Discovering Buddhism - Mind and Its Potential (12 February 2015)

0:00 Start with just a little meditation to kind of get us here in the room. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:15 So just check your posture. Make sure that if you're sitting in a chair or on the floor that your back is straight and in the chair that you're not leaning on the back of the chair. Report an error in the passage at 0:15 Highlight the passage at 0:15

0:28 And put your hands comfortably. You can put them on your lap with the left hand. Under the right hand and the thumbs touching, or you can have your hands, palms down on your knees is another way to do it. Report an error in the passage at 0:28 Highlight the passage at 0:28

0:46 Generally you see in this center at least that the hands are in the lap, but you can do it either way. So just take a couple minutes to just take some deep breaths and kind of scan the body. Report an error in the passage at 0:46 Highlight the passage at 0:46

1:13 Just notice if there's any tensions and then just use your breath to release them as best that you can. Breathing into those places and just like watching a twisted rope become undone. So if a muscle is tight, you just breathe into the muscle. Report an error in the passage at 1:13 Highlight the passage at 1:13

1:39 Deep breath and as you exhale, imagine it just untwisting itself like a rope. Report an error in the passage at 1:39 Highlight the passage at 1:39

1:48 Becoming relaxed and open. Report an error in the passage at 1:48 Highlight the passage at 1:48

1:54 So take a couple of minutes to scan the body and use your breath to relax any tensions. And then also check on your mind and Report an error in the passage at 1:54 Highlight the passage at 1:54

2:08 see if there's concerns, thoughts about earlier today or thoughts about the future. And just use your breath and breathe into that and just kind of let it drift out into space and dissolve. Report an error in the passage at 2:08 Highlight the passage at 2:08

2:35 So we'll just do that. Report an error in the passage at 2:35 Highlight the passage at 2:35

2:40 We'll just do that for a few minutes and just relax your body and your mind and just notice yourself here sitting on the cushion in this room. Report an error in the passage at 2:40 Highlight the passage at 2:40

3:01 As much as possible, let go of any other thoughts or concerns. Report an error in the passage at 3:01 Highlight the passage at 3:01

3:22 So when your mind and body feel pretty relaxed, then just breathe normally. And observe your breath. Report an error in the passage at 3:22 Highlight the passage at 3:22

3:41 Feel it moving through your body. Report an error in the passage at 3:41 Highlight the passage at 3:41

· · · silence, 1 minute

4:24 Turn your attention to your mind and imagine, like we did with the homework, that your mind is vast and open and clear. Report an error in the passage at 4:24 Highlight the passage at 4:24

4:44 Imagine that you're laying on the top of a hill looking up at the clear sky. Nothing obstructing it. No clouds. No birds, no trees, nothing. No planes. It's clear, vast, open space. Report an error in the passage at 4:44 Highlight the passage at 4:44

5:10 And let that space come down and completely envelop you so Report an error in the passage at 5:10 Highlight the passage at 5:10

5:22 that you become one with that open space. Report an error in the passage at 5:22 Highlight the passage at 5:22

5:32 Mind merges with this unobstructed, pure, clear space. Report an error in the passage at 5:32 Highlight the passage at 5:32

5:47 And just hold that feeling. of that vastness. much as possible. Report an error in the passage at 5:47 Highlight the passage at 5:47

6:25 If a thought arises, just notice it. Don't follow it or don't try to push it away. It's Report an error in the passage at 6:25 Highlight the passage at 6:25

6:46 like a cloud in the sky that appears and then vanishes or a wave on the ocean that comes up and then falls right back into the ocean. Report an error in the passage at 6:46 Highlight the passage at 6:46

· · · silence, 1 minute

7:35 If your mind wanders off, just bring it back to that. Vast, unobstructed, sky-like, Report an error in the passage at 7:35 Highlight the passage at 7:35

7:50 open, expansive. Report an error in the passage at 7:50 Highlight the passage at 7:50

· · · silence, 1 minute

8:29 Trying to maintain as much calmness and openness. Gently bring your attention back to your breathing, to your body sitting on the cushion. Report an error in the passage at 8:29 Highlight the passage at 8:29

8:50 And think of your motivation for being here in the class tonight to Report an error in the passage at 8:50 Highlight the passage at 8:50

9:02 take control of your mind that Report an error in the passage at 9:02 Highlight the passage at 9:02

9:11 you can create. Happiness and eliminate suffering in Report an error in the passage at 9:11 Highlight the passage at 9:11

9:22 the most simple sense and also in the most ultimate sense. Report an error in the passage at 9:22 Highlight the passage at 9:22

9:31 Ultimately to transform our minds so Report an error in the passage at 9:31 Highlight the passage at 9:31

9:46 that we reach our fullest potential, which is enlightenment, the same mind as the Buddha, so Report an error in the passage at 9:46 Highlight the passage at 9:46

10:04 that we can use that mind and the skills that come with having developed this. Full potential in order to benefit others. Report an error in the passage at 10:04 Highlight the passage at 10:04

10:21 So with the motivation of achieving not only temporary but also ultimate satisfaction and happiness, we'll engage in this class tonight. Report an error in the passage at 10:21 Highlight the passage at 10:21

10:55 Wow, it's a miracle. That's doubled. Do you want to come over on this side so I can see you better? Thanks. Report an error in the passage at 10:55 Highlight the passage at 10:55

11:08 Okay, so we'll Report an error in the passage at 11:08 Highlight the passage at 11:08

11:20 do, again, we'll do the prayers on page 34 in the goal book. Oh, let's see, wait, let me look in here for a second. Let's see. Report an error in the passage at 11:20 Highlight the passage at 11:20

11:35 Yeah, no, actually, let's do on page, it's page nine. I don't know if they're numbered. Report an error in the passage at 11:35 Highlight the passage at 11:35

11:46 It says Sunday morning service prayers. Oh, in the white book, sorry, the white book. Report an error in the passage at 11:46 Highlight the passage at 11:46

11:57 So what we'll do is we'll just do the first two. We'll do the refuge and bodhicitta and then we'll do the four immeasurables. And we did the four immeasurables before, but it was kind of a short version and this is a more expanded version. So I kind of like the expanded version. Report an error in the passage at 11:57 Highlight the passage at 11:57

12:27 So we'll read first the first. Refuge in bodhicitta twice in English and then we'll chant it once in Tibetan. I go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. Report an error in the passage at 12:27 Highlight the passage at 12:27

12:56 By my merits I create, by listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. Sangye Chodan Sokhi Chodnam La Janshu Bhardhu Dagni Kepsuchi Daghi Chanyengi Persanam Ki Drolapancher Sangye Druparsok Report an error in the passage at 12:56 Highlight the passage at 12:56

13:24 How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were to abide in equanimity free from hatred and attachment. May they abide in equanimity. I myself will cause them to abide in equanimity. Please, Guru Buddha, bless me to be able to do this. How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings had happiness and the causes of happiness. Report an error in the passage at 13:24 Highlight the passage at 13:24

13:47 May they have happiness and its cause. I myself will cause them to have these. Please, Guru Buddha, bless me to be able to do this. How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were free from suffering and its cause. May they be free from suffering and its cause. I myself will cause them to be free from suffering and its cause. Please, Guru Buddha, bless me to be able to do this. Report an error in the passage at 13:47 Highlight the passage at 13:47

14:14 How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were never separated from the happiness of higher rebirth and liberation. May they never be separated from these. I myself will cause them never to be separated from these. Please, Guru Buddha, bless me to be able to do this. Report an error in the passage at 14:14 Highlight the passage at 14:14

14:33 So this is, I love these, I love these four immeasurables. We want people to be happy. We can do things now that will help people to have temporary happiness. And we can do things to have temporary suffering, but these are temporary things. And so what we want to do is we want to develop the skills through becoming enlightened ourselves so that we can help beings to achieve this fourth verse. Report an error in the passage at 14:33 Highlight the passage at 14:33

15:09 And that's the happiness of higher rebirth and liberation. And the only way that we can do that is... By practicing ourselves. So it's like in order to, if somebody was drowning, if you don't know how to swim, you can't save them from drowning. Report an error in the passage at 15:09 Highlight the passage at 15:09

15:31 So we're going to learn how to swim. Swim through the depths of the mind. Anyway. Report an error in the passage at 15:31 Highlight the passage at 15:31

15:47 Oh, this is, I was really unorganized. I've been taking care of. I have a cat that's in the dying process. She's been dying the process for about a week and a half already. But I haven't really slept very well for about four or five nights. I've been sleeping on the floor and waking up every hour or half hour, depending how often, but quite often. So if I'm a little spacey or kind of weird. Report an error in the passage at 15:47 Highlight the passage at 15:47

16:24 It may be fun. Much more fun than just hearing old dry stories. Or just dry material. Anyway, so I wasn't too organized because I couldn't leave her alone. I've spent the last two days in my back room in the downstairs and my computer and printer is upstairs. Report an error in the passage at 16:24 Highlight the passage at 16:24

16:51 And every time I go upstairs to do something... She starts wandering off and gets lost someplace in the house and falls over. You know, it's just kind of not good. So anyway. But I managed to get things printed. One copy. So make sure we heat up the machine. So before we do the check-in, I just wanted to let people know that the Discovering Buddhism is a whole series. Report an error in the passage at 16:51 Highlight the passage at 16:51

17:21 It's a whole course. And there's actually 14... The first 13 are teaching modules and the last one is like a really intense practice module. And for people that are interested, if you take all of the courses, you can, you know, you have me sign off on, you know, that you've taken the course and that you've done the reading and all that kind of thing. Report an error in the passage at 17:21 Highlight the passage at 17:21

17:47 And at the end, you can get a certificate if you like. So if anybody's interested, I brought the, The page for the first one so you can see what pretty much is required. This one practice day on the mind would be like our practice day that we do on Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 17:47 Highlight the passage at 17:47

18:13 So if anybody's interested in that, we can have Lisa make a couple of extra copies so you can look at that later too. And then I'll ever make copies of the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 18:13 Highlight the passage at 18:13

18:25 Okay, so anyway, so just a check-in. Yes, practice day is the 28th. So next, for people that might have missed the first class, the next meeting is, our next class is going to be on Friday next week because Thursday is Losar, which is the Tibetan New Year, and it's the beginning of merit-multiplying days. Report an error in the passage at 18:25 Highlight the passage at 18:25

18:56 Anybody that comes to class with a good motivation, which I don't think anybody here has a bad motivation, it multiplies by like 100,000 or 100 million or some huge amount. So we can create a lot of merit just coming to class next Friday. But Friday. Thursday they are going to have a little Losar party. Report an error in the passage at 18:56 Highlight the passage at 18:56

19:24 And maybe some entertainment. And then they have a raffle, a bunch of things on the table. So it's like kind of a New Year's, this is the New Year's celebration and the beginning of Merit Multiplying Days. The other thing about Merit Multiplying Days is it multiplies everything. Report an error in the passage at 19:24 Highlight the passage at 19:24

19:46 So since we were talking about anger last week, we're going to talk about it again this week. We're going to look at the disadvantages in the homework. So... Report an error in the passage at 19:46 Highlight the passage at 19:46

19:56 To hope that we can diminish our impatience and any other things that we get into. I have to admit, you know, it's really hard because even with the cat, you know, I could find myself occasionally getting impatient because I couldn't go and cook and I couldn't do what I wanted to do. Not to mention that the cat's like going through her death process, but, you know, that I, you know, well, gee. Report an error in the passage at 19:56 Highlight the passage at 19:56

20:26 I haven't been able to sleep good in one. It's like, why do you keep bothering me? Why do you keep... So it's interesting to watch the mind and catch when we're doing those kinds of things. Anyway, so that was my check-in. So how did it go? Did people try the homeworks? I like that one, actually. I really like the spaciousness and clarity of the mind. That one is one of my favorites. Anybody like to share anything either of that or questions about the reading or something in the reading that might have really struck you that you thought was Report an error in the passage at 20:26 Highlight the passage at 20:26

21:23 great. The meditation or the reading or a combination? Report an error in the passage at 21:23 Highlight the passage at 21:23

21:31 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 21:31 Highlight the passage at 21:31

21:40 I'll look up and sometimes it's just a lunar sky with no clouds and it just takes you way back into that. Just the spaciousness. Report an error in the passage at 21:40 Highlight the passage at 21:40

21:53 Oh, yeah, I know. And we're going to have more of it all weekend. We can have that spacious. And that's one of the suggestions if you forget, like look up at the sky. Report an error in the passage at 21:53 Highlight the passage at 21:53

22:04 I thought it was kind of interesting because now I heard the piano again, but like when we started the meditation and we were like looking at relaxing everything, the piano was like going and that was, they were pretty good piano player. And then when we started actually in the vastness of the sky, there was no music. It stopped completely during that part of the meditation. Now it's starting again. Report an error in the passage at 22:04 Highlight the passage at 22:04

22:26 So I thought, oh, gee. That's nice. They're cooperating with us here. Yeah, Catherine. Report an error in the passage at 22:26 Highlight the passage at 22:26

22:57 Well, it arises from it. The base of all of that is, it's like if you imagine the ocean. You have the ocean. The ocean can be very calm. Report an error in the passage at 22:57 Highlight the passage at 22:57

23:14 And then at times there could be big storms. That would be like the anger arising. It's like cause of waves. But it can't come out of, it can't be something that's not mind because it's mind. It's a part, it's a part, it's like it's a part of the mind, but it's not an inherent quality of the mind. The inherent quality of the ocean is just that big calm water. Report an error in the passage at 23:14 Highlight the passage at 23:14

23:41 And then. Because of different causes and, you know, for anger it would be karma and then the external causes or internal causes, whichever, that cause this wave to come up. It's the wind, it's the motorboat going through really quick that causes lots of ripples. It's, you know, something like that. Is it a motorboat? Report an error in the passage at 23:41 Highlight the passage at 23:41

24:07 Well, I don't know. It depends probably about how angry you are. Report an error in the passage at 24:07 Highlight the passage at 24:07

24:13 You know, a little... Well, Report an error in the passage at 24:13 Highlight the passage at 24:13

24:22 I mean, it arises from that. It's not very clear. But it arises from that mind. Report an error in the passage at 24:22 Highlight the passage at 24:22

24:38 Everything arises from the mind and dissolves back into the mind. See, that's why, so when the anger comes up, it's like this wave, a harmful wave on the ocean. It's not like these, you know. But it's like, so then. Because it came out of the ocean, it dissolves back into it. It's not separate. Report an error in the passage at 24:38 Highlight the passage at 24:38

25:02 Well, it came out of it. It came out of it. I don't know if you can say it's identical. But it arises from that clear nature. And it dissolves back into it. And so that means that it's transient. And it's not something like we think that I'm angry. You know, it's not I'm angry. It's anger is arising in my mind. Now anger is arising in my mind. Report an error in the passage at 25:02 Highlight the passage at 25:02

25:42 See, anger, everything arises out of that clear, empty nature of the mind, clear, pure nature of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 25:42 Highlight the passage at 25:42

25:57 I'd have to think about it because it really, I mean, it arises from it. It just dissolves back into it. It's not like separate from it, but it's not an inherent part of it. So it's a little bit confusing. Report an error in the passage at 25:57 Highlight the passage at 25:57

26:25 Yeah, me too. But the thing to do is to watch and know that those are just things that are arising. It is a part of the mental consciousness. It's like it's those mental factors. You know, when we looked at the mind, we have the main mind and then we have the mental factors. It's a part of the mind, but it's a part of the mind that we don't need to have active. So we can subdue the causes for those rough waves to come up in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 26:25 Highlight the passage at 26:25

27:10 They call it contaminated because it's contaminated by wrong conceptions, incorrect conceptions. Report an error in the passage at 27:10 Highlight the passage at 27:10

27:26 No, I think we're getting confused between clear and clear. But yeah, they call those, it's contaminated, they call it delusions, afflictions. It's like... so in that way it's Report an error in the passage at 27:26 Highlight the passage at 27:26

27:48 Throw in a bunch of, like a big trash bundle that's in the middle of the ocean, okay? It's collected there. It's all this plastics and this and that. So what we're going to do is we're going to send out these big, huge tankers to clean up the ocean. You know, so it's like it's there. We can clean it out. Of course, that makes it like it's something different. But anyway, it arises from... Report an error in the passage at 27:48 Highlight the passage at 27:48

28:17 It's like pollution in water as another example. There's different ways to look at it. So if it confuses you to be like the ocean, then think of it as pollution in a water. So if you clear water and then all the delusions is the pollution. Yeah, basically. Yeah, it's all about conceptualization. Report an error in the passage at 28:17 Highlight the passage at 28:17

28:59 as far as the way you approach things and your attitude about things, that's a huge Report an error in the passage at 28:59 Highlight the passage at 28:59

29:10 can't have the water, but you can't you're probably always going Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 29:10 Highlight the passage at 29:10

29:19 I don't know. I mean, I haven't gotten to a point to know whether it disappears completely, but I think eventually they say that you can, you know, eliminate the delusions entirely. So that means that the anger... The pride, the jealousy wouldn't even come up, but that's like so far away for me right now that I really can't speak to it directly at all. Report an error in the passage at 29:19 Highlight the passage at 29:19

29:46 I just say that's what they say and that's what we should be able to do at some point. But that takes actually really to see the true nature of reality, which is a big job. Report an error in the passage at 29:46 Highlight the passage at 29:46

30:04 Before we get to see the actual direct true nature of reality. So right now what we're going to do is we're going to start just watching our minds. And I think a good thing, and that came up when we were talking, was a good thing to remember is when these emotions come up, you know, a lot of times we think, oh, I'm angry. Report an error in the passage at 30:04 Highlight the passage at 30:04

30:28 So it's a good way to be able to put a little space between yourself and the anger because you're not angry. What's happening really is anger is arising in your mind. It's just that momentary, you know, and it might be a series of moments. It might last an hour. Who knows? You know, it could last a year. Report an error in the passage at 30:28 Highlight the passage at 30:28

30:53 Some people are just angry a lot, but it changes actually. It wouldn't be constant anger. So anger arises, sadness arises, love arises, compassion arises, and they just take their turns. Report an error in the passage at 30:53 Highlight the passage at 30:53

31:11 And so whenever the emotions, like the negative emotions, pride, jealousy, anger, come up, if we can begin to think, oh, this... Is anger arising in my mind? Not I am angry. We don't want to concretize it and make it this is me. Report an error in the passage at 31:11 Highlight the passage at 31:11

31:36 So that begins to make some space. It makes it easier then to be able to look at it and deal with it. So does that make sense? And it's a nice, it's really easy to remember. Report an error in the passage at 31:36 Highlight the passage at 31:36

31:52 I remember hearing from Jan, I think it was Jan Willis was at the center a long time ago. She was one of Lama Yeshi's very early students. And so she was doing some kind of a Tara practice. And one day she was just like really upset. And Lama Yeshi just said, oh, well, it looks like Tara is a little bit upset today. It's like no big deal. You know, it just comes up. Report an error in the passage at 31:52 Highlight the passage at 31:52

32:22 It doesn't. It doesn't matter, you know, it doesn't make you a bad person. You know, what happens is like we have a lot of good people that make bad decisions. And the bad decisions are spurred on by, you know, the attachment and the hatred and all of the other delusion, what we call delusions. And delusions are simply the states of mind that cause us to suffer. Report an error in the passage at 32:22 Highlight the passage at 32:22

32:58 That disturb our peaceful state of mind. So that's what a delusion is, basically. Anyway, any other questions or comments about, Report an error in the passage at 32:58 Highlight the passage at 32:58

33:24 yeah? Report an error in the passage at 33:24 Highlight the passage at 33:24

33:33 Okay, I won't look right away. First I'll listen. Report an error in the passage at 33:33 Highlight the passage at 33:33

33:52 First of all, they have the imprints to be in that environment and then they have the imprints to be affected. And they could be affected in a positive way or in a negative way or in a neutral way. Report an error in the passage at 33:52 Highlight the passage at 33:52

34:19 Oh, perfect intro to the class. Report an error in the passage at 34:19 Highlight the passage at 34:19

34:28 She's a plant. She's a plant. She's a plant. Report an error in the passage at 34:28 Highlight the passage at 34:28

34:36 Right at the right time. Thank all. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 34:36 Highlight the passage at 34:36

34:40 But, you know, that's basically a little bit about what we're going to talk about tonight is that. And Report an error in the passage at 34:40 Highlight the passage at 34:40

34:52 it takes a lot of practice. It's, you know, it's not something that's always easy. Report an error in the passage at 34:52 Highlight the passage at 34:52

35:01 But so last week we talked about or kind of ended with a like and don't like and don't care. But the don't care, we can just let that aside for now, the like and don't like. Report an error in the passage at 35:01 Highlight the passage at 35:01

35:16 so All of these likes and don't likes stem from our karma and all of the stories or fantasies and hallucinations that we create. Report an error in the passage at 35:16 Highlight the passage at 35:16

35:28 And these fantasies all depend on our delusions, the strength of our delusions. And so the stronger the delusions, the greater the fantasy. So like if you take... Like we were talking about anger. You take anger, somebody could have like maybe a mild delusion of anger and they'll be impatience or maybe they'll even yell. Report an error in the passage at 35:28 Highlight the passage at 35:28

36:04 Somebody with a stronger delusion might resort to hitting or even killing. It's the same delusion, it's the same feeling, but it's just expanded and exaggerated. Report an error in the passage at 36:04 Highlight the passage at 36:04

36:23 So that's what that is. And so all of our actions, including our thinking and thoughts, are based on likes and don't likes and supported by our fantasies. And the whole purpose of it is for us to try to be happy and not suffer. Report an error in the passage at 36:23 Highlight the passage at 36:23

36:47 But no matter what we do, it doesn't work. Or if it works, it doesn't last. So why? So this is one of my favorite. Lines. Because we're looking for happiness in all the wrong places. You know, and it's like the song. We're looking for love in all the wrong places. I mean, that's what we're doing. And we've been doing that from the moment we got into this life. Report an error in the passage at 36:47 Highlight the passage at 36:47

37:22 And we did it all of the lives before. Report an error in the passage at 37:22 Highlight the passage at 37:22

37:29 So what we do is generally we look out. So if we really want to find happiness. We need to look in. Report an error in the passage at 37:29 Highlight the passage at 37:29

37:40 So it's our karma and delusions that are the problem. And so eliminating them is the solution. And the main ones are anger, attachment and ignorance. Ignorance is the primary one. Because of ignorance, we misperceive how things actually exist. And so then we see things. That exists and they appear to exist separately outside and we see it either as pleasurable or unpleasurable and if it's pleasurable we create attachment, if it's unpleasurable we create anger or aversion and then everything kind of snowballs from there. Report an error in the passage at 37:40 Highlight the passage at 37:40

38:28 And if you really think about it, everything, even the anger It's based on attachment. It's the attachment to not suffering. And it's the attachment to having things the way you want them. The attachments to having your expectations met. And when they're not met, sometimes anger will come up or impatience. Report an error in the passage at 38:28 Highlight the passage at 38:28

39:03 And all of that attachment is a result of this ignorance. So they're all really tied together. So the ultimate solution is to wipe out this ignorance, cut the root of ignorance. So that's actually much easier said than done. Report an error in the passage at 39:03 Highlight the passage at 39:03

39:31 So anger is one of the heaviest mental afflictions and it creates suffering for us immediately. It creates suffering for the person who gets angry immediately. It could create suffering for people around them. Report an error in the passage at 39:31 Highlight the passage at 39:31

39:46 And so that's one that's really good to start with because it also destroys lots of merit that we've accumulated. At least that's what they say. Report an error in the passage at 39:46 Highlight the passage at 39:46

40:03 So there's two ways to deal with these mental afflictions, okay? Unskillful, that means suppress them and act them out. Or skillful, which would be to acknowledge them and apply antidotes. So the solutions that we talked about last week were the general solutions, which is to cultivate mindfulness. Remember that the mind is clear, pure and knowing. Report an error in the passage at 40:03 Highlight the passage at 40:03

40:33 Remember karma and how that works. And remember impermanence. And that's impermanence of yourself, your thoughts, the objects. Impermanence of... All of the things. So going back to anger, what we do is we exaggerate certain negative aspects of a person, a thing, an idea, a place. And then we become angry and it becomes unbearable. We just can't bear it anymore. And we either want to harm it or we just want to escape from it. Report an error in the passage at 40:33 Highlight the passage at 40:33

41:21 Like I mentioned, I mentioned this last week, the perfect solution is patience. So easy to say, hard to do. And it takes a lot of practice. Report an error in the passage at 41:21 Highlight the passage at 41:21

41:34 And there's a lot of degrees of patience. From the grossest ones, like trying to learn patience when somebody's yelling at you or something like that, to more subtle ones. Report an error in the passage at 41:34 Highlight the passage at 41:34

41:53 But patience is the... Active determination or resolve to bear harm or suffering. So that means we're willing to take on that harm or at least bear it without trying to retaliate. Report an error in the passage at 41:53 Highlight the passage at 41:53

42:13 So with patience our mind stays clear and calm and when we have mental clarity then we can figure out a reasonable solution. Report an error in the passage at 42:13 Highlight the passage at 42:13

42:24 And like I said, when we're working on cultivating patience, a reasonable solution isn't just being patient and let somebody abuse you necessarily. Sometimes it might be, you know, the best thing to do is run or leave. But with a clear mind, we're able to react more clearly. Report an error in the passage at 42:24 Highlight the passage at 42:24

42:50 So cultivating patience. So these are the antidotes, well we're talking about the antidotes now for anger. So patience is the big antidote to start with. The big one is actually cutting the root of ignorance. But in the scheme of things, patience works for anger. One of the antidotes is to see the disturbing circumstances as an opportunity to grow and learn. Report an error in the passage at 42:50 Highlight the passage at 42:50

43:27 So sometimes it's like at work or in a relationship. We get angry about certain things. And it's a way for us to flex our patients' muscles and to develop them. And sometimes when we start, we have to do it in a meditation because it's too hard to do it when something's actually happening. Report an error in the passage at 43:27 Highlight the passage at 43:27

43:56 But we can practice in meditation. And that'll be part of the homework. Will be to recall something like that, to look at it and then actually look at the disadvantages too. But anyway, so our enemies can end up becoming our best teachers. Report an error in the passage at 43:56 Highlight the passage at 43:56

44:22 Okay, so another one is just to accept what is. Report an error in the passage at 44:22 Highlight the passage at 44:22

44:31 Because a lot of times we feel frustration or irritation or anger, but we can't change what's happening. Maybe it's the situation in the world. We can get impatient or impatient with something, some political party that's doing this and that or some country that's behaving this way. Report an error in the passage at 44:31 Highlight the passage at 44:31

44:58 Get angry, we react to it, but there's nothing that we can do right now to change that. And the anger, irritation, frustration doesn't... Do anything to help the situation at all. All it does is immediately cause our own suffering, causes us to suffer. Report an error in the passage at 44:58 Highlight the passage at 44:58

45:28 And so sometimes it's, you know, more local. It's closer. It's at work. Maybe it's something in the relationship with somebody that we can look at. Report an error in the passage at 45:28 Highlight the passage at 45:28

45:41 And so, you know, things also can change. But for now, we kind of... You accept what is. Accepting what is doesn't mean that we're saying that it's okay. We're not saying it's okay that this is happening. But what we're doing is we're accepting, like let's say the Dalai Lama. He's accepting the fact that China has totally destroyed Tibet and is trying to wipe out his culture and religion too. Report an error in the passage at 45:41 Highlight the passage at 45:41

46:21 To a good extent in that country, you know, he's doing what he can with a clear mind. You know, he can't make a change right now himself. Like he doesn't wave a magic wand or snap his fingers and things change. So he has acceptance of what's happening. See, because we waste a lot of times, waste a lot of times wishing that things were different. Report an error in the passage at 46:21 Highlight the passage at 46:21

46:57 I did that. You know, I wish my friend wouldn't do this all the time because it really makes me upset. First of all, it comes down into the stop blaming, which is further down the list. And the other one is I'm trying to change something outside. Report an error in the passage at 46:57 Highlight the passage at 46:57

47:16 So acceptance. And, you know, you think. We're in saṃsāra. Okay, so saṃsāra just means wandering through. But the nature of saṃsāra is suffering. All of saṃsāra and cyclic existence, as long as we're born here because of our karma and delusions, is suffering. And that's just how it is. So there's always going to be crap. Excuse the expression. And I toned that down a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 47:16 Highlight the passage at 47:16

47:55 But anyway, so, you know, that's that one. Okay, now another one is to... Maybe to try to see the situation from the other person's or the other perspective. What's the person's needs and concerns and how do they see the situation? Report an error in the passage at 47:55 Highlight the passage at 47:55

48:23 I don't know. Is it? I'm not sure. Report an error in the passage at 48:23 Highlight the passage at 48:23

48:31 See, I'm not really good on definitions, so I have to look up all my definitions and see if it really fits. I could check for you and let you know, though. I got my iPad so I can do it on the break. Report an error in the passage at 48:31 Highlight the passage at 48:31

48:51 But basically, I mean, there's a lot of questions that we can ask, you Report an error in the passage at 48:51 Highlight the passage at 48:51

49:01 know, just to see, you know, look at it from the other person's side. So then this is one that's great. I love this one. Stop blaming. Report an error in the passage at 49:01 Highlight the passage at 49:01

49:18 Okay. So instead of blaming the other person for pushing our buttons or making, like, you know. Why do you always make me so angry? They don't make you angry. Nobody can make you anything. Report an error in the passage at 49:18 Highlight the passage at 49:18

49:36 We're so in the habit of blaming. In fact, we blame things for our pleasure and enjoyments. Oh, they made me so happy. No, they didn't make you happy. They didn't make you angry. Report an error in the passage at 49:36 Highlight the passage at 49:36

49:55 The main cause is karma and how we're interpreting this input that we're getting. The input does contribute, but it's not the primary cause. And what we get confused between the primary causes and all of the conditions. So like you can have all of the conditions for a tomato plant. All the perfect soil and the sunshine and water and the right fertilizer. But if you don't have a tomato seed, you're not going to get a tomato plant. Report an error in the passage at 49:55 Highlight the passage at 49:55

50:34 So the seed is the karma. And then all of those things outside, you know, the people being kind to you or the people being nasty to you or the grumpy bus driver or the people that cut you off in traffic and the nasty boss, you know, are... Just the water and the fertilizer and all those other things. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 50:34 Highlight the passage at 50:34

51:07 Those are two separate ones. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 51:07 Highlight the passage at 51:07

· · · silence, 1 minute

51:40 Yeah. Well, I mean, you have to look at the whole picture, you know. And the best way to do it, first of all, is in meditation, when we can actually sit and really focus calmly. With a calm, clear mind to look at it, because as soon as that anger comes up and the stories that we have really take hold, then we're mucky, you know? Report an error in the passage at 51:40 Highlight the passage at 51:40

52:13 So, you know, actually if we can start with the easy ones, you know, the person that cuts you off, the nasty bus driver, the grumpy co-worker, then we can gradually... Through meditations and through work, begin to unravel the hard ones that you're talking about. But when you look at, like, say, in a situation of abuse, there's still causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 52:13 Highlight the passage at 52:13

52:46 It doesn't make abusing anybody right, but if there wasn't the seed for abuse, there would be no abuse. And what happens is, in that case, if you look at it like, well, you may look at it from the other perspective. Everybody wants happiness. So this one person, in order they think, in order to have happiness, it means doing this horrible thing, which we call horrible, bad, negative thing. Report an error in the passage at 52:46 Highlight the passage at 52:46

53:24 What that ends up doing, instead of actually bringing them happiness, is it brings them more suffering. Now, you know, looking at it from the Buddhist perspective, it doesn't at all make it right. And it doesn't at all mean that we shouldn't try to stop it if we know about it or see it or anything like that. Report an error in the passage at 53:24 Highlight the passage at 53:24

53:50 But we need to look at the whole picture and we need to try to pull ourselves out of the anger mode so that we actually have a clear mind so that we can actually maybe... Make some changes and try to transform the situation. Maybe if it's personal or just to let your mind not be disturbed by it. Because having a disturbed mind doesn't help the situation and it only harms you. And then it could, having a disturbed mind, lead you to engage in actions or speech. Report an error in the passage at 53:50 Highlight the passage at 53:50

54:35 Speech or actions of body or speech that will create more negative karma for yourself which will create more suffering in the future. So it really never works out. It doesn't help the person, you know, the people that are involved with the situation and it doesn't help you. Report an error in the passage at 54:35 Highlight the passage at 54:35

54:58 That's a long answer for a short question. Does it? Report an error in the passage at 54:58 Highlight the passage at 54:58

55:31 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 55:31 Highlight the passage at 55:31

55:34 From the Buddhist point of view, yes. That's the main focus is to try to eliminate the greatest suffering. And the greatest suffering that's being committed in any violent negative action is the suffering to the person who's the perpetrator, which is really hard to see. I mean, I watch the news in practice. Report an error in the passage at 55:34 Highlight the passage at 55:34

55:59 That's why I watch the news. I watch my mind automatically. Oh, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I mean, look at Gandhi, the difference that he made totally peacefully. Report an error in the passage at 55:59 Highlight the passage at 55:59

56:18 He didn't get angry, stomp around, break windows and do all kinds of things. And he freed his entire country. That's pretty amazing. Completely peacefully. Report an error in the passage at 56:18 Highlight the passage at 56:18

56:38 Yeah. So stop blaming. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 56:38 Highlight the passage at 56:38

57:01 Well, actually the first, the easiest way to stop blaming actually is to realize that in order for, this is going back, you missed the class before. So back into the one of, where is it? Over here. Report an error in the passage at 57:01 Highlight the passage at 57:01

57:21 Of. How karma works. If we didn't have the karma for somebody to be angry at us, they wouldn't be angry at us. So having the karma for somebody to be angry at us simply means that we've been angry in the past. So whether it's this life, probably not this life, but many lives before and lots of practice. Report an error in the passage at 57:21 Highlight the passage at 57:21

57:50 Because we've had so many lives, we have a lot of time to practice these things. So the first one would be like recognizing that this is my karma coming back at me. Report an error in the passage at 57:50 Highlight the passage at 57:50

58:04 But the other one is just to know that whatever we experience comes from our mind. Report an error in the passage at 58:04 Highlight the passage at 58:04

58:17 See, I even printed this wrong. I forgot to change it so that I could print on just one side, and I get confused when I have two sides. I don't know where I'm at. But anyway, so, you know, first of all, with the blaming, what we do is just, you know, we try to free ourselves from the buttons that we have, our sensitive points, so that when people poke at them, it doesn't bring up the anger. Report an error in the passage at 58:17 Highlight the passage at 58:17

58:46 And so... There's a lot of different ways that we can do it. And these solutions that I gave last time, that's why, you know, it's really good if you can come to the classes. Report an error in the passage at 58:46 Highlight the passage at 58:46

58:59 So karma, thinking about karma is one of the ways. Realizing, first of all, that even though you feel angry and it looks like to you that it's them that's doing it, remind yourself. No, no. If there's no mud in the water, when you stir the water, it's not going to get dirty. So if there's no anger in your mind, when they stir your mind, it's not going to come up. Report an error in the passage at 58:59 Highlight the passage at 58:59

59:33 So you go, oops, there it is, showing me I got anger still. Shit. Report an error in the passage at 59:33 Highlight the passage at 59:33

59:43 Yeah, rats. I thought I was finished. Anyway. So then cultivating love and compassion and love is like a really direct antidote to anger. You can't have love and anger in your mind at the same time. Report an error in the passage at 59:43 Highlight the passage at 59:43

1:00:06 So love is, according to the Buddhist definition, is the desire for somebody to have happiness and compassion in the Buddhist definitions. It's the desire for somebody to be free of suffering. So these not only counteract anger, but it also, when we develop them, helps to prevent it from arising at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:06 Highlight the passage at 1:00:06

1:00:40 And so maybe we can think, why would I wish those to harm me to be happy? Why would I wish for them to be happy? Shouldn't they be punished for the wrongdoing? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:40 Highlight the passage at 1:00:40

1:00:58 And so, you know, it's pointless, those kinds of things. Revenge only becomes the cause for you to suffer that same thing again. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:58 Highlight the passage at 1:00:58

1:01:18 And a lot of times, like when you're like, I can see it watching the news, you want them punished. And I just was watching tonight and in one of the courts, it was some... A man murdered this two girl's sister and he's on trial. And the judge told them that they would be able to influence and have a say in his sentencing. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:18 Highlight the passage at 1:01:18

1:01:49 And one of them was that he has six years in jail and then he gets out. The other one would be that he could either have the death penalty or life in prison. And so they interviewed him and they talked to him. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:49 Highlight the passage at 1:01:49

1:02:04 And at first they asked them, well, did you want revenge? And they said, well, actually at first it kind of crossed their mind. But they thought, you know, they thought about it. After they thought about it a little bit, they thought, it's pointless. Why would we want to put ourselves in the same place as the person that did this to my sister? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:04 Highlight the passage at 1:02:04

1:02:29 And the sister always was loving and forgiving. And they felt like that it would be more honor to her and more honorable to them to request him not to be punished by death. And so they said, no, we don't want, we want to, you know, and so sometimes you see people on the, they're angry and, you know, I mean, they were obviously very upset, you know, and they were really still suffering from what happened with the family. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:29 Highlight the passage at 1:02:29

1:03:04 But I had the presence of mind not to want revenge. And see, the revenge, if he was anger, would say, kill him. And then, you know, what you do is you just create the same karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:04 Highlight the passage at 1:03:04

1:03:25 So I think what they did was more loving and compassionate for him, for themselves. And they'd be able to sleep at night. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:25 Highlight the passage at 1:03:25

1:03:46 And then people harm each other because they're unhappy. When somebody's happy, they don't go and harm somebody. It's an unhappy, dissatisfied mind. When people are content and happy, they don't do harm. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:46 Highlight the passage at 1:03:46

1:04:12 And so if we can remember that and look at that, And realize that they're already suffering more than we could possibly give them, you know. And instead of punishing them, you know, we should wish for them to be happy and free from that suffering. So this is developing compassion when you understand that it's that person's suffering that's causing them to do those actions. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:12 Highlight the passage at 1:04:12

1:04:48 So they could be big actions. They could be small actions. And because these are so different than what we're used to looking at, it's good to start with small things and kind of train our minds and then gradually look at the bigger and bigger things. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:48 Highlight the passage at 1:04:48

1:05:08 But, you know, so you have compassion because this is a person that's suffering. They're unhappy. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:08 Highlight the passage at 1:05:08

1:05:18 So we have to. Really actively work to cultivate love and compassion. You know, if we see delusions as suffering, if we realize how we're caught in our own delusions and how they bring us suffering, then we can turn it around and extend it to the person outside of us. And people can be out of control by their delusions. Their delusions can be so strong. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:18 Highlight the passage at 1:05:18

1:05:49 That it doesn't even look like there's another option. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:49 Highlight the passage at 1:05:49

1:05:57 Like I remember I went walking to the center every day to do puja in the morning and I'd walk down the street and it was really quiet because it was really early in the morning because we'd start at I think 7.30 or something. And I'd see mostly pigeons and homeless people. And I always had more compassion for the pigeon than for the homeless person. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:57 Highlight the passage at 1:05:57

1:06:23 You know, I'd feel worse for the pigeon. Oh, poor, poor, you know, and sometimes they have like a little foot that's not good and they're limping. You know, the homeless person probably can't walk straight either and probably has all kinds of things going on, but I always had more compassion for the pigeon. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:23 Highlight the passage at 1:06:23

1:06:38 And so like I thought, huh, that's really interesting. I wonder why I have more compassion for the pigeon. So I decided, so I looked at it and I thought, well. I had more compassion for the pigeon because I thought that the pigeon was more helpless. And I thought, oh, well, see, people, you automatically assume that people, if they want to, can get themselves up off the street and they can take care of things and pick up and change their situation. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:38 Highlight the passage at 1:06:38

1:07:16 And I realized that sometimes karma is so strong. The karma that puts somebody on the street is so strong, it's almost like the karma of being a pigeon. So just as much as the pigeon can't improve its condition that much, the same thing is with people. When the karma is so strong, you're totally under the control of that delusion and you're... Report an error in the passage at 1:07:16 Highlight the passage at 1:07:16

1:07:48 You really don't have the space to make the change. So we're really fortunate here. We have a little bit of delusions and a little bit of clarity and so we can see and we can make the changes. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:48 Highlight the passage at 1:07:48

1:08:06 So that means we've already done a lot of work. In fact, the whole reason even we're in the room talking about it is because we've done a lot before. So we've already got a head start. In fact, that's kind of like the final end of my talk. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:06 Highlight the passage at 1:08:06

1:08:28 I kind of jumped ahead. But we do. We have a head start right now. So we have to actively develop love and compassion. And one of the ways is just to recognize the delusions. It's like if you are prone to, like sometimes I would be prone to anger, particularly in certain relationships, when you get a real close relationship. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:28 Highlight the passage at 1:08:28

1:08:56 It's really easy. They know exactly which buttons to push, what words, and the anger would just come flying out. It's like trying to stop a galloping horse like this. this Report an error in the passage at 1:08:56 Highlight the passage at 1:08:56

1:09:14 Or stop a boulder from rolling down the hill. I mean, it just comes over and flattens you. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:14 Highlight the passage at 1:09:14

1:09:22 Forgot my point. Oh, oh, right, right. So you know how it is with yourself. And so you can imagine that, I mean, other people are going through the same thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:22 Highlight the passage at 1:09:22

1:09:35 Same kind of delusion, same kind of strength and maybe even stronger. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:35 Highlight the passage at 1:09:35

1:09:47 So what we need to do basically is to use whatever tools that we can to subdue our anger. I read this quote the last time and I really like it so I'm going to read it again. And this is what the Buddha said, holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:47 Highlight the passage at 1:09:47

1:10:14 You're the one that gets burned. I mean, that's such great visual. Anyway, so the best way to begin to really work on these is to do it with meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:14 Highlight the passage at 1:10:14

1:10:30 So we need to subdue and transform our minds, you know, not just by listening to the techniques, but actually doing it. We can't do it by reading a book, you know. We have to practice. And so, like Michelle said, there are some things that are just too big. To take on, you know, actually in the present moment. Like sometimes there's certain people that just know how to make, get you upset. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:30 Highlight the passage at 1:10:30

1:11:00 And no matter, you know, as much as you make a resolution, okay, I'm not going to get upset. They know exactly how to push the buttons. So you go back to your meditation and you sit there and you practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:00 Highlight the passage at 1:11:00

1:11:15 And gradually over time, you should see that that will begin to... Diminish. You see the upset and you use one of the techniques, one of the meditations, love or seeing their position or understanding that they're causing more harm to themselves or that it's your karma or a combination of all of those things while you're sitting there and until you go, yeah, wow, it really is true. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:15 Highlight the passage at 1:11:15

1:11:46 And then the more true that becomes. The less likely you are to keep reacting, maybe it'll be a smaller reaction or it'll take longer before it comes up and you'll gradually begin to see a change. So this is true for any of the delusions, but anger is a good one. And if you don't have anger, if you just have lots of attachment, work on the same thing with attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:46 Highlight the passage at 1:11:46

1:12:18 a minute, there's different, uh, different, Different antidotes. I think it comes up in a different class, actually. But anyway, so meditation, I mean meditation, gom is in Tibetan. It just means to familiarize. So what we can do while we're sitting there is familiarize ourselves with proper behavior. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:18 Highlight the passage at 1:12:18

1:12:44 You know, it's not engaging in the things that are going to cause us more suffering. And so there's no shortcuts. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:44 Highlight the passage at 1:12:44

1:12:56 It's up to all of us, but the rewards are huge. So now I've gone way over. Any questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:12:56 Highlight the passage at 1:12:56

1:13:10 Otherwise we'll just take a break for a very quick break, a couple of minutes. I want to talk about all the different realms of existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:10 Highlight the passage at 1:13:10

1:13:25 Okay, yeah, we'll do that. Okay, so we'll start again. Where is everybody? Come on back. Okay, I think it's kind of lukewarm water right now, but that's okay. It's drinkable. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:25 Highlight the passage at 1:13:25

1:13:47 Anyway, I'm just going to start with a couple quotes. They really have nothing to do with cyclic existence, but it does have to do with the mind, but I thought they were pretty good. And these are, it's Jitsuma Tenzin Palmo, and she's an amazing person, like, you know, not me. I was mistaken for that person once, but it was way different. She spent 12 years in a cave, meditating way up in the mountains, and actually wrote a cave, wrote a book, wrote a book called Cave in the Snow. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:47 Highlight the passage at 1:13:47

1:14:27 Kind of told about her life and, you know, her... experience of doing this. She did 12 years of solitary meditation in a cave. When you meet her, she's amazing. She's like so crystal clear. Her eyes, when they look at you, they just go right through you. It's like you can't hide at all. It makes me really uncomfortable. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:27 Highlight the passage at 1:14:27

1:14:59 It's like, oh, no. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:59 Highlight the passage at 1:14:59

1:15:03 But, you know, she's really amazing. So these are a couple quotes that she had, but this is great. If we had a loudspeaker attached to our mind, wouldn't everybody want to learn to meditate? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:03 Highlight the passage at 1:15:03

1:15:20 We spend a lot of time on external appearances and little on internal reality. Take a moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:20 Highlight the passage at 1:15:20

1:15:29 So just think, if everything that was going through your mind came out on a loudspeaker, we would do something to fix that, wouldn't we? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:29 Highlight the passage at 1:15:29

1:15:42 I thought that was the best. Anyway, the other one is that we can never escape from our mind. We must make the mind a place we can live in happily. Forget enlightenment. we? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:42 Highlight the passage at 1:15:42

1:15:58 It's our mind that we have to have as our closest companion. So those are two really good ones about the mind. So saṃsāra, we talked about saṃsāra or cyclic existence and never really explained it, but it's caused by the mind. So saṃsāra isn't a place, okay? Saṃsāra is our own disturbed mind. Our own disturbed mind and what it creates. So we have samsaric minds and these minds cause suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:58 Highlight the passage at 1:15:58

1:16:40 So until we begin to eliminate the karma, the delusions, purify the karma, we'll continue to circle through following these thoughts and habits of our mind that cause the suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:40 Highlight the passage at 1:16:40

1:16:59 So before I mentioned cyclic existence, beginningless time, rebirth, we've had countless births and deaths, and all of them have been under the force of karma and delusions. And so, like I mentioned earlier, because we're born under the influence of these karma and delusions, the life that we're born into is automatically... Report an error in the passage at 1:16:59 Highlight the passage at 1:16:59

1:17:26 A suffering life. No matter how good it looks, it ultimately is suffering. So that doesn't mean we're not going to have any fun or any pleasure. And at this point, we don't have any control over where we take rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:26 Highlight the passage at 1:17:26

1:17:47 We can't control our own minds, so how can we control where we're going to be born? Now eventually there are some of our lamas. And some of our teachers and gurus that we know actually have that control and they can say, oh, well, look for me in this place or look for me in that place. And they kind of give clues before they leave this body that they're in to where to find them in another next life. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:47 Highlight the passage at 1:17:47

1:18:21 And that's happened numerous times. So it shows that, you know, they're... There can be that control. When you have that control, then you're no longer subject to being born what they call in saṃsāra. You're still coming back to this realm where a lot of us are suffering. It is called saṃsāra, but you don't have the samsaric mind, and so you don't suffer in the way that ordinary people do. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:21 Highlight the passage at 1:18:21

1:19:01 This is after you have direct experiences of emptiness and then you develop that to a certain extent when you've eliminated all of the delusions and then you have the control. So it's a little bit beyond being a bodhisattva, but being a bodhisattva could be part of it for sure. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:01 Highlight the passage at 1:19:01

1:19:36 But anyway, so... We're just tossed, right now we're just tossed here and there by our karma and delusions. And so that's basically what is called saṃsāra or cyclic existence. And so the Buddha, when he was meditating, observed that there were three different realms of the samsaric mind. So all of the realms are considered suffering realms as long as the rebirth... Report an error in the passage at 1:19:36 Highlight the passage at 1:19:36

1:20:09 Is determined by karma and delusions. And so the three realms are, I'll just list them. It's the desire realm, the form realm and the formless realm. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:09 Highlight the passage at 1:20:09

1:20:23 And so the desire realm is the one that we're in. And they call it desire realm because it's permeated mainly by desire. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:23 Highlight the passage at 1:20:23

1:20:38 Mostly gross desire, usually in the form of desire for food and sex. Those are the two top. Desires generally. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:38 Highlight the passage at 1:20:38

1:20:49 And then within this desire realm, it's made up of six kind of like sub realms. And I'll talk about those later. The form and formless realms are more advanced stages. They're more like being in advanced stages of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:49 Highlight the passage at 1:20:49

1:21:08 And they are actually the results of advanced meditation. So desire is not really experienced in this realm, not strongly, not like a gross desire like we have here. So sometimes they call it desireless realms, but they have the desire to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:08 Highlight the passage at 1:21:08

1:21:35 And so generally in those realms, there's not a lot of progress towards enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:35 Highlight the passage at 1:21:35

1:21:46 It's harder to try to attain enlightenment in those realms. Existence in the realms could be really long and because they're really pleasurable, they're using up lots and lots of virtuous karma. Remember when we have something that's pleasurable or makes us feel good or happy, that's the results of virtuous karma. So it's using up lots and lots of virtuous karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:46 Highlight the passage at 1:21:46

1:22:12 So when the karma runs out in that realm, Usually they'll fall into a lower realm because they've got still a certain amount of negative karma and they've used up a lot of virtuous karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:12 Highlight the passage at 1:22:12

1:22:28 And so, no, they do. That's mainly the desire to meditate. Yeah, mainly. No, they have the karmic tendencies are still there from the past. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:28 Highlight the passage at 1:22:28

1:22:48 Yeah. Well, no, they meditate. We'll talk about, when we get into the detail of each one, I think it might be a little bit clearer. Because the meditation itself doesn't solve our problems. As much as people like to think, oh, if I meditate really well, all my problems will be solved. That's not really true. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:48 Highlight the passage at 1:22:48

1:23:15 We can be comfortable for a while, but the idea, we don't want to be comfortable. And still be in saṃsāra and still have suffering. But anyway, we'll talk about it. But anyway, after the karma runs out for being in these formless realms, they usually fall into a lower realm, which would be back into the desire realm or into a more suffering realm. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:15 Highlight the passage at 1:23:15

1:23:42 So basically the form realm is achieved when one has... High levels of concentration that focuses on clarity and non-conceptual awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:42 Highlight the passage at 1:23:42

1:23:59 So when you attain high levels of concentration that focuses mainly on clarity and non-conceptual awareness, Report an error in the passage at 1:23:59 Highlight the passage at 1:23:59

1:24:13 in the form realm one doesn't experience the suffering of suffering. So you don't have emotional or physical suffering. any direct pain. The beings Report an error in the passage at 1:24:13 Highlight the passage at 1:24:13

1:24:32 in those realms have renounced external sense objects, but they still have attachment to the internal forms of their own mind and body. And so that's why they still have a form. In the form realm they say that there is a form. Now that form is a much subtler form than what we experience here. And the form is kind of, it could be more androgynous. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:32 Highlight the passage at 1:24:32

1:25:11 It's not one that has a lot of attachment to any of the sense pleasures. So they're more interested in meditation. But they do have a lot of really, you know, it's just totally pleasurable. So even if there was a teaching, it would be like, well, you know, I'm too busy enjoying myself. I want to meditate. I want to, you know, have a good time. I don't need to listen to any teaching. I don't need to work because there's no suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:11 Highlight the passage at 1:25:11

1:25:50 We have a nice balance here on Earth. Just enough to keep us motivated. Anyway, but there you don't have that. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:50 Highlight the passage at 1:25:50

1:26:00 And in the formless realm, that's even a higher state of existence. In formless, they say formless because in that one, they've let go of the attachment to the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:00 Highlight the passage at 1:26:00

1:26:12 And this is achieved when one has attained really high levels of concentration that focuses on non-conceptual awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:12 Highlight the passage at 1:26:12

1:26:28 Yeah, both of them, but this is even a higher level of non-conceptual awareness where you've actually... Let go of the attachment to your body. So in the first one, you still have some attachment to the body. And these things come about because they're lacking the motivation to be able to achieve enlightenment, to be able to benefit others. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:28 Highlight the passage at 1:26:28

1:27:02 So high levels of concentration that focus on non-conceptual awareness. So this would be like doing calm abiding without bodhicitta. You can get into really blissful states and you can be all enamored by this bliss and this amazing feeling. But without using the ability that you gain from that, which is this ability to stay in that meditation or in like concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:02 Highlight the passage at 1:27:02

1:27:41 On a single object and then use it to be able to cut the root of cyclic existence, then you end up in a formless realm or a form realm. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:41 Highlight the passage at 1:27:41

1:27:56 So what those are, the form and formless realms are all different levels of meditation. They have them outlined and they have them broken down. I don't want to go into too much detail. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:56 Highlight the passage at 1:27:56

1:28:09 But basically that's what that is. And so the motivation to become enlightened for the benefit of others and then using the skills that we learn through concentration practices to be able to apply them to the different Buddhist tenets, including the idea of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:09 Highlight the passage at 1:28:09

1:28:38 In order to cut that root, if we don't do that, we end up in these other realms. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:38 Highlight the passage at 1:28:38

1:28:49 Well, actually you can. You can cut it without bodhicitta. But if we don't use that concentration in some form in order to either cut that root of cyclic existence and become actually free, if we cut the root of cyclic existence through meditation, Without bodhicitta, then that's called nirvāṇa or liberation from the Buddhist point of view. But if you're in a Theravadan, you would call it enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:49 Highlight the passage at 1:28:49

1:29:26 So there's different terms, but they mean a little bit differently. With bodhicitta, we go a step further and actually achieve enlightenment. So you can, you actually can without that motivation. The motivation basically needs to be free from saṃsāra. It's the base motivation. But for us, the motivation is to go farther, to become enlightened so that we can benefit others. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:26 Highlight the passage at 1:29:26

1:29:55 So that's why I skipped a lot of them. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:55 Highlight the passage at 1:29:55

1:30:03 But, I mean, you know, it's not a bad motivation for sure. Now, you know, I mean, there's some argument and it's definitely a debate point. On whether or not if you reach nirvāṇa, which would be cutting the root of cyclic existence but not having gone all the way to enlightenment, what happens and sometimes they say, well, you're in this total state of absolute bliss for a really long time and then the Buddha comes and taps you on the shoulder after, you know, however many eons and says, hey, you know, you're not finished. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:03 Highlight the passage at 1:30:03

1:30:40 You have to go back. And finish, you know, but it's one of the things they debate about. But anyway, Report an error in the passage at 1:30:40 Highlight the passage at 1:30:40

1:30:55 so within the desire realm, there's, so basically that's the form and formless realm. The beings in the formless realm have renounced all of the attachments to the physical pleasures, okay, and they exist only Within their mind stream, but they still have subtle desire and attachment for mental states and the ego or the self, but not for that in the sense of having a body. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:55 Highlight the passage at 1:30:55

1:31:30 It's their attachment to their mind and the sense of self. And so that's what brings them back. So any questions about that? Let's not do questions. Okay, cancel it. We don't have time for questions. The desire realm, we have six realms, okay? So three of them are considered favorable or desirable and three of them are considered undesirable. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:30 Highlight the passage at 1:31:30

1:32:03 And sometimes you hear them called fortunate and unfortunate or upper and lower and they split three and three. So if we remember that everything comes from the mind and this world comes from the mind and according to the Buddha, the mind has totally created this world. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:03 Highlight the passage at 1:32:03

1:32:27 So then that means we create our own reality and then we create our experience to that reality and it all comes from the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:27 Highlight the passage at 1:32:27

1:32:40 So everything we experience is a reflection of our past mental activity. So that means everything, our body, our environment, the people in our life, our problems, our successes, our experiences, our feelings, you know, whether the chocolate tastes good or it doesn't taste good, makes us happy or unhappy, all from our past experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:40 Highlight the passage at 1:32:40

1:33:08 So we can see this because some people go through like incredible hardships and pain, but their minds are really stable and happy. And then there's other people that have everything in the world. You know, they could have like good experiences, you know, friends, wealth, and their minds are totally unstable and negative. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:08 Highlight the passage at 1:33:08

1:33:34 So it shows that it's all dependent on the mind. And according to the power past experiences. And so our mind's really incredibly vast and incredibly powerful. And so now we're just at the edge of beginning to realize and to get to know how powerful it really is. So just quickly in the desire realm, we have the human realm, which that's the one we're in. We're all human. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:34 Highlight the passage at 1:33:34

1:34:05 We experience both suffering and happiness. And they say that this is the very best realm to be reborn in. This is the one that's the best for attaining enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:05 Highlight the passage at 1:34:05

1:34:24 It's difficult to attain a human life. So if you think about it, even compared to the number of... Animals and insects and other beings that we can see, not to mention all those beings that we can't see, there's probably more beings in a square mile of Earth than there is all the people in the entire world. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:24 Highlight the passage at 1:34:24

1:34:55 So being born as a human is really difficult because there's not a lot of humans really in the scheme of things. Especially when you go into countless numbers, but even if you look at it in relationship to the number of fish in the ocean or the number of insects or ants and worms and all the things that you find in the earth, all the animals. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:55 Highlight the passage at 1:34:55

1:35:24 Anyway, so basically it's not easy to get a human rebirth and then it's really even harder. To get one where we're going to be interested in Dharma, which will come up probably next week. So we'll talk more about that. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:24 Highlight the passage at 1:35:24

1:35:48 So the main reason to have a human rebirth is because we've practiced morality and we've done some prayers, especially to have a precious human rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:48 Highlight the passage at 1:35:48

1:36:08 So you can see not all human rebirths are good human rebirths. There are people that have extreme suffering, so much so that they'd never even consider Dharma. I mean, they can't even, you know, if you can't eat, you're not going to think about improving your mind or doing something like that. People that don't even go to school don't even have schools. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:08 Highlight the passage at 1:36:08

1:36:34 I mean, really, you're horrible. Horrible ways that people can be born in this world. Then there's like above the human realm is what they call the demigods or Asuras. And this is basically like a really, really good realm. It's a really good birth. They have like lots of pleasures and all of that, but they also have jealousy because above them is what they call the god realm. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:34 Highlight the passage at 1:36:34

1:37:06 And they can see the gods and the gods have even more than they have and they have even better stuff than they have. And so they end up, you know, fighting and they're jealous of the gods. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:06 Highlight the passage at 1:37:06

1:37:25 But there's not the suffering like there is on the earth. But there is some. Of course, there's the jealousy and the fighting. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:25 Highlight the passage at 1:37:25

1:37:36 They just end up creating more negative karma because of that. And it's really hard to meet the Dharma in that realm because they're too busy. They're either too busy indulging in their own pleasures or being jealous of the gods and fighting with them. So then there's the god realm, which is totally blissful happiness for years on end. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:36 Highlight the passage at 1:37:36

1:38:06 I mean, they're physically gorgeous. They have everything that they can possibly want, you know, until the karma that was there to create that runs out. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:06 Highlight the passage at 1:38:06

1:38:22 And they've basically wasted lots and lots of good karma. And when the karma for that runs out, generally they fall into a lower realm. There was a story about somebody that was in one of these god realms and it's like... What happens when the karma runs out, all of their friends, they start to get all kind of stinky and raggy and dirty. Before they never got dirty. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:22 Highlight the passage at 1:38:22

1:38:47 They were always clean and smelled sweet and then pretty soon they start to smell horrible and they get really raggy and dirty and all their friends abandon them and then they know that they're going to die. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:47 Highlight the passage at 1:38:47

1:39:00 And then, you know, some of them are able to see what life they're going to be born into. And then a lot of times they end up with extreme suffering, regret and all that because they've wasted all of this karma and then they're going back and they're going to be a pig or some other thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:00 Highlight the passage at 1:39:00

1:39:23 So, you know, it's like a temporary, temporary happiness. It's not real. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:23 Highlight the passage at 1:39:23

1:39:34 Oh, wow, we're getting close. Okay. Anyway, so. Both of them have so much happiness that they're totally distracted by it. No reason to study Dharma, no reason to think about any kind of spiritual life. It's like, you know, just total one indulgence after another. And, you know, the reason that people go to those realms is because they have created a lot of positive karma, but without generating a great motivation. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:34 Highlight the passage at 1:39:34

1:40:11 Which would be a motivation for, you know, at least liberation for themselves, motivation of enlightenment. So then the animal realm, so those are the three fortunate, what they call fortunate realms. They still are suffering, but there's not as much suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:11 Highlight the passage at 1:40:11

1:40:35 There's still some pleasure there too, in varying degrees. Gods have lots of pleasure. We have some pleasure and it varies according to people too. Then the suffering realms or the animal realm, we can see that one. We know about the animals. They're just like us, you know, except that their minds are more obscured, but they still want happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:35 Highlight the passage at 1:40:35

1:41:03 They seek it and they try to avoid suffering. And instincts are just really powerful habits. What it is is just really strong karmic imprints. And that's based on knowledge of past experiences and something that you do again and again and again. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:03 Highlight the passage at 1:41:03

1:41:30 So all these things that are instincts are just really strong karmic imprints. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:30 Highlight the passage at 1:41:30

1:41:44 And so, you know, animals have a mind. They think and they feel. They know things. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:44 Highlight the passage at 1:41:44

1:41:54 And suffering, whether you're an animal or a human, you have suffering. And Report an error in the passage at 1:41:54 Highlight the passage at 1:41:54

1:42:03 so, you know, the animal's mind is clear and knowing, just like the human mind. In fact, the mind of any being is clear and knowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:03 Highlight the passage at 1:42:03

1:42:17 It just depends on how much delusions or obscurations are there that pollute it. Essential nature is still clear and knowing. And so the primary cause of being born in an animal realm is ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:17 Highlight the passage at 1:42:17

1:42:41 And then you have pretas. That's like a next one with more suffering than animals. Pretas are like spirits or ghosts. And it's like a mind of constant craving. And they're constantly tormented. They never find satisfaction. They're always craving food and water and never get it. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:41 Highlight the passage at 1:42:41

1:43:13 Everything is frustrating. They have a lot of stories. In fact, there's a whole class on karma that's part of DB too, Discovering Buddhism. It's like a number of weeks on karma. I mean, yeah, on karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:13 Highlight the passage at 1:43:13

1:43:32 Includes more information on the different realms. But basically you just experience constant dissatisfaction and suffering. And it's a mind that's totally dominated by craving. And so the primary cause for the spirit realm is craving or attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:32 Highlight the passage at 1:43:32

1:44:08 And then beyond that we have the hell realms. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:08 Highlight the passage at 1:44:08

1:44:14 And those you experience is like total undistracted anger and hatred as a suffering in the hells. And you can't escape from it. And that's the primary cause for the hell realms is anger and hatred. And I think like probably no need to go into details about it. There's... There's what they call hot hells, there's cold hells, and then there's kind of like intermediate ones that are like kind of in between so that you can kind of get your way out. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:14 Highlight the passage at 1:44:14

1:44:55 But again, like I said, there's whole classes on some of these different kinds of ideas. Well, not whole classes, just on the hell realms, but anyway. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:55 Highlight the passage at 1:44:55

1:45:07 So there are the hell realms and basically the... Primary cause of that one is anger. So here you have the three lower realms, each with the primary cause of ignorance, attachment or anger. And anger being the one that causes the most suffering of all. So basically six realms in what we call cyclic existence or saṃsāra and they're kind of depicted on the tanka that's right in the back of the room. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:07 Highlight the passage at 1:45:07

1:45:41 It's called the Wheel of Life. So there's basically three approaches that you can take to the three realms, because this may sound kind of weird in a way for some people. But there's the literal teaching, which says that these realms actually exist in the way that they're taught. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:41 Highlight the passage at 1:45:41

1:46:04 But we have to remember emptiness and karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:04 Highlight the passage at 1:46:04

1:46:11 And if you think about karma, I mean emptiness, if you think about the emptiness of this realm and how things in this realm seem so solid and permanent and real and because of our karma to be born in this realm, that's how they look. And then you think, well, but they don't really exist in that solid way. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:11 Highlight the passage at 1:46:11

1:46:38 A lot of how I view these things and my reactions to them all come up from my mind. The more that you see how your mind creates this realm, which seems so real, where you actually really feel the punch when somebody hits you and it hurts, you can imagine how your mind can create another realm that's even more suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:38 Highlight the passage at 1:46:38

1:47:06 If you were in that realm, it would seem just as real as us sitting in the room right here, right now, except it would be more extreme suffering, like say in a preter realm. So it's like the more I started to look at the emptiness of things in general and, you know, the... The more misconceptions that we have about how things exist, the more real to me and the more frightening the lower realms became Report an error in the passage at 1:47:06 Highlight the passage at 1:47:06

1:47:45 because they exist no different than the way this exists right here, right now. Anyway, so you can look at it also in terms of the human realm contains all the six realms and you can see that. You can see like if you go to, if you look at the people in Africa. That are starving and, you know, the problems that they have, trying to even get a drop of water. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:45 Highlight the passage at 1:47:45

1:48:19 And sometimes even if they get some water, you see, they show like kids are drinking this stuff. Oh, it looks horrible. You know, we wouldn't even think about getting near it, let alone putting it in our body. But this would be kind of like a predator realm. You know, and there's other places maybe where there's big fires and freezing cold temperatures where people are dying of the cold and it's kind of like hot, hot hells and cold hells. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:19 Highlight the passage at 1:48:19

1:48:52 I mean, we can see the realms here and then you have the god realms where they're like all up, you know, and all they're doing is just enjoying themselves until that runs out. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:52 Highlight the passage at 1:48:52

1:49:04 And sometimes that does. For some people in this, you know, you see somebody who's way up here, got everything in the world and all of a sudden something happens and their entire world falls apart. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:04 Highlight the passage at 1:49:04

1:49:18 You know, even Saddam Hussein, right? He was like way up there, like all wealth and all the palaces and all this kind of stuff and all of a sudden fell apart, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:18 Highlight the passage at 1:49:18

1:49:32 But anyway, so you can think of it in those terms, that the six realms you can see here. And then also you can look at it from the point of view that the six realms exist within your own mind right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:32 Highlight the passage at 1:49:32

1:49:50 So like one day you're totally distracted with pleasure and then another day you're angry and then sometimes you're kind of ignorant or you feel kind of dull. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:50 Highlight the passage at 1:49:50

1:50:04 And it's like you can see all the different realms kind of within yourself, that Report an error in the passage at 1:50:04 Highlight the passage at 1:50:04

1:50:17 it all comes from your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:17 Highlight the passage at 1:50:17

1:50:22 And the things that we experience now are just mini versions of the other realms. You can look at it like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:22 Highlight the passage at 1:50:22

1:50:40 It gives you a little more motivation too. But anyway, so after looking at... You know, possible future lives. You know, the whole thing falls apart if we go, well, there's no such thing as a future life or a past life. But so, you know, if that's the case, we can have a conversation about it. You don't have to automatically believe it. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:40 Highlight the passage at 1:50:40

1:51:11 Explore the possibility. But so we can see, you know, it's to our advantage to gain insights into our mind. To make efforts to begin to bring the mind under control so that we can at least create the causes to try to get reborn in an upper realm, in a less suffering realm, in a realm where we can continue on the path to be able to reach our full potential and to end our suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:11 Highlight the passage at 1:51:11

1:51:51 So, you know, like I said before, if we didn't do a lot of work in the past, we wouldn't be here now. And so it's a perfect opportunity right now for all of us to continue. Now, we might not remember doing the work, but we did it. So we don't want to waste it. It's like we have that foundation. Let's use it. And so, you know, this is why we're doing the class, I think. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51:51

1:52:26 Take this foundation that we've created from the past and be able to expand on it. So we're late. The homework that I passed out is a meditation that Kendall Magnuson had created. And it's a really good one. So I just pretty much copied it. Well, I didn't pretty much copy it. I copied it completely. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:26 Highlight the passage at 1:52:26

1:52:56 Except that I added the reading on the top. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:56 Highlight the passage at 1:52:56

1:53:03 And so, let's see. So it's called Disadvantages of Anger. And so if you can, be sure to really do these practices and meditations. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:03 Highlight the passage at 1:53:03

1:53:16 And in between sessions, like when you're not home, because the best way to work with anger is to do it in meditation. Any of the strong emotions, to do it first in meditation. Try to take it out in the world with you. See how it works. Try to remember some of the antidotes. The blaming or the compassion or some other thing while you're going around through your day. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:16 Highlight the passage at 1:53:16

1:53:47 Oh yeah, that's just a part of anger. Yeah, impatience, being annoyed, snapping. Depression. Depression is anger turned inwards. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:47 Highlight the passage at 1:53:47

1:54:05 Yeah. All of those things. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:05 Highlight the passage at 1:54:05

1:54:13 I would say that you need to first acknowledge that there's the anger there. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:13 Highlight the passage at 1:54:13

1:54:24 You would have to probably look at meditation, possibly. Depending on the severity, sometimes it's good to take a pill. Go to the doctor and get a pill. you know, that. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:24 Highlight the passage at 1:54:24

1:54:43 Until you get to a point where you can let go of the pills. Like Venerable Rubina used to get, she was kind of, her whole family was kind of had a depressed mentality. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:43 Highlight the passage at 1:54:43

1:54:58 And a lot of them were going and getting their medications and stuff. And she said, no way. I'm not doing it that way. I will not do it that way. I'm going to take care of it myself. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:58 Highlight the passage at 1:54:58

1:55:12 You know she's pretty feisty. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:12 Highlight the passage at 1:55:12

1:55:20 So it depends on the degree of depression. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:20 Highlight the passage at 1:55:20

1:55:35 Oh, I don't know. Let's think about that. I'd have to think about it. I hadn't really thought about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:35 Highlight the passage at 1:55:35

1:55:46 But that's what they say. That's what's the main cause of depression is because we're internalizing all of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:46 Highlight the passage at 1:55:46

1:55:57 But anyway, so... Let's just do a quick, oh, how many people wanted, we have a few, we have copies of this if you wanted to see for being able to, you want to pass it out, somebody, anybody? If we need more, Lisa can make some more, but it has, like, it has the reading that you need to do, it has meditations that you need to do, and so I haven't. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:57 Highlight the passage at 1:55:57

1:56:29 Yet, given all the reading yet. And actually, Report an error in the passage at 1:56:29 Highlight the passage at 1:56:29

1:56:37 you know, I didn't, I put on just continue Lama Yeshi's book. Well, let's see. Now maybe next time we could do Lama Zopa. Yeah, read Lama Yeshi. Read Lama Yeshi. Hopefully you're on the part, make your mind an ocean, if you get to that part. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:37 Highlight the passage at 1:56:37

1:57:03 Anyway, so let's just do a quick dedication. And we'll just dedicate to that all of the virtuous karma that we created through being here together, that it quickly helps us to dissolve all of our delusions and so that we are able to fully, fully realize our full potential and that is to become enlightened and that we'll be able to help all other beings through that. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:03 Highlight the passage at 1:57:03

1:57:39 So page six, we'll just do the first two verses 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 1:57:39 Highlight the passage at 1:57:39

1:58:07 Well, thank you. Sorry I went over a little bit. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:07 Highlight the passage at 1:58:07