Discovering Buddhism - Samsara and Nirvana (15 April 2010)

0:03 this are looking at a big acceleration of that, but there's still a problem for a long run right, and that's what we talked about a couple weeks ago and four shoes a Okay, well thanks, I mean I know that's it in a nutshell and I know that they offered last year in that. Yeah, yeah, and you get to take it like, I just have to not like, you know, expect that I've learned everything in five minutes. Report an error in the passage at 0:03 Highlight the passage at 0:03

0:41 But I get really excited and I'm so interested. Well, you know, it's helped me in my life, the teachings. And I think I mentioned I went to Bhutan and that's what really made me... I want to learn more about Tibet code. Oh, wait, is it cool? It is, it is, and especially in the beginning too, it can be very confusing. Report an error in the passage at 0:41 Highlight the passage at 0:41

1:14 I kept asking him about one symbol. He didn't even know what it was. And I said, ask that monk. And mom didn't know it. She said, ask the other monk. Finally, we asked like four monks. And all it was, I'll show you what it was. It was in all the temples. The auspicious symbols. The coral. Report an error in the passage at 1:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14

1:43 And then there's like one piece that looked like a rock. Well, it was a rock, I think. He didn't know it was a rock, but it's the agate. Where the seeds, the agate, the Zbee. Report an error in the passage at 1:43 Highlight the passage at 1:43

2:03 That V, very expensive V, the Tibetan hair. Oh, the Zbee. Well, I've seen seeds from, you know, it's not a seed, though. It's an agate. Oh, and so in, I don't see the agate here, And but I I was was like, like, I want to know that. Report an error in the passage at 2:03 Highlight the passage at 2:03

2:24 That's right. That's right. Actually we'll do two weeks on that. So, what have you got both of them? No, just next week. Okay. So, there's a little of us. I'm kind of into it now. Thank you so much. So I really appreciate it. Report an error in the passage at 2:24 Highlight the passage at 2:24

2:49 to go ahead and put it in. No, there's no more. Yeah. Should I put books on the tables? Uh, books on the tables? Oh, let's see. Um, not really. Well, there's some people that have been here for hours. I feel like a newbie. Okay, it must be Tuesday. Report an error in the passage at 2:49 Highlight the passage at 2:49

· · · silence, 12 minutes

14:47 and I we're going to stick to April that will actually be week, Saturday before our last class. Report an error in the passage at 14:47 Highlight the passage at 14:47

15:03 from this we Thank you. 18th. We have more classes after this. sorry, I've been so Report an error in the passage at 15:03 Highlight the passage at 15:03

15:18 It will be 10.30 to 1.30. And it turns out that that's also going to be volunteer appreciation. So I think there will be lunch. Report an error in the passage at 15:18 Highlight the passage at 15:18

15:32 I think the volunteer appreciation starts at about 2.00. So we'll finish up at about 1.30 and right into that and enjoy lunch. Report an error in the passage at 15:32 Highlight the passage at 15:32

15:45 So I think that will work out. Report an error in the passage at 15:45 Highlight the passage at 15:45

15:50 I mean, it's not mandatory to attend that practice day unless you want to get a certain course. Report an error in the passage at 15:50 Highlight the passage at 15:50

16:13 But yeah, I've been thinking of it. Report an error in the passage at 16:13 Highlight the passage at 16:13

16:22 But you think you might want to do the, you're Report an error in the passage at 16:22 Highlight the passage at 16:22

16:29 a yes. What's the certificate for? Well, because if you take all of the, there's like 13 classes in the Discovering Buddhism series, and there's actually, it's obtained afterwards, and it's part of like a teaching preparation program. Report an error in the passage at 16:29 Highlight the passage at 16:29

16:52 Venerable Chucky has, Report an error in the passage at 16:52 Highlight the passage at 16:52

17:00 may be available online. All of these classes, Report an error in the passage at 17:00 Highlight the passage at 17:00

17:14 it will be a day of meditation and practice. Originally I'd said it was going to be reviewed. Since we won't, well, next week we'll spend the last two classes on the Wheel of Life. We'll cover some of it next week. Report an error in the passage at 17:14 Highlight the passage at 17:14

17:36 Wheel of Life, there's a lot of explanation. Report an error in the passage at 17:36 Highlight the passage at 17:36

17:51 But what I wanted to say is I don't think we'll be missing out Report an error in the passage at 17:51 Highlight the passage at 17:51

17:59 covering everything. Report an error in the passage at 17:59 Highlight the passage at 17:59

18:11 Last week we spent a lot of time on, Report an error in the passage at 18:11 Highlight the passage at 18:11

18:25 I think it's here to stay. So this week we're going to talk more about afflictions, but not so much about what they are, but about the results and causes of the afflictions. And we're also going to bring in karma. Report an error in the passage at 18:25 Highlight the passage at 18:25

18:40 And I found this, I don't know if you can tell, it's an abacus. But, you know, maybe in kind of doing the homework here about karma, I realized that karma is sort of like our life abacus. It's the balance, I shouldn't say the balance, but it's the counter for everything that we do. You know, karma is this view of cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 18:40 Highlight the passage at 18:40

19:08 And so... And one of the things about karma is that it stays with us. It doesn't just go away. It doesn't wear out. It has to be to eliminate it. We have to purify it. We have to take specific actions. And unfortunately, we can't just wipe it out from one life to the next. It goes along with us. Report an error in the passage at 19:08 Highlight the passage at 19:08

19:42 This is a quote from... from Habakkuk Refechet's book. And it's basically bringing home this idea of, you know, we're bound here in saṃsāra. That if we don't do something, you know, there may be no end to this ocean of suffering in which you drown. And Cheryl, by the way, is a miserly person. Report an error in the passage at 19:42 Highlight the passage at 19:42

20:07 But sometimes, you know, we don't, again, see saṃsāra for what it is. From last week, we talked about these six root afflictions or delusions, and we were pretty familiar with anger and attachment, pride, ignorance. And then the doubt had to do with doubting, you know, kind of taking a negative view of Buddhist tenets, kind of thinking that, oh, I don't know if karma exists or not, but it probably doesn't. Report an error in the passage at 20:07 Highlight the passage at 20:07

20:40 And then Wrong View Report an error in the passage at 20:40 Highlight the passage at 20:40

20:45 Sometimes it's called the deluded view, and that was that list of about five different views, which we'll go into some of those tonight. But basically it's the most serious wrong view is this view that we have of the cyclic existence of ourselves and everything around us as being permanent and inherently existing. Report an error in the passage at 20:45 Highlight the passage at 20:45

21:16 So the definition of mental affliction or delusion. It's a mental state that makes the mind unpeaceful. We talked about this last time. It's in the nature of causing disturbance. Report an error in the passage at 21:16 Highlight the passage at 21:16

21:31 And we also talked about the fact that we notice this more in the case of anger and jealousy and sort of negative emotions. We don't necessarily notice it so much in attachment. But there are a lot of situations. I have a dear friend. Who was terribly infatuated at one point with a person who was probably not interested in the same way. Report an error in the passage at 21:31 Highlight the passage at 21:31

22:00 And I can tell you that there was a lot of suffering going on there. So even when we think, you know, oh we're in love and everything's wonderful, it takes very little for that to just turn into misery and suffering. And unfortunately that's, again, the nature of these afflictions, the nature of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 22:00 Highlight the passage at 22:00

22:21 What we talked about also last week was this kind of realizing that if we're able to stop these delusions, to cut them off, then we won't really create the causes. Report an error in the passage at 22:21 Highlight the passage at 22:21

22:43 We won't be creating more negative karma. And the other positive thing is that with the negative karma that we have, If the causes and conditions don't arise for that to ripen, i.e. delusions, then we don't have to, that karma won't ripen and we don't have to experience it. So it gives us an idea of just how critical or how big a difference the control of these delusions can have in our lives. Report an error in the passage at 22:43 Highlight the passage at 22:43

23:23 So the sequence in which the afflictions are generated. First of all, this view of the transitory collection. That was that first of the five wrong views. And this is the view that basically says, you know, that I exist. Sometimes we call it grasping at the eye. Report an error in the passage at 23:23 Highlight the passage at 23:23

23:45 That eye with these aggregates. That this body and mind exist as a permanent singular person. So that's basically at the root of our suffering. Report an error in the passage at 23:45 Highlight the passage at 23:45

24:04 And it's called, well, when they say view of the transitory collections, it's called transitory because everything's impermanent. And collections because we're talking about the aggregates. Even though the mind that clings to this view... Sees the aggregates, everything that makes a person, sees it as singular and as permanent. Report an error in the passage at 24:04 Highlight the passage at 24:04

24:33 So we have just a clear idea of how different the actual condition is versus what we're viewing, you know, what this mind is grasping at. Report an error in the passage at 24:33 Highlight the passage at 24:33

24:49 Tsongkhapa Rinpoche says, once we have a physical body, we have these five skandhas, which... This is Sanskrit for the aggregates. They compose our whole mental and physical being. And they are the constituents of our experience, the support for this grasping ego and the basis for our suffering. So it's, you know, when we take rebirth and saṃsāra, we're born with these aggregates and with that comes this grasping. Report an error in the passage at 24:49 Highlight the passage at 24:49

25:24 at permanence and grasping at the sense of an inherently, I think this is iconic. Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

25:41 There's this, I'm sorry, you know what, let me go So this view of the transitory collections has two divisions. There's the intellectually acquired view and there is the innate view. Now, the intellectually acquired view comes later on. It may or may not come. I think it tends to come as we mature, as we become educated. Report an error in the passage at 25:41 Highlight the passage at 25:41

26:16 But this innate view, you can kind of take as existing in every human being, in infants. Infants have a view of the self of the world that Report an error in the passage at 26:16 Highlight the passage at 26:16

26:30 anybody has to teach us. are just, when now. We are born as human beings with this body, as Togo Rinpoche is saying, these aggregates, this grasping at the eye just innately arises. Report an error in the passage at 26:30 Highlight the passage at 26:30

26:50 The collections again are the aggregates? It's like your body. Well, it's not things. Right now we're really looking at just the aggregates. So that represents like the... Your perception, consciousness, your sense consciousness, eye, ear, nose, touch and sound, feeling form, recognition. Report an error in the passage at 26:50 Highlight the passage at 26:50

27:23 It's kind of like the whole package that if you want to think about it, it's what makes up the body and the mind. That's the view really. Report an error in the passage at 27:23 Highlight the passage at 27:23

27:39 In the Tibetan philosophy, as we get into this and as we get more into karma tonight, there's a lot of technical terms. Because it's a pretty well thought out philosophy. There's a lot of technical terms. There's a lot of textbooks written on this. Textbooks in the Tibetan monasteries. And one of the ways that this history or, you know, these teachings were passed on was through debate and debate. Report an error in the passage at 27:39 Highlight the passage at 27:39

28:19 And, you know, it's fairly unique to the Tibetan system, learning system. But all this philosophy was debated back and forth. So you'll see texts that really talk about, you know, how do you make this, you know, this argument of the existing I. And it will be... Report an error in the passage at 28:19 Highlight the passage at 28:19

28:40 The teacher and the student going back and forth with the student trying to refute what the teacher says and the teacher giving the student another statement. Report an error in the passage at 28:40 Highlight the passage at 28:40

28:51 And that's how, you know, throughout, in terms of the great pandas like Lama Tsongkhapa, they kind of developed this whole commentary, if you will, on the Buddhist teachings, on the original. basket of scriptures um and The Abhidharma, I think we mentioned that before, that's this basket that has this philosophy, all these philosophy texts and teachings. Report an error in the passage at 28:51 Highlight the passage at 28:51

29:24 So, back to this though, what we're really concerned about is just this innate view, this sense of eye that just arises naturally. Report an error in the passage at 29:24 Highlight the passage at 29:24

29:34 Within that, there are the two divisions of grasping at eye and grasping at mind. So, Report an error in the passage at 29:34 Highlight the passage at 29:34

29:43 grasping at eye... That's the sense of personhood, the sense of being. And it comes up a lot. If you're doing an analytical meditation and you want to really get the sense of what the I is, if you think about a situation where you were praised, when we're praised, the sense of I arises. Someone compliments you or maybe you're going to be honored at a banquet or something. Report an error in the passage at 29:43 Highlight the passage at 29:43

30:14 That sense of I comes right up. Even stronger, I think, when we're criticized. It arises very strongly. Think about how you feel if you were accused of a crime you didn't commit. There's a very strong sense of I arising that I didn't do this. You know, I, it's not me. Would that be ego? That is ego. Absolutely. Report an error in the passage at 30:14 Highlight the passage at 30:14

30:43 But ego is part, you know, this is called like ego grasping. It's grasping at that. The ego is the sense of I. And sometimes it's, you know, when you get right down to it, none of that really exists. I mean, if you do an analytical meditation or if you were debating, so where is this I? Where is this ego? You know, is it the mind? Report an error in the passage at 30:43 Highlight the passage at 30:43

31:09 Is it the body? You know, the I looks at the body. We say my body. So, but there's no, you know, there's no physical eye here. And then we can say, well, there are arguments you can make, but if you try to track it down, you know, just what is this eye, we realize that it eludes us. You know, you cannot really, you can't find it. And that's what the basis of this view is, that ultimately the more you look, the more you find it. Report an error in the passage at 31:09 Highlight the passage at 31:09

31:43 This sense of I is just, it's a projection, it's a thought that we, it's something that arises in us innately, which we're examining here, but we don't really question it until we get into a class like this or we start to practice Buddhism where we start looking at our view of things, our view of the world. Report an error in the passage at 31:43 Highlight the passage at 31:43

32:07 It's kind of a generally accepted idea, even from a Western viewpoint. In psychology, there's this idea that the eye exists. They don't ask where does the eye come from or where is it because that's not part of the issue there. The issue is more about just quantifying and determining what to do with the eye, how it fits in with the body. Report an error in the passage at 32:07 Highlight the passage at 32:07

32:41 So from a text called Introduction to the Middle Way. It said that once a self exists, one knows other. Okay, so we're talking about self grasping and grasping at eye and grasping at other. Report an error in the passage at 32:41 Highlight the passage at 32:41

33:01 Because of this sense of eye, what we sometimes call the self-cherishing eye, because it's a view in saṃsāra. Since we're part of the saṃsāra existence, this mistaken view thinks that what you Report an error in the passage at 33:01 Highlight the passage at 33:01

33:15 Doing everything to make this sense of I happy will bring me happiness. So it tends to grasp itself and reject others. Kind of a, you know, it's me versus them sort of thing. And in relation to that, all other faults arise. So because this view of self as permanent and Inherently existing is the seed of all these afflictions. We say that from ignorance all these afflictions arise. Report an error in the passage at 33:15 Highlight the passage at 33:15

33:55 If we didn't have this grasping at self, then we'd have no reason to experience, say, attachment or anger, greed. If we could... . Report an error in the passage at 33:55 Highlight the passage at 33:55

34:12 know it If we had a view that could see through this, then we probably wouldn't be in saṃsāra. But independence upon this view, this grasping at the eye, that's how we generate this negative karma. These afflictions arise, and because of that karma, we stay in saṃsāra. So it's definitely this cycle that... Report an error in the passage at 34:12 Highlight the passage at 34:12

34:43 We've been born into, and unless we do something, we will continue the cycle, just as Arya Deva says. So the text tells us to train in wisdom, realizing selflessness, to overcome and abandon the delusions. So since this root of the delusions is this view of the transitory collections, that if we can realize the emptiness of self, That's the antidote to that self-grasping, to that delusion. That's the root of all delusions. And sometimes we also talk about the wisdom of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 34:43 Highlight the passage at 34:43

35:32 When we grasp at an existing self, this view of the transitory collection, we also grasp at things. We grasp at everything else. This self-grasping leads us to desire other things and to want to have aversion toward some things and desire toward others or attachment toward others. So that's where this self-grasping just kind of overflows from this grasping itself to how we interact with the rest of the phenomenon in our world. Report an error in the passage at 35:32 Highlight the passage at 35:32

36:26 So the six causes of the delusions. Here I'm using delusion and affliction synonymously. So it said that there are latent afflictions within our minds. Another cause is what's called the object of the affliction. The mistaken conception, having a very strong habit of familiarity. Distractions, which are the people we surround ourselves with. Report an error in the passage at 36:26 Highlight the passage at 36:26

37:01 Speech, listening to the wrong teachings. So we'll go through each of these. Everybody kind of hanging on here? I know this gets a little dry at times, but you'll see these things are pretty relevant. So it said the latent afflictions. It's the type of consciousness. You know, we have mental consciousnesses or experiences in our minds, mental activity. Report an error in the passage at 37:01 Highlight the passage at 37:01

37:30 Within our mental continuum and those that are just sort of latent. So to give you an example, we can have a consciousness or a latent affliction that's not always manifest. Maybe there's a person you work with who pushes your buttons and every time you see that person, you know, anger, you know, it's just like really tense. Report an error in the passage at 37:30 Highlight the passage at 37:30

37:53 When that person's not around, you're not necessarily feeling that anger. It doesn't mean that you've eliminated the affliction of anger. It just means that it's quietly resting in your consciousness. Whether it's asleep or when we're asleep, that's another time when we have these latent afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 37:53 Highlight the passage at 37:53

38:23 Situations where, yes, just a disturbance. disturbance arises. Report an error in the passage at 38:23 Highlight the passage at 38:23

38:45 that's just, just shows us that we haven't overcome our afflictions. The object. So along with the latent affliction and this mistaken conception, which we're going to talk about next, if the object that, well, there's usually, there's the latency of the affliction, there's a mistaken conception about that, object and the object itself. So, um. Report an error in the passage at 38:45 Highlight the passage at 38:45

39:12 So when we come in contact with the object, that can make this affliction arise. Sometimes it doesn't even have to be the object itself. It can be the thought of the object. And it could be the same thing. Like this is, I'm thinking in terms of anger and aversion. So if there's something or someone that you can't abide, Report an error in the passage at 39:12 Highlight the passage at 39:12

39:41 Just seeing that person or seeing that thing can be upsetting. But like I said, even having the thought of that person coming along. Same with attachment. We're very attached to someone or desiring some object. Just maybe, you know, there's a car out there or something that you really want. Just thinking about it brings the attachment up. It doesn't have to be that you see it on the street. Report an error in the passage at 39:41 Highlight the passage at 39:41

40:10 And it said that, you know, when we know this, we recognize this, especially with anger. It's really, it's kind of a skillful means for us to try to separate ourselves from those objects, from things that we know are going to potentially bring up anger, push our buttons. Report an error in the passage at 40:10 Highlight the passage at 40:10

40:37 And the best thing we can do is to try, you know, to overcome these delusions. By controlling the conditions around them. So, you know, there's probably not much at this point we can do with those latent afflictions because they're just in our minds. But if I can avoid making contact with, you know, Report an error in the passage at 40:37 Highlight the passage at 40:37

40:59 the person that I know I'm going to get into an argument with or something, then that's one less situation of anger arising, or one that I've averted. Report an error in the passage at 40:59 Highlight the passage at 40:59

41:16 And then a mistaken conception refers to kind of a mindset that focuses on the negative aspects of a person or thing, if we're dealing with anger or aversion, or exaggerates the positive aspects in the case of attachment. Report an error in the passage at 41:16 Highlight the passage at 41:16

41:36 So we can actually, you know, this is something we can do in our analytical meditation. You can think about a very specific case and you can kind of chip away at that mistaken conception. Because if you break down that conception, if you're able to see past what that projection is, then the reason for that anger to arise, the reasons may not be there. Report an error in the passage at 41:36 Highlight the passage at 41:36

42:02 Or maybe the reasons for that attachment to arise. We can see things more objectively. And in that kind of meditation, we can also sometimes glimpse. The discrepancy between what we think is true and what is actually there. So for this, the generation of equanimity would be a Report an error in the passage at 42:02 Highlight the passage at 42:02

42:33 good antidote to the sake of conception. Okay. What? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 42:33 Highlight the passage at 42:33

42:30 easy. Report an error in the passage at 42:30 Highlight the passage at 42:30

42:49 Yes, it would. It would because in that way, I mean, equanimity, again, it cuts through this attachment, this immersion view that we have and makes us, it would definitely work on those negative and positive views. It would help to cut down that mistaken conception. Report an error in the passage at 42:49 Highlight the passage at 42:49

43:22 Familiarity is the next one. And this one I think we can all relate to. If we have a familiarity with a particular affliction, it's very hard to break that pattern. It's like in our minds, we're creatures of habit. And we have these situations. Sometimes, again, it takes a few things coming together, like the object, familiarity, and the mistaken conception, and boom, or the latent. Report an error in the passage at 43:22 Highlight the passage at 43:22

43:59 Fatant, affliction. Affliction and familiarity. Those can come together if you have a strong habit of anger. Then meeting with just really small causes, small issues, they can result in anger, in a lot of anger, and in anger lasting for a long time. Report an error in the passage at 43:59 Highlight the passage at 43:59

44:29 This is a way to, you know, I think we, sometimes you meet people who are habituated to anger. And when we do, you know, we can, it's an interesting thing we can do with our analytical meditation. Again, we can kind of, we look at our minds, we look at how we react. We get an idea, you know, our Dharma practice in our past lives. Report an error in the passage at 44:29 Highlight the passage at 44:29

44:57 Because if we're equipped to anger and easily angered. Or, you know, we feel, you know, very strong afflictions, then we know that we probably haven't practiced a lot. And if we're medium, then we, you know, we kind of have these medium results. And, you know, sometimes you meet people who, no matter what, they're just really patient. Report an error in the passage at 44:57 Highlight the passage at 44:57

45:25 Nothing seems to ruffle them. They don't seem to be... Caught up with the desire to obtain a lot of things. I mean, you look at the Dalai Lama, you know that he's been practicing for many lifetimes because how else can this person, you know, it's just, there's such a, just so many wonderful qualities and such a patience that he definitely stands out. Report an error in the passage at 45:25 Highlight the passage at 45:25

45:51 And there are a lot of remarkable people that, you know, at one time in your life you meet and you're thinking, wow, this is a, this person is different. Report an error in the passage at 45:51 Highlight the passage at 45:51

46:03 And so, you know, we can see these kinds of things and with our own practice, you know, on a smaller level, we can certainly see it within our own lives, within this lifetime, I should say. And Report an error in the passage at 46:03 Highlight the passage at 46:03

46:18 distractions, you know, having, here it says misleading friends, but sometimes, you know, our friends and our family can influence us and influence our actions to a great deal. And we see there's a story about Report an error in the passage at 46:18 Highlight the passage at 46:18

46:40 Two Tibetans and they came from a small village and one was pretty straight-laced, the other one was really like to drink, have a good time. And they left the village and the one who was very straight-laced and subdued went to Lhasa, the big city in Tibet. And the other went to some other smaller village where there were a lot of Kadampa Geshe's. Now I don't know if you remember the Kadampa Geshe's, Report an error in the passage at 46:40 Highlight the passage at 46:40

47:09 I told that story before about Geshe Dramtampa, where he was the Geshe with the man who was circumambulating, and Geshe-la said to him, you know, this is good, but it would be better if you practice Dharma. And then he thought, okay, I should meditate. And then the Geshe sees him again, you know, good that you're meditating, but it would be better if you practice Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 47:09 Highlight the passage at 47:09

47:34 And then he thought, okay, I should go read the text. So, that he's, you know, Reading the sutras and Geshe sees him again. Really good if you're reading the sutras, but really better if you practice Dharma. Finally, the guy says, so what does it mean? What should I be doing? What I was, you know? And Geshe Dronkhapa tells him, give up this life in your mind. So it's really, it's this mental quality. Report an error in the passage at 47:34 Highlight the passage at 47:34

47:58 It's the renunciation we're talking about. It's an attitude, you know? It's doing the practice in your mind. It's a sense of changing our minds. And that's all about what we're doing here with these delusions, recognizing them, transforming them. So the Kadava Geshe's were famous for just these very basic kinds of things. They would practice in just ordinary places and probably scary places, but they would just go out there and they would put the Dharma into practice into very... Report an error in the passage at 47:58 Highlight the passage at 47:58

48:38 Into every aspect of their lives. So, you know, this guy who's the party man goes, he's surrounded by the Kadapa Geshe's. So, you know, over time, he's the one, he became like, you know, a real practitioner and kind of gave up his partying ways. And the person that started out very straight-laced and practicing ends up in Lhasa and turns into a party person. Report an error in the passage at 48:38 Highlight the passage at 48:38

49:04 So, a lot... In terms of the people who are around us, can have a big effect on our lives. So it's just something to be aware of. I know sometimes it's hard when you're getting into Buddhism, and your friends aren't. It's a change in terms of the people you're associating with. And a lot of times people have a hard time feeling... Report an error in the passage at 49:04 Highlight the passage at 49:04

49:35 That they have to choose one or the other, and I think, you know, it's part of our practicing. I don't think we have to associate with, you know, just practitioners. I think associated with everybody. Report an error in the passage at 49:35 Highlight the passage at 49:35

49:56 You're talking about distractions? Report an error in the passage at 49:56 Highlight the passage at 49:56

50:02 Anyway, no, I think we just, you know, part of this is... right. Report an error in the passage at 50:02 Highlight the passage at 50:02

50:06 It's sort of a reminder to make sure that we make time, that we make time for our practice, and that we do create these opportunities. Report an error in the passage at 50:06 Highlight the passage at 50:06

50:19 One of the things that's said as far as the opportunity to practice, we have this what's called a perfect human rebirth. And that means that, you know, among other things, we have a human body, we're born in a place where the teachings exist. We have access to the teachings. We have lifestyles that allow us to study, to practice. So those are rare conditions if you look at the lives of all beings in all these realms. Report an error in the passage at 50:19 Highlight the passage at 50:19

50:53 So having this opportunity, it again brings home what we can do to minimize the distractions, to kind of take advantage. of this opportunity. Report an error in the passage at 50:53 Highlight the passage at 50:53

51:09 So it's just another way of getting at the root, or I don't say the root, but the leaves of delusions. Report an error in the passage at 51:09 Highlight the passage at 51:09

51:25 Or the stalk, the root is still the ignorance. And then another cause is the speech, listening to wrong teachings. And here we're talking about Teachings that we know are obviously disguised, teachings that would say it's okay to kill or it's okay to steal. This isn't like a sectarian view as far as teachings, but it's kind of going down a path that we know is not ethical, it's not a correct path, or a path that tells us to indulge in these disturbing emotions. Report an error in the passage at 51:25 Highlight the passage at 51:25

52:08 Fox News. There you go. I have a journal of the people. know. It's funny, I was thinking about that. A lot of these, as I was putting this together, I thought, how many magazines and newspapers have directed you this way? Report an error in the passage at 52:08 Highlight the passage at 52:08

52:32 So it's said that of all these causes of the delusions, the most difficult are the latent. Delusion, that latent affliction you were talking about, because it'll spring up whenever the conditions ripen. And it's said that it's purified only when we reach the eighth bodhisattva ground. Report an error in the passage at 52:32 Highlight the passage at 52:32

52:55 An example of this, you know, sometimes people will go and spend some time in retreat. We might spend a month or three months or even, you know, three years doing a closed retreat. Report an error in the passage at 52:55 Highlight the passage at 52:55

53:11 They come back out after retreat and, you know, you can be in a place that's very calm, you're home, you're going to meditate and, you know, somebody next door out on the street's using a jackhammer and in about two seconds you want to go out and strangle them, you know? And that's an example of this latent delusion. Like, it was gone for a long time when you're in the right conditions, but when those conditions change, Report an error in the passage at 53:11 Highlight the passage at 53:11

53:41 Spring right back up. Yeah? What's the eighth place on the group? Oh, okay, good question. Report an error in the passage at 53:41 Highlight the passage at 53:41

53:53 So the eighth, it says there are like, there's the paths, there are five paths and ten grounds, or sometimes they're called the ten dummies, dummies is a Sanskrit term. And so Report an error in the passage at 53:53 Highlight the passage at 53:53

54:17 the five paths. The path of accumulation, the path of preparation, the path of insight, the path of meditation and the path of no more learning. This is part of the Abhidharma basket and basically this is covered in a whole course in the basic studies program. So all I'm telling you here is that these exist and that the ten boobies which are concurrent with these paths upon you're at in the ten grounds. Report an error in the passage at 54:17 Highlight the passage at 54:17

54:53 These are on the Bodhisattva Path. You have great joy, which means joy in benefiting sentient beings. Stainless means free of stains of immorality, so moving up the path. The luminous means kind of radiating the light of Dharma for all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 54:53 Highlight the passage at 54:53

55:16 Radiant means You know, having this vigor that it's like a light burning everything that opposes Dharma. And then very difficult to train means, you know, this level, the bodhisattva, is they help sentient beings attain maturity and learn about the teachings, but they don't become emotionally involved when the beings, you know, react negatively. Report an error in the passage at 55:16 Highlight the passage at 55:16

55:48 So moving along the path, then obviously transcendent. It's like the bodhisattva doesn't abide in saṃsāra or nirvāṇa. It's like the emphasis is on wisdom. The seventh is perfection of skillful means to help sentient beings. So you finally get to this eighth path, which is, here it's called immovable, and it's an aspiration. Report an error in the passage at 55:48 Highlight the passage at 55:48

56:20 It's the aspiration to attain this enlightenment and it's the level at which one can choose the place of rebirth. So this is not enlightenment yet. I mean you can kind of see from the short descriptions of these paths that that's a pretty high level of realization. It's a high level being. So we have a long way to go before we really get rid of We can eliminate these latent afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 56:20 Highlight the passage at 56:20

57:00 The faults of the afflictions are, first of all, that we need to see these delusions as harmful. Sometimes we see the threat to our happiness, we perceive it as something outside, as things are going to change, whatever I have, I've got to protect it. Report an error in the passage at 57:00 Highlight the passage at 57:00

57:21 What we don't realize is that the real danger is from the inside. It's from our own minds. The things that from this grasping, this self-grasping or ego-grasping, the things that that mind tells us to hold on to are things that will really keep a sense of sorrow. So it's a matter of really seeing this and transforming that thought. Report an error in the passage at 57:21 Highlight the passage at 57:21

57:51 um, just, you know. The afflictions lead us to reinforce that mental pattern of afflictions. So just kind of thinking that these delusions will actually lead us to happiness. And when I say the delusions, it's saṃsāra. It's going after things that appear to be bringing happiness. Anything we go after, we know, you know, if we investigate, do it, you know, analytically, if we look at what happens, we know that there will be no satisfaction. Report an error in the passage at 57:51 Highlight the passage at 57:51

58:35 And this is one of the powers of analytical meditation, because you can do it anywhere. You can do it on your way to work, you can do it, you know, walking to get a cup of coffee, because you look at things, and, you know, your eyes attracted to something, and maybe you think, gosh, that's... That's a great looking house. I'd really be happy if I lived in a house like that. And then you look at that and think, oh yeah, right. If I lived in a house like that, then I'd be worried about how I was going to pay for that house. Report an error in the passage at 58:35 Highlight the passage at 58:35

59:08 And then maybe I would lose that house. And then you can kind of go on from one thing to another. You can talk about, oh, then that house wouldn't be big enough. I'd need a bigger house. I wouldn't be able to retire, or I wouldn't be able to do this, or I wouldn't, and ultimately if we, you know, whether it's from looking at what kind of latte I want to get, is a mocha really going to make me happy? Report an error in the passage at 59:08 Highlight the passage at 59:08

59:38 You can take each thing, and you kind of question what the mind is doing, because, you know, that self-grasping eye, it's this continual loop telling us, Report an error in the passage at 59:38 Highlight the passage at 59:38

59:52 happy, you know. Yes, maybe things will be different this time, and it'll actually, you know, the satisfaction will be there. course the satisfaction will never be there. So. Report an error in the passage at 59:52 Highlight the passage at 59:52

1:00:06 some of the, you know, an afflicted mind is an unhappy mind. From the viewpoint of an enlightened person, you know, afflicted beings are suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:06 Highlight the passage at 1:00:06

1:00:16 When we give in to our anger, there's no way to be happy. It's an awful feeling. It's unpleasant. It's painful. When we're, you know, attached to something we don't have, it's more suffering. So all these things that, you know, whisper in our ears and try to, you know, the ego grasping kind of nudges us to say, ah, if I win the lottery, then I, you know, things would be great. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:16 Highlight the passage at 1:00:16

1:00:50 It's just another aspect of saṃsāra. There is no safe haven. There is no safe place in saṃsāra. There's no security. Because saṃsāra is all about change. It's all about no satisfaction. So, again, this is analytically looking at these things, looking at these emotions, these delusions that arise, and trying to cut through them, see them for what they are. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:50 Highlight the passage at 1:00:50

1:01:22 And it said that, you know, Following affliction reinforces saṃsāra. Because, again, as we said before with familiarity, the more we repeat these delusions, the more we become habituated, the more they occur. So, you know, sometimes, I know I've been in situations where, you know, something happens and I feel like, I could have handled that better. Really, you know, I really want to change that. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:22 Highlight the passage at 1:01:22

1:01:51 That's very hard to change because the same conditions arise again, the same person, the same object, the same mistaken conception. If I don't do something to really try to look at those causes and alter them, the same thing's going to happen again. So by knowing these, by remembering, oh yeah, maybe the latent part I can't do a whole lot about right now, but I can certainly, I can distance myself from the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:51 Highlight the passage at 1:01:51

1:02:19 I can analyze. That mistake in conception. I can try to break down that sort of automatic response that gets me into the same bad situation that I want to stop repeating. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:19 Highlight the passage at 1:02:19

1:02:43 And then just, you know, the more we are in saṃsāra, you know, it just becomes harder and harder to get ourselves out, talking about liberation, about freeing ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:43 Highlight the passage at 1:02:43

1:03:00 And essentially this, in terms of harming our concentrated meditation, it's disruptive. It disrupts our calmness of mind. We said that these afflictions make the mind unpeaceful. They make the mind disturbed. So, you know, just a huge amount of faults here as far as the afflictions and nothing positive about them. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:00 Highlight the passage at 1:03:00

1:03:31 Oh gosh. Okay. How's everybody? You want to take a short break right now? Let's take a little break and come back and then we'll finish up with Carmen. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:31 Highlight the passage at 1:03:31

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:04:13 want any more, too? This dance information. It's cool. Because it's probably . You mean, like, . Report an error in the passage at 1:04:13 Highlight the passage at 1:04:13

1:04:31 And I'm not studying as much. I can see I'm not studying as much because I'm, it's like, I need to study more. But it's, I'm my own more studying. No, we are, right? I mean, that's, that's like we said. And you've got to remember the middle way. So we don't want to, you know, give ourselves, you know, a bad time for not practicing enough. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:31 Highlight the passage at 1:04:31

1:04:54 And we, you know, want to gently encourage ourselves to practice. A lot of it is, good. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:54 Highlight the passage at 1:04:54

1:05:01 Start changing the habits that leave us, you know, everybody's busy. So you've got to find a place in your schedule to pick up a Dharma book or to make, you know, sit on that quotient. Well, it's a funny thing, too, because I think that it is a habit that you develop. It is a habit. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:01 Highlight the passage at 1:05:01

1:05:21 So it sort of becomes like, you know, if you have something, you have a point, you can see, like, you know, when I pick up People magazine, or when I pick up, you know, what, that... Once in a while, if you want to be mindlessly entertained, that's good in context, but eventually what happens is I think there's kind of a point as you're wicking this and stuff, and you meditate on it, you work on it, and then there's sort of a drive to understand and deepen your understanding. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:21 Highlight the passage at 1:05:21

1:05:46 And then there's a kind of a turning point, at least there was for me, where then it's sort of like, I don't have enough planning to tell you. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:46 Highlight the passage at 1:05:46

1:06:00 It's about priorities. People do what the most important thing to them is. For me, I have a ton of interests. I completely understand that. I have a tremendous collective interest. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:00 Highlight the passage at 1:06:00

1:06:25 and skills. In order. This is certainly a concept. And you find that what happens is it's hard to be like, those varied interests aren't separate but being complemented. And even the idea of if you look at the idea of delusions. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:25 Highlight the passage at 1:06:25

1:07:05 That becomes a doorway to understand Like when you look at Prince's appreciation of art and a variety of people, it's a very cute thing. It's a sort of aesthetic response and stuff. Like Jane DePoe, it's a huge piece called The Rose. It's a perfect collection of the Witten Museum. It's a pedonomic art piece of art, but it's huge. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:05 Highlight the passage at 1:07:05

1:07:38 it's a Report an error in the passage at 1:07:38 Highlight the passage at 1:07:38

1:07:45 It's huge, it's like it's not going to be followed by about this thing. She did it for years, and when I sit in and look at that, it's just like crying. You know, it's a movie to be empty, but look at it and be like... Report an error in the passage at 1:07:45 Highlight the passage at 1:07:45

1:08:15 Thank you. Carol, did you see the new documentary yesterday? Oh, wow. Oh, the one that was on last week or something? I think it was on last week. Yeah, it's on the internet. Oh, it's on the internet? Yeah, you can watch it. Oh, okay. I'll listen to you later to send to the class. I finished watching it yesterday. It's really good. Thank you. Yeah, I'll definitely mention that because we talked about it a little bit last week. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:15 Highlight the passage at 1:08:15

1:08:47 Oh, did you? There were people who didn't know it was on. And I was trying to think of how, I think, somebody was telling me that, I mean, I had patients home, but, you know, it's really not a very good copy. And then, I mean, Charles was saying some people were watching it here, but that's nice. Yeah, you can just go to their website and watch it. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:47 Highlight the passage at 1:08:47

1:09:16 It is, it's great. It's like two hours long. Okay, everybody get ready. Dash out if you have to, because we're running out of time. Is that a philosophical statement? Report an error in the passage at 1:09:16 Highlight the passage at 1:09:16

1:09:32 You're right. We're running out of time. We can't leave. No napping tonight. No napping tonight. Sometimes I can't help it. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:32 Highlight the passage at 1:09:32

1:09:47 You wouldn't be surprised to see how much I sleep. That's so cool. I know. I thought it was cold when I came over. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:47 Highlight the passage at 1:09:47

1:10:06 You could warm up the room for us. Yeah, that's right. I want you to start drying those wet sheets and see how many you can get through. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:06 Highlight the passage at 1:10:06

1:10:19 Alright, so, Dharma. It's, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:19 Highlight the passage at 1:10:19

1:10:24 And how it's generated from the affliction. So the definition of karma is the mental factor of intention. And here, this is a pretty technical definition in that the mind is mere clarity and awareness. And ways of being aware of something are either through the primary consciousness or through secondary awareness, which is called or termed a mental factor. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:24 Highlight the passage at 1:10:24

1:10:52 And there are 51 mental factors. Okay, so this is from a book by Alexander Verzin. And so it's like intention directs the mind to virtue, to non-virtue or to neutral states. So karma is very much about intention. And in that respect, it's like the horse that pulls the cart. The action can be, you know, it can be good or bad. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:52 Highlight the passage at 1:10:52

1:11:24 The majority of the karma, the effect of the karma, deals greatly with the attention behind the action. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:24 Highlight the passage at 1:11:24

1:11:37 is kind of So, like, from definition of karma... this, the to purify follows directly from this. if you can go and, if I'm understanding this correctly, if you purify your mindstream afflictions whatnot, then you're in effect. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:37 Highlight the passage at 1:11:37

1:12:09 the potential karma that you can go and read later on. Something along those It makes sense. As we get into this, you'll see karma is very technical and it's kind of very established. So I would agree with what you're saying in that it makes sense to me. But I'm sure that if you had Geshe-la up here, he would probably tell you exactly, you know, in what way that was correct and in what way that wasn't correct or what had to be done in terms of the specific purification. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:09 Highlight the passage at 1:12:09

1:12:50 If you're interested, there's the book Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand by Kabalka Rinpoche has a section on karma that gets very specific in terms of what the karma, you know, it gets a lot of detail about how karma, the sort of effect it can have. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:50 Highlight the passage at 1:12:50

1:13:10 but I it's a good point. There are a few different divisions of karma. One of the divisions of karma is the karma of intent versus intended karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:10 Highlight the passage at 1:13:10

1:13:25 These both deal with mental states. An example of this, the karma of intent is the karma we generate before the action. then say we We say or we do something non-virtuous. The mental factor of harmful intent that's in our mind at the time of the action is called the intended karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:25 Highlight the passage at 1:13:25

1:13:49 The intent before that, before the action, before we even got to the point of committing this harmful or saying this harmful thing, Report an error in the passage at 1:13:49 Highlight the passage at 1:13:49

1:14:06 That was the cognitive intent. So both, it's kind of like stages in the motivation. First there's a motivation, a negative motivation arising, and then there's, at the time of doing the negative action, there's still that negative motivation. So we're saying that there's a difference, if you do a negative action with a positive intent, that's a different result than, say, a negative action with a negative intent. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:06 Highlight the passage at 1:14:06

1:14:37 And maybe that negative or the negative action with a positive intent probably started with a karma of intent that was positive. An example of this is when we were talking about the ship of bodhisattvas and there's one guy aboard who decides he's going to murder everybody and one of the bodhisattvas Report an error in the passage at 1:14:37 Highlight the passage at 1:14:37

1:15:08 Understands or gets the thoughts of this person and actually takes on the karma of killing that person to avoid having that person experience the negative karma of killing all of these other beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:08 Highlight the passage at 1:15:08

1:15:23 But you can see that first there was a thought, then during the action there's another, there's intent. So it's like two kinds of intent. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:23 Highlight the passage at 1:15:23

1:15:36 technical. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:36 Highlight the passage at 1:15:36

1:15:41 And I think that in complex systems and in the world that we live in, that there's a lot of unintended consequences or outcomes that come from non-action or unintended action that you're completely, on some level, separate from. I have no intent or non-intent. But there is, in fact, an outcome that comes from that. Like people that were running Chernobyl had no intent of, you know, bringing, bumping down. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:41 Highlight the passage at 1:15:41

1:16:10 But it had to do with, and they were there, and there was a series of events that took place within the complex system. So, you're a party to something that has a tremendous and negative outcome. You're not a party to the intent itself, but so then you were, it's part of your process or karma to have been a party to that event as it took place. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:10 Highlight the passage at 1:16:10

1:16:36 That's right. You know, that you can look at civilizations and, you know, cultures. I mean, you know. We are part of this culture that we have the karma to be born into this country. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:36 Highlight the passage at 1:16:36

1:16:54 The U.S. is bombing and killing. I'm sure nobody in this room wants that to be happening, but it's part of our collective karma right now. Now, what the result is of that individually, But, you know, or this country. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:54 Highlight the passage at 1:16:54

1:17:08 I don't know. I mean, and there's probably, you could probably, you know, in the study of karma, look at what that effect is, but know that in this sense of even how we define karma, intent is a great portion of it. So, again, like with the bodhisattva, killing, but killing with the intent of saving the person from having, you know, lifetimes of suffering in the lower realms. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:08 Highlight the passage at 1:17:08

1:17:40 And when, you know, I think in a situation of simply being part of something, but not necessarily an active part, I mean, all of that is part of karma. So you can't just say, oh yeah, this is, you know, that's going to give you, if you do this, or if you were just associated with that, then you're going to have, everybody's going to have the same result. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:40 Highlight the passage at 1:17:40

1:18:08 Think of Manila, what wrote, you know, how everybody intertwines. It's a complex system. It's a very complex system. I have a quick question. Yeah. Well, you know, very quick. No. Because intention only produces karma as well, too. So say someone's on the street with a radio blurring and in my mind I want to smash the window because I haven't filled with anger, but that's producing negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:08 Highlight the passage at 1:18:08

1:18:40 Well, it says, I mean, from this, yeah. I mean, because I think if we look at this, the karma of intent, you know, it's the karma we generate before the action. Now, the other thing, though, is, you know, with your, the positive view that says, you know, of course, maybe what I want to do, but I'm not going to do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:40 Highlight the passage at 1:18:40

1:19:05 And, you know, I don't want to harm this person, I just don't want to use it. And so, you know, again, the result is the metric of the cause. But, yeah, it makes us think. On some levels, it also ties in with the afflictions and the habitual nature in terms of giving in to some of the afflictions, even just in our minds, maybe not acting on them, but going along with them tends to... Report an error in the passage at 1:19:05 Highlight the passage at 1:19:05

1:19:40 reinforce that habit you know sometimes we have a you know we might not say something to someone but maybe we're thinking negative It is going to work against the elimination of those delusions. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:40 Highlight the passage at 1:19:40

1:20:02 tied to one of the ways that karma can ripen, like you can have, the result can be an environmental karma, or I mean not, not like it's either or, but there's environmental karma. And then, I forget the name of it, but it's the karma that kind of results in the habit, the predisposition to do the same action or have the same affliction. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:02 Highlight the passage at 1:20:02

1:20:23 You're born in a certain place or a certain type of environment. Oh, I'm sorry, you're saying, yeah, the predisposition to have that habit. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:23 Highlight the passage at 1:20:23

1:20:33 I don't know, you know, I'm just kind of going through a real introductory view of karma because, as I said, it gets very... Very complicated and I really know very little about this except for just the surface here. So we talk about the other divisions of karma into non-meritorious, meritorious and immovable. So meritorious karma is the kind of karma that, or non-meritorious karma is the kind of karma that makes us, Report an error in the passage at 1:20:33 Highlight the passage at 1:20:33

1:21:14 It makes us take rebirth in lower realms, any action that results in suffering. Meritorious karma is the kind of karma that makes us have happiness in this desire realm. So in fact it's called contaminated karma because, or I should say contaminated virtuous karma, because we're still experiencing this in saṃsāra and it will be Report an error in the passage at 1:21:14 Highlight the passage at 1:21:14

1:21:46 experienced in this realm this realm of saṃsāra but it does it feels like happiness to us Report an error in the passage at 1:21:46 Highlight the passage at 1:21:46

1:21:57 immovable karma, is kind of an interesting one or an unusual one in the sense of definition. It's a virtuous karma that results in taking rebirth in the form. So it's like being born in a god realm, you're still in saṃsāra, And it has to do with, like, at times, you know, it's said that in past lives we've all generated states of samādhi or various levels of real concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:57 Highlight the passage at 1:21:57

1:22:30 So you have meditative concentration, but you don't have wisdom. You haven't cut through this mistaken view, this view of grasping at the eye. So you create the causes. It has, you know, it creates meritorious karma. But that karma is ripened. We take rebirth in the form and formless realms. We're not enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:30 Highlight the passage at 1:22:30

1:22:56 We don't have the wisdom that goes with that. But we take what would be considered a higher rebirth within the desire realm. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:56 Highlight the passage at 1:22:56

1:23:11 And then there's a division that looks at the type of karma. So there's throwing karma, establishing karma, and completing karma. We'll talk more about this next week when we talk about the Wheel of Life, particularly this establishing karma, because that we're going to talk about as the link of becoming. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:11 Highlight the passage at 1:23:11

1:23:30 But an example of throwing karma, like good throwing karma, would throw us into a favorable rebirth, like a human rebirth. But maybe non-virtuous completing karma. Would result in that human rebirth being a life of poverty or maybe suffering a lot of sickness. So the throwing karma was good, but the completing karma had put basic negative conditions on that. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:30 Highlight the passage at 1:23:30

1:24:08 Non-virtuous throwing karma might lead one to be reborn as a dog. Good or virtuous completing karma might put that dog like somebody's pet and having a really easy, comfortable life. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:08 Highlight the passage at 1:24:08

1:24:31 You can also look at karma in terms of contaminated and uncontaminated. So non-virtuous karma is said to have this black ripening result. Virtuous karma has a white ripening result. Neutral karma is neither. So neutral actions are just really a positive or negative The non-virtuous karma is contaminated karma because it's generated through this force of affliction or ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:31 Highlight the passage at 1:24:31

1:25:15 Contaminated virtuous karma As we said before, because we're in saṃsāra, it's still generated on the basis of this delusion, this self-grasping, but it can still be virtuous. So it's like the action is virtuous, but the mind of the person who's creating that action is still viewing the self as inherently existent and grasping at this I. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:15 Highlight the passage at 1:25:15

1:25:45 It creates the causes for this contaminated virtuous karma which we talked about a minute ago as, you know, samsaric happiness. Maybe having, you know, this easy and comfortable human life. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:45 Highlight the passage at 1:25:45

1:26:05 To create karma that leads us out of saṃsāra, we have to generate renunciation, okay, and essentially this wisdom that cuts through. This grasping of the self, so the wisdom, realizing selflessness. And we have to engage in the action based on that renunciation. So it sounds like a tall order, but if we say we sit down to meditate, but we meditate, we may not have a view of emptiness, we may not realize that, but we think about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:05 Highlight the passage at 1:26:05

1:26:41 We think about... So if we look at this view of the transitory collection as being something that's false, something that we want to cut through, and we're doing this meditation or some mantra recitation or something on that basis, then that does create the cause for that karma to lead us out of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:41 Highlight the passage at 1:26:41

1:27:03 So meritorious karma is basically contaminated virtuous karma. Non-meritorious karma is non-virtuous karma. And the immovable karma is also like a contaminated virtuous karma. We said that immovable karma is this rebirth in the form and formless realms, still in the sense of the realm. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:03 Highlight the passage at 1:27:03

1:27:26 So ultimately here, the key is to eliminate afflictions. We said before that the afflictions, if we could eliminate the afflictions, then the causes and conditions for this karma to ripen, they wouldn't be there. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:26 Highlight the passage at 1:27:26

1:27:45 We said that if you could eliminate all your karma, say you could purify it, but you still had the afflictions, you know, every action, every thought, everything you said would quickly generate more negative karma. So we focus on, you know, karma is set, and that's one of the reasons, what we touched on here is very, very brief, but... Report an error in the passage at 1:27:45 Highlight the passage at 1:27:45

1:28:13 Karma has these rules. It's got this structure. And it's not that somebody made it up. It's simply the way things work. And like I said, if you want to look at other sources, you can really get into a lot of information about how karma works and this collective karma and karma resulting from ignorance or from unknowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:13 Highlight the passage at 1:28:13

1:28:42 then, um... The karma is definitely, it's generated by these afflictions or these delusions in our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:42 Highlight the passage at 1:28:42

1:28:53 And ultimately, you know, controlling, if we are able to control the afflictions, if we're able to control the mind, then we're able to control the karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:53 Highlight the passage at 1:28:53

1:29:05 So even to the extent of, we were talking before about, you know, this, the mental thought arising, the mental intent, the karma of intent before We even commit the action. So by Report an error in the passage at 1:29:05 Highlight the passage at 1:29:05

1:29:22 practicing analytical meditation, by practicing meditation itself, our meditation on emptiness, we can begin to cut through or cut through that delusion of ignorance, that delusion that keeps us all here, that innate view of the The I. And if we can, even reducing, what we said about the habitual side of it works in the positive as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:22 Highlight the passage at 1:29:22

1:30:02 We said that if you go with delusions, you're reinforcing these negative actions, reinforcing the delusion, the delusion arises more. Likewise, if we are able to reduce the delusions, if we focus on meditation, on really Clearing those delusions, not acting on them, that becomes the habit. At the break, some of the people were talking about practice and how, you know, your practice can become, it can become practice, it can become habitual. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:02 Highlight the passage at 1:30:02

1:30:34 And you can, the more we do, that's why all of these, all of the things we've been talking about in these five weeks, they're taking all of saṃsāra and looking at it bit by bit because there's nothing we can do. To just, you know, turn the light switch and become enlightened. To turn the light switch and, you know, turn off the ignorance. But everything can be taken in turn, each point and each method kind of works together. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:34 Highlight the passage at 1:30:34

1:31:08 And together we really, you know, we can get to this point right here where we're talking about, yeah, you can't maybe change the karma that exists. But we can certainly control our minds. We can work that. And when we do that, effectively we're going to control the karma. We're going to control what we experience, what can I do. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:08 Highlight the passage at 1:31:08

1:31:30 So that's all I have tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:30 Highlight the passage at 1:31:30

1:31:37 Oh gosh, it's just 8.30. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:37 Highlight the passage at 1:31:37

1:31:43 So thank you very much. Thank you. I will send you, I have a little meditation on karma. And if you want to this week, it's an analytical meditation. I'll send you the slides and then I'll include this meditation. It's something that you can just, just even reading through it. Like I said, it's something to kind of get you going on examining karma and the delusions. So you so much. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:43 Highlight the passage at 1:31:43

1:32:16 Thank you. So just remembering Report an error in the passage at 1:32:16 Highlight the passage at 1:32:16

1:32:29 our meditation at the beginning and starting. Recalling that motivation, and now thinking about the importance of intent, of motivation within, with respect to the karma generated, Report an error in the passage at 1:32:29 Highlight the passage at 1:32:29

1:32:50 and just dedicating all of this merit that we might attain enlightenment for the same old beings, ultimately to overcome all of our delusions, Report an error in the passage at 1:32:50 Highlight the passage at 1:32:50

1:33:08 beyond that eighth bodhicitta level. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:08 Highlight the passage at 1:33:08

1:33:16 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:16 Highlight the passage at 1:33:16

1:33:47 It's so hard to turn these mats around. Thank you, Marianne. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:47 Highlight the passage at 1:33:47