Dzogchen Retreat 2015 - Realising our true nature (part 14)

0:00 So, Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

· · · silence, 1 minute

0:41 in both Western philosophy and in Buddhism, there are two themes that I find very useful, quite common, quite universal, in terms of how to assess whether something is true or not. Report an error in the passage at 0:41 Highlight the passage at 0:41

0:54 And one is to simply flat-out use our intelligence, investigate, analyze, test it, test it with prior experience and so forth. So, an epistemological approach makes a lot of sense, of course. But one of my intellectual heroes from the West... William James also emphasized, he and Charles Peirce and some others, emphasized pragmatic approach. And that is, does it work? Report an error in the passage at 0:54 Highlight the passage at 0:54

1:20 Does it work? And these two questions, for some issues like, I don't know, for some issues like astronomy, I guess there wouldn't be a whole lot whether it works or not. You just have to find out, you know, does the moon have craters or not, but not whether it works. But when it comes to Dharma, both of these are actually enormously important and they complement each other. Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:39 It's really wisdom and... Wisdom and skillful means, that kind of thing. And so last night we went into some detail about kind of a Buddhist model, Buddhist hypotheses pertaining to consciousness, different levels of consciousness and so forth. And that is to be investigated in every way we can to see whether it is true. On the one hand, it makes really good sense, but then also pragmatically, you know, not only experientially, but is it helpful? Report an error in the passage at 1:39 Highlight the passage at 1:39

2:06 Is it helpful? Because in the final analysis, the Buddha Dharma is really all about recognizing the reality of suffering, identifying its sources and being free. So then it's more like medicine than it is a logical syllogism. It is both. It entails both. And so for the practices we're doing here, this is just radically empirical all the way through, even though sometimes I'm sure the ideas seem somewhat abstract or esoteric. Report an error in the passage at 2:06 Highlight the passage at 2:06

2:32 So we're going to be returning very shortly to this practice of the, let's call it, Taking the mind as the path. But what I'd like to do is first give fairly close guidance in the first session. The second session again, just go silent. And then that's for you to try it out. So it's like learning how to fly. We'll be in the cockpit together for the first flight and then I'll hop out and then you fly solo in the second one. Report an error in the passage at 2:32 Highlight the passage at 2:32

2:59 But here's what we'll do, because I'd like to just talk about it a wee bit before. And that is what we'll do is, again, we generally go from coarse to subtle. It's a very good overall pragmatic theme in Buddhist practice as a whole. And so what we'll do after settling body, speech and mind is then we'll turn the attention from the perspective of the stillness of awareness, we'll turn the attention to the somatic field. Report an error in the passage at 2:59 Highlight the passage at 2:59

3:24 So we're not doing this practice. We're doing something similar but easier. Easier. And that is from the stillness of the awareness will let kind of the floodlight, the floodlight of awareness illuminate this whole somatic space. And then attend to, from this vantage point of stillness, attend to whatever type of sensations are arising there. Report an error in the passage at 3:24 Highlight the passage at 3:24

3:45 But bring this quality of awareness that is fully present, very attentive, very interested and discerning, discerning to this whole field and noting the types of Appearances or sensations that arise within the field. So there's earth, water, fire, air, just for starters. So these sensations of solidity and firmness, sensations of fluidity and moisture, of a whole spectrum from cold to hot. Report an error in the passage at 3:45 Highlight the passage at 3:45

4:12 And then any type of sensation of motion, whether it's motion of the breath, tingling, buzzing, vibration, anything. Four elements. And so to be attending to these, but to do so dispassionately. That is very present. So again, we're looking in a middle way here. Our normal tendency is, ooh, ouch, I really hurt. You know, maybe we cut our finger and, oh, I really hurt this. Report an error in the passage at 4:12 Highlight the passage at 4:12

4:36 Oh, I really hurt this. I, I, I, I, I, I. It's just a total fusion of the sensation with my sensation. And we probably reify it. And then, you know, we suffer a lot. And so this was recognized, this tendency was recognized, let's say, maybe 4,000 years ago in India. Just how vulnerable we are to physical suffering. And this whole notion of moksha, it's a very ancient theme in India, in their contemplative traditions of India. Report an error in the passage at 4:36 Highlight the passage at 4:36

5:09 And so these early, I'm extrapolating here, but I think with a lot of confidence, this is many centuries before the Buddha, but they just saw, gosh, you know, we human beings with our 1 16th inch of a skin, that's not much armor. I mean, we'd be much better off as rhinoceroses. We suffer a lot less, I think, bullets and sticks and rocks and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 5:09 Highlight the passage at 5:09

5:34 But here we are, we're so vulnerable, like earthworms. I mean, really, we don't have much more protection than an earthworm. That's pretty tough, but we have big brains. And so these early Indian contemplatives looked at this and said, well, we're really tired of being so vulnerable to suffering. And here's a way we're really vulnerable in so many ways. From the outside we get injured, but then also there are internal injuries and problems and so forth that make you, a friend of mine died of bone cancer. Report an error in the passage at 5:34 Highlight the passage at 5:34

6:04 No injury from outside, but oh, really tough. Bones snapping like twigs. Really, really tough. And all coming from the inside. So we're getting it from the outside, we get it from the inside. We're vulnerable. And boy, the intensity of suffering we can experience by way of the body. Can be very, very intense. I mean, unbearable, and yet there we are still bearing it. And so what was one strategy? A really smart one. Get the hell out of that neighborhood. Report an error in the passage at 6:04 Highlight the passage at 6:04

6:35 And so you can't go out. I mean, what are you going to do? You can't jump fast enough. But you can go in. And so this is where samādhi came from. And that is, if I can withdraw my attention away from my body, and I'll give it, you know, as much effort as needed, but if I can so focus my attention that I can just... Report an error in the passage at 6:35 Highlight the passage at 6:35

6:55 Pull it right out of that neighborhood and pull it into the nature of the mind and then recognize, oh, but the mind has an awful lot of suffering in it. Anxiety and grief and despair and the whole ray. We know that whole spectrum of dukkha, of the mind. We come back to your issue of mind and awareness. Report an error in the passage at 6:55 Highlight the passage at 6:55

7:12 Well, the body is a big field of suffering, but even if you're not suffering physically... I mean, so many people, they're not suffering physically at all, and they can't bear to live. They commit suicide, primarily because of what's going on in the mind. So we see we have these two neighborhoods that are just very dukkha prone. Report an error in the passage at 7:12 Highlight the passage at 7:12

7:31 And so why not just get the hell out of both? Get out of dodge, as we say. Get out of dodge. And so what they do is they develop these techniques a very long time ago to withdraw the attention from all of the physical senses, because there's a lot of stuff out there that's annoying. Like other people. And so pull it in. And then, okay, now nobody's bugging him anymore. I mean, Freud wrote a whole book, Civilization and Its Discontents. Report an error in the passage at 7:31 Highlight the passage at 7:31

7:57 And one of the three reasons we suffer is because other people, you know. So pull in. Pull in. Go into solitude. I think the Indians invented that. You know, hermits. And so pull out from all the hassle of the world. And then, oh, body, hassle. Pull in. Mind, hassle. Pull in. And they go into the first jhāna, second jhāna, third jhāna, fourth jhāna. Okay, that's pretty good. Got to equanimity. But now let's play it really safe. Report an error in the passage at 7:57 Highlight the passage at 7:57

8:25 Because when you get to the fourth jhāna, there's no pleasure or pain. It's complete, massive ocean of equanimity. It's called the perfection of equanimity, fourth jhāna. But then they didn't stop there even. They went even more abstract. They said, this is still coarse. I want to make sure this is, I'm really getting out of dodge. Report an error in the passage at 8:25 Highlight the passage at 8:25

8:45 And so they go into the formless realm, boundless space, boundless consciousness, nothing whatever, that's looking good, and then even something beyond nothing whatever, something neither perception nor non-perception. So they kind of felt this was all before the Buddha. They got to that, it's called the summit, the pinnacle of saṃsāra, right? The pinnacle of mundane existence, where it's so far gone, they can't even imagine it anymore, because it's beyond the very notion of nothingness. Report an error in the passage at 8:45 Highlight the passage at 8:45

9:13 And the first and then the second, A yogin or samādhi master that Gautama consulted, they'd achieved nothingness and the second one had achieved even beyond that. And they thought, we've arrived. We are now out of suffering. I mean, that's all suffering. Suffering of the environment, of society, of my body and mind. This is so deeply, it's gone so deep into the cave that we're free. Report an error in the passage at 9:13 Highlight the passage at 9:13

9:38 It's moksha. And both of these, both of these men, one after the other, each of them had thought, I've arrived. I am now free. Gautama very swiftly achieved their state of Samādhi, but he found there was a catch. Probably very American English, right? But there was a catch. In fact, you have to come out of Samādhi. And when you come out of Samādhi, lo and behold, nothing's really happened, nothing irreversible. And then he set off in six years of asceticism. Report an error in the passage at 9:38 Highlight the passage at 9:38

10:05 But that's one strategy. Let's just call it contemplative dissociation. Because that's what it is, isn't it? You completely, and it's out of fear. It's out of fear and anxiety and, you know. I'm pulling out of here. I'm getting out of this neighborhood. And so out of the neighborhood of the environment, out of the neighborhood of the body, out of the neighborhood of mind, but then lo and behold, it draws you right back in again. Report an error in the passage at 10:05 Highlight the passage at 10:05

10:29 So Gautama thought that didn't work. Just hanging out in saṃsāra doesn't work, because that just perpetuates forever. And then Gautama had his breakthrough, the union of Samādhi Vipassanā, where you go in deep enough, deep enough, it's called the first jhāna, deep enough, That you really do have a great sense of well-being and there's joy there. But the mind is malleable, it's flexible, it's supple, it's sharp. Report an error in the passage at 10:29 Highlight the passage at 10:29

10:55 It's really serviceable now. So that's good enough. You can go much more subtle than that. But this is good enough. This is a nice camp. This is a nice place to hang out. But now it's not so far abstracted that you can't put it to work and engage investigation and analysis. Two of the jnana factors. That's crucial. Report an error in the passage at 10:55 Highlight the passage at 10:55

11:16 Because if you're going even to the second jhāna, you can't do that anymore. That's shut down because it's a relatively coarse function. You're back to just bliss, well-being and single-pointedness. But coarse investigation, subtle analysis, they're not on tap anymore. You've gone too subtle. And so the middle way here is as you're coming back, I often speak of the retreat of shamatha and the expedition of vipassanā. Report an error in the passage at 11:16 Highlight the passage at 11:16

11:42 Because with Vipassanā, you're coming right back into the neighborhood, right back to your body, right back to your mind and right back to surrounding environment, society and the whole thing. And you're coming back, but you're coming back with muscle. Number one, a very healthy mind, very sane mind, malleable mind, joyful mind. Report an error in the passage at 11:42 Highlight the passage at 11:42

12:01 And you're bringing that wherever you go. Because that's your mind, that's your first jnana mind, that's your shamatha mind. So that's a good companion. But you're coming back out into the mess again. Where there are mental afflictions, where there are people who do awful things, natural calamities, there's aging sickness and death, and you're coming out there, and you're coming out with this sword of wisdom, with this strong, strong bicep of shamatha. Report an error in the passage at 12:01 Highlight the passage at 12:01

12:27 Come out, explore a way to be totally present in the world without being vulnerable to suffering. Now we all know what it's like to be present in the world, it's kind of being here, but then totally enmeshed. And then the yogis have found what it's like to get out of the world, but then it's an elastic band. It kind of snaps back and you're back in again. Report an error in the passage at 12:27 Highlight the passage at 12:27

12:54 So this quality, well, okay, that was interesting perhaps, but now what does this have to do with our practice this morning? We're going to spend more or less the first half of the session coming back. So we'll spend the first tiny bit, a tiny bit of shamatha, a bit of mindfulness of breathing, calm down a bit. And then we're going to come back, come back to the body. Report an error in the passage at 12:54 Highlight the passage at 12:54

13:14 Come back to the body and all the stuff that's happening in the body. And it's not only sensations, of course. It's not only earth, water, fire and air. What else is there happening? Randa, what else is happening in the body besides just sensations of the four elements? You know. Yeah, yeah. Doesn't matter. What else is happening? It's actually really, really important. Yeah, feelings. They're not the same as just hot, cold and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 13:14 Highlight the passage at 13:14

13:44 Painful. Painful isn't hot, cold. Painful is a feeling. And they're pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. There's three types of feelings. Well, they catch our attention. They really catch our attention a lot, right? So there's two types of events taken there. The appearances of earth, water, fire, air that are rising to us. Report an error in the passage at 13:44 Highlight the passage at 13:44

14:03 But there's also the way we experience those appearances. The way we experience those sensations, right? And I'll just give you an analogy. I've given many times. And that is, what's your name? Diane? Diane, imagine you're on a bus and some yucky, smelly, yucky, looky old man comes along and he sits right next to you and he kind of nestles over towards you. Report an error in the passage at 14:03 Highlight the passage at 14:03

14:32 And then he takes his hand out and strokes your cheek like that. Would that feel good? I don't think so. That'd be kind of creepy. You might call the police, 911, or at least say, hey, knock it off. That's creepy. And then imagine if you have a child and your child jumps up in your lap and goes like that. Tactile sensation is exactly the same. And this is sweet, you just hug the child. Report an error in the passage at 14:32 Highlight the passage at 14:32

14:57 The other one is just creepy, get away. So it makes it really obvious that the feeling is not the same as the sensation. And there are many, many cases like that. So in this first part of the practice, we're going to be coming right back to the field of the body. And we will be aware of the sensations arising. Report an error in the passage at 14:57 Highlight the passage at 14:57

15:15 But also, there may be a bit of pleasure, sometimes that happens, but probably a little bit of discomfort here, maybe an itch there, something, whatever. And so you're not only getting sensations, but you are getting feelings. Neutral feelings are also feelings, they're not an absence of feelings. But now, how are we seeking to do this? If we look at the Second Noble Truth in foundational, kind of fundamental Buddhism, it is our closely holding onto, which means identifying with, The five skandas, which means just body and mind, basically. That close holding onto identification with, which entails two things. One is reification. Report an error in the passage at 15:15 Highlight the passage at 15:15

15:53 And reification is grasping onto phenomena as if they exist from their own side, by their own nature. They're really there. They really exist. So the body really exists and the sensations really exist. The feelings really exist and they're from their side. Okay. And now on top of that, on top of reification, I mean, I look at the rug. Report an error in the passage at 15:53 Highlight the passage at 15:53

16:12 And it's very easy to reify the rug, because there it is, I mean, from its own sight. But I'm not identifying with it. So if it's stained or it's burned or whatever, I don't really suffer. I figure, I'll take care of it. It's not my rug. So not my problem, because it's not my rug. Right? But now with the body, we not only reify the body like we do the rug, but we also identify with it. And now we're really primed. Report an error in the passage at 16:12 Highlight the passage at 16:12

16:40 We're just ready. It's like going into a boxing ring and saying, hello. Hello, how are you? And just waiting to be slugged. The reification and the identification with makes this just utterly vulnerable to everything, from mosquitoes to elephants, anything. And so we're going to start a little expedition here to try to return to this neighborhood. So not dissociation, not going deep into the cave of Samādhi, not just the same old, same old. Report an error in the passage at 16:40 Highlight the passage at 16:40

17:13 Of reifying the body and then identifying with everything that comes up. Coming back into the neighborhood, but coming back with this extremely light touch, of being very present, same with Andrew's face right now, just very attentive, very present, not dissociated, but also not identifying with, you know, not craving, not clinging, not attachment, just being totally present with. Report an error in the passage at 17:13 Highlight the passage at 17:13

17:36 And in that presence, see if we can so relax, so loosen up. These tentacles of reification and identification with that we're simply experiencing what is there with no overlay of grasping. And what is there is simply sensations and feelings arising in space and they have no owner. They have no owner. They don't have an owner any more than the colors that I see are mine. Any more than the sound of Charles coughing is my sound. Report an error in the passage at 17:36 Highlight the passage at 17:36

18:07 I'm hearing it. But it's not my sound. It's just something I'm hearing. And likewise, they're not my smells. If I pick up a fragrance in the air, it's not my smell. It's just a smell. Well, these, in fact, are no different. These sensations are not built in mine. They're sensations arising in space. And so the possibility here is to be fully present with the experiences of being embodied with neither the reification nor the identification with. Report an error in the passage at 18:07 Highlight the passage at 18:07

18:37 And in that way of attending, there's freedom. That'll be the first half. The second half is getting on to the main practice, which is the primary shamatha practice in the tradition of Dzogchen. You know it well. We've at least been introduced to it. And that is bringing the same quality of awareness and now turning the floodlight of your awareness to this one out of six domains, the mental domain. Report an error in the passage at 18:37 Highlight the passage at 18:37

19:02 And now in that same way, not withdrawing from... Or trying to withdraw into awareness and, you know, shut it off. Or let alone going into the formless realms. Being totally present with, but again kicking the habit of reifying everything that comes up and identifying with everything that comes up. So the tiniest thought can give us displeasure or anxiety or anger or what have you. That happens when we reify and we identify with. Report an error in the passage at 19:02 Highlight the passage at 19:02

19:30 Then we're just vulnerable to anything that comes up in the mind. And it can make us suffer. Unbearably, a lot of the most intense misery that takes place in the world is not physical at all, entirely mental. We know that. So how can we be totally present with the mind, not dissociated and not totally in this cognitive fusion, the entanglement, the enmeshment with the mind, so that we're totally present with, attentive to, but not suffering as a result. Report an error in the passage at 19:30 Highlight the passage at 19:30

20:01 So that's what we'll do in the second half. I will guide that for the first session. The second session will be silent. But I'll give a final analogy here. It said, first of all, classic Buddhism. I remember this from the Abhisamayalangara, one of the five works of Maitreya. It said that when one achieves the first path, the Mahāyāna path of accumulation, which is quite a big deal, you've got shamatha and you also have the four applications of mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 20:01 Highlight the passage at 20:01

20:24 You've got some genuine insight there. Applications of mindfulness of body, of feelings, mind and phenomena. But again the bodhicitta is spontaneous now, it's effortless, it's uncontrived. I said from that point, in terms of your own situation, you don't have mental suffering. Report an error in the passage at 20:24 Highlight the passage at 20:24

20:44 You can certainly experience and do experience sympathy, empathy for others. You may be grief-stricken, compassionately, that's for sure. There's a great story of Avalokteswar, I remember looking and then tears flowing from his eyes, seeing how much suffering there is, unbearable compassion. You remember that one, you do. Report an error in the passage at 20:44 Highlight the passage at 20:44

21:04 And so, no, are you emotionally dead? Absolutely not. But in terms of our self-centered aspirations, oh, I didn't get that job, oh, oh, my this, my that, oh, my, my, that doesn't happen anymore. You don't have self-centered mental suffering because you don't have self-centeredness. Because the alluvial plane of your awareness, of your heart, is flowing out so large that if there's some turbulence in this tiny little section of the world, it just doesn't disturb you mentally. Report an error in the passage at 21:04 Highlight the passage at 21:04

21:33 You're aware of it, you deal with it. But when you're ocean, you can imagine. If you are experiencing the ocean of sentient beings, and in your little tiny little area of the ocean there's a little wave, it's kind of like, well, okay, but yeah, there's the ocean. By the way, you know, there's the ocean. Report an error in the passage at 21:33 Highlight the passage at 21:33

21:51 And so you're not going to be emotionally upset. You don't experience mental suffering for your own self-centered concerns. That would be a relief, right? But then it says you become an Arya Bodhisattva. Now this is even deeper bodhicitta, but your realization of emptiness is now, is just, it's pristine. It is a direct, non-dual, non-conceptual, unmediated realization of the emptiness of inherent nature of all phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 21:51 Highlight the passage at 21:51

22:16 And it's said, and this is a centuries-old statement, I don't believe it's superstition, And an Arya Bodhisattva, with such a degree of insight, tremendous compassion, also has enormous paranormal abilities, siddhis. But such a person, it's said, can give away his or her limbs or body parts, like giving away vegetables. Easy. Report an error in the passage at 22:16 Highlight the passage at 22:16

22:39 I mean, just no problem. No physical suffering. On a child, oh, you need an arm? Oh, which one would you like? The left arm or the right arm? So you continue practicing. Report an error in the passage at 22:39 Highlight the passage at 22:39

22:50 Because there's still more to be done in bringing to full manifestation the wisdom, the compassion and the power of your own mind. But now you're free of physical suffering as well. And I'll end on this note. I've told this story quite a few times too, but it's a pretty cool one. One friend of mine, a student, who's very adept at lucid dreaming. Report an error in the passage at 22:50 Highlight the passage at 22:50

23:10 Some of you will know the story. She told me about a year ago. She had her dream. She becomes very lucid. She's had a lot of lucid dreams. She's very gifted. And she had a dream. And in the dream, a big menacing man, big guy with a big knife, was coming towards her. And he was really violent. He was really malevolent. And he's coming towards her with this big knife. Looked like he really means to, you know, do some major damage to her. Report an error in the passage at 23:10 Highlight the passage at 23:10

23:39 And so he comes, big, big mugger, right? She's about to get really wiped out here. And she walks over. She's totally lucid. And he sees him coming with a big knife and she takes his hands in her own and then she takes the knife and she thrusts the knife into her guts in her dream. Report an error in the passage at 23:39 Highlight the passage at 23:39

23:58 In other words, she disarmed him by putting the knife out of harm's way in her abdomen. And she told me this. And so I asked her, did it hurt? Because that's the first thing I want to know. Did it hurt? She said, no. I mean, this is a dream body that I had. It was a dream body he had, and it was a dream knife. There was not one molecule in that knife. So how could a dream knife hurt a dream body? It's like having a war of rainbows. Report an error in the passage at 23:58 Highlight the passage at 23:58

24:30 Charge! Who gets hurt by what? Because she's really lucid. So if she could take this great big crocodile Dundee knife and thrust it into her guts and experience no pain, and then the guy, what's the guy supposed to do? Do it twice? Like so disappointed, like that's what I wanted to do. But now... You took my knife. Report an error in the passage at 24:30 Highlight the passage at 24:30

24:56 And that actually showed that she was a rather high level of lucid dreaming because if you're not quite there yet, you see some big menacing bugger with a knife coming towards you and you just turn him into a cocker spaniel. Report an error in the passage at 24:56 Highlight the passage at 24:56

25:08 It's really easy. You can shapeshift. It's really easy to shapeshift anything you like. Or turn yourself into, here comes this big guy, six foot tall, turn yourself into 60 foot tall Godzilla. Report an error in the passage at 25:08 Highlight the passage at 25:08

25:21 You can really do anything you like in a lucid dream. That's one way, or you can just fly away. Report an error in the passage at 25:21 Highlight the passage at 25:21

25:30 You can do all kinds of things in a lucid dream, but she shows she didn't need to do that anymore. She didn't need to run away. She didn't need to conquer him. She didn't need to put on heavy knight's armor. Report an error in the passage at 25:30 Highlight the passage at 25:30

25:42 She just did the opposite. Then she shows, okay, she really gets it. She's very lucid. So like that, that's the direction we're going in. Report an error in the passage at 25:42 Highlight the passage at 25:42

25:54 Not that we're going to be in a step. That's not the final exam, by the way. know, out of there. Bye-bye. Report an error in the passage at 25:54 Highlight the passage at 25:54

25:58 And here's your knife. No, we're not going to do that. There's no Kool-Aid here. But this is the direction we're going into. Not simply withdrawal and not same old, same old, but being able to return to the body, to the mind and yes, everything else in a way that we're totally present but without reification and without identification as I and mine. Report an error in the passage at 25:58 Highlight the passage at 25:58

26:23 To be in the world and to be free. And that comes back to Charles' earlier point. This is why we're not just going into awareness of awareness, which I love that practice. I do it a lot. But why we're burning it from both ends of the candle. And that is we are cultivating this greater and greater stillness, but we are also attending to the space of the body and what arises, the space of the mind and what arises. Report an error in the passage at 26:23 Highlight the passage at 26:23

26:50 And so that we're feeling comfortable in both areas, in the solitude, the simplicity, the serenity. The withdrawal from appearances on occasion, which even the Buddha did after his enlightenment, sometimes he just wanted to rest, he'd go up to the fourth jhāna, and then coming out. That we can really feel equally at ease, whether we go into a ten year retreat, total solitude, living on flower essence pills, or coming out to start a new business in a family, and finding you can actually be free in both. Report an error in the passage at 26:50 Highlight the passage at 26:50

27:19 Because the bodhisattvas, they say, there is no manifestation in which a bodhisattva couldn't possibly emanate. Obviously they wouldn't come as a mass murder or something, it wouldn't make any sense. But might a bodhisattva appear as a business leader, or as a politician, or as a gardener, or as a mother, a mother of a big family? Report an error in the passage at 27:19 Highlight the passage at 27:19

27:38 The answer is yeah, for sure, all of those. Anything that's not intrinsically unwholesome, that evil. Anything apart from that, things that most people would regard as just neutral, like being a gardener. Might a bodhisattva manifest as a gardener? Sure. Many years ago the Dalai Lama was asked, As he keeps on getting asked, you know, will you be the last Dalai Lama? He was just asked that recently by, I don't know, CNN or somebody. And years ago, he said, well, he said for years now, there's no telling. Report an error in the passage at 27:38 Highlight the passage at 27:38

28:09 It depends on whether people need a Dalai Lama again. But if not, on one occasion he said, maybe I'll just reincarnate as a grassy meadow. Report an error in the passage at 28:09 Highlight the passage at 28:09

28:20 A nice, You look at it and say, oh, what a nice place to lie down. Yeah, please lie on me. I'm here on the Dalai Lama grassy middle. Okay, so please find a comfortable position. We will have two sessions. Report an error in the passage at 28:20 Highlight the passage at 28:20

· · · silence, 1 minute

29:28 Let's begin the day with taking refuge in bodhicitta and settle body, speech and mind in the natural state. And for a couple of minutes, calm the mind with mindfulness of breathing. Report an error in the passage at 29:28 Highlight the passage at 29:28

· · · silence, 2 minutes

31:52 And once again, return to your center. Something very simple. You've done it before. That is simply let your awareness rest. Right where it is, without direction, without exertion, a place to come back to again and again as you season the day with this stillness and clarity. Report an error in the passage at 31:52 Highlight the passage at 31:52

32:24 And from that vantage point then turn the light of your awareness, which is simply to say turn your attention, to the entire somatic field. Again, we're not visualizing the body or thinking about it, but Report an error in the passage at 32:24 Highlight the passage at 32:24

32:42 quietly turning our attention to whatever sensations and feelings that arise within this somatic field. Report an error in the passage at 32:42 Highlight the passage at 32:42

32:54 Letting your awareness be still in the midst of the movements within this tactile field. Report an error in the passage at 32:54 Highlight the passage at 32:54

33:05 Neither reifying the sensations nor identifying with them as mind. Simply observe them for what they are. Sensations and feelings arising in space. You Report an error in the passage at 33:05 Highlight the passage at 33:05

· · · silence, 1 minute

34:23 may note when you sustain this quality of awareness that the very notion and even the very experience of body, let alone my body, fades out. And there's just this. Report an error in the passage at 34:23 Highlight the passage at 34:23

34:44 That remains. These appearances arising from moment to moment. Report an error in the passage at 34:44 Highlight the passage at 34:44

34:54 And none of them are a body and none of them are mind. Report an error in the passage at 34:54 Highlight the passage at 34:54

35:04 They are simply appearances representing nothing. They are simply what they are, with no referent. Report an error in the passage at 35:04 Highlight the passage at 35:04

· · · silence, 2 minutes

37:03 Sustain the flow of mindfulness without distraction, without being drawn off to any other sense field, without being carried away by thoughts. Sustain the flow of mindfulness without distraction and without grasping. And grasping entails both reification, As well as identification with. Report an error in the passage at 37:03 Highlight the passage at 37:03

37:27 To the best of your ability, observe these sensations and feelings without preference, which itself is a type of grasping. Just let them be and Report an error in the passage at 37:27 Highlight the passage at 37:27

37:43 observe their nature. As Report an error in the passage at 37:43 Highlight the passage at 37:43

· · · silence, 2 minutes

40:10 practice, the awareness illuminates or makes manifest the appearances, but does not merge with them, does not cognitively fuse with them, Report an error in the passage at 40:10 Highlight the passage at 40:10

40:24 still in its own place. Now Report an error in the passage at 40:24 Highlight the passage at 40:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

41:32 redirect your awareness, your attention to the space of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 41:32 Highlight the passage at 41:32

41:38 And bring the same quality of awareness, resting in stillness in its own place, while discerningly attending to the appearances, the thoughts and images, but also the feelings and emotions that arise within the mental domain. And whatever comes up, simply observe the nature of that which is arising in the mind here and now, without being drawn off to the referent of the thought or memory or emotion, without grasping. Report an error in the passage at 41:38 Highlight the passage at 41:38

42:14 To the best of your ability, simply be present with whatever is coming up. The Report an error in the passage at 42:14 Highlight the passage at 42:14

· · · silence, 3 minutes

45:35 first step in this practice is distinguishing clearly between the stillness of your own awareness and the movements of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 45:35 Highlight the passage at 45:35

45:46 On that basis, then successive stages of mindfulness arise as one progresses in the practice, specifically four stages, and the first of which, the only one we'll focus on now, is called single-pointed mindfulness. And you experience this when you are simultaneously aware of the stillness of your awareness, movements of your mind. Report an error in the passage at 45:46 Highlight the passage at 45:46

46:17 This is to be cultivated. Report an error in the passage at 46:17 Highlight the passage at 46:17

· · · silence, 2 minutes

48:48 Next to this practice, and then in terms of the appearances arising within the space of the mind, the activities of the mind, we attend to them with ideally a total lack of preference, with no grasping, no desire or aversion on the one hand. So we are attending not judgmentally. Report an error in the passage at 48:48 Highlight the passage at 48:48

49:11 But on the other hand, there's the quality of awareness we're bringing to the mind. And there we must be discerning, introspectively monitoring the flow of attention, recognizing as quickly as possible when the attention has fallen under excitation and carried away, distracted. Report an error in the passage at 49:11 Highlight the passage at 49:11

49:35 We recognize that and we fix it. We're not non-judgmental about that. We're discerning. We repair it. And likewise, when we start to space out, we lose clarity. We recognize it and we balance the attention. Report an error in the passage at 49:35 Highlight the passage at 49:35

49:55 So we do adjust, modify, repair the quality of attention we bring to the mind. But in terms of the contents of the mind, the processes that we're observing, we just let it be without seeking to modify, to perpetuate or terminate. Then Report an error in the passage at 49:55 Highlight the passage at 49:55

· · · silence, 3 minutes

53:13 we'll have a silent session. Report an error in the passage at 53:13 Highlight the passage at 53:13

· · · silence, 29 minutes

1:21:49 So, just a brief comment about... A major difference between mindfulness of breathing as a strategy and this shamatha focused upon the mind as a separate set of strategy. And that is in mindfulness of breathing, there's a symmetry between the aspiration or the aspiration to bring about a stillness of awareness, of course, but the symmetry there is also trying to bring about a stillness of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:49 Highlight the passage at 1:21:49

1:22:16 And so when thoughts arise, thoughts, images, memories, we just... Persistently, patiently release them, release them, release them until eventually the mind becomes more and more still. And we do wish that. It is a preference. So we're looking for, both on the subjective side and in terms of the mind itself, that they're both becoming still. Right? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:16 Highlight the passage at 1:22:16

1:22:39 And that's success. Because we prefer for thought not to arise. Whereas in this practice... We release that preference for thoughts arising or not arising, even release the preference for virtuous or pleasant thoughts arising versus unpleasant or non-virtuous thoughts not arising. We release all of that. There is a preference, though. There is a preference that the awareness remains still and clear and not agitated or dull. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:39 Highlight the passage at 1:22:39

1:23:05 There's a preference there, but only here on the awareness side. But in terms of the mind, the activities of the mind, no preference, right? And so does the mind eventually calm down? Yes, but it's in its own way. In its own way. And in so doing, there will be a lot of insight arising because you will watch the mind heal itself, unravel itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:05 Highlight the passage at 1:23:05

1:23:27 You'll watch your own mental afflictions release themselves. And so this is definitely, this practice is definitely on the cusp between shamatha and vipassanā because it's just so fertile when it comes to insights. It can arise from that practice. So if one is interested in the mind, I really don't know of a better practice, entry-level practice than this one. So one day maybe it will be taught in all psychology classes. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:27 Highlight the passage at 1:23:27

1:23:52 That would be a nice thought. Okay, so now let's return to the text briefly before we have a break. So we're here more or less on the middle of page 13. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:52 Highlight the passage at 1:23:52

1:24:04 So he's given the kind of a warning that if you bear down too hard, you know, bearing down, trying to get thoughts to quiet down and block them, block them, This can really create a lot of agitation, disturbance in your body, setting up imbalances in the earth, water, fire, air of your body, imbalances in your nervous system especially or the prāṇa system. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:04 Highlight the passage at 1:24:04

1:24:26 And that can really be quite detrimental to your mental and physical health. So for people who are prone to that, that is bringing too much ego, too much drive, pushing too hard, then it would be better to take another approach. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:26 Highlight the passage at 1:24:26

1:24:44 So, he continues here, that which observes, and that is, observes what? Observe the thoughts, images and so forth arising in the space of the mind. That which observe is called mindfulness or awareness. And that which is observed is called movement. And resting in that state is called stillness. So that's probably all now very familiar and clear, I hope. You'll notice in the first part of the session that I guided, The movement we're explicitly attending to were movements in the space of the body to which we very easily reify and grasp onto as mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:44 Highlight the passage at 1:24:44

1:25:25 So we see if we can start releasing that and then we move to the subtler plateau or domain of the mind and again seek to sustain the flow of awareness in stillness and attend to the movements of the mind. So identify them as such and meditate. So there again, there's the initial challenge. Identify the stillness of your awareness and the movements of the mind without conflating the two. And it's really, it is not simply noticing something, it's really achieving something. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:25 Highlight the passage at 1:25:25

1:25:58 Because again, people with no training in introspection at all, by and large, whatever comes up in the mind, memories, thoughts, emotions, desires, whatever's coming up, their awareness is a slave. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:58 Highlight the passage at 1:25:58

1:26:12 There's not even an issue of choice. Shall I go with that thought or not? Well, if you're not aware of the thought, all you're aware of is the referent of the thought. And if a memory comes up, you're not aware that's a memory. Your attention is focused on the referent of the memory. So there's no choice. So as soon as your mind is in motion, your awareness is in motion. It's a slave to the movements of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:12 Highlight the passage at 1:26:12

1:26:35 And that puts you in a very precarious situation, a very vulnerable situation. Whereas more and more... If you can really sustain that stillness of your awareness, even while the mind is in motion, then you're finding greater freedom. An analogy that just came up is if one is living in a kind of a rough neighborhood where there are gangs, where there are gangs, and you're a teenager. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:35 Highlight the passage at 1:26:35

1:26:59 Well, teenagers want peer approval. They want to belong. Very understandable. And so imagine in your neighborhood or in your school, there's some really nice kids, very healthy, wholesome. Good aspirations and then there's, you know, gang members and so forth, drugs, violence and all of that. Well, if the child has, or the adolescent, has the awareness of being able to hold one's own ground, then even when the gang members may want to troll you into the group, you see you have a choice. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:59 Highlight the passage at 1:26:59

1:27:31 You see you have a choice. If you don't see you have a choice, you just go with it. And then you suffer the consequences. Okay. So. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:31 Highlight the passage at 1:27:31

1:27:40 If you meditate earnestly, stable meditative experiences, these are nyam in Tibetan, meditative experiences such as bliss, luminosity and non-conceptuality of shamatha will arise in your mindstream. They don't all come at once and because our psychophysiological constitution differs from one person to another, I've taught some people where they'll meditate for a couple of days and bliss is coming up all over the place. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:40 Highlight the passage at 1:27:40

1:28:06 And some... The clarity, the vividness, the intensity comes up quite quickly and some of their minds calm down really quickly and they enter into a serenity, a non-conceptual state. So it's bound to be uneven or different from one individual to the next. But the further one progresses along the path of shamatha and there are nine successive stages, then it's just bound to occur sooner or later. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:06 Highlight the passage at 1:28:06

1:28:31 This is just the nature of the mind and the nature of approaching the substrate consciousness. That more and more frequently you're simply bound to be experiencing having these spikes or periods of bliss, periods of luminosity, again that intensity, vividness, acuity, and periods of just a deep stillness. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:31 Highlight the passage at 1:28:31

1:28:49 These are the meditative experiences that come and go, come and go, but the further you progress along the path they tend to come and come and not go so much. And then when your mind totally dissolves into the substrate consciousness, that's where you live. You're living in a domain of awareness that is simply constantly suffused with all three of these qualities. Consequently, when stillness, movement and awareness, Report an error in the passage at 1:28:49 Highlight the passage at 1:28:49

1:29:19 stillness, movement and awareness merge into one, and this is where that single pointed mindfulness comes in, that you're simultaneously aware, in this kind of non-dual fashion, simultaneously aware of the stillness of your awareness and the movements. Of the mind is emerging there and all discursive thoughts are self-knowing and self-illuminating. So you don't feel that the thoughts are over there and they're getting illuminated from outside, from over here, illuminating that which is over there. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:19 Highlight the passage at 1:29:19

1:29:52 But you're entering into more of an experience of non-duality where the thoughts seem to be self-knowing, self-illuminating. Well, when this occurs... When stillness, movement and awareness merge into one and all discursive thoughts are self-knowing and self-illuminating, meditate by identifying this as awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:52 Highlight the passage at 1:29:52

1:30:13 So now you're really understanding how awareness operates. Again, the self-knowing, self-illuminating, the terms are rikpa and selva, and so knowing and luminosity are the two salient features of consciousness. They're the two identifying factors, distinctive factors. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:13 Highlight the passage at 1:30:13

1:30:33 But now you see that the consciousness is suffusing whatever appearances are arising, so they seem to be self-knowing and self-illuminating. And so just naturally, without having to apply any special technique, that dualistic grasping onto thoughts, images and so forth is dissolving away. And so it's similar to and profoundly dissimilar to. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:33 Highlight the passage at 1:30:33

1:30:57 Ordinary cognitive fusion, where you're just carried every which way by this thought, that thought and so forth, just daydreaming rumination. We all know what that's like, where there seems to be a real fusion of your awareness with the thought and so forth. And here there is something of fusion, but without that downside. So you have to taste this one, then you'll see exactly how it's different from just ordinary humdrum rumination. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:57 Highlight the passage at 1:30:57

1:31:21 So meditate by identifying this as awareness. And then, When thoughts automatically scatter in all directions, meditate by identifying this as the mind of unawareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:21 Highlight the passage at 1:31:21

1:31:38 So identify the first as a mind of awareness, when there's that utter presence, and then when there's that dispersion, that excitation, the distraction, meditate by identifying this as the mind of unawareness. Like a non-lucid dream. I mean, it's a very, very strong parallel. By doing so in accordance with the degree of sharpness of your faculties, various meditative experiences such as bliss, luminosity, vacuity, stillness and harshness will certainly occur. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:38 Highlight the passage at 1:31:38

1:32:10 And that's a very, very brief reference to a topic that he spends about two and a half pages on in the Vajra Essence. So again, it's there in the book Stilling the Mind. But he's referring to the nyam or meditative experiences. And especially as you start going deeper, deeper into the practice, you start to dredge your psyche. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:10 Highlight the passage at 1:32:10

1:32:33 Well, some of the things that are dredged up are coming right out of your substrate consciousness. Bliss, luminosity, acuity, stillness. So you might have been maybe a bit startled by that harshness. That doesn't sound like bliss or anything like that. And it's not. This harshness. This is coming from dredging your psyche, and so harsh thoughts, harsh feelings, harsh emotions, these can and will be dredged up, as well as anxiety and anger and fear and craving and dullness and sleepiness, all kinds of things will be dredged up. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:33 Highlight the passage at 1:32:33

1:33:07 That's what happens. Just as it has always been in the moon's nature to wax and wane, so it is in the mind's nature to be periodically happy and sad. So he's just saying this. He's really referring to people who are just now going very deep into the practice, maybe practicing 10, 15 hours a day, doing this as continuously as possible. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:07 Highlight the passage at 1:33:07

1:33:30 You know there's going to be some very deep dredging that takes place there. So one should banish any expectation whatsoever. That now that you have good motivation and good discipline and all of that, and you have the outer circumstances, we have our contemplative observatory up, now everything's perfect. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:30 Highlight the passage at 1:33:30

1:33:47 Now you think, oh great, now it's going to go swell from now on. Well, forget about it. That's not how it works out, except for the extremely rare individual whose mind is so pure that when they dredge it, it's just rose petals coming up. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:47 Highlight the passage at 1:33:47

1:34:02 But not many people are like that, right? And so, and so, So just recognize you're going to have good days and bad days, happy days, sad days, so-called successful days and days where you're feeling a total loser. And this is what should happen. This is not because you're practicing poorly or you're a bad meditator. This is what happens when you're practicing well, authentically, with sound motivation, doing it impeccably. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:02 Highlight the passage at 1:34:02

1:34:34 You'll still have ups and downs and that's what should be happening. And it's really kind of, it's a blessing. That you don't have homogeneously nice days from then on out. It's a blessing that you have the turbulence, these upheavals that he speaks about at some length elsewhere. Because this is then testing your metal. It's like taking a blade and putting it in the fire and hammering it and hammering it. If it breaks, then you know that was not a good blade. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:34 Highlight the passage at 1:34:34

1:35:01 And you keep on hammering and hammering until finally you've just hammered it so well that you have a well-forged blade. Well, you need to forge. The blade of your awareness, the blade of your attentional balance in the forge and on the anvil and with a hammer of these upheavals that are coming up. Memories, sadness, grief, anger, resentment, lust. And be able to sustain that quality of awareness in the midst of the bad neighborhood. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:01 Highlight the passage at 1:35:01

1:35:35 That's where the very deep maturation takes place. That's where very, very deep change takes place. That's where you see for yourself that these things come up and in fact they liberate themselves as long as you do not slip into and become cognitively fused with them. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:35 Highlight the passage at 1:35:35

1:35:53 So, you're going to be happy and sad. Good days, bad days. So people, when I'm leading 8 Week Weeks and I meet with people on a weekly basis, so often people say, well, this week where there are ups and downs, you know, like... News flash. Like, wow, teacher, this week was ups and downs. This is kind of like saying to me, you know, I breathed all week. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:53 Highlight the passage at 1:35:53

1:36:19 Didn't really need to say that, but if you wanted to, that's fine. But this is the way it is. This kind of way it is. Things go up and down. Until you achieve shamatha, then it's pretty much up, but it's not a very stable up. So, without hope or fear, not hoping for good days, not hoping for pleasant sessions, Or fearing that you're not getting aware, that you're not progressing fast enough, that blah blah blah. So without hope or fear, rejection or acceptance, so you're not rejecting the upheavals, trying to ward them off, protect yourself from them, make them go away, without embracing or adopting the really pleasant nyam or meditative experiences that come up, likewise without negation or affirmation. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:19 Highlight the passage at 1:36:19

1:37:05 You really are practicing to the best of your ability without partiality. Without any of those, do not lose your own grounding in that very luminosity and cognizance. So again, this is a crucial point. So I hope now that's utterly transparent. Do not lose your grounding in that very luminosity and cognizance. These are the two defining characteristics of awareness or of consciousness, either one. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:05 Highlight the passage at 1:37:05

1:37:32 Luminosity, your consciousness, is that which makes manifest all experiences. And cognizance, it is that which knows whatever you might know. And you're resting in that sheer luminosity and cognizance of your own awareness and do not lose your grounding there. You're resting there at ease, free of all grasping. This is a crucial point. So this method is not widely emphasized in the Galupa tradition for those interested in that tradition. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:32 Highlight the passage at 1:37:32

1:38:00 But Tsongkhapa does refer to it in both of his larger lamrims, the medium lamrim, the great lamrim. And he does it in the most concise way I've seen of any of the great scholar contemplatives of Tibet. He refers to this and he said, rest in the sheer luminosity and cognizance of awareness. He moved right on. So that's the most precise. And he says everything he needed to say. But that's just resting in awareness of awareness, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:38:00 Highlight the passage at 1:38:00

1:38:27 So it's a bit simpler. He didn't say in that particular passage, and do attend to the thoughts. He's actually referring to shamatha without a sign. Okay? So, but here it is, you are doing both. You are resting in the sheer luminosity and cognizance of your awareness without losing your own ground. But you are letting that luminosity illuminate and you're letting that cognizance know what's taking place in the mind. This is a crucial point. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:27 Highlight the passage at 1:38:27

1:38:55 Meditative experiences and appearances disappear by themselves, fading away, unable to sustain themselves, like illusions and dreams. So recognize this. So whatever comes up, whatever upheavals there are, and this includes upheavals that are nyam or meditative experiences arising somatically, as well as those many that arise psychologically, emotions, feelings, desires, memories, fantasies, all kinds of stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:55 Highlight the passage at 1:38:55

1:39:26 The really crucial point here is you don't need to go out and fix them, amend them, block them or cultivate them. You can simply hold your own grounding in the luminosity and cognizance of your own consciousness and these will, all of them, release themselves. Release themselves. So you are watching the healing capacity of your own mind to balance and to restore its own equilibrium. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:26 Highlight the passage at 1:39:26

1:39:54 If you cherish this, if you cherish, refute or affirm hope or fear or become attached to or fixate on experiences such as bliss, Luminosity, vacuity, harshness, dreams, or subtle extrasensory perception. In other words, if you're grasping onto, reifying, identifying with any of these, this will lead you toward errors and obscuration, so recognize this. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:54 Highlight the passage at 1:39:54

1:40:21 So that's the fundamental challenge. It is the great challenge of shamatha. The experience, the realization of Samatha is really indispensable. That's why he's going on and on about it. So does Sonkhapa, so does the Buddha, so does Buddhagosa and so on. It's being overlooked nowadays, but that's too bad. All these great masters, all of them say, Padmas and Bhava included, this is indispensable. On the one hand, it's taking you right down the path to bliss, luminosity and vacuity or non-conceptuality. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:21 Highlight the passage at 1:40:21

1:40:53 It's taking you right there. There's your big challenge because when you get there, the tendency, the attraction to just want to stay there, hold on for dear life, because now you've got everything you ever wanted in life. And I'll linger there just for a moment because I think it's kind of interesting. But if we consider, especially those of us who have been around for several decades by now, if we just kind of should try to just scan through the various desires that have been prominent in our lives thus far, we've all been here at least a couple of decades. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:53 Highlight the passage at 1:40:53

1:41:26 So a lot of desires have arisen. And if we consider the desires, the array of desires that have arisen, some very maybe afflictive, some very wholesome, some just neutral, then here's a proposal. I don't know whether it's true or not, but I've not found it to be not true. And as I look at my own desires that I've had over, you know, 65 years, and that as some of our desires, we want something because we think it will give us pleasure, make us happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:26 Highlight the passage at 1:41:26

1:41:50 A nice meal, good companion, maybe a family, new job, education, move to another place, maybe change our appearance and so on, new haircut, whatever. We do it because we think it's going to make us happy, give us some pleasure. So some of our desires are that. But then some aren't quite that way. And that is, there's a desire that many people experience and some more than others. A desire, and the best one word I can find for it, is intensity. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:50 Highlight the passage at 1:41:50

1:42:18 intensity, have a... They're a longing and attraction to having really intense experiences. They might like horror movies. They're not pleasant, but people go to them, teenagers especially, by the millions. It's really intense. They scream, they shriek, they get freaked out and they say, I want to see it again. Or the thrill rides. Everybody's screaming as they go down this or that. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:18 Highlight the passage at 1:42:18

1:42:45 Or I've experienced it a little bit. It's not a major drive in me, but I used to have a... BMW motorcycle, rode it at 100 miles an hour, intentionally. It's thrilling. It's really quite a buzz. It was a safe place. I didn't endanger anybody else except for myself. But there's a thrill there. Extreme sports. They're very popular. They're not really pleasant. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:45 Highlight the passage at 1:42:45

1:43:07 Or people, why does anybody want to climb to the top of Mount Everest? For heaven's sakes, why go there? It's like, why? It's not pleasant. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:07 Highlight the passage at 1:43:07

1:43:17 But I think there's a sense of intensity. Your life is on the line. Every time you start getting up to that altitude, any moment you can die, right? And so that's another one. It's not the same as a wish for pleasure. You want pleasure? Stay home and watch television, eat popcorn. Or maybe be more creative in that. So the second one is intensity. And then the third one is some people, a major, major drive is safety, security, peace and quiet, calm, serenity, like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:17 Highlight the passage at 1:43:17

1:43:47 And that, some people will make that, you know. If people didn't have that desire, Volvo would have never made it off the ground. It's a safe car. It's a safe car. That's good. And so there are three drives, and I resonate with all of them, and people resonate with two different degrees. But now I just invite you very briefly to think, have you ever wished for anything, for yourself, for your own satisfaction, that was neither with the anticipation that would give you pleasure, happiness, joy, or in terms of intensity, a thrill, A wakefulness, a sharpness, an intense sense of being alive, or a sense of serenity, calm, peace and quiet, security. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:47 Highlight the passage at 1:43:47

1:44:29 Ever wanted anything that didn't fall into anyone or a combination of those? So I just offer that as a thought. I thought about it for some time. I couldn't think of anything myself, but maybe I've missed something. But the point here is that when you come to your substrate consciousness, it's simultaneously blissful. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:29 Highlight the passage at 1:44:29

1:44:47 And that's why we go out for sex and food and money and all that stuff that makes us happy. We go out, but now you don't need to go out. Because the bliss that we experience, whether it's from any sensual experience and so forth, where does the bliss come from? From the stimulus? From the other person? From the sound waves of the music? I don't think so. It doesn't come bliss itself, the pleasure itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:47 Highlight the passage at 1:44:47

1:45:13 It really comes from another person, like going, I don't think so. Whenever we're experiencing bliss, the catalyst can be all kinds of things, the beauties of nature and so forth and so on. But not everybody experiences joy when they see the beauties of nature. Some people, it's just threatening or boring. Whenever you experience pleasure, the source is always your own mind. The source is your own substrate consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:13 Highlight the passage at 1:45:13

1:45:40 And whenever you experience a sense of intensity, of thrill, of just that, you know what I'm talking about. Where's the source? The roller coaster? The motorcycle? The movie? No, I find horror movies boring. I really find them very distasteful. I'll pay not to go to one. I like intensity. They're not that kind. I'm not just an old geezer. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:40 Highlight the passage at 1:45:40

1:46:01 But no, that kind of attractive quality of intensity, that comes from your own substrate. And then, of course, where does peace come from? Some people are living with such an incredible security system around their $20 million house, and they've got guards with machine guns and so forth, like heads of drug cartels, I imagine. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:01 Highlight the passage at 1:46:01

1:46:19 Do they really feel at peace and restful, like I'm sure nothing's going to happen? I don't think they're ever having a peaceful day. I just don't think so. They can get drunk, that might help. But a sense of serenity, money can't buy it. Money can't buy it. Otherwise the pharmaceutical industry would be out of business because they're trying to do it with drugs. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:19 Highlight the passage at 1:46:19

1:46:39 And so the point here is that when you slip into the substrate consciousness all in one, you're getting in one resting of awareness, bliss and luminosity. Which is intensity, and non-conceptuality, which is serenity, safety, peace and quiet. You're getting it all at the same time. That's because you're now resting in the mother load, the source of all the pleasure, intensity and serenity you have ever experienced in this or any other life, but you always went out for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:39 Highlight the passage at 1:46:39

1:47:09 To find who will make me happy, who will make me feel safe, who will give me, thrill me, who will do it, what will do it, where will do it. And it may or may not catalyze. Something that's exciting in the beginning after a while, boring after a while. Something that's pleasure at the beginning, boring. After a while, it wears off like a drug. Whereas you've come to the motherlode. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:09 Highlight the passage at 1:47:09

1:47:29 So you can imagine, at least imagine imagining, coming to the motherlode of that, the very wellspring of all of that. And every time you go, it's there. Every time it delivers. And you might ask yourself, why on earth would I ever want to come out of meditation? Because this is all I ever wanted, all at once. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:29 Highlight the passage at 1:47:29

1:47:47 This is riding a motorcycle at 100 miles an hour while eating ice cream and feeling totally safe. I never tried that, no. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:47 Highlight the passage at 1:47:47

1:47:59 So you can see the dilemma here. You need to go there, but once you get there, it's extremely easy to get stuck. And that's why I have all this context. All the reasons don't get stuck. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:59 Highlight the passage at 1:47:59

1:48:11 This will lead you to errors and obscuration, so recognize this. If you grasp onto, identify, cling to, then you're stuck, and that's exactly the situation where you have not moved one hair's breadth on the path. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:11 Highlight the passage at 1:48:11

1:48:24 So, time for a break. Let's come back at 10 minutes past the hour. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:24 Highlight the passage at 1:48:24