confidence that, you know, even though I'm humble in what I'm representing, still I think it's worthwhile. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:25 Highlight the passage at 1:20:25

1:20:47 So this is what we covered last week. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:47 Highlight the passage at 1:20:47

1:20:54 Are there any other points that you want to, before we go on? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:54 Highlight the passage at 1:20:54

1:21:02 Okay, so we can begin by looking at, on page 10 of our text, the fourth verse. So as I mentioned, I won't be going through each of the verses, but some of these verses thus far we have been. To find such freedoms and endowments is extremely rare. If I do not do anything beneficial now to achieve the purpose of sentient beings, how shall I subsequently attain it perfectly? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:02 Highlight the passage at 1:21:02

1:21:33 So this is taking up the notion of what is traditionally called a precious human life. And more than not, We're setting a foundation. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:33 Highlight the passage at 1:21:33

1:21:50 We have to have a sense that we have all that we need, the prerequisites for our own self-development. We have to overcome the sense of, I have to wait until conditions are better, or I overcome our sense of insufficiency about ourselves, our sort of a poverty mentality. You know, our only knowledges, our only limitations are those we acknowledge. So we have to come from a sense that I have everything I need to find, to carry on a practice of great meaning, of great profanity. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:50 Highlight the passage at 1:21:50

1:22:30 There's really nothing missing. So that is so we have to count our blessings. This is what become appreciative, pay attention to what we do have. There's an intimate relationship between Focusing or paying attention to and appreciating, on the one hand, an action on the other. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:30 Highlight the passage at 1:22:30

1:23:02 I don't know much about this area, but I think it's quite an interesting notion to think about. In evolutionary biology, there's a notion or an idea that... I see this? Report an error in the passage at 1:23:02 Highlight the passage at 1:23:02

1:22:58 know, there's, um, in, uh... Report an error in the passage at 1:22:58 Highlight the passage at 1:22:58

1:23:20 There's a negative, we have an inbuilt negative bias. I think I've mentioned this before, that over time, over evolutionary time of the species, those who were most Report an error in the passage at 1:23:20 Highlight the passage at 1:23:20

1:23:43 suspicious or saw things in a more, saw the worst of possibilities in situation, went on to reproduce. You know, like if you were, if you. What I mean by this is if you were like 10,000 years ago, if you were walking through the jungle and around the corner there was a bush, it was moving. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:43 Highlight the passage at 1:23:43

1:24:10 If you thought, ah, there's a saber-toothed tiger in that bush, I'm going to run. And even if you were wrong 99 times, you still live to hunt another day. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:10 Highlight the passage at 1:24:10

1:24:27 But think of the fellow who says, looking at the worst possibilities, the worst case scenario, there's a saber-toothed tiger and you run. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:27 Highlight the passage at 1:24:27

1:24:40 But on the other hand, those who said, oh, there's something in that bush there, maybe it's a rabbit. And their mouths started watering them. And it turned out to be a saber-toothed tiger. One time when you're wrong, you no longer get to reproduce. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:40 Highlight the passage at 1:24:40

1:25:04 So those who tended toward what we call the negative or a bias toward the negative, who saw a threat even in those situations when there was no threat, had a greater chance of survival and therefore reproduction. And therefore, this is according to evolutionary biologists, it seems that we're quite naturally, in terms of survival, negatively biased. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:04 Highlight the passage at 1:25:04

1:25:33 Now, in Sydney at least, you won't see too many saber-toothed tigers. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:33 Highlight the passage at 1:25:33

1:25:42 So that's no longer a threat for us. So we have to begin to perhaps consciously overcome this bias and begin to you know Report an error in the passage at 1:25:42 Highlight the passage at 1:25:42

1:25:52 Look at what's right about our life and what's right about our circumstances. We have to begin to consciously pay attention. So we have to count our blessings. This is a notion in neurobiology called taking in the good. You actually have to consciously spend some time paying attention and reflecting upon what's right. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:52 Highlight the passage at 1:25:52

1:26:22 In order to take it in. We seem to be Teflon for the good and Velcro for the bad. That seems to be the case. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:22 Highlight the passage at 1:26:22

1:26:41 The negative sticks quite easily. The positive slides by and we don't notice it. So this is, this is, so I'm, one, I'm. Presenting a context to place what is being discussed here. The fact that we have all the conditions necessary to lead a profound practice of great depth. There's nothing missing. And if you appreciate it, you will make use of it. If you don't appreciate it, you'll take it for granted. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:41 Highlight the passage at 1:26:41

1:27:12 It's as if you didn't have it. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:12 Highlight the passage at 1:27:12

1:27:18 Just think of your eyes, for example. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:18 Highlight the passage at 1:27:18

1:27:24 We don't even think about them. We take them for granted. But just think of the possibility of your going blind if you didn't have them. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:24 Highlight the passage at 1:27:24

1:27:35 I wish I could just see for one more day. You would really look at the colors, shapes. You would wake up in the morning just to see the sunrise. I mean, you really would want to take advantage. You would prize it. So this is what is trying to be God. A lot of, I think one of the reasons we, it's not so much that we have to do this formally, but we have to begin to, as was mentioned, the idea of awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:35 Highlight the passage at 1:27:35

1:28:08 The idea of awareness is paying attention and reflecting. Paying attention and then reflecting upon what you're paying attention to and that way taking it in. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:08 Highlight the passage at 1:28:08

1:28:22 It makes a difference. So here we're paying attention to and reflecting upon what are called the eight freedoms, and he's calling them endowments, freedoms and endowments, eight freedoms and ten endowments. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:22 Highlight the passage at 1:28:22

1:28:52 Handout number two, note number two, which I gave out this evening. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:52 Highlight the passage at 1:28:52

1:29:02 It's just a way of maybe presenting them. I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:02 Highlight the passage at 1:29:02

1:29:05 So, you know, when we meditate, we're going to meditate on this next week. I want to try to make them, and we should try to do this, to make them a little more relevant, a little more, find some emotional connection with, so they just aren't theories or abstractions. But presenting them as is being presented here, for example, on page 11, there's a verse. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:05 Highlight the passage at 1:29:05

1:29:38 Two verses from Letter to a Friend, which is by Nargajuna, in which he sets out the eight freedoms and ten, I call them advantages, or call them endowments. For example, it mentions birth as an animal. If we look on page note two, I try to present them in a little more... Meaningful way, perhaps. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:38 Highlight the passage at 1:29:38

1:30:15 You can almost see how this could be expressed in the human realm, in terms of the people ourselves and the people that we know, where one is dominated by insensity and stupidity, that kind of animal-like quality. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:15 Highlight the passage at 1:30:15

1:30:36 I know some of you have dogs and cats. I don't want to put them down. know, we're, we're, Report an error in the passage at 1:30:36 Highlight the passage at 1:30:36

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:30:45 Or as a hungry ghost where you lead a life of greed and consumerism. You're caught up in bigger, better, more. That's your primary value. That's your priority. Out during your neighbors. We know people are like that to some degree. And we're all like that to some degree. We're all hungry ghosts to some degree. Or maybe a hell being. One is completely caught up in violence and hatred and pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:45 Highlight the passage at 1:30:45

1:31:17 You know, it's a... as a... Report an error in the passage at 1:31:17 Highlight the passage at 1:31:17

1:31:25 Or without the conqueror's teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:25 Highlight the passage at 1:31:25

1:31:34 Most traditionally it's presented as during a period when a Buddha has not appeared. But there are places and times when it's just even if you'd want to. So, well, you know, a... Report an error in the passage at 1:31:34 Highlight the passage at 1:31:34

1:31:52 They study or meet with people, like-minded individuals and so forth. They're just not around. It's not there one way or another. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:52 Highlight the passage at 1:31:52

1:32:04 Anyway, you can take a look at some of these and see. We're going to meditate on this next week and try to find some way to make them relevant to ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:04 Highlight the passage at 1:32:04

1:32:20 The notion here is Report an error in the passage at 1:32:20 Highlight the passage at 1:32:20

1:32:26 know, we... We have to overcome our sense of insufficiency or something more. Something is lacking. I have to wait. I need permission. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:26 Highlight the passage at 1:32:26

1:32:38 I have to wait until I'm retired or I have to wait until the kids are growing up. Something is not quite right in my present circumstances. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:38 Highlight the passage at 1:32:38

1:32:50 There's a kind of what we call a negative bias. this. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:50 Highlight the passage at 1:32:50

1:32:57 How do we think, well, no, if I look at this, well, just think how fortunate I really am. Our needs, I think it was, yeah, Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist. He was very popular in the 60s and 70s in the United States, and he had this notion of a hierarchy of needs. And only when our more basic needs are met. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:57 Highlight the passage at 1:32:57

1:33:26 By that, I mean our most basic needs are food, shelter and water. If those aren't met, who has time to study the Dharma? Who has time to meditate? Who has the inclination? Who has the physical capability? You don't. That's precluded. So we have to have our basic needs met. Food, clothing, shelter. Once those are met, then we can begin to think about higher needs on that basis. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:26 Highlight the passage at 1:33:26

1:33:57 Security, safety. Many people, you know, you watch the evening news, many people live in insecurity under constant threat. They don't have the opportunity to be doing what we're doing here tonight. No possibility. Once those are met, you have security and safety. Then you can begin to, on that basis, you can begin to consider higher needs. Belonging, meaning, love, spiritual... Report an error in the passage at 1:33:57 Highlight the passage at 1:33:57

1:34:27 Development, traveling a path. Those are pretty high up on the pyramid. It takes a lot of lower basic necessities until you can have the freedom and have the advantages of being able to pursue what we're doing here. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:27 Highlight the passage at 1:34:27

1:34:42 We are a privileged class. There's no question about that. We are on this apex of this pyramid and there's a lot of people who are living off the backs of a great number of people in the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:42 Highlight the passage at 1:34:42

1:34:58 It's not by chance that we have the affluence, we have the privilege, we have the material well-being that we do. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:58 Highlight the passage at 1:34:58

1:35:13 So appreciating what you do have and beginning to take that in, to pay attention to it and reflect upon it. And to take it in. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:13 Highlight the passage at 1:35:13

1:35:33 Okay? And then there's a, if you notice on the bottom of page 10, a whole, there's a, this is by the rarity of this life that we lead. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:33 Highlight the passage at 1:35:33

1:35:50 We all have in terms of analogy. And I've written out this analogy, this classical analogy, it's on the bottom, it's in note two. On page two. So, you know, there's this blind turtle. It's swimming around the sea. And on the ocean, the surface of the waves is a golden yoke. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:50 Highlight the passage at 1:35:50

1:36:29 And it just moves here and it moves there and it moves there. And the analogy or the... Which is trying to be gotten at here is the chances of that turtle coming up, surfacing at the moment when that golden yoke simply happens to be directly above and this turtle putting his head through that golden yoke. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:29 Highlight the passage at 1:36:29

1:36:56 The statistical probability of that happening is something akin to our having all of our freedoms. And advantages which we all possess, but which we take for granted, which we think, well, we don't even notice, but it's extremely rare. So that idea that they're trying to get across, appreciating what we do have, and thereby being inclined to make greater use of it, or to make use of it at all, Report an error in the passage at 1:36:56 Highlight the passage at 1:36:56

1:37:42 it can be taken away. Yeah, that's right. We don't know how long we're going to have this opportunity. The time, though death is inevitable, we don't know when. Yeah, that's a good point. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:42 Highlight the passage at 1:37:42

1:38:05 On page, is there anything that you'd like to discuss around that? Report an error in the passage at 1:38:05 Highlight the passage at 1:38:05

1:38:21 Yeah, that's right, yeah. That's a good point. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:21 Highlight the passage at 1:38:21

1:38:33 Yeah, that's right. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:33 Highlight the passage at 1:38:33

1:38:43 And then on page 5, not page 5, page, I'm sorry, verse 5, page 13. Just like a flash of lightning illuminates the dark clouded night sky for a moment, likewise, sometimes through the power of the Buddha, worldly beings receive wisdom and merit occasionally. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:43 Highlight the passage at 1:38:43

1:39:09 So, you know, what Report an error in the passage at 1:39:09 Highlight the passage at 1:39:09

1:39:25 we're talking about is the benefits of the awakened heart, let's say, of bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:25 Highlight the passage at 1:39:25

1:39:40 And how can we, you know, before I, when we first began our discussion tonight, I was trying to get across this sense that we're actually, you know, trying to perhaps get in touch with something deep inside of ourselves. I don't know if there, Robert Johnson, and I'm sure I've mentioned this before, Robert Johnson, the American Union analyst. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:40 Highlight the passage at 1:39:40

1:40:21 I remember a number of years ago going to a talk that he gave on the shadow. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:21 Highlight the passage at 1:40:21

1:40:31 The shadow is a part of our personality, but a part of our personality which we aren't willing to... He, he, uh... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:31 Highlight the passage at 1:40:31

1:40:47 Or it's an unknown or hidden aspect of our personality. More than not, the shadow is seen as reprehensible qualities about ourselves. The qualities or characteristics about ourselves that we would rather not admit to about ourselves. We would rather not identify or see as a part of ourselves. So that's why it gets shoved back into the shadow. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:47 Highlight the passage at 1:40:47

1:41:16 as it were. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:16 Highlight the passage at 1:41:16

1:41:21 Inequality is, Report an error in the passage at 1:41:21 Highlight the passage at 1:41:21

1:41:26 for example, like laziness or inordinate love of money or certain kinds of fetishes. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:26 Highlight the passage at 1:41:26

1:41:45 Maybe we have racial biases or gender biases that we would rather not admit to. Maybe there are shortcomings about ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:45 Highlight the passage at 1:41:45

1:41:57 It's all those little dark and sordid kind of despicable qualities that are excluded from consciousness and they get shoved back into the shadow about ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:57 Highlight the passage at 1:41:57

1:42:10 But in talking about the shadow, he also went on to say that over a course of time when a trusting relationship is developed between the analyst and the client, slowly the client will begin to Take the, you know, to talk about these qualities about themselves. You know, let the skeletons out of the closet, as it were. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:10 Highlight the passage at 1:42:10

1:42:41 But he went on to say that over time, though these people will let the skeletons out, they'll put up a terrific fight against acknowledging the gold in the shadows. That within the shadow lies not only the dark The assorted but also noble qualities, golden qualities, divine qualities, hidden joys and creativity and deep compassion, clarity of mind, of thought, insights. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:41 Highlight the passage at 1:42:41

1:43:20 But we fight against acknowledging the golden elements within ourselves just as we fight against acknowledging the darker elements within and outside of ourselves. But there's gold within the shadow as well. And, you know, there's a, we, we. To fully admit to the gold inside of ourselves is to assume we're forced to live it. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:20 Highlight the passage at 1:43:20

1:43:54 The weight that goes with owning the gold within the shadow is to assume the responsibility of growing up. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:54 Highlight the passage at 1:43:54

1:44:06 It's almost better to be normal than to be a Buddha. It's easier in a way. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:06 Highlight the passage at 1:44:06

1:44:20 There's a quote which I like very much. It's quite often attributed to Nelson Mandela, but in fact he quoted this quote, which is by Miriam Williamson in his inaugural address when he became the president of South Africa. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:20 Highlight the passage at 1:44:20

1:44:39 Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:39 Highlight the passage at 1:44:39

1:45:17 So in a way I think... We've all set the thermostat of who we are to a zone, a comfort zone, what we call being normal. It's a setting where we don't want to be too wretched or we don't want to be too fantastic. We don't want too much failure in our life, but too much success would also be a burden. we went to... Report an error in the passage at 1:45:17 Highlight the passage at 1:45:17

1:45:49 We want to be like everybody else, more or less, just in the middle range somewhere where we feel comfortable with that. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:49 Highlight the passage at 1:45:49

1:46:04 A number of years ago, I was traveling around Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has been a Buddhist country for many years, and there's many ancient Buddhist runes there. And I remember this... In the central part of Sri Lanka, this is quite a few years ago, just walking through the woods and coming across a stone, a dilapidated stone wall and walking around the other side of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:04 Highlight the passage at 1:46:04

1:46:51 And there was something which was probably the remnants of a Buddhist temple or a Buddhist monastery or some ritual site of some sort. And there was still a partial stone altar there. And upon this altar was just the fragmentary remains of what was probably a stone image of a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:51 Highlight the passage at 1:46:51

1:47:16 And I remembered when I saw that, just the fragments, the remnants of this image of a Buddha. It struck me at the time that this long-neglected image of a Buddha had been sitting there with infinite patience, with infinite calmness and deliberateness of purpose for an infinitely long time, waiting to be discovered, Report an error in the passage at 1:47:16 Highlight the passage at 1:47:16

1:47:55 to be at long last uncovered. Overgrown by vines and weeds and so forth. And later on, I don't know if you can follow this story, but later on I learned that Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote and directed the movie 2001, The Space Odyssey, you remember that movie? Report an error in the passage at 1:47:55 Highlight the passage at 1:47:55

1:48:22 He wrote the screenplay for that movie while he was living in Sri Lanka. And, you know, my mind likes to put things together in certain kinds of ways. You know, in the movie 2001, it chronicles the evolutionary journey of humankind from an ape-like creature to this child of the cosmos. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:22 Highlight the passage at 1:48:22

1:48:54 So in the movie, there are these evolutionary leaps of human civilization, which are always depicted... Report an error in the passage at 1:48:54 Highlight the passage at 1:48:54

1:49:05 When they're depicted, they're always associated with a large black monolith. I'm not quite sure what it is, but it's a beacon left by another civilization. It's an extraterrestrial origin, watching over the development of the human race. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:05 Highlight the passage at 1:49:05

1:49:31 And the thought occurred to me that maybe... Arthur C. Clarke. Maybe one day he was out trekking through the woods and he came across one of these, the remnants of a dilapidated stone wall and came around to the other side just as I did and he found one of these, the remnants of another stone image. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:31 Highlight the passage at 1:49:31

1:49:59 A long neglected image of a Buddha. Just like the one, and this is where I'm getting to, in a very figurative and poetic way perhaps, the image not unlike the one hidden away in each of our own hearts. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:59 Highlight the passage at 1:49:59

1:50:23 A beacon watching over our own evolution. And similarly waiting with infinite patience, with infinite calmness, with infinite... Deliberateness of purpose, waiting to be discovered, to be uncovered within our own hearts. This is what I was alluding to when we mentioned going for refuge, something there within our own hearts, waiting to be paid attention to, to be recognized. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:23 Highlight the passage at 1:50:23

1:51:04 If I can share, I'm being a bit poetic, I'd like to share a poem with you. There's a... Report an error in the passage at 1:51:04 Highlight the passage at 1:51:04

1:51:11 It's by one of my favorite poets. He's an Austrian poet, Rainier Maria Rilke. And this is called The Panther. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:11 Highlight the passage at 1:51:11

1:51:28 So it reminded me of this verse. There's something, and maybe they're both Shantideva and Rilke were trying to address the same sense, the same notion. You know, just like a flash of lightning illuminates. The dark cloud is night sky for a moment. So this poem is called The Panther. So imagine a panther. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:28 Highlight the passage at 1:51:28

1:51:59 His vision from the constantly passing bars has grown so weary that it cannot hold anything else. It seems to him there are a thousand bars and behind the bars no world. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:59 Highlight the passage at 1:51:59

1:52:16 As he paces in cramped circles over and over, the movement of his powerful soft strides is like a ritual dance around a center in which a mighty will stands paralyzed. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:16 Highlight the passage at 1:52:16

1:52:32 Only at times the curtain of the pupils lift quietly. An image enters in, rushes down to the tense, arrested muscles. Plunges into the heart and is gone. So, you know, I don't know what the image is, but I'm just supposing this image about who we might be. You know, just once in a while there's kind of this lightning in this darkness. There's something, you know, maybe we get a glimpse of who we could potentially be, you know, possibilities of freedom. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:32 Highlight the passage at 1:52:32

1:53:18 But of health and wholeness that kind of formed out of the elements of wisdom and love and compassion and power. And though they're presently held, though they're presently hidden from us, entangled in the vines and Report an error in the passage at 1:53:18 Highlight the passage at 1:53:18

1:53:37 overgrown by the weeds of our afflictions and our preconception, our obscurations of the mind and so forth, but still it's there. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:37 Highlight the passage at 1:53:37

1:53:49 know, so, you know, it's... So once in a while we get some glimpse of the possibility. Just like a flash of lightning illuminates the dark clouded night for a moment, we get some possibility of something beyond normalcy. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:49 Highlight the passage at 1:53:49

1:54:12 The possibilities that our life presents us with. The kind of life we might want to live for ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:12 Highlight the passage at 1:54:12

1:54:25 Again, this is... Report an error in the passage at 1:54:25 Highlight the passage at 1:54:25

1:54:30 Abraham Maslow. Abraham Maslow was interesting from the point of view. He was a psychologist, an American psychologist. He was one of the first. He originated a movement in terms of health psychology. Up to that time, psychology had been very much concerned with pathology, with what was wrong with people. He was interested in what was right with people. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:30 Highlight the passage at 1:54:30

1:55:00 What is it about healthy people? That makes them that way. And what does it mean to be healthy? We have, all of us, an impulse toward actualizing more of our potential, toward self-actualization of full humanness or human fulfillment, a push toward the establishment of a fully evolved, authentic self, to be the best, the very best you are capable of becoming. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:00 Highlight the passage at 1:55:00

1:55:31 If you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of being, Then I warn you that you will be deeply unhappy for the rest of your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:31 Highlight the passage at 1:55:31

1:55:45 So maybe, but this, he Report an error in the passage at 1:55:45 Highlight the passage at 1:55:45

1:55:59 calls it, this impulse is quite fragile. It's easily, you know, it's easily lost due to the force of normality, of conditions which keep... Just trying to get by to survive. We have a notion of simply trying to get to survive as a model of how to be in this world. There isn't much discussion of, there isn't much movement toward a notion of what it means to flourish. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:59 Highlight the passage at 1:55:59

1:56:44 In the little bit of gardening that I do, I've only been doing it for a few years now, but I've come to notice that some of the plants, they don't die. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:44 Highlight the passage at 1:56:44

1:57:00 They survive. They get by. But then you notice other plants, which for some reason the conditions are just right. And they become, whatever they are, they become more of that in greater abundance. The colors are just that much more vivid. The tastes, the shapes, the size, I mean, they are representative of the possibilities of that particular variety. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:00 Highlight the passage at 1:57:00

1:57:30 They flourish. So I think this possibility is in all of us, this longing to flourish over and above simply to try to survive in our life through the power of the Buddha. And through the power of the possibility of this impulse to be the best we can become. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:30 Highlight the passage at 1:57:30

1:58:07 Okay, I'm going to stop there. We didn't get very far, but we're going to stop there. So we can dedicate the positive energy we created together tonight. I Report an error in the passage at 1:58:07 Highlight the passage at 1:58:07

1:58:25 hope you don't mind if I go off into some talking in these ways. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:25 Highlight the passage at 1:58:25

1:58:49 We don't have to do anything radical. We don't have to leave our homes, give up our jobs, our family. We can still carry on a life very much as we have come to know it. But within that context, begin to prioritize or pay attention to this impulse. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:49 Highlight the passage at 1:58:49

1:59:24 Of caring, of wisdom, of trying to be the best person we can become. And taking a risk and trusting in that. In the little opportunities which are presented to us. I think it was St. Augustus who said, Report an error in the passage at 1:59:24 Highlight the passage at 1:59:24

1:59:52 he said something to the sword, I can't remember the exact phrase. He said, speak stupidity. When you come up against a certain when you come up Report an error in the passage at 1:59:52 Highlight the passage at 1:59:52

2:00:06 It's quite alright to not know what you're saying, to not quite know what you're doing, to take that risk in these little occasions when it's a matter of something very deep, seeking to find expression in your life. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:06 Highlight the passage at 2:00:06

2:00:27 That's what bodhicitta, that's what the awakened heart is all about, taking a bit of a risk, pushing the envelope a little bit further in how we go about loving. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:27 Highlight the passage at 2:00:27

2:00:41 So we can dedicate the positive energy we've created together. May all beings everywhere, plagued by sufferings of body and mind, attain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no living creature suffer, commit evil or fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:41 Highlight the passage at 2:00:41

2:01:10 May the blind see forms and deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil resort on finding repose. May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drink. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:10 Highlight the passage at 2:01:10

2:01:35 May there be timely rains and bountable harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the power find power and may people think of benefiting each other. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:35 Highlight the passage at 2:01:35

2:02:02 For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Through these skillful actions, may I quickly become an awakened spiritual master and lead each and every living being to that awakened realm. May the supreme jewel of the awakened heart that has not arisen arise and grow, and may that which has arisen never diminish, but increase more and more. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:02 Highlight the passage at 2:02:02

2:02:32 In the land encircled by snow mountains, you are the source of all happiness and well-being. our fortune, we see Tenzin Gyasu. Please remain until the end of cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:32 Highlight the passage at 2:02:32

2:03:04 So I think I mentioned if you could read to up to page 20. Maybe if you could, if you have the time, just complete the entire chapter. It's only eight more pages. I think it goes up to page 28 in our commentary. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:04 Highlight the passage at 2:03:04