Dzogchen Retreat 2015 - Realising our true nature (part 8)

0:16 So we'll have one session. It will be a silent session, so I encourage you to really be acting as your own meditation teacher, giving yourself a guided meditation, and see how that goes. You can judge yourself as a teacher from the perspective of a student. And then from that, hopefully, if there's any point that's unclear, where you're just really not quite sure what the instruction is, then you can ask somebody outside. Report an error in the passage at 0:16 Highlight the passage at 0:16

0:40 Please find a comfortable position. We'll have a 24-minute session. Report an error in the passage at 0:40 Highlight the passage at 0:40

· · · silence, 25 minutes

26:03 So we have almost an hour. I'd like to invite, first of all, questions or comments, observations about the practice itself, just right there on the experience, and then we can expand out from there. Any questions? Yes, please. Microphone's coming. Report an error in the passage at 26:03 Highlight the passage at 26:03

26:29 Your first name? Paul. Paul, thank you, Paul. For this practice, I know we go over it, we've discussed it, the number of previous practices. Somebody coughed, I missed just the phrase. We've gone over it for previous practices, but is it... I do meetings that can either do ice open, closed, or Report an error in the passage at 26:29 Highlight the passage at 26:29

26:53 I did mention it just once. I remember it was very, very concise. There are no particular, certainly no uniform instructions with regards to the eyes for this practice. Mindfulness of breathing is taught in Zen, in Chan, in Theravāda, all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. And in some of those schools, the practice eyes closed. Report an error in the passage at 26:53 Highlight the passage at 26:53

27:13 And some of them, I know some Tibetan teachers say, it doesn't matter what your meditation is, keep your eyes open, period. And others, among my own teachers, say eyes hooded is just fine. And so I would take a purely pragmatic stance and I would do the same thing with respect to the posture. Pragmatic means just how do you feel more so relaxed and the mind least distracted. Report an error in the passage at 27:13 Highlight the passage at 27:13

27:37 Some people find the eyes a little bit open, it makes the mind a bit brighter, less prone to laxity, dullness and so forth. Some also find with the eyes open, if there's no movement in the visual field and if it's really very still, some people find it's also help to ground the awareness in the present moment so they don't so easily get just carried off in thoughts for seconds and seconds at a time. Report an error in the passage at 27:37 Highlight the passage at 27:37

28:00 And then others find it just distracting, flat out distracting to have the eyes open. So it just, it varies, you know. Some people can meditate, maintain a high level of clarity in the supine position. And I know some people that just find they just can't do it. For whatever reason, whenever they go supine, they just start getting dull, in which case it's not so useful. Report an error in the passage at 28:00 Highlight the passage at 28:00

28:20 So I would take just this. This practice, shamatha in general, and this method in particular, are really transparent. There's nothing mysterious about it. There's no belief system that it has to depend on in order to do it. And if you have a very clear sense, which I think you do, That the aim of this practice and shamatha in general is to bring about a deeper sense of ease, of relaxation, looseness in the body, the breathing flowing in a really healthy fashion, unimpeded, relaxed and the mind relaxed and yet not torpid, not dull, still, not agitated and clear and that's what it's for. Report an error in the passage at 28:20 Highlight the passage at 28:20

28:58 That sense of relaxation, the stillness and the clarity manifesting throughout the whole body, speech and mind. That's very clear. And then you say, okay, I know what this is about. I know what this practice is for. And I think it's very easy to affirm this would be a good idea. I've never heard anybody give some strong argument, no, I don't think that's a good idea at all. Report an error in the passage at 28:58 Highlight the passage at 28:58

29:17 It'd be better to be uptight, agitated and dull. I haven't heard that argument yet. And so when one sees this is flat out, this is just a point where there's no uncertainty about whether this might be useful, then you say, okay, then this is worth time, this is worth effort, and then it's purely pragmatic what's effective, what works. Report an error in the passage at 29:17 Highlight the passage at 29:17

29:36 And that goes for sitting in a chair versus cross-legged versus sitting in an easy chair or one of the high-tech body contour chairs or whether it's supine. It's all purely pragmatic. So then you check it out yourself. Since I found this helpful and I keep on mentioning it, I will sound like a sales rep for a product, but it's the only one I talk about and it's the only entity of the sort that I know of. Report an error in the passage at 29:36 Highlight the passage at 29:36

30:06 That I really find very, very useful. It's called Mindfold. I've mentioned it many times, Mindfold. And it's very inexpensive. Rhonda just, yeah, she purchased a whole bunch of them in bulk for the eight week retreat. How many, 18 people purchased? I think they're mostly pretty happy customers. What it is, it's called Mindfold. It's a brand name and that's what it is. It's like $18, right? Report an error in the passage at 30:06 Highlight the passage at 30:06

30:28 With shipping and all of that, so cheap. And it's a simple thing. It's a set of, it's like a blindfold. But instead of pressing on the eyes, you can have the eyes wide open. And it's got a fairly thick foam cushion and a black mask. And it fits very, very comfortably around the back. It has a nice big band so you don't feel any tightness or constriction. It fits over the eyes so your eyes can be wide open and you're in pitch black. Report an error in the passage at 30:28 Highlight the passage at 30:28

30:52 It cuts out maybe 99 % of the light. It's really effective. And so I travel with it everywhere. I fly a lot. So I put on my Mindfold and my noise-canceling headphones. I'm in retreat. It's a little bit bumpy, but earthquakes happen. I'm from California, earthquakes, no big deal, turbulence, earthquakes. Report an error in the passage at 30:52 Highlight the passage at 30:52

31:12 And so you put those on, you put the noise-canceling headphones, and you're in a very quiet space. And so that's kind of the middle ground, where your eyes are wide open, and you're seeing pretty much nothing. Or you can just go into your room, close the blinds, turn off the lights, and be in a very soft space that way. So that's another alternative. Report an error in the passage at 31:12 Highlight the passage at 31:12

31:32 Where you have the advantage of the eyes being open, and I like having my eyes open actually, and sometimes in a kind of a light space it's just fine, but I also like just being in the dark. Report an error in the passage at 31:32 Highlight the passage at 31:32

31:47 Yes, Charles. okay? Very good, Report an error in the passage at 31:47 Highlight the passage at 31:47

31:58 very much for motivation which you might want to comment on. My motivation was that sometimes I was struggling so hard on that long. Right, right. Managed between lascivious and distraction. When I think I've sort of got a balance, it feels like I don't have a mind also taking on the breathing. I just missed that. Report an error in the passage at 31:58 Highlight the passage at 31:58

32:21 You don't have a mind? I don't have a mind taking on the breathing too. I'm just trying to get that stillness. You don't have enough left over? Report an error in the passage at 32:21 Highlight the passage at 32:21

32:33 Once I get there, I'm not necessarily conscious of the breathing. That's one thing I observed. but that was so busy when I managed that thing and I wanted to help the stillness. Yeah, it is a little bit of moderate multitasking after all, because you're trying to do this and also keep tabs on that. Report an error in the passage at 32:33 Highlight the passage at 32:33

32:57 But it works relatively well. We're not talking about expertise and being completely master of the method. But you're finding, I like the phrase, traction. You know, you may find... Report an error in the passage at 32:57 Highlight the passage at 32:57

33:06 Like you're going uphill in a jeep, are you getting traction or are you not? If you get traction you're making it up the hill whether slow or fast. You're getting traction in that, yes? Report an error in the passage at 33:06 Highlight the passage at 33:06

33:20 distraction for one of the thoughts might be, ah, this thing about awareness being different from mind. Have I just got a very still mind now? It's still my mind and it's just kind of empty. Where is this? You're You're having this internal conversation, do I have a still mind? The answer is no, actually not. Report an error in the passage at 33:20 Highlight the passage at 33:20

33:42 my distraction at that point. Sure. Sure. But also, when a big experience, I'm feeling, there's still, I mean, that's sort of awareness. There's no thoughts, but then... This is a sequential strategy. It's not a one method, conquers the enemy and is totally vanquished forever. It's not that way. In fact, for most people, there is no such one practice. We're being very crafty here. This is a strategy of basically disabling the enemy, the great Māra of reification, grasping and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 33:42 Highlight the passage at 33:42

34:22 And we're coming in because we... The idea, you must remember this, you remember the parable that the Buddha gave of the wise minister and the king? Remember that one? Yes. Why don't I say it? It's not bad. It's actually a very good story because we know the cutting edge of the story here. What really gets the job done? Report an error in the passage at 34:22 Highlight the passage at 34:22

34:42 So you're really free. And in a very deep and even irreversible way, you're free. You've cut the root. And that's Vipassanā. There's just no question. That's one reason. That's why Vipassanā is so popular. It's everywhere. But the fine print says, oh, by the way, this won't work until you have shamatha. Report an error in the passage at 34:42 Highlight the passage at 34:42

35:01 Who needs fine print? How important could fine print be? It's so fine and it's so small and probably not important. No, the Vipassanā can be helpful, but it can't get the job done without the shamatha. That's why it's shamatha, Vipassanā, everywhere in all schools of Buddhism, pretty much. And so the parable, it's a nice one, and I'll tell the story. It's directly germane. Report an error in the passage at 35:01 Highlight the passage at 35:01

35:22 So it's a lovely parable, and that is there's this king and he has a son, like teenage son or so forth, who is really kind of a goof-off, playboy, drinking, partying girl, the whole bit, very immature, and the king, and he's the crown prince, and the king really wants him to grow up. And he thought, well, like many fathers have thought, let's give the boy some responsibility, maybe he'll get his act together and he'll, you know, start maturing, give him some responsibility, don't treat him like a kid. Report an error in the passage at 35:22 Highlight the passage at 35:22

35:50 So he sends his son, this unruly prince, out to one of the outlying provinces of his kingdom. He says, okay boy, you're governor now, so take responsibility, be a good leader. And so he sends his boy off. The boy continues to be a total jerk. And he just takes that as, oh cool, everybody loves me here. I can do whatever I want. Bring on the girls, bring on the party, bring on the booth. Report an error in the passage at 35:50 Highlight the passage at 35:50

36:11 Complete parasite, total disaster. And of course complaints come in from the province, hey, your son's a total jerk, you know. And so, you can imagine the poor dad, what to do. So he calls in his chief minister and said, Minister, my son's still just doing his thing. So I want you to go there. You're the wise minister. You go there. And you tell him he just has to stop this. He has to get his act together, be a good leader. You have to take care of the people. Report an error in the passage at 36:11 Highlight the passage at 36:11

36:39 So tell him, straighten him out. And the minister replies, O king, I shall not do so. Because if I do so, I'm not a prince. I'm not even royalty. I'm simply a minister. I go off to your prince, off to your son. He's a prince. He's going to cut my head off. He's not going to listen to me. He's going to whack me as soon as I get there. And so I will not go unless you give me a very robust bodyguard, somebody to protect me, so he has to take me seriously. Report an error in the passage at 36:39 Highlight the passage at 36:39

37:09 And the king responds, you're right about that. Yeah, good point. So he gives him a whole strong bodyguard, some troops, a castle guard, including the head of the guard, a big burly, a burly Australian. One of you rugby players, one of those. And so you can imagine, it makes it a bit more realistic. And so they make their way out to the castle out there in the outlying province. Report an error in the passage at 37:09 Highlight the passage at 37:09

37:36 And the big, the, the, The chief bodyguard, he comes marching in first and he walks right up to the prince, takes him by the hair, slams his head down on the ground, puts his sword over his head and says, listen to the minister. He's got something to tell you, right? You're going to listen, aren't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the minister tells him what he needs to do and the job's done. Report an error in the passage at 37:36 Highlight the passage at 37:36

38:03 The minister is Vipassanā and the chief bodyguard is Samatha. Samatha comes in and subdues the mental afflictions. It subdues the ego. It subdues the five obscurations. As is widely known, I mean, this is a very, very common coin, that once you've achieved Samatha, not only is it blissful, luminous and non-conceptual when you're abiding in meditation, if that's all it was, you might say, well, should I do this or maybe just take ecstasy? Report an error in the passage at 38:03 Highlight the passage at 38:03

38:34 Really, I mean, you know, why not go for the shortcut? Really, this is so much work. I've never taken ecstasy, but people I know like it. And so you might go, well, okay, it's basically brain chemistry we're talking about. Because ecstasy is brain chemistry, exactly. And shamatha certainly does alter the chemical activities of your brain. It cannot not. So you might be weighing that. But then you hear about, I mean, there's a lot more to that. Report an error in the passage at 38:34 Highlight the passage at 38:34

39:00 Already there's a lot more. Big differences. But one of the important differences, enormously important differences, is when you come out of meditation, what's that like? When you're just having a cup of tea, driving to work, whatever you're doing, and moreover in a hurly-burly world where there are really nasty people and friendly and adversity strikes and all kinds of stuff happens. Report an error in the passage at 39:00 Highlight the passage at 39:00

39:19 And what the report is for hundreds of years, it's one of the most established facts, contemplative facts around, is that although none of your mental afflictions are eradicated. You haven't terminated any of them. They're really subdued. And two things. They arise no matter what happens to you or to loved ones or just in the world. Report an error in the passage at 39:19 Highlight the passage at 39:19

39:42 The mental evictions arise much less frequently. They're just not triggered as often. Other things are triggered. Compassion, equanimity, generosity, loving kindness and so forth and so on. There's a whole host of wholesome responses that may come and really get the job done. So they're not triggered nearly as frequently, and when they are triggered, they don't have that staying power. It's like you clip their talons, you know, they try to get their talons into you, but all the claws are gone, so they kind of go like that. Report an error in the passage at 39:42 Highlight the passage at 39:42

40:13 It's hard for them to really get their clutches into you, throttle you, and then get you totally in their grip. And so that's a good thing. So you've really disempowered them. And now that they're disempowered... They're disempowered already, they're just not arising frequently or with the strength they used to have. Then you bring in the Vipassanā, and the Vipassanā fully backed with the muscle of the shamatha, and that can do some real irreversible damage to the mental addictions, right down to the root, including the sense of self. Report an error in the passage at 40:13 Highlight the passage at 40:13

40:46 I am, I'm the observer, I'm still here. No, that one. Report an error in the passage at 40:46 Highlight the passage at 40:46

40:54 But you know, without shamatha, I've been watching this for a long time and listening for a long time and I'm very interested and I'm open to whatever appears to be true. And without having that real profound mental balance, because that's what it is exactly, mental balance, exceptional mental balance, health, mental health and mental well-being. Report an error in the passage at 40:54 Highlight the passage at 40:54

41:15 Without that, one may be, I know some people, extremely intelligent, really sharp analytical skills. I mean, fantastic. They can come in and they can start bringing in the sharp sword of Vipassanā to the problem of reification, self-grasping and so forth. They get some insights. They're really smart. They're understanding it's good. They wield the sword well. But it's extremely difficult for those insights, those breakthroughs to be sustained. Report an error in the passage at 41:15 Highlight the passage at 41:15

41:47 Because the underlying imbalances, the crude, raw, ordinary imbalances of the mind, emotional and so forth. They just rear up, and it's kind of like the fires of prajna are just quenched in the spilling over the waters of just mental imbalances of all kinds. It's hard for anything of any kind to be really sustained. And so that's why we have sīla, which is really getting our way of life together in a very meaningful, ethical, non-violent way, benevolent way. Report an error in the passage at 41:47 Highlight the passage at 41:47

42:17 And on the basis of that, not just having a high. You know, like, what's it called, heroin high or an ecstasy high or whatever, or the high high of cocaine. I've not taken any of them. I'm actually not curious at all. Not that, which just give you a high and then they drop you, right? But you're actually cultivating something that no drug has ever done, and I don't see it on the horizon. A drug that will give you exceptional mental health and balance? Report an error in the passage at 42:17 Highlight the passage at 42:17

42:43 I mean, I would take it. I don't like hanging around. I just like... Oh, bodhisattva pill. I'd really like that. But, you know, when Ray Kurzweil, bless his heart, I read this interview with him, the whole thing, and then listened to a little YouTube clip of him, very recent. And he said, you know, we'll be programmed and we'll just basically download the software of our brains into computers, into robots and so forth, and we'll become immortal. Report an error in the passage at 42:43 Highlight the passage at 42:43

43:14 I think he's saying 2030 is the singularity. I think that's it. We'll just turn the corner and we'll become immortal. And we'll just take all the software of our minds and download them into a much better kind of silicon-based rather than carbon-based, organic-based brain. And the closest he got to saying anything about virtue was we'll be better able to express loving sentiments. That was his words. Report an error in the passage at 43:14 Highlight the passage at 43:14

43:40 Better able to express, not that we'll have more loving sentiments. And actually loving kindness is not a sentiment. Neither is compassion a sentiment. That's as close as he could get. But the whole point was missing. Will we actually be more loving? Will we be more wise, more sensitive, more empathetic? Report an error in the passage at 43:40 Highlight the passage at 43:40

44:00 Will we actually be that when we're walking around in our titanium bodies with, you know, silicon brains? Never even addresses it. So that's another route. We'll see how that one turns out. We'll see how that one turns out. But it's nanobots. Nanobots. These little things that get in there. Report an error in the passage at 44:00 Highlight the passage at 44:00

44:20 Upgrade your brain. We'll see how that turns out with no ethics and no compassion and no wisdom. But just leave it to the nanobots. Take refuge in nanobots. So somebody's going to try that. We'll see how that turns out. But it won't be me. I'm too much of a skeptic. Report an error in the passage at 44:20 Highlight the passage at 44:20

44:39 You're welcome, child. Anything else coming out? Yes, please. Hi, Alan. How are you? Hi. I'm very well. How are you? And who are you? What's your name? Brendan. Brendan. Yes, indeed. Of course, yesterday. Sure. Gotcha. Gotcha. I'd like to ask you a question about finding the balance between meditation and the study. Report an error in the passage at 44:39 Highlight the passage at 44:39

45:02 When I also heard the Tibetan Dalai Lama was a song Rinpoche. It does like a revolutionary recording. It's kind of very inspiring. It was basically, the leisure I had, I was doing lots of studying. And as times progressed upon trying to do more meditation and study, Ah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 45:02 Highlight the passage at 45:02

45:25 So, I suppose the question is, is it a personal thing? Like, for me, I'm probably meditating 80 % of the time, maybe 70 % or 20%, like out of balance, or is it a personal thing? Yeah. I suppose to find that's more inspiring for me to meditate rather than, like, I guess some really fantastic teachings at AI. Report an error in the passage at 45:25 Highlight the passage at 45:25

45:59 Yeah, no, very, very good, very practical question. For four years I was a university lecturer, and the most popular course I took that grew to 300 students within about three years, it got very popular, was Sleeping, Dreaming, Dying in Tibetan Buddhism. And it was inspired by a Mind and Life conference. Report an error in the passage at 45:59 Highlight the passage at 45:59

46:18 But I mention it because I used Sogyaramocha's book as one of the, actually the first text, and students loved it. It's really a beautiful book. Just a beautiful book. It's beautifully written. The content's really good. So I have only admiration for the book. And Sogyaramocha's done a lot of good. He really has done a lot of good. Report an error in the passage at 46:18 Highlight the passage at 46:18

46:36 So, that said, a couple of points. Tibetans generally, you know, these are kind of Tibetan sayings in the culture. They're saying, when you're young, study. When you're old, meditate. date. Report an error in the passage at 46:36 Highlight the passage at 46:36

46:51 And you're right in between. You're not quite young, but you're not quite old either. You're in between. But that's just an aphorism. It's one of the general aphorisms. When you're young, get an education. Really study well. But when you are old, then for heaven's sake, start assimilating what you've learned. And I think there's a lot of wisdom to that. Report an error in the passage at 46:51 Highlight the passage at 46:51

47:11 I know that when I was in my 20s, I was flat out studying a lot. And then in my 30s I felt I had the leisure to study physics and mathematics and philosophy of science and so forth and felt there was time enough for that. I studied Sanskrit and so forth and so on. And then 40s, still finished a PhD but spending much more time and receiving much more Dharma teaching. And after that, from 50s on, I've not really done that much studying. Report an error in the passage at 47:11 Highlight the passage at 47:11

47:36 You know, not really much. And nowadays I don't read much at all. I just spend a lot of time meditating. But having said that, So there's a general trend, and I think it makes good sense. The Buddha spoke at length about the values, the benefits of hearing. And it's called hearing, thinking, meditation. Report an error in the passage at 47:36 Highlight the passage at 47:36

47:54 Hearing includes studying. But it begins by hearing. If you want to get the juice, and you had a university course. Yes? University course. Didn't you say? Oh, you didn't. I missed her. But when you're doing the studying, if you have some actual juice flowing in from somebody who has the understanding. Report an error in the passage at 47:54 Highlight the passage at 47:54

48:09 You know, really understanding and is conveying that. It can be a university lecturer, some of them really know very well, or Lama or Roshi or whatever, but you know, people who have studied well, that can help a lot. Now Sogirama's book is so inviting that it's almost like having the Lama between the pages of the book because it's, you know, it just, it flows. Anecdotes and it's just really good Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 48:09 Highlight the passage at 48:09

48:30 But I'll just, I'll conclude with this comment that I, it was some personal advice I received from the junior tutor of the Dalai Lama. He's one of my Lamas, Kapciti Janomache, an incredibly saintly man, a great Lama. This would have to be in the early 70s when I was kind of a young monk and I went to him for counsel. Report an error in the passage at 48:30 Highlight the passage at 48:30

48:52 I don't remember the context of how this came up, but I remember very vividly what he said. When I first met His Holiness, it's a brief tangent, when I first met His Holiness, he likened receiving and practicing Dharma to eating, to eating. I won't elaborate on that right now, but he gave the food metaphor. And it comes up a lot for very good reason. So here we're back to a couple of years later with Tijan Rinpoche, junior tutor of the Dalai Lama, and a highly revered saint. Report an error in the passage at 48:52 Highlight the passage at 48:52

49:22 He was really loved quite universally across the traditions. Ka Gyupa and Nyingma, they adored this man. He was just so benevolent, so wise and kind. He was like the Lama's Lama. And so in any case, the advice that he gave, or his comments that he made, he said, you know, There are some people who, when they come to Dharma, they had just a great appetite, a great appetite to learn a lot, you know, to learn, just to learn a lot, to jump into the ocean of Dharma and just study texts and traditions and just learn and learn and just, big appetite, and they learn a lot. Report an error in the passage at 49:22 Highlight the passage at 49:22

49:58 And these are like people who come with a big appetite and they come for a meal and they want a seven course meal. You know, and they sit down and they have big variety. And when they finish the meal, they're really fully satisfied. Boy, that was good, good meal. So rich, so full, so diverse. And they're really content, you know. But then he said that other people, they're as hungry, but they're actually quite content just to have, let's say, some rice and some really good veggies and maybe a dal, maybe some nice, you know, yogurt for dessert with a cool chai afterwards. Report an error in the passage at 49:58 Highlight the passage at 49:58

50:31 And it's not nearly as elaborate, but you know, they eat as much as they want and they're just totally satisfied at the end. And then there are others who, you know, Tibetans, and they sit down and they're just perfectly happy to have a bowl full of Tsampa. You know, the parched barley meal with some good old rancid yak butter in it. You know, it gives it some real backbone, you know, not like that wimpy non-rancid butter for, you know, for wimps, for non-Australians, you know. Report an error in the passage at 50:31 Highlight the passage at 50:31

50:57 And they sit down with a bit of dried cheese and they're chomping down on their... On their bak, it's called, that Tsampa, the parched barley meal with some yak butter in it. And then they'll slurp it down with some good old buttery Tibetan tea. And when they're finished, they're fully satisfied. So the elaborate one, the one, the kind of medium, and then the one who, it's Tsampa, you know, it's Tsampa. Report an error in the passage at 50:57 Highlight the passage at 50:57

51:21 And he said, but they're all completely satisfied at the end. Each one got a good meal. That Tsampa is actually very, very good food. And if you're living at 5,000 meters, having a lot of butter in it helps, keeps the calories coming in, which you need. And so he said in a similar fashion, some people come to Dharma and they have a great appetite to really get great learning. Report an error in the passage at 51:21 Highlight the passage at 51:21

51:40 In other ones, they'll be going just more for the kind of the core text, the guide of the bodhisattva way of life, maybe lamrim, some other quintessential texts that really capture the essence of the practice. And they'll receive teachings on this, maybe spend a couple of years really learning. But they got all the... Report an error in the passage at 51:40 Highlight the passage at 51:40

51:57 All the important points, they didn't miss anything, but not nearly the elaboration, like a Geshe or a Kempo, a person who spent years and years of study. And other ones are like this Lo San Tenzin, and I'll tell a little bit more about his story. He was this one I just alluded to, who was a semi-literate farmer, who was captured by the Chinese communists, imprisoned, and his family was left out, his wife and children, his whole farm, he was just put in prison. Report an error in the passage at 51:57 Highlight the passage at 51:57

52:23 And something really wonderful, he escaped. But it was one of those Sophie's Choice kind of situations. If he goes back home, the prison authority knows exactly where he's going to go. They're going to be waiting for him and just put him right back in prison, probably with a big severe punishment. So if he goes home, he can't save them and he'll almost certainly be caught and brought right back to prison. Report an error in the passage at 52:23 Highlight the passage at 52:23

52:47 So now he is outside the prison gates. He's free and he's living in southern Tibet. So India is just over the hill, just over the mountains. I said, imagine that. Your family's right there, probably one kilometer away, and you can't get to them. You can either go back to jail and hope for the best, say, I'm sorry, or you can kiss everything goodbye. Report an error in the passage at 52:47 Highlight the passage at 52:47

53:09 You know, tough choice, eh? I knew him. I translated for him a number of times. So his name was Lohan Gautzu, like John Smith, that's his name. And so he got down to India, and all he wanted to do was kill Chinese. He wasn't a very religious person. He wasn't educated at all. He was a farmer. He just wanted to kill Chinese. He wanted to get back. They took everything from him that he cherished. His family, his wife, children, his home, property, everything. He lost everything, you know, and he hadn't done anything wrong. Report an error in the passage at 53:09 Highlight the passage at 53:09

53:38 So he just wanted to kill Chinese, and he joined the Indian Army in the hopes that he could get some Chinese in his gun sight and blow his head off. He went through two furloughs, probably four years, and never had a chance. Never had a chance. He couldn't even kill a Chinese, you know. And by the time there, eight years has gone by, he's lost everything and now, and he's probably still a private, he's uneducated. Report an error in the passage at 53:38 Highlight the passage at 53:38

54:01 I'm sure he didn't become an officer. And just this very deep renunciation just set in. He had nothing. And he thought, there's only one chance of my finding any happiness in this life. And nothing else has any hope at all. So he went to the senior tutor of the Dalai Lama, Lingramajit, a master of masters. Report an error in the passage at 54:01 Highlight the passage at 54:01

54:23 A genius, a brilliant scholar. And here's this kind of a hillbilly, a bushman practically. And he comes to him and he said, and he's still in the army. He has another year or so to go. And he comes to this, the guy's got chutzpah. He's got some real guts to do this. I mean, who are you? He said, I'm me. Report an error in the passage at 54:23 Highlight the passage at 54:23

54:43 And I want to practice Dharma. Who's the best? Okay, Lina Rinpoche, I guess he's probably the best in the world, I'll check him out. So he said, would you teach me Dharma? Would you guide me to enlightenment? Because that's all I want to do with the rest of my life, is just practice. And he's not a scholar, he's quasi-literate, probably just barely read, I imagine. And he said, will you guide me? And Lina Rinpoche said, yeah, but do some preliminary practices first, you've got some stuff to work off. Report an error in the passage at 54:43 Highlight the passage at 54:43

55:11 You know, eight years of wanting to kill people, not very good imprints. So he had him do prostrations. Vajrasattva and so forth. Imagine this. Indian army is pretty macho. I mean, I live right in a big encampment. A lot of Sikhs, they're macho. Really macho. They're men's men. And so this Tibetan, he's already a minority. He starts in the barracks there. He starts doing 100,000 prostrations and doing Vajrasattva and Prabhupada Mandala offering. Report an error in the passage at 55:11 Highlight the passage at 55:11

55:40 And he said, I don't care what you guys think. Think I'm a twerp. I don't care. I'm doing my prostration. Step aside. And by the time he's finished his preliminaries, he's finished with the army, he goes back to Lina Rinpoche and said, I did what you said. I did the preliminaries. I did the purification. Will you guide me now? And Lina Rinpoche said, yeah, sure. And he spoon fed him. Report an error in the passage at 55:40 Highlight the passage at 55:40

56:07 Spoon fed him means he gave him just the beginning of lamrim. He said, here, here's the first section. Can you read this? I'll explain it to you. Now go off to your cave. And when you've assimilated that, come back and I'll give you seconds. So he found a cave. He's a nobody. He's not a scholar, he's not a monk, he's not a tuku, he's just a nobody. Report an error in the passage at 56:07 Highlight the passage at 56:07

56:27 But he did take ordination. And all of these cool meditation huts, about an hour and a half hike above Dharamsala, that's where I lived, they're all full. I got to spend about five months in Rishit up there, but there's no place for him. This is Dharamsala, there's a lot of monks there. So that was all full. So he just kept climbing up higher into the mountains. Report an error in the passage at 56:27 Highlight the passage at 56:27

56:47 Higher and higher, got up to, what, about 5,000 meters, way up above Dharamsala, which is only like 2,000 meters, way up, and he found a cave that nobody had occupied. So he just moved in there, lived in this cave by himself, way above the rest of the yogis, who had it kind of cushy, I mean, cabins are nice. Report an error in the passage at 56:47 Highlight the passage at 56:47

57:05 He had a cave, and he got into a rhythm that he'd come down, so he would go repeatedly down to Lina Rinpoche. When he digested what Lina Rinpoche gave him, then he'd come down and say, okay, The signs have arisen, I got that point. Like he said, I've assimilated it. And they said, good, here's your next. And he'd give it to him, and then he'd disappear for a while, come back, I assimilated it. Report an error in the passage at 57:05 Highlight the passage at 57:05

57:28 And he just led him right through the whole lamrim, and then into stage of regeneration, into stage of completion. So this is the man that's living on Tsongkhapa. No big textual study, of any kind, not even the middle. He just basically had tremendous faith in Lina Muce, and that's a good person to have faith in. Report an error in the passage at 57:28 Highlight the passage at 57:28

57:48 And just absorbed everything. And so I translated for him in 1980, about 1985 or so, 1985. He came to Massachusetts. He was invited there because Herbert Benson from Harvard was studying people who achieved mastery of tummo, and he was one of them. So he came. And then Bob Thurman, who was one of my professors at Amherst, he invited him to his home. Report an error in the passage at 57:48 Highlight the passage at 57:48

58:15 It's a cute story, if you don't mind. The story goes on just a bit more. So, His Holiness encouraged Losan Tenzin to accept this invitation to go out and be studied while he went into Dumo meditation. But His Holiness told him, bear in mind, he may as well be on another planet. He's been living up at 5,000 meters for the last 10 years, had no contact virtually with any Westerner. Report an error in the passage at 58:15 Highlight the passage at 58:15

58:41 And His Holiness is encouraging him to go down to Delhi, get on a plane, fly to Boston, go to Harvard, and let him study his body while he goes into Tuma meditation. I mean, it's like sending him to Mars, you know. But His Holiness told him, he said, you know, Lozan Tensila, you know our tradition, our custom, and that is we never talk about our realization. Report an error in the passage at 58:41 Highlight the passage at 58:41

59:01 We always say, oh, I don't have any realization. Everybody knows that. You didn't have to tell him. He said, well, don't do that, because they'll believe you. Report an error in the passage at 59:01 Highlight the passage at 59:01

59:12 Those Americans, they're going to believe you. And they're going to wonder, why the hell are you here? We wanted experts. I got no realization. I've been sitting in a cave for 10 years. Nothing happened. They will believe you because they don't know any better. So when they ask you questions about your experience, your realization and so forth, tell them the truth, which is really kind of like outlandish. Report an error in the passage at 59:12 Highlight the passage at 59:12

59:36 But this man has no ego and His Holiness told him, you just tell them the truth. If they ask, you tell them. Well, Bob Thurman, I've known him now for a long, long time. A wonderful man in so many ways. And he's also something of a mischief. Something of a mischief, really. In a very nice way, but he's a mischief. So Bob Thurman heard that this monk was like that. Remember that Jim Carrey movie where he couldn't ever lie? Report an error in the passage at 59:36 Highlight the passage at 59:36

1:00:01 He heard. Remember that one? So this guy can't tell a lie. He can't pretend that he has no realization. And if you ask him a question, he has to tell the truth. It was just like Jim Carrey's story. And so Bob Thurman, knowing that, he invited him to his home. And I served as his interpreter on that occasion. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:01 Highlight the passage at 1:00:01

1:00:22 I was right there. And Bob Thurman turns to this Milarepa-like monk. He's skinny and wiry and tough and weather-worn. And he turns to him and says, tell us about all your experiences. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:22 Highlight the passage at 1:00:22

1:00:42 What realizations do you got? And so this poor monk is really put on the spot. It goes totally against the grain of their whole spiritual culture. You just don't talk about it. But Bob Thurman knew. You have to talk about it. I got you. And so I remember vividly to this day his body language. As he's speaking and I'm translating for this small group of people, 15, 20 people. And he's like he's profoundly embarrassed. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:42 Highlight the passage at 1:00:42

1:01:14 Like telling, yes, it was me who farted. Kind of like that. Kind of like, sorry. So with that kind of body language, his eyes down, his head down, kind of like this. Then he told about going and spending 10 years in solitude and telling the various types of realization come up. Bob Thurman said, well, what's it like to have your mind right now? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:14 Highlight the passage at 1:01:14

1:01:38 What's it like? What's your experience right now in between sessions? And then he really went down. And this is what he said. I can quote him verbatim. He said, oh, now? Oh, my mind now is in a state of immutable bliss at all times, both during and between meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:38 Highlight the passage at 1:01:38

1:02:01 I will not forget that one. I've never seen that before. So he was the one that had sampah. And he started when he was 40, 40, I think, no, even later. He started his serious practice about 40. So it just leaves a lot of flexibility. And that's the real answer. That for some people they derive the greatest benefit if they really just drink deeply from the well. Lots of knowledge. The Buddha talked about that and he said, and I mentioned, the benefits of hearing the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:01 Highlight the passage at 1:02:01

1:02:32 He said, that becomes your best friend. Your best friend. If you've really understood a lot, studied a lot, remembered a lot, you really bring a lot of learning with you to the cushion. That's your best friend. You ask questions and your knowledge comes right up with the answer. Your best friend. Sakyapandita. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:32 Highlight the passage at 1:02:32

1:02:51 Another of the great ones in the whole history of Tibetan Buddhism. He said, trying to meditate without having studied is like trying to climb a steep mountain with no hands. At the same time, it is said, now I'll end on this note because it's such a great question, but this is a really good one. This is from His Holiness. And His Holiness, you know, he's a Geshe himself. He earned his Geshe degree when he was 23. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:51 Highlight the passage at 1:02:51

1:03:20 He fled in 1959. So it was 1958 that he finished his exam. twenty-three, -three. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:20 Highlight the passage at 1:03:20

1:03:25 He did brilliantly. But he's, you know, he's watched all of this now for 60 years and watched people study, study, study, whether they're Westerners, but many Tibetans also. Study, study, study, never really get around to meditating or really deeply assimilating. They just acquire a lot of knowledge. If they're galoopers, they really need to clap their hands and debate and decimate other people's arguments and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:25 Highlight the passage at 1:03:25

1:03:47 Very clever, very articulate, but never really letting it seep in. And His Holiness gave this analogy. It's a really good one. So take an uncured piece of yak hide, uncured, we all know what it's like, it could be leather, but uncured leather. And so if you take, and they didn't have special oils and so forth for tanning, they had yak butter. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:47 Highlight the passage at 1:03:47

1:04:10 Yak butter is served for many things, yummy tea. But they use yak butter and they'll take this piece of just raw yak hide. And what you do is you take that butter and you work it into the hide. You work it and you work it and you knead it and you work it and work it and work it until that butter is completely saturated, the hide, the leather. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:10 Highlight the passage at 1:04:10

1:04:34 And then it's malleable. You can do anything with it. It can hold water, it can hold rice, it can hold grain, hold anything you like. Because you've got all that oil in it, so now it's waterproof. But it also makes the leather malleable. You can do just anything you like with that. So very, very useful, supple. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:34 Highlight the passage at 1:04:34

1:04:52 And that's a good way to, you know, butter and hide. Very, very useful in that thing you've got now. You've got a sack that you can use for many, many things. So there's one approach. And another approach is take that same piece of yak hide and just slap some butter on it. And kind of just smear it around for a while. And then get bored. And just say, oh, that's too much work. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:52 Highlight the passage at 1:04:52

1:05:11 And just set it aside. And let it sit there for a month. And what happens when you come back to that piece of yak hide on which you've smeared this butter? The butter goes in, it sets. And now it's brittle. It makes the whole piece of leather brittle. So if you try to do something, it just crumbles in your hand. So now you've got something totally useless. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:11 Highlight the passage at 1:05:11

1:05:32 Because literally you can't use it for anything. Try to do any, just move it, bend it, and it breaks. It's garbage. So you probably already figured out how the analogy goes. It's possible to acquire a lot of learning. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:32 Highlight the passage at 1:05:32

1:05:48 About all kinds of things, Buddhist epistemology, ontology, prasipanamita, ethics, phenomenology and so forth and so on. Study the tantras, etc. It's possible to acquire a great deal of knowledge, but just smear that knowledge on the surface of your mind. And what happens is that your mind becomes brittle and your mind becomes basically useless for practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:48 Highlight the passage at 1:05:48

1:06:13 Because you feel you've understood everything, but you've realized nothing. But if somebody tries to give you the counsel, you'll chip right in. Oh, yeah, but I already know that. In fact, I can give you a better discourse than that. Let me tell you what you're about to say, because I'll do it better than you, because I'm really smart. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:13 Highlight the passage at 1:06:13

1:06:27 And so then your mind is completely useless, and all that knowledge is right on the surface, never seeps in, doesn't do you any good, doesn't do anybody else any real good. Whereas the person who is like, like Lo San Tenzin to Lina Rinpoche, you study some and you assimilate, as you've been doing. You study some and then you meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:27 Highlight the passage at 1:06:27

1:06:45 Study some and you apply it in daily life. Study some more and apply it in daily life and let the years go by that way. And then that knowledge is always nurturing you, cultivating, and the mind becomes malleable. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:45 Highlight the passage at 1:06:45

1:06:57 Humility comes up, you're ready to learn from anyone, you know, like the Dalai Lama. And now you've got a malleable mind that can go into any avenue of Dharma and you're always ready to learn more and assimilate more. So that's really a wonderful word of wisdom to the wise, something like that. That whatever we learn has got to be put into practice soon and not just store up a great big bunch. The final aphorism from Tibet is an oddity and I've never understood why it is, but in the classic Geshe training to become a Geshe, you know, the kind of PhD in Buddhism and the global tradition, it often takes about 25 years from start to finish, about 25 years, 20, 25, 30 years to finish the whole curriculum and pass your final exams. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:57 Highlight the passage at 1:06:57

1:07:43 But it's only after about the first 15 years or even 20 years that you actually study Vinaya. And Vinaya, the monastic discipline, really tells you how should you be a monk, what is the nature of the discipline. This is the foundation of your whole practice. And we'll study that for four years. That's the one topic for four years. Vinaya, it goes into tremendous detail about karma, the nuances of karma, the complexities of karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:43 Highlight the passage at 1:07:43

1:08:06 It does take four years to study it well. But they'll study that after they've already been in the monastery for 15 years or longer, right towards the end of their training. And so the galupas chide themselves, saying, when you have your vows, you don't have vinya. And when you've learned your vinya, you no longer have your vows. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:06 Highlight the passage at 1:08:06

1:08:32 Because you've had 15 years to break your vows, because you never really got around a detailed study of how do you be a good monk or nun. And you finally learn them, and by that time your vows are history. That's a problem. Yeah. All right. Thank you for that. You're welcome, sir. Just quickly, too. The kids in the preschool have been enjoying the Suzy Kais and Greenland, the podcast. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:32 Highlight the passage at 1:08:32

1:08:52 Yeah. Yeah, sort of responded to that. Oh, lovely. So thanks for that advice. Oh, you're very welcome. I'm a great fan of her. She does wonderful work. Good. Anything else coming up? Yes, Angela. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:52 Highlight the passage at 1:08:52

1:09:08 Hi. Yes, I just had a question about practice. Good. Yes. Sometimes the writing... Stability in the relaxation and clarity of approval. Maybe the microphone is a little bit further away from that. It's a bit blurry. Is that better? I think so. Let's see how it goes. I have moments where stillness is vastly balanced. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:08 Highlight the passage at 1:09:08

1:09:31 But as I increase the vividness and clarity, I sometimes wonder if I'm going too far, it feels like I'm going down the trance. Going into trance? With the enhancement of vividness? how do you I'm only curious, there's not a debate, but when you say trance, I wonder if my understanding of trance is like yours. What do you mean by that? How would you define trance according to your own experience? Report an error in the passage at 1:09:31 Highlight the passage at 1:09:31

1:09:58 Something would be quite scary or something for too long. Everything kind of goes clear, present, blank, still. still. Blake, I don't know, there's nothing happening. There's nothing happening. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:58 Highlight the passage at 1:09:58

1:10:25 But it doesn't last terribly long, it's very present, but I'm not sure if that's what I'm aiming for or whether it's just going into like a, I call it a trace. It's like you experience hysteria, it's like if you're too involved and everything will go, but it just fades away. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:25 Highlight the passage at 1:10:25

1:10:48 Everything else fades away or everything fades away? Everything fades away. Ah, then that's dullness. Yeah. That's dullness. It doesn't have to be dullness as if in falling asleep. That's one kind of dullness. It doesn't have to be that. The term here, the positive term is cognizance. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:48 Highlight the passage at 1:10:48

1:11:08 And like right now, Report an error in the passage at 1:11:08 Highlight the passage at 1:11:08

1:11:17 that's cognizance. Because you know I'm giving you my full attention. It's kind of obvious, isn't it? And I think you're giving me yours as well. That's cognizance. If you blink, I'm going to notice it because I'm really paying attention with interest. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:17 Highlight the passage at 1:11:17

1:11:34 I'm not tense. I'm not wired. I'm not angry. I'm just really paying attention. Quite relaxed, actually, but I'm really paying attention. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:34 Highlight the passage at 1:11:34

1:11:44 That's cognizance. That's also vividness. That's not a trance. So it is possible in Shama to practice, and it does happen, especially when you're doing a big emphasis on just resting in awareness of awareness. It can happen. It does happen. That as you're resting there in that same type of intensity, you saw it kind of just by my facial expression, kind of an intensity there, but there was nothing malevolent, it was not like no fists, it was just like really, really paying attention. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:44 Highlight the passage at 1:11:44

1:12:11 Well, you can maintain that same kind of intensity, that kind of vibrancy, that intensity is a good word, sharpness, vividness, acuity. You can do that without having a target particularly. Just be, you know, instead of a candle flame, how about a blowtorch? Report an error in the passage at 1:12:11 Highlight the passage at 1:12:11

1:12:31 There's a blowtorch facing up. That's even sharper, isn't it? That's intense. Not burning anything, not angry, but boy, it's hot and it's really bright. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:31 Highlight the passage at 1:12:31

1:12:42 But as you're resting on that, and this awareness is really inverted in upon that sheer intensity, vibrancy, acuity, brilliance, it may be such a vortex of drawing your awareness in that there is just nothing left over. And your awareness of the body fades out. Your awareness of sound fades out. Your eyes can be open and it goes monochrome and then that fades out. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:42 Highlight the passage at 1:12:42

1:13:13 Quite interesting to watch it phenomenologically. And it's not a trance. It's just that you're extremely focused, extremely clear and very, very cognizant. But it's highly focused. In a finger snap, if you wish, Report an error in the passage at 1:13:13 Highlight the passage at 1:13:13

1:13:31 you can make it go supernova. In a finger snap, you can just let your awareness flower. Like a sunflower. And now everything is vivid. And then if you wish that was enough, it's your choice. You're malleable. You're supple. You do with your mind what you want. And if you want to be wide open and radiant, you can do that. And if you want to just go into the brilliancy of your own cave and just be in that radiance, you can do that too. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:31 Highlight the passage at 1:13:31

1:14:02 I remember there was years ago, right after the shamatha project back in 2007, there was one couple, both very sincere. They went to, I think it was 18 months. It's a nice story. Two very, very bright, very educated, very capable middle-aged people, 40ish or something like that, and loving marriage, very good marriage, still is. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:02 Highlight the passage at 1:14:02

1:14:24 They now have two girls. And they both went into, they found a place, they were not broke, so they were able to rent a place after the shamatha retreat. They both went into it, spent three months in retreat. Then they rented a cabin out in Colorado, and they spent 18 months in really quite strict retreat. The two of them, best Dharma friends. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:24 Highlight the passage at 1:14:24

1:14:42 And they actually did both very well. She especially did well. He did quite well. She did exceptionally well. And she commented from her own experience, just going, the shamatha without a sign, there's just awareness of awareness. She commented to me right towards the end of the retreat that she says, you know, it's kind of like in between sessions as well. Like somebody just turned up the voltage, that everything is more vivid. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:42 Highlight the passage at 1:14:42

1:15:06 No hallucination, no kooky, no imbalance, nothing airy-fairy. It's just like whoosh. I mean, this is intense. And she was not fragile because she followed the instructions. Develop that deep base of relaxation, develop real composure and then let that hyper-vigilance come out. Then you're fine. It's like building a very high building but with a very, very deep foundation. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:06 Highlight the passage at 1:15:06

1:15:29 That's fine. If you've got a really good foundation, high is good. And so she was extremely vivid, but not hyper, not hypersensitive, not fragile, not emotionally hyperactive, none of that. Just, whoa, somebody really turned on the voltage. It's nothing like a trance. So if it's trance, it's a loss of cognizance. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:29 Highlight the passage at 1:15:29

1:15:54 You're welcome. Yes, please. To Tom. Last one for tonight. What's up, Tom? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:54 Highlight the passage at 1:15:54

1:16:11 Noticing your thoughts, immersing the space of the mind. I remember, yeah. The awareness of awareness. So my question really is, I'm not really sure what I'm aware, I don't even know, how I know if I'm doing awareness of awareness. I'm just watching the space of my mind essentially, that's what I'm trying to ask you. And you taught us an exercise back then about you could look at something and those who were looking at it, and then you can, that's awareness of awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:11 Highlight the passage at 1:16:11

1:16:37 So that's the only way I've got to do it. It's hard to find yourself continuously stopping in the heart. Am I doing awareness to awareness, or am I just from my quirk of my thoughts? You can just pop my eyes and what they would like. Sure. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:37 Highlight the passage at 1:16:37

1:16:53 We'll get to that, because I'm spoon feeding you for six days. So it's kind of like spoon feeding with a jackhammer, because we are going pretty intensely and pretty quickly here. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:53 Highlight the passage at 1:16:53

1:17:07 But so far it doesn't feel too intense, I hope. But we are going into the shallow end of the pool because I've given you something to hold on to here. And that is, so I will respond later. I'm going to give a short response now. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:07 Highlight the passage at 1:17:07

1:17:20 The real question right now is, it's a very practical one, and you need to know the answer for yourself from your own experience. And that is, do you know what it's like when your awareness is still? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:20 Highlight the passage at 1:17:20

1:17:32 And I can say it that briefly and then, like right now, can you tell whether your awareness is still? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:32 Highlight the passage at 1:17:32

1:17:45 I'm not speaking of anything absolute. But still means not going here and there and going in here and grasping under that and so forth. Still. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:45 Highlight the passage at 1:17:45

1:17:57 Do you know that? When your awareness is still, do you know it's still? That's fine. Brief is good. Brief is good. But when you know it, you know it. It's one of those things, if you know it, then you know you can't be persuaded otherwise. It's kind of like that most fundamental question, I think, about our existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:57 Highlight the passage at 1:17:57

1:18:18 Do you right now, are you... Are you very sure you're conscious or do you think you might be unconscious? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:18 Highlight the passage at 1:18:18

1:18:26 I think it actually is our most incontrovertible knowledge. I've actually come quite firmly to that point. And I've often talked about it. You could be dreaming now. That's possible. But I just don't think, even if I were the most brilliant man on the earth and had the best syllogisms possible, I don't think I could talk you into believing that right now you're unconscious. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:26 Highlight the passage at 1:18:26

1:18:48 One neuroscientist at Princeton tried. He wrote an article published in New York Times. Telling us we're all unconscious. It's called, Are We Really Conscious? And his answer was, no. And it was published. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:48 Highlight the passage at 1:18:48

1:19:04 I just wonder who was asleep on the editorial board when that slipped by. It's probably okay. Really, I saw that one. And I thought, whoa, somebody was definitely asleep at the helm on that one. Because if you can read his article, you know he's wrong. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:04 Highlight the passage at 1:19:04

1:19:22 really. Really, wonders never cease. And that's one of the wonders that a Princeton neuroscientist would tell us all that we're all unconscious. But he's following in the tracks of Daniel Dennett that says we are mindless robots made of mindful robots. And they're following Michio Kaku, a very fine physicist who tells us there's no mind-body problem because there's no mind. Mission accomplished. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:22 Highlight the passage at 1:19:22

1:19:47 And so the simple answer is, let's take it step by step. And I love to proceed. My own method approach that I really have become attached to is try to go, it's actually very Cartesian, not Cartesian dualism, but very Cartesian. Because Descartes, as you may very well know, he wanted to start out as a very brilliant mathematician, a very deep philosopher. He wanted to be able to make a statement that was incontrovertible, because he's a mathematician. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:47 Highlight the passage at 1:19:47

1:20:13 He wanted to start out with an axiom, a statement, a true statement that could not be doubted. And then with sharp, sharp, razor sharp, cogent reasoning, build on that and build on that and build on that and create an edifice, a philosophy, a way of viewing reality that would start out infallible and everything on top of that would be as infallible as the logical reasonings that got you there. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:13 Highlight the passage at 1:20:13

1:20:41 It's a nice strategy. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:41 Highlight the passage at 1:20:41

1:20:45 In Dharma practice, it's nice to start, I find it useful, to start, okay, where can I be certain? I would start here. I'm conscious. And I don't even need the personal pronoun. Because then, okay, what do you mean by I? Okay, I got a problem. But is consciousness, make it in a personal statement, is consciousness being experienced right now? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:45 Highlight the passage at 1:20:45

1:21:08 I don't know about you, you could be a robot, but me, you could be a good imitation. But for myself, yeah, there's at least one conscious being in the world. And I kind of think I'm probably not the only one. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:08 Highlight the passage at 1:21:08

1:21:25 So we start there. And then you proceed from confidence to confidence. And I'm not talking about developing a philosophy. I'm talking about going deeper and deeper into the practice. So if you have that confidence, number one, right now, are you aware that you are aware? The answer is, yeah, I am. Actually, incontrovertibly, I am certain of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:25 Highlight the passage at 1:21:25

1:21:46 Well, I'm going to rephrase that. In other words, right now, are you aware of being aware? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:46 Highlight the passage at 1:21:46

1:21:57 If right now, now let's do a thought experiment. If right now I gave you, remember this one, I gave you three cappuccinos and put you in a perfect sensory deprivation tank and waved my Merlin's wand over the sensory deprivation tank that would make your mind go totally quiet and is a perfect sensory deprivation tank such that you're getting no sensory input at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:57 Highlight the passage at 1:21:57

1:22:17 Okay, perfect one. So you're getting no signal, like on the cell phone, no signal from any of your five physical senses, and your mind is just quiet. I mean, quiet like a tomb. But I just gave you three cappuccinos. In other words, you're not sleepy, you're not drowsy, you're not in a trance, you're wired. Now, are you aware of being aware? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:17 Highlight the passage at 1:22:17

1:22:40 It's a thought experiment, but I think you know the answer. Nothing could persuade you, you're not aware, even though there's no input. What are you aware of? I'm aware of being aware. That's it. The thought experiment is nice there because your awareness of being aware doesn't have to bounce off of an appearance. I know I'm aware because I know I'm aware of being aware of you, therefore I know I'm aware of being aware. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:40 Highlight the passage at 1:22:40

1:23:03 That's useful, but it's not necessary. Because even if you disappeared, the visual disappeared, unless I've fallen asleep, it's still there. So the sequence to wind up for tonight. The sequence is just this. It's so practical. This is what I... I'm wearing like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:03 Highlight the passage at 1:23:03

1:23:20 One of the many things I just love about this Dzogchen approach, especially by way of doing Junglingba, I've not seen anybody that just speaks to my heart like he does, which is personal, but you know, it's like love. I love this approach because it's so step-by-step, practical, razor-sharp, clear, compelling, inviting and transformative. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:20 Highlight the passage at 1:23:20

1:23:41 He says, okay, here's the first step. Can you distinguish between stillness and motion experientially and specifically stillness of your awareness? And yes, thoughts are coming up and going away, but I don't have to be in motion every time they are. I can watch the clouds go by without hitching a ride. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:41 Highlight the passage at 1:23:41

1:24:03 And so that's good. That was doable. That doesn't take years and years to accomplish that. Okay, yep, there's a desire, but I'm aware of it, and there it goes. And there's a thought, and there was the sound of a horn, but I'm not hitching a ride on that truck. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:03 Highlight the passage at 1:24:03

1:24:21 It's rising, passing. Okay, that's good. And this stillness, what about that stillness? Is it conscious or unconscious? It's conscious. Good. So we start there. And if we want a little bit like water wings where kids are just learning how to swim, something to keep us confident, not afraid, not lost, not going into a trance, the water wings are, well, okay, go ahead. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:21 Highlight the passage at 1:24:21

1:24:45 Hold on to the breath a little bit. In and out, in and out. Don't need to talk about it. Just be aware. Be aware of that. You have something a bit to hold on to. And then we'll proceed from there. I don't want to give the plot. Give away the plot. We'll go further. And so the next, what, four and a half days will be in various ways coming in from different angles. We'll continue to respond to that question. Because I will end on this point. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:45 Highlight the passage at 1:24:45

1:25:12 I've mentioned it in various ways already and I'll just sum it up again. It's important to practice correctly and to know you're practicing correctly. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:12 Highlight the passage at 1:25:12

1:25:22 Especially when you get to subtle practices like the shamatha without a sign or awareness of awareness, it often happens that people are practicing correctly, but they're uncertain about it and start second-guessing it and wondering and undermining themselves and entering into afflictive uncertainty and then running off, I'm not quite sure I'm doing this right, can anybody give me a tip? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:22 Highlight the passage at 1:25:22

1:25:42 And they were doing it right, but they didn't know they were doing it right. And so you need to do both. You need to do it correctly, because there are ways of doing it incorrectly. Just wandering, trance, getting stupor and so forth, all kinds of ways to do it incorrectly. But one phrase, it sounds totally silly, but it's really spot on. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:42 Highlight the passage at 1:25:42

1:26:00 If you're not doing it incorrectly, you're doing it correctly. And that's not just simply a circle. If you know what it is, for this practice in particular, awareness of awareness, where you're doing so little, if you're not doing it incorrectly, what's left over in the absence of doing it incorrectly, you're doing it correctly. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:00 Highlight the passage at 1:26:00

1:26:23 So you're resting there. And then here's where learning comes in. It goes back to the early question. The learning comes in. Have you listened well? Have you learned well that method? How do you do this practice incorrectly? By just sitting there and ruminating, getting caught up in one thought after another, wandering around the mind, just blah, blah, blah, like a dog in a garbage dump, just wandering all over the place, munching this, munching that. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:23 Highlight the passage at 1:26:23

1:26:45 That's doing incorrectly. Okay, so got it. That was not hard to understand. Any other way of doing it incorrectly? Yeah, spacing out. Losing that clarity, that vividness, that cognizance, that explicit flow of knowing and just kind of drifting, nebulous, kind of happy, kind of soft. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:45 Highlight the passage at 1:26:45

1:27:05 That's incorrect. If it's neither that nor that, you're probably doing it correctly because it's what's left over. What about overanalyzing? Overanalyzing, yeah, that's exactly it. Don't want to do that. I mean, overanalyzing already implies it's over-analyzing. So, no, it's a perfectly good question. We want to analyze. That is, that's what this time for discussion is for, and time for practicing, so that when there is a point that we feel, I'm not quite sure, I'm not sure I have this yet. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:05 Highlight the passage at 1:27:05

1:27:37 I want to get a good understanding, both conceptually and also when I'm practicing, I want to know that I'm doing it correctly. Help me out here, I'm unclear here or there. That's good. You're analyzing, but then it's coming to a point, the Tibetans say, Tak Churpa, Tak Churpa, and it means decisive. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:37 Highlight the passage at 1:27:37

1:27:53 It literally means cut the rope. Cut the rope. And that is, when you cut the rope, then you see, whoa, rope cut. And that is, got it. End of conversation. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:53 Highlight the passage at 1:27:53

1:28:06 Like right now, I'm going to do it for five seconds and I'm going to get it. I'm going to rest my, no big deal, but I'm going to rest my awareness in my awareness. I'm going to just be aware of being aware for five seconds and I'm going to absolutely know with certainty that I'm doing it. I'm going to start right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:06 Highlight the passage at 1:28:06

1:28:27 Yeah, I'm sure I did it. So there's no need to analyze. The analysis was to get to that point. But once you're doing it correctly and you know you're doing it correctly, then who needs the analysis? It's served its purpose. If you've used the boat to cross a river, leave the boat behind and just do the practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:27 Highlight the passage at 1:28:27

1:28:43 Very good. It's really a pleasure being with you. So I wish you all a good night. And mindfulness breathing is a really nice way to get a good night's sleep. So see you tomorrow morning. Sleep well. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:43 Highlight the passage at 1:28:43