Basic Program - Buddhism From A-Z (1 August 2008)

0:00 Anjushri, who holds to his heart a scriptural text symbolic of his seeing all things as they are, whose understanding shines forth as the sun, unclouded by defilements or traces of ignorance, who teaches in sixty ways with the patient love of a father for his only son, all creatures caught in the prison of saṃsāra, confused in the darkness of their ignorance, overwhelmed by their suffering. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:25 You, whose dragon thunder proclamation of Dharma arouses us from the stupor of our delusions and frees us from the iron chains of our karma, whose powerful sword of wisdom hues down suffering wherever its sprouts appear, clearing away the darkness of all ignorance, whose princely body is adorned with the hundred and twelve marks of a Buddha, who has completed the ten stages achieving the highest perfection of a bodhisattva, who has been pure from the beginning, O Manjushri, all-loving one, with the brilliance of your wisdom, illuminate the darkness in closing my mind. Enlighten my intelligence and wisdom so that I may gain insight into Buddha's words and the texts that explain them. Report an error in the passage at 0:25 Highlight the passage at 0:25

1:25 Okay, let's see, where are we? Report an error in the passage at 1:25 Highlight the passage at 1:25

1:30 Yep, bottom of page 31. So we were going through the section on accumulation of merit and purification of negativities. And then within that, we were talking about the seven limbs. So what was the first limb of the seven limbs? Report an error in the passage at 1:30 Highlight the passage at 1:30

1:54 And the second? Oh, yeah. Okay, so the first one is prostrations. Report an error in the passage at 1:54 Highlight the passage at 1:54

2:11 Offerings. Offerings is the second one. Excellent. And the... Okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:11 Highlight the passage at 2:11

2:29 And the third one? Report an error in the passage at 2:29 Highlight the passage at 2:29

2:34 Confession. Confession. And the fourth? Rejoicing. And the fifth? Report an error in the passage at 2:34 Highlight the passage at 2:34

2:45 Requesting, they turn the wheel of Dharma. I don't know how to put it. Yep. And then the sixth. Dedication. Oh, please stay. You're right. Report an error in the passage at 2:45 Highlight the passage at 2:45

3:00 Requesting the guru to stay and then requesting the guru to teach and then the dedication. Yeah, interestingly in this text, those two are reversed from the normal. You know, usually in the seven limb prayer, it's first. that's what Report an error in the passage at 3:00 Highlight the passage at 3:00

3:15 Requesting them Report an error in the passage at 3:15 Highlight the passage at 3:15

3:20 to stay and then to teach. But in this text they reversed it. Lama Tsongkhapa is presenting it in the reverse order, which doesn't really matter. So he presented the request for teaching first and then the supplication to stay. And then the last one is dedication, as Peter said. Okay, so we got through all of them. Report an error in the passage at 3:20 Highlight the passage at 3:20

3:48 Accept dedication last time. So with the first six limbs, we've accumulated merit and we've purified. So we've created this positive energy and then we want to dedicate that energy. So a dedication is taking something, it's taking the positive energy and directing it for some goal. Report an error in the passage at 3:48 Highlight the passage at 3:48

4:13 so guess you jump again so get Got into a discussion about the difference between a prayer and a dedication. So dedication is a prayer, but a prayer isn't necessarily a dedication. Report an error in the passage at 4:13 Highlight the passage at 4:13

4:30 So for example, what is something that's a prayer but not a dedication? Report an error in the passage at 4:30 Highlight the passage at 4:30

4:49 Whoever. Jay? I was just going to say requesting help from the guru would be a prayer. Okay. Yeah, so a prayer where you're not taking a particular substance, right? You're not taking a body of merit or positive energy and directing it to something, right? So oftentimes a dedication is talked about in terms of the reins of a horse in the olden days and in the modern days more like the steering wheel of a car, right? Report an error in the passage at 4:49 Highlight the passage at 4:49

5:23 So you have the merit. And you want to steer it toward a particular. And so in this case, we're steering toward enlightenment for the welfare of all sentient beings, which is the greatest dedication of them all. So in the past, we've talked about how if you dedicate for something small, like some temporary aim, let's say you're dedicating the merits so that you can buy the house that you want to buy. Report an error in the passage at 5:23 Highlight the passage at 5:23

5:57 Which, you know, you can do. And if you do that, then that merit is exhausted when you've achieved the goal. So when you get the house, then the merit is exhausted. Report an error in the passage at 5:57 Highlight the passage at 5:57

6:16 So if you dedicate the merit for attaining enlightenment for the welfare of all sentient beings, then it doesn't get exhausted until you attain enlightenment. And actually, here one of the commentaries says that the merit doesn't get exhausted until all sentient beings are enlightened. So that's a much broader, bigger use of the same merit. And then also dedicating merit also protects it from being destroyed by anger. Report an error in the passage at 6:16 Highlight the passage at 6:16

6:53 So really important to dedicate. I mean, we say this all the time, all the time, but how often do we do it throughout our day? As we're just doing something virtuous, right? We might do it in class because everybody does it in class. But during the day, you know, I forget to do it. Report an error in the passage at 6:53 Highlight the passage at 6:53

7:16 I'm assuming that you might forget to do it as well. Okay, yeah, question? Report an error in the passage at 7:16 Highlight the passage at 7:16

7:27 I was just wondering if you can get a double use out of it. So you dedicate it to getting the house and benefiting. Report an error in the passage at 7:27 Highlight the passage at 7:27

7:40 Yeah. Maybe one can serve the other. I don't know. It all comes under the same umbrella. Yeah. That's what we normally do, right? We do a lot of dedications, right? Yeah. I mean, I don't know about the house business, but for your friends that are sick, we do that all the time, right? For people who are suffering, all of that. The house, I mean, you decide if you want to do that, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 7:40 Highlight the passage at 7:40

8:07 I was just going to add that you have to have a good place to live. You have to have money to live on. If you want to have those things in order to help other sentient beings, you know what I mean? It seems like it's reasonable if it's part of the path. It's not just, I want to have the nicest house I possibly could. I don't know. I mean, you could too, right? Report an error in the passage at 8:07 Highlight the passage at 8:07

8:27 I mean, we just decide what we want to dedicate the merit to. But yeah, I mean, but we do need certain necessities. We have a body. We need food, we need a house. Well, we don't necessarily need the $3 million house, but we need a roof over our heads and things like that. I mean, it all comes down to the motivation, right? How much merit you're creating depends on the motivation. So I wasn't meaning to imply that it's bad to dedicate for a house. Report an error in the passage at 8:27 Highlight the passage at 8:27

9:07 Janet. stand it. I just got myself in trouble. I think we can get really creative with our dedications. If we're really skillful, we can not only create the resources that we need in this life, but we can recreate the resources we need until every single sentient being is enlightened by our becoming enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 9:07 Highlight the passage at 9:07

9:41 You know, I'm sure that some of our gurus have used things like that because they certainly are able, just through their own merits, be able to create the resources to spread the Dharma. So rather than a specific house, maybe it won't look like a house, maybe our resource in one life will be a nice little quiet cave. You know, but as long as it's like that, I think, you know, and so you can kind of, I think we can play with it a lot. Report an error in the passage at 9:41 Highlight the passage at 9:41

10:12 And still have it for the big one. Yeah, I think that's a very good point. And yeah, not to just rush through the dedication zone, you know, let's dedicate for the welfare of all sentient beings, on to the next thing, right? But just to really think about things, you know, pray that we'll always have the Dharma in all of our future lives. Pray that we'll always have qualified gurus, you know. Report an error in the passage at 10:12 Highlight the passage at 10:12

10:40 Kirti Center Rinpoche, Report an error in the passage at 10:40 Highlight the passage at 10:40

10:44 Once gave the advice, and I think I've probably told you this before, but he gave advice to dedicate very specifically, you know, like instead of dedicating, you know, that you'll meet the guru in the next life, you know, dedicate that you'll meet the guru early, right, in the next life, right? And then you'll be close to the guru, right? And, you know, things like that, right? Instead of... Report an error in the passage at 10:44 Highlight the passage at 10:44

11:11 May I always meet the guru, but to be specific about it is very good. And have the dedications be from the heart, right? Not just something that we're reciting. That list of dedication prayers that you recite every day and you don't even think about, right? But to really put our hearts into thinking about the dedication is really good. And I notice when I do retreat that my dedications are really good. Report an error in the passage at 11:11 Highlight the passage at 11:11

11:40 You know, because my mind and my heart is really focused on that. But, you know, a day-to-day basis. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know? So, yeah. So, that's a good point. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 11:40 Highlight the passage at 11:40

12:01 And then if you notice Lama Zopa Rinpoche, how much time does he spend on dedications? All right. Yeah, he would spend, you know, an hour or something on dedications after, you know, a 20-minute teaching. Well, not exactly, but yeah. Yeah, when he starts the dedications, you're not, like, ready to leave, right? Report an error in the passage at 12:01 Highlight the passage at 12:01

12:25 You know you're going to be there for a while. So, okay. So that just shows how important it is. Report an error in the passage at 12:25 Highlight the passage at 12:25

12:36 All right. Report an error in the passage at 12:36 Highlight the passage at 12:36

12:40 Okay, then the next section says the need to take the meaning of the words to heart. If you thus develop an understanding of the meaning of those words and gently do as was taught without allowing your mind to wander, you will hold immeasurable heaps of merit. Report an error in the passage at 12:40 Highlight the passage at 12:40

13:01 So similar, you know, just with the seven limbs in general, right? I mean, the seven limbs are included in, you know, most practices, right? And so we can either do them really mindfully. And really with our hearts and our attention, or we can just read them. But if we really do them correctly, then we're creating a lot of merit. Report an error in the passage at 13:01 Highlight the passage at 13:01

13:27 If we really spend time bowing down, thinking about the qualities of the Guru and the Buddhas, and bowing down with our hearts to them, it's very effective for the mind. we imagine, you know, abundance. Abundant, beautiful offerings, huge amount of merit and a huge amount of happiness in the mind too when we really spend time thinking about the most beautiful things we can think of and then offering them lots and lots of merit. Report an error in the passage at 13:27 Highlight the passage at 13:27

14:05 If we sincerely confess and purify, we're really purifying our obscurations. et cetera, rejoicing. Rejoicing. We can create a lot of merit just by rejoicing. Rejoicing in others' virtues and our own. So that's basically what this section is saying. If we do it with attention, without a distracted mind, and really do it well, then we're creating a lot of merit. Report an error in the passage at 14:05 Highlight the passage at 14:05

14:38 So just by doing the seven limb practice. You know, seven limb practice is so... It's beautiful that way. It's so complete. Report an error in the passage at 14:38 Highlight the passage at 14:38

14:49 I think it took me many years to realize that. I just thought, okay, well here's the seven limbs. We'll do the four measurables and the seven limbs and we'll do the mandala and then we'll do the real practice. Report an error in the passage at 14:49 Highlight the passage at 14:49

15:03 But the seven limbs itself is a great opportunity to create a lot of merit. Report an error in the passage at 15:03 Highlight the passage at 15:03

15:17 And then just with anything, any practice, to try to do it without distraction, to do it mindfully. And not just allowing the mind to wander around to whatever it is. Report an error in the passage at 15:17 Highlight the passage at 15:17

15:33 Then it's effective, right? If the mind wanders, then, you know, we're not really doing very much, right? We're not really creating much merit. We're not really helping our own minds, right? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 15:33 Highlight the passage at 15:33

15:55 So, Gisha Jumpa Gyatso gave the advice of reciting the seven limbs slowly. While thinking about the meaning. Sometimes in groups we recite things really quickly and you don't really have time to think about the meaning. But at least when we're doing it on our own, we can really take the time. And I think that's one of the beauties of Lama Tsongkhapa too because you spend a lot of time on each of the seven limbs. Report an error in the passage at 15:55 Highlight the passage at 15:55

16:30 You actually do the Vajrasapha practice when you're doing the confession part. You know, you're doing all the different types of offerings and, you know, so Lama Tsongkhapa is so extensive that way. Okay. All right. Report an error in the passage at 16:30 Highlight the passage at 16:30

16:50 The next, categorization of the individual elements. So accordingly, the five limbs, prostrating, offering, requesting, supplicating and rejoicing constitute the collection of accumulations. Report an error in the passage at 16:50 Highlight the passage at 16:50

17:08 Confessing purifies obscurations, one aspect of rejoicing. One aspect of rejoicing, the cultivation of joy at one's own virtue, multiplies the virtue. By means of dedicating the virtues of collecting, purifying and multiplying, however small, are multiplied manifold. And what would come to an end after producing a temporary effect is made inexhaustible. In brief, there are the three, accumulation, purification, as well as multiplication and making inexhaustible. Report an error in the passage at 17:08 Highlight the passage at 17:08

17:44 So basically this section is talking about how to categorize the seven limbs into accumulating merit, like which ones are accumulating merit, which ones are purifying negativities and obscurations, and which ones are increasing, multiplying the merit. Report an error in the passage at 17:44 Highlight the passage at 17:44

18:03 So this is one, so Lama Tsongkhapa is categorizing them in one way, and I've seen other categorizations that are slightly different. But in this text he's saying the limb of prostrations, offerings, requesting to teach and supplicating to live long. And then the rejoicing in others' virtues is accumulating merit. Report an error in the passage at 18:03 Highlight the passage at 18:03

18:39 So that was prostrating, offering, requesting, supplicating and rejoicing in others' merits. Report an error in the passage at 18:39 Highlight the passage at 18:39

18:49 Is accumulating merit. And then confessing, right, is purifying. And then rejoicing at our own merits is multiplying our merits. Report an error in the passage at 18:49 Highlight the passage at 18:49

19:05 Multiplying and dedicating. Dedicating, you know, for the welfare of all sentient beings, for the enlightenment is multiplying the merit and making them inexhaustible. Report an error in the passage at 19:05 Highlight the passage at 19:05

19:23 And you could probably argue different. Ways of categorizing this. But this is one way that seems to make sense. Report an error in the passage at 19:23 Highlight the passage at 19:23

19:46 And then the next section is the mandala offering and request for blessings. Then with a clear visualization of the objects, offer a mandala and with strong aspirations supplicate many times. I pray that all mistaken attitudes towards the spiritual teacher, such as disrespect, may cease. And that all the non-mistaken attitudes toward him may come about with ease. And I request blessings for a complete pacification of all outer and inner obstacles. Report an error in the passage at 19:46 Highlight the passage at 19:46

20:20 So the next is the mandala offering. Offering the most beautiful universe that we can imagine. Report an error in the passage at 20:20 Highlight the passage at 20:20

20:31 And so the mandala offering is... A way to create a vast amount of merit in a short time. So the mandala offering is one of the preliminary practices, doing 100,000 mandalas. And usually that's given because that creates a lot of merit. So if you need a lot of merit, then mandala offerings is a good way to create a lot of merit. Report an error in the passage at 20:31 Highlight the passage at 20:31

21:03 Well, we all need a lot of merit, right? Right? Yeah. So I wanted to read something from Lama Zopa Rinpoche's commentary on Gadan Langema. He has a section on mandala offerings. Okay. So he says, mandala offering is a powerful method for accumulating extensive merit in a short time. The Tibetan word for mandala is kilkor. Kilkor. Kil is essence. Report an error in the passage at 21:03 Highlight the passage at 21:03

21:38 And core is taking. So mandala means taking the essence. The term means taking the essence on the base of offering a mandala. What you get from this is merit, the cause. Therefore the essence you take is the generation of the whole path, from guru devotion up to enlightenment, as well as the result, the unification of the Dharmakaya and the Rupakaya. Report an error in the passage at 21:38 Highlight the passage at 21:38

22:11 The cause is merit, the path, and the result is enlightenment. In other words, from this practice, an inconceivable temporal and ultimate happiness result. One is making unbelievable business with the merit field. That sounds like Rinpoche, doesn't it? Unbelievable business. Report an error in the passage at 22:11 Highlight the passage at 22:11

22:40 It is mentioned that the better the quality of the offerings that one can imagine, the more details and clarity, the more merit one accumulates. So the better quality, the more details, the more clarity, the more merit. The offerings are explained in the commentaries on the mandala. Report an error in the passage at 22:40 Highlight the passage at 22:40

23:06 But it is very good to recite the verse from Lama Tsongkhapa, the Guru Puja, when you offer the mandala alone. Because then you have the leisure to visualize clearly. Doing it this way, you dedicate the merit from each offering for the sentient beings as it is performed. It is very effective for the mind. Report an error in the passage at 23:06 Highlight the passage at 23:06

23:32 So then he goes into specifically the practice and the different types of mandala offerings and etc. But in the context of the seven limbs, we usually just do the... Report an error in the passage at 23:32 Highlight the passage at 23:32

23:48 Well, actually, no. Here, actually, a lot of people use the mandala base, right? And you do the short mandala or you do the long mandala also. Report an error in the passage at 23:48 Highlight the passage at 23:48

23:59 So you can do the long mandala. You do the 37 heaps one, probably, with the three rings. And so you're imagining, right? So this is a physical base to imagine the mandala. So it's very useful to have something physical, right? Not just to imagine with your mind, but to have something physical as a basis for... Report an error in the passage at 23:59 Highlight the passage at 23:59

24:20 Your visualization. And then does everybody know the mudrā, the mandala mudrā? Report an error in the passage at 24:20 Highlight the passage at 24:20

24:34 Oftentimes people feel uncomfortable because they haven't ever learned it, you know, during a ceremony. So this is an opportunity to learn it. I Report an error in the passage at 24:34 Highlight the passage at 24:34

24:49 don't think so. Does it? I've never heard it. No, I mean, like if you put the right or the left. No, I don't think so. I think it's just whatever you feel comfortable with, right? So your pinkies are held down by your thumbs, your two ring fingers are together, Report an error in the passage at 24:49 Highlight the passage at 24:49

25:15 basket. Report an error in the passage at 25:15 Highlight the passage at 25:15

25:20 Right, exactly. Report an error in the passage at 25:20 Highlight the passage at 25:20

25:25 And it's good to put something around too, like your mala around to offer something physical. Is there a Report an error in the passage at 25:25 Highlight the passage at 25:25

25:42 way they come out of it? Is there a procedure for exiting the mandala? Yeah, yeah. yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 25:42 Highlight the passage at 25:42

25:54 Yeah, I mean, you're offering it and then you spill it toward you. What is the meaning of that again? Report an error in the passage at 25:54 Highlight the passage at 25:54

26:06 Yeah, usually, like when you're wiping the mandala base, like at the beginning, you know, you wipe three times away from you in order to purify, right, and three times toward you in order to receive blessings, right, from the Guru. Because you're always... Offering a mandala to something, right? To your guru or to the merit field or whatever. So you're purifying first and then you're requesting blessings three times, right? Report an error in the passage at 26:06 Highlight the passage at 26:06

26:32 And so usually toward you is requesting blessings. So yeah, so maybe when you're spilling it toward you, that's what it is? Receiving the blessings? Report an error in the passage at 26:32 Highlight the passage at 26:32

26:54 Yeah, and I'm specifically talking about when you have the physical mandala base. But yeah, but when you're just doing the mudrā. You just offer it, right? And it's good to offer it high, right? And then at the end with the idam, gurutna, mandala, kamniriya, tayami, then you just toward you. Report an error in the passage at 26:54 Highlight the passage at 26:54

27:20 That would be your addition. Report an error in the passage at 27:20 Highlight the passage at 27:20

27:27 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 27:27 Highlight the passage at 27:27

27:36 Janet. Janet has something. I knew there was something. Report an error in the passage at 27:36 Highlight the passage at 27:36

27:29 those guys are from Report an error in the passage at 27:29 Highlight the passage at 27:29

27:41 I don't recall the source and that's quite often the case but I had heard early on in taking classes that when you unfold, like when you have your hands and you go down like you kind of fold it in but it's like then I heard you kind of bring your hands around and you're offering it to the gurus and then they receive it and send back blessings and so you collect them back into your hand after you. Report an error in the passage at 27:41 Highlight the passage at 27:41

28:12 So you hold in and go like this, and this is offering to the Buddhas, and then you collect back. They receive your gift and send them out, and then you collect it back and bring it into your heart. Report an error in the passage at 28:12 Highlight the passage at 28:12

28:27 Okay. I hadn't heard that. Okay. But I don't know the source, and often I've asked Keishala about some of my ideas that I think are so brilliant, and he says, he says, That's a nice idea. Right. But no. Yeah, right. Yeah, it's important to remember the source on these things, right? Because a lot of rumors fly around. But yeah, Geshe Dagpa is such, you know, such a wonderful definitive source. Report an error in the passage at 28:27 Highlight the passage at 28:27

29:05 He'll tell you. No, that's not in the text. Right. Right, yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. I mean, I remember I learned a lot of these things when I was in India just from other practitioners, right? And so now I kind of wonder how much of that I can really rely on, you know? Oh, yeah, well, I heard you do blah, blah, blah, you know? Report an error in the passage at 29:05 Highlight the passage at 29:05

29:35 Right, right. The telephone game or, you know, whatever, something somebody made up or, you know, whatever. Good to check these things. You know, if you're actually going to do, right, the 100,000 mandalas to really learn it correctly, right, and get your dog pose. Perfect source. Yeah, Sarah. So I checked my source. And Lama Osorinpoche says when you tip the mandala towards you, you visualize receiving the blessings of the Buddhas. Report an error in the passage at 29:35 Highlight the passage at 29:35

30:05 Thank you. Okay. Great. Thank you for citing your source. Report an error in the passage at 30:05 Highlight the passage at 30:05

30:14 She's in constant contact with Lama El Sol. All right. Okay, and then also we know that this is Mount Meru, right? This thing and then the four continents around. Okay, so we all know that. Report an error in the passage at 30:14 Highlight the passage at 30:14

30:37 Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 30:37 Highlight the passage at 30:37

30:47 Right. Oh, and then Lama Tsongkhapa says... All right. Report an error in the passage at 30:47 Highlight the passage at 30:47

30:51 With a strong aspiration, supplicate many times. I pray that all mistaken attitudes toward the spiritual teacher, such as disrespect, may cease. So we're praying to stop our mistaken attitudes toward the spiritual teacher in general, right? The conception of faults and things like that. But then in another commentary, it says that all... Report an error in the passage at 30:51 Highlight the passage at 30:51

31:19 No, actually, I think it's in... Lam Rimchenmo itself. All mistaken attitudes, period, we're praying to cease. So even the conception of inherent existence, etc. And then we're praying that all non-mistaken attitudes toward him may come about with ease, right? So respect, trust, etc. Gratitude. And then... Report an error in the passage at 31:19 Highlight the passage at 31:19

31:49 Request blessings for a complete pacification of all inner and outer obstacles, or all outer and inner obstacles. So we're requesting those three things. The mistaken attitudes cease, the correct or non-mistaken attitudes come about easily, and then we request blessings to pacify all of our obstacles, both the obstacles in our mind and the external obstacles. Report an error in the passage at 31:49 Highlight the passage at 31:49

32:33 So that's the end of the preliminary practices. So the section on the meditation session is divided into three. The preparatory practices, the actual meditation and then what to do at the end. So we've just finished the preparatory practices. Report an error in the passage at 32:33 Highlight the passage at 32:33

32:57 Then what to do during the main part. How to sustain meditation in general and how to sustain meditation in this context. So how to sustain meditation in general. So we start with the identification of and need for meditation. Lama Tsongkhapa says meditation on the path as it will be explained here serves to make you fit to make use of any virtuous object you wish. Report an error in the passage at 32:57 Highlight the passage at 32:57

33:30 Okay, so meditation is... The act of sustaining an object of meditation and specific subjective aspects by repeatedly focusing your mind upon a virtuous object of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 33:30 Highlight the passage at 33:30

33:52 So it's repeatedly focusing on a virtuous object. So it's this familiarization of a virtuous object again and again and again. right if it's You know, bodhicitta, familiarizing ourselves with that again and again and again. Or the wisdom of emptiness, familiarizing ourselves with that again and again and again. Report an error in the passage at 33:52 Highlight the passage at 33:52

34:21 And if we think about it, you know, that's what we need to do to counteract what we normally do, right, is to focus on other things again and again and again, right? Report an error in the passage at 34:21 Highlight the passage at 34:21

34:34 You know, you think about, you know, the other kinds of... Quote-unquote meditation that we do, you know, focusing on the attractive aspects of chocolate, right? Again and again and again, right? Or how this person, you know, treated you unfairly again and again and again. So naturally, right, we'll have to, you know, and it's so easy, right, naturally to... Report an error in the passage at 34:34 Highlight the passage at 34:34

35:05 Familiarize ourselves with the objects of the afflictions, right? We don't even need to make effort. It just naturally comes up in our minds again and again. So we need to make a concerted effort, right, to familiarize ourselves with the virtuous side, right? Remembering bodhicitta throughout the day again and again and again, in our meditation again and again and again. Report an error in the passage at 35:05 Highlight the passage at 35:05

35:34 When we set our motivation again and again and again, right? Dedication again and again and again. So a lot of it is just the hours of doing it, right? We just need to do it a lot, right? Of course, with an undistracted mind and all of the other things. Report an error in the passage at 35:34 Highlight the passage at 35:34

36:01 Effie, I think you had a question? Report an error in the passage at 36:01 Highlight the passage at 36:01

36:07 Okay, well, all right. Well, you know, I will read it again because somebody else probably wants to hear it as well. So, that which is known as meditation is the act of sustaining an object of meditation and specific subjective aspects by repeatedly focusing your mind upon a virtuous object of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 36:07 Highlight the passage at 36:07

36:31 Okay, so, I mean, the object of meditation and subjective aspects, you're probably wondering, what in the heck is that? Yeah, so that's referring to, let's say, Let's say you're meditating on bodhicitta. So you're meditating on compassion for all sentient beings and trying to generate bodhicitta. So the object there would be sentient beings. The subjective aspect would be the mind side, the compassion that arises for those sentient beings or the bodhicitta that arises in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 36:31 Highlight the passage at 36:31

37:15 While meditating on the suffering of sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 37:15 Highlight the passage at 37:15

37:27 And then Lama Tsongkhapa says, the purpose of this is as follows. From beginning this time you have been under the control of your mind. Your mind has not been under your control. Furthermore, your mind tended to be obscured by the afflictions and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 37:27 Highlight the passage at 37:27

37:48 Thus meditation aims to bring this mind, which gives rise to all faults and flaws, Under control. And then it aims to make it serviceable. Serviceability means that you can direct your mind as you wish toward a virtuous object of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 37:48 Highlight the passage at 37:48

38:10 So once again, meditation aims to bring this mind under control and then aims to make it serviceable. So we're trying to develop control over our mind instead of being controlled by our minds. And then making it serviceable. So that we can direct our minds to any object that we wish. Report an error in the passage at 38:10 Highlight the passage at 38:10

38:38 Normally, as we go through our days, we're quite controlled by our objects of afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 38:38 Highlight the passage at 38:38

38:48 We start to get hungry and we start fantasizing about food and we can't help it. And then you try to bring your mind back to work and then the mind goes back. Right. To food. And then we bring it back to work and then it goes back to food. Right. So through meditation, we're we're gaining control over the mind so that we can really just focus on that object for as long as we want. Report an error in the passage at 38:48 Highlight the passage at 38:48

39:15 Right. With calm abiding. Right. With calm abiding, we'll be able to focus on any object we wish for as long as we want. And that would be pretty amazing. Right. So if an affliction arose. You just bring it back to your object of meditation and the mind wouldn't go back right to the mental affliction. That would be pretty cool. Report an error in the passage at 39:15 Highlight the passage at 39:15

39:45 And then with Calm Abiding, the mind is completely serviceable, right? You've developed physical and mental pliancy, right? Mental pliancy in particular is what makes the mind serviceable. So you've eliminated the heaviness of the mind. You've eliminated the resistance of the mind to practicing virtue. You've eliminated dullness. You've eliminated distraction. Report an error in the passage at 39:45 Highlight the passage at 39:45

40:19 You've eliminated laziness. So calm abiding is pretty spectacular. And that's why calm abiding is the basis for realizations. Hard to get realizations without calm abiding, or at least... Report an error in the passage at 40:19 Highlight the passage at 40:19

40:36 What they call a similitude of calm abiding, something close to calm abiding. Because then you can bring your mind to that particular object and stay there and really develop that power of the antidote. So if we kind of get a glimpse of emptiness, we get those kind of little glimpses, those aha moments, but they're not very powerful because they go after half a second. Report an error in the passage at 40:36 Highlight the passage at 40:36

41:06 After two seconds or five seconds or whatever. But if you can keep your mind on that object for as long as you want, then you develop a very, very powerful antidote. A really powerful mind. Report an error in the passage at 41:06 Highlight the passage at 41:06

41:25 So, combiding is important. Yeah, Peter. This is just a... Apropos of what you're talking about, one of Sogyal Rinpoche's students said, you know, Rinpoche, I can't concentrate on anything. I can't visualize. And he said, sure you can. Pizza. Yeah, exactly. We're really good at that. It's like we can habituate ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 41:25 Highlight the passage at 41:25

41:51 You know, we can all think of a pizza pretty well, but the other states we have a little bit of trouble with, but we certainly have that ability, don't we? Report an error in the passage at 41:51 Highlight the passage at 41:51

42:01 I like that story. Yeah, puts things into context, right? Yes, you can visualize. Yeah, good one. Report an error in the passage at 42:01 Highlight the passage at 42:01

42:22 So Gishisopa says, so when we're practicing the lamrim, it involves working on each section using analytical meditation. So there are the two types of meditation. There's the stabilizing meditation, which calm abiding is an example. And then there's the analytical meditation. lie. Report an error in the passage at 42:22 Highlight the passage at 42:22

· · · silence, 1 minute

42:42 So on the basis of some stability, then we start analyzing the object. So throughout the Lamrim, the focus primarily is when they talk about meditating on the topics of the Lamrim, the focus is on analytical meditation. Because calm abiding itself isn't going to get rid of any of the mental afflictions. We need the actual antidote is through... Report an error in the passage at 42:42 Highlight the passage at 42:42

43:13 Analytical meditation. By using the basis of the concentration that we have with calm abiding, then we can develop the power of the antidote. Report an error in the passage at 43:13 Highlight the passage at 43:13

43:35 So the aim of meditation is to bring the mind under control, make it serviceable, and basically develop a more and more virtuous mind, a more and more positive virtuous mind and fewer and fewer mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 43:35 Highlight the passage at 43:35

43:57 The faults of bad meditation. Moreover, if you attend to this and that object, thinking to take merely this number of virtuous object in any order you wish, nothing will come of it, and having gone wrong from the beginning, your spiritual practice will continue to be faulty throughout your life. I remember reading this when I was in retreat once and getting long, because this is what I had been doing, right? Report an error in the passage at 43:57 Highlight the passage at 43:57

44:27 But so Lama Tsongkhapa is giving us this advice, right? Don't just sit down and meditate and then during the meditation decide what you want to meditate on. You decide ahead of time, okay, I'm going to meditate on the ten qualities of the spiritual teacher. And then you sit down in your meditation and that's what you meditate on is the ten qualities of the spiritual teacher. Report an error in the passage at 44:27 Highlight the passage at 44:27

44:52 And then if the thought about, you know... Like the most profound insight into what will solve all of your problems comes up, right? You don't follow that. You go back to the 10 qualities of the spiritual teacher, right? Or if the thought of, oh, what you forgot to do this morning comes up, you still bring it back to the 10 qualities of the spiritual teacher. Report an error in the passage at 44:52 Highlight the passage at 44:52

45:23 So in that way, then you can actually bring the mind under control, right? And eliminate distractions. If we're just kind of lackadaisical and just letting the mind kind of wander off to whatever feels right at the time, then we're not going to bring the mind under control, which totally makes sense. Report an error in the passage at 45:23 Highlight the passage at 45:23

45:52 And so once we develop the habit of doing anything wrong, then it's harder to break that habit. Report an error in the passage at 45:52 Highlight the passage at 45:52

46:04 So it's better to... To develop the good habits, right, to begin with, or at least to correct our faulty habits as soon as we can. Report an error in the passage at 46:04 Highlight the passage at 46:04

46:20 So he says, so you make a precise plan regarding what you're going to contemplate, which subdivisions of the topic you're going to work on, for how long, etc. Then follow your plan exactly. So yeah, so for the how long too, you know, you decide ahead of time, I'm going to meditate for... You know, 45 minutes or 20 minutes or 10 minutes, right? You don't decide, okay, well, I'm just going to sit down and meditate and stop whenever I feel like it, right? Report an error in the passage at 46:20 Highlight the passage at 46:20

46:57 It's very effective to decide on the time, right? And then stick it out, right? Because meditation can be really boring, right? And it's good to just... Stick it out. And I find that it's really good to meditate with other people for that reason. Then you're not just going to get up and leave when you get bored. Report an error in the passage at 46:57 Highlight the passage at 46:57

47:20 Or if you just make that decision, I'm going to meditate for 45 minutes and I'm not going to stop until 45 minutes is up. Then it's very effective, right? Because we need to kind of push through that boredom, right? I remember Chögyam Trungpa once I read. Where he says, you know, that boredom part of the path is really important. It's part of the path. You know, we need to work through that, right? Report an error in the passage at 47:20 Highlight the passage at 47:20

47:51 And still do the practice with the boredom, right? Because in the beginning, it's exciting. It's inspiring. And then you get to the boredom stage. Either you give it up, right? Or you work through it and you deepen your practice. So good to stick it through the boredom. Report an error in the passage at 47:51 Highlight the passage at 47:51

48:11 And it gets really boring, you know, when you're in your retreat and you're doing four sessions a day and you're doing the same practice four sessions a day. I mean, you know, what am I doing? Four sessions a day for a year or a month or whatever it is, right? It seems really boring. But that's how we get deeper into the practice. Report an error in the passage at 48:11 Highlight the passage at 48:11

48:34 And in this culture, I think that's really difficult for us. We like a lot of new, exciting things. Report an error in the passage at 48:34 Highlight the passage at 48:34

48:43 But it's definitely worth it if we stick it through, right? We actually do do the same thing again and again, and it's boring. And Report an error in the passage at 48:43 Highlight the passage at 48:43

49:02 that goes for class, too. Report an error in the passage at 49:02 Highlight the passage at 49:02

49:09 Yeah, exactly, which is great. And I'm not talking about specifically my class. Well, maybe a little. you know. Report an error in the passage at 49:09 Highlight the passage at 49:09

49:23 You know, but I think once we start studying more deeply, it does, you know, it's pretty boring getting into the nitty gritty details of things. And it's easy to get up, give up. Like Yishidakpa's classes, he has so much profound to say, but it's easy to give up because, you know, it's like sometimes the mind just doesn't want to hear all these details or, you know, it's not something that we'll immediately find applicable to our lives and be able to use right now. Report an error in the passage at 49:23 Highlight the passage at 49:23

49:53 But it's so beneficial to just push through that boredom and just do it. Because what else are we going to do? This is our ticket to enlightenment, our ticket out of suffering. So it's good to just keep doing it, regardless of if it's exciting or boring or what. Report an error in the passage at 49:53 Highlight the passage at 49:53

50:17 And I know during my seven years of studies, there were a lot of periods. Where I was ready to give up. It was just so boring. So many obstacles and so much resistance. Report an error in the passage at 50:17 Highlight the passage at 50:17

50:34 But it's impermanent, right? You'll work through it. If we develop that habit of persistence in our practice, then we can really go far. If we give up because... I don't like it or that's not what I expected or whatever, then we're not going to develop very quickly on the path. Report an error in the passage at 50:34 Highlight the passage at 50:34

51:03 Because we're trying to get enlightened, right? If it was easy, we would have gotten enlightened a long time ago. Report an error in the passage at 51:03 Highlight the passage at 51:03

51:10 Right? Report an error in the passage at 51:10 Highlight the passage at 51:10

51:21 Yeah. And I think about, yeah. Or if we just, you know, continue to go around trying to be entertained all the time, which is what we do, right? We have habitually done forever. If that really worked. Report an error in the passage at 51:21 Highlight the passage at 51:21

51:39 Well, we would have been enlightened, right? So, Dharma practice. Right? Yeah. Well, we are entertained. Report an error in the passage at 51:39 Highlight the passage at 51:39

51:51 We can try. Yeah. Try another way might work better than that. If we want to get enlightened, right? Yeah. Yeah, with your eyes closed. Report an error in the passage at 51:51 Highlight the passage at 51:51

52:14 That wasn't a completely self-serving kind of comment that I was making. take. Report an error in the passage at 52:14 Highlight the passage at 52:14

· · · silence, 1 minute

52:20 Yeah, yeah, okay. Report an error in the passage at 52:20 Highlight the passage at 52:20

52:30 During the meditation session, your mind should not run to whatever you feel like thinking about at any particular moment. That's what our mind normally does. It just goes off and thinks about whatever we want to think about, but we just kind of let the mind go off to wherever it wants to go normally until we've trained our mind. Report an error in the passage at 52:30 Highlight the passage at 52:30

53:01 So a really strong daily meditation can really help you throughout the day, right? Because we're practicing bringing the mind under control and just noticing thoughts as they arise and letting them go. And so then throughout the day we can do that, you know, when negative thoughts about our co-workers or whatever arise, then we can more easily let them go. Report an error in the passage at 53:01 Highlight the passage at 53:01

53:42 Just to continue on the same point, how to sustain good meditation. Therefore, you should first of all develop certainty concerning the number and order of objects to be sustained. Then you should unleash a strong driving force that does not allow thoughts to arise other than in accordance with what has been ascertained. Report an error in the passage at 53:42 Highlight the passage at 53:42

54:03 And sustain with mindfulness and alertness what has been ascertained without omission or addition. So we basically talked about that. So you decide on what objects you're going to meditate on and then you stick with it, you know, with strong force, right, in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 54:03 Highlight the passage at 54:03

54:24 Not, I mean, you still, right, have a relaxed mind but very focused, right? So having that middle way because sometimes people get really tense, right, when they're meditating. So not that, but... Somehow finding that middle way of being relaxed and yet strongly focused and forceful. Really sticking to your object of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 54:24 Highlight the passage at 54:24

54:49 Sustaining with mindfulness and alertness. Mindfulness remembering the object and the alertness noticing when the mind has wandered off or noticing if the mind has become dull or excited or distracted. I think it's time for a break. Report an error in the passage at 54:49 Highlight the passage at 54:49

55:17 know when You know, when somebody says something rude to us, you know, the mind that remembers to not say anything mean back, right? The mind that remembers to try to keep patient, right? Well, I keep saying mind, but it's really the mental factor to put it technically. Report an error in the passage at 55:17 Highlight the passage at 55:17

55:41 So that's mindfulness. Oh, and also the, okay, so that's mindfulness. And then introspection is that part of the mind or the mental factor that, Report an error in the passage at 55:41 Highlight the passage at 55:41

55:54 Notices that the mind isn't remembering the object. Notices that the mind is distracted. Oh yeah, I was supposed to meditate on the breath and here I am thinking about the email that I need to write. So introspection is noticing, oh I'm thinking about that email and bring it back to the mind. Report an error in the passage at 55:54 Highlight the passage at 55:54

56:21 If we just let the mind get distracted and we get caught in The writing of the email, then we're lacking the introspection, right? We didn't even notice that the mind wandered off to email and I'm not meditating on the breath anymore. Report an error in the passage at 56:21 Highlight the passage at 56:21

56:40 So we need both, right? The mindfulness, remembering the object, and then the introspection that notices. So it notices whether or not you're on the object. It also notices if the mind is dull. Report an error in the passage at 56:40 Highlight the passage at 56:40

56:56 Or the mind is overly excited, overly stimulated. Report an error in the passage at 56:56 Highlight the passage at 56:56

57:03 So these two are like the keys. These two mental factors are the keys to developing concentration, to developing calm abiding, having mindfulness and introspection. Report an error in the passage at 57:03 Highlight the passage at 57:03

57:19 Okay, Karen. Report an error in the passage at 57:19 Highlight the passage at 57:19

57:29 What is it when we do things with awareness of our actions? Report an error in the passage at 57:29 Highlight the passage at 57:29

57:42 Which mental factor is it? I've been considering that, mindfulness. To do things with an awareness, to be present in the action. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think you're using mindfulness, right? Because you're trying to be present. So you're remembering what you're focused on, right? So you're using mindfulness. I mean, you're also using introspection too, right? Because, well, if you're noticing, right, that your mind's going off. Report an error in the passage at 57:42 Highlight the passage at 57:42

58:20 And not being present. So you're using both as well. As well as other mental factors. Report an error in the passage at 58:20 Highlight the passage at 58:20

58:32 So those two mental factors during the day, I mean during the meditation are important and then throughout the day too. So noticing if the mind is starting to get agitated and then trying to apply the antidote. Noticing would be the introspection. Report an error in the passage at 58:32 Highlight the passage at 58:32

58:55 Yeah, Owen. Report an error in the passage at 58:55 Highlight the passage at 58:55

59:06 I guess a quasi-question, though, as the corollary in the Hinayana practice, aiming and sustaining is a phrase that comes to mind. Witaka and wichara, I think, is the Pāli. Is it a similar idea, does it sound like, where you're aiming your attention? Somebody described it as like you're polishing a brass face or something. Report an error in the passage at 59:06 Highlight the passage at 59:06

59:35 And you initially apply your hand with the polishing rag and then you hold the spot and that's the sustaining. Is that similar to the mindfulness and introspection? I Report an error in the passage at 59:35 Highlight the passage at 59:35

59:53 mean, I haven't heard that particular teaching, right? So I'm not sure technically, you know, how to answer that question. But from your description, it sounds like both to me are mindfulness. Well, yeah, both I think are mindfulness. Whereas introspection would be noticing that part of the mind, the mental factor that's noticing whether or not you're still on the object. Report an error in the passage at 59:53 Highlight the passage at 59:53

1:00:23 So whether or not you're sustaining. So the sustaining itself wouldn't be introspection. The introspection would be noticing whether or not you are sustaining. And as well as the quality of the mind. I mean, in deeper meditation. When you get closer to calm abiding, introspection is primarily used to notice if you have laxity or excitement, so to notice whether or not the mind is dull or if it's not clearly, like it's staying on the object and it's not clear or if it's not intense or if the mind is still on the object and yet it's excited or, you know, sometimes when we meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:23 Highlight the passage at 1:00:23

1:01:05 Part of the mind is on the object, but then part of the mind is kind of moving as well. So introspection notices these things. So I don't think it's aiming or sustaining. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:05 Highlight the passage at 1:01:05

1:01:21 Is there another question? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:21 Highlight the passage at 1:01:21

1:01:26 I'm having a little trouble distinguishing the two, so I just wanted to rephrase it back. So is mindfulness kind of like the positive action of focusing your mind on the object and then introspection is like... Noticing when you're not doing that. It's like a positive and a negative. They seem very similar to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:26 Highlight the passage at 1:01:26

1:01:52 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe another way of putting it is mindfulness actually sometimes, I mean it's the same word as remember. Okay, so mindfulness and remembering your object. Being mindful of your object, remembering the object. Whereas introspection is the spy. The spy. The watcher, the corner of your mind that's noticing what's going on with the rest of the mind. I don't know if that helps. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:52 Highlight the passage at 1:01:52

1:02:23 Sometimes different words register a bit better. Helps still seems very kind of a blur for me. Yeah, well, you know, I mean, none of these mental factors are really completely separate from each other. You know, they kind of they work in conjunction. And, you know, in good meditation, you have both operating at the same time. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:23 Highlight the passage at 1:02:23

1:02:50 I mean, maybe let's do a few minutes of meditation and see if we can recognize those two mental factors in our own minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:50 Highlight the passage at 1:02:50

1:03:00 So, you know, choose whatever meditation object you want, you know, if it's the breath or whatever. But do a stabilizing meditation. An analytical meditation, it's harder to recognize those two. So just focus on one particular object. I'll just do it for a few minutes. We'll Report an error in the passage at 1:03:00 Highlight the passage at 1:03:00

· · · silence, 3 minutes

1:06:22 kind of see. Those two operating? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:22 Highlight the passage at 1:06:22

1:06:29 Or those two not operating, as the case may be. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:29 Highlight the passage at 1:06:29

1:06:39 And I think it is hard to distinguish between the two, right? They really operate kind of in tandem. Because I think if you don't have mindfulness, then it's hard to have introspection, right? If you're not mindful of what the mind is doing, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:39 Highlight the passage at 1:06:39

1:07:00 If you're not mindful of the object, then it's hard to notice whether or not you've strayed from the object. The mind just kind of goes off to something else without either of them, right? And then we need both of them really to bring it back. So I'm not sure that it's important. It's very important to know the exact line between mindfulness and introspection. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:00 Highlight the passage at 1:07:00

1:07:24 But the important thing is to know that we need both, right? And to try to... Try to keep both of them operating without stress, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:24 Highlight the passage at 1:07:24

1:07:49 Questions or comments on that? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:49 Highlight the passage at 1:07:49

1:07:58 I just appreciate being able to know that, just that subtle moment of bringing it back. It's like lifting a little dumbbell. And it's like, oh, right. And it's just doing that repetitively until it becomes very clear. And it's an exercise. Oh, that's the practice. Yep. Yep. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:58 Highlight the passage at 1:07:58

1:08:22 That's why they call it practice, right? Because we have to do it again and again, right? We could do it all at once and we wouldn't have to practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:22 Highlight the passage at 1:08:22

1:08:36 Yeah, I think that analogy of exercise is a good one. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:36 Highlight the passage at 1:08:36

1:08:49 Jay, you're not being mindful. Yes, but others were being introspective on my behalf. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:49 Highlight the passage at 1:08:49

1:08:59 No, I mean, it's like comedy, you know, really. I mean, because it happens so fast, like you say. Because that moment that you celebrate, that mindfulness is gone, you know what I mean? Like, that's right, this is practice. And it's like, oh, damn it, you know, you screwed up. So it's like, it's just totally hilarious to me, you know what I mean? Like, okay, the breath. What am I going to have for supper? That's literally how fast it happens. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:59 Highlight the passage at 1:08:59

1:09:20 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:20 Highlight the passage at 1:09:20

1:09:23 I feel like there's like a third. Aspect, but it's not really one that's a tool. It's kind of like the fruition of the practice, but it comes very rarely where there's a moment where it's like for a minute you're not in that space of constantly reminding. But it doesn't happen that often. I mean, for me, I've experienced it maybe a handful of times possibly, and I don't know how long, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:23 Highlight the passage at 1:09:23

1:09:55 Yeah, and, yeah, mindfulness isn't, I think that what you're talking about is also mindfulness. It's, you know, sustaining, you know, that what Owen was talking about, you know, not just bringing the mind back to the object, but sustaining it on that object, you know, like the glue, right, keeping the mind on the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:55 Highlight the passage at 1:09:55

1:10:19 That's also mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:19 Highlight the passage at 1:10:19

1:10:34 We'll do the review of the homework. From last time homework, what was it, homework 10. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:34 Highlight the passage at 1:10:34

1:10:47 And if, I have some extra copies of, Report an error in the passage at 1:10:47 Highlight the passage at 1:10:47

1:10:58 there's one more. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:58 Highlight the passage at 1:10:58

1:11:15 Actually, yeah, okay. So the first question was, what is the purpose of practicing the seven limb prayer? Report an error in the passage at 1:11:15 Highlight the passage at 1:11:15

1:11:30 Keith. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:30 Highlight the passage at 1:11:30

1:11:37 That's probably a great many different things. The accumulation of merit, the purification of negative actions, behaviors, Report an error in the passage at 1:11:37 Highlight the passage at 1:11:37

1:11:47 And each limb has its own way to accumulate merit, purify negativities and or sometimes increase merit. Excellent. But I think it's a very complicated matrix. If you begin to think about it, it's very complicated really. Yeah, I mean it's very simply explained in this text, but I think that you could... Report an error in the passage at 1:11:47 Highlight the passage at 1:11:47

1:12:17 Yeah, anyway, we'll get to that. That's number three, I think. Okay, so number, or did anyone else have anything on number one? Report an error in the passage at 1:12:17 Highlight the passage at 1:12:17

1:12:32 Hillary? Report an error in the passage at 1:12:32 Highlight the passage at 1:12:32

1:12:41 I'm not disagreeing with the thing, but I put down that the reason you want to do those things is to, from what I found in my text, was to gain the... They said to gain the cooperative conditions to develop the path to enlightenment in your mind. And in order to do that, you need to accumulate merit, purify and increase your merit. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:41 Highlight the passage at 1:12:41

1:13:06 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:06 Highlight the passage at 1:13:06

1:13:11 Okay. And then we already listed the seven limbs and explain how to practice each of them. The first one, the limb of prostration. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:11 Highlight the passage at 1:13:11

1:13:41 You actually or mentally see yourself prostrating in terms of your body, speech and mind to the three jewels. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:41 Highlight the passage at 1:13:41

1:13:57 So we're prostrating with all three, right? The body, speech and mind. Exactly. Okay. And yeah, and it could be to three jewels. It could be the merit field. It could be right. A lot of different objects. Good. Okay. Anything else on prostrating specifically related to the king of prayers? A good way to do a lot of, create a lot of merit. Oh, Report an error in the passage at 1:13:57 Highlight the passage at 1:13:57

1:14:29 I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Right. To imagine that each atom contains Buddhas and that you're prostrating to many, many Buddhas to multiply your merit. Infinite Buddhas, very good. To multiply your merit. Okay. And also when you're prostrating to imagine that you're emanating numerous bodies prostrating to. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:29 Highlight the passage at 1:14:29

1:14:56 Numerous Buddhas. Yeah, because remember the text says that you're, well actually maybe not the text, but one of the commentaries said that the more Buddhas we prostrate to and the more bodies we emanate, the more merit we're creating. So if we are just prostrating to one Buddha, we're creating a fraction of the merit as if we're prostrating to countless Buddhas. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:56 Highlight the passage at 1:14:56

1:15:31 Anything else on prostrations? Janet. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:31 Highlight the passage at 1:15:31

1:15:41 It says when we're doing verbal prostrations by speaking the virtues and qualities of the Buddha that we visualize thousands and hundreds of thousands and thousands of tongues all speaking the praises. And that for the Buddhas or for... The Buddhas that we're prostrating to, you prostrated to two of the Buddhas in the ten directions. And in all of the three times Buddhas, not just our own Shakyamuni, but in all the three times past, present and future Buddhas. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:41 Highlight the passage at 1:15:41

1:16:27 So Report an error in the passage at 1:16:27 Highlight the passage at 1:16:27

1:16:32 remember, we're prostrating with countless bodies, trying, many bodies, and each body has many heads. Has many tongues, right? Or this is the way Samanta Bhadra did it, right? This is how he gained a lot of merit. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:32 Highlight the passage at 1:16:32

1:17:02 Okay, we'll move on to offerings. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:02 Highlight the passage at 1:17:02

1:17:09 Offerings? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:09 Highlight the passage at 1:17:09

1:17:14 So that can be offerings like you put on your altar with your water bowls and flowers and lights. It can be offerings that you imagine like... Report an error in the passage at 1:17:14 Highlight the passage at 1:17:14

1:17:27 Countless flowers, countless lights, you know, there's the offerings of the minds of like the bodhisattvas and Samantabhadra and trying to imagine the countless offerings of Samantabhadra. And then you can offer things like your practice and even your delusions to the wrathful beings. So offering any of those things. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:27 Highlight the passage at 1:17:27

1:18:02 What were the two types of offerings mentioned in this text? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:02 Highlight the passage at 1:18:02

1:18:11 Surpassable and unsurpassable offerings. Surpassable would be really great stuff, but it's more related to material offerings or offerings that we would give the garlands, the flowers, the unsurpassable offerings. It was kind of what the bodhisattvas would offer. But then I was wondering, last week we were talking about how you offer your body. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:11 Highlight the passage at 1:18:11

1:18:40 Is that unsurpassable or surpassable? Because you're not a bodhisattva. Yeah, yeah. I kind of wondered about this distinction, right? Because I had thought I'd heard a different explanation, but the explanations that I've read here was that the surpassable and the unsurpassable offerings are distinguished. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:40 Highlight the passage at 1:18:40

1:19:09 By way of who is offering, as opposed to what the object of offering is. So the surpassable offerings are the offerings made by ordinary beings, and the unsurpassable are offerings made by, they say, beings with power, such as bodhisattvas. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:09 Highlight the passage at 1:19:09

1:19:29 So if you're offering your own body and you're not a bodhisattva, I guess that would be a surpassable. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:29 Highlight the passage at 1:19:29

1:19:40 Great offering, but still surpassable. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:40 Highlight the passage at 1:19:40

1:19:53 So maybe the distinction is in terms of how much merit you're making, right? Because if you're a bodhisattva, you're creating so much more merit by your offerings than as an ordinary being. So we have to be bodhisattvas. sorry yeah Report an error in the passage at 1:19:53 Highlight the passage at 1:19:53

1:20:13 Next, the confession. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:13 Highlight the passage at 1:20:13

1:20:26 Janet. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:26 Highlight the passage at 1:20:26

1:20:34 Well, you confess all of the negative actions that you've created with your body, speech and mind and also the negative actions that you've had others create for you or that you've rejoiced in others creating through their bodies and speech. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:34 Highlight the passage at 1:20:34

1:20:58 Oh, it's got the wrong one. The body and speech. It's only your mind that can create the ones of mind. And then you confess not only the negativities of this life that you've engaged in, in the day, in all of your life from the beginning, but in all of your past lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:58 Highlight the passage at 1:20:58

1:21:24 And all of, like I, I don't know if it's appropriate. I look at the obstacles that come up and the difficulties that I encounter in this life and I try to include purifying or confessing the conditions or the things that I did in past lives that are now arising as those conditions and those obstacles in this life. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:24 Highlight the passage at 1:21:24

1:21:50 So all of the past and present lives. Negativities and negative actions. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:50 Highlight the passage at 1:21:50

1:22:02 Okay. Anything else? Anyone else? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:02 Highlight the passage at 1:22:02

1:22:09 You have to have regret, not just to confess them, but to regret that you've done them and that you will try to avoid doing them for however long you can, if it's two seconds or 25 seconds. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:09 Highlight the passage at 1:22:09

1:22:30 Or for the rest of your life. Well, you know, that too. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:30 Highlight the passage at 1:22:30

1:22:36 Right, right. Oh yeah, it's important, right, to truly regret and to restrain. Really the four opponent powers, right, which are regret, restraint, and Report an error in the passage at 1:22:36 Highlight the passage at 1:22:36

1:22:58 what was the other one? Regret, restraint, refuge, remedy. Okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:22:58 Highlight the passage at 1:22:58

1:23:10 and then rejoicing. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:10 Highlight the passage at 1:23:10

1:23:22 You can rejoice in two different ways. One is for the... Positive actions of so-called powerful beings, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and all the infinite ways in which they help sentient beings at all times. And also the virtuous actions of ordinary beings, firemen running into burning buildings, social workers, teachers, people that are working for the benefit of others. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:22 Highlight the passage at 1:23:22

1:23:47 And you see all of those actions of ordinary and... I guess you'd call them extraordinary beings, filling space and rejoicing in that. And rejoicing also in those virtuous actions that you've accumulated in this lifetime. Yeah, don't forget those. Yeah, don't forget those. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:47 Highlight the passage at 1:23:47

1:24:12 Good. Rejoicing in our own and others' virtues. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:12 Highlight the passage at 1:24:12

1:24:21 Requesting for the wheel of Dharma to be turned. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:21 Highlight the passage at 1:24:21

1:24:29 I just want to go back briefly. Okay. Technically, for the unsurpassable and surpassable offerings, technically what makes one a bodhisattva? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:29 Highlight the passage at 1:24:29

1:24:47 What's the line? Bodhicitta? Yes. I guess having it unceasingly through your mind stream, would that make you a bodhisattva? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:47 Highlight the passage at 1:24:47

1:25:05 It's the term bodhisattva is used for people who've taken the bodhisattva vow. But technically speaking, a true bodhisattva is someone who has what is called uncontrived bodhicitta, which is this spontaneous bodhicitta that arises without any effort. So there's a certain level of stability and power to that. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:05 Highlight the passage at 1:25:05

1:25:35 Yeah, arhats don't have bodhicitta. They have compassion and things, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:35 Highlight the passage at 1:25:35

1:25:50 A bodhisattva is a step above an arhant. An arhant would reach enlightenment for the benefit of themselves. And then to reach enlightenment for the benefit of all other sentient beings, generating bodhicitta would be a bodhisattva. But it isn't taking bodhisattva vows. I don't see it that way. That would just be a start. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:50 Highlight the passage at 1:25:50

1:26:12 Yeah, I mean you're kind of an aspiring bodhisattva, I guess, when you've taken the vows. But yeah, when you have this uncontrived bodhicitta, right, the spontaneous bodhicitta, which in the texts the scholars usually say that in order to have uncontrived bodhicitta you need at least calm abiding or the ninth mental abiding just before calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:12 Highlight the passage at 1:26:12

1:26:36 So you need a very powerful mind. So it's not just the bodhicitta, you know, that... An ordinary being without any power to their minds develop. It's a very strong, powerful mind. And then as Keith was saying, so it's a step above an arhat in terms of the method side, right? Because arhats don't have bodhicitta. They've become liberated from saṃsāra, but they haven't. Then they need to develop bodhicitta and enter the Mahāyāna path. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:36 Highlight the passage at 1:26:36

1:27:13 Finish the Mahāyāna path. Okay. We're losing people. So let's move on to supplication. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:13 Highlight the passage at 1:27:13

1:27:28 Oh, turn the wheel of Dharma. Yeah, that's right. I mentioned it and then we didn't answer. No, no, no. Right. And then I didn't. Nobody answered. Right. I got distracted. I didn't have mindfulness. Okay. All right. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:28 Highlight the passage at 1:27:28

1:27:47 Requesting the Wheel of Dharma? Report an error in the passage at 1:27:47 Highlight the passage at 1:27:47

1:27:52 Actually, I think that's pretty important. We're requesting that the Wheel of Dharma be turned by teachers and bodhisattvas and Buddhists to continue our teachings and continue the teachings of the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:52 Highlight the passage at 1:27:52

1:28:05 It just reminded me, I thought it was really important. Maybe it's inconsequential. I think it is consequential that when Buddha was talking about... His death, he talked quite extensively about it, but Ananda didn't get it, and so he didn't entreat him to stay and continue to teach the Dharma. And so then it was too late, and Ananda couldn't convince the Buddha not to pass on. So I think it's really super important to ask our teachers to live long. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:05 Highlight the passage at 1:28:05

1:28:32 Yeah, yeah, I agree. Okay, yeah, so you're kind of combining those two, which, right. This is the next one. Okay. I mean, anything else on the request, how to do that one? Yeah. Sarah. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:32 Highlight the passage at 1:28:32

1:28:55 You can make the request while imagining offering countless golden Dharma wheels to the guru or to the Buddhas. Yeah. So in this particular text, it says for us to emanate many bodies, all requesting, right, with a golden Dharma wheel. Okay. Good. And then I think the supplication Keith covered unless... Oh wait, there's a little bit more. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:55 Highlight the passage at 1:28:55

1:29:26 Anybody else have anything else to say about the supplication? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:26 Highlight the passage at 1:29:26

1:29:49 Then the dedication. Why don't we just do the dedication next time because we didn't cover that until this class. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:49 Highlight the passage at 1:29:49

1:29:59 So next week we're moving upstairs. Okay, so we'll be in the upstairs room. Tenzin Choki will be teaching down here on emptiness. So I'm wondering how many people are planning to go to Tenzin Choki's thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:59 Highlight the passage at 1:29:59

1:30:22 It's a Friday. Saturday, they call it a workshop. Friday, they call it a public talk. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:22 Highlight the passage at 1:30:22

1:30:33 Saturday would probably be more the meditation and discussion. So Friday would probably just be the teaching. Okay. All right. So we'll try it upstairs. And I have homework for you. you know, I'm not. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:33 Highlight the passage at 1:30:33

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:31:28 And then maybe for dedicating the merit, remember how important it is? So maybe we'll just do it silently and we'll just try to think of our own like heartfelt dedication. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:28 Highlight the passage at 1:31:28

· · · silence, 7 minutes

1:38:37 Self-cherishing. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:37 Highlight the passage at 1:38:37

1:38:47 That's what Shooky said. You can sit there and like emanate the Buddha. As long as I can crack a window. Thank you for asking that. Yeah, yeah, sure. Just let me know. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:47 Highlight the passage at 1:38:47

1:39:02 Can we go back? I was talking to Shooky. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:02 Highlight the passage at 1:39:02

1:39:17 I have some strong feelings about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:17 Highlight the passage at 1:39:17

1:39:25 I'm listening in here. And look who, look what the cat drank in. I can write in her. Peter is the cat. Yeah, you're the recruiter. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:25 Highlight the passage at 1:39:25