Buddhism Meets Psychology - Managing Health, Wealth, and Relationships with Wisdom

0:00 And I thought also I wanted to get a sense of people's experiences. I wanted to do a short sitting practice to settle. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:21 So in general in the Tibetan tradition, there are two styles of meditation. The first is drawing Report an error in the passage at 0:21 Highlight the passage at 0:21

0:36 the senses away from being stimulated. Report an error in the passage at 0:36 Highlight the passage at 0:36

0:44 So that first piece becomes... Report an error in the passage at 0:44 Highlight the passage at 0:44

0:54 Oh yeah, and there probably won't be too much designated times for just questions, so as questions arise, just raise your hand. I was hoping to have it be a very interactive day. So the idea is basically, if you think about sitting practice, it involves in developing what's usually talked about as the technology of the mind, and that technology, Is being able to hone in in a clear way on what's regarded as our awareness. Report an error in the passage at 0:54 Highlight the passage at 0:54

1:34 Most of the time we have a lot of focus on content, the thoughts. So one of the things I often talk about and I mention every day in my practice with patients is to think about that they are not their thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 1:34 Highlight the passage at 1:34

1:54 And so the sitting practice always begins with a... Report an error in the passage at 1:54 Highlight the passage at 1:54

2:01 Stepping back from that identification with our thoughts. So the first piece of just settling, noticing first the body, and you can either keep your eyes closed or keep the gaze downward. Report an error in the passage at 2:01 Highlight the passage at 2:01

2:19 And they say to think about the back as being like a pile of coins. Report an error in the passage at 2:19 Highlight the passage at 2:19

2:26 And that's a little bit hard if you're on a couch, but as best you can to keep the back straight. And Report an error in the passage at 2:26 Highlight the passage at 2:26

2:38 sometimes they even talk about the feeling of the body being like... A bale of hay that's been wound up tightly. And when you cut the cord on the hay, the hay loosens but doesn't scatter. So just noticing that place of being in the middle with the body, not too loose and not too rigid. And Report an error in the passage at 2:38 Highlight the passage at 2:38

3:09 then also noticing the breath and allowing the breath to just generally settle into its own rhythm. Report an error in the passage at 3:09 Highlight the passage at 3:09

3:19 Not altering it, but just allowing it to just settle in its own rhythm. And Report an error in the passage at 3:19 Highlight the passage at 3:19

3:38 then when there's a... General settling of the body, the attention is placed on the breath, Report an error in the passage at 3:38 Highlight the passage at 3:38

3:53 and especially as you breathe out, noticing the out-breath. Report an error in the passage at 3:53 Highlight the passage at 3:53

4:08 And then it's very expected and natural to have thoughts, but the instruction is basically to notice whatever is arising and just labeling it as thinking, and then returning to the breath. Report an error in the passage at 4:08 Highlight the passage at 4:08

4:34 So let's just settle with that for a few minutes. Report an error in the passage at 4:34 Highlight the passage at 4:34

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5:45 Think of patience with the mind. The mind might keep chattering and just being very spacious and patient with that, noticing and then returning to the breath. Report an error in the passage at 5:45 Highlight the passage at 5:45

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7:19 Think about and allow this to arise very spontaneously. Think about what you deeply want for your life and let the answer just emerge from your heart without too much thinking, but just whatever arises, what you deeply would like for your life. Report an error in the passage at 7:19 Highlight the passage at 7:19

7:42 What you would like to have happen. Report an error in the passage at 7:42 Highlight the passage at 7:42

7:49 And without thinking right now of others, just thinking about yourself and your life. What is your aspiration? Report an error in the passage at 7:49 Highlight the passage at 7:49

8:05 What is your deepest wish? And just allow that to arise, whatever it may be. And Report an error in the passage at 8:05 Highlight the passage at 8:05

8:30 give yourself the generosity of allowing for that. The possibility of complete happiness for yourself. And Report an error in the passage at 8:30 Highlight the passage at 8:30

8:56 just imagining further that your whole body and mind are filled with... Whatever it is you would like, a sense of completion and imagine even that your body is made of light and Report an error in the passage at 8:56 Highlight the passage at 8:56

9:35 imagine also a kind of like a diamond or crystal in your heart, very like shiny and it illuminates like the sun and just try to sit for a moment in that place of contentment and peace and perfection. Report an error in the passage at 9:35 Highlight the passage at 9:35

10:04 Imagine your body and mind are complete with no need. Report an error in the passage at 10:04 Highlight the passage at 10:04

10:39 And then imagine the people in your life, especially friends and family, people you love. Report an error in the passage at 10:39 Highlight the passage at 10:39

10:49 And maybe you can even think about one or two particular people who you're close to. And imagine being able to breathe in whatever it is that's causing them suffering in the form of black smoke. Report an error in the passage at 10:49 Highlight the passage at 10:49

11:05 And that black smoke goes to the... Diamond in the center of your chest and turns into white light and you're able to breathe out whatever it is they need for happiness. Report an error in the passage at 11:05 Highlight the passage at 11:05

11:34 Maybe physical illness, financial stress, relationship stress, Report an error in the passage at 11:34 Highlight the passage at 11:34

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12:33 their pain and you breathe out white healing light and it touches them. Report an error in the passage at 12:33 Highlight the passage at 12:33

12:58 And now also with perhaps someone you passed on the street, a stranger or someone to whom you have very neutral feelings towards. Neither like them or dislike them. But just imagine someone you may have seen today or yesterday who you don't know anything about but you can wish them happiness. Report an error in the passage at 12:58 Highlight the passage at 12:58

13:22 And again, breathing in whatever it is that is causing suffering and Report an error in the passage at 13:22 Highlight the passage at 13:22

13:33 breathing out healing white light touches Report an error in the passage at 13:33 Highlight the passage at 13:33

13:39 the person who you have neutral feelings towards, the stranger, whatnot. You Report an error in the passage at 13:39 Highlight the passage at 13:39

13:51 wish them happiness. Report an error in the passage at 13:51 Highlight the passage at 13:51

· · · silence, 1 minute

14:39 Really feeling established in that place of your own contentment and strength. In compassion, in the white light of your own body. Imagine, as much as is comfortable for you, someone who maybe you had a fight with or have had some difficulties with, Report an error in the passage at 14:39 Highlight the passage at 14:39

14:59 someone with whom there might be some painful feelings towards. And as much as is comfortable for you to imagine them and being able to breathe in whatever is perhaps causing them suffering and Report an error in the passage at 14:59 Highlight the passage at 14:59

15:20 then breathing out whatever that might create happiness and harmony. Report an error in the passage at 15:20 Highlight the passage at 15:20

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16:23 your whole body turns into light and is able to fill the entire universe you just return back to a place of settling like you were in the beginning just returning to the breath Report an error in the passage at 16:23 Highlight the passage at 16:23

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17:14 that whatever else may happen today as you open your eyes you say whatever you think whatever you do for the rest of the day may be a benefit to yourself and others maybe stay with that aspiration for So, Report an error in the passage at 17:14 Highlight the passage at 17:14

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18:20 I Report an error in the passage at 18:20 Highlight the passage at 18:20

18:29 guess the topic today will be about... The notion of suffering and happiness and how we also lie Report an error in the passage at 18:29 Highlight the passage at 18:29

18:43 to ourselves as we try to avoid suffering and have happiness and also how we can be more honest about our own suffering and also our own attempted happiness and our own attempts at making others alleviate their suffering. Report an error in the passage at 18:43 Highlight the passage at 18:43

19:06 The meditation we just did involves... It was a little bit too packed maybe, but it involved settling the mind. It also involved what's considered training the mind. Report an error in the passage at 19:06 Highlight the passage at 19:06

19:22 And both of them are categories of meditation in their own right in the Buddhist tradition. Report an error in the passage at 19:22 Highlight the passage at 19:22

19:37 It Report an error in the passage at 19:37 Highlight the passage at 19:37

19:43 becomes difficult to talk about a lot of the topics that we want to talk about without having a sense of an understanding of the importance of settling the mind. And it's a topic that is not really discussed in our culture. As we are growing up in school, we don't really learn the value of settling the mind. Report an error in the passage at 19:43 Highlight the passage at 19:43

20:08 So one of the things that is always emphasized in the teachings is that our issue is sort of not a... our problems don't result from... Report an error in the passage at 20:08 Highlight the passage at 20:08

20:26 It's not a major complicated issue. It's a small issue, but has a deep, deep ramification. If you think about a spark plug for a car, if your spark plug isn't working, your car is not starting. But it's not like you need to overhaul the transmission. It's a very simple solution. But if that one thing isn't working, you have a very big problem on your hands. Report an error in the passage at 20:26 Highlight the passage at 20:26

20:53 You're not going anywhere. Similarly with the mind. Report an error in the passage at 20:53 Highlight the passage at 20:53

21:00 When there's this lack of recognition between awareness versus thoughts, which doesn't have to be that complicated a matter, but if we've grown up in a culture where there's no value placed in settling the mind and there's a lot of value placed in thoughts and identifying with our thoughts, then we kind of end up developing a habit. Report an error in the passage at 21:00 Highlight the passage at 21:00

21:34 Which could seem very unfamiliar, this idea of meditation, because we've developed the habit of not connecting to the awareness. Report an error in the passage at 21:34 Highlight the passage at 21:34

21:51 So the sitting practice of meditation really has to do with developing that habit of what is very natural. It's not something we're adding to our theories. It's a settling. They liken it a lot of times with a glass of water. If you leave the water as it is, the sediment settles. If you put dirt in water and the water becomes clear on its own, you don't have to add anything to make the water clear. It's part of the nature of the water. Report an error in the passage at 21:51 Highlight the passage at 21:51

22:33 So the Report an error in the passage at 22:33 Highlight the passage at 22:33

22:40 mind, its nature is to be at peace and to experience spaciousness, equanimity. To experience compassion, these are qualities that occur naturally when we leave the mind alone, when we just step back and allow the mind to settle. So Report an error in the passage at 22:40 Highlight the passage at 22:40

23:09 is there any questions about this so far? Report an error in the passage at 23:09 Highlight the passage at 23:09

23:20 So I Report an error in the passage at 23:20 Highlight the passage at 23:20

23:25 think I'd like to talk first about the idea of how we go astray and what is the kind of little bit talk about confusion and if you have, if something arises in your own experience. If I'm saying something that resonates, please bring that up if there's a question. Bring that up. Report an error in the passage at 23:25 Highlight the passage at 23:25

23:56 When we think about, in terms of psychology, there's a term, you know, neurosis is a very common term. And if we think about, kind of go backwards in terms of development and how something like neurosis might arise, it's very interesting. Report an error in the passage at 23:56 Highlight the passage at 23:56

24:22 Because... From my kind of general point Report an error in the passage at 24:22 Highlight the passage at 24:22

24:30 of view, I've been very impressed by the theories around self-psychology, which we don't have to go into what that is necessarily, but the gist of it is if you take a three-year-old kid and this child has a mom who is out all the time, isn't at home, isn't caring for the child. Report an error in the passage at 24:30 Highlight the passage at 24:30

24:57 And comes home, let's say, you know, 9.30, 10 o 'clock every night and brings her son a lollipop. And so the son grows up saying, I had a great mom. Every time she came home, she would bring him home a lollipop, remembering that lollipop that was brought home. Now, this is based on the idea that as we develop, as we're children, the child, it's very important for that child to have contact. Report an error in the passage at 24:57 Highlight the passage at 24:57

25:30 With their primary caretaker. That even a bad contact is better than no contact. Report an error in the passage at 25:30 Highlight the passage at 25:30

25:46 So what happens is because there's that investment, that commitment to have contact with the mother, the father, the caretaker, what happens is the child distorts their experience so that it conforms with the experience of... Their environment of what's happening. So if the mother is coming home late, is not putting the child to bed on time, is not caring for the child, that then becomes a reason for the child to ignore their needs, to put aside their needs and not be in touch with their needs. Report an error in the passage at 25:46 Highlight the passage at 25:46

26:29 Because if they were really in touch with that part, it would create disconnect with the caretaker. So one of the terms... Report an error in the passage at 26:29 Highlight the passage at 26:29

26:43 That's often talked about is good enough mothering that we don't have to be perfect. But is Report an error in the passage at 26:43 Highlight the passage at 26:43

26:56 it Sabine? Please jump at any time since you have more experience in this than I do. I'm only a resident. But that basic idea of distorting your experience. So you develop what's considered neurosis because that is a style. You've developed a style. That's become part of how you relate to yourself and the world. In general, there's one book that's really interesting called Inner Conflicts, written by Karen Horney. Report an error in the passage at 26:56 Highlight the passage at 26:56

27:30 And she talks about three general styles that we have. Interestingly, her teacher, D.T. Suzuki, a New York Zen master, and she never... She never says this, but I can't help but believe that she got very influenced by the, if you look at the Wheel of Life, you see the three animals, the snake, the rooster and the pig. Report an error in the passage at 27:30 Highlight the passage at 27:30

28:04 And they represent, the snake represents ignorance, the rooster represents desire and the snake represents aggression. And so in her book, in her conflicts, Karen Horney talks about three styles, neuroses, if you will. The first style she talks about is the moving towards. So this sense of needing contact and, you know, basically bending over backwards to maintain contact. Report an error in the passage at 28:04 Highlight the passage at 28:04

28:38 And again, these are three facets that, when balanced, create a very healthy... Dynamic, but when imbalanced, create what we consider the neurotic situations. Report an error in the passage at 28:38 Highlight the passage at 28:38

28:58 So this moving towards is the first. And I always think about that as like desire, that piece around being so attached to something that we will ignore the negatives, that we'll ignore if someone is being inconsiderate or abusive towards us. Report an error in the passage at 28:58 Highlight the passage at 28:58

29:19 Whether it's in our workplace or it's in our relationships, if we're attached to something so much that we're willing to really just allow for inappropriate behavior to happen to ourselves, we ignore our own needs. Report an error in the passage at 29:19 Highlight the passage at 29:19

29:40 The next style she talks about is moving against. So this is sort of being combative. I think of that as like the snake, you know, the aggression. piece of the snake the wheel of life. Report an error in the passage at 29:40 Highlight the passage at 29:40

30:02 Um, and I think we all know people like this, you know, if you say you have to walk around This has a Report an error in the passage at 30:02 Highlight the passage at 30:02

30:25 very large spectrum to it. You could have someone with this style be an extremely successful Wall Street broker who has no qualms about firing half his workforce so the stock in his company goes up half a percent or something. And it goes all the way to the spectrum of people in Pelican Bay who are serving life imprisonment because their regard for others' welfare was to a point where it made them very dangerous. Report an error in the passage at 30:25 Highlight the passage at 30:25

30:56 So these styles can have a very broad spectrum. And so then the third is moving away, withdrawing. In the news a few years ago there was a report about a man who died in his cubicle and no one found him for two days. The person who's like there but you don't really notice is there, the recluse, the hermit, and that I think about as like the pig, ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 30:56 Highlight the passage at 30:56

31:32 You know, you're sort of spaced out, checked out, not really fully there. So she never really talks about this parallel, but I think there's... Really an uncanny coincidence between these three styles that she, you know, it's regarded one of the masterpieces of psychology, this sort of ability to summarize neuroses in these three ways. Report an error in the passage at 31:32 Highlight the passage at 31:32

31:54 And yet, and also in the Wheel of Life, I don't know if how many of you are familiar with the Wheel of Life, it all comes back to those three, those three dynamics. In fact, they're both born out of the pig. The pig is... They're both sort of coming out of the pig in the earliest renditions of the Wheel of Life. Then you see some other later renditions where they're each kind of coming out of each other, like you have this sort of circle, but in the earliest versions they're both coming out of ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 31:54 Highlight the passage at 31:54

32:29 In either case, you have this basic situation of neurosis. Report an error in the passage at 32:29 Highlight the passage at 32:29

32:37 This is a great book, Orderly Chaos, by Chugyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and he talks about... Some of the dynamics around neurosis. And there's a line in here that I think is really interesting. Report an error in the passage at 32:37 Highlight the passage at 32:37

32:58 He says, the idea of orderly chaos is that we are confused methodically. In other words, the confusion is intentional. Report an error in the passage at 32:58 Highlight the passage at 32:58

33:14 So this notion of orderly chaos, he says, it's orderly because it comes in a pattern. It is chaos because it is confusing to work with that order. That's kind of the situation with neurosis in a nutshell. It comes in a pattern, but it's confusing to work with that pattern. Report an error in the passage at 33:14 Highlight the passage at 33:14

33:38 This brings up the idea of our own ability to be aware of our pattern. So going back to that example of the child, the child initially is doing something out of a survival piece. The child is not trying to bamboozle themselves. They are basically doing the best they can in maintaining their own sanity. Report an error in the passage at 33:38 Highlight the passage at 33:38

34:03 So what Report an error in the passage at 34:03 Highlight the passage at 34:03

34:09 happens is then there's a situation around identity, me, who I think I am. And that sense of identity is very difficult to catch. It's kind of like if you remember going back to high school, the first few weeks you were constantly maybe thinking, wow, I'm really... In high school, it didn't feel very real. And then after maybe by November, it wasn't a big deal that you were in high school. Report an error in the passage at 34:09 Highlight the passage at 34:09

34:39 And yet it was a very gradual thing. That has to do with identity. Identity is very gradual and very subtle. And it's hard to catch how we solidify our sense of self. Report an error in the passage at 34:39 Highlight the passage at 34:39

34:58 It's a very gradual thing. Report an error in the passage at 34:58 Highlight the passage at 34:58

35:07 So these styles of moving towards, moving against and moving away develop without us being fully aware. So if you see someone who has a particular style, they may not identify with it. They may not say, you know, I'm a very belligerent, combative person and I tend to go against people. That, you know, that usually isn't the case. Report an error in the passage at 35:07 Highlight the passage at 35:07

35:30 People aren't aware of that. Report an error in the passage at 35:30 Highlight the passage at 35:30

35:41 And I think to this point too, Trungpa Rinpoche. He says, so Report an error in the passage at 35:41 Highlight the passage at 35:41

35:50 there's a sense of attachment to this place we were at, the sense of self. This is also related to the way our bodies and minds are. If we just think about our physical body, we're sort of creatures of habit. We don't like surprises. Even me driving today on 101 and there was traffic that I wasn't expecting, Report an error in the passage at 35:50 Highlight the passage at 35:50

36:18 I was able to really feel how it just affected my nervous system. We don't like surprises. So our nervous system is geared towards familiarity. Report an error in the passage at 36:18 Highlight the passage at 36:18

36:30 In fact, we are more invested in familiarity than necessarily what might be good for us. Again, it goes to this idea of you think about, and again, you probably know much more about this than I do, but if you think about how our thinking mind... The part of our brain that deliberates and weighs pros and cons and tries to come to rational, logical conclusion. Report an error in the passage at 36:30 Highlight the passage at 36:30

37:04 And then you think about the part of our brain that's very emotionally driven, the part that is more about the fight and flight response. That tends to overpower. That's more of a deeper part of our core. Our nervous system is really connected and wired for that place of familiarity. That's what we're really driven towards. So if we think about what might be of benefit to us, if something, let's say, logically makes sense, it doesn't mean we're going to necessarily do that. Report an error in the passage at 37:04 Highlight the passage at 37:04

37:47 And you can see that in addiction. People losing their houses and children and wives. Because it makes no sense to continue drinking, but there's such a strong connection, attachment to familiarity that it overrides the sort of rational thinking part. Report an error in the passage at 37:47 Highlight the passage at 37:47

38:16 And so similarly, that has to do with our sense of identity. So if I'm developing with a sense of a style in my sense of self, I'm going to really, it's going to be very difficult to change that because that's what's familiar. So if I'm a jerk to everybody around me, and even if I might see that, and I find that my relationships over and over get damaged because of my own short fuse, it could be very painful to be aware of these things. Report an error in the passage at 38:16 Highlight the passage at 38:16

38:50 You start realizing, wow, I'm really unable to hold my stuff together, and I fly off the handle easily. So there could even be... That awareness, rational awareness, and you will still find it difficult to change. Report an error in the passage at 38:50 Highlight the passage at 38:50

39:20 Trungpa Rinpoche goes even further. It's interesting. He talks about this idea of ignorance and how we Report an error in the passage at 39:20 Highlight the passage at 39:20

39:34 have this attachment to ignorance, kind of speaking to what I'm talking about here. Again, this attachment to ignorance because it's this attachment to familiarity. Report an error in the passage at 39:34 Highlight the passage at 39:34

39:46 So he says, the idea of orderly chaos is that we are confused methodically. In other words, the confusion is intentional. It is intentional in that we deliberately decide to ignore ourselves. We decide to boycott wisdom and enlightenment. We want to get on with our trips, with our passion, aggression and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 39:46 Highlight the passage at 39:46

40:07 Because of that we create a mandala, a self-existing circle. We create ignorance deliberately. Then we create perception, consciousness, name and form, and it goes on. That is how we create mandala in our daily existence as it is. So that's really talking about the wheel of life. Again, I don't know who's not familiar with the wheel of life. Report an error in the passage at 40:07 Highlight the passage at 40:07

40:34 It's worth taking a look at. It summarizes kind of Buddhist psychology. And so there's a sort of chain reaction that we're aware of. We'll start maybe thinking about something that is a very historic thing for us, an old pattern, an old road that we continue to walk down, and we know it, and we continue doing it. Report an error in the passage at 40:34 Highlight the passage at 40:34

41:01 So that's a little bit, I think, what he's speaking to. Report an error in the passage at 41:01 Highlight the passage at 41:01

41:09 I feel like I'm talking a lot. Report an error in the passage at 41:09 Highlight the passage at 41:09

41:13 Is there a question? That's what we expect. Okay. So then you have some... Yes? In that, what you just read from Trungpa, He also had another, I guess another book, but you know sometimes he says the same thing over and over but just different ways. And he was talking about the personality with the animal energy. Report an error in the passage at 41:13 Highlight the passage at 41:13

41:38 I don't know if you're aware of that. I've never seen that. Which book do you remember? No, I can't remember at the moment. Oh, I think I know. Report an error in the passage at 41:38 Highlight the passage at 41:38

41:47 Like the snow lion, the dragon, the Garuda. No, this one was, he was just describing what... Animal energy is in a human and how that person's just like, you know, it's almost like they've got blinders and they just keep on ahead no matter what they're going to do it. You know, it's almost like the personality who always does things a hard way. You know, we know people like that. And so they just kind of brought that to mind when you described. Report an error in the passage at 41:47 Highlight the passage at 41:47

42:18 Yeah, I'm not even fully look, remember, or recognize, but I think, um... It sounds like the pig. Yes, the ignorance. Exactly. That's what he came back to. He says, in fact, this would be the animal energy or the pig, the ignorance again, that you keep yourself in that kind of stupid state in a way so that you can continue on the road as you were describing. Report an error in the passage at 42:18 Highlight the passage at 42:18

42:43 Yeah. And that's an interesting thing, too, because, you know, if we think about five basic unhealthy patterns, ignorance, desire. Report an error in the passage at 42:43 Highlight the passage at 42:43

42:56 Jealousy, envy, and then did I mention ignorance? Or aggression, okay? And then, so if we think first about ignorance, each of these energies have wisdom aspect. Again, we talked about, so the natural state of the mind is one thing, the awareness piece, and then the way we go off in another direction. Report an error in the passage at 42:56 Highlight the passage at 42:56

43:20 Now, how we go off in that direction starts from a place of wisdom. So if we start from a place of awareness and then we have a tendency in one direction, the tendency of ignorance to be checked out, spaced out, that actually comes from a place of spaciousness. Report an error in the passage at 43:20 Highlight the passage at 43:20

43:40 People with a certain particular affinity towards being very spacey also have a very particular strength in being spacious. Does that make sense at all? Report an error in the passage at 43:40 Highlight the passage at 43:40

43:55 There's this sort of interesting, like a poison into medicine thing, the alchemy. And then the idea of desire, it's an interesting thing. Report an error in the passage at 43:55 Highlight the passage at 43:55

44:09 So the desire, you can constantly find what's wrong with the situation, wanting something else, you know, whether it's your coffee's not right or whether you're too hot or too cold or constantly just your mind is just desire, desire, desire, desire. Report an error in the passage at 44:09 Highlight the passage at 44:09

44:29 Okay. Now the place where that comes from is actually the wisdom of discernment. Because if you're able to be very discerning, your capacity to really see suffering is heightened. If I see someone with, let's say, feeling a little bit blue, and maybe others aren't noticing it, the person with the wisdom of discernment can really hone in. Report an error in the passage at 44:29 Highlight the passage at 44:29

44:59 What is this person suffering about? What is this person? They can really be very effective in their ability to alleviate suffering of others because they're so aware of what's wrong with the situation. Report an error in the passage at 44:59 Highlight the passage at 44:59

45:14 And so it's kind of shifting away from that self-absorption and using that ability to constantly find how can I feel more comfortable and using that energy to how can this person. That's why they say that to purify desire, that compassion is the medicine for purifying desire. Report an error in the passage at 45:14 Highlight the passage at 45:14

45:41 And then with aggression, there's the idea of when you're very angry, you're very clear on what you're angry about. In order to be angry, you have to be very clear of what you're angry about. And we usually are. When we get really angry, we... There's sort of a sense of everything else sort of fades and this clarity around what we're upset about comes up. And that's discussed as being like mirror-like wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 45:41 Highlight the passage at 45:41

46:17 Having an ability to see the panorama of using your own clarity. It's using the clarity of the mind. So with desire, it was using the wisdom of discernment, discerning. And with anger, it's using the... These are all wisdoms that are in us already, using the wisdom of clarity. Report an error in the passage at 46:17 Highlight the passage at 46:17

46:41 And then with jealousy, there's a kind of a hang-up around accomplishment, really kind of noticing what has this person accomplished, what have I not accomplished. And so that comes from a wisdom and ability of equanimity. To be able to counter the sense of jealousy with equanimity, they call it effortless accomplishment. You're able to really connect, how am I the same with this person? Report an error in the passage at 46:41 Highlight the passage at 46:41

47:18 In other words, rather than being in the compare and contrast mode, you're able to really connect with, what are we similar? That becomes the wisdom of effortless accomplishment. Report an error in the passage at 47:18 Highlight the passage at 47:18

47:36 And then the envy involves basically not wanting just... Wanting a sense of having a sense of disconnect on really kind of not wishing this person well, not really wanting this person to be experiencing what they're experiencing. And so the sense of enrichment, almost being willing to allow for people to have everything that they would like, being very enriching, completely generous in your capacity to. Report an error in the passage at 47:36 Highlight the passage at 47:36

48:22 know, Report an error in the passage at 48:22 Highlight the passage at 48:22

48:26 Rejoice over whatever is happening for others. So these are wisdoms that are already in us, the ability to have these capacities. Report an error in the passage at 48:26 Highlight the passage at 48:26

48:40 So going back then just to the idea around confusion, there are certain traits in psychology that we can find that are symptoms of this sort of style, of the distorting Report an error in the passage at 48:40 Highlight the passage at 48:40

49:04 of our experience. So we distort our experience and then we develop a style. And that style we talked about is moving towards, against and away. And including in that style of how we are outwardly, there's an inward style. And some of the traits that you find with people kind of dealing with this situation of imbalance. Report an error in the passage at 49:04 Highlight the passage at 49:04

49:33 The imbalance shows itself in various ways. One of the ways the imbalance shows itself is being very judgmental. So when you're judging yourself, beating yourself up and also judging others, that's one of the sort of unhelpful traits of our minds. And I'm not a big fan of believing something being all good or all bad, but I really don't see the point of judging when we're judgmental. Report an error in the passage at 49:33 Highlight the passage at 49:33

50:05 I mean, that's one thing to be discerning, but sort of this layer of judgment. Is toxic. And it's so prevalent. We do it so much. So one of the things to look at that I really kind of work with my clients and patients is noticing the judgmental mind. That's one. The second kind of facet in terms of confusion is what's called expectancy. And expectancy is what our expectations are of something. Report an error in the passage at 50:05 Highlight the passage at 50:05

50:37 So if I have... Develop an expectation that I'm going to be abandoned. Again, these all can be related to early childhood experiences. If the child has had again and again disappointments, they're going to develop an expectation. Report an error in the passage at 50:37 Highlight the passage at 50:37

50:56 It's very difficult to change expectations. It's called expectancy. So if I have this expectancy that I'm going to be abandoned, then I'm going to be actually attracted to partners who are flight risks. I'm not going to be attracted to partners who are not flight risks. If I have this expectation that I'm the life of the party, then I'll enter a party more social, more open and positive. Report an error in the passage at 50:56 Highlight the passage at 50:56

51:26 If I have a very negative expectation that people don't like me, then when I go to the party, I'll actually do things to confirm that expectation. I won't be as social. I'll start thinking of the negative. So the expectancy, it's kind of a catch-22. You enter the situation in a way that helps confirm your own sort of entry into it. Report an error in the passage at 51:26 Highlight the passage at 51:26

52:03 And then the Report an error in the passage at 52:03 Highlight the passage at 52:03

52:09 last kind of feature that I wanted to talk about with confusion is considered locus of control. Locus of control is how much control do you feel you have and what you're experiencing. Report an error in the passage at 52:09 Highlight the passage at 52:09

52:23 And in general, we think about control as being either internal or external. So if I'm feeling very frustrated in my job, if I have a very high external locus of control, I'm going to find outward things to blame. My problem is because of this, outwardly. I'll be finding an outward reason for my experience. If I am very happy, I'll then... Report an error in the passage at 52:23 Highlight the passage at 52:23

52:53 Think about this person is the reason for my happiness. My ability to relate to my experience from an internal place is much less. So that's someone with a very high external locus of control. Internal locus of control involves really being able to feel whatever you're experiencing is coming from you in terms of how you're seeing the situation, how you're relating to the situation. Report an error in the passage at 52:53 Highlight the passage at 52:53

53:22 So when you have... This sort of imbalance of the neurotic energy, you have much more of an external locus. You feel less in control. You basically need to have all the stars lined up for your experience. So there's less of a control in your experience. Report an error in the passage at 53:22 Highlight the passage at 53:22

53:46 And then what Report an error in the passage at 53:46 Highlight the passage at 53:46

53:52 that can easily turn into is what we'll talk about as material materialism. You then start looking towards hanging out with the right people. Doing the cool things and having the right things. In other words, when your mind is imbalanced in that locus of control, especially if you're feeling that you need to kind of be constantly looking for the outside for your approval. Report an error in the passage at 53:52 Highlight the passage at 53:52

54:19 And if there's a sense of expectation too, the expectancy is maybe that you need to have X, Y and Z to be a certain way. Then you're going to start being much more drawn towards owning things and having certain things that make you feel a certain way, hanging out with certain people. In other words, there's a materialism, the psychological materialism, that basically goes into the material materialism. Report an error in the passage at 54:19 Highlight the passage at 54:19

54:51 And the material materialism, again, is being really attached to certain things, certain people, and Report an error in the passage at 54:51 Highlight the passage at 54:51

55:03 Having our identity revolve around objects and social status and whatnot. That's material materialism. Material and materialism I think we all understand. I think what's more difficult to catch is psychological materialism and spiritual materialism. Report an error in the passage at 55:03 Highlight the passage at 55:03

55:26 Is there any questions on those two so far? Psychological materialism and spiritual? Report an error in the passage at 55:26 Highlight the passage at 55:26

55:40 Psychological materialism is both basically that attachment to our own... is, what um, Report an error in the passage at 55:40 Highlight the passage at 55:40

55:48 Confusion. And also, like we were saying, how ignoring what we maybe need to be doing and kind of proceeding with what we want to be doing. Report an error in the passage at 55:48 Highlight the passage at 55:48

56:01 So kind of a confusion of needs and wants. And basically, like Trungpa Rinpoche there was saying, this sort of deliberate ignoring of things. A deliberate boycott of wisdom. It's a much more, it's different than... Basically, denial. Because denial is you don't know maybe you're doing it. But a lot of times we do know our stuff, and yet we still just indulge in it. Report an error in the passage at 56:01 Highlight the passage at 56:01

56:30 And then, so there's that piece of it. Kind of a lack of balance in our own honesty. It's a place of inauthenticity, really. And also, whenever there's, I think, a prescription. Like thinking, okay... Having an attachment to a certain magic bullet. So if I go do this therapy, or if I just do this, if I just break up with this person, or if I just marry this person, I'll be happy. Report an error in the passage at 56:30 Highlight the passage at 56:30

57:07 That's psychological materialism. So you're relating to your experience with an almost over-general, simplified, a little bit naive relation to your suffering. You're looking for a magic bullet. Anytime that magic bullet syndrome comes up, whether it's in, if I just have a Porsche, I'll be happy. That's material materialism. If I just marry this person, I'll be happy. That's psychological. If I just do this retreat, I'll be happy. Report an error in the passage at 57:07 Highlight the passage at 57:07

57:42 Spiritual materialism. It's sort of a kind of overarching, overgeneral attachment. Attachment to some sort of prescription happiness Would Report an error in the passage at 57:42 Highlight the passage at 57:42

58:01 I be right in saying that Report an error in the passage at 58:01 Highlight the passage at 58:01

58:06 the overarching theme in these things is that you're distracting yourself with things out there surrounding you and not looking inwards? Is that what, is it basically you're procrastinating? You're like, oh I'll do this instead. Is that right? Does that make sense to you? It's externalizing. You're sort of looking at things outside. You're almost distracting yourself away from yourself and clinging on to things outside of yourself. Report an error in the passage at 58:06 Highlight the passage at 58:06

58:42 And if you have that thing, whether it's psychological or material or spiritual, that it will be okay. Right. And it can be very subtle because it could be even thinking that, okay, well, if I just do this sort of... Spiritual retreat where I'm not going to, you know, where I'm going to just settle my mind and then I'll be happy. So in a way, you're not even in that instance appealing to the thinking mind as much. Report an error in the passage at 58:42 Highlight the passage at 58:42

59:17 You're kind of trying to follow some prescription, a spiritual prescription towards, let's say, settling the mind. But it's sort of this attachment to a result that has to do with your... particular um expectation of happiness know if I just follow this prescription This is an interesting Report an error in the passage at 59:17 Highlight the passage at 59:17

1:00:04 place of overlap between spirituality and psychology because when we look at... Did you have a question? Brian? No. Oh, okay. You look? No. Okay. Um. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:04 Highlight the passage at 1:00:04

1:00:17 Unresolved grief, resentment. So unresolved grief first. It's one of the reasons people come to therapy. It's also one of the reasons people seek spiritual salvation because of their own grief issues. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:17 Highlight the passage at 1:00:17

1:00:45 Now, when you have... Unfinished business and also in terms of resentments, if you have resentments and if you have unfinished communication with people and if you have fear. So grief, resentment, unfinished communication and fear are oftentimes challenges Report an error in the passage at 1:00:45 Highlight the passage at 1:00:45

1:01:15 and sometimes obstacles to spiritual practice. These are very appropriate for psychology. If someone comes in for psychological treatment, it becomes very appropriate to address those head on. It becomes more difficult to address those in spiritual practice because meditation is not therapy. And this was really significant for me when I came across this. It was a teaching by Trungpa Rinpoche called Is Meditation Therapy? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:15 Highlight the passage at 1:01:15

1:01:48 And he says meditation is not therapy. Because in therapy, you're basically, there's a witness and there's a sense of testimony. There's a sense of you're saying something and someone's hearing it, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:48 Highlight the passage at 1:01:48

1:02:09 In meditation, there's not that sense of testimony where you are going to relay your story. There is no relaying of the story. In meditation, there's a cutting of the story, dropping the story. Now that doesn't mean you repress your emotions. You can be experiencing whatever it is you're experiencing and be with that, but you can drop the story. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:09 Highlight the passage at 1:02:09

1:02:37 In fact, you're supposed to drop the story. That's the practice of sitting meditation. You're developing the habit of the mind to cut the story. So it's not therapy in that sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:37 Highlight the passage at 1:02:37

1:02:56 So when you have unresolved grief, fear, Unfinished communication and resentment, those become challenges to dropping the story. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:56 Highlight the passage at 1:02:56

1:03:11 So what can often happen is we repress those things. We want to practice properly so whenever those things come up, we'll press them down. And we'll hope that they'll go away on their own when we finish a million mantras or a hundred thousand prostrations. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:11 Highlight the passage at 1:03:11

1:03:37 And that's one of the aspects of spiritual materialism. One of the other ways of talking about it is spiritual bypassing. You're trying to bypass these things using spiritual means. Again, you can try to be bypassing them using psychological means. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:37 Highlight the passage at 1:03:37

1:04:00 If you come in for psychological treatment and just basically confuse the method with your own, genuine process know if i just do this therapy or if i go to this therapist again we're going back to this magic bullet syndrome putting investing all this expectation in some sort of outer path or outer person to help us leapfrog the pain Report an error in the passage at 1:04:00 Highlight the passage at 1:04:00

1:04:50 but you have to think you will get something Yeah, and that's why it's very tricky because... Report an error in the passage at 1:04:50 Highlight the passage at 1:04:50

1:05:04 Because there's a grain of truth in seeking, you know, what's really real is we are suffering and we want to alleviate our suffering. That's really real. And then what also makes sense is we want to alleviate our suffering the most effective way possible. So that's real. But then the problem arises is when we are just having wishful thinking about something. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:04 Highlight the passage at 1:05:04

1:05:36 So that becomes why this is so difficult to catch, because of exactly that point. There is a genuine desire to help ourselves, and it makes sense to want to help ourselves the most effective way possible. The problem becomes, when are we engaging in wishful thinking? Because we want to take the shortest path to happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:36 Highlight the passage at 1:05:36

1:06:07 But sometimes wanting to take the shortest path becomes more of an obstacle because that becomes more of a priority. So we then try to find, and that's one of the reasons you have people doing like the occult spiritual shopping, you know, where they won't stick with something for very long because it'll feel like, well, maybe if I do this, it'll be faster. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:07 Highlight the passage at 1:06:07

1:06:29 Or if I do this, or we want these results to start happening quickly. And then... The question becomes, well, do I stick with it or do I move on? It becomes very difficult to tease that apart. And I think the major reason it's so complicated is because of hope and fear. The more hope and fear we have for a result, the more it's going to distort our decision-making process. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:29 Highlight the passage at 1:06:29

1:06:57 But it can work both work in a way where, you know, want to switch to something different because Report an error in the passage at 1:06:57 Highlight the passage at 1:06:57

1:07:06 well, if I stop doing it, I might actually lose whatever I gained from the process. And this is probably the same process somewhere reverse. It could be a very rational process. It could be a very good thing to make a decision around that. But if you have a lot of hope and fear, that can distort your... So in other words, I'm sure we've had experiences when we had a moment of clarity, like this is not going the right way. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:06 Highlight the passage at 1:07:06

1:07:39 And there's that moment of clarity and you change course versus there's a lot of versus times when we're doing something and we have a lot of fear about what if this doesn't work out this way. And so then we change course out of more of a sense of reaction as opposed to response. So the hope and fear, I think, is one way of looking. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:39 Highlight the passage at 1:07:39

1:08:10 How much hope and fear am I having about this? So would meditation be a way to clarify that? I think it's the only way. And the reason I think it's the only way is because it's the only activity that A, does not involve participating in that dialogue of hope and fear. You're in a way... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:10 Highlight the passage at 1:08:10

1:08:43 You're not dignifying the hope and fear. You're just allowing whatever to arise to arise and then the practice is to not follow the thought, to not continue with feeding the thought. So it's actually developing the muscle of what's regarded as like the lion's roar, they say. The lion's roar is one of the ways they talk about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:43 Highlight the passage at 1:08:43

1:09:11 The lion's roar is a symbol, it's actually the symbol of India. It's a lion with four heads. It represents beyond hope and fear. One of the examples they talk about in the teachings is if you throw a dog a stone, the dog chases the stone. But if you throw a lion a stone, the lion doesn't chase the stone. The lion sees who threw the stone. So that interesting analogy also refers to our thinking mind, where we're constantly chasing the thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:11 Highlight the passage at 1:09:11

1:09:48 And that sort of chasing the thought is by hope and fear. I hope for this, I don't want this. I want this, I don't want this. And of course, the eight worldly dharmas. Hope for happiness, fear of pain, hope for fame, fear of anonymity, hope for gain, fear of poverty. There's hope and fear constantly. And so Report an error in the passage at 1:09:48 Highlight the passage at 1:09:48

1:10:19 Practice of meditation, it's the only activity in which you're not following your thoughts. You're cutting through that. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:19 Highlight the passage at 1:10:19

1:10:30 So that's a place of cultivating beyond hope and fear. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:30 Highlight the passage at 1:10:30

1:10:48 Just taking that thought a little bit further, you also say that grief, resentment, etc. may kind of be an obstacle to having a meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:48 Highlight the passage at 1:10:48

1:11:03 Are you saying that meditation and psychology can be like parallel practices that can help you on that road? Or is there another way that you can do meditation and still not let these obstacles get in the way? Or how do you think about where those two have a place in somebody's route to wisdom or happiness? Report an error in the passage at 1:11:03 Highlight the passage at 1:11:03

1:11:26 What was the last thing you said? Where do those two practices have a place on that road? And do they both have it? Are they both necessary? Or how do you look at that? You know, I think it really, one of the most important pieces of that is that we're practicing things that are from another culture. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:26 Highlight the passage at 1:11:26

1:11:50 And so, you know, whether you're from India, China, Japan, California, you're going to have very different messages growing up, you know, and you're going to have... The whole issue of psychology is very culture-bound. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:50 Highlight the passage at 1:11:50

1:12:12 I'm not able to speak about other cultures and what the psychological makeup is so much there. But as one example, though, of how different it is, I always hear the story of His Holiness was here with a group of Western teachers. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:12 Highlight the passage at 1:12:12

1:12:37 One of the teachers asked him about low self-esteem. And he had no idea what the person was talking about. And he asked his translator to translate. What does he mean, low self-esteem? There was no corollary. So that gives you an idea of how profoundly different it can be. In Tibet, they don't even have the word low self-esteem. He was very alienated by that. He was asking, why would you... Report an error in the passage at 1:12:37 Highlight the passage at 1:12:37

1:13:07 Beat yourself up. Why would you feel bad about yourself? You should feel good about yourself. So that is just a little sliver of how different it can be. In our culture, I think psychology can be absolutely helpful in our growth. It's a question of, in the case of Buddhism, not confusing Buddhist psychology with Buddhism as a psychology. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:07 Highlight the passage at 1:13:07

1:13:38 When you confuse Buddhism as a psychology, then you are kind of wanting your cake and you want to eat it too. You want to keep what sort of makes sense and then you don't want to participate in what doesn't make sense. Buddhism is a path that has basically certain features that are very difficult for us to accept, like karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:38 Highlight the passage at 1:13:38

1:14:05 Buddhism has these... know, um... Report an error in the passage at 1:14:05 Highlight the passage at 1:14:05

1:14:08 of refuge know So when we try to relate to Buddhism as a psychology and try to basically just use Buddhism to help us just with the psychological thing and then ignore the refuge, ignore the karma, ignore the idea on a teacher. So then you're confusing it for what it is. Which is not to say that if you are having issues like the things I was mentioning, unresolved issues. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:08 Highlight the passage at 1:14:08

1:14:37 That those could not or should not be addressed in a therapeutic environment. That's what psychology is very much geared for. So they can be parallel and very complementary. But the danger is not to confuse and to take a shortcut that isn't going to maybe be a shortcut. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:37 Highlight the passage at 1:14:37

1:15:02 What is Buddhist psychology? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:02 Highlight the passage at 1:15:02

1:15:10 So what is Buddhist psychology? Buddhist psychology generally tends to be... What is Buddhist psychology? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:10 Highlight the passage at 1:15:10

1:15:15 Have you heard of Abhidharma? Abhidharma is one of the kind of collected literary pieces of Buddhism. You have different collections of texts. One of them is, for example, teachings on emptiness, Prajnaparamita. One of them is teachings on vows, Vinaya. Abhidharma is sort of an encyclopedia, so to speak, of cosmology and also psychology. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:15 Highlight the passage at 1:15:15

1:15:17 it's a... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:17 Highlight the passage at 1:15:17

1:15:44 And Buddhist psychology in general is related to what we call mental factors. So in Buddhism, in Buddhist psychology, they talk about what's regarded as reciprocal inhibition. So it means if you're having an anger, which is a mental factor, then you develop the mental factor of patience. And in psychology, they call that reciprocal inhibition. So you inhibit the anger with patience. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:44 Highlight the passage at 1:15:44

1:16:14 So the Buddhist psychology really revolves around mental factors, identifying the mental factors, and then being able to notice which mental factor is related. So if I'm having anger, then cultivate patience. If I'm having jealousy, cultivate equanimity. That's in general traditionally considered Buddhist psychology. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:14 Highlight the passage at 1:16:14

1:16:39 And then that would be the sūtra. And then in the tantra, Teachings would be more along what I was talking about earlier about those five energies and transmuting those energies. So there is a Buddhist psychology in some ways, but it's much less, it's very different than what we consider psychology in general. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:39 Highlight the passage at 1:16:39

1:17:05 I'm still a little bit confused. If you have a solid Tibetan Buddhist practice, are you saying you still need to do Western therapy? You may. It doesn't mean you have to, but you may. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:05 Highlight the passage at 1:17:05

1:17:20 So are you saying that a Tibetan Buddhist path is not necessarily going to take care of all your neuroses? I think it relates to whether you are able to process your issues. Now whether that means being able to process your issues through your own practice. But just because you have a practice doesn't mean you will be able to process your issues. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:20 Highlight the passage at 1:17:20

1:17:52 So in other words, just by the fact that you've adopted a daily spiritual practice doesn't mean that then the job's done. So that's why you can have, that's why the whole term spiritual materialism, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:52 Highlight the passage at 1:17:52

1:18:12 I think what I'd like to maybe end with before lunch is they talk about the three scopes of, the first scope of basically Report an error in the passage at 1:18:12 Highlight the passage at 1:18:12

1:18:28 wanting to go, you know, wanting to basically understand karma so that you don't suffer. So the first scope is I want to go to the God realm and I don't want to go to the hell realm. The second scope is I want to be out of this whole shebang. And the third scope is I want everyone to be out of this whole shebang. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:28 Highlight the passage at 1:18:28

1:18:54 Me and Brian last year were into a teaching at Shambhala Center in Berkeley. That was really interesting. Khandro Rinpoche, a Kagyu nun, was teaching on the three scopes. And she talked about the first scope and said, OK, we do our practice and we, you know, take refuge and we wish for the happiness of all beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:54 Highlight the passage at 1:18:54

1:19:20 And we don't really connect that to our life. She said, you know, really the first scope, the importance of that is to first connect with your own hopes and fears. And just be real. Like, sit down on your cushion and really kind of be okay with how you want to have a good day. You don't want to, you know, be stuck in traffic. You don't want to have things not go the way you want them. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:20 Highlight the passage at 1:19:20

1:19:50 And that's the first real place to start with. Your own genuine hopes and fears. That's important because you're connected with the reality of what's going on for you. And so the danger becomes not connecting with that reality first and then sort of saying the verses, may I be able to give my limbs to others, may all beings be happy and then you kind of get up and go and you're not connected to the reality of your own life yet. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:50 Highlight the passage at 1:19:50

1:20:20 And so these scopes, they have to go in order. You first connect with the reality of your own situation and then you're actually able to really then open your eyes to others. So that was a really powerful teaching, I thought, along this line. Do you guys want to get back at 1.30? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20:20

1:20:43 And then we'll go into the text that was given out. Are there any other questions? Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:43 Highlight the passage at 1:20:43

· · · silence, 9 minutes

1:30:17 The text Report an error in the passage at 1:30:17 Highlight the passage at 1:30:17

1:30:34 that we're going to talk about is, is there any comments or questions before we begin? It's called Transforming Suffering and Happiness into Enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:34 Highlight the passage at 1:30:34

1:30:47 I had a rendition. There's two translations of this text. One is by Tolkotundu in Enlightened Living, and the other translation of this text is by Adam Piercy of the Rigpa Fellowship. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:47 Highlight the passage at 1:30:47

1:31:01 I took both and kind of made a translation that I really liked, and I couldn't find it. I couldn't find it on my computer or anywhere. So I printed out Adam's translation. This is available online. If you look at the bottom left, They have lots of wonderful texts that's translated and available. So the title is Turning Suffering and Happiness into Enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:01 Highlight the passage at 1:31:01

1:31:36 It's by Dodrupchen Jigmi Tempanema, who was the third incarnation of the Dodrupchen line in the Nyingma lineage. He was born in 1865 and he lived 62 years, died in 1926. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:36 Highlight the passage at 1:31:36

1:31:58 He was regarded as a renowned scholar who was giving lectures on the way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva at the age of eight to hundreds of monks and nuns. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:58 Highlight the passage at 1:31:58

1:32:12 He did not need a tutor when he was studying these texts. He was extremely influenced by the Galukpa lineage and when he was head of the monastery, the Drupchen Monastery, the sūtra teachings of that monastery were in accord with the Galukpa lineage. The tantra teachings were nigma. So even though he was a Nyingma Lama, he was versed in both the new school and the old school. If this isn't making sense for people, it's okay. I'm just giving an overview of the person. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:12 Highlight the passage at 1:32:12

1:32:44 He gave more than 100 commentaries on the way of the Bodhisattva, and he gave more than 50 commentaries on the Goyagarbha Tantra in terms of teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:44 Highlight the passage at 1:32:44

1:32:55 At the age of 35, he entered retreat for the rest of his life, and he did not see people. It was extremely difficult to see him. He only saw the most... Esteemed masters of the time. There is one incident of Tarachan Sogyal who was the previous incarnation of Soju Rinpoche and requested Dodukchen Rinpoche to give a teaching to his consular. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:55 Highlight the passage at 1:32:55

1:33:22 And since Dodukchen Rinpoche was a monk, he basically was such a proper monk that he was willing to be carried to the threshold of his monastery. Not his monastery, but his retreat cabin. And he gave the teaching to the consort who was sitting on the other side of the threshold. Because being a monk, he had never had a woman enter his retreat dwelling. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:22 Highlight the passage at 1:33:22

1:33:48 So he was a very proper monk. I Report an error in the passage at 1:33:48 Highlight the passage at 1:33:48

1:33:56 think there was some interesting information. This is a great book, Masters of Meditation and Miracles. It discusses the biographies of the masters of the Nyingma lineage. And here it discussed, it said... Report an error in the passage at 1:33:56 Highlight the passage at 1:33:56

1:34:12 Dodrup Chin produced five volumes of scholarly treaties on both Sūtra and Tantra. Among these, his text on Changchup Senpei's Zung, which translates as Memories of the Bodhisattvas, was profusely praised by scholars as a work of unprecedented originality. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:12 Highlight the passage at 1:34:12

1:34:35 He wrote many texts that were important for the Nigma tradition, and among his other works were Tekinamshe, a detailed description of the discovery of the hidden mystical teachings, and Keduk Lamker, a short but profound piece on turning happiness and suffering into the training of Buddhism. That last text is what you guys have right now. He wrote five major texts, so this is one of his five major texts. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:35 Highlight the passage at 1:34:35

1:35:11 The present 14th Report an error in the passage at 1:35:11 Highlight the passage at 1:35:11

1:35:21 Dalai Lama has also praised the works of the third Dodrupchen Rinpoche. In his private interviews and public speeches, there's the greatest scholarly works on the Nigma view, and he has recommended reading them in order to learn the unique views of the Nigma. He has said that the lineage of his own understanding and realization of Zopa Rinpoche and Nigma first came to him from the Third Deduction by reading his writings. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:21 Highlight the passage at 1:35:21

1:35:45 That particularly, His Holiness, talks about the Third Deduction in the last chapter of Kindness, Clarity and Insight, in his book Kindness, Clarity and Insight. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:45 Highlight the passage at 1:35:45

1:36:03 So this is a very profound... Text, obviously, and I wish I could say that I realized even one line of it. It's been a text that's been with me for 12 years, and it's sort of kind of had this orbital experience of my kind of really studying it and really embracing it and then kind of going off on my own trip for a year or two and then returning to this text. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:03 Highlight the passage at 1:36:03

1:36:36 And then having it even like affect me even more than going on my own trip and then going back to this text and back to this text. So for the past 12 years, it's been constantly a part of in one way or the other, either directly, closely or from more proximately, very important for me. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:36 Highlight the passage at 1:36:36

1:36:58 What I'd like to do is to really discuss the psychological pieces of it, since that's more what I am. comfortable talking about. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:58 Highlight the passage at 1:36:58

1:37:13 received teachings on this too from Soggyo Rinpoche many times. This was one of the first teachings that I received from Soggyo Rinpoche. So I've been able to listen to commentaries, which has been very helpful for me. My Report an error in the passage at 1:37:13 Highlight the passage at 1:37:13

1:37:31 aim in bringing this text is, in the beginning of the morning, I was hoping to talk about confusion and dishonesty with ourselves and the world. so that was done in the context of We try to avoid suffering and we try to obtain happiness. And so in that endeavor of avoiding suffering and wanting happiness, it's easy for us to be dishonest about what we're doing. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:31 Highlight the passage at 1:37:31

1:38:02 So that first part of the morning was about confusion. So now in the last part, I'd like to talk about the actual tools that... Could be very powerful, but I wanted to sort of lay the groundwork for where we can go wrong before discussing how we can maybe proceed. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:02 Highlight the passage at 1:38:02

1:38:32 You know, and this is coming from my experience because I'm sort of most guilty of initially wanting the Dharma to solve all my problems, kind of wanting to take a shortcut away from issues and then crashing and burning. And I tend to go to this text during my crash and burn moments. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:32 Highlight the passage at 1:38:32

1:38:55 So the experience for me during my crash and burn moments for the past 12 years with this text is what has motivated me to want to bring it into today's talk. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:55 Highlight the passage at 1:38:55

1:39:12 So has anyone ever read this text before or seen it? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:12 Highlight the passage at 1:39:12

1:39:20 So in general with Dharma texts there's homage and the homage is regarded as basically being able to encapsulate the entire teaching. So whenever there's an homage in a Dharma text, it's traditional for the person writing the homage to summarize the entire teaching in the homage. So you actually, if you were able to understand the teaching well, you would need not to even read the rest. You would just read the homage and understand the entire teaching. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:20 Highlight the passage at 1:39:20

1:39:50 He pays homage to Avalokiteshvara. Is that an unfamiliar name to anyone, Avalokiteshvara? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:50 Highlight the passage at 1:39:50

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:40:39 Avalokiteshvara. is the Buddha of Compassion and they talk about His Holiness as being the manifestation of Avalokiteshvara. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:39 Highlight the passage at 1:40:39

1:40:51 Buddhas, they make aspirations before they attain enlightenment. So, oh there's Avalokiteshvara up there too. And so the aspiration of Avalokiteshvara was that whoever Report an error in the passage at 1:40:51 Highlight the passage at 1:40:51

1:41:10 basically prays to his energy is alleviated of suffering. There's Vajrapani, for example, which is power. So whoever prays to Vajrapani is able to invoke the creative energy of breaking through obstacles. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:10 Highlight the passage at 1:41:10

1:41:28 Different deities represent different energies in that way, so I don't want to get into Tantra. But Abilakiteshvar represents the energy of compassion. and the Report an error in the passage at 1:41:28 Highlight the passage at 1:41:28

1:41:42 The depiction of Avalokiteshvara is sometimes with four arms and sometimes with a thousand arms. Sometimes you see images of Avalokiteshvara with a thousand arms and on each of the palms there's an eye. The story goes that because he was such a gung-ho bodhisattva, he would basically with his power of compassion be able to alleviate and completely empty the hell realms. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:42 Highlight the passage at 1:41:42

1:42:10 And he would do that. He completely emptied the hell realms. And what he found was he thought he was, okay, that was a good job, you know. And then within short order, you know, like the time it took for maybe, for him to take a couple deep breaths, the hell realms were replenished. And he was so disheartened by that, that he almost basically gave up. He hadn't taken the vow to... Report an error in the passage at 1:42:10 Highlight the passage at 1:42:10

1:42:41 To alleviate the suffering of beings until everyone attains enlightenment, he had this moment of feeling disheartened completely and he sort of gave up. He's like, what's the point? And that sort of, the story goes that he shattered into a thousand pieces because he broke the vow and basically just was at the end, kind of had that sort of collapse, so to speak. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:41 Highlight the passage at 1:42:41

1:43:13 Symbolic and representative of how we fall apart. He literally fell apart. And his teacher, Amitabha, who is depicted in red, put him back together. And put him back together with a thousand arms. So he was able to come out of the suffering even stronger. Completely more fearless. So it was almost like, you know, going, this kind of archetype that we see in myths too, kind of going down to the very bottom and then returning even stronger. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:13 Highlight the passage at 1:43:13

1:43:59 And so that's sometimes when you see the thousand arms, it's kind of, that's the, that's what, that's the big thing. So the Dalai Lama Rinpoche pays homage to Avalokiteshvara and he recalls the qualities of rejoicing at the happiness of others. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:59 Highlight the passage at 1:43:59

1:44:20 also feeling their sorrow. And he summarizes this by saying how the full realization of Avalokiteshvara is embodied without a care for your own happiness or suffering. The text is regarding this sort of altruism without regard for one's own suffering or happiness. Now that's one of the reasons I want to talk this morning a lot about Psychology is because we have to be careful around, again, feeling like my needs are not important and I just care about others. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:20 Highlight the passage at 1:44:20

1:45:08 Kind of trying to Report an error in the passage at 1:45:08 Highlight the passage at 1:45:08

1:45:13 assume the posture of a saint when maybe what we're doing is more self-serving. The term codependency comes up too around that. So this text, because it's such an amazing, powerful text, it can also be sort of... Important to understand how you can kind of go wrong to interpreting it. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:13 Highlight the passage at 1:45:13

1:45:43 So the statement of intent, he says I'm going to put down a partial instruction. And that is actually, it's not partial, it should be brief. The word partial is cha-sam, which is a piece of a chunk. And Adam was being literal. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:43 Highlight the passage at 1:45:43

1:46:05 the I was talking to a friend of mine who's a Tibetan scholar and we were talking about this word and it's really supposed to be brief, not partial. And he talks about later how this is a complete teaching, so it's not a partial teaching. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:05 Highlight the passage at 1:46:05

1:46:21 He describes his teaching as being indispensable for leading a spiritual life, a most needed tool of the noble ones and quite the most priceless teaching in the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:21 Highlight the passage at 1:46:21

1:46:40 So the first part is relating to suffering. How do you suffering? As the path to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:40 Highlight the passage at 1:46:40

1:46:51 And I think when we talk about this word enlightenment, it's sort of important to keep in mind that he's not referring to happiness. He's referring to enlightenment, which is unfathomable. But one of the qualities of it is a quality of egolessness. So when we relate to happiness, it's important to relate to it. How are we relating to it? Are we relating to it from a place of me? Report an error in the passage at 1:46:51 Highlight the passage at 1:46:51

1:47:20 Or a place of less self-importance, kind of more for others. So that sense of, the word enlightenment is pretty loaded and it's important to keep in mind there's a difference there between happiness and enlightenment in this text, which will become more clear. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:20 Highlight the passage at 1:47:20

1:47:40 So the first part I think is really relevant for psychology. It says whenever we are harmed by sentient beings or anything else, we make a habit out of perceiving only the suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:40 Highlight the passage at 1:47:40

1:47:58 when even the smallest problem comes up, enormous anguish will come up in our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:58 Highlight the passage at 1:47:58

1:48:04 this is because the nature of any perception or idea is to grow stronger. So as the strength of this pattern builds up, before long we'll find that just about everything we perceive becomes a cause for actually attracting unhappiness, and happiness will never get a chance. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:04 Highlight the passage at 1:48:04

1:48:25 So that is... That's actually those two right there. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:25 Highlight the passage at 1:48:25

1:48:36 It's making a very, I think, profound and subtle point about how our aversion to suffering is a habit, which we usually don't think about. If we stub our toe, it feels like very natural to not want the pain. But that actual aversion to pain, the Drupchin is pointing out, is actually a habit. There's nothing inherent about that aversion. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:36 Highlight the passage at 1:48:36

1:49:02 It's something that we have gotten accustomed to. Naturally, we don't want pain, but the aversion of it, that kind of level of aversion and the building up of it, of the aversion, is something that we've developed. It's kind of like the difference between the physical pain of something and then the mental anguish that comes as a result. And the mental piece of no and the aversion is... Report an error in the passage at 1:49:02 Highlight the passage at 1:49:02

1:49:32 Is a quality that we actually have habituated ourselves to, developed through lifetimes and lifetimes of just basically pushing away. This is very subtle. And then the entire field of mindfulness and psychology revolves around this one point that how we respond to suffering is a major part of the suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:32 Highlight the passage at 1:49:32

1:50:04 When we're responding with... Sort of that knee-jerk response of no, it fuels the suffering. This is one of the reasons the whole field of mindfulness really took off in the area of chronic pain. People with chronic pain were obviously experiencing the physical pain, but also there was that mental pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:04 Highlight the passage at 1:50:04

1:50:34 And they found that if you actually reduce the mental anguish, it dramatically helps. With coping with this physical pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:34 Highlight the passage at 1:50:34

1:50:50 In the field of depression, they found that there's a tendency towards easily getting triggered in the negative with what they call the kindling effect. So the person who has had a history of depression, and this shouldn't be news, this is what I think would be expected, that a person with a history of depression will... Report an error in the passage at 1:50:50 Highlight the passage at 1:50:50

1:51:23 Basically identify more naturally with the negativity around them as opposed to maybe the positive. So there's a sense of, you know, when you talk about getting up on the wrong side of the bed, and so the whole day, everything just irritates you. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:23 Highlight the passage at 1:51:23

1:51:40 So the Dalai Lama here is making a point that has sustained the field of cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness-based therapies for the past 20 years. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:40 Highlight the passage at 1:51:40

1:51:53 He really bloomed into all this research and he's making this point, I think it's interesting, more than 100 years ago regarding the importance of not relating to pain in a knee-jerk fashion. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:53 Highlight the passage at 1:51:53

1:52:18 So actually not taking for granted that the aversion is part of us, that the aversion is actually something we've developed and it's a habit, aversion. To suffering is a habit. This took me years to get. I mean, when I first came across it, it was sort of intellectually, I think I understood it, but I remember a few years later, six years later maybe, it really profoundly affected me because it was so subtle, you know, how we're always doing this, pushing away, pushing away no, you know, if it's hurting, and how that's actually something that's an added layer to the whole thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:18 Highlight the passage at 1:52:18

1:53:04 And he kind of goes on, if we do not realize that it all depends on the way in which mind develops this habit, and instead we put the blame on external objects and situations alone, the flames of suffering, negative karma, aggression and so on will spread like wildfire without end. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:04 Highlight the passage at 1:53:04

1:53:22 This is what is called all appearances arising as enemies. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:22 Highlight the passage at 1:53:22

1:53:34 And so this Report an error in the passage at 1:53:34 Highlight the passage at 1:53:34

1:53:41 kind of facet of lack of discernment, lack of understanding the difference between how we react to something. Versus the thing itself as being a major reason for our suffering is this quality of what he calls the power of discernment. And he goes on to say that we should really convince ourselves that the whole reason why sentient beings in this degenerate age are plagued by so much suffering is because they have such feeble powers of discernment. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:41 Highlight the passage at 1:53:41

1:54:35 Mind training. This is a mind training text. So the two mind training attitudes that he encourages is to actually eliminate as much as possible the actual aversion to suffering and then to try to actually cultivate being joyful when suffering arises. That's a very powerful mind training technique. And he goes on to describe what he means. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:35 Highlight the passage at 1:54:35

1:55:12 So the first one is dropping the attitude of being averse to suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:12 Highlight the passage at 1:55:12

1:55:27 So he brings in a very famous teaching by Shantideva here. And he says, basically, we should try to eliminate our aversion to suffering because if there's something we can do about a problem, then there's no logical reason to bend ourselves out of shape. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:27 Highlight the passage at 1:55:27

1:55:56 And if there's nothing we can do about a problem, then there's also no logical reason to bend ourselves out of shape. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:56 Highlight the passage at 1:55:56

1:56:06 So what's going on here is a logical argument around how we habitually respond. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:06 Highlight the passage at 1:56:06

1:56:17 And these are things I talk to my patients about. I mean, this doesn't have to be, you don't have to be a Buddhist to understand what he's saying here. It's a kind of logical argument he's making. There's something you can do about it, there's nothing to worry about. And if there's nothing you can do about it, there's nothing to worry about. Anxiety is not useful. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:17 Highlight the passage at 1:56:17

1:56:41 I mean, they talk about how there's useful anxiety to study for an exam or useful anxiety to finish a project, but in those cases you're doing something about it. There's nothing you can do about something, and if there's something you can do about it, in both cases it's a question of just matter-of-factly doing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:41 Highlight the passage at 1:56:41

1:57:00 That the addition of really getting Report an error in the passage at 1:57:00 Highlight the passage at 1:57:00

1:57:06 depressed and getting, you know, debilitating anxiety or of that record player that goes on in our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:06 Highlight the passage at 1:57:06

1:57:20 gives a meditation to this. This is contemplative meditation practice. So here he says, now say to yourself from now on, He's assuming that you agree with him so far. From now on, whenever I have to suffer, I will never become anxious or irritated. Go over this again and again in your mind and summon all your courage and determination. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:20 Highlight the passage at 1:57:20

1:58:08 And he ends on the very last paragraph of the first page. As long as we don't get anxious and irritated, then our strength of mind will enable us to bear even the hardest of sufferings. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:08 Highlight the passage at 1:58:08

1:58:23 But if we're dominated by anxiety, even the tiniest problem becomes extremely difficult to cope with because we have the additional burden of mental discomfort and unhappiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:23 Highlight the passage at 1:58:23

1:58:35 So this is really, there's nothing that psychology currently says that's not being said here. And in addition, there's a quality there of confidence. If you're able to not be, if there's a quality of not recoiling from the suffering, Of not freaking out and of not breaking down, of actually not having that sense of recoil, then it actually very much promotes confidence that this is not a burden I need to be holding on to. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:35 Highlight the passage at 1:58:35

1:59:15 If I can't do something about this situation, there is no basis for continuing to exhaust myself mentally. So there's a quality where your own mental capacity is more functional because you have less stress and you have less stress because you've understood the uselessness of the stress. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:15 Highlight the passage at 1:59:15

1:59:41 And that ability to be more functional mentally actually allows for more creative solutions and greater tolerance. He Report an error in the passage at 1:59:41 Highlight the passage at 1:59:41

1:59:58 gives an example too. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:58 Highlight the passage at 1:59:58

2:00:12 He says if you're trying to... Report an error in the passage at 2:00:12 Highlight the passage at 2:00:12

2:00:20 If you're tripping out about what's wrong with the situation, if you're basically stressed out, your ability to successfully get over the problem, it's like trying to overcome your desire for an attractive man or woman by thinking about their attractive qualities. It completely is working at cross-purposes. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:20 Highlight the passage at 2:00:20

2:00:50 it's... You're contradicting your own efforts. So your intention to get through a problem very much is supported by you not dwelling on what's wrong with the problem, with the situation, and is very much, you shoot yourself in the foot when you begin dwelling on how the situation, excuse my language, sucks. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:50 Highlight the passage at 2:00:50

2:01:21 So... It's being very clear about where do I want my energy to go. I think the take home message on the first part of this text is that the mind is very, very plastic. The mind is very, very malleable. Like a crystal, whatever colored cloth you put in front of it, it turns into that color. And the mind is so plastic that it's even able to be retrained in its aversion to suffering. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:21 Highlight the passage at 2:01:21

2:01:52 That's very... Report an error in the passage at 2:01:52 Highlight the passage at 2:01:52

2:01:56 The mind is so malleable that you can retrain its habit of being averse to suffering. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:56 Highlight the passage at 2:01:56

2:02:10 So that's the first part of discussing the uselessness of being averse to suffering. I Report an error in the passage at 2:02:10 Highlight the passage at 2:02:10

2:02:28 have a question. What's the difference between this and repressing your feelings or stuffing your feelings? So can you give me an example? Report an error in the passage at 2:02:28 Highlight the passage at 2:02:28

2:02:42 Well, let's say someone said something to you that was disrespectful and you didn't say anything back, but you're just kind of stewing. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:42 Highlight the passage at 2:02:42

2:02:52 Yeah. But do you just, if you did this practice enough, then you wouldn't be angry? Well, it would depend on the situation, but I think in that instance, what I would want to do is address it. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:52 Highlight the passage at 2:02:52

2:03:14 You know, that someone stepped on my toes and a need of mine has been compromised or not acknowledged. That could a lot of times be a situation where you can do something about it. So we talked about if there's nothing you can do about it, don't trip. And if there's something you can do about it, do it. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:14 Highlight the passage at 2:03:14

2:03:38 in cases which painful communication, think... A lot of times, if we're able to get into the habit of identifying what is the need, and this is very much part of nonviolent communication, and then be able to give voice to, well, I hear what you're saying, this is what I'm hearing you say, and this is what's coming up for me. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:38 Highlight the passage at 2:03:38

2:04:09 And there's an actual, a lot of times, by being skillful in the communication, there is something you can do about it. Now, a lot of times... There isn't. Again, it depends on the circumstance. But one of the ways I talk about repression of the feelings is, and this is from Pema Chodron, she talks about be with the experience, drop the storyline. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:09 Highlight the passage at 2:04:09

2:04:42 So you're there with the pain, but what the training of the mind is doing here is you're not going to continue to feed that loop. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:42 Highlight the passage at 2:04:42

2:04:56 So you're dropping the mental... Report an error in the passage at 2:04:56 Highlight the passage at 2:04:56

2:05:00 And that, you can see how we have that. We'll get some sort of emotional thing that comes up and then it'll just generate an episode number 10, episode number 12, you know. In a whole kind of series. And then that storyline will feed back into the emotion. And so it becomes like this feedback loop. Yes. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:00 Highlight the passage at 2:05:00

2:05:22 In cognitive psychology, they call that the central engine of cognition. So this is actually, there's a whole, I mean, They're doing all this research in psychology and they're excited about it. A lot of this is already in the teachings. So in that instance, the task is to really be with the experience and to drop the storyline as much as you can. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:22 Highlight the passage at 2:05:22

2:05:47 And it's sometimes really difficult to drop the storyline and then to forgive yourself for that. Do you hear what I'm saying? So dropping the storyline is a way to achieve his instructions. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:47 Highlight the passage at 2:05:47

2:06:05 Is this even on? Am I even being recorded here? Really? Oh, okay. Hello? Report an error in the passage at 2:06:05 Highlight the passage at 2:06:05

2:06:17 Does that go for grief as well? Grief. Can you say a little more what you mean? You say drop the storyline. Yeah. And would you do that with grief as well? I mean, how would you use this advice when coping with grief? Report an error in the passage at 2:06:17 Highlight the passage at 2:06:17

2:06:43 Well, again, that's, you talk about the stages of grief, that there's stages to grief, you know, and so it's a very dynamic process, noticing if you're stuck in one of those places, you know, there's, part of it is, what, denial, right, the first one, and then? Anger. Anger, and then, yeah, so there's these stages to it, and so it's a dynamic process, but noticing, Report an error in the passage at 2:06:43 Highlight the passage at 2:06:43

2:07:15 Again, the thoughts that come from it, a lot of times it could be anger at yourself, anger at others, and there's a kind of a quality there that if you want something to die, then you don't feed it. Grief is something which is very real, but it also can generate a very strong plethora of mental gossip. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:15 Highlight the passage at 2:07:15

2:07:41 So this is something which, again, you're there with the experience, noticing how the... There's an attachment to almost not being able to let go yet. And being with that too. But really making that distinction between going on and on in your head, which again is not necessarily going to be the most healing thing for you. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:41 Highlight the passage at 2:07:41

2:08:20 What's really healing is being where you're at, with the experience. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:20 Highlight the passage at 2:08:20

2:08:26 So that piece I think really does apply similarly. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:26 Highlight the passage at 2:08:26

2:08:41 Because then also I think when you're with the experience, you have more sympathy for yourself. You have more compassion for yourself. Because you're allowing yourself to feel whatever it is you're feeling without judging it. And that's such a powerful place when you have sympathy for whatever it is that's happening to you and compassion for yourself. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:41 Highlight the passage at 2:08:41

2:09:03 You shift from a place of maybe judgment of yourself and others to acceptance of yourself as you are. Sometimes people will grieve about something for years and they'll be beating themselves up about it for still grieving about it. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:03 Highlight the passage at 2:09:03

2:09:33 In these two questions and examples that have just been given, could you then just talk a little bit about where the power of discernment comes in? Report an error in the passage at 2:09:33 Highlight the passage at 2:09:33

2:09:47 Well, with the last question on grief, I think you said, or with both of them, you said, okay, you sit with them, and then I guess you apply the power of discernment as to what's really going on with that pain. The discernment would be to distinguish the experience from the storyline. Uh-huh. So you were saying... Report an error in the passage at 2:09:47 Highlight the passage at 2:09:47

2:10:18 Okay, the first question is that you would drop the storyline about how this incidence of feeling disrespect came in and then you're just looking at the feeling and the experience of, I guess, what you're feeling and experiencing. If there's nothing you can do about it. Right. So if you've had a painful interaction with someone and you've tried to remedy the problem and it hasn't worked, then there's that place of, okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:18 Highlight the passage at 2:10:18

2:10:48 So now what? And so the now what would be being with whatever's going on, but noticing the mind and its tendency to want to kind of create, you know, a story and just being able to, again and again, getting into the habit of not going there. I'm going to be with what's going on here with me now. I'm not going to go in a mental place of, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:48 Highlight the passage at 2:10:48

2:11:18 And with the grief, I mean, there's there's really nothing that can be done to fix that. Right. So then again, it was you were saying, OK, so now you have to sit with that feeling and then discern whether it's a I don't know if your ego is attached to something that's going on within the suffering or if it's, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:18 Highlight the passage at 2:11:18

2:11:45 The suffering is very real and you just have to kind of sit through it and have it work itself through. Well, that's one of the reasons I think the cornerstone of all of this is meditation. Because when you meditate, you get better at being able to notice the chatter, the mental gossip. And when there is not so much the practice of getting accustomed to doing that, more difficult to notice the chatter. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:45 Highlight the passage at 2:11:45

2:12:15 Because the chatter is going on all the time that it just feels like part of who you are. But when you allow the mind to settle, there's a greater capacity to be able to distinguish and discern the mental noise from just presence. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:15 Highlight the passage at 2:12:15

2:12:32 Emotions are very much in the present moment, in the here and now you'll have the emotion. And then it becomes something where you can now notice how your mind spins off. into its own kind of story and that becomes more easily distinguished from just being with in the present moment of the emotion. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:32 Highlight the passage at 2:12:32

2:12:58 So then would that be what you were referring to as mirror-like wisdom in that these emotions are just being reflected in your mind but you're not engaging in them and building a further story. All the wisdoms are present for that. When you're able to rest in the nature of mind you have all the energies. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:58 Highlight the passage at 2:12:58

2:13:18 You have the wisdom of spaciousness. You have the ability to discern. You have the capacity to have that holding of your whole experience of panoramic mirror-like wisdom. You have the capacity for equanimity. You have the capacity for generosity towards yourself. So all those energies are present in the nature of mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:18 Highlight the passage at 2:13:18

2:13:41 So then that's what you're working with when you're doing this mind training, this practice. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:41 Highlight the passage at 2:13:41

2:13:52 This mind training involves both things. He says, I'm going to talk about suffering through relative truth and through absolute truth. The relative truth would involve coming to some logical conclusions. Anxiety is not going to help me. And then getting really clear on that. That's the relative truth. You come to a conclusion about something and... Report an error in the passage at 2:13:52 Highlight the passage at 2:13:52

2:14:22 Then you meditate on that conclusion. The Absolute Truth, where does he say it? He's supposed to be saying it right around, oh Report an error in the passage at 2:14:22 Highlight the passage at 2:14:22

2:14:38 here we are. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:38 Highlight the passage at 2:14:38

2:14:42 If you look at right above where it says cultivating the attitude of being joyful when suffering arises, it says don't latch on to all kinds of mind-made concepts about your suffering. Learn instead to leave the mind undisturbed in its own natural state. Bring the mind home, rest there, and let it find its own ground. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:42 Highlight the passage at 2:14:42

2:15:13 So that's the absolute truth. All the energies are there in the nature of mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:13 Highlight the passage at 2:15:13

2:15:30 So that's the first part on dropping the attitude of being averse to suffering. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:30 Highlight the passage at 2:15:30

2:15:44 Now we come to the long part, and then we'll do a tea break. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:44 Highlight the passage at 2:15:44

2:16:02 Cultivating the attitude of being joyful when suffering arises. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:02 Highlight the passage at 2:16:02

2:16:13 So it's basically, he's going to list here a series of practices in which suffering can become the basis for growing, the actual gasoline. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:13 Highlight the passage at 2:16:13

2:16:36 And he says that these basic practices that he's about to outline here, if you haven't gotten familiar with them, okay? Report an error in the passage at 2:16:36 Highlight the passage at 2:16:36

2:16:45 And it doesn't mean all of them, but in each particular case, there is an importance of getting familiar with the practice. For example, Report an error in the passage at 2:16:45 Highlight the passage at 2:16:45

2:16:59 understanding refuge. And we'll talk about what I mean by that. Getting very familiar with refuge. And then when suffering arises, to then use that practice. He says that if you try to do this, it's kind of like if you haven't practiced it and then suffering arises and you try to then transform it. You'll be as far from your goal as the earth is from the sky. So there's a quality of mind training that is constant. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:59 Highlight the passage at 2:16:59

2:17:30 Regardless of happiness or sorrow, there's a mind training to the practice so that when suffering does arise, you have the ability to transform it. It's the same thing with meditation. The reason that daily practice is necessary is because there's that actual muscle of the mind. It's kind of like when our thoughts sweep us away like a riptide. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:30 Highlight the passage at 2:17:30

2:17:52 We develop the muscle of the mind to swim out of that riptide. But if the training has not been established, then it's like going to the gym once and expecting to be able to lift a refrigerator the next day. It's not going to happen. So there's a quality here that this is absolutely useless if one does not try to apply some practice on a regular basis, you know, more than two, three times a week. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:52 Highlight the passage at 2:17:52

2:18:22 Of something. Something that makes sense for you. Because that's sort of where you actually are able to apply it. Otherwise this becomes theory. It makes perfect sense. But the point of the teaching itself is lost. Because you haven't been able to translate into your own life. One of the things that I was talking about around my own relationship with this text is I would like, I first read it and it sounded great. And then I suffered and I... Report an error in the passage at 2:18:22 Highlight the passage at 2:18:22

2:18:54 I wasn't able to transform the suffering and I went back to this text, deepened it a little bit and made it more part of my practice and then suffered again and found that I was a little bit more successful and then deepened it and then again found that I suffered and I was able to even be more successful. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:54 Highlight the passage at 2:18:54

2:19:21 And so it's a gradual process. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:21 Highlight the passage at 2:19:21

2:19:38 The first training is using suffering to train in renunciation. And Report an error in the passage at 2:19:38 Highlight the passage at 2:19:38

2:19:47 this is a little bit advanced because we talked about the three scopes, how there are people who are interested in going to have enough of an understanding of karma to want to have happiness and avoid suffering. That's the first scope. So people who believe in karma. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:47 Highlight the passage at 2:19:47

2:20:17 So this issue of karma is important. Because Report an error in the passage at 2:20:17 Highlight the passage at 2:20:17

2:20:25 it's a metaphysical concept and by metaphysical I mean it's something that you can't see that is operating in the physical. So it's a law that is happening that's affecting the physical but itself is not physical. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:25 Highlight the passage at 2:20:25

2:20:47 Now literally the definition of karma is movement of the mind and what it motivates. That's literally the definition. Meaning whatever we think... Report an error in the passage at 2:20:47 Highlight the passage at 2:20:47

2:21:00 And whatever that thinking motivates in terms of speech or action is karma. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:00 Highlight the passage at 2:21:00

2:21:18 I was a very big, a Report an error in the passage at 2:21:18 Highlight the passage at 2:21:18

2:21:29 very avid philosophy major. I took 23 courses in philosophy when I was in college because I was sort of looking for the truth and didn't really come across karma because it was mostly Western philosophy. University didn't have a course on karma. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:29 Highlight the passage at 2:21:29

2:21:51 So I was very sort of eager to learn. And one of my teachers, who I haven't seen in many years, Geshe Michael Roach, who I received teachings on the emptiness teachings of the sutras and that I kept very close in my heart. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:51 Highlight the passage at 2:21:51

2:22:15 He taught on a weekend on the six flavors of emptiness. So he discussed the schools of emptiness in Buddhism. And he began teaching about this term emptiness and what is emptiness. And the first part was discussing the first school of emptiness teachings in Buddhism called Report an error in the passage at 2:22:15 Highlight the passage at 2:22:15

2:22:47 the Satantricas. And they say that emptiness means that things are impermanent. So when we talk about like this pen, we mean this pen is... Empty of permanence. Empty being a negation. Not permanent. That was Friday night. Saturday, he then went into the second school of Vaibayshika, which related more with a sense of self, that there's no self per se. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:47 Highlight the passage at 2:22:47

2:23:25 That what this pen is empty of is that there's like a pen really there. It's made of parts. There's no self. So when we say emptiness, we're talking about empty of self. Okay, so far so good. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:25 Highlight the passage at 2:23:25

2:23:45 Then he went into Report an error in the passage at 2:23:45 Highlight the passage at 2:23:45

2:23:51 the mind-only school in the afternoon and Report an error in the passage at 2:23:51 Highlight the passage at 2:23:51

2:23:59 he said, okay, well, in this school of Buddhism, and so each school refuted the prior school. So this is sort of, we're going into more evolution of this concept of karma and emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:59 Highlight the passage at 2:23:59

2:24:17 And he said, okay, well, the Mind Only School basically says two things. One, that this pen and my perception of it came from the same seed. Now, the idea of a seed is the following. That when we do something, when we say something or think something, according to this theory, it's like planting a seed. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:17 Highlight the passage at 2:24:17

2:24:49 Okay? It's like planting a... A cause for then an effect to occur. And this seed is called bakchak. And the bakchak is regarded in the alaya. So we have our normal gross mind, which is brain processes and thought processes. And then there's also what they call a more subtle level of mind that they call alaya, which is kind of this continuous from life to life. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:49 Highlight the passage at 2:24:49

2:25:17 And it is the repository of these seeds. Which then come to fruition. And most of the experiences according to this theory happens from prior seeds. Which Tempanema will go into here. So basically the idea of mind only is this pen is coming from the same, this is a projection of my mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:17 Highlight the passage at 2:25:17

2:25:53 This pen is empty of coming from another place and me coming from another place. That the experience that I'm having is basically coming from a seed in my mind, mind only. And what the mind only school says does exist is the alaya, is that mind stream. So there is a mind stream and everything else is empty of independent existence from that mind stream. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:53 Highlight the passage at 2:25:53

2:26:19 I'm not doing justice to this stuff. Trying to go through it. So then he talks about, at the very end was Madhyamika, middle way. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:19 Highlight the passage at 2:26:19

2:26:32 And they take issue with the mind itself. That actually, you can't say something exists because when you look for it, you don't find it. But you can't say it doesn't exist because we're experiencing. You can't say it exists and it doesn't exist because that's contradictory. And you can't say neither exists. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:32 Highlight the passage at 2:26:32

2:26:54 um nor doesn't exist can so it's called the four extremes you can't say it exists you can't say it doesn't exist you can't say that it both exists and doesn't exist you can't say neither you can see how excited i was i'm like a philosophy geek He took the pen and he said, so if I take the cap and if I take the ink, And if I take every particle of this pen, do I have a pen? And he said, no, this does not equal the parts. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:54 Highlight the passage at 2:26:54

2:27:35 Because if a dog came in the room and saw the pen, it would see a chewy toy. Have you heard him talk about this? No. You understand? So there is no pen because the pen is a name. You have to put the cap and the ink and the particles together. And it requires your mind to label it pen. And a dog sees a chewy toy. So according to middle way, that things exist by imputation. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:35 Highlight the passage at 2:27:35

2:28:10 It's a name. There's no pen. You're labeling it pen. And just the same way as you're seeing a pen, you're seeing a hand and not a paw. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:10 Highlight the passage at 2:28:10

2:28:27 My jaw dropped because... Many things came together. One of the things that came together is that we have the experience that's similar to our own karma. The reason we hear about, let's say, the apostles of Jesus seeing Jesus walk on water is because they were very close themselves to walking on water. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:27 Highlight the passage at 2:28:27

2:28:54 And if you're a criminal, then you'll tend to be around other criminals. And if you are a... Saint. You'll start seeing saints. In other words, your experience is going to be very similar with your karma. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:54 Highlight the passage at 2:28:54

2:29:19 We have human karma. We see a pen. All of us are sharing this. A dog does not share that, will not see a pen. His Holiness the Dalai Lama might come in here and see Buddhas. And we might just be seeing... Nice pictures. Because we have karma that's very close to becoming a Buddha, we have some devotion maybe to these Buddhas. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:19 Highlight the passage at 2:29:19

2:29:48 And if you don't have a connection, then you would see just weird looking stuff on the wall. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:48 Highlight the passage at 2:29:48

2:29:59 So the reason you don't see miracles is because you're not close to performing them. And if you are seeing miracles, you're close to performing them. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:59 Highlight the passage at 2:29:59

2:30:15 So this is a long way of talking about Report an error in the passage at 2:30:15 Highlight the passage at 2:30:15

2:30:22 And how it Report an error in the passage at 2:30:22 Highlight the passage at 2:30:22

2:30:28 doesn't make sense to talk about the emptiness of this pen without understanding karma. Because the way it appears is by karma. It's your karma to see a pen. And that's exactly how it isn't either. There is no pen because it's your karma. You're labeling it pen. So that's why Jason Kapa, probably one of the greatest philosophers in history. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:28 Highlight the passage at 2:30:28

2:30:55 Of human civilization said that when you understand karma, then you understand emptiness. And when you understand emptiness, then you understand karma. Those two should be on the heels of one another. If you're thinking about emptiness without thinking of karma, you still have some ways to go in your studies of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:55 Highlight the passage at 2:30:55

2:31:14 Is this making sense? If I'm saying this pen's empty, but I'm not thinking about karma, I'm not understanding the emptiness of this pen. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:14 Highlight the passage at 2:31:14

2:31:26 Chewy toy, karma. Now, Report an error in the passage at 2:31:26 Highlight the passage at 2:31:26

2:31:36 this is not validated by science. Science, first of all, requires the concept of objectivity. The scientific method requires statistical verification. When you have a hypothesis, your hypothesis is validated based on statistics, saying A causes B because Nine times out of ten, I do A and B happens. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:36 Highlight the passage at 2:31:36

2:32:13 Both of those concepts are rejected by karma theory. Karma theory rejects the concept of probability. Nothing is by chance. Everything we experience is related to causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:13 Highlight the passage at 2:32:13

2:32:37 And then the other piece is objectivity. That there is no such thing as standing outside of your mind and objectively viewing it. Everything you're experiencing is a perception of your mind, and your mind is empty. Because when you look for it, you don't find it. It's also independently arising. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:37 Highlight the passage at 2:32:37

2:33:05 Our culture really requires some level of being able to see it or touch it, and the idea of metaphysics is rejected overall. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:05 Highlight the passage at 2:33:05

2:33:15 There is a very little belief in metaphysics, that there are these laws that govern our experience of the physical world. That's not even entertained. What's entertained is physical laws govern the physical world, period. So we have a problem with this word karma if we talk about it because it goes against our education. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:15 Highlight the passage at 2:33:15

2:33:44 Now, in philosophy, the two most important things about a theory is not whether you can see it. The two most important things about a theory in philosophy, Western philosophy, is coherence and consistency. In other words, If I'm going to explain to you how A causes B, the less contradiction there is in my theory, the better. So we care about whether there's any contradictions in the theory. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:44 Highlight the passage at 2:33:44

2:34:15 And secondly, we care about whether it's able to explain. How much can it explain and how little contradiction is there? Report an error in the passage at 2:34:15 Highlight the passage at 2:34:15

2:34:26 That's the criterion in logic, not in science necessarily. In science, it's about how many times can I repeat it? And how many times can I predict it? Repeating and predicting. Obviously, we want to have no contradictions, but science uses the idea of contradictions with statistics, saying, okay, A is not causing B 20 % of the time, but A is causing B 80 % of the time. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:26 Highlight the passage at 2:34:26

2:34:57 So, do I want to put my money on A or not? In general, in science, if something is happening... 90 % of the time or 95 % of the time, we go with it. In science, we don't have things that happen 100 % of the time. It's based on statistical probability. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:57 Highlight the passage at 2:34:57

2:35:23 Now, coming from 23 courses in philosophy, when I understood a little bit, emptiness, what Geshe Michael was talking about, my jaw dropped because, first, because of how many things it explained. It explained miracles. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:23 Highlight the passage at 2:35:23

2:35:42 Because, you know, what I just said about karma. It explained why bad things happen to good people. It explained why stupid people get rich and why smart people stay poor. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:42 Highlight the passage at 2:35:42

2:35:56 It explained the variety of things that one sees in the world. And the reason is Geshe Michael distinguished between how something happens and why it happens. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:56 Highlight the passage at 2:35:56

2:36:10 We tend to focus in science as well on how things happen. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:10 Highlight the passage at 2:36:10

2:36:19 So if I get rich by putting my money in the stock market, I got rich by picking the right stock at the right time. That's how. Now, in karma theory, that's not why. Why has to always be the case. If A causes B, then A must always cause B. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:19 Highlight the passage at 2:36:19

2:36:39 According to karma theory, if we say A sometimes causes B, then A is not why B happens. A could be how it happens, but not why it happens. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:39 Highlight the passage at 2:36:39

2:36:54 I got rich, according to karma theory, because of generosity. How I got rich was by the stock market. Why always happens. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:54 Highlight the passage at 2:36:54

2:37:07 Now, there's a time lag. Nagarjuna said if it wasn't for this time lag, there'd be no problems in the world. The moment you started stepping on a cockroach and if you started feeling your ribs break, you wouldn't have war, you wouldn't have violence. There's a time lag. You plant the seed like a garden. Report an error in the passage at 2:37:07 Highlight the passage at 2:37:07

2:37:27 And this time lag makes it difficult to see the relationship. Report an error in the passage at 2:37:27 Highlight the passage at 2:37:27

2:37:35 So we're all floundering with trying to just figure stuff out and we're not able to really correlate the actual cause. We're going about how, not why. So from a philosophical point of view, karma theory is very powerful. From a scientific point of view, it's not able to be addressed. Because science doesn't really have anything to say if it's not based on something that you can refute. Report an error in the passage at 2:37:35 Highlight the passage at 2:37:35

2:38:10 In other words, if I say something that can't be refuted, like A is A, it's an axiom, it's very logical. So it's not something that has a hypothesis. So there's a big difference going on because we're talking about how science really will look at how something happens and it will confuse the how and the why. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:10 Highlight the passage at 2:38:10

2:38:31 And our culture too. And the theory of karma being from a philosophical point of view explains more than science does and is more internally consistent. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:31 Highlight the passage at 2:38:31

2:38:46 So let's get back to the text. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:46 Highlight the passage at 2:38:46

2:38:59 The first part is using suffering to train in renunciation. And so here we're talking about the first noble truth. That there's Report an error in the passage at 2:38:59 Highlight the passage at 2:38:59

2:39:12 a problem in getting out of our suffering. We are... That the basic experience of our state is one of dissatisfaction. Because we are mistaking the sense of self. Like you walk in a room and you see a snake. You think you see a snake and it's really a colored robe. So there's a mistake that's happening. You walk into a room and you're making a mistake. Report an error in the passage at 2:39:12 Highlight the passage at 2:39:12

2:39:51 So this notion of I and me, self. It's the basis of this mistake. So the first noble truth around suffering. Renunciation that Tampanima here is talking about is that when you're suffering, this is a reminder that this is actually what you've woken up to. Report an error in the passage at 2:39:51 Highlight the passage at 2:39:51

2:40:14 I think the 13th Dalai Lama talked about how human beings are just interested in sex and food. and... It's precious and rare to be a human according to Buddhist cosmology, but you're in trouble because this place that we are born into is mistaken. Report an error in the passage at 2:40:14 Highlight the passage at 2:40:14

2:40:40 It's based on the karma of a mistake. You walk in a room and you see a rope, but you think it's a snake and it creates a chain reaction of panic and freaking out. Report an error in the passage at 2:40:40 Highlight the passage at 2:40:40

2:40:58 This body is because of a mistake. This body is actually, if we were unmistaken, would be a Buddha body. So the karma of the body is a mistake. It's, again, that chain reaction. There's a physical chain reaction going on, mental chain reaction going on. So renunciation here is understanding the nature of what it is to be involved in what we call saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 2:40:58 Highlight the passage at 2:40:58

2:41:36 The wheel of, the chain of existence. Literally saṃsāra means being forced to again and again to take up a body. You're being forced to again and again have chicken pox and arthritis. Report an error in the passage at 2:41:36 Highlight the passage at 2:41:36

2:41:56 And if you're less lucky to be eaten by other animals. And if you're even less lucky to be a hungry ghost or a hell realm. These are perceptions, okay? Perceptions that shift. Report an error in the passage at 2:41:56 Highlight the passage at 2:41:56

2:42:18 So if we think about like being held over, Report an error in the passage at 2:42:18 Highlight the passage at 2:42:18

2:42:25 you know, being stuck at the social security office for four hours, you know, a bureaucratic agency in the government that takes forever and nothing happens the way we try to have it happen. And you're like in the social security office and it's hot and it's not fun or a DMV. I don't know if any of you have spent much time in the DMV. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:25 Highlight the passage at 2:42:25

2:42:50 And so you're... Kind of not having a good time at all. It's kind of the nature of being at the DMV. We don't go to the DMV expecting a party. And Tempanema is saying, if you're unhappy, that shouldn't surprise you. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:50 Highlight the passage at 2:42:50

2:43:08 It's like being thinking, why am I bored at the DMV? So that's the first one. Say to yourself that Report an error in the passage at 2:43:08 Highlight the passage at 2:43:08

2:43:22 as long as I'm under the power of karma, Report an error in the passage at 2:43:22 Highlight the passage at 2:43:22

2:43:29 then... That suffering is not something unjust or unwarranted. It's not a surprise. This is the nature of our kind of basic existence right now. Report an error in the passage at 2:43:29 Highlight the passage at 2:43:29

2:43:49 And it's temporary, but it's been going on for a long time. Report an error in the passage at 2:43:49 Highlight the passage at 2:43:49

2:43:59 So that's why the First Noble Truth is about the truth of suffering. When you really have an understanding of the First Noble Truth, then your mind turns to the Second Noble Truth, which is on the cause. Report an error in the passage at 2:43:59 Highlight the passage at 2:43:59

2:44:11 Understanding the cause. Report an error in the passage at 2:44:11 Highlight the passage at 2:44:11

2:44:21 So why don't we take a tea break if you want. Report an error in the passage at 2:44:21 Highlight the passage at 2:44:21

· · · silence, 14 minutes

2:58:10 the workshop, because people stand up and talk about their problem, so it gives them tools. I should he'll come back here. Well, he comes twice a year, or once a year, he's in Oakland or sometime in San Francisco. I started to do a one-day in Oakland, and it just very strange, I couldn't Report an error in the passage at 2:58:10 Highlight the passage at 2:58:10

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:59:11 react, I mean, don't react as a reaction, Report an error in the passage at 2:59:11 Highlight the passage at 2:59:11

2:59:16 That's why I think it's hard. Report an error in the passage at 2:59:16 Highlight the passage at 2:59:16

2:59:21 Like you said, if there is, how do you know that there is really a need to do about it or there is something to do? When do you discern that? I think each of us would have a different response in a different way, so it's hard. Report an error in the passage at 2:59:21 Highlight the passage at 2:59:21

2:59:53 You Report an error in the passage at 2:59:53 Highlight the passage at 2:59:53

2:59:58 know what I want to say? Because the non-violent communication, you will never say that. You will never leave. People never answer to orders. Report an error in the passage at 2:59:58 Highlight the passage at 2:59:58

3:00:09 When you say to someone, I want you to treat me this way, it's an order. And that's one thing he says, I don't remember much, but the non-vercissure is never blaming someone, because that you will never get in the scene, you never tell someone, because that doesn't work. So I forgot how you do it, but that's one thing that you never do. I remember those two things, and you also never, yeah, it's against praising, against manipulation. Report an error in the passage at 3:00:09 Highlight the passage at 3:00:09

3:00:42 He talks about raising kids. He talks a lot about that and he says, praising doesn't work because there is something attached. Why is somebody, you know, if you praise someone, they're going to want to do something to be praised. And you want to arrive, especially with children, to have somebody wanting to do something from their own. Report an error in the passage at 3:00:42 Highlight the passage at 3:00:42

3:01:09 And it's very hard, I mean, because I remember the scene. He's telling someone what you want them to do. You can only talk about how he does and saying how he makes you feel. Oh, I don't know. But not after that. No, but take the class maybe when he comes. I think Report an error in the passage at 3:01:09 Highlight the passage at 3:01:09

3:01:45 that's really good to do this with your partner because you get two that both of you can use Report an error in the passage at 3:01:45 Highlight the passage at 3:01:45

3:02:05 already. Report an error in the passage at 3:02:05 Highlight the passage at 3:02:05

3:02:12 So is he a Buddhist? He's a Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 3:02:12 Highlight the passage at 3:02:12

3:02:17 So you go to two different... Report an error in the passage at 3:02:17 Highlight the passage at 3:02:17

3:02:23 He goes to his own... But actually he doesn't go... He doesn't practice. I mean, he practices, but there isn't sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 3:02:23 Highlight the passage at 3:02:23

3:02:34 There's a big, big, big retreat. He Report an error in the passage at 3:02:34 Highlight the passage at 3:02:34

3:02:41 goes to Report an error in the passage at 3:02:41 Highlight the passage at 3:02:41

3:02:46 the big monastery. Report an error in the passage at 3:02:46 Highlight the passage at 3:02:46

3:02:57 And that, if you add a cultural thing and the way men are usually treating women. So that, to me, goes against the Buddhist principles. There's a lot of things. Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 3:02:57 Highlight the passage at 3:02:57

3:03:17 For centuries. There's a lot of circumstances. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 3:03:17 Highlight the passage at 3:03:17

3:03:30 Yeah, so yeah, that would be hard. There would be frustrations there. Mm-hmm. Sometimes it's not good. Report an error in the passage at 3:03:30 Highlight the passage at 3:03:30

3:03:43 Oh, yeah, yeah. If you're in a situation, you can't change it. Oh, yeah. Do it because people... that you don't have work through that kind of thing. So, my challenge is to... Report an error in the passage at 3:03:43 Highlight the passage at 3:03:43

3:04:03 But maybe go to one of those. Yes, I will because I think you should say that. Report an error in the passage at 3:04:03 Highlight the passage at 3:04:03

3:04:25 I'm just going to be like, oh my gosh, baby. Report an error in the passage at 3:04:25 Highlight the passage at 3:04:25

3:04:31 you want to ask me about my day? Oh. How was your day? Sometimes I give them words. Yeah. That's a nice way. I think that's a different way. Yeah. Yeah, but sometimes I have people. Initiated. Well, I give them the script sometimes. And sometimes you follow them. It's like this is good. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he wants to. He wants to communicate. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 3:04:31 Highlight the passage at 3:04:31

3:05:04 Oh, should we close it? No, no, no. Oh, okay. Report an error in the passage at 3:05:04 Highlight the passage at 3:05:04

3:05:18 do you pronounce your first name? Iman? Iman. I mean, it has a big history. Report an error in the passage at 3:05:18 Highlight the passage at 3:05:18

3:05:35 is, you know, some of these things are great. Report an error in the passage at 3:05:35 Highlight the passage at 3:05:35

3:05:46 luck. Report an error in the passage at 3:05:46 Highlight the passage at 3:05:46

· · · silence, 1 minute

3:07:00 Renunciation. And Report an error in the passage at 3:07:00 Highlight the passage at 3:07:00

3:07:13 the next one is refuge. Report an error in the passage at 3:07:13 Highlight the passage at 3:07:13

3:07:22 Similar to karma, the concept of refuge is sort of a leap. Because it's something which in our culture, it's hard to kind of really talk about the idea of faith. And refuge is very much related to faith. It's regarded as the cornerstone to all the practices of the spiritual path in Buddhism. And that the doorway of refuge is faith. Report an error in the passage at 3:07:22 Highlight the passage at 3:07:22

3:07:52 So that is another loaded word, faith. That especially becomes difficult when we talk about things in the situations around spiritual materialism because that becomes a very common way in which it becomes easy to bypass the kind of kitchen sink work that's in our lives with this notion of if I just sort of close my eyes and hope for the best, things will happen okay. Report an error in the passage at 3:07:52 Highlight the passage at 3:07:52

3:08:28 Things will work out okay. It's a very slippery slope because on the one hand, faith is the basis for all the qualities of the path. Even in the Lamrim, Tsongkhapa begins it with that the root of all my virtues is to my kind Lama. He relates to the basis of all of his qualities as being related to his teacher and that basically beginning with the notion of faith in the teacher, faith that this is someone who can help me. Report an error in the passage at 3:08:28 Highlight the passage at 3:08:28

3:08:59 When we go and we have surgery, there's a quality of faith. This person's expertise, the surgeon, will be able to put me under and open up my body. There's a quality there of faith. You have to have that level of faith in that sense. Now, one of the important facets of Buddhism, because it's not theistic, it's the only religion that's not theistic. Report an error in the passage at 3:08:59 Highlight the passage at 3:08:59

3:09:23 So there is a very strong element in analysis. Allowing for one's faith to come from an understanding of the principles. Which is not to say that all Buddhists who have faith necessarily have to have gone through a lot of study and analysis, but that is actually a very much exalted basis for faith, is understanding. Report an error in the passage at 3:09:23 Highlight the passage at 3:09:23

3:09:53 In other words, when we talk about refuge in the Buddha, to take refuge in the Buddha, One of the most profound descriptions of what that might mean is having an understanding of the nature of reality and taking refuge in that understanding of emptiness. So when we talk about refuge of the Buddha, we're taking refuge in the quality of the Buddha that involves what we consider... Report an error in the passage at 3:09:53 Highlight the passage at 3:09:53

3:10:31 The nature of reality, Dharmakaya, emptiness. The Dharma is the teachings of that emptiness teaching. The Saṅgha are the followers of that teaching. That can very much be related to our understanding. Like the Buddha said, you take my teachings and you look at it like it's gold, analyze it, cut it, bite it, until you're really convinced of the qualities. Report an error in the passage at 3:10:31 Highlight the passage at 3:10:31

3:10:57 And in general, the experience of faith... It develops in three progressions. The first part is called vivid faith. And that's kind of like the faith my parents feel when they see the Dalai Lama. They're not Buddhists, but there's just this natural quality of feeling confidence in this being. They naturally like him. He kind of exudes all these qualities. And so vivid faith really relates to... Report an error in the passage at 3:10:57 Highlight the passage at 3:10:57

3:11:31 Going to a teaching or meeting a teacher and bringing up feelings of confidence and devotion. That's called vivid faith. And then eager faith has to do more with that understanding of karma that we were talking about. A sense of, wow, this makes sense. This really makes sense and I really feel a resonance with this. I really feel that this can help me. Report an error in the passage at 3:11:31 Highlight the passage at 3:11:31

3:12:00 It goes from a feeling of sort of in-the-moment devotion to a little bit more of an internalization of why it is you're drawn. It has a little bit more to do with an understanding of the teachings. And then the third level of faith is called confident faith, and that comes from the experience itself. Report an error in the passage at 3:12:00 Highlight the passage at 3:12:00

3:12:22 So it's like, I can tell you about a restaurant, I can tell you about... you know Boulay in New York City, you know, excellent restaurant and all these wonderful qualities. And there might be a sense of, okay, well, you could talk to everyone else and they all say it's a five-star restaurant. And so that brings up more of a kind of conviction. And you might even look at the menu and it looks wonderful. But until you taste it, you're not going to have that unshakable confidence. Report an error in the passage at 3:12:22 Highlight the passage at 3:12:22

3:12:59 That this is an outstanding, excellent restaurant. So it's like His Holiness says, reading the menu and tasting the food. So the sense of confident faith comes from acquaintance, experience. Report an error in the passage at 3:12:59 Highlight the passage at 3:12:59

3:13:15 And that is when the idea of taking refuge is no longer as big of a leap. It's kind of like a complete experience of the qualities of the refuge. We take refuge in all kinds of things. People take refuge in TV. You know, they have a bad day to take refuge in TV. Shopping, drugs, alcohol, sex, all kinds of things. Report an error in the passage at 3:13:15 Highlight the passage at 3:13:15

3:13:47 The question is going in a very honest way and looking at what is my refuge. And then being very honest with oneself. How far can this take me? Report an error in the passage at 3:13:47 Highlight the passage at 3:13:47

3:14:04 It's painful because the refuge might seem very difficult to change. If you're familiar with something, again we talked about, that's where we tend to go to. Report an error in the passage at 3:14:04 Highlight the passage at 3:14:04

3:14:16 The Kadampas say that our protector is karma. Our protector is understanding karma. That no protection is able to exceed the protection of understanding karma. So that's an example of the confident faith in karma. Report an error in the passage at 3:14:16 Highlight the passage at 3:14:16

3:14:43 Tenpanema here is saying that using the suffering to fortify the refuge, getting clear what is my refuge, and then finding a refuge that is able to really be effective in protecting one from spiraling into further suffering. Report an error in the passage at 3:14:43 Highlight the passage at 3:14:43

3:15:07 Obviously here he recommends taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Saṅgha. The actual Buddha who realized emptiness and the qualities of reality, the teachings and his followers. Report an error in the passage at 3:15:07 Highlight the passage at 3:15:07

3:15:33 You know, Geshe Michael one time said something that I liked a lot. He said, you know, we talk about the idea of worldview and worldview means the theory of everything. Report an error in the passage at 3:15:33 Highlight the passage at 3:15:33

3:15:47 It's contradictory to have many world views. There's really one world view. There's one theory of everything, if it's going to be able to explain all things. So the Dharma, and each person who is religious will believe their religion is the one. But the point is that there's a quality in which you have a conviction in this is how things are. Report an error in the passage at 3:15:47 Highlight the passage at 3:15:47

3:16:10 This is what's going on. And I believe this. And then that has to go from a level of... understanding and then experience. In anything, whatever it is, there's an understanding and then there's an experience. So when you're suffering, you get better and better at taking refuge. Your ability to take refuge... Report an error in the passage at 3:16:10 Highlight the passage at 3:16:10

3:16:46 Shantideva improves. Just like a drug addict who drinks whenever they have suffering, they become very good drinkers. Every time they have a bad day, if they drink, they get very good at that refuge. It's a skill, you know, Report an error in the passage at 3:16:46 Highlight the passage at 3:16:46

3:17:06 taking refuge in the Dharma, not drinking. Report an error in the passage at 3:17:06 Highlight the passage at 3:17:06

3:17:11 The next one actually does not require faith. Using suffering to overcome arrogance. That's very plain. he's basically saying there is can actually take... The experience of you thinking that you know what's going on. And if you knew what's going on, then you wouldn't suffer. The suffering is a reflection of you not knowing what's going on. Report an error in the passage at 3:17:11 Highlight the passage at 3:17:11

3:17:35 Or not really being in as much control. We usually believe that we're in much more control than we are. Report an error in the passage at 3:17:35 Highlight the passage at 3:17:35

3:17:52 He says that pride is basically poisonous. And it's really interesting because in the very beginning of Neurosis and Human Growth by Karen Horney, Psychologist I mentioned, I mean psychiatrist I mentioned, she says that different branches of medicine deal with different things like dermatology deals with the skin, cardiology deals with circulatory and heart, and psychiatry deals with pride, that the illness in psychiatry is pride, which is a powerful thing because she's talking about how regardless of whether it's communication issues, Depression, there's a quality there of pride, of failing to reach out, failing to really admit one's own weaknesses. Report an error in the passage at 3:17:52 Highlight the passage at 3:17:52

3:18:41 That becomes the basis for psychological suffering. And Tempanema here talks about using suffering to actually reduce our own sense of pride. Report an error in the passage at 3:18:41 Highlight the passage at 3:18:41

3:18:59 Really kind of being authentic to... Our limitation here. That we don't know everything. That we aren't all that. Report an error in the passage at 3:18:59 Highlight the passage at 3:18:59

3:19:25 Fourth way to deal with suffering. And each of these are a practice in themselves. Whether it's taking refuge or generating renunciation or reducing arrogance or pride or, in this next section, purifying karma. Each of these can be taken as a practice in itself. Or altogether. Report an error in the passage at 3:19:25 Highlight the passage at 3:19:25

3:19:54 This one is a little bit more going back to the idea of karma, understanding, okay, what's the reason for poverty? What's the reason for short life? In the fourth chapter of the Abhidharma, Vasubandhu talks about correlations and how the Buddha listed all of these correlations. So when we think about a short life, the Buddha said that's because of not... Report an error in the passage at 3:19:54 Highlight the passage at 3:19:54

3:20:25 Respecting other lives. These are considered, in the logic of Buddhism, things that are very difficult to see. There are things that are easy to see, like me, right now sitting here. There are things that are more difficult to see. For example, being able to come to the conclusion that if there's smoke, then there's fire. Report an error in the passage at 3:20:25 Highlight the passage at 3:20:25

3:20:56 So you don't see the fire, but when you see the smoke, then you can conclude there's fire. So in terms of perception, there's what you can see, and then there's what's more difficult, but through induction and deduction, we're able to come to conclusions on our perception. So if I'm driving and I see smoke, I can come to, okay, there's fire. And then the third level is things that are very difficult to see. Report an error in the passage at 3:20:56 Highlight the passage at 3:20:56

3:21:22 And those are things in the teachings that discuss that these are things that only Buddhists see. So the Buddha said that karma is so difficult to see, it's much more difficult to actually see karma than it is to see emptiness. To be able to see emptiness means that initially you have an understanding intellectually and then you meditate and meditate and meditate and then it gets to a point where you know that what you're seeing It looks like it's solid and it's one and unchanging but you know you're mistaken. So it's kind of like you go from an understanding of it and then you come to believing that what you're seeing is totally mistaken and you don't forget that. Report an error in the passage at 3:21:22 Highlight the passage at 3:21:22

3:22:07 And that's a very powerful intellectual understanding. And then you have a direct perception of it where even at the final levels you don't even relate to the objects in the way you used to. Similarly with karma. It initially requires a level of first thinking about it. And then coming to more of a getting used to it. So thinking, connecting the dots more. Report an error in the passage at 3:22:07 Highlight the passage at 3:22:07

3:22:33 So thinking, okay, poverty has to do with not being generous. Now, we have to retrain the mind going from poverty has to do with not working hard to not being generous. Report an error in the passage at 3:22:33 Highlight the passage at 3:22:33

3:22:55 Again. I know lots of people who are not that intelligent and have a lot of money. And I know a lot of people who are very intelligent. I know people who work very hard, okay, and don't make a lot of money. So the cause, according to the teachings, is not effort or intelligence, it's generosity. And people that were very poor and very generous. Report an error in the passage at 3:22:55 Highlight the passage at 3:22:55

3:23:23 90 % of the things you experienced are from your past lives, so that's the lag. You plant a seed and there's a lag. So I've met people who are very rich and are not generous. So what's happening there is they consider it's in the past life they're experiencing the result of lack of generosity if they're poor or generosity if they're wealthy. Report an error in the passage at 3:23:23 Highlight the passage at 3:23:23

3:23:48 In general, though, you see the tendency. Padmasambhava, Guru Rinpoche, whose birthday it is today, said that if you want to know your past, look at what's happening now. If you want to know your future, look at what you're doing now. So the idea there is you have children who are born and have a very natural love for creatures. Report an error in the passage at 3:23:48 Highlight the passage at 3:23:48

3:24:08 Other children who have a very natural disregard. These are past tendencies coming down. Report an error in the passage at 3:24:08 Highlight the passage at 3:24:08

3:24:21 And also, Temple Anima lists the four facets of karma. He says, reflect carefully and thoroughly how karma is certain, cause and effect is infallible. A causes B. It's not sometimes. If I'm generous sometimes, then I'm sometimes going to get material content. Contentment is what's meant by wealth. So even if I'm not a millionaire, if I'm content, that's the idea of the result of generosity, contentment. Report an error in the passage at 3:24:21 Highlight the passage at 3:24:21

3:24:54 Similarly with beauty, if you have maintained discipline, they say that you will look in the mirror and love what you see. So it's not so much what others are saying. It's your own belief. You look at the mirror and there's a sense of... There's not a displeasure. So you can actually see a lot of people with body image issues who will think they're ugly and everyone around them is like, you're beautiful. Report an error in the passage at 3:24:54 Highlight the passage at 3:24:54

3:25:20 But you see what they're experiencing is their karma. They don't like what they're seeing. So beauty, physical beauty has to do with maintaining discipline. Report an error in the passage at 3:25:20 Highlight the passage at 3:25:20

3:25:31 Protecting life is health. Report an error in the passage at 3:25:31 Highlight the passage at 3:25:31

3:25:51 And so here there's basically the idea that Report an error in the passage at 3:25:51 Highlight the passage at 3:25:51

3:25:57 When you are generous, there is going to be the result. You cannot have a cause without a result. And the result will be similar to the cause. Report an error in the passage at 3:25:57 Highlight the passage at 3:25:57

3:26:10 If I've been murdered, then that's due to something I've done that's similar, murdering other animals or whatnot. So the effect is similar to the cause. You will never experience something you haven't done. And anything you've done will not go to waste. So here he's saying when you do experience suffering, let that be an idea of what you need to be purifying. Report an error in the passage at 3:26:10 Highlight the passage at 3:26:10

3:26:40 If I'm finding myself again and again being abandoned or losing the things I want socially, you know, I lose relationships, I lose friends, I have this difficulty. Having people in my life who are supportive. Then that's a result of my own lack of ability to bring people together and my tendency to kick people apart. Report an error in the passage at 3:26:40 Highlight the passage at 3:26:40

3:27:14 So that's indicator for me, that's information for me. And that information is to bring people together more. To rejoice when I see people together. Our tendency normally is to be jealous. If we're very alone and upset about that, when we see couples, It's very common to feel jealous. You'll notice that it's similar with all the other things. If you're very poor, the last thing you'll tend to want to do is be generous. Report an error in the passage at 3:27:14 Highlight the passage at 3:27:14

3:27:42 It's harder to be generous when you have less. There's a vicious circle that way because the thing that's most needed oftentimes is what actually is the opposite that's being done. In terms of wealth, the area that we feel the greatest lack is exactly the area that we... Are best served to develop generosity. If we feel a feeling of lack in terms of our Report an error in the passage at 3:27:42 Highlight the passage at 3:27:42

3:28:21 ability to offer advice and offer our time to alleviate other people's problems. We're so busy with our own things and so constantly running a million miles a minute that we don't have time to really even consider others. Report an error in the passage at 3:28:21 Highlight the passage at 3:28:21

3:28:42 Then what we find is we are never able to accomplish what we want to do. You know, we're constantly unfinished business and it makes the speed and aggression more and more and more. Report an error in the passage at 3:28:42 Highlight the passage at 3:28:42

3:28:53 So it becomes, and then it becomes more difficult to reduce speed and aggression. So there's this kind of very pernicious quality of saṃsāra where what actually is most beneficial is becomes the hardest to do. Report an error in the passage at 3:28:53 Highlight the passage at 3:28:53

3:29:08 Tempanema is suggesting to really use that as information. Use the karma theory as, as information for what is going on, what area you need to He Report an error in the passage at 3:29:08 Highlight the passage at 3:29:08

3:29:24 talks about here with the help of the four powers. Report an error in the passage at 3:29:24 Highlight the passage at 3:29:24

3:29:30 So the four powers is refuge and then refraining from what it is that caused us the problem. So if I'm feeling a sense of suffering because of poverty, I would take refuge. Then I would basically Understand that it's because of my own miserliness, so refraining from that. And then engaging in an antidote. Report an error in the passage at 3:29:30 Highlight the passage at 3:29:30

3:30:05 So maybe being generous, offering something, liberating lives, you know. And then the fourth one is resolve. So really resolving to not commit the action again of miserliness. So it's refuge. Report an error in the passage at 3:30:05 Highlight the passage at 3:30:05

3:30:27 refraining Report an error in the passage at 3:30:27 Highlight the passage at 3:30:27

3:30:32 Refraining, antidote and resolve. Report an error in the passage at 3:30:32 Highlight the passage at 3:30:32

3:30:40 And then number five, using suffering to find joy in positive actions. Report an error in the passage at 3:30:40 Highlight the passage at 3:30:40

3:30:52 Basically it's the opposite of the other one. So in the first one we're refraining from engaging in the things that bring us suffering and then in this one we're going to engage in things that are going to bring us happiness. Report an error in the passage at 3:30:52 Highlight the passage at 3:30:52

3:31:05 And he really, each of these are very much powerful. He says, think about this in detail and from every angle and dwell on the implications. Then in every possible way, do whatever you can to make your positive beneficial actions increase. Report an error in the passage at 3:31:05 Highlight the passage at 3:31:05

3:31:26 The sixth mind training for suffering is using suffering to train in compassion. Report an error in the passage at 3:31:26 Highlight the passage at 3:31:26

3:31:35 So this is where you actually use your own suffering as the basis for empathy. Report an error in the passage at 3:31:35 Highlight the passage at 3:31:35

3:31:46 And again, that's another way of kind of getting out of your own self-absorption about the situation. Report an error in the passage at 3:31:46 Highlight the passage at 3:31:46

3:32:03 The natural result of thinking about how others are suffering is that... It will reduce your own self-importance. And that's why he says at the very last one, this is the last mind training for using suffering from a relative point of view. Report an error in the passage at 3:32:03 Highlight the passage at 3:32:03

3:32:37 He says the whole basis of suffering is because we've considered ourselves more important than others. Report an error in the passage at 3:32:37 Highlight the passage at 3:32:37

3:32:47 So the last point in terms of mind training is you have suffering, you think about how others are suffering like this. And then you also think about how the reason you're suffering ultimately like this is because your sense of self-importance has exceeded your regard for others. Report an error in the passage at 3:32:47 Highlight the passage at 3:32:47

3:33:25 He repeats what he was saying too at the very end. He says that it's really difficult to even use any of these things. Using suffering to gain renunciation. Using suffering to develop your ability to take refuge. Using suffering to overcome arrogance. Using suffering to let that be information about where you've been going wrong. Report an error in the passage at 3:33:25 Highlight the passage at 3:33:25

3:33:51 Using suffering to let it be information about how you can continue to go right. Using suffering to think about how others are suffering. Using suffering to reduce your self-importance. These mind trainings are very difficult to do on the fly when suffering happens. Report an error in the passage at 3:33:51 Highlight the passage at 3:33:51

3:34:14 That it's important to practice these skills right now before you're really in full-blown pain. Report an error in the passage at 3:34:14 Highlight the passage at 3:34:14

3:34:37 And again, these aren't things all of which you need to be doing. He suggests really connect with what makes the most sense of these seven and really make it part of your ability to do it well. So pick what really makes sense and then get very good at that. And that's the way, because each of these are enough to transform suffering on their own. He Report an error in the passage at 3:34:37 Highlight the passage at 3:34:37

3:35:17 says that when you are able to actually transform suffering like this, if you can do one of these things, it's not even a question at that point of relating to suffering as maybe something that's workable. He says you actually get to a point where if you get good at using one of these practices well, you are able to actually put offerings on the shrine and pray for suffering. Report an error in the passage at 3:35:17 Highlight the passage at 3:35:17

3:35:55 Your actual highway to enlightenment will be suffering. Report an error in the passage at 3:35:55 Highlight the passage at 3:35:55

3:36:04 That's why at the very bottom of page 2, so he says, so with each of the practices outlined above, say to yourself, this suffering has been of tremendous assistance. Report an error in the passage at 3:36:04 Highlight the passage at 3:36:04

3:36:13 It will help me to achieve the many wonderful kinds of happiness. And bliss which are experienced in the higher realms and in liberation from saṃsāra and which are extremely difficult to find. From now on too I know that whatever suffering lies in store for me will have the same effect. So however tough, however difficult the suffering may be, it will always bring me the greatest joy and happiness. Bitter and yet sweet, like Indian cakes made of sugar mixed with cardamom and pepper. Report an error in the passage at 3:36:13 Highlight the passage at 3:36:13

3:36:41 Follow this line of thought over and over and very thoroughly and get used to being... get used to the happy state of mind that it brings. By reflecting like this, our minds will be so suffused with happiness that the suffering we feel through the senses will become almost imperceptible incapable of disturbing our minds. Report an error in the passage at 3:36:41 Highlight the passage at 3:36:41

3:36:59 This is the point It's worth noting that this is also an indication as to whether difficulties brought about by enemies, harmful spirits and so on can be overcome. Report an error in the passage at 3:36:59 Highlight the passage at 3:36:59

3:37:20 And he says that the basis of this is reversing that attitude of not wanting suffering to come your way. So that's the first point of being averse to suffering. And then his second point is how to use the suffering as actually the gasoline for enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 3:37:20 Highlight the passage at 3:37:20

3:37:59 So then he goes at the kind of bottom half of page three. Not only will your mind not be affected by misfortune and suffering, Report an error in the passage at 3:37:59 Highlight the passage at 3:37:59

3:38:12 But you'll be able to draw happiness and peace of mind out of these things themselves. Report an error in the passage at 3:38:12 Highlight the passage at 3:38:12

3:38:20 So don't see illnesses or problems as undesirable or unpleasant, but instead get used to seeing them as something pleasing and delightful. Report an error in the passage at 3:38:20 Highlight the passage at 3:38:20

3:38:36 If we were able to do this, he says these are the things that will happen if we're able to not be so avoidant and averse to suffering, and if we actually learn one of those seven skills. In transforming suffering, our mind and character will become more peaceful and more gentle. We will become more open and more flexible. Report an error in the passage at 3:38:36 Highlight the passage at 3:38:36

3:39:01 We will be easier to get along with. We will be courageous and confident. We will be freed from obstacles. We will be able to turn any negative circumstance to our advantage. And our mind will always be content. Report an error in the passage at 3:39:01 Highlight the passage at 3:39:01

3:39:22 Tokutonduk translates the last part that Temponema says, forget about a spiritual practice without... Having what he calls armor of this kind. We're living in a day and age where studying and reflecting and contemplating is not necessarily valued. And so it becomes very easy, as His Holiness said, even if you're a Dharma practitioner in the West, the culture pulls you out. So it's difficult to maintain that continuity of a good state of mind. Report an error in the passage at 3:39:22 Highlight the passage at 3:39:22

3:39:53 So there is this kind of, what he speaks to is armor. Report an error in the passage at 3:39:53 Highlight the passage at 3:39:53

3:40:04 You're basically using the obstacle of practicing in this day and age as the fuel. The actual obstacle is the fuel for your practice. Report an error in the passage at 3:40:04 Highlight the passage at 3:40:04

3:40:43 At the very end of this piece on page 4, he says this hard advice, it's actually right here in the third part of page 4. Report an error in the passage at 3:40:43 Highlight the passage at 3:40:43

3:40:57 This hard advice brings a hundred different essential instructions together into one crucial point. There are many other pith instructions on accepting suffering and hardships in order to practice the path. Report an error in the passage at 3:40:57 Highlight the passage at 3:40:57

3:41:10 But here, in a way that's easy to understand, I have given a general outline of how to accept suffering based on the writings of Shantideva. When you actually read The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva, you notice that he summarizes the entire book. Way of the Bodhisattva in seven pages here. Report an error in the passage at 3:41:10 Highlight the passage at 3:41:10

3:41:38 So this text is in four parts. We've only covered one and we're only going to cover one. The first part is how to overcome suffering through using skillful means of relative truth. Now relative truth is understanding karma, understanding renunciation, taking refuge, understanding pride, understanding how to make good karma. Report an error in the passage at 3:41:38 Highlight the passage at 3:41:38

3:42:05 When we're dealing with dependent arising, so when we're working with karma, he's talking about relative truth. When he talks about absolute truth, it means using your understanding of emptiness to actually allow the mental suffering to resolve itself through the view, which takes training. Report an error in the passage at 3:42:05 Highlight the passage at 3:42:05

3:42:30 It's kind of like, you know, those pictures of those ladies. And sometimes it looks like an old woman and if you look at it in a certain way it turns into a butterfly. Or do you know what I mean? Sometimes like those pictures where you look at it in a certain way it changes. Report an error in the passage at 3:42:30 Highlight the passage at 3:42:30

3:42:50 Okay, so when we are going to use absolute truth in overcoming suffering, it's kind of like you have the thought that's suffering, you know, you have like let's say whatever it is that's causing the suffering and then you look at the emptiness of that thought. Now, when you develop the ability to actually recognize the nature of mind, recognizing it, then what happens is a figure ground shift. Report an error in the passage at 3:42:50 Highlight the passage at 3:42:50

3:43:23 Like everything you see and the way you experience your own mind, it's the same picture, right? Only like you saw like a butterfly and now all of a sudden, you know, it's like something, another picture. It's a figure ground shift. Report an error in the passage at 3:43:23 Highlight the passage at 3:43:23

3:43:41 When we are meditating on emptiness, when you have the direct perception of emptiness, it's a figure ground shift. So you're actually able to use the power of your understanding of emptiness, like when you walk in the room and you think you see a snake, someone turns the light on and you see it's a rope. Report an error in the passage at 3:43:41 Highlight the passage at 3:43:41

3:44:09 You don't need to... Do muscle relaxation and do deep breathing to calm down. You don't need to call the humane society. You don't need to go on top of the table and do skillful means. There are skillful means, right? Let's say you're freaking out. You think it's a snake. So then your master is like, no, it's a rope and you don't believe him. He's like, okay, well, go on top of the table and just sit and do some deep breathing. Report an error in the passage at 3:44:09 Highlight the passage at 3:44:09

3:44:36 Calm down. Those are skillful means. When you realize the reality of it with the light turned on, No longer any kind of need to go through all that. But it doesn't mean that you don't follow the law of karma. Report an error in the passage at 3:44:36 Highlight the passage at 3:44:36