Discovering Buddhism - Mind and Its Potential

0:13 So we'll start with a little meditation. So we're going to do a little different. I'm not going to count. Report an error in the passage at 0:13 Highlight the passage at 0:13

0:38 Just sit in a comfortable position. If you're on a chair, make sure that your knees are kind of like on a 90 degree. If your feet can't stay flat on the floor and your lap kind of on a 90 degrees angle, it's good to put a little cushion under your feet. And then, you know, sit with your back straight on a cushion and even on a chair. It's good not to, well, you can't lean back on a cushion, but on the chair not to lean against the back of the chair. Report an error in the passage at 0:38 Highlight the passage at 0:38

1:11 But I also find that even in a chair, if I kind of... Prop myself in a position so that my pelvis is kind of tilted back that it helps to keep the back straighter and the same thing like when you're on a cushion that's why they put it kind of an angle it kind of helps and you can kind of get it so that you sit really on the sit bones. Report an error in the passage at 1:11 Highlight the passage at 1:11

1:37 And that helps to keep the back straight or without as much effort. And you can stay more comfortable if your spine is straight and you're not sitting with your tailbone kind of bent. Report an error in the passage at 1:37 Highlight the passage at 1:37

1:52 And then, you know, the eyes, just looking maybe about down, downward, maybe about, they say, maybe five or six feet in front of you. Report an error in the passage at 1:52 Highlight the passage at 1:52

2:05 The Dalai Lama recommends that you learn to meditate with your eyes open. But To start with, if you're in the habit of doing it with your eyes closed, then that is better. For now, you can do that. Eventually, it's good to practice with your eyes open. And that means just slightly open. So just relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 2:05 Highlight the passage at 2:05

2:34 It's just this tiny little slit. And the idea isn't to look at anything. Report an error in the passage at 2:34 Highlight the passage at 2:34

2:44 You want everything to be kind of obscured. You want to be able to have the light. It helps when you get into, they say, I haven't gotten into super deep Report an error in the passage at 2:44 Highlight the passage at 2:44

3:01 states of meditation, but they say it does help when you're in deeper states of meditation to be able to meditate with your eyes slightly open. Report an error in the passage at 3:01 Highlight the passage at 3:01

3:12 But for now, do whatever is the most comfortable. And then your hands should be preferably In your lap with the left hand on the bottom, right hand on top of it, palms facing upwards and with the thumbs touching. Report an error in the passage at 3:12 Highlight the passage at 3:12

3:31 And this is a position that helps the flow of energies in your body. So with a straight spine and then the hands should be just a little bit below the navel, Report an error in the passage at 3:31 Highlight the passage at 3:31

3:51 the thumbs about the level of the navel. And that's supposed to help with the flow of energy in your body. And your arms loose so they're not slapped against your sides and your shoulders relaxed and down, but also with your shoulders straight so your back is straight so you're not hunched over or anything like that. Report an error in the passage at 3:51 Highlight the passage at 3:51

4:16 And Report an error in the passage at 4:16 Highlight the passage at 4:16

4:20 then if you're sitting on the floor with your legs crossed in whatever position is comfortable. Most people can't do what they call the Vajra posture, which is when your feet are kind of up on your thighs. Report an error in the passage at 4:20 Highlight the passage at 4:20

4:39 So cross-legged, sometimes one leg in front of the other, whatever is comfortable, you want it to feel stable so that you create what feels like a really grounded base for yourself. Report an error in the passage at 4:39 Highlight the passage at 4:39

4:55 And that will help. Help you to be able to let go of, you know, going to deeper levels and still feel grounded. It's important to still feel grounded. Report an error in the passage at 4:55 Highlight the passage at 4:55

5:17 And so in a chair, like I said, with your feet flat on the floor and Report an error in the passage at 5:17 Highlight the passage at 5:17

5:25 together. Report an error in the passage at 5:25 Highlight the passage at 5:25

5:29 So as we sit in this meditative posture, take a minute to scan from the tip of your toes up to the top of your head and just kind of scan your body. Report an error in the passage at 5:29 Highlight the passage at 5:29

5:46 And see if you notice any tensions, maybe tight spots, places where the energy may be a little stuck, or maybe even where there's a pain and it feels tense. And Report an error in the passage at 5:46 Highlight the passage at 5:46

6:09 then using your breath, just take some deep breaths that fill your body, and particularly if you have a spot that's more tense or painful or the energy feels slightly blocked. Breathe particularly into that place. Just imagine the air going right to that spot and as you exhale, feel the tensions just loosen themselves and come drifting out on your breath. Report an error in the passage at 6:09 Highlight the passage at 6:09

6:45 So we'll take a few minutes to scan the body and just use deep breaths in and out. To release any tensions or any blocked energy, anything that you might feel. Like Report an error in the passage at 6:45 Highlight the passage at 6:45

7:11 your face, your forehead, your jaws. Report an error in the passage at 7:11 Highlight the passage at 7:11

7:29 Like the yoga teacher would say, let your earlobes drop to the floor. So Report an error in the passage at 7:29 Highlight the passage at 7:29

7:48 the more relaxed that your body is, the more relaxed your mind can be. So turn the breathing to your mind and notice if it's thinking about something that... happened earlier or a problem that came up or you may do later. Report an error in the passage at 7:48 Highlight the passage at 7:48

8:13 just breathe and let those thoughts drift out on your breath. then become aware of your breath you're breathing deep breaths and just So Report an error in the passage at 8:13 Highlight the passage at 8:13

8:37 when you Report an error in the passage at 8:37 Highlight the passage at 8:37

8:54 feel like your mind and your body are relaxed, Then just go back to breathing just in a normal fashion, just watching the breath, watching the movement of the breath through the body. Report an error in the passage at 8:54 Highlight the passage at 8:54

· · · silence, 1 minute

10:03 Now try to turn your attention more away from the breath to the person who's, or to the part of the mind that's aware of it, the knower, and see if you can get a sense. Report an error in the passage at 10:03 Highlight the passage at 10:03

10:26 So rather than observing the breath, You want to observe the knower. If Report an error in the passage at 10:26 Highlight the passage at 10:26

10:46 you feel sensations in your body or thoughts go through your mind, see if you can step back just a bit and Report an error in the passage at 10:46 Highlight the passage at 10:46

11:00 see who's knowing that thought and Report an error in the passage at 11:00 Highlight the passage at 11:00

11:11 what the sensation is or knowing the sensation than Report an error in the passage at 11:11 Highlight the passage at 11:11

11:21 the thought or the sensation itself. Report an error in the passage at 11:21 Highlight the passage at 11:21

· · · silence, 1 minute

12:05 Try to get a sense of how that mind that's knowing is... Separate, not the same as the body or the brain, although they're intimately connected. Report an error in the passage at 12:05 Highlight the passage at 12:05

· · · silence, 1 minute

13:04 Look at our motivations for being here in Report an error in the passage at 13:04 Highlight the passage at 13:04

13:16 order to work on our minds to develop tools and techniques in order to become more in control of our mind so Report an error in the passage at 13:16 Highlight the passage at 13:16

13:36 that we can diminish suffering and increase happiness. Not only for this life, but for many, many other lives. In Report an error in the passage at 13:36 Highlight the passage at 13:36

13:56 the process, to start ourselves on the path of inquiry, of examination, will Report an error in the passage at 13:56 Highlight the passage at 13:56

14:10 eventually lead to becoming fully awakened, Report an error in the passage at 14:10 Highlight the passage at 14:10

14:19 developing perfect wisdom, perfect compassion, so Report an error in the passage at 14:19 Highlight the passage at 14:19

14:33 that we ourselves can be liberated from all suffering. Report an error in the passage at 14:33 Highlight the passage at 14:33

14:43 We'll have the skills to be able to help others to become liberated from all of their suffering. So Report an error in the passage at 14:43 Highlight the passage at 14:43

14:55 with that motivation, we engage in this meditation and this class, not Report an error in the passage at 14:55 Highlight the passage at 14:55

15:09 only for our own happiness, but for the happiness of all other beings. Report an error in the passage at 15:09 Highlight the passage at 15:09

· · · silence, 1 minute

15:47 We can do a couple of the little prayers that we did last week. In the Go Book, page 34. Report an error in the passage at 15:47 Highlight the passage at 15:47

16:03 We'll just do page 34 for tonight. Well, actually in the first line of page 35, part of the four measurables. So we'll do the refuge and bodhicitta first twice in English and then we'll try chanting once in Tibetan. It Report an error in the passage at 16:03 Highlight the passage at 16:03

16:26 might be up a little bit too high. Report an error in the passage at 16:26 Highlight the passage at 16:26

16:32 No, no, it's okay. Yeah, but if I put it closer, it's just turned up really loud. That's why. Report an error in the passage at 16:32 Highlight the passage at 16:32

16:48 Can you reach the volume? Report an error in the passage at 16:48 Highlight the passage at 16:48

16:52 Well, anyway, so we can start while we're regularly. Yeah, we can start. So, I go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly by my practice of giving and other perfections. May I become a Buddha, admit of it all sentient beings. I go for refuge until enlightenment to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. Report an error in the passage at 16:52 Highlight the passage at 16:52

17:20 By my practice of giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 17:20 Highlight the passage at 17:20

17:30 May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. Sangye Chodan Sokhi Chodam La. Report an error in the passage at 17:30 Highlight the passage at 17:30

17:49 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. May all sentient beings abride in equanimity, free from attachment for friends and hatred for enemies. Report an error in the passage at 17:49 Highlight the passage at 17:49

18:10 Boy, big difference. Where is everybody? Did I scare everybody away? I was going to do a reality check, but nobody's left to check with. Report an error in the passage at 18:10 Highlight the passage at 18:10

18:22 But I do want to check in and see, you know, how did it go if you tried the homework. It's kind of hard, actually, this knower thing and who's knowing is like... And then if there's any questions that people have about the reading that you did, whatever part that you might have tried. Report an error in the passage at 18:22 Highlight the passage at 18:22

18:56 Would anybody want to share about anything that came up, either in the readings or trying the meditation? How many people tried the meditation? Oh, good. At least more than 50%. Maybe Report an error in the passage at 18:56 Highlight the passage at 18:56

19:15 that knower thing was too much. Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:20 It's hard to separate it in there. I found it kind of difficult, actually, myself, too. But they say it's... Report an error in the passage at 19:20 Highlight the passage at 19:20

19:36 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 19:36 Highlight the passage at 19:36

19:45 I mean, it's like, yeah, you can do that. I mean, when you're watching, it's like, who's knowing it? It's the difference between a lot of the times what we're aware of just like, oh, I have an ache in my knee, but we're not aware of the process of the thinker or the knower of the pain in the knee. Report an error in the passage at 19:45 Highlight the passage at 19:45

20:10 You know, that's... Report an error in the passage at 20:10 Highlight the passage at 20:10

20:19 Yeah, kind of works like that sometimes. Well, why not? I don't know. Pain-free? Nothing wrong? Report an error in the passage at 20:19 Highlight the passage at 20:19

20:38 Yeah, no, that's okay. Report an error in the passage at 20:38 Highlight the passage at 20:38

20:43 So, any comments, questions about the reading? Anything like that? Report an error in the passage at 20:43 Highlight the passage at 20:43

20:56 I read it before when I was in India, but my memory is horrible. So I read it again, but I marked a couple of spots. Report an error in the passage at 20:56 Highlight the passage at 20:56

21:37 This is something that I didn't mention in the other classes, and it deals with how we perceive things. And this is on page 7. So you can make a note. If you didn't print it and you have it on your computer at home, you can just make a note. It's on page 7 of the required reading. Report an error in the passage at 21:37 Highlight the passage at 21:37

22:10 And it's kind of in the middle of the really big paragraph. And it says there's different types of conditions that give rise to cognitive events. Report an error in the passage at 22:10 Highlight the passage at 22:10

22:31 It needs three things. And then it says, for example, for sensory perceptions, you need the external object and Report an error in the passage at 22:31 Highlight the passage at 22:31

22:47 then you need the, what they call the, let me see, you need the, Report an error in the passage at 22:47 Highlight the passage at 22:47

23:01 this one, the words are different. Okay. So maybe I better just read it. The sensory perceptions, you need the external object. The causal condition, which is the immediately preceding moment of consciousness. Oh, and the sense organ. They usually call it sense faculty. That's what it is, sense faculty. I couldn't think of that word. It doesn't really mean like if you're seeing something, it doesn't really mean the eyeball, but it's more like they say there's a subtle kind of a working of the eye. Report an error in the passage at 23:01 Highlight the passage at 23:01

23:44 Because like you can have an eyeball and still not see. So it's not actually the eyeball, but there's like a working of it. Like you have ears, but you don't necessarily have to hear. But so those three things have to come together. So you need the sense faculty, you need the object, and then you need the immediate preceding moment of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 23:44 Highlight the passage at 23:44

24:13 So with any one of those malfunctioning or missing... Then you don't have that experience of the object. Report an error in the passage at 24:13 Highlight the passage at 24:13

24:30 And then there was another one Report an error in the passage at 24:30 Highlight the passage at 24:30

24:36 about how we were talking about how the mind isn't the body and it's not the brain. And it says you can separate the mind from the coarse physical body. So the example that His Holiness said was you separate your mind from your body during sleep. He said you can even do some extra work. That you can't do with an ordinary body. He said, but you won't get paid for it. However you won't get paid for it is actually it. Report an error in the passage at 24:36 Highlight the passage at 24:36

25:19 But I thought those were kind of two interesting things to think about. Report an error in the passage at 25:19 Highlight the passage at 25:19

25:30 So with those of you who are here, I wanted to check in and see if the class was working out okay for you. Because, you know, It was a little bit confusing, the first two classes, I'm sure. And I don't want to make it so tough that, you know, people are thinking, geez, why am I sitting here? Report an error in the passage at 25:30 Highlight the passage at 25:30

25:57 What am I doing? And so I just wanted to kind of check in and get a reality check because, you know, the class is really for you. Report an error in the passage at 25:57 Highlight the passage at 25:57

26:07 And so I want to be able to make it kind of maybe a little more user-friendly if I can. If there's a problem with, you know, language or things like that. Report an error in the passage at 26:07 Highlight the passage at 26:07

26:26 Anybody, I mean, you know, if it's like a little tough or... The hardest part is finished, actually. I think it's going to get a little easier. We're going to start talking about anger, which is really familiar for everybody. Everybody this year is probably okay with it. If the people aren't here, they maybe should email them and say, is there a problem? Report an error in the passage at 26:26 Highlight the passage at 26:26

26:45 Yeah. Yeah, reality, yeah. Reality check. Well, you know, I forgot to mention again that the class was good. Did I say it was going to be Thursday? No, no, no. But in the email, did I mention Thursday? Because I'm thinking, uh-oh, what if everybody thought it was going to be tomorrow again? So I thought, uh-oh, maybe I messed up. Report an error in the passage at 26:45 Highlight the passage at 26:45

27:12 Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think on the first class, we mentioned that there were going to be two. wasn't here last week. Report an error in the passage at 27:12 Highlight the passage at 27:12

27:17 Yeah, but I'm not sure how clear that is and I forgot to put that into the emails too. Report an error in the passage at 27:17 Highlight the passage at 27:17

27:30 I may not have mentioned it anywhere. Send it out tomorrow morning. Report an error in the passage at 27:30 Highlight the passage at 27:30

27:42 But anyway, so if we have a recording and people were just all busy, maybe if they want to make up they can listen to a recording. we don't have people walking on the road tomorrow night because there's nobody over here. Report an error in the passage at 27:42 Highlight the passage at 27:42

27:57 Look at notes. But basically I thought I would kind of recap about how the mind works. And I thought about, you know, the question about the brown. You know, brown. What about the brown? And, you know, I mean, basically there are colors and there are shapes. And when we talk about emptiness, we're not talking about things not existing. Report an error in the passage at 27:57 Highlight the passage at 27:57

28:25 We're talking about things not existing the way they appear to us, which is like solid, permanent, independent. You know, this thing we call a cup looks completely independent from me, you know, and it looks like it has its own entity there, but there's a dependence. They're interdependent. And they also come about... Report an error in the passage at 28:25 Highlight the passage at 28:25

28:57 Due to causes and conditions, and so they're not inherently existing. Inherently existing would be just there, permanent, that's it. So with brown, I mean, there is something that appears like Report an error in the passage at 28:57 Highlight the passage at 28:57

29:25 this. There's a shape and a color. And we've just agreed to call it brown. That's all it is. We've just agreed to call it brown. And we've agreed to call it a rectangle. Report an error in the passage at 29:25 Highlight the passage at 29:25

29:46 And how it appears to us is really dependent on our karma. Because I'm sure this would look way different to a robin. I don't know how it would look. Maybe a woodpecker might like pecking on it. But, you know, I mean, it's kind of useless because they really can't hide much in it. Report an error in the passage at 29:46 Highlight the passage at 29:46

30:11 So a lot of... A lot of how we perceive things is just totally due to our karma. And because we all perceive things similarly, it's because we have a similar karma. Report an error in the passage at 30:11 Highlight the passage at 30:11

30:28 So the people that are born like in Africa and go through these horrendous bits of suffering, you know, with lack of food and water, all have created similar causes. Karmic causes to be born together in that kind of an environment. It doesn't justify the environment and it doesn't say, oh well that's their karma so just let them stay there and suffer. Report an error in the passage at 30:28 Highlight the passage at 30:28

30:59 I mean whenever you can to help to try to relieve some suffering, yeah, do it. But for us to be pretty affluent and pretty comfortable, it's our karma and it's a good karma. It's from generosity and from virtuous activities, conduct that we did in the past, that kind of thing. So, you know, we have a big part to play in who we are, where we are, what are our circumstances. Report an error in the passage at 30:59 Highlight the passage at 30:59

31:39 You could be a nun at Lama Zopa's house or a dog at Lama Zopa's house. Or a monk at Lama Tsongkhapa's house. Or maybe one of the fish swimming around. He has a pond in his front room with a stupa in the middle and the fish swim around the stupa, which is good for the fish. But you're there at Lama Tsongkhapa's house and you're getting huge amounts of blessings, but you really can't learn the Dharma like you could if you were a monk or a nun at the house. Report an error in the passage at 31:39 Highlight the passage at 31:39

32:19 Okay. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 32:19 Highlight the passage at 32:19

32:24 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 32:24 Highlight the passage at 32:24

32:41 Yeah, there is something there. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 32:41 Highlight the passage at 32:41

32:54 Well, that, yeah, yeah, the cup, yeah, that plus the observer. So, you Report an error in the passage at 32:54 Highlight the passage at 32:54

33:16 know, and somebody that, you very much. Report an error in the passage at 33:16 Highlight the passage at 33:16

33:17 That doesn't like mountains and hates the color blue would probably think, oh, yeah, couldn't they do it in fuchsia? With a flower? Or maybe I want a beach. They should have put a beach with some waves. Report an error in the passage at 33:17 Highlight the passage at 33:17

33:41 But, yeah, I mean, everything has causes and conditions. And the way we experience things, the primary... The cause of what we experience in our lives is ourselves. But there's a lot of conditions and things that support that. Report an error in the passage at 33:41 Highlight the passage at 33:41

34:07 The knower is the one that watches yourself observe. You observe the cup so there's its eye consciousness and it's the mental consciousness that knows. Report an error in the passage at 34:07 Highlight the passage at 34:07

34:33 Because when you get into subtler states of consciousness you can... You can kind of isolate yourself from the five sense consciousnesses. Report an error in the passage at 34:33 Highlight the passage at 34:33

34:54 So last time we ended with the like, don't like and don't care. So I thought that might be a good place to start today. And so I'm going to skip the don't care. We'll talk about like and don't like. Because both of them arise. Due to our current state of mind. And you can see that that may be true because maybe when you were a kid you hated spinach. Report an error in the passage at 34:54 Highlight the passage at 34:54

35:30 And when you got to be an adult you got to love spinach. So your current state of mind has changed. It changes all the time. And so the likes and the don't likes can also change. Report an error in the passage at 35:30 Highlight the passage at 35:30

35:54 You know, of course, we're all in favor of having the likes and then we want to avoid the don't likes. And the mistake that we make is we think that the likes is going to bring us happiness. Report an error in the passage at 35:54 Highlight the passage at 35:54

36:13 We think that, you know, having money or nice clothes or whatever it is that we like, the perfect relationship, the nice house and car, the right number of kids and dog. Cat, all those different things is going to bring us happiness. And so we spend our life chasing this dream of happiness in all of these external things. Report an error in the passage at 36:13 Highlight the passage at 36:13

36:48 So that's a mistake. Report an error in the passage at 36:48 Highlight the passage at 36:48

36:55 And so the Buddha taught that even the likes, the things that seem to bring us happiness are actually cause suffering. So the things that bring us happiness, the Buddha taught this, the things that seem to bring us happiness actually cause suffering. So now you're going, okay, well next time I'm not coming to this class either. Report an error in the passage at 36:55 Highlight the passage at 36:55

37:23 I didn't sign up to find out how miserable my life is. Report an error in the passage at 37:23 Highlight the passage at 37:23

37:34 So how could that be possible, the things that bring us happiness? Happiness actually is the cause of suffering. So the Buddha, his first teaching was the Four Noble Truths. And basically the truths are, one, that there's suffering. Report an error in the passage at 37:34 Highlight the passage at 37:34

37:54 There's something that causes the suffering. We can actually stop it if we want to. And then he told us how. So this was really good news, the last two in particular. But he started out with suffering. Because if we don't really understand that, then we have no reason to change our mind in order to try to stop it. Report an error in the passage at 37:54 Highlight the passage at 37:54

38:20 And the second one tells us the cause of suffering is your mind. So you can stop it. So what I want to look at just for a little bit is the first one. There's suffering. And I mean really a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 38:20 Highlight the passage at 38:20

38:40 So we can all agree that the Buddha outlined kind of three different kinds of suffering. We'll talk particularly about two. Well, let's talk about all three. But, you know, it's something like the grossest suffering, what they call the suffering of suffering, is one that we know. It's a toothache. It's a broken heart. It's emotional upset because... Report an error in the passage at 38:40 Highlight the passage at 38:40

39:09 You lost something that you really liked or somebody stole something or you stubbed your toe on the corner of the table or you have an illness. So that we know. We know that's suffering. The second one is the one that's the subtle, more subtle one, and that's called the suffering of change. Report an error in the passage at 39:09 Highlight the passage at 39:09

39:35 And it's actually so subtle that we don't even think of it as suffering. And so they have a word that they use, it's called dukkha, which sounds kind of yucky, but dukkha. So in Sanskrit, that basically translates to suffering, but the word in English, suffering, doesn't completely explain what dukkha is. Report an error in the passage at 39:35 Highlight the passage at 39:35

40:05 And dukkha is what they call the suffering. Report an error in the passage at 40:05 Highlight the passage at 40:05

40:10 dukkha is really, it's just the fact that. We have an underlying dissatisfaction. And it just kind of explains that. Like we're never able to be really contended, really happy, really satisfied. There's always an underlying dissatisfaction. Report an error in the passage at 40:10 Highlight the passage at 40:10

40:40 Yeah. D-U-K-K-H-A. Report an error in the passage at 40:40 Highlight the passage at 40:40

40:50 So a lot of people, instead of saying suffering, they'll say dukkha because it means... Physical and mental pain, it means the more subtle underlying dissatisfaction that we have. And then the third one is even less obvious and it's more subtle. And that's just the fact that because we're born, we come into the world destined for suffering. Report an error in the passage at 40:50 Highlight the passage at 40:50

41:22 It's in our nature. We just have a suffering nature. Report an error in the passage at 41:22 Highlight the passage at 41:22

41:30 So this could be really depressing. Report an error in the passage at 41:30 Highlight the passage at 41:30

41:35 But what it is, it's like we have a flaw in our mind that just never lets us be truly satisfied, content or happy. And that's what we want. We want to be content, satisfied and happy. So if we don't first recognize that we've been looking at things maybe a little bit skewed, you know, and we don't look at... Report an error in the passage at 41:35 Highlight the passage at 41:35

42:00 Well, what will it take for me to be really content, satisfied and happy? We'll never change anything. So that's what working with the mind is about, is being able to begin to look at those things and begin to be able to change them. Report an error in the passage at 42:00 Highlight the passage at 42:00

42:23 So like an example of this is like, you know, getting something that we want. Maybe it's, you know. A new outfit, whatever kind of clothes that, you know, and we're like, we're going to look really great and we feel really good and it makes us really happy. And then pretty soon there's, maybe it starts to not be as appealing. We already wore it once. Report an error in the passage at 42:23 Highlight the passage at 42:23

42:51 Everybody saw it, you know. And men don't usually have quite as much of a problem with that, but maybe, you know. They just, you know, get tired of the same things. A spot shows up somewhere and it doesn't quite come out and there's this funny little shadow that you've got to try and put a tie on top of the hide. Report an error in the passage at 42:51 Highlight the passage at 42:51

43:16 It's not the same, it's not, it doesn't have that glamour and glory, that beautifulness that, you know, that when we got it. And so it begins to, we get to be, you know, it gets worn. We get tired of it. Dissatisfaction arises. We get dissatisfied with it. We need a new something, a new outfit. One that will really make us happy. Well, that one really made us happy. And it turned to a suffering. Report an error in the passage at 43:16 Highlight the passage at 43:16

43:52 Pretty soon we hated it. We want to get rid of it. Report an error in the passage at 43:52 Highlight the passage at 43:52

43:58 And also, you can see when you... Feel cold and it's a nice sunny day out and go out and sit in the sun. Oh, this feels so great. Well, if you stay in the sun too long, it becomes suffering. And then you got to go in the shade because you're getting too hot or maybe you're going to burn your skin. And then you go in the shade and it starts to get a little too cold. Report an error in the passage at 43:58 Highlight the passage at 43:58

44:26 So it's like back and forth and back and forth. You know, you can see that it's like. It does bring, it does, all of these things do bring happiness. But we expect a lasting happiness. And what happens is it's only a temporary happiness. So we misperceive it. And then we're disappointed when things like relationships, you know, relationships change and they break up. Report an error in the passage at 44:26 Highlight the passage at 44:26

44:52 We expect them to be there forever. Whether it's a relationship with a parent, you know. We don't expect them. We don't think about them dying. We want them to be there forever. And then all of a sudden they die and it's like, oh, we're devastated. We're devastated because we thought they were going to be there. It's not to say that those kinds of things aren't sad, but the way we perceive things isn't always realistic. Report an error in the passage at 44:52 Highlight the passage at 44:52

45:30 So we can change all that. Report an error in the passage at 45:30 Highlight the passage at 45:30

45:41 So the mind is really dynamic and it initiates all of our actions of body and speech. And there's quotes from, this is from the Dhammapada, which is just a whole bunch of sayings from the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 45:41 Highlight the passage at 45:41

46:04 I'll just read them. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with impure mind and trouble will follow you as the wheel follows an ox that draws the car. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Report an error in the passage at 46:04 Highlight the passage at 46:04

46:36 Speak or act with a pure mind and happiness will follow you as a shadow unbreakable. How can a troubled mind understand the way your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded? But once mastered, no one can help you as much, not even your father or your mother. So it just tells us that all of the trouble that we have was caused. Report an error in the passage at 46:36 Highlight the passage at 46:36

47:12 By our minds, all of the happiness we have is caused by our minds and that getting control of our minds is the only way to really be able to help ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 47:12 Highlight the passage at 47:12

47:26 And it's the way that we're going to be able to begin to gain that sense of satisfaction and contentment. So that doesn't mean that you have to deny yourself all of these wonderful things that make you happy, not by any means. But when you have something, the new outfit, the new car, recognize that it's impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 47:26 Highlight the passage at 47:26

47:55 It's a temporary happiness. Enjoy it. Relish it. Love it. Really have a great time. But just know that... It's not going to bring you that really true, lasting contentment that you want. The only way that you'll get that, you can't get it from anything external. The only way you're going to get it is from inside. And that's hopefully why we're sitting here, so we can learn how to get that happiness and joy and contentment inside. Report an error in the passage at 47:55 Highlight the passage at 47:55

48:27 And when we get that, you can't get anything outside that's better. Report an error in the passage at 48:27 Highlight the passage at 48:27

48:36 So hopefully... We can begin to just, with the practices, make little changes so that we can begin to see that mind shifting just a bit. Report an error in the passage at 48:36 Highlight the passage at 48:36

48:56 So is there anybody that thinks that, absolutely thinks, that happiness and suffering comes from something outside of ourselves? How Report an error in the passage at 48:56 Highlight the passage at 48:56

49:12 many think that happiness or suffering comes from outside of ourselves? I don't know if you're having pain, but it's not, I Report an error in the passage at 49:12 Highlight the passage at 49:12

49:30 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 49:30 Highlight the passage at 49:30

49:36 Well, I mean, see, what we do with our mind, see, like Lama Zopa, probably, he was having like a, he was struggled. He had a lot of, you know, problems. Lama Yashi, when he was dying, I'm sure some of the, you know, maybe had some pain. I'm not sure whether they can totally... At certain levels, you can transform anything. At our level, no, we can't. But, you know, that's the idea. Report an error in the passage at 49:36 Highlight the passage at 49:36

50:08 We're going to transform our mind so we can transform our realities, we can transform lots of things. Right now, we can't. But so, I don't know, you know, like Lama Yashi, whether he really was suffering or not, or whether Lama Zopa was really suffering or not, or whether he was just, you know. Report an error in the passage at 50:08 Highlight the passage at 50:08

50:29 Demonstrating the way to practice. The way to sort of see it is like it's stimuli that comes to us. It's either our attachment or our aversion which makes it suffering. So like if you're not attached to it, you're not pushing it away, it's just stimulus. That's sort of how I see it. Yeah. You can have a toothache and still have a peaceful mind. Yeah, you're not suffering. Report an error in the passage at 50:29 Highlight the passage at 50:29

51:03 You're in pain. It may be in pain, but you can be still, you know. You're not suffering. Pain is, in a sense, pain is a gross suffering. So we could say, I mean, there is that, you know, until we get to the point where we can maybe transmute that, which is not impossible, because I remember I was in, this is way before I started Buddhism, but I was in Salt Lake City. Report an error in the passage at 51:03 Highlight the passage at 51:03

51:32 In the 70s, and I was actually again teaching some kind of class. And there was this process called rolfing. I don't know if you've ever heard of it. They go in like with their fingers really deep and practically pry the tendons and muscles and everything away from the bones and separate everything, you know. Report an error in the passage at 51:32 Highlight the passage at 51:32

51:56 So I had an opportunity to stay with a rolfer and then so I was going to get two sessions and usually they do them a couple weeks apart. So I had like one one day and one the next day or something like that. And so we got to the second day and they were doing the feet and it's like we're talking about digging really deep and it was like oh I thought I was going to die. Report an error in the passage at 51:56 Highlight the passage at 51:56

52:18 I was laying on the table like in agony. I mean it really hurt. I couldn't believe it. Like down your leg, you know, separating the muscle in your leg from the bone practically, you know. But anyway. Report an error in the passage at 52:18 Highlight the passage at 52:18

52:40 Well, actually, it helps you to really realign your body because things get all kind of tied. You get scar tissues and things kind of get all... Squished up and you, you know, kind of open it up, space it out, spread it around the way it's supposed to be. But I had this one experience in India where I won't go into that, but they said, just put yourself back there. Report an error in the passage at 52:40 Highlight the passage at 52:40

53:07 So this was a state of mind. So I'm laying on the table in excruciating pain. And she said that and I thought, oh, and I kind of put my mind and I'm not even sure how I did it, but. Put my mind back into that space that I experienced in India. The pain disappeared like that. And what took its place was this energy that was so incredible that I couldn't even talk. Report an error in the passage at 53:07 Highlight the passage at 53:07

53:39 I went like, wow, wow. You know, and I was laying there and pretty soon, like, energy is... Flowing up my body and down my arms and my fingertips felt like they were this big balls of energy and it was flying out of me and I was like, Report an error in the passage at 53:39 Highlight the passage at 53:39

53:59 I'm completely different than the agony that I was in just a minute before. So now can I do that now? Not at all. Not at all. I guess I got lucky. But it shows. Report an error in the passage at 53:59 Highlight the passage at 53:59

54:23 That it is in your mind. It shows that it's in your mind. Now whether you can do it all the time or not, you know, that takes practice and it takes working with your mind. Obviously I'm kind of lazy. I kind of let that get dusty. But it's possible. So who knows what people actually feel and what you can call pain or what, you know, it is, you can, it is. Report an error in the passage at 54:23 Highlight the passage at 54:23

54:55 It's impossible to transform those things, but Report an error in the passage at 54:55 Highlight the passage at 54:55

55:05 suffering. Oh, outside of ourselves. Outside of ourselves, yeah. So I could say that that person digging in my, digging at me was causing me to suffer. Report an error in the passage at 55:05 Highlight the passage at 55:05

55:24 What? Report an error in the passage at 55:24 Highlight the passage at 55:24

55:31 Well, that's a start. I mean, you know, we can't experience it now, necessarily. Report an error in the passage at 55:31 Highlight the passage at 55:31

55:45 Like I remember getting hit on the top of my head with a fist. I was sitting on the floor and somebody was like pounding on the top of my head with their fist. And every time they would hit my head, I would see these rainbow colors flying out in all directions all the way around my head. And I was going, wow. Report an error in the passage at 55:45 Highlight the passage at 55:45

56:08 I guess I'm a little wacko. was... Report an error in the passage at 56:08 Highlight the passage at 56:08

56:19 But I mean, Report an error in the passage at 56:19 Highlight the passage at 56:19

56:24 but anyways, basically, in essence, when we actually do a lot of work, and it's like people, I mean, if I hit myself, if I stub my toe, it's not like ecstasy. It hurts. Report an error in the passage at 56:24 Highlight the passage at 56:24

56:45 But it is possible to transform these things with our mind. Now we can't do it now. You know, Report an error in the passage at 56:45 Highlight the passage at 56:45

56:57 yeah. know? Report an error in the passage at 56:57 Highlight the passage at 56:57

56:58 I mean, look at the people, how some people hate getting a shot, can't stand the sight of a needle, and other people, you know, put needles all over their bodies, you know, just for fun, you know? It's like a way to play, right? They stick needles in their bodies. Report an error in the passage at 56:58 Highlight the passage at 56:58

57:36 Yeah, see, yeah. Well, Report an error in the passage at 57:36 Highlight the passage at 57:36

57:47 yeah. But that's something that generally will stay as a residue and eventually will come out. What we're talking about is actually knowing or transforming. Report an error in the passage at 57:47 Highlight the passage at 57:47

58:12 Rubina talks about, you know, in her movie that she did about chasing Buddha, about some guys picking her up and... Driving her out into the bush and raping her. And I don't know how traumatized she was, but she traumatized them because she directed them how they should do it. And when they finished, she made them drive her back to where she was. She totally humiliated them. Report an error in the passage at 58:12 Highlight the passage at 58:12

58:52 She said, okay, you're done. Next. You know, I mean literally, and she talks about it in the movie, you know. So, you know, it shows you the power of your mind and how, you know, under the worst circumstances, it's possible to transform it. Now that doesn't mean we can all do it, that we're all going to go get crazy and walk in dangerous neighborhoods. Report an error in the passage at 58:52 Highlight the passage at 58:52

59:26 In the middle of the night, figuring, oh, I'll just transform anything that comes at me, you know. Okay, go ahead, shoot, you know, maybe I'll just let it go through. Report an error in the passage at 59:26 Highlight the passage at 59:26

59:37 This won't work. Anyway, I'm getting way off. Maybe we can finish tomorrow night and see if anybody else shows up. Nothing's happening at the center. Report an error in the passage at 59:37 Highlight the passage at 59:37

59:54 anyway, so basically we... Spend a lot of time trying to manipulate our outer world and our environment and experiences and the people around us. And, you know, we try to manipulate all of those things. And the real enemies are just in our mind. Report an error in the passage at 59:54 Highlight the passage at 59:54

1:00:19 And so one of the examples like this traditional teaching is they talk about. The earth being covered with stones and pebbles and somebody's walking and it hurts their feet. And so they decide maybe in order so that their feet don't hurt, they can cover the earth. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:19 Highlight the passage at 1:00:19

1:00:40 So it's much more practical to just cover your feet. So you're not going to be able to change the world. You're not going to be able to change all the circumstances. Bad stuff is going to happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:40 Highlight the passage at 1:00:40

1:00:55 It's not going to be all rosy and good just because we sit in a class and start practicing Buddhism and even doing the exercises. Bad stuff will happen, but we learn how to cover our feet. We're going to learn how to work with it to try to protect ourselves from the real super, super strong suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:55 Highlight the passage at 1:00:55

1:01:22 And even with illnesses, people... Don't need to suffer a lot. You know, my friend when she was dying still had a really good sense of humor. There may have been some suffering, but she wasn't suffering this mental angst and turmoil like some people who get a death sentence. You have three months left maybe to live. You know, some of them are miserable and they like eating on the life. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:22 Highlight the passage at 1:01:22

1:01:58 You know, you can have a happy mind, more contented mind. And a lot of that really does have to do with our practices here, what we do. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:58 Highlight the passage at 1:01:58

1:02:11 But anyway, so it, oh, that's the next part. Whoa, how did that happen? It's important to remember that at the time of death. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:11 Highlight the passage at 1:02:11

1:02:23 But even at the time of death, it's like preparing for death, but even at the time of death, it really makes a big difference because if we habituate ourselves towards positive states of mind, then it's more likely that a positive state of mind will come up when we're in our dying death process. If we're more familiar with the negative states of mind, it's more possible that the negative states will come up during that time. And the reason this is important is because at the time of death, when we're actually going through the death process, our state of mind determines what they call our throwing karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:23 Highlight the passage at 1:02:23

1:03:11 And throwing karma is basically the karma that throws us into the next life. So if we have a positive state of mind, it throws us into a positive future life. Negative state of mind will throw us into a negative one. And then there's like a billion other variables that all start to fit in to make up the whole next life. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:11 Highlight the passage at 1:03:11

1:03:40 But basically the throwing karma is determined by our state of mind, our basic state of mind at the time of death. Practicing positive states of mind, developing them and reducing the negative ones not only helps us to be more happy and contented now, but it's really important for the future and it impacts our future lives because it impacts the conditions at the end of this life which throws us into the next one. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:40 Highlight the passage at 1:03:40

1:04:15 So that's all dependent on... The belief in future lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:15 Highlight the passage at 1:04:15

1:04:25 Anyway, so unraveling the fantasies. We make up a lot of stories. This is a section. Unraveling fantasies. Lama Yeshe calls it hallucinations. So most of the time what we do is we just create a bunch of stories or fantasies. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:25 Highlight the passage at 1:04:25

1:04:46 And delusions that arise in our mind strengthen. The stories and then the stories help to strengthen the delusions and they kind of feed each other until pretty soon we have a whole misunderstanding and a misapprehension of reality. There's no basis in reality and then we believe that these stories are true and usually we don't even question our belief and we can even find other people that will agree with us. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:46 Highlight the passage at 1:04:46

1:05:25 We make up a story about I don't know, I probably shouldn't be talking about politics here. But I mean, we make up a story about certain kinds of politicians that do, I was going to say something else, but I'll try to make it neutral, relatively neutral. Certain kind of politicians that are like, you know, want to do things that we think will be harmful. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:25 Highlight the passage at 1:05:25

1:05:56 To society as a whole or that doesn't help society as a whole. It just helps maybe a few people. And other people think, oh, well, it's crazy because you're really taking away from everybody because you're not doing this thing. And so we can find like big groups of people that'll agree with these stories that we make up about things. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:56 Highlight the passage at 1:05:56

1:06:28 And, you know, a lot of people go, Well, yeah, it's really true. I mean, I can sit there and watch the news, which is a really good exercise for training the mind. When you see, when you buy into the stories and you only see one way and one side. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:28 Highlight the passage at 1:06:28

1:06:48 So we have to begin to dissect our own stories that we've created. And so when they arise, we want to try to not give in to them. Because often what happens, we create a story. And then we believe the story, we give in to it, and then based on this fantasy or hallucination, as Lama Yeshi often calls it, we act on it. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:48 Highlight the passage at 1:06:48

1:07:22 And often we end up causing suffering, more suffering to ourselves and others because of it. So in order to begin to unravel these stories and to look at these things, like when... When we're impatient, when we yell at somebody, a certain bunch of letters connected in a particular fashion that makes certain words all of a sudden come to our ears and we get furious. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:22 Highlight the passage at 1:07:22

1:07:58 The reason that happens is because we have this whole story about these words and the person and the this and the that and the blah, blah, blah, blah. And we don't even have to think about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:58 Highlight the passage at 1:07:58

1:08:12 Sets it off. So the place to be able to start to begin to look at this is during meditations when you can kind of separate yourself enough and sit down and really begin to explore. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:12 Highlight the passage at 1:08:12

1:08:31 So basically stories are based on distortions, right? Aversion, we distort the negative qualities of something to the point where we... Only see negative sometimes. Attachment distorts qualities so that we only see the positive or we focus mainly on the positive ones. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:31 Highlight the passage at 1:08:31

1:09:00 Like the car that's beautiful that we can't afford that'll probably keep us in debt forever and it'll cause all these problems in our life but all we see is the beautiful attractiveness and all of the good qualities of it. Not, you know, we forget about all the other problems and sufferings that it will cause us. So that's attachment and we go after it. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:00 Highlight the passage at 1:09:00

1:09:27 We want it. Or the perfect body. We see a body and we go, wow, I want that one. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:27 Highlight the passage at 1:09:27

1:09:39 Anyway, so, yeah, so the example is, you know, when we first fall in love, you know, you see the person, you just... You can't stand to be away from them for a minute. Everything is beautiful and you love their voice. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:39 Highlight the passage at 1:09:39

1:10:00 You're just totally in heaven, all of these great things. After a while, things begin to change. Maybe you might even develop a little bit of aversion so that sweet, wonderful, beautiful voice that you heard becomes screeching. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:00 Highlight the passage at 1:10:00

1:10:21 Or, you know, maybe you thought that the cologne or perfume or whatever it is that they wore or the soap that they used or didn't use, whatever you like, was the best thing in the world. And then they become kind of stinky. You know, things change. Or you don't like the way they eat. Or maybe they watch... Report an error in the passage at 1:10:21 Highlight the passage at 1:10:21

1:10:50 Too much television, too much sports or too much mystery shows or too many stupid comedies that you don't like. And you think, oh, that's, you know, you find these things to become, to create a version. So at first, it's like lots of attachment. Then that changes, changes to a version. Pretty soon we might find it difficult to find anything we like about them. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:50 Highlight the passage at 1:10:50

1:11:24 And then we can't wait to get away. How many times have we done that? Report an error in the passage at 1:11:24 Highlight the passage at 1:11:24

1:11:36 So this is all in our mind. This is all based on all these stories and hallucinations that we've conjured up in our mind, either making it really attractive and just wanting it, or really horrible and wanting to get away from it, and it could be exactly the same thing. The stories change, but it's all our stories. So we hallucinate goodness or horribleness with elaborate stories, and then we base our actions of body and speech on them. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:36 Highlight the passage at 1:11:36

1:12:16 So that's what we've been doing. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:16 Highlight the passage at 1:12:16

1:12:21 So any questions? We can take a little break. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:21 Highlight the passage at 1:12:21

1:12:28 Okay, well, we're going to talk about... A little bit of like the anger. It's meditations and it's little by little. First you have to recognize that you have a story. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:28 Highlight the passage at 1:12:28

1:12:43 Like I had a story when I was working about how my boss was so stingy and mean and he always expected, I mean, you know, he thought because we got computers you push a button and everything came out. He didn't realize how much work it was to get him the reports he wanted. Everything had to go in, it had to be organized, and all this. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:43 Highlight the passage at 1:12:43

1:13:10 And he didn't want to talk to you about it, because he didn't, for some reason, I guess he wasn't talking too much. I thought it was to women, to me, for sure. He didn't want to talk about me. He didn't want to hear what I had to say, you know. So I had all this whole story about how he's so stingy, and I was like... Report an error in the passage at 1:13:10 Highlight the passage at 1:13:10

1:13:31 Didn't want to, he was like a chauvinist, he didn't want to listen, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so I started to do some Buddhist classes and, you know, we'd talk about how kind people are and how all other beings are so kind. And I started thinking, well, you know, actually, he gave me a job. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:31 Highlight the passage at 1:13:31

1:13:55 I am making money. It wasn't a huge amount. I thought it was still a little bit low, but it was enough for me to be able to begin to get a house, you know. And so I thought, well, you know, maybe I'll just change my mind. So I changed my mind, you know, and I thought, you know, and I thought, well, you know, I started like feeling instead of like stingy, miserable guy, I started appreciating him, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:55 Highlight the passage at 1:13:55

1:14:25 and, know, just. And I just did it myself. I didn't tell anybody. And all of a sudden, he started talking to me. He started listening to what I had to say. Now, I don't know if all the time you get the same good results, but it totally transformed the way we interacted with each other. Why? I have no idea. I really, I can't explain it. But it did. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:25 Highlight the passage at 1:14:25

1:15:00 And it took me changing my mind and changing my view and opening a space. So Report an error in the passage at 1:15:00 Highlight the passage at 1:15:00

1:15:13 you look at the stories you have and then you look at ways to be able to transform them or change them. And so we're going to talk about, after the break, we're going to talk about things that work for any of the delusions. And then in particular things, well, in relationship mainly to anger, because that's a really popular one. Anybody not have anger? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:13 Highlight the passage at 1:15:13

1:15:41 Are we all familiar with it? And it's one of the most harmful, so might as well get that one first. But let's take a quick break. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:41 Highlight the passage at 1:15:41

1:15:58 Any questions about anything we talked about before? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:58 Highlight the passage at 1:15:58

1:16:08 So, anger. So we're all familiar with it and it's a good place to start because it's one of the heaviest mental afflictions and it can create suffering almost immediately for yourself and for others. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:08 Highlight the passage at 1:16:08

1:16:31 It creates health problems, you could lose friends, you could lose partners, jobs, possibly even your life. And so not only that, but it makes you look horrible. Nobody looks pretty when they're really upset and angry. You say, oh, she's so beautiful when she's angry. Well, I don't know. I mean, you know, some people, I guess some people do say that maybe. I don't know. But it kind of makes you look horrible. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:31 Highlight the passage at 1:16:31

1:17:03 You end up losing sleep. You know, you don't, sometimes you can't even think clearly. And then you end up doing things that you regret. So you can see how much suffering that anger can cause. And there's never a good reason to get angry. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:03 Highlight the passage at 1:17:03

1:17:24 Like some people say, well, there's this injustice and we have to fight it. And they get all, you know, get angry, actually angry about it. But, you know, if we keep a clear mind, peaceful mind, and then apply. Ourselves to a problem, we can generally produce a more powerful, stronger result. It's like the Dalai Lama. You don't see the Dalai Lama get angry at China for throwing everybody out of the country and killing billions of monks. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:24 Highlight the passage at 1:17:24

1:18:07 Maybe not billions, excuse me. A little exaggeration. But a lot, a lot, a lot. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:07 Highlight the passage at 1:18:07

1:18:18 So there's never a good reason. And that's a good thing just to remember. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:18 Highlight the passage at 1:18:18

1:18:28 The other thing is that it's good not to beat yourself up with what you hear when you get angry. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:28 Highlight the passage at 1:18:28

1:18:40 Because, you know, it's like right now we're at a point where, you know, anger is like this big boulder that's rolling down the hill. And we're not going to just be able to jump in front of it and stop it. It's going to roll over us and then we're going to have to try and get further down the hill. And as it rolls, it kind of gets smaller and smaller. Maybe little bits fall off when it hits rocks and things. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:40 Highlight the passage at 1:18:40

1:19:10 These rocks might be our meditation. But it gets smaller and smaller until pretty soon we can get in front of it. Instead of it rolling over us, we can actually stop it. Or maybe in between, we can slow it down, but it still hits us. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:10 Highlight the passage at 1:19:10

1:19:28 So it's a gradual process. So right now, you know, we can't expect miracles. We can't expect instantaneous changes. But we can start looking. And so the Buddha taught that instead of anger, we should act out of compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:28 Highlight the passage at 1:19:28

1:19:50 And so with compassion, we can actually be more effective and powerful. And what it comes down to is motivation is everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:50 Highlight the passage at 1:19:50

1:20:04 That doesn't mean that we're compassion doormats. We're not compassion doormats. We're not going to be compassion doormats. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:04 Highlight the passage at 1:20:04

1:20:16 It doesn't mean that we can't try to protect ourselves or others. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:16 Highlight the passage at 1:20:16

1:20:24 They say the motivation to stop someone from harming another person is the motivation to see how the perpetrator is creating so much Report an error in the passage at 1:20:24 Highlight the passage at 1:20:24

1:20:40 Harm to themselves with their actions that they're doing. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:40 Highlight the passage at 1:20:40

1:20:49 And that's kind of a hard one to get because it's always easy. I found it always easy for me to feel sympathy for the victim and then, you know, not feel sympathy or actually feel maybe some anger or upset at the perpetrator. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:49 Highlight the passage at 1:20:49

1:21:14 When the truth is actually that the victim is a victim because of their past karma, which doesn't justify anybody harming them anyway. I'm not trying to say that it's justified. But the fact is that, you know, they say if you kill, you'll be killed. You know, people that stole things in the past. We'll be the victims of theft. And that's your past karma ripening. When it ripens, it is gone. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:14 Highlight the passage at 1:21:14

1:21:56 So if we don't keep creating the karma to have it keep recurring, eventually it'll run out. And I say eventually because if you consider countless past lives in which we've probably done everything under the sun, we have quite a storehouse of karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:56 Highlight the passage at 1:21:56

1:22:17 And we can work on it. We can work on it in a lot of ways and we'll talk about those things. But so basically, where was I? Basically. Not the karmic doormats. Okay. Oh, the perpetrator. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we can. But you see that perpetrator with compassion because what they're doing is right at that time, they're setting themselves up. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:17 Highlight the passage at 1:22:17

1:22:47 For that same suffering countless times in the future. Countless times. And maybe greater. So with compassion, we try to stop. Compassion to eliminate the suffering of the person whose karma is ripening and compassion for the person who is actually committing the action because we know that they're creating More negative karma. So, like say in the instance of somebody yelling at you, that's your karma from yelling in the past at someone. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:47 Highlight the passage at 1:22:47

1:23:39 Ripening, it's coming back at you as yelling. You yelled and so it comes back at you as yelling. The person who's yelling at you. It's just setting themselves up for even more suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:39 Highlight the passage at 1:23:39

1:23:59 But we'll talk about that a little bit further on. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:59 Highlight the passage at 1:23:59

1:24:05 Anyway, so we want to be able to use wisdom and skillful ways to overcome obstacles and difficulties. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:05 Highlight the passage at 1:24:05

1:24:19 So we'll learn how, you know, we'll practice, we'll learn. So dealing with mental afflictions like anger. Attachment, but anger. There's two unskillful ways. One is to totally suppress or deny it. In the case of anger, we're talking about anger. Totally suppress and deny it. The other way is to just let our mind be completely controlled by it. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:19 Highlight the passage at 1:24:19

1:24:54 And that's true for any emotion, whether it's attachment, jealousy, pride. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:54 Highlight the passage at 1:24:54

1:25:07 So the unskillful ways is to suppress and deny it and the other one is to just let ourselves be totally controlled by our emotions. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:07 Highlight the passage at 1:25:07

1:25:21 And then the skillful ways, the Buddha teaches like a middle way, is first to just to simply acknowledge that it's there. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:21 Highlight the passage at 1:25:21

1:25:36 So that means admitting the emotions when they come up. And it doesn't necessarily mean confessing it to someone else. You just notice, oh, there's some really strong attachment. Like I remember telling Geshe-la that, our Geshe-dakpa, when I was at his house this last, in January, because generally I... Report an error in the passage at 1:25:36 Highlight the passage at 1:25:36

1:26:04 Try not to eat after whenever we have our midday meal. And when they have dinner, usually they have this really delicious soup that I absolutely love. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:04 Highlight the passage at 1:26:04

1:26:20 It's like called tupa and sometimes they have momos and they never have momos for lunch. Why don't they have momos for lunch? It's like, oh. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:20 Highlight the passage at 1:26:20

1:26:32 Talk about being able to watch my attachment. So Geshe-la sits at the head of the table with his Rinpoche and so I sit kind of next to Geshe-la and out comes the momos. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:32 Highlight the passage at 1:26:32

1:26:46 And this was like about the third time I sat there and everybody every night is eating this delicious soup and then every once in a while the momos come out and I said, Geshe-la, I'm going to eat momos. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:46 Highlight the passage at 1:26:46

1:27:05 My attachment got the best of me. And he just kind of laughed. And I had a couple of veggie momos. But Report an error in the passage at 1:27:05 Highlight the passage at 1:27:05

1:27:18 it's like that. You just can watch it. It's like, oh. And you can feel. Anyway, so same thing. You just acknowledge it. You don't have to confess it. I confess it. Because I confessed it out loud because I wanted to eat the momos and I wanted to explain why I was eating the momos. Especially because Geshe-le knows that I don't eat after. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:18 Highlight the passage at 1:27:18

1:27:45 Anyway, so the other way, the other skillful way to take care of it is to apply the antidotes. And so we work with emotions applying it. Applying antidotes, which we'll talk about some antidotes, so that we can either dissolve it or we can transform it. So sometimes you can transform a negative mind into a positive mind, or you can just dissolve away the negative mind. But what we do is we do it in order to help us break the cycle of harm. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:45 Highlight the passage at 1:27:45

1:28:36 These are general antidotes actually that work really well for all of the afflictions. And they're ones that you can use kind of in a meditation practice. Like you can imagine some of like situations, like if there's a particular situation at work that really gets you upset, no matter how many times it happens and you go, okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:36 Highlight the passage at 1:28:36

1:29:04 Next time they say that, next time they do that, I'm not going to get upset. And then the next time they do it, what happens? You get upset. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:04 Highlight the passage at 1:29:04

1:29:15 You know, you're like, okay, I would do that with my friend that I shared a house with. Not Chokey, this was a friend before. Just to make it clear, for those of you who know, for anybody who knows. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:15 Highlight the passage at 1:29:15

1:29:32 Okay, I'm not, I'm not. Stay calm. Not going to get upset. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:32 Highlight the passage at 1:29:32

1:29:41 Okay. Line one, line two. Pretty good so far. Oops. Then it's like pretty soon I reach my limit, you know, and out comes the upset. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:41 Highlight the passage at 1:29:41

1:29:57 So, but anyway. So, so the best way is to like, you know, in meditation, you pick that thing that really gets you going and you kind of. Run scenarios. You see that happening. You see yourself. Rather than responding the way you normally do, you practice staying calm. You can practice. You can use any of these techniques that we'll be talking about to try to transform that and to diffuse the... Report an error in the passage at 1:29:57 Highlight the passage at 1:29:57

1:30:38 The tightness of that particular emotion, this particular anger or upset, kind of begin to unravel it and give it a little more space there, a little more space to be able to look at controlling it. So the first one is to cultivate mindfulness. So that means basically watching your mind in meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:38 Highlight the passage at 1:30:38

1:31:06 Then you can extend it to watching your mind on the street. And so this is like knowing what the emotions feel like, you know, what they feel like when they just begin to arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:06 Highlight the passage at 1:31:06

1:31:24 You know, if we can catch a lot of times, well, for me, I mean, like words are flying out my mouth before I really hardly recognize that I'm upset. And then all of a sudden it's like, wow. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:24 Highlight the passage at 1:31:24

1:31:39 So with mindfulness, we can begin to watch and watch to see when are these things arising? What do they feel like when they're coming on? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:39 Highlight the passage at 1:31:39

1:31:57 And then to see what antidotes might work. So when we're doing our meditations, mindfulness is the thing that keeps us on that object. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:57 Highlight the passage at 1:31:57

1:32:17 And here we can use it to notice when anger starts to come up or when aversion begins, when attachment to an object begins. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:17 Highlight the passage at 1:32:17

1:32:32 And so it just it takes a lot of practice. And so the best place to do it is in meditation because it kind of gives you like a stage to rehearse on. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:32 Highlight the passage at 1:32:32

1:32:46 And then the next, the other one, there's four particular ones. That I listed is to remember the nature of the mind is clear, pure and knowing. And so that's going to be actually the meditation homework for this week is to try to get in touch with the clear, pure nature of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:46 Highlight the passage at 1:32:46

1:33:17 So basically, you know. Our mind is like clear, it's fast and open like the sky without any waves or anything or like the ocean. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:17 Highlight the passage at 1:33:17

1:33:30 And the emotion is like the clouds or the waves. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:30 Highlight the passage at 1:33:30

1:33:38 But the basic nature of our mind is clear and knowing. And so no matter how strong the delusions, the clouds, you can have huge thunderclouds or giants. Storm waves, no matter how big they are, our mind is still pure and clear. And the waves and the clouds are just temporary things that are going through that clear, spacious space. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:38 Highlight the passage at 1:33:38

1:34:13 And so we begin to look at it and we can see that the emotions... Are impermanent and they're not really part of our mind. It's like a cloud going through the sky. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:13 Highlight the passage at 1:34:13

1:34:34 Of course, like with an ocean, it does arise out of that clear knowing nature and goes back into it. But the base of our mind, our openness and calmness of mind is like the depth of the ocean. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:34 Highlight the passage at 1:34:34

1:34:58 The emotions and all the thoughts and everything are like the waves and the things that happen on the top of the ocean. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:58 Highlight the passage at 1:34:58

1:35:09 But anyway, so one of the things you can do is like if you feel yourself kind of getting overwhelmed by the emotions or thoughts that are running through your mind, you can just look at the sky and remind yourself that your mind is like the sky and that all of that is just like a few clouds right now and it's just going to all go away. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:09 Highlight the passage at 1:35:09

1:35:34 That is impermanent. And then the other thing is to remember karma and how it works. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:34 Highlight the passage at 1:35:34

1:35:49 So things look wonderful, horrible or boring to us, depending on our karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:49 Highlight the passage at 1:35:49

1:36:01 It wouldn't look like that to everyone. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:01 Highlight the passage at 1:36:01

1:36:09 And so you can think like the person that's the enemy, like my horrible boss, didn't look like a horrible boss to everyone. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:09 Highlight the passage at 1:36:09

1:36:21 It was my karma. To see him that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:21 Highlight the passage at 1:36:21

1:36:30 You know, if I react in a negative way, I'm creating more negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:30 Highlight the passage at 1:36:30

1:36:42 So whatever it is that's going on in our lives and how we see it is a result of our karma. So you can see, if you're at work and there's one person that's a really good friend of yours and the boss gets really upset and yells at him. You might think, oh, you know, that's really horrible. They shouldn't be doing that. They're just such a horrible person. They're getting angry. That's one way you see it. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:42 Highlight the passage at 1:36:42

1:37:18 Then exactly the same words could be said to somebody that you don't care about too much or that you don't like at work. And you'll think, oh, wow, great. The boss finally told him off. You know, and so if it's... The same thing that happens to a friend that you think is so horrible can happen to an enemy and you'll think it's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:18 Highlight the passage at 1:37:18

1:37:45 So that thing that we're talking about that's there is just that thing. How we perceive it, what we do with it is in our minds. So this is something we have to just sit and really look at and think about because it's easy to forget. It's easy for me to forget. Like I would tell my friend, sometime my friend, I'd ask my friend a question and she'd snap at me. Then I'd be standing there and I'd say, why are you, why do you always snap at me? Report an error in the passage at 1:37:45 Highlight the passage at 1:37:45

1:38:25 And then I'd hear this little voice in my head that says, you know why? And I'd go, oh yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:25 Highlight the passage at 1:38:25

1:38:36 Yeah, karma coming back at me. You know? Or, or... Or she'd always accuse me of making her angry. I said, I'm sorry, I can do that. And she goes, well, yeah, but you're a contributing cause. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:36 Highlight the passage at 1:38:36

1:38:57 It's nice when you live with another Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:57 Highlight the passage at 1:38:57

1:39:11 you know Report an error in the passage at 1:39:11 Highlight the passage at 1:39:11

1:39:18 I'm a contributing cause. Yeah, don't blame me for your anger. I'm sorry. I'm not buying that for a second. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:18 Highlight the passage at 1:39:18

1:39:29 But anyway, so that's Report an error in the passage at 1:39:29 Highlight the passage at 1:39:29

1:39:38 karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:38 Highlight the passage at 1:39:38

1:39:42 And then the fourth one is remember impermanence. And that's your own impermanence and the impermanence of the object. that's karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:42 Highlight the passage at 1:39:42

1:39:55 So that object could be a person, a thing, whatever it is. And so this works most of the time because in reality everything is impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:55 Highlight the passage at 1:39:55

1:40:10 Even the feelings and emotions and thoughts that we have in our mind are impermanent. And so it helps to remember that if we're upset that it's impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:10 Highlight the passage at 1:40:10

1:40:29 I had a friend that her body was like, Almost every vertebrae in her spine, from the top of her skull to the bottom, was in a place it didn't belong. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:29 Highlight the passage at 1:40:29

1:40:45 And so she was like almost always in pain, but she was always really happy and cheery. And she'd always say, it's all impermanent. It's all impermanent. She wasn't even Buddhist. You know, I was like, how would you be happy all the time? Oh, it's all impermanent. I guess it was strong imprints. Something. Because, I mean, it's like, you know, she'd get up and have to do a half an hour of exercises on the floor in order to try to unstiffen herself from sleeping. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:45 Highlight the passage at 1:40:45

1:41:26 All impermanent. You know, and she was like really kind and happy all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:26 Highlight the passage at 1:41:26

1:41:34 In fact, it was really funny because at that time I hadn't studied Buddhism and, you know, everybody that she knew she called a friend. I'd go, they're not all your friends. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:34 Highlight the passage at 1:41:34

1:41:46 You don't even hardly know. They're not friends. I think she'd do more than I did. But anyway, so impermanence. It's all impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:46 Highlight the passage at 1:41:46

1:42:04 So whatever, whatever's happening, if somebody's, you know, yelling at you. You're feeling uncomfortable. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:04 Highlight the passage at 1:42:04

1:42:16 It's not going to last forever. And then when your mind is calm, you can deal with it in a reasonable, sensible way. You may be able to resolve things because fighting back never worked. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:16 Highlight the passage at 1:42:16

1:42:37 In fact, we were talking at lunch, my mom and I today. It was obvious that, you know, all this war and killing hasn't worked. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:37 Highlight the passage at 1:42:37

1:42:48 Because one person gets killed and then somebody else fights back even more and then they get mad and they fight back more and it just escalates. That's on a small scale what we do every day when we get impatient and angry. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:48 Highlight the passage at 1:42:48

1:43:11 So let's see. I don't think we're going to really have time to finish this part. So what we can do is we can talk about specifics. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:11 Highlight the passage at 1:43:11

1:43:28 To anger, but basically when we get angry, we just exaggerate the negative aspects of something to the point where, you know, we really can't bear that thing. It becomes unbearable. And so we either want to harm it, or whatever the cause is, we want to harm it, or we want to escape from it and get away from it. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:28 Highlight the passage at 1:43:28

1:44:10 Maybe I'll talk about patience because that might be a good one just for this week and then we can go back to anger and start over again. But the perfect solution for anger is patience. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:10 Highlight the passage at 1:44:10

1:44:30 Basically, patience is the active resolve to bear harm or suffering. So that's what patience is. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:30 Highlight the passage at 1:44:30

1:44:42 The active resolve to bear harm or suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:42 Highlight the passage at 1:44:42

1:44:50 We can have patience with... An illness that we have. So instead of being upset, we can have patience with it. I've heard it explained in that way. We can have patience with a person that might be saying things that we don't like. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:50 Highlight the passage at 1:44:50

1:45:21 It's like a parent has patience when the child looks like they're misbehaving or maybe even being bad. There's a certain quality of patience there. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:21 Highlight the passage at 1:45:21

1:45:43 Does that make sense? So, Report an error in the passage at 1:45:43 Highlight the passage at 1:45:43

1:46:00 you mean like... Oh, Report an error in the passage at 1:46:00 Highlight the passage at 1:46:00

1:46:06 oh, oh. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:06 Highlight the passage at 1:46:06

1:46:11 I'm not quite getting you. I know I told Rubina, please slow down, because I can't think nearly as fast as you do. No. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:11 Highlight the passage at 1:46:11

1:46:27 Yeah. But I mean, basically, it's being willing to... Hm? Hm? Report an error in the passage at 1:46:27 Highlight the passage at 1:46:27

1:46:33 Bear harm or suffering. So basically with patience the mind stays calm. We have mental clarity and we can use that mental clarity to figure out a reasonable solution. Now sometimes if it's really the kind of anger that's going to cause us harm, the reasonable solution may be to run. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:33 Highlight the passage at 1:46:33

1:47:03 So it doesn't mean that listening to this makes us stupid. It makes us smart. We know when to get out of the way. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:03 Highlight the passage at 1:47:03

1:47:16 We don't have to resort to anger all Report an error in the passage at 1:47:16 Highlight the passage at 1:47:16

1:47:24 the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:24 Highlight the passage at 1:47:24

1:47:28 But so cultivating patience, you know, when we see these disturbing circumstances, we can see them as an opportunity to grow and learn. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:28 Highlight the passage at 1:47:28

1:47:41 And so our enemies can actually become our teachers. So this is one of the basics of patience. Is being willing to bear with whatever's happening. Use our calmness and mental clarity that's the result of patience in order to figure out a reasonable solution. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:41 Highlight the passage at 1:47:41

1:48:10 And to see the person or sometimes it's even maybe an object of impatience, but see it as an opportunity to learn and grow. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:10 Highlight the passage at 1:48:10

1:48:28 Yeah, that comes later. That's on the next page. Over here. Oh no, that actually is in the bottom of the page. But I just wanted to mention patience. So just very briefly, when we talked about it, it was mentioned on the way over here, Atisha, one of the great Buddhist scholars, when they were traveling. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:28 Highlight the passage at 1:48:28

1:48:54 Took along, you know, they have their entourage and the people that go with them. And one of the people was just really difficult. And even for Atisha, tested his patients. And so some of the other people said, well, why do you have that person? Why do you bring them along? I mean, they're just, they're kind of miserable. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:54 Highlight the passage at 1:48:54

1:49:16 And he said, how else would I learn? How else would I? Be able to know where I stand. And I know when I did meditations about work, people would do certain, all the different people I worked with would do things that would annoy me and it was like I'd always think, oh gee, if they could change, if they could do this, if they could do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:16 Highlight the passage at 1:49:16

1:49:44 And then I'd do my meditations and I would feel a real heartfelt feeling for everybody and I would feel like... Wow, this is so great, you know? I mean, if they didn't do these things, how would I know if I was ever making any progress? Of course, that would happen in a meditation. But you do, you just, and so if you get a feeling like that, eventually you might remember it when you're standing up in front of them, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:44 Highlight the passage at 1:49:44

1:50:20 So it's a gradual transformation of our minds that we can work with. So patience, that's a really good one. But there's a whole bunch of other things. So we'll do the anger again next week because the meditation will probably be on something like that. But the meditation for tonight or for this week's homework is going to be on. And I made a whole bunch of copies. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:20 Highlight the passage at 1:50:20

1:50:54 It's going to be on clarity of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:54 Highlight the passage at 1:50:54

1:51:02 And so we can pass those out. And then the reading, you can read the second and third talks or classes in the required reading. And then you can continue with the Lama Yeshi book. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:02 Highlight the passage at 1:51:02

1:51:30 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:30 Highlight the passage at 1:51:30

1:51:35 Yeah. there any way I can get a hard copy of that? I'll give you this one because, let's see, I think I printed this one, I printed this one for, yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:51:35 Highlight the passage at 1:51:35

1:51:56 for Rhonda, but Rhonda is not here. So you can, I'll give you that one. Okay. Yeah, because I read them all, but they don't stick when I read it from the screen. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:56 Highlight the passage at 1:51:56

1:52:12 Well, you don't have to worry, you don't have to worry a lot. I just kind of sent that for information because I mentioned it. But you don't need to worry about what they are and what they mean and all of that. There's a whole class. There's classes. In fact, there's classes on all of this. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:12 Highlight the passage at 1:52:12

1:52:38 Maybe we bring it in case. I'm hoping that people got confused and not just totally gave up. Yeah, it was such good classes, they it. Everybody got enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:38 Highlight the passage at 1:52:38

1:53:02 I hope it was confusion and not that I scared everybody away. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:02 Highlight the passage at 1:53:02

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:53:39 Well, see, that actually is a part of the debate topics when they do debating in the monasteries. It's like all the different scenarios of like... We have to keep coming back. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:39 Highlight the passage at 1:53:39

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:53:51 Well, if you're really a bodhisattva, shouldn't you get everyone else enlightened first? And then the last one is, if everybody is enlightened, then there's only one left, then what? Because you get enlightened on the basis of sentient beings. If there's no other sentient beings, how do you reach enlightenment? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:51 Highlight the passage at 1:53:51

1:54:21 Well, I mean, but these are actually debate topics where they have, you know, specific answers. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:21 Highlight the passage at 1:54:21

1:54:36 Let's Report an error in the passage at 1:54:36 Highlight the passage at 1:54:36

1:54:42 see. I Report an error in the passage at 1:54:42 Highlight the passage at 1:54:42

1:55:08 was just looking to see if there was anything different. Nope. Okay. Let's page six. And we'll do just the last two. But we want to dedicate whatever virtue that we've created. By coming together tonight to the Great Enlightenment. And the Great Enlightenment means enlightenment for ourselves and others, all others. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:08 Highlight the passage at 1:55:08

1:55:42 And that's the highest wish that we can hold. And interimly, may we all, by the merit created here, transform our minds, even if it's slowly, slowly, little by little. So that we can be more happy, more content, more peaceful, more loving, more compassionate. And remember to apply that love, peace, compassion, kindness to yourself first. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:42 Highlight the passage at 1:55:42

1:56:17 And Report an error in the passage at 1:56:17 Highlight the passage at 1:56:17

1:56:21 then let it expand to all the people that you know and love and Report an error in the passage at 1:56:21 Highlight the passage at 1:56:21

1:56:29 further to strangers and even to your enemies. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:29 Highlight the passage at 1:56:29

1:56:38 So we'll do the first two verses on page six in English. Through the merits of these virtuous actions, may I quickly attain the state of a Guru Buddha and lead all living beings without exception into that enlightened state. May the supreme jewel bodhicitta that has not arisen arise and grow and may that which has arisen not diminish but increase more and more. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:38 Highlight the passage at 1:56:38

1:57:13 Okay, well thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:13 Highlight the passage at 1:57:13