BP: Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds (23 March 2015)

0:04 Well, thank you. Yeah, good. Report an error in the passage at 0:04 Highlight the passage at 0:04

0:15 No, what was that? Report an error in the passage at 0:15 Highlight the passage at 0:15

0:21 On campus last night? Yeah. What was the subject matter? Blasphemy. That's interesting. Report an error in the passage at 0:21 Highlight the passage at 0:21

0:43 And what does Buddhism say about blasphemy? Report an error in the passage at 0:43 Highlight the passage at 0:43

0:52 It's... Okay. Okay. Okay. I've never connected blasphemy with Buddhism, but I guess you could. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 0:52 Highlight the passage at 0:52

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2:42 Where was that? Report an error in the passage at 2:42 Highlight the passage at 2:42

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3:23 Okay, so let's watch what we say. So Report an error in the passage at 3:23 Highlight the passage at 3:23

3:41 if you'd like to recite the verse of refuge together. Report an error in the passage at 3:41 Highlight the passage at 3:41

3:50 Reorientated. Report an error in the passage at 3:50 Highlight the passage at 3:50

3:54 Our minds getting back in touch with some of our deeper priorities, our values, what's important to ourselves that we get out of touch with in the course of our busy lives. Report an error in the passage at 3:54 Highlight the passage at 3:54

4:41 I go for refuge until I'm awakened. awakened the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha, the collections of merit and wisdom created out of generosity in 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. Report an error in the passage at 4:41 Highlight the passage at 4:41

5:09 I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha the collections of merit and wisdom created out of generosity and the other practices. 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. Sentient beings abide in equanimity. Report an error in the passage at 5:09 Highlight the passage at 5:09

5:40 free from attachment for some and aversion toward others. Report an error in the passage at 5:40 Highlight the passage at 5:40

5:54 to stretch, then we'll sit together. Report an error in the passage at 5:54 Highlight the passage at 5:54

6:07 I think Report an error in the passage at 6:07 Highlight the passage at 6:07

6:15 maybe it's the other way around. Well, I mean, we could. I think of the tradition of Tsongkhapa, who said that we recite the verse of refuge three times. The first time is just to get our attention. And the second time, we begin to think about what we're actually saying. And the third time, We actually might mean it. So he suggested, I think, initially at some point that we recite the verse of going for refuge three times. But why we don't do the same for the four immeasurables, I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 6:15 Highlight the passage at 6:15

6:55 Good questions. Report an error in the passage at 6:55 Highlight the passage at 6:55

7:02 Maybe we can talk about the four immeasurables a bit in the future. Report an error in the passage at 7:02 Highlight the passage at 7:02

7:12 So I thought we'd meditate on loving kindness today. So, you know, we can... I'll lead you through a process, a type of loving-kindness meditation that begins with just with ourselves. Some people feel somewhat uncomfortable wishing themselves well. But I think the Dalai Lama and I think quite a number of other masters have said that without loving ourselves, it's difficult to love others sincerely and genuinely. Report an error in the passage at 7:12 Highlight the passage at 7:12

7:54 So we begin by wishing ourselves well. May I be happy, may I be safe, may I be well. But as has been emphasized, the words are not the feeling, but the words can help us to direct our minds, to lead our minds to those feelings. Report an error in the passage at 7:54 Highlight the passage at 7:54

8:20 But using those words, if we develop some kind of... And when we say love, it's a pretty, at the best of times, it's a bit ambiguous in that we use love in lots of various different ways. It's been overly used so much that it almost has lost all meaning. Love simply means the wish for happiness. I mean, as far as Buddhism is concerned, I mean, some people, I love McDonald's hamburgers, you know, okay. Or, you know, I'd love to hit you in the face. Report an error in the passage at 8:20 Highlight the passage at 8:20

9:00 Just a friendliness, a caring. I wasn't thinking about you. So, yeah, it's just a heartfelt friendliness and caring. I mean, it has lots of different degrees from just a wishing well to unconditional positive regard. Report an error in the passage at 9:00 Highlight the passage at 9:00

9:33 But the feeling. It's the most important. So whatever feeling that we can generate, just kind of work with that. Just be with that. Don't keep trying to push for something which you feel is more. Report an error in the passage at 9:33 Highlight the passage at 9:33

9:56 It corresponds in some deeper way to what you generally feel is love. Just a warmth, a caring. morning. Report an error in the passage at 9:56 Highlight the passage at 9:56

10:06 A friendliness, a positive feeling. And then work, just be with that, custom the mind to that, toward the various objects we're going to work with, beginning with ourselves. And I loved a person who we naturally care about, and then strangers, enemies, and we'll move through a great variety of people. Report an error in the passage at 10:06 Highlight the passage at 10:06

10:34 So begin with, as we usually do. Taking a comfortable firm posture and going through a process of getting in touch and relaxing the body. Report an error in the passage at 10:34 Highlight the passage at 10:34

10:59 Maybe we will. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 10:59 Highlight the passage at 10:59

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11:44 Taking a comfortable firm posture and we bring our awareness to the crown of our head and start by imagining or actually feeling the regals between your brow and your forehead smoothing out. Report an error in the passage at 11:44 Highlight the passage at 11:44

12:08 The pressure in and around your eyes diminishing the Report an error in the passage at 12:08 Highlight the passage at 12:08

12:22 muscles of the face. Softening, relaxing. Report an error in the passage at 12:22 Highlight the passage at 12:22

12:40 Your tongue is soft and Report an error in the passage at 12:40 Highlight the passage at 12:40

12:53 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 and Report an error in the passage at 12:53 Highlight the passage at 12:53

13:13 bringing your awareness to your upper back and shoulders, drawing your shoulders up toward your ears, circling them to the back and down to the front, rotating your shoulders a few times. Report an error in the passage at 13:13 Highlight the passage at 13:13

13:42 And eventually returning your shoulders back up towards your ears and just allowing them to drop comfortably to the sides. Report an error in the passage at 13:42 Highlight the passage at 13:42

13:53 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 through your body and through the ground as if some burden has been lifted from your shoulders, a feeling of relief. Report an error in the passage at 13:53 Highlight the passage at 13:53

14:25 And bringing your awareness all the way down to your hands. Your hands are soft. Loose, Report an error in the passage at 14:25 Highlight the passage at 14:25

14:52 upper arms, Report an error in the passage at 14:52 Highlight the passage at 14:52

15:06 the chest is at ease, part Report an error in the passage at 15:06 Highlight the passage at 15:06

15:16 area of the central space of the chest, Report an error in the passage at 15:16 Highlight the passage at 15:16

15:28 motion of the back, Report an error in the passage at 15:28 Highlight the passage at 15:28

15:45 releasing the tension that we often hold in our stomach muscles, allowing the belly to go soft, Report an error in the passage at 15:45 Highlight the passage at 15:45

16:07 abdominal cavity, Report an error in the passage at 16:07 Highlight the passage at 16:07

16:19 keeping your trunk erect, relax your lower back muscles, Report an error in the passage at 16:19 Highlight the passage at 16:19

16:43 and throughout the pelvic region, Report an error in the passage at 16:43 Highlight the passage at 16:43

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17:18 the upper legs, Report an error in the passage at 17:18 Highlight the passage at 17:18

17:44 feet soft and loose. Report an error in the passage at 17:44 Highlight the passage at 17:44

17:59 So once again, scanning through the body. The central portion of the body from the crown downward, paying particular attention to any tightnesses and tensions, Report an error in the passage at 17:59 Highlight the passage at 17:59

18:15 suffusing those areas with a breath of awareness, Report an error in the passage at 18:15 Highlight the passage at 18:15

18:21 and breathing out from those same areas again and again, Report an error in the passage at 18:21 Highlight the passage at 18:21

18:44 each out-breath, the body sinking deeper into a state of relaxation, of calmness, of ease, Report an error in the passage at 18:44 Highlight the passage at 18:44

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19:53 relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 19:53 Highlight the passage at 19:53

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21:02 So I invite you to become aware of your breath, Report an error in the passage at 21:02 Highlight the passage at 21:02

21:09 Lightly rest your attention on that sensation of the natural breath wherever it's most clear and obvious to yourself. If it's healthy, you can combine this with counting the breath. Report an error in the passage at 21:09 Highlight the passage at 21:09

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26:05 Now we're going to meditate and Report an error in the passage at 26:05 Highlight the passage at 26:05

26:11 we're going to begin with ourselves. Generate some kind, caring feelings towards oneself. May I be happy. May I be safe. May I be well. May I have the good things of life. Report an error in the passage at 26:11 Highlight the passage at 26:11

26:30 So just generate some warm, caring feelings towards yourself. Wishing yourself the good things of life. Become friends with yourself and wish yourself well. Report an error in the passage at 26:30 Highlight the passage at 26:30

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27:40 Now think of someone that you like, that you naturally have a great deal of caring feelings toward. And imagine that person in front of you. If you can't see them, that's fine, that's okay. Just imagine that these feelings that you're developing, that you're generating, are being directed toward this person. Report an error in the passage at 27:40 Highlight the passage at 27:40

27:59 And bring to mind some of the various kindnesses. Why is it that you care so much for them? What are their qualities? What have they done for you? Report an error in the passage at 27:59 Highlight the passage at 27:59

28:38 And begin to direct outward toward this person the kind, caring feelings which naturally arise when you think of this person this way, feelings of wishing them well, that they be happy, that they not suffer. May you be happy. May you be safe. May you be well. Wish them happiness. Wish them the goodness of life. Report an error in the passage at 28:38 Highlight the passage at 28:38

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30:03 Now think of someone that you neither like nor dislike, a stranger, someone perhaps you see every so often on the bus or a clerk in a shop or just someone that you know of, but you have no particular feelings for them, positive or negative. And imagine that person there in front of you. Again, if you can't see them, it's not as important. Report an error in the passage at 30:03 Highlight the passage at 30:03

30:32 But one thing we do know about this person, this person wants to be happy. And doesn't want to suffer just like yourself. From that point of view, we're exactly equal. So, just out of the goodness of your heart, it won't cost you anything. Report an error in the passage at 30:32 Highlight the passage at 30:32

30:51 Wish this person well, just as you would for yourself. Just reach out to a fellow human being, a feeling being, even though there's nothing in it for you. Report an error in the passage at 30:51 Highlight the passage at 30:51

31:04 Just because they're a feeling being just like yourself. And wish them well. May you be happy. May you be safe. May you be well. Direct some kind, caring feelings toward this person. Report an error in the passage at 31:04 Highlight the passage at 31:04

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32:24 Now we're going to bring to mind someone we have some problems with, somebody who makes life difficult for us, someone we don't like. Imagining that person there in front of you. Report an error in the passage at 32:24 Highlight the passage at 32:24

32:38 And again, this person wants to be happy and doesn't want to suffer just like yourself, and perhaps their way of solving their problems, finding happiness. It comes into conflict with your ways of finding your happiness and solving your own problems. But that's just a conflict of self-interest. And just as we have to forgive the mistakes that we ourselves made, maybe it's time to forgive this person for the mistakes that they've made. Report an error in the passage at 32:38 Highlight the passage at 32:38

33:08 So just for this present moment, you can set aside our hurt, our grudge. You can pick them up later. Just for this present moment, set that aside. As best you can and wish this person well, forgive them. Just let go. If we ever hope to be free, we have to learn to let go and wish them well. Report an error in the passage at 33:08 Highlight the passage at 33:08

33:39 May you be happy. As best you can, wish them well. May you be safe. Report an error in the passage at 33:39 Highlight the passage at 33:39

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34:54 All the people in this room, people who are trying to take responsibilities for their lives, for their minds, trying to develop themselves, to grow. Report an error in the passage at 34:54 Highlight the passage at 34:54

35:04 This radiated out a wish of happiness and well-being to everyone in the room, that they find whatever it is they're looking for, whatever would make them happy, whatever would solve their problems, wish that they had it. Report an error in the passage at 35:04 Highlight the passage at 35:04

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36:02 And extending this wish to all of the people in Asheville, people in their homes, watching television, preparing dinner, coming home from work, people in the cars and buses, in the shops, walking on the streets. Report an error in the passage at 36:02 Highlight the passage at 36:02

36:20 However you might imagine it, just radiate out a wish of happiness and well-being to everyone in Asheville and Report an error in the passage at 36:20 Highlight the passage at 36:20

36:52 further to all of Sydney, people in the shops and department stores and the trains and office buildings and their homes, factories, trains, planes, Report an error in the passage at 36:52 Highlight the passage at 36:52

37:39 further and further to all the small and large towns and cities New South Wales, Report an error in the passage at 37:39 Highlight the passage at 37:39

38:02 sending that wish out to Melbourne and Hobart, Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Alice Springs, Darwin, Perth, the entire country. Report an error in the passage at 38:02 Highlight the passage at 38:02

38:15 Just opening your heart, extending this wish out to all of Australia, Report an error in the passage at 38:15 Highlight the passage at 38:15

38:38 westward to New Zealand, northward to East Timor, Vanuatu, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore. Report an error in the passage at 38:38 Highlight the passage at 38:38

39:04 All of Southeast Asia and Asia, Report an error in the passage at 39:04 Highlight the passage at 39:04

39:32 Africa, Report an error in the passage at 39:32 Highlight the passage at 39:32

39:41 North America. Report an error in the passage at 39:41 Highlight the passage at 39:41

39:48 Imagine taking the entire world into your heart, all the people, black, white, red, yellow, all the animals, all the insects, everything that lives on the planet is being touched by your wish that they be happy, that they not suffer. Report an error in the passage at 39:48 Highlight the passage at 39:48

40:18 Millions of hundreds and millions and billions of people, animals and insects, Report an error in the passage at 40:18 Highlight the passage at 40:18

40:48 and extending this wish out in all the directions of space. Any Report an error in the passage at 40:48 Highlight the passage at 40:48

41:06 limits? Without any feelings of limitation, Report an error in the passage at 41:06 Highlight the passage at 41:06

41:26 until finally without any boundaries, without any center, a wish for fulfilling all of infinite space. May all beings be happy. May there be only happiness. May there be peace. An infinite wish of peace. Report an error in the passage at 41:26 Highlight the passage at 41:26

42:18 In this space, Report an error in the passage at 42:18 Highlight the passage at 42:18

42:22 an infinite peace. Report an error in the passage at 42:22 Highlight the passage at 42:22

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43:27 Through the breath, easy, gentle, in and out, low of the natural breath. To Report an error in the passage at 43:27 Highlight the passage at 43:27

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45:39 continue where we love to offer. Last week, I think it was verse 26 in the second chapter where Tsongkhapa, Shantideva, he talks about going for refuge. And we began a discussion of what it means to go for refuge and the causes for going for refuge. Remember what we listed as the causes of going for refuge. Report an error in the passage at 45:39 Highlight the passage at 45:39

46:13 And we'll Report an error in the passage at 46:13 Highlight the passage at 46:13

46:22 leave this room until it's answered. Report an error in the passage at 46:22 Highlight the passage at 46:22

46:32 Getting close there. Okay, yeah. Anxiety or fear on the one hand and then faith on the other. Yeah, I think there's a lot to, even in the very practical sense, in bringing about change. Report an error in the passage at 46:32 Highlight the passage at 46:32

46:53 We look at both the advantages and disadvantages of the change and so forth. It's like suffering and our fear of continued suffering and our anxiety about the reoccurrence of the suffering. It kind of pushes us from behind and our faith for change and other possibilities, a better life or whatever it might be, kind of draws us forward. Report an error in the passage at 46:53 Highlight the passage at 46:53

47:15 So there's this dual force at work, one of us helping us to get in stock and the other drawing us on toward other possibilities. So yeah, this combination of anxiety, or normally it's referred to as fear. so don't get that one Report an error in the passage at 47:15 Highlight the passage at 47:15

47:45 so, yeah, it might, think it... Yeah, these two forces are working for different individuals at different times in their life. Probably one has more influence than the other. Report an error in the passage at 47:45 Highlight the passage at 47:45

48:00 So for some people, they just know they've hit rock bottom. Report an error in the passage at 48:00 Highlight the passage at 48:00

48:12 It's like the 12-step program. Sometimes in Alcoholics Anonymous. and then, you know, if Report an error in the passage at 48:12 Highlight the passage at 48:12

48:22 I've heard alcoholics say, well, if I keep going on the way I'm going, I'm going to die. That's the next step. I lost my family. I lost my job. And they don't want to die. So they don't know where, what's, they don't have any options maybe, but they know they don't want that. So that's kind of, that fear kind of pushing them toward change. And then maybe it can introduce other, well, you know, maybe. Report an error in the passage at 48:22 Highlight the passage at 48:22

48:53 You might consider this, you might consider that, other options. So something they have kind of confidence or maybe there is another possibility. Yeah, but I think you're right. I mean, in the sense that I think at different times in our life, Report an error in the passage at 48:53 Highlight the passage at 48:53

49:14 one of those two is going to have a greater influence on ourselves, either the pain or the possibilities. Something like that. Report an error in the passage at 49:14 Highlight the passage at 49:14

49:33 It's hard to renounce, Report an error in the passage at 49:33 Highlight the passage at 49:33

49:53 cyclic. You renounce the cause of suffering. Something like that. Report an error in the passage at 49:53 Highlight the passage at 49:53

50:05 I think you'd have to have some confidence that things could be different. If you can't even imagine that there are alternatives or options, that things could change, then you just kind of... Become rather apathetic. Even though it's not much, but it's home. Report an error in the passage at 50:05 Highlight the passage at 50:05

50:43 And he gets very much stuck, even though it's not very satisfactory. It's all that you know. You have to think there's something other than this. I think you have to believe that. Report an error in the passage at 50:43 Highlight the passage at 50:43

51:01 We looked at the two causes. Report an error in the passage at 51:01 Highlight the passage at 51:01

51:12 We began to look at three objects. The three objects of going for refuge. These are traditionally listed as the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Last week we talked about the first of these three objects of going for refuge, the Buddha. And then the second, in terms of, as is mentioned in our text, there's causal refuge and resultant refuge. Report an error in the passage at 51:12 Highlight the passage at 51:12

51:44 And the causal refuge is seen as... you the Report an error in the passage at 51:44 Highlight the passage at 51:44

51:47 Something external to ourselves. We can take refuge in the historical Buddha and the Buddhas, our teachers and so forth. But the result of Buddha refuge is the Buddha that we ourselves will eventually become. So there's having some kind of confidence that I can change. And I have the seeds, at least, of these qualities which are very much more of a way of life. Report an error in the passage at 51:47 Highlight the passage at 51:47

52:19 I want for myself. Report an error in the passage at 52:19 Highlight the passage at 52:19

52:27 I go for refuge to something of which I am the final transformation. Nothing. So that's a result in refuge. Who I can become. And in terms of that, we talked about what does it mean to be awakened? And most essentially it means the qualities of wisdom. So wisdom, love and compassion. that we are with. Report an error in the passage at 52:27 Highlight the passage at 52:27

52:55 Personal strength and how these find expression in our daily life in fearless, skillful activities. Report an error in the passage at 52:55 Highlight the passage at 52:55

53:06 Those are the qualities of a Buddha, the awakened qualities. And so we give them some significance in our life, empower them. Report an error in the passage at 53:06 Highlight the passage at 53:06

53:22 The second of the three refuges is the Dharma. second of the, okay. Report an error in the passage at 53:22 Highlight the passage at 53:22

53:29 Sometimes we talk about the three jewels, the jewel of Buddha and the jewel of Dharma and Saṅgha. And the jewel of the Dharma is the paths which lead to awakening, which are termed true paths, and the self-sustaining solutions of our fundamental problems, which are brought about by the path, which are termed true cessations. Report an error in the passage at 53:29 Highlight the passage at 53:29

53:58 So one of the very first teachings that the Buddha gave subsequent to his awakening in Deer Park near Viranasi was the teaching on the Four Noble Truths. So these are the third and the fourth of the Four Noble Truths. So the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the cessation of suffering, and the truth of the paths which lead to the cessation of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 53:58 Highlight the passage at 53:58

54:25 So these... This third and fourth of these truths, true paths and true cessations, are the Dharma Jew. The word Dharma, it's a Sanskrit word. It has a variety of possible meanings. One of the meanings of the word Dharma is to hold. And in the Tibetan language, the Tibetan translation of the term Dharma is Che. Report an error in the passage at 54:25 Highlight the passage at 54:25

54:59 We, you know, Sange, Chū, Dong, Chū. Chu literally means transformation or transforming power. So we can take the word Dharma and it can come to mean that which holds us back from the pathologies or the sufferings of life by means of transforming our mind. That's a way of looking at what we... But generally that's... Report an error in the passage at 54:59 Highlight the passage at 54:59

55:35 That would be the way that we would term it. But in fact, not in fact, but a greater, more expansive meaning of the term is Dharma is whatever helps to raise the level of our consciousness, whatever helps us to bridge the gap between attachment and generosity, between hatred and love, between jealousy and rejoicing, between pride and humility, between ignorance and wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 55:35 Highlight the passage at 55:35

56:05 Anything which assists an individual human being to develop from a state of an ordinary human being into an extraordinary one, a Buddha, that's Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 56:05 Highlight the passage at 56:05

56:17 It doesn't have to be these texts and teachings and so forth. It could be something as seemingly simple as a leaf floating down from an autumn tree, giving us a teaching on impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 56:17 Highlight the passage at 56:17

56:34 Or it could be something as... As complicated as the 84,000 bundles of teachings of the Buddha. Everything can teach us. Everything can be the Dharma. In other words, it depends upon our own perception. There's a saying, at one time, one blade of grass is as effective as a 16-foot golden statue of a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 56:34 Highlight the passage at 56:34

57:02 At another time, a 16-foot golden statue of a Buddha, Is as effective as a single blade of grass. Which is to say that Dharma is what actually is effective for changing our lives, our hearts and minds for the better. Report an error in the passage at 57:02 Highlight the passage at 57:02

57:23 Whatever the outward forms it might take, whatever expressions and so forth, it's what actually brings about change for ourselves at these fundamental levels. So conventionally, it might be the teachings, it might be the various trainings in that. Practices, meditative techniques and so forth. But in a very real sense, the Dharma is the truth of things. Beyond the set of fictions that our minds are continually projecting upon the world about us. Report an error in the passage at 57:23 Highlight the passage at 57:23

57:55 It's the truth which makes us free. So Dharma is the world as seen by a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 57:55 Highlight the passage at 57:55

58:11 It's this truth which a Buddha is trying to communicate to us. And which we are trying to, in turn, realize within our own mind. So from Report an error in the passage at 58:11 Highlight the passage at 58:11

58:29 the point of view of Buddhism, the truth is therapeutic. There is no... You know, it's sometimes said that the Buddha only taught two things. Suffering and the way to end suffering. So in this way, the Buddha's worldview is very... It's pragmatic. That is to say, he used the criteria of suffering to delineate his path. Report an error in the passage at 58:29 Highlight the passage at 58:29

59:07 That was his burning question. Is life just a bitch and then you die? Do we just have to put up with this kind of condition that we find ourselves in? Or is there really an alternative? Are there other possibilities of another? Order of being, another type of quality of life that we might be able to attain, to develop inside of ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 59:07 Highlight the passage at 59:07

59:34 That was his question. So he wasn't interested in theology. He wasn't particularly interested in philosophy. It's interesting what they've done to the teachings. He was interested in suffering and whether it could come to an end. It's on the basic practical assumption that nobody wants to suffer, everyone wants to be happy. We could argue until the cows came home whether God exists, whether the universe is infinite, or whether it had a beginning or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 59:34 Highlight the passage at 59:34

1:00:07 Questions which philosophers have been wrestling with for the beginning of this time. He was interested in suffering, whether it could come to an end. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:07 Highlight the passage at 1:00:07

1:00:21 Interestingly, The Greek word therapia, from which we get our word therapy, is related to, so the Greek word is therapia. It's related to the word Sanskrit der. There's what they call cognates or relationships between many Greek words and Sanskrit words. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:21 Highlight the passage at 1:00:21

1:00:47 Der is the root word of Dharma. As far as Buddhist Dharma is concerned, the truth, Report an error in the passage at 1:00:47 Highlight the passage at 1:00:47

1:00:58 It's that which is therapeutic. It's the truth that transforms. It's the truth that makes us free. And the Buddhist Dharma is Buddhist truth. It's Buddhist therapy in a way of freeing us from these Report an error in the passage at 1:00:58 Highlight the passage at 1:00:58

1:01:19 dysfunctions of our mind. There are these dysfunctional ways that we think and behave, which are problematic, which have as a byproduct. Inevitably suffering one sort or another. So this is what the Buddha was trying to get across. He had some insight into the nature of the human dilemma in terms of suffering. He wasn't particularly interested in God, the beginning of the universe, the nature of reality, but he was interested in the question of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:19 Highlight the passage at 1:01:19

1:01:55 And he developed, he saw some truth. It was a therapeutic truth, a healing truth. It was a means that he saw as achieving the goal of well-being and health. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:55 Highlight the passage at 1:01:55

1:02:16 So in this way, Buddhism is very pragmatic. It's in this means that it can be verified, in that it should work. It's not just a theory. A philosophy, but it is a means of ending suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:16 Highlight the passage at 1:02:16

1:02:43 So when we talk about going for refuge to the Dharma, we're going for refuge to the truth. What we want to know is how things actually are. I don't know if that has much meaning. Does that resonate? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:43 Highlight the passage at 1:02:43

1:03:01 We're living our lives on the basis of many, many levels of fiction. We're living our life on the basis of many wrong assumptions, mistaken beliefs, crooked views. We don't recognize them. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:01 Highlight the passage at 1:03:01

1:03:21 And this is the source of why life is a problem for us. So we're trying to recognize where we're going wrong and apply some truth to that. begin to, you know. It seems as if in Buddhism there seems to be this movement toward harmony, Report an error in the passage at 1:03:21 Highlight the passage at 1:03:21

1:03:50 harmonization, harmonizing our worldview, how we see the world, our beliefs about it, our assumptions about it, with the way things actually are. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:50 Highlight the passage at 1:03:50

1:04:08 It's only when how we see the world corresponds to the way the world actually is. Are we ever going to find peace? Otherwise, there's always a disparity. Our beliefs about the world on the one hand and the way the world actually is on the other. And that disparity is experienced as dissatisfaction, frustration, disappointment, you know, all the various ways that we experience suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:08 Highlight the passage at 1:04:08

1:04:33 Just that misfit. There's a misfit. So we have no... I think it was... Krishnamurti said, for the intelligent person, there are very few... There are very few alternatives in life. If we have a hope to find peace, we have to make this effort to try to begin to harmonize our way of leading with the world and keeping with the way things actually are. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:33 Highlight the passage at 1:04:33

1:05:03 Otherwise, we're always going to experience this disharmony, this friction. Life's going to keep wearing us down. That's what the word suffering came from originally, the word dukkha. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:03 Highlight the passage at 1:05:03

1:05:18 A wheel that grinds on its axle. There's a misfit. It wears us down. It rubs us the wrong way. That's kind of the angst of the way that we, I think at some level, we experience our life. It seems that there's an element of effortfulness, of struggle, of not quite getting that fulfillment and peace that we're looking for. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:18 Highlight the passage at 1:05:18

1:05:53 So to go for refuge to the Dharma means, above all else, I want to know how things are. Don't tell me things just to make me feel better if they're not true. You might tell a little child, it's okay, it's going to be okay. Maybe it's not going to be okay, and he'll never trust you again. I want to know how things actually are. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:53 Highlight the passage at 1:05:53

1:06:26 That's what we're struggling to find out at lots of different levels. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:26 Highlight the passage at 1:06:26

1:06:34 But to go for refuge then is to go for refuge to the truth, to become a student of the truth. That's one thing I find very exciting about Buddhism. You're always a student. No matter how old, how long you've been studying, there's still so much more to learn, to inquire. It's very stimulating to investigate deeper, come to new understandings and new insights. There's always something more. The truth of who we are and the truth of the way things actually are. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:34 Highlight the passage at 1:06:34

1:07:13 Ultimately, the jewel of Dharma, which we are seeking refuge in, is not something outside of ourselves. It's each of us as a living embodiment of the Dharma, the embodiment of the truth, our own realizations. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:13 Highlight the passage at 1:07:13

1:07:32 Our own insights, understandings, and the solutions which we've gained through these, solving some of our fundamental problems through these understandings, through these insights, and the ways that these begin to find expression in our everyday life. That's our Dharma refuge, our actual refuge. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:32 Highlight the passage at 1:07:32

1:07:55 And then finally, the third refuge is the Saṅgha, or we could call it the spiritual community. So the Saṅgha, again, is a Sanskrit word. In Tibetan, it is translated as Gendunpa. Gendunpa means a seeker of virtue. And the highest virtue is awakening. So what Saṅgha comes to mean is a group related through the shared aspiration for awakening. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:55 Highlight the passage at 1:07:55

1:08:42 And again, there are different levels of interpretation. When we talk about, for example, the jewel of Saṅgha, it refers to a community, a group of those who have directly realized emptiness. And therefore, because they themselves have realized emptiness, they are able to assist us in coming to that same understanding as they have. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:42 Highlight the passage at 1:08:42

1:09:09 So that's called the ultimate Saṅgha. They have realized the ultimate truth. You know, we're looking for the truth. That's the ultimate truth, emptiness. That's the most fundamental understanding we're seeking to arrive at. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09:09

1:09:24 At another level of the meaning of Saṅgha and how it's used is a group of four or more monks and nuns. And the reason that they are seen as a refuge is that, you know, for better or worse, they're trying their best. to implement to Report an error in the passage at 1:09:24 Highlight the passage at 1:09:24

1:09:48 Because of ethics, they're trying to live by. They are uniquely suited to advise us in how to practically implement the Dharma in our daily lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:48 Highlight the passage at 1:09:48

1:10:10 Ethics is the basis of practice. And because of the level of ethics, monks and nuns are seeking to live by. We can regard them as advisors in how to implement the Dharma in our daily life. Having said that, at another level of interpretation of the word of Saṅgha, the spiritual community, I think probably it's of more immediate relevance to ourselves, to most of us. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:10 Highlight the passage at 1:10:10

1:10:43 Saṅgha broadly refers to the coming together of like-minded individuals. Who are committed to the idea of growth, of self-development. People who understand and respect what it is we're trying to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:43 Highlight the passage at 1:10:43

1:11:03 We have some shared values. We have some shared understandings. People who are willing to help in whatever ways they can. Teaching, advising, sharing, listening, comforting, encouraging. don't have to. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:03 Highlight the passage at 1:11:03

1:11:20 Lending a hand, maybe even contributing to our material needs if that's going to help. So what we do, and this is why I think what we do here together is so important, and I think we should value its significance, is that we've created an artificial, it's a space, a sacred space. Having said that, it's an artificial space, isn't it? It's like a greenhouse where these still fragile shoots of our developing aspirations and our evolving worldview can find support, can find nourishment, can grow. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:20 Highlight the passage at 1:11:20

1:12:12 It's like a protective, we have a little protective environment where we can share some deeper feelings. We can talk about issues that... No one else probably addresses in our daily life. We feel safe and we feel understood. We can experiment with different ways of being, different ways of relating, different ways of thinking. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:12 Highlight the passage at 1:12:12

1:12:34 It's a very valuable space that we create, the space of Saṅgha. So ultimately, the jewel of Saṅgha is all of us. I mean, here, individually and collectively. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:34 Highlight the passage at 1:12:34

1:12:54 It's like a social environment which fosters growth. It's like nourishing earth, if you like. It supports awakening. It supports the best of us. Our aspirations, our dreams, our hopes, what kind of person that we want to be. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:54 Highlight the passage at 1:12:54

1:13:19 It's like a therapeutic culture. So it's a community where we try to practice truth. That's our Saṅgha refuge. So, you know, having faith in Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha means having faith in the reality of awakening and that these three jewels are the means of achieving it. When we say, you know, having faith in the reality of awakening, it means having faith in ourselves, that we can change, that we can be the best possible person that we are capable of becoming. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:19 Highlight the passage at 1:13:19

1:13:56 And we're going to call that a Buddha. What a Buddha is exactly, I'm not sure. But that's what I can become. And having faith in the three jewels means practically entrusting ourselves to them, putting into practice the Buddha's Dharma with the help of the Saṅgha in order to make it so. And the sincerity is not quite enough. We actually have to do something. But we don't have to do it in isolation. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:56 Highlight the passage at 1:13:56

1:14:31 We probably can't. We depend upon others for our well-being in general, but also for our spiritual growth. Faith is faith. You know, we talked about faith. It's like, I think you do need some kind of, here the faith is an affirmation of basic goodness. The basic goodness of life. That there's something very good about life. The possibilities of our lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:31 Highlight the passage at 1:14:31

1:15:05 And there's something basically good about ourselves. Having faith in life itself, the possibilities of a way of life, the quality of life, a fulfilling life, however each of us might uniquely want to define what that means for us, the good life, the successful life, and that we can do that. Maybe that kind of faith. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:05 Highlight the passage at 1:15:05

1:15:40 in... In chapter 2, Shantideva, the main focus of the chapter is the purification of negativities. The main thrust of the text is the development of an awakened heart. And chapter 9, the awakened mind, awakening. In the course of seeking to developing this awakened quality, we have to, in the first chapter, look at the advantages and the disadvantages. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:40 Highlight the passage at 1:15:40

1:16:17 And then having looked at that, the second chapter, we're trying to remove the obstacles toward awakening, especially the awakened heart, bodhicitta, and then promoting the conducive conditions. So the main subject matter of the second chapter is removing obstacles, what inhibits the development of our own hearts. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:17 Highlight the passage at 1:16:17

1:16:45 these are... So the structure of the second and third chapter is around the seven in prayer. That's where it is given structure around that. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:45 Highlight the passage at 1:16:45

1:16:59 So we've looked at prostrations, paying homage, antidote to pride, for example, making offerings. We're developing positive potential. And now we're going to begin the discussion of the main subject. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:59 Highlight the passage at 1:16:59

1:17:20 The purification of negativity. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:20 Highlight the passage at 1:17:20

1:17:26 These are covered in verses 27 through 65. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:26 Highlight the passage at 1:17:26

1:17:39 Are there any points that you want to talk about before we go on? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:39 Highlight the passage at 1:17:39

1:18:01 Beginning with verses, we're going to be looking at the four powers. The four powers is... There's a methodical, which is set out in the remaining verses of Shantideva's second chapter, a methodical method, systematic method, a systematic method which covers all the various facets or implications of negative karma, of negative actions, ways of, and by purifying, we mean, we're going to discuss what we mean by that, Report an error in the passage at 1:18:01 Highlight the passage at 1:18:01

1:18:40 Reducing and... With the possibility of fully destroying the potency of our past negative actions. Karma means action. Actions of body, speech and mind. The way we think, the way we speak, what we do. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:40 Highlight the passage at 1:18:40

1:19:05 They all have as their originator intention. Intention is what moves the mind. It is every... As we studied when we studied awareness and knowledge, every state of mind is accompanied by a mental factor of intention. Intention is karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:05 Highlight the passage at 1:19:05

1:19:36 The quality of the intention will determine the quality of how we think. That is the ethical quality of our thoughts, the ethical quality of our speech. Okay, it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:36 Highlight the passage at 1:19:36

1:19:52 And the ethical quality of our activities which are motivated by that intention, which are initiated and brought about by that intention. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:52 Highlight the passage at 1:19:52

1:20:06 Having committed an action, that is, having had an intention, it's not stopped there. The action doesn't simply end there. Our minds are conditioned by our past ways of thinking, speaking and acting. By condition, I mean there's some residue left by our past ways of thinking, speaking and acting. Our minds are conditioned. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:06 Highlight the passage at 1:20:06

1:20:34 There's something, are Report an error in the passage at 1:20:34 Highlight the passage at 1:20:34

1:20:42 changed to some degree, in some way, by what we've thought, by what we've said, by what we've done. So there's a residue left on our consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:42 Highlight the passage at 1:20:42

1:20:59 This residue is generally called karmic seeds. Karmic seeds has a nice idea, but it's a very material notion. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:59 Highlight the passage at 1:20:59

1:21:13 A seed is characterized by a potency. It has genetic information. material. It has the genetic information encoded in it. When that genetic, this seed, this genetic material, when that seed comes in contact with the correct activating conditions, when that seed is placed in soil, Report an error in the passage at 1:21:13 Highlight the passage at 1:21:13

1:21:57 watered, has a degree of warmth, it begins to react to its environment in highly predictable fashion. It begins, according to that genetic coding, that information, it begins to interact with that environment. It begins to draw certain nutrients from the soil, if they're available, and it begins to arrange them in a particular predetermined fashion. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:57 Highlight the passage at 1:21:57

1:22:32 It begins to grow, sprout, you know what I'm saying? So a seed is characterized... by genetic information. Our minds are conditioned by what we've said and done and so forth. When these karmic seeds again come in contact with the... Appropriate activating conditions, they will react with their environment in highly predictable fashions. If that seed is of a negative quality, we will have as the end result of karma is an experience, feeling, pleasure, pain or neutral. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:32 Highlight the passage at 1:22:32

1:23:35 If that initiating cause, that intention was negative in terms of its ethical valence, It will have as a result a feeling of suffering. So there's a correspondence. The world is not chaotic. There's an order to this. We're not saying be good boys and girls because someone told us to. We don't want to suffer over here. If you don't want this result, then stop creating those causes. That's all. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:35 Highlight the passage at 1:23:35

1:24:13 It's pragmatic. By that means we don't want to suffer, so stop doing that. If you want to be happy, start doing this. Start creating positive intentions, positive karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:13 Highlight the passage at 1:24:13

1:24:27 Now, okay, we have to harmonize with the way things are, with the nature of reality. We don't have any wise choice otherwise. So we're trying to, to some degree we can... Validate some of these notions. We talked about the fact that they're extremely hidden phenomena and we can only rely on credible testimony and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:27 Highlight the passage at 1:24:27

1:25:03 But we can reason out some of these. It's not purely blind faith. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:03 Highlight the passage at 1:25:03

1:25:12 There is a correspondence in terms of the ethical quality of our actions and the experience of the result. some aren't Report an error in the passage at 1:25:12 Highlight the passage at 1:25:12

1:25:19 The feelings that are derived from that. Our intentions, our actions leave residue on our consciousness. They implant karmic seeds. These karmic seeds will remain in our consciousness, and we're going to look at this, unless they're acted upon by an external force. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:19 Highlight the passage at 1:25:19

1:25:37 So those karmic seeds, unless they're acted upon by an agent, will remain until they're activated. We have in our consciousness a vast field of karmic seeds. Hence some positive, some negative. Those negative seeds not only will bring about a negative result, but they also act to inhibit the development of our own minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:37 Highlight the passage at 1:25:37

1:26:05 The thrust here, the theme here is the development of an awakened heart. These negative seeds, predispositions, tendencies, conditioning factors, whatever we want to call them, Report an error in the passage at 1:26:05 Highlight the passage at 1:26:05

1:26:21 Inhibitory conditions for development of love, compassion, a good heart, an awakened mind, an awakened heart. So we want to purify them. By purifying them, we're not praying to a god. No one can reach down and remove these obstacles for us. But we can. They were implanted by our own mind. And it is only our own mind which can remove them, which can purify them. By purify, we simply mean to ameliorate, to lessen their intensity, to weaken them, or to cause them to reach a condition where they never will meet the condition whereby they will sprout, where they will be activated and bring about. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:21 Highlight the passage at 1:26:21

1:27:15 And they can no longer act as an obstacle. For our own self-development. The method we're going to look at that Shantideva is setting out is called the four powers. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:15 Highlight the passage at 1:27:15

1:27:33 So this is what he's calling disclosure of negativities. I use the word disclosure. Here they're using, like in verse 27 on page 12, confession. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:33 Highlight the passage at 1:27:33

1:27:53 Maybe Catholics would prefer confession. I don't know. Okay. Confessionally, this sounds a bit... Anyway, it's a pretty religious term, isn't it? Kind of a loaded term. Here we're going to disclose. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:53 Highlight the passage at 1:27:53

1:28:22 On one of our handouts, let's see. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:22 Highlight the passage at 1:28:22

1:28:37 I think it's on Note 5. Yeah. There's a listing of what are called the four powers. Note 4 or 5, I think. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:37 Highlight the passage at 1:28:37

1:28:55 So we're going to take a look at these. And these are what Shantideva said is the main subject matter of the second chapter. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:55 Highlight the passage at 1:28:55

1:29:11 The first of the four powers is... Are we okay so far? Any questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:11 Highlight the passage at 1:29:11

1:29:20 The first of the four powers, the power of repudiation. And I realize that's awkward. That's probably very awkward. Am I missing something? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:20 Highlight the passage at 1:29:20

1:29:45 Can you read it far away? Really? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:45 Highlight the passage at 1:29:45

1:29:53 We're still going to look at the four powers. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:53 Highlight the passage at 1:29:53

1:29:59 Repudiation. We'll talk about them. Repudiation. So this is sometimes referred to as the power of regret. Now, it's understandable why they use the word regret, but strictly speaking, repudiation is more in keeping with the Tibetan term. So it involves, and as it mentions here, involves deeply as a repudence. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:59 Highlight the passage at 1:29:59

1:30:21 Developing a reasoned and deeply felt sense of regret. So that's why it's sometimes referred to as the power of regret. Toward a past negative action through seeing its fault. Repudiation. Repudiation has a sense, quite what the dictionary definition means. I don't want anything to do with that. It's like politicians. They say, I repudiate that statement. I never made that. I don't want anything to do with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:21 Highlight the passage at 1:30:21

1:30:53 That's what repudiation means. We no longer identify with it. So that's the sense that we're trying to look at and develop in terms of this first of these four powers of purification. But what we may have to do, so in talking about this first power, it may be necessary in talking about this to make a distinction between Get it. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:53 Highlight the passage at 1:30:53

1:31:26 guilt. Guilt on the one hand and regret on the other. So what do people think about it? Do you have a sense? What do you think guilt is? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:26 Highlight the passage at 1:31:26

1:31:48 Any ideas? What would you define as guilt? Feeling bad? Feeling bad about something. So, yeah, so. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:48 Highlight the passage at 1:31:48

1:32:07 I wish I hadn't done it. So that would be your idea of guilt. So Report an error in the passage at 1:32:07 Highlight the passage at 1:32:07

1:32:16 it's a little bit more than just feeling bad about it. You feel, what does shame, where does shame take you? Report an error in the passage at 1:32:16 Highlight the passage at 1:32:16

1:32:37 Belittled. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:37 Highlight the passage at 1:32:37

1:32:44 Undermind your interview. That's quite true. right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:44 Highlight the passage at 1:32:44

1:33:09 Yeah, what's wrong with it? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:09 Highlight the passage at 1:33:09

1:33:23 What happened if you dropped a valuable plate and smashed, a valuable vase? Would you feel guilty? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:23 Highlight the passage at 1:33:23

1:33:41 Okay, but you wouldn't feel guilty. Would you feel... No, I'll stick to it. just this one Would you regret having broken the vase? You regret, but you wouldn't feel guilty about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:41 Highlight the passage at 1:33:41

1:34:04 No, you reach for something and you knock over a vase. Okay? But you don't feel guilty. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:04 Highlight the passage at 1:34:04

1:34:37 Pardon? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:37 Highlight the passage at 1:34:37

1:34:43 So if you accidentally broke this vase, you would feel regret, but you wouldn't feel guilty? Or would you feel like you should be punished? You accidentally... Report an error in the passage at 1:34:43 Highlight the passage at 1:34:43

1:34:56 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:56 Highlight the passage at 1:34:56

1:35:03 Oh, he's guilty. in front of the eyes of the Lord. So, yeah, that's good we discussed it. I have my own, I don't want to kind of impose my own take on this. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:03 Highlight the passage at 1:35:03

1:35:21 I just regret having, I mean, also there's a word remorse, regret. The notion that I have, I mean, Report an error in the passage at 1:35:21 Highlight the passage at 1:35:21

1:35:36 with guilt is focused upon, so. we both did – we did it. We broke the vase. Guilt would focus upon ourselves as a person, whereas regret would focus upon the action. I made a mistake. I added one and one to make three. It might have terrible consequences. It was a mistake. I regret having made it. But it doesn't call into question myself as a worthwhile person. I'm saying what guilt does. We say that this is an expression of some badness about me, some defect in my character. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:36 Highlight the passage at 1:35:36

1:36:26 And I don't want to hurt people and do these terrible things like breaking bosses. But there's something about me which isn't quite right. And you don't feel good about yourself. That, I think, is... That's what I have a sense of guilt. Whereas regret, you can say, I wish that hadn't happened, but it did. So the focus, I don't know what words you can use in your mind, but it's the meaning which is important. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:26 Highlight the passage at 1:36:26

1:36:57 Here, when we talk about regret, I'm using the word regret, we're focused upon the action, not upon ourselves. There's something wrong with me. This action is an expression of this. I have this defect in my character. On your Buddha inside yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:57 Highlight the passage at 1:36:57

1:37:23 We're not calling the question, we're not ourselves as a person, but our actions. That's the focus. That's what we're looking at. Does that make any sense? Is that legitimate? Are we splitting hairs? Some people do. They really get down on themselves. They hurt people. Did it have, okay, so, so, this Report an error in the passage at 1:37:23 Highlight the passage at 1:37:23

1:37:45 I don't know. To me, it seems important to make that kind of distinction if we're going to use this in a healthy way, this sense of remorse and regret. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:45 Highlight the passage at 1:37:45

1:38:01 This happened a number of years ago. When this plane, this New Zealand plane was going in Antarctica and it ran into the side of a mountain and all these people died. And it turned out there was someone... know, there was a... Report an error in the passage at 1:38:01 Highlight the passage at 1:38:01

1:38:16 He made a mistake in the program of the plane. Somebody made a mistake. It had huge consequences. But how are they going to live with that? Report an error in the passage at 1:38:16 Highlight the passage at 1:38:16

1:38:36 I don't know. That's a question. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:36 Highlight the passage at 1:38:36

1:38:42 They could feel guilty. There's something wrong with me that I caused all this suffering. Or they can think, okay, I really made a mistake. I regret those consequences. I wish I hadn't done it, but I did it. I made a mistake. I added one and one to make three. I think we do that. What I'm saying is sometimes, I don't know about you, but I know for myself, sometimes I don't think all that clearly. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:42 Highlight the passage at 1:38:42

1:39:15 Sometimes I'm under the influence of anger or attachment or pride. And I make mistakes. But that doesn't call into question myself as a worthwhile person. Can you make mistakes and still be a worthwhile person? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:15 Highlight the passage at 1:39:15

1:39:45 They're putting a guilt trip on you. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:45 Highlight the passage at 1:39:45

1:39:55 it's like a personal insult to them that you've made that same mistake again. You must be, your intention must have been Report an error in the passage at 1:39:55 Highlight the passage at 1:39:55

1:40:03 that, to me, I think they're caught in that little relationship. Sure, yeah. And then that family. Yeah. And then it's really hard to work hard. It's hard to defend yourself. Become vulnerable to taking on the guilt trip. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:03 Highlight the passage at 1:40:03

1:40:23 So I'm just trying to, however you may think about this, whatever terms you might want to use, I think there's a subtle distinction being made here. We do this about who we are and what we do. We can all make mistakes. So with Report an error in the passage at 1:40:23 Highlight the passage at 1:40:23

1:40:49 regret, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:49 Highlight the passage at 1:40:49

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:40:49 We acknowledge our mistakes as mistakes. We don't deny it ever happened, or we stop denying it, or that trying to in some way justify it, you know, you really deserved what I did to you, or whatever. However you try to rationalize it in some way, or somehow make it as if it weren't wrong, there's no evasion, there's no self-deception, but there's also no self-judgment. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:49 Highlight the passage at 1:40:49

1:41:21 We confront our past actions, but we don't call ourselves into question as a worthwhile person, but we're calling into question those actions we've created in the past which were negative. And in the context of understanding ourselves, our own imperfections, our limitations, we assume responsibility for what we've done. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:21 Highlight the passage at 1:41:21

1:41:51 And we want to develop a sense of regret. The sense of regret, what regret does, regret is not a pleasant feeling. It's associated with unpleasure, displeasure. And we're associating that with the action that we've created. And we're offering some resistance. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:51 Highlight the passage at 1:41:51

1:42:17 We're repudiating. I don't want to identify with that anymore. I don't want to go there anymore. I don't want to reenact that anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:17 Highlight the passage at 1:42:17

1:42:31 We cease identifying with that unskillful pattern of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:31 Highlight the passage at 1:42:31

1:42:46 We're no longer going to indulge in that way of acting. We're offering some resistance to it by regretting it, associating it with... There's a, there's a... Report an error in the passage at 1:42:46 Highlight the passage at 1:42:46

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:42:59 with not so good a feeling. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:59 Highlight the passage at 1:42:59

1:43:16 So this power of repudiation is being set out in Shantideva's text from verses 27 through 46. So those are all involved in this process of what we're calling the power of repudiation. And it's the most important of these four powers. If we lack... This first power of repudiation, then the remaining three powers are going to be weak or ineffective. And unless we are trying to develop a genuine sense of regret for the negative action, we have to acknowledge that that was wrong, that was negative, I regret it, that was a mistake. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:16 Highlight the passage at 1:43:16

1:44:06 There's no other way to purify, to eliminate its influence on our mind. Our minds created the action. It's only our minds which can destroy it, eliminate it from our consciousness. There's no other way but a deeply felt sense of regret toward the action. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:06 Highlight the passage at 1:44:06

1:44:26 So in all of this process, there's no supernatural powers involved. There's no magic involved. It's simply working with the psychology of our mind and how it actually works. So this is working with the law of cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:26 Highlight the passage at 1:44:26

1:44:43 Within the law of dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:43 Highlight the passage at 1:44:43

1:44:48 So none of these powers, you know, this method can be applied mechanically. You know, there has to be a sense of sincerity and a genuine feeling behind what, you know, it probably wouldn't do any good to simply mouth the words. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:48 Highlight the passage at 1:44:48

1:45:09 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:45:09 Highlight the passage at 1:45:09

1:45:16 how's that? Report an error in the passage at 1:45:16 Highlight the passage at 1:45:16

1:45:28 Yeah, I mean, they're in a difficult position. They could admit it, but out of attachment to their position, they're a bit more of a human being. Yeah, but what you say is quite right. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:28 Highlight the passage at 1:45:28

1:46:04 They can't admit mistakes. Maybe as you said, they can't admit them publicly. The public demands that they be all powerful. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:04 Highlight the passage at 1:46:04

1:46:35 Yeah, yeah, no, sure, yeah. But you know, I mean, well, maybe, yeah, you could keep, we can be self-deceiving. We can deceive ourselves. We can lie to ourselves. Yeah, we can, at some level we can. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:35 Highlight the passage at 1:46:35

1:47:01 I have a, I mean, I think as you become more in tune with your own, what's going on deeper inside yourself. You can't lie to yourself or you can't deceive yourself as you once could. You have some uneasy feeling. The conscience demands to be heard. So we can't quite keep going back to sleep and saying that was okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:01 Highlight the passage at 1:47:01

1:47:24 We don't feel quite right. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:24 Highlight the passage at 1:47:24

1:47:32 It doesn't feel right at some level. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:32 Highlight the passage at 1:47:32

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:48:22 We're looking more at the ethical quality. I mean, you may be developing Parkinson's disease or something like that. So I don't think you should get down that. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:22 Highlight the passage at 1:48:22

1:48:38 I think it's a bad, you're forming a bad habit. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:38 Highlight the passage at 1:48:38

1:48:53 Oh, have you kept doing it? Move the vase. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:53 Highlight the passage at 1:48:53

1:49:06 Why did you put that vase here? Why do you keep putting that vase here? I've told you so many times. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:06 Highlight the passage at 1:49:06

1:49:21 Okay, the power of regret. So maybe we can squeeze in another power. The power of reliance. Again, this is Shantideva's text. He begins his discussion of what we call the power of reliance on page... So verse 47, which is on page 19. Here they call it the power of the base. Again, these... I call it the power of reliance and I'll tell you, I'll explain why I call it reliance. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:21 Highlight the passage at 1:49:21

1:50:06 So the power of reliance. Relying in terms of explanation on note five. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:06 Highlight the passage at 1:50:06

1:50:20 It says relying on the very same object toward whom the negative action was previously committed. Okay, relying on the very same object toward whom the negative action was previously committed. We are trying to purify our negativity. First, we're going through and recollecting various negativities that we've created. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:20 Highlight the passage at 1:50:20

1:50:45 We develop, firstly, a genuine sense of regret, and then we apply the second power. Here, this involves two parts to it. In one way, we're getting Report an error in the passage at 1:50:45 Highlight the passage at 1:50:45

1:51:11 back in touch. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:11 Highlight the passage at 1:51:11

1:51:16 We're getting back in touch with what we really want, the kind of person that we want to be, how we want to behave in this world, what our deeper values are, and recommitting ourselves to growth. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:16 Highlight the passage at 1:51:16

1:51:34 I'll explain my sense around that. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:34 Highlight the passage at 1:51:34

1:51:40 There are two objects toward whom we create negative actions. One is the Buddhas. And the other is sentient beings. So this is, let it say, all living beings aside from Buddhas. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:40 Highlight the passage at 1:51:40

1:52:00 So there are two objects to whom we commit negativity. One is Buddhas, and then there's all the rest of the living beings. Those are the two objects. So all our actions, both positive and negative, that we create with regard to others, are created with regard to those two. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:00 Highlight the passage at 1:52:00

1:52:20 In the context of when we act in contradiction to a vow or we've made some kind of commitment, maybe you've taken a bodhisattva vow, maybe you've taken tantric vows, all the possible types of vows, levels of ethical commitments that we make. Maybe it was in a formal ceremony. If we were to contradict a vow, Report an error in the passage at 1:52:20 Highlight the passage at 1:52:20

1:52:52 We are creating a negative action toward the Buddha. Another way we could say this is we are turning our back, and this is more figurative, we are turning our back on our own inner Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:52 Highlight the passage at 1:52:52

1:53:11 And our commitment to actualizing the path that we've taken, we've gotten off track, where it is that we really want to go. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:11 Highlight the passage at 1:53:11

1:53:23 In applying this power of reliance, We are, we are, we are. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:23 Highlight the passage at 1:53:23

1:53:26 We re-evaluate our priorities. We re-examine what is truly possible and we re-commit ourselves to growth, to awakening. When we commit a negativity, for example, for Report an error in the passage at 1:53:26 Highlight the passage at 1:53:26

1:53:58 a monk or a nun to eat after the noonday meal is against the rules of discipline. you know... Report an error in the passage at 1:53:58 Highlight the passage at 1:53:58

1:54:10 In general, there's nothing wrong with eating after the noonday meal. But if you have committed yourself to not eating after the noonday meal, then to do so without good reason would be to act in contradiction to what you're trying. At some point along the way, You felt it was a valuable guideline that you wanted to live by. You saw that this was a worthwhile way of acting, and you want to put yourself within this framework, but now you've acted in contradiction to that, if you did. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:10 Highlight the passage at 1:54:10

1:54:57 So in applying this power of reliance, we've gotten off track in some way or not. We lost sight of what at one time we saw as valuable, As a guideline, we're trying to hold to, and we reestablish ourselves, you know, we commit Report an error in the passage at 1:54:57 Highlight the passage at 1:54:57

1:55:22 ourselves to awakening, to the path which is going to take us there, to the means of awakening, and to the guidance of those who can assist us in that process. That is to say, we go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha. So we're trusting that these three will truly bring about what it is that we're trying to achieve in our life. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:22 Highlight the passage at 1:55:22

1:55:51 They're like reliable resources for ourselves. So having committed the negativity, you know, it's like when Report an error in the passage at 1:55:51 Highlight the passage at 1:55:51

1:56:09 you take a vow, you make some kind of commitment, you say, this is, we're going to talk more, I want to talk more about this when we come to chapter three. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:09 Highlight the passage at 1:56:09

1:56:21 There's some kind of guidelines, which I, you know, somewhere I want to get to. And I'm trying to, there are lots of forces which are operating against me, I'm aware of that, within my own mind, which are taking me in another direction, which are preventing me from going, you know, traveling the path which I want to take for myself. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:21 Highlight the passage at 1:56:21

1:56:46 I need some supports. I need some, maybe artificial. Something which I can adhere to, even when my wisdom, my clarity, my compassion isn't really operative. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:46 Highlight the passage at 1:56:46

1:57:06 There's times when I can say, well, I committed myself not to doing this. I can't quite remember why I committed myself, but at some time I had some clarity around this. I had some wisdom around this, and I committed myself. And even though at present, It's not clear to me. I'm going to stick to this. So it carries us through those times when we're confused, when we're full of attachment, when we're full of anger and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:06 Highlight the passage at 1:57:06

1:57:35 That's the value of commitments. That's the value of vows and so forth. Helping us, supporting us, assisting ourselves during those times when we are likely to get off track. We're going to lose sight of where we want to go. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:35 Highlight the passage at 1:57:35

1:57:58 So here we're recommitting ourselves, getting back on track. And the way that in terms of going for refuge, we rely upon the Buddha Dharma Saṅgha to help us to get back on track. Anyway, we'll talk about this more next week, okay? We'll talk about the remainder of these four powers, the means of purifying negativities. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:58 Highlight the passage at 1:57:58

1:58:26 If you would, if you'd like, if you'd also read Chapter 3. We'll continue with next week. We'll begin chapter 3. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:26 Highlight the passage at 1:58:26

1:58:40 So we haven't purified everything yet. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:40 Highlight the passage at 1:58:40

1:58:54 So we can dedicate this. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:54 Highlight the passage at 1:58:54

1:59:01 Can you read that, Karen? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:01 Highlight the passage at 1:59:01

1:59:13 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 whine by depression. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:13 Highlight the passage at 1:59:13

1:59:45 May the thirsty find water and delicious drink. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find constant happiness and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:45 Highlight the passage at 1:59:45

2:00:09 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 their powers find power and may people think of benefiting each other. 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. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:09 Highlight the passage at 2:00:09

2:00:32 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 decline but increase more and more. In the land encircled by snow mountains, you are the source of all happiness and well-being. Powerful Chenrizi Tenzin Gyatso, please remain to the end of cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:32 Highlight the passage at 2:00:32