BP: Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds (13 April 2015)

0:09 Hello, Harry. How are you? Report an error in the passage at 0:09 Highlight the passage at 0:09

0:18 So it's been two weeks. Report an error in the passage at 0:18 Highlight the passage at 0:18

0:23 Anything that anyone would like to share? You had a... It went well? You were a bit... Congratulations. Report an error in the passage at 0:23 Highlight the passage at 0:23

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1:08 And Report an error in the passage at 1:08 Highlight the passage at 1:08

1:17 you could speak the language okay? More or less. Report an error in the passage at 1:17 Highlight the passage at 1:17

1:37 There's no... was the end of this night. End of this night. And I had the smelliness. We thought on record. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:37 Highlight the passage at 1:37

1:47 that's a way to live somewhere else. Report an error in the passage at 1:47 Highlight the passage at 1:47

1:55 When I was Report an error in the passage at 1:55 Highlight the passage at 1:55

2:20 little and stepping off my porch and going into the snow. One of my fond memories of Ohio. Report an error in the passage at 2:20 Highlight the passage at 2:20

2:38 Anybody else want to share? Report an error in the passage at 2:38 Highlight the passage at 2:38

2:46 Oh, with Gisela. How was that? Report an error in the passage at 2:46 Highlight the passage at 2:46

3:17 Tell me, can you share something of what you learned? Report an error in the passage at 3:17 Highlight the passage at 3:17

3:23 Sunday would have been on Insight. Report an error in the passage at 3:23 Highlight the passage at 3:23

3:40 Love and compassion, one way, and wisdom, you know, and emptiness of the other, the other means, right? So it's kind of wisdom, so you need to know the Dharma and the teaching and all that sort of thing. So that's good, but without love, I'm being at the right here. We need to do that. Oh, okay, okay. Without love and compassion, you know, it might, you know, as well as the author, and he explained, you know, this compassion. Report an error in the passage at 3:40 Highlight the passage at 3:40

4:13 Okay. Okay. Okay. whole time. So love, okay, altruistic love is may all sentient beings have happiness in the causes of happiness. And compassionless, may all sentient beings be free from suffering in the causes of suffering. And great compassion, which is the Mahāyāna tradition, is, may I become a Buddha for the sake of also being, so we put it upon ourselves to help everybody to acquire enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 4:13 Highlight the passage at 4:13

4:47 So now, of course, it's a bit overwhelming when you try and meditate on great compassion for every single sentient being, but there is, I mean, where to start? So thankfully they said, well, you know, start smoking. Report an error in the passage at 4:47 Highlight the passage at 4:47

5:08 and basically what you have to think of is way you look at right? You know, Martin Luther King is my best buddy, Sue is my worst enemy, and I don't care about you because I don't know you. So it's like these three categories. How am I going to feel great compassion for all three of you? How am I going to do that? Report an error in the passage at 5:08 Highlight the passage at 5:08

5:29 I have to equalize. So basically you have to remember, we believe in reincarnation, don't we? So thinking about that, you know, but you have had so many reincarnations already, the chances are that any of history would have been one mother in one previous life, right? Or best friend or whatever I know being that you really feel quite effective towards. So if you look at it that way, you as my best friend might have just as well done as much harm to me as soon as my worst enemy. Report an error in the passage at 5:29 Highlight the passage at 5:29

6:13 And equally with you, you might have been my best buddy in a previous life. So you speak about it and meditate about it. So at one stage hopefully you come to an equalization. So you understand that we are all kind of the same. Of course, it doesn't mean that you need to take crap from people, obviously, but it helps you deal with anger and all those emotions much better, which is great. Report an error in the passage at 6:13 Highlight the passage at 6:13

6:47 And then, of course, you think about suffering and the causes of suffering. What's it called before? Thank you. Thank you. So the Four Noble Truths. And yeah, it was just so enlightening. It was really interesting. So I came out on Sunday evening and thought, this is brilliant. And kind of the whole week sort of went doing well. I'm getting a hang of this. Report an error in the passage at 6:47 Highlight the passage at 6:47

7:18 Until... Report an error in the passage at 7:18 Highlight the passage at 7:18

7:21 One night I'm at home and now all of a sudden there's a scream. My daughter, ahhh. Okay, I'm running into the living room and there's the mother of all cockroaches on the wall, you know. Report an error in the passage at 7:21 Highlight the passage at 7:21

7:35 It's just a cockroach, you know, like, oh God, it's a monster. Trying to be calm. And then the friend, another, honestly, cockroach and sterile. I've never seen it. It's just flying right towards me. And, you know, my great compassion went right out the window. It was a bit of a Benny Hill moment there. It was horrible. So, I was really freaked out. Report an error in the passage at 7:35 Highlight the passage at 7:35

7:59 I got the coverage page, you know, put it everywhere and was like, whoa, you know, just so grossed out. The next morning, I find in my office on my desk, one of the, I guess, lying on its back. Right in front, lying in front of my keyboard. Report an error in the passage at 7:59 Highlight the passage at 7:59

8:19 And I couldn't help myself think, oh my God, you know, just imagine the possibility. This little big cockroach was so grossed out, you know, was so passionate of me, of me being so grossed out about it, it just grossed. Report an error in the passage at 8:19 Highlight the passage at 8:19

8:36 And Emma, it hit me, it hit me, because that's the level of compassion we are aiming for to achieve, isn't it? If you imagine that cockroach would happen in our community. But that would be the level of compassion that we would be aiming for, you know, out of compassion we could suffer, you know, the comfort of it. Report an error in the passage at 8:36 Highlight the passage at 8:36

9:01 For me it was a very silly moment, but it was kind of, damn. So I really had to put a bit of effort into the whole thing. And then the next day I had another moment. It was really weird. I was coming out of the parking lot. that's what I'm going to call the bear, this is what I'm going to call the bear, this is what I'm going to call the bear. Report an error in the passage at 9:01 Highlight the passage at 9:01

9:16 I had a shopping center parking a couple of cars in front of me and there was a traffic jam, we had to wait. So I'm like one hand on the steering wheel, the other one leaning on the window, standing there waiting and looking over down the street waiting for what's happening in the traffic. Then all of a sudden the horn beeps, I'm going like this, startled and noticing that the car in front of me actually drove backwards a bit. Report an error in the passage at 9:16 Highlight the passage at 9:16

9:42 Now the funny thing was... Guess who beat the horn? My left hand. I actually managed to start on myself and the only way I can explain it is I'm driving for, I mean, 30 odd years I'm driving a car. I'm driving every day 150 kilometers. So it's like it's a second nature. I don't even have to pay attention anymore. Report an error in the passage at 9:42 Highlight the passage at 9:42

10:06 I must have seen out of the tone of my eye. The car rolled back in my left hand and just reacted and beat the horn, which was great. I thought, oh wow, this is good. But then I thought, imagine if I would have put that effort into practicing Buddhism every day, you know, meditating. And for 30 years, can you imagine the level we would have reached by now? And I thought, okay, so that's the level of compassion I have to reach and that's the level of practice I have to put in, you know, without... Report an error in the passage at 10:06 Highlight the passage at 10:06

10:40 It's not just going to a seminar and understanding it. It's like reading a manual on driving and saying, oh yeah, I can drive. That was my big enlightening moment. Report an error in the passage at 10:40 Highlight the passage at 10:40

10:54 You went away with a lot, didn't you? Report an error in the passage at 10:54 Highlight the passage at 10:54

11:02 Thank you. It's nice to see that exuberance, that enthusiasm. It's kind of infectious. Report an error in the passage at 11:02 Highlight the passage at 11:02

11:18 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 11:18 Highlight the passage at 11:18

11:21 In what way? Report an error in the passage at 11:21 Highlight the passage at 11:21

11:27 pulls lot of information together and actually made it real. You know, you can actually then apply it to and see how the impact it had on the rest of your Good. Good. Report an error in the passage at 11:27 Highlight the passage at 11:27

11:41 way, that same night, you know, after the morning, in my bedroom on the wall I just shuddered and turned the light off and went to sleep I wasn't freaked out anymore I had no compassion for it Report an error in the passage at 11:41 Highlight the passage at 11:41

12:00 I've gone from compassion to getting baits and to leaving the lights on so that I don't walk into the kitchen and turn the light on and find cockroaches floating around I sleep the light on until until I I go go to to sleep bed so I get to see them. It's really hard, I think, to have that sort of balance between them and understand that you know, the sort of teaching is to bring birth and be the mother in the previous life or something it's really hard. Report an error in the passage at 12:00 Highlight the passage at 12:00

12:52 Anybody Report an error in the passage at 12:52 Highlight the passage at 12:52

13:03 else? So you went also soon? Yeah? You went all three days? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 13:03 Highlight the passage at 13:03

13:19 Anybody? I Report an error in the passage at 13:19 Highlight the passage at 13:19

13:27 mean, it's great. Yeah, I mean, even one day is really great. Report an error in the passage at 13:27 Highlight the passage at 13:27

13:40 Very fortunate to have that kind of enthusiasm and take kind of the joy that goes with that. Report an error in the passage at 13:40 Highlight the passage at 13:40

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14:22 Mother's love. Report an error in the passage at 14:22 Highlight the passage at 14:22

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14:55 Yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah. It's not universal. How about we use the model of a mother? Report an error in the passage at 14:55 Highlight the passage at 14:55

15:04 Generally, that's the closest thing that we normally experience in terms of unconditional love. But for some, that doesn't particularly work. There are emotionally and physically abusive mothers. So it's suggested that in terms of one's own practice, just picking one of your significant caregivers, someone that might be an uncle or it might be your father or whomever. Report an error in the passage at 15:04 Highlight the passage at 15:04

15:36 It might be a friend, just some model that you can make use of that all other beings have expressed that same degree of kindness to you. So it doesn't have to be your mother, but... Sure. Report an error in the passage at 15:36 Highlight the passage at 15:36

16:04 Yeah, I think it's, you know, I have, this last year, it's been quite a fortunate experience for me, being, because of my... trying to make sure that's lovely. Report an error in the passage at 16:04 Highlight the passage at 16:04

16:17 My partner's daughter-in-law just had the baby. It was just my grandpa. It was one year old now, and I've never been in that kind of situation when I've seen the amount of care and attention that showered upon this baby who will never know. Report an error in the passage at 16:17 Highlight the passage at 16:17

16:36 I mean, it may experience the consequences of that love and attention, but it will never know exactly how much energy and concern. How many nights they stayed up with the baby and worried and took it to the... How much... All the unconditional love that was just continually showered upon us. We lose... We forget that in the difficulties of our life and quite often we... We do grow up with a certain degree of cynicism, I think, oftentimes. Report an error in the passage at 16:36 Highlight the passage at 16:36

17:12 We forget that we wouldn't be here. We couldn't have survived without the attention of someone. Someone cared enough for us to keep us alive, just physically alive. If a baby doesn't have that, it dies. Report an error in the passage at 17:12 Highlight the passage at 17:12

17:31 And it's said that the yogi, it's by opening up to this unconditional love that they're able to experience the fearlessness to open up to emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 17:31 Highlight the passage at 17:31

17:45 Somehow the universe is supportive of ourselves in some way. And overcoming our cynicism and our mistrust and our guarding and being on guard and opening up to that, both to the Report an error in the passage at 17:45 Highlight the passage at 17:45

18:07 benevolent universe, but also in terms of the degree of selflessness and the openness of our hearts and minds to the reality. Report an error in the passage at 18:07 Highlight the passage at 18:07

18:24 So it's very useful. Meditate in that way. I agree with you. We can use models such as Mother Teresa and so forth. But I think somehow, if we can personalize it, I think it's even more personal. Personalize it in the sense of what kind of experiences have I actually had when somebody just cared for me without any hope of any return. Report an error in the passage at 18:24 Highlight the passage at 18:24

18:53 That's the thing I marvel at. Report an error in the passage at 18:53 Highlight the passage at 18:53

19:00 There's this giving, giving, giving, giving. And there's nothing... Report an error in the passage at 19:00 Highlight the passage at 19:00

19:09 at least the time being, coming back from the baby, you know, it's just this continual giving. any, not time. Report an error in the passage at 19:09 Highlight the passage at 19:09

19:31 Getting back? Report an error in the passage at 19:31 Highlight the passage at 19:31

19:43 Okay. That bonding. So I Report an error in the passage at 19:43 Highlight the passage at 19:43

20:01 think Report an error in the passage at 20:01 Highlight the passage at 20:01

20:23 these are the things that I think you know... Transcend our intellect and our rationality and touches something very deep inside of us that we often get out of touch with. Report an error in the passage at 20:23 Highlight the passage at 20:23

20:43 The busyness and the practicality of our everyday life, just like going for refuge. Report an error in the passage at 20:43 Highlight the passage at 20:43

20:53 You're very fortunate that you took the time out and received these teachings and had that experience. Sometimes it might be long droughts, a period where we forget about what is important to ourselves, what really makes this whole thing we call our life worthwhile, brings us a sense of fulfillment, joy and Report an error in the passage at 20:53 Highlight the passage at 20:53

21:32 purpose. Report an error in the passage at 21:32 Highlight the passage at 21:32

21:35 So I think that's very much what we're all about in our self-development, is recapturing and developing. Report an error in the passage at 21:35 Highlight the passage at 21:35

21:48 Those moments when it's just enough to be alive and we're willing to share whatever it is that we have with others in the hope that they too can experience the same. Report an error in the passage at 21:48 Highlight the passage at 21:48

22:01 We all have a Buddha nature. We all have a degree of intelligence and caring, innate to ourselves, and discriminating awareness. Report an error in the passage at 22:01 Highlight the passage at 22:01

22:18 We know what's right, in a sense, what's right for us. Intuitively, what works. But I think it gets easily covered over. It gets lost in the practical necessities, cynicisms, trying to protect ourselves, our egotism and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 22:18 Highlight the passage at 22:18

22:47 So again and again trying to, the Report an error in the passage at 22:47 Highlight the passage at 22:47

22:57 heart qualities of our life, in Report an error in the passage at 22:57 Highlight the passage at 22:57

23:03 touch with that Buddha inside of ourselves, going for refuge, reminding ourselves. What are our deeper values? Report an error in the passage at 23:03 Highlight the passage at 23:03

23:15 But as you said, sincerity is not quite enough. We actually have to do something to Report an error in the passage at 23:15 Highlight the passage at 23:15

23:34 help ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 23:34 Highlight the passage at 23:34

23:39 He was at the end of a retreat in Bodhgaya and the Dalai Lama. He visited the retreat. It was a Vipassanā retreat. It was in the basement of the Thai temple many years ago. He came in. And he gave a very beautiful talk, and at the end he said, Report an error in the passage at 23:39 Highlight the passage at 23:39

24:02 it's on your shoulders, and that's your responsibility. Report an error in the passage at 24:02 Highlight the passage at 24:02

24:10 No matter how much they might love us, if the Buddhas could, they would have long ago turned us all into happy, healthy, loving, sane human beings, but they're limited in what they can do. Amongst the three qualities, the body, speech and mind of a Buddha, what is most important for ourselves is their speech. Report an error in the passage at 24:10 Highlight the passage at 24:10

24:32 Through their teachings. There's a Report an error in the passage at 24:32 Highlight the passage at 24:32

24:38 verse where it says that the Buddhas neither transfer their realization to the mind of others nor do they remove suffering with their hands, but by their showing of the truth all will be free. So we take the teachings that we're looking at in various ways and we try to experience. Report an error in the passage at 24:38 Highlight the passage at 24:38

25:10 We're fortunate in that way, that we don't have to reinvent the wheel. We have the wheel of Dharma. But nonetheless, we have to make our teachers and the Buddhist truth our own truth. We have to integrate that and see it for ourselves. And that's the work that we're involved in. Report an error in the passage at 25:10 Highlight the passage at 25:10

25:42 We're not alone in this. We're not unique in all of this. Nor are we isolated in our attempts. That mental health is a social phenomenon. It's something that occurs within. you know, it's not. Report an error in the passage at 25:42 Highlight the passage at 25:42

26:02 It fosters awakening. So, I mean, we have Vajjani Institute, we have each other, we have our teachers, we have this kind of supportive context, this social matrix, which kind of fosters this quality within all of ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 26:02 Highlight the passage at 26:02

26:29 And I think, I mean, you helped me tonight. Report an error in the passage at 26:29 Highlight the passage at 26:29

26:41 Encouraged and even want to do more of myself when I see your enthusiasm. Report an error in the passage at 26:41 Highlight the passage at 26:41

26:50 So we go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. And we try to raise the level of our motivation. Again, as Karen said, Report an error in the passage at 26:50 Highlight the passage at 26:50

27:05 I think the essence of Dharma, I don't know, this is my own speculation, is effective compassion. Compassion, to be sure. Compassion for ourselves as well as all others. But to make it effective compassion. Report an error in the passage at 27:05 Highlight the passage at 27:05

27:26 The effective aspect is wisdom. We need those two wings. So we try to raise the level of our motivation beyond our habitual self-centered, or me first, I'm number one center of the universe approach to most of all of what we do. Report an error in the passage at 27:26 Highlight the passage at 27:26

27:51 And we begin by thinking small, but we continue pushing out the envelope, if only even in our imagination. It all begins in imagination to include an ever widening circle of others. Report an error in the passage at 27:51 Highlight the passage at 27:51

28:12 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. Report an error in the passage at 28:12 Highlight the passage at 28:12

28:36 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. May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. Report an error in the passage at 28:36 Highlight the passage at 28:36

29:03 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 29:03 Highlight the passage at 29:03

29:29 stand for a minute, and then we're going to sit and meditate together. Report an error in the passage at 29:29 Highlight the passage at 29:29

29:48 as we finished Chapter 2 two weeks ago in the Bodhisattva's Deeds, in the main practice, The focus of Chapter 2 is the practice of purification. We're going through the seven limbs as a means for creating merit, creating positive potential, but Report an error in the passage at 29:48 Highlight the passage at 29:48

30:16 also as a means of purification, as a means of removing what inhibits ourselves, ultimately in this context of our text, developing an awakened heart. Report an error in the passage at 30:16 Highlight the passage at 30:16

30:34 So as a means of the purification, we looked at the four powers. So I thought we would meditate that. So we'll go through a process of progressive Report an error in the passage at 30:34 Highlight the passage at 30:34

30:54 relaxation. We'll meditate on mindfulness of the breath for a short while. And then we're going to go through, I'll lead you through a practice using the four repudiation, the power of reliance, the power of restraint and the power of remedy. And as a remedy, I just, you know, one of the traditional counteracting agents or traditional practices that we can apply as an antidote is recitation of mantra and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 30:54 Highlight the passage at 30:54

31:29 There was one mention, and one of the mantras that was mentioned was Omani Padmyum, which is, Omani Padmyum is the mantra which is associated with Chenrizi. Chenrizi is the Tibetan, which is a Sanskrit term. It's the embodiment of compassion. And so this mantra is associated with the development that Report an error in the passage at 31:29 Highlight the passage at 31:29

31:55 we could recite that together and then meditate on compassion and love. As Karen mentioned, love is the wish for happiness. Compassion is the wish to be free from suffering. So reciting the mantra together and then recite it silently to ourselves for a few minutes and then simply to meditate on love and compassion. Report an error in the passage at 31:55 Highlight the passage at 31:55

32:18 We can simply do that. I mean, we use words, don't we? But they can be helpful in developing a feeling. But what we want is to develop the feeling, not to be satisfied with the mere hesitation of words and so forth. But the words can help us. They can assist us in that way. So may Report an error in the passage at 32:18 Highlight the passage at 32:18

32:46 all beings be happy. May they be safe. May they be well. And just allowing... You know, thinking of the meanings of those words, what is being indicated, what is being pointed to, and just let it resonate within you. May all beings be happy, may they be safe, may they be well. There's a lot of suffering in the world, isn't there? Report an error in the passage at 32:46 Highlight the passage at 32:46

33:10 Even as we sit here comfortably this evening in the world, there's a great deal of pain. Really, it is, isn't there? May all those who are, may they be happy, may they be safe. So many people only want to be safe. They just want a moment's respite from the bombing, from the hunger, and from the horrors of what's going on about them. Report an error in the passage at 33:10 Highlight the passage at 33:10

33:40 May they be safe. May they be well. And we'll meditate on that for a few minutes. So taking a comfortable, firm posture. And Report an error in the passage at 33:40 Highlight the passage at 33:40

33:55 we'll begin by getting in touch with our bodies. Report an error in the passage at 33:55 Highlight the passage at 33:55

34:04 Bringing your awareness to the crown of your head, your scalp. And starting by feeling the wrinkles between your brow and your forehead, smoothing out. Report an error in the passage at 34:04 Highlight the passage at 34:04

34:19 The pressure in and around your eyes diminishing, Report an error in the passage at 34:19 Highlight the passage at 34:19

34:34 the face softening. Report an error in the passage at 34:34 Highlight the passage at 34:34

34:51 You don't have to struggle anymore, just for a few minutes. Just let go. Report an error in the passage at 34:51 Highlight the passage at 34:51

35:05 Soft, bringing Report an error in the passage at 35:05 Highlight the passage at 35:05

35:17 your awareness to the back of your neck and turning your head to each side a few times, very gently loosening, stretching the muscles of the back of the neck and Report an error in the passage at 35:17 Highlight the passage at 35:17

35:38 bringing your awareness to your upper back and shoulders and perhaps... Drawing your shoulders up towards your ears, circling them to the back, to Report an error in the passage at 35:38 Highlight the passage at 35:38

35:54 the front, just rotating your shoulders a few times, Report an error in the passage at 35:54 Highlight the passage at 35:54

36:10 up towards your ears, and then just allowing them to drop to the sides. And with that, the feeling of some kind of burden or weight that you may have unknowingly been carrying around over the course of the day, moving down and through your body into the ground. Report an error in the passage at 36:10 Highlight the passage at 36:10

36:31 A feeling of relief, some weight's been lifted from your shoulders. Report an error in the passage at 36:31 Highlight the passage at 36:31

36:48 Bringing your awareness. Relax all the way down to your hands. Your hands are soft and loose. Report an error in the passage at 36:48 Highlight the passage at 36:48

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37:27 Your chest is at ease. Report an error in the passage at 37:27 Highlight the passage at 37:27

37:38 Relaxing throughout the heart area, the central space of the chest. Report an error in the passage at 37:38 Highlight the passage at 37:38

38:11 And releasing the tension that we often hold in our stomach muscles, just allowing your belly to go soft. Report an error in the passage at 38:11 Highlight the passage at 38:11

38:43 Keeping your trunk erect, relax your lower back muscles. Report an error in the passage at 38:43 Highlight the passage at 38:43

39:11 And throughout the pelvic region, Report an error in the passage at 39:11 Highlight the passage at 39:11

39:34 thighs, Report an error in the passage at 39:34 Highlight the passage at 39:34

40:02 feet soft. Report an error in the passage at 40:02 Highlight the passage at 40:02

40:18 So scanning through the body once again from the ground down to the central portion of the body, and just moving down through the body, noticing, paying particular attention to any tightnesses and tensions, Report an error in the passage at 40:18 Highlight the passage at 40:18

40:37 into those areas of tightness and tension, and as if breathing out from those same areas, to Report an error in the passage at 40:37 Highlight the passage at 40:37

40:49 imagine or feel some kind of release, tightness, looseness, the tension, diminishing, Report an error in the passage at 40:49 Highlight the passage at 40:49

41:02 weakness and tension, and again and again breathing out from those areas. Report an error in the passage at 41:02 Highlight the passage at 41:02

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41:43 is an overall with each out-breath. Report an error in the passage at 41:43 Highlight the passage at 41:43

41:49 body as if sinking deeper. Report an error in the passage at 41:49 Highlight the passage at 41:49

42:00 I invite Report an error in the passage at 42:00 Highlight the passage at 42:00

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42:47 you Report an error in the passage at 42:47 Highlight the passage at 42:47

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43:46 to become aware of the fact that you're breathing. You Report an error in the passage at 43:46 Highlight the passage at 43:46

43:53 lightly rest your attention on the sensation of the breath, wherever it's most clear and obvious. Just focus your awareness on the sensation of the body associated with the natural breath. If it's helpful, you can accompany. That focusing on sensation with the counting of the breaths, breathing in, breathing out, one, in, out, two and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 43:53 Highlight the passage at 43:53

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48:14 Bring your mind back. Report an error in the passage at 48:14 Highlight the passage at 48:14

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51:36 Now we're going to meditate on the four powers, the method of purifying past negativities. So the first of these four powers is the power of repudiation. So this involves recollecting some past negative action that you... I have created in developing a genuine and sincere sense of regret. So just going back, maybe there's something that you don't feel so good about that kind of comes to you once in a while, something that bothers you, you may have done in the past. Report an error in the passage at 51:36 Highlight the passage at 51:36

52:10 It doesn't have to be the worst negativity that you've ever created, but something that niggles or Report an error in the passage at 52:10 Highlight the passage at 52:10

52:19 disturbs your mind from time. Report an error in the passage at 52:19 Highlight the passage at 52:19

52:29 So remembering some past negativity, when you're acting unskillful, you made a mistake. Report an error in the passage at 52:29 Highlight the passage at 52:29

53:03 I wanted to develop, acknowledge that mistake, acknowledge the negative quality of what we did. Stop trying to deny it or repress it or somehow justify it. It was wrong. Report an error in the passage at 53:03 Highlight the passage at 53:03

53:33 I was angry or I was full of attachment or jealousy, confused. One reason or another I made a big mistake. I regret it. I wish I hadn't done it but I did. So to see if you can develop some sense of genuine regret. I wish I hadn't done that. The focus is on the action and not on yourself. I wish I hadn't done that. Report an error in the passage at 53:33 Highlight the passage at 53:33

· · · silence, 1 minute

55:14 We're not feeling bad about ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 55:14 Highlight the passage at 55:14

55:44 Apply the second of the four powers, the power of reliance. So this involves relying upon the same object toward whom we created this negative action. Report an error in the passage at 55:44 Highlight the passage at 55:44

55:57 So if your negative action involved a breaking of a commitment, a promise of some sort, a vow, then we want to get back on track. Report an error in the passage at 55:57 Highlight the passage at 55:57

56:10 We redirect ourselves, Report an error in the passage at 56:10 Highlight the passage at 56:10

56:22 aspiration to be the best person we can become, and using the methods, the means to achieve that, and those who can help us in that, we go for refuge to the Buddha Dharma and Saṅgha. Report an error in the passage at 56:22 Highlight the passage at 56:22

56:37 If, on the other hand, you created the negativity with regards to fellow sentient beings, you hurt someone, you lied to them, you stole from them, Report an error in the passage at 56:37 Highlight the passage at 56:37

56:50 using that same individual rather than hurting them the Report an error in the passage at 56:50 Highlight the passage at 56:50

56:57 best you can. Given our imperfections, our limitations, rather than harming, we want to love. I wish you happiness. I wish you happiness. We hurt somebody. And that's not what our life is about. Report an error in the passage at 56:57 Highlight the passage at 56:57

57:21 As best you can, generate love toward them in some sincere and genuine way. Report an error in the passage at 57:21 Highlight the passage at 57:21

· · · silence, 1 minute

58:46 Multiply the third of the four of restraint. This involves the turning away from performing the same action again. But we have to be... Realistic about ourselves and what we can and can't do. So just in determining some kind of time frame, but maybe if it's only for the next 24 hours, that's fine. That's a realistic challenge that you could practically meet. Even if it's only for the rest of the night, that's fine. But something that you're really determined to uphold, determined to keep your word for the next however long. Report an error in the passage at 58:46 Highlight the passage at 58:46

59:29 I'm not going to gossip. I'm not going to steal. I'm not going to use harsh language, even if it's only for the next hour. Report an error in the passage at 59:29 Highlight the passage at 59:29

59:41 Launch yourself, push the envelope just a little bit, but with determination, some sense of reality of what you can and can't do, what you're willing to actually try to do. Report an error in the passage at 59:41 Highlight the passage at 59:41

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:00:41 Then we're going to apply the fourth powers, the power of remedy. So this involves applying some kind of antidote to counteract the adverse effects of the negative action that we've created. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:41 Highlight the passage at 1:00:41

1:00:58 And amongst these various antidotes, one of the most powerful is that of the development of love and compassion. So we're going to begin by reciting together the mantra of Om Mani Padme Hum. And we'll recite it together seven times and then silently to ourselves for a few minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:58 Highlight the passage at 1:00:58

1:01:21 So it's not the words, it's the feeling. This is what acts as the remedy to anything negative that we've ever created. Here's this powerful antidote of love. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:21 Highlight the passage at 1:01:21

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:03:12 Slide it silently to yourself for a minute. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:12 Highlight the passage at 1:03:12

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:04:18 We'll recite together three times the simple words, May all beings be happy, may all beings be safe, may they not. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:18 Highlight the passage at 1:04:18

1:04:34 May all beings be happy, may they be safe, may they not. May all beings be happy, may they be safe. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:34 Highlight the passage at 1:04:34

1:04:49 So just meditate in every way that's most meaningful to yourself. And what those wee words are trying to indicate, the feeling that they're pointing to. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:49 Highlight the passage at 1:04:49

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:06:03 So it's our minds which have created the negativity and in turn it is our minds which has the power to purify that very negativity that it created previously. So we've used the method of the four powers. And just imagine, feel as deeply as you can. Okay, it's gone. Whatever the residue. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:03 Highlight the passage at 1:06:03

1:06:34 Hard feelings and feelings of guilt that you may have harbored. Just let go into a sense of purity, of clarity. It's finished. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:34 Highlight the passage at 1:06:34

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:07:57 Mind back. Easy, gentle, in and out of flow of the natural breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:57 Highlight the passage at 1:07:57

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:09:29 Stand up and stretch if you like. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:29 Highlight the passage at 1:09:29

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:10:01 I was going to. I had planned to Report an error in the passage at 1:10:01 Highlight the passage at 1:10:01

1:10:07 be a bit flexible. I didn't want to break up into little groups and discuss our experience, but time is. God is getting away from us. Would anybody like to share how that went for them before we move on? Report an error in the passage at 1:10:07 Highlight the passage at 1:10:07

1:10:52 It's hard to believe that. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:52 Highlight the passage at 1:10:52

1:10:59 You Report an error in the passage at 1:10:59 Highlight the passage at 1:10:59

1:11:07 were purified. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:07 Highlight the passage at 1:11:07

1:11:34 Why is it not possible? You Report an error in the passage at 1:11:34 Highlight the passage at 1:11:34

1:11:49 really did something very bad. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:49 Highlight the passage at 1:11:49

1:11:55 It's hard to believe. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:55 Highlight the passage at 1:11:55

1:12:04 That's a feeling that we can have or an idea that we can have about ourselves. I, it's, I, you know, I... Report an error in the passage at 1:12:04 Highlight the passage at 1:12:04

1:12:12 The way that it's compared, it's in the nature. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:12 Highlight the passage at 1:12:12

1:12:23 As water approaches heat, it evaporates. That's in the nature of water. There's no particular magic or nothing supernatural about it. It's in the nature of water that as it approaches heat, it begins to evaporate that much more as we apply these four powers to negativity. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:23 Highlight the passage at 1:12:23

1:12:48 It's in their nature that they're purified. It's a psychological mechanism that works within our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:48 Highlight the passage at 1:12:48

1:13:12 It seems to be in the nature of the way our Report an error in the passage at 1:13:12 Highlight the passage at 1:13:12

1:13:20 experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:20 Highlight the passage at 1:13:20

1:13:24 Anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:24 Highlight the passage at 1:13:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:14:06 about always measuring how much I need to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:06 Highlight the passage at 1:14:06

1:14:13 weeks of our intervention. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:13 Highlight the passage at 1:14:13

1:14:25 that was pretty much connected to things that I really want. I'm still like this. Yeah. Yeah. and conditional but how much can I put in the effort so I can get the results so I wasn't really on my trip Report an error in the passage at 1:14:25 Highlight the passage at 1:14:25

1:14:49 invitation to sit to myself try to give can to dream and also people. It's quite a big ask, but it was a realization for me of what I've been doing, how I helped myself. Oh, Report an error in the passage at 1:14:49 Highlight the passage at 1:14:49

1:15:18 that's quite beautiful. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:18 Highlight the passage at 1:15:18

1:15:24 Yes, here, I don't think we realize how much fear is running our lives, having to protect ourselves, how Report an error in the passage at 1:15:24 Highlight the passage at 1:15:24

1:15:48 much it limits our lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:48 Highlight the passage at 1:15:48

1:15:52 So, thank you. So we're going to begin the third chapter, okay? So, the third chapter is adopting, here he uses the term, taking the mind of enlightenment, adopting the awakened heart. And it continues in the same, from on from the second chapter, in terms of setting out these, the practice of this, what is called the seven limbs, which is, as I mentioned before, a means of creating the conducive conditions, merit and peace. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:52 Highlight the passage at 1:15:52

1:16:34 Purifying obstacles, which obstructs the development of awakening our hearts. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:34 Highlight the passage at 1:16:34

1:16:52 Before, in terms of the seven limbs, in chapter two we looked at prostrations, making offerings, and then the main focus of the second chapter was disclosure of negativities, the purification of negativities and so forth. So here in the third chapter, I'm picking up in terms of the seven limbs. We begin with rejoicing, requesting the Buddhists to remain, requesting the Buddhists to turn the wheel of Dharma, and then finally the seventh of the seven limbs is the limb of dedication. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:52 Highlight the passage at 1:16:52

1:17:33 So looking at page Report an error in the passage at 1:17:33 Highlight the passage at 1:17:33

1:17:40 one of our text, our text isn't continuously numbered, so it's the third chapter, page one. So this section of the seven limbs, this fourth limb, the limb of rejoicing, is covered in verses 1 through 4. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:40 Highlight the passage at 1:17:40

1:18:02 It's a matter, it's a way of, you know, I realize these are difficult topics, they are. I mean, when we talk about, as Sue pointed out a couple weeks ago, the increase of merit. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:02 Highlight the passage at 1:18:02

1:18:17 These are difficult to fathom, I think. We can get a sense of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:17 Highlight the passage at 1:18:17

1:18:27 I remember when I was young, this was back in horse and buggy days, I don't know if you were ever into it, in my hippie days there was a book called The Teachings of Don Juan, The Journey to Islam, for one. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:27 Highlight the passage at 1:18:27

1:18:53 I just thought of this. Sorry, I'm kind of mentally... he made a Report an error in the passage at 1:18:53 Highlight the passage at 1:18:53

1:18:58 Associating here, you know. He said, if a person has personal Report an error in the passage at 1:18:58 Highlight the passage at 1:18:58

1:19:08 power, if a person has no personal power, I'm trying to get the wording right, Report an error in the passage at 1:19:08 Highlight the passage at 1:19:08

1:19:20 if a person has personal power, then one word can change their life. If they have no personal power, he was using the word personal power, then even if the greatest wisdom of the universe is presented to them, it won't make a damn bit of difference. So that stayed with me somehow, that notion of personal power, what we might be calling merit or positive potential. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:20 Highlight the passage at 1:19:20

1:19:57 So one of the ways that we can seemingly increase our personal power, this positive potential or merit, is through rejoicing. And again, Report an error in the passage at 1:19:57 Highlight the passage at 1:19:57

1:20:15 rejoicing not only. It increases our merit and so forth, but it also acts as an antidote to jealousy. You know, again, an antidote. When I first started practicing the Dharma, if I've ever practiced it at all, when I first was introduced to the Dharma, this is, again, back in horse and buggy days, is when I was living in Dharm Salon. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:15 Highlight the passage at 1:20:15

1:20:39 And I had an audience with the then chief. Junior tutor to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, Trijana Rinpoche. And I thought I was being very clever. And I'd ask a question. I'd say, what's the easiest way to practice Dharma? As it turns out, it was a very good question. But I thought I was being clever at the time. And he says, rejoice. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:39 Highlight the passage at 1:20:39

1:21:07 You know, when you see somebody being happy or doing something virtuous or something positive, wow, isn't that wonderful? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:07 Highlight the passage at 1:21:07

1:21:18 Making delight. In the goodness that others are experiencing and what they're doing and so forth. And in what we do ourselves, reinforcing the attitude so that the mind becomes inclined in that direction. It moves naturally. We don't have to force ourselves to be good boys and girls. There's a certain delight in just simply being that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:18 Highlight the passage at 1:21:18

1:21:54 So, as Report an error in the passage at 1:21:54 Highlight the passage at 1:21:54

1:22:01 I said, you know, that the jealousy and rejoicing is not only, you know, a means of increasing merit and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:01 Highlight the passage at 1:22:01

1:22:18 We all, rejoicing means to take delight in whatever is positive, that's all. Isn't that wonderful? That's really great. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:18 Highlight the passage at 1:22:18

1:22:29 In something positive, this is all. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:29 Highlight the passage at 1:22:29

1:22:37 But it also acts as an antidote to jealousy. And, you know, what are we about? If we're about developing love and compassion, then how can we, you know, wishing others to be happy? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:37 Highlight the passage at 1:22:37

1:22:56 How can we be jealous when they're happy? Jealousy is a, you know, in terms of the three root afflictions of hatred, attachment, And ignorance. It's in the family of hatred. It has to do, we have a resentment. This person is experiencing some kind of advantage. Maybe they're beautiful. Maybe they have lots of money. Maybe they're famous. They have realizations. And there's a certain sense of mental poverty about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:56 Highlight the passage at 1:22:56

1:23:39 You know, a sense of, you know, there's not enough goodness in the world to go around and they're getting my share. And that we resent them for it. So it's actually a resentment toward the person, an anger with the person, as opposed to, you know, sometimes we talk about covetousness, one of the ten unskillful actions, the first of the three mental unskillful actions is covetousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:39 Highlight the passage at 1:23:39

1:24:06 And there the focus is upon the object. You know, somebody has a new car, wow, I wish I had that car. An inordinate desire to have what somebody else has. But here, so that which counters that, that resentment is rejoicing. Oh, isn't it wonderful that they're famous? Isn't it wonderful that they have a beautiful house? Oh, I hope it makes them happy. Instead of our resentment that we usually harbor in some way. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:06 Highlight the passage at 1:24:06

1:24:49 Oh, sorry. Fake it Report an error in the passage at 1:24:49 Highlight the passage at 1:24:49

1:25:01 till you make it. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:01 Highlight the passage at 1:25:01

1:25:04 What do you think? That's a good question, really, if Report an error in the passage at 1:25:04 Highlight the passage at 1:25:04

1:25:31 you don't examine it. Examine it for one point. How would you examine it? ha, ha, ha. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:31 Highlight the passage at 1:25:31

1:26:00 more mindful of... Rejoicing for great gratitude for the things that you have. You have yourself. And that you genuinely can actually be grateful rejoice in that and make that a daily practice rather than forcing yourself to... I mean, if you can't do that automatically and mindfully for yourself, think then that positiveness actually grows. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:00 Highlight the passage at 1:26:00

1:26:30 And Okay. maybe then you can it's based on a truth. Okay. Okay. to make time with it. Okay. I mean, I suppose some of the courses I've done recently through the Cancer Centre that I've been home to is one of the strategies that we had was writing down three things that we were grateful for, writing down three things that went well today. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:30 Highlight the passage at 1:26:30

1:27:01 Thank you. feel good, make us feel happy. And it could be the smell of the roses or the... But just being focused on that over a day, a week, a couple of weeks, actually committing to writing it down, actually starts to turn. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:01 Highlight the passage at 1:27:01

1:27:19 think the whole premise is to try and start to turn your mind around, to flourish rather than to be negative. So I think, you know, for me that's where I start with rejoicing. And you can get so caught up with all the negative stuff, we can be thankful and grateful for the things that do go well in our day, be mindful. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:19 Highlight the passage at 1:27:19

1:27:40 Okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no, that's good psychology. Taking in the positive. Excellent. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:40 Highlight the passage at 1:27:40

1:28:03 working on what works we do. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:03 Highlight the passage at 1:28:03

1:28:18 still have this kind of jealousy, but I'm really pleased with Report an error in the passage at 1:28:18 Highlight the passage at 1:28:18

1:28:33 we're talking about noticing that you feel in that way and being honest then trying to work out well why is that, why am I like what's happening for me going on a non-judgmental way in a kind and professional way and I think that's right Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:33 Highlight the passage at 1:28:33

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:30:52 lessons can you learn what can you take on board Report an error in the passage at 1:30:52 Highlight the passage at 1:30:52

1:31:21 we don't have. So, embracing what we have and just knowing that. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:21 Highlight the passage at 1:31:21

1:31:32 don't have to be identically because we ought to be a black Report an error in the passage at 1:31:32 Highlight the passage at 1:31:32

1:31:49 what do you think, It's only eight minutes to do. not the object that I make, it's the point that Report an error in the passage at 1:31:49 Highlight the passage at 1:31:49

1:32:17 mean, being aware of jealousy. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:17 Highlight the passage at 1:32:17

1:32:26 I'm say a a great car. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:26 Highlight the passage at 1:32:26

1:32:33 jealous by starting to analyze this. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:33 Highlight the passage at 1:32:33

1:32:45 know, if it's all what I'm looking for, Thank you. jealous because time. And instead of jealousy, it's a good place. It happens at Report an error in the passage at 1:32:45 Highlight the passage at 1:32:45

1:32:57 maybe just awareness of that sometimes. Great. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:57 Highlight the passage at 1:32:57

1:33:05 That's how you do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:05 Highlight the passage at 1:33:05

1:33:13 Oh, yeah, for sure. No question. That's what you should do. Oh, Report an error in the passage at 1:33:13 Highlight the passage at 1:33:13

1:33:22 good on you. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:22 Highlight the passage at 1:33:22

1:33:28 all of a sudden there's old person in front of me driving like 20, you know, and I have to go, I'm working here, I have to go for one place and another, like, So, okay, you know, back to compassion and that sort of thing. Trying to practice patience, patience and patience. And I actually managed to be patient and I thought, okay, well, that's just the way it is. You know what, I drive even slower than they are driving. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:28 Highlight the passage at 1:33:28

1:34:01 And funny enough, that's... I love people behind you. brought me to a really calm state and I was very happy and I'm like, oh, this looks really good and that must have been rejoicing about yourself being able to apply patience is that rejoicing? is that what that means? Sure, taking delight in what some action you did, for sure. No, that's where it was. That's a good part of the practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:01 Highlight the passage at 1:34:01

1:34:33 So rejoicing in others, but also one's own. Actions or what they experience in terms of happiness. We're very seldom jealous of other people suffering. I don't know if you've ever noticed that. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:33 Highlight the passage at 1:34:33

1:34:52 Okay. Fifth of these seven limbs is requesting the turning of the wheel of Dharma. So this is contained in verse five. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:52 Highlight the passage at 1:34:52

1:35:08 So this is to say, turning the wheel of Dharma is a way of wording. Simply asking for teaching. The Buddhists continue to teach the Dalai Lama. Our teachers continue to teach the teachings and so forth. So, you know, as I mentioned, amongst the qualities of the Buddha, of the body, speech and mind, it is the speech, which is most important because it's showing us the way things are through the teachings and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:08 Highlight the passage at 1:35:08

1:35:45 But it's our responsibility to integrate what we've been shown. And the idea of a wheel, a wheel. It's a symbol which is in Report an error in the passage at 1:35:45 Highlight the passage at 1:35:45

1:35:57 Buddhism. It's used in various different ways. It's even on the Indian flag is an eight-spoked wheel. I don't know if you've ever noticed that. The wheel has different connotations, but one connotation, the idea of the wheel, is that it's like a sense of recycling in the sense that Our teachers teach us, and then we receive the teachings, we integrate the teachings, and then we in turn teach our students. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:57 Highlight the passage at 1:35:57

1:36:38 And the wheel just kind of keeps rolling along in that way. So that's one notion of the turning of the wheel of Dharma, this process that's been going on during the beginning of this time and will continue to do so, this transmission of these teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:38 Highlight the passage at 1:36:38

1:36:56 That we're continually being given and integrating and given again. This process of recycling. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:56 Highlight the passage at 1:36:56

1:37:07 The sixth of the seven limbs is the question that the Buddha is not to pass into. Here I think, let's see, it's in verse six. Here he calls it, pass beyond sorrow. So that's a literal translation. The term Nirvāṇa, which is not a rock and roll group. It is a state. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:07 Highlight the passage at 1:37:07

1:37:43 But literally it has different etymologies. The etymology that's generally followed is that it means beyond sorrow, a state beyond sorrow. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:43 Highlight the passage at 1:37:43

1:37:58 It's connected with the notion. a state. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:58 Highlight the passage at 1:37:58

1:38:01 And there is, you know, that... A historical development within Buddhism. When we say the Buddhas will remain as long as there is a karmic connection between themselves and students. As long as there are students who are to be taught, there will be the teacher. The Buddhas will be represented. There was a notion, and this has developed over time, and it still is Report an error in the passage at 1:38:01 Highlight the passage at 1:38:01

1:38:35 It's touched upon in various ways. But what I'm getting at is there was the idea of entering into nirvāṇa. Here it's being translated as past beyond sorrow. But there is a tradition within Buddhism, especially within the Theravāda, the types of Buddhism which are mainly practiced in Thailand and Burma and Sri Lanka and so forth, that it means the notion of nirvāṇa is like A candle being blown out. It's extinction. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:35 Highlight the passage at 1:38:35

1:39:11 So there was a doctrine in which the Buddha was seen as stepping off the wheel of cyclic existence, this continual taking of rebirth under the force of karma and afflictive emotions, overcoming the craving for re-embodiment upon the death that the Buddha would go, the continuum of a Buddha. It would be cut, just like a camera going out and vanishes. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:11 Highlight the passage at 1:39:11

1:39:43 But within the Mahāyāna take on the notion of Buddha is that a Buddha is almost, just as we are compelled to take re-embodiment under the force of desire and attachment, a Buddha is likewise compelled to take rebirth under the force of compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:43 Highlight the passage at 1:39:43

1:40:06 So they are continually That the Buddha does not, upon death, the continuum does not become extinct, but it continues on. So this notion of requesting not to pass beyond sorrow was in reaction to that notion that there was a tradition that out of compassion, That individuals would try to put off entering into nirvāṇa as long as possible in order to remain amongst sentient beings, in order to continue to teach. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:06 Highlight the passage at 1:40:06

1:40:55 But at a certain point that they would enter into nirvāṇa and then they would become extinct. But according to Mayana, that's not the case, that they will continue. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:55 Highlight the passage at 1:40:55

1:41:07 Yeah, please. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:07 Highlight the passage at 1:41:07

1:41:18 That was, that is, that I think. There is a strain within Buddhism which would hold that notion. But within the Mahāyāna in general, and we can talk about specifically as presented within Tibetan Buddhism, that's not the case. You want to achieve Buddhahood as quickly as possible. And moreover, upon death, then the continuum will continue on. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:18 Highlight the passage at 1:41:18

1:41:51 Under the force of compassion, that they'll take rebirth. But it's kind of a fit. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:51 Highlight the passage at 1:41:51

1:42:03 And just looking in a little more mundane sense, requesting to turn the wheel of Dharma, we're requesting teachings. And it's said, especially within Tibetan Buddhist traditions, that the teacher is to refuse. it's by you know he Report an error in the passage at 1:42:03 Highlight the passage at 1:42:03

1:42:20 at least twice. Twice, the first two requests. Only upon the third request are they to accept, to give a teaching. There's a caveat, there's a proviso here. Unless they think it's going to be a benefit, then they can volunteer to teach. But really, nonetheless, there is a sense, and I think it's, I don't know, I kind of, I think it's a good one. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:20 Highlight the passage at 1:42:20

1:42:54 That when you shouldn't be, Too overly ambitious to teach. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:54 Highlight the passage at 1:42:54

1:43:06 That there is a sense of, okay, waiting to be requested. This is because if somebody asks, they're going to appreciate what they're being given. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:06 Highlight the passage at 1:43:06

1:43:19 Teaching isn't, you know, it's a meeting. It's a coming together. It's a dependent arising. you can't... know. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:19 Highlight the passage at 1:43:19

1:43:31 There are no teachers without students and there are no students without teachers. That one only arises in dependence upon the other. So if there's a... It's like creating... In asking for the teachings, our minds become open, more susceptible. We appreciate it more. If it's just, you know, it's all over the place. It's like a Dharma circus, you know. You can come and get... Report an error in the passage at 1:43:31 Highlight the passage at 1:43:31

1:44:03 And we begin to naturally take it for granted. And we don't value it as much. And therefore, it doesn't have that. It's the psychology of it. It begins not to have so much effect on our mind. We take it for granted. So this requesting is part of creating the conditions on the part of the student for something to happen between the teacher and the student. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:03 Highlight the passage at 1:44:03

1:44:33 And then, so there is, I think it's, there's some value to what's being gotten at here. I remember, again, going back many years ago, I remember transcendental meditation, and I was never involved in it, but I knew many people who were, and they used to have to pay Maharishi, they used to pay for the mantra. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:33 Highlight the passage at 1:44:33

1:44:58 And someone asked Maharishi, why do you make people pay for their mantra? He said if they didn't pay for it, they wouldn't appreciate it. There's some validity to that, some truth to that. We seem in the economics of spiritualism, we seem to appreciate things that we actually have to pay for, that we have to make some effort toward, and we have to put something from our part into it, even if it's only creating the conditions by requesting. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:58 Highlight the passage at 1:44:58

1:45:29 They're requesting the... The Buddhists to turn the wheel of Dharma to give the teachings. Then finally, okay, finally is the, I was going to finish chapter three tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:29 Highlight the passage at 1:45:29

1:45:46 Finally is the limb, the seventh of the seven limbs is the limb of dedication. And so this covers, dedication covers in verses seven through ten. And it covers various areas of dedication, you know, dedicating. This merit and all the goodness that we've created for the general welfare of others, for the sick, for the relief of hunger and thirst, to fulfill the wishes of sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:46 Highlight the passage at 1:45:46

1:46:21 So again, it not only is creating some auspiciousness for this to occur, but it acts as a... Antidote to our self-absorption. Our concern with me first, I'm number one center of the universe approach. How we normally lead our lives. And kind of wrapped up in ourselves. And here we're giving away all our merit that we've created through these various six practices that preceded to this dedication. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:21 Highlight the passage at 1:46:21

1:47:01 And we're going to let it go. There's a great idea of letting go. I think Buddhism has, I don't know, it has a lot to do with letting go. Anything that we have to hold on to, that we feel compelled to hold on to is mine. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:01 Highlight the passage at 1:47:01

1:47:23 My space, my privacy, my time, my energy, my money, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:23 Highlight the passage at 1:47:23

1:47:34 Beginning to let go. I think it's interesting. This idea of freedom that we sometimes, and again, going back to my hippie days, who was it, Janis Joplin? Report an error in the passage at 1:47:34 Highlight the passage at 1:47:34

1:47:49 Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. You know, what did we mean by freedom? We didn't know what we meant by freedom when we were hippies. We thought it was just being able to do whatever you wanted. That's not freedom. Freedom, you know, when we don't have to hold on to ourselves so tightly. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:49 Highlight the passage at 1:47:49

1:48:14 We can open up some kind of spontaneous environmental generosity. We're not so afraid. We can let go. So I think this is what dedication is helping us incline our mind toward. Okay, I did all this great stuff. I'm not going to keep it as mine. I'm not going to hold on to like a miserly counting his gold in each little coin. I'll just give it up. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:14 Highlight the passage at 1:48:14

1:48:46 Continually letting go. There's an interesting story about the Buddha. He was very skillful. In practical fact, if you read some of the sutras. There was this one fellow who was quite miserly. He couldn't give up anything. He couldn't give even the slightest thing. What do we do? He doesn't say, oh, you're hopeless. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:46 Highlight the passage at 1:48:46

1:48:50 he came in. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:50 Highlight the passage at 1:48:50

1:49:16 You've got to have to tailor some practice for just about every level of mentality. How are we going to help you? So he said, okay, you have a coin? Okay, put it in your right hand. Now give it to your left hand. Okay, so he opened his hand. Okay, now give it back to your right hand. So he just went back like this. And he got used to opening his hand and letting go. That's the beginning, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:16 Highlight the passage at 1:49:16

1:49:55 We all have to start from where we're at. We don't have any choice. And that's a start. And that was a way for him to actually begin. So we can, even if it's only an imagination, going beyond this poverty mentality that we all harbor in some way. A scarcity of resources that the world, that there's not enough happiness or goodness or whatever it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:55 Highlight the passage at 1:49:55

1:50:25 I think the world, okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:25 Highlight the passage at 1:50:25

1:50:36 And then, so verses 11 through 22 are around training and giving, Report an error in the passage at 1:50:36 Highlight the passage at 1:50:36

1:50:51 the way of giving. think we're going to run out. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:51 Highlight the passage at 1:50:51

1:50:55 So this has very much to do, you know, we're taking, you know, upon awakening our hearts, Report an error in the passage at 1:50:55 Highlight the passage at 1:50:55

1:51:08 you know, sincerity is though it's important, this wishing, this aspiration, though it's noble and it's awe-inspiring, it's not, it really doesn't solve the problems of the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:08 Highlight the passage at 1:51:08

1:51:23 We actually have to do something and we take up the practices of the bodhisattva, which are the... The six transcendent practices are the six perfections. So this is what the first generating the awakened heart and then how do we involve ourselves in these practices, these generosity and so forth. This is what the Shantideva's text, the Bodhisattva Deeds, is really all about. And so here he's touching upon the first of the six transcendent practices are the perfections of generosity. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:23 Highlight the passage at 1:51:23

1:52:04 In generosity, amongst the six perfections or six transcendent practices, it's not set out separately in a particular chapter. It's kind of spread out through, for example, here in the third chapter. It's also going to be mentioned in the chapter, in the tenth chapter on dedication. So it's mentioned here and there. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:04 Highlight the passage at 1:52:04

1:52:29 But essentially, in the practice... Transcendental practice of generosity. It's not so much a matter of simply being charitable with whatever it is we have. There are mainly three types of generosity. The giving away of what we may have. Maybe it's money, maybe it's a material thing, or maybe it's our time, maybe it's our energy. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:29 Highlight the passage at 1:52:29

1:53:06 And so forth. And then there's the giving of protection from fear, like taking in refugees, for example. That's a generosity. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:06 Highlight the passage at 1:53:06

1:53:21 Well, I mean, the protection, giving protection from fear. And I was just carrying that, like giving somebody's... Yes, Australia doesn't sit. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:21 Highlight the passage at 1:53:21

1:53:36 And then the giving of the Dharma, the teachings. Those are generally the three types of generosity which are normally presented. But the emphasis here is on our willingness to give. The impetus behind opening up, developing the intention to give, our clinging, as I mentioned, to mine. This my, which we qualify. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:36 Highlight the passage at 1:53:36

1:54:03 My possessions, my territory, my knowledge. The practice is not so much the outward act of giving. The Buddha is said to have brought to consummation the transcendent practice of generosity. But still there are beggars in the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:03 Highlight the passage at 1:54:03

1:54:27 Well, there's something wrong here. It wasn't so much about the actual outward act of giving, but the willingness. To give whatever it is that you have that will be a benefit. And whatever is clinging to mine. In other words, the practice of generosity lies not so much in the outer act of giving as it does in the letting go associated with non-attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:27 Highlight the passage at 1:54:27

1:54:53 In the letting go of having to hold on to ourselves and whatever it is that we feel compelled to identify as mine. Giving up the centralized approach to... Our relationships are opening up to participating in the world and environmental generosity. Sometimes they use this imagery of the wish-fulfilling tree. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:53 Highlight the passage at 1:54:53

1:55:17 A Buddha is like a wish-fulfilling tree. It's in the nature of it. I don't know about no such thing as a wish-fulfilling tree. It doesn't matter. It's what the image is meant to portray. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:17 Highlight the passage at 1:55:17

1:55:32 It's in the nature of a tree, like a fruit tree, to give. It's just following its nature. It might be an apple tree, it might be an orange tree. But if it follows its nature, it produces fruit. That's its nature. And it's there. And if we have that karmic connection, we can partake of that. We can pick that fruit and make use of it and be nourished by it. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:32 Highlight the passage at 1:55:32

1:56:02 So from the side of the tree, it's just following its nature. There's a sense of abundance about it. It's just opening up and following its very nature in giving to the world from its side. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:02 Highlight the passage at 1:56:02

1:56:34 I think so very much. Aligning ourselves with our basic sanity, our basic intelligence and caring. I think we really are. It's just this, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:34 Highlight the passage at 1:56:34

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:56:48 hard. Everything has become kind of perverted and distorted Report an error in the passage at 1:56:48 Highlight the passage at 1:56:48

1:57:02 and we suffer in the ways that we do. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:02 Highlight the passage at 1:57:02

1:57:12 I have wrestled with this in my own personal experience. You know, I'm Jewish, and I remember, you know, reading books on Auschwitz when I was 11 years old and 10 years old, and you grow up with this. That's why the world is not very trustworthy. You know, there's this thin veneer of civility and civilization, but in hard times, they're going to come after you. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:12 Highlight the passage at 1:57:12

1:57:46 So, you know, it's almost, I mean, this helps to explain some of the difficulty which goes on in the Middle East. don't know. But so having overcome the sense of mistrust, are we really that civilized when things get done? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:46 Highlight the passage at 1:57:46

1:58:10 Do we revert to primitive? That was kind of much more of my thinking. But somehow, maybe the blessings of my teachers or whatever, I now no longer think of that. I think Gandhi, he tried to, you know, in the Hindu religion, they say namaste. And I don't know if it's correct, but the way that it's interpreted is, I bow to the God in you, that there's something divine about us all. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:10 Highlight the passage at 1:58:10

1:58:46 But let's put it this way, there's something very sane, decent, caring, intelligent about us all. That's basic. I think it's more basic. It's basic. The rest is perversion. And that's what, you know, so I actually, I believe that. But it's hard to see that in ourselves and what to say of other people sometimes. You know, it's hard, it's easy to get caught up in the hatred that we see. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:46 Highlight the passage at 1:58:46

1:59:20 I mean, when you see the Islamic State, you wonder, ah, it's easy to forget that, isn't it? That there must, what they do, just killing for the sake of killing. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:20 Highlight the passage at 1:59:20

1:59:34 It can make you cynical. It can harden your heart. So it's difficult to keep coming around to that, I think. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:34 Highlight the passage at 1:59:34

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:00:14 Yeah, no, you're right. Yeah, that's a high practice. Yeah, that's right. That's right. One coin in each hand. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:14 Highlight the passage at 2:00:14

2:00:29 That's a good point, I think. Rather than saying, well, this is ridiculous, doing what you can do, genuinely and sincerely. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:29 Highlight the passage at 2:00:29

2:00:40 So we can dedicate the positive energy we've created together. We can give it all away. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:40 Highlight the passage at 2:00:40

2:00:51 I think reading this dedication, these are Shantideva's words here, I think it's really very enriching for the mind. I think it's very customing the mind to these notions. Even the words I think is very inspiring. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:51 Highlight the passage at 2:00:51

2:01:13 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 creatures suffer, commit evil or fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and deaf hear sounds. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:13 Highlight the passage at 2:01:13

2:01:34 May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored 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. May the retimely rains and bountiful harvest. 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 2:01:34 Highlight the passage at 2:01:34

2:02:07 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 powerless 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 2:02:07 Highlight the passage at 2:02:07

2:02:30 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. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:30 Highlight the passage at 2:02:30

2:02:56 Powerful Chenrizi, Tenzin Gyatso, please remain at the end of cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:56 Highlight the passage at 2:02:56

2:03:14 We enjoyed our time together this evening. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:14 Highlight the passage at 2:03:14

2:03:25 Homework, yes. Good. You have to write 100,000 times. Now, if you begin to look at chapter 4, I'm sure, okay, lead on to chapter 4. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:25 Highlight the passage at 2:03:25