The Heart Sutra (16 November 2007)

0:00 So at that time the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Arya, Avalokiteshvara, looked upon the very practice of the profound perfection of wisdom and beheld those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature. Then through the power of Buddha, the Venerable Shariputra said this to the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Arya, Avalokiteshvara, How should any son of the lineage train who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom? Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:29 He said that and the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Arya, Avalokiteshvara said this to the venerable Charivadiputra. Charivadiputra, any son of the lineage or daughter of the lineage who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom should look upon it like this. Correctly and repeatedly beholding those five aggregates also is empty of inherent nature. Report an error in the passage at 0:29 Highlight the passage at 0:29

0:53 Form is empty, emptiness is form, emptiness is not other than form, form is also not other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness are empty. Shariputra, likewise, all phenomena are emptiness, without characteristic, unproduced, unceased, stainless, not without stain, not deficient, not fulfilled. Report an error in the passage at 0:53 Highlight the passage at 0:53

1:21 Shariputra, therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness, no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no visual form, no sound, no odor, no taste, no object of touch and no phenomenon. There is no I element and so on up to and including no mind element and no mental consciousness element. There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance and so on up to and including no aging and death and no extinction of aging and death. Report an error in the passage at 1:21 Highlight the passage at 1:21

2:06 Similarly, there is no suffering, origination, cessation and path. There is no exalted wisdom. No attainment and also no non-attainment. Shariputra, therefore, because there is no attainment, bodhisattvas rely on and dwell in the perfection of wisdom, the mind without obscuration and without fear. Having completely passed beyond error, they reach the end point of nirvāṇa. Report an error in the passage at 2:06 Highlight the passage at 2:06

2:36 All the Buddhas who dwell in the three times also manifestly, completely awaken to unsurpassable, perfect, complete enlightenment and reliance on the perfection of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 2:36 Highlight the passage at 2:36

2:49 The mantra of the perfection of wisdom, the mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, the mantra equal to the unequal, the mantra that thoroughly pacifies all suffering should be known as truth since it is not false. The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is declared, Thaya Ta Om Gata Gata Paragata Parasam Gata Bodhisoha. Report an error in the passage at 2:49 Highlight the passage at 2:49

3:17 Shariputra, the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva should train in the profound perfection of wisdom like that. Then the Bhagavan arose from that concentration and commended the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Arya Avalokiteshvara, saying, Well said, well said, son of lineage. It is like that. It is like that. One should practice the profound perfection of wisdom just as you have indicated. Even the Tathagatas rejoice. Report an error in the passage at 3:17 Highlight the passage at 3:17

3:45 The Bhagavan, having thus spoken, The Venerable Sharivadiputra, the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Arya, Avalokiteshvara, those surrounding in their entirety along with the world of gods, humans, asuras and Gandharvas were overjoyed and highly praised that spoken by the Bhagavan. Report an error in the passage at 3:45 Highlight the passage at 3:45

4:24 So I sent out a few things today by email and if you weren't able to get it or if you weren't able to print it, here's one of them. They're Report an error in the passage at 4:24 Highlight the passage at 4:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

5:17 extras. Everybody got one? Okay. So what I wanted to do here was take the entire sūtra and then divide it up by the outlines, you know, the structure, because I was having a hard time doing that in PowerPoint. Report an error in the passage at 5:17 Highlight the passage at 5:17

5:31 So recall that the heart sūtra is divided up into the prologue and then the actual sūtra. And we already covered the common prologue and the uncommon prologue. And then we covered the how Shariputra asked his question. And now we're on the how Avalokiteshvara answered. Report an error in the passage at 5:31 Highlight the passage at 5:31

5:57 So he answered in a brief way, which we covered this part last time, where it says he said that, and the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara said this to the Venerable Sharivadiputra. So we covered that part. And then... And then Avalokiteshvara answered, right, for two types of beings, right, for ordinary beings. He laid out the five paths, the five Mahāyāna paths. Report an error in the passage at 5:57 Highlight the passage at 5:57

6:26 And then on the back, we'll see, he answered for sharp faculty, extremely sharp faculty practitioners who only need to hear the mantra to realize emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 6:26 Highlight the passage at 6:26

6:40 So most of us fall into the ordinary being category. Report an error in the passage at 6:40 Highlight the passage at 6:40

6:47 We're going to start the ordinary being category. And then amongst the ordinary being category, there is a part that he taught how to train on the first two paths, the path of accumulation and the path of preparation, and then how to train on the path of seeing, how to train on the path of meditation, and the path of no more learning. Report an error in the passage at 6:47 Highlight the passage at 6:47

7:10 So we talked about those five paths last time. Report an error in the passage at 7:10 Highlight the passage at 7:10

7:20 So we'll go in and we'll spend actually most of the class period talking about one line today. So the part for ordinary beings. Report an error in the passage at 7:20 Highlight the passage at 7:20

7:32 Oh, actually, before we do that, just to finish off what we did last time with a brief answer. So how Avalokiteshvara answered. It says, he said that and the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara said this to the Venerable Sharivadiputra, Shariputra, any son of the lineage or daughter of the lineage who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom should look upon it like this, correctly and repeatedly beholding those five aggregates also is empty of inherent nature. Report an error in the passage at 7:32 Highlight the passage at 7:32

8:08 right, so... This last line, correctly and repeatedly beholding those five aggregates also is empty of inherent nature. So we talked about the five aggregates and how they're the basis of designation, the basis of imputation of the self. So not only is the self empty of inherent existence, also the five aggregates are empty of inherent existence. Report an error in the passage at 8:08 Highlight the passage at 8:08

8:36 So the self is empty. And the five aggregates are also empty. And so this shows the two types of selflessness, the selflessness of persons and the selflessness of phenomena. So some schools only assert... The selflessness of persons, like the two lower tenet schools, like the Vaibashikas and the Sotrantikas, they talk about the selflessness of persons, or in some traditions, the no-self. Report an error in the passage at 8:36 Highlight the passage at 8:36

9:09 So in those traditions, the person lacks a certain kind of existence, but phenomena do exist the way they appear, like phenomena other than persons, other than beings. So we had talked before about how we sometimes get this sense of like a controller, like somebody controlling or in charge of the person. Report an error in the passage at 9:09 Highlight the passage at 9:09

9:38 Or like Report an error in the passage at 9:38 Highlight the passage at 9:38

9:44 if we feel fear or we're accused, falsely accused of something, we have this oftentimes this feeling in the center of the chest of, you know, of me, of I. Like, I didn't do that. Report an error in the passage at 9:44 Highlight the passage at 9:44

10:02 So there seems to be some I kind of in the center of the chest that kind of controls the body and the mind. Report an error in the passage at 10:02 Highlight the passage at 10:02

10:16 Do people get a sense of that? Okay. Whereas with phenomena other than persons, we don't have that sense, right? There's not this sense of a tanka in the center. I Report an error in the passage at 10:16 Highlight the passage at 10:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

10:32 That's kind of controlling the tanka. Report an error in the passage at 10:32 Highlight the passage at 10:32

10:37 So that's a more, like a grosser level of selflessness of persons than what we're talking about in Prasangika. So we're talking about in Prasangika the emptiness of inherent existence of the person or the being as well as the emptiness of the aggregates and all other phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 10:37 Highlight the passage at 10:37

11:02 So sometimes we can think, oh yeah, well there's not, And inherently exist in self, but at least the body and the mind are there. They're really there the way that they appear. But even the body and the mind, they don't exist the way they appear. Report an error in the passage at 11:02 Highlight the passage at 11:02

11:32 Then we'll move on to how we practice the perfection of wisdom on the paths of accumulation and the path of preparation. And that's what this next section is talking about. Form is empty. Emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form. Form is also not other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness are empty. Report an error in the passage at 11:32 Highlight the passage at 11:32

12:03 So this is talking about the four modes of emptiness or sometimes called the four profundities. So this form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form. Form is also not other than emptiness. It's describing the four modes of emptiness. So the first one, form is empty. So this is talking about the ultimate nature of form. It's the fact that it's empty of inherent existence. Report an error in the passage at 12:03 Highlight the passage at 12:03

12:36 The emptiness of form is its ultimate nature. Report an error in the passage at 12:36 Highlight the passage at 12:36

12:49 So we can talk about phenomena having an... An ultimate nature and a conventional nature. The ultimate nature of all phenomena is its emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 12:49 Highlight the passage at 12:49

13:03 But then there's a conventional nature, like there's a conventional nature of fire. The conventional nature of fire is that it's hot and it's burning. The conventional nature of people, of beings, of sentient beings are being controlled by afflictions and karma, etc. Report an error in the passage at 13:03 Highlight the passage at 13:03

13:29 So the first mode of emptiness is talking about the fact that things are empty of inherent existence. The second mode is emptiness is form. So this is talking about the subtle conventional nature of form. So there's a gross conventional nature and then there's a subtle conventional nature. And then we'll talk about what that is. But essentially it's the fact that form is a manifestation of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 13:29 Highlight the passage at 13:29

14:01 Because things are empty, they appear. Then the third mode of emptiness is emptiness is not other than form. And the fourth is form is also not other than emptiness. So this is talking about the two truths, ultimate truth and conventional truth, the fact that they're the same entity and yet different conceptually, different names, or sometimes called different isolates. Report an error in the passage at 14:01 Highlight the passage at 14:01

14:28 So we'll talk about what that means as well. Report an error in the passage at 14:28 Highlight the passage at 14:28

14:34 Today I thought we would talk mostly about form is empty. Okay, so form is empty. So this is talking about the first of the five aggregates, the form aggregate. And so what is this form aggregate? So this includes all physical objects. So the body, the table, the clock, the chair, the tanka, the floor, the building, etc. Report an error in the passage at 14:34 Highlight the passage at 14:34

15:03 All physical objects are included in the form aggregate, as well as all objects of eye consciousness, so the visual forms, shapes and colors, objects of ear consciousness, Report an error in the passage at 15:03 Highlight the passage at 15:03

15:18 sounds, music, etc., objects of nose consciousness, which are odors, objects of tongue consciousness, which are tastes, and objects of body consciousness. Which are tangible objects. Report an error in the passage at 15:18 Highlight the passage at 15:18

15:39 What we feel with a massage or we feel smoothness and roughness, etc. Those are all included in form. Form isn't just something that we see. It can be something that we can touch or hear or smell or taste. Report an error in the passage at 15:39 Highlight the passage at 15:39

16:02 Usually with form, we develop all sorts of... Attachments to form. We have attachments to good food, good music, Report an error in the passage at 16:02 Highlight the passage at 16:02

16:20 beautiful things, beautiful homes, beautiful furniture, etc. And so all of these attachments are based on ignorance, seeing things in a way they don't actually exist, believing that things exist in a way they actually don't. Report an error in the passage at 16:20 Highlight the passage at 16:20

16:49 So for example, our body. Report an error in the passage at 16:49 Highlight the passage at 16:49

16:57 Our body, we have attachment to our body, right? We don't want to get older. We don't want to get sick. We like to have a strong body and not a weak body. Report an error in the passage at 16:57 Highlight the passage at 16:57

17:15 A youthful looking body and not an old wrinkled body. So we have attachment to form, you know, our bodies. Report an error in the passage at 17:15 Highlight the passage at 17:15

17:31 So I thought we could spend a little bit of time on... Identifying the object of negation of the body. Report an error in the passage at 17:31 Highlight the passage at 17:31

17:47 So, Report an error in the passage at 17:47 Highlight the passage at 17:47

18:07 actually, before I do that, so it's said by Lama Tsongkhapa that, so on the basis of seeing the aggregates, or experiencing the aggregates, then we impute the self, right? On the basis of seeing someone's body, I can say, Report an error in the passage at 18:07 Highlight the passage at 18:07

18:32 On the basis of seeing Sangmo's body, I can say, I see Sangmo. Or on the basis of seeing the mind being happy, I can say, I am happy. Report an error in the passage at 18:32 Highlight the passage at 18:32

18:45 So even on top of that, on the basis of, so we see, let's say we see a body, and then what our mind does is we see it as being inherently existent. We conceive of it as existing from its own side solidly, independently. And then the basis of that, of seeing the aggregates as inherently existent, then we conceive of the I as being inherently existent. Report an error in the passage at 18:45 Highlight the passage at 18:45

19:20 So first we conceive of the aggregates as being inherently existent, then we conceive of the I as being inherently existent. Report an error in the passage at 19:20 Highlight the passage at 19:20

19:31 So our first mistake is believing that the... Aggregates are inherently existent. Report an error in the passage at 19:31 Highlight the passage at 19:31

19:41 So if we didn't think that the aggregates were inherently existent, we wouldn't impute an inherently existent I on top of it. Report an error in the passage at 19:41 Highlight the passage at 19:41

19:51 So we need to realize not only the emptiness of the I, but the emptiness of the aggregates as well. Report an error in the passage at 19:51 Highlight the passage at 19:51

20:08 So form is empty of, and all phenomena are empty of, inherent existence, true existence. Existence from its own side, objective existence, existence by way of its own entity, and existence by way of its own character. So all of these terms are synonymous in Marimika Prasangika, the highest school. In some of the lower schools, they assert, let's say for example, true existence but not inherent existence. Report an error in the passage at 20:08 Highlight the passage at 20:08

20:50 Existence from its own side, but not true existence, etc. But for Prasangika, all of these terms are interchangeable. And the reason that we have so many different terms is some of these terms resonate with us personally and some of them may not. It's like the Buddha taught many different teachings for different types of minds, for different types of people. So we may wonder, why do we need so many terms for the same thing? Report an error in the passage at 20:50 Highlight the passage at 20:50

21:18 It's just confusing. But it can help. It can help. Like for me, existence from its own side really, really means something to me. It really helps me. That means that we think that there's existence completely independent from our minds. We think that there's something out there that's ready to be experienced. Report an error in the passage at 21:18 Highlight the passage at 21:18

21:46 Okay, so let's talk about what this means. So the object of negation. So forms. And all phenomena appear to exist inherently. So first of all, these objects, they appear as separate and discrete objects. Report an error in the passage at 21:46 Highlight the passage at 21:46

22:07 This clock appears to be separate from this hand. Report an error in the passage at 22:07 Highlight the passage at 22:07

22:15 This body seems to be separate from the cup of water. They seem to be completely separate from each other, right? There's a cup of water and there's a body. And there's no relationship between them. So do people believe that? Is that the way we think things exist? Is that the way they appear to exist? And all of the people in this room are completely separate. Report an error in the passage at 22:15 Highlight the passage at 22:15

22:48 And the tanka is separate from the wall. And the wall is separate from the floor. So this is our first mistake. Well, I don't know about our first mistake, but this is one mistake. Report an error in the passage at 22:48 Highlight the passage at 22:48

23:06 We think that things are separate and discrete objects. Report an error in the passage at 23:06 Highlight the passage at 23:06

23:16 But if we analyze, right, okay, so this cup is completely separate from the hand, right? They're separate. There's a cup and there's a hand, right? So as soon as we analyze, though, where is the borderline between the cup and the hand? Report an error in the passage at 23:16 Highlight the passage at 23:16

23:49 Is it... Report an error in the passage at 23:49 Highlight the passage at 23:49

24:00 It's very clear that at one point there's the hand and then Report an error in the passage at 24:00 Highlight the passage at 24:00

24:12 there's the edge of the cup. They're completely separate, right? They're completely separate. Report an error in the passage at 24:12 Highlight the passage at 24:12

24:30 Actually, let's use a different one. Report an error in the passage at 24:30 Highlight the passage at 24:30

24:35 Okay. So the hand and the wrist are completely separate, right? They're discrete objects, the hand and the wrist. So where is the borderline between the hand and the wrist? Where does the hand end and the wrist begin? Is it here? Stop me when it becomes the wrist. So where is it? Report an error in the passage at 24:35 Highlight the passage at 24:35

25:09 There. We got it. So there's a clear boundary. It's right there. It's not there, right? It's there, right? Is that right? Is that the borderline between the hand and the wrist? Report an error in the passage at 25:09 Highlight the passage at 25:09

25:30 Maybe it's not so clear, right? Maybe it's a little fuzzy. As soon as we analyze, you can't really say, okay, that's the end of the hand, and then that's the beginning of the wrist. Report an error in the passage at 25:30 Highlight the passage at 25:30

25:46 So similarly with all conventional phenomena, if we don't analyze, then they exist. There's a hand and there's a wrist, but as soon as we analyze, everything kind of falls apart. Report an error in the passage at 25:46 Highlight the passage at 25:46

26:01 So actually, you know, so there's... Report an error in the passage at 26:01 Highlight the passage at 26:01

26:09 There's an appearance to the mind, and then a part of the appearance we label as hand, and a part of the appearance we label as the wrist. Report an error in the passage at 26:09 Highlight the passage at 26:09

26:24 It's just a distinction made by the mind. It's not that there's a hand out here from its own side that's just waiting to be experienced by you. Report an error in the passage at 26:24 Highlight the passage at 26:24

26:43 an appearance of shapes and colors, we label that. You know, this part hand and this part wrist. There's no hand at all, right, existing out here. Report an error in the passage at 26:43 Highlight the passage at 26:43

27:00 It's merely an appearance to the mind that we label hand. So Report an error in the passage at 27:00 Highlight the passage at 27:00

· · · silence, 1 minute

27:44 things appear to be separate and discrete objects. Report an error in the passage at 27:44 Highlight the passage at 27:44

27:57 So we really believe this, right? Let's say we get in an argument with somebody. I'm right and you're wrong, right? It's very clear. I am separate from you and I am right and you are wrong. Completely separate, discrete objects, right? Completely separate, discrete people. And Report an error in the passage at 27:57 Highlight the passage at 27:57

28:29 one of them is right and one of them is wrong. That's the way we think, right? We're completely separate from each other. I'm going to take care of me and you take care of you. Report an error in the passage at 28:29 Highlight the passage at 28:29

28:45 I'm going to watch out for myself, right? That's where the self-cherishing comes up. I think I'm separate from everybody else, right? And so I'm going to take care of myself, most important. And then I'll take care of, you know, my friends and my family too. But everybody else, you know, they can take care of themselves. As if we're completely separate from each other. Report an error in the passage at 28:45 Highlight the passage at 28:45

29:14 And we'll just take care of some and not others. Report an error in the passage at 29:14 Highlight the passage at 29:14

29:27 Separation is merely a Report an error in the passage at 29:27 Highlight the passage at 29:27

29:33 separation made by our conceptual mind. Report an error in the passage at 29:33 Highlight the passage at 29:33

29:40 Our conceptual mind decides that this thing is separate from that. I mean, things appear that way, right? We appear as different people, and then our minds believe it. We believe it. We believe in the false appearance. Report an error in the passage at 29:40 Highlight the passage at 29:40

· · · silence, 1 minute

30:27 So if we try to develop a mental image of... The object of negation. So one aspect of the object of negation is that objects are separate from each other, completely separate and unrelated. Report an error in the passage at 30:27 Highlight the passage at 30:27

30:49 So I just added that unrelated bit. So do we really believe that things are unrelated? Report an error in the passage at 30:49 Highlight the passage at 30:49

31:07 If we really think about it, oh yeah, we're all interdependent, right? You affect me, I affect you, the weather affects us. Report an error in the passage at 31:07 Highlight the passage at 31:07

31:20 Sunshine affects us. Everything affects each other. So sometimes we think, oh yeah, things are interdependent. But then there are other times maybe it seems like we're completely separate from each other. We're unrelated to each other. Like I'm not related to President Bush. We don't have anything to do with each other. Report an error in the passage at 31:20 Highlight the passage at 31:20

31:54 Or someone I don't like. Report an error in the passage at 31:54 Highlight the passage at 31:54

32:00 I have an affliction. When I have an affliction, it seems, let's say I have anger towards someone. It seems like that person, you Report an error in the passage at 32:00 Highlight the passage at 32:00

32:13 know, it's like that person is out there completely separate and unrelated to me. And that person did something wrong. Report an error in the passage at 32:13 Highlight the passage at 32:13

32:34 Does that kind of make sense? Report an error in the passage at 32:34 Highlight the passage at 32:34

32:42 So do we believe that part of our mind at least thinks that objects are separate, unrelated to each other? Report an error in the passage at 32:42 Highlight the passage at 32:42

33:00 Yeah, and once again, as we talked about last time, you know, with the object of negation, we really need to get into our own minds, right? What our own minds really believe, not what the texts say. Oh, yeah, the texts say that the object of negation is inherent existence, right? Independent existence. So that's what we're negating, inherent existence, independent existence. Report an error in the passage at 33:00 Highlight the passage at 33:00

33:24 You know, just some of this concept, these words out there. Report an error in the passage at 33:24 Highlight the passage at 33:24

33:29 But we need to really look at our own minds and say, okay, well, what do we really believe? And particularly when we're having an affliction, a mental affliction, you know, what is our distorted way of thinking? Report an error in the passage at 33:29 Highlight the passage at 33:29

33:43 Because all mental afflictions are distorted ways of thinking. Report an error in the passage at 33:43 Highlight the passage at 33:43

33:50 So if we eliminate our distorted way of thinking, ways of thinking, we won't have afflictions, mental afflictions anymore. Report an error in the passage at 33:50 Highlight the passage at 33:50

34:01 So underlying all of our anger, all of our jealousy, all of our attachment, all of our mental afflictions is this ignorance, this wrong way of thinking. Report an error in the passage at 34:01 Highlight the passage at 34:01

34:24 Independent of other objects, we think that things exist independent of other objects, that's similar. And then independent of the mind, right? Report an error in the passage at 34:24 Highlight the passage at 34:24

34:36 So... right so Report an error in the passage at 34:36 Highlight the passage at 34:36

34:38 These next three kind of go together. Independent of the mind, existing from their own side, projecting their image to our minds, existing in and of themselves, waiting to be experienced. Report an error in the passage at 34:38 Highlight the passage at 34:38

34:55 So Report an error in the passage at 34:55 Highlight the passage at 34:55

35:01 this clock, we've used a clock before. So this clock appears to exist out here, completely independent of our minds. It's out here, projecting its image to our mind. Report an error in the passage at 35:01 Highlight the passage at 35:01

35:22 As if there's a clock out here just waiting to be experienced by our minds. It's completely independent from our minds. Report an error in the passage at 35:22 Highlight the passage at 35:22

35:56 So Report an error in the passage at 35:56 Highlight the passage at 35:56

36:03 do things really exist that way? Report an error in the passage at 36:03 Highlight the passage at 36:03

36:09 Do we believe that things exist completely independent of our minds? Report an error in the passage at 36:09 Highlight the passage at 36:09

36:24 And single entities. So this looks like it's one thing, right? It's a single entity. It's a single thing, right? There's a clock out here. It's one thing. Report an error in the passage at 36:24 Highlight the passage at 36:24

36:42 Our body is one thing, right? I want my body to stay healthy. I want my body to stay healthy. If we bring up an image of our body in our minds, the body that we want to stay healthy, it's a single thing, right? Report an error in the passage at 36:42 Highlight the passage at 36:42

37:06 The image of our mind in our minds is a single thing. Report an error in the passage at 37:06 Highlight the passage at 37:06

37:15 And then... It's something solid covering a particular area. It's like there's a body covering this particular area. It's almost as if there's a spread, like butter covering this area. It starts from here, like there's this body covering all of its parts. Report an error in the passage at 37:15 Highlight the passage at 37:15

37:53 But is there anything covering its parts? Anything covering this particular area? Report an error in the passage at 37:53 Highlight the passage at 37:53

38:17 Oh, it's like, I mean, the body we think is a single thing, right? A single thing that takes up a particular space, right? Report an error in the passage at 38:17 Highlight the passage at 38:17

38:30 If we analyze, if we analyze the body, there's really, it consists of, on the atomic level, Report an error in the passage at 38:30 Highlight the passage at 38:30

38:42 countless different atoms, right? There are these countless atoms moving around. Is there a body that's covering all of those atoms? Report an error in the passage at 38:42 Highlight the passage at 38:42

38:58 It seems like it, doesn't it? Report an error in the passage at 38:58 Highlight the passage at 38:58

39:05 But there isn't anything covering that, right? There's no butter, you know? Report an error in the passage at 39:05 Highlight the passage at 39:05

39:20 Mayonnaise. Report an error in the passage at 39:20 Highlight the passage at 39:20

39:29 But it seems like that part, you know, that is the body. And this is the clock. All right. Report an error in the passage at 39:29 Highlight the passage at 39:29

39:22 Bye. Bye. Bye. Report an error in the passage at 39:22 Highlight the passage at 39:22

39:37 And that is tanka. It's like body pervades this entire area, right? It seems like. Report an error in the passage at 39:37 Highlight the passage at 39:37

39:53 So it's important to get that sense, you know, that strong sense to start with, right? The first step in analyzing for emptiness is identifying the object of negation. The mental image in our own minds, how do we see the body? And we'll do analysis on the body because that's what we're talking about with a form aggregate. Report an error in the passage at 39:53 Highlight the passage at 39:53

40:15 In relation to the person. So we see the body as being like this body is separate from our neighbor's body. Report an error in the passage at 40:15 Highlight the passage at 40:15

40:28 This body seems to be independent of the mind, right? There's this body and then our mind just experiences it, right? But there's a body out there waiting to be experienced. Report an error in the passage at 40:28 Highlight the passage at 40:28

40:47 A body is a single thing and Report an error in the passage at 40:47 Highlight the passage at 40:47

40:53 it seems to be this solid thing covering a particular area. Report an error in the passage at 40:53 Highlight the passage at 40:53

41:00 So what do you think? Do we have a mental, is that the mental image of our body? Report an error in the passage at 41:00 Highlight the passage at 41:00

41:08 And then on top of that, Report an error in the passage at 41:08 Highlight the passage at 41:08

41:13 so actually let's take a minute and really try to develop the mental image of our body. Report an error in the passage at 41:13 Highlight the passage at 41:13

· · · silence, 2 minutes

43:24 So we have a strong sense of it being this kind of one solid entity, right? Separate from other things, separate from the mind. And maybe we have other attributes in our mental image. Report an error in the passage at 43:24 Highlight the passage at 43:24

43:46 Attractive, like young, like strong. Report an error in the passage at 43:46 Highlight the passage at 43:46

43:57 Has anyone ever had the experience of seeing a picture of themselves and thinking, that's not me. That picture doesn't match my mental image of me. I don't have those bags underneath my eyes. Report an error in the passage at 43:57 Highlight the passage at 43:57

44:17 I sit up straighter than that. Report an error in the passage at 44:17 Highlight the passage at 44:17

44:27 We have a particular mental image of ourselves, of our body. all right, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 44:27 Highlight the passage at 44:27

44:32 Doesn't necessarily match reality. And Report an error in the passage at 44:32 Highlight the passage at 44:32

44:40 then if we look at that mental image, is it something that's changing constantly or is it something that's pretty stable? It's Report an error in the passage at 44:40 Highlight the passage at 44:40

45:00 pretty stable, right? Report an error in the passage at 45:00 Highlight the passage at 45:00

45:16 So does that mental image exist in reality? It Report an error in the passage at 45:16 Highlight the passage at 45:16

45:32 actually doesn't exist at all, right? But we grasp to it, right? Report an error in the passage at 45:32 Highlight the passage at 45:32

45:58 And we suffer, right, because we grasp to it. The mental image of me is someone who doesn't have a lot of gray hair, right? I look in the mirror and there's a lot of gray hair there. And I suffer, right? Not that much, but as an example, right? Report an error in the passage at 45:58 Highlight the passage at 45:58

46:29 Or if I think, right, if I think about... And I once did this meditation, I think I've told some of you before about, you know, my next rebirth, what would my next rebirth be? You know, if I think about, and I did this really intense meditation on what if my next rebirth was a pig? Report an error in the passage at 46:29 Highlight the passage at 46:29

46:51 So imagine being a pig. There's a lot of grasping to this body now, right? I don't want to have a pig's body. I want this body. Report an error in the passage at 46:51 Highlight the passage at 46:51

47:04 The grasping really comes. A nice pink color. Report an error in the passage at 47:04 Highlight the passage at 47:04

47:30 But if we think about getting a pig's body, the attachment to this body comes up pretty strong. Report an error in the passage at 47:30 Highlight the passage at 47:30

47:42 This body, this solidly existing body that's not changing from moment to moment. Report an error in the passage at 47:42 Highlight the passage at 47:42

47:54 I definitely feel that attachment really strong. But I think also that there's this absurd thing, at least I realize it's absurd only... Very intellectually at best, but that somehow that self would travel, that I would take this self with me to the pig. So it would be like, Jay, who's the pig? And then the implications of that, you know what I mean? Like, oh my God, everybody will know I'm a pig. Or whatever it is, you know what I mean? Report an error in the passage at 47:54 Highlight the passage at 47:54

48:19 Or just that experience myself, that somehow this experience that I'm having now would travel to the pig. And then it'll be like I'll have to deal with it. I know it's just such an absurd thing to feel, but I feel it when I think about that. No, I mean that's just natural, right? I mean that's what we think is I, you know. Report an error in the passage at 48:19 Highlight the passage at 48:19

48:42 I mean this is talking about the self again, so we'll digress a little bit, right? But we've talked a little bit about how the I, right, is merely imputed on the aggregates, on the body and the mind. There can't be an I that's separate from the body and the mind. Report an error in the passage at 48:42 Highlight the passage at 48:42

48:59 If we take away the body and we take away the mind, there's no I, right? There's no I that's left, right? The I is merely imputed on the body and the mind. But sometimes it feels like there's an I that's completely separate from the body and the mind. So this example, exchanging this body for a pig's body, there's still this I who's going to be this pig, right? Report an error in the passage at 48:59 Highlight the passage at 48:59

49:25 This I will have a different body, but... I will be essentially the same. It'll just be a different external appearance. Report an error in the passage at 49:25 Highlight the passage at 49:25

49:37 And similarly with the mind, we can think, okay, well do we want, do I want to exchange a mind with the Dalai Lama's mind? Oh yeah, I want the Dalai Lama's mind. But it'll still be me, right? Me having the Dalai Lama's mind, right? Report an error in the passage at 49:37 Highlight the passage at 49:37

49:57 So I can exchange my body and I can exchange my mind, but there's still this me that seems. To be left over, right? That seems to be separate from the mind and the body. But it'll still be me. I'll be a pig, but I'll still be me. Report an error in the passage at 49:57 Highlight the passage at 49:57

50:13 Or I'll have Dalai Lama's body, you know, mind, but I'll still be me. Report an error in the passage at 50:13 Highlight the passage at 50:13

50:21 You know, what's this me, you know, that has a different mind and a different body? Report an error in the passage at 50:21 Highlight the passage at 50:21

50:37 That's a good one to cook, right? So what is this? Report an error in the passage at 50:37 Highlight the passage at 50:37

50:43 But we believe that we still, there's part of us that believes that there's this me, right? That there's a separate from the mind and the body. Report an error in the passage at 50:43 Highlight the passage at 50:43

50:52 Then we need to do the analysis and try to find it. Report an error in the passage at 50:52 Highlight the passage at 50:52

50:58 Jay, did you have a follow-up on that? I think if nothing else, I mean just that last thing you were saying, which is that I, I mean one tends to think of me, like I think if and when I gain enlightenment, I will enjoy that so much, which is just like the most ridiculous thing, you know what I mean? Report an error in the passage at 50:58 Highlight the passage at 50:58

51:15 Like I mean that's the one thing that I think is, that will go away for me to have it. It's the thing that I'm, it's going to enjoy it so much. Report an error in the passage at 51:15 Highlight the passage at 51:15

51:25 Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 51:25 Highlight the passage at 51:25

51:29 Yeah, it's like sometimes that, you know, you get a realization of emptiness and then you think, I got it! And then you've lost it in that moment, right? Report an error in the passage at 51:29 Highlight the passage at 51:29

51:45 Yeah, Anna. It's a lot more fun to talk about the self than the body, but Anna. Report an error in the passage at 51:45 Highlight the passage at 51:45

51:59 Well, that example made me think of, you know, the reincarnation. For example, Lama Yeshe and then... Lama Osel. Report an error in the passage at 51:59 Highlight the passage at 51:59

52:12 There doesn't seem to be an eye there that went from one to the other, you know, from what little I know. And it's really interesting because also, apparently, Lama Osel has actually disrobed and given up that role that he had to all seeming appearances, that role of being the reincarnation of Lama Yeshe. Report an error in the passage at 52:12 Highlight the passage at 52:12

52:43 In a way, it's almost very telling as to the impermanence and to the lack of that self-existing I. For me, it's a very good example of that. So what do we think went from life to life? Report an error in the passage at 52:43 Highlight the passage at 52:43

53:11 It seems like there's a self, like a me, right, that went from, that goes from life to life. Report an error in the passage at 53:11 Highlight the passage at 53:11

53:29 We're getting off a bit, but so, right, so according to Madhimika Prasangika, there's... What goes from life to life is the mere I. And what does that mean? So there's this moment. So if we think about it, there's an ever-changing mind and an ever-changing body. There's not like a thread that's going through them that's a constant me. Report an error in the passage at 53:29 Highlight the passage at 53:29

54:07 There's just an ever-changing mind and an ever-changing body. And then we label me on it. It's just this light label me. And that's what's going from life to life, that merely label, basically. Report an error in the passage at 54:07 Highlight the passage at 54:07

54:34 Well, the karma is, right? The karma is also something that's changing from moment to moment, right? Sometimes we think there's this karma, this solid, unchanging karma that goes from life to life. But karma's like... You know, the body, the mind, it's constantly changing. So Report an error in the passage at 54:34 Highlight the passage at 54:34

55:00 there's actually nothing really that goes from life to life. There's just a continuity of the mind. The body goes away when we die. So there's a continuity of the subtle mind. And then we label I. That's what goes from life to life. So it's not like there's a Lama Yeshe out there in Lama Osel. Report an error in the passage at 55:00 Highlight the passage at 55:00

55:31 Lama also's mind is just a continuity, a continuation of Lama Yeshe's mind that's constantly changing from moment to moment. Report an error in the passage at 55:31 Highlight the passage at 55:31

55:53 Why don't we take a break now and then we'll continue. Report an error in the passage at 55:53 Highlight the passage at 55:53

56:10 Okay, so do we have a clear image of this solid, kind of independently existing body in our mind? Okay, so we start with that. So that's so important. I showed this slide last time and I'll just go through it quickly. Lama Tsongkhapa says, in the monasteries the study of emptiness is done mainly on a text by Chandrakirti called Supplement to the Middle Way or Entrance to the Middle Way. Report an error in the passage at 56:10 Highlight the passage at 56:10

56:59 Lama Tsongkhapa wrote a commentary on that text called The Illumination of the Thought. So this text is not translated into English, it's not published, but I wanted to bring some specific points from that text because it's such an amazing profound text and I just wanted to bring some points from that text in just to help us in this class. Report an error in the passage at 56:59 Highlight the passage at 56:59

57:26 So here in that text he says that if you do not understand well just what true existence or the object of negation is, As well as how phenomena are conceived as truly existent, the view of suchness or emptiness will definitely go astray. Report an error in the passage at 57:26 Highlight the passage at 57:26

57:46 So we have to really understand first what this true existence or this inherent existence is that we're constantly believing in, that we're grasping to, before we can negate it and realize emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 57:46 Highlight the passage at 57:46

58:03 It's like if we're sick, we have to identify exactly what... The problem is to be cured, right? We can't just say vaguely, oh yeah, I'm not feeling well and be cured, right? We have to identify exactly what the problem is. Oh, the problem is my kidneys and this is what the problem is and this is what I need to take to get rid of it. Report an error in the passage at 58:03 Highlight the passage at 58:03

58:31 So similarly, oftentimes we listen to teachings on emptiness and we hear about the lack of inherent existence. And we think, oh yeah, that makes sense, oh yeah, that makes sense. But it doesn't really affect our minds, right? It doesn't affect our experience. And in my own experience, we studied emptiness for a year and a half when I was studying. Report an error in the passage at 58:31 Highlight the passage at 58:31

58:58 And I can't say that my mental afflictions decreased at all during that time. Okay, well I was doing something wrong. I knew the words, but I didn't apply it to my experience until later when I did retreat and really meditated on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 58:58 Highlight the passage at 58:58

59:20 So the more we really get emptiness, then the fewer mental afflictions we'll have and the weaker our mental afflictions will be. Report an error in the passage at 59:20 Highlight the passage at 59:20

59:33 So if we notice that our mental afflictions aren't getting any better... Then maybe we're intellectualizing too much. So we really need to look at how we really see things in our experience. Report an error in the passage at 59:33 Highlight the passage at 59:33

59:52 So Lama Tsongkhapa says, he continues, if the thing imputed, the mental image of the object of negation, does not appear to the mind well, it is impossible to apprehend well the non-existence of the object of negation. So that's the same point. So we really need to see how things appear to our minds, and then we can negate it. Report an error in the passage at 59:52 Highlight the passage at 59:52

1:00:23 If we don't have a clear image of how things are appearing mistakenly to us, then we won't have a clear understanding of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:23 Highlight the passage at 1:00:23

1:00:39 So this is emphasized again and again and again in the text. Identify the object of negation. And it seems like most people I know still skip that step. You know? It's like, I think because it's, I don't know, this is just my theory, because it starts threatening the ego, right? It's really scary to look at our own experience, our own eye, and negate it. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:39 Highlight the passage at 1:00:39

1:01:13 We like to keep that eye around. We don't want to suffer anymore, but we still want to keep our eye. But that's not really possible. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:13 Highlight the passage at 1:01:13

1:01:26 So the stronger we grasp onto that eye, the more we're going to suffer. So sometimes we need to be banged in the head for some years before we really get that we have to start letting go and Report an error in the passage at 1:01:26 Highlight the passage at 1:01:26

1:01:49 it's not always comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:49 Highlight the passage at 1:01:49

1:02:02 So then I thought that we could go through a bit of... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:02 Highlight the passage at 1:02:02

1:02:09 The logic, which will be difficult. It'll be difficult, but let's give it a try and see. So if forms, for example, our body, if it was inherently existent, then we would be able to find it upon investigation. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:09 Highlight the passage at 1:02:09

1:02:33 So if that mental image really existed in reality, we'd be able to find it. So we search for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:33 Highlight the passage at 1:02:33

1:02:46 So we search among the parts, right? So if the body was inherently existent, then it would have to be findable either among the parts of the body or separate from the parts. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:46 Highlight the passage at 1:02:46

1:03:04 There's no third possibility. Either we'd be able to find it among the parts or separate from the parts. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:04 Highlight the passage at 1:03:04

1:03:16 So that's kind of the second step in this analysis on emptiness. First is to identify the object of negation. And second is... What they call ascertaining the pervasion. So if it inherently existed then it would have to be findable either among the parts or separate from the parts and there's no other possibility. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:16 Highlight the passage at 1:03:16

1:03:42 If I can't find it among the parts and I can't find it separate from the parts then it can't exist the way I think it exists. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:42 Highlight the passage at 1:03:42

1:03:53 If I think well you know there might be a third possibility then Report an error in the passage at 1:03:53 Highlight the passage at 1:03:53

1:03:59 Then if we don't find that body either among the parts or separate from the parts, then we'll still think, oh, well, you know, but it still exists, right? I couldn't find it, but it still exists. I couldn't find my socks in the drawer, but I still have socks, right? You know, it doesn't harm, you know, it won't harm it if you think, oh, well, you know, it might be somewhere else, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:03:59 Highlight the passage at 1:03:59

1:04:29 So we need to think, okay, well, okay, either it has to, we have to really think about it. We'd have to be able to find it either amongst the parts or separate from the parts if it really existed the way it appears. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:29 Highlight the passage at 1:04:29

1:04:47 Then we go and we start looking for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:47 Highlight the passage at 1:04:47

1:04:56 This is hard. Are each of the individual parts of the body the body? We have this mental image of the body. My mental image of my body has a head. It has two arms. You know, two legs, you know, a neck, a torso, let's say. So that's my mental image of my body. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:56 Highlight the passage at 1:04:56

1:05:23 Long hair. So let's Report an error in the passage at 1:05:23 Highlight the passage at 1:05:23

1:05:31 search for that body. Is it, so is the arm, like the right arm, is that the body? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:31 Highlight the passage at 1:05:31

1:05:49 Like sometimes we think yes and sometimes we think no, right? If I, if I poke a needle into my right arm. I would think, oh yeah, I poked a needle into my body, right? So the right arm is my body, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:49 Highlight the passage at 1:05:49

1:06:15 But other times we think, no, I mean the right arm is just part of the body, right? It's just part of the body. Sometimes we think, oh yeah, it's the body, and sometimes we think it's part of the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:15 Highlight the passage at 1:06:15

1:06:25 That's where the mental image of the body is useful. So we'll take the mental image of the body and sink it into the arm. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:25 Highlight the passage at 1:06:25

1:06:36 So is that arm equivalent to the mental image of the body? It's not, right? So is that the body that has two arms, two legs, a head and a torso, is that body the arm? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:36 Highlight the passage at 1:06:36

1:06:56 No. So the arm doesn't have two arms, two legs, a head and a body or a torso. So we search the different parts. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:56 Highlight the passage at 1:06:56

1:07:15 Each of the parts individually. Okay, the right arm, okay, that's not the body, so let's put it over there. The left arm, is that the body that has, you know, two arms, two legs, torso, head? No. So we'll put that aside. And et cetera. The head, is the head the body? Is Report an error in the passage at 1:07:15 Highlight the passage at 1:07:15

1:07:48 this making any sense? Okay. I'm getting no response out there. Is the head the body? No. Okay. So similarly. So we do that with all of the different parts of the body, right? We stick them over there. So the individual parts of the body are not the body, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:48 Highlight the passage at 1:07:48

1:08:11 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:11 Highlight the passage at 1:08:11

1:08:17 So it's helpful as we do that. I mean, we could put the parts of the body over there. And then we discover, okay, well, we've looked at all the individual parts and we didn't find the body, right? We're left with nothing. Or another useful thing to do in this. analysis is Report an error in the passage at 1:08:17 Highlight the passage at 1:08:17

1:08:39 while we're searching the parts, like the arm, This is non-body. This is non-body. This is non-body. This is non-body. The arm is not the body. So it's non-body. This arm is not the body. So it's non-body. This arm is not the body. So it's non-body. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:39 Highlight the passage at 1:08:39

1:09:09 But we're doing an ultimate analysis here. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09:09

1:09:15 It's part of the body, but we're not analyzing for whether or not the arm is part of the body. We're analyzing for the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:15 Highlight the passage at 1:09:15

1:09:25 So is the arm the body? So the arm is not the body. This arm is not the body. The head is not the body. So we have a bunch of parts that are non-bodies. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:25 Highlight the passage at 1:09:25

1:09:45 What do people think of that? There's a bunch of parts that are each non-bodies. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:45 Highlight the passage at 1:09:45

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:10:22 No, I didn't think she was saying anything for the microphone. Okay, so we can say, you know, as a result of that, that each of the individual parts of the body is not the body, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:10:22 Highlight the passage at 1:10:22

1:10:45 But then oftentimes we think Report an error in the passage at 1:10:45 Highlight the passage at 1:10:45

1:10:52 that the collection of the parts is the body, right? The collection of the parts is the body, right? The collection of the head and the... You know, the torso and the two arms and the two legs are the body. Okay, so if I put my head and my two arms in a pile, the torso and a pile, the two legs, I have a collection of the parts of the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:52 Highlight the passage at 1:10:52

1:11:27 Is that the body? I Report an error in the passage at 1:11:27 Highlight the passage at 1:11:27

1:11:36 really want to believe, well, but the collection of the body, you know, parts of the body is the body, but we have this pile of stuff, right, and that's not really the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:36 Highlight the passage at 1:11:36

1:11:50 So then we think, okay, well, but the collection of the parts in a particular shape is the body, right? So which shape is that? So is it this shape? Is it this shape? Report an error in the passage at 1:11:50 Highlight the passage at 1:11:50

1:12:17 Shape. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:17 Highlight the passage at 1:12:17

1:12:24 What if I take off this arm? Is it still the body? Report an error in the passage at 1:12:24 Highlight the passage at 1:12:24

1:12:33 There's a very complicated logic, consequences on the shape. know? Report an error in the passage at 1:12:33 Highlight the passage at 1:12:33

1:12:39 That I find even more confusing. But we can see that it's not even a particular shape of the collection of the parts that makes a body. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:39 Highlight the passage at 1:12:39

1:12:55 The body is just something that we label the Report an error in the passage at 1:12:55 Highlight the passage at 1:12:55

1:13:05 collection of the parts. So there's a collection of the parts and we know in our minds if that collection is the body. And another collection is not. Like the heap of body parts isn't the body. It's a collection, but it's not the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:05 Highlight the passage at 1:13:05

1:13:30 Then if we put the parts together, at some point we can say, oh, that's the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:30 Highlight the passage at 1:13:30

1:13:44 But that's just the mind then labeling. It's not as if it was the body from its own side. It's at a certain point we can call it a body. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:44 Highlight the passage at 1:13:44

1:14:00 And we may not agree on what that point is. Like if I cut off my head, is it still my body? If I cut off the arms, is that still my body? If I cut off the legs, at what point does it stop becoming my body? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:00 Highlight the passage at 1:14:00

1:14:18 It's not so clearly delineated. But as a convention, that's a body. We can label something a body. But it's not a body from its own side. you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:18 Highlight the passage at 1:14:18

1:14:38 It's just a label that we put on an appearance. Something appears and then we label it. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:38 Highlight the passage at 1:14:38

1:14:58 So these first two things. So we decided that each of the individual parts of the body is not the body and the collection of the parts of the body is not the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:58 Highlight the passage at 1:14:58

1:15:09 And then if we search for the body that's separate from the parts of the body, what if I took all the parts of the body and put them over here? Is there a body? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:09 Highlight the passage at 1:15:09

1:15:22 Can the parts of the body be over here and the body be over there? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:22 Highlight the passage at 1:15:22

1:15:35 We search for this inherently existent body and we can't find it. It doesn't exist from its own side. Therefore it's empty of existing from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:35 Highlight the passage at 1:15:35

1:15:49 We search all of the different possibilities and Report an error in the passage at 1:15:49 Highlight the passage at 1:15:49

1:15:56 we can't find it. And so therefore we find the emptiness of it. The lack of inherent existence. I'm searching for the inherent existence and I can't find it. And I know if I can't find it then it can't exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:56 Highlight the passage at 1:15:56

1:16:13 It doesn't mean it's somewhere else. If I search all of the different possibilities and I can't find it, then it doesn't exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:13 Highlight the passage at 1:16:13

1:16:23 So that inherently existent body, that body that we have this image of, we search for it, we can't find it, and we find the emptiness of it. We find the lack of existence of that body. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:23 Highlight the passage at 1:16:23

1:16:45 So the emptiness of the body is the mere absence of inherent existence of our body. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:45 Highlight the passage at 1:16:45

1:16:54 So when we're meditating on it, we meditate, we identify the object of navigation, we have a clear mental image in our minds of the body, we search all of the different possibilities, we can't find it, and that's the emptiness, the non-finding, and Report an error in the passage at 1:16:54 Highlight the passage at 1:16:54

1:17:22 then we stay on that emptiness for a while, right? We try to stay on that as long as we can. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:22 Highlight the passage at 1:17:22

1:17:31 Many of us is not very long. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:31 Highlight the passage at 1:17:31

1:17:39 It's amazing what we can think about when we're trying to meditate on emptiness, Report an error in the passage at 1:17:39 Highlight the passage at 1:17:39

1:17:49 which is why we need to develop calm abiding. So we try to stay on that as long as possible. And then when that image fades, then we do the analysis again to bring it back to life. We hold. You know, on the conclusion again, and we go back and forth. But unless we have a certain level of concentration, then the non-finding won't have much power. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:49 Highlight the passage at 1:17:49

1:18:21 Okay, I didn't find it. What's for lunch? Which is maybe not very useful. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:21 Highlight the passage at 1:18:21

1:18:36 So we have to train again and again. You know? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:36 Highlight the passage at 1:18:36

1:18:43 Yeah, so it's said, you know, when we really get it, right, oftentimes there's a fear, like fear rises. You know, the self or this body or whatever we're meditating on, the self that we've always believed existed starts to disintegrate and it can be really scary. But that's a really good sign, right, that something's happening. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:43 Highlight the passage at 1:18:43

1:19:14 So we have to learn to be comfortable with that. Fear, right? And stay with it even when we're afraid. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:14 Highlight the passage at 1:19:14

1:19:29 Because this is just not a comfortable process, right? Dissecting our egos and getting rid of this full Report an error in the passage at 1:19:29 Highlight the passage at 1:19:29

1:19:42 process. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:42 Highlight the passage at 1:19:42

1:19:55 Well, that's what they say. Any Report an error in the passage at 1:19:55 Highlight the passage at 1:19:55

1:20:12 questions on that process? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:12 Highlight the passage at 1:20:12

1:20:23 I'm just perplexed. With the image. Because, yeah, in my mind I can say, oh yeah, that's my body, that's the way it looks. But, I mean, is that it? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:23 Highlight the passage at 1:20:23

1:20:38 Yeah. The image that you're seeing is actually the object to be negated. Right. If we've identified the object negation correctly, like if we have that strong image that's, yeah, that's the object to be negated. It seems very abstract to me. Right. Yeah, I mean, yeah. So, I mean, that's where it's really useful to, you know, they say, to identify the object of negation in particular circumstances. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:38 Highlight the passage at 1:20:38

1:21:17 Like sitting in the gompa when you're not feeling like you have much attachment to the body and then trying to develop this mental image of the object of negation is not very powerful, right? But let's say... Report an error in the passage at 1:21:17 Highlight the passage at 1:21:17

1:21:37 We can imagine maybe if we're dying and we're about to lose this body, if we do a death meditation, we can really feel like, oh, I'm about to die and I'm going to lose this body. We grasp to this body. So identify the object of negation in that point, that body that we really believe exists, that we're really scared to lose. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:37 Highlight the passage at 1:21:37

1:22:08 Then it becomes a powerful meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:08 Highlight the passage at 1:22:08

1:22:19 Or if we can think about any object that we're attached to. Like if I notice, let's say, Report an error in the passage at 1:22:19 Highlight the passage at 1:22:19

1:22:34 I'm really attached to a particular object in my house, whatever it is. What are people really attached to? Their TV? I don't know, their computer? A painting? A tonka? You know, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:34 Highlight the passage at 1:22:34

1:22:54 Let's say I'm really attached to my computer, right? A lot of people are attached to their computer. If the computer crashes and doesn't work anymore, we're in trouble, right? We get really irritated, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:54 Highlight the passage at 1:22:54

1:23:11 So this computer, this computer that I'm really attached to, identify the object of negation, this solid thing, right, that's so essential to my life. A strong image of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:11 Highlight the passage at 1:23:11

1:23:30 And then search for computer among the parts. Is the cord the computer? Is the screen the computer? Is the P key the computer? Etc. Is the collection of those parts the computer? The Report an error in the passage at 1:23:30 Highlight the passage at 1:23:30

1:23:59 image of that computer starts falling apart, right? Where is the solid computer that I'm so attached to? And Report an error in the passage at 1:23:59 Highlight the passage at 1:23:59

1:24:14 then we'll... Help dissipate the attachment to it. We realize it doesn't exist the way that we think that it exists. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:14 Highlight the passage at 1:24:14

1:24:28 Or if you're attached to another, a person, right? Someone you find very attractive. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:28 Highlight the passage at 1:24:28

1:24:38 There's this beautiful, you know, this image of this beautiful person or attractive person in our minds, right? So then we search, we search for that beautiful person. Is it, is it their arms? Is it their neck? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:38 Highlight the passage at 1:24:38

1:25:01 Is it their nose? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:01 Highlight the passage at 1:25:01

1:25:05 Is it the collection of all of those? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:05 Highlight the passage at 1:25:05

1:25:11 Is it the pile of all of them in the corner? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:11 Highlight the passage at 1:25:11

1:25:26 Is that helpful a little bit? This is such a difficult subject. I'm really kind of struggling with articulating it. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:26 Highlight the passage at 1:25:26

1:25:42 I think part of, or a component of this too, that you have to look at are all these wonderful qualities that we ascribe to an object that is almost unrelated to the parts themselves or the whole itself. You know, my computer is wonderful from its own side because it does all these wonderful magical things. Maybe not so much a computer, but like say an art object that you have that you ascribe all these amazing qualities to. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:42 Highlight the passage at 1:25:42

1:26:06 And it's really a mental construct. I mean, it's all a mental construct, but you're really in love with this idea that you have of what the object is as much as or more so than the parts of an object. And I think that's harder to separate from. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:06 Highlight the passage at 1:26:06

1:26:26 We're kind of in love with our own ideas. Well, yeah, exactly. But whether it's like people or an art object or my computer, it's like we have these stories in our head and it's the story that becomes the object to be negated. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:26 Highlight the passage at 1:26:26

1:26:45 As much as the object itself, does that make any... Right, well, the story is, yeah, kind of inextricable with the object, right, in our minds, right? Like that, it's not as if... It's like it seems to be, let's say, beautiful from its own side or wonderful from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:45 Highlight the passage at 1:26:45

1:27:13 Yeah, and it's really, really helpful to then... Search for that wonderful computer, the useful computer, and really search for that. It's not just the collection of the parts that's in our minds that we're attached to. It's the whole story around it. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:13 Highlight the passage at 1:27:13

1:27:43 Speaking of minds, I just need to go back to earlier in the class when you said there's the subtle mind. That moves from body, how does that differ from, say, the mind? Or there's a coarse level of mind, a subtle level of mind, but what are all of those? Are they states of mind? Yeah, we're getting into Tantra, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:43 Highlight the passage at 1:27:43

1:28:15 the, uh, the, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, the, uh. Yeah, in sūtra there's not a presentation, of course, in subtle levels of mind, right? But in tantra, there, yeah, there it is. But I mean, I can just say very briefly, I mean, the subtlest level of mind in tantra is the clear light mind, right? The grossest level of mind is like our sense consciousness. No, no, no, no, I'm trying to remember. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:15 Highlight the passage at 1:28:15

1:28:51 Earlier in the course you said it was the... The mind, maybe I'm wrong, was the feeling, discrimination and compositional factors. Yeah. So is that an aggregate called the mind? Right. So the mind includes the mental factors and then what's called the main mind and then many mental factors. So that's one way of dividing up the mind. There are many different ways of dividing up the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:51 Highlight the passage at 1:28:51

1:29:26 Into minds and mental factors is one. Into sense consciousnesses and mental consciousnesses is another way. Into conceptual and non-conceptual consciousnesses. Then in tantra there's a different presentation of the mind. It's just a different way of dividing up the mind into coarse and subtle and very subtle. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:26 Highlight the passage at 1:29:26

1:29:51 Like our conceptual mind, etc. That will go away as we die. It's only our very subtle mind that goes from life to life. And then we'll acquire the grosser levels of mind again. But for the purpose of seeing the mind is empty, you see it as mind and mental aggregates or just a collection of things again? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:51 Highlight the passage at 1:29:51

1:30:18 Or is that going too far off? Oh, so if we want to do analysis on the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:18 Highlight the passage at 1:30:18

1:30:26 Yeah, you can analyze in terms of the minds and the mental factors, or you can analyze in terms of moments of mind. Because if we think about it, the mind, you know, we have this idea of there being a mind, like this one kind of glob that's the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:26 Highlight the passage at 1:30:26

1:30:46 But in fact, you know, the mind is many discrete moments that are constantly changing. And mind is something that we're just labeling on these separate moments. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:46 Highlight the passage at 1:30:46

1:31:09 I don't know, why don't we go Keith? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:09 Highlight the passage at 1:31:09

1:31:15 Keith and then Robert. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:15 Highlight the passage at 1:31:15

1:31:22 I had a way that sort of, I sort of like just for me, in thinking of form, the body as form, and then it just being a glob and all the other aggregates of consciousness and feeling and discrimination, compositional factors, as being kind of ethereal. And almost, so the body holds those ethereal, and then if I think of the body as rotting away, then everything sort of disappears into nothingness. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:22 Highlight the passage at 1:31:22

1:31:49 Just the way I, because the body would, the body is just form and it just rots away. It does kind of hold all those other aggregates. Anyway, that was sort of a way I could picture it. When you were talking, I could picture it for me. I think it must be a very individual subject because I would have to find something that would work for me. Anyway, that sort of did. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:49 Highlight the passage at 1:31:49

1:32:14 So that's a good point with regard to negating. First, we still need to identify that object of negation. And then there's many different ways that we can negate it. There are many different reasonings. we can, you know... Report an error in the passage at 1:32:14 Highlight the passage at 1:32:14

1:32:37 Understanding the subtle impermanence, the changing from moment to moment can help. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:37 Highlight the passage at 1:32:37

1:32:44 Visualizing all of the atoms in the body that are constantly changing can help break down that image. Or the reasoning that we went through today can help. So there are so many different reasonings that are presented in the Dharma and we have to find the ones that work for us. The reason why there are so many different reasonings is because of the different types of mind that we have. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:44 Highlight the passage at 1:32:44

1:33:21 So subtle impermanence is really helpful for me and also visualizing the atoms is really helpful for me. And there's a lot of other reasonings too and I just went through one of them. Robert? Pardon me if I come in. I've waited for five people so I'm not quite coming in at the same point. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:21 Highlight the passage at 1:33:21

1:33:47 As a mental experiment, I thought, what would happen if you came back, you died and you came back as an amoeba? I thought, you know, that's actually kind of likely because the majority of sentient beings on this planet are microscopic and you come back as an amoeba or a germ or something like that. And I can't, I could fathom that with more difficulty than coming back as an animal or a hell being because they're big. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:47 Highlight the passage at 1:33:47

1:34:16 And yet something small doesn't seem to be able to even have the capacity to handle any kind of a mind. And then my Chinese Buddhist instructor said, well, don't imagine yourself as being a physical object. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:16 Highlight the passage at 1:34:16

1:34:38 Is this helping me to eliminate my notion of self, to be considering, well, what would happen if you came back as something really small more than? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:38 Highlight the passage at 1:34:38

1:34:51 Well, I don't know that it helps you eliminate your sense of self. I mean, it helps you see what your mental image of yourself is. I see myself as being something big, so I can't imagine being an amoeba or I can't imagine being an ant or something like that. But that in and of itself won't help you realize emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:51 Highlight the passage at 1:34:51

1:35:22 It won't help you eliminate your mental afflictions. We have to really... We have to identify that self that we really believe exists and then find that it doesn't exist at all through analysis, through meditation, etc. So being born as an amoeba isn't going to help us do that. So in realizing emptiness, we can't turn away from the object of negation. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:22 Highlight the passage at 1:35:22

1:36:02 Like sometimes we think meditating on emptiness is meditating on space. Well, that's not going to help us. I mean, that might help us have a peaceful mind, right? But as soon as, you know, that person insults me, it's not going to help me, right? Because I still believe that that person is insulting this inherently existent me. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:02 Highlight the passage at 1:36:02

1:36:33 So, I mean, we talked about last week about how there are times when we grasp to an inherently existent self and times when, well, after we've realized emptiness, where we realize the self doesn't inherently exist. And then there are the times in between, right, when we're not grasping an inherently existent self, like if we're thinking about space, we're not grasping an inherently existent self. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:33 Highlight the passage at 1:36:33

1:37:04 But that doesn't mean that we've damaged in any way this belief that the inherently existent self exists. So the only way to realize that that inherently existent self doesn't exist is to see how we believe it exists and then break it down. Break it down and see that what we think exists doesn't really exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:04 Highlight the passage at 1:37:04

1:37:35 And there are many different methods for breaking that down. But we have to break it down. We can't just turn away and think about something else. So imagining yourself as any other kind of being just replaces oneself with a different kind of self. And so you just simply have to go straight to the point and break it down. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:35 Highlight the passage at 1:37:35

1:38:02 mean, I... I keep thinking back to that movie The Matrix and thinking I'm just a node in a matrix or something like that. But not a permanent fixed place. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:02 Highlight the passage at 1:38:02

1:38:19 Well, that's sort of where you are in a non-physical universe. But you still believe that there's some solid I there, no? No, I guess I'm not. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:19 Highlight the passage at 1:38:19

1:38:42 Right. I Report an error in the passage at 1:38:42 Highlight the passage at 1:38:42

1:39:01 does not persist from one life to another. I Report an error in the passage at 1:39:01 Highlight the passage at 1:39:01

1:39:07 think it's very easy to intellectualize these things without really looking at our experience. And it's so important to look at our experience of that I. It's not an easy process. It's not as simple as thinking, well, we're dependent on our Isings. Yeah, we're dependent on each other. We're interdependent. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:07 Highlight the passage at 1:39:07

1:39:34 People think oftentimes that because that's the king of the reasonings, that we're dependent arisings, therefore I understand emptiness, right? Because we're interdependent, yeah? Okay, so when that person insults me, oh, I'm interdependent. Oh, so I don't feel insulted. Does that help? Does that help? It doesn't help me, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:34 Highlight the passage at 1:39:34

1:40:01 It doesn't help me if somebody insults me and I think, oh, well, you know, I'm dependent on my mother and my father. You know what? I mean, I'm still offended, right? So that's where, I've Report an error in the passage at 1:40:01 Highlight the passage at 1:40:01

1:40:22 already said it, when we analyze, who do we believe is insulted? And I want to do next time, I want to do more analysis on the self. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:22 Highlight the passage at 1:40:22

1:40:34 But who do we believe is insulted? And then search for that and see if that exists. My overblown, over-intellectualized ego, I shall pass the mic. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:34 Highlight the passage at 1:40:34

1:40:51 Just a quick question. So I have understanding the exercise with the body and kind of getting that sense of fear, just like that popcorn pop going, uh-oh. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:51 Highlight the passage at 1:40:51

1:41:04 Then kind of going to the next step and looking at what he was talking about is in terms of maybe the subtle consciousness. And I just want to make sure I understand is... Are you saying as someone becomes a Buddha and has a direct realization of emptiness, there is no longer any subtle consciousness? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:04 Highlight the passage at 1:41:04

1:41:27 There is, as it says, no consciousness, right? And it's hard to meditate for myself to analytically and think just those river of mental moments just do not exist because we do see the effects. I mean, from cause and effect, it seems that outside of the eye, you know, not a permanent eye, but a changing eye, there is this, it just seems that way, that there's an existence of something. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:27 Highlight the passage at 1:41:27

1:42:01 And it's hard to break through that to say, well, that doesn't exist. Those causes and conditions that are going to actually have an effect don't exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:01 Highlight the passage at 1:42:01

1:42:13 Well, they do exist conventionally. They do exist conventionally, but they don't exist the way we think they exist. But they do exist conventionally as mere imputations. And maybe next time we can talk about that or one of these future classes we can analyze causes and effects. Because a cause seems to be one thing and an effect seems to be one thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:13 Highlight the passage at 1:42:13

1:42:35 But if we analyze, actually the causes are many, many different moments, many different parts that we label cause. Same with effects. Anything that we analyze, it's just something that we're labeling onto something that's constantly changing. Well, not always, but we're always labeling something onto many parts. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:35 Highlight the passage at 1:42:35

1:43:06 But then the earlier part of your question about a Buddha not having a subtle mind, no, a Buddha still has a mind. A Buddha still has a mind, but it's merely labeled. right. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:06 Highlight the passage at 1:43:06

1:43:20 It's constantly changing and it's something merely labeled onto many moments of mind. So then a Buddha's mind is empty of what? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:20 Highlight the passage at 1:43:20

1:43:33 Do you understand? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:33 Highlight the passage at 1:43:33

1:43:45 Let's talk about the mind next time. Actually, we're running out of time. We have quite a few classes left, so we'll go into... So today, we just went through... Form is empty. Three words. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:45 Highlight the passage at 1:43:45

1:44:09 And then we'll go through the other aggregates a little bit more. And this is such a big subject. I Report an error in the passage at 1:44:09 Highlight the passage at 1:44:09

1:44:27 was going to go through the homework. Will people stay for going through the homework? Report an error in the passage at 1:44:27 Highlight the passage at 1:44:27

1:44:42 No, no, no. The homework from two weeks ago. The homework two. No, I'm not asking you to. What, you had an hour to do it? What's the problem? Report an error in the passage at 1:44:42 Highlight the passage at 1:44:42

1:45:03 Yeah, so, okay, so we're out of time. So if people brought their homework too, if they could just give it to me and I'll take a look at it and then we won't go through it in class. Yeah, homework number two. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:03 Highlight the passage at 1:45:03

1:45:21 Okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:45:21 Highlight the passage at 1:45:21

1:45:29 all right, well now we can answer all of the questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:29 Highlight the passage at 1:45:29

1:45:35 I mean, you can give it to me next week. You can give it to me. Actually, next week we don't have class. Next week is Thanksgiving week, so we have no class. So two weeks from now, we'll have class. And here's homework three, so if people don't have a copy of this already. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:35 Highlight the passage at 1:45:35

1:46:00 Yeah, I emailed it to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:00 Highlight the passage at 1:46:00

1:46:31 So Report an error in the passage at 1:46:31 Highlight the passage at 1:46:31

1:46:34 for the next class, I mean, we went through form is empty today. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:34 Highlight the passage at 1:46:34

1:46:42 And I feel like there were a lot of questions and maybe some confusion. Do we need to go through it more, continue more on form being empty next time? Report an error in the passage at 1:46:42 Highlight the passage at 1:46:42

1:46:57 It is. So it's Report an error in the passage at 1:46:57 Highlight the passage at 1:46:57

1:47:09 useful, yeah, if people think about it on their own, really, really, really try to get a strong mental image of, let's say, at least a form that we're attached to. It may be our body. It may be... Some object that we have and say, okay, well, what is it that we're attached to? What is this mental image of this thing? And Report an error in the passage at 1:47:09 Highlight the passage at 1:47:09

1:47:40 then search for it among its parts. See if we can find it. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:40 Highlight the passage at 1:47:40

1:47:52 I'll dedicate. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:52 Highlight the passage at 1:47:52