Cultivating Meditative Concentration: Calm Abiding (15 March 2011)

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2:10 It's mind boggling, it's tragedy upon Report an error in the passage at 2:10 Highlight the passage at 2:10

2:24 tidal wave. Report an error in the passage at 2:24 Highlight the passage at 2:24

2:30 Yes, 900 miles off the coast of the main... Report an error in the passage at 2:30 Highlight the passage at 2:30

2:42 Wow, they've got some amazing collective karma ripening right now. Report an error in the passage at 2:42 Highlight the passage at 2:42

2:59 Wow. Yeah, you know, I was actually about that. Report an error in the passage at 2:59 Highlight the passage at 2:59

3:11 Well, it's interesting that Lama Zopa was talking about tsunamis and earthquakes just when he was at Sechintling, right? Just a couple weeks ago. Report an error in the passage at 3:11 Highlight the passage at 3:11

3:22 And I remember when he was talking about it, I thought, kind of, yeah, yeah, you know, and then suddenly. He did Report an error in the passage at 3:22 Highlight the passage at 3:22

3:41 on, well, he didn't cancel everything, but everything got delayed, kind of. Because he was doing a bunch of practice for Tsunami on Saturday and he was supposed to be doing a medicine Buddha puja at LMB and so he arrived late for that and didn't finish it before he came to Gila Gyatso and so then they all went back to LMB after he finished at Gila Gyatso and Charles said they finished like at four in the morning or something. Report an error in the passage at 3:41 Highlight the passage at 3:41

4:15 So it was intense. Oh, yeah. As this has happened. Report an error in the passage at 4:15 Highlight the passage at 4:15

4:22 an instant fix, you know, it's just going to take years with Japan. Yup. It's going to affect the whole world. Remember what Rinpoche said about this area? He was talking to the Dakini about how to avoid that kind of thing here in California. Report an error in the passage at 4:22 Highlight the passage at 4:22

4:43 Well, that's one of the reasons he's doing the Golden Light Sūtra. is to yeah because if you got Chile, New Zealand, Japan, and we're the only section of it that hasn't And remember he said the California is not going to be completely ruined, but there's going to be something here. So Report an error in the passage at 4:43 Highlight the passage at 4:43

5:11 do our practice. Report an error in the passage at 5:11 Highlight the passage at 5:11

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6:06 Let's set our motivation for tonight. Report an error in the passage at 6:06 Highlight the passage at 6:06

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7:01 We can imagine countless sentient beings around us, Report an error in the passage at 7:01 Highlight the passage at 7:01

7:12 all of whom are our brothers and sisters, who Report an error in the passage at 7:12 Highlight the passage at 7:12

7:23 have been our mothers and fathers. Practice like your hair is It's the Report an error in the passage at 7:23 Highlight the passage at 7:23

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7:54 Who have all been kind to us and Report an error in the passage at 7:54 Highlight the passage at 7:54

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8:41 who are all stuck in saṃsāra, Report an error in the passage at 8:41 Highlight the passage at 8:41

8:47 controlled by karma and mental afflictions. Which Report an error in the passage at 8:47 Highlight the passage at 8:47

9:18 means that unimaginable sufferings can ripen at any time for any of us, Report an error in the passage at 9:18 Highlight the passage at 9:18

9:34 like what's happening in Japan right now. Report an error in the passage at 9:34 Highlight the passage at 9:34

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10:25 The only way to stop these types of things from happening is Report an error in the passage at 10:25 Highlight the passage at 10:25

10:35 to get out of saṃsāra and Report an error in the passage at 10:35 Highlight the passage at 10:35

10:44 to help others get out of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 10:44 Highlight the passage at 10:44

11:10 And as Lama Zopa Rinpoche was saying last weekend, All of these things, all of these tragedies, these tsunamis, we don't know, but it comes from the mind. He Report an error in the passage at 11:10 Highlight the passage at 11:10

11:38 says we think it's out there, but it comes from the mind. Report an error in the passage at 11:38 Highlight the passage at 11:38

11:56 Our mental afflictions, our negative karma creates the tsunamis. Report an error in the passage at 11:56 Highlight the passage at 11:56

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12:52 So if we really want happiness, we have no choice. We have to change our minds and Report an error in the passage at 12:52 Highlight the passage at 12:52

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14:42 as our hearts go out to all of the victims in Japan, Report an error in the passage at 14:42 Highlight the passage at 14:42

15:07 thinking that we can help these beings and all other beings in similar situations, Report an error in the passage at 15:07 Highlight the passage at 15:07

15:25 helping them out of saṃsāra, helping Report an error in the passage at 15:25 Highlight the passage at 15:25

15:34 them from these types of sufferings forever. Report an error in the passage at 15:34 Highlight the passage at 15:34

16:04 So how to do that? We must attain enlightenment ourselves to Report an error in the passage at 16:04 Highlight the passage at 16:04

16:21 get rid of our mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 16:21 Highlight the passage at 16:21

16:43 So that we can best help others. Report an error in the passage at 16:43 Highlight the passage at 16:43

17:08 Okay we can start on page 73 with the praise to Shakyamuni Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 17:08 Highlight the passage at 17:08

17:32 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. Report an error in the passage at 17:32 Highlight the passage at 17:32

17:56 The Subduer from the Shaka Clan, 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, 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. Report an error in the passage at 17:56 Highlight the passage at 17:56

18:26 The glorious conqueror, the subduer from the Shaka clan, I prostrate and 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, Nour of the world, supreme guide of human beings to be tamed, teacher of gods and human beings, to you, the completely and fully awakened one. Report an error in the passage at 18:26 Highlight the passage at 18:26

18:53 The endowed transcendent destroyer, the glorious conqueror, 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, form supremely pure. Wisdom ocean like a golden mountain. Report an error in the passage at 18:53 Highlight the passage at 18:53

19:19 Fame that blazes in the three worlds, winner of the best, Lord, to you I prostrate. 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. Report an error in the passage at 19:19 Highlight the passage at 19:19

19:44 To you, the one gone to lessness, I prostrate. 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 19:44 Highlight the passage at 19:44

20:08 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 in all aspects, with supreme faith I pay homage. Report an error in the passage at 20:08 Highlight the passage at 20:08

20:27 Do not commit any non-virtuous actions. Perform only perfect virtuous actions. Subdue your mind thoroughly. This is the teaching of a 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 20:27 Highlight the passage at 20:27

21:00 And then refuge in bodhicitta on page 98. I Report an error in the passage at 21:00 Highlight the passage at 21:00

21:10 go for refuge until I am 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 am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly by the merits I create through listening to the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 21:10 Highlight the passage at 21:10

21:30 May I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am 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. Report an error in the passage at 21:30 Highlight the passage at 21:30

21:49 Yes, please. Report an error in the passage at 21:49 Highlight the passage at 21:49

21:58 Shall we shut this door, too? It's Report an error in the passage at 21:58 Highlight the passage at 21:58

22:06 a little relieving, actually. Report an error in the passage at 22:06 Highlight the passage at 22:06

22:12 Thanks, Peter. Report an error in the passage at 22:12 Highlight the passage at 22:12

22:20 Well, I'm glad you're over your coughing. Report an error in the passage at 22:20 Highlight the passage at 22:20

22:29 All right. Okay, so this is our last class on calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 22:29 Highlight the passage at 22:29

22:38 So last time we went through, well, if I can remember, we went through the nine mental abidings, right? And we went through calm abiding itself. And the two types of pliancy, right, physical and mental pliancy, and the bliss of physical and mental pliancy, which constitutes calm abiding itself. Report an error in the passage at 22:38 Highlight the passage at 22:38

23:05 So I thought what we could do is go through this diagram. Some of you may have seen this diagram with the elephant and all of that. I don't know if you guys know what this all means, but I thought we could go through it because... Just to get an idea, what is this elephant monkey business? Report an error in the passage at 23:05 Highlight the passage at 23:05

23:31 Because this is, if you don't know, this is a diagram that illustrates the nine stages, right? The nine mental abidings. Report an error in the passage at 23:31 Highlight the passage at 23:31

23:46 Maybe that's another hidden meaning. So, first of all, I want to qualify what I say by saying, I haven't studied this extensively, so I'm not an expert on this, but just to give us a general idea. What this diagram is. So we read it from the bottom. The monk starts on the bottom. And then each of these curves is said to represent one of the six powers. Remember the six powers? Report an error in the passage at 23:46 Highlight the passage at 23:46

24:21 The power of, right, we start off by the power of hearing, right? So through the power of hearing we got to the first mental abiding. Where we hear instructions on how to meditate and we hear instructions on the object of meditation. And so the first mental abiding is attained through the power of hearing. Report an error in the passage at 24:21 Highlight the passage at 24:21

24:43 So this monk on the bottom right, he's holding a lasso in his left hand and it's supposed to be a hook in his right hand. Report an error in the passage at 24:43 Highlight the passage at 24:43

24:57 So the lasso... Represents mindfulness. And the hook represents vigilance or introspection. So the lasso is mindfulness and the hook is introspection. Report an error in the passage at 24:57 Highlight the passage at 24:57

25:13 And the elephant running ahead of him is the mind. No, it's the mind. It's just the mind. Report an error in the passage at 25:13 Highlight the passage at 25:13

25:24 Ah, yeah, yeah. So in this context, at least the teaching I've gotten, the elephant itself is the mind. Yeah, running way ahead of the monk. Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

25:41 And the monkey leading the elephant is scattering or the distraction. So notice how the distraction is leading the mind, the elephant mind. So the elephant, the black of the elephant represents... all right Report an error in the passage at 25:41 Highlight the passage at 25:41

26:07 laxity. So at the first stage, the elephant is completely black. His mind is full of laxity. And the monkey being completely black indicates excitement. So the elephant being black represents laxity and the monkey being black represents excitement. So that's the first stage. Report an error in the passage at 26:07 Highlight the passage at 26:07

26:38 This first one on the bottom represents the first stage where we're barely able to keep our mind on the object. We can direct our mind to the object, but then we can't maintain a continuity of mindfulness on the object in the first stage. Report an error in the passage at 26:38 Highlight the passage at 26:38

26:56 Then there's this blazing fire underneath them, which indicates that we need to make a lot of effort at the beginning of our practice. Report an error in the passage at 26:56 Highlight the passage at 26:56

27:06 Okay, then we continue on to the next curve, which is the curve, which is the power of thinking, thinking or reflection. So through that second power, you know, we're developing the second and third stages through the power of hearing reflection, which means through the power of repeated meditation. Report an error in the passage at 27:06 Highlight the passage at 27:06

27:34 So through meditation, we're able to keep some level of continuity on the object. Yeah, so the, well not the second and third stage, just the second stage. So the elephant, notice, has a little patch of white on top of his head, or her head, and that means the elephant at this point has a bit of clarity. Report an error in the passage at 27:34 Highlight the passage at 27:34

28:00 Not total laxity, but a bit of clarity. And the elephant is, or the monkey as well has a little bit of white as well, so not. Totally dominated by distraction and excitement. But still, you know, the monkey is still leading the elephant. Report an error in the passage at 28:00 Highlight the passage at 28:00

28:23 But notice the elephant isn't running anymore, at least it's walking a little bit. So at this stage we're able to keep some level of continuity on the object. If you need to keep that a little bit open to see, that's fine. Report an error in the passage at 28:23 Highlight the passage at 28:23

28:46 Okay. Right. Well, I mean, if you want to keep it a little bit open and... Yeah, because people are going to come in for soak, right, at 7 o 'clock, which is, it's almost 7. Report an error in the passage at 28:46 Highlight the passage at 28:46

29:04 Or you can keep one door open or something like that. So the second stage, we're able to keep some continuity on the object, but still mostly we're off of the object. Report an error in the passage at 29:04 Highlight the passage at 29:04

29:18 Then the third stage, notice that the monk has... We've lassoed the elephant at the third stage. So that means our mindfulness is getting stronger. So this third and fourth stages are attained through the power of mindfulness because mindfulness is getting stronger. So we've lassoed the elephant. The elephant's head is white, so more clarity, less laxity. Report an error in the passage at 29:18 Highlight the passage at 29:18

29:49 And the monkey also has more white. So less excitement as well. And then also, right, so at this third stage, remember, then we're able to keep on the object more often than we're not on the object. This is the patch-like setting. Report an error in the passage at 29:49 Highlight the passage at 29:49

30:15 And the elephant, notice, is looking backwards. So at this third stage, This indicates the elephant looking backwards indicates that the mind is still distracted, but immediately puts the mind back on the object when it's distracted. So the mind immediately notices when it's distracted. Report an error in the passage at 30:15 Highlight the passage at 30:15

30:39 And then there's this rabbit on top of the elephant. So this indicates that prior to this point, we weren't able to distinguish between coarse and subtle levels of laxity and excitement, but the rabbit is able to. At this point, we're starting to be able to distinguish between coarse and subtle laxity and excitement. So that's what the rabbit represents. Report an error in the passage at 30:39 Highlight the passage at 30:39

31:09 Then on the fourth stage, we're able to keep on the object. We've gotten rid of gross excitement completely, so we're not distracted from the object anymore. Or we don't lose the object of meditation completely anymore. So the monk has lassoed. The mindfulness of the elephant much more closely. We've attained the power of mindfulness. There's more clarity, so there's more white on the elephant. Report an error in the passage at 31:09 Highlight the passage at 31:09

31:41 And less excitement, so there's more white on the monkey as well. Report an error in the passage at 31:41 Highlight the passage at 31:41

31:57 So at this stage, the coarser forms of laxity and excitement have been pacified. Then the fifth stage. Now suddenly the monk is ahead of the elephant. The monk is actually leading the mind as opposed to the monkey leading the elephant or the monkey leading the mind. Report an error in the passage at 31:57 Highlight the passage at 31:57

32:25 So the monk is leading the elephant mind and contacting the elephant with the hook. So that means the hook of introspection. So at the fifth stage the power of introspection is kicking in. Because now we don't lose the object anymore, so the big obstacles are laxing excitement. So we need introspection to counteract or to notice the laxing excitement and then to counteract it. Report an error in the passage at 32:25 Highlight the passage at 32:25

33:09 And the next one, the sixth stage, the monk is brandishing the hook, saying, okay, the power of introspection has been attained. Report an error in the passage at 33:09 Highlight the passage at 33:09

33:24 And so at the sixth stage we have much more powerful introspection and there's also no more rabbit at the sixth stage, meaning that there's no more. Report an error in the passage at 33:24 Highlight the passage at 33:24

33:41 The teaching I got is there's no more subtle laxity, but I have a doubt about that because there is still subtle laxity at the sixth stage. Report an error in the passage at 33:41 Highlight the passage at 33:41

33:53 Yeah, so the monkey, right, is distraction. So, but, uh... Report an error in the passage at 33:53 Highlight the passage at 33:53

34:03 Yeah, so distraction is getting much less, right? Hey, Report an error in the passage at 34:03 Highlight the passage at 34:03

34:11 don't forget me. Report an error in the passage at 34:11 Highlight the passage at 34:11

34:26 Notice, so the seventh stage, which is the next curve, is where the elephant has mostly white and just a little bit of black. So the seventh stage is called fully pacifying, right? So remember at this stage, we have very little laxity and excitement. And when laxity and excitement arise, we're able to immediately notice it and counteract it. So there's only a tiny little bit of black there, and the monkey is kind of way behind. Report an error in the passage at 34:26 Highlight the passage at 34:26

35:01 So then at the eighth stage, the elephant is completely white, because at the eighth stage, we're completely free from laxity and excitement. Remember? We still need to make effort, but in our whole session, we're completely free from laxity and excitement. So the monkey is gone. The monkey distraction is gone. And all the black in the elephant is gone. Report an error in the passage at 35:01 Highlight the passage at 35:01

35:30 I don't know. I never thought of it. Report an error in the passage at 35:30 Highlight the passage at 35:30

35:41 And then also notice there's no lasso and hook anymore. So this indicates that the power of mindfulness and introspection have been already attained. So we don't need to keep increasing that. Report an error in the passage at 35:41 Highlight the passage at 35:41

36:07 The monkey's gone. No more distraction. And then at the ninth stage, the elephant's laying down, which indicates no more effort. No more effort is required. We've attained the power of complete familiarity, so we're able to remain one-pointed on the object without any effort, without any laxity or excitement. Report an error in the passage at 36:07 Highlight the passage at 36:07

36:40 And then the monk flying through the air. It's an indication of attaining physical pliancy, whereas the monk seated on the elephant indicates the attainment of mental pliancy, which Report an error in the passage at 36:40 Highlight the passage at 36:40

37:02 is kind of interesting because actually mental pliancy is attained before physical pliancy, but the flying is indicated on this diagram before the mental pliancy. Report an error in the passage at 37:02 Highlight the passage at 37:02

37:21 So at this point, right? We've attained calm abiding. But then the last elephant that's turned around with lots of fire and the monk on top brandishing the sword, this is indicating achieving special insight on the basis of calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 37:21 Highlight the passage at 37:21

37:45 So, you know, once we've developed calm abiding, well, once we're at the ninth level, right, we don't need to make effort anymore for single pointed concentration. But then we attain calm abiding and then we need to proceed and analyze to get special insight. So then suddenly we need to make effort again. Report an error in the passage at 37:45 Highlight the passage at 37:45

38:05 So there's a big fire behind that elephant, the last elephant, indicating that for special insight we need to make effort again. Report an error in the passage at 38:05 Highlight the passage at 38:05

38:23 Okay, so the first one was the power of hearing right at the bottom. The next one. the power of reflection or thinking. The third one is the power of mindfulness, so the monk tying the elephant with his lasso. Report an error in the passage at 38:23 Highlight the passage at 38:23

38:45 The fourth power is the power of introspection, so that's the hook that's being brandished at the end of that curve, saying, hey, my introspection power has been developed. Report an error in the passage at 38:45 Highlight the passage at 38:45

39:05 And then the fifth, am I going too fast? The fifth is the power of effort. So the sixth and seventh, no, the sixth and seventh, the seventh and eighth mental abidings are attained through the power of effort. Report an error in the passage at 39:05 Highlight the passage at 39:05

39:25 So we can be completely free from laxing excitement on the eighth, but we need to make effort. And then the ninth is the power of complete familiarity, which is through complete familiarity we can attain it. Single point of concentration without effort. Report an error in the passage at 39:25 Highlight the passage at 39:25

39:52 So that gives you a general idea about this diagram. Report an error in the passage at 39:52 Highlight the passage at 39:52

40:11 Maybe this lifetime. It's just a matter of effort. Report an error in the passage at 40:11 Highlight the passage at 40:11

40:22 Oh, so that coming out of his heart, that's a, you know, at the ninth mental abiding, there's this rainbow emitted from the heart. lifetimes will be appreciated. Report an error in the passage at 40:22 Highlight the passage at 40:22

40:35 A black rainbow. Well, you know, if it was a color picture, I guess it would be. Right. So that's a rainbow emitted from the monk's heart, which represents the ability that the pliancy is being generated. Okay, Report an error in the passage at 40:35 Highlight the passage at 40:35

40:58 so calm abiding and special insight. We get pliancy. Report an error in the passage at 40:58 Highlight the passage at 40:58

41:14 Oh, Report an error in the passage at 41:14 Highlight the passage at 41:14

41:19 no, the monk is the meditator. The meditator. Who in the beginning is trailing the mind quite a bit, right? But then the monk ends up catching up to the mind and then leading the mind, right? Because now, you know, if we're at the lower stages where our mind is not controlled yet, but as we continue up, we're able to lead the mind, right? Report an error in the passage at 41:19 Highlight the passage at 41:19

41:51 And control the mind, Report an error in the passage at 41:51 Highlight the passage at 41:51

41:56 okay? Report an error in the passage at 41:56 Highlight the passage at 41:56

42:00 So... Report an error in the passage at 42:00 Highlight the passage at 42:00

42:06 Yeah, we don't have a Tonka of that, do we? Is this in the Wheel of Life Tonka? Because this is such a good visual reminder. Yeah, it's not in the Wheel of Life, but there's a particular Tonka that is often entitled Stages of Meditation that has a picture of this. I would actually like to have one as a reminder of this. Yeah, it's a nice visual reminder once you understand what it's about, right? Before you understand what it's about, you're like, oh, okay, what's that? Report an error in the passage at 42:06 Highlight the passage at 42:06

42:35 That's a creepy little monkey. That doesn't mean anything to me. Report an error in the passage at 42:35 Highlight the passage at 42:35

42:44 Exactly. Right? So white elephant is the clear mind, completely free from laxity. No monkey. No excitement anymore. No distraction. Is Report an error in the passage at 42:44 Highlight the passage at 42:44

43:04 that kind of clear? Report an error in the passage at 43:04 Highlight the passage at 43:04

43:12 But the silk might be upstairs. So I think we're all right. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 43:12 Highlight the passage at 43:12

43:30 Maybe. right. Maybe. Report an error in the passage at 43:30 Highlight the passage at 43:30

43:38 So any other questions on this diagram? Not that I could necessarily answer them, but we can discuss it more. Is special insight conceptual? Special insight is... Report an error in the passage at 43:38 Highlight the passage at 43:38

43:59 Special insight is conceptual. I want to say, well, at least initially it's conceptual. Because it's analysis. So on the basis of having a single point in concentration, then we analyze. And when you analyze, you're losing your stability. At first you lose your stability. But then through further practice, then we can stabilize our mind. Report an error in the passage at 43:59 Highlight the passage at 43:59

44:30 While analyzing. And then we develop pliancy and then we've developed special insight. So of the five paths, the path of accumulation, the path of preparation, the path of seeing, the path of meditation and the path of no more learning. The second path is the path of preparation. That's where we have the union of calm, abiding and special insight, realizing emptiness. So that's conceptual. Report an error in the passage at 44:30 Highlight the passage at 44:30

45:00 But then we need that as a basis to achieve the third path, which is the path of seeing, which is the direct realization of emptiness. So we can't get to the direct realization of emptiness without the conceptual. Report an error in the passage at 45:00 Highlight the passage at 45:00

45:17 Yeah, that would be nice. First I have to get it myself. Report an error in the passage at 45:17 Highlight the passage at 45:17

45:34 Okay. Any other? you're going to offer a class where you'll get Report an error in the passage at 45:34 Highlight the passage at 45:34

45:21 Uh-huh, yeah, mm-hmm. Report an error in the passage at 45:21 Highlight the passage at 45:21

45:37 Questions on this diagram? Karen. It reminds me of that elephant with the, you know that drawing for getting along, the elephant with the monkey on the back with the other thing? Report an error in the passage at 45:37 Highlight the passage at 45:37

45:54 I'm not sure which one you're referring to. It's a drawing, we even have it in the house and it talks about peace among, yeah, I don't know. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 45:54 Highlight the passage at 45:54

46:08 Yeah, I'm blanking out right now. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 46:08 Highlight the passage at 46:08

46:18 I mean, the elephant represents different things in different contexts, right? But the monkey, the monkey mind, right, seems to represent distraction. Report an error in the passage at 46:18 Highlight the passage at 46:18

46:32 All right. Okay. Back to the text. So page 243, if you have your text. Report an error in the passage at 46:32 Highlight the passage at 46:32

46:46 So... Or if not, then you just have to listen to me. So at the top of page 243, the actual signs of being endowed with attention. Report an error in the passage at 46:46 Highlight the passage at 46:46

47:01 So I passed out a diagram last time on the four concentrations, the four formless absorptions. Do people have that? I'll Report an error in the passage at 47:01 Highlight the passage at 47:01

47:20 speak at once. I have some extra copies. Last week. This Report an error in the passage at 47:20 Highlight the passage at 47:20

47:42 is a lot of technical information. Sorry. Good. I do too. Okay. So this side that says four concentrations and four formless absorptions, right, from the bottom up, right, we read this from the bottom up. So these are the nine mental abidings that we've talked about. Karen, you're on the wrong side. Report an error in the passage at 47:42 Highlight the passage at 47:42

48:14 That's what happens when we have a small class. I can see people's papers. So then. So after the nine mental abidings, then we attain calm abiding. So calm abiding is also considered the first of seven access concentrations or the first of seven attentions, called attentions or access concentrations, sometimes called preparations. Report an error in the passage at 48:14 Highlight the passage at 48:14

48:47 these are the stages to get to the first actual concentration. So there are the mental abidings to get to calm abiding and then there are the access concentrations or attentions to get to the first concentration. So remember that the first concentration, once our mind has an actual first concentration, then we've abandoned the desire realm afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 48:47 Highlight the passage at 48:47

49:16 We've abandoned at least temporarily, not the seeds of them. But we've abandoned all desire realm afflictions, attachment related to the desire realm. Anger, there's no more anger in the form realm. Report an error in the passage at 49:16 Highlight the passage at 49:16

49:35 Jealousy, the coarse levels of mental afflictions that we consider mental afflictions. So at this point, when you have a form realm, mental afflictions are much more subtle. Report an error in the passage at 49:35 Highlight the passage at 49:35

49:47 We probably wouldn't even recognize them as mental afflictions because they're much more subtle than we're accustomed to. So calm abiding is the basis for being able to attain those concentrations. So this first mental contemplation or attention or access concentration is actually calm abiding. And that's the basis for then... Report an error in the passage at 49:47 Highlight the passage at 49:47

50:13 Proceeding upwards to the first concentration. And then what you do, I think I've talked about it before, is you view the upper realm as being peaceful and wonderful and you think about all the qualities of the upper realm and how you don't have to age anymore and you don't have this coarse body, you don't have to get sick. Report an error in the passage at 50:13 Highlight the passage at 50:13

50:32 So you contemplate all the advantages of the upper realm and then all the disadvantages. Coarse aspects of the desire realm, how you have to get sick and how you have to die. Well, I guess you still have to die in the first concentration, but getting sick and having this coarse body and getting old. Report an error in the passage at 50:32 Highlight the passage at 50:32

50:54 So you go up these seven access concentrations by analyzing this coarse and peacefulness, and then by that we get to the first concentration. Report an error in the passage at 50:54 Highlight the passage at 50:54

51:11 But we have to have calm abiding as a basis to attain that. So on page 243 where Lama Tsongkhapa says the actual signs of being endowed with attention. So attention being this first access concentration. So it's an attention or an access concentration. Report an error in the passage at 51:11 Highlight the passage at 51:11

51:36 So Lama Tsongkhapa says the signs by which to recognize that oneself or others have attained attention. are set forth in the Shravaka levels so that when we attain that, there are four things that are attained in small measure, Lama Tsongkhapa says. The first one is a mind belonging to the form realm. So when we've attained calm abiding, we have a form realm mind. Report an error in the passage at 51:36 Highlight the passage at 51:36

52:02 It's no longer a desire realm mind. It's considered a form realm mind. So you might have a desire realm body, but when you're absorbed in calm abiding, Your mind is in the form realm. The Report an error in the passage at 52:02 Highlight the passage at 52:02

52:23 second thing, Ana, were you looking for soak? Oh, okay. Report an error in the passage at 52:23 Highlight the passage at 52:23

52:31 I see some bells. I Report an error in the passage at 52:31 Highlight the passage at 52:31

52:39 know. It's okay. So the first thing is a form realm mind. So it's a very different thing, a very different animal once we've attained calm abiding. We have a form realm mind, not just a regular old desire realm mind. Second is physical pliancy. And third is mental pliancy, so we've talked about that. And the fourth is single-pointedness. So the four things, a form realm mind, physical pliancy, mental pliancy and single-pointedness. Report an error in the passage at 52:39 Highlight the passage at 52:39

53:16 So no more distraction. Report an error in the passage at 53:16 Highlight the passage at 53:16

53:21 So then Lama Tsongkhapa says, also one is enabled to purify mental afflictions by means of calm and coarse paths or paths associated with aspects of the Four Noble Truths. Report an error in the passage at 53:21 Highlight the passage at 53:21

53:38 So when we have calm abiding, we have two different options of what to do with that calm abiding. We can use that calm abiding to get to the first concentration by analyzing the upper realm as being peaceful and the lower realm being coarse, as I was just talking about. And so that's a path that's practiced by not just Buddhists but non-Buddhists. Report an error in the passage at 53:38 Highlight the passage at 53:38

54:08 So there's nothing unique to Buddhism when we're talking about calm abiding and when we're talking about developing form and formless realm concentrations. Report an error in the passage at 54:08 Highlight the passage at 54:08

54:20 By doing that, we can't eliminate our mental afflictions completely and we can't eliminate any seeds of mental afflictions. We can develop more and more bliss and more and more peace and subtler and subtler mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 54:20 Highlight the passage at 54:20

54:38 You can't eliminate mental afflictions completely and we can't eliminate any of them from the root by taking that path. So that path we can get to subtler and subtler levels of mental afflictions but that's impermanent. So at some point we fall from that. Report an error in the passage at 54:38 Highlight the passage at 54:38

55:01 So what's the point? So that path is not recommended in Buddhism. Especially in Mahāyāna Buddhism. You can do that, but that's not the path to get out of saṃsāra. The other thing you can do with calm abiding is realize the four normal truths, realize emptiness. Get special insight. And that's the path that's unique to Buddhism, realizing emptiness and the four normal truths. Report an error in the passage at 55:01 Highlight the passage at 55:01

55:30 And that's the path to eliminate mental afflictions completely. And that's the recommended path. Report an error in the passage at 55:30 Highlight the passage at 55:30

55:41 So the two options. With calm and binding. Coarse and peacefulness to get subtler and subtler mental afflictions. And Four Noble Truths and emptiness to eliminate mental afflictions completely. Report an error in the passage at 55:41 Highlight the passage at 55:41

55:58 Then Lama Tsongkhapa says physical and mental pliancy arise very quickly when the mind is equipoised inwardly. And for the most part the five hindrances such as desire for sensual pleasure, sleepiness and so forth do not occur. With calm abiding, for the most part, the gross desire for sensual pleasure, for good food and massages and beautiful sights and all of that, nice baths, Report an error in the passage at 55:58 Highlight the passage at 55:58

56:35 good music, all of that, chocolate, pizza. That's for the most part pacified. Sleepiness, right, the attachment to sleep also for the most part do not occur. Report an error in the passage at 56:35 Highlight the passage at 56:35

57:01 And we talked about last time how when we attain calm abiding, you know, your sleep is like meditative stabilization. It's not normal sleep. It's like you're meditating when you're sleeping. And then when we arise from equipoise, one is still imbued with some physical and mental pliancy. So when we're walking around, so we have full physical and mental pliancy when we're in meditation, when we have calm abiding. And then when we arise, we still have some. Report an error in the passage at 57:01 Highlight the passage at 57:01

57:38 Then the next section, once attention with these signs is attained, it's easy for the path of calm abiding to become pure. So calm abiding, once again, being the basis for attaining all the realizations. So based on calm abiding, we can develop a higher path. Higher realizations. Report an error in the passage at 57:38 Highlight the passage at 57:38

58:03 And then the next, the rest of this section is talking about how the more kind of single-pointed calm abiding that we have, the more pliancy we have. And the more pliancy we have, the stronger our calm abiding. So they reinforce each other. Report an error in the passage at 58:03 Highlight the passage at 58:03

58:27 And then down below, Lama Tsongkhapa says... Be sure to focus on single-pointedness itself and direct your mind like this by the stages of focusing on calm abiding within, which are the mental continuum and the entire continuity of mind, becoming free from signs, free from discursive thought, and absolutely calm. Report an error in the passage at 58:27 Highlight the passage at 58:27

58:52 Free from signs, free from discursive thought, and absolutely calm with our mind. So free from signs. So there are ten signs that are talked about. The five sense objects, so when we're absorbed in concentration, our senses, our five senses have absorbed, right? So we don't hear anything, we don't see anything, we don't have any taste, smell, etc. So we're free from the five sense objects. Report an error in the passage at 58:52 Highlight the passage at 58:52

59:30 We're free from... The three poisons, attachment, hatred and ignorance. So those are suppressed. So those don't arise when we're in meditation. Equipoison, calm abiding. And then, I can't really explain the last two, the signs of being male and female are suppressed at this point. Report an error in the passage at 59:30 Highlight the passage at 59:30

1:00:00 So, Report an error in the passage at 1:00:00 Highlight the passage at 1:00:00

1:00:03 yeah, yeah. So the characteristics that... Distinguish male from female, so I'm not sure of the significance of that. I'm assuming that has to do with sexual desire or something, but could be, could not be. So the calm abiding is free from these ten signs, the five sense objects, the three poisons, and male and female characteristics. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:03 Highlight the passage at 1:00:03

1:00:33 Could Report an error in the passage at 1:00:33 Highlight the passage at 1:00:33

1:00:39 this also be our attachment to our male or female bodies? Many of us are attached to being female or male. And that, you know, you get to a point where it's beyond sex, beyond sexuality, beyond gender. Is that getting towards it? You know, that could very well be, Peter, because it said, it's going to say a little bit later, that when you're absorbed in concentration or on calm abiding, you have no sense of having a body. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:39 Highlight the passage at 1:00:39

1:01:06 Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:06 Highlight the passage at 1:01:06

1:01:12 So it could have something to do with identification. not made of a female. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:12 Highlight the passage at 1:01:12

1:01:15 Like you're saying, as a male or female. Yeah, I didn't see... Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:01:15 Highlight the passage at 1:01:15

1:01:25 we identify so much with that, right? Like, imagine being a female. Like, it's so hard, right, to imagine being the opposite sex, right? Like, we feel like we've always... Like, I feel like I've always been female, you know? Right. That's an inherent part of our nature, right? Whereas it's just, you know... Report an error in the passage at 1:01:25 Highlight the passage at 1:01:25

1:01:47 The body we have at the moment. Our karmic appearance for the moment. But we've been everything. We have to get beyond even that gender identification if we really want to become enlightened. And who is this I anyway? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:47 Highlight the passage at 1:01:47

1:02:08 This I is just labeled by the mind anyway. So just a karmic appearance that we label male or female based on... What we learned, right? The way we exist is much, much, much more subtle, right, than that. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:08 Highlight the passage at 1:02:08

1:02:36 Yeah, I mean, Lama Zopa says it's almost as if we don't exist at all. Almost. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:36 Highlight the passage at 1:02:36

1:02:45 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:45 Highlight the passage at 1:02:45

1:02:52 We'll talk about that a lot more in the special insight class. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what freedom it will be when we don't identify with anything anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:52 Highlight the passage at 1:02:52

1:03:07 Only if you hold the microphone. Almost. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:07 Highlight the passage at 1:03:07

1:03:10 Would that be frightening or scary to someone who was in that? Yeah, they say that when you realize emptiness the first time, there's two types of people. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:10 Highlight the passage at 1:03:10

1:03:25 One type of person can get really scared, like feeling like you don't exist at all. But then there's another type of person who has really contemplated on how problematic it's been to have... This grasping to this ego, to this I. And so it's a great relief for the second type of person. So if we really understand, if we really understood how problematic this I that we're constantly reinforcing and needing to, you know, needing to be praised and needing to take care of and all of that, then it's a relief, right? You know, this I doesn't really exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:25 Highlight the passage at 1:03:25

1:04:13 But then for a lot of people it can be really scary too. Because there's that story about Shakyamuni Buddha when he held up the flower and the monk, the one monk who got it, grabbed onto his robe to make sure he still existed. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:13 Highlight the passage at 1:04:13

1:04:40 At that time, Shakyamuni Buddha... People got realizations like that. All you had to do was hold up a flower or say a few words. At that time, people got realizations of emptiness like that. We're in the degenerate times. We don't get realizations quite that quickly. Right. So. But yeah, but what a relief it is, you know, all of our anger, all of our attachment, all of this belief that the external world is going to make us happy is based on a belief that there's something solid that exists, something independent out there that's going to make us happy, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:04:40 Highlight the passage at 1:04:40

1:05:28 And the self-cherishing is so based on thinking that there's a real me, but who is this me? The Report an error in the passage at 1:05:28 Highlight the passage at 1:05:28

1:05:43 mind? But the body is constantly changing. The mind is constantly changing. The body isn't actually one thing. It's a composite of many things, right? There's no body separate from parts. The mind isn't actually one thing either. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:43 Highlight the passage at 1:05:43

1:06:04 Many ever-changing moments. It's not even anything physical. So, you know, you kind of get to this, where is this me? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:04 Highlight the passage at 1:06:04

1:06:27 So to get a powerful enough... Realization of emptiness. We need to have the extremely stable mind of calm abiding. Otherwise we get little glimpses and then it goes. Glimpses and it goes. No stable realization without calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:27 Highlight the passage at 1:06:27

1:07:02 Then Lama Tsongkhapa says when you've attained the mental state of calm abiding in that manner, If signs arise due to the faults of forgetfulness and unfamiliarity, or if appearances arise due to secondary mental afflictions, if holes start showing, if you conceptualize, you should not be mindful of such occurrences nor attend to them as a result of seeing their disadvantages earlier. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:02 Highlight the passage at 1:07:02

1:07:33 still when you arise from your meditation on calm abiding still know some Subtle mental afflictions can arise, right? Forgetfulness can arise. And Lama Tsongkhapa is saying, well, at the Shravaka levels is actually saying, you know, when these things arise, don't pay attention to them, right? When mental afflictions arise, don't pay attention to them, you know, just let them go. They're just thoughts, right? When, you know, signs arise, don't pay attention to them, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:33 Highlight the passage at 1:07:33

1:08:07 So this is good advice for all of us, right? Just thoughts. You know, a thought of annoyance arises. Don't pay attention to it. It's just a passing thought. Just movement of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:07 Highlight the passage at 1:08:07

1:08:23 Through your not minding them and not attending to them in this manner, those objects completely disintegrate. So our mental afflictions, when they arise, they become strong because we follow them. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:23 Highlight the passage at 1:08:23

1:08:40 Because we become attached to them and then we develop a story around them. So the problem isn't really that the thoughts arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:40 Highlight the passage at 1:08:40

1:08:51 The problem is that we follow them. We feed those thoughts. Those thoughts are going to arise for a long time. Like, what an annoying person. Let it go. You know, what a, you know, ooh, I really like that piece of pizza. You know, let it go. You know, instead of then having to write. Call the pizza place and order the pizza and then having to eat or fantasize about the pizza or the chocolate or the ice cream or whatever it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:51 Highlight the passage at 1:08:51

1:09:23 We follow that thought and then we repeat that thought and build it up and build it up. That's the problem. But if we develop our mindfulness to the point where we just see the thought as it arises and we don't follow it and just let it go. Then it doesn't have power. So Lama Tsongkhapa is saying those objects completely disintegrate when we don't pay attention to them. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:23 Highlight the passage at 1:09:23

1:09:55 It's just like a water bubble. It bubbles up and it surfaces and it disappears. So similar with, especially with meditation, we can get good at that. We notice the thought, let it go. Notice the thought, let it go. Notice the thought, let it go. Letting the tape recorder play without, you know, without paying attention to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:55 Highlight the passage at 1:09:55

1:10:26 So in this manner, those objects completely disintegrate. And when they have been completely cleared away, the mind is placed on the very absence of appearances. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:26 Highlight the passage at 1:10:26

1:10:38 Then he says, Sir, this object is subtle and hard to comprehend. Therefore, aspire and strive in order to comprehend it. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:38 Highlight the passage at 1:10:38

1:10:49 So we need to, we may not. We can't completely get it now, but we can strive. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:49 Highlight the passage at 1:10:49

1:11:06 So the other thing with regard to these mental afflictions, these distractions, these thoughts. In order to not follow them, we need to understand their disadvantages. If we don't really get their disadvantages, if we still really believe that food is going to make me happy or that job is going to make me happy or that house or that car or whatever is going to make me happy, when the thought arises, we follow it because we believe in it. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:06 Highlight the passage at 1:11:06

1:11:38 So we need to really understand deeply. That that's not a source of happiness, that that's a source of suffering, being attached to the job, being attached to the money, being attached to the security, being attached to the clothing, being attached to whatever it is, is really keeping us imprisoned in saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:38 Highlight the passage at 1:11:38

1:12:01 It's keeping us creating negative karma. It's keeping us from being free. So when we really understand that, Then when those thoughts arise, we think, okay, that's just a thought, let's let it go, right? Because that's going to take me towards suffering, right? That's going to keep me imprisoned in saṃsāra. So I think that's really a process, right? To really deeply understand that, okay, that thing I always thought was going to make me happy is actually just keeping me imprisoned in saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:01 Highlight the passage at 1:12:01

1:12:39 So I think we, you know... We kind of slowly, slowly let go of these things as we really get it, as we contemplate it. As these tragedies happen, like in Japan, when I look at the news, I think these people, they've worked their whole lives for all of this stuff, Report an error in the passage at 1:12:39 Highlight the passage at 1:12:39

1:13:06 and working on their relationships, and then suddenly it's all gone. And how incredibly tragic it is. And Report an error in the passage at 1:13:06 Highlight the passage at 1:13:06

1:13:25 we see that, you know, and we see that and we're reminded, oh yeah, we really can't rely on this external stuff. We really can't rely on things staying the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:25 Highlight the passage at 1:13:25

1:13:42 Happiness can't come from the outside. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:42 Highlight the passage at 1:13:42

1:13:48 So when you lose everything externally, what do you have? You just have your own mind. How do you deal with it in your own mind? So that's what Dharma practice is about, right? It's developing our own minds and finding peace and happiness inside. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:48 Highlight the passage at 1:13:48

1:14:12 And as long as we're attached to things, we can't have real peace or happiness because it's conditional, right? It's conditioned on needing things to be a particular way. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:12 Highlight the passage at 1:14:12

1:14:33 So it's very sad to me, you know, like my neighbor. Is quite panicked about the possibility of the same thing happening here, you know, and gave me a sheet of, you know, make sure you have, you know, this and this. You know, and it's just very sad, you know, if we don't feel like we have the inner resources to handle whatever will happen externally, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:33 Highlight the passage at 1:14:33

1:14:57 And I feel so fortunate having this path, right, because we're learning, right, how to handle things internally. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:57 Highlight the passage at 1:14:57

1:15:16 Because what can you do, right? What can you do when the karma decides to ripen? Well, not that the karma decides anything, but when the karma ripens, what can you do? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:16 Highlight the passage at 1:15:16

1:15:42 We want the whole world to hear you. Are you sure? that note, we to wait. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:42 Highlight the passage at 1:15:42

1:15:54 was remarking on Facebook about... The decorum of the Japanese throughout this whole thing. And I really think you can see how Buddhism and Shintoism have had a very positive effect. I mean, they're queuing up in lines that are 10 hours long. They're not jostling. They're not fighting. They're not fighting for food. There's no food in Tokyo. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:54 Highlight the passage at 1:15:54

1:16:14 People aren't rioting. And I thought, imagine if that happened here or in other places. People would be shooting each other. And you watch the Japanese and they're just so dignified. It's really remarkable. It has to be Buddhism and Shintoism to some extent, to a great extent. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:14 Highlight the passage at 1:16:14

1:16:35 Yeah, it's someone, I think Anderson Cooper or something was remarking on how the great difference between Haiti and Japan on how people were dealing with... With the whole situation and how there is no violence and yelling and lines and things like that. I mean, part of it is cultural, right? But then part of it must be some inner strength as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:35 Highlight the passage at 1:16:35

1:17:07 So it's inspiring. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:07 Highlight the passage at 1:17:07

1:17:28 Okay, then Lama Tsongkhapa gets into how these ten signs that I talked about don't appear. And he says that only... The aspects of mind, the knowing, clarity and vibrant happiness appear to calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:28 Highlight the passage at 1:17:28

1:17:51 And then he talks about how all conceptual thoughts also subside by themselves. Because when we have single point in concentration, the thoughts don't Report an error in the passage at 1:17:51 Highlight the passage at 1:17:51

1:18:10 really occur. But here... He says, since you have settled as before without being mindful of them, write the thoughts, and without attending to them, conceptual thoughts that have arisen like bubbles emerging from water cannot proliferate greatly or conjoin and subside by themselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:10 Highlight the passage at 1:18:10

1:18:32 Then through your sustaining the meditation as explained before, awareness of the experience and the appearance of bliss without being stopped deliberately, Unable to bear the spell, subside again by themselves like peeling bark and get purified by themselves as soon as they arise. Bliss and awareness of the experience become more subtle. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:32 Highlight the passage at 1:18:32

1:19:07 So these thoughts, right, are like bubbles. They rise, subside by themselves, arise, subside by themselves. And also like waves in the ocean, right, they arise and they subside and they rise and they subside. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:07 Highlight the passage at 1:19:07

1:19:23 And then Lama Tsongkhapa says, at that time when equipoise has been established, I'm on the bottom of page 244, there are no appearances such as that of one's own body. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:23 Highlight the passage at 1:19:23

1:19:34 So you're completely absorbed in meditative equipoise, right, on the object. So there's no awareness, no appearance of our body at all, and there's a sense as if the mind has become indivisible from space. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:34 Highlight the passage at 1:19:34

1:19:52 As one arises from meditation, it feels as if one's body had suddenly appeared. So it feels like suddenly we acquire a body. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:52 Highlight the passage at 1:19:52

1:20:04 Afterwards, even afflictive conceptual thoughts of anger and the like that do arise are also different from before or originally. Weak and incapable of conjoining over long periods of time. So mental afflictions that arise are very weak and we just can't. We can't generate a strong mental affliction. We just don't have that power of believing in that thought so much. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:04 Highlight the passage at 1:20:04

1:20:39 Then on the top of page 245, these periods are periods of what is called complete pacification. The experience of clarity is great and you feel you can count the minute particles of pillars and walls of a house. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:39 Highlight the passage at 1:20:39

1:20:58 So the clarity of the mind is so clear that you feel as if you can count the particles in the wall. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:58 Highlight the passage at 1:20:58

1:21:14 Due to the intense stability factor, sleep like at the time before achieving meditative stabilization does not even come during the hours of sleep. It feels as if mixed with meditative stabilization and you have many pure dream experiences and the like. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:14 Highlight the passage at 1:21:14

1:21:34 So sleep is like... Being in meditative stabilization, many pure dreams. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:34 Highlight the passage at 1:21:34

1:21:45 Well, dream, I mean, the commentary I read was, you don't have nightmares at that point. I don't remember actually reading about, you know, specific about your dreams. Right, yeah, yeah. I mean, oftentimes right in Buddhism, when we talk about pure dreams, you know, there's appearance of Like white and milk and stuff like that. Not like cockroaches and snakes and stuff like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:45 Highlight the passage at 1:21:45

1:22:23 Sorry, Anna. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:23 Highlight the passage at 1:22:23

1:22:31 Is it possible that sometimes when we meditate we have this feeling of clarity but only for an instant? Yeah, for sure. For sure. You know, as we... When we start, we may have really good sessions, really clear sessions for a limited period of time, but they're not stable. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:31 Highlight the passage at 1:22:31

1:22:58 This is so much of what Buddhist practice is about, is gaining stability through familiarizing. We get more and more stability. So with clarity, with single-pointed concentration. right so like Report an error in the passage at 1:22:58 Highlight the passage at 1:22:58

1:23:15 As well as with wisdom, we get little glimpses here and there, but we can't live it all the time. Through repeated practice, through logging the hours, we get the pure mind, the mind that remembers impermanence and remembers emptiness and remembers the suffering of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:15 Highlight the passage at 1:23:15

1:23:42 More and more prevalent. At the beginning we only remember it once in a while. And then over time that becomes more and more prevalent until we're abiding in it all the time. Like a Buddha is abiding in the realization of emptiness all the time. And so now we only... Think about emptiness, right, maybe when we do our practice in the morning and the evening and maybe a little bit throughout the day, but more and more, right, we're doing our practice so that we can maintain it all day long and have that stability all day long. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:42 Highlight the passage at 1:23:42

1:24:31 Because when we have strong mental afflictions, that's an indication that we've lost our mindfulness, right, lost our remembrance that, whatever, that that, let's say that object of attachment. It doesn't exist from its own side. That object of attachment isn't a real source of happiness. If we have a strong mental friction, that means on some level we still believe in it. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:31 Highlight the passage at 1:24:31

1:24:57 Because it wouldn't be a strong mental friction if we didn't follow it. If we didn't feed it with a story that we believe in. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:57 Highlight the passage at 1:24:57

1:25:09 The more we can just see it as a thought that's just a cause of suffering, then we won't have strong mental afflictions. It'll be weaker and weaker and weaker. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:09 Highlight the passage at 1:25:09

1:25:21 So mindfulness throughout the day is so critical, as well as really deeply understanding the disadvantages of the mental afflictions. I think that's really the effort that we need to make. Most of us is really, really deeply understanding that the mental afflictions are the cause of all of our suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:21 Highlight the passage at 1:25:21

1:25:49 It's not that guy out there. It's not the earthquake. It's really our mental affliction that is the cause of all of that, all of the problems, all of our unhappiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:49 Highlight the passage at 1:25:49

1:26:05 It's the cause of sickness. It's the cause of... You know, the annoying people, it's the cause of everything, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:05 Highlight the passage at 1:26:05

1:26:16 Our mental afflictions, as Lama Zopa was saying, it's the mind, right? We think the problem is out there, but the problem is our mind, right? The only way to solve the external problems is to change our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:16 Highlight the passage at 1:26:16

1:26:37 So it takes time to really get that, right? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:37 Highlight the passage at 1:26:37

1:26:50 Then the next section is talking about... The five paths, right? The five paths I was just talking about, the path of accumulation, preparation, seeing, meditation, no more learning. So the question arises, when we've attained calm abiding, which of the five paths have we attained? The path of preparation? So Lama Tsongkhapa says, well, if you realize that emptiness with calm abiding, then it becomes a path to liberation. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:50 Highlight the passage at 1:26:50

1:27:22 A path leading you to liberation. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:22 Highlight the passage at 1:27:22

1:27:29 If it's just calm abiding where we're meditating on the peacefulness of the upper realm and the coarseness of the lower realm to get to higher levels of concentration, then it's not even a path to liberation. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:29 Highlight the passage at 1:27:29

1:27:52 Because it's getting you to subtler and subtler levels of mental afflictions, but it's not leading you out of saṃsāra. It's not a path to liberation. So calm abiding itself is not a path to liberation. It depends on what calm abiding is used for and what it's associated with, what it's conjoined with. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:52 Highlight the passage at 1:27:52

1:28:14 So if it's used to realize emptiness, it's a path to liberation. If it's associated with renunciation from saṃsāra, From the heart, realizing that attachment is the cause of our problems, renouncing that, then it becomes a path to liberation. And actually, calm abiding with renunciation brings you to the first of the five paths on the Hinayana path. The path of accumulation, when we have renunciation with calm abiding, we reach the path of accumulation on the Hinayana path. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:14 Highlight the passage at 1:28:14

1:28:52 If we have calm abiding with bodhicitta, Then we've reached the first of the five Mahāyāna paths, the Mahāyāna path of accumulation. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:52 Highlight the passage at 1:28:52

1:29:15 So once again, calm abiding itself is not a path to liberation. Calm abiding associated with renunciation, bodhicitta or emptiness is a path to liberation. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:15 Highlight the passage at 1:29:15

1:29:35 I'm going to skip this next section where Lama Tsongkhapa distinguishes between calm abiding meditation and a realization of emptiness. We've talked about that before. A calm-abiding meditation is just single-pointed concentration. Just because it has clarity and bliss doesn't mean it's a meditation on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:35 Highlight the passage at 1:29:35

1:29:56 So at Lama Tsongkhapa's time, he was really dispelling a lot of misconceptions about what a realization of emptiness was. And so a lot of people at his time were thinking, okay, a blissful, clear mind? That's a realization of emptiness. And Tsongkhapa's saying, uh-uh. You need to actually analyze, identify the object of negation and refute the object of negation to get a realization of emptiness. So just the absence of an appearance of the eye doesn't mean it's a realization of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:56 Highlight the passage at 1:29:56

1:30:29 There's a lot of times when the eye isn't appearing. When we're watching a movie, really absorbed in the movie, the eye isn't appearing, but that doesn't mean we've realized emptiness. When we're spacing out, the I may not be appearing, but that doesn't mean we've realized emptiness. We have to actually identify that I that we believe so strongly in and then we need to refute it. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:29 Highlight the passage at 1:30:29

1:30:59 Understand it doesn't really exist. I'm sorry, I keep raising my hand because I just want to make sure I understand this point. I think the realization of emptiness is very, very... Difficult? Report an error in the passage at 1:30:59 Highlight the passage at 1:30:59

1:31:18 Difficult? So they say. And it sounds like you're saying I could shoot for bodhicitta plus calm abiding. Not that I'm going to get calm abiding anytime soon, but it seems like I could go for compassion. That might happen a little sooner. So are you saying I can interchange emptiness for bodhicitta plus calm abiding and then get the liberation that way? No. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:18 Highlight the passage at 1:31:18

1:31:45 Sorry. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:45 Highlight the passage at 1:31:45

1:31:52 No, it's good to clarify these things, right? So I was distinguishing between what's a path to liberation and what's not a path to liberation. So if it's a path to liberation, it doesn't mean you only need that. right to get liberated it just means you know you're Report an error in the passage at 1:31:52 Highlight the passage at 1:31:52

1:32:31 Path to liberation just means you're on the path. You've taken the step toward creating the causes to liberation, but that doesn't mean you need only that. So to get to enlightenment, we need bodhicitta and the realization of emptiness and renunciation. We need all three. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:31 Highlight the passage at 1:32:31

1:32:53 To get to liberation, right, Hinayana liberation, we need two of those. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:53 Highlight the passage at 1:32:53

1:33:06 So for liberation, we need renunciation and the realization of emptiness. But for enlightenment, we need bodhicitta as well. Okay? I know. Yeah, that hopeful mind, right? That shortcut. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:06 Highlight the passage at 1:33:06

1:33:27 Yeah. We just can't get around that realization of emptiness. That's our ticket. That's the real ticket out of Sinsara. Sorry. Okay, maybe that's a good place to stop for a break. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:27 Highlight the passage at 1:33:27

1:33:51 I can't even hear. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:51 Highlight the passage at 1:33:51

1:34:10 Just to emphasize the point. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:10 Highlight the passage at 1:34:10

1:34:32 know, the monk, I don't even think I'm on the pad. I guess I figured, Emily's listening, so I listen to Emily, listen to half the classes. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:32 Highlight the passage at 1:34:32

1:34:47 Don't you want to see all of your emotions? Oh my God, yes. Are you kidding? As toys. just toys. But they wind me up. But you didn't just start. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:47 Highlight the passage at 1:34:47

1:35:04 They're temporary, they wear us, and they break. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:04 Highlight the passage at 1:35:04

1:35:11 I've gotten to a point where when I see anger, you know, I'm like, I don't know, but it's like, you know, it's in control. I can feel that leading me. I'm not in control Report an error in the passage at 1:35:11 Highlight the passage at 1:35:11

1:35:26 I think that's a different point, because at least I recognize, I'm angry, and I'm angry, and I'm sick, but it's still going to be true. Thank you. Why don't you try Report an error in the passage at 1:35:26 Highlight the passage at 1:35:26

1:35:45 I'm not going to fight it But I'm not going to really Rub it No one's on me It's really hard because sometimes in a nanosecond, you're there. And it's a man of a second. So to me, it's amazing. They look amazing. They look gorgeous. They're delicate. They do everything. They have every trick of the world. What gets suddenly, which is something I've noticed, is when somebody wants you to be angry, and you say, okay, this goes real fast. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:45 Highlight the passage at 1:35:45

1:36:20 You want me to be angry, so I'll How can you just sit there like a rock when I ran out of half and half, you know? Yeah, I know you're... And then you're going to turn around and say, what's on your problem? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:20 Highlight the passage at 1:36:20

1:36:47 teaches us to do food. And the llamas don't say that. With the medicine. Did you hear that? It's in my notes. Because it was very important to me. And I even wrote to my mamas out. Because it was really, really important. I'm like, oh my God, I need to talk to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:47 Highlight the passage at 1:36:47

1:37:06 He said, the more people who bother you, the more opportunities to purify and accumulate marriage. And he said, for those who can't, who have to reach that level, you have to move on. Yeah, that's really critical. Yeah. I move on a lot. Keep on moving on. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:06 Highlight the passage at 1:37:06

1:37:32 Until you can move Lama further. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:32 Highlight the passage at 1:37:32

1:37:39 job on a flyport and I'm so nervous about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:39 Highlight the passage at 1:37:39

1:37:44 you get it, great. If you don't get it, you didn't have it before. Touche. I'm getting poor, and then it's making me feel more attached. I haven't so attached in ages, because I didn't have to worry about it. Yeah. Stop worrying about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:44 Highlight the passage at 1:37:44

· · · silence, 13 minutes

1:51:10 I'm very mature. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:10 Highlight the passage at 1:51:10

1:51:26 I'm sure about it. Lots of purification. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:26 Highlight the passage at 1:51:26

1:51:57 This particular path into formless concentrations is not just Buddhist, obviously, but also practiced by non-Buddhists. But what non-Buddhists practice this? Like Hindus? A lot of Hindus do. So it's sort of the yogi concentration stages? Yeah, exactly. And this is what the Buddha, Buddha Shakyamuni. Before he attained enlightenment, right when he was with the five ascetics, this is what he was practicing. And he went all the way up to the peak of cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:57 Highlight the passage at 1:51:57

1:52:33 And then he thought, wait a minute, I still have some subtle mental afflictions, so this can't be it. He couldn't find a teacher that could tell him how to progress beyond that, and so that's when he decided, okay, well, I'm going to go off. Yeah, he did. He actually ate something and, you know, drank some milk and then he, you know, and then he realized the Four Noble Truths and then that was, realized that that was the way out of saṃsāra, that this was just, you know, kind of a distraction. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:33 Highlight the passage at 1:52:33

1:53:15 Anna, Report an error in the passage at 1:53:15 Highlight the passage at 1:53:15

1:53:24 can you describe form realm and formless realm briefly? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:24 Highlight the passage at 1:53:24

1:53:32 Well, you Report an error in the passage at 1:53:32 Highlight the passage at 1:53:32

1:53:39 know, you can talk about desire realm, form realm, Formless realms in terms of physical places as well as levels of mind. So here we're really talking about levels of mind. So mental progression. I don't really know what to say about these except, so each progressive level, from the first to the second, the second has... Report an error in the passage at 1:53:39 Highlight the passage at 1:53:39

1:54:08 Subtler mental afflictions than the first, the third has subtler mental afflictions than the second, etc., all the way up to the peak of cyclic existence that has the subtlest mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:08 Highlight the passage at 1:54:08

1:54:23 And then each of these concentrations and formless absorptions have particular characteristics, you know, where you've kind of, like at some point you get even beyond the feeling of bliss. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:23 Highlight the passage at 1:54:23

1:54:39 Happy feeling, you know, and subtler and subtler levels of concentration. The form realm, if you're born in the form realm, okay, so if you attain like a form realm concentration in this life, you create the causes to be reborn actually in that realm. Also formless realm, you create the cause to be reborn in that realm. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:39 Highlight the passage at 1:54:39

1:55:03 In the form realm, if you're reborn there, you have a body, but it's much subtler than this one. It's not a body that ages. It's not a body that gets sick. And then you have, you know, there's no mental unhappiness in the form and formless realms. Hard to imagine, but no mental unhappiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:03 Highlight the passage at 1:55:03

1:55:27 And then the formless realm, you don't even have a body. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:27 Highlight the passage at 1:55:27

1:55:43 You don't have a body at all. You're just absorbed in the mind. No physicality. We have a mind and a body, so without the body, just the mind part. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:43 Highlight the passage at 1:55:43

1:55:58 That's what a formless realm has. So no location of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:58 Highlight the passage at 1:55:58

1:56:12 Well, there is no form in the formless realm. There's no sounds in the formless realm. I mean, it's hard to imagine, right? No physical. No. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:12 Highlight the passage at 1:56:12

1:56:27 You're asking me questions. How am I supposed to answer these? Well, from my experience in the formless realm. No, Report an error in the passage at 1:56:27 Highlight the passage at 1:56:27

1:56:42 a rainbow is light. It's form. It's still visual form. So no form at all. That's the street. That's the street. . Report an error in the passage at 1:56:42 Highlight the passage at 1:56:42

1:56:50 Like one of the first of the formless room is infinite space, completely lacking visual form, sounds, odors, tastes, touch. Because actually the body creates so many problems. We can't, you know, feeling physically tired, have to have a body. All right. Having a backache. Have to have a body. Feeling hungry? You have to have a body. Feeling sluggish, cold. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:50 Highlight the passage at 1:56:50

1:57:34 So if you think about it, we spend so much time taking care of the body, searching for food, shopping, thinking about food, sleeping, exercise. It's really... A waste of time. I mean, it's not getting us anywhere, taking care of the body. I mean, we have to do it, right, because we have a body. But it's actually more advanced. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:34 Highlight the passage at 1:57:34

1:57:59 If we don't have a body we have to take care of, then you can meditate all the time, right? You can do practice all the time if you don't have a body that you have to take care of. But then are they motivated? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:59 Highlight the passage at 1:57:59

1:58:18 Yeah, well, I mean, at this point, it's not desirable, right? Precious human rebirth is saying the human realm is the best place to be reborn. In order to practice the Dharma because they don't have enough suffering in the form and formless realms to get renunciation. They don't have mental unhappiness there. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:18 Highlight the passage at 1:58:18

1:58:39 It's not desirable to be reborn there. You can be reborn there and you can have lots of bliss for eons, but then you wake up and there you go. You've got a body again. You're an animal or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:39 Highlight the passage at 1:58:39

1:58:56 So what was that all about? What was the purpose? You know, a nice long vacation, but it's not getting you any closer to getting out of saṃsāra, right? It's not finishing your suffering, so. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:56 Highlight the passage at 1:58:56

1:59:17 Not gross discursive thought. I think in the formless room maybe you don't even have discursive thought. Because there's one point where like investigation and analysis are gone. Like infinite space, you're just absorbed in infinite space, infinite consciousness. But, you know, I mean, I've read descriptions of these realms, but really we can't understand them until we actually experience it. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:17 Highlight the passage at 1:59:17

1:59:52 I don't remember that quote. Which sūtra was that? Report an error in the passage at 1:59:52 Highlight the passage at 1:59:52

2:00:08 Well, actually, they say that we've all attained these form and formless realms, concentrations, many times in the past. And where has it gotten us? Where are we now? Still in saṃsāra. So what's the point? And they say we've all attained calm abiding in the past, but the problem is we didn't use that to go on to special insight. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:08 Highlight the passage at 2:00:08

2:00:36 So that's the point. Yeah, I mean, and actually that's the next point in Lama Tsongkhapa is how it is of great... Importance to cultivate special insight in dependence on calm abiding, which is on page 246 at the top. So don't stop at calm abiding. Don't just enjoy the bliss of calm abiding. Immediately go on to special insight. Because that's the only way to eliminate afflictions from the root. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:36 Highlight the passage at 2:00:36

2:01:10 It's the only way to end our suffering forever, to uproot our mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:10 Highlight the passage at 2:01:10

2:01:19 So Lama Tsongkhapa says, such meditative stabilization having been generated in the mental continuum is for the sake of generating special insight that destroys the mental afflictions. Therefore, if special insight does not arise in dependence on our calm abiding, however much you familiarize yourself with meditative stabilization, you will not even be able to abandon the mental afflictions of the desire realm. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:19 Highlight the passage at 2:01:19

2:01:48 Not to mention the mental afflictions as a whole. For that reason, it is necessary to cultivate special insight. So we can't even abandon the mental afflictions of the desire realm from the root without special insight, realizing emptiness. So, no getting around it. No shortcut. Okay, Report an error in the passage at 2:01:48 Highlight the passage at 2:01:48

2:02:17 so... Anyway, so that's basically it for the calm abiding section. Then Lama Tsongkhapa gets into the two types of special insight, and it's what I was talking about before. There's a special insight that analyzes coarseness and peacefulness to go up into the form and formless realms. That's a special insight, but it's not the special insight that we're trying to develop, and it's not the special insight that will get us out of cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:17 Highlight the passage at 2:02:17

2:02:48 It's a type of analytical meditation that's based on calm abiding. So it's called special insight, but it's not the special insight to get us out of saṃsāra. So then the second type of special insight, the main one, right, the one that we are trying to cultivate is the one realizing the four normal truths and particularly emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:48 Highlight the passage at 2:02:48

2:03:11 So then Lama Tsongkhapa says, okay, we have to have calm abiding. We require calm abiding. As the basis for abandoning mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:11 Highlight the passage at 2:03:11

2:03:27 So this meditation, this special insight of coarseness and peacefulness to go up through the form and formless realms is called the mundane path. It's a worldly path. It will get us to subtler and subtler mental afflictions, but it won't get us out of the world, right? The saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:27 Highlight the passage at 2:03:27

2:03:48 Whereas the special insight... Realizing emptiness is called the supramundane path, how we go beyond saṃsāra. So sometimes you'll hear those terms probably in the ornament. You heard those terms mundane. Right, exactly. So there's the mundane versus the supramundane path. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:48 Highlight the passage at 2:03:48

2:04:18 So that's Report an error in the passage at 2:04:18 Highlight the passage at 2:04:18

2:04:24 it. That's pretty much it. I don't want to get into how you go through all the mental contemplations. That's not the point of our path. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:24 Highlight the passage at 2:04:24

2:04:41 So next week we'll do a practice class. We'll do lots of meditation. I was thinking of doing kind of a combination of things like we would in retreat. It's still good to do some purification. It's good to take refuge in bodhicitta and then sit. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:41 Highlight the passage at 2:04:41

2:05:11 No, sorry. This isn't Zen. And anyway, this is, you know, this is America. I could get sued for that. All right. So, you know, so calm abiding. There's no getting around calm abiding if we want to get rid of our mental afflictions, right? So we start off with, you know, trying to develop mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:11 Highlight the passage at 2:05:11

2:05:37 Well, we start off actually by becoming convinced that... We need to develop calm abiding, right? And our mental afflictions, our distractions are keeping us from the happiness that we seek. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:37 Highlight the passage at 2:05:37

2:05:53 So then we become less and less attached to... Report an error in the passage at 2:05:53 Highlight the passage at 2:05:53