Basic Program - Buddhism From A-Z (20 November 2009)

0:01 And how as long as we're in saṃsāra, we won't be able to find lasting happiness, right? We'll be disappointed again and again until we get out of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 0:01 Highlight the passage at 0:01

0:16 So in this section, we've talked about the true sufferings and the true origins of suffering. So the first two noble truths. And under true origins, there were three subsections. First of all, how the mental afflictions arise and how karma is accumulated and then how you die, transmigrate and take rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 0:16 Highlight the passage at 0:16

0:43 So remembering that the two origins of suffering are mental afflictions and karma. So we covered each of those two. And then now we, last week we started talking about the whole death process and transmigration and rebirth. So today... Report an error in the passage at 0:43 Highlight the passage at 0:43

1:06 Last time we talked about the conditions for death, the three ways that we can die. Either exhaustion of our karma, exhaustion of our merit, dying due to not having enough merit. And then the third one was, what was it called? Something about not being... Report an error in the passage at 1:06 Highlight the passage at 1:06

1:42 Yeah, I don't remember quite what it was called, but creating obstacles, right, to our life basically by not, like taking silly risks or not eating right or not taking care of ourselves, that kind of thing. Eating too much or, Report an error in the passage at 1:42 Highlight the passage at 1:42

2:04 yeah, something like that. Report an error in the passage at 2:04 Highlight the passage at 2:04

2:11 Death due to dangers not being avoided is what it says in the outline. So in the text, if people are following the text, we're on page Report an error in the passage at 2:11 Highlight the passage at 2:11

2:29 122. And then we talked about the mind of death. And then today we're going to talk about from where the heat withdraws. Report an error in the passage at 2:29 Highlight the passage at 2:29

2:44 So at the time of death, on Report an error in the passage at 2:44 Highlight the passage at 2:44

2:49 page 122. So from the place in those who have created non-virtue, the heat first... First withdraws from the upper part of the corpse and dissipates down to the heart. In those who have created virtue, the heat first withdraws from the lower part of the corpse and dissipates up to the heart. So if we're headed toward a lower rebirth, so first the head gets cold and then down up to the heart, down to the heart. Report an error in the passage at 2:49 Highlight the passage at 2:49

3:29 And if we're... We're destined for a higher rebirth. It's our feet that get cold first and then up to the heart. Report an error in the passage at 3:29 Highlight the passage at 3:29

3:45 So I found the picture. So the heat withdraws from the top to the heart for non-virtuous projecting karma and from the bottom up for the virtuous projecting karma. Report an error in the passage at 3:45 Highlight the passage at 3:45

4:01 And then the consciousness leaves the body at the heart level. Either way. Report an error in the passage at 4:01 Highlight the passage at 4:01

4:14 I don't think there's anything that's hard and fast. So in general, you know, because there's another presentation. Just because, I mean, I can't imagine it being this formulaic. I mean, maybe in general, but. Report an error in the passage at 4:14 Highlight the passage at 4:14

4:31 Yeah, so, I mean, I don't, you know, so I would be speculating. Right, but, right, exactly. But, yeah, but this is what the text says, right? So, you know, whatever that, yeah, exactly. But then Geshe Jampagyatso says that in other texts, it says at the time of death, the consciousness... Okay, so in this presentation, Lama Tsongkhapa is saying the consciousness always leaves from the heart. Report an error in the passage at 4:31 Highlight the passage at 4:31

5:02 But in other texts, sometimes it says that the consciousness leaves from the feet or the upper part of the head. So at the time of death, we're recommended not to touch people's feet, because that would attract the consciousness down to the lower realms. And it's better to touch, right, if you have to touch their body, right, touch their head, right, to attract the consciousness out of the top of the head. Report an error in the passage at 5:02 Highlight the passage at 5:02

5:30 So anyway, so different presentations. Report an error in the passage at 5:30 Highlight the passage at 5:30

5:41 Right. Exactly. No matter how good our intentions are, it might not be a good idea. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 5:41 Highlight the passage at 5:41

5:55 It's said that the consciousness exits the body from the heart area, and then that's also where... Like where life began was in the heart area, and then it exits. So here it says, at the moment of conception, consciousness enters the fertilized ovum, and the place where it enters the ovum eventually becomes the heart of that body. Report an error in the passage at 5:55 Highlight the passage at 5:55

6:25 Then at the end of that life, consciousness exits the body from the same place. Report an error in the passage at 6:25 Highlight the passage at 6:25

6:32 So that's what it says. Report an error in the passage at 6:32 Highlight the passage at 6:32

6:36 right, then... Report an error in the passage at 6:36 Highlight the passage at 6:36

6:41 Alright, so Lama Tsongkhapa continues, in both cases the consciousness transmigrates from the heart. That which the consciousness first entered into in the middle of the mixture of semen and menstrual blood transforms into the heart. And where it eventually transmigrates from is that very place it first enters into. So that's what I was just mentioning. So we'll talk a bit about how the consciousness enters, right, the semen ovum. Report an error in the passage at 6:41 Highlight the passage at 6:41

7:10 Initially at the time of birth and then it exits from the heart. Report an error in the passage at 7:10 Highlight the passage at 7:10

7:20 Then the next section, how the intermediate state is accomplished after death. So have you all gotten teachings on this before, on the intermediate state? Report an error in the passage at 7:20 Highlight the passage at 7:20

7:30 Yeah, in Buddhism maybe. So after we die and before we're born, in general, there's this thing called the bardo, or the intermediate state. Report an error in the passage at 7:30 Highlight the passage at 7:30

7:47 In general. Report an error in the passage at 7:47 Highlight the passage at 7:47

7:51 So... So Lama Tsongkhapa says, from the place where the consciousness transmigrates, as explained above, death and the bardo are accomplished without a break, just like the swing on the armature of a scale. So at the moment of death, the moment the consciousness exits the body, is also the same moment that the consciousness is in the intermediate state, like on a scale. Report an error in the passage at 7:51 Highlight the passage at 7:51

8:17 As soon as one goes up, the other one automatically. As soon as one goes down, the other one automatically goes up. Report an error in the passage at 8:17 Highlight the passage at 8:17

8:28 So at the moment of death, we've been born into the bardo, basically. It's the same thing, right? Looked at in different ways. Death from one state is birth into the next. Report an error in the passage at 8:28 Highlight the passage at 8:28

8:47 So the intermediate state being, moreover, has complete sense faculties such as the eyes and has the aspect of the body of whatever migrating being it will be born as. So let's say in our next life we'll be reborn as a human. So in the bardo our body will be like that of a human. Or if the next life we're going to be reborn as a pig, then our bardo body is like that of a pig. Except for the body is much more subtle than our gross and physical form. Report an error in the passage at 8:47 Highlight the passage at 8:47

9:26 And here... It says that the bardo being has complete sense faculties, so the bardo being has an eye sense, ear sense, nose, tongue, body sense. Report an error in the passage at 9:26 Highlight the passage at 9:26

9:45 And then, as long as it does not take rebirth, its eye is unobstructed like the divine eye, and its body too is unobstructed, as though possessed of magical powers. So this is where the bardo body is more subtle than our body, because it can pass through. Report an error in the passage at 9:45 Highlight the passage at 9:45

10:06 And it's said that if you think of a place, you immediately go there. So if I think about Tibet, I automatically go there as a bardo. It's like a dream body, right? Your mind goes. And then the eye is unobstructed like the divine eye. So this is a clairvoyance where you can see long distances and you can see through walls and things like that so you're not unobstructed. Report an error in the passage at 10:06 Highlight the passage at 10:06

10:38 So a bardo being has a level of clairvoyance. Report an error in the passage at 10:38 Highlight the passage at 10:38

11:04 Maybe I've been watching too much sci-fi channel, but I'm trying to figure out where ghosts come from. And could bardo beings be somewhat, I don't know if they can interact before they're born with people? Report an error in the passage at 11:04 Highlight the passage at 11:04

11:19 It's interesting. I don't know how to answer that question. Oftentimes ghosts, we say that ghosts have the form of the body that... died right it's like when people see you know their mother that passed away you know they're not in the next body right according to these teachings right the bardo body is in the form of your next rebirth right not of your previous life it doesn't seem like that would be a bardo body but I don't know you know I don't know how the Dharma explains Is Report an error in the passage at 11:19 Highlight the passage at 11:19

12:01 that one of the realms? Well they're hungry ghosts but those are different. I've heard Gesheva Yeah, I've never read anything in the texts about ghosts, but what did you hear Geshe-la say about that? No, Geshe-la just mentioned the existence of ghosts in context of another teaching. He didn't explain it further, but he didn't say that they were bardo beings. Report an error in the passage at 12:01 Highlight the passage at 12:01

12:29 He spoke specifically of ghosts. I think in Tibet there's a pretty magical realm of goblins and ghouls and ghosts. I mean, they're pretty vivid in them. So I think it's essentially that there are beings all around us all the time. We don't know because we don't have clairvoyance to see them. But they exist. But how ghosts differ from bardo beings I think probably would depend on the kind of ghost. Report an error in the passage at 12:29 Highlight the passage at 12:29

12:55 Right. Which is a whole separate realm. right. Report an error in the passage at 12:55 Highlight the passage at 12:55

13:11 Yeah, yeah, so it doesn't seem that the ghost is a bardo being based on this description, you know, unless there are different types of bardo beings, you know. So I'm not sure where those fit. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So the bardo beings, they have a certain, this level of clairvoyance where they can see, right, long distances through gross forms. Report an error in the passage at 13:11 Highlight the passage at 13:11

13:39 And Geshe Loden in his book says that they're also... They also have this clairvoyance of seeing many of their previous lives. And they have complete sense organs. Report an error in the passage at 13:39 Highlight the passage at 13:39

13:53 And their body is like a subtle body of wind, right? So they don't eat gross food. They don't eat food like we do. But they eat, they're sustained by odors. So they, odors. So Geshe Loden says, for this reason, many Tibetans mix flour, butter and sugar and burn them. After somebody's death for the intermediate state being. Report an error in the passage at 13:53 Highlight the passage at 13:53

14:26 Bardo being, they see this distant objects and since their bodies are not obstructed by distance or matter they can travel to other universes and even pass through mountains. Report an error in the passage at 14:26 Highlight the passage at 14:26

14:43 In this way their bodies are indestructible and is similar to the body that arises from the heart and in dreams go anywhere while one is sleeping. Report an error in the passage at 14:43 Highlight the passage at 14:43

14:57 Wherever the bardo being projects its mind, its body immediately arrives at the place. Report an error in the passage at 14:57 Highlight the passage at 14:57

15:14 And it is seen by intermediate state beings of similar type and by the flawless divine eye arisen from meditation. So bardo beings, they can see other bardo beings of similar type, like human bardo beings wouldn't be able to see hungry ghost bardo beings or something, but I guess human bardo beings would be able to see other human bardo beings. Report an error in the passage at 15:14 Highlight the passage at 15:14

15:42 And also, there's this clairvoyance of the divine eye that can be cultivated through meditation from developing, you know, calm abiding and up. And so once you've developed that clairvoyance, then you can see bardo beings, right? So if people ask, well, you know, how do you know there are bardo beings, right? Report an error in the passage at 15:42 Highlight the passage at 15:42

16:02 So someone with clairvoyance, this particular clairvoyance, should be able to see these bardo beings. Report an error in the passage at 16:02 Highlight the passage at 16:02

16:17 This is just one stupid question. What does arisen from meditation mean? That the I arises during meditation? Yeah, as a result of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 16:17 Highlight the passage at 16:17

16:31 Oftentimes it's called the uncommon empowering condition. So the condition that enables this clairvoyance to come about is this level of concentration. Report an error in the passage at 16:31 Highlight the passage at 16:31

16:50 While it is set out in Vasubandhu's treasury that once the intermediate state of any migrating being has been accomplished, there is no diverting into some other rebirth. Asanga's compendium of knowledge also explains reversals. So here Vasubandhu in his treasury of knowledge, he says that once you're born in the intermediate state, you're... Report an error in the passage at 16:50 Highlight the passage at 16:50

17:15 Your rebirth can't be directed into something else. So if you've entered into the intermediate state with like a pig body, you're going to be reborn as a pig. You can't be reborn as a human, according to Vasubandhu. But Asanga says, no, no, no, you can, you know, it's possible, you know, that let's say you have a, this is all strange to talk about, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 17:15 Highlight the passage at 17:15

17:39 But we have a... We have the projecting karma right at the time of death. The projecting karma that's nourished, let's say, is pig karma. So then we're reborn into the bardo with a subtle pig body. Report an error in the passage at 17:39 Highlight the passage at 17:39

17:56 And in the bardo, the life of a bardo being is up to seven days. And then if you still haven't found another rebirth, then you die and then you take another bardo body. Up to seven times, right? So there's this seven times seven, so up to 49 days you can stay in the bardo. And a lot, like in this tradition, in the Chinese tradition, oftentimes, right, the 49th day after somebody dies, you know, you do pujas and things like that for them, you know, to help their... Report an error in the passage at 17:56 Highlight the passage at 17:56

18:32 So according to a saṅgha, right, you can, like after your first seven days, you know, you can die from the pig bardo. Body and be reborn into a different kind of body, depending on your karma. And actually, I think I'm jumping ahead because I think he says that later. Report an error in the passage at 18:32 Highlight the passage at 18:32

18:54 Depending on the different karma that ripens at that point. So oftentimes, right, in the first 49 days after somebody dies, we were recommended to do prayers for our loved ones in those first 49 days because that may help them take a better rebirth. So our prayers may help affect them taking a better rebirth. So if we have a close karmic connection with somebody like their relative or a loved one, might we potentially be able to change their karma into a more auspicious one? Report an error in the passage at 18:54 Highlight the passage at 18:54

19:30 It seems. It seems. Or help create the conditions for a different karma to ripen. So I think that's the theory behind it, right? Report an error in the passage at 19:30 Highlight the passage at 19:30

19:45 Yeah. Yeah, I mean, there's this FPMT prayers for the dead list, right? So, like, after we die, we can submit our loved one's name, right, to be prayed for by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Tsongkhapa Rinpoche and all of that. And then their name stays on a list and gets emailed out to whoever's on the list for 49 days. So for those 49 days, we can... Report an error in the passage at 19:45 Highlight the passage at 19:45

20:12 No, but I used to get it. Report an error in the passage at 20:12 Highlight the passage at 20:12

20:18 I Report an error in the passage at 20:18 Highlight the passage at 20:18

20:25 don't have that answer. Report an error in the passage at 20:25 Highlight the passage at 20:25

20:33 Yes, I know. Report an error in the passage at 20:33 Highlight the passage at 20:33

20:38 So in the seven days that you're in a subtle pig body, is that burning up karma? Is that burning up karma? Maybe this is another unanswerable question, but would that be enough to exhaust if you're right on the edge of becoming a pig? Report an error in the passage at 20:38 Highlight the passage at 20:38

20:58 Yeah, I don't know. That's an interesting question. When you live, you exhaust your karma to be in that body, right? Right. Report an error in the passage at 20:58 Highlight the passage at 20:58

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21:07 Yeah, I never thought of that. Report an error in the passage at 21:07 Highlight the passage at 21:07

21:13 Yeah, maybe, you know, if you just have a really light pig. I just Report an error in the passage at 21:13 Highlight the passage at 21:13

21:33 had to throw something into this, which is I've been reading a lot about factory farming and, you know, just it is. And I knew it, but I've been reading more about it because I've had a little time lately. And I just read a review of a book called Eating Animals in the New York Times today. Oh, okay. Well, it just, there's another book that just came out and it was reviewed in the New York Times. But I mean, they're talking about, you know, how incredibly cruel, especially, you know, they say especially to a pig because of course they, but I mean, it's just weird to think about it when you think about this and you, you know, it's just so vivid to think about what karma we must be creating by, I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 21:33 Highlight the passage at 21:33

22:11 Excuse me? By killing pigs. Yeah, and you know it, but I mean, just like. Visualizing it like how close we are to it, it makes it more intense. Report an error in the passage at 22:11 Highlight the passage at 22:11

22:26 A Report an error in the passage at 22:26 Highlight the passage at 22:26

22:30 couple of thoughts while you were saying that, what if your bardo body was like a dodo bird, you wouldn't be able to be born. Report an error in the passage at 22:30 Highlight the passage at 22:30

22:41 It sort of recommends that, you know, the change out of that. Report an error in the passage at 22:41 Highlight the passage at 22:41

22:49 You guys are asking some obscure questions. Extinctions happen every day nowadays. yeah. Report an error in the passage at 22:49 Highlight the passage at 22:49

23:00 Or at least we have the karma to not see any dodo birds, but it doesn't mean there are no dodo birds in any world system. Because this world system is like a dust of... Report an error in the passage at 23:00 Highlight the passage at 23:00

23:22 So if you have the karma to be reborn as a dodo bird, you're going to be reborn. And Report an error in the passage at 23:22 Highlight the passage at 23:22

· · · silence, 1 minute

24:07 I think equanimity is not having attachment and aversion, but still developing a sense of caring. Concerned for all beings. But practically speaking, we're closer to some beings than others. So if we know of someone who's died, we pray for them. And it's good to pray for everyone on the list. So if I'm praying for my father to get a good rebirth, I'm hopefully praying for everyone who's in the Bardo to get a good rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 24:07 Highlight the passage at 24:07

24:45 That would be more equanimous than just my father. I don't care about anybody else. But yeah, that's a good thing to keep in mind, right? Not to just focus on only a few beings. Report an error in the passage at 24:45 Highlight the passage at 24:45

25:06 Somebody asked Geshe-la, because we have a prayer list here at Tsai Chen Ling, and asked Geshe-la, well, if we don't have a connection with Zippy the Wonder Dog, who's on the prayer list, I mean, why are we... Would it actually help Zippy the Wonder Dog? There is some animal on there with a name like that. It's hilarious. But anyway, would it actually help that dog to be praying for it? Report an error in the passage at 25:06 Highlight the passage at 25:06

25:26 And Geshe-Law said, not really. But he said you should still pray for them anyway because it helps you develop the intention. He said it might be of some slight benefit, but really if you don't have the karma with that person, it's not of great benefit to them, which was a little... disappointing to hear but he still said but we should pray anyway and then through praying for somebody we're creating a karmic connection with them right so I took Joe's question a different way. Report an error in the passage at 25:26 Highlight the passage at 25:26

26:11 You know, I took Joe's Which is that, I mean, I think this is what you meant, Joe, but I went down this whole other path when you were speaking, which is if you have equanimity, maybe you shouldn't have attachment to being born as a human. You should be okay with the idea that you might get a pig rebirth instead. Obviously, I don't think that's what you were saying, because that's kind of weird, right? Report an error in the passage at 26:11 Highlight the passage at 26:11

26:35 Because obviously it would be kind of stupid to have a pig rebirth because you need a human rebirth in order to get enlightened. But if you think about trying to be equal about things and not being too attached and invested, I don't know. That's just my weird where I went. Report an error in the passage at 26:35 Highlight the passage at 26:35

26:54 Yeah, like you'd want to be born whatever is the best thing, I guess. And that might be something that you weren't so attached to being or so keen on. Yeah, I don't know. Anyway. Yeah, I mean, it's a tricky thing, right? Because we want to aspire to be, to have a rebirth. In order to continue on the path and be able to help others, but then somehow not being attached to that as well, Report an error in the passage at 26:54 Highlight the passage at 26:54

27:27 to having a certain kind of rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 27:27 Highlight the passage at 27:27

27:47 And then great bodhisattvas, they pray to be born in the lower realms so they can help others, but then they don't actually accomplish it because their mind is too virtuous to be born down there. different, that's totally different. Report an error in the passage at 27:47 Highlight the passage at 27:47

27:59 So, yeah. Okay, let's go on. Report an error in the passage at 27:59 Highlight the passage at 27:59

28:11 I Report an error in the passage at 28:11 Highlight the passage at 28:11

28:17 guess I didn't finish that slide. Okay, the intermediate state of those who have created non-virtue. Okay, so what does the intermediate state look like? Report an error in the passage at 28:17 Highlight the passage at 28:17

28:32 Actually, because I'm kind of allergic to the computer. We have weird Report an error in the passage at 28:32 Highlight the passage at 28:32

28:36 I don't understand. So the intermediate state of those who have created non-virtue appears like black cloth or like a dark night. And the intermediate state of those who have created virtue appears like a white blanket or a moonlit night. So it's interesting, I was reading that the intermediate state beings, there's no light in the intermediate state. Report an error in the passage at 28:36 Highlight the passage at 28:36

29:07 for the inter... The intermediate state beings who have created virtue, it appears as if there's light, like a moonlit night or like a white blanket, whereas if you're going to the lower realms, then it's either completely dark or, Gishisopa says, gloomy, like rain clouds moving in, or sometimes completely dark. Report an error in the passage at 29:07 Highlight the passage at 29:07

29:38 Well, that sounds pretty scary. Report an error in the passage at 29:38 Highlight the passage at 29:38

29:47 And then I think we already covered this, the intermediate state beings, right, sees intermediate state beings of similar type as well as their, oops, Report an error in the passage at 29:47 Highlight the passage at 29:47

30:02 there's a typo. Report an error in the passage at 30:02 Highlight the passage at 30:02

30:17 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, right. you're going to be propelled into certain labor. Report an error in the passage at 30:17 Highlight the passage at 30:17

30:23 Right, so the intermediate state beings will see the pig realm. If it's a pig intermediate state being, it has the clairvoyance to see the pig realm, but not the human realm. Yeah, because we'll cover it a little bit later, but basically you're voluntarily born somewhere. Wherever you're born, you're choosing that place in the intermediate state. Report an error in the passage at 30:23 Highlight the passage at 30:23

30:49 You're attracted to that place. It doesn't necessarily appear as it actually is to the intermediate state being, but you're attracted to it. But we'll cover that a little bit later. In Report an error in the passage at 30:49 Highlight the passage at 30:49

31:08 the color, in the sūtra, entry into the womb, or sometimes translated as descent into the womb, it says that the intermediate state of hell beings is like the color of a burnt log. So the color of that intermediate state is like the color of a burnt log. That of animals is like smoke. That of hungry ghosts is like water. That of desire realm gods and humans is like gold. Report an error in the passage at 31:08 Highlight the passage at 31:08

31:39 And their intermediate state of form realm gods is white. Report an error in the passage at 31:39 Highlight the passage at 31:39

31:55 If you're reborn from the formless realm into the two lower realms, there's an intermediate state. However, if you're born from the two realms to the two... The desire and form realms into the formless realm. The aggregates of the formless realm are accomplished wherever you die and there's no intermediate state. Report an error in the passage at 31:55 Highlight the passage at 31:55

32:15 So basically if you're going to be reborn into the formless realm, you don't have a bardo. You go immediately into the formless realm. There's no intermediate state after death. Whereas if we're reborn into the desire realm or form realm, then there is an intermediate state. Report an error in the passage at 32:15 Highlight the passage at 32:15

32:41 So being reborn into the formless realm is said to be the only exception to the rule that there's an intermediate state after death. So any kind of rebirth except for a formless realm rebirth, it's said to have an intermediate state, according to sūtra, according to tantra. Report an error in the passage at 32:41 Highlight the passage at 32:41

33:05 I still don't have a grasp on what a formless realm is. Well, yeah, formless... Well, you know, in my experience when I was in the formless realm. Yeah, so for a formless realm being, they don't have a body at all, right? So they're absorbed in this high level of concentration. And the form, well, you know, I mean, even at that point, they're beyond bliss. Report an error in the passage at 33:05 Highlight the passage at 33:05

33:41 So it's like there are four levels of concentration and the four levels of formless absorptions above that. And I think it's at the third level of concentration you still have bliss, but the fourth level of concentration you've gone beyond bliss and equanimity and above. So the different formless realms are like infinite space, infinite consciousness, Report an error in the passage at 33:41 Highlight the passage at 33:41

34:11 peak of cyclic existence, nothingness. Nothingness, infinite space. No, it's infinite space, then infinite consciousness, nothingness. And peak of cyclic existence. So somehow you're meditating on infinite space and that's all you perceive, right? Or infinite consciousness and that's all you perceive. Or you perceive nothing. Sounds like being spaced out, but I think it's more profound than that. Report an error in the passage at 34:11 Highlight the passage at 34:11

34:39 It's more profound than that, but Report an error in the passage at 34:39 Highlight the passage at 34:39

34:43 if your meditation takes you beyond bliss, do you get born into the formless realms automatically or is there a way to avoid that? Report an error in the passage at 34:43 Highlight the passage at 34:43

34:59 I suppose there's probably a way to get beyond that. You can become enlightened. Because with that level of concentration, if you realize emptiness, you're home free kind of thing. So I don't think it's unavoidable that you'd be reborn in those realms if you achieve that level of concentration. But I don't know how all of that works. Report an error in the passage at 34:59 Highlight the passage at 34:59

35:25 I haven't found a text that really explains. That level. Because in the Mahāyāna tradition we're not really encouraged to develop all of those high levels of concentration. The first through fourth levels are said to be very good on the Mahāyāna path. Because they're just a vehicle or a method to get to the realization of emptiness. But that level of concentration in and of itself is not. Report an error in the passage at 35:25 Highlight the passage at 35:25

35:59 Seem to be a goal or anything particularly desirable, just a means to an end. So there's not a lot of descriptions on how that all works. Are these based on Hindu concepts of world systems? Because the four that we're not supposed to be interested in sound a lot like mahasamadhi. Report an error in the passage at 35:59 Highlight the passage at 35:59

36:20 Yeah, I don't know about that. I didn't study Hinduism. Report an error in the passage at 36:20 Highlight the passage at 36:20

36:30 Another question for Krishna. Report an error in the passage at 36:30 Highlight the passage at 36:30

36:40 it's not that important. Are there goblins on pink bodies? Yeah. Would you like another grilled beef bird? By the way. Uh-huh. Report an error in the passage at 36:40 Highlight the passage at 36:40

36:55 But even in the Hinayana path, it's emphasized more, you know, attending. Attaining these various levels. I haven't heard an emphasis on that. Report an error in the passage at 36:55 Highlight the passage at 36:55

37:15 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 37:15 Highlight the passage at 37:15

37:36 There's the beef. It's different than you and I. It's transformed. No, that's not what I was talking about. I don't have. It was so via casual conversation. Oh, okay. Okay, sorry. I took it up. Yeah, I get it. Okay. All right. Report an error in the passage at 37:36 Highlight the passage at 37:36

37:43 I think you will see it because it will be reborn as a snake. Okay then. I'm sorry to be born as a subject matter. It's making us all smile. Report an error in the passage at 37:43 Highlight the passage at 37:43

37:58 It's kind of a fun subject. So how does the intermediate state being travel? So it said the intermediate state of gods travel upwards, that of humans travels straight ahead, and that of those who have done faulty actions with eyes cast down travels downwards. Report an error in the passage at 37:58 Highlight the passage at 37:58

38:23 Okay, so for the devas or the gods, it seems, I guess Shantideva says it seems as if those beings are moving uphill, their eyes are cast up. Report an error in the passage at 38:23 Highlight the passage at 38:23

38:40 Whereas the human intermediate state beings seem to be moving straight ahead. And then those who are going to be reborn in the lower realms move with their heads lowered and their eyes cast downwards as if walking downhill. Report an error in the passage at 38:40 Highlight the passage at 38:40

38:56 Interestingly, Geshu Jumpy Gyatso adds an interesting twist where he says the lower intermediate state beings of the lower realms, also their bodies are upside down. So their legs are up in the air and their heads are... Down. So, for the lower realms. So not only are you going to the lower realms, you're upside down. Report an error in the passage at 38:56 Highlight the passage at 38:56

39:28 Okay. So that's what this Descent in the Womb Sūtra says. Whereas Vasubandhu says in his auto-commentary of the Treasury of Knowledge, says that humans, hungry ghosts and animals each move in their own manner. Or in other words, the intermediate state, these beings move in the same way as they move. Report an error in the passage at 39:28 Highlight the passage at 39:28

39:58 You know, on all fours of human beings. So there are different presentations. So I just, you know, obviously I don't have any commentary on this. It's what it says in the text. Report an error in the passage at 39:58 Highlight the passage at 39:58

40:14 And then the lifespan. This is what I was talking about earlier. So basically the lifespan of the intermediate state being is anywhere from, you know, very short to 49 days. So the intermediate state is constantly, the intermediate state being is constantly looking for rebirth. So if they have the karma to be reborn as a pig, right, so they're looking for the right circumstance to be born as a pig. And once they find that, then they're reborn as a pig. Report an error in the passage at 40:14 Highlight the passage at 40:14

40:47 But they can stay, right, so they can stay in the intermediate state in that body for up to seven days if they don't find another rebirth. And then after seven days, that bardo body dies and then is reborn. Report an error in the passage at 40:47 Highlight the passage at 40:47

41:04 So that's what Lama Tsongkhapa is saying. If it does not find the conditions for rebirth, it abides for as many as seven days. If it finds them, the number of days is uncertain. Report an error in the passage at 41:04 Highlight the passage at 41:04

41:17 Yet if it does not find them, it exchanges bodies and abides up to seven times. Seven days, right? So 49 days. However, it does not abide any longer than that since it will definitely find the conditions for rebirth by then. So he's saying that we'll... Definitely. Report an error in the passage at 41:17 Highlight the passage at 41:17

41:42 So these 49 days, generally it seems that the length of a day is like the length of a human day. But in some texts it says, well, the length of the day would be in accordance with the length of the day in that realm that you're going to. Right? So the length of a day in a God realm is much longer than the length of a day in a Report an error in the passage at 41:42 Highlight the passage at 41:42

42:12 human... You know, I don't... I think Bardo beings are blissed out. Report an error in the passage at 42:12 Highlight the passage at 42:12

42:23 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 42:23 Highlight the passage at 42:23

42:30 I mean, yeah. Yeah, you're constantly looking for something, right? You're not like settled into your intermediate statement. Report an error in the passage at 42:30 Highlight the passage at 42:30

· · · silence, 1 minute

43:07 you've done it a thousand times I don't want to be an agri-dodo bird. We're there. Arr. Report an error in the passage at 43:07 Highlight the passage at 43:07

43:27 If you're practicing the Dharma in this lifetime, why would you be reborn into a lower realm as an animal? I mean, if you've been working on your karma and you've been practicing and been aware, then why would you go backwards? Well, it all depends on what karma ripens at the time of death. So, you know, so... Report an error in the passage at 43:27 Highlight the passage at 43:27

43:49 When we really look at our actions, we're always creating a combination. We create some positive karma and some negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 43:49 Highlight the passage at 43:49

43:59 If we practice really well and keep our commitments, then we should get a good rebirth. If we have ethical discipline, practicing pure ethical discipline is the cause for a higher rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 43:59 Highlight the passage at 43:59

44:15 If we don't have pure ethical discipline, then it's possible for us to be reborn in the lower realm. So that's why we need to purify every day, right? Because we still are creating negative karma because we still have mental afflictions, right? So we're constantly creating negative karma. But if we're practicing well and doing our purification and trying to work with our mental afflictions, then hopefully we'll be okay. Report an error in the passage at 44:15 Highlight the passage at 44:15

44:46 you know you know but you But it's hard to say. It's really hard to say what kind of mind arises at the time of death. If I get really angry at the time of death, that might propel me into a lower realm. So we need to be careful of that. They teach a lot about how we have to be extremely careful about our mind at the moment of death. Report an error in the passage at 44:46 Highlight the passage at 44:46

45:10 People that are in a car accident could be propelled into hell just because of the violence of the death. I think we had talked about this in another class. What do you do to keep your mind sort of in a continual state of calm so that if you were to die suddenly, you wouldn't be propelled into a lower rebirth? Report an error in the passage at 45:10 Highlight the passage at 45:10

45:29 Well, I mean, I think it's just a matter of how we live our lives. If we're prone to getting angry through our lives, then at the time of death, we'll probably get angry, right? Whereas if we counteract our anger through our lives, then... And anger becomes less and less frequent, then it's more likely that at the time of death it's not going to be the primary emotion that arises. Report an error in the passage at 45:29 Highlight the passage at 45:29

45:57 So I think it's mostly a matter of how we live our lives. But yeah, we can't control the conditions at the time of death. We can just try our best. But anyway, whatever rebirth we have, it's not like forever, right? Report an error in the passage at 45:57 Highlight the passage at 45:57

46:18 So it's not the end all. It's not a failure, right? If I'm born as a pig next time, it doesn't mean, okay, I shouldn't have practiced Dharma in this life. It just means, okay, well, that's one lifetime in the series of many, many, many, right? And you purify. How do you purify? How do we purify? In general? Sure. Through the four opponent powers, you know, like Vajrasattva practice. Report an error in the passage at 46:18 Highlight the passage at 46:18

46:51 I mean, 35 Buddhas, prostrations to the 35 Buddhas. Basically, sincerely regret our negativity and resolve not to do it again, or at least as much as we can, and then take refuge and generate bodhicitta and then do the Vajrasattva practice or some action to counteract the negativity. Report an error in the passage at 46:51 Highlight the passage at 46:51

47:18 But the main things are... To generate sincere, heartfelt regret for that action and trying not to do it again. Report an error in the passage at 47:18 Highlight the passage at 47:18

47:40 Yeah. I know I do. Report an error in the passage at 47:40 Highlight the passage at 47:40

47:46 It's a nice reminder to practice well now. So Report an error in the passage at 47:46 Highlight the passage at 47:46

47:59 maybe at this point we'll take a break. We'll take kind of a shortish break and we'll finish up the intermediate state. Report an error in the passage at 47:59 Highlight the passage at 47:59

48:19 Next! Report an error in the passage at 48:19 Highlight the passage at 48:19

48:23 Okay. So then Lama Tsongkhapa says, having died and transmigrated after seven days in the intermediate state of a god, for example, the intermediate state of a god, or alternatively the intermediate state of a human being, etc., is accomplished because through the changing activity of other karma, the seed of the intermediate state is changed. Report an error in the passage at 48:23 Highlight the passage at 48:23

48:47 It is the same for other intermediate states. So when I read this, I didn't know what in the heck it meant. So, but basically, this is what I was saying before, where, let's say, we start off as an intermediate state of a pig, and after seven days, right, we haven't found a rebirth, right, as a pig. And then we die, and then we can change into another intermediate state. You can change into the intermediate state of a human being or something, due to the changing. Report an error in the passage at 48:47 Highlight the passage at 48:47

49:23 The karma and the conditions. Or you can go down as well. So you can go from human to pig, I suppose, or pig to human, based on causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 49:23 Highlight the passage at 49:23

49:40 So Gishu Jampagyatsu says, according to a saṅgha in his compendium of knowledge, It is possible for the rebirth to change, for example, to initially take the intermediate state of a being of a bad migration and then, due to others' prayers, for a virtuous seed to be activated and ripened, whereby the intermediate state being dies and takes the intermediate state of a human being and then is reborn as a human being. Report an error in the passage at 49:40 Highlight the passage at 49:40

50:20 So it seems that that's possible, at least according to a saṅgha, that's possible. Report an error in the passage at 50:20 Highlight the passage at 50:20

50:29 According to Tantra, Report an error in the passage at 50:29 Highlight the passage at 50:29

50:33 Anything is possible. Well, maybe. Because there was a student who asked Geshe Jumpy Gyatso about, well, if the intermediate state being can't change, like according to Vasubandhu, then why are we doing prayers for intermediate state beings? So he says, Geshe Jumpy Gyatso says, the assertions regarding the intermediate state being are different from the point of view of Tantra, whereas here, right, in Lama Tsongkhapa is... Report an error in the passage at 50:33 Highlight the passage at 50:33

51:03 It's discussed from the point of view of sūtra. Tantra is more like magic. And then he tells a joke. So he says, from the point of view of tantra, when someone is dying, a virtuous seed can ripen due to our prayers, or someone who is in the intermediate state can change into another intermediate state being and take a good rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 51:03 Highlight the passage at 51:03

51:30 So it's useful to get that broader perspective. right this according to To sūtra and according to tantra. Did that make sense? Kind of, sort of, not really. Report an error in the passage at 51:30 Highlight the passage at 51:30

51:55 I mean, for the most, I mean, for the most part, you know, he quotes sūtra. Sūtra, so this is mostly from a sūtra point of view. Report an error in the passage at 51:55 Highlight the passage at 51:55

52:09 But anyway, but we can, I think we can take from this that your rebirth can be affected, you know, through prayers and things like that, even when you're in the intermediate state. Report an error in the passage at 52:09 Highlight the passage at 52:09

52:23 Okay. I thought sometimes it was teaching a little Report an error in the passage at 52:23 Highlight the passage at 52:23

· · · silence, 1 minute

52:24 Then how you take rebirth in a birth existence. In Report an error in the passage at 52:24 Highlight the passage at 52:24

52:32 many levels, it is taught that when you are born in a womb, a mistaken perception arises with regard to the semen and blood of your father and mother. In that moment, like an illusion, you see your parents to be having intercourse even though they are not, and you develop attachment to them. So, okay. Report an error in the passage at 52:32 Highlight the passage at 52:32

52:55 So, how to talk about this. Report an error in the passage at 52:55 Highlight the passage at 52:55

53:13 Okay, so when you're a Bardo being, right, you're constantly searching for a rebirth. And then you see the realms of your future rebirth, right? So you can see the human realm, but you don't actually see it. Okay, it says. You don't actually see it as it is. It's more like a dream. And then you perceive. Report an error in the passage at 53:13 Highlight the passage at 53:13

53:44 A man and a woman having intercourse, right? And then you're attracted to that. Report an error in the passage at 53:44 Highlight the passage at 53:44

53:53 You know, even if they're not actually having intercourse, that's what you see and you're attracted to that because you're attracted because you want to take another rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 53:53 Highlight the passage at 53:53

54:13 Okay. Then it goes on and says, okay, then it explains that you... birth Report an error in the passage at 54:13 Highlight the passage at 54:13

54:20 The commentary on the treasury explains that you will see your parents actually having intercourse. Furthermore, if you are born as a female, you want to be rid of the woman, become attached to the man, and want to lie with him. If you are born as a male, you want to be rid of the man, become attached to the woman, and want to lie with her. So this is what the teachings... Report an error in the passage at 54:20 Highlight the passage at 54:20

54:50 I mean, I can't really, you know, I can speculate if you're gay. But anyway, so this is, you know, according to the teachings, right, so you see, right, your parents having intercourse. You know, whether or not they are or they're not, that's what you see, right? And it's said that if you're going to be reborn as a woman, then you're attracted to the man. If you're going to be reborn as a man, you're attracted to the woman. Report an error in the passage at 54:50 Highlight the passage at 54:50

55:16 And you want to have intercourse with them. Right, so it sounds very... Anyway. Yeah, it does. It sounds quite Freudian. So that's what it says. And then if you're gay, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, that's... Yeah, yeah. So, okay. And then once this kind of desire has arisen, the closer you approach... Report an error in the passage at 55:16 Highlight the passage at 55:16

55:56 The other body parts of that man and woman no longer appear and you only see the male and female characteristics of your parents. Getting angry at that, the intermediate state being dies, transmigrates and is reborn. So I find this all very fascinating. So you see the parents having intercourse, but then as you get closer, then their bodies disappear and you only see the genitals, apparently. Report an error in the passage at 55:56 Highlight the passage at 55:56

56:23 And then you get angry. And as soon as you get angry at seeing only the genitals, then you die from the intermediate state. And then you're reborn into your next life. Report an error in the passage at 56:23 Highlight the passage at 56:23

56:41 And born, right, meaning entry into the womb as opposed to birth as we generally see it. You're conceived, I guess, is what we would call it here. Report an error in the passage at 56:41 Highlight the passage at 56:41

56:58 So it seems that you have to get angry in order to die from the intermediate state, or at least in this kind of rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 56:58 Highlight the passage at 56:58

57:28 Well, here, we'll get it into a little bit more. Then, furthermore, when there is a situation of intense attachment between father and mother, at the very end, thick fluid emerges. many lives. Report an error in the passage at 57:28 Highlight the passage at 57:28

57:42 After that, two drops of semen and blood doubtlessly emerge from the two. Once the two have mixed in the birthplace of the mother, they turn into something like, for instance, boiled milk that has cooled down and congealed. Report an error in the passage at 57:42 Highlight the passage at 57:42

57:57 So, so the semen enters into the O-von. Report an error in the passage at 57:57 Highlight the passage at 57:57

58:09 and so those two drops mix and become like this. I think it's unsweetened Report an error in the passage at 58:09 Highlight the passage at 58:09

58:19 Anyway, so this... I'm trying to explain this. Report an error in the passage at 58:19 Highlight the passage at 58:19

58:32 So anyway, so right. So and then at that point, right, the intermediate state existence terminates and the consciousness kind of enters that, right, that fertilized ovum. Report an error in the passage at 58:32 Highlight the passage at 58:32

58:51 So by the power of the consciousness that transmigrates, the subtle parts of the great elements of the sense powers, which are different from that congealed mass, and the combination of semen and blood that accord with that mixture arise as other along with the sense powers. Report an error in the passage at 58:51 Highlight the passage at 58:51

59:10 So Gishisopa has a very interesting commentary on this part, or at least I think it's interesting that I wanted to Report an error in the passage at 59:10 Highlight the passage at 59:10

59:49 write. So Geshe Sopa says, until the consciousness enters, the combination of blood and semen is an inert, unaware material liquid. By the power of that entering consciousness, the blood and semen combination is brought into contact with the four great elements and their subtle aspect, giving rise to the subtle level of the five sense faculties. Report an error in the passage at 59:49 Highlight the passage at 59:49

1:00:17 In this way, a transformation is brought about. In the previously inert, purely material blood and semen combination, it comes to life, so to speak. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:17 Highlight the passage at 1:00:17

1:00:31 Awakened with consciousness and the sense faculties, it is now something other than the material substance that was there before the consciousness entered. It is now a sentient being. So before the consciousness entered, it's just material. It's just physical. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:31 Highlight the passage at 1:00:31

1:00:51 And then the consciousness enters and then it becomes the sentient being. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:51 Highlight the passage at 1:00:51

1:01:18 It's a personal choice. It's a personal choice. It's a personal choice. I mean, you know, in Buddhism we're... making a demarcation that there's a Report an error in the passage at 1:01:18 Highlight the passage at 1:01:18

1:01:30 We don't go out and tell other people what they're doing. No, exactly. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:30 Highlight the passage at 1:01:30

1:01:42 Trying not to harm beings, right? We're trying not to harm anyone. So we follow that as best as we can. Well, I mean, then you can get Report an error in the passage at 1:01:42 Highlight the passage at 1:01:42

1:01:55 a debating culture here, and if you Report an error in the passage at 1:01:55 Highlight the passage at 1:01:55

1:02:02 the mother is a very young woman, unable to care for her Report an error in the passage at 1:02:02 Highlight the passage at 1:02:02

1:02:09 that born out of hateful act or all kinds of things, you can transfer that into Which is a lesser harm to end that pregnancy and allow that being to take a rebirth or to take that karma onto yourself in a compassionate way and be willing to end that being in that way so they can take a rebirth and to say, well, I can't care for this being and it's going to be harmed in this life if I bring it into this world. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:09 Highlight the passage at 1:02:09

1:02:43 Inability to care. It's judgment. Yeah, I mean, that's why, like, His Holiness the Dalai Lama doesn't make blanket statements like, you know, you should never ever have an abortion or you should never do this or you should never do that. It always depends on the circumstance and the motivation and all that. Yeah, so they're, I mean, people get frustrated because he doesn't make hard and fast rules, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:43 Highlight the passage at 1:02:43

1:03:13 But, yeah. So we, in general, we try to... We try to live in the most beneficial way that we can and in the least harmful. That's why we have to develop our skillful means. Are there Report an error in the passage at 1:03:13 Highlight the passage at 1:03:13

1:03:39 people listening? Hello, people out there. I cannot see. Hi, people Report an error in the passage at 1:03:39 Highlight the passage at 1:03:39

1:03:54 from St. Louis. Okay, so let's focus. Yeah, I mean, it does. And, you know, I can't tell people what to do, you know, just to use our own wisdom and compassion as much as we can. I Report an error in the passage at 1:03:54 Highlight the passage at 1:03:54

1:04:22 mean, really examine our motivation, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:04:22 Highlight the passage at 1:04:22

1:04:31 Because I don't want to get into a big political debate or anything, you know, it's just we all. I don't think it's political. I think it's about, you know, your view of compassion, you know. Yeah, definitely. I've known. I've known of that in several instances in my life where I definitely thought that it was more compassionate to make that choice, given the circumstances of which the child would be born into or around. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:31 Highlight the passage at 1:04:31

1:05:03 I find tension with that sort of perspective and the whole teaching about precious human rebirth and that meditation. It doesn't draw distinctions between race or social caste or wealth or how anyone is born. It's just the fact that you're born human and have the capacity to. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:03 Highlight the passage at 1:05:03

1:05:25 whether you grew up poor or you grew up in the poor in India or you grew up here in States. I don't think that meditation, that concept makes a distinction on that basis. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:25 Highlight the passage at 1:05:25

1:05:38 So I don't know. I would just hesitate to... Report an error in the passage at 1:05:38 Highlight the passage at 1:05:38

1:05:44 So let's not yeah I mean this is yeah this is a huge topic and Yeah, and we've already gotten bogged down. So, yeah, so we're all going to have different opinions on things and when it's okay and when it's not okay. So I would just say, you know, once again, just be really honest with our motivation and use our wisdom as much as we can and, you know, try not to harm as much as we can. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:44 Highlight the passage at 1:05:44

1:06:25 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:25 Highlight the passage at 1:06:25

1:06:35 The Bardo being? Uh-huh. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:35 Highlight the passage at 1:06:35

1:06:44 Lower rebirth. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's interesting. And let's go on because I think this is, there are different circumstances. So this is one, you know, which is described as having anger right before you're born. So let's go back to that after we cover a little bit more material because that's something I have a question about too. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:44 Highlight the passage at 1:06:44

1:07:09 I mean, I hadn't heard that before about the anger part. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:09 Highlight the passage at 1:07:09

1:07:16 So let's say if... Let's see if it makes sense as we go along. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:16 Highlight the passage at 1:07:16

1:07:29 Okay, so we finish this. Yeah, the combination. All right. So then the consciousness that enters, right, the semen and ovum at this moment is posited as the basis of all by those who accept a mind basis of all. So the chitta mantras accept this like eight levels of consciousness, right? Most schools accept six types of consciousness, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:29 Highlight the passage at 1:07:29

1:07:57 Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mental consciousness. And then the chitta mantras also posit two more consciousnesses, a mind basis of all, which is the repository for all of the karmic seeds, and then what's called an afflicted mentality. So here for chitta mantras, they say it's the mind basis of all that enters. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:57 Highlight the passage at 1:07:57

1:08:26 So the repository of the karmic seeds, they say. But then those who do not accept this mind basis of all assert that it's the mental consciousness that enters at this point. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:26 Highlight the passage at 1:08:26

1:08:52 And then if there is no desire to go to a birth source, the bardo being will not go there. And if it is not gone there, it will not be reborn there, not be born there. So in order to be reborn somewhere, the bardo being has to have the desire to go there. Which we might wonder, well, why would you have the desire to go to the hell realms? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:52 Highlight the passage at 1:08:52

1:09:16 Why would you have the desire to go to a pig realm or something like that? Interesting. So for example, therefore the bardo being of someone possessing non-vows who created and accumulated an action for rebirth in hell. Such as killing sheep or trading in poultry or pigs and the like. Sees, as if in a dream, sheep and the like at his birthplace and rushes there with the delight of previous familiarity. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:16 Highlight the passage at 1:09:16

1:09:49 Then he becomes angry at the form of his birthplace. The intermediate existence ends and he's born in the birth existence. So the anger comes up again. So here, someone possessing non-vows. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:49 Highlight the passage at 1:09:49

1:10:04 A non-vow or an anti-vow is like taking a vow to commit non-virtue. So if someone is born in a butcher's family and has kind of resolved to... To make their living as a butcher and killing animals for the rest of their lives. That's someone who's considered it. It's like taking a non-vow. It has this long habit and kind of a commitment to doing non-virtue, a specific non-virtue like a butcher. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:04 Highlight the passage at 1:10:04

1:10:41 So here, someone who's killing sheep or treating poultry or pigs. So they might see, let's say, if you're... Report an error in the passage at 1:10:41 Highlight the passage at 1:10:41

1:10:56 If you're, I might have told this already, right, so if you're, you have the habit of killing pigs, right, in your lifetime, you're a butcher of pigs, right, so in the bardo, you might see pigs, right, in your birthplace, like the hell, the hell realm will appear as if they're pigs, right, and then you rush over because you're happy to see these pigs, Report an error in the passage at 1:10:56 Highlight the passage at 1:10:56

1:11:23 okay, and then, and then, Surprise, right? It turns into the actual realm, you know, the hell realm. And then you get angry and then you're reborn into the hell realm. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:23 Highlight the passage at 1:11:23

1:11:38 Yeah, so it's interesting. So you have an appearance of, like, so the hell realm appears as if there are pigs. And so you rush there, so you have the desire to go there. And then you're, but it's actual. Yeah, you think you're okay. So I've heard, I mean, I've heard this, like I think Rubina has said before, it's like, you know, you see as a bardo being, you know, you see your Starbucks latte, you know, and you're attracted to it, but it's actually, you know, the realm in which you're going to be born. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:38 Highlight the passage at 1:11:38

1:12:14 So, so, so it is, so we're, we're. We're reborn through our choice. We're reborn through our attachments, our desires. Whatever we're attracted to will cause us to be reborn somewhere. So it's not that we're... It's a delusion or a hallucination, like you're tricking yourself or something, right? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. So you're voluntarily being born in the... Report an error in the passage at 1:12:14 Highlight the passage at 1:12:14

1:12:56 In that particular realm through these strange appearances, through these mistaken appearances, interestingly. So if it's my attachment or grasping to that latte that allows me mistakenly to pursue that, does that kind of suggest in a way that practice and... Report an error in the passage at 1:12:56 Highlight the passage at 1:12:56

1:13:25 Practice with those attachments and loosening such things in this lifetime will allow me to not be tricked into a hell realm. Yeah, I mean it helps loosen that, yeah, yeah. Because the reason we're getting reborn, right, is through our attachment and our karma, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:25 Highlight the passage at 1:13:25

1:13:47 Yeah, yeah. But it's said, you know, the primary mental affliction causing us to be reborn is desire. We're being attracted to something, or desirous attachment, right? Not just desire, but the attachment. So we're attracted. It's that desire for another body, right? It's a desire for the Starbucks latte. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:47 Highlight the passage at 1:13:47

1:14:15 It's a desire for, you know, the pig, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:15 Highlight the passage at 1:14:15

1:14:22 So, I mean, this is kind of a stretch to really understand, I think, but this is the way the text. Explain it. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:22 Highlight the passage at 1:14:22

1:14:47 A lot of dogs are taken better care of than some people. Right. Yeah. Yeah, so that's the difference between projecting karma and completing karma, right? So the projecting karma of the dog is a non-virtuous karma, right? Because it's a dog body. But the completing karma is that completes the circumstance of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:47 Highlight the passage at 1:14:47

1:15:12 That birth is virtuous, so that dog is taken. So this is talking about projecting karma. So this is the karma to put you in a particular realm, like in a dog body or in a human body or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:12 Highlight the passage at 1:15:12

1:15:29 So I'm still not able to explain that anger bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:29 Highlight the passage at 1:15:29

1:15:37 So in the actual, but the text goes on. So in the actual basis of the levels, it says that if you're born as an animal hungry ghost, human being, or as a god reveling in the desire and form realms, you will see delightful beings of similar type to yourself at your birthplace. Then, having generated delight in and desire for that, you go there. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:37 Highlight the passage at 1:15:37

1:16:03 So here it doesn't talk about the anger bit. You see, you know, your future. You see the beings there and they all seem delightful, right? And so you want to go join them. And Gishisopa says, you know, you want to go and play with them, right? You want to go join them and play with them. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:03 Highlight the passage at 1:16:03

1:16:35 Oh, that's the name of the text, the actual basis of the levels. That's a text written by, I don't remember. I have to look that one up. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:35 Highlight the passage at 1:16:35

1:16:57 Yeah, so let me. Let me check. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:57 Highlight the passage at 1:16:57

1:17:17 I can't find it right off. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:17 Highlight the passage at 1:17:17

1:17:21 Yeah, and so Lama Tsongkhapa is quoting various texts. Let me look it up and get back to you on that. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:21 Highlight the passage at 1:17:21

1:17:35 Well, then here, as you get angry at your birthplace, the intermediate state ceases and you are born in the birth existence. The way in which someone who has non-vowels, who does not trade in poultry and pigs, etc., is born in hell should be understood similarly to this. So here he's saying, you know, something similar, right? You're still getting angry. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:35 Highlight the passage at 1:17:35

1:17:55 And you're being attracted. Then Report an error in the passage at 1:17:55 Highlight the passage at 1:17:55

1:18:05 in the treasury, a different text, others long for smells and a place is mentioned, saying with the explanation that if you're born from heat and moisture, you're born through desiring smells. And if you're born miraculously, you're born through desiring a place. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:05 Highlight the passage at 1:18:05

1:18:26 So in general, In the text, it's described that there are four different ways you can be reborn. You can be born right through a womb or an egg, right? So we know about those two. And then there's two other ways of being born, which are being born miraculously or being born through heat and moisture. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:26 Highlight the passage at 1:18:26

1:18:52 So here it's saying that if you're born from heat and moisture, you're attracted to smells. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:52 Highlight the passage at 1:18:52

1:19:03 And if you're born miraculously, you're attracted to a particular place. And so then you're attracted and then you're born there. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:03 Highlight the passage at 1:19:03

1:19:19 Well, like, yeah. Or formless realm beings are born miraculously. Bardo beings are born miraculously, right? They don't have a mother and father, right? They just appear. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:19 Highlight the passage at 1:19:19

1:19:42 So, yeah. So Sandra, right? The whole anger thing at the moment of death is... I don't know, I think we have to ask Gisela on that one. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:42 Highlight the passage at 1:19:42

1:20:11 It would explain why we're supposed to work on anger constantly. I mean, it's really emphasized in most Buddhist traditions to try to purify as much of this as possible while we're alive, maybe so that when we do die, we're not just pulled by anger and delusion into these rebirths. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:11 Highlight the passage at 1:20:11

1:20:32 So if you don't have anger, what does that mean? Well, it sounds like the way they're describing it, we're being pulled along by our, whatever compulsions we maintain when we're alive are going to continue to drive us, in fact, even more strongly in the bardos. So we want to try to maintain as much of a peaceful, calm, practice-oriented mind because we might have some clarity in the bardos instead of just being pulled along by our throwing karma into these rebirths. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:32 Highlight the passage at 1:20:32

1:21:01 And that's how I would look at it anyway. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:01 Highlight the passage at 1:21:01

1:21:06 Yeah, and if we're strong enough practitioners, you can actually get enlightened in the bardo. But for we ordinary beings, we still have attachment. So I've always heard that you're attracted to your future rebirth place, but I hadn't heard that anger bit at the last minute. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:06 Highlight the passage at 1:21:06

1:21:32 So it seems like they're saying the anger causes your... Death in the bardo and your rebirth into the... Yeah, but I'm not sure I understand that. It Report an error in the passage at 1:21:32 Highlight the passage at 1:21:32

1:21:58 kind of strikes me that, you know, how the Jews are saying that anger is incompatible. I mean, anger stems from, Report an error in the passage at 1:21:58 Highlight the passage at 1:21:58

1:22:10 you know, that those two things Report an error in the passage at 1:22:10 Highlight the passage at 1:22:10

1:22:16 are being a transitory collection, Report an error in the passage at 1:22:16 Highlight the passage at 1:22:16

1:22:22 a flash of anger. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:22 Highlight the passage at 1:22:22

1:22:34 If you had the direct realization of... Report an error in the passage at 1:22:34 Highlight the passage at 1:22:34

1:22:47 Yeah. I mean, it certainly loosens that. I mean, it's said that you can still, even after you directly realize emptiness, you can still take rebirth and saṃsāra through karma and mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:47 Highlight the passage at 1:22:47

1:23:04 But certainly that really drastically reduces your level of mental afflictions, right? You still have some, you know, just through the force of habit, through beginningless time, but it doesn't... Like it doesn't rule you anymore after the direct realization of emptiness, right? It doesn't have the same power, right? The afflictions would come up through the force of habit. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:04 Highlight the passage at 1:23:04

1:23:26 Like we have mental afflictions that come up and sometimes we can just watch them. It's like, oh, there it goes again and we're not really, we're not sucked into them, right? So maybe it's something like that for... Arias who have directly realized emptiness, they see it, but they can see it as a thought and they're not sucked into it and let it go more easily. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:26 Highlight the passage at 1:23:26

1:23:51 But yeah, at this, I Report an error in the passage at 1:23:51 Highlight the passage at 1:23:51

1:24:04 don't know, Joe, maybe. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:04 Highlight the passage at 1:24:04

1:24:10 And then the text explains, moreover, the commentary explains that if you are born in the hot hells, you go to the intermediate state existence desiring heat, whereas if you're born in the cold hells, you go to the intermediate existence desiring cooling. So here sometimes it's said, right, so let's say we have the karma to be reborn in the hot hells, then we feel really cold in the intermediate state, and so we're attracted, like we're wishing for heat, so we're attracted to the hot hells, whereas vice versa, you know, if we're going to be reborn in the cold hells, we feel really hot in the intermediate state, and so we're attracted to the coolness of the cold hells. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:10 Highlight the passage at 1:24:10

1:25:00 And then the commentary on the treasury explains rebirth from an egg to be similar to birth from a womb. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:00 Highlight the passage at 1:25:00

1:25:14 So that's the intermediate state and rebirth, according to Lama Tsongkhapa. Brought up maybe more questions than answers. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:14 Highlight the passage at 1:25:14

1:25:34 So as far as Sandra's question, there are two different texts that describe this process. One is the, well, Report an error in the passage at 1:25:34 Highlight the passage at 1:25:34

1:25:55 this is called, I think, the Sūtra of Many Levels, where it first talks about the anger and then the other text is the actual basis of the levels. So two different texts, but I'd have to do some research to find out more about these texts. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:55 Highlight the passage at 1:25:55

1:26:22 So the answer is to realize emptiness, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:22 Highlight the passage at 1:26:22

1:26:34 Get out of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:34 Highlight the passage at 1:26:34

1:26:51 Based on the conversation, I think I'm more scared to be a pig. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:51 Highlight the passage at 1:26:51

1:27:05 Okay. All right. So that's, so no class next week, and then we'll have class in two weeks today. And then I have, so I had told you a couple of weeks ago that we would continue class on Friday nights. So in the meantime, a couple of days ago, I found out the schedule for next term. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:05 Highlight the passage at 1:27:05

1:27:32 Fortunately, Sechenling has been very successful in scheduling a bunch of weekend events next term, like a retreat. Geshe-la is going to lead a Chenrezig retreat in January. Chodin Rinpoche is going to be here for two weekends in February. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:32 Highlight the passage at 1:27:32

1:27:55 Guy Newland is going to be here in March for a weekend. He's a great scholar. So it seems that it doesn't make sense for us to continue class on Friday nights because the night that we're going to start the next term is the weekend Geshe Dagpa is going to lead the Chenrezig retreat and then we'd have a few weeks of classes and then we'd have three weekends in a row where it'd be Chod and Rinpoche. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:55 Highlight the passage at 1:27:55

1:28:23 So it just doesn't make sense to me to continue with an ongoing Friday class. So... So Tuesday nights are available for, you know, Chucky and Michelle say that we can move the class to Tuesday nights. So if you guys are okay with that, I'd like to try that. Then at least we wouldn't have so many interruptions. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:23 Highlight the passage at 1:28:23

1:28:52 I'm never, ever available on Tuesdays. I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:52 Highlight the passage at 1:28:52

1:29:04 And that's really the only night that's available here right now because Gishindagpa teaches on Wednesdays. They're closed on Mondays, Gishindagpa teaches on Wednesdays and Choki teaches on Thursdays. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:04 Highlight the passage at 1:29:04

1:29:16 So we can try it, so we can try it on Tuesdays. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so in January we're going to start on bodhicitta and then after that. There's another book with calm abiding and special insight, which is really, really profound, really nice stuff. So we'll be going for a while, okay? So I'm sorry about that. I mean, I made one decision and then it just, it had to change it already, but it just seems like it just makes the most sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:16 Highlight the passage at 1:29:16

1:29:55 And I'm really sorry for people, you know, about people who can't come on Tuesday night. So starting next term, so in January, we'll change to Tuesday night. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:55 Highlight the passage at 1:29:55

1:30:16 He's, he, the second weekend he's doing Guya Samaja initiation. The first weekend, it slipped my mind. It'll be a, I don't think so. I don't think so. It's, it's going to be three nights. Maybe he'll do really brief commentary, but I think, but I think the empowerment is, it's like a three-day empowerment, so it might just be the empowerment of Report an error in the passage at 1:30:16 Highlight the passage at 1:30:16

1:30:46 the teaching. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:46 Highlight the passage at 1:30:46

1:30:53 book one of the clearest books on emptiness out there. Yeah, so Guy Newland is a great scholar. He teaches, I don't know, in Michigan. So he's going to be here in March. And he's, I've read some of his books, and he's written some of the clearest scholarly books that I've read. You know, so... Report an error in the passage at 1:30:53 Highlight the passage at 1:30:53

1:31:23 He's a practitioner as well, but he's a scholar practitioner. But you know, I mean, there are books that are easy to read, and then there are more of the academic books that are really difficult to read. But Guy Newland's books are more on the academic side, but really, really clear. I find them really clear. So he wrote a book on the four tenet systems, the four philosophical systems, that is my favorite. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:23 Highlight the passage at 1:31:23

1:31:51 Book on tenants actually I find really, really clear because it's not just the traditional way of explaining things and he really makes the connections and really explains kind of how the difference is on a practical level. So I think he'll be really good. Okay, so let's dedicate. Shantideva, page 246. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:51 Highlight the passage at 1:31:51

1:32:38 May all beings everywhere. Plague 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. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:38 Highlight the passage at 1:32:38

1:33:07 May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food, may the thirsty find water and delicious drinks. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:07 Highlight the passage at 1:33:07

1:33:30 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 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 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:30 Highlight the passage at 1:33:30

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:34:35 Have a good Thanksgiving. Thank you so much. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:35 Highlight the passage at 1:34:35