Discovering Buddhism - Working with Difficult Emotions

0:07 Yeah, it's going to be, I think the flyer said something about working with difficult emotions. As you see, we're going to have a lot of different names for what we call difficult emotions, destructive emotions, afflictions, klesha in the Sanskrit. And it all comes down to the same thing. It's just problems, you know, emotional issues arising and things that we... Report an error in the passage at 0:07 Highlight the passage at 0:07

0:35 Pretty much face every day and what to do about them. So let's get started by, just in the gold book, what we, part of our intent here in terms of the effort at being here is that we want to make the most of it. And so by doing that, oh, we're going to go to page 34, sorry. And to do that, we... We want to pay attention to our motivation because from a Buddhist perspective, it's not so much the action as the motivation behind it. Report an error in the passage at 0:35 Highlight the passage at 0:35

1:16 So if we set a motivation, a positive motivation and one that wishes to benefit others, then we're making, you know, we're kind of enhancing this time that we spend. And moreover, if we take that... To a higher level and we raise it to what's called an altruistic view. And that's a view that says, okay, I definitely want to work with my mind. I want to overcome the problems in this life. In fact, I want to attain liberation and free myself from all this suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:16 Highlight the passage at 1:16

1:57 But it goes a step further and says, you know, everybody is feeling the same way. Everybody has the same kind of suffering that I do. We're all suffering. I'm going to do this action with the intent to really do this to benefit others because the best way we can help others is to really clear our own minds, to attain enlightenment ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:57 Highlight the passage at 1:57

2:17 And so it's with that kind of a motivation that we will undertake this investigation of these afflictive or difficult emotions. And just to remind ourselves, let's read on page 34, or if you want, you can kind of meditate on this. reflect on it it's totally up to you we're going to do the four immeasurables Report an error in the passage at 2:17 Highlight the passage at 2:17

2:41 may all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness may all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering may all sentient beings be inseparable from the happiness that is free from suffering and may all sentient beings abide in equanimity free from attachment for friends and hatred for enemies So let's just take a few minutes to Reflect on this and meditate a little bit. So if you haven't meditated before, you just want to be in a comfortable position with your back straight, but not stiff. Report an error in the passage at 2:41 Highlight the passage at 2:41

3:17 Just imagine your spine is like a stack of coins. You can place a right palm on your left with your thumbs touching, or you can just rest your palms on your knees, whichever is comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 3:17 Highlight the passage at 3:17

3:29 And then just tilt your head forward slightly and looking down at the floor about three feet in front of you. Or if it's easier, you can close your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 3:29 Highlight the passage at 3:29

3:40 And just take a couple of breaths to sort of, as you exhale, just let go of all the day's concerns, all the things on your mind. Report an error in the passage at 3:40 Highlight the passage at 3:40

3:56 Focus your attention on the breath to Report an error in the passage at 3:56 Highlight the passage at 3:56

· · · silence, 1 minute

5:09 reflect on this wish, thinking how good it would be if all beings had happiness and the causes of happiness, Report an error in the passage at 5:09 Highlight the passage at 5:09

5:26 and generating the strong wish that they might have this happiness and the causes of happiness. And Report an error in the passage at 5:26 Highlight the passage at 5:26

5:45 then taking it a step further, thinking, I myself... I want this to happen. May I make this happen so that all sentient beings may have happiness and the causes of happiness. I'm Report an error in the passage at 5:45 Highlight the passage at 5:45

· · · silence, 1 minute

6:34 thinking how good it would be if all sentient beings were free of suffering and the causes of suffering, Report an error in the passage at 6:34 Highlight the passage at 6:34

6:53 generating the wish that all sentient beings might be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 6:53 Highlight the passage at 6:53

7:16 And I'm thinking, may I make this happen. to pass so that all sentient beings might be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 7:16 Highlight the passage at 7:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

7:58 thinking how good it would be if all sentient beings inseparable from the happiness that is free from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 7:58 Highlight the passage at 7:58

8:11 Thank you. Thank Report an error in the passage at 8:11 Highlight the passage at 8:11

8:24 you. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 8:24 Highlight the passage at 8:24

8:31 Thank you. more personal so that may I make this happen myself. Report an error in the passage at 8:31 Highlight the passage at 8:31

8:37 inseparable from the happiness that is free from something. Report an error in the passage at 8:37 Highlight the passage at 8:37

8:49 And then finally thinking how good it would be if all sentient beings were to abide in equanimity, free of attachment for friends and hatred for enemies. Then Report an error in the passage at 8:49 Highlight the passage at 8:49

9:04 making a strong wish that all sentient beings might be free from attachment and free of hatred for enemies. And Report an error in the passage at 9:04 Highlight the passage at 9:04

9:25 just thinking, may I myself bring this about that all sentient beings might abide in equanimity, free from attachment for friends. Report an error in the passage at 9:25 Highlight the passage at 9:25

· · · silence, 1 minute

10:20 these wishes mind. Report an error in the passage at 10:20 Highlight the passage at 10:20

10:35 examine, emotions to examine. Report an error in the passage at 10:35 Highlight the passage at 10:35

10:45 Thank Report an error in the passage at 10:45 Highlight the passage at 10:45

· · · silence, 1 minute

11:20 you. Report an error in the passage at 11:20 Highlight the passage at 11:20

11:27 So welcome to the class. Report an error in the passage at 11:27 Highlight the passage at 11:27

11:32 I have to apologize because at this point, normally, or at least when this class was planned, sorry, I was just, when we planned this class. There's another teacher who's here at the center and the plan was for her to teach on Thursdays, which is the death and rebirth class. And then I would be teaching on Tuesdays. And circumstances changed so that she's actually taking some time off. So now I'm teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Report an error in the passage at 11:32 Highlight the passage at 11:32

12:10 So it unfortunately doesn't provide quite the diversity that we had in mind originally. So we'll see how this goes. Like I said, I'm Carol. William, Ryan, and Steve. So we'll just take it from here. And if you have any questions, please feel free to ask any time. I have to say that this is also a bit of a unique class. Report an error in the passage at 12:10 Highlight the passage at 12:10

12:40 We haven't done this one before. And it isn't part of our usual series. We have a series called... Discovering Buddhism, which is about 13 or 14 modules. I think there's been a 14th added in the last few years that is more practice oriented. But these 13 modules of Discovering Buddhism, they take a student from the beginner level through all of the basics. Report an error in the passage at 12:40 Highlight the passage at 12:40

13:10 I don't know how much familiarity you have with Buddhism. It's a good place to start. And so this class on afflictive emotions is sort of in the same genre, but it's kind of exciting because it's a little something different for us. Report an error in the passage at 13:10 Highlight the passage at 13:10

13:33 Some of the information is covered in those other classes, but it's very nice because it's sort of short and sweet and hopefully much to the point. So our goal here is really to kind of bridge... The study and the practice. Because, as you'll see, we're not really interested in learning about emotions just for the sake of learning. Report an error in the passage at 13:33 Highlight the passage at 13:33

13:59 The Dalai Lama says we can never obtain peace in the world if we neglect the inner world and don't make peace with ourselves. World peace must develop out of inner peace. Report an error in the passage at 13:59 Highlight the passage at 13:59

14:12 So you might think, okay, so that makes sense. It explains why we have to... I think we all want to find this inner peace. And I thought we'd start with at least defining what we're talking about here when we talk about emotions. It's traditionally in the Buddhist, or from a Buddhist perspective, we call these emotions, disturbing emotions, klesha or afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 14:12 Highlight the passage at 14:12

14:50 Klesha in Sanskrit means afflictions of mind. And it can refer to afflictions, destructive emotions, disturbing emotions, we can call them negative, mind poisons, defilements, all sorts of things. The result or the experience is anxiety, fear, anger, jealousy. It's disturbing. It's not a feeling or an emotion that's pleasant. Report an error in the passage at 14:50 Highlight the passage at 14:50

15:21 And it was interesting for me because when I started looking these up, I mean if you search Klesha on the internet now, it's amazing what comes back. Apparently Klesha are all the rage. Sorry, no pun. Yeah, actually I didn't intend that pun. Anyway, it's kind of, there's a lot of attention I think and I guess it makes sense because we live in a world that It's so emotionally charged, and this is something that affects us all the time. So the Buddhist tradition, it tells us that what we need to do is to recognize and transform these destructive emotions, and that this is the heart of our spiritual practice. Report an error in the passage at 15:21 Highlight the passage at 15:21

16:11 Oh, you know what I was going to say. I can send you copies of these slides if you want on email, but I'll have to get your... Your email addresses, maybe Jessica can get them from you. Normally I try to send the slides out before class and that way if you want you can look at them or like I said you've got them after. Report an error in the passage at 16:11 Highlight the passage at 16:11

16:37 So recognizing these afflictions, it's the first step to controlling them. And that's where this practice of meditation and reflection comes in. So would. Report an error in the passage at 16:37 Highlight the passage at 16:37

16:51 Without recognizing these disturbing emotions, before they arise, we're powerless to change our actions. Because the thoughts and emotions, these disturbing thoughts and emotions, motivate our action. It's the kind of thing that once the anger arises, it's very hard then to stop it. Without this practice, without having some meditation, some reflection in place. Report an error in the passage at 16:51 Highlight the passage at 16:51

17:22 That sort of gives us a little bit of an ability to turn off that automated switch and that automatic reaction that takes us into expressing our anger or our attachment or whatever. We'll get into more of those. And then we're also going to be looking at this from a Western perspective as well. And there's the Darwinian view. Report an error in the passage at 17:22 Highlight the passage at 17:22

17:51 Darwin said that destructive emotions are part of the human emotional repertoire and kind of are there as a trade-off in the evolutionary quest for survival. So you might wonder, are these negative states a necessity for our survival? These are some of the things we'll be discussing later and getting into in more detail. Report an error in the passage at 17:51 Highlight the passage at 17:51

18:23 It brings up an interesting view or maybe a slight division in views because the Buddhist tradition is coming from a point of looking at emotions as being obstacles or obscurations or something apart from us. That the nature of our mind is actually clarity. So from the Western view we have this idea of... Report an error in the passage at 18:23 Highlight the passage at 18:23

18:51 Gosh, you know, we need these disturbing emotions. They're part of survival. There's a question of, you know, do we need them, you know, or maybe they just develop because of that survival, but are they, you know, a part of us? The Western view is very much looking at brain patterns and conditioning and, you know, where do we go from there? Report an error in the passage at 18:51 Highlight the passage at 18:51

19:13 So these are some of the things we'll be kind of examining in this class. There was a... Actually, I'm going to go ahead to this one. Some of this material is going to come from this Mind and Life conference, which took place in Dharamsal in 2000. And there are several of these conferences that have taken place with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And he's invited various scientists, Western scientists and spiritual practitioners who are exceptional in their fields. Report an error in the passage at 19:13 Highlight the passage at 19:13

19:49 Basically come in and they come to Dharamsala in India for a week and they investigate a particular topic or area and I think one of the first, these started probably back in 1990 and some of the first subjects dealt with the mind in general and that's why they were called Minded Life and there was an attempt to bring together this Report an error in the passage at 19:49 Highlight the passage at 19:49

20:15 Buddhist view of the mind which is quite Quite evolved and there's quite a history and quite a technique there in terms of meditation techniques and capabilities. And that was compared with the Western view with the neurological view. So the goal that came out of this particular conference was to develop a lesson plan for living with full attention and self-awareness with self-control. Report an error in the passage at 20:15 Highlight the passage at 20:15

20:50 And responsibility with empathy and compassion. So to enable people to overcome their own destructive emotions and to provide a method for doing that, a skill that would allow people to do that. And there's a book that came out of this conference by Daniel Goleman and it's called Destructive Emotions. And it's really... Report an error in the passage at 20:50 Highlight the passage at 20:50

21:20 It's written as almost like a transcript of this conference. So it's again an interesting work in terms of where we're going to be going and where this conference was going with this idea of destructive emotion. So first to try to get a handle on what we mean. Report an error in the passage at 21:20 Highlight the passage at 21:20

21:47 The Buddhist perspective, we talk about the three poisons. We talk about anger or hatred. We talk about craving or attachment. And we talk about ignorance or delusion. And those are again viewed as the three, you know, in terms of three poisons, it's the idea that we are afflicted with these, but they are not integral. Report an error in the passage at 21:47 Highlight the passage at 21:47

22:18 They are not who we are. So then... The Dalai Lama added to that that destructive emotions are those that cause harm to ourself and to others. So we have this view of kind of qualifying. What's harmful? Is it just the disturbance or is it the fact that the disturbance leads to negative action, negative result? Report an error in the passage at 22:18 Highlight the passage at 22:18

22:44 And then Mark Epstein says that simultaneously thought and feeling, when he's talking about these disturbing emotions. He's saying that they're more basic than either. The klesias are so intense that they propel us mindlessly into actions that cause suffering. So he's trying to get a handle on this word klesia. And effectively, disturbing emotions, this is what they do. Report an error in the passage at 22:44 Highlight the passage at 22:44

23:18 They cause suffering. And we'll see that as we work through more of this. The Western view tends to try to break down emotions a little bit, looking at thoughts and feelings, even separating emotions versus moods. But there's some interesting work done by Paul Ekman, which maybe we'll get into further on. But trying to get our heads around what we're talking about a little bit more. Report an error in the passage at 23:18 Highlight the passage at 23:18

23:53 The Dalai Lama said that thoughts and emotions which cause discomfort are not necessarily negative. The primary attitude that distinguishes ordinary emotions from those which undermine peace is its negative cognitive component. So you talk about fear. Fear can be a disturbing emotion, but it can also be a useful one. It can alert us to danger. Report an error in the passage at 23:53 Highlight the passage at 23:53

24:19 see danger, see... The rope in the road and we think it's a snake. Well, you know, that saves us. If it really is a snake, that panic or that fear saves us. By the same token, we can take fear and if we allow it to take hold of us, it can become paralyzing. So it can really debilitate us. We can, you know, take that fear, emotion and expand on it, exaggerate it, sorrow. Report an error in the passage at 24:19 Highlight the passage at 24:19

24:49 A moment of sorrow isn't disabling grief, but when we become focused on it, embellish it, then it can be something that disrupts our lives. Report an error in the passage at 24:49 Highlight the passage at 24:49

25:08 So the Western view, in talking about how the mind works or how we function, Western philosophy, you kind of get into three different views. Report an error in the passage at 25:08 Highlight the passage at 25:08

25:24 One is that of the rational egoist or basically saying that we're here, we look out for our own good basically, but rationally we see that we live in a society. So I have a better chance of obtaining my goals or getting what I want if I work with people. If I'm nice to others, then I might get what I want more often. Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

25:50 And this view pervades a lot of... Western thinking, Western topics, I mean philosophy, economics, the whole market view. Basically it kind of stems from this idea of things work better when we work together. That it's just a practical way and that people are smart enough to see that. Then there's a view of our being selfish and compassionate in the sense that Report an error in the passage at 25:50 Highlight the passage at 25:50

26:25 Once we've taken care of our own needs, then there's time to be compassionate. So that view looks at one would take care or address their own needs first, and then the needs of others. And then the third view just reverses that order and says that basically we're compassionate and loving beings, but when resources are scarce, then the selfishness arises. Report an error in the passage at 26:25 Highlight the passage at 26:25

26:55 So in general, you know, if we look at just the way we're born, the fact that human infants require so much care, we're pretty unique in the animal world. So we definitely are a compassionate species to some extent because, you know, we take care of our young for so long. We're born helpless. And if we weren't, I don't think we would have survived. So compassion definitely plays in here. Report an error in the passage at 26:55 Highlight the passage at 26:55

27:24 The Buddhist view of compassion, interestingly, it includes both self and others. There's empathy, there's kinship, and the Tibetan term is sewa, and that's similar to, say, karuṇā or mettā in Pāli, but these are terms that kind of encompass both oneself and others. Report an error in the passage at 27:24 Highlight the passage at 27:24

27:49 The Western view is a bit more exclusive. When we think of compassion or being compassionate, we're kind of directing it outwards all of the time. And when we think of directing it inwards, sometimes we think of feeling sorry for oneself. And that's not a positive. That's generally considered a negative emotion. So it's just an interesting difference in terms of how we... Report an error in the passage at 27:49 Highlight the passage at 27:49

28:19 How we verbalize that. And going into this a little bit more, you know, the Tibetan view, self-cherishing is a word we'll use a lot. And that's kind of a me-first attitude. Like, you know, this sense of self that is looking out for its own needs first. Report an error in the passage at 28:19 Highlight the passage at 28:19

28:38 From that viewpoint, from the Tibetan Buddhist viewpoint, cherishing others is the opposite of that self-cherishing. So when I mentioned altruism earlier. That's the view that looks, that cherishes others or, you know, looks for, looks out for others before looking out for the self. It doesn't ignore the self. Report an error in the passage at 28:38 Highlight the passage at 28:38

28:59 It doesn't abandon self. It doesn't negate self. But it simply recognizes that there are many, many more others and there's only one self. So it makes sense to be concerned about the needs of others first. And then, likewise, as I mentioned before, this sewa. Report an error in the passage at 28:59 Highlight the passage at 28:59

29:20 Combines those two, and there's just not an English equivalent. And it was kind of interesting because I think in some of these discussions that happen at the Mind and Life conference, the Dalai Lama was quite surprised to find that both, I think they were talking about English and French because they had a Tibetan monk there who happens to be French. Report an error in the passage at 29:20 Highlight the passage at 29:20

29:40 And they said, you know, basically there isn't an equivalent in English. And Ms. Holiness said, you know, we need to work on that. Report an error in the passage at 29:40 Highlight the passage at 29:40

29:52 From a Western viewpoint, these are emotions sort of basic to human nature that, I'm sorry, compassion? Karuṇā? I mean, that's this kind of compassion that is a compassion for others and for the self. It's just, we don't have a word for it, really. Yeah, it's kind of, I mean, it's interesting. It's analogous in some ways. It reminds me of guilt because we're so familiar with guilt. Report an error in the passage at 29:52 Highlight the passage at 29:52

30:21 And there's no word for guilt in the Tibetan language. They really don't have that same kind of feeling arising. And it's very much a cultural thing because I've had friends who have taught in Dharamsala and they'll have groups of students coming in from various countries. And they've noticed that there are certain countries that this group of students... Report an error in the passage at 30:21 Highlight the passage at 30:21

30:49 They seem to have a lot of anger. Americans have a lot of guilt. Different group as something else. And Tibetans, in the Tibetan language, there's no word that really corresponds to our definition of guilt. So unfortunately, likewise, our definition of compassion doesn't encompass the full breadth of what sewa means in Tibetan. Report an error in the passage at 30:49 Highlight the passage at 30:49

31:16 So we don't really have a word to say. To say what it is, except to expand it and imagine, see it in this altruistic view of cherishing others as well as concern for the self. Kind of seeing it all, maybe all interconnected. Maybe from a Western viewpoint, we're more likely to view everyone as very separate. Report an error in the passage at 31:16 Highlight the passage at 31:16

31:45 I don't know. Something to think about. So there are these emotions of anger, contempt, indignation, fear, happiness, regret. You put lots of words up here. Sadness, love, friendship, forgiveness. Report an error in the passage at 31:45 Highlight the passage at 31:45

31:59 These were put forth as what might be considered important for living a moral life. And they really weren't put forward as being good or bad, just as emotions. Report an error in the passage at 31:59 Highlight the passage at 31:59

32:17 And then there was a... Some perspective from Kant in terms of when we're talking about, okay, the goal in life is to be happy because from a Tibetan Buddhist viewpoint, usually you'll hear it said that everybody wants to be happy and free of suffering. You know, when we reviewed the four immeasurables, may all sentient beings have happiness in its causes. So we equate from this Buddhist view, we're equating happiness. Report an error in the passage at 32:17 Highlight the passage at 32:17

32:50 With freedom from suffering. And Kant comes along and says it's one thing to be happy, but it's another to be good. And so how does that fit in here? So is happiness just this physical and mental well-being? Or can you think of happiness in terms of a higher and a lower happiness? Report an error in the passage at 32:50 Highlight the passage at 32:50

33:13 Maybe feeling a certain way versus being a certain way. There's a happiness that arises when a child gets what it wants or gets a present or something. And that's different than the happiness of someone who's perhaps sacrificed an Report an error in the passage at 33:13 Highlight the passage at 33:13

33:41 immediate desire to obtain civil rights or something. know, it's undergone a lot of hardship Report an error in the passage at 33:41 Highlight the passage at 33:41

33:55 Bring about a change, a social change. So if we, you know, you can, again, we're kind of, you know, have our philosophical hats on now, but you can take this also to the idea when you talk about the state of being, Plato said, you know, he referred to happiness, but his view of happiness was that it was a very calm state of being. Report an error in the passage at 33:55 Highlight the passage at 33:55

34:24 So when His Holiness in that first, Slide was talking about inner peace. Maybe we can equate happiness, what we're really thinking about in terms of happiness, as something like this inner peace. And we're trying to be free of these disturbing emotions. Report an error in the passage at 34:24 Highlight the passage at 34:24

34:43 Sometimes there's also a view of flourishing. What does it take for us to really flourish? Being happy just for the moment. Report an error in the passage at 34:43 Highlight the passage at 34:43

35:02 Might not be what we really think of as happiness or ultimate happiness. So again, taking this idea of what it is to be happy, John Stuart Mill said, every human would seek to be Socrates dissatisfied rather than a pig satisfied. Report an error in the passage at 35:02 Highlight the passage at 35:02

35:22 So thinking about that, you know, living a morally good life may mean making a lot of sacrifices. You may ultimately have to give up your life. Report an error in the passage at 35:22 Highlight the passage at 35:22

35:43 A lot of ideas arise when we're trying to get our heads around these kinds of emotions and what this really means. Report an error in the passage at 35:43 Highlight the passage at 35:43

35:56 And then going on with this, Aristotle had a view, kind of put forth this idea of practical wisdom. it's, we have this. Report an error in the passage at 35:56 Highlight the passage at 35:56

36:05 There's a similar term in Tibetan. It's Sosor Todpa, which means this discerning intelligence. So from a Buddhist perspective, we might, in terms of seeking happiness, we recognize that we might have to sacrifice instant pleasure for a longer positive karmic result. Report an error in the passage at 36:05 Highlight the passage at 36:05

36:32 We also, if we think about this in terms of what really brings happiness, We have the knowledge that this instant pleasure that may seem like happiness ultimately brings more suffering. That gratifying what we call this self-cherishing mind would ultimately lead us down all sorts of different paths which are going to involve a lot of these disturbing emotions and ultimately... Report an error in the passage at 36:32 Highlight the passage at 36:32

37:07 It brings us suffering. It's kind of like that attachment arises and it's like trying to quench your thirst by drinking salt water. It's going in the wrong direction there. So it can get rather complicated. Geshe Drom said, give up this life in your mind. We talked about that in some other classes. And the idea is that, you know, As was mentioned here earlier, you know that to attain happiness we might have to make sacrifices, we might have to give up our life. And Geshe Drome here is saying give up this life in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 37:07 Highlight the passage at 37:07

37:48 It's like giving up those desires, those conventional or mundane concerns, the concerns that would take us in the direction of this, of satisfying or trying to satisfy this self-cherishing mind. Report an error in the passage at 37:48 Highlight the passage at 37:48

38:06 So if we wanted to try to separate... Destructive states of mind and constructive states of mind. You might say, okay, low self-esteem, overconfidence, having these negative emotions, jealousy and envy, lack of compassion, lack of close interpersonal relations, that those things seem pretty destructive. Report an error in the passage at 38:06 Highlight the passage at 38:06

38:34 It's interesting to me the lack of compassion and the lack of empathy. I think... I've read that those qualities arise when we're talking about sociopathic minds, that there's this lack of empathy. So if we can't see ourselves as part of this group, as connected with others, then these destructive states of mind. Report an error in the passage at 38:34 Highlight the passage at 38:34

39:10 Or I should say rather this compassion isn't able to arise. So if we go on the other side in terms of constructive states of mind, we can look at self-respect and self-esteem, integrity, compassion, generosity, love, friendship, benevolence. And you can see that these are, again, these are states of mind, but we can also talk about them in some respects. Report an error in the passage at 39:10 Highlight the passage at 39:10

39:37 As having the same effects as emotions, as feelings. So these are just, again, we're trying to sort of home in on what these are and how they affect us. Report an error in the passage at 39:37 Highlight the passage at 39:37

39:54 And it's interesting in terms of the self-esteem to set some sort of a qualification there in terms of... People, sometimes there are people who feel, who are very full of self-esteem because they have mistaken views of themselves. So they see themselves as being full of integrity when in fact they might not be. Report an error in the passage at 39:54 Highlight the passage at 39:54

40:21 So we have to sort of separate what we mean when we talk about self-esteem, when we talk about integrity. Report an error in the passage at 40:21 Highlight the passage at 40:21

40:34 It's interesting because I was thinking about compassion and how I think that requires empathy, but sometimes our compassion is very selective. There are people who are very concerned about the welfare of animals, but could care less about people and vice versa. So this is when we were talking about the four immeasurables at first. Report an error in the passage at 40:34 Highlight the passage at 40:34

41:04 One of those is equanimity, so that we see all beings with this sense of compassion and empathy. Report an error in the passage at 41:04 Highlight the passage at 41:04

41:17 So Mathieu Ricard, who is this phenomenal Buddhist monk, he's been ordained probably since the 70s or something, and he spent a lot of time meditating, like over 10,000 hours meditating. Report an error in the passage at 41:17 Highlight the passage at 41:17

41:36 And there have been a lot of... There are tests done where they've examined his brain as he's meditating, as he brings on certain states. It's very interesting. But he said that there's no such thing as good and bad in an absolute sense. There's only the good and bad, the harm in terms of happiness or suffering, that our thoughts and actions do to ourselves or to others. Report an error in the passage at 41:36 Highlight the passage at 41:36

42:04 So again, this is coming from the Buddhist view. And it's coming from the sense of, you know, it's inclusive. It's ourselves and others. And he talks about motivation that we can distinguish between constructive and destructive emotions in terms of motivation. You know, is it an egocentric or an altruistic motivation behind the act? So we're trying to, again, as he's saying, you can't really quantify the action itself. Report an error in the passage at 42:04 Highlight the passage at 42:04

42:38 Is it malevolent? Is it benevolent? Report an error in the passage at 42:38 Highlight the passage at 42:38

42:44 Joy at another suffering. That's clearly a negative or disturbing emotion. Report an error in the passage at 42:44 Highlight the passage at 42:44

42:59 And maybe joy at someone's gain with a view to somehow think about how that's going to benefit me. Like maybe if I'm really positive and happy and I'm... Report an error in the passage at 42:59 Highlight the passage at 42:59

43:12 I'm friendly to them and encouraging. Maybe if they've won the lottery, they'll give me something. That's like a positive action with a negative motivation. It's really a self-serving motivation. It's not something that we can just, across the board, determine by the action alone. Report an error in the passage at 43:12 Highlight the passage at 43:12

43:39 Mathieu goes on to say that we can distinguish between constructive and destructive emotions in terms of antidotes as well. So that altruistic love is the antidote to hate. So if you think about this, at the same moment, you can't feel both love and hate for the same object. You can go back and forth. Report an error in the passage at 43:39 Highlight the passage at 43:39

43:58 You can alternate at different times. But in one moment, we're either feeling hate or we're feeling love. And I think part of this... Report an error in the passage at 43:58 Highlight the passage at 43:58

44:09 Part of this is a discovery of analyzing our emotions and seeing what we feel because sometimes we're just so busy feeling and so caught up in that emotion itself that it's hard for us to have this discernment. So that's why we're going to talk more about antidotes later and about using meditation techniques as a tool to be able to... Report an error in the passage at 44:09 Highlight the passage at 44:09

44:36 Provide this kind of analysis that we need and the key to actually disarming some of this explosive kind of emotion. Report an error in the passage at 44:36 Highlight the passage at 44:36

44:52 So one of the things I wanted to, I thought was interesting too, is that the term antidote is really, if you think about it, it's a remedy that counteracts the effects of poison and it's something that relieves, prevents or counteracts. So when we're talking about these disturbing emotions. This is one of the things we want to apply. So we can talk about negative emotion, but again, Ricard says, when we say an emotion is negative, it's not so much that we are repudiating something, but that it's negative in the sense of less happiness, less well-being, less lucidity and freedom and more distortion. Report an error in the passage at 44:52 Highlight the passage at 44:52

45:36 So we're really not... It's not that we're rejecting something, but the negative side of it is that it's detracting from the effect. Is this all making sense? Report an error in the passage at 45:36 Highlight the passage at 45:36

45:52 So now we can talk about the cause or the truth of the origin of suffering. The Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths, and that was the Buddha's first teaching. He gave that teaching based on his own experience. If you've been to other classes, you've probably heard me say something about the fact that the Buddha was just an ordinary person. Report an error in the passage at 45:52 Highlight the passage at 45:52

46:20 He was an ordinary person who spent this time investigating. He was looking for a solution. If you read the story of the Buddha's life, he was born into privilege. He was a prince. He led a very sheltered life. I think there was a prophecy at the time of his birth that he could become a great leader or he could become a great spiritual adept. Report an error in the passage at 46:20 Highlight the passage at 46:20

46:45 And his father, who was a king, really wanted his son to be a great leader. He really didn't want to have this wonderful spiritual adept. So he protected him and he kept him in this wonderful life in the palace. Well, very fortunate for us. Unfortunately for the king at one point, Giacomune got outside of the palace and began to see the realities of this existence so that things weren't always pleasurable. Report an error in the passage at 46:45 Highlight the passage at 46:45

47:18 Everybody didn't live a wonderful life full of everything one could want. He saw sickness, he saw aging, he saw death, and these were shocking to him. Report an error in the passage at 47:18 Highlight the passage at 47:18

47:34 He had been sheltered from. So then he went off and decided that he wanted to find this truth and he went to the extreme of asceticism, finding a teacher and living as a sadhu in the forest and eating little or no food. And he discovered after a time that that really wasn't an answer. Report an error in the passage at 47:34 Highlight the passage at 47:34

48:04 The life of plenty in the palace and that did not give him the truth he was seeking. And then following this very ascetic life was just another extreme. And then he came to the realization that it was a balance between those two. And then through meditation he actually realized the nature of this existence, the nature of what we call cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 48:04 Highlight the passage at 48:04

48:34 And so when he gave, he attained this enlightened state, which we all have the potential to do as well, and he was requested, people noticed that something happened and he was requested to teach and so finally this is what he did and he taught this path, he taught what he learned to us and that first teaching took the form of the Four Noble Truths. Report an error in the passage at 48:34 Highlight the passage at 48:34

49:00 So the first truth was the truth of suffering. That this cyclic existence, although sometimes we might think it's a pleasure grove, it's really a lot of suffering. And then he conveyed that there's actually an origin or a cause to the suffering. Report an error in the passage at 49:00 Highlight the passage at 49:00

49:18 And then knowing the cause infers that if you eliminate the cause, there's an end to that suffering. So that was the third noble truth, the cessation of suffering. And then the fourth noble truth is the path. Or the means to that cessation. So here, what we're talking about is that first noble truth or the truth of origin, the cause of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 49:18 Highlight the passage at 49:18

49:41 And the origin comes down to these mental afflictions or, you know, we can call them delusions. It's the presence of, when we talked about the three poisons, we talked about attachment, hatred or aversion and ignorance. And ignorance is said to be the root of these. Afflictions or delusions because it's ignorance that basically gives way to the others. It allows the others to arise. Report an error in the passage at 49:41 Highlight the passage at 49:41

50:13 And when Shakyamuni Buddha in his meditation realized the nature of things, he cut through that ignorance. He eliminated it. So here we've got these mental afflictions or delusions and we've also got karma. Because karma arises from our acting on these afflictions. So it's said that without the conducive conditions of these mental afflictions or delusions, this non-virtuous karma would not ripen. Report an error in the passage at 50:13 Highlight the passage at 50:13

50:54 And so if we eliminate these mental afflictions... Then potentially we eliminate the cause of our suffering. And likewise, if we only focused on karma, excuse me, in terms of trying to purify karma, assuming we could do that, we'd still have these afflictions. So with the afflictions, we'd just create more negative karma anyway. So it all comes back to wanting to do something to really control our minds to eliminate these afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 50:54 Highlight the passage at 50:54

51:32 You know, again, this is, it sounds really kind of out there, I guess, but it's important to really understand and let this kind of sink in because all the things that happen to us, all the things that we suffer in this life, our initial tendency is to look outside and to blame, you know, put the blame beyond. Report an error in the passage at 51:32 Highlight the passage at 51:32

51:59 It's those things, you know. My car broke down. Somebody hit the car. It's always outside of us. Report an error in the passage at 51:59 Highlight the passage at 51:59

52:13 I didn't get the job I wanted. My relationship fell apart. My partner doesn't love me anymore. All these things. And we're always thinking it's because the conditions outside of us have changed. The suffering arises from our own minds. We can't control what happens outside, but we can control what happens with our minds. Report an error in the passage at 52:13 Highlight the passage at 52:13

52:43 And the suffering, nobody can make us suffer. We suffer because we allow feelings to arise. We react a certain way. We place our happiness very much... On these conditions that are happening outside of us. If this happens, then I'll be really happy. If I win the lottery, wow, that would be great. Well, unlikely, to say the least. So we can never control these things, but that's where we're putting our happiness. Report an error in the passage at 52:43 Highlight the passage at 52:43

53:21 Those are sort of the conditions for our happiness. So of course, if those are the conditions we're working with, we're going to be miserable most of the time. So. This idea of recognizing what are delusions or mental afflictions or disturbing emotions, realizing that those are all arising from displacement of our minds in terms of expecting things to happen a certain way. Report an error in the passage at 53:21 Highlight the passage at 53:21

53:49 And we'll talk more about why that expectation arises, but as long as we cling to those expectations, we're going to suffer because they will never meet with what... They will never meet or be what we expect, basically. Report an error in the passage at 53:49 Highlight the passage at 53:49

54:15 Let's Report an error in the passage at 54:15 Highlight the passage at 54:15

54:19 get through this slide and then maybe we'll take a little break. From a Buddhist perspective, we can define an affliction as a mental state that makes the mind very unpeaceful. So it's disturbing, this inner peace. Or it's something in the nature of causing a mental disturbance. So, the, uh... Report an error in the passage at 54:19 Highlight the passage at 54:19

54:44 And we can see that pretty easily when, you know, when anger or jealousy arises. It's more difficult with attachment and desire. You know, when things happen to be going well and, you know, we're kind of experiencing what we think is happiness and not realizing that at times it's just attachment. It's not so easy to see. Report an error in the passage at 54:44 Highlight the passage at 54:44

55:10 We're kind of, in the case of attachment, We're often seduced by our perception of the object. Report an error in the passage at 55:10 Highlight the passage at 55:10

55:20 When we fall in love with someone, we don't really see an objective view of the person or the object you're falling in love with. It could be anything. It could be a fancy new phone and you just think, God, that's great. Report an error in the passage at 55:20 Highlight the passage at 55:20

55:43 It's very easy to kind of miss the downsides of it or the downsides of the relationship. Let's take a little break. There's tea and snacks and we can stretch our legs a bit. Report an error in the passage at 55:43 Highlight the passage at 55:43

56:05 Anybody have any questions? I'm sorry, this might be kind of mind-numbing going through all these slides and things. I'm hoping it makes a little bit of sense. or, you know, oh, thanks. Report an error in the passage at 56:05 Highlight the passage at 56:05

56:21 Good. Let me know if this just feels like it's too far out. It's tricky because you kind of have to bring it all together. Report an error in the passage at 56:21 Highlight the passage at 56:21

56:34 To do that, we have to cover a lot of territory to be able to put things in context. Report an error in the passage at 56:34 Highlight the passage at 56:34

· · · silence, 8 minutes

1:05:03 I thought it was allergies. I had Report an error in the passage at 1:05:03 Highlight the passage at 1:05:03

1:05:10 the hardest time moving. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:10 Highlight the passage at 1:05:10

1:05:18 But I really did feel tired. you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:18 Highlight the passage at 1:05:18

· · · silence, 9 minutes

1:05:30 We've been missing you. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:30 Highlight the passage at 1:05:30

1:05:53 I Report an error in the passage at 1:05:53 Highlight the passage at 1:05:53

1:06:04 didn't in the very first class, but last week I did and I'll be doing that. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:04 Highlight the passage at 1:06:04

1:06:34 Berkeley? I do. I do. I have a house from years ago and I... third, the third Report an error in the passage at 1:06:34 Highlight the passage at 1:06:34

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:06:41 I planned to sell it many times and then for a while I had it rented and then a few years ago my dad, my mom passed away. My parents lived in Michigan so my dad moved out with me so it was perfect because he just, you know, he didn't want to be on his own. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:41 Highlight the passage at 1:06:41

1:06:56 So when we were talking about these, if you think about that list of all the emotions, unfortunately I don't think I can go back to it easily here, but you know there's the western view that It encompasses both constructive and destructive emotions and things like some of the things on this list. I won't say all of the things on this list because from the Tibetan viewpoint, they say anger, desire, ignorance, which are kind of those three root poisons we talked about before where you have the anger, hatred, desire or attachment and then ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:56 Highlight the passage at 1:06:56

1:07:42 And then pride is added as one of the six root delusions, afflicted doubt and wrong views. And those last two are more having to do with specific Buddhist teachings and we'll get into those. But let's start with just these others first. So starting with anger. By definition it's the harmful intent that wants to harm or destroy its object. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:42 Highlight the passage at 1:07:42

1:08:11 So it's pretty specific, more than, say, the Western view. The object can be another person or an inanimate object. And the motivation is really wanting to harm or destroy what one identifies as the source of one's problem. So, I mean, this can be directed at a person. Say, if you think that person... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:11 Highlight the passage at 1:08:11

1:08:37 Obviously isn't really the source of the problem because as we mentioned before, the delusions are the source of our suffering or our problems. But we may feel that you have an accountant and you discover, as so many people did a few years ago, that what they were investing in really was a scam and the money's all gone. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:37 Highlight the passage at 1:08:37

1:09:00 So all this anger arises at this person when in fact it's karma ripening. It's a combination of things, but anger is this intent, this strong intent to harm. And just having a strong or forceful character is an anger. If you're in a situation where you're taking care of your nephew, And he's five and he runs into the street and you scream because you know there's danger there and you're trying to grab him back. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:00 Highlight the passage at 1:09:00

1:09:38 That's not anger. That is protection. There's not that wish to harm there. That's a forceful expression, but it isn't considered to be the same as what we call anger. And anger can be directed at oneself. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:38 Highlight the passage at 1:09:38

1:09:58 It's a highly disturbed state of mind. And it's said in the Buddhist tradition that anger is the weapon to murder your higher rebirths. So it just gives us an idea about just how destructive anger can be. And likewise it's considered dangerous because it is so destructive. And it's said that it has the greatest strength to destroy our virtues and throw us into lower rebirths. So we're talking about a lot of things here. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:58 Highlight the passage at 1:09:58

1:10:33 Again, this is a very Buddhist view because we're talking about this idea of rebirths as well. But in this sense, if you think about anger, it makes sense because anger can be such an overpowering emotion. It just can arise in... People do things, I mean, it's so overpowering that, you know, we can talk about in cases of murder, you know, people who are just, you know, we say that they lost control, that, you know, it's like the anger took over. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:33 Highlight the passage at 1:10:33

1:11:12 They've lost, they had no cognizance, they weren't themselves, they weren't in their right minds. Then you get on to attachment, which is the desire for an inner or outer object. After having mentally elaborated that object as being very beautiful and desirable. So attachment needs this action from the side of the viewer. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:12 Highlight the passage at 1:11:12

1:11:37 It's not that it's just an ordinary object. It's seeing an object and kind of embellishing it. So desire and attachment are interchangeable. And the nature of attachment is to want or crave whatever object we're... Expressing this attachment form. And after the object has been mentally elaborated, we see it as very desirable and beautiful. So, you know, it could be a person, it could be an object, but this attachment is in the nature of also, because of this embellishment, once it takes root, it grows. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:37 Highlight the passage at 1:11:37

1:12:16 You know, because it's kind of an image that we're feeding and creating. So it can also be very destructive. It's not as automatic, we'll say, as, say, anger. Attachment can be something that sort of starts, there's a spark there, and then it starts to build, and we kind of feed it with our embellishment or our elaboration. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:16 Highlight the passage at 1:12:16

1:12:38 So both anger and attachment arise in dependence upon mistaken conceptions. In the case of the anger, we're placing our default outside. We're placing it with that particular object. If you think about it, you can get angry when you bump your head. You get angry at an object you walked into. Again, you're placing blame out there when it's, I walked into the object, but my response, my automatic action is to just say, that thing hit me. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:38 Highlight the passage at 1:12:38

1:13:18 And then with attachment, the same kind of thing. You know, I've got this, you see something and then the sort of the projection begins, the elaboration. And we elaborate the object as something very, very beautiful to a point where we convince ourselves we can't live without it in the case of attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:18 Highlight the passage at 1:13:18

1:13:42 And in the case of anger, it's the reverse of this. We develop such a version. So we feel like we just can't live with that object. And that's again an extreme of anger, but that's sometimes when we talk about the three poisons, we talk about anger as aversion and attachment as the opposite of anger in that sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:42 Highlight the passage at 1:13:42

1:14:08 So Lama Yeshe said, Lama Yeshe was basically the founder of FP &T, which is our parent organization here. FPMT stands for the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahāyāna Tradition. So Mahāyāna Buddhism is called the Great Vehicle. It's the tradition of Buddhism that seeks as its goal not only freeing ourselves from this cyclic existence, this liberation, but going beyond and really attaining enlightenment which has this altruistic view that we want to do this to benefit others. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:08 Highlight the passage at 1:14:08

1:14:45 So that's this Mahāyāna tradition. And Lama said that basically we see what we want to see. Because the mind is overcome by mistaken conceptions, we do not perceive reality at all. So if you think about anger, it blinds us to all positive qualities when we look at the object that anger arises. All we can see is the negative. An attachment does... Report an error in the passage at 1:14:45 Highlight the passage at 1:14:45

1:15:12 The reverse. It blinds us to all the negative qualities. We rationalize everything as positive. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:12 Highlight the passage at 1:15:12

1:15:22 In a lot of situations, what we see is very much a projection of our minds. Anger and attachment are not inherently bad. It's what we do with them. As Mathieu Ricard said before, the emotions themselves are not good or bad. It's the motivation behind them. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:22 Highlight the passage at 1:15:22

1:15:44 And, I don't know. We embellish, we project. As I said before, we see the rope in the road as a snake and fear arises. We see someone who has given us harm and anger arises. Or we see someone we perceive as... I shouldn't really use the word perceive because when we get... If you go further into the Buddhist... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:44 Highlight the passage at 1:15:44

1:16:16 You will see that this word perceive has a very specific meaning in Buddhist philosophy. It refers to actually perceiving with our senses, so perceiving very objectively. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:16 Highlight the passage at 1:16:16

1:16:33 What we come to find when we examine how we perceive the things around us or how we see the things around us, we generally do not perceive them. See them with a mind of conceptual thought. So it's very hard to actually get an experience of what's there. What we get is what we project. And that's where a lot of, you know, that's where so much of our disturbing emotions arise because we're always embellishing. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:33 Highlight the passage at 1:16:33

1:17:08 We're always projecting, even when we don't realize we are. It's just, that's how, at this point, with our minds, without... The method and the technique of meditation to really examine the minds, to really, as I said before, turn off that automatic switch that generates the various emotions, the emotional reactions to things that happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:08 Highlight the passage at 1:17:08

1:17:37 The view that projects happiness on mundane things out there. That same kind of thing, it all arises basically because we're not seeing things as they really exist. So we'll get more into that later on. I think it's probably, let's do a little short meditation before we quit for the night. And we'll take this up. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:37 Highlight the passage at 1:17:37

1:18:08 There's still more to get to after. So just, Report an error in the passage at 1:18:08 Highlight the passage at 1:18:08

1:18:16 again, find a comfortable position. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:16 Highlight the passage at 1:18:16

1:18:24 And I just thought what we're going to do is called an analytical meditation. And if you haven't done this before, what we're going to do is just examine a particular topic and I'll guide you through it. And as we're doing it, just, you know, in your mind, follow the logic, follow the sort of the rational train of thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:24 Highlight the passage at 1:18:24

1:18:46 And the idea is that by doing this, sometimes it enables us to... Reach a point of a realization of that topic that we didn't have before. Getting it down to a deeper level of understanding. And when you do that, just stay with that. And then if it starts to fade, you go back to this analysis. So first start with just a little bit of breathing meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:46 Highlight the passage at 1:18:46

1:19:21 We'll just focus our concentration on the breath first to start. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:21 Highlight the passage at 1:19:21

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:19:59 So now turn your thoughts to the faults of attachment. And just examine the mind that experiences attachment. Think of how it's excited. It's full of unrealistic expectations. So just think about something that generates attachment in your mind. It Report an error in the passage at 1:19:59 Highlight the passage at 1:19:59

1:20:25 can be something small. It can be a person. Something Report an error in the passage at 1:20:25 Highlight the passage at 1:20:25

1:20:31 large. It's okay. Think Report an error in the passage at 1:20:31 Highlight the passage at 1:20:31

1:20:40 about how attachment glosses over the facts. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:40 Highlight the passage at 1:20:40

1:20:50 It projects fantasies. It Report an error in the passage at 1:20:50 Highlight the passage at 1:20:50

1:20:56 projects qualities. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:56 Highlight the passage at 1:20:56

1:21:03 Maybe there's just a feeling that this person or this thing is all good. There are no faults. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:03 Highlight the passage at 1:21:03

1:21:13 Just examine that view. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:13 Highlight the passage at 1:21:13

1:21:35 Just follow that reasoning to see that attachment cannot see things clearly and that it doesn't make intelligent judgments. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:35 Highlight the passage at 1:21:35

1:22:06 Think about whether this is really happiness, getting that object of attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:06 Highlight the passage at 1:22:06

1:22:22 Does the idea of obtaining that object bring peace or satisfaction? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:22 Highlight the passage at 1:22:22

1:22:36 It doesn't raise a lot of concerns, Report an error in the passage at 1:22:36 Highlight the passage at 1:22:36

1:22:43 a lot of desire, Report an error in the passage at 1:22:43 Highlight the passage at 1:22:43

1:22:48 emotion. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:48 Highlight the passage at 1:22:48

1:23:04 Think about the suffering you experience when you are separated from an object of attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:04 Highlight the passage at 1:23:04

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:23:40 Think about how attachment is really not a peaceful, clear state of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:40 Highlight the passage at 1:23:40

1:23:54 That level of anticipation, of concern, of fear, of dissatisfaction, disappointment. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:54 Highlight the passage at 1:23:54

1:24:24 Think about how having this habit of attachment leaves an imprint on our mind streams. An imprint of attachment, of wanting. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:24 Highlight the passage at 1:24:24

1:24:40 And this imprint is just going to bring more suffering and problems in the future. I'm always craving. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:40 Highlight the passage at 1:24:40

1:24:51 I'm always looking outward at what's next. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:51 Highlight the passage at 1:24:51

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:25:54 Recognize that attachment clouds the mind. That it obstructs our clarity. It prevents us from seeing any faults. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:54 Highlight the passage at 1:25:54

1:26:11 It persuades us that our only means of happiness is obtaining that object and that person. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:11 Highlight the passage at 1:26:11

1:26:28 Let's try to see through that facade. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:28 Highlight the passage at 1:26:28

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:28:10 Keep this bit of realization so that you can reject later. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:10 Highlight the passage at 1:28:10

1:28:21 After that arises, you can take Report an error in the passage at 1:28:21 Highlight the passage at 1:28:21

1:28:33 a picture of what you're seeing of the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:33 Highlight the passage at 1:28:33

1:29:04 And now let's just turn our thoughts to dedicating the merit from having spent this time together, making an effort to recognize what mental afflictions are and Report an error in the passage at 1:29:04 Highlight the passage at 1:29:04

1:29:25 to learn techniques to overcome them so that ultimately... We might free ourselves from this psychic existence and attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:25 Highlight the passage at 1:29:25

1:29:57 Thank you. Oh, I have a couple of announcements. Thank you for reminding me, Jessica. This weekend, Friday and Saturday, we have Thuptenpende visiting. He's an excellent teacher. He's been teaching for many, many years. He was a monk for many years. Giving instructions for meditation on the view of emptiness. And that's Friday at 7 p.m. And then Saturday, I think there's a session at, well, it says here 10 to 12 and then 2 to 4. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:57 Highlight the passage at 1:29:57

1:30:34 And you can come to any or all of those. So I think it's fine. It'll probably make more sense if you get to the Friday portion. But it'll be, there's more information if you'd like. And also on Sunday morning. Geshe-la, Geshe Dagpah, a resident teacher, is teaching, I think, on the Seven Point Mind training this week. And then that starts at 10. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:34 Highlight the passage at 1:30:34

1:30:58 And then in the afternoon at 1.30, Venerable Tubton Chodron, an excellent teacher and long-time nun, published author. She's written many books on sort of the practical side. She's got a great book on... Report an error in the passage at 1:30:58 Highlight the passage at 1:30:58

1:31:18 It has to do with calming emotions, I believe. But she's written many books. And she will be here talking about the crack in the painted, cracking the painted egg of, painted Easter egg of Ron Conceptions. So that's perfect. We don't have a flyer, unfortunately, because it's very last minute. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:18 Highlight the passage at 1:31:18

1:31:46 Venable Children was supposed to be here a couple weeks ago and she became ill. So it'll be this Sunday at 1.30. And have a great weekend. Great rest of the week and an excellent weekend. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:46 Highlight the passage at 1:31:46

1:32:06 Thank you. Forgot about that. So there's lunch Saturday. And there's also, if you come for Geshe-la's teaching, oftentimes on Sundays there's lunch. And this Easter Sunday will not be an exception. So hope to see you. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:06 Highlight the passage at 1:32:06