Dzogchen Retreat 2015 - Realising our true nature (part 18)

0:01 Let's go directly into meditation. Let's find a comfortable position. Report an error in the passage at 0:01 Highlight the passage at 0:01

· · · silence, 26 minutes

26:03 So perhaps we can begin again tonight with people who have not yet had a chance to pose a question or comment and also focus on practice. So those two criteria, anything come up? Yes please. Report an error in the passage at 26:03 Highlight the passage at 26:03

26:25 Matthew, yes. have a question advice on the one mile page This is the basis of the problem. Report an error in the passage at 26:25 Highlight the passage at 26:25

26:42 objection or acceptance? Oh yes, right. Negation or activation? Yeah. So I guess my question is you talked, you talked this a little bit, and my question is from the standpoint of a Mayan practitioner, coming to Doggen, how does one kind of maintain an integration with commitment to the Mayan ethical framework? Report an error in the passage at 26:42 Highlight the passage at 26:42

27:10 I would have taken this on There's no possible way that he could be jettisoning that There's Mahāyāna foundation with this whole practice because there's no Vajrayana without Mahāyāna as there's no Mahāyāna without Shravahayana. And so another point here is that this practice, the shamatha practice, because that's what it is, the shamatha practice is taught in all schools and including in this root text and commentary by Pinchena Rinpoche, the tutor of the fifth Dalai Lama. Report an error in the passage at 27:10 Highlight the passage at 27:10

27:38 So clearly none of these schools I'll just say this with total confidence. None of these schools thought that that particular instruction was in any way deviating from or pulling back from the whole ethics, the motivation, the framework of Mahāyāna, because it absolutely doesn't. So now, what does it mean? Because it looks like you've just gone amoral. Now, you know, everything's up. Just be spontaneous to whatever you like. And I suppose probably some people interpret that way and then they've missed the boat entirely. Report an error in the passage at 27:38 Highlight the passage at 27:38

28:06 And in fact, that's one reason why Dzogchen is taught with some circumspection. That is, it's not taught so widely and freely just for the concern that some people might get that idea. And then they've completely blown it. So what does it mean? It's very simple. Excuse me. But I can say with utter confidence that this is exactly the same instruction that Penjana Moochaya gives when he's talking about the same practice. Report an error in the passage at 28:06 Highlight the passage at 28:06

28:32 So it's not a particular Dzogchen aspect. It's actually the nature of this particular shamatha practice. So now what does it mean without acceptance or rejection? Well, number one, the shamatha practice is embedded in the ethics of all of Buddhism. And specifically, it's a Mahāyāna practice, so it's embedded in every aspect of Mahāyāna ethics, the bodhisattva ideal. Report an error in the passage at 28:32 Highlight the passage at 28:32

28:55 The motivation is explicitly bodhicitta, that doesn't stop. And then you've seen the other aspects, all those preliminary practices, you're certainly not rejecting them. And so you saw them, the three outer, the three inner, classic. Classic, how do you say, discursive meditations for developing renunciation and then creating a context for Vajrayana practice. So now to cut to the chase. Report an error in the passage at 28:55 Highlight the passage at 28:55

29:19 When you're resting in that stillness of awareness, whatever comes up in the field of the mind, whatever it is, including really nasty thoughts, horrible thoughts and so forth and so on, you don't leap into it and try to fix it. And here's why that is legitimate and completely compatible. With the whole Mahāyāna framework. And that is to say that you don't leap in there and accept it, embrace it, but you also don't reject it. Report an error in the passage at 29:19 Highlight the passage at 29:19

29:47 It's because as long as you're simply resting there, in the stillness of your awareness, whatever's coming up, very much including mental afflictions, if you're viewing them from that perspective, they're not afflicting anyone. Report an error in the passage at 29:47 Highlight the passage at 29:47

30:00 That's the catch. So a thought of hatred could arise. But it's kind of like a thought of hatred looking around for, it's like a parasite looking for some host. And then it can't find one. And then the parasite just dies a natural death. And so the mental affliction may come up, hatred, jealousy, whatever it may be. Report an error in the passage at 30:00 Highlight the passage at 30:00

30:20 So there it is, it comes up. But because you're not entering into that cognitive fusion, you're not identifying with it, you're not grasping onto it, and you're not allowing it to catch you in its grip. It just comes up. And it's not afflictive, even though we'll say, but that's a really awful thought. Yeah, but it's not afflictive for the very simple reason, it's not afflicting anybody. Report an error in the passage at 30:20 Highlight the passage at 30:20

30:44 It's like having a test tube with this smallpox virus in it. You say, well, that's very dangerous. Not as long as it's in the test tube. That's it. Let it out, of course. It's a killer. Let this out. Let this mental affliction come into your mindstream, fuse with it. Then you've got a problem. And then you have to start bringing in antidotes and cultivating loving kindness and applying antidotes to hatred and so forth and so on. But as long as you're resting there and it's just coming up in that space, it's like coming up in a test tube. Report an error in the passage at 30:44 Highlight the passage at 30:44

31:15 And it's not toxic because it's not poisoning you and it's not poisoning anybody else. And therefore it just simply releases itself. That's why you don't need to embrace some things that are coming up and hold on to them, and other things then pull back or apply an antidote. It's fine to do that, but that's not this practice. So one final point that's quite interesting. I remember Gatchito Rinpoche, my own teacher, who's utterly non-sectarian, otherwise I think I might have a hard time following him, but he's utterly non-sectarian, so there's never been a problem. Report an error in the passage at 31:15 Highlight the passage at 31:15

31:50 He commented to me once, In my own mind stream, when anger arises, and he's really speaking as my Dzogchen Lama here. He says, Alan, when anger arises, don't be upset about it. Don't be perturbed. Don't be distressed. Look at it. Look at it. And if I'm looking at it, so some anger, resentment, whatever, whatever comes up, any of that family, if it comes up, of course, what that mental addiction wants to do, let's say it's resentment, I'm going to anthropomorphize it. What it wants to do is hook me and yank my attention over to the object about which maybe I'm feeling resentful. Report an error in the passage at 31:50 Highlight the passage at 31:50

32:30 And then I'm attending to that person and what you did to me and then, okay, now I'm having resentment, which is a mental affliction, and that sucks. That's what the mental afflictions, their drive is, their vortex, their pull, is to draw us in, capture our attention and direct the attention to the referent of the mental affliction. Report an error in the passage at 32:30 Highlight the passage at 32:30

32:48 So it could be craving, it could be... It can be greed, it can be hatred, jealousy or anything. And that's where we have all of the problems. But if the anger arises and you simply do not let it capture your attention and yank it over and focus on the referent, then you're just seeing orphaned anger come up with no host and you wait it out. Report an error in the passage at 32:48 Highlight the passage at 32:48

33:11 You just say, do your thing. Oh, you're leaving? Okay. And that's it. So you're opening up another capacity of the mind. We have classic texts, which my wife and I did one translation of it, the Bodhisarvatara, Guided the Bodhisattva Way of Life. Classic, and we drenched our minds in it as we were doing it. Report an error in the passage at 33:11 Highlight the passage at 33:11

33:32 She from the Sanskrit, I from the Tibetan. And I've received teachings on it multiple times. And that just gives you just a host of practices, a marvelous array of practices to bring out and apply as antidotes. And they're extremely effective, the most commonly taught, practiced and studied text in all of Tibetan Buddhism. I think it's quite safe to say. And I've done so myself. Report an error in the passage at 33:32 Highlight the passage at 33:32

33:54 And I quote it very, very frequently. And it's good to know that and so many other texts, the lamrim, the sutras, the commentaries and so forth, so many of them are precisely designed like medicines to remedy the afflictions of the mind as they come up. Complementary to that and absolutely not in competition and in no way negating that or even pulling the plug on it or diminishing in any way is sustaining this quality of awareness and then discovering, aha, we have an ally here. Report an error in the passage at 33:54 Highlight the passage at 33:54

34:22 Not only do we have this rich array of practices from the Mahāyāna tradition, from the Theravāda tradition and so forth, but also when we are able to sustain the awareness in this mode, then we discover we have a hidden ally. Report an error in the passage at 34:22 Highlight the passage at 34:22

34:36 And it's not coming from outside and it's not based on erudition and learning. It's actually the natural healing capacity of your own mind. And that comes with some relief. So it's not that I've never even considered, never even imagined thinking, oh good, now I don't need bodhicitta arvatar anymore. That's just a crazy thought. But it is to see that there's a complementarity here. Report an error in the passage at 34:36 Highlight the passage at 34:36

34:59 And that is very refreshing. It's very inspiring to see that, aha, I'm not all, how do you say, I'm not entirely externally dependent here on texts and teachings and transmissions and empowerments and lineage and so forth. All of that's good. I'm very happy to have that kind of dependence. But there's also another resource, and that's our own mind stream. It has the capacity to heal itself. Is that quite clear? Okay, great. Report an error in the passage at 34:59 Highlight the passage at 34:59

35:24 It's a very important question. Very, very important. Oh, yeah. Anything else coming up from a person who's not had their hand up yet? Yes, please. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 35:24 Highlight the passage at 35:24

35:37 Your name? Eric. Oh, yeah, of course, Eric. Go ahead. Yes. I was expecting somebody who hadn't asked a question yet, but go ahead, go ahead, you're on. When did the Shantideva listen, after a while I got kind of a buzzing or a noise in the head starting, and that noise is actually coming even louder when I drew the Shantideva's mind. Report an error in the passage at 35:37 Highlight the passage at 35:37

36:01 What do you do with that noise? Nothing at all. It's very, very common. And it's not a sign, because I've heard this for decades, actually, and I've experienced it. And I can say, based upon, what, 30 years or so of teaching and hearing reports, that it's not a symptom of, how do you say, tinnitus or tinnitus coming on. Report an error in the passage at 36:01 Highlight the passage at 36:01

36:27 It's not that. That would be a concern. That would be terrible if meditation called tinnitus. But it doesn't. It has nothing to do with tinnitus, and it's not a physical affliction, it's not a sign of bad practice. Report an error in the passage at 36:27 Highlight the passage at 36:27

36:39 And it comes and it goes. And it just doesn't have any serious side effects at all. And so then what is it? And when one is doing the... So I'm going to give my best guess. Because I've never read in a text, you know, an authoritative text, oh, by the way, you have a buzzing in your mind. Not in your mind, in your head. It literally is in the head. You know, I've never read it. But I've done a lot of the practice and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 36:39 Highlight the passage at 36:39

37:09 And here's my best shot. It often comes up most strongly when you're most relaxed, when the mind is really settled and calm and getting very focused. And then you can have surges of energy coming up in the body and the sounds coming up and all of that. And my interpretation of it, which I've not seen disproved yet, but it may be one day, is that these sounds are basically an auditory correlate of the opening up of prāṇa flow within the body. Report an error in the passage at 37:09 Highlight the passage at 37:09

37:39 Where they were either constricted or blocked or what have you. And now you're loosening up. The mind is calming down. Everything's getting more porous. The body, everything's loosening up. And then energies start to flow where they had been blocked. And when they do, it sometimes comes with a sound. Report an error in the passage at 37:39 Highlight the passage at 37:39

37:59 And there it is, yeah. I've never heard it ever turn into tinnitus. I've never heard it turn into a really serious problem. I've experienced it on multiple occasions. Usually not. Once in a while I say, oh, hi, whatever. And so for this kind of thing, it's just a nyam. A nyam is an anomalous psychosomatic experience triggered by authentic meditation. And so it's not a mitigation that you're doing something wrong. Report an error in the passage at 37:59 Highlight the passage at 37:59

38:25 Having said that, the final comment would be, when this type of nyam arises, the best thing to do with it is do nothing whatsoever. And that is, don't give it attention. Report an error in the passage at 38:25 Highlight the passage at 38:25

38:37 There'd be no reason to. That's not a shamatha practice. There's no reason to give any attention to it, but also not to have any anxiety about it because it's happened many, many times. I've never heard of anything really bad coming out of it. So with no hope, no fear, no desire, no aversion, don't give any attention to it. Report an error in the passage at 38:37 Highlight the passage at 38:37

38:56 Let it be and let it just resolve itself and it will over time. Report an error in the passage at 38:56 Highlight the passage at 38:56

39:04 Anything else coming up? Say again? I think it's got a key sort of question. Oh yeah, I didn't see your, just outside of my vision, please. Report an error in the passage at 39:04 Highlight the passage at 39:04

39:19 Hi Robert. So this is a question from a relevant FI. Yeah, fine. So I'm just wondering, because in one of your books you mentioned, it takes 5,000 hours to become an expert. Report an error in the passage at 39:19 Highlight the passage at 39:19

39:33 That's statistics, but go ahead. So what I'm curious about is if I meditate, for example, one to one and a half hours per day from here on in, How long would I expect it to take for it to make an observable difference to my, not only my internal media, but my outward behavior? And then the second question is... We'll just pause there and there will be a part two. It's a very reasonable question and there are a lot of independent variables there. Report an error in the passage at 39:33 Highlight the passage at 39:33

40:06 The primary one, let's assume this, that you've been well instructed, so the teachings themselves are not screwy, and you've understood them properly. And you're really putting them into practice as you've understood them. So all is well there. In other words, you're not doing something wrong. Let's assume that. Now the real question is not, well, how many hours was that again? Report an error in the passage at 40:06 Highlight the passage at 40:06

40:31 Was that 90 minutes or was it one hour? Was it two hours, three hours? That's not the primary question. The primary question is, to what extent are you really letting that type of relaxation, stillness and clarity... And the whole ambience of that. To what extent are you really encouraging or enabling that to flow out into everything else? Now, again, this came up earlier. Report an error in the passage at 40:31 Highlight the passage at 40:31

40:57 There are times or situations where something simply calls for our whole attention. And that's fine. And then we should give it our full attention. But there are many other occasions, like even right now. This doesn't take really intense focus here, just to have this conversation. We're both pretty relaxed. There's no hurry. Report an error in the passage at 40:57 Highlight the passage at 40:57

41:16 And so even right now, giving certainly completely adequate attention to the conversation, simultaneously we can be aware of the mind. But especially during those many intervals throughout the course of the day, when we're really not on call, we're just walking up to the car, or we're sitting in the car and there's nothing to do until we get home, or waiting in line at the grocery market. Report an error in the passage at 41:16 Highlight the passage at 41:16

41:39 Just so many occasions like that throughout the course of the day. If we make it a habit to keep on coming back, To not necessarily one method, but to a real presence of mind, you know, a presence of mind. It could be with mindfulness of breathing, it could just be being totally present in the queue, in the grocery market. Report an error in the passage at 41:39 Highlight the passage at 41:39

41:59 We can also bring in other practices that I'm not really emphasizing here because we have our hands full with this text, but practices like loving kindness, the Donglen that we did just once, you know. And bringing those in. But the point here, in fewer words now, is that more frequently that we can bring this into the day, for 30 seconds here and two minutes there, take a little breather there, then we're going to see quite rapidly. Report an error in the passage at 41:59 Highlight the passage at 41:59

42:26 How long? Maybe a week. Maybe a week. I'm not talking about expert, but seeing, oh, this really is helping. And the whole point of this is not just to sow seeds for some future rebirth. I believe in that. But this is the kind of practice, if you do it in this lifetime, you should see the benefits in this lifetime. And if it has a very sound motivation, renunciation, bodhicitta, then all the better, all the better. Report an error in the passage at 42:26 Highlight the passage at 42:26

42:49 You'll not only see the benefits here, but you're really sowing seeds for long-term investment, let's say, for a long-term commitment and unfolding in Dharma from lifetime to lifetime. So it's a motivation that makes it really, really significant. But to see the benefit, it's very helpful on the one hand. I see no real substitute for having some degree of regular practice each day. Report an error in the passage at 42:49 Highlight the passage at 42:49

43:09 Now, some degree. Well, that depends then. If you have six kids and you're working 12 hours a day, that sum is probably going to be quite small. But even that, the time it takes to, you and I are both clean shaven, so the time it takes you and me to shave, brush our teeth, take a shower. Report an error in the passage at 43:09 Highlight the passage at 43:09

43:24 That. We do that pretty much every day, I imagine, yeah. And we don't think, oh, I have no time. Pretty much, I'll always make time for that, right? And not think, oh, wow, I'm really good. That's just normal. Well, at least that much time. That we take for our physical hygiene. Maybe I try to go out walking on a regular basis because I don't want this body just to turn into mush. And that's just maintenance. Report an error in the passage at 43:24 Highlight the passage at 43:24

43:45 I'm not getting stronger and stronger. But I think, you know, maintaining here, the body's actually pretty good health. And so these are sensible things to do for our physical hygiene, physical health, physical vitality. We should be at least as sensible for the mind. So a half an hour, hour, hour and a half with that. And then interspersing this throughout the course of the day. Report an error in the passage at 43:45 Highlight the passage at 43:45

44:07 I'll add one more point. I mean, it's basically practice all of Dharma. But one more point. It's really a sweet point, and it's very simple and very deep. And that is when we're engaging with people. Like right now. Give them your full attention. I think people deserve that. I mean, why not? Why not? Like right now, I suppose I could be doing something else, but why would I do something else right now? When you're right in front of me, this is meaningful conversation. Report an error in the passage at 44:07 Highlight the passage at 44:07

44:36 Why think about anything else? It doesn't make any sense. This is my gift to you. And you've given everybody to share a very good question. It's relevant to everybody. So that kind of attentiveness, it's not just kind of a cognitive kind of thing. It is cognitive. But when we're really attending to people, we tend to care about them. Report an error in the passage at 44:36 Highlight the passage at 44:36

44:56 And that's a good thing. Report an error in the passage at 44:56 Highlight the passage at 44:56

45:01 Anything else coming up from a new-timer, an old-timer, new-timer? Chikila. Report an error in the passage at 45:01 Highlight the passage at 45:01

45:13 Once you achieve shamatha, it's not very stable. What is it? It's not very stable? Only in the big picture, only in the big picture, from lifetime to lifetime. That big picture. Yeah, that big picture. No, it's straight from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And that is, this has come up, and he has stated, so now with his authority, I'm just the messenger as usual, I said, if you achieve shamatha in this lifetime, there's just no reason you should lose it. Report an error in the passage at 45:13 Highlight the passage at 45:13

45:41 And it's just kind of like... What did you do that for? Devadatta lost it. He achieved all the four jhānas, right? But the guy went screwy. I mean, jealous of the Buddha, telling the Buddha to step down, and that's kind of over the top. And then he lost everything, of course. That's unusual. And most of us are not like that, right? And so once you've achieved it, number one, remember all the wisdom here. Report an error in the passage at 45:41 Highlight the passage at 45:41

46:03 Don't just get stuck. Don't get complacent. Use it for something enormously, one could say, immeasurably meaningful. But apart from some real anomaly, like being in an automobile accident and having severe brain damage, you might lose your shamatha that way. Or if somebody slipped a massive dose of datura into your drink and you didn't know about it and you took it, that could do something really, you know, major damage. Report an error in the passage at 46:03 Highlight the passage at 46:03

46:26 I mean, it could happen. But if one is sensible, you achieve it, then you take care of it. And if you need to modify your life a little bit, then you will do that, you know. Because this now... I mean, you've heard all the metaphors. I mean, Atisha saying, once you have Samatha and the benefits with that, there's more merit in one day than in a hundred lifetimes. Report an error in the passage at 46:26 Highlight the passage at 46:26

46:46 That's Atisha. You say something like that and you say, well, then that means I'm not going to let anything happen to this to deteriorate. I'm going to do everything I can to protect it and everything I can to use it in the most meaningful possible way. And I would suggest ultimate and relative bodhicitta would be a really good place to start. Report an error in the passage at 46:46 Highlight the passage at 46:46

47:05 And then, just by the way, you know, this is about Dzogchen, it's fair enough, that's what he said it's going to be about, that's what we're talking about. But something I've not quite mentioned, and it's very important, knowing that a number of people, including myself here, have Golubba background, this is not instead of stage regeneration and completion. Report an error in the passage at 47:05 Highlight the passage at 47:05

47:23 It can be. That is, it can. In principle, you can follow this straight route of shamatha, vipassanā, right into Dzogchen, continue into Dzogchen and achieve rainbow body. Most people don't do that. You can. But most people don't, most Ningmapas for the last 1200 years don't do that. They'll have at least one type of stage of generation practice. They may be doing Dummo practice, Salung practice is very, very common, stage of completion practice. Report an error in the passage at 47:23 Highlight the passage at 47:23

47:50 They'll certainly be doing Guru Yoga. They'll very likely have a Dharma protector and some practices relating to that. And there are Dzogchen practitioners. And so they're seeing all of this, you know, complimentary. And Dujum Lingpa himself, you might recall, when he was describing in the Vajra Essence, it's there instilling the mind, when he's describing his breakthrough, where he's just about to have this extraordinary vision of Samadha Vajra and the whole thing, you know, this 400-page dialogue. Report an error in the passage at 47:50 Highlight the passage at 47:50

48:15 What he said was, and prior to this point, I'd practiced a bit of stage regeneration. You know, who knows what that means, but there it is, a bit. And so it's completely complimentary. If it were not, I'm very confident His Holiness would, we can't imagine him turning his back on the Galupa tradition, that's just inconceivable. Report an error in the passage at 48:15 Highlight the passage at 48:15

48:38 But if he really felt this was somehow this or that, then I think he just would not have gone into Dzogchen at all. He would know about it before going in and say, oh, they want you to stop stage regeneration and completion, or this is not compatible with all the Galupa teaching. Then he wouldn't go there, because he already knew what an immense treasure trove. Report an error in the passage at 48:38 Highlight the passage at 48:38

48:57 There was in the Galupa tradition. And you don't really need to go outside. There's enough teachings there to become enlightened in one lifetime, right? But he did avail himself from Dingo Kinsur Rinpoche, from Khenpo Jime Pinso and from others as well. And he would do that, not out of desperation, oh my goodness, Galupa is not good enough, but to just make a richer bouquet of an already extremely rich practice. Report an error in the passage at 48:57 Highlight the passage at 48:57

49:23 And he not only practices it, but he teaches it and gives Dzogchen empowerment. So I think that's very compelling evidence. The 13th Dalai Lama did the same thing. Lerap Lingba, you might recall, was his Dzogchen Lama. The 5th Dalai Lama had visionary teachings and so forth. He has his own corpus of Dzogchen teachings. The 5th Dalai Lama does. So it's kind of a long history there. Report an error in the passage at 49:23 Highlight the passage at 49:23

49:44 okay? Very good, very clear. please. Report an error in the passage at 49:44 Highlight the passage at 49:44

49:58 name is Seppel. Seppel? Seppel, yes. Yeah. It begs the question, and I'm sorry it's all about practice, but it begs the question, is there a separate grounds and paths of sotra? Oh, grounds and path? Report an error in the passage at 49:58 Highlight the passage at 49:58

50:14 Well, there are separate grounds and paths from Mahāyāna to Vajrayana. Already they're somewhat of a different presentation, right? They're not the same. The presentation of the grounds and paths, I mean, you don't find stage regeneration and completion in the sotrayana. hmm. Report an error in the passage at 50:14 Highlight the passage at 50:14

50:31 And yet you do have all of the grounds of path in the Sutturiana. So here's the answer to your question. And that is, if one having studied lamrim, having studied, let's say, Abhisam Alankara, so you get the whole scoop, the big picture of the five paths and the ten grounds and abhumis. I assume that's what you're referring to, yeah? The grounds and paths. Report an error in the passage at 50:31 Highlight the passage at 50:31

50:56 There's different presentations in grounds and paths. There certainly are. Ah, yes, okay, good. They are complimentary and I can tell you, I can refer you to a very elaborate, precise, detailed response to your question. Yes, they're somewhat different. But then Karmachamera Rinpoche, and he is a great 17th century Kaigyut master who is both a kind of a patriarch or major lineage holder for the Kaigyut Mahamudra tradition and the Nyingma Dzogchen tradition. Report an error in the passage at 50:56 Highlight the passage at 50:56

51:23 And we just had an eight-week retreat on one of his classic texts. Report an error in the passage at 51:23 Highlight the passage at 51:23

51:30 There's the sequel that I'll actually be teaching at Tsongkhapa Institute next spring for eight weeks. It's called Naked Awareness. And well into the text, then this magisterial scholar, I mean his tremendous breadth of knowledge, Kamachame, he takes the five paths and the ten bhumis and then superimposes on that. Report an error in the passage at 51:30 Highlight the passage at 51:30

51:53 The grounds and path according to Mahamudra and superimposes upon that the grounds and path according to Dzogchen and shows how they all interrelate with each other. It's quite a tour de force. Report an error in the passage at 51:53 Highlight the passage at 51:53

52:05 They do map onto each other. They do. And so simply put, as I'm sure you know, an Arya Bodhisattva has bodhicitta to a very high level and has unmediated realization of emptiness. And thereby achieves the first Arya Bodhisattva ground, the joyous. And then thereafter all the next nine leading up to Buddhahood itself. Report an error in the passage at 52:05 Highlight the passage at 52:05

52:31 But the Arya Bodhisattva following Sutrayana is realizing emptiness with, among coarse, subtle and very subtle mind. Do you know which one? No, better than that. Subtle. Subtle mind. Subtle mind. Because he certainly is Chief Samatha. So subtle mind, yeah, that's for sure. Report an error in the passage at 52:31 Highlight the passage at 52:31

52:55 Now a Vidyadara, a Vidyadara, is one who has a direct, unmediated realization of rikma, which His Holiness the Dalai Lama says is exactly the same as the innate mind of clear light, about which there's a lot of discussion, most explicitly in the stage of completion practices. And so such an individual, a Vidyadara, who has such unmediated realization, non-conceptual, non-dual, such an individual, Report an error in the passage at 52:55 Highlight the passage at 52:55

53:22 Has this direct realization of Rigpa, which therefore we call that a person, a Vidyadara, a holder of Vidya, and Vidya is Sanskrit for Rigpa. But this person also, of course, has realization of emptiness. You cannot have a direct realization of Rigpa and not realize emptiness. That would be like being extremely lucid in a dream and think everything out there in the dream is really there. Report an error in the passage at 53:22 Highlight the passage at 53:22

53:47 That's just not possible. Report an error in the passage at 53:47 Highlight the passage at 53:47

53:51 Then we can ask, what's the difference? I mean, we can go on, but I'll refer you to the chapter. You'll find it quite easily towards the end of this book, Naked Awareness. But just to cut to the chase here. So here's the Vidyadhara. Must have bodhicitta. There's no way you're going to get there without bodhicitta. Just like with Vajrayana in general, bodhicitta is indispensable. The person has this unmediated realization of rikpa, has also realization of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 53:51 Highlight the passage at 53:51

54:16 The emptiness that is realized, of course, and I'm sure you know this, is exactly the same emptiness realized by an Ayya Bodhisattva, which is exactly the same emptiness realized by a Shravaka Arhat. There are no gradations, higher and lower emptiness, it's one emptiness, period, right? So the Vidyadara has the same realization, or the realization of the same emptiness, and again of course it's non-conceptual, but now I think you've already surmised the difference, and that is the Vidyadara. Report an error in the passage at 54:16 Highlight the passage at 54:16

54:46 In that realization of emptiness is realizing emptiness with the innate mind of clear light. The very subtle mind, which is pristine awareness. And that is quite a leap ahead. And then within the Vidya Dada, there are four levels of Vidya Dada. So the first one is the fully matured Vidya Dada. And Duryum Lingpa comments when he achieved that. He's very open, very explicit. And then you go deeper and deeper. It's not that your realization of Rikpa is getting deeper because it's already unmediated, non-conceptual, and of course your realization of emptiness. But what's happening from that point is you're drawing forth, I'll speak a bit poetically, the full majesty of this innate mind of clear light, the full scope of its compassion, the full scope of its phenomenological wisdom, that is the wisdom of knowing the whole extent of reality, whereas there's the wisdom of knowing reality as it is, that's simply emptiness. We've got that. Report an error in the passage at 54:46 Highlight the passage at 54:46

55:43 But now we're seeing kind of this supernova expansion of the awareness laterally out over the world of phenomena. And that's increasing, increasing, just kind of going supernova as the vidya dhara is going from a fully matured vidya dhara to a vidya dhara with mastery over life to a mahamudra vidya dhara to a spontaneously actualized vidya dhara. Report an error in the passage at 55:43 Highlight the passage at 55:43

56:07 And so what's coming up along those stages is your realization of dharmakaya, of innate mind and clear light. It's there, you've already got it. But the potential of that, the effulgence of that, the display of all the qualities of Buddha mind, manifesting finally in the full manifestation of Sambhogakaya and Amanakaya, all the qualities of Buddhahood. Report an error in the passage at 56:07 Highlight the passage at 56:07

56:28 That's what is really coming to light. And there's a whole phase of practice that we're not going to touch on here, which is called Tut Gyal, and that's the direct crossing over. And a lot of people who are relative novices love to jump into that. They're certainly welcome to do that. But Dujjum Lingma makes it perfectly obvious. If you want to go in there, that's fine. But by the way, the people for whom that practice was intended was people who have a realization of rikpa, I mean really deep, and they're basically finishing off the job. Report an error in the passage at 56:28 Highlight the passage at 56:28

57:00 It's really intended for vidyadadas to now fully display the full majesty, the full potential. And so they manifestly become perfectly enlightened Buddhas. And the Dzogchen teachings are very explicit, just like in Vajrayana. You look at the teachings on Guya Samajya or Kalachakra, there's just no doubt that the claim there is that when you come to the culmination of stage of completion, the Buddhahood that you achieve is no less in any way than the Buddhahood of Bodhishekhimani. Report an error in the passage at 57:00 Highlight the passage at 57:00

57:29 And the Dzogchenpa is emphatic on this point. It kind of looks like, but this is so straight, it's so simple, it must be, it's a lower level, right? They say, uh-uh, absolutely not. Report an error in the passage at 57:29 Highlight the passage at 57:29

57:40 Okay, childhood. Report an error in the passage at 57:40 Highlight the passage at 57:40

57:52 Bema. That's easy. So with respect to trying to cultivate the awareness of awareness, what I was finding was there was like a building of some energy around the head. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 57:52 Highlight the passage at 57:52

58:09 So I'm wondering can that building of energy bring on something like lung for instance? Yeah. And also the next part is should I be trying to lower my focus down maybe? through the discharge? Yes, yes, yes. Report an error in the passage at 58:09 Highlight the passage at 58:09

58:22 If we're trying to make the clear light manifest, should I be lowering it down to like the heart chakra? No, that practice doesn't entail trying to put it here or there. I mean, there's one brief phase. I've taught it many times. It's from a book, Natural Liberation, where you do bring the locus of your awareness down to the heart. But it's very transient. Report an error in the passage at 58:22 Highlight the passage at 58:22

58:40 You bring it down and then you just release your awareness into space. But your experience is very common. And it's... Something to deal with, not just to let be. Because what's happening there is, you know, I like to blame a lot of things on materialism, but you can't blame everything on materialism. Report an error in the passage at 58:40 Highlight the passage at 58:40

59:03 And so the materialists say our mind is in the head. Well, that's not true. But even if we don't believe that, when I'm looking at you, if I started staring at your shoulder, your kneecap, you might kind of wonder, why am I looking there? You know, like, yes, and this is the next thing I want to tell you. Report an error in the passage at 59:03 Highlight the passage at 59:03

59:20 Well, you're looking at my knee. What's that? It'd be odd, right? But if I'm looking at your face, then I'm looking at you. And so it's just very natural that we feel I'm looking from here, and you're looking at me if you're looking into my eyes, or at least my face. But you start looking at my belly button or my kneecap, and you go, well, what are you doing that for? Report an error in the passage at 59:20 Highlight the passage at 59:20

59:40 I'm not down there. I'm up here. And so that's not just materialism with all the brainwashing that the mind is the brain. That's our eyes are here. We're 80 % ocular. you know? Report an error in the passage at 59:40 Highlight the passage at 59:40

59:50 Our ears are up here. We're pretty auditory as well, let alone the nose and the mouth. And also, there's touch up there as well. So there's a lot of traffic up here. And moreover, there's another point. And that is in terms of the pranas that are related to mind. There's a lot of different vata, different types of winds, five major, five secondary. Report an error in the passage at 59:50 Highlight the passage at 59:50

1:00:09 But in terms of the vital energies that are most closely related to mental states, including virtuous, non-virtuous, and so forth, when we're in the waking state, Those pranas tend to converge and be active up here in this chakra, at the forehead, inside the head, but at this level. So once again there's another reason to have a sense of being located up here. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:09 Highlight the passage at 1:00:09

1:00:30 When we're dreaming, they come down to the throat. And when we go into deep dreamless sleep, the substrate consciousness, they go there. When you achieve shamatha, they go there. When you die, they go there. And that's just before it goes into the clear light of death. And when that happens, it kind of goes into the inner sanctum. I have to speak poetry now. But they've gone into the heart chakra already. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:30 Highlight the passage at 1:00:30

1:00:52 When you achieve shamatha or when you die, you're at that dark near attainment. But then when that dark near attainment collapses and the clear light of death arises, that's when the energies dissolve from the heart chakra into the immutable, immutable bindu. Yeah, the indestructible bindu. Indestructible bindu. Mishikpaitikla is called. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:52 Highlight the passage at 1:00:52

1:01:12 And then as long as the energy is And now they've gone very subtle. They were subtle, now they've gone very subtle. The mind was subtle, now the mind has gone very subtle because all that's left is the clear light of death. And it's there that so many of the great lamas will abide for a week, two weeks, three weeks. Not at all uncommon, even to this day. That's still pretty common. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:12 Highlight the passage at 1:01:12

1:01:32 So for all of those reasons then, And then we can add on materialism. And oh, by the way, if you also think the mind is in the head, well then that would be one more reason. But we had all the other ones prior to any indoctrination into materialism. So what to do though? It's not a good idea to simply continue and say, oh, this probably will be okay. Probably not. It can give rise to kind of just increasing, mounting type of energy and tension in the head. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:32 Highlight the passage at 1:01:32

1:01:59 And this is akin to... What happens when one practices mindfulness of breathing incorrectly? There are plenty of things like the buzzing and so forth. That's not incorrect. It happens. But here's something, just a word of warning, then you'll never have a problem. If you listen, and remember, you won't have a problem. But people who never hear about this problem get it, and then they get stuck. So you're practicing mindfulness of breathing, you're doing classic Theravāda style, right here. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:59 Highlight the passage at 1:01:59

1:02:23 Passage of the actual air through the apertures of the nostrils or here above the upper lip. And you do it like this. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:23 Highlight the passage at 1:02:23

1:02:33 You're really bringing some visual attention there. They said, bring your attention to the nose. Okay, you're going to get massive pressure building up in the head. And that can give rise to headaches and then migraines, and you can really screw yourself that way. And I've seen people do it. I don't know, I guess it isn't here. And I did mention it, and I often teach mindfulness of breathing much more extensively, and then I hammer it home. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:33 Highlight the passage at 1:02:33

1:02:59 Do not engage your visual attention to this practice. Keep it totally soft, diffuse and unfocused on this target area. It's only mental awareness. So your eyes are soft as a baby when you're doing this practice and all the muscles around here are soft, relaxed. Then there's no problem. But a lot of people don't hear that and then they start really scrunching down and then tension builds up in the forehead and then stop meditating, which is a good idea. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:59 Highlight the passage at 1:02:59

1:03:26 Better stop than do it that way. So here is something akin. It's not the same, but is akin to that. And so we say, well, okay, we're going to practice awareness of awareness. And the sense that easily arises is, I know my awareness is. It's probably somewhere in the middle of my head, behind my eyes. And so I'm going to focus there. Well, your awareness is not inside your head. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:26 Highlight the passage at 1:03:26

1:03:49 But we naturally think it is for all the reasons I just said. Well, it's not a good idea to start doing that a lot, you know, because then you'll start having that. Pressure building up, energy building up. It doesn't go away, and it's not a good sign. You just don't need more energy up. We Westerners, we need to bring our energy down, for heaven's sakes. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:49 Highlight the passage at 1:03:49

1:04:06 If it's going to be in the body, not more in the head, thank you. Bring it under the belly, down to the hips, down to the feet. Anything but not more congestion up here. So what to do about it? Well, the most effective method that I know of, and this is not the first time I've heard this, and therefore not the first time I've responded to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:06 Highlight the passage at 1:04:06

1:04:27 And a method that really does seem to, because I've done it myself also, be quite an efficient remedy for that problem, is the culminating phase of this practice of shamanta without a sign, which is awareness of awareness, as taught by Padmasambhava in the book Natural Liberation. And it goes through multiple stages. We're not doing that in this retreat because it's not here and we have our hands full. But I often do. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:27 Highlight the passage at 1:04:27

1:04:53 I've led a one-week shamatha retreat innumerable times now, most recently in Singapore, just days ago, and I taught all of the phases during that time. But the culminating phase, without going through all the detail, is, so here's the point and here's what will fix it, because this needs fixing. The culminating phase is here, Report an error in the passage at 1:04:53 Highlight the passage at 1:04:53

1:05:17 so let's just do it, it'll take maybe one minute. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:17 Highlight the passage at 1:05:17

1:05:25 And you can do it supine or sitting, it makes no difference. So, first of all, just let your awareness rest right where it is. It's best if you very explicitly do not visualize your head. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:25 Highlight the passage at 1:05:25

1:05:39 It's a voluntary thing. If you can, just release any visualization of the head at all. And for that matter, any visualization of the body. And just don't do anything with your awareness. Just utterly rest. And Report an error in the passage at 1:05:39 Highlight the passage at 1:05:39

1:05:57 I'm really inviting you to be a headless wonder right now. Just no image, no afterthought, no residual sense. My head and I'm inside it. Just awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:57 Highlight the passage at 1:05:57

1:06:12 And now let's make this easy as a kind of initial step. And you can discard this as soon as it's no longer useful. Maintain a peripheral awareness of the breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:12 Highlight the passage at 1:06:12

1:06:25 As the breath comes in, really be very attentive to being aware of being aware. And as the breath goes out, just release your awareness into space. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:25 Highlight the passage at 1:06:25

1:06:45 Release any thought, release your mind, release any mental activity. Just... Release it into space, Report an error in the passage at 1:06:45 Highlight the passage at 1:06:45

1:06:56 wide open, objectless space. Release your awareness into space as you breathe out. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:56 Highlight the passage at 1:06:56

1:07:10 And as the breath flows in, simply accentuate, heighten your awareness of being aware, but without withdrawing, without retracting your awareness anywhere. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:10 Highlight the passage at 1:07:10

1:07:21 Just a heightened awareness of being aware. And then the breath flows out and just release utterly. Your mind, thoughts, images and even release awareness itself into space. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:21 Highlight the passage at 1:07:21

1:07:40 Now this is a very condensed practice so we'll go on for about another minute. So again just release awareness into space and Report an error in the passage at 1:07:40 Highlight the passage at 1:07:40

1:07:58 don't draw it back in. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:58 Highlight the passage at 1:07:58

1:08:06 So you've released your awareness into an objectless open expanse but of course you haven't become unconscious. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:06 Highlight the passage at 1:08:06

1:08:19 Having released your awareness into space without attending to any object, not even space itself, Report an error in the passage at 1:08:19 Highlight the passage at 1:08:19

1:08:31 you're still aware of being aware. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:31 Highlight the passage at 1:08:31

1:08:35 Rest there. We're Report an error in the passage at 1:08:35 Highlight the passage at 1:08:35

1:08:47 bringing the session to a close. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:47 Highlight the passage at 1:08:47

1:08:53 No head left. Clear? Just take practice. It takes practice. But now do a mudrā for it. A mudrā. It's just simple. What it's not, what we're not doing here is visualizing going, whee. Like imagining, like a puff of smoke. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:53 Highlight the passage at 1:08:53

1:09:14 We're not doing that. Because this is visualization. It's just one more latching onto an appearance. So if we had a mudrā for this, I'm just making up one, it's not that, like that. I mean, that's cute, that's pretty, but it's not that. If there were a mudrā for this, it would be more like this. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:14 Highlight the passage at 1:09:14

1:09:39 Just holding Report an error in the passage at 1:09:39 Highlight the passage at 1:09:39

1:09:45 on, no aftermath, no lingering, no expansion, just like that. One image that comes to mind is if you had a coop full of pigeons, a pigeon coop, and they've been in there for a long time, they're really claustrophobic, and you suddenly open up the lid and go, boo! Report an error in the passage at 1:09:45 Highlight the passage at 1:09:45

1:10:07 And they're gone. And you're not tracking them. They're just gone. So that's just that openness. That'll do it. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:07 Highlight the passage at 1:10:07

1:10:30 Now it's second comers. So Charles, you had your head. Oh, over here first. Nope, not quite. Another first comer. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:30 Highlight the passage at 1:10:30

1:11:03 Yeah. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:03 Highlight the passage at 1:11:03

1:11:09 Right. Right. immediately and while you're watching it won't come out as soon as you turn it back Right, right Report an error in the passage at 1:11:09 Highlight the passage at 1:11:09

1:11:16 Sure. I think it's very, very likely that people have been asking that question for a thousand years every single generation. I think so, because it's very, very common. And I've been teaching this maybe 40 years or so, not quite, but almost 40 years. And I've heard it many times. And, oh yes, I've experienced it too. And it's quite charming, so I'm going to tell you the metaphor for this, because it's so frequent. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:16 Highlight the passage at 1:11:16

1:11:39 It's been going on for a thousand years. And Penjana Bocche, Penjana Losa Chukhi Gansan, he refers to this in Ether's root text, I think it's more likely his commentary, to his text on Mahamudra and specifically his reference to this practice, because he teaches exactly this practice. And it's a lovely metaphor, and as soon as I've told you, you'll remember it. And it has a name, and then as soon as they say the name, the old-timers, oh yeah, that one, it's a cute one. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:39 Highlight the passage at 1:11:39

1:12:05 It's the metaphor of the bashful maiden. The bashful maiden. You haven't heard it either, have you? Okay, there's at least one. It's really cute. Maybe it's a little bit chauvinistic, but it doesn't have to be. It's cute. And so the metaphor of the bashful maiden, we're back to medieval times in India, and you have these big courtyards, and you have what we have nowadays, I think your generation calls a player, a player, a ladies' man, yeah, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:05 Highlight the passage at 1:12:05

1:12:31 I don't know what people call it these days. So we'll call him a player. And so there's a guy hanging out, watching for the babes, you know. Lovely young lady is going to hit on him. And so he's just hanging out there kind of carousing, you know, watching on the kind of the piazza, the village, the marketplace, the plaza. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:31 Highlight the passage at 1:12:31

1:12:52 And then lo and behold, here comes this lovely young maiden, you know, and his eyes are going like that. And so he's ogling her, you know, he's ogling her. But she's not only a lovely young maiden, she's a bashful young maiden. And as soon as she sees this guy, this player's eyes piercingly focusing in on her, as soon as she noticed that, then she just scuttles away. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:52 Highlight the passage at 1:12:52

1:13:17 She's gone. Because she sensed the intensity of his interest and his gaze. And so she just vanishes. She's gone. And so you're the player. And your thoughts are the bashful maiden. And that's been going on for at least a thousand years. That simply by attending to them, you call them mice. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:17 Highlight the passage at 1:13:17

1:13:40 I call them cockroaches, because I used to live with my wife right next to Berkeley, and we were living in student housing, and the place was infested with cockroaches. And I just won't kill them. I'm sorry, but my wife was really pissed off at me, but I wouldn't kill them. And so we actually had a big family of cockroaches. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:40 Highlight the passage at 1:13:40

1:13:58 And, you know, at the beginning they would scuttle away, but after a while they got quite used to us. They were in a wildlife sanctuary, Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:58 Highlight the passage at 1:13:58

1:14:11 But here's what I really noticed, and that is because they would be under the refrigerator. That's where they nested, lots of them. And if I'd come in at night and turn on the light, they'd be all over the place. But then they go under the refrigerator. Turn off the light and they come out again. Turn off the light and they go back in again. It's very much like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:11 Highlight the passage at 1:14:11

1:14:32 So you can either have cockroaches or bashful maidens, whichever you like. But it's the same method. So there it is. It's cute. And just to kind of reassure you, this has been happening a very, very long time. And then what to do about it. Because it actually is interesting to observe thoughts and not simply annihilate them or have them scuttle away. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:32 Highlight the passage at 1:14:32

1:14:54 But the cue, or the kind of the, how do you say, you have the cue, the hint, is in the nature of the story when it said the player is viewing the young lady with intense interest. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:54 Highlight the passage at 1:14:54

1:15:07 And she's too shy for that. She can't bear his scrutiny. She just doesn't like that kind of intense attention. So she vanishes. And so then we know from that, that already implies the remedy. If you'd really like to start observing thoughts and images and really see what's coming up and not just have the screen go blank every time you look. And so how to do it? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:07 Highlight the passage at 1:15:07

1:15:27 Well, if you were the player, I can tell you, I've never been a player, but I can imagine. And that is if you were the bashful maiden. You don't look like one, and I don't look like a player, so it's fine. Here's how I do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:27 Highlight the passage at 1:15:27

1:15:45 I would casually glance out of the corner of my eye and follow you home and get your address. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:45 Highlight the passage at 1:15:45

1:15:56 That's what I would do. Be casual, like, oh, you live here, do you? Fancy that. What a coincidence. I live just five miles away. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:56 Highlight the passage at 1:15:56

1:16:09 So the message is that it's a soft glance. So we're playing around here with the corner of the eye, but it's a soft glance. Now think of the metaphor of the cowherder looking out over a vast plain and watching his calves and his sheep when there's no predators around. There's no danger. His attention can be very casual, very soft, very soft. Or another one I think I've read, I have read it. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:09 Highlight the passage at 1:16:09

1:16:36 is an old man watching other people's children play. And that's sweet. I'm an old man. I like watching children play. They're having a good time and fun, empathetic joy. But, you know, their parents are right there. If you're an old man, you don't have to do anything. Even if the child falls down, the parents are right there. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:36 Highlight the passage at 1:16:36

1:16:53 So the old man watches the children play, and it's enjoyable. But there's not even a thought of, when do I spring into action? Well, the answer is never. The parents are right there. Everything's fine. And so it's that kind of soft, relaxed attentiveness. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:53 Highlight the passage at 1:16:53

1:17:11 And in terms of mental chit-chat, an analogy that really comes to mind, because it's very close actually, is if you're in a, let's say a hotel room, kind of a cheap one where there's not much sound insulation, and you're in your room by yourself, but there's a couple of people in an adjacent room, and they're having a loud conversation, and the walls are thin. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:11 Highlight the passage at 1:17:11

1:17:34 Well, you hear what they're saying. You didn't really want to, but the sound is coming in, you can hear what they're saying. But you're just, and you see there's no dangers, nothing arouses any strong emotion. But you're hearing the conversation, and you're simply not a participant at all. There's no reason to knock on the door and say, well, my opinion is. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:34 Highlight the passage at 1:17:34

1:17:56 Leave it alone. Just, you know, the sound's coming through, so you're overhearing their conversation, and you're not eavesdropping because they're speaking in loud voices, it's their fault. It's much more like that, that you're just resting there, and then, Wisps of this and that come up. And sometimes as one goes deeper into it, at the beginning, if it's a series of images, like a video, there's some coherence to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:56 Highlight the passage at 1:17:56

1:18:19 And if it's a conversation, that also has some coherence to it. But as you relax more and more deeply in this practice, then there's a term from physics called stochastic, and it just means random. And so you just be resting, resting and resting and... I don't like pizza with sausage on it. And you're resting and resting and you see the Matterhorn and then you're resting and resting and you remember your experience when you're five years old and resting. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:19 Highlight the passage at 1:18:19

1:18:49 Just fragments. And that's good because that shows there's not grasping to try to put this into a story that you like or dislike and so forth. It's just stuff coming up and then dissolving by itself, dissolving by itself. But all of this comes out of a core sense of ease, of looseness and relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:49 Highlight the passage at 1:18:49

1:19:06 So don't be the intense player, be the clever player. Soft gaze, soft gaze. Very good. You had a second question, didn't you? Where is it going? Jolly good. Jolly good. Okay. Back to you. I was just saying that I think having trained with mindfulness and breath and noticing and releasing thoughts previously, like paying attention to and releasing them quite intentionally has got me into that habit of... Report an error in the passage at 1:19:06 Highlight the passage at 1:19:06

1:19:36 Sure. Sure. And so it's just good, just like anything else. If you're playing piano and you've learned, maybe you've learned classical piano when you're just learning, it's kind of fun to break out and learn some jazz and learn some of this and some of that. It's just learning how to play. And so we learn how to play the mind like an instrument. And there are times when it's perfectly legitimate. Why not? Just say, you know, I'd just like to have some peace and quiet right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:36 Highlight the passage at 1:19:36

1:20:01 I'm going to go for mindfulness to breathing, whatever comes up. Just, I'm busy. And just like that, release. When you're practicing awareness of awareness, which I've not really taught here, because again he's not, so I think we have a hands full trying to elucidate what he taught without bringing in extra methods outside of this, because it's very, very coherent what he teaches here. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:01 Highlight the passage at 1:20:01

1:20:20 But in the practice, since we've had allusions to it of shamatha without a sign or awareness of awareness, once again you simply have no interest in thoughts whatever. And so whatever comes up, they're gone. And in fact, in one metaphor, this is also from Penchen Rinpoche, but it goes back hundreds of years before him, and some of you saw that in the eight-week retreat, the example of just whatever thoughts come up, remember the teaching from Maitripa, remember those, Maitripa, where whatever thoughts come up, you just zap them as soon as they come up, like that, like a little karate chop, and you chop them, you cut them immediately. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20:20

1:20:58 And you do that because the idea in this awareness of awareness is you're doing your best to make a continuous flow of non-conceptual awareness. And any thought comes up, just snip it. Snip it right there. That's kind of a yang approach, you know, between yin and yang. You're really doing something. I won't give the analogy, it's a nice one, but too much of a deviation right now. That's one possibility in the awareness of awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:58 Highlight the passage at 1:20:58

1:21:25 Any thought comes up, it's gone. But another possibility in the same method, it's just kind of slightly different method within the same overall practice, is you're resting in awareness of awareness, maintaining that flow of non-conceptual cognizance. And whatever thought comes up, you just don't give it any attention at all and it dies a natural death. It just fades out. And you're just gone. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:25 Highlight the passage at 1:21:25

1:21:50 So here are a couple of practices. Mindfulness of Breathing, Awareness of Awareness, and of course there are many others where any thought comes up, you either cut them right off in the bud or else you just release them instantly. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:50 Highlight the passage at 1:21:50

1:22:04 And they have their value. I mean, these are legitimate practices. They have worked. But of course you don't learn much about thoughts that way because you cut them off as soon as they come up. And so for those people, some people are really interested in the mind. The psyche, the mind that we have. They say, hey, this is my most intimate companion and I'd like to know how it works and what happens there. And for people with a keen interest in the mind, who would also like to practice and perhaps even achieve shamatha, then this practice taught here is really the best method. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:04 Highlight the passage at 1:22:04

1:22:36 Because it is a shamatha practice. It will take you all the way to shamatha. But along the way, you're going to learn a lot about your mind. A great deal about the mind. Because you're giving it your full attention, soft. Again, so you don't obliterate everything when you see it. Soft, but then continuous. And as you develop that ability, it starts with single-pointed mindfulness where you're simultaneously aware of the stillness of awareness and the movements of thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:36 Highlight the passage at 1:22:36

1:23:02 And as you slip into that and you're moving more towards flow, it's getting more and more effortless and more and more continuous. Then the second type of mindfulness emerges and that's called manifest mindfulness. It's not qualitatively different as it's really a different approach or anything. It's just that this now is becoming smooth, more and more effortless, more and more continuous. And just whatever's coming up, you're just seeing now that your awareness of it has very little influence on it. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:02 Highlight the passage at 1:23:02

1:23:32 It's not snuffing things out. Just this coming and that coming and that coming. And you're just so loose, so relaxed but attentive that you're really seeing the mind and you're seeing what's coming up. And it's quite fascinating. Among the shamatha practices, this is the one that actually is the most interesting because from moment to moment you never know what's coming up. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:32 Highlight the passage at 1:23:32

1:23:56 And that is interesting. And it does change over time too. So that makes it doubly interesting. But it's learning a new skill. Because for the other ones, you dismiss them or you ignore them or you cut them off. And this one, you say, well, wait a minute. In this practice, the object of mindfulness is the space of the mind and whatever comes up. So whatever comes up, that's what I'm attending to. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:56 Highlight the passage at 1:23:56

1:24:18 And since I'm attending to it like this, even if it's nasty, toxic stuff, I don't need to fix it because it's not nastifying me or poisoning me. Therefore, I don't need to do anything about it. It's in the test tube. It's in that space with no host. And it comes up and lo and behold, I'm learning something about my mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:18 Highlight the passage at 1:24:18

1:24:36 That my mind has a capacity to unravel itself, and I don't have to do everything. And that's nice. Okay? Very good. It's 8.30. So, Report an error in the passage at 1:24:36 Highlight the passage at 1:24:36

1:24:53 once the day is entirely finished, you've done your teeth and everything else you wanted to do, then I would suggest, give this, I've said it many times, I'm going to say it again, the old timers. If you are more of a vata person, more active mind, a lot of energy. Then I would really encourage when you get under the covers and you're ready for bed, just go into mindfulness of breathing. And probably better to bring your awareness down, down out of the head, down to the belly is fine. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:53 Highlight the passage at 1:24:53

1:25:20 Even down full body awareness, but bring it down and don't let it stay up in the head. And just feel the fluctuations in the field of the body. Breathing coming in, breathing coming out. And as the breath goes out, there you are in the Shavasana, dark room, you're kind of tired, day's finished. And every out-breath, just, I'm going to exaggerate, but kind of like this. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:20 Highlight the passage at 1:25:20

1:25:43 That's an exaggeration, but it's that mood of just kind of like total release. Releasing the breath, releasing tension, releasing everything with every out-breath. Releasing, releasing, releasing. Until you get a very clear sense, I'm getting real sleepy here. In which case, good. Session's over, roll over, get a good night's sleep. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:43 Highlight the passage at 1:25:43

1:26:04 But not everybody is vata. And I have met people. I envy those people. Because I'm not one of them, the people who can fall asleep in three minutes. You know, they put their head on the pillow and they're out. You lucky people. So if you're one of those people, and they're not terribly rare, you just find it very easy to fall asleep. Then you might really try this one. See if you can lie there in the supine position, and your eyes can be closed now, you're heading off to sleep, but in the Shavasana. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:04 Highlight the passage at 1:26:04

1:26:37 And then instead of following the breath or just letting your mind meander off until you fall asleep, let your awareness be very still and now very gently, no intensity here at all, very gently, very softly. Just bring your awareness to the space of the mind and just see what's coming up and the breathing flowing very naturally, effortlessly and just whatever comes up, you simply know it and it dissolves of its own accord. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:37 Highlight the passage at 1:26:37

1:27:06 Something else comes up, dissolves and just keep the light on. And by the light on, I mean just sustain that flow of cognizance, that flow of awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:06 Highlight the passage at 1:27:06

1:27:17 And optimally speaking, ideally speaking, you can continue very gently sustaining, keeping the light on, that light of awareness, non-reactive, not aroused, not excited, not cogitating, just resting in that awareness, illuminating the space of the mind. And in the best of all possible circumstances, As you're doing that, your body will fall asleep. The breathing will go into a sleeping cycle, and your mind will gradually fall asleep. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:17 Highlight the passage at 1:27:17

1:27:53 And it will just shut down. Thoughts and images, memories, your senses will implode. That's what happens when you fall asleep anyway. And so the whole system is going to sleep. Your body goes to sleep, your mind goes to sleep, and only one thing doesn't go to sleep. The unicycle. Awareness. You can keep the light on of awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:53 Highlight the passage at 1:27:53

1:28:14 And you can go directly from waking state into deep dreamless sleep and be lucid when you get there. Now that may take a while, but it's not a trivial thing. And if you can even go five minutes down that road before you start kind of losing it, well, that's five minutes is better than nothing. But if you think about the microcosm and macrocosm here, if you even develop that ability, let alone be able to go really quite deep. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:14 Highlight the passage at 1:28:14

1:28:42 The body really feels like it's gone to sleep and the mind is really quite shut down and you're still there, still there. Well, you see what you're preparing to do? You're preparing to die lucidly. And that could be a really good idea. Really good idea. Because it's the same process. Not quite the same. We generally wake up. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:42 Highlight the passage at 1:28:42

1:29:03 Dying, you don't. But in terms of the implosion of the senses, the shutting down of the mind, the disillusion of the coarse mind and the subtle mind, it's pretty much the same. And the substrate consciousness that you get to when you're dead and the substrate consciousness you get to when you're deep asleep, that's the same substrate consciousness. So that could be really useful. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:03 Highlight the passage at 1:29:03

1:29:21 Yeah, Angela, really quickly. What happens if you wake yourself up snoring? Well, I've had that happen. You know what happens? You wake yourself up snoring. That's what happens. What happens is, who's snoring? Oh, me. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:21 Highlight the passage at 1:29:21

1:29:43 I know, I've experienced that, yeah. Are you a bugger? Why couldn't he keep it snoring to himself? I was having such a good meditation. And you'll get over it. Have a good night everybody. Sleep well. Most important, sleep well. If you're a vata person and you try this, you can wind up staying awake for hours and that's probably not a good idea. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:43 Highlight the passage at 1:29:43

1:30:03 So sleep well. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:03 Highlight the passage at 1:30:03