Cultivating Meditative Concentration: Calm Abiding (22 February 2011)

0:00 Psychologically, you know, in my head for one time. But I felt like I I was physically ill and I knew what it was. The words just come out. That's just the emotional charge. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:15 I got so sick, I mean like the whole day I was sick and I was like, I at that. And then I was called up, you know, I was like And it's like, well, I mean, like say, has anybody done anything like I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't you like to address the court and tell them? Oh. Is that up there? Is that up I was just taking there? Report an error in the passage at 0:15 Highlight the passage at 0:15

0:40 a feel and I can't move. Can you be injected, yeah. I'm, um. I'm rather hoping that they don't need me. It's interesting. It's good. It's good. It's good. Yeah. Downtown Oklahoma. see. Report an error in the passage at 0:40 Highlight the passage at 0:40

1:03 send over to you as well. That's okay. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:03 Highlight the passage at 1:03

1:29 I feel like I'm here on the wrong day or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:29 Highlight the passage at 1:29

1:36 Or maybe people are confused. They thought next week. We didn't have class this week instead of next. I don't know. Anyway. Or whatever. I got a couple emails from people who can't make it. More Report an error in the passage at 1:36 Highlight the passage at 1:36

1:51 cozy this way. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51

2:14 Let's spend a minute to develop a positive motivation. Report an error in the passage at 2:14 Highlight the passage at 2:14

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3:21 So we can remember that there are countless other sentient beings, all Report an error in the passage at 3:21 Highlight the passage at 3:21

3:30 of whom who are just trying to be happy and not wanting to suffer, just like us. And Report an error in the passage at 3:30 Highlight the passage at 3:30

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4:14 they've been kind and helpful to us. Our Report an error in the passage at 4:14 Highlight the passage at 4:14

4:23 well-being is dependent on countless others. And Report an error in the passage at 4:23 Highlight the passage at 4:23

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5:02 all these beings are stuck in the prison of saṃsāra, Report an error in the passage at 5:02 Highlight the passage at 5:02

5:17 without control, needing to experience aging, sickness and death. Report an error in the passage at 5:17 Highlight the passage at 5:17

5:31 Again and again, in Report an error in the passage at 5:31 Highlight the passage at 5:31

5:48 meeting with all sorts of undesirable circumstances. Report an error in the passage at 5:48 Highlight the passage at 5:48

6:01 So developing compassion for all these beings and Report an error in the passage at 6:01 Highlight the passage at 6:01

6:13 a wish to lead them to a state that's completely beyond suffering. Report an error in the passage at 6:13 Highlight the passage at 6:13

6:40 And to do this, we need to become completely enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 6:40 Highlight the passage at 6:40

· · · silence, 1 minute

7:27 Okay, we'll start with the Praise to Shakyamuni Buddha, page 73. Report an error in the passage at 7:27 Highlight the passage at 7:27

7:46 To the Founder, the Endowed Transcended Destroyer, the One Gone Beyond, the Foe Destroyer, the Completely Perfected, Fully Awakened Being, Perfect in Knowledge and in Good Conduct, Sugata, Knower of the World, Supreme God of Human Beings to be Tamed, Teacher of Gods and Human Beings, to you, the Completely and Fully Awakened One, the Endowed Transcended Destroyer, the Glorious Conqueror, the Subduer from the Shaka Clan. Report an error in the passage at 7:46 Highlight the passage at 7:46

8:12 I prostrate, make offerings and go for refuge. To the Founder, the Endowed Transcendent Destroyer, the One Gone Beyond, the Foe Destroyer, the Completely Perfected, Fully Awakened Being, Perfect in Knowledge and in Good Conduct, Sugata, Knower of the World, Supreme God of Human Beings to be Tamed, Teacher of Gods and Human Beings, to You, the Completely and Fully Awakened One, the Endowed Transcendent Destroyer, the Glorious Conqueror, the Subduer from the Shaky Clan. Report an error in the passage at 8:12 Highlight the passage at 8:12

8:41 I prostrate, make offerings and go for refuge. To the Founder, the Endowed Transcended Destroyer, the One Gone Beyond, the Foe Destroyer, the Completely Perfected, Fully Awakened Being, Perfect in Knowledge and in Good Conduct, Sagata, Knower of the World, Supreme God of Human Beings to be Tamed, Teacher of Gods and Human Beings, to You, the Completely and Fully Awakened One, the Endowed Transcended Destroyer, the Glorious Conqueror. Report an error in the passage at 8:41 Highlight the passage at 8:41

9:08 The subduer from the Shaka clan, I prostrate, make offerings, and go for refuge. When, O supreme amongst humans, you were born on this earth, you paced out seven strides, then said, I am supreme in this world. To you who are wise then, I prostrate. With pure bodies formed supremely pure, wisdom ocean like a golden mountain, fame that blazes in three worlds, winner of the best, Lord, to you I prostrate. Report an error in the passage at 9:08 Highlight the passage at 9:08

9:36 With the supreme signs, face like spotless moon, color like gold, to you I prostrate. Dust free like you, the three worlds are not, incomparably wise one, to you I prostrate. The savior having great compassion, the founder having all understanding, the field of merit with qualities like a vast ocean, to you the one gone to thusness I prostrate. Report an error in the passage at 9:36 Highlight the passage at 9:36

9:58 The purity that frees one from attachment. The virtue that frees one from the lower realms. The one path. The sublime pure reality. To the Dharma that pacifies, I prostrate. Those who are liberated and who also show the path to liberation. The holy field qualified with realizations. Who are devoted to the moral precepts. Report an error in the passage at 9:58 Highlight the passage at 9:58

10:18 To you, the sublime community intending virtue, I prostrate. Homage to the Supreme Buddha. Homage to the Dharma refuge. Homage to the great Saṅgha. To all three ever devout homage. To all worthy of respect, bowing with bodies as many as all realms, atoms and all aspects, with supreme faith I pay homage. Report an error in the passage at 10:18 Highlight the passage at 10:18

10:38 Do not commit any non-virtuous actions. Perform only perfect virtuous actions. Subdue your mind thoroughly. This is the teaching of the Buddha. A star, a visual aberration, a flame of a lamp, an illusion, a drop of dew or a bubble. A dream, a flash of lightning, a cloud. See conditioned things as such. Through these merits may sentient beings attain the rank of all seeing, subdue the foe of faults, and be delivered from saṃsāra's ocean, perturbed by the waves of aging sickness and death. Report an error in the passage at 10:38 Highlight the passage at 10:38

11:09 And then on page 98 is refuge and bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 11:09 Highlight the passage at 11:09

11:20 I go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. Report an error in the passage at 11:20 Highlight the passage at 11:20

11:50 By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma. May I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 11:50 Highlight the passage at 11:50

12:02 So we've been talking about calm abiding and the importance of calm abiding. So remembering that with a distracted mind we don't have the power of the mind to be able to gain any realizations or really accomplish anything very significant on the spiritual path. As long as the mind is jumping all over the place. We can't be very effective when the mind is jumping all over the place. Report an error in the passage at 12:02 Highlight the passage at 12:02

12:39 We can't even listen effectively if we can't keep our attention on the person who's talking. So it's very useful to develop a single-pointed concentration. Report an error in the passage at 12:39 Highlight the passage at 12:39

12:53 And calm abiding is said to be the basis in order to develop the realizations, and particularly the realization of emptiness, which is the key to uprooting all of our mental afflictions, which is the cause of all of our suffering. So the key to uprooting all of our suffering, to ending our suffering, is to develop a wisdom realizing emptiness, especially the wisdom directly realizing emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 12:53 Highlight the passage at 12:53

13:22 Which we cannot get until we have calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 13:22 Highlight the passage at 13:22

13:29 Alright, so we've been talking about laxity and excitement, right? Excitement being related to attachment, right? Which is distracting the mind, right? The mind is trying to stay on its object, but excitement keeps going off to, you know, attractive object, pleasant objects, pleasant memories, you know, fantasies of, you know. Report an error in the passage at 13:29 Highlight the passage at 13:29

13:53 Like vacations we're going to take or food we're going to eat or things we want to buy, right? Whereas laxity, instead of going outward, is sinking inwards, right? And developing like a slackness and a dullness of mind. So people have kind of an idea, an experiential idea of what laxity and excitement are, kind of, sort of. Report an error in the passage at 13:53 Highlight the passage at 13:53

14:25 Okay, I want to give one example. If you look at, if this is the mind that's clarity and... Report an error in the passage at 14:25 Highlight the passage at 14:25

15:02 What's Report an error in the passage at 15:02 Highlight the passage at 15:02

15:13 excitement? Report an error in the passage at 15:13 Highlight the passage at 15:13

15:17 So we'll Report an error in the passage at 15:17 Highlight the passage at 15:17

15:24 get to, you know, we'll get to understand laxing and excitement much more, much better as we progress along our... Report an error in the passage at 15:24 Highlight the passage at 15:24

15:38 -abiding path, right? As we're able to stabilize on the object more and more, then we'll see laxity and excitement in our experience more and more. Until we're able to really focus on an object some time, then we're not able to see the subtler levels of laxity and excitement. So Report an error in the passage at 15:38 Highlight the passage at 15:38

16:02 it's through introspection or vigilance that we notice laxity and excitement. Introspection being that part of the mind that That's the spy that notices if the mind is on the object or if it's dull or excited. Report an error in the passage at 16:02 Highlight the passage at 16:02

16:25 So last time we talked about the various antidotes to laxity. So when laxity arises, the first thing we try to do, so when laxity arises it means that the mind has kind of loosened its hold on the object. So we need to, first of all, tighten our hold on the object, tighten up our mindfulness. And if that doesn't work, then we need to stop our calm and binding meditation and meditate on something else to uplift the mind, because laxity has become kind of down. Report an error in the passage at 16:25 Highlight the passage at 16:25

17:01 The mind has become down with laxity. So we can meditate on something joyful that uplifts the mind. Not an object of attachment, but something like the three jewels, the qualities of our spiritual teacher, etc. Or we can imagine bright light because the lax mind has become a little bit dark. Report an error in the passage at 17:01 Highlight the passage at 17:01

17:23 Or we can meditate on space to expand the mind. We can do analysis, reciting teachings that point out the disadvantages of lethargy and sleepiness. Report an error in the passage at 17:23 Highlight the passage at 17:23

17:39 Pay, right, last time to wake up your mind, washing your face with cold water, etc. So whatever lifts up the mind makes it more clear and more awake. Report an error in the passage at 17:39 Highlight the passage at 17:39

17:53 Whereas with excitement, if excitement's not very strong or long-lasting, I mean, usually excitement is talked about when we're too tight on the object, right, or too tense. So we need to loosen a bit, relax a little bit. With excitement. I Report an error in the passage at 17:53 Highlight the passage at 17:53

18:16 mean, I think, but sometimes excitement is just your mindfulness isn't very strong, right? Your mind has gone off. And so we need to strengthen our mindfulness at the same time. Report an error in the passage at 18:16 Highlight the passage at 18:16

18:27 And then if that doesn't work, right, once again, we stop our calm abiding session and we can meditate on something disillusioning, like the faults of whatever we're fantasizing about, or impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 18:27 Highlight the passage at 18:27

18:44 And this impermanence is very useful in the sense of, I mean, I think I've talked before about the kind of and then, like this monk I know, he used to use this kind of and then way of talking. Like if you go to him and you say, I met the love of my life, you know, and you're all excited, and he'd say, and then? Report an error in the passage at 18:44 Highlight the passage at 18:44

19:15 Because we think, okay, that's it, right? You meet the love of your life, that's it, you're going to be happy forever. And he's like, and then we're going to get married. And then, you know, we're going to have kids. And then, you know, we're going to die, right? So, you know, so it helps you kind of get beyond that initial excitement, thinking that. Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:40 Everything's going to be great from now on, right? It can't last, right? Anything external can't last, yeah? Similarly, I got the, you know, the job I wanted, and then I'll have to go to work. Report an error in the passage at 19:40 Highlight the passage at 19:40

19:58 Right? Yeah, exactly. So this is very useful with any of our objects of attachment to just try this kind of and then scenario. Oh, you know, I have a new house. And then? I have termites. Then I have to clean it, right? Then, yeah, I have termites. And then I have to work more at my job so I can pay my mortgage, right? And then, right? So, you know, whereas if it's a true source of happiness, the and then really leads us there. Report an error in the passage at 19:58 Highlight the passage at 19:58

20:33 It's like, you know, I'm going to go do a retreat. You know, and then? Oh, I might, you know, progress along the spiritual path. And then, oh, I might eliminate my mental afflictions eventually. And then, I could get enlightened. And then, I could help sentient beings, right? The and then carries you through to... Report an error in the passage at 20:33 Highlight the passage at 20:33

21:06 Something really useful, right? And positive and beneficial, right? Or as if it's just a contaminated object, right? A temporary, you know, object of pleasure. The then really carries us to the futility of it, right? It's like we can work, spend so much time in our lives, you know, pursuing pleasure and, you know, material things and, you know, success. Report an error in the passage at 21:06 Highlight the passage at 21:06

21:35 But at the end of the day, we lose it all, right? And we haven't gotten any closer to enlightenment. So I really like this and then test, right? Like, okay, is this really an object that's going to bring lasting happiness or is this something that's just a distraction? Because basically these, you know, there's so many things that are just distractions to what's really meaningful. Report an error in the passage at 21:35 Highlight the passage at 21:35

22:08 Because the thing about... Calm abiding is to develop calm abiding. We need to be willing to put the time into it. There's no substitute for sitting on the cushion and meditating. There's not a shortcut where we can just get calm abiding. Okay, well, I've got a week off next week, so I'll get calm abiding. Unless we have very good imprints from the past, it'll take a lot longer to get calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 22:08 Highlight the passage at 22:08

22:36 So we need... We need to set aside time to meditate, which means that we need to take time away from something else. Report an error in the passage at 22:36 Highlight the passage at 22:36

22:56 So we use introspection to notice both the laxity and excitement, even subtle levels. And remember Lama Tsongkhapa said we need to stop those two in every possible way, not just tolerating them. Well, you know, I've got a bit of laxity, but, you know, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 22:56 Highlight the passage at 22:56

23:22 And then along the path, okay, so when we first start meditating, you know, distraction and excitement are what we deal with, right? So what we need to first do is focus on mindfulness, right? Strengthening our mindfulness so that we can keep our mind on the object, right? Without distraction, more and more, yeah. So first we try to counteract distraction and excitement. Report an error in the passage at 23:22 Highlight the passage at 23:22

23:51 And strengthen our mindfulness. Then once we're able to keep our mind on the object, then we deal with laxity and excitement more. Because in the beginning, if we can't even keep our mind on the object, then if we focus too much on laxity and excitement, that will prevent the stability from arising. So first we need to focus on the stability and then become more and more subtle with our meditation, eliminating. Report an error in the passage at 23:51 Highlight the passage at 23:51

24:21 You know, gross. Gross excitement first and then gross laxity and then medium excitement and then medium laxity and then subtle excitement and subtle laxity. It kind of goes like that in that order. Am I making sense? Report an error in the passage at 24:21 Highlight the passage at 24:21

24:40 Okay, so that's what we talked about last time. So now we get to a stage that none of us have any experience with, at least as far as I know, otherwise you might wouldn't. This is where we're at the point when laxity and excitement no longer arise. We've gone beyond that. Report an error in the passage at 24:40 Highlight the passage at 24:40

25:08 And the fault when we're at that point is to apply an antidote when there's no laxity or excitement. So the fault at this point is over application or applying an antidote. Report an error in the passage at 25:08 Highlight the passage at 25:08

25:24 To overcome that, we need to abide in what's called equanimity, which we'll talk about. Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

25:34 Yeah, so this is, you know, we've been meditating, right? So in the beginning, we're meditating just trying to keep our mind on the object, right? Then we're able to keep our mind on the object, but then we're dealing with laxity and excitement, right? And then we get to the point where laxity and excitement no longer arise. Report an error in the passage at 25:34 Highlight the passage at 25:34

25:31 sorry, can explain to everyone what over Report an error in the passage at 25:31 Highlight the passage at 25:31

25:55 So that's what this is, is we're at a point where they don't arise anymore, but out of a force of habit, we apply the antidotes. We imagine bright light, or we keep adjusting, even though there's no need to adjust, just through the force of habit. So that's over-application. Report an error in the passage at 25:55 Highlight the passage at 25:55

26:28 If you do, over-apply. Yeah, so what you do is you destabilize your meditation if you apply an antidote when you don't need to. Report an error in the passage at 26:28 Highlight the passage at 26:28

26:40 It's like, you know, I mean, I guess, I don't know if you're ever a gymnast, if you're ever on the balance beam, right, and you're perfectly balanced, but you're not confident you're perfectly balanced, and then you try to adjust yourself, then you might fall off, right? We need to trust when we're perfectly balanced to... Report an error in the passage at 26:40 Highlight the passage at 26:40

27:00 To just stay perfectly balanced and not adjust when we don't need to. Report an error in the passage at 27:00 Highlight the passage at 27:00

27:16 So this is basically what Lama Tsongkhapa is saying. We've entered a state of equipoise that's free from laxity and excitement, but then at this point it's a fault to apply or exert yourself. So cultivate equanimity as a remedy for this. So we'll talk about what equanimity is. Report an error in the passage at 27:16 Highlight the passage at 27:16

27:38 So then there's this question, how can it be that applying yourself or making an effort turns into a problem? Report an error in the passage at 27:38 Highlight the passage at 27:38

27:46 Lama Tsongkhapa says, through meditation, turning your attention inward when your mind is excited and stimulating your mind when it's lax, you gain confidence that laxity and excitement will not occur during each suitable meditation session. At this point, you are still extremely wary of laxity and excitement just at the outset. Sustaining this is a problem. Report an error in the passage at 27:46 Highlight the passage at 27:46

28:08 Your mind will become distracted, so at that time you must know how to relax. Report an error in the passage at 28:08 Highlight the passage at 28:08

28:16 So we get so used to developing this introspection, always being on guard for laxity and excitement. Then at a certain point, you've gone beyond laxity and excitement, so we need to learn to just relax that and just abide in this equipoise that we've achieved. Report an error in the passage at 28:16 Highlight the passage at 28:16

28:45 So this entails relaxing your effort but not sacrificing the intensity of the way you apprehend your object. So you keep the vividness of the mind in the way you apprehend your object, but we're relaxing our effort a little bit, not being too tense. Report an error in the passage at 28:45 Highlight the passage at 28:45

29:11 So this only happens, I mean we don't do this whenever laxier excitement don't occur, but this happens When we're past the peak of laxity or excitement, we're past the point where laxity and excitement arise anymore. So we'll talk about the nine mental abidings that we get to before calm abiding. And it's early at the eighth mental abiding. Report an error in the passage at 29:11 Highlight the passage at 29:11

29:40 like during the Really the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh levels, you're really focusing on counteracting laxity and excitement. So by the time you get to the eighth level, you're free from laxity and excitement. So it's at the eighth level that this starts coming into play where you're not, you know, it's a fault to try to make effort to adjust to counteract laxity and excitement because you're beyond it at this point. Report an error in the passage at 29:40 Highlight the passage at 29:40

30:11 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 30:11 Highlight the passage at 30:11

30:17 Alright, so there's three uses of the term equanimity in the Dharma. So we'll just go through those briefly. Sometimes equanimity is talked about in terms of the three types of feelings, like we have pleasant feelings, unpleasant feelings, and neutral feelings. Neutral just being not pleasant or unpleasant. And that's termed equanimity sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 30:17 Highlight the passage at 30:17

30:44 And then there's the context of the four immeasurables. There's the immeasurable joy, immeasurable happiness, immeasurable suffering, and then immeasurable equanimity. And this is where we're wishing for all beings to be free from attachment and aversion, free from mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 30:44 Highlight the passage at 30:44

31:09 That's not the equanimity that we're talking about here. The equanimity we're talking about here is the third kind, the equanimity of application, which is what? Report an error in the passage at 31:09 Highlight the passage at 31:09

31:23 The mind in equipoise upon its object, from the class of calm abiding or special insight, settling into its natural state, operating spontaneously by itself and achieving serviceability. Okay, what does that mean? Report an error in the passage at 31:23 Highlight the passage at 31:23

31:41 this is I mean I find that I have a mind block around this because I've never achieved a state of mind that even remotely resembles this kind of equanimity. So it's like you read the words and you're like, okay, well, let me try to relate that to my experience. And yeah, yeah, exactly. So let me just share with you a bit more what it is. Report an error in the passage at 31:41 Highlight the passage at 31:41

32:19 Oh, sorry. Okay. So this is... So one definition is that equanimity is a mental factor that functions to keep your mind free from laxity and excitement. So it's this mind, this mental factor actually, that's kind of dwelling in a completely natural state without effort, just effortlessly keeps the mind free. Report an error in the passage at 32:19 Highlight the passage at 32:19

32:53 It keeps the mind clear, free from distraction, free from laxity and excitement. So it's a mental factor, it's a virtuous mental factor that we abide in. It keeps the mind in this pure kind of state that's free from these faults of laxity and excitement. Report an error in the passage at 32:53 Highlight the passage at 32:53

33:29 Okay, so it's a balanced state and it's... Alan Wallace says it's a state that meditators who have achieved it say it's like a state of perfection. You're completely free from mental afflictions, manifest mental afflictions arising. You're free from attachment. You're free from irritation. You're free from jealousy. You're in a completely calm, peaceful state. Report an error in the passage at 33:29 Highlight the passage at 33:29

34:13 So once we've achieved this equanimity, We should fully actualize it, rest in it without making a strong effort, as long as laxity and excitement don't arise. Report an error in the passage at 34:13 Highlight the passage at 34:13

34:35 So that's the five faults and the eight antidotes. Report an error in the passage at 34:35 Highlight the passage at 34:35

34:42 So just as a review, in the beginning, our main fault, our obstacle to calm abiding is laziness. The laziness of not wanting to sit down and meditate. There's actually three types of laziness talked about. One being the laziness of procrastination. Okay, well, I want to meditate, but maybe tomorrow. Or, well, when I retire, when I have more time, I'll meditate. Putting it off. Report an error in the passage at 34:42 Highlight the passage at 34:42

35:22 The second type of laziness is the laziness of being attached to lying around. Delaying on the couch and flipping on the TV. The laziness of doing nothing. Report an error in the passage at 35:22 Highlight the passage at 35:22

35:49 And then the third type of laziness is the laziness of being attached to what's called meaningless activities. Report an error in the passage at 35:49 Highlight the passage at 35:49

36:00 It's said that being attached to neutral activities is the most insidious type of laziness. We're here to show activity. Like watching TV, reading a book. Most of us aren't so attached to non-virtuous activities. We're not so attached to hitting the dog or beating your wife. Report an error in the passage at 36:00 Highlight the passage at 36:00

36:33 We've been in the Dharma for a while and we're not. We're not so attached to doing non-virtuous activities. But most of us are very attached to doing things that aren't bad activities. They're just distractions from doing something more meaningful. So I just heard a story the other day. About this guy who was meditating. He was sitting in meditation. He was in India. This was way back, maybe 30 years ago. He was in India doing a meditation retreat and he got this idea, I have to go back to Afghanistan. Report an error in the passage at 36:33 Highlight the passage at 36:33

37:17 Because he had gone to India through Afghanistan and he had seen something that he really wanted. And then once he got to India and he was in meditation, he realized. I really need to get that. I really have to have that right. Because in meditation, you can become really obsessed by something. Something becomes really important. Report an error in the passage at 37:17 Highlight the passage at 37:17

37:39 So he stops his retreat. He goes to Afghanistan. And once he's in Afghanistan, he discovers, what am I doing here? He discovers that this... The desire to go to Afghanistan to pick up this thing that he had to have was just a distraction. So this is our lives, the thing that we have to buy, the thing that we have to do in our life, the job that we have to get or the thing we have to accomplish. Report an error in the passage at 37:39 Highlight the passage at 37:39

38:15 I have to buy a house, otherwise I won't feel like a success in this life. I have to have, you know, a particular kind of relationship or I have to have this, right? These seem so important in our minds, but maybe they're just distraction because we get it and then what? And then? The board breaks. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 38:15 Highlight the passage at 38:15

38:48 So the three types of laziness that prevent us from actually sitting on the cushion. We overcome those lazinesses through developing, first of all, the faith or confidence in the good qualities of meditation. And then helps in understanding the benefits of meditative stabilization, the benefits. Oh, if I get calm abiding, and then? Oh, then it'll be easy to get special insight. Oh, and then? I'll realize emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 38:48 Highlight the passage at 38:48

39:23 Oh, and then? I'll get, you know, I'll get enlightened. Oh, that's pretty good. Right? So, you know, contemplating the good qualities of meditative stabilization or calm abiding to start with. And then based on having this confidence in the good qualities, then we need to develop aspiration. Yeah, I want to accomplish calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 39:23 Highlight the passage at 39:23

39:54 I really want that. And based on having the aspiration, then we need to make effort. Not only do I want it, now I'm going to sit down and meditate. Report an error in the passage at 39:54 Highlight the passage at 39:54

40:05 And what keeps us going is joyous effort or enthusiasm. It's not this hard slog, I have to go sit down and meditate. But the enthusiasm, yeah, I really want to accomplish this. Report an error in the passage at 40:05 Highlight the passage at 40:05

40:21 And then by making this persistent effort, then eventually we'll attain pliancy. And once we attain pliancy, we've removed all of the resistance in our mind and our body to sitting down and meditating. Because now we have to kind of force ourselves to sit down and meditate, right? It's like, okay, well, it's time to meditate. I guess, you know, I'm kind of tired, but well, okay, well, I guess I'll meditate. Report an error in the passage at 40:21 Highlight the passage at 40:21

40:54 Or, right? I'd really rather just... Me too. I'll just watch a little TV first, right? And then I'll meditate, right? That resistance, right? But once we attain calm biding, then there's no resistance at all to meditating. We just want to sit down and meditate, right? So that's another quality that we have to imagine, right? Report an error in the passage at 40:54 Highlight the passage at 40:54

41:21 Okay. So that's said to be the true antidote to laziness because at that point you've eliminated laziness completely. Report an error in the passage at 41:21 Highlight the passage at 41:21

41:32 But really we have to get to calm abiding first before we can attain that pliancy. So we need to start with the faith or confidence. So once we've overcome the initial laziness of sitting down the cushion and we actually sit on the cushion, then the next obstacle becomes forgetting the object. We're meditating on the object and then suddenly we're thinking about something else. We've lost the object of meditation. So the antidote to that is mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 41:32 Highlight the passage at 41:32

42:04 The mindfulness that doesn't forget the object. Mindfulness being non-forgetfulness of the familiar object. The next... So once we've eliminated that, we're able to stay on the object in our meditation, then the next obstacle becomes laxity and excitement. Report an error in the passage at 42:04 Highlight the passage at 42:04

42:29 Subtler levels of the dullness of the mind or the lack of clarity and the excitement of, you know, part of our mind is still on the object but part of the mind is off on other things. Report an error in the passage at 42:29 Highlight the passage at 42:29

42:45 Then we need introspection. To notice the laxity and excitement and adjust. Then the next obstacle is non-application, right? So this is when we notice laxity or excitement arising and we don't apply an antidote, right? We just let it happen. So the antidote to that is applying, right? Application, applying an antidote. And then lastly, what we just talked about. Report an error in the passage at 42:45 Highlight the passage at 42:45

43:20 When we get to the point where there is no longer any laxia or excitement, the fault is to apply an antidote. So to overcome that, we apply equanimity. So that's the main process for attaining calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 43:20 Highlight the passage at 43:20

43:40 Any questions about that? Let's use the talking stick. Report an error in the passage at 43:40 Highlight the passage at 43:40

43:53 It just occurs to me that the last four of the five faults there, Do they correspond to the four stages of the river they sometimes talk about? You know, like a fast-rushing river, going to like a slow-moving river to the ocean eventually. It seems like there's, since you said it covers the whole path, it seems like those stages there, is that metaphor? You know, I don't remember, like in the three principal aspects of the path, right, the four, I don't remember what those four are, but I don't think that they're, they correspond to this. Report an error in the passage at 43:53 Highlight the passage at 43:53

44:28 Okay. I have to look up, look that up. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 44:28 Highlight the passage at 44:28

44:37 So this covers the whole path. I wouldn't say this isn't the whole path to enlightenment, but this is the whole path from not being able to concentrate to attaining goal-abiding. Report an error in the passage at 44:37 Highlight the passage at 44:37

44:49 Clear? Report an error in the passage at 44:49 Highlight the passage at 44:49

44:54 Now all we have to do is do it. Report an error in the passage at 44:54 Highlight the passage at 44:54

45:01 So this is a lot of information. But the main thing to start with is mindfulness. Cultivating mind. Now we have to just, you're right. That's my finger. Report an error in the passage at 45:01 Highlight the passage at 45:01

45:14 You want to do a little meditation? Report an error in the passage at 45:14 Highlight the passage at 45:14

45:25 So we'll do five minutes on the object of your choice, if it's your breath or the image of a deity or whatever you find is a useful object for you. And most of us are probably at the stage where we're still experimenting with different objects and that's fine. Report an error in the passage at 45:25 Highlight the passage at 45:25

46:07 So remember trying to hold our mindfulness as much as we can. And also balancing tightness and relaxation, trying to find the middle way there. So Report an error in the passage at 46:07 Highlight the passage at 46:07

· · · silence, 5 minutes

51:10 are we able to find some level of mindfulness or Report an error in the passage at 51:10 Highlight the passage at 51:10

51:21 figure out what it is? It's very helpful if we start with a determination, okay, for the next five minutes I'm going to try to stay on the object as much as I can, right? Report an error in the passage at 51:21 Highlight the passage at 51:21

51:37 Instead of, you know, if we're kind of wishy-washy about it. It's amazing when you sit down and meditate how things become supremely important. You sit down and meditate, especially with your eyes open and you see a dust ball in the corner and you feel like, I have to take care of that now. Report an error in the passage at 51:37 Highlight the passage at 51:37

52:03 Or that email you need to write becomes supremely important and you have to do it now. now. Right? Right? Right. Report an error in the passage at 52:03 Highlight the passage at 52:03

52:13 So we have to remind ourselves, what's more important, writing that email right now or maybe I can meditate for 10 minutes and write it in 10 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 52:13 Highlight the passage at 52:13

52:26 Or that dust ball, really, it's probably been sitting there for a while and it didn't need to be cleaned until you sat down and meditated. And then as soon as we sit down and meditate, then these things have to happen right away. All right. So, Report an error in the passage at 52:26 Highlight the passage at 52:26

52:45 As well as in meditation, once we've calmed our mind a little bit, we get insights. It really takes a lot of discipline to not let yourself go off into what you just discovered you can do at work to make things. easier or what you can say to this person right because that seems very important when we're meditating But as long as we keep letting our minds go off into these sidetracks, we're not going to learn to control our minds. Report an error in the passage at 52:45 Highlight the passage at 52:45

53:23 With calm abiding, the important thing is to learn to control our minds, to keep our mind on the given object. With special insight we can analyze, but with calm abiding we're first learning how to control our minds, keep it on whatever object we've decided. Report an error in the passage at 53:23 Highlight the passage at 53:23

53:50 Okay, ready for the nine stages then. Report an error in the passage at 53:50 Highlight the passage at 53:50

53:59 The nine stages to attain calm abiding, we go through these nine and then we get to calm abiding after the ninth stage. The first one is called placement. Report an error in the passage at 53:59 Highlight the passage at 53:59

54:13 Lama Tsongkhapa says that when we place the mind on such and such consists in gathering the mind from all external objects and directing it towards the object within. Report an error in the passage at 54:13 Highlight the passage at 54:13

54:27 So this is the first stage where we sit down and we're able to bring our mind to the object. It doesn't mean we can keep our mind on the object, but just being able to... Bring your mind to the object. There are certain objects that are very easy to bring our minds to. We may get to the first stage right away. Report an error in the passage at 54:27 Highlight the passage at 54:27

54:53 Other things, let's say if it's a Buddha image that we're trying to get to, it might take some time before it actually appears to our minds. But when we're actually able to bring the mind to the object. Report an error in the passage at 54:53 Highlight the passage at 54:53

55:06 Alan Wallace says, just for a second or two, then you've achieved the first stage. Geshe Loden says for a minute, which is a big difference between a second or two or a minute. But from what Lama Tsongkhapa is saying, it's just directing the mind to the object. So my own opinion is it doesn't have to be a long time, but we're just able to bring the mind to the object. Report an error in the passage at 55:06 Highlight the passage at 55:06

55:39 this suit. This text is called The Ornament of the Sutras or The Ornament of the Mahāyāna Sutras. It describes these nine stages and it describes the first stage as having directed the mind toward the object. Report an error in the passage at 55:39 Highlight the passage at 55:39

55:56 So here, as I was saying, we achieve this when we're able to place our mind on the object for a short time, being a second or two or a minute. At this stage, we have no continuity of placement in that we bring our mind to the object, it goes off. We bring our mind to the object, it goes off again. We don't have this continuity of being able to stay on the object for any length of time in the first stage. We may relate to this a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 55:56 Highlight the passage at 55:56

56:31 And also at this stage, this is when we first start To notice how distracted our minds are. If we've never sat down and meditated before, then we don't really know how uncontrolled our minds are. But as soon as we sit down and meditate and try to direct our minds to a particular object and stay there, then we really notice that we have a monkey mind. Report an error in the passage at 56:31 Highlight the passage at 56:31

56:56 So we may think our thoughts are increasing at this point. But that's not very likely, right? That just means that we've never noticed them before. Report an error in the passage at 56:56 Highlight the passage at 56:56

57:10 The second stage is called continuous placement, which just means, okay, Lama Tsongkhapa says, the directed mind is continuously placed on the object over a period of time without it being distracted to anything else. Report an error in the passage at 57:10 Highlight the passage at 57:10

57:26 So this is maybe a misnomer. It doesn't mean that we're able to stay on the object for as long as we want. This just means we're starting to have some level of continuity. We put our mind on the object, we're able to stay on that object for a couple of minutes. And then the mind goes off. And then eventually we notice that the mind's off and then we bring it back. Report an error in the passage at 57:26 Highlight the passage at 57:26

57:58 Here we're able to maintain a short continuity of the mind on the object occasionally, right? So we sit down and we meditate and, you know, we're able to keep our mind on the object for, let's say, two minutes and then it goes off for five minutes and then we bring it back and then maybe we're able to keep it on for another minute or two. Report an error in the passage at 57:58 Highlight the passage at 57:58

58:23 So here occasionally we have a continuity. On the object, but most of the time our mind is still caught up in thoughts and distractions. Report an error in the passage at 58:23 Highlight the passage at 58:23

58:38 So according to Geshe Loden, we attain the second stage when we can hold the object continuously over a period of two to five minutes, or according to Alan Wallace, for a minute. Report an error in the passage at 58:38 Highlight the passage at 58:38

58:51 But anyways, at this point, we can keep our mind on the object for a short time, like a minute or two or three. But most of the time still the mind is off the object. Report an error in the passage at 58:51 Highlight the passage at 58:51

59:08 The third stage is called patchy placement. Report an error in the passage at 59:08 Highlight the passage at 59:08

59:16 Sometimes it's called resetting. So Lama Tsongkhapa says if you get distracted due to forgetfulness, so that you are distracted outwards, you realize it and tie your mind to its object again. Report an error in the passage at 59:16 Highlight the passage at 59:16

59:32 The ornament for Mahāyāna Sūtra says, realizing distraction quickly, you should patch it up again. So at the third stage, we're on the object more often than we're off the object. Mostly we're on the object and when we get distracted, we notice the distraction quickly. Oh, I'm distracted and then we can quickly bring it back. Report an error in the passage at 59:32 Highlight the passage at 59:32

59:52 So there's a big difference between the second and the third stage. The second stage where... Occasionally we have some continuity, but most of the time we're off. But in the third stage, we're mostly on the object and we notice very quickly when it's off. So our mindfulness is much stronger in the third. Report an error in the passage at 59:52 Highlight the passage at 59:52

1:00:25 So Alan Wallace says, the third stage is achieved only when your mind remains focused on the object most of the time in virtually all of your sessions. If we have one, like, fluke. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:25 Highlight the passage at 1:00:25

1:00:38 One particularly good session, right, where we're on the object most of the time, but our other sessions are very distracted. We haven't achieved the third stage yet, right, until it's consistent, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:38 Highlight the passage at 1:00:38

1:01:04 We'll do the fourth stage and we'll take a break. And the fourth stage, close placement. This is explained. In the instructions on the perfection of wisdom, the mind, while extensive by nature, is gathered again and again and thus refined, so that placement gets better and better. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:04 Highlight the passage at 1:01:04

1:01:29 Or according to the ornament from Mahāyāna Sutras, it says the wise withdraw their attention inward to ever greater levels. So actually at the fourth level, we no longer lose the object of meditation. At the fourth level, right, there are nine levels. But at the fourth level, at this point, we never lose the object concentration completely. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:29 Highlight the passage at 1:01:29

1:02:02 So here, so we're able to keep the mind on the object without losing it, and the mind is non-distracted right from the beginning of the meditation session. We sit down, we meditate, and we're able to stay on the object for the entire time. So at this point, our meditation session can be much longer. Maybe we start with 5 minutes or 10 minutes. At this point, it can be an hour or more. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:02 Highlight the passage at 1:02:02

1:02:30 Because your mindfulness is developed so that you're able to stay on your object for the entire session. It doesn't mean that you don't have part of your mind on something else. But we don't lose our object completely at this point. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:30 Highlight the passage at 1:02:30

1:02:50 So at this point, we've overcome gross excitement, right? Because gross excitement, if we remember, is where we're distracted from the object. You know, we lose the meditation object due to an object of attachment, right? We're meditating on the object and then we, you know, before we know it, we're thinking about something else. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:50 Highlight the passage at 1:02:50

1:03:14 At the fourth stage... Part of your mind is still glued to the object. We can still be thinking about objects of attachment on the side. But on the fourth stage, part of our mind is still on the object. It's like when we're driving. Part of our attention is still on the road, but part of our attention is wandering all over the place. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:14 Highlight the passage at 1:03:14

1:03:39 So kind of similar. I have a question I was reading in one of the books today about scattering. And that scattering, I think it's what I do. It isn't an object of attachment. It's connected to the virtuous object. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:39 Highlight the passage at 1:03:39

1:04:00 Can you speak to the difference? Yeah, I think Gin Lama Rinpoche uses the term scattering instead of the term distraction. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:00 Highlight the passage at 1:04:00

1:04:12 It's actually the same as distraction. The mind's scattered from the object. It's distracted from the object. Not necessarily due to attachment, but it could be due to anything. It could be due to a virtuous object. It could be due to anger or annoyance. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:12 Highlight the passage at 1:04:12

1:04:32 But that would be an attachment. He makes a really big distinction, I think, from distraction and scattering. Now he's making a distinction between distraction and excitement. Excitement is due to attachment. Distraction is a broader category. It's distraction due to anything. Excitement is very specific and that's distraction due to attachment. So scattering and distraction are just two different ways of translating the same term. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:32 Highlight the passage at 1:04:32

1:05:12 So here it's said at this level we've... We've really fine-tuned our mindfulness, right? Because our mindfulness has developed such that we no longer lose the object of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:12 Highlight the passage at 1:05:12

1:05:29 So we've pacified gross excitement, so we're always on the object, at least partly. But then our main obstacle then becomes gross laxity, right? Where the mind is still on the object, but it's not clear. The mind is not clear. The mind has become a little bit dull, right? And so that's what happens, right? Once we're able to stay on the object for as long as we want, then the danger is, right, we've withdrawn inward more. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:29 Highlight the passage at 1:05:29

1:06:02 And the danger is that we, then the mind starts to become kind of dull and like complacent. It's like if you sit there and watch TV for three hours, right? You kind of like... You kind of sink into your couch and the mind is just dull, dully watching TV, right, if you're doing it for long enough. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:02 Highlight the passage at 1:06:02

1:06:25 So similarly with meditation, right, you're on the object. You know, it's not an exciting thing to stay on the object for a long time, right, so you can easily kind of loosen up too much and become a little bit dull. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:25 Highlight the passage at 1:06:25

1:06:41 So, right, so initially we have to overcome gross excitement. Which we've done by this stage. And then the next thing that we have to deal with then is gross laxity. We've had gross laxity all along, but it becomes the obstacle that we have to overcome at this point. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:41 Highlight the passage at 1:06:41

1:07:08 Why don't we take a break? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:08 Highlight the passage at 1:07:08

1:07:25 Hey, where's Lewis? He has a science invention. I'm not surprised. Right that becomes it's you Report an error in the passage at 1:07:25 Highlight the passage at 1:07:25

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:07:32 Wow. Yeah, so he's on antibiotics for two weeks. I'm better. Yay! And I'm late, so sorry about that. Wow. You should have seen Lewis driving me over here with, like, a scar. Mmm. Wow. Well, yeah, tell him we hope he feels better. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:32 Highlight the passage at 1:07:32

1:07:55 He doesn't have what I have, though. It's something else. He gets these sinus infections frequently, so... Mmm, he has that. Mmm. Okay. Anyway, I'll see you Saturday. This weekend already? My gosh. It's going to be a busy weekend. It's going to be great. I'm excited about it, though. This is actually the first real teaching that I've been to for a long time. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:55 Highlight the passage at 1:07:55

1:08:23 Really? He hasn't been here. I mean, he was the best. That's true. He hasn't taught here. He hasn't taught here. He's been at L &B and stuff. Uh-huh. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:23 Highlight the passage at 1:08:23

1:08:32 Vajrapani. Right. It's harder for you to make it down. Yeah. So I'm excited actually by it. It's going to be fun. Yeah. Well, I mean, I don't know about fun, but it's going to be, it's going to be great. Does it really go till midnight? Well, it all depends. It all depends. Or, or later, you know, I mean, it all depends. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:32 Highlight the passage at 1:08:32

1:08:54 You really. Get to see your mind and your attachment to, well, it's supposed to end by now. To hug her and see a sore butt. Exactly. But when we can overcome it, it's amazing just to be in his presence. So Gil Rinpoche is the same way my mom said. When he starts teaching, he can just go and go and go and go. Yeah. Lama Zopa is so charismatic. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:54 Highlight the passage at 1:08:54

1:09:24 It's like mesmerized. Yeah, I saw him at the airport last Wednesday. He came in and, you know, he's just a bright light. You know, he comes in and everybody's eyes are on him and he's just so... It's just this sweetness, you know, I mean this bodhicitta in action is just beautiful, you know, and he's... Report an error in the passage at 1:09:24 Highlight the passage at 1:09:24

1:09:51 He's just gotten off this 20 hour flight and he's totally there for every person. I've experienced it. Our class went when he came one of the times a few years ago and he greeted everybody like they were his best friend. And my hands were tingling for like 20 minutes afterwards. It's like there's something going on here. You feel it. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:51 Highlight the passage at 1:09:51

1:10:19 I felt like the sun came out. He's so tiny. I know. He's adorable. That's true. And it was so cute. Alison Haar, she brought her dog, and her dog was on the leash, and Charles kept trying to get the dog to come over, but the dog just wanted to be by Rinpoche. It was just the sweetest. I mean, apparently the dog is quite hyper, but when Rinpoche was blessing the dog, it was totally relaxed and blissed out. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:19 Highlight the passage at 1:10:19

1:10:50 Very interesting. There's something going on. He's magical, no question. I came late and I had written me both of the emails and I'm too tired so I shouldn't drive here. Oh, I'm going to leave very early. Oh, okay. I'm exhausted. Okay. I just wanted to see you. Okay. Well, thank you for coming. I just wanted to see you. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:50 Highlight the passage at 1:10:50

1:11:19 That's nice. And I got your email. I haven't had a chance to respond yet. Oh, that was interesting. It was days ago over... I felt so calm. Yeah. Yeah, for His Holiness his nephew. I felt so bad for him. How can we scream? Yeah, well, let's talk about that when you have a little bit more energy. I sort of eventually accepted what happened to the Tibetan monastics in Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:19 Highlight the passage at 1:11:19

1:11:49 Because I read enough about there was so much corruption. Okay. But this guy, you know, it's probably other people have the same idea about karma. How can it happen? Well, we'll talk about it. Right. I mean, if you really can't, if doing good does not really change your karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:49 Highlight the passage at 1:11:49

1:12:17 Doing good is creating new good karma. That's why you're doing Vajrasava is to purify the previous negative karma that you created. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:17 Highlight the passage at 1:12:17

1:12:28 And everything I did every single day, which is my daily crimes. All right, so... So yeah, we do unfortunately have a store of negative karma that we've created. I mean, if you believe in previous lives, it helps a lot, right, with karma. But even if we don't, you know, we've created a lot of negative karma in this life. I mean, I just think about all the ants and mosquitoes and flies I've killed in this life. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:28 Highlight the passage at 1:12:28

1:12:56 That will, you know, that I'll get run over by. Every time I see a bug, I try and put it outside. Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah. Well, I'm going to see you this weekend, and my friend Debbie is coming. She's sponsoring. She's an attorney and a psychologist, and she had horrendous surgery for esophageal cancer last year, and I took her out to my Keshawana, which was very helpful for her. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:56 Highlight the passage at 1:12:56

1:13:29 Nice. And we've been getting together once a week and watching Tibetan movies. Good. So she's getting more and more interesting. All right. Just warn her that Rinpoche, a lot of people in the beginning get really frustrated by Rinpoche. First of all, because he doesn't arrive on time. She's watched him. Okay. And then it's hard to understand. That DVD where he's on, you know, taking people around Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:29 Highlight the passage at 1:13:29

1:13:59 It's really wonderful. She's watched it a couple of times. She has kind of a sense. It doesn't matter. She's big. We have to put her in a chair. She's comfortable. Anyway, you'll get an email that I wrote in half an hour ago to both of you and Charles saying, David says I shouldn't drive. You're too tired. Okay, well, you know, when class started, there were like four people here, so I thought, hmm. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:59 Highlight the passage at 1:13:59

1:14:12 but I will. Okay. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:12 Highlight the passage at 1:14:12

1:14:27 Well, I thought I'm going to talk to Emily. I just wanted to see everybody. I wanted to see you. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:27 Highlight the passage at 1:14:27

1:14:36 How are you? I'm good. That's good. That's good. That's good. Well, you're from Washington. No. I just left it in the office. Well, I'm good. How are you? How are you? How are you? It's so good. I was up really late last night reading 60 essays from this huge class. It's over again with Mars, thank God. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:36 Highlight the passage at 1:14:36

1:15:01 Anyway, for my first exam, it was like... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:01 Highlight the passage at 1:15:01

1:15:09 How are you coming this weekend? Yes, well, yes and no. I can't be there at 4 p.m., but I will be there at 7 p.m. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:09 Highlight the passage at 1:15:09

1:15:23 So, relax. Go home, go home. David said, you're too tired. I just want to see him. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:23 Highlight the passage at 1:15:23

1:15:37 Yeah, it was nice. I lived there for two years. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:37 Highlight the passage at 1:15:37

1:15:52 Thank you. Yeah, but it's better than that, so it's kind of closer to work. Although, it's about in some ways. I think my hair is a little bit better. I think my hair is a little bit better. Thank you. I can't wait. I'm going down. I'm going down. I'm getting tired now. Well, actually, I'm going to go to the space. Oh, yeah. I'm going to go to the space. Thank you. Wow, that's awesome. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:52 Highlight the passage at 1:15:52

1:16:25 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:25 Highlight the passage at 1:16:25

1:16:55 It goes out in the middle of Yeah, I the do too. sea. She's hurting us up. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:55 Highlight the passage at 1:16:55

1:17:03 I'm sorry, I don't see a bell. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:03 Highlight the passage at 1:17:03

1:17:14 ding, ding. Wayward students. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:14 Highlight the passage at 1:17:14

1:17:25 This is a wimpy one. Do you need any more hot water or anything? I am fine. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:25 Highlight the passage at 1:17:25

1:17:40 Wow, that's really... There's a bell on some Dharma talks that I listen to. My dog doesn't do this when I ring a bell, another bell, but there's one particular when I listen to his children. She just goes nuts and is barking like crazy whenever she hears that bell. Now she's gotten to where when I do bodhicitta and then when I do the dedication. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:40 Highlight the passage at 1:17:40

1:18:13 She knows. I can be doing the mantra out loud and quiet, out loud and quiet, and then when I start the dedication, she knows that's it, that mommy's done. She starts jumping all over. But that bell on that one, it's like an iPod. Well, they have those sensitive ears. So is everybody going to go to see Lama Zopa Rinpoche this weekend? Oh, Report an error in the passage at 1:18:13 Highlight the passage at 1:18:13

1:18:46 well, late at night. Hmm. Okay. Well, Rinpoche arrived in town last Wednesday at the airport. I saw him. I was just telling Peter, it's like the sun rising when Rinpoche gets off the plane. It's very, very, very, very beautiful. Has everybody, have people met him before? Okay. Yes. He's definitely very, very special. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:46 Highlight the passage at 1:18:46

1:19:19 much. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:19 Highlight the passage at 1:19:19

1:19:24 A dog, one of the students brought her dog, who's apparently quite a hyper dog, but when Rinpoche was blessing the dog, Rinpoche, you know, gets off the plane and then he gives everybody his full attention, you know, and blesses. You know, and the dog just kind of was totally relaxed and Allison said her dog's never like that, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:24 Highlight the passage at 1:19:24

1:19:50 And then, you know, the dog was on a leash and... Charles kept trying to pull the dog away and the dog was pulling against the leash and constantly wanting to be near Rinpoche. It was very sweet. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:50 Highlight the passage at 1:19:50

1:20:10 Yeah, he really gives animals a lot of attention. But he gives people a lot of attention. So anyway, we're so fortunate to have Rinpoche coming. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:10 Highlight the passage at 1:20:10

1:20:26 All right. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:26 Highlight the passage at 1:20:26

1:20:27 So we've gone through the first four of the nine mental abidings. Are there any questions so far? At Report an error in the passage at 1:20:27 Highlight the passage at 1:20:27

1:20:49 the fifth level, right, so at the fourth level, you don't lose your meditation object anymore. I mean, this is right consistently from session to session, right, when you don't lose your meditation object anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:49 Highlight the passage at 1:20:49

1:21:06 Then at the fifth level, Lama Tsongkhapa says, having reflected on the positive qualities of meditative stabilization, you rejoice in it. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:06 Highlight the passage at 1:21:06

1:21:21 And also the ornament for Mahāyāna Sūtra says, then since you see the positive qualities, the mind is tamed in stabilization. So at this point, we see, you know, it's not just an intellectual understanding of positive qualities of meditative stabilization, right? Okay, so the mind will be peaceful. Oh, you'll be happy. Oh, you know, it's not just some intellectual knowledge. You experience it firsthand. You experience it. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:21 Highlight the passage at 1:21:21

1:21:49 Right? Because, I mean, at the fourth level, you've attained a lot of stability. Right? You haven't, I mean, you still have, you know, some thoughts, some undercurrents of thoughts. Right? And you have some laxity. But your mind is, you've attained some level of stillness. So there's a great, great benefit to experiencing that level of stillness that we've probably never experienced before. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:49 Highlight the passage at 1:21:49

1:22:23 Anyway, at least to that level. Controlled stillness. So you see the positive qualities just in your own experience so you become more enthusiastic about the practice. So it's not just somebody telling us. About the qualities it's experiencing at first hand. Carla. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:23 Highlight the passage at 1:22:23

1:22:49 I would think that rejoicing would make rise excitement. Rejoicing? Yeah, because since then, since you see the positive qualities, the mind is tamed in stabilization. I would think, you know, there would be this excitement of... Well, see, that's cool. Look at the positive qualities and then you would be... Report an error in the passage at 1:22:49 Highlight the passage at 1:22:49

1:23:14 Looking at the positive qualities is one of the remedies for laxity, right? Uplifting the mind. So at the fourth level, we're able to stay on the object as long as, well, I shouldn't say as long as you want, but you're able to stay on the object for the entire meditation session. So gross laxity then starts to become the problem. So in order to overcome gross laxity, we... Report an error in the passage at 1:23:14 Highlight the passage at 1:23:14

1:23:41 Try to uplift the mind, right, because the mind has sunk down a bit. So we try to uplift the mind, but the trick is, right, to uplift the mind without distracting the mind, right, without upsetting the stabilization. So that's the trick, you know, at this point. It becomes, right, more subtle, right? It's not just a matter of staying on the object, right? Okay, we were able to stay on the object, but now we're fine-tuning. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:41 Highlight the passage at 1:23:41

1:24:11 So we have a bit of laxity, so we need to uplift the mind enough to get rid of that gross laxity, but not so much that we become distracted. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:11 Highlight the passage at 1:24:11

1:24:26 So again, Lama Rinpoche says here at this stage, naturally we recognize the excellence of concentration and we abide in that state. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:26 Highlight the passage at 1:24:26

1:24:36 So as I was saying here, during the fourth stage, the mind became strongly withdrawn. Gross laxity then becomes the problem and that needed to be subdued. So just to get to the fifth state, we had to have been able to handle gross laxity, be able to uplift the mind a bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:36 Highlight the passage at 1:24:36

1:24:58 So then at the fifth stage, the problem of medium excitement arises. So gross excitement has been pacified because gross excitement being having lost the object completely to an object of attachment. So then medium excitement then becomes the problem, right? Because we've uplifted the mind a bit from gross laxity, so then a medium level of excitement, which is when involuntary thoughts occupy the center of attention while the meditative object is displaced to the periphery. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:58 Highlight the passage at 1:24:58

1:25:32 So part of the mind is on the meditative object, part of the mind has thoughts, but medium excitement is where the... Thoughts have more attention than the meditative object. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:32 Highlight the passage at 1:25:32

1:25:50 Like if we're driving and texting at the same time, hopefully none of you are doing that. We're too old to be doing that. You have to be like 20 to do that. But where the mind is more focused on texting or talking on the phone than on the road, that becomes dangerous. So here. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:50 Highlight the passage at 1:25:50

1:26:16 More attention is on the distraction, the object of excitement, than on the meditative object, but part of the mind is still on the meditative object. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:16 Highlight the passage at 1:26:16

1:26:27 And then medium laxity then also becomes a problem we have to deal with, which is where, okay, gross laxity is when the mind has become a bit dull, right? So medium laxity is, the mind is still clear, but it's not... Report an error in the passage at 1:26:27 Highlight the passage at 1:26:27

1:26:47 So Alan Wallace says that the difference right between medium laxity and subtle laxity is something that only a highly trained meditator will be able to tell, right? Because at this point our minds aren't fine-tuned enough to really notice, to know the differences here. But anyway, we can get kind of an idea, whereas the mind is still clear, but it's not. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:47 Highlight the passage at 1:26:47

1:27:18 Vivid, you know, like the light bulb turned up. It's not the 100 watt bulb, but maybe the 40 watt bulb or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:18 Highlight the passage at 1:27:18

1:27:35 So here, I like this analogy that Alan Wallace uses. He says, involuntary thoughts continue to arise, but instead of their tumultuous outpouring like a cascading waterfall, they now flow like a river moving slowly through a gorge. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:35 Highlight the passage at 1:27:35

1:27:57 Or I think of it as being like a river, like in the wintertime, that part of it is frozen, right? So the top part is frozen, but there's still movement underneath. So that's kind of like at this stage, right? Part of the river is still, so part of the mind is still on the object, but on a lower level, right, there's still some thoughts underneath. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:57 Highlight the passage at 1:27:57

1:28:28 At this point, we've pacified gross laxity and gross excitement. The main obstacles are medium excitement and medium laxity. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:28 Highlight the passage at 1:28:28

1:28:43 At the fifth level, we naturally saw the benefits of meditative concentration. At the sixth level, we naturally see distractions as a fault. Because we experience the difference between having a still mind and having a distracted mind. And we pacify dislike for meditative stabilization. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:43 Highlight the passage at 1:28:43

1:29:15 So until this point we still have some resistance to sitting down and meditating. But here at the sixth level it seems that we pacify the dislike that we have for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:15 Highlight the passage at 1:29:15

1:29:35 So, okay, so we've, so in the fifth stage, we were trying to overcome medium laxity and medium excitement, right? We haven't completely overcome those yet. But here the effort, Geshe Loden says, here at the sixth level, the effort used to subdue laxity during the fifth stage tends to over-invigorate the mind, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:35 Highlight the passage at 1:29:35

1:30:02 So we're trying to uplift the mind. So this, Stage subtle excitement becomes the main danger. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:02 Highlight the passage at 1:30:02

1:30:13 Subtle excitement, the mind is still divided. Part of the mind is on the object, part of the mind still has thoughts, but there's more attention on the object than on the thoughts. We also still at the sixth level need to be on guard against medium laxity, which we talked about. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:13 Highlight the passage at 1:30:13

1:30:41 But then now we're prone to subtle excitement. Well, we just talked about that here. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:41 Highlight the passage at 1:30:41

1:30:52 So Alan Wallace says subtle excitement is when the meditative object remains at the center of attention, but the thoughts, right, involuntarily emerge on the periphery. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:52 Highlight the passage at 1:30:52

1:31:09 So here, Alan Wallace says here at this point, we no longer experience resistance to training and calm abiding. And we've attained the power of introspection. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:09 Highlight the passage at 1:31:09

1:31:27 Okay, we're going to talk about the six powers next after the nine mental abiding. So we'll talk about it then. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:27 Highlight the passage at 1:31:27

1:31:37 So that's the sixth level. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:37 Highlight the passage at 1:31:37

1:31:43 So the sixth level, we've pacified dislike for meditation and we're dealing with subtle excitement here. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:43 Highlight the passage at 1:31:43

1:32:00 And then at the seventh level, Lama Tsongkhapa says we're completely pacifying occurrences of attachment, unhappiness, lethargy, sleepiness and so forth. So excitement, as long as we have some excitement, means there's still some attachment arising. So at the seventh level, we're completely pacifying that attachment that will cause excitement to arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:00 Highlight the passage at 1:32:00

1:32:30 So we're pacifying, actually, all of the coarse levels of mental afflictions. I mean, we're suppressing, basically we're suppressing these mental afflictions. So through the force of our meditation, we're able to suppress these mental afflictions. So the objects of attachment, etc., aren't so attractive anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:30 Highlight the passage at 1:32:30

1:33:01 So here... Lama Tsongkhapa is saying pacifying occurrences of attachment, unhappiness, lethargy, sleepiness and so forth. So here, again, Lama Rinpoche says at this point it's important to recognize and pacify the arising of attachment and happiness, etc. So attachment, we've talked about that, refers to the excitement. So here he's saying unhappiness here is a very specific kind of unhappiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:01 Highlight the passage at 1:33:01

1:33:31 He says it's a form of regret or remorse to which one is susceptible to at this stage. A looking back to your past actions with a fault-finding critical mind. Skeletons that have been hiding in the closet are now likely to come out. So this happens in retreats. Sometimes you've settled your mind. The mind isn't so busy and distracted anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:31 Highlight the passage at 1:33:31

1:33:57 And so, some things that have been... Sitting there, right, what you did to your friend when you were in fifth grade, right, you know, you've kind of covered up with all these thoughts, you know. In retreat, you start, you know, especially in Vajrasapha retreat or, you know, something like this, right, some of those things start bubbling up. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:57 Highlight the passage at 1:33:57

1:34:23 Oh gosh, that time I threw a rock at my friend and hit her in the face. You know, or, oh, that time I was really selfish and, you know, and my friend was hurt because, you know, I gossiped about her. Oh, you know, so those kinds of things, right, start coming up in retreat. So, Report an error in the passage at 1:34:23 Highlight the passage at 1:34:23

1:34:51 again, Lama Rinpoche says often there's a tendency to get attached to the regret, and that attachment acts as an obstacle to increasing stability. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:51 Highlight the passage at 1:34:51

1:35:02 What you must remember at this point is that the past cannot be altered and that this regret is simply another form of distraction. Because we've all done things, right, in the past. So we need to not identify with that and think, okay, well, I'm such a bad person because I did this and I did that and I did that and then I did that. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:02 Highlight the passage at 1:35:02

1:35:26 It's like, okay, well, it's in the past, right? We regret it. And then let it go, right? And this is very key in a Vajrasattva retreat too, right? Because otherwise a Vajrasattva, when we do purification, can be really heavy thinking, oh, I need to purify when I did this and I need to purify when I did that. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:26 Highlight the passage at 1:35:26

1:35:45 And then we can, you know, when our mind is so focused on the things we've done wrong, you know, the mind can come really down. So we need to just, you know, really remember, okay, that's the past. I did that. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:45 Highlight the passage at 1:35:45

1:36:00 I'm really sorry I did that. I don't ever want to do that again. And then let it go, right? So part of our training is to learn to let go of the guilt, right? The guilt and the shame that we feel. It's not useful, right? These actions don't define who we are. They're just actions that we engaged in. They're over, right? So we just try not to do them again. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:00 Highlight the passage at 1:36:00

1:36:35 And then... Gin Lama Rinpoche also says we need to recognize and pacify all the other types of distraction, all the forms of agitation, all the other mental afflictions too. And so at this point, because we're not going to lose our object completely, he's talking about not so much the actual occurrence of these distractions, but recognizing their readiness to arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:35 Highlight the passage at 1:36:35

1:37:03 Wanting to bubble up. Seeing how it's getting subtler and subtler. So as we learn to concentrate more and more, we just notice when the mind starts to move in a particular direction. It's starting to move toward unhappiness. It's starting to move toward regret. It's starting to move toward attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:03 Highlight the passage at 1:37:03

1:37:29 Because the mind is refined to the point where... You can sense the energy that's arising, the attachment energy or the aversion energy. I mean, similar to, we've talked about this before, right? If we're working on anger, we can sense before we're getting angry, right? We can sense, oh, my heart is starting to race. I'm not angry yet, but I'm... Report an error in the passage at 1:37:29 Highlight the passage at 1:37:29

1:38:04 Getting there, right? The agitation has arisen and so that's a sign, okay, you know, if I let that, you know, kind of follow through its course then that'll get to anger, right? So we notice before attachment arises, or anger arises, so we can notice, right, the signs that these different mental afflictions are going to arise or are on their way of arising. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:04 Highlight the passage at 1:38:04

1:38:37 Okay, so we've developed these... Powers of mindfulness, actually, and introspection. And so at this point, the seventh level, it's very difficult for laxity and excitement to arise. And when they do arise, you know, they're very subtle and they can be immediately overcome if we make some effort. So at the seventh stage, actually, this is the last point at which laxity and excitement arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:37 Highlight the passage at 1:38:37

1:39:05 And they're very subtle and they're easy to overcome. So Alan Wall says at this point we've overcome the medium degree of laxity, but we still have subtle laxity and subtle excitement also occurs from time to time. So at the seventh stage we still have some subtle laxity and subtle excitement, but we can overcome those quickly with effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:05 Highlight the passage at 1:39:05

1:39:37 On this text that describes the nine stages, Do they also relate to what's going on outside the practice as well, at all? For example, on the seventh stage you have all these mind states and tendencies of subtle lexity and subtle excitation. They are describing during the practice. Right. So, do they ever mention what's going on? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:37 Highlight the passage at 1:39:37

1:40:09 Once you stand up and... Yeah, because I'm sure it's different if you're in the first stage. You know, it's different than when you're in the seventh stage. When you get up and go out and about, I'm sure it's different. But do they ever describe that at all? You know, very rarely. I mean, I've never seen anything described in terms of at each of the nine stages, what happens. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:09 Highlight the passage at 1:40:09

1:40:38 Alan Wallace gets into it a bit at the ninth stage, you know, what happens, right? But at each of these, no, not so much. But, I mean, but necessarily as you go up through these stages, right, your attachment in post-meditation needs to go be reduced as well, right? If I'm, you know, sitting in calm abiding meditation and then I get up and I'm like... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:38 Highlight the passage at 1:40:38

1:41:05 Now I'm going to go get some ice cream and some chocolate, right? The next session we'll sit down and start fantasizing about, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:05 Highlight the passage at 1:41:05

1:41:17 Yeah, or the previous session you will have been distracted because you fantasized about that. So necessarily your mental afflictions in post-meditation also need to be... So, um, Report an error in the passage at 1:41:17 Highlight the passage at 1:41:17

1:41:34 You know, are correspondingly subdued, right? Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to concentrate during meditation, right? So one person I know who's, Report an error in the passage at 1:41:34 Highlight the passage at 1:41:34

1:41:45 I've heard, attained the seventh level is a person who I notice doesn't have coarse mental afflictions that I can tell, you know, not the level that we do, you know, like if... I ask him, well, what do you want to eat? Well, you know, I could eat pasta, I could eat salad, you know. And, you know, you want to go to the beach? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:45 Highlight the passage at 1:41:45

1:42:14 Yeah, that'd be nice. You know, I'll be like, yeah, let's go to the beach. I'll be like, okay, that sounds nice. You know, he doesn't have that really excitement. You know, he's happy, but he's like not, oh, yeah, let's get some ice cream. It's like, yeah, let's get some ice cream. Let's go to the beach, you know, but. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:14 Highlight the passage at 1:42:14

1:42:40 don't know if it's at that point but Report an error in the passage at 1:42:40 Highlight the passage at 1:42:40

1:42:46 but it's very interesting being around somebody who doesn't have that same kind of yeah let's let's for a walk let's let's go for a good meal it's like yeah yeah let's go for okay sounds good Report an error in the passage at 1:42:46 Highlight the passage at 1:42:46

1:43:02 Oh, okay, I've got a little attachment there. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:02 Highlight the passage at 1:43:02

1:43:07 Just you, Emily. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:07 Highlight the passage at 1:43:07

1:43:13 But I mean, that's one of the things about gurus, right? They really show you your mind, right? When you're around them, you really see, okay, well, I've got a lot of attachment going on that you don't normally notice, right? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:13 Highlight the passage at 1:43:13

1:43:31 So one of the distinctions between the, or the main distinction between the sixth and the seventh stage is that during the sixth stage, we were very wary of laxity and excitement. Whereas during the seventh stage, this isn't the case, right? So our introspection, you know, doesn't have to be so on guard in the seventh stage. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:31 Highlight the passage at 1:43:31

1:43:53 Relax it more. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:53 Highlight the passage at 1:43:53

1:43:58 Eighth stage. Single point in concentration is at the eighth stage. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:58 Highlight the passage at 1:43:58

1:44:10 Lama Tsongkhapa says making an effort for the sake of effortless engagement. Or the ornament of Mahāyāna Sūtra says... By means of restraint and effort, along with actual application, you get it to come about naturally. So at the eighth stage, we are completely free from laxity and excitement. We're able to stay on our object of meditation without fault. But at the eighth stage, we need to make an effort. Still. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:10 Highlight the passage at 1:44:10

1:44:41 Still. Here, Geshe-Loden says, so here at this eighth stage you can concentrate continuously on the object without the interruption of any laxity or excitement for the entire session. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:41 Highlight the passage at 1:44:41

1:44:55 When you begin the session, a slight effort in awareness and mindfulness is required to ensure that laxity and excitement do not arise, but you are then able to hold your object continuously. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:55 Highlight the passage at 1:44:55

1:45:10 The eighth stage is distinguished from the seventh by the fact that there's no longer, oops, Any laxity or excitement. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:10 Highlight the passage at 1:45:10

1:45:21 Sometimes it's said at the eighth stage, once in a while you need to make a slight effort. You need to make the effort at the beginning of the session, but for the most part you don't need to make effort for the rest of the session. So this is where, right when we were talking about the fault of... Applying an antidote after you're past the point of having laxity and excitement. That's where this fault comes into play, right? Is it this eighth stage? Report an error in the passage at 1:45:21 Highlight the passage at 1:45:21

1:45:51 Because we're beyond laxity and excitement, but we try to overcome it anyway, right? We adjust and apply an antidote even though we're beyond that point. Prior to the eighth stage, that fault doesn't arise, right? But at the eighth stage, we're beyond laxity and excitement. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:51 Highlight the passage at 1:45:51

1:46:17 So here, Alan Wallace says, whereas in the previous stages, involuntary thoughts still arose, like a river slowly flowing through a valley, now it feels calm, like an ocean unmoved by waves. Because you don't even have that subtle excitement anymore, so you don't have any of those thoughts below the surface. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:17 Highlight the passage at 1:46:17

1:46:39 No bubbling thoughts, completely without distraction, completely without... Dullness completely without excitement. Just requires a little bit of effort. The eighth stage. Sounds pretty good, yeah. And then at the ninth stage, Report an error in the passage at 1:46:39 Highlight the passage at 1:46:39

1:47:05 Kamala Sheila says, the ninth stage, this is said to be the equanimity when the mind has become even. So this is the effortless equanimity. So this is said to be spontaneous natural engagement and the attainment of control due to the habit of unifying the mental continuum. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:05 Highlight the passage at 1:47:05

1:47:23 And... The ornament of Mahāyāna Sūtra says, since it's habitual, there's non-application. So here, at the ninth stage, due to the power of previous familiarization, of meditating again and again, and the familiarization at the eighth stage, of being able to meditate completely without laxity and excitement, at the ninth stage, Report an error in the passage at 1:47:23 Highlight the passage at 1:47:23

1:47:52 We can slip into meditative equipoise free of even the subtlest traces of laxity and excitement with no effort at all. So at the ninth stage we're sit down and we're immediately in meditative equipoise. No laxity or excitement, no distraction, you know, completely at peace without any effort. Like it rises spontaneously. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:52 Highlight the passage at 1:47:52

1:48:29 So Geshe Loden says, at this point, this effortless concentration can be continued for any length of time. Because there's no effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:29 Highlight the passage at 1:48:29

1:48:41 As we notice in the beginning, we sit down, we try to keep the mind on the object. It requires a lot of effort, trying to build that mindfulness up and keep the mind on the object. But here at the ninth stage, no effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:41 Highlight the passage at 1:48:41

1:49:01 So the difference between the 8th and the 9th, right, the 8th and the 9th, both are free from laxity and excitement, but the 8th requires effort and the 9th requires no effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:01 Highlight the passage at 1:49:01

1:49:13 Hard to imagine. Yes, so would it mean that if it is effortless, that we have no attachment anymore at that time? We have no manifest attachment at this time. I mean, there are, Report an error in the passage at 1:49:13 Highlight the passage at 1:49:13

1:49:32 yeah, I would say there's no... Manifest, at least gross attachment. Because if they were attachment, we would have to make effort to make them not come into the scope of our mind, you see? Yeah, yeah. I mean, even at the eighth level, there's no manifest attachment because there's no excitement, right? But you need some effort. But you need a little bit of effort, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:32 Highlight the passage at 1:49:32

1:49:53 It means that somewhere you have to keep them away, something away. But if there is nothing to keep away, you can then do it without effort. Well, I don't know. Yeah. Well, you know, I mean, this is... Okay, this is just going to be words. Okay, I'll just tell you some words. It said, right, so there are different realms, right, according to Buddhist thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:53 Highlight the passage at 1:49:53

1:50:24 We're in the desire realm, and there's a form realm, and there's a formless realm. according to Buddhist thought, there's... Report an error in the passage at 1:50:24 Highlight the passage at 1:50:24

1:50:29 In the form realm there are four levels of concentration, the first, second, third and fourth. In the formless realm there are four levels of concentration. There are subtle levels attachment in each of those realms. Calm abiding is said to be, or at least this level of calm abiding is said to be a preparatory stage for the first concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:29 Highlight the passage at 1:50:29

1:50:55 So calm abiding is said to, when you have calm abiding, you've suppressed the mental afflictions, all the mental afflictions of the desire realm. The subtler levels of mental afflictions from the higher realms are still there, but they're so subtle that we wouldn't even notice them. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:55 Highlight the passage at 1:50:55

1:51:17 So calm abiding actually hasn't completely abandoned all of the desire realm afflictions, but they're suppressed such that there's no manifest afflictions. So I think here, even at this ninth level, there's no manifest afflictions arising. Maybe the eighth level too, because we said in the seventh level we were pacifying the mental afflictions, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:17 Highlight the passage at 1:51:17

1:51:43 So maybe at the eighth and the ninth where we've... Suppressed all the mental afflictions, all the desire realm mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:43 Highlight the passage at 1:51:43

1:52:03 You know, I think that the level of affliction that you still have, like the level of attachment you still have, is the, for example, attachment to your meditative stabilization. So not an attachment that will distract you from it, but, you know, it's very easy to become attached to the peace, right, of, or the bliss. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:03 Highlight the passage at 1:52:03

1:52:26 That arises in meditation. So I think there's still some subtle levels of that. But very subtle. For sure very subtle. The type of attachment that we know would not be showing. Right, it's not an agitated mind. Right, yeah. These subtle levels of mental afflictions we probably wouldn't even notice in our own minds because they're so subtle until we get to that point. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:26 Highlight the passage at 1:52:26

1:52:54 So technically, right, you know. You haven't abandoned all the mental afflictions, but the gross levels of mental afflictions you've suppressed. Another Report an error in the passage at 1:52:54 Highlight the passage at 1:52:54

1:53:15 question? I think it's important to acknowledge here, because it can feel really daunting when you discuss these levels, that people have actually done this. This isn't just theoretical. I think it's important to reiterate that, because otherwise we have this danger of thinking, there's no possible way I could ever accomplish even this basic level of this. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:15 Highlight the passage at 1:53:15

1:53:39 Yeah, that was the type of laziness that I forgot to mention. So the laziness of thinking that I can't do it, right? It's like, okay, well, these other guys could do it, right? These llamas, they can do it. But this laziness of I'll never be able to do it, so why even try? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:39 Highlight the passage at 1:53:39

1:54:11 So that's one that we need to overcome. It's like, okay, well, we still need to make the effort. We may or may not get it in this lifetime, but we certainly aren't going to get it if we don't try. And we need to be, I think in order to keep our perseverance along the path, we need to rejoice at whatever level we are and not be attached to, okay, well, I won't be happy unless I get calm abiding in this life. I have to realize emptiness directly in this life, otherwise it will all be for naught. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:11 Highlight the passage at 1:54:11

1:54:53 That's an attitude that's going to keep us from continuing on the path. So we need to just kind of go step by step and apply the effort because what else are we going to do really? Yeah. Lifetime after lifetime. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:53 Highlight the passage at 1:54:53

1:55:15 Because the thing is, sooner or later we need to do this. And now we have the conditions. Now we have met the teachings. We have lamas who have accomplished this, who can guide us in it. And how many people have that? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:15 Highlight the passage at 1:55:15

1:55:37 Walk down the street and see how many people know what calm abiding is. So we have it now. If we don't do it now, when are we going to do it? And what helps me is to think ordinary people have achieved this. You don't have to be a Tsongkhapa to achieve this. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:37 Highlight the passage at 1:55:37

1:55:58 Yeah, very much. I mean, I have a story. I don't think I've shared this story with you. You know, when I was in Nepal, you know, I was in a retreat center there, a Nigma retreat center. And one of the Dharma brothers of my friend died in France. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:58 Highlight the passage at 1:55:58

1:56:20 You know, he'd been a practitioner for, you know, some years and he'd done some retreats. But when he died, he stayed in meditation for eight days. He was a Westerner. He was a French guy. He stayed in meditation for eight days after he died. Then when his mind finally left his body, rainbows filled the sky. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:20 Highlight the passage at 1:56:20

1:56:43 And when they tried to cremate his body, it wouldn't burn. In a 2,000 degree oven it wouldn't burn and the people at the crematorium were really frustrated. They're like, this has never happened before. And then they tried a second time and it wouldn't burn. And the third time there were like 500 witnesses here. And then finally after the second time the Lama said some prayers and some blessings and then the body finally burned. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:43 Highlight the passage at 1:56:43

1:57:12 So this was a person just like us, you know. And I find it so encouraging, right? We need to hear these kinds of stories because we think, okay, well, we can't do it, you know? These people in the past, these Tibetans can do it, you know, maybe. But we Westerners can't do it. But this guy, he did it, right? He was just like us, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:12 Highlight the passage at 1:57:12

1:57:37 So it's just a matter of making an effort. Yeah, we can all do it if we're willing to put the effort in. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:37 Highlight the passage at 1:57:37

1:57:49 So, Report an error in the passage at 1:57:49 Highlight the passage at 1:57:49

1:57:54 I'm sorry, just to add this one. Geshe-Allah said something really good in his Shantideva class about this. He said that in one of the teachings it said that enlightenment is actually easy compared to following your afflictions. Because if you think about how you followed our afflictions lifetime after lifetime, the effort we've put into killing people and stealing people's wine, all the horrible things we've done. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:54 Highlight the passage at 1:57:54

1:58:18 Enlightenment is like perseverance. It's like you sit down, and you dedicate yourself, and you study, and it's much, much easier. This is coming from Geshe-la, so I thought that was really inspiring, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:18 Highlight the passage at 1:58:18

1:58:33 It just takes work. It really takes some determination, really deciding this is what I want to do. And the more we practice, the more we see the benefits of practicing, and the more we want to practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:33 Highlight the passage at 1:58:33

1:58:50 So we can do it. You know, we, I think you may or may not know, right, Chodron Rinpoche is teaching on Sine at Vajrapani in June, right? Now they've extended it. It's June 1st through the 11th. And Venerable Rene is going to lead the meditations. And I think it's going to be something like four or five days of teachings with Chodron Rinpoche. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:50 Highlight the passage at 1:58:50

1:59:14 And then after that, it's going to be a Sine retreat. So great opportunity and Rene is an amazing practitioner and, you know, he's in Shine, you know, common abiding retreat right now and he's, you know, rumor has it he's, in the past he's attained very high levels, you know, on the mental stages. So who better to guide us than, you know, Chodron Rinpoche and Venable Rene. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:14 Highlight the passage at 1:59:14

1:59:44 So if we can get some days off, it's a great opportunity that may not come about again. We never know. So let's not waste this life. We can do it. We have to overcome that laziness of thinking we can't do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:44 Highlight the passage at 1:59:44

2:00:06 But for sure we can do it. And I'm amazed at the times when I do. Like really put forth the effort in developing calm abiding that I actually see progress, you know, when I'm really determined. When I have that mind of, well, I'll sit, but I don't expect anything, you know, I'm not going to ever make progress. Then I don't make progress, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:00:06 Highlight the passage at 2:00:06

2:00:35 But if I have that strong determination, okay, I'm going to keep my mind on the object for the next 15 minutes. Just having that determination, right? We can do it, you know? It's just really a matter of deciding. Okay, I'm putting the effort. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:35 Highlight the passage at 2:00:35

2:00:59 So just Report an error in the passage at 2:00:59 Highlight the passage at 2:00:59

2:01:07 to finish with the ninth level, Report an error in the passage at 2:01:07 Highlight the passage at 2:01:07

2:01:12 meditative equipoise entails a level of equanimity that no longer requires the application of an antidote. The equanimity is naturally and effortlessly accomplished because you no longer have to exert yourself to cultivate mindfulness and vigilance. You simply sit down to meditate, you direct your mind to the object, and from that point on it's a free ride. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:12 Highlight the passage at 2:01:12

2:01:39 So from this point forward, going into meditation and remaining there is as effortless as remaining asleep once you're asleep. Just as soon as you enter the meditation, it is still... I can't remember what it says. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:39 Highlight the passage at 2:01:39

2:01:51 Totally free of friction. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:51 Highlight the passage at 2:01:51

2:02:06 Okay, I haven't had a chance to write the homework yet, so I'll put that together and send it out. I have a couple of homeworks to give back to a couple of people. I'm behind at looking at it. So we'll dedicate page 246. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:06 Highlight the passage at 2:02:06

2:02:52 May all beings everywhere. Plagued by sufferings of body and mind, obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no living creature suffer, commit evil or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:52 Highlight the passage at 2:02:52

2:03:15 May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drinks. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:15 Highlight the passage at 2:03:15

2:03:40 May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill Quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:40 Highlight the passage at 2:03:40

2:04:31 Thank you. And we'll see you this weekend! Report an error in the passage at 2:04:31 Highlight the passage at 2:04:31

2:04:38 Well, Chucky is shot tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:38 Highlight the passage at 2:04:38

2:04:57 the schedule for Saturday and Sunday? Report an error in the passage at 2:04:57 Highlight the passage at 2:04:57

2:05:08 4 o 'clock, I think. I want to say 4, and then Sunday, I think it's .30, I think. Oh, shit. Yeah, Sunday is 4.00. Okay. Thank you. I'm like, urgh! And Sunday at 7.30. 7.30, yeah. Okay, so there's nothing in the afternoon on No. Okay. just the evening on Sunday? No, the big preparing? Report an error in the passage at 2:05:08 Highlight the passage at 2:05:08

2:05:46 Thank you. Thank you. How are you doing? Report an error in the passage at 2:05:46 Highlight the passage at 2:05:46