← Carol Corradi

Discovering Buddhism - Death and Rebirth (22 March 2012)

Carol Corradi · 22 March 2012 · 1 h 37 min · Tse Chen Ling via Internet Archive

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  • 16:44

    Death and rebirth in this class from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective, specifically the Galut tradition. We'll spend some time learning about some analytical meditation techniques and how that relates to helping us gain a better or deeper understanding of death and rebirth. The goal here is really to get familiar with the idea of death, to be comfortable with it.

  • 30:39

    And he taught, he put his experiences together in the form of these teachings. And the first teachings he gave were called The teachings on the Four Noble Truths. So he taught that first, the truth of suffering, that this existence that we're in, which he called a cyclic existence or saṃsāra, that's a Sanskrit word meaning this circle, this cycle. So we're sort of caught in this suffering existence, you know, this cycle of birth, death, rebirth, just continuously.

  • 42:03

    Anyway, we will be talking more about impermanence and death. We'll be talking about the dying process in this class. And how one takes rebirth. We'll talk about, you know, different realms where we can be reborn. We'll talk about why it's important to remember death and impermanence. And especially, you know, when it comes to death to remember our own. All the time.

  • 45:22

    Become aware of your body. Think of its different parts, your arms, legs, blood, bones, nerves, your muscles. Just mentally examine them one by one with your feelings.

  • 1:17:09

    You might have to listen to it again. It's really very juicy. So on that, in terms of impermanence, as we, oh, you've probably heard in our meditation, it was said that nothing stays the same. see. Nothing, we know that in terms of ourselves, you know, we don't stay the same. Everything is impermanent.

0:02 It's really good to see you all here. And it's Report an error

0:14 just about seven. We had a couple of minutes, but we can get started maybe with a little meditation. Report an error

0:26 Do a lot of you, does everybody meditate regularly or is this kind of a new thing? Anybody who hasn't meditated before? Report an error

0:35 The main thing is just to find a comfortable posture, comfortable position. Feel yourself planted and steady. And try to have your back straight, but not stiff. Just imagine your spine is like a row of coins. You can take a couple of breaths, but they don't have to be, you know, and we're doing this, we're not doing any deep breathing or anything. Report an error

1:00 It's just comfortable breathing. It's good to sort of have your shoulders back. Sometimes we tend to just crunch over and all of this, our posture, we're concerned about posture because it has to do with how the winds circulate. in our subtle body. Report an error

1:23 That's why we pay attention to the spine and pay attention to certain aspects if they're actually different methods for meditation, but they tend to have, they're similar in that there's like an eight-fold meditation posture or the seven-fold posture. So you don't even have to be seated cross-legged. Report an error

1:53 You can have your legs in a comfortable position there. If it's easier in a chair, that's fine too. And you can have your head tilted forward slightly. Report an error

2:06 If it's easier, you may close your eyes, but as you go on in your meditation and if you graduate to deeper meditation practices, then having this familiarity of keeping your eyes closed can be a real distraction. Because in the more advanced practices, what we're trying to do is disconnect from this eye consciousness, this eye sensory consciousness. Report an error

2:35 So that, you know, by having your eyes closed, you're sort of artificially closing everything off. And eventually you will want to learn how to just let go of that. So if you can, just looking down in front of you, not really focusing on anything. You can put your right palm on your left palm with your thumbs touching, or you can just rest your palms on your knees, whichever is more comfortable for you. Report an error

3:07 And then just mentally, just kind of start at the top of your head and just gently go through your body. And as you bring your awareness to the various levels in your body, you can start with your head and your jaw and your neck. As you bring your awareness there, just... Feel the tension release. So just continue. Report an error

3:38 Mental traverse of your body right down to your toes. Report an error

3:57 And then begin to let go of just all the things on your mind, the things around you, the awareness of this room, the noise. Report an error

4:07 Just feel yourself planted here. Let go of all the day's issues. And gently bring your attention to your breath. Just Report an error

4:24 breathe in comfortably. Live. A tiny corner of your attention, place it on the breath. Watch yourself watching the breath. So your main focus is the breath, but you're going to, with a little bit of awareness, kind of keep track of that and try to keep yourself focused there. If you find your attention wandering, just gently bring it back. Bring Report an error

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7:31 your thoughts to your motivation for being here, Report an error

7:45 remembering that all beings, including ourselves, wish to be free from suffering. We wish to be happy. Report an error

7:59 thinking how wonderful it would be this could be the case. Report an error

8:05 Thank Report an error

8:29 you. Thank you. Report an error

8:35 Thank you. Report an error

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9:32 Thank you. then thinking of the best way to be able to benefit others. Report an error

9:06 to know how to end this suffering to end it for ourselves. Report an error

9:21 the ultimate way to do that is to attain this enlightened state. Report an error

9:36 thought work. Report an error

9:44 this golden light. Report an error

10:03 making this a goal. Report an error

10:12 Thank Report an error

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11:08 you. Sort of focus a little bit. I thought we'd start class. I know this is a new class. But just in terms of, again, kind of reinforcing that motivation, if you turn to page 73 of the gold books, we're just going to read. Report an error

11:34 That first section that starts out with to the founder and ends with I prostrate, make offerings and go for refuge. We're just going to do that three times. Report an error

11:48 To the founder, the endowed, transcended, destroyer, the one gone beyond, the foe destroyer, the completely perfected, fully awakened being, perfect in knowledge and in good conduct, sugata, knower of the world, supreme guide of human beings to be tamed, teacher of gods and human beings. To you, the completely and fully awakened one, the endowed transcended destroyer, the glorious conqueror, the subduer from the Shaky clan, I prostrate, make offerings, and go for refuge. Report an error

12:19 To the founder, the endowed transcended destroyer, the one gone beyond, the foe destroyer, the completely perfected, fully awakened being, perfect in knowledge and in good conduct, Sugata, knower of the world, supreme guide of human beings to be tamed, teacher of gods and human beings. To you, the completely and fully awakened one, the endowed transcendent destroyer, the glorious conqueror, the seduer from the Shakya clan, I prostrate, make offerings and go for refuge. Report an error

12:47 To the founder, the endowed transcendent destroyer, the one gone beyond, the foe destroyer, the completely perfected, fully awakened being, perfect in knowledge and in good conduct, Sugata, knower of the world, supreme guide of human beings to be tamed. teacher of gods and human beings to you the completely and fully awakened one the endowed transcendent destroyer the glorious conquer the subduer from the shock acclaimed I prostrate make offerings and go for refuge So Report an error

13:28 I'll start tonight with a little bit of info on the class logistics in terms of we'll be meeting on Thursday nights. I think this term we have no interruptions, so the classes will go straight through, which is kind of a rarity around here. Report an error

13:45 And our last class, I believe, will be May 3rd. We will have a practice day. Can you guys hear me? Report an error

13:58 We'll have a practice slash retreat day on a Saturday, possibly April 28th, but I don't know yet. So we have to get that confirmed looking ahead to the schedule here at Sitchin Lane. So it's just a chance for us. For those who want to, let me explain that when you take this class, it's part of the series called Discovering Buddhism, and you can take it for credit, if you will. Report an error

14:27 You can get a certificate of completion from the FPMT, which is the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahāyāna Tradition, which is our basically umbrella organization. And if you go to any FPMT center, They offer these same Discovering Buddhism courses. So it's been an effort to kind of standardize this basic training. Report an error

14:53 So if you want to do that, then you will need to attend the practice day. That's part of the requirement. And you will have to attend the classes and you'll have to complete a short exam. If you're just here to use this to improve your life, then you can do the readings. At your leisure and hopefully the biggest thing you'll take away from this is more meditation practice and maybe some understanding of deaf and impermanence. Report an error

15:29 It's up to you and if you decide through the class you want to try for the certificate or something, just let me know or let Jenna know. Right, Jenna? Okay. I didn't want to commit you to anything. So, um... We will be having some homework, but the homework is mainly the readings, which I will email to you, so it's pretty important for you to assign. Report an error

15:54 I think there's something going around. Oh, we've got everybody. Okay. Okay. And so I'll email the readings, and probably what I consider the more important part of the homework will be some meditation practice of sorts. So if you're pressed for time and you can't do both, I'd say focus on the meditation practice. But if you have time, and you can also, the readings don't necessarily have to be done. Report an error

16:28 I'll just kind of point you in the direction of the timing for the readings and you can kind of go along with them. We're not going to be using any of the readings directly in class. It's really just good support material. Report an error

16:42 So we'll be focusing on... Death and rebirth in this class from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective, specifically the Galut tradition. We'll spend some time learning about some analytical meditation techniques and how that relates to helping us gain a better or deeper understanding of death and rebirth. Report an error

17:09 The goal here is really to get familiar with the idea of death, to be comfortable with it. To kind of get past the idea of death feeling, you know, depressing or frightening. And, you know, it's an inevitable fact that we're all going to die. And facing that isn't really morbid. I think sometimes people who are just coming into the Buddhist tradition or Buddhist teachings find that, you know, these Buddhists are all, you know, they're just all. Report an error

17:51 Obsessed with death and impermanence and all these negative things and suffering and whatnot. But there's a reason behind all this. Hopefully it isn't an obsession. So we're going to, you know, we'll kind of go through that slowly and step by step in this class. But bottom line is, you know, we want to do this so that we prepare for the time of death. Report an error

18:13 It's something that, you know, it's an experience we have to face alone. Nothing we own can help us. We can't take our friends with us, or at least we shouldn't plan on that. You know, and the teachings, the teachings from the Buddha and all of the pandits throughout the ages really say that the best experience of death is a calm one. Report an error

18:41 We want to be peaceful at the time of death. And if you think about just ordinary experiences, when you're frightened. It's impossible to be calm. I mean, if you're frightened and you have a particular situation or experience, the more you avoid it, the more you run from it, the more that fear grows. Report an error

19:04 So you can imagine that if we're in a situation where we just ignore this idea, maybe we're frightened of death, and the day that that experience arrives is going to be even more frightening. The same with preparing. Even if we were going into court or something, if you're not prepared, it's going to be a very disturbing experience. Report an error

19:34 Again, it's like using this time that we have to prepare ourselves. Report an error

19:45 The other thing that remembering death helps us to do is to remember impermanence. Report an error

19:53 And we're going to do a meditation later on impermanence. But for those who aren't familiar with it, you know, the Buddhist perspective sees all things as impermanent. Report an error

20:05 Knowing this or recognizing this helps us live a, you know, live life more fully, more meaningfully. And I know for myself that, you know, we have such busy lives now that there are so many things come up. In the day, during the day and whatever. I've had many a day where I couldn't tell you what the heck I did, but I know I was busy all day. Report an error

20:33 And it's just things, you know, I may have a whole list of things I have to accomplish, and maybe I didn't get to one of those, but I spent the day busy doing things. And these are the kinds of things that just, they crop up in life. And, you know, they... They kind of begin to take hold and they fill up our time. And I was thinking about, you probably saw this movie a long time ago, The Shawshank Redemption. Report an error

21:08 And there's a line in there where Andy, the main character, says something, you know, like, I guess it comes down to one thing, get busy living or get busy dying. And if you think about it, you know, Report an error

21:22 Without awareness, if we're not thinking of what we're doing, we're not busy living. The time is moving on, but if we are aware of what's happening, aware of our lives, aware of the impermanence of our lives, then that gives us an opportunity to make active choices, to make a difference, to think about. Report an error

21:52 About this time span that we have and what we're going to do with it. Report an error

21:59 We'll see in some of the meditations we're going to do later on in class, well not this class, but in classes to come, there are a lot of really useful ways to look at death. And one analogy that always struck me is this thought that it's as though we jumped out of a plane. From the moment we were born. And you kind of go through this meditation and you just realize that your whole life, you're headed for the ground. Report an error

22:34 And it's a really good analogy because we can't regain those lost moments. We can't stop time. We can't turn back. I mean, it's a one-way street. And it brings home this idea that if we're... If we're not really doing something with our lives, if we're not aware of what's happening, then we are always busy dying. That's just the way it's going. Report an error

23:06 So, you know, let's see. That's okay. I was just kind of getting sidetracked there. I was going to say if you have any questions at any time or if things, you know, if I'm mentioning terms that you're not familiar with, please feel free to just raise your hand or ask a question at any time. Report an error

23:27 So. see. Report an error

23:28 So this idea, this kind of meditation, it sort of brings home this idea that we're all, quote, terminal. And that we'll see in these meditations that death is definite, but the time of death is uncertain. So we never know when that time is coming. No one can tell us. And if we ignore that, which is pretty common, like I said, in our society and culture today, Report an error

24:00 We get this idea that, you know, there'll always be a tomorrow and there'll be a day after tomorrow and, you know, we kind of fall into this delusion of having unlimited days, unlimited time and we Report an error

24:20 kind of, this comes home to us when, you know, when someone near us dies. It's a shock. And it's a shock even when it's an older person. Report an error

24:33 My parents died in the last few years, and even though they were in their 80s and 90s, at the time of death, it was a surprise. It was a surprise to them and a surprise to me. So even though we think we're prepared, the surprise comes. And all the more so when we see this happen to someone who's younger, you hear all sorts of stories on the news. Report an error

25:00 People die all the time, and it's always sort of out there. So when our time comes, imagine the wake-up call. Unfortunately, at that point, it's too late. If we haven't done any preparation, as the meditation will go through, we'll learn it. There's really very few things that we do in life. And the ordinary sphere that can really help us at the time of death. It's not going to be your possessions. It's not really going to be your friends. Report an error

25:39 We have to move on and everything that we're familiar with, including our bodies, stays behind. Report an error

25:49 So some of the, I was going to mention the readings, also contain some writings by Stephen Levine and Elizabeth Kukler-Ross. And I don't know if you're familiar with them, but they... They've worked extensively with terminal patients and working with people to help them accept death, accept dying. And so that's essentially what we're going to be doing here is kind of getting our heads around that idea and getting comfortable with this. Report an error

26:25 So this class actually is the fifth in the Discovering Buddhism series. These classes are offered. They're pretty much continually at Tse Chinle, and they probably just kind of cycle through. So the classes themselves follow in order, although you can take them any time. There aren't prerequisites. And what they present is the graduated path to enlightenment, which in Tibetan is called the lamrim. Report an error

27:02 And the one thing I wanted to say is that... Because the graduated path has a graduation, it has a direction, so sometimes if you're taking a class, there may be terms that were discussed maybe in an earlier class. They're not necessarily a prerequisite, but if I'm talking about something that isn't familiar, please feel free to ask for some clarification because I'm sure there'll be others who feel the same way. Report an error

27:36 And I always learn from your questions anyway, so I appreciate that. Report an error

27:43 There's the lineage. This is kind of neat if you think about this because I think when I got involved with Tibetan Buddhism in particular, but Buddhism in general, I was quite impressed with the lineage of the teachings. Report an error

28:02 The teachings we'll be covering here really come down in an unbroken lineage from the time of the historical Buddha. Shakyamuni. Buddha is a Sanskrit word for awakening. It means awakened one. The historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, he was just an ordinary guy who attained enlightenment. Report an error

28:29 He didn't sit down. He wasn't a great philosopher who sat down and said, I'm going to come up with this whole method. I'm just going to create some doctrine. Everything that he taught, he taught from his experience. That's where it becomes so valuable to us because this is what's called a valid path because it's been tried. It's been actually lived. Report an error

28:55 Shakyamuni Buddha attained this enlightenment experience and then he shared that. He shared his experience with others. The purpose for studying this material is really not to just absorb more. um, Report an error

29:15 More information and, you know, be able to impress your friends. It's really about understanding what it's about and applying it in life. Bringing that understanding beyond, say, an intellectual level down to an experiential level. That's where it's really gonna make a difference and that's what the point is. Report an error

29:37 So, you know, this isn't an academic class. It's an experiential class. That said, I also want to comment about how the Dalai Lama always, he finishes his public talks usually with a comment to the effect that, you know, if this was really, if you found this made sense and it's helpful, great, use it. Report an error

30:00 And if you find that it doesn't, then don't worry about it, just forget it. So same thing applies here. You know, if things seem a little, you know, too much right now, it's okay. You can just... Use what's beneficial, what does make sense. Report an error

30:21 So in going along from what I mentioned about the Buddha, that Shakyamuni Buddha, what he was trying to do was he had this realization that here we are, we're facing a lot of suffering. And he taught, he put his experiences together in the form of these teachings. And the first teachings he gave were called The teachings on the Four Noble Truths. So he taught that first, the truth of suffering, that this existence that we're in, which he called a cyclic existence or saṃsāra, that's a Sanskrit word meaning this circle, this cycle. Report an error

31:07 So we're sort of caught in this suffering existence, you know, this cycle of birth, death, rebirth, just continuously. And then he went on to realize that there's a cause for this suffering. And then knowing, realizing that there was a cause was a great breakthrough because it means if you eliminate the cause, you eliminate the suffering. Report an error

31:34 So then he taught the end or the cessation of suffering. And then finally he taught the path to doing that. So those are the four noble truths and that's essentially the heart. of all of the buddhist teachings and what we'll be doing here is really using those you know those teachings that insight to help ourselves help free ourselves from this cyclic existence sometimes you'll hear people mention words like Dharma and usually the way it's used here it's used to mean Like the collection of the Buddha's teachings, the collection of all the teachings of the scholars and pandits throughout the years. Report an error

32:27 When I talk about this lineage, the lineage began with Shakyamuni Buddha and it flourished in India for about 1500 years after the Buddha's passing. Because see, even the Buddha... He experienced impermanence. He didn't stay, lose death. He had to die as well. So then it began to spread. It flourished for about 1,500 years and then it began to die out in India. Report an error

33:11 But luckily it spread to other neighboring countries, one of them being Tibet. And Padmasambhava was a great... Great Pandit. He came and brought the teachings to Tibet in about the 8th century. And that, if you're familiar with the Tibetan Buddhist traditions at all, Padmasambhava is like the founder of the Nyingma tradition. Report an error

33:38 Today there are like four main traditions that have evolved over the centuries in Tibet. And there's the Nyingma, the Sakya, the... The Kagu tradition and then the Gelub tradition. And here we're part of the Gelub tradition, which is also the tradition of the Dalai Lamas. Report an error

34:00 So Padmasambhava came and that was about the 8th century. By about the 10th century, the teachings were degenerating somewhat in Tibet. And so I think the king in Tibet requested another great Indian pandit, Atisha. To come and teach. And Atisha was from this great monastery, Nalanda, in India. And if you go to India, even now, you can see the ruins of that monastery. Report an error

34:35 It's quite fancy. Small ruins. You can imagine it. It was just a vast monastic university at the time. So Atisha finally came to Tibet. Report an error

34:50 And he, in bringing the teachings to Tibet, he looked at all these teachings of the Buddha, which sometimes we talk about the baskets of the teachings, you know. And you talk about, in Sanskrit, it's called like the sūtra, is the teaching, the discourses of the Buddha. And they'll talk about the sūtra pitaka, that basket. Report an error

35:17 And there's like 84,000 teachings. It's a lot of teachings. And the Buddha taught to many, you know, many different, on many different subjects, to many different audiences, different people. And it said that the Buddha could teach because he was awakened, you know, he taught according to the needs of the people there. So you can imagine, I mean, if you've, I've read different. Report an error

35:48 Some sutras are short, some are longer. But if you're trying to figure out what Buddhism is about, it's kind of hard to pick up a sūtra and get a big picture. So Atisha took the teachings and presented them, kind of developed what we call this lamrim. And lam means path, and rim means graduated. So he... Report an error

36:15 He organized these teachings so that the Tibetans would have a kind of a road map, a graduated method to follow. And that's what we have today as well. And so these teachings flourished in Tibet. And Atisha composed a text on that called The Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment. And it's a classic text now. And it has pretty much been... Report an error

36:45 This method, this lamrim, has been adopted by all four of the Tibetan traditions. Sometimes there are little variations, sometimes it's called by a slightly different name. But it's that foundation, basically, of the teachings. And then Atisha's disciples took those teachings and put them into practice even more. Report an error

37:15 The tradition of the Kadampa Geshe's, which you may or may not have heard of. But they really were known as, they were known for their practice. They were, and there are lots of great stories. And I think we have, there's a, there might be a book in the bookstore about, you know, Kadampa Geshe's, teachings of the Kadampa Geshe's. Report an error

37:37 And I always find them inspiring because they're the sorts of things that one always comes to my mind. There was a... He was a great Kadapa teacher. There was a monk doing some practice around the monastery. Report an error

38:00 You can circumambulate the holy objects in a monastery. that's, you know, said to be like a... A beneficial activity. So this man was doing that and the teacher came to him and said, you know, it's very good that you're circumambulating, but it'd really be better if you practice Dharma. And so the guy sort of thought, oh gee, okay, well, so maybe he thought, okay, maybe I should be reading the sutras. Report an error

38:37 So the next time the teacher came by and he saw him sitting down reading the... And he said, it's very good that you're reading the sutras, but it'd really be better if you were practicing Dharma. And so I thought, okay. And next time he thought, okay, I'm going to meditate. So then he sat down and he meditated and the teacher came by again. Report an error

39:02 He said, it's very good that you're doing meditating, but it'd really be better if you were practicing Dharma. And finally he said, you know. Report an error

39:11 Teacher, what do I need to do, you know? And he said, you know, give up this life in your mind. So it's like transforming the mind. Anything we do can be the Dharma. So that's how the Kadampa Geshe's practiced. They were sort of like taking things and really applying them, developing their mindfulness, keeping that awareness. Report an error

39:36 So anyway, so there were the Kadampa tradition. And that flourished in the next few centuries, like the next three centuries. And then Jay Tsongkhapa came along. And he was a student of both the Sakya and the Kadam tradition. And he's actually the founder of this Galib tradition. He was a great scholar and pandit. And he wrote a lot of commentaries on Atisha's original work. Report an error

40:10 And he wrote more than 10,000 pages of commentary. And the commentary was not only on Atisha's writings, but also on the Buddha's writings as well. Report an error

40:23 Lama Tsongkhapa composed a text called the Lamrim Chenmo, which is kind of the basis of the Lamrim as it's practiced or studied in the Gelug tradition. Report an error

40:38 And then, um, You know, that continued in popularity over the next five centuries, which brings us to like the early 20th century. And there were teachings given then by Pabanka Rinpoche, who was another great scholar and pandit. And these were oral teachings, and they were written down in a text called Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. They were written, transcribed basically by Trijan Rinpoche, who was actually... Report an error

41:07 was a contemporary in the 20th century. And he was the teacher of many of our teachers. So Lamieshi who founded the FPMT and Lam Zopa Rinpoche, Trishang Rinpoche was one of their teachers. So if you consider this lineage, it's kind of neat to think that you've got this unbroken lineage of the teachings. Report an error

41:35 And so that's how these teachings. Arrive today within FPNT and Discovering Buddhism series basically builds on this Lama that was originally developed or composed by Atisha. Report an error

41:56 Hopefully I haven't put you to sleep. Sorry. Report an error

42:03 Anyway, we will be talking more about impermanence and death. We'll be talking about the dying process in this class. And how one takes rebirth. We'll talk about, you know, different realms where we can be reborn. We'll talk about why it's important to remember death and impermanence. Report an error

42:30 And especially, you know, when it comes to death to remember our own. All the time. So we'll be doing, like I said, we'll be using meditations and readings. and various other tools. Actually, what I'm going to give you for homework today is a little YouTube, sort of a video, it's really just audio, but can everybody access YouTube? Report an error

43:05 Do you have computers? Okay, good. Because it's on impermanence and it's a really good one. so, um... Let's take a break. Not a break. Sorry, wrong word. Let's do a little meditation on impermanence. Report an error

43:35 Again, just find your comfortable posture, but beneficial posture in terms of the straightness of your back. Good to keep the elbows out so air can circulate. Report an error

44:02 Again, let's just take a few minutes and just let the mind calm down. Focus on the breath. To help yourself focus, you can count your breaths. As you breathe in and out, that's one breath. And just see if you can maintain your attention there for about 10 breaths. Report an error

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45:22 Become aware of your body. Think of its different parts, your arms, legs, Report an error

45:35 blood, bones, nerves, your muscles. Just mentally examine them one by one with Report an error

45:53 your feelings. Report an error

46:04 Check out their nature, their substance. Report an error

46:09 Just Report an error

46:17 try to be sensitive to the body at work, the movement that is going on each moment. Report an error

46:45 the ebbing full of your breath. Report an error

46:51 the beating of your heart. Report an error

47:08 energy of your nerve impulses. Report an error

47:28 visualize all this movement in your body. you realise that it's composed entirely of living sounds, just moving about. Reproducing, dying, disintegrating. Report an error

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48:13 turn your attention to your mind. Report an error

48:22 think how it's composed of... Countless parts, thoughts, perceptions, feelings all following one after another. Report an error

48:36 Just watch this for a moment. Report an error

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49:34 Now turn your thoughts outside of your body to the world around you. Just Report an error

49:43 consider your surroundings. Report an error

49:47 Picture yourself sitting here in English, the seat you're on, the walls and ceilings of this room, space Report an error

50:02 around you. Report an error

50:29 Everything is just a mass of tiny particles. Report an error

50:54 that visualization for a moment. experiencing motion. Report an error

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51:36 to expand your awareness. Report an error

52:04 a very subtle level, everything is changing. Report an error

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52:44 Were you Report an error

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54:14 able Report an error

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55:22 to have any kind of different experience of impermanence? Have you meditated on impermanence before? Report an error

55:37 It'll come. Report an error

55:41 Some of these meditations, this by the way is from a book called How to Meditate by Kathleen McDonald. Report an error

55:51 It's a handy book. It has a lot of good basic information on how to get started meditating, but it also talks about different types of meditation, like analytical meditation, which is what we just did. The point of an analytical meditation... Is to take this subject of your meditation, in our case it was impermanence, to really examine it. Report an error

56:22 She'll guide you through in terms of looking at various aspects of it. So looking at our bodies, the insides of our bodies, our minds, then the world around us. And the intent is to really analyze and sort of get to a point where we Report an error

56:42 We sort of break down the projections that exist in our minds and the usual thought, the usual way we meet all of the rest of the world, the way we encounter things. So much of what we experience is based on our expectations and our projections. There's that expression, you see what you want to see. And oftentimes we do. If you're ever in a crowd, you know, a large crowd, and you'll see someone and, you know, it looks like someone you know, and then you realize, oh no, I don't know that person. Report an error

57:24 When we see something laying in the road, we're trying to, you know, focus in, we kind of, our minds place something familiar there. We're always trying to identify things. So it's the same way here, you know, we're trying to identify the world around us. But through this meditation, it's clear from the Buddha's teachings that we don't see things as they really are. Report an error

57:51 That we're seeing them in a very self-conditioned way. So by meditating and analyzing, we try to bring that awareness to a deeper level. And then when we find it, when we happen to get there, then we just kind of stay with it. Really, you know, she's just soaking in that. That experience. And then if it fades, then you go into analysis again. So we'll be doing more of that. Let's take a little break, and then we'll come back and continue. Report an error

58:24 So maybe a five minute break tonight, ten minutes. Report an error

· · ·

1:03:58 Is there anybody who would like to get hard copies of the readings as opposed to getting email? Email form. Save a tree, but I understand that sometimes it's nice to have something you can... Well, I'll just say if you do, just let me know because we'll make copies for anybody who wants them, if you want a hard copy. Report an error

1:04:27 And what I will be doing is sending out my notes. I'll give you some notes from tonight. And probably starting next week, I'll go back to using slides. Does anybody have any issues with electronics or sensitivities or anything like that? Report an error

1:04:50 We've done that before, but I know some people have some problems. Report an error

1:05:01 So I was just saying that if you decide you'd really like to have a hard copy of the readings, just let me know and we'll make some copies for next week. So anybody who decides they want. Oh, yeah, you want to just raise your hands? Okay. I got one, two, three, four. Okay. Five. Report an error

1:05:30 Yeah, I'll send around the email to everybody, and then if you want a hard copy, we'll have a few extra here. Report an error

1:05:44 So what I failed to do before, I guess I just got so, I don't know, involved. I didn't tell you who I am. I'm Carol Corradi, and I've been around St. Channing for a long time, been teaching here for a long time, been ordained for a long time. Mainly, the teachers I mentioned, like Zopa Rinpoche. I had the pleasure of meeting many great teachers in the early days of Tsai Chin Ling who are no longer with us. I've been studying for a while and I'm honored to be able to share at least some aspect of that with you. Report an error

1:06:27 I will try to do my best at presenting the teachings in a clear and practical manner. So let's go around the room because I'd like to know your names and I'd kind of like to know how you came to this class and maybe what you hope to get out of it. Report an error

1:06:56 Oh, should we pass that? Report an error

1:07:01 I'm Cho Zong and what I want to get out of this class is more knowledge about the Dharma for future and actually applying it to everyday life. And I came to the center through trying to find a guru. I've been practicing since I was 14, and I really wanted to find a guru to further my practice, so I went online and just found Sei Chen Ling. Report an error

1:07:31 So that was how I originally came here. Report an error

1:07:39 Oh, yeah, yeah. Report an error

1:07:44 Yeah, we don't really, I mean, if you don't want, we don't even have to use the mic. Report an error

1:07:57 So use the mic if you want, and if you don't, it's okay. I'm Lisa. been coming here since September. I started the Discovering Visibility Program. Always kind of had an interest in it and did a lot of reading on my own and kind of did the same as John. Went online one day and was like, oh, and there was a class starting like two weeks later and it was just good timing. Particularly interested in this class. I'm a nurse. I worked in rehab. Report an error

1:08:18 I've done oncology in the past. I've had a lot of experience with that with that. interesting. My Report an error

1:08:29 name is Jenna and I have also been coming to the center since September. And I found the center. I did an introduction to Buddhism course in Dharamsala in India in another FPMT center. And when I came back, the first module was starting, so I signed up and I'm here. And I'm also the Thursday night volunteer. Report an error

1:08:53 So if any of you have any questions, I might be able to help you. I'll try. Report an error

1:09:01 Hi, my name is Rob. Pretty much the same story as Jenna. I spent, I don't know what, Six months last year, I guess, in Nepal and India at the other FPMT centers. And I got home about six months ago and tried to practice on my own and definitely realized how important it is to have a Saṅgha with you. So that's why I'm here. Report an error

1:09:23 I'm Steve and I've been coming here for about, I don't know, a year and a half or so and taking class with Juki and then with you as well. And just here to keep the momentum going as far as meditating and hopefully apply it to my daily life. Report an error

1:09:41 Learning a lot. I'm Terry. I took the first class in September and I haven't been able to get back until now. So I'm glad to be back and I'm just kind of seeking a path and it seems to resonate with me. Report an error

1:10:05 Hi, I'm Winnie and I too started in September and I've been able to keep up with the classes in spite of my out of their mind. Report an error

1:10:16 And that's basically the main reason I got involved in this. I took them to a teen retreat up at Vajrapani this past summer. They had no idea what I was doing. But they ended up loving it and then I realized that rather than trying to fix them, I just need to fix them. Report an error

1:10:38 My name is Alan. I've taken a few classes here, the Heart Sūtra, Wisdom of Emptiness. I've taken the Platform Sūtra at the Zen Center. I think I'm just a perpetual student. Report an error

1:10:53 My name is Russ, and I too am new to Seixing Ling. This is my third class. I took a class a few months ago with you, Carol, and then the last class with Choki, and this is my third class here. Report an error

1:11:10 My name is Theo. I've been coming to Seixing Ling for some time. Yeah, for some time. And I've been taking the beginning bodhis classes to broaden my experience. experience in the Dharma, hope some of the takes. Report an error

1:11:38 My name is Ignacio and I started coming in January or so. I've been coming a lot since then. I really like this place. I've gone to other Dharma centers but this also seemed to resonate with me. And I'm taking this class just to learn a little bit more like everybody else and to get more acquainted with them. Report an error

1:12:13 hi. My name is Annie. I'm greatly, greatly influenced and grateful for Tibetan Buddhism in my life. The first thing that I was brought to peace in that wisdom and compassion exhibit came here. Oh, right. And that's when it really began. It's been kind of elapsed. And during that time, one of the reasons I'm drawn to a death and rebirth classic, my first real catalyst for being drawn deeper into death is my dearest friend died. Report an error

1:12:44 And it was just such a... uplifting, and I've never felt more at peace in my life after coming through that experience. Then there was another lapse, and now my... Report an error

1:12:56 of my life has brought me working with people who are suffering, you know, who don't feel well and have been dying. And I really want to deeper with that, understand it more and enrich my own ability to be alive while I am. Hi my name is Jack. Report an error

1:13:20 Recently lost my partner two months ago and still struggling with that. Report an error

1:13:41 My name is Palmo and I've been studying for a while, long enough to realize that what I want to do is become ordained and be even more involved with the Dharma. I love the topic. It's a really good one. And I really need to, you know, I personally also need to really, really get that one. Because no matter how much I think, oh yeah, maybe I'll die, there's this little voice inside that says, oh no, but not now. Report an error

1:14:19 So I'm looking to increase my realizations. Now, can't you? Report an error

1:14:28 I have no realizations right now. I shouldn't say that. Lama came back. She went to India in February, right? January. January. She came back in February wearing maroon. Yeah. I was ordained on January 31st by Jordan Rinpoche in Sarah J. Monastery in southern India. Report an error

1:14:53 And I'm Mark, and I work for you. Report an error

1:15:02 Mark is our SPC. He's our spiritual program coordinator and we're very happy to have him here and we're looking forward to all sorts of great programs scheduled at Sage and Ling. So if you have thoughts of things you want to be seeing, Mark is the person to talk to. Report an error

1:15:32 So, okay, so let's talk about your homework. So I'm going to, let's see, Theo, it's going to be a problem because you're not going to be able to access this thing. It's a YouTube video, but you know what I'll do is maybe I'll do a transcript of it or something or see if there's something somewhere that we can, I can paraphrase it or maybe even bring something in for you to look at it on an iPad or something feel next week. Report an error

1:16:02 It's only about 11, no, it's about 14 minutes or something. Report an error

1:16:10 Yeah, we'll figure something out. But in any case, I will send you the link because it's a YouTube video on subtle impermanence by Jeffrey Hopkins. And Jeffrey Hopkins is a well-known Buddhist scholar. He's been a translator for the Dalai Lama. He's written books on emptiness with the Dalai Lama. And this was a, I happened upon it and I just found it really a very nice and sort of very insightful and easy to. Report an error

1:16:40 listen to the presentation. What I would suggest is if you can, when you get that link, check it out and maybe listen to it the first time. He speaks rather slowly so you can even pause if you want. And sort of meditate on what he's saying as it goes along. Or listen to it through the first time. And then maybe sit down and try to meditate on some of the things he's mentioned. Report an error

1:17:09 You might have to listen to it again. It's really very juicy. So on that, in terms of impermanence, as we, oh, you've probably heard in our meditation, it was said that nothing stays the same. see. Report an error

1:17:29 Nothing, we know that in terms of ourselves, you know, we don't stay the same. Everything is impermanent. And let's put it this way, understanding impermanence doesn't mean that we can't enjoy things. You know, again, it kind of reminds me of this whole, sort of back with this Buddhist, this idea of Buddhist being, you know, there's death and now there's impermanence. Report an error

1:17:59 All you're doing is focusing on, oh yeah, this might be great now, but it's going to end. Really, again, it's kind of a bad rap because the truth is that things do end. Report an error

1:18:12 And by understanding impermanence, by realizing that, then we don't get so attached to things. It gives us this excellent method or capability for... Cutting through some of that attachment or aversion, you know, whatever it is. These feelings arise because we project a kind of permanence onto things. Report an error

1:18:42 Yeah? Something that I've gotten out of all of this impermanence stuff, because we've been talking about in the past classes about... How we're reborn so many times, like apparently billions of times, which is just incredible. I just can't wrap my head around it. But you know, I'd go home and I'd kind of be sad about this whole impermanence thing because I love my daughters, I love my mom, you know. Report an error

1:19:12 And then the idea of that ending was kind of distressing, right? But then in thinking about the whole rebirth thing. It's not really ending because these people are going to be in your life in another life. So I'm thinking more of like impermanence isn't really the end, but a change. Exactly. That's exactly what it is. Because it's just a constant. I mean, if you talk about it as an ending, you also have to talk about it arising. Report an error

1:19:44 It's like this constant movement of things, this constant change. Report an error

1:19:52 And definitely in terms of the people whom we meet in our lives, it's said that we meet people who kind of meet each other again and again because of our collective karma and the karma we have with those who are our families and our friends and lovers. And it's like we go through this, we're sort of going on this path and we're taking these rebirths and we're always sort of intertwining. Report an error

1:20:22 Sometimes it helps me to think about it that way as well. When I faced a loss, when my parents died, it was interesting for me because they were from a Catholic background. And in their minds and in the minds of my family, there was this idea of, oh, you know, you'll see everyone in heaven. Well, you know, I'm not really buying into that one. Report an error

1:20:49 So, you know, what to do. And for a while I felt like, gosh, you know, this feels so final. But then, as you mentioned, you know, I sort of thought about the fact that we have such connections, close connections with others. And those are, you know, we're all on this path to eliminate suffering. And so it's kind of thinking of it in that way and kind of in my mind I feel that... Report an error

1:21:18 The people who have gone on are just in their next stage. And I'm always mindful and prayerful that they will attain precious human rebirths or maybe be practicing in a better environment, a pure land somewhere, so that they can quickly attain enlightenment. But ultimately, we're all totally interdependent, even to the extent of... Report an error

1:21:47 From a Buddhist perspective, we don't really talk about sort of a general consciousness per se, but if you think about the Buddha's awakening, that awakening, what it brings with it is a sense of, actually an experience of omniscience. So omniscience is just knowing everything. So if we are all having this nature, this enlightened nature, the seed of it, Then we have that potential. And I can't help but, you know, just by definition of omniscience, it means it's kind of like knowing everything, knowing all. Report an error

1:22:26 And I feel that there would be, you know, ultimately, the ultimate result is for everyone to be aware and knowing everyone kind of thing. So I don't know if that's getting kind of out there. But, you know, it's an attempt to sort of follow. Report an error

1:22:50 Where the teachings are kind of leading us, without getting too off base here. But coming back to impermanence, when we're attached to things, we are easily distracted by them. Report an error

1:23:09 When I was talking before about how we can fill up our lives with just... Meaningless activities at times or things that arise. The same thing happens with objects that we're fond of, that we become attached to. It happens even more so. So when we realize this impermanent nature of everything, it helps us to cut through some of our dependence on that and our grasping at these things. Report an error

1:23:44 of, you know. And cutting through that external view of always kind of looking out. Sometimes in the Buddhist teachings we talk about the self-cherishing mind. And this is sort of the mind of ignorance, the mind that just goes from this life to life in this cyclic existence. And it's a mistaken mind that thinks it follows desire because this is the desire realm that we're existing in. Report an error

1:24:15 And the mistaken view is that by following desire, there will be satisfaction, that there will be happiness, that there will be a free, you know, an end to suffering. But it's kind of, you know, the teachings say it's like trying to quench desire is like trying to quench your thirst with salt water. You know, it's just, it can never happen. So we need to cut through that grasping and meditating on impermanence. Report an error

1:24:46 Gives us kind of a foothold, a beginning to do that. Because as long as we're sort of caught up in this wave of a busy life and things happening and this pressure to succeed and to achieve things and to collect material things, as long as we're caught in that, it's very hard to... To stop that cycle, you know, to really let go of those things. And that's where, you know, these ideas of, oh gosh, you know, now you Buddhists can't even enjoy things. Report an error

1:25:29 And that's not, you know, what this is about. Impermanence is just about recognizing how things exist, seeing them and being okay with that. So not, it's not a kind of... Report an error

1:25:46 A renunciation of the sort that says, you know, step back from living. It isn't about creating some sort of artificial being that pulls away from life. It's actually being in life, but not being of it, not being driven by it. It's like recognizing everything around us, but accepting it for what it is, which is impermanent. Report an error

1:26:18 And changing and incapable of providing the ultimate happiness or whatever the mind happens to be craving at the moment. There's no ultimate satisfaction in those things out there. The only peace and satisfaction we find is inside. It comes from our minds, from ourselves. So that's one of the reasons why we look at... Report an error

1:26:48 We're trying to cut through this mistaken view. And by kind of confronting this mistaken mind, we begin to, you know, we can realize that, you know, things, they aren't permanent. They don't exist as they appear to. And so that's a step along the way. Another aspect of this, the Dalai Lama always says, you know, if you're... Report an error

1:27:20 That there's no point in worrying. And, you know, it kind of applies here because, you know, if you're upset about something, His Holiness always says, well, you know, if you can do something, you're going to do something about it. And if you can't, then what's the point of worrying? So it's like, in some ways, recognizing impermanence in all things. Report an error

1:27:41 You know, even, you know, the good situations, the bad situations we're in, you know, it's... It's sort of a comfort to realize that, oh yeah, this will pass. Everything will pass. When we're at our worst, it's like, okay, I can get through this. Things are going to change. And we kind of, even with ourselves, we're going back to this idea of rebirth and dying, that with this sense of permanence, we're kind of... Report an error

1:28:17 Grasping at our own bodies, grasping at this life. And, you know, if you stand back sometime when you're faced with some really difficult situation and you think, you know, 50 or 100 years from now, this room is going to look completely different. Report an error

1:28:37 A lot of us won't even be here. 100 years from now, none of us will be here. And it's like, wow. It's not even that long a time if you look at the age of the planet. So, you know, we're kind of like, this life is a bit of a drop in the bucket. And being able to understand impermanence helps us to begin to understand what in Buddhist terms is called emptiness, which is, or sometimes it's... Report an error

1:29:17 It's easier to understand when you say dependent arising, that things arise from causes and conditions. And that things, just getting through our heads, that things don't really appear, they don't exist the way they appear. Because right now, in just sort of the conventional way, we tend to believe our eyes. That's why we're surprised, like I said, when you see something, you bend down to pick it up, you think it's a quarter, it's just some little... Report an error

1:29:46 disc on the ground you know there's a in the teachings there's always the tradition of saying you know the snake the rope in the road that you It's just, Report an error

1:30:02 again, we're trying, the mind is always busy and it's busy trying to decipher the world around us. So by, again, by meditating on impermanence, by studying, by really looking. snake. Report an error

1:30:17 At these teachings and analyzing them, we have a means to sort of stop some of this mindlessness, to stop maybe to get down to get busy living. Report an error

1:30:36 So when we talk about impermanence, there's gross impermanence and there's subtle impermanence. And the gross impermanence is, you know, we can perceive that with our senses. We experience that all the time. You look in the mirror, you know, over the years, the face changes. Report an error

1:30:56 Technically, I mean, we can see it in the flowers, the plants die, or flowers die. Hopefully plants don't die, but eventually they do anyway. Report an error

1:31:08 You know, things break. Report an error

1:31:12 The screen on your iPhone shatters. Your car gets banged up. If you look at this poor house, it needs some repair too. Things are changing all the time. And things are degrading, decaying. And this is part of the world around us. They don't last. Sometimes we're just, we're upset when we see things change. Report an error

1:31:53 But again, there's something, it's sort of like what His Holiness was talking about. If you can stand back and you can recognize that the nature of everything here is impermanence, then it's... It's a bit of a realization. It's being able to let go of having to control everything. Because essentially when we're projecting all of that permanence onto things, onto the things around us, onto this external world, it puts all this pressure on us because we have to maintain that view. Report an error

1:32:36 And sometimes it's just a relief to be able to stand back and say, This is just how things are, you know, and to let it go. And we find that that also, it cuts our attachment. It cuts our grasping. And in some ways, it's a step toward really transforming that mind of attachment. So, let's see. I'm just going to say we are getting on here. I think we'll continue with this next class. Report an error

1:33:14 And let's just read a little dedication prayer on page 246 of this book. We try to dedicate merit because being here was a meritorious activity. And when we dedicate it, we basically, it can't get disturbed by or destroyed by any of the negative things we might do later. But it just gets, its benefits are dedicated to this particular. Report an error

1:33:45 wish. So on page 246. May all beings everywhere, plagued by sufferings of body and mind, obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no living creature suffer, commit evil, or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down 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. Report an error

1:34:14 May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drinks. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. Report an error

1:34:36 May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the 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

1:35:02 Thank you very much. And a couple of quick announcements we have. Just for those who aren't familiar with the center, there are drop-in meditations on... Thursday nights, 5.30, I think, before this class. And then on Saturday mornings at 9. And those are just guided meditations and a chance, if you'd like to work on your meditation skills, you can do that there. Report an error

1:35:25 Chutton Pende is going to be teaching in April, the weekend of April 6th. And he's going to be doing, he's a great teacher. He's been a Dharma teacher for years. Report an error

1:35:36 He was a monk for a very long time. And he's going to be teaching on the Song of the Four of Mindfulnesses, Teaching on emptiness, meditation on emptiness basically. And then actually in April I'll be doing another class on what are called kletia or difficult emotions. So talking about trying to end the source of our suffering. So that'll be Tuesday nights in April. Thank you very much. Report an error

1:36:05 I'll send you the links. If you don't get something from me by Saturday. Then email Jampa, J-A-M-P-A, 91, at Mac.com, because that's my email address, and it probably means that we got your email address wrong on the list, and it usually happens with at least a few of them. Report an error

1:36:30 Sure, it's J-A-M-P-A, P as in Paul, 91, at Mac. Report an error

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Talk by Carol Corradi, recorded 22 March 2012. Original at Tse Chen Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/CC_DeathAndRebirth_20120322. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Transcript generated automatically and may contain errors; the audio is the authoritative version.

Recorded at Tse Chen Ling Center, San Francisco, and archived by the center on Internet Archive. More from Tse Chen Ling

Listen on Internet Archive · CC BY-NC-ND 3.0