Basic Program - Buddhism From A-Z (6 November 2009)

0:03 Okay, so just the context, remembering that we're covering the intermediate scope of the lamrim, right? And the intermediate scope is focused on helping us develop renunciation from saṃsāra. So letting go of our belief that saṃsāra will bring us lasting happiness, right? Sure, we can experience temporary pleasures in saṃsāra, but they just can't last, right? They're impermanent and we're subject, we're constantly being subject to our karma, right? Report an error in the passage at 0:03 Highlight the passage at 0:03

0:39 And our mental afflictions, right? So our karma, sometimes positive karma ripens and we experience really good things in our lives. And sometimes negative karma ripens and we experience really unpleasant things in our lives. And that's just going to continue as long as we're in saṃsāra. As long as we have mental afflictions, we will continue to create negative karma. So we'll continue to create causes of suffering for ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 0:39 Highlight the passage at 0:39

1:07 So that's why our focus really, well, the focus of what we're covering right now are the mental afflictions and what are the faults of mental afflictions. If we're not convinced of the faults of mental afflictions, then we don't really do much to try to counteract them. And then we don't really make that much progress. Report an error in the passage at 1:07 Highlight the passage at 1:07

1:32 So Report an error in the passage at 1:32 Highlight the passage at 1:32

1:39 this is just what I said in saṃsāra, regardless of how good things get, they can't last. Suffering will come again and again because we're bound by karma and mental afflictions. So the only way to achieve lasting happiness is to get out of saṃsāra. How do we get out of saṃsāra and Report an error in the passage at 1:39 Highlight the passage at 1:39

2:02 become enlightened? Is that how we get out of saṃsāra? Report an error in the passage at 2:02 Highlight the passage at 2:02

2:13 Through the direct perception of emptiness. Yeah. I mean, amongst other things, right, we need to do all the wisdom, realize the four noble truths and all of that thing. But yeah, mainly the direct realization of emptiness. So Report an error in the passage at 2:13 Highlight the passage at 2:13

2:39 I'm going to skip over this. So we've been talking about true origins, right? We've talked about the truth, the first noble truth, the truth of suffering, right? The eight types of suffering, the six types of suffering and the three types of suffering. And now we're talking about true origins or the causes of suffering. Which are the two causes of suffering? Are the true origins? Report an error in the passage at 2:39 Highlight the passage at 2:39

3:07 For sure. For sure. Somebody knows. True origins. Report an error in the passage at 3:07 Highlight the passage at 3:07

3:19 Lewis. Report an error in the passage at 3:19 Highlight the passage at 3:19

3:27 Is it karma and delusion? Affliction? Right. Karma and affliction. Exactly. Or delusions. Betty. Where does ignorance come in? So ignorance is one of the afflictions, right? It's the main mental affliction. Sorry about that. So all of the afflictions arise from ignorance. And we're going to actually talk about that a bit tonight. Report an error in the passage at 3:27 Highlight the passage at 3:27

4:04 So contaminated karma and mental afflictions. We'll talk a bit more about contaminated karma tonight. And between the two, the mental afflictions... yeah. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 4:04 Highlight the passage at 4:04

4:15 They're the chief cause, the main cause of suffering because due to the mental afflictions, we create negative karma again and again and again or we create contaminated karma, positive and negative. Report an error in the passage at 4:15 Highlight the passage at 4:15

4:33 And also in order to be thrown into another rebirth, that contaminated karma needs to be nourished by a mental affliction. And then... Report an error in the passage at 4:33 Highlight the passage at 4:33

4:43 so even though we have a huge corpus of Karma, it can't throw us into another rebirth unless we still have mental afflictions to nourish that karma. So if we've abandoned all our mental afflictions, we can no longer take, I mean we no longer have to take rebirth in saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 4:43 Highlight the passage at 4:43

5:08 So then we were talking about an Report an error in the passage at 5:08 Highlight the passage at 5:08

5:14 affliction, right, is a phenomenon such that when it arises, the characteristic of being very unpeaceful arises. And due to its arising, the mental continuum arises as being very unpeaceful. So an affliction itself is unpeaceful and then it causes the continuity of the mind to become unpeaceful as well. Report an error in the passage at 5:14 Highlight the passage at 5:14

5:35 So naturally our minds are pure and content when there are no mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 5:35 Highlight the passage at 5:35

5:47 So then we've been going to 10 main afflictions. Desirous attachment, anger, pride and doubt. The view of the transitory collection, the view holding to an extreme, holding on to a bad view is best. It's first eight, right? And then so tonight we'll start with the ninth. Holding on to mistaken ethics and modes of conduct is best. So these are mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 5:47 Highlight the passage at 5:47

6:14 They're the main mental afflictions that prevent us from being able to attain liberation. And I remember when I first studied... This stuff I thought, oh, you know, those are interesting. I probably don't have most of those. And then I thought about it and I thought, oh, actually I probably have all of them, you know, even these views. Report an error in the passage at 6:14 Highlight the passage at 6:14

6:40 So holding on to mistaken ethics and modes of conduct is best, number nine. So I have to fast forward. Report an error in the passage at 6:40 Highlight the passage at 6:40

6:54 Salama Tsongkhapa says, the view holding to a bad ethical discipline and ascetic practice as best, Is an afflicted intelligence that observes an ethical discipline of giving up immorality or an ascetic practice that sets a dress code, manners and bodily verbal behavior as definite and the aggregates and dependence on which they arise. Report an error in the passage at 6:54 Highlight the passage at 6:54

7:19 It views them as something purifying negativity, as liberating from mental afflictions and definitely releasing from cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 7:19 Highlight the passage at 7:19

7:31 so it observes, so... So, actually the next slide clarifies it a bit more. Okay, so first of all it observes bad or mistaken ethics which supposedly abandon immorality. So there are correct ethics, right? So there's practicing virtue that genuinely gives rise to happiness in the future, right? Being kind to others genuinely gives rise to. Report an error in the passage at 7:31 Highlight the passage at 7:31

8:00 To happiness in the future, you know, being generous will give rise to wealth in the future. But then sometimes people believe that certain practices will purify their negativities, will bring them to heaven or a blissful state that actually creates the opposite effect. You know, for example, animal sacrifice. Report an error in the passage at 8:00 Highlight the passage at 8:00

8:31 In Nepal, oftentimes you see people at certain times of the year, they're sacrificing an animal and offering the blood and thinking that that will bring them to liberation, that there's some purifying. So according to the Dharma, that will bring the opposite effect. And some of these suicide bombers, they think that that's bringing them to heaven. Report an error in the passage at 8:31 Highlight the passage at 8:31

9:03 To become one with Allah. But according to the Dharma, that's not the case. So it's a misguided understanding. Report an error in the passage at 9:03 Highlight the passage at 9:03

9:17 So secondly, bad modes of conduct or incorrect modes of conduct which prescribe attire, behavior, physical and verbal activities. Report an error in the passage at 9:17 Highlight the passage at 9:17

9:30 So sometimes maybe we believe that... Acting in a particular way, dressing in a particular way will bring us closer to liberation. If I shave my head, I'll become closer to liberation. Report an error in the passage at 9:30 Highlight the passage at 9:30

9:49 Or if I give up wearing nice clothes, that will bring me to liberation. So in and of itself, it doesn't do anything. It's really the state of mind that goes along with it. Report an error in the passage at 9:49 Highlight the passage at 9:49

10:06 So if we believe that that purifies, liberates or delivers one from a cyclic existence, then that's holding on to mistaken ethics and modes of conduct is best. Report an error in the passage at 10:06 Highlight the passage at 10:06

10:26 Yeah, I mean, we all do funny things, don't we? Yeah. Right, so in the Dharma, it's not our external behavior primarily that brings us, well, that will bring us. Out of psychic existence. It's what's happening in the mind, right? Giving up the mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 10:26 Highlight the passage at 10:26

10:57 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 10:57 Highlight the passage at 10:57

11:05 Okay. I'm going to move on to the function of this is to act as a support for fruitless fatigue. So if we're focusing on practices that don't actually help on the path, so we're putting a lot of effort into something that doesn't really bring the result that we're looking Report an error in the passage at 11:05 Highlight the passage at 11:05

11:31 for. So it's not necessarily bad, right, if we give up, we renounce our hair, right? It doesn't hurt, but it doesn't help either, particularly if we believe that that is the source of happiness, and we put a lot of effort in. Report an error in the passage at 11:31 Highlight the passage at 11:31

11:54 So this is holding on to mistaken ethics and modes of conduct as best. Report an error in the passage at 11:54 Highlight the passage at 11:54

12:03 Then the tenth mental affliction is wrong views. A wrong view is an afflicted intelligence that deprecates, saying that past and future lives... Actions and their results and the like do not exist. Or superimposes the concept of vishvara, a primal substance, etc., as the cause of migrating beings. So mainly wrong view is usually talked about in terms of denying the existence of something that we need to. Report an error in the passage at 12:03 Highlight the passage at 12:03

12:38 So if we deny the existence of karma, or we deny the existence of enlightenment, Report an error in the passage at 12:38 Highlight the passage at 12:38

12:49 holding that view... Will prevent us from being able to get out of things. Because usually if we deny the existence of cause and effect, that means that we think that we can do whatever we want. Report an error in the passage at 12:49 Highlight the passage at 12:49

13:05 And if we believe that, then we're most likely creating negative karma, which will block us from attaining liberation. Report an error in the passage at 13:05 Highlight the passage at 13:05

13:17 Also, if we don't believe in the possibility of liberation, if Report an error in the passage at 13:17 Highlight the passage at 13:17

13:26 we deny the existence of Buddhas, etc. Report an error in the passage at 13:26 Highlight the passage at 13:26

13:32 So here Gishiraptan says a wrong view is an afflicted state of intelligence that denies the existence of something which in fact exists. Report an error in the passage at 13:32 Highlight the passage at 13:32

13:44 It is only a wrong view in this context if it denies the existence of an object that is necessary to attain, to understand, to attain liberation or enlightenment. So karma, the four noble truths, the three jewels, right? If I deny the existence of UFOs, it doesn't matter, right? But if I deny the existence of enlightened beings, yes, it may very well be. But I don't really care. Report an error in the passage at 13:44 Highlight the passage at 13:44

14:21 Yeah, anything is possible. Report an error in the passage at 14:21 Highlight the passage at 14:21

14:26 So mainly, wrong view is talking about denying the existence of something which in fact exists. right. Report an error in the passage at 14:26 Highlight the passage at 14:26

14:36 Also, sometimes wrong view is talked about in terms of superimposing the existence of something that doesn't, in fact, exist. And the example that Lama Tsongkhapa gives here is Ishvara, or a primal substance, etc., as a cause of migrating beings, as opposed to, right, actions and their effects, right, karma. Report an error in the passage at 14:36 Highlight the passage at 14:36

15:01 You know, some being that created us or... A primal substance, there's an Indian school that talks about this, called the Samkhya's, and they believe that everything arises from a primal substance. So that's where this is coming from. Lama Tsongkhapa's referring to the ancient Indian beliefs. Report an error in the passage at 15:01 Highlight the passage at 15:01

15:27 So why is it a wrong view? Not because it's bad, right? But if it leads to us creating negative actions, right? The causes of suffering. Then it's going in the wrong direction, right? It's preventing us from becoming liberated. Or Report an error in the passage at 15:27 Highlight the passage at 15:27

15:50 if, you know, if it just doesn't believe in the result of this path, then you won't be able to achieve the result, right? Report an error in the passage at 15:50 Highlight the passage at 15:50

16:02 So I was talking about this last night in my class at Gioa Gyatso, and there was some kind of heated discussion about, well, you know, if you're a Christian, you know, and you believe in God, You know, that's not bad, is it? Kind of thing. And no, this isn't saying that that's bad, right? But if we believe in creator God and we don't believe, then it's hard to believe in emptiness, right? Report an error in the passage at 16:02 Highlight the passage at 16:02

16:32 It's hard to really understand emptiness, right? So that prevents us from being able to attain the liberation of this path, right? It doesn't prevent you from, you know, attaining heaven and all of that, but it does prevent you from... Attaining liberation of this path, right? If we can't realize emptiness, then we can't achieve liberation and enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 16:32 Highlight the passage at 16:32

16:58 The liberation and enlightenment of this path. Does that make sense? You Report an error in the passage at 16:58 Highlight the passage at 16:58

17:07 guys are easier. We're already sold. Report an error in the passage at 17:07 Highlight the passage at 17:07

17:13 We Report an error in the passage at 17:13 Highlight the passage at 17:13

17:20 went through these already. Okay, so those are the ten. The ten main afflictions, right? Actually, there are countless afflictions, right? But those are the ten main ones, right? And then all other afflictions are some derivative of these ten. Report an error in the passage at 17:20 Highlight the passage at 17:20

17:38 Do we have any questions on the afflictions before we move on? Report an error in the passage at 17:38 Highlight the passage at 17:38

17:46 Do we believe that they cause a disturbed state of mind? Report an error in the passage at 17:46 Highlight the passage at 17:46

17:54 Okay. We're living through. Report an error in the passage at 17:54 Highlight the passage at 17:54

18:01 Yeah. Okay. Then Lama Tsongkhapa gets into a discussion on the difference between ignorance and the view of the transitory collection. So of the ten afflictions, number four was ignorance and number six was the view of the transitory collection. Report an error in the passage at 18:01 Highlight the passage at 18:01

18:31 What was ignorance? Does anybody remember? Well, Report an error in the passage at 18:31 Highlight the passage at 18:31

18:41 what did we say ignorance was? Or what is ignorance? Report an error in the passage at 18:41 Highlight the passage at 18:41

18:52 Ignorance of emptiness or the things that lack, that all things lack inherent existence. Okay, in this context it was broader than that. It was broader than that. Just too plain duh. Report an error in the passage at 18:52 Highlight the passage at 18:52

19:15 Go Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:20 ahead. Not comprehending the origins of suffering or the truth. Yeah, that's part of it. Sort of like the four normal truths. That's part of it, yep. Report an error in the passage at 19:20 Highlight the passage at 19:20

19:39 Truths and the three jewels. Yeah, so let's go back. Report an error in the passage at 19:39 Highlight the passage at 19:39

19:49 And I would add to that, isn't it more of a willful disbelief in the true origins of reality, the origins of suffering, the nature? Report an error in the passage at 19:49 Highlight the passage at 19:49

20:00 Yeah, so I didn't cover it this time, I covered it in another class, because Lama Tsongkhapa didn't go into those specifics. But there are two schools of thought about what ignorance is. Report an error in the passage at 20:00 Highlight the passage at 20:00

20:15 Lama Tsongkhapa covered this one about ignorance is a not knowing and it's afflicted not knowing, an unknowing due to a mind that is unclear with regard to the nature of the four truths, actions and the results and the three jewels. So with regard to the four truths, karma, the results and the three jewels. So just not knowing, a lack of knowing. Report an error in the passage at 20:15 Highlight the passage at 20:15

20:43 Which is like a mental darkness or a mental unclarity. It's not saying it's an active knowing it wrongly. It's just saying not knowing. But then there's another school of thought, I think propounded by Dharmakirti and Chandrakirti, that is ignorance is actually a misknowing or knowing incorrectly. Report an error in the passage at 20:43 Highlight the passage at 20:43

21:14 So the broadest interpretation of ignorance is it's a not knowing. And misknowing is subsumed within that. So the root of cyclic existence is the misknowing, the misconception of the nature of reality, believing in inherent existence. Report an error in the passage at 21:14 Highlight the passage at 21:14

21:35 So it's a particular form of ignorance. But ignorance in general in this context is broader than that. Report an error in the passage at 21:35 Highlight the passage at 21:35

21:45 Betty? Right? Um. Report an error in the passage at 21:45 Highlight the passage at 21:45

21:47 Isn't it from ignorance all other mental afflictions arise? I mean, isn't it like ignorance is the basis and then all the other ones pop up? Yeah. So I'm going to try to go through this without too much detail. So this is ignorance. And then there was the view of the transitory collection, which maybe I'll just tell you. Report an error in the passage at 21:47 Highlight the passage at 21:47

22:13 so Report an error in the passage at 22:13 Highlight the passage at 22:13

22:22 Right, so the view of the transitory collection is viewing in particular our aggregates, right, our body and mind, body and or mind, right, and viewing that as a concrete inherently existent self, right. So it's a subset, right, I mean it's kind of a sub, well actually I shouldn't even say that, I'm not even going to say that. It's more particular, right, ignorance with something broader, a mental darkness, and then view of the transitory collection is a particular. Report an error in the passage at 22:22 Highlight the passage at 22:22

22:52 Misconception, right? Viewing the aggregates as a solidly inherently existent self. Yeah? Okay. So then we'll go back to where I was. Report an error in the passage at 22:52 Highlight the passage at 22:52

23:14 So according to the Abhidharma texts, the systems of Asanga and Vasubandhu, they say that ignorance and the view of the transitory collection are different, two different things. Report an error in the passage at 23:14 Highlight the passage at 23:14

23:29 Whereas... According to Chittamatra and Madhyamika, Dharmakirti, ignorance and the view of the transitory collection are identical. Report an error in the passage at 23:29 Highlight the passage at 23:29

23:40 So the first one, ignorance and the view of the transitory collection being different, is described by the example of the rope and the snake. So we go into, let's say, a room. Well, not a room. We're outside. At dusk, right? So there's not much light. So we can't see clearly. And we see a coiled rope on the ground and then we believe it's a snake. Report an error in the passage at 23:40 Highlight the passage at 23:40

24:14 So in this example, the darkness, right, is akin to the ignorance. And then the subsequent misconceiving the rope as a snake is more like the view of the transitory collection. Report an error in the passage at 24:14 Highlight the passage at 24:14

24:31 So the... Yeah. So... So the question was the transitory collection. So that's referring to the ever-changing aggregates. So the transitory part is the ever-changing aspect. And then the collection is remembering that the body and the mind, the aggregates, are a collection of many parts. We believe that it's a solid single self when, in fact, it's a collection of many parts. Report an error in the passage at 24:31 Highlight the passage at 24:31

25:09 So I'm just bringing this up. It's kind of a technical point, but I'm bringing it up because Lama Tsongkhapa covers it, right? Ignorance and view of the transitory collection being different in that first ignorance arises and that brings about the view of the transitory collection because the ignorance is just the darkness, like the mental darkness, that brings about the misconception of the aggregate. Report an error in the passage at 25:09 Highlight the passage at 25:09

25:34 So the ignorance part. Would be not seeing the nature of the aggregates clearly. And then the view of the transitory collection would be then grasping at the aggregates as being the self. Report an error in the passage at 25:34 Highlight the passage at 25:34

25:52 So they're sequential, according to the Abhidharma texts. But then according to the higher schools, the Chittamatra and Madhyamika, then ignorance and the view of the transitory collection are identical. They're both misconceptions. Report an error in the passage at 25:52 Highlight the passage at 25:52

26:12 Misconceptions of the nature of reality. So the view of the transitory collection is necessarily an ignorance according to the higher schools. Report an error in the passage at 26:12 Highlight the passage at 26:12

26:25 I didn't go into much detail on that. So in this instance, ignorance is more a misconception rather than just a mental darkness. It's a misconception of the nature of reality. Report an error in the passage at 26:25 Highlight the passage at 26:25

26:58 I'm not going to read through this. This is basically what I already talked about. The coiled rope and the darkness. Report an error in the passage at 26:58 Highlight the passage at 26:58

27:11 I talked about that. Report an error in the passage at 27:11 Highlight the passage at 27:11

27:17 So here, Lama Tsongkhapa says if the view of the transitory collection and ignorance are asserted to be the same, then the view of the transitory collection itself is the root of the mental afflictions. So ignorance is definitely the root of the mental afflictions. And then if we say the view of the transitory collection is an ignorance, then the view of the transitory collection itself is the root of the mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 27:17 Highlight the passage at 27:17

27:43 So from this misconception, Of the nature of the self, all of the other afflictions arise. Report an error in the passage at 27:43 Highlight the passage at 27:43

27:54 So Lama Tsongkhapa says, furthermore, whenever the view of the transitory collection apprehends a self, an arbitrary distinction is made between self and other. Right, so we view a body and mind, Report an error in the passage at 27:54 Highlight the passage at 27:54

28:14 and so then all of a sudden there is a distinction in our mind between myself and others. And then once that distinction is made, then... Attachment towards one's own side and hatred or hostility toward the other side arise. So we can see that. As soon as we label something me, then we protect it, me or mine. Report an error in the passage at 28:14 Highlight the passage at 28:14

28:38 We protect it, we take care of it. And then if something threatens us or our things, then we have negative emotions arise toward the other. Report an error in the passage at 28:38 Highlight the passage at 28:38

28:54 Or if we hold a particular opinion and somebody else holds this. The opposite opinion develops some aversion for the person with the opposite opinion. Then also, conceit arises upon observing that self. Having believed in this self, then we focus on the good qualities and the nice possessions of the self, then conceit can arise. Report an error in the passage at 28:54 Highlight the passage at 28:54

29:25 Then that very self is held to be permanent or annihilated and is viewed as the self. So based on the conception of the self, then we may believe in some permanent unchanging self or some unpermanent unchanging version of ourselves, some essential self that never changes or annihilated in the sense of this Report an error in the passage at 29:25 Highlight the passage at 29:25

29:58 self only existing in this life and going away after dying. And the bad activities connected with it are held to be the best. So any kind of Report an error in the passage at 29:58 Highlight the passage at 29:58

30:14 activities that we were attached to, then we can hold those as being the best. It's something that I do must be okay kind of thing. Report an error in the passage at 30:14 Highlight the passage at 30:14

30:27 Likewise, wrong views that think the teacher who taught selflessness, actions and results he taught, four truths, three jewels, etc. do not exist, are generated. So then wrong views are generated or alternatively the doubt, the things, do they exist or not? Are they or are they not is generated. Report an error in the passage at 30:27 Highlight the passage at 30:27

30:49 So based on having a view of the self, then the views, based on conceiving of the self, then the views that we hold, the incorrect views that we hold, we become attached to because they're our views. Report an error in the passage at 30:49 Highlight the passage at 30:49

31:13 And then doubt. Why does doubt depend on a view of the self? Report an error in the passage at 31:13 Highlight the passage at 31:13

31:27 Particularly afflicted doubt, right? Afflicted doubt meaning doubt that prevents us from making progress on the path. Because the lack of faith reflects a certain grasping at the ego. The ego wants to hear what it wants to hear. So the doubt is based on whatever the teachings are not. Or in some ways challenging that ego, in some ways challenging the belief system. Report an error in the passage at 31:27 Highlight the passage at 31:27

32:00 So there's an attachment to wanting to hear what we want to hear, not what the teachings have to say, if it doesn't comport with what we believe. Report an error in the passage at 32:00 Highlight the passage at 32:00

32:11 Yeah, I think that's often true, right? Like I can't, like I have doubt whether or not guru devotion is really important on the path. Right, why? Report an error in the passage at 32:11 Highlight the passage at 32:11

32:22 Usually there's some, right, not wanting to give up control, right, there's some pride maybe, you know. So a lot of the doubt seems to come from the conception of the self, the wanting to preserve the self or preserve some control or preserve comfort for me, right, not wanting to adopt views that are uncomfortable. Report an error in the passage at 32:22 Highlight the passage at 32:22

32:53 Even though they may be right, you know, but we... We don't really want to look deeply into something sometimes because it's uncomfortable. Because usually we're just trying to make saṃsāra a little bit better. Report an error in the passage at 32:53 Highlight the passage at 32:53

33:07 Subtly. Yeah, it's true. We like those aspects of the path that really kind of conform to our ideas, right? And those aspects that really challenge us are much harder, right? Much harder to work through, right? And sometimes we just reject them outright. Report an error in the passage at 33:07 Highlight the passage at 33:07

33:26 And sometimes we work through them. So it's interesting. I'm not sure, you know, I have a doubt, you know, myself, whether or not all of the mental afflictions come from the view of the self. But according to this, they do. Report an error in the passage at 33:26 Highlight the passage at 33:26

33:46 I think as long as we're propping up this self, it's going to create all kinds of mental afflictions. I mean, ones that we're not even aware of because we're so busy trying to maintain that fiction. We're putting all of our effort into that. And so we may be affected by mental afflictions that we don't have any awareness of, but we're doing it anyway. Report an error in the passage at 33:46 Highlight the passage at 33:46

34:14 Okay. So do people kind of see that the mental afflictions all arise from ignorance at least, right? And maybe specifically the view of the transitory collection. Report an error in the passage at 34:14 Highlight the passage at 34:14

34:31 When you were describing both of those two things, ignorance and the darkness and the view of the transitory collection, it seemed to me... intuitive sense to me. Report an error in the passage at 34:31 Highlight the passage at 34:31

34:45 It made more sense to me that they felt separate, in the sense that if I were reconstructing this sort of logically, these realizations, thinking about the story of the Buddha when he went out and observed people that were getting old and dying and sat in that contemplation for the first time. Report an error in the passage at 34:45 Highlight the passage at 34:45

35:07 It seems like that would be the natural progression to dwell on what is my nature, Report an error in the passage at 35:07 Highlight the passage at 35:07

35:21 Your illumination about the rest of the things would kind of stem from that. Do you know what I mean? So it seems like when you say that perhaps the root of all of this is a mistaken conception of the transitory collection, that really feels perhaps Report an error in the passage at 35:21 Highlight the passage at 35:21

35:44 where wisdom begins. Yeah, and in the path we need to realize the nature of saṃsāra, the nature of existence. Just jump to realizing emptiness. We need to realize the impermanence of things first. We need to realize the impure suffering nature of saṃsāra, etc. Those are all kind of contributory conditions to help us realize emptiness. So I think in both interpretations, misunderstanding the nature of saṃsāra is ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 35:44 Highlight the passage at 35:44

36:30 But in one interpretation it's just not knowing and it's another interpretation that it's an act of misknowing, like knowing incorrectly. Report an error in the passage at 36:30 Highlight the passage at 36:30

36:41 One more question and then we'll move on. How much does habit play a role in doubt? Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

36:52 I would say... All of it? Well, not all of it. I'd say habit plays a large part. I think laziness plays a part. That's a habit. Right, well everything is related to habit, yeah, all the mental afflictions are habits. Yeah, yeah, so doubt is a result. Because the idea is that you replace the old habits with new, more productive habits in terms of practice, meditation, this kind of thing, to get rid of all the old crap, right? Report an error in the passage at 36:52 Highlight the passage at 36:52

37:26 Right. Okay. Brass tacks, down to breath. I said very eloquently. Yeah, exactly. Report an error in the passage at 37:26 Highlight the passage at 37:26

37:42 Right, so in Dharmakirti's commentary on valley cognition, he says, if there is self, there's awareness of other. Dividing between them brings grasping and anger. Closely connected with those two, all the faults will come about. Report an error in the passage at 37:42 Highlight the passage at 37:42

38:02 So all the faults arise from this grasping at the self, conceiving of other, and then all the other faults, all of the mental afflictions arise based on that. Report an error in the passage at 38:02 Highlight the passage at 38:02

38:24 So it's kind of like a little mistake, isn't it, that creates everything. It's a very deeply ingrained mistake, right? But it's kind of amazing that one thing like that can bring about all of our problems. Report an error in the passage at 38:24 Highlight the passage at 38:24

38:50 So all we have to do is realize emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 38:50 Highlight the passage at 38:50

38:57 I mean, for sure it can happen. For sure. We're all creating the causes for it. Report an error in the passage at 38:57 Highlight the passage at 38:57

39:06 As they say, when all of the... Causes and conditions come together. We can't prevent the result from arising. Report an error in the passage at 39:06 Highlight the passage at 39:06

39:17 Do us create the causes and conditions. Enlightenment will happen whether or not we like it. Whether or not we like it or not. We create the causes. Report an error in the passage at 39:17 Highlight the passage at 39:17

39:32 I put these huge long quotes from Gishisopa in here because I find them very useful and insightful. I'll just read them. So. Report an error in the passage at 39:32 Highlight the passage at 39:32

39:46 The practitioner comes to realize that cyclic existence is not some externally created condition, but is actually an inner or internal process. It arises from the root of ignorance. By looking inward, watching in meditation, you can observe this process. Report an error in the passage at 39:46 Highlight the passage at 39:46

40:09 And by so doing, the arising of the afflictions and the way they motivate each action become clearer and clearer. You see how each moment emerges out of this nexus of cause and effect. You see how each action, even when you are performing some virtuous deed, has behind it some degree of attachment to self, or perhaps pride or jealousy, some level of seeking gratification for the self you are clinging to. Report an error in the passage at 40:09 Highlight the passage at 40:09

40:43 You act with the expectation that your action will return some benefit for that self. Until you achieve a direct realization of the true nature of the self, every action you perform will have some combination of these afflictions as its cause. In particular, ignorance pervades all the afflictions. It is always there in the background. Report an error in the passage at 40:43 Highlight the passage at 40:43

41:10 And then he continues. Ignorance is the fundamental root affliction pervading all the others. From that mistaken grasping at a self, all the others arise. By observing them in meditation, you will come to recognize how they perform their destructive functions. You will be observing exactly what the enemy is doing. Report an error in the passage at 41:10 Highlight the passage at 41:10

41:32 This is the operation of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 41:32 Highlight the passage at 41:32

41:38 A big reminder, practitioners do not look outside of themselves for the enemy. They are always attending to the inner enemy, examining who they are and what kind of harm they are doing. If you watch these six inner enemies in this way, You will soon develop the capacity to resist their influence and prevent them from leading you to harmful actions. Even if you cannot immediately resist all negative behaviors, simply developing an awareness of what the afflictions are and how they function will have great long-term benefit. Report an error in the passage at 41:38 Highlight the passage at 41:38

42:18 Yeah, so the six inner enemies. We talked about the ten inner enemies. The six are the first five. Report an error in the passage at 42:18 Highlight the passage at 42:18

42:31 So the sixth are the first five, attachment, anger, pride, ignorance, doubt. And then the sixth is afflicted view, which encompasses numbers six through ten. So they're just different ways of enumerating the mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 42:31 Highlight the passage at 42:31

42:58 And then Lama Tsongkhapa gets into how we should meditate on the faults of the mental afflictions. So he quotes the ornament of the sutras. The mental afflictions destroy oneself, destroy sentient beings, and destroy ethical discipline. Once that is debased, you become inferior in gain and guardians, and teachers revile you. Report an error in the passage at 42:58 Highlight the passage at 42:58

43:25 There will be nasty disputes. You take birth elsewhere in unfree states. Through the debasement of what you've attained or not, or not yet attained, there's great mental suffering. Report an error in the passage at 43:25 Highlight the passage at 43:25

43:44 Destroy oneself, sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 43:44 Highlight the passage at 43:44

43:55 Gushi Sopa had a different translation. That I found a little bit more clear myself. Report an error in the passage at 43:55 Highlight the passage at 43:55

44:08 So the second line, it says, your virtues degenerate, your wealth declines, your protectors and teachers revile you. Report an error in the passage at 44:08 Highlight the passage at 44:08

44:22 So when I read this, I thought, hmm, so what does this mean? So if we have strong mental afflictions, we've destroyed our ethical discipline and our virtue. Then it's very difficult, right, for teachers. Report an error in the passage at 44:22 Highlight the passage at 44:22

44:44 So I think that that's what that means is, you know, we have to be at a certain level to be able to... What does revile mean? Report an error in the passage at 44:44 Highlight the passage at 44:44

44:55 Like denigrate you, Report an error in the passage at 44:55 Highlight the passage at 44:55

45:03 you know, people with really strong mental afflictions. Sometimes you see a dark, I mean... This is really strong. Really strong. Yeah. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 45:03 Highlight the passage at 45:03

45:16 I mean, sometimes you see, you know, students who can't really be helped. Report an error in the passage at 45:16 Highlight the passage at 45:16

45:41 The teachers will try to help those who they can help. My own viewpoint is that they don't spend a lot of time on students that they can't help. It's that butter bag story. They become the hard leather butter bag. You've heard that story before in classes. If you hold butter in a leather bag... You know, you work butter into leather and it makes it soft and pliable, but if you store butter, which they did in Tibet, in a leather bag, the bag eventually gets hard as a rock and there's nothing you can do to make it pliable again. Report an error in the passage at 45:41 Highlight the passage at 45:41

46:20 And there are people that study Dharma that turn into butter bags because of their afflictions. Like, nothing gets in, nothing penetrates and can make it supple. I think that's more what they're talking about. Yeah, so that's one possibility. And sometimes, let's say, you know, for example, I have a really suspicious mind and I have a really anti-authority kind of an orientation, right? So anything that the guru says, I'm going to twist into something negative, right? Report an error in the passage at 46:20 Highlight the passage at 46:20

46:53 Then the guru can't help us, right? If anything that they say, we'll twist. So I'm thinking that that may be referring to something like this, you know, where the guru's just, they won't be around, right? They won't be. Helping us if we destroy our ethical discipline, right? If we don't have an opening, then there would be nasty disputes and you take rebirth elsewhere in unfree states. Report an error in the passage at 46:53 Highlight the passage at 46:53

47:23 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 47:23 Highlight the passage at 47:23

47:34 that's for the recording. There's a story in the Vinaya about a time when there was an early dispute in the Saṅgha. And there was one monk who was very astute. About the practice of moral discipline. And another who was very knowledgeable about meditation. And one day the master of meditation went to the outhouse and didn't realize that there was a certain rule about cleaning out his chamber pot in a particular way. Report an error in the passage at 47:34 Highlight the passage at 47:34

48:14 And this was found by the moral discipline master to be unacceptable. So the moral discipline master wanted the other person to actually be denounced. So the other teacher said he was fully willing to accept his fault and went to great lengths to show remorse. But this was not sufficient for the moral teacher. So this became a huge dispute that then was brought to the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 48:14 Highlight the passage at 48:14

48:50 And what did the Buddha do in this situation? After listening to both sides, the Buddha got up and left and walked to another part of India and left him alone. Report an error in the passage at 48:50 Highlight the passage at 48:50

49:05 Smart. Report an error in the passage at 49:05 Highlight the passage at 49:05

49:10 Yeah, let them duke it out themselves. Yeah, I mean, it's like there's 14 unanswered questions by the Buddha. There were 14 questions that famously the Buddha wouldn't answer because no matter what he said, people would misunderstand him. Report an error in the passage at 49:10 Highlight the passage at 49:10

49:31 So sometimes even enlightened beings, they can't do anything. The story that you referred to about the monk Malumb Kaliaputta. Report an error in the passage at 49:31 Highlight the passage at 49:31

49:44 The Buddha went so far as to say not only would they misunderstand, but they would spend so much time debating every word that he said, they wouldn't spend time meditating. So it would not only be not beneficial, but it would be harmful. So he said, what I've left undeclared, leave undeclared, and what I've declared, leave declared. Report an error in the passage at 49:44 Highlight the passage at 49:44

50:04 What if I declare the Four Noble Truths? It's a wonderful story. Yeah, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 50:04 Highlight the passage at 50:04

50:17 Okay, then we'll go on to Shantideva. Lama Tsongkhapa then quotes Shantideva on the faults of the mental afflictions. Enemies such as hatred and craving do not have arms or legs or other limbs. They have no valor either. So why is it that they have reduced me to servitude? While residing in my mind, they keep inflicting harm on me who lets them be. Report an error in the passage at 50:17 Highlight the passage at 50:17

50:51 But the patience that's not angry at them is unsuitable patience, the object of blame. Even if the gods and demigods were all to rise as enemies against me, they would not be able to lead or put me into the fires of the incessant hell. Report an error in the passage at 50:51 Highlight the passage at 50:51

51:11 However, the mental afflictions, these powerful foes, within a single moment they throw me in there, where whatever meets with it, even Mount Meru, is burnt so that nothing is left. Not even ashes. Compared to those foes of mine, the mental afflictions which have been with me without beginning nor end, none of all the other enemies would be able to last for such a long time. Report an error in the passage at 51:11 Highlight the passage at 51:11

51:42 If everyone benefits you and makes you happy, if you had acted with reverence and in agreement, in case you have attended to mental afflictions, they inflict suffering and harm on you in return. Report an error in the passage at 51:42 Highlight the passage at 51:42

51:58 So let's go back. Report an error in the passage at 51:58 Highlight the passage at 51:58

52:02 Enemies such as hatred and craving do not have arms or legs or other limbs, yet they have no valor either. So why is it that they have reduced me to servitude? Report an error in the passage at 52:02 Highlight the passage at 52:02

52:14 So I'm enslaved, right? We're enslaved to mental afflictions. They don't have arms or legs, right? They can't pin us down, but nonetheless we're enslaved to our mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 52:14 Highlight the passage at 52:14

52:28 While residing in my mind, they keep inflicting harm on me who lets them be. But the patience that's not angry at them is unsuitable patience, the object of blame. So in general, we're supposed to practice patience. But we shouldn't practice patience with the mental afflictions, thinking, oh yeah, that's fine. Report an error in the passage at 52:28 Highlight the passage at 52:28

52:50 That anger, that's fine. We're supposed to... Report an error in the passage at 52:50 Highlight the passage at 52:50

52:59 Like His Holiness says, if we're going to get angry at something, I think Shantideva says that too, right? If we're going to get angry at something, get angry at our mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 52:59 Highlight the passage at 52:59

53:08 Not the person, but the mental. So we shouldn't just be patient with our mental, and not apply the antidote. I Report an error in the passage at 53:08 Highlight the passage at 53:08

53:28 mean, I just have a practical comment on this one. I think we shouldn't beat ourselves up for having mental afflictions, right? That's not what this is saying. This is saying we should counteract our mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 53:28 Highlight the passage at 53:28

53:42 And I think we have to be patient and not expect our mental functions will go away immediately. But we shouldn't be patient with regard to not even trying to counteract them. Report an error in the passage at 53:42 Highlight the passage at 53:42

53:59 That's just my own opinion. Report an error in the passage at 53:59 Highlight the passage at 53:59

54:04 The next, even if the gods and demigods were all to arise as enemies against me, they would not be able to lead or put me into the fires of incessant hell. All of the external enemies who are trying to kill us or destroy us, none of the external enemies can put us into a lower rebirth. Only ourselves, only our mental afflictions can put us into a lower rebirth. External enemies, the worst they can do is kill us, but they can't bring us to the lower realms. Report an error in the passage at 54:04 Highlight the passage at 54:04

54:37 They can't harm us in a future life. Report an error in the passage at 54:37 Highlight the passage at 54:37

54:45 How are the mental afflictions, those powerful foes, within a single moment they throw me in there. So a strong, strong thought to harm others can throw us into a lower realm where whatever meets with it, even Mount Meru is burnt so that nothing is left, not even ashes. So the hot hells. Compared to those foes of mine, the mental afflictions which have been with me without beginning nor end. Report an error in the passage at 54:45 Highlight the passage at 54:45

55:19 None of all the other enemies would be able to last for such a long time. So we've had the mental afflictions forever. Our other enemies are short-lived or irritants. If everyone benefits you and makes you happy, if you had acted with reverence and in agreement, in case you have attended to mental afflictions, they inflict suffering and harm on you in return. Report an error in the passage at 55:19 Highlight the passage at 55:19

55:57 Let me read. This other translation in Gishisopa's book where he says, if I agreeably honor and serve anyone, they respond with beneficial and pleasing actions. Right, so with outer enemies, you know, people who don't like us, if we change our behavior toward them, if we're really kind to them and helpful to them, usually they'll come around. Report an error in the passage at 55:57 Highlight the passage at 55:57

56:24 But not with the mental afflictions. But if I serve these obscuring afflictions, they respond with actions that bring harm and pain. So if I indulge the mental afflictions, then they won't come around and bring me happiness. They'll just bring the result of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 56:24 Highlight the passage at 56:24

56:50 So Lama Tsongkhapa says you should reflect on the shortcomings of afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 56:50 Highlight the passage at 56:50

56:59 That's pretty powerful. I think it's break time. We'll take a short-ish break. Okay, five, ten minutes. And then we'll go on to Report an error in the passage at 56:59 Highlight the passage at 56:59

57:24 dynamics change every week. But it's nice to have you. We'll see you next Report an error in the passage at 57:24 Highlight the passage at 57:24

57:37 Yeah, exactly. You want more Report an error in the passage at 57:37 Highlight the passage at 57:37

57:46 I'm not very good at it, but like a holy Report an error in the passage at 57:46 Highlight the passage at 57:46

58:02 size of a weapon. is, yeah, it is. Report an error in the passage at 58:02 Highlight the passage at 58:02

58:13 I thought you were asking for the street name for them. Oh, there's another name, huh? Report an error in the passage at 58:13 Highlight the passage at 58:13

58:22 Okay, let's start. It's a forward page. Psst. Report an error in the passage at 58:22 Highlight the passage at 58:22

58:28 Then just to follow on the faults of the mental afflictions, Lama Tsongkhapa quotes Ganpopo. In order to abandon the mental afflictions, it is necessary to know their shortcomings, their characteristics, their antidotes and the causes for their arising. Once you have understood their shortcomings, you should see them as drawbacks, apprehend them as enemies. If you do not understand their shortcomings, you will not understand them to be enemies. Report an error in the passage at 58:28 Highlight the passage at 58:28

59:06 Do not try to abandon them. Therefore, I should consider them along the lines of statements from Ornament of the Sutras and Engaging in the Bodhisattva Behavior. So the two quotes that we just covered. Report an error in the passage at 59:06 Highlight the passage at 59:06

59:19 So Report an error in the passage at 59:19 Highlight the passage at 59:19

59:23 I think there's a certain level that on the surface we can immediately accept that mental afflictions are disturbing to the mind. Like anger, jealousy. Report an error in the passage at 59:23 Highlight the passage at 59:23

59:39 Then there are some more subtle ones that are more difficult to see, like attachment. Attachment to good food. Nice clothes. All that nice home. So those we have to work harder at seeing. Okay, are those really causing me suffering? Are they disturbing my mind? Pride also might be more difficult to see. Report an error in the passage at 59:39 Highlight the passage at 59:39

1:00:08 Doubt, more difficult to see. So then we have to put a bit more effort. And particularly... Our strongest afflictions, like our strongest attachments, we kind of don't even want to see that there's anything wrong with them. So then we need to put more effort. Because if we keep indulging our mental afflictions, they just increase. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:08 Highlight the passage at 1:00:08

1:00:37 So at least we should try to counteract them sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:37 Highlight the passage at 1:00:37

1:00:44 Even the ones that feel good. Sometimes, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:44 Highlight the passage at 1:00:44

1:00:49 But we won't try to counteract them unless we actually see that they're causing us problems. So we have to look honestly at that. Have we talked about specific antidotes for each one in particular? Are there specific, unique antidotes or practices for each one of those things? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:49 Highlight the passage at 1:00:49

1:01:10 We've talked about some of the antidotes, but maybe we can spend a few minutes and talk about that. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:10 Highlight the passage at 1:01:10

1:01:22 We have covered antidotes for... Let's go back to the list. Desirous attachment. So one antidote for that is meditating on impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:22 Highlight the passage at 1:01:22

1:01:39 Everything's changing from moment to moment and we'll definitely lose what we have. If we have a real lustful kind of desire, desirous attachment, then it's recommended that we meditate on the ugliness, unattractiveness of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:39 Highlight the passage at 1:01:39

1:02:02 And then emptiness is the antidote for everything. So if our understanding of emptiness is strong enough, then we can use that. And that's the best antidote. And last year, His Holiness said something very interesting. So in general, if our understanding of emptiness is strong enough, then that's the one we should use. But it really takes... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:02 Highlight the passage at 1:02:02

1:02:29 A strong experience of emptiness before that becomes a powerful enough antidote. So in the meantime, we have all of these other antidotes, like meditating on impermanence and unattractiveness and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:29 Highlight the passage at 1:02:29

1:02:45 And it's interesting, His Holiness said something I'd never heard before, and that was, you know, the emptiness is right, the perfect antidote, and these other antidotes... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:45 Highlight the passage at 1:02:45

1:02:59 If we take them too far, they can go even the other way. If we meditate on unattractiveness too much, we can even develop aversion. So to be careful about that. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:59 Highlight the passage at 1:02:59

1:03:17 So anger, antidote to anger, Report an error in the passage at 1:03:17 Highlight the passage at 1:03:17

1:03:23 patience, love, thinking of the good qualities of somebody, not just focusing on the negative. Pride. Antidote to pride, Report an error in the passage at 1:03:23 Highlight the passage at 1:03:23

1:03:42 being humble. So being humble is the opposite of pride. Well, how can we counteract pride? Report an error in the passage at 1:03:42 Highlight the passage at 1:03:42

1:03:55 So, yeah, serving others, that can definitely help. Yeah, frustrations are good. Right, pride is being puffed up, thinking about a good quality. So one way to counteract pride is to think of something we don't know or something we're not good at. good. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:55 Highlight the passage at 1:03:55

1:04:30 No matter how smart we are, somebody else is smarter, no matter how, yeah, whatever, how nice of a car we have, somebody else has a nicer one. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:30 Highlight the passage at 1:04:30

1:04:44 Someone's always younger, somebody's always more beautiful, yeah, more well-spoken, whatever, better athlete, better Report an error in the passage at 1:04:44 Highlight the passage at 1:04:44

1:04:55 ignorance, wisdom, wisdom, developing, you know, really analyzing the nature of things, right, instead of just... Succumbing to the mental dullness and darkness. Doubt. How do we overcome doubt? Report an error in the passage at 1:04:55 Highlight the passage at 1:04:55

1:05:26 Yeah, practice is one of them, right? If I have doubt whether or not Vajrasava practice is a good practice, right? How do you overcome that is by actually trying it, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:26 Highlight the passage at 1:05:26

1:05:41 And then also it's said to investigate, right? Instead of just accept the doubt, but to really study and investigate it. View of the transitory collection, the wisdom realizing emptiness. So once again, investigating the nature of the self. View holding to an extreme, Report an error in the passage at 1:05:41 Highlight the passage at 1:05:41

1:06:08 so an extreme of permanence or the extreme of annihilation. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:08 Highlight the passage at 1:06:08

1:06:18 So it seems that most of these views, these five views, would have similar kinds of antidotes, because they're holding up a wrong view, so we need to investigate. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:18 Highlight the passage at 1:06:18

1:06:42 Holding on to a bad view is best. Holding on to mistaken ethics and modes of conduct is best. Wrong views, right? What's he investigating? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:42 Highlight the passage at 1:06:42

1:06:59 Well, faith, I don't know about faith. I don't think faith is really the antidote. You know, just really looking at it logically. Yeah? Because sometimes we hold on to views out of fear, right? Out of habit and fear of letting go of it, right? And we just need to try to work through that and look logically at it. Okay, does that really make sense? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:59 Highlight the passage at 1:06:59

1:07:30 Okay, does that answer your question? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:30 Highlight the passage at 1:07:30

1:07:36 Okay, then we'll go. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:36 Highlight the passage at 1:07:36

1:07:44 Only in San Francisco. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:44 Highlight the passage at 1:07:44

1:07:50 Okay, so Report an error in the passage at 1:07:50 Highlight the passage at 1:07:50

1:08:01 I'll just read what Lama Tsongkhapa says next. And in order to know the characteristics of the mental afflictions, you should also study the Abhidharma, or at least the differentiation of the five aggregates. It's never really open. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:01 Highlight the passage at 1:08:01

1:08:15 Or minds and mental factors is offered in such a thing. Once you have got acquainted with the root and secondary afflictions, you will identify attachment, hatred and so forth, whatever it is, as soon as they arise in your continuum, thinking, this is that, oh no, it has arisen, and you will fight the mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:15 Highlight the passage at 1:08:15

1:08:41 That kind of understanding is necessary. Instead of, oh yeah! Oh no, that's going to cause me suffering. Oh good, Report an error in the passage at 1:08:41 Highlight the passage at 1:08:41

1:09:03 that's right, that is, that's excellent. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:03 Highlight the passage at 1:09:03

1:09:09 Yeah, I mean even seeing it is wonderful, right, it's a big step. And then seeing it as something undesirable is great. And then we just have to practice counteracting it, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09:09

1:09:33 If you read my mind, I go, go Report an error in the passage at 1:09:33 Highlight the passage at 1:09:33

1:09:41 I'm leaving right now, Peter. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:41 Highlight the passage at 1:09:41

1:09:49 Okay, so good. We get to start on the next section. Karma. So we've covered the mental afflictions. So then Lama Tsongkhapa gets into how karma is accumulated by the mental afflictions and what karma is. So identifying the karma that is accumulated and how karma is accumulated. So identifying the karma that is accumulated. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:49 Highlight the passage at 1:09:49

1:10:12 So what is karma? So there are two types of karma in general. I don't know if you've heard this before. Karma that is intention and karma that is intended action. Sounds like a play on words, right? So karma that is intention. Okay, there's a couple of schools of thought on this, but I'll give you the Prasangika view. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:12 Highlight the passage at 1:10:12

1:10:44 Well, actually, Lama Tsongkhapa gives both. So karma that is intention is the mental intention. It's a mental factor called an intention that motivates. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:44 Highlight the passage at 1:10:44

1:11:01 Lama Tsongkhapa says it's the mental factor that makes its concomitant mind move and urges it towards object, is action of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:01 Highlight the passage at 1:11:01

1:11:13 So this is the mental intention. Okay, so the mental factor of intention is said to be the factor of the mind that moves the mind to a particular object. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:13 Highlight the passage at 1:11:13

1:11:30 So if I'm, if I... If I'm angry at somebody, I want to say harsh words to them. So karma that is intention is that thought of wanting to say harsh words to somebody. I mean, in general. But it's the mental factor of intention that's motivating the harsh words. Then karma that is intended action is the actions of body and speech that are motivated by that intention. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:30 Highlight the passage at 1:11:30

1:12:03 So if we... If we say it really simply and not completely accurately, karma that is intention is mental. Karma that is intended action is the action of body and speech that is motivated by that intention, that mental intention. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:03 Highlight the passage at 1:12:03

1:12:22 It gets more complicated, but just to get that part first. So the karma that is intention is the mental, like the motivation, let's say, that's intending to do something. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:22 Highlight the passage at 1:12:22

1:12:36 That comes first, right? And then there's the intended action, the karma that is in the intended action, the actions of body and speech that are motivated by that intention. So first I have an intention to speak harsh words, and then I speak harsh words. So the indeed harsh words, it is the karma that is intention. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:36 Highlight the passage at 1:12:36

1:12:58 Then karma that is intended action, the actions of body and speech that are motivated by that intention. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:58 Highlight the passage at 1:12:58

1:13:15 So Gishe Loden, I think, said it very clearly. The karma of intention, so the first one, karma intention, is a mental factor conceiving an action. It is the motivation prior to the action itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:15 Highlight the passage at 1:13:15

1:13:30 Then the intended karma or the karma that is intended action, so the second type, is the mental factor generated at the time of actually performing an action of body and speech. It is the actualization of what was intended by the karma of intention. So the higher schools are saying, okay, so... Report an error in the passage at 1:13:30 Highlight the passage at 1:13:30

1:13:49 So the action of body and speech itself isn't karma. It's the mental intention that accompanies the action of body and speech. It's the thought. So it's not the physical, it's not the sounds of the harsh speech that is the karma. It's the mental intention that accompanies that. So the karma of intention. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:49 Highlight the passage at 1:13:49

1:14:23 The first one happens first, right? It's the motivation prior to the action of body and speech. And then the intended karma is the mental factor generated at the time of actually performing the action of body or speech. So in the example of the harsh speech, right? So before I actually utter the harsh speech, the intention to utter harsh speech is the first one, the karma that is intention. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:23 Highlight the passage at 1:14:23

1:14:55 And then the mind that accompanies the actual harsh speech is the karma that is intended action. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:55 Highlight the passage at 1:14:55

1:15:09 Yes? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:09 Highlight the passage at 1:15:09

1:15:14 So Geshe Loden says an example of karma of intention is the thought to shoot someone. I just find it interesting to be killing. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:14 Highlight the passage at 1:15:14

1:15:26 So the thought to shoot someone is the karma of intention and the intended karma the karma that is the intended action. Is the mind generated at the time of actually pulling the trigger and watching the person die? All karma is therefore created and accumulated by mind, whether or not it involves body and speech. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:26 Highlight the passage at 1:15:26

1:15:51 So this is the position of the Madhyamika school. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:51 Highlight the passage at 1:15:51

1:16:05 The Vasubandhu, the lowest school, has a different position. I was just going to ask you, it might be easier for me to understand that this... Distinction, if I understood why the distinction was being made, is there a difference between, do these have different implications, these two different kinds of karma? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:05 Highlight the passage at 1:16:05

1:16:32 Oh, you mean in terms of severity? No, in terms of the result or the implications of one and not the other. The intensity of the karma? Yeah, why make the distinction between... Between them? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:32 Highlight the passage at 1:16:32

1:16:53 I mean, is there a difference between, like, sort of wishing ill towards someone but actually not doing anything physical? Yeah. Or, I mean, does it make any difference then? Is it just the same that I wish this person ill but I just didn't get a chance to let the air out of their tires? But I really wished it would have happened, genuinely. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:53 Highlight the passage at 1:16:53

1:17:18 So is it saying that perhaps they're the same or that there is a difference? That if you, Report an error in the passage at 1:17:18 Highlight the passage at 1:17:18

1:17:28 so it's lesser than... I don't know why the distinction is being made. Well, you know, generally when we study karma, we study the non-virtues, the virtues and the non-virtues of body, speech and mind. Like the ten non-virtues, the three non-virtues of body are killing, stealing and sexual misconduct. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:28 Highlight the passage at 1:17:28

1:17:53 And those are generally, I mean in general, considered more severe than the four actions of speech and the three actions of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:53 Highlight the passage at 1:17:53

1:18:03 Then the four actions of speech, negative actions of speech are lying, divisive speech, harsh speech and idle gossip. So that's in order of severity as well, lying being the most negative karma in general. And then divisive speech, harsh speech, etc. And then the three of mind, covetousness, malice and wrong view. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:03 Highlight the passage at 1:18:03

1:18:29 And wrong view is actually the worst, covetousness. So in general, there are those ten non-virtuous actions, and here I think it's trying to describe, well, what is the karma that's actually being created, associated with the three actions of body, the four of speech, and the three of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:29 Highlight the passage at 1:18:29

1:18:58 And then Lama Tsongkhapa went into a lot of detail about what made a karma heavier or lighter. So in general, if we have the thought, To speak harshly to somebody but we don't, then it's less negative than if we followed through with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:58 Highlight the passage at 1:18:58

1:19:21 Yeah, but I think Don had something to say on this and Lewis too. What my understanding is from the Yogacara school, and I don't want to subject us all to too much of that, but just... In the Yogacara school, the eighth consciousness, the Alayavijana, has the seeds, the bija of the past karma. And that, when it is activated, sends out a perfume, which then activates the manas, which is the seventh consciousness, which is where the self-grasping takes place. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:21 Highlight the passage at 1:19:21

1:20:06 And so when a person has an intended... A karma of intention, that's the flow of the energy, we'll say, from the bijas to the manas. But if the manas don't grasp onto that and then act on it, then the activity is just that one way. But if the action then becomes active in the manas and then goes into the activation, then the manas then perfume back the... Report an error in the passage at 1:20:06 Highlight the passage at 1:20:06

1:20:39 The seeds, which makes the seeds grow even stronger. So this is Vasubandhu's view, I think, that may be related to your question, but maybe not. So that's my understanding. Now there's a little different in Nargajuna's view, but then we have to begin to understand the difference of the conditions and how they're viewed in Yogacara and Madhyamika, which is... Report an error in the passage at 1:20:39 Highlight the passage at 1:20:39

1:21:07 beyond my understanding. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:07 Highlight the passage at 1:21:07

1:21:20 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:20 Highlight the passage at 1:21:20

1:21:27 Yeah, that's That kind of Report an error in the passage at 1:21:27 Highlight the passage at 1:21:27

1:21:51 makes sense to me on a different kind of level because I'm a very integrative person. I like to try to integrate multiple views. of reality and life and Report an error in the passage at 1:21:51 Highlight the passage at 1:21:51

1:22:00 that makes sense to me from a psychological standpoint if you're engaging in sort of angry actions that sort of reinforces sort Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:22:00 Highlight the passage at 1:22:00

1:22:17 definitely. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:17 Highlight the passage at 1:22:17

1:22:24 Yeah. what I mean? Like, your actions can actually reinforce some mental constructs and mental predispositions. And if you stop yourself from Report an error in the passage at 1:22:24 Highlight the passage at 1:22:24

1:22:21 of help us extinguish yeah sort of underlying predispositions so that kind of makes sense to me in that context yeah yeah Report an error in the passage at 1:22:21 Highlight the passage at 1:22:21

1:22:34 Right, so as practitioners, we're trying to stop it at the level of the mind. I Report an error in the passage at 1:22:34 Highlight the passage at 1:22:34

1:22:51 kind of didn't want to get into this, but since Lama Tsongkhapa brings it up, I'll say something brief about this. So the second type of karma that is intended action are divided into the revelatory and the non-revelatory and is posited as only having form by the Vibashikas. Then Master Vasubandhu refutes that and maintains that they are intentions that operate together with the revelatory physical and verbal actions whereby he explains both actions to be intentions. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:51 Highlight the passage at 1:22:51

1:23:23 So the Vibashikas say that the actions of body and speech are physical. They're not just the mental intention that's associated with it. And then they get into this... Report an error in the passage at 1:23:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23:23

1:23:46 This thing about revelatory and non-revelatory forms. Do I want to explain that? Report an error in the passage at 1:23:46 Highlight the passage at 1:23:46

1:23:56 So let me just, let me just, so let's just, let's maybe go with an example. So, so let's say I, I'm going to go violent again, I kill somebody physically. Right, so the vibashikos would say the physical act of killing. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:56 Highlight the passage at 1:23:56

1:24:24 karma. And specifically, the shape of the body is the karma, the physical. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:24 Highlight the passage at 1:24:24

1:24:39 And that shape of the body of attacking somebody reveals a particular motivation. It reveals the motivation to kill. So that's considered a revelatory form. So karma. In that instance would be a revelatory form because it reveals the inner motivation. Or on a positive note, like if somebody is taking vows and kneeling down and putting their hands together, that's a positive physical karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:39 Highlight the passage at 1:24:39

1:25:15 It's been created, the shape of the body that reveals, we hope, a good inner motivation. And then there's this discussion about non-revelatory form where there's, according to, Report an error in the passage at 1:25:15 Highlight the passage at 1:25:15

1:25:34 According to Vaibhashikas, the vows that we take are form, and they leave imprints on our minds, on our mental continuum. But we can't see them, right? Others can't see them, so those are considered non-revelatory forms. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:34 Highlight the passage at 1:25:34

1:25:55 So the Vaibhashikas think that physical and verbal karma are revelatory and non-revelatory forms. But then in his Abhidharmakosha Vasubandhu refutes that and says that, now, you know, the bodily shape and all of that, that in and of itself doesn't indicate virtue or not virtue. It's the mind associated with it, right? So it's the mind associated, it's the intention associated with it that's the actual karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:55 Highlight the passage at 1:25:55

1:26:38 Lastly, we'll go into the three types of karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:38 Highlight the passage at 1:26:38

1:26:44 Lama Tsongkhapa says, in this regard, non-virtuous actions are non-meritorious actions. Meritorious actions are virtuous actions included in the level of the desire realm. Immovable actions are contaminated virtuous actions included in the levels of the form and formless realms. So there are many different ways to divide up karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:44 Highlight the passage at 1:26:44

1:27:06 So we've talked about virtuous, non-virtuous and neutral karma. Virtuous karma that brings about happiness and experience of happiness. Non-virtuous karma brings about an experience of unhappiness or suffering or pain. And neutral karma brings about neither a happy or pleasurable or unpleasurable experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:06 Highlight the passage at 1:27:06

1:27:30 So another division of karma are non-meritorious, meritorious and immovable actions. So non-meritorious actions are non-virtuous actions. They bring about suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:30 Highlight the passage at 1:27:30

1:27:47 And non-meritorious actions specifically are non-meritorious. They bring about suffering in the desire realm. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:47 Highlight the passage at 1:27:47

1:28:01 Non-virtuous actions of the desire realm are non-meritorious actions. So there's the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm. Form and formless realms are developed through achieving high states of concentration. So non-virtue does not exist in the form and formless realms. Only in the desire realm. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:01 Highlight the passage at 1:28:01

1:28:25 So non-meritorious actions are related to the desire realm. Meritorious actions are virtuous actions included in the level of the desire realm, whereas immovable actions are contaminated virtuous actions included in the level of the form and formless realms. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:25 Highlight the passage at 1:28:25

1:28:45 Is it too late to even go through this? Maybe we wait until the next class, because I think it will take more than the two minutes we have left to make it beyond. Yeah. Yeah, make it beyond. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:45 Highlight the passage at 1:28:45

1:29:04 Yeah. Okay. So the homework assignment for this next week is to really contemplate the faults of the mental afflictions that we talked about, right? According to the two quotes that we got, that we covered, the ornament of the sutras and the Shantideva's engaging in the bodhisattva deeds as related to your own experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:04 Highlight the passage at 1:29:04

1:29:35 Think about that in our meditation or on the bus or on the BART or in the car or on your bike. Maybe not. On the plane. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:35 Highlight the passage at 1:29:35

1:30:05 Thank you, Don. It was nice to have you. And it was nice to have Betty back. Betty. Also. We're ready for Betty. Come back, Betty. Please come back. Please come back. Yeah. And please come back, too, Don, next time you're around if you have time. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:05 Highlight the passage at 1:30:05

1:30:22 So since we talked about Shantideva. We'll end with Shantideva's dedication on page 246. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:22 Highlight the passage at 1:30:22

1:30:46 May all beings everywhere plagued by sufferings of body and mind obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no living creature suffer, commit evil or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose the naked find clothing the hungry find food may the thirsty find water and delicious drinks the poor find wealth those weak with sorrow find May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:46 Highlight the passage at 1:30:46

1:31:34 May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill, Quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:34 Highlight the passage at 1:31:34

1:32:27 Let's also dedicate to the long lives of all of our spiritual masters, Report an error in the passage at 1:32:27 Highlight the passage at 1:32:27

1:32:35 His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Chodan Rinpoche, Geshe Dagpa, or whoever our masters are. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:35 Highlight the passage at 1:32:35

1:32:57 May they continue to teach until we're all freed from saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:57 Highlight the passage at 1:32:57

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:33:53 So Geshe Tashi Sering is here this coming Thursday, which will be a real treat. He's teaching on... So he's a visiting teacher from London. Well, he's the resident teacher in London at the Jamyang Center. He's the creator of this whole study series called The Foundation of Buddhist Thought. He teaches in English. I've never heard him teach, but I've heard he's just wonderful and very modern. He has a good understanding of the Western mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:53 Highlight the passage at 1:33:53

1:34:24 He's leading the Kopan West this year at Vajrapani, and so he kindly agreed to... give a talk coming Thursday on do we really need a guru? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:24 Highlight the passage at 1:34:24

1:34:38 an interesting topic, a useful topic, right? it's at 7, 7 o 'clock, so, yeah, so if you can come, I think it'll be great. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:38 Highlight the passage at 1:34:38

1:34:53 I haven't heard anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:53 Highlight the passage at 1:34:53

1:35:05 You know, that would be great, and I've forgotten to mention it, but if anybody can go, it's November 13th. Through, gosh, it's maybe 10 days or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:05 Highlight the passage at 1:35:05

1:35:29 I hope you feel better. You have a fever? Report an error in the passage at 1:35:29 Highlight the passage at 1:35:29

1:35:46 Oh, you got your, did you get a swine flu shot? was like, oh. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:46 Highlight the passage at 1:35:46

1:35:43 necessarily hope so. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:43 Highlight the passage at 1:35:43