Dzogchen Retreat 2015 - Realising our true nature (part 1)

0:00 Thank you, Anila. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:04 So, good to be back. I've been only out of the country for about a week or so. I've spent most of the, I guess, your winter here. So, here we start with an extraordinary text. It's very short, very much to the point. And it simply is the most outstanding, inspiring and informative introduction to Dzogchen that I've seen anywhere. Report an error in the passage at 0:04 Highlight the passage at 0:04

0:30 And it is by a 19th century Dzogchen master. By the name of Dujumlingpa of course, I think many of you have some background there. He was born in 1835, died in 1904. So what I'd like to do is just spend a few minutes talking about him so we know where the source of this text is coming from. This text with a very odd title, The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers. I think the most important thing about this yogi Dujumlingpa was his, I think, Really in recent times his unparalleled efficacy as a teacher. Report an error in the passage at 0:30 Highlight the passage at 0:30

1:09 In the 19th century there were many great beings, there's no question about it, from all within Tibetan Buddhism, all four schools, there was simply no dearth, no, how do you say, no lack of extraordinary realized beings, many of them great scholars, many great yogis and so forth, many great teachers as well, of course. Report an error in the passage at 1:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09

1:31 Dujo Mlingba does stand out though, he was unusual. He was unusual in his birth as being born in simply a very simple, remote, nomadic family out in eastern Tibet. It would have been like being born in Alice Springs if you were born in Australia. I mean, in the boonies. And he was not identified as some great tukku, as some emanation of some previous enlightened being. Report an error in the passage at 1:31 Highlight the passage at 1:31

1:59 He was simply a little boy. When he was already just two or three years old, he was already displaying some signs that he was not your ordinary little boy. He was having direct visions of Padmasambhava, of Yeshi Sogala, his consort. And over the course of his childhood, his youth and right on through his adult years, he had multiple visions of many of the greatest beings in the whole history of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 1:59 Highlight the passage at 1:59

2:27 Some of these great beings from the past, such as Nagarjuna. Patmasambhava himself, of course, others like Vajrapani or Avalokiteshvara, more the archetypal manifestations of qualities of the enlightened mind. And so he stands out in many ways. Again, there were many beings in the 19th century, earlier and later, who had such visionary experiences, received Gnostic teachings, I mean really teachings from a Buddha, but you know, right there in their own lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 2:27 Highlight the passage at 2:27

2:57 He was extremely unusual. In the sense that, as he comments in this text right here that we'll be examining quite closely, he had no human teacher. Virtually all of them would have a guru. Many of them would have many gurus who would take them in hand, give them personal guidance and so forth, give them the transmissions, the empowerments, really bring them into the lineage. Report an error in the passage at 2:57 Highlight the passage at 2:57

3:19 He says he didn't have even one. I presume he learned to read from somebody. There was some Lama Changchup, I think, that probably taught him how to read. And his combined works, I think, are comprised of about 20 very large volumes. So he's extremely literate. But it's hard to see that he had any training outside of what he had just purely in a visionary fashion. Report an error in the passage at 3:19 Highlight the passage at 3:19

3:45 So that makes him very unusual. And he was very open about this from the time he was a child, saying, you know, he'd received such and such teaching from Padmasambhava. He'd been to Padmasambhava's... Pure land, the glorious copper-colored mountain. Eventually these teachings here and there. And it would be very understandable that the people around him thought he was just a child with a marvelously vivid imagination. Report an error in the passage at 3:45 Highlight the passage at 3:45

4:13 I didn't take him very seriously. He didn't really catch the attention of any of the great lamas of that era. And there were certainly plenty. He was just kind of like out there on his own. And he grew and he just followed the instructions of Padmasambhava. A particular manifestation of Padmasambhava known as the Lakeborn Vajra, one of the eight manifestations, became his personal guru. Report an error in the passage at 4:13 Highlight the passage at 4:13

4:36 He appeared to him again and again and again, gave him personal guidance. And by the time he was in his mid-twenties, he'd gained direct realization of the deepest ground state of awareness, primordial consciousness, pristine awareness. He became a Vidya Dada. And this is not simply an expression of faith by his followers, and I'm one of them, but rather he simply said it himself. He was very candid, and he described exactly how it took place. Report an error in the passage at 4:36 Highlight the passage at 4:36

5:04 Well, again, people can have vivid imaginations, especially people who don't have a teacher, can very easily mistake the depth of their own realization. They may have something quite shallow, but think, oh, this is emptiness, this is nirvāṇa, this is... Buddha nature, what have you, that's happened countless times in the history of Tibet, let alone, as Buddhism has gone global, all kinds of, not necessarily dishonest claims, but simply uninformed claims. Report an error in the passage at 5:04 Highlight the passage at 5:04

5:32 And this is true all over Buddhism. People simply not having enough knowledge to be able to accurately assess the nature, the significance, the depth of their own experiences. And very, very often, it happens all the time nowadays, exaggerating that simply because they didn't know any better. But as he continued to mature in his practice, he started to gather more and more disciples. And then something really caught the attention of the great beings, the great teachers, scholars, not translators so much, but of his era, the great Buddhist teachers of his era. Report an error in the passage at 5:32 Highlight the passage at 5:32

6:06 And that is his own disciples started to really flower. And over the course of his lifetime, it's widely accepted that 13 of his disciples achieved rainbow body. 13 became Buddhas. And yet he wasn't living in some major metropolis, so we'd be surrounded by millions of people who wouldn't have thousands upon thousands of disciples. He never really traveled much. Report an error in the passage at 6:06 Highlight the passage at 6:06

6:27 He stayed out there in eastern Tibet. It's like staying in the heart of Australia. I mean, it was really remote. But over the course of his life, as I said, 13 of his disciples came to the culmination of the path of Dzogchen, and it said a thousand became Vyedadanas, which is simply an astonishing statement. Report an error in the passage at 6:27 Highlight the passage at 6:27

6:46 And so in this way, By their actions, by the fruits of the actions they shall be known, he then became known as a truly and profoundly accomplished being by the manifest efficacy of his own teachings and the effect that had on his disciples. So that did eventually make a very profound impression upon, I think, teachers from all the traditions in Tibet. And his renown really grew. Report an error in the passage at 6:46 Highlight the passage at 6:46

7:17 And then over the course of his lifetime, he did receive a prophecy on one occasion. And in the prophecy, he was told that among the various teachings he gave, he didn't just teach Dzogchen. Among his 20 volumes or so of collected teachings, there are five treatises that are specifically focused on Dzogchen, five classic treatises. Report an error in the passage at 7:17 Highlight the passage at 7:17

7:38 And those are the ones that I've had the privilege to translate together with a couple of commentaries. So those were all published a few months ago by Wisdom Publications. It's a relatively small fraction of the 20 volumes of the teachings. But he received a prophecy saying that the Dzogchen teachings in particular, these, it was said, would be of great benefit to beings in the West, people living in the cities of the West. Report an error in the passage at 7:38 Highlight the passage at 7:38

8:05 And so I read that years ago. I was introduced to Jujum Lingba Dzogchen writings about 20 years ago, about 20 years ago. And encouraged by my root Dzogchen Lama, the Venerable Gyatwaramache, to translate Dujum Lingva's largest treatise, the Vajra Essence, into English. And I finished that a long time ago. It was published in a very small printing. But then over the last several years, then revised that translation, did all the other translations, and then this came out in this three-volume set. Report an error in the passage at 8:05 Highlight the passage at 8:05

8:36 But as I was receiving the teachings, and I've had a lot of oral guidance, the transmissions, the empowerments and so forth. In Dzogchen and especially for the Dujum Lingva teachings from Gata Rinpoche, I read that prophecy and Rinpoche explained it to me. And it just, how do you say, I found it profoundly inspiring and felt, I think I'd like to do all I can to see that that prophecy comes true. Report an error in the passage at 8:36 Highlight the passage at 8:36

9:03 In other words, I'd like to stack the deck. Let's make it be true. If it's a prophecy, not all prophecies come true, of course. But I thought when that one, as I was introduced to this largest text, the Vajra Essence, I would just have to say I'd never seen a text like it. And by the time I finished with that text, I felt if I had only one book on the proverbial desert island, this is the one book I'd take. Report an error in the passage at 9:03 Highlight the passage at 9:03

9:31 Because in that one book, it's about 400 pages long, the whole path is laid out and it's specifically designed for people who wish to achieve perfect enlightenment in one lifetime. So there are shorter texts, and the shortest of all the texts that he composed that gives this complete presentation of the path is the text right here. Report an error in the passage at 9:31 Highlight the passage at 9:31

9:51 And they are not like a number of his other texts, like the Vajra Essence. The Vajra Essence is not really technically his teaching. It's teaching the Patmasambhava that he received in a vision, which went on for 400 pages. And I won't really elaborate on that. We need to stick close to this text. But three... Report an error in the passage at 9:51 Highlight the passage at 9:51

10:10 Three of the texts that have his name on it, he really served simply as scribe. He wrote down the teachings he received from Padmasambhava. And each one of them is utterly spectacular. But this text that we'll be spending in the next six days studying and practicing, this is penned by himself as an old yogi. Report an error in the passage at 10:10 Highlight the passage at 10:10

10:31 So we're seeing the fruits of his years of a teacher, as a contemplative, an author. It's very rare, very ripe. With extraordinary wisdom. And I would say it is really intended for people who have a great passion to achieve enlightenment in one lifetime. And it's accessible. That's the thing. It's accessible. There's no, it doesn't start with, you know, like a ten foot ledge that you can't see even how to get up with no stairway. Report an error in the passage at 10:31 Highlight the passage at 10:31

11:01 It starts out where we are. You know, it really does. It starts out where we are and it's inviting. It's refreshing. That's what I would say. And so that's what we'll be focusing on. He passed away in 1905. Report an error in the passage at 11:01 Highlight the passage at 11:01

11:21 And even before he passed away, his next incarnations started coming, Dujum Rinpoche, who was for many, many years the head of the entire Nyingma order after the Tibetan exodus in 1959, especially when many, many thousands of Tibetans, lay people, monks, lamas, nuns, They fled from Tibet because of the genocide taking place there. Then thereafter, when they had kind of begun to settle and try to sort themselves out in a strange country, a place where they could take refuge, then the head lamas, the most prominent lamas of the Nyingma order, did something they'd never done before. Report an error in the passage at 11:21 Highlight the passage at 11:21

12:08 And that is throughout the history of the Nyingma order, and that goes back to the 8th century of Pat... It had never had any head of the Nyingma order. There was no head. For the Galupas, it's the Gandantiramoche, going back to Tsongkhapa. So you know who the head is. And for the Sakya order, it's Sakya Titsinamoche. I mean, there's no question about that. There are multiple schools of the Kakyu tradition, but really the Lama who stands very, very prominent is, of course, Gyaoang Kamapa. Report an error in the passage at 12:08 Highlight the passage at 12:08

12:36 So the other ones pretty clearly do have a head that everybody looks to. But the Nyingma impas didn't. They were not quite so institutionalized. They were out. Often they didn't even have monasteries. They would just be living out in tents out in the wilderness. And they were in multiple lineages. And so there was no one Lama that was regarded as the head of all of the different lineages within the Nyingma tradition. But when these many Tibetans came down to India as refugees, all the other traditions, the Gelo, Gagyu, Sakya, they all had somebody to represent the entire tradition. Report an error in the passage at 12:36 Highlight the passage at 12:36

13:13 The Nimbabas thought, well, okay, now this is an exceptional circumstance. We're now a tiny minority. We've lost our homeland. Only a tiny fraction of the Tibetans managed to escape. And so they decided, I think we need to choose one amongst us, these great enlightened beings within the Nyingma tradition, as our head to represent the entire tradition. Report an error in the passage at 13:13 Highlight the passage at 13:13

13:35 And these most accomplished lamas in the Nyingma tradition unanimously voted Dujum Rinpoche. The mind emanation of Dujim Limba to be the head. Meantime there were four other emanations. Dujim Limba was quite generous. So he simultaneously manifested in five bodies and all of them born in Tibet. And my teacher, the Venerable Gyatr Rinpoche, who I'm happy to say is still alive and well, he was born in Tibet, in Eastern Tibet, was recognized as a tukku at a very young age, as was normal. Report an error in the passage at 13:35 Highlight the passage at 13:35

14:10 And he then became a personal disciple of two of the emanations of Dujum Lingpa in Tibet itself, trained under them, went into meditation retreat under their guidance. So for the first roughly 30 years of his life or so forth, something like that, then he was back in Tibet and under the direct tutelage of two of the emanations of Dujum Lingpa. Report an error in the passage at 14:10 Highlight the passage at 14:10

14:32 Then he, like many other Tibetans, made his way to India, he fled to India, and there in India, in Nepal, then he came under the very close guidance of Dujum Rinpoche himself. And in 1972, then my teacher, Gyalchur Rinpoche, was asked by Dujum Rinpoche and by Gyalakamapa and by His Holiness to please go to Australia to serve as Lama for the Tibetans who had emigrated there and created something of a settlement, to go there and be their Lama. Report an error in the passage at 14:32 Highlight the passage at 14:32

15:02 Three major lamas all asked him to do that. And so, of course, he did. He went there in 1972. And while he was ready to be of service to Dharma in Canada, the Tibetans there really went there to make a living and not to study Dharma so much. So he wasn't really needed. He was kind of like a lama sitting around and ready. Nobody wants, okay. So he was invited to California. And there then he settled for some time. Report an error in the passage at 15:02 Highlight the passage at 15:02

15:26 And he's had his primary base in the United States since then, maybe 73 or so. And there he was asked by Dujum Rinpoche to be his representative for all of North America and also became the head of the Dujum Rinpoche's whole network of Dharma centers called Yeshi Nyingbo for the whole of the West Coast. Report an error in the passage at 15:26 Highlight the passage at 15:26

15:48 So very clearly a very, very close disciple and trusted disciple to Dujum Rinpoche. chain. so... To wrap this up pretty quickly, after I'd been training for about 20 years, from 1970 to 1990, primarily in the Galupa tradition, Theravāda, some Sakya tradition, then Gyatrha Rinpoche had already known for some years, but had just encountered him. Report an error in the passage at 15:48 Highlight the passage at 15:48

16:10 I received teachings from him. I knew that this was really a person with whom I wanted to have a very deep bond. He became my Lama. And for most of the 70s, then I had the very good fortune to be his primary interpreter. I lived with him for two years. We translated about five books together during that time, and he gave me quite intensive instruction in Dzogchen and in Mahamudra. And before long then, after just a couple of years of practicing under his guidance, he authorized me to teach, to pass on everything that he taught to me, the entire path. Report an error in the passage at 16:10 Highlight the passage at 16:10

16:44 And so I've been doing that for about the last 20 years or so. So that's kind of the story. This text right here, Rinpoche taught, he gave the oral transmission and the commentary. In the late 1990s, I was serving as his interpreter. He had just a handful of his close disciples for these teachings. And so I had the good fortune to translate his oral commentary. And he suggested at the time it might be very helpful to have this translated into English. Report an error in the passage at 16:44 Highlight the passage at 16:44

17:13 A student of mine and I translated it, did an early translation, and then after that was published, I looked at it and I thought, I think I can probably polish this a bit, so I translated it all over again. And that's what you have here, the version that is in this three-volume set of Jujim Lingba's visionary teachings on Dzogchen. Report an error in the passage at 17:13 Highlight the passage at 17:13

17:34 So that's a little bit of introduction to the author. The text will speak for itself. But I would like to now just focus just for a couple of minutes and then we'll go to meditation on motivation for listening to, for teaching and practicing this particular text. I think you'll see for yourself that it's very accessible. It's clear, it's not complicated and to my mind truly inconceivably profound. Report an error in the passage at 17:34 Highlight the passage at 17:34

18:06 But most of all it's inviting and it lays out a path. This term path is one that I very much cherish. In Buddhism, as many of you know, it has a very specific meaning. It doesn't mean simply to practice Dharma. A lot of people practice Dharma, and Dharma engaging in spiritual practice that really leads to purification, the unfolding of one's own Buddha nature. Report an error in the passage at 18:06 Highlight the passage at 18:06

18:29 But a path, when we speak of reaching a path and proceeding along a path in Buddhism, in this context, we're speaking about engaging in practice that brings about irreversible transformation. Report an error in the passage at 18:29 Highlight the passage at 18:29

18:43 That really you are evolving in an irreversible way. That's through the course of a life and, from the Buddhist, in this larger framework, from lifetime to lifetime. That you don't fall off the wagon, you don't go retro, you're actually making irreversible progress. And that, ever since I heard about the whole notion of path, about more than 40 years ago, when I was first trained in a text called the Abhisamaya Lankhara, or Ornament for Higher Realization by Maitreya, The whole notion of path, the five paths and so forth, it just rang a very loud bell in my heart and mind feeling that's what human existence is about. Report an error in the passage at 18:43 Highlight the passage at 18:43

19:25 It's to find a path. That's what it's really about. That's what my life is about. That's all I want to do with this life is find a path, reach the path and proceed along the path. And so that seed was sown by one of my earliest teachers more than 40 years ago when I was training in India. Report an error in the passage at 19:25 Highlight the passage at 19:25

19:41 And then here's specifically the path presented from this perspective or view of Dzogchen. And it's actually simple. It's actually simple. And we'll see it. We'll see how simple it is. I won't give away the plot. But it is very straight. It's without elaboration. And although it's a text taught by a Tibetan, taught in Tibetan, taught to Tibetans, from my perspective, and you will judge for yourself, I find this to be a type of timeless Dharma. I don't see anything particularly 19th century about it or 8th century or 21st century. Report an error in the passage at 19:41 Highlight the passage at 19:41

20:23 And I really don't see much of anything of any significance that places it or embeds it in a particular culture. And of course it was taught in Tibet for Tibetan. Now it's in Australia and I'm an American teaching Australians and maybe people from other countries. So of course we're always planted someplace. But this Dharma seems to be... Report an error in the passage at 20:23 Highlight the passage at 20:23

20:44 It's, to my mind, really quite timeless, primordial. And it's inviting us, if you really have a great passion, to set out on a path, to reach the path in this lifetime, to come to the culmination of the path in this lifetime. Here it is, in the palm of the hand. So I have a very strong sense of being in the 21st century in the year 2015. Report an error in the passage at 20:44 Highlight the passage at 20:44

21:07 I follow the news fairly closely. And I can't avoid the conclusion that many, many people have drawn. And that is that human civilization right now is in a state of dire and urgent crisis in many ways. Just I think a day or two ago, I read by just a couple of decades away, some major think tank said, we're going to have major wars within the next few decades because there's not enough food. Report an error in the passage at 21:07 Highlight the passage at 21:07

21:35 We've emptied the oceans of half the fish. We wiped out half the wildlife on the planet in the last 40 years. The global warming. Report an error in the passage at 21:35 Highlight the passage at 21:35

21:46 Politicians either want to do nothing or too little too late. The economy is not sustainable. Just in so many ways, it almost looks like our species has a death wish, and we have no qualms about bringing down many, many other species with us as we go. And it seems to be right there, absolutely clear and vivid. The scientific humanity, to their great credit, has... Report an error in the passage at 21:46 Highlight the passage at 21:46

22:12 Examined this, studied this and reported this, exactly what are we doing. They've told us what we're doing. They've told us what we're doing is suicidal. And in the meantime, to quote his Holiness Dalai Lama, I watched something from him on the YouTube just a couple of days ago, we are being short-sighted and narrow-minded and hastening towards our own demise. Report an error in the passage at 22:12 Highlight the passage at 22:12

22:33 I would love to think that's melodramatic. I'd love to think that I'm just overstating and, how do you say, chucking a wobbly. Report an error in the passage at 22:33 Highlight the passage at 22:33

22:42 I heard that one recently. Chucking a wobbly. So is this California dude, is he chuckling a wobbly here? And I wish that were so. I would just love it if, oh, I've just been hearing all these exaggerated claims that actually everything's fine. You know, and it's just fine if, you know, we just keep on growing in the economy and consuming more and more and more. Report an error in the passage at 22:42 Highlight the passage at 22:42

23:02 Because after all, the natural resources of the planet are infinite. I would love that to be the case, but I have no ability to believe that. And so there are many ways. Now we're coming to motivation for this six days. There are so many wonderful ways in this world we're living in right now to be of service. Report an error in the passage at 23:02 Highlight the passage at 23:02

23:22 And it's being done. I mean, really, there are a lot of dark clouds. There's a lot of gloom and doom. And that has to be taken very seriously. But I do travel widely and I've met so many wonderful people. People passionately concerned about the environment, about sustainable economy. About going green. Some people passionately committed to vegetarianism, to being vegan for very good reasons. People who are attempting to, you know, going and helping selflessly in areas of great distress where there's crisis, where there's civil war. Report an error in the passage at 23:22 Highlight the passage at 23:22

23:55 The list goes on and on, on and on and on of so much good being done in the world. And it's really all a cause of rejoicing. A lot of it's secular with no religious aspect, no spiritual aspect, but absolutely a cause of rejoicing. You know, there's so much. And we're finding, you know, among the great religions of the world as well, of course there's always rotten things going. That's because people do rotten things no matter what. Report an error in the passage at 23:55 Highlight the passage at 23:55

24:18 If they happen to be religious, they do rotten things under the guise of religion. Not religion's fault, people do rotten things. But finding people of all the religious faiths, also such wonderful things happening. And so I think there are just a myriad of ways, recognizing the challenges facing us. Report an error in the passage at 24:18 Highlight the passage at 24:18

24:37 There are a myriad of ways of rising to that challenge and doing all that we can and in tremendous variety. And so I say, I would say that there's not but, but full stop, this is true. Report an error in the passage at 24:37 Highlight the passage at 24:37

24:49 And then I ask, and I'm speaking only from my own perspective here, given the situation we're in, in all these ways, economically, environmentally, socially, morally, politically, and in so many ways, what is needed most? What is needed most to Report an error in the passage at 24:49 Highlight the passage at 24:49

25:14 bring about very deep and meaningful change in the world so that our species in harmony with the other species on the planet can not only somehow survive, but actually flourish? What is most needed? And many people believe, and I totally understand this, we need more science and more technology. And I agree, we need more knowledge. Report an error in the passage at 25:14 Highlight the passage at 25:14

25:37 When can we say, now we have enough. Let's stop science. We know enough. I don't think so. I think we need more science. And can we do with better technology, finer technology? And I think, yeah, let's not stop. This is good. This is good. But the scientists and people who know technology inside and out have been telling us for years now that we are destroying our own home. Report an error in the passage at 25:37 Highlight the passage at 25:37

26:02 They've told us in very, very clear terms. The information is there. The technology is there also. If we would show restraint, if we take the long view, if we'd be willing to make short-term sacrifices, the knowledge we need is actually there to save our planet. And the technology needed to implement the scientific knowledge, to balance things out, that's there as well. It's not like we need to know something we don't know or we need some unimagined technology that hasn't been invented yet and that will do the trick. Report an error in the passage at 26:02 Highlight the passage at 26:02

26:35 That's not true. The science is there. It's been growing all along. It's provided with everything we need to know about what we're doing wrong and how can we stop. And the technology is there as well. And it's not wildly expensive, you know. So why is our species, why are we not showing common sense? Well, little problems like ignorance and delusion, craving and greed, hostility and hatred. Report an error in the passage at 26:35 Highlight the passage at 26:35

27:04 All of that boils down to being narrow-minded, short-sighted, greedy. foolish. And that's why. And science has not been able to, I think, even diminish our human predilections for this type of delusion, for this type of greed, and for this type of anger, hostility, violence, and so forth. That's not what science was designed to do, so I'm not criticizing it. But it hasn't decreased that. So clearly this is the way we need to call that we need to To purify the mind of these afflictive tendencies, we need to cultivate greater wisdom and compassion. But that needs inspiration because, again, if we look at the world's religious traditions, there's so much wisdom there. Report an error in the passage at 27:04 Highlight the passage at 27:04

27:53 I don't mean just religion, but if we look at the religions themselves, in Christianity alone, there's so much wisdom. And in Islam, if you know where to look, you don't have to look too hard, the wisdom is there. Judaism, such depths, Taoism, Hinduism. All schools of Buddhism, the wisdom is there. Wisdom recognizing what are these inner problems, what are the nature of virtue, what's vice, what are these afflictive tendencies. Report an error in the passage at 27:53 Highlight the passage at 27:53

28:17 How many books do we have just on Buddhism alone? It goes into the thousands of really good books. And when I started studying Tibetan Buddhism in 1970, there were like five, literally. You had to study Tibetan back then if you wanted to read more than five books. So that's the first thing I did in 1970, started setting Tibetan. But now it's hundreds upon hundreds of really good books. If everybody stopped writing anything about religion, we already have enough. Report an error in the passage at 28:17 Highlight the passage at 28:17

28:44 So what's missing? It's not a dire urgency for no more Dharma books or more science or more technology. To my mind, there's one thing that we need more urgently than ever before in recorded history. We need people who are enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 28:44 Highlight the passage at 28:44

29:06 We need people who are awake. Because they inspire. One man, Buddha, has changed the course of Asia for 2,500 years. It's one man, right? But what country in Asia has not been touched by the Buddha's enlightenment? Report an error in the passage at 29:06 Highlight the passage at 29:06

29:21 Jesus, one man. What continent hasn't been profoundly touched by this person's realisation? The people who have the greatest impact for good, historically, have generally been those who are awakened, enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 29:21 Highlight the passage at 29:21

29:40 And I think we mustn't like him, it's just my opinion, so forgive me, it's just an opinion. But I think we'll be waiting falsely if we're waiting for somebody else, one other person, some messiah, one person that's going to do it for us. It's going to be somebody else. It wasn't somebody else who fouled the planet. We did that. It wasn't the Buddha, God, angels, demons. It was we did that. Report an error in the passage at 29:40 Highlight the passage at 29:40

30:02 And so we need to become enlightened. We need to rise as beacons of light and so profoundly embody the teachings that we practice. We seek to understand and realize that we ourselves can rise and truly liberate the world. So we've been saying it for years, right? For as long as space remains, for as long as essential beings remain, so long shall I remain to liberate the world. I think now we actually have to do that. Report an error in the passage at 30:02 Highlight the passage at 30:02

30:38 It has to be real. Because if we don't, I don't think the stakes have ever been higher. I don't think the human species has ever imperiled the planet as we are right now. They say the loss of wildlife in the last 50 years is unparalleled since the time of the wiping out of the dinosaurs. But that was an asteroid or whatever, and this is by human beings. Report an error in the passage at 30:38 Highlight the passage at 30:38

31:00 So if there was ever a time when it was urgent to become enlightened as swiftly as possible and manifest enlightened activity, I think this is it. That's why I'm still teaching, because really my heart is, I have a little empty meditation cabin in Santa Barbara, and my meditation cushion is cold. Because I haven't been there for more than three months. It takes an awful lot to get me off my cushion because that's what I like to do better than anything else. That's just the straight truth. Report an error in the passage at 31:00 Highlight the passage at 31:00

31:28 But I'm not there. I'm here. I always weigh. I'm always weighing. Because I know if I meditate, if I'm home in my little meditation, I know what I'm doing. I know I'm practicing. That I know. If I'm out, then I'm not practicing as much. I'm not having the delight of solitude and profound simplicity. So that's giving up something. Report an error in the passage at 31:28 Highlight the passage at 31:28

31:55 So if I'm coming out, I weigh it from year to year. Come out, stay in. Come out, stay in, stay in. There's a tug. There really is a tug. I'm just being honest. Please, nobody can imagine this as a threat. It's silly. But it is a passion. So there we are. So with that, then I'd like to go to meditation. So please find a comfortable posture. I'd like to start a meditation. Report an error in the passage at 31:55 Highlight the passage at 31:55

32:24 There will always be 24 minutes. And this will be a meditation focusing on motivation. Report an error in the passage at 32:24 Highlight the passage at 32:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

33:32 I invite you first of all to let your awareness descend into the body right down to the ground, to Report an error in the passage at 33:32 Highlight the passage at 33:32

33:41 the sensations where your body is in contact with the cushion, the chair, your meditation mat. Report an error in the passage at 33:41 Highlight the passage at 33:41

33:56 Quiet the mind and settle it in a mode of simple witnessing. Report an error in the passage at 33:56 Highlight the passage at 33:56

34:07 Let your awareness fill the whole space of your body, setting your body at ease in stillness, in a posture of vigilance. Report an error in the passage at 34:07 Highlight the passage at 34:07

34:38 Settle your respiration in its natural rhythm, utterly unforced, unconstrained, effortless. Report an error in the passage at 34:38 Highlight the passage at 34:38

· · · silence, 1 minute

35:28 Set your mind at ease, releasing all concerns about the future and the past. Report an error in the passage at 35:28 Highlight the passage at 35:28

35:36 Let your awareness rest in stillness in the present moment, still and clear like an unflickering candle flame. Report an error in the passage at 35:36 Highlight the passage at 35:36

· · · silence, 1 minute

36:15 In this way, we settle the body, speech and mind in the natural state, relaxed, still and clear. Report an error in the passage at 36:15 Highlight the passage at 36:15

36:32 And for the rest of this session, I invite us all here. To cultivate the most meaningful motivation we can for this time we spend together in a spirit of loving kindness, in a spirit of arousing the motivation one can say of bodhicitta, the aspiration to achieve perfect awakening as swiftly as possible for the sake of all sentry beings. Report an error in the passage at 36:32 Highlight the passage at 36:32

37:06 Towards this end I invite you first of all to raise a question to yourself and that question is what is your vision? Report an error in the passage at 37:06 Highlight the passage at 37:06

37:20 Have your own flourishing, have your own greatest happiness, your fulfillment. What would bring you the greatest sense of meaning? What would make you truly happy? Report an error in the passage at 37:20 Highlight the passage at 37:20

· · · silence, 1 minute

38:26 Then with each breath, with each out-breath, arouse the aspiration of loving-kindness that you may indeed realize your own fulfillment, your highest joy, Report an error in the passage at 38:26 Highlight the passage at 38:26

38:49 manifest your heart's desire, that you may be truly well and happy. Simply Report an error in the passage at 38:49 Highlight the passage at 38:49

39:05 wish yourself well with every out-breath. And as you breathe out, let it be as if you're breathing life into this vision. Report an error in the passage at 39:05 Highlight the passage at 39:05

· · · silence, 1 minute

40:09 And with each out-breath, imagine realizing here and now such well-being. Let your imagination play. Report an error in the passage at 40:09 Highlight the passage at 40:09

40:21 Draw that vision into the present moment and imagine it be true here and now. And Report an error in the passage at 40:21 Highlight the passage at 40:21

· · · silence, 1 minute

41:18 let this be the motivation for this week we spend together. Report an error in the passage at 41:18 Highlight the passage at 41:18

41:30 And now we move on with the observation that for any of us here to realize such fulfillment, we cannot possibly do it on our own with no help. So we move to a second question then, and that is, what would you love to receive from the world around you? From those near and far, in the short term and the long term, what would you love to receive from the world around you to enable you to realize your highest ideals, your greatest happiness? Report an error in the passage at 41:30 Highlight the passage at 41:30

42:01 Imagine it. Report an error in the passage at 42:01 Highlight the passage at 42:01

· · · silence, 1 minute

42:47 With each in-breath arouse the aspiration that it may be so. With each in-breath arouse the wish that you may receive all that you truly need. Report an error in the passage at 42:47 Highlight the passage at 42:47

42:58 From moment to moment, day to day, year to year, that reality may rise up to meet you and fulfill your every need for you to realize your highest ideals. Report an error in the passage at 42:58 Highlight the passage at 42:58

43:39 With each in-breath, imagine receiving the kindness of your fellow sentient beings around you, the blessings of the enlightened ones, the Bodhisattvas, the Buddhas, all that you need flowing in upon you with each in-breath. Report an error in the passage at 43:39 Highlight the passage at 43:39

· · · silence, 3 minutes

46:55 a third observation, and that is, there's no possible way we can... Realize such fulfillment, such awakening, such enlightenment without bringing about very deep and irreversible transformation, purification, spiritual maturation within. Report an error in the passage at 46:55 Highlight the passage at 46:55

47:16 So it leads to a third question, again pertaining directly to motivation for this retreat. But again it's a question of loving kindness and that is how would you love to transform? Report an error in the passage at 47:16 Highlight the passage at 47:16

47:30 How would you love to grow, to mature? From what qualities would you love to be free? With what qualities would you love to be richly imbued in order to realize your heart's desire? Imagine it. Report an error in the passage at 47:30 Highlight the passage at 47:30

· · · silence, 1 minute

48:43 And with every out-breath arouse the aspiration. May it be so. And Report an error in the passage at 48:43 Highlight the passage at 48:43

48:57 let this be the motivation for the practice over the next six days. With every out-breath breathe life into this aspiration that it may come true. And Report an error in the passage at 48:57 Highlight the passage at 48:57

· · · silence, 1 minute

49:50 with each out-breath imagine this becoming true here and now. Report an error in the passage at 49:50 Highlight the passage at 49:50

49:57 Imagine evolving through all the stages of the path to its culmination. Report an error in the passage at 49:57 Highlight the passage at 49:57

· · · silence, 1 minute

51:12 Then we turn to a final observation in this meditation and that is that none of us exist in isolation, none of us is independent. But the very fabric of our existence here is interwoven with all of those around us. Report an error in the passage at 51:12 Highlight the passage at 51:12

51:27 It is a world of interdependence. Report an error in the passage at 51:27 Highlight the passage at 51:27

51:36 So in order to bring the greatest possible meaning to your own life, the greatest possible sense of fulfillment, of satisfaction, we raise a fourth and final question and that is, Drawing on your own unique background, your interest, your abilities, your passion, what would you love to offer to the world around you? Report an error in the passage at 51:36 Highlight the passage at 51:36

52:02 To those near and far over the short term and the long term, what are the greatest goods you can imagine sharing with the world to bring about the greatest possible benefit? Report an error in the passage at 52:02 Highlight the passage at 52:02

52:18 Imagine it with Report an error in the passage at 52:18 Highlight the passage at 52:18

· · · silence, 1 minute

52:54 every out-breath, arouse the aspiration, may it be so, Report an error in the passage at 52:54 Highlight the passage at 52:54

· · · silence, 1 minute

53:47 and letting your imagination play with every out-breath. Imagine offering here and now the greatest goods you can imagine to alleviate the suffering of the world, to bring others to their own fulfillment. Report an error in the passage at 53:47 Highlight the passage at 53:47

54:18 Imagine being a Buddha, a perfectly awakened one, Report an error in the passage at 54:18 Highlight the passage at 54:18

54:29 alleviating the suffering of the world and bringing every such being to their own perfection. It's Report an error in the passage at 54:29 Highlight the passage at 54:29

· · · silence, 2 minutes

56:54 all appearances and aspirations. Let your awareness be still. So Report an error in the passage at 56:54 Highlight the passage at 56:54

· · · silence, 1 minute

58:24 let's go to the text. Let's see what Dujum Limba has to say. So I am passing on now the oral transmission, the explanation of this text, which I received from Gautra Rinpoche. He received it from the lineage, and most certainly from one of the emanations of Dujum Lingpa himself. And so I'll do my very best to offer it with clarity, without error. I'll do my best. So this again is the foolish Dharma of an idiot clothed in mud and feathers. Report an error in the passage at 58:24 Highlight the passage at 58:24

58:55 And we turn to his opening homage. Actually it's... An account of one of his own experiences. He just begins, just jumps right in here on page 9 of our notes. In that very instant I awoke from the deep slumber of the mind into the Buddha field of Akkaniṣṭha, the absolute space of phenomena free of extremes. Report an error in the passage at 58:55 Highlight the passage at 58:55

59:22 You'll find this is a very concise text and it's very, very dense. And he chooses his words very carefully. So we'll try to find a moderate pace to go through this. In that incident he's speaking of a sudden cutting through, cutting through his mind, and the mind is what we're familiar with, a mind that's embedded in a conceptual framework, that's caught up in dualistic grasping of subject and object and so forth, the mind that tends to reify, grasp onto the inherent existence of everything we experience. Report an error in the passage at 59:22 Highlight the passage at 59:22

59:55 He woke from this slumber, I mean again from the perspective of a Vidyadada, one who's had direct realization of pristine awareness. From the perspective of a Buddha, we are, all of us, ordinary beings, we're found asleep. We're actually sleeping and dreaming. And he awoke from this dense slumber of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 59:55 Highlight the passage at 59:55

1:00:13 And he found himself, having cut through that dimension of consciousness, he cut through to that such that not only his mind had shifted, but his environment had shifted. And in Dzogchen, very explicitly, but it's true everywhere in Buddhism, there's this profound entanglement of our minds and the environment. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:13 Highlight the passage at 1:00:13

1:00:32 That we experience the way other people appear to us, how we apprehend them, is directly and profoundly interrelated with our own mind streams. So shift your mind and you shift your environment. Shift your mind, you shift the types of people who you're engaging with. Shift your mind and your own teacher, your spiritual teacher, your Lama, your gurus, they also, suddenly they're appearing differently. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:32 Highlight the passage at 1:00:32

1:00:54 It's all a package deal, it's all intertwined. So he had this breaking through, cutting through. The slumber of his mind and in that instant his whole environment was shifted to a Buddha field or pure land of Akkaniṣṭha, which is said to be the most rarefied of all the pure lands or Buddha fields. It is said that all of the Arya bodhisattvas of the highest level, 10th stage Arya bodhisattvas, they all achieve enlightenment there. So wherever they are, whether they're in Alice Springs or Singapore or Rio de Janeiro, if it's a 10th stage Arya bodhisattva, Wherever they may be living on this planet, for them, from their perspective, they're in Akanisha. They could be living in a slum, but not where they are, not from their perspective. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:54 Highlight the passage at 1:00:54

1:01:39 Other people looking at them, oh, there's an old man in a slum. So profoundly different perspectives on reality here. This Buddha field of Akanisha is nothing other than Dharmadhatu. Dharmadhatu, the ultimate, the absolute space of phenomena. This is identical to emptiness or shunyata. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:39 Highlight the passage at 1:01:39

1:01:57 Free of extremes, free of transcending all conceptual categories. There are eight in particular, the conceptual categories of existence, non-existence, of coming and going, of birth and cessation, of being unitary versus plural. It just transcends every possible thought. It's beyond the domain of the intellect. And then he says, having through or having awakened from the slumber of his mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:57 Highlight the passage at 1:01:57

1:02:28 Then his own pristine awareness, his Buddha nature, primordial consciousness, my own pristine awareness, he says, arose as the Dharmakaya teacher. His own pristine awareness took on the form of the teacher, the great immutable all-pervasive Lord, the creative power of self-emergent primordial consciousness manifested as a display of myriad disciples. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:28 Highlight the passage at 1:02:28

1:02:50 When he speaks of this immutable all-pervasive Lord, he's referring to Samantabhadra, the primordial Buddha. It is simply the personification, the archetypal representation or embodiment of Buddha nature, pristine awareness, primordial consciousness, these are all synonymous. So his own pristine awareness took on the form manifested as Samantabhadra and then the creative power of this self-emergent Primordial consciousness manifested as a display of myriad disciples. So he's referring to a vision he had. He refers to this, I think I'd record it on multiple occasions, where his own awareness took on the form of Samantabhadra and surrounding Samantabhadra was a myriad of disciples, a retinue of disciples, but they're all emanations of Samantabhadra. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:50 Highlight the passage at 1:02:50

1:03:43 In other words, it's a purely divine or transcendent vision altogether. All arising out of his direct immediate realization of his own pristine awareness. So there's this creative power of Samadha Bhadra's mind's pristine awareness manifesting as the disciples and its own inner glow. The inner glow of pristine awareness appeared as the great expanse of the spontaneously actualized great perfection. So he's viewing the whole of reality, all of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, from this perspective of pristine awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:43 Highlight the passage at 1:03:43

1:04:21 And reality, when viewed from that perspective, appears as, is apprehended as, a great perfection. How amazing. So he's being very candid here, very open, very transparent, that he is in fact speaking from his own experience. He's now speaking again as an old sage. He now has renowned all over, certainly all over Eastern Tibet, many, many disciples, tremendously revered. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:21 Highlight the passage at 1:04:21

1:04:50 And he's simply now speaking candidly. This is what I experience. But now he addresses the readers of the text. To those whose minds are utterly dedicated to the one path traveled by all the jinas, the term jina is a synonym of Buddha, literally means the victorious one, one who's gained conquest over all types of obscurations that veil the intrinsic purity of one's own Buddha nature. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:50 Highlight the passage at 1:04:50

1:05:20 To those whose minds are utterly dedicated to the one path traveled by all the jinas, Who know they've arrived at a crossroads. So it's decision time. You can go this way, you can go that way. But they are dedicated to the path. They are intent on becoming Buddhas themselves. They've arrived at a crossroads, but due to their blindness to the view, they really can't see which way to go. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:20 Highlight the passage at 1:05:20

1:05:46 The way is not clear. Where is the path? How to proceed along it? Due to their blindness to the view, they cannot see with certainty where to go. So they're at a point of hesitation, of uncertainty. To those people, I guess this is a bit of what I, an old man who knows the way, would tell them. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:46 Highlight the passage at 1:05:46

1:06:09 So he's just said in very few words, but extremely explicitly, with no ambiguity at all, the intended audience for this short text. It goes on, what, 21 pages? No, no, less than that. 12, 13 pages. Who is he speaking to? Why is he bothering to write this text? For people who are already dedicated, they're not just beginners, they're not thinking, oh, I think I'd like to learn some meditation or I want to learn about Buddhism, but actually they've already matured to such an extent and have a degree of confidence, of trust, of commitment, of dedication that Report an error in the passage at 1:06:09 Highlight the passage at 1:06:09

1:06:51 they are really utterly committed to following the path to awakening that's been followed by all the enlightenments of the past. They have that commitment, but they're not quite clear how to proceed. They know what they like to do, but where's the path to go from here to there, to go from the status of being a sentient being to a perfectly awakened being? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:51 Highlight the passage at 1:06:51

1:07:13 They can't see. They don't have that certainty. And so for those people, for such people, I'm composing this text, I as an old man, and I'm telling you, I know the way. I know how to get where you want to go, because I've been there. And this is what I would tell them. That's nice and candid, very straightforward. Some brilliant scholars disparage the Dharma and individuals and with skill in ridicule abandon the Dharma and commit root downfalls. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:13 Highlight the passage at 1:07:13

1:07:48 I have to say I'm a little bit surprised that he would write that out there in Eastern Tibet. It was very, very Buddhist. But I have studied and spent a lot of time really dwelling on and seeking to practice, translating. All of his major works on Dzogchen. And there's a common denominator that's quite explicit in some of them and it's kind of just beneath the surface in others. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:48 Highlight the passage at 1:07:48

1:08:13 It's a very clear impression, and sometimes he says it explicitly, that his Dzogchen teachings are really intended for people in the future. Quite interesting. I haven't encountered that very often. Usually he gives teachings and it's for people who are in the same room with you at the same time. And clearly he was an incredibly effective teacher. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:13 Highlight the passage at 1:08:13

1:08:31 There's no question about that. But who are these brilliant scholars who disparage Dharma and individuals? I just wonder, I mean, I'm just wondering here in the 21st century in Australia, who's he referring to? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:31 Highlight the passage at 1:08:31

1:08:45 They're in eastern Tibet. I mean, it's a Buddhist country, you know, and the Bumbos were there, but they got along pretty well with the Buddhists. There was no big major antagonism. And then I think, well, okay, well, let's not worry about it. I don't know who he's referring to in the late 19th century, but are there any highly intelligent, very educated people nowadays? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:45 Highlight the passage at 1:08:45

1:09:05 Who disparage Dharma, who ridicule religion. Anybody do that? Nah. It's global, right? It's just global. So yeah. Who just completely disparage, ridicule, despise, heap contempt upon anybody who looks like they're even remotely religious. It's a total dumb bunny. And then religion itself is just a bane on human existence. I've read this. I've read a lot of this stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:05 Highlight the passage at 1:09:05

1:09:38 That we have to outgrow it. It's only been bad for humanity and blah, blah, blah. And then religious people are basically just, you know, so ignorant, so delusional. So they have beliefs, unlike really intelligent people. I've read so much nonsense in this regard. And with skill and ridicule. I mean, I've read a number of books. No reason to give any titles. But, you know, by people, some of them having big reputations, who ridicule and abandon Dharma and commit root downfalls. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:38 Highlight the passage at 1:09:38

1:10:04 So there are such people. Yep. I don't know how many people in the late 19th century in Tibet. It was getting actually right about the time he was writing. This is interesting. I mean, he's way off there in Tibet. He never traveled outside of eastern Tibet. Never even went to Gaza, as far as I know. But I do know something of Western history. And it's exactly during his lifetime that we see this big surge of materialism, which started to rise in the latter part of the 19th century. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:04 Highlight the passage at 1:10:04

1:10:31 Charles Darwin, T. H. Huxley, Thomas H. Huxley, The Rise of the Church Scientific. T. H. Huxley, who founded the journal Nature, a very eminent biologist, he actually wanted to establish a new church, which he called the Church Scientific. And he said it in so many words, and the aim here is to go for global domination. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:31 Highlight the passage at 1:10:31

1:10:52 And it's materialism. It's basically scientific materialism. And this will sweep off the planet, off the face of the planet, all religions, because they're all a bunch of nonsense, and will supplant that with materialism, with science, and that will be the golden era of humanity, when we entirely grow out of religion and we replace religion with atheism, materialism and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:52 Highlight the passage at 1:10:52

1:11:15 That was the late 1850s. And that's about 150 years ago and during that time we've seen the Report an error in the passage at 1:11:15 Highlight the passage at 1:11:15

1:11:27 greatest destruction on the planet in all of recorded history. I mean for the whole species. What we've done to the planet in the last 150 years far out overwhelms any damage human beings did to it for the first 200,000 years we were here. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:27 Highlight the passage at 1:11:27

1:11:41 So yes they won. Actually they've been very successful. All over the place, not only in the Soviet Union when it was up and running, but nowadays in communist China, communist countries all over the world, but also in my homeland. I mean, we speak of America as being largely Christian, and a lot of people call themselves Christians, a lot who are. But materialism is absolutely dominant. It's dominant in Australia. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:41 Highlight the passage at 1:11:41

1:12:04 It's dominant in Europe. It's dominant in South America. Everywhere I go, I mean, literally everywhere I go, unless it's a Buddha center, if I go to a conference, I'm often sort of... People hate religion, so don't present it in a secular fashion, whatever you want to say. Talk about genuine happiness, training, attention, whatever. But it has to be secular because people hate religion. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:04 Highlight the passage at 1:12:04

1:12:25 So they were very effective. They were really very effective. Congratulations. Secularism now dominates. Meditation, the tremendous wealth and richness of meditation has been reduced to a couple of techniques to reduce stress. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:25 Highlight the passage at 1:12:25

1:12:45 So much for Buddhism. Stress reduction. So So, unfortunately, they've been enormously successful. And they're destroying humanity and our planet and wiping out other species by the hundred. So, yep, that happened. With a full ripening of that karma, they have vaulted into the depths of the ocean of saṃsāra. Well, I think we're seeing that. Just read the news any day, every single day. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:45 Highlight the passage at 1:12:45

1:13:09 You'll see that what he just said there is true. In the eyes of such experts, even if the teachings of the jinas... The Buddhas are not appealing. Even if the teachings of the Buddhas are not appealing, there's no need to speak of other teachings. So if they don't find the teachings of the Buddhas appealing, then the teachings of other spiritual sages, forget about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:09 Highlight the passage at 1:13:09

1:13:30 So they disparage all of it. And one of the most bizarre visions, I read it a couple of days ago, a long interview, Ray Kurzweil, Ray Kurzweil, boy, he takes the cake. He's envisioning the future evolution of human beings is that we'll all become robots. We'll become immortal robots. I just read an interview with him a couple of days ago. And we'll become better in every way. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:30 Highlight the passage at 1:13:30

1:13:54 We'll become godlike. We'll come closer to God, actually. I have no idea what he's doing when he's God, because he's an atheist. But that's the next stage of human evolution. We'll all become robots. We will throw off the mortal coil of our biological organisms and we'll all be robots and live forever. And he, by the way, he sounds like he should be in some insane asylum, frankly. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:54 Highlight the passage at 1:13:54

1:14:19 And he's head of engineering at Google. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:19 Highlight the passage at 1:14:19

1:14:25 Yeah. Google. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:25 Highlight the passage at 1:14:25

1:14:33 So there are different visions of, definitely there are very, very different visions of the future course of humanity, our flourishing, of genuine happiness, reaching our full potential. And what's dominating the press. Is that? He's the love child. He's the love child of media. They just hang on his lips, waiting for him to speak more words of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:33 Highlight the passage at 1:14:33

1:14:56 And he's not alone. Otherwise, nobody would know about him. So, there's no need to speak of other people's teachings. If I err in the eyes of others who are endowed with the eye of wisdom and proper conduct, he says, if on the other hand, I'm mistaken, If I'm completely off base, then I confess and disclose all the breaches of conduct, sins and downfalls committed in all my lifetimes. Then miya kopa, I take full responsibility. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:56 Highlight the passage at 1:14:56

1:15:22 If I'm wrong, okay, I take full responsibility. May they, all his misconduct, his vices and so forth, may they be purified and cleansed and may I please be granted the supreme city in this very lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:22 Highlight the passage at 1:15:22

1:15:37 So it's a very interesting way to start a text. I don't know any other Tibetan text that starts in this way. While I have sat at the feet of many sublime human teachers and spiritual mentors and drunk the ambrosia of their teachings, I have not become an authority. So he says here, I have sat at the feet of teachers, of gurus, of mentors. I've listened to their teachings, but I've not become an authority. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:37 Highlight the passage at 1:15:37

1:16:06 I've heard teachings, but that's it. Nevertheless, on occasion, this fool... He's referring to himself, of course, has engaged in stupid meditations that I've fabricated myself. So he's listened to really wise people and then he's, you know, never mind them. But I've come up with my own silly stuff. And on the basis of illusory visions in dreams in which others have granted me pointing out instructions, others like Padmas and Baba and so forth, I have engaged in investigation and analysis and tried very hard to practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:06 Highlight the passage at 1:16:06

1:16:38 However, since I have not encountered a guru to lead me on the path. Now here he does say, he doesn't have any human being that was his guru. He sat down with him in the flesh, so to speak, and guided him. I have not encountered a guru to lead me on the path. I have developed a growing sense of high self-esteem, pride and arrogance. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:38 Highlight the passage at 1:16:38

1:16:59 Sounds like a poor chap. That is my experience and I have proudly taken it to be realization and have confidence in it. Since I definitely lack even the slightest excellent qualities of unmistaken primordial consciousness stemming from an authentic view and meditation, I have behaved as in the well-known aphorism. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:59 Highlight the passage at 1:16:59

1:17:19 While the marmot seems to be practicing meditation, it is actually just hibernating. So I'm candidly revealing my own faults without hiding anything. So please look upon me with compassion. However, if I express the offering of my heart's blood, Report an error in the passage at 1:17:19 Highlight the passage at 1:17:19

1:17:41 While at least not violating the teachings of my sublime gurus, then what else is there to do but write? So it's hard to read these first couple of paragraphs, especially in light of the first opening, you know, the verse there. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:41 Highlight the passage at 1:17:41

1:17:59 I just look at this as a sense of humor, that he's just laughing his head off as he's writing this. That's my read of it, because he knows exactly who he is. At the same time, I've studied under quite a number, more than 40 lamas and gurus over the last 45 years. And especially with Gyatron Rinpoche himself, who is a lineage holder, a very senior lama. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:59 Highlight the passage at 1:17:59

1:18:27 I'll just pause for a moment to tell you a little bit more about him. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:27 Highlight the passage at 1:18:27

1:18:34 He also came down in 1959, and there were thousands and thousands of Tibetan monks, lamas, tukkus, Rinpoches, who managed to escape in the Indian government. Very kindly, compassionately let them come and settle. It was many thousands. But they had to have some place to put all these monks because they're monks. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:34 Highlight the passage at 1:18:34

1:18:56 They're not going to start a business or start farming and so forth and so on. So it wasn't that long. In 1959, India got independence, what, 48, 49, something like that? So India had been an independent country only for about a decade. But while it was still under the British, there was a big, how do you say, It was a political camp, an internment for political prisoners, people like Gandhi off in East Bengal. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:56 Highlight the passage at 1:18:56

1:19:25 And the British had imprisoned these demonstrators, people like Gandhi, troublemakers. And it was big, so they must have had a lot of troublemakers. But of course they got their independence, so they had this great big, basically it was a kind of low security prison, empty, because those people were now running parliament, or heading into government. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:25 Highlight the passage at 1:19:25

1:19:48 And so they had this big place with barracks and kitchens and so forth. And they had all these Lamas coming down, so they needed a place to put them. They said, okay, there it is, Bhaksatwar. They herded them all off there. So there were thousands and thousands of monks from all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism suddenly put in this big camp. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:48 Highlight the passage at 1:19:48

1:20:07 And, of course, they could leave any time they wanted to. It was not a prison. It was just a place they could put them up for a while. And then the Indian government provided them with food. Other countries, I know America pitched in. There were refugees. I think there was compassion coming in from different sources. But Gyatrambashi was one of those. He was a young man, Thukku, already trained for decades in Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:07 Highlight the passage at 1:20:07

1:20:27 He was one of those that made his home. Now it's way off in eastern India, and the Dalai Lama quickly settled in Dharamsala, which is northwestern India, almost due north of Delhi. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:27 Highlight the passage at 1:20:27

1:20:41 It's a long ways in between. That's a lot of territories, like 2,000 miles or so. And so these monks in eastern India there, they needed to have, for each of the schools, Gelu, Kaikyut and so forth, they all wanted to have someone among them that would represent their school to the Dalai Lama. They were in communication back and forth, so they'd send their emissaries, basically ambassadors, not the heads of the order, that was Karmapa and so forth and so on, but just representatives, emissaries, to go when the Dalai Lama needed to speak of each of the traditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:41 Highlight the passage at 1:20:41

1:21:17 So Gyatrambachi was appointed as a representative for all the Niamabas in that camp. And he's wonderfully skillful, incredibly humble. I mean, really amazingly humble. I've never seen any glimmer of ego of any sort at all. It's just like non-existent. If you look for it, you're not going to find it. And so apparently it worked out well. They were quite pleased. And then I think next it was that Gagyubas came over and said, would you mind representing us too? And he's actually a lineage holder of both the Gama Gagyut tradition as well as the Nyingma tradition. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:17 Highlight the passage at 1:21:17

1:21:56 So he already has a foot in both pools. So he said, sure. And then I think then this octopus came over and said, would you mind representing us too? And then a group would say, oh heck, would you represent us? So he wound up representing all of them as an emissary back and forth between this whole camp of monks and lamas and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:56 Highlight the passage at 1:21:56

1:22:16 But he's still alive. He's about 90, 91 years old now. Quite frail. But during those about seven, eight, nine years that I was working very closely with him. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:16 Highlight the passage at 1:22:16

1:22:33 I never really met any Lama like him. He's just funny. He's just funny. He has this totally goofy sense of humor. You know those little things that kids love, like a little cushion you sit on and it makes a fart sound? He loved those. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:33 Highlight the passage at 1:22:33

1:22:52 He was put up at one of his students' house outside. He was actually living during the time right near Stanford University where I was going to graduate school. And when he had guests over, he loved to put that under the cushion on the couch and laugh his head off. Or he'd bring little plastic ducks, little plastic ducky and quack quack during the teaching. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:52 Highlight the passage at 1:22:52

1:23:14 He would just do the goofiest things. And he would always refer to himself as an empty Lama sitting on an empty box. And he said, you know, whatever you do, don't turn out like me. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:14 Highlight the passage at 1:23:14

1:23:30 Because I've not practiced. I've just goofed off. I've just been fooling around, wasting my whole life. I don't really understand anything. I don't really have any realization at all. So you should practice. But don't be like me, for heaven's sakes, because I'm nothing. I'm not a great yogi. I'm not a scholar. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:30 Highlight the passage at 1:23:30

1:23:47 I'm nothing. I just have the name Tuku. It's an empty word for an empty Lama on an empty box with no qualities whatsoever. And he said it so joyfully, with such utter relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:47 Highlight the passage at 1:23:47

1:24:06 So I think they enjoy doing that. That's my sense. I think he just really gets a kick out of this. It's just so much fun to present yourself as a kind of a buffoon or like a total flake. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:06 Highlight the passage at 1:24:06

1:24:20 You're just kind of laughing inside and see how it turns out. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:20 Highlight the passage at 1:24:20

1:24:27 So I don't know. I don't know what was in his mind when he was writing this paragraph. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:27 Highlight the passage at 1:24:27

1:24:34 But I have encountered this from so many teachers. I just finished this morning translating a short text. By one of the last great old Lamas from Tibet, Yangtang Rinpoche. He's a Vidyadada. He, by my teacher's account, Gyacra Rinpoche, he said, Yangtang Rinpoche achieved shamatha, he's achieved vipassanā, he's a Vidyadada, he's had profound realization of rikpa, pristine awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:34 Highlight the passage at 1:24:34

1:25:01 He's also a siddha, he's demonstrated his extraordinary powers on multiple occasions. He's 86 years old, I think. and I've already received some teaching from him, but I just translated a short text by him. And it's on the view, the meditation and conduct of Dzogchen, a short text. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:01 Highlight the passage at 1:25:01

1:25:21 Translated it yesterday, polished it this morning. And he says, when he gives empowerment, he gave a series of empowerments, I think last year in Nepal, about 3,000 monks came from everywhere to be able to receive empowerments from him. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:21 Highlight the passage at 1:25:21

1:25:41 So he's really renowned. And of all of them, they'll all come. For him, Yang Rinpoche, he said, this one's, as they say, he's the real deal. This one, you can have pure vision or not pure vision, he is pure. He actually does have this realization. You don't have to imagine it. He actually has this realization. He's regarded as an emanation of Vimalamitra. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:41 Highlight the passage at 1:25:41

1:26:07 And Vimalamitra, Patmasambhava, those are the two great ones who introduced Dzogchen into Tibet in the 8th century. Vimalamitra in the flesh. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:07 Highlight the passage at 1:26:07

1:26:17 And so his renown really precedes him. He spent 20 years in Chinese concentration camp, Yantan Rinpoche, 20 years. And he commented, while I was in the, and they're being starved, they're being tortured, they're being worked. You know, it's grotesque. I mean, I've known a number of people who've gone through that experience. And he said, I was happier in prison than most people are outside of prison. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:17 Highlight the passage at 1:26:17

1:26:43 That's what he said. I completely believe it. And then I've heard from pretty reputable sources. That when he and his fellow monks were starving in this concentration camp, he just simply manifested food for them. He just created it with his mind. And I've also heard it said from the same source that when he wanted a bit of a breather, got a bit claustrophobic inside the concentration camp, he just manifested himself outside the gates to get some fresh air. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:43 Highlight the passage at 1:26:43

1:27:10 And then the guards would see him and they'd bring him back in again. Okay, I'm ready, I'm finished. And then he wanted some fresh air, he just manifested him outside again. He basically is humoring them. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:10 Highlight the passage at 1:27:10

1:27:21 So there are still such beings. He's one of them. And so I just finished translating this very quintessential text. It's short. And he lays it out with pristine clarity, great precision. And then he says, and of course, I'm just giving lip service to all of this because I'm talking about stuff that I don't know anything about. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:21 Highlight the passage at 1:27:21

1:27:46 So better check with other people about whether I did it okay or not. Check with other people. Really carefully check what I've written because, you know, I could have blown it. There are bound to be mistakes because I don't have any of this stuff. You know, the view, meditation, I don't have any of that. But if I got a few points right, then you might want to practice that because it might be beneficial. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:46 Highlight the passage at 1:27:46

1:28:14 And that's it. That's how the greatest ones write. So when I hear that, you know, and I've heard His Holiness Dalai Lama saying, I have no bodhicitta, I have only aspiration to realize bodhicitta and so forth, then for a person like myself to say, oh, I have no realization, I don't feel I have the right to say that. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:14 Highlight the passage at 1:28:14

1:28:36 I'm really serious. I just feel I can't say that, otherwise you might mistake me for one of them. Oh, oh really Alan, you have no realization. Oh, wow. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:36 Highlight the passage at 1:28:36

1:28:48 I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say I have no realisation. I will certainly not say I have realisation because I don't want to deceive anybody. But I'm not going to say, oh, I have no realisation because then I'll sound like Yang Tan Rinpoche. I shouldn't sound like Yang Tan Rinpoche. I should sound like somebody else. So I just don't talk. I just won't say anything at all and that way I'm safe. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:48 Highlight the passage at 1:28:48

1:29:12 And all I can do, and this is all I'm striving to do, is simply pass on the nectar. of this transmission and this teaching without distortion. And if I do that, then it's okay. Then I've served my Lamas. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:12 Highlight the passage at 1:29:12

1:29:30 So, here we are. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:30 Highlight the passage at 1:29:30

1:29:36 So if I express the offering of my heart's blood, in other words, he's offering his very best, while at least not violating the teachings of my sublime gurus, so he's not misrepresenting the teachings, then what else is there to do but write? Yang Janavachi, for his text, he said simply that a Dharma friend of his named Lama Tsongkhapa asked him to write a text and he said, I didn't want to rebuff him, I didn't want to turn down his request, so I wrote it, but that's the only reason he asked me to. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:36 Highlight the passage at 1:29:36

1:30:07 And I did. That's why. Oh yeah. So what else is there to do but write? Well, right now there's something else to do. Let's take a 20 minute break. And just since I've made no comments at all about the logistics Report an error in the passage at 1:30:07 Highlight the passage at 1:30:07

1:30:24 I sense that there are some people who want to raise their hands. How many people have never been on a retreat with me? I think it's a number of people. Yeah, quite a number of people. Well, you've just jumped into the deep end of the pool. I've been coming here for something like 10 years and giving a lot of really foundational teachings, the shamatha, the four immeasurables, the four applications of mindfulness, one foundational teaching after another. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:24 Highlight the passage at 1:30:24

1:30:45 Many of them are really explicitly intended, especially for people who have no background at all. And now here's the most profound. Teaching texts that I've ever taught here in Australia, period. And so welcome to your first retreat with me. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:45 Highlight the passage at 1:30:45

1:31:03 You have to search somewhere. Here we are. And so karma has brought us together, our aspirations, our wishes and so forth. This is my last... I've been here in Australia, apart from a little 10-day jaunt off to Singapore. I've been here since the beginning of July. So it's been kind of the longest day I've been away for a long time. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:03 Highlight the passage at 1:31:03

1:31:25 This is the last teaching and then I'm heading home for a week, a week from today. But I would like this to be as meaningful for all of us as possible. And so I tend to be in retreat for the next six days because that's what I really like doing more than anything else. And so for me, when I'm not teaching pretty much, I'm meditating. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:25 Highlight the passage at 1:31:25

1:31:44 I have some email I just have to keep up with. So I've taught here quite a number of times. It's very quiet. It's very conducive. The staff very helpful. The food is certainly adequate. Above all, it's quiet, conducive, good spiritual friends. I can't speak about myself. I won't say anything about myself. Who cares? But the teaching here is really utterly sublime, the text we're attending to and try to put into practice. So I'd simply encourage everyone here to regard these six days as a time for full-on nothing else to do besides practice Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:44 Highlight the passage at 1:31:44

1:32:16 And so in that regard, in between sessions, Call it noble silence, call it silence as your default mode. But it's not just being silent because, you know, what's the big deal about being silent? A lot of people are just introverts because they don't feel shy about talking. That's no big deal. But the whole point of this is to maintain continuity of practice as much as we possibly can. So if we maintain that just as the teachings come in and come through, Just immediately implementing them, implementing them and making six days of a continuous stream of practice, then I think we'll all have put this time to very good use. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:16 Highlight the passage at 1:32:16

1:32:55 And so that's what I'll be doing and what you do as well. So the way we'll be, since many of you have not been on a retreat with me before, I'll tell you my aspiration is to find a balance between giving teachings. So this is a fair amount of material for six days. I've taught the same material over about a period of about 12 days. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:55 Highlight the passage at 1:32:55

1:33:13 Stretching it out. This obviously will be more condensed. I don't want to rush, but nor tarry. So there will be time for Dharma talks in the morning, starting tomorrow. At least one Dharma talk in the morning, in the afternoon. When we gather at 7 o 'clock in the evenings, there will never be any Dharma talk. It will be time just for meditation and for a question and answer for discussion. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:13 Highlight the passage at 1:33:13

1:33:37 I would really ask very earnestly that since our time is very short, the text is very dense, that all the discussions really be focused on the teachings here. There are many, many interesting things to talk about. But our time for getting clarity about this text is very short. So we can be very focused on the theory and practice of this teaching here. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:37 Highlight the passage at 1:33:37

1:34:00 That will be a really good way to use the time. So mornings and afternoons will be for meditation, for teaching. Possibly discussion, we'll see. Mornings and afternoons. Evenings, just meditation and just discussion. So there we are. So let's come back then at five minutes past the hour and we'll go directly back to meditation and then pick up a bit more on the text. Is Report an error in the passage at 1:34:00 Highlight the passage at 1:34:00

1:34:29 it just this one? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:29 Highlight the passage at 1:34:29