Buddhism from A-Z, 2nd Semester - Bodhicitta: Developing the Big Heart (26 January 2010)

0:05 It's the same one I know. It's not everything. It's the same. I just looked at it and it's fatter. It's fatter than the one we had before. What happened? I'd rather wait and get a second half because people who ordered this don't want to sell it. Report an error in the passage at 0:05 Highlight the passage at 0:05

0:26 It's awful heavy to carry around. I mean, he had a bunch of copies for something. Is that why, what did you do with the last 20 pages of our text? Yeah, because there's... Yeah, so we're going to have to... So we do have to print the column of I.D. Report an error in the passage at 0:26 Highlight the passage at 0:26

0:41 would be a confusing point. If I had looked at the text this week, I probably would have noticed that we were all... It's literally that much of it. So there's this much left. This is the common Report an error in the passage at 0:41 Highlight the passage at 0:41

0:55 Later when we get closer. Report an error in the passage at 0:55 Highlight the passage at 0:55

1:00 Good Report an error in the passage at 1:00 Highlight the passage at 1:00

· · · silence, 2 minutes

3:22 evening. Welcome Report an error in the passage at 3:22 Highlight the passage at 3:22

3:29 everyone. Report an error in the passage at 3:29 Highlight the passage at 3:29

3:35 Let's start with a couple of minutes of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 3:35 Highlight the passage at 3:35

3:50 So meditating on the breath, Report an error in the passage at 3:50 Highlight the passage at 3:50

3:59 trying to settle our minds and Report an error in the passage at 3:59 Highlight the passage at 3:59

· · · silence, 2 minutes

6:08 then setting our motivation for tonight, Report an error in the passage at 6:08 Highlight the passage at 6:08

6:31 others, if Report an error in the passage at 6:31 Highlight the passage at 6:31

· · · silence, 2 minutes

8:12 it wasn't for many, many others. Report an error in the passage at 8:12 Highlight the passage at 8:12

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9:16 So we'll develop a motivation to help others as much as we can and Report an error in the passage at 9:16 Highlight the passage at 9:16

9:46 ultimately to attain enlightenment for the welfare of all sentient beings. I'll Report an error in the passage at 9:46 Highlight the passage at 9:46

· · · silence, 1 minute

10:46 start with the praise to Manjushri on page 84, Report an error in the passage at 10:46 Highlight the passage at 10:46

11:13 obeisance to my guru and protector Manjushri. Who holds to his heart a scriptural text symbolic of his seeing all things as they are. Whose understanding shines forth as the sun, unclouded by defilements or traces of ignorance. Who teaches in sixty ways with a patient love of a father for his only son. All creatures caught in the prison of saṃsāra, confused in the darkness of their ignorance, overwhelmed by their suffering. Report an error in the passage at 11:13 Highlight the passage at 11:13

11:40 You, whose dragon thunder proclamation of the Dharma arouses us from the stupor of our delusions and frees us from the iron chains of our karma, whose powerful sword of wisdom hues down suffering wherever its sprouts appear, clearing away the darkness of all ignorance, whose princely bodies adorn with 112 marks of a Buddha, who has completed the ten stages achieving the highest perfection of a bodhisattva, who has been pure from the beginning. Report an error in the passage at 11:40 Highlight the passage at 11:40

12:07 O Manjushri, all loving one, with the brilliance of your wisdom, illuminate the darkness in closing my mind. Enlighten my intelligence and wisdom so that I may gain insight into Buddha's words and the texts that explain them. We'll do seven Manjushri mantras. Report an error in the passage at 12:07 Highlight the passage at 12:07

12:31 Arapatsanandi Om Arapatsanandi Omara Patsanadi, Omara Patsanadi, Omara Patsanadi. Report an error in the passage at 12:31 Highlight the passage at 12:31

12:52 And Report an error in the passage at 12:52 Highlight the passage at 12:52

12:56 Refuge and Bodhicitta on the bottom of page 88. Report an error in the passage at 12:56 Highlight the passage at 12:56

13:07 I go for refuge until I am enlightened. To the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. Report an error in the passage at 13:07 Highlight the passage at 13:07

13:25 By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma. May I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings? Report an error in the passage at 13:25 Highlight the passage at 13:25

13:59 I Report an error in the passage at 13:59 Highlight the passage at 13:59

14:03 found Report an error in the passage at 14:03 Highlight the passage at 14:03

14:15 this quote yesterday by Pabongka Rinpoche. Unless you have absolutely no yearning for enlightenment, everyone must make bodhicitta their basic practice. Anything of value, such as good qualities in any of the three vehicles, in the end comes from bodhicitta. So bodhicitta. We can get caught up in all sorts of other practices and commitments and oh yeah I need to develop concentration and I need to deity practice and I need to do my commitments. Report an error in the passage at 14:15 Highlight the passage at 14:15

14:52 But ultimately the most important thing comes down to having a good heart, working for others. Report an error in the passage at 14:52 Highlight the passage at 14:52

15:01 Reminder of what bodhicitta is, the aspiration for complete enlightenment for the welfare of all sentient beings. So aspiring to get... To get all of the qualities, right? To remove all faults and achieve all qualities so that we can best help others. So this is based on a tremendous sense of love and compassion for others. Report an error in the passage at 15:01 Highlight the passage at 15:01

15:35 So last time we started on talking about how to generate bodhicitta and the stages of training and the two main... Actually, before I get there, what are the two main methods for developing bodhicitta? Report an error in the passage at 15:35 Highlight the passage at 15:35

15:59 Yeah, so the seven-fold cause and effect and exchanging self and others. Yeah. There's also something called the seven-point mind training, which is different. Yeah. So the seven-point mind training is a particular text that was written by, I think, Langring, Tangpar, something like that. Yeah. So this seven... Report an error in the passage at 15:59 Highlight the passage at 15:59

16:26 The seven-fold cause and effect is different. The seven-fold cause and effect are certain steps to get you to develop bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 16:26 Highlight the passage at 16:26

16:41 So we talked about the seven-fold cause and effect last time and the seven steps. So we take as a basis equanimity, this mind that's, I want to say, free from... Attachment and hatred, but maybe it's not completely free from attachment and hatred, but it's loosened up the attachment and aversion toward others. Report an error in the passage at 16:41 Highlight the passage at 16:41

17:11 And starts to see beings as being more equal. Instead of having strong attachment for some people and strong aversion for others, starting to develop this equanimous mind. So we'll talk about equanimity more today. Report an error in the passage at 17:11 Highlight the passage at 17:11

17:29 then... And then viewing all beings as one's mother, remembering her kindness, developing the wish to repay her kindness and affectionate love. So remembering that those four are to develop this sense of everyone being dear, everyone being beloved, this sense of love toward everyone, a deep sense of caring toward everyone. Report an error in the passage at 17:29 Highlight the passage at 17:29

17:58 And then based on that, then we can develop this great compassion that wishes all beings to be free from suffering. And then based on that, we develop the extraordinary attitude, taking on the responsibility ourselves for freeing beings from suffering. And then we see, okay, well, if I'm still a person with mental afflictions, then I can't really help others in the best way. Report an error in the passage at 17:58 Highlight the passage at 17:58

18:23 So how do I do so? I have to become a Buddha. So we develop bodhicitta from that. Report an error in the passage at 18:23 Highlight the passage at 18:23

18:34 So we went through last time why each of those steps are important. How we can't just skip to number five or skip to number seven, right? We say the bodhicitta prayer all the time, right? May I attain enlightenment. May I practice the six perfections and attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, right? Report an error in the passage at 18:34 Highlight the passage at 18:34

18:59 So that's bodhicitta, right? Is that bodhicitta? Just saying the prayer. Report an error in the passage at 18:59 Highlight the passage at 18:59

19:09 It's an aspiration, but it's not the real bodhicitta unless we're really saying it deeply from within our hearts. So we need all of those steps. Report an error in the passage at 19:09 Highlight the passage at 19:09

19:23 Why do we need to develop a sense of affection for beings before we develop great compassion? Why can't we just jump to great compassion? Report an error in the passage at 19:23 Highlight the passage at 19:23

19:52 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 19:52 Highlight the passage at 19:52

20:01 And we do need the microphone. We don't necessarily like everybody that we meet either. So this is one of the things to overcome is recognizing that they've all been our precious mothers. And in that way, we're able to generate kind feelings towards someone that maybe we're not very well predisposed to. Report an error in the passage at 20:01 Highlight the passage at 20:01

20:21 And in that way, we can keep expanding it outward and expanding it outward so that even George Bush or Dick Cheney are... We are beloved to us, and we really want that kind of a mind, as hard as that may be for most of us. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 20:21 Highlight the passage at 20:21

20:40 because if we don't even like someone, if we have aversion toward them, if they're suffering, we're not so energetic about trying to help them, right? Like how many of us were really... Report an error in the passage at 20:40 Highlight the passage at 20:40

20:58 Really energetic about wanting to help Saddam Hussein. Really hard, you know, without a sense of caring for him. So, okay. So we need to develop that positive feeling, that sense of affection first before we'll really, from the heart, feel compassion for others, right? Especially a deep sense of compassion. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 20:58 Highlight the passage at 20:58

21:31 I mean, I think another thing that... I was thinking about with regard to these first three steps. Like sometimes we hear about bodhicitta and we feel like, oh yeah, I want to help others, right? And so we just start jumping in and helping others, right? And then, you know, people don't necessarily react the way you want or they start, it feels like our energy is getting sucked, right? Report an error in the passage at 21:31 Highlight the passage at 21:31

22:01 We start getting burned out and, you know, it... It maybe started off as being something we really wanted to do from our hearts, and then after a while it's like, oh, it's something I should do, you know. Yeah, it's like, oh man, you know, I should be a good person and I should help them, right? And so we feel depleted, right? Report an error in the passage at 22:01 Highlight the passage at 22:01

22:24 It's easy to feel depleted. And doing these, you know, this first, especially these first two steps. Viewing all beings as one's mother and remembering her kindness. Then we start feeling this fullness again, this gratitude. When we have a lot of gratitude, our hearts feel really full and our hearts feel really soft. And that's a really good way to feed ourselves again. Report an error in the passage at 22:24 Highlight the passage at 22:24

23:01 Because we feel depleted oftentimes because it feels like other people are taking. Taking more than they're giving, we don't feel like we're getting much out of it. So then we meditate on the kindness and then we feel really full and our hearts feel overflowing again. If we do it enough, meditating once or twice or a few times isn't necessarily going to do it. But if we do it again and again and again, that's a good way to not feel depleted. Report an error in the passage at 23:01 Highlight the passage at 23:01

23:35 So that's why, you know, Buddhas and bodhisattvas, they can just keep giving and giving and giving and giving, right, without feeling burned out because they've built up this overflowing heart, right? So they never feel depleted and they don't feel like, oh, you know, everybody's just taking from me and not giving me anything. Report an error in the passage at 23:35 Highlight the passage at 23:35

23:56 They just feel so grateful to sentient beings because they recognize how much they depend on others. For their happiness and well-being. Okay, does that make sense? Report an error in the passage at 23:56 Highlight the passage at 23:56

24:15 Isn't it also true, though, that in the early stages we have to be careful about wanting to give and give and give because our vessel is still kind of leaky. We're not really, we don't have that much to be able to give until we get some stability with our practice. Yeah, we have to be careful, right, not to go beyond our limits and, yeah, not to give. Report an error in the passage at 24:15 Highlight the passage at 24:15

24:40 To the point where we're resentful. Report an error in the passage at 24:40 Highlight the passage at 24:40

24:49 Is that what you're talking about? Well, yeah. I mean, I think it's a balancing act. Until we have some stability with our practice, we can't give the way Lama Zopa gives. I mean, and people try, and I see people kind of stepping on their own feet quite a bit, trying to emulate him and maybe not quite being at that point where they can be up for four days without sleep and working around the clock. Report an error in the passage at 24:49 Highlight the passage at 24:49

25:11 You know what I mean? You have to have some stability in one's practice before you can be working for beings at that level. Report an error in the passage at 25:11 Highlight the passage at 25:11

25:20 Yeah, exactly, being realistic about where we are and keeping our practice going. Sometimes we just try to give and we don't make time to do our practice every day, but we need to make time to do our practice. And we need to make time to do retreats if we can. Lama Yeshe used to recommend that everybody do at least two weeks of retreat every year. Report an error in the passage at 25:20 Highlight the passage at 25:20

25:48 Because that's when our practice is able to deepen more. Otherwise, if we kind of jump in and out of our practice an hour a day or something, it doesn't get that deep. Report an error in the passage at 25:48 Highlight the passage at 25:48

26:00 So it's good to do retreats too. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 26:00 Highlight the passage at 26:00

26:11 So we went through step number five last time and about how great compassion is the root of the Mahāyāna path. It's the cause of developing... Bodhicitta in the beginning and in the middle of the path, it's important because that keeps us working for sentient beings. Otherwise, we can give up when adverse conditions arise, when it can become overwhelming. Report an error in the passage at 26:11 Highlight the passage at 26:11

26:41 So we need to keep cultivating our great compassion. And at the end of the path, it's important because that's what motivates the bodhisattva deeds. I mean the bodhisattva deeds, the deeds of a Buddha. Yeah, that's why Buddhas keep helping us is out of their great compassion. Report an error in the passage at 26:41 Highlight the passage at 26:41

27:01 And then in order for a great compassion to arise easily with strength and stability, then we first need to see sentient beings as attractive and dear. So this is what we've been talking about. And that's why we meditate on the first three, viewing all beings as our mothers, remembering their kindness and wishing to repaint their kindness. Report an error in the passage at 27:01 Highlight the passage at 27:01

27:23 Okay. And then that's where we stopped last time and we didn't get into why the extraordinary attitude. So there's this person saying, oh, but why do we need this extraordinary attitude? It should be enough to just have great compassion, right? Isn't that enough to develop bodhicitta? Report an error in the passage at 27:23 Highlight the passage at 27:23

27:47 It says it should really be sufficient if compassion having arisen due to such a gradual training of the mind, the wish arises to attain enlightenment for the welfare of all sentient beings. Why is this extraordinary attitude inserted between them? Report an error in the passage at 27:47 Highlight the passage at 27:47

28:04 So here, remember, there are these hearers and solitary realizers, these Hinayana practitioners. So they also have this immeasurable compassion. So the four measurables are Hinayana, Practice as well. They're developing great love for others, wishing them to have equanimity, wishing them to be free from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 28:04 Highlight the passage at 28:04

28:28 So they have compassion. Well, the Arhats have compassion for all beings. But what they don't have is this feeling of taking responsibility for freeing all beings. They have the wish that all beings be free from suffering, but haven't taken the extra step of, I myself. We'll make sure that all beings will be, you know, be liberated, right? Out of their great compassion, right? Not out of this ego of, you know, I'm going to do it kind of thing, but out of this feeling like, you know, I love these beings so much, I can't just, right, I can't just rest in my own bliss. Report an error in the passage at 28:28 Highlight the passage at 28:28

29:10 I need to, you know, I need to stay around and help others. So that's why we need the extraordinary attitude. It's the incredible courage and taking the responsibility for helping others. The responsibility. Report an error in the passage at 29:10 Highlight the passage at 29:10

29:36 So I talked about that last week, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 29:36 Highlight the passage at 29:36

29:42 Nobody's nodding. Like the difference. We all feel the difference, right, between wishing somebody to be free from suffering and, okay, I'm going to take responsibility for it. Making sure that person gets walking by them versus, okay, well, let's do something to help them. Report an error in the passage at 29:42 Highlight the passage at 29:42

30:08 Even if it's praying for them, it's not necessary. It's doing something instead of, okay, well, they're suffering and then thinking about something else. Report an error in the passage at 30:08 Highlight the passage at 30:08

30:26 That's what I was going to ask about. When we say help other beings and to eliminate their suffering, there's different levels of that, right? There's the suffering of suffering, physical suffering or physical discomfort and stuff. And there's spiritual, emotional and mental suffering that maybe we could alleviate by spreading the Dharma or helping point people to it or just sort of comforting them in other ways. Report an error in the passage at 30:26 Highlight the passage at 30:26

30:56 And then there's, I guess, maybe the more ultimate level of attaining enlightenment on your own side so that you will know the best way to help everybody. Report an error in the passage at 30:56 Highlight the passage at 30:56

31:08 Is there one particular level that this is talking about when you say you want to eliminate others' suffering? Or is it just sort of all of that? It's all of it. Yeah. Because sometimes people come to the Dharma and they think, okay, the best way to help others is to attain enlightenment myself. So I'm just going to go for enlightenment. And then all these people are suffering around them and they don't do anything. That's not the answer, right? So we need to help. Report an error in the passage at 31:08 Highlight the passage at 31:08

31:37 Beings at the level where they need it, right? And where it makes the most sense, right? If somebody's starving and we're trying to teach them the Dharma, you know it's not going to help them very much, right? First, they need to get something in their bellies, right? And then, you know, and then when they're at a certain point, maybe you can try to help them see that their suffering is coming from their minds and from their actions. Report an error in the passage at 31:37 Highlight the passage at 31:37

32:02 But you can't just jump in and teach people the Dharma. We can become really obnoxious, right? Right, you know, proselytizing is not what we're supposed to be doing. But practicing in accordance with the teachings and trying to be kind to others and compassionate and helpful. You know, working on our own minds is a good way to help others. And then maybe eventually they'll ask about the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 32:02 Highlight the passage at 32:02

32:38 But yeah, we shouldn't push it on them. So yeah, it's a tricky thing, helping others. And Lama Tsongkhapa will get into that a little bit more later. Report an error in the passage at 32:38 Highlight the passage at 32:38

32:52 And then, based on having this extraordinary attitude, then we develop the mind of enlightenment. Lama Tsongkhapa says, once you intend to liberate all beings, you realize that in your present condition, you cannot fulfill the aims of even a single being. So as long as we have mental afflictions, how am I supposed to help somebody else out of saṃsāra if I'm not out of saṃsāra yet? Report an error in the passage at 32:52 Highlight the passage at 32:52

33:22 How am I supposed to show somebody how to get to Mount Kailash if I've never been there? Right? So, uh... So I have mental afflictions, so how can I lead others to remove their mental afflictions? On one level, and then on another level, as long as we have mental afflictions, as long as we have attachment and irritation, then the way that we help others will be influenced by our attachments and our aversions. Report an error in the passage at 33:22 Highlight the passage at 33:22

33:56 We're not going to necessarily be able to do what's best for them. Right? We're gonna... We're going to do kind of what we want to do kind of thing. So in our present condition, we're not able to liberate others out of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 33:56 Highlight the passage at 33:56

34:17 Moreover, even if you attain the high state of the two arhats, liberation from cyclic existence as opposed to enlightenment, you will still only be able to fulfill the aim of liberation for merely a few living beings. And we'll be unable to establish them in omniscience. So let's say we become an Arhat. We become liberated. We still have this body until we die. Report an error in the passage at 34:17 Highlight the passage at 34:17

34:44 We still have this body. We don't have mental afflictions. So we can go around helping people. We have more wisdom. We don't have mental afflictions. But we still only have one body. It's like, okay, well, so we have to choose. Well, there's this homeless person over there, you know, over there, and then there's this, you know, there's this other person over here, and then there's all these beings in Haiti, and there's all these beings in, you know, Somalia, and there's all these beings here, you know. Report an error in the passage at 34:44 Highlight the passage at 34:44

35:12 You can't help them all. But as a Buddha, you can. As a Buddha, you're able to manifest countless bodies, and you can help as many beings as need help and who have the karma that's ripened. Report an error in the passage at 35:12 Highlight the passage at 35:12

35:30 So, therefore, if you think who can fulfill all the temporary and final aims of limitless living beings, you will realize that only a Buddha has this ability. Then you will develop the desire to attain Buddhahood for the sake of these beings. So we understand that only a Buddha with the omniscient mind and the many bodies can help bring all beings out of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 35:30 Highlight the passage at 35:30

35:58 But this requires us understanding something about Buddhahood. Yeah, the qualities of a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 35:58 Highlight the passage at 35:58

36:14 So Pabunkka Rinpoche says, each step is the necessary preliminary to the next. Don't be short-sighted and don't think this process too long. You will definitely be able to develop bodhicitta if you train in stages. Right, so maybe we don't really want to go through all of these steps. But Pabunkka Rinpoche says, don't, you know, don't be intimidated by all this. Report an error in the passage at 36:14 Highlight the passage at 36:14

36:38 Just train in stages, you know, do one step at a time. You know, we can work on equanimity for a year and, you know, viewing all sentient beings as our mother for another year and all that. You know, it takes, it really takes time. We can become really impatient, but if we keep doing these meditations, then for sure eventually we'll develop bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 36:38 Highlight the passage at 36:38

37:08 And we'll definitely see progress the more we do it. But we do have to put, we just have to put the day-to-day effort in. Report an error in the passage at 37:08 Highlight the passage at 37:08

37:18 And there's nothing more worthwhile, right, than developing, you know, good heart toward everyone, developing bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 37:18 Highlight the passage at 37:18

37:29 So I find this encouraging when the Lama say you would definitely be able to do it. For sure, if you create the causes, then definitely the result will come. Report an error in the passage at 37:29 Highlight the passage at 37:29

37:45 So the actual gradual training. So just reviewing bodhicitta, right, it's the aspiration for complete enlightenment for the welfare of all sentient beings. So bodhicitta itself actually has two aspirations. The aspiration for the welfare of all sentient beings, the welfare of others, like wanting to help others, running others to be free from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 37:45 Highlight the passage at 37:45

38:11 And then aspiration for complete enlightenment. But the main one, the main one, Is wanting others to be free from suffering. Aspiration for the welfare of all sentient beings. That's what the bodhisattva is really focused on, is helping others. And then how? How do we help others? Oh, we help others by attaining complete enlightenment. It's not the other way around. Report an error in the passage at 38:11 Highlight the passage at 38:11

38:39 Oh, I really want to get enlightened. Oh, and by the way, I'll help others. But the real focus is... Wanting to accomplish the welfare of others. So that's why in the section of the text, there's actually three sections. First of all, training the mind to strive for the welfare of others and then to strive for enlightenment and then achieving the result. Report an error in the passage at 38:39 Highlight the passage at 38:39

39:14 So first, we train the mind to strive for the welfare of others, thinking of others more and more. There's laying the foundation for generating this mind and then the actual generation of the mind. So first we have to lay the foundation, which is developing equanimity. Report an error in the passage at 39:14 Highlight the passage at 39:14

39:36 So the basis of equanimity. So why do we need an equanimous mind? Well, producing an equanimous mind towards sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 39:36 Highlight the passage at 39:36

39:51 So developing equanimity. Report an error in the passage at 39:51 Highlight the passage at 39:51

40:04 Right now we're kind of thrown around by our minds. In terms of, you know, being really attached to certain beings and developing aversion toward others. And, you know, when people do what we want, you know, we feel fine. But when, you know, if we lose our relationships or we have an argument with, you know, someone that we're attached to, you know, our minds go up and down constantly. Report an error in the passage at 40:04 Highlight the passage at 40:04

40:34 And when our loved ones die, our relationships end, you know. We go through a lot of ups and downs. But if we can develop equanimity, where we have this positive feeling toward all beings, not based on attachment and hatred, or attachment and aversion, I don't really like the word hatred, attachment and aversion, then our mind is more stable. Report an error in the passage at 40:34 Highlight the passage at 40:34

41:05 Our mind has a greater sense of well-being. We feel not so thrown around by circumstances. Report an error in the passage at 41:05 Highlight the passage at 41:05

41:17 So we develop a sense of equanimity, and here Lama Tsongkhapa is talking about the preparatory steps. It's also a basis of developing bodhicitta, is needing to train in the small and intermediate scopes of the lamrim, remembering death, remembering karma, refuge, etc. Report an error in the passage at 41:17 Highlight the passage at 41:17

41:53 To start with, if you do not accomplish an equanimous mind, having stopped the bias of attachment towards some sentient beings and aversion towards others, any love and compassion that arise will arise with partiality. As this does not occur if you observe them without impartiality, you should cultivate equanimity. So if we don't lay the basis of having equanimity first, Then we can practice and we can practice and we can practice and our attachment towards certain beings will increase and our aversion will stay the same. Report an error in the passage at 41:53 Highlight the passage at 41:53

42:33 If we keep with this attitude of only liking beings who have helped us, who have been kind to us, and still disliking people who do things we don't agree with. or harm us and things like that, right? This training won't really work very effectively until we develop a sense of equanimity toward all beings. Report an error in the passage at 42:33 Highlight the passage at 42:33

43:11 Sometimes we can train on may all sentient beings have happiness, may all sentient beings be free from suffering. We can feel really good in the gompa or during our meditation. And then we go out. And we still get just as irritated at the person. And there's this story, there's this Mingyur Rinpoche, he's a Tibetan Lama. Report an error in the passage at 43:11 Highlight the passage at 43:11

43:43 He told this story about this guy who was practicing the four immeasurables. Right. Right. Right. Report an error in the passage at 43:43 Highlight the passage at 43:43

43:49 ulcerative, But then there was this dog, the neighbor's dog, who would run out. Whenever he'd go outside, he'd run out and try to attack this guy. So he'd be doing his practice, may all sentient beings have happiness, may all sentient beings be free from suffering. And so this guy wasn't feeling so well about doing his practice and saying these things because he knew that he didn't want to. Report an error in the passage at 43:49 Highlight the passage at 43:49

44:16 This dog to be free from suffering, right? So he changed it. He said, okay, well, may some sentient beings have happiness. May some sentient beings be free from suffering. And he thought it feels better, you know, because he meant that, right? And then he went out and he set a trap for this dog so that when he'd run out, the dog would run out, these blocks of wood would fall on the dog. Report an error in the passage at 44:16 Highlight the passage at 44:16

44:46 So he forgot he set this trap and he went out and all these blocks of wood fell on him. And then he realized that this is the result of being biased. And so then he understood, okay, well, I do need to develop love and compassion for all beings. So then he started feeding the dog and all that. then he ended up becoming dog's friend. Report an error in the passage at 44:46 Highlight the passage at 44:46

45:22 So we do need to develop this sense of equanimity. We don't feel well if we dislike somebody, if we hold a grudge. It just feels a lot better to feel a sense of caring and love toward everyone. So it just makes sense. Report an error in the passage at 45:22 Highlight the passage at 45:22

45:45 so also, developing equanimity is set to be, sometimes it's like, Removing the pebbles from the field before you start planting. Cleaning out the field, creating a level field before you start planting. Or if you're going to paint a mural on the wall, smoothing out the wall first before you start painting. So developing equanimity is like that, kind of smoothing out our rough edges, smoothing out our attachment aversion before we really engage in developing love and compassion. Report an error in the passage at 45:45 Highlight the passage at 45:45

46:25 I think I know what your answer is going to be, but what do you do if someone in your life has really hurt you badly? Yeah, we're going to get into that, actually. So ask me the question later if it hasn't been answered. Yeah. Because that's the real practice, right? That's a real test. We don't have to be best friends with everybody, but trying to remove the negative feeling. Report an error in the passage at 46:25 Highlight the passage at 46:25

46:58 But we're going to talk about that. Report an error in the passage at 46:58 Highlight the passage at 46:58

47:03 So, it's taking us a while to get into this, but I just want to talk briefly about, there's three uses of this word equanimity, three types of equanimity, and we're talking about this last one. But there's equanimity in the context of the teachings of calm abiding, where when you're... When your concentration has really developed to a certain point, then you have this even balanced mind that is strong and prevents the mental afflictions from arising, prevents a dull mind from arising, prevents excitement from arising. Report an error in the passage at 47:03 Highlight the passage at 47:03

47:44 That's not the equanimity we're talking about here. We're going to talk about that in the context of calm abiding. And then there's a feeling of equanimity. So in the context of feelings, sometimes we talk about three types of feelings. Pleasure, pain and neutral feelings. Pleasure being the result of positive karma and pain being the result of negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 47:44 Highlight the passage at 47:44

48:08 And then neutral feelings. So neutral feelings are sometimes called the feeling of equanimity. And that's also not what we're talking about here. We're talking about this immeasurable equanimity and free. Trying to be free from attachment and hatred towards sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 48:08 Highlight the passage at 48:08

48:31 And then immeasurable equanimity we can subdivide into two, like in the prayers, wishing others to be free from attachment and hatred and oneself being free from attachment and hatred. So we're not just praying for others to be free from attachment and hatred, we're trying to be free from attachment and hatred ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 48:31 Highlight the passage at 48:31

49:03 So oneself cultivating freedom from attachment and hatred towards sentient beings? The first one, wishing others to be free from attachment. Oh, correct. Yeah, I missed that keyword, to be free from attachment and hatred. Yeah, thank you. Okay, Report an error in the passage at 49:03 Highlight the passage at 49:03

49:25 so we are trying to develop that. Okay, so Lama Tsongkhapa is basically saying that here. And then he says, to generate equanimity most easily, first... We try to develop equanimity toward neutral beings, people, animals, etc., those who have neither benefited nor harmed us. So these beings that we don't have strong mental afflictions toward now. So developing a sense of equanimity toward, I don't know, the next door neighbor's dog or the person in the grocery store that we see all the time but we don't have a strong feeling for. Report an error in the passage at 49:25 Highlight the passage at 49:25

50:09 So first developing, you know, really working at developing a mind that's free from attachment and hatred toward this neutral being and other neutral beings. And then once we have some measure of success there, then to move on to friends and relatives, because we have a lot of attachment toward friends and relatives. Report an error in the passage at 50:09 Highlight the passage at 50:09

50:32 So it's going to take more work to reduce our attachment. So then we do that. So we're not reducing our love, right? We're just trying to reduce our attachment here toward friends and relatives. And then once we have some success with regard to them, then we cultivate an equanimous mind toward the difficult ones. Report an error in the passage at 50:32 Highlight the passage at 50:32

50:57 You know, they call them enemies again and again in the text. And if we don't like that word, I don't like that word so much. I don't feel like I have enemies, but they're... Certainly some beings that are harder to love than others, so the more difficult ones. Report an error in the passage at 50:57 Highlight the passage at 50:57

51:18 And then we move toward all sentient beings, so we cultivate it out more and more. So we're starting with one category of people or beings at a time, and then we're meditating on specific beings. Report an error in the passage at 51:18 Highlight the passage at 51:18

51:40 That I find very, very helpful, you know, meditating on specific beings again and again instead of, oh, you know, difficult beings or, you know, or sentient beings because this generalization, you know, as I was saying earlier, you know, it's relatively easy to develop love toward all sentient beings, right? Report an error in the passage at 51:40 Highlight the passage at 51:40

52:05 You know, this amorphous mass of sentient beings, right? But that just doesn't help us when we're in an individual situation with a person who's pushing our buttons. So we need to meditate on that person who's pushing our buttons and cultivating a sense of equanimity first and then love. Report an error in the passage at 52:05 Highlight the passage at 52:05

52:30 When I think about developing this towards friends and relatives that you love, I wonder if could you talk a little bit more about distinguishing attachment and love? I sort of understand wanting to love everybody. But what are we distancing ourselves from, like I love my mother, but what am I working on there that I don't want to be attached to her but I still want to love her? Report an error in the passage at 52:30 Highlight the passage at 52:30

52:55 It's kind of a distinction there that I'm not sure I have a good firm grasp on. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's a... It's a good question because all of our love right now is mixed with attachment, so it's hard to really distinguish love from attachment. But real love is, first of all, unconditional. Just focusing on wanting that person to be happy has nothing to do with me, has nothing to do with... Report an error in the passage at 52:55 Highlight the passage at 52:55

53:21 unconditional, right? Report an error in the passage at 53:21 Highlight the passage at 53:21

53:33 What I want, what I expect, has nothing to do with my ideas of how she should be and the way she should act, but just wanting her to be happy, just wishing her to be happy. And the attachment is all the expectations and the grasping behind that. Report an error in the passage at 53:33 Highlight the passage at 53:33

54:09 You know, not behind that, that's on top of that. Report an error in the passage at 54:09 Highlight the passage at 54:09

54:17 So, Report an error in the passage at 54:17 Highlight the passage at 54:17

54:21 yeah, so does that answer your question? That's a really brief answer, but that's starting. No, I think it really does. I think it really does. And as you were saying that, I was kind of thinking, maybe it's sort of like loving without any ego, like taking yourself entirely. Like, I really love this person, but I don't have to be this Report an error in the passage at 54:21 Highlight the passage at 54:21

54:46 person without me, without saying the word I or me or mine. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's really hard, right? Like with partners too, you know, how do you love, you know, you love them whether or not they're with you or not, you know, wish them to be happy even if they leave you, right? Wish them to be happy even if, you know, what they want is not what you want or is it the opposite of what you want, right? Report an error in the passage at 54:46 Highlight the passage at 54:46

55:13 That's where it really gets, it gets really hard, right? Well, it gets really hard. It is. It's really hard. Report an error in the passage at 55:13 Highlight the passage at 55:13

55:31 Yeah, I mean, that's hard for all of us. So oftentimes we don't really understand how much attachment we have. Report an error in the passage at 55:31 Highlight the passage at 55:31

55:46 Oftentimes we don't really understand how much attachment we have until we're not getting what we want or until we get what we don't want. Report an error in the passage at 55:46 Highlight the passage at 55:46

56:00 So developing equanimity is not a simple task, right? Trying to loosen that attachment. And I want to say loosening the attachment in hatred because we're not removing it from the root yet. We need to realize emptiness to remove it from the root. But here we're trying to loosen it. Report an error in the passage at 56:00 Highlight the passage at 56:00

56:25 Okay, so then how? How do we develop it? Report an error in the passage at 56:25 Highlight the passage at 56:25

56:33 Okay, so Lama Tsongkhapa is basically presenting what's here in this big quote. Report an error in the passage at 56:33 Highlight the passage at 56:33

56:48 I'm going to read through this. Okay. So then what meditation eliminates this attachment and hatred toward these three persons? So there's two main ways to meditate on equanimity. Really, this is from Kamala Shila. Report an error in the passage at 56:48 Highlight the passage at 56:48

57:08 So first we start with this understanding that all sentient beings are the same in wanting happiness and not wanting suffering. So His Holiness the Dalai Lama says this all the time. All beings just want to have happiness and don't want suffering. And we think, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So what kind of thing, right? So we need to really meditate on this one and bring it from this intellectual level into a level of the heart. Report an error in the passage at 57:08 Highlight the passage at 57:08

57:46 And I'll talk about that. And I find this meditation myself. Really powerful. And then there's a meditation on friends, enemies and strangers changing all the time. Report an error in the passage at 57:46 Highlight the passage at 57:46

58:05 There's no single being who has not been my friend, relative and enemy. So this is widening our perspective. So the first one is getting a sense that others are just like me. When we don't like somebody or when we dislike somebody. We focus on how they're different from us. That person's a jerk, but I'm a nice person kind of thing. Report an error in the passage at 58:05 Highlight the passage at 58:05

58:37 Or that person has different political beliefs from me. Or we really focus on what's different. So this first one is focusing on what's the same. Report an error in the passage at 58:37 Highlight the passage at 58:37

58:54 So then we start feeling a sense of connection. Report an error in the passage at 58:54 Highlight the passage at 58:54

59:00 And then the second one is... Thinking of past lives and how, I mean, even within this life, how our relationships with others change all the time. Report an error in the passage at 59:00 Highlight the passage at 59:00

59:15 When we dislike someone, usually it's we're just focused on the one thing, the here and now, what we don't like about them, right? If we broaden our perspective and think, oh, okay, well, this person's been my friend, this person's been really kind to me in the past, you know, now is a rough period, but, you know, there's some good periods and some not good periods. Report an error in the passage at 59:15 Highlight the passage at 59:15

59:37 It starts to loosen up our mental afflictions, right, when we stop solidifying things so much. Okay, so this is what Lama Tsongkhapa is saying, these two types. So this first type. Report an error in the passage at 59:37 Highlight the passage at 59:37

59:56 All sentient beings are the same in wanting happiness and not wanting suffering. Report an error in the passage at 59:56 Highlight the passage at 59:56

1:00:07 So usually when we... Report an error in the passage at 1:00:07 Highlight the passage at 1:00:07

1:00:14 We tend to have a lot of... Well, I don't know about you, but we have self-cherishing, right? It's much easier to... We go around... We go through life trying to get happiness for ourselves and avoid suffering for ourselves. Because we're constantly... Report an error in the passage at 1:00:14 Highlight the passage at 1:00:14

1:00:41 Experiencing feelings, right? When we feel pain, we are automatically knowing we don't want it. When we feel happiness or pleasure, we automatically want more of it, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:41 Highlight the passage at 1:00:41

1:00:53 But when we look at others, other sentient beings, we don't look at them, we don't tend to look at them in terms of feeling. We see them, right? We use our eye consciousness, right? We see. We see others, but we're not necessarily in touch with their feelings. Does that make sense? So with this meditation, we're trying to see things more, like less through here and more through the heart, more through feelings. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:53 Highlight the passage at 1:00:53

1:01:30 Feeling that others are just like me and wanting to be happy and not wanting to suffer. Not just repeating in our heads, not just being words, but... Feeling. So that starts with ourselves really getting in touch with how much we are constantly seeking happiness and wanting suffering. If I have back pain, automatically I want to be free from that. If I'm experiencing joy, automatically I want more of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:30 Highlight the passage at 1:01:30

1:02:09 If I feel a lot of love, automatically I want more of that. If I feel really happy, automatically I want more. If I'm feeling depressed, automatically I want to be free from that. So we get more and more touched with that, those feelings within ourselves, and then we see that everybody else is like that too. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:09 Highlight the passage at 1:02:09

1:02:32 Yeah, that homeless person on the street, it's the same. They don't want to sit there on the street and be cold and rained on, just like I wouldn't. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:32 Highlight the passage at 1:02:32

1:02:45 You know, that annoying person at work, they're just trying to be happy. I don't have to agree with how they're going about it, right? But they're just trying to be happy, not wanting to suffer. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:45 Highlight the passage at 1:02:45

1:02:57 The clerk, the grocery store clerk, oh, she's just, you know, she doesn't really want to stand there all day long, you know, ringing people's purchases, you know. But, you know, she needs to make a living just like me, you know. She's just trying to be happy, not wanting suffering. That poor person at the airline counter who's getting yelled at all day long when the flights are delayed, they can't help it. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:57 Highlight the passage at 1:02:57

1:03:24 They're just trying to be happy. So this is a meditation that's very, very powerful. We're starting to look at people more through the heart. I Report an error in the passage at 1:03:24 Highlight the passage at 1:03:24

1:03:44 find this a really useful one. To do like if I'm sitting in the airport, you know, waiting for my flight and you see all these people walking by. Like that person, that person's just trying to be happy. That person's just trying to be Report an error in the passage at 1:03:44 Highlight the passage at 1:03:44

1:04:01 happy. You know, there's something, you feel that kinship with them. You feel that, yeah, they're just like me. And you feel a sense of warmth and it's like, oh yeah, maybe. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:01 Highlight the passage at 1:04:01

1:04:15 The guy who cut you off, oh, you know, he's just trying to get, you know, somewhere really fast. You know, I've done that too, you know, he's just trying to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:15 Highlight the passage at 1:04:15

1:04:30 In the past I have added a layer here. I think I read somewhere where, you know, if you imagine the person was also once a baby. So I imagine, you know, there was once a person that I disliked and I tried this practice and I just imagined, you know, once this person was a baby crying just like me and had the same needs and growing up. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:30 Highlight the passage at 1:04:30

1:04:55 The baby thing always works for me, like imagining. You know, someone you really dislike and imagining that that person was once a baby, you know, just somehow really works. Yeah, yeah, because it's hard to dislike babies. I mean, harder. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:55 Highlight the passage at 1:04:55

1:05:20 Yeah, it's true. And that's a good point. I mean, it's very useful to. Harder, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:20 Highlight the passage at 1:05:20

1:05:24 To do all sorts of techniques, to apply all sorts of different techniques at different times. Some will work better for us at certain times, some will work better for us at other times. So yeah, we need to train our minds in whatever works. But yeah, I mean you can imagine them as a baby, you can imagine them as your best friend, you can imagine them as parents or your brother or your sister. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:24 Highlight the passage at 1:05:24

1:05:55 Yeah, whatever works for us. Or all of the above. One thing that somebody shared with me one time that worked in a situation that I had where I was having hard feelings towards somebody and trying to meditate on them being happy and healthy was that this person wouldn't have acted like this if he were healthy and happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:55 Highlight the passage at 1:05:55

1:06:15 Do you know what I mean? A lot of times people act out and do ugly things to other people, but they wouldn't do them if they weren't. suffering physically or emotionally in some way that's just not how humans are you know we're happy to be really evil to be just do it for fun you know yeah Yeah, but yeah, I mean, that's very true. People who, you know, harm others, you know, they're not harming others out of feeling happy, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:15 Highlight the passage at 1:06:15

1:06:47 When we're happy, we want others to be happy, right? And if we look at ourselves, you know, when do we? You know, say something nasty to somebody else, right? It's not when we're happy, right? When we're tired, when we're cranky, when we're stressed, when we're, you know, feeling overwhelmed or, you know, feeling wronged. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:47 Highlight the passage at 1:06:47

1:07:15 All right, you know what? Are you ready for a break or you want? Yeah. Okay, so we'll take a break. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:15 Highlight the passage at 1:07:15

1:07:46 Okay. Thank you. And the quiche was really, it wasn't, it was good. Yeah, I mean, I ended up eating it the next day because it was really late by the time I got home. But it was really, I really liked it. I heat them both up and I gobbled them up for lunch. So, thank you. So, no, and mine was water. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:46 Highlight the passage at 1:07:46

1:08:18 Oh, did you heat it up in the oven or in the microwave? Well, Report an error in the passage at 1:08:18 Highlight the passage at 1:08:18

1:08:30 I'm a vegetarian, Report an error in the passage at 1:08:30 Highlight the passage at 1:08:30

1:08:35 but not really. I mean, I'm not good with... Super rich foods, like really creamy, you know? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:35 Highlight the passage at 1:08:35

1:09:02 Yeah, I know. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:02 Highlight the passage at 1:09:02

1:09:05 short going down, it's long getting up. I have this, um, a friend of mine, a friend of a friend of a young girl staying without being known. She's really good about calling me to call Buddhists and I don't know if there's one out there, or I don't know if there's one out there, or I don't know if there's one out there. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:05 Highlight the passage at 1:09:05

1:09:23 It's a big scene. I know. You go to Vermont and your parents move to New York. So she just got out of it. Yeah. It's a knowledge and not a trying to You grapple with. know, like, I've heard of Buddhism, so what I've heard is there's a Thank you. I thought it isn't just a believer, or they come to some sense that this is a truth. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:23 Highlight the passage at 1:09:23

1:09:49 Yeah, that's a process. Well, it doesn't have to be eons. But let's see. So first, with your first question about, yeah, I mean, we're all interdependent, right? Everything is dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:49 Highlight the passage at 1:09:49

1:10:13 It doesn't exist independently and inherently from its own side. But they do exist. They don't exist in the way we think they are. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:13 Highlight the passage at 1:10:13

1:10:27 They exist conventionally. So Buddhas exist conventionally. They exist out there conventionally. I mean, we exist conventionally. So they're our beings. They're just... Report an error in the passage at 1:10:27 Highlight the passage at 1:10:27

1:10:45 They're dependent on causes and conditions. They're dependent on parts. They're dependent on our labeling them. And yet, if someone's been in light... Report an error in the passage at 1:10:45 Highlight the passage at 1:10:45

1:11:03 Yeah, well, they're still depend... I mean, they're dependent arisings. They still are dependent arisings. Yeah, I mean, they're not... Yeah, they're not part of saṃsāra. They're free from saṃsāra. But everything that exists is still a dependent arising. It doesn't exist inherently. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:03 Highlight the passage at 1:11:03

1:11:30 ...offering what I Report an error in the passage at 1:11:30 Highlight the passage at 1:11:30

1:11:38 don't know if it's like, oh, is that our name? I mean, is that the idea, or is it to be presenting something greater than this me or some No, Report an error in the passage at 1:11:38 Highlight the passage at 1:11:38

1:11:53 no, it's fine. That's what I'm here for. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:53 Highlight the passage at 1:11:53

1:12:05 We'll share. that's a terrible thing to ask someone. No. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:05 Highlight the passage at 1:12:05

1:11:59 want me to read it all? to have food. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:59 Highlight the passage at 1:11:59

1:12:07 Oh, there's a lot in there. Oh, this looks great. You Report an error in the passage at 1:12:07 Highlight the passage at 1:12:07

1:12:17 didn't make it? With your two hands? Report an error in the passage at 1:12:17 Highlight the passage at 1:12:17

1:12:26 Oh, it's really... It's Report an error in the passage at 1:12:26 Highlight the passage at 1:12:26

1:12:35 like a cinnamon roll. A warm cinnamon roll or something. Yeah. Lots of walnuts. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:35 Highlight the passage at 1:12:35

1:13:10 Yeah. Yeah. So, there are Buddhas. There are gods. According to Buddhism, there's not a creator god. Right. But you can say there are gods. We can think of... Report an error in the passage at 1:13:10 Highlight the passage at 1:13:10

1:13:40 A lot of people think of God as being some presence, omnipresent, looking after beings. Buddhas are like that too. So it's not like there's nobody out there. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:40 Highlight the passage at 1:13:40

1:14:08 Dalai Lama movie anyway. Okay, all right, that just made some things to Report an error in the passage at 1:14:08 Highlight the passage at 1:14:08

1:14:24 Yeah, lots and lots of questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:24 Highlight the passage at 1:14:24

1:14:33 It does. And, you know, and I'm around too. You can always ask me questions. love to get to a point know like I can see how some of this works better. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:33 Highlight the passage at 1:14:33

1:14:47 I don't know. That's what... Well, I think... Right. Right. Right. Well, one at a time. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:47 Highlight the passage at 1:14:47

1:15:05 let me know if you need a ride. Do you all the time? He thinks that you don't get it. But she had her own of the general row. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:05 Highlight the passage at 1:15:05

1:15:19 But it's less her pressure during the day. Yeah. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:19 Highlight the passage at 1:15:19

1:15:51 Thank you. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:51 Highlight the passage at 1:15:51

1:16:20 It's a little bit bigger. Ours is 200 pages. So it's an extra. Yeah, the translation was left. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:20 Highlight the passage at 1:16:20

1:16:36 So we'll, at the point where Thank you. So you don't need to buy this. Thank you. said she messed up the right word because they gave her special skills. It's got the play. It's got the play. It's got the play. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:36 Highlight the passage at 1:16:36

1:16:56 I lost all my life. I lost all my life. I can't believe you. Yeah, you don't need it. I don't need to know how to play. I don't need to know how to play. She tried to solve it. I don't need to play. Thank you. Okay, that's what she's saying. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:56 Highlight the passage at 1:16:56

1:17:16 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:16 Highlight the passage at 1:17:16

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1:17:55 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:55 Highlight the passage at 1:17:55

1:18:11 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:11 Highlight the passage at 1:18:11

1:18:17 announcement, you know, I don't, I won't always take me, but I feel like it's just a part of the last one. Yeah, that's good. That's good. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:17 Highlight the passage at 1:18:17

1:18:28 That'd be great. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:28 Highlight the passage at 1:18:28

1:18:36 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:36 Highlight the passage at 1:18:36

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:19:16 you very much. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:16 Highlight the passage at 1:19:16

1:19:23 dragging, huh? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:23 Highlight the passage at 1:19:23

1:19:30 In your house? Yeah. All my friends are next week. No, I don't. Yeah, isn't it? Yeah, that'd be really good. That's right, children. I'm bringing you a couple more votes next week. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:30 Highlight the passage at 1:19:30

1:19:48 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:48 Highlight the passage at 1:19:48

1:20:10 Thank you very much. I feel much better. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:10 Highlight the passage at 1:20:10

1:20:40 Thank you. Thank you. is very, I mean, they're just a small amount of music that's our thing. Yeah, they don't want to pay for it. They don't want to pay for it. They're just, you know. I'm gonna say, I'm very upset. I mean, they're like, I'm it. I don't really think it's the whole time. So anyway, make me laugh that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:40 Highlight the passage at 1:20:40

1:21:11 My introduction to Subway's was New York City in the 70s. So nothing, nothing compares. You know, it's like they had in the movies. Graffiti-covered cars, people with outlets on roller boards going up and down. The lights would go on and on. You know, the lights. the lights in the chair coach, you'd be in darkness and it would be strobing. So, yeah, and so, and then when you got out, this is the 70s, bad. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:11 Highlight the passage at 1:21:11

1:21:49 Ever double? Did you live there? No, I went to school back east, and I'd go to the university with my parents. And, you know, everything was filthy, so, and all the subway tiles, everything was just as a beautiful. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:49 Highlight the passage at 1:21:49

1:22:28 All subway systems. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:28 Highlight the passage at 1:22:28

1:22:49 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:49 Highlight the passage at 1:22:49

1:23:03 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:03 Highlight the passage at 1:23:03

1:23:19 Yeah. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:19 Highlight the passage at 1:23:19

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:23:58 I got a couple more coming. One of them should help my... rain get back to maybe where it was which one's that Report an error in the passage at 1:23:58 Highlight the passage at 1:23:58

1:24:17 little ones that i got they were uh delta then so it helps you get quiet quick It just stopped and it's pretty easy. There's another one that's supposed to help the synapses connect faster, which sounds like what I might say. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:17 Highlight the passage at 1:24:17

1:24:53 I'm getting another one and it's warm light. I will tell you every place on the way home. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:53 Highlight the passage at 1:24:53

1:24:56 It picks up the energy and then it has like a re-entry thing. All of the pulses are like the same. They're just different frequencies except for two of them. So I got one of those two coming. It'll be interesting to see how they're different. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:56 Highlight the passage at 1:24:56

1:25:15 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:15 Highlight the passage at 1:25:15

1:25:19 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:19 Highlight the passage at 1:25:19

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

1:25:35 Okay. Okay. We're just sharing our love for sentient being. With. Without attachment or aversion. Okay. All right. Uh-huh. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:35 Highlight the passage at 1:25:35

1:26:03 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:03 Highlight the passage at 1:26:03

1:26:06 I don't think I have any enemies. No, I don't have any enemies. But there are people out there that I feel have intense anger issues. You know, and when you're around them, you want to help them. But how do you go about doing that? You know, I don't know. When you're around them all the time, day in and day out. See, those are really hard questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:06 Highlight the passage at 1:26:06

1:26:41 Okay, I've been dealing with that one for like 21 years. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's a situation by situation thing. I think it depends on your relationship with that person and how open they are to hearing anything. I think oftentimes we just try to be kind to them, you know, and not try to teach them, but just try to be a good example. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:41 Highlight the passage at 1:26:41

1:27:09 But it depends. Like I grew up, you know, I have a brother who's... Just a very grumpy fellow, you know, and has always been very critical of me and others and, you know, very angry and all of that. And there's no way I could talk to him about the Dharma, you know. He would get more angry, right, if I presumed to tell him that I knew something he didn't know, right. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:09 Highlight the passage at 1:27:09

1:27:36 So I just find, you know, that I just... Try to do things for him, try to be nice to him, invite him to things, don't criticize him. Accept him and love him. But that's that particular situation. Sometimes we can do something for someone who's angry, but it's hard to... When I want to share the Dharma with this individual, it seems to be... Report an error in the passage at 1:27:36 Highlight the passage at 1:27:36

1:27:47 Just, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:47 Highlight the passage at 1:27:47

1:28:12 Going there in the words, but is it actually penetrating? I don't know. I feel guilty when I want to practice the Dharma around this person. When you live with someone, I just want to be myself, but I feel like I can't be. I don't really have a choice. I can't go anywhere else. You know? Mm-hmm. It's just a difficult situation that I'm in. So this is someone you're living with? Yes. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:12 Highlight the passage at 1:28:12

1:28:55 Immediately I thought of Jeannie because Jeannie is such an angry person. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:55 Highlight the passage at 1:28:55

1:29:01 Yeah. Yes, actually, no. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:01 Highlight the passage at 1:29:01

1:29:09 So you have a couple of choices. You can either stay living with this person and practice. Usually when we live with someone who's very angry, we can't just relax. We have to tiptoe around them. So is that the most beneficial situation for you or is it better for you to move? That's something to think about that I wouldn't be able to answer in that question. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:09 Highlight the passage at 1:29:09

1:29:39 But think about if you have to stay in that situation and whether or not that's really best for you. Because sometimes difficult living situations can be really good for our practice. It can really help us. Sometimes it detracts from our practice more and we have to put so much energy into this other person that it's not really the most beneficial thing to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:39 Highlight the passage at 1:29:39

1:30:05 right? So... So to think about, is it more beneficial to stay or is it more beneficial? Report an error in the passage at 1:30:05 Highlight the passage at 1:30:05

1:30:19 Yeah, nothing's ever that simple, is it? Report an error in the passage at 1:30:19 Highlight the passage at 1:30:19

1:30:24 Okay. There was a comment. Oh, again, I have gone through a similar situation, but it was with people arguing and unhappy people and I realized that, you know, it has to do with my own karma to experience that and purifying it. So I've always had neighbors shouting at each other. If it wasn't like, before it was me shouting at people and back and forth, and then it changed to experiencing others. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:24 Highlight the passage at 1:30:24

1:31:01 And then the other day I experienced the neighbor's daughter going A, B, C, D, E, F, G. I was like, my karma has changed. Yay! Yeah. Or a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, to work on our karma, because everything that we experience is a result of our karma. So, yeah, so to purify and to be extra careful about our actions. Even if we haven't created the causes in this life, then at least to purify and be really careful not to create the causes in this life for an angry person to be. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:01 Highlight the passage at 1:31:01

1:31:49 I have kind of a similar situation to you. I have a very close relative who's mentally ill. I've learned an incredible amount from this person just in terms of my own patience and my own compassion because it is somebody who actually did manage to hurt me very badly in my life. And I have had to kind of remove myself from this person. I check in with them. But I realize that it's not skillful for me to be around them. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:49 Highlight the passage at 1:31:49

1:32:18 It's just every time I end up talking, it ends up having me shaking afterwards. I can love them from afar and through my practice. And I used to feel sort of guilty about that, but actually I'm realizing that it's the only skillful way to have a relationship with this person. Yeah, right now. Right, right now at this point. Yeah, I mean, Lewis has something to say. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:18 Highlight the passage at 1:32:18

1:32:47 But... Report an error in the passage at 1:32:47 Highlight the passage at 1:32:47

1:32:57 class is a Report an error in the passage at 1:32:57 Highlight the passage at 1:32:57

1:33:03 Even angry people can understand limits if you declare them. If you're in a situation where you're not allowed to declare your own limits to the extent that you just need to practice, then it's not a good healthy thing. But you can live with an angry person if you say, one know that you're not the source of the anger, they brought that in to the home. The other is that you have to practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:03 Highlight the passage at 1:33:03

1:33:27 That's the most important thing. So if you can create a situation where you say, you know, I need to do this and this is the limit here and this is where my practice is going to be allowed because I need to do that. And that's where you're meeting the limits of your practice by deciding to stay with this angry person in the same household. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:27 Highlight the passage at 1:33:27

1:33:49 But if you can declare that kind of a limit, then you can work on things minute by minute, day by day. But you have to have something. And practice is the most important thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:49 Highlight the passage at 1:33:49

1:34:16 Yeah, these things are just so hard. We take each individual situation and just try to use the wisdom that we have and try to have a good heart in it. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:16 Highlight the passage at 1:34:16

1:34:38 Around equanimity, so this first method, once again, so going around, right. And getting in touch with other beings' wish for happiness and not wanting suffering. And this isn't just people, right? This is animals. This is insects. This is the cockroach that's in the kitchen or the mouse that's eating the offerings. This is everyone, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:38 Highlight the passage at 1:34:38

1:35:09 So this can be a really kind of fun exercise. Wow. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:09 Highlight the passage at 1:35:09

1:35:24 It's pretty amazing. So that's the first method for developing equanimity. And then the second one, thinking about friends, enemies and strangers and how they change all the time. So we can start with this life and think about my best friend in kindergarten. right? You know, you couldn't, Couldn't go anywhere without them. And now where are they? Are you still friends? Do you even know where they are? Do you even remember their name? Report an error in the passage at 1:35:24 Highlight the passage at 1:35:24

1:36:07 Without Facebook? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:07 Highlight the passage at 1:36:07

1:36:15 Or if we imagine someone that we really have a difficult time with and we imagine... So. Show these. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:15 Highlight the passage at 1:36:15

1:36:25 Let's say we get sick and they take care of us. They take us to the hospital. How that would change your relationship, how it would help. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:25 Highlight the passage at 1:36:25

1:36:35 So within this life, we can think of all sorts of people who have been our friends at one time and then became someone we didn't like. Maybe if we dated someone and you broke up and you went from being so close to... Report an error in the passage at 1:36:35 Highlight the passage at 1:36:35

1:36:56 Disliking this person. I'm constantly amazed when I hear of the venomous divorces. At one time this was the person you wanted to spend the rest of your life with and then another time this is the person you want to hurt as much as possible. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:56 Highlight the passage at 1:36:56

1:37:17 And then it's even more powerful if we think of past lives. So if we think about it. According to the Dharma, we've had infinite past lives. There's no beginning to time. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:17 Highlight the passage at 1:37:17

1:37:47 If we've had infinite past lives, then we've had every possible relationship with everyone. If we think there's a finite number of sentient beings, there are countless sentient beings, but there's a finite number at some point. so we've had Report an error in the passage at 1:37:47 Highlight the passage at 1:37:47

1:38:08 But with time, there's not a beginning. So does anybody have a hard time with this concept of beginningless time? I Report an error in the passage at 1:38:08 Highlight the passage at 1:38:08

1:38:22 do understand. So generally the proof, the quote unquote proof of beginningless lives is that, so there's two kinds of phenomena. There's physical phenomena, you know, there's material things and there's mental stuff, right? Physical and mental. Physical comes from physical and mental can only come from mental. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:22 Highlight the passage at 1:38:22

1:38:49 For example, Report an error in the passage at 1:38:49 Highlight the passage at 1:38:49

1:38:54 this remote came from physical stuff. It's called the substantial cause. There was physical stuff that turned into this. example, Report an error in the passage at 1:38:54 Highlight the passage at 1:38:54

1:39:14 Right, so there's two different things. So when we talk about causes, there's two different types of causes. There's substantial causes and there's cooperative conditions. So substantial causes are the things, is what turns into this. So it's material that turned into this. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:14 Highlight the passage at 1:39:14

1:39:36 The thought process, right, of inventing it is a cooperative condition, right, a contributed. It contributed to this thing coming into being, but the thought didn't become this. It was the material that became this. So similar to plants, you know, if I think of a plant, right? The substantial cause was the seed. The seed turned into the plant, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:36 Highlight the passage at 1:39:36

1:40:01 The seed and the water and all of that. And the person who planted it is the cooperative condition. For example, if a person planted it. Or a pot. You know, like a potter makes a pot. The clay is a substantial cause. The clay becomes the pot. The potter is the cooperative condition contributing to the development of the pot. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:01 Highlight the passage at 1:40:01

1:40:38 But the pot itself, the substantial cause, had to have been material. If it's a material thing, it's cause. Its substantial cause had to have been material. Similarly with a thought, so a thought today is a result of mind moments in the past. A thought today is a result of perceptions in the past and thoughts in the past. So my mind today is a result of my mind yesterday, which is a result of my mind the day before, which is a result of my mind the day before. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:38 Highlight the passage at 1:40:38

1:41:15 The brain would be a cooperative condition, right? The brain, I was talking to somebody yesterday and she said, like the mind is like an emerging property of the brain, right? Without the brain, well, as a result of the brain, right, we can have thoughts and things like that. But the mind isn't the brain, according to Buddhism, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:15 Highlight the passage at 1:41:15

1:41:41 Like if I had a brain in a jar, I wouldn't think... There's a mind, right? There aren't thoughts. There isn't awareness. There's a brain, but it isn't a mind. It's not something that perceives and thinks and is aware. So the mind is something separate from the brain. And the mind, according to Buddhism, is non-material. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:41 Highlight the passage at 1:41:41

1:42:10 So each moment of mind had a previous moment as its cause. So the mind is a continuum of moments. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:10 Highlight the passage at 1:42:10

1:42:25 So the first moment of this life, what was the cause of that? Well, this Report an error in the passage at 1:42:25 Highlight the passage at 1:42:25

1:42:36 life is kind of a vague term. But the first moment in the womb, the moment of conception, what was the cause of that moment of mind? Report an error in the passage at 1:42:36 Highlight the passage at 1:42:36

1:42:55 So the moment before, which would have been... The moment in previous life or the moment in the bardo, right? In the intermediate state. And then you can go back and back and back ad infinitum, right? So if you keep going back, then you can't find a moment of mind that didn't have a previous moment. You can't find a first moment of mind because that would mean that that moment wasn't caused. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:55 Highlight the passage at 1:42:55

1:43:27 Each moment of mine needs to have a previous moment as its cause. John. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:27 Highlight the passage at 1:43:27

1:43:39 Let me just see if I understand this correctly. Okay. So me sitting here right now, I'm having thoughts. I'm having feelings. Now, if something happens to my brain, say, you know, like I have a little mini stroke and then suddenly I can't see out of my right eye. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:39 Highlight the passage at 1:43:39

1:44:07 The thoughts and the feelings are going to change as a result of that physical change to my brain. Now if I go and with that track back when I get to the moment of conception say or as the brain is developing further back then The thoughts are going to change. So is it that the brain, that physical conglomeration, that lump of gray stuff up there, is a support for the thoughts and the feelings, but the mind is like the set, the process of the thoughts and feelings. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:07 Highlight the passage at 1:44:07

1:45:03 It's not the thoughts and feelings, but it's kind of like the overall flow, the overall set. Do you see what I'm saying? It's like it gives rise to those thoughts and feelings, but it's kind of like a basis upon which they flow. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:03 Highlight the passage at 1:45:03

1:45:25 Or does that make any sense at all? No, that makes sense. That's a nice analogy. The mind, the process. I think you can say that. But the thoughts and the feelings are also moments of mind. Um. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:25 Highlight the passage at 1:45:25

1:45:44 As well, we we still label like if I have a thought. Right. I label that a moment of mind. Right. That's a that's a mental that's a mental activity. So it's like it's like the ocean is the mind. Right. And then the waves. Right. The waves are still the ocean, but the waves are like thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:44 Highlight the passage at 1:45:44

1:46:08 They arise and they fall and they rise and they fall and they arise and they fall. So it's the same substance, right? It's still the substance of mind. The thoughts are still the substance of mind. Just like the waves are still the substance of the ocean, the water. Yeah, because the issue that I have is that for human beings, for those beings that have, you know, like... Report an error in the passage at 1:46:08 Highlight the passage at 1:46:08

1:46:36 An advanced consciousness, you know, we can comprehend these sorts of things. If I go and look at an insect, their Report an error in the passage at 1:46:36 Highlight the passage at 1:46:36

1:46:50 ability to, their thought processes, you know, the feelings that they have, whatever those, the feelings that an insect might have, are of a different, I guess, overall level of complexity that is, you know, less than we have. So I'm just what I'm thinking of is, you know, like emergent mind that you can you can go and bring in. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:50 Highlight the passage at 1:46:50

1:47:24 I'm kind of thinking it from like like a complex system standpoint where you can go and bring in a large number of simple physical components that together. They're behaving very simply. They're behaving physically, yet a very complex dynamic Report an error in the passage at 1:47:24 Highlight the passage at 1:47:24

1:47:48 comes out of it. So the thing I'm wondering is that can the same thing happen with what we regard as consciousness? If you have all the physical parts needed, if you put them together, you can get an emergent sort of consciousness. That's why I'm thinking, like, if that's the case, then if I go and follow the thoughts and the feelings that could be just emergent properties of, you know, the material, the physical part of the physical gunk of the brain, if I track that back, you know, once I remove those physical parts, those thoughts, those feelings, that consciousness is no longer emergent. It's extinguished. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:48 Highlight the passage at 1:47:48

1:48:40 If there's some, like as I say, you know, like a flow of something. See, that's where I kind of like getting, maybe I'm just confused in the concepts, but if Report an error in the passage at 1:48:40 Highlight the passage at 1:48:40

1:48:54 that makes any sense what I'm saying. Partly. Yeah, I mean, I think this is a very complex subject. His Holiness the Dalai Lama talks about it during these mind science, mind life conferences. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:54 Highlight the passage at 1:48:54

1:49:11 According to Tantra, there's different levels of consciousness, different levels of subtlety. There's a gross, subtle and extremely subtle. And the grosser levels of consciousness are dependent on the brain. But the subtlest level of consciousness isn't dependent on the brain. And the subtlest level of consciousness, it goes from life to life. So, you know, I don't think I can answer your question completely in this class. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:11 Highlight the passage at 1:49:11

1:49:43 But yeah, the mind is defined as that which is clear and knowing. It's clear, it's not material, and it's aware. It cognizes things. So the properties of the mind, the function of the mind is to cognize. And that function is dependent on the brain, but it isn't the brain. It's the function. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:43 Highlight the passage at 1:49:43

1:50:18 read the dialogue. Yeah. Yeah. And, And then there's the whole class in Discovering Buddhism on mind and its potential that we'll get into that more. I don't think in this class we can get into it too much more. I'm just trying to explain why there's beginningless lives, right? And the proof is from... Report an error in the passage at 1:50:18 Highlight the passage at 1:50:18

1:50:45 The mind being beginningless because the mind needs to have a previous moment of mind in order to arise and that needs to have a previous moment. So if we follow that through then mind is beginningless and thus we have beginningless lives. Could you also not go and look at it in a way that since all things come into existence through causes and conditions everything is interconnected in some aspect Report an error in the passage at 1:50:45 Highlight the passage at 1:50:45

1:51:15 You go and set as your working assumption that there is beginningless time, then since the mind interacts in some way with everything out there, it is in a sense connected. So the mind would be kind of encoded into the rest of reality. In a way, through conditions, and if time is infinite forwards and backwards, then all those causal interrelationships would have some encoding of the mind on them. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:15 Highlight the passage at 1:51:15

1:52:10 In that way, that mind would then therefore be beginningless and endless in a very non-localized way. You're talking about something very different than what I'm talking about here. Because we're trying to prove beginningless time. You're taking beginningless time as being the starting point. But we're trying to prove beginningless time through... Report an error in the passage at 1:52:10 Highlight the passage at 1:52:10

1:52:37 Mind moments needing to arise from previous mind moments. I can buy beginningless time. Okay, well then good. But not everybody can, right? I accept beginningless time. That's easy. Alright, okay. So then ignore what I said about the mind. Okay. Okay, so then if we accept beginningless time. Then we need to accept that we've had countless lives before. And if we've had countless lives before, then it makes sense that we've had every possible relationship with every other being. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:37 Highlight the passage at 1:52:37

1:53:23 Sometimes they've been our friends. Sometimes they've been kind to us. Sometimes they've been our mothers. Sometimes they've been our brothers. Sometimes they've been our enemies. Sometimes they've been our food. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:23 Highlight the passage at 1:53:23

1:53:37 Sometimes we've killed them, sometimes they've killed us, sometimes we've been their food. So that kind of broadens our perspective. So this is in relation to your question earlier that I didn't answer, Peter, about if somebody's hurt us really badly. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:37 Highlight the passage at 1:53:37

1:53:59 If we think, oh, but they've also been really kind to me in the past too. They've also taken care of me in the past. They've also, you know, been my best friend in the past. That starts to loosen things up, right, instead of being the person who hurt me, right? The person who hurt me and helped me. So if we really think about this, if we really contemplate this, we can see that everybody's the same, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:59 Highlight the passage at 1:53:59

1:54:30 You know, everybody's been kind to us. Everybody's been mean to us. Everybody has done everything to us. So why discriminate between beings? Why have bias? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:30 Highlight the passage at 1:54:30

1:54:47 Because we're really stuck in time. We're really stuck in this is what happened now. This is what happened yesterday or this is what happened five years ago or whatever it is. It's kind of a difficult Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:47 Highlight the passage at 1:54:47

1:55:02 Frozen that image in our minds and that's who that person is, right? It's very limited and it's very focused on just one thing. So if we look at reality more the way that it is, then we can see that this person has been everything, just like every other being. So there's no reason to have bias towards some. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:02 Highlight the passage at 1:55:02

1:55:34 Aversion toward others because they've all done the same thing. So this can be really freeing for the mind. This can really loosen things up. This is really helpful, you know, with the super difficult being. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:34 Highlight the passage at 1:55:34

1:55:58 So these are the two ways. Okay, so to reduce our hatred. Or our aversion or our difficult feelings, angry feelings, irritated feelings toward others. Then we can reflect on how these beings have been really close to us, have been our closest friends, our relatives, our loved ones, who have been very kind. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:58 Highlight the passage at 1:55:58

1:56:29 Then when we have strong attachment beings, And then we can on These beings have also harmed us in the past. Now this is one, I think, to be careful about. We don't want to dwell on the fact that others have harmed us and develop anger or whatever. But just to develop some sense of levity. It's like, oh yeah, well this person is really nice to me now, but maybe they've done other not so nice things in the past. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:29 Highlight the passage at 1:56:29

1:57:05 All right, all right. So not to develop aversion, right? We have to be careful about that, right? Not to develop aversion, but just to loosen the attachments. Because when we're attached to somebody, we're really focused on their good qualities. Well, maybe not always, but in general, we're really focused on the good things and how they help us in our lives and all of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:05 Highlight the passage at 1:57:05

1:57:35 And then we forget. They've also done some not so nice things. So let go, reduce our aversion by reflecting on the positive things done in the good relationships and to loosen the attachment and to reflect that they've probably done nasty things to us in the past too. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:35 Highlight the passage at 1:57:35

1:58:05 Okay, does that make sense? I was thinking we'd cover a lot more material and we'd actually do a meditation on this today. So we have? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:05 Highlight the passage at 1:58:05

1:58:24 Okay, I do want to spend some time doing meditation because that's the most important thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:24 Highlight the passage at 1:58:24

1:58:33 So we'll meditate on both of these. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:33 Highlight the passage at 1:58:33

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:59:10 We can start by imagining a friend or a loved one in front of us. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:10 Highlight the passage at 1:59:10

1:59:25 To them is a neutral person. Could Report an error in the passage at 1:59:25 Highlight the passage at 1:59:25

1:59:34 be somebody at the bank or in the grocery store or the post office that we see, we recognize, but we don't have a strong feeling. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:34 Highlight the passage at 1:59:34

1:59:48 For or against them. And Report an error in the passage at 1:59:48 Highlight the passage at 1:59:48

2:00:15 then a difficult person. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:15 Highlight the passage at 2:00:15

2:00:20 Maybe someone who gets on our nerves or has Report an error in the passage at 2:00:20 Highlight the passage at 2:00:20

2:00:31 hurt us or Report an error in the passage at 2:00:31 Highlight the passage at 2:00:31

2:00:38 is just really difficult for us to open our hearts to. Can even be a politician and Report an error in the passage at 2:00:38 Highlight the passage at 2:00:38

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:01:27 all other sentient beings around. So Report an error in the passage at 2:01:27 Highlight the passage at 2:01:27

2:01:41 starting with the neutral person and then clearly, Report an error in the passage at 2:01:41 Highlight the passage at 2:01:41

2:01:52 just as I want to have happiness and be free from suffering, so does this person. I Report an error in the passage at 2:01:52 Highlight the passage at 2:01:52

2:02:03 just really feel that. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:03 Highlight the passage at 2:02:03

2:02:16 That person doesn't want to have a headache or doesn't want to lose their job. To Report an error in the passage at 2:02:16 Highlight the passage at 2:02:16

2:02:25 have peaceful, harmonious relationships. Normal Report an error in the passage at 2:02:25 Highlight the passage at 2:02:25

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:03:14 meditation, we can also go through other neutral people one by one. The same way, like Report an error in the passage at 2:03:14 Highlight the passage at 2:03:14

2:03:28 myself, this person wants happiness, doesn't want suffering. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:28 Highlight the passage at 2:03:28

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:04:06 And doing the same for the friend or loved one and Report an error in the passage at 2:04:06 Highlight the passage at 2:04:06

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:04:46 for the difficult person. On Report an error in the passage at 2:04:46 Highlight the passage at 2:04:46

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:05:30 to the second meditation. Going back to the neutral person. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:30 Highlight the passage at 2:05:30

2:05:41 In my countless lives, this person has been my best friend, Report an error in the passage at 2:05:41 Highlight the passage at 2:05:41

2:05:51 mother and my father, Report an error in the passage at 2:05:51 Highlight the passage at 2:05:51

2:05:57 sister and my brother, Report an error in the passage at 2:05:57 Highlight the passage at 2:05:57

2:06:09 predator, my nemesis and Report an error in the passage at 2:06:09 Highlight the passage at 2:06:09

2:06:21 has harmed me and I've harmed them. I've Report an error in the passage at 2:06:21 Highlight the passage at 2:06:21

2:06:29 had all possible relationships with this. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:29 Highlight the passage at 2:06:29

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:07:24 Doing the same for the friend or loved one and Report an error in the passage at 2:07:24 Highlight the passage at 2:07:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:08:56 also for the difficult person. I Report an error in the passage at 2:08:56 Highlight the passage at 2:08:56

· · · silence, 2 minutes

2:10:53 think since all these beings are just like me and wanting to be happy. Not wanting to suffer. They've Report an error in the passage at 2:10:53 Highlight the passage at 2:10:53

2:11:05 all been kind to me and Report an error in the passage at 2:11:05 Highlight the passage at 2:11:05

2:11:11 had wonderful relationships with each of them as well as bad relationships. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:11 Highlight the passage at 2:11:11

2:11:24 Whom should I have attachment? Report an error in the passage at 2:11:24 Highlight the passage at 2:11:24

2:11:30 Whom should I have aversion? Report an error in the passage at 2:11:30 Highlight the passage at 2:11:30

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:12:40 Sorry, that was a rushed meditation, but it's better than nothing. So this is the homework for this coming week is to do these two meditations every day. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:40 Highlight the passage at 2:12:40

2:12:57 For at least a few minutes, right? Longer is better. Because we have to keep doing it, right? Pabongka Rinpoche says you must work hard at equanimity for months or years on end. Because if you spend only a few meditation sessions on it, you will not progress. Your hopes of laying the foundations for your enlightenment will then only be wishful thinking. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:57 Highlight the passage at 2:12:57

2:13:23 And if you work hard at this bodhicitta training, I can assure you it is more worthwhile than working hard at and meditating on all sorts of less beneficial things that can fritter away your human rebirth, such as meditating on deities, reciting mantras, or trying to improve your meditative abilities. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:23 Highlight the passage at 2:13:23

2:13:43 So I really like this quote. We can spend a lot of time doing mantras and things, but what's the point if we don't have... A good heart, right? Okay. So that's it. So we'll do this meditation this week. I've got a couple of other questions on the homework three. I don't think I have a copy for everyone, but I also sent it out. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:43 Highlight the passage at 2:13:43

2:14:12 So people come and get a copy if they want. We'll dedicate the merit. And then if you have your homework from last week and you want me to look at it, you can give it to me. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:12 Highlight the passage at 2:14:12

2:14:34 is. Oh, really? Report an error in the passage at 2:14:34 Highlight the passage at 2:14:34

2:14:38 Okay, so we'll dedicate. I'm sorry, we went a little bit over. I think it's page 246. Dedicate with Shantideva. Yeah, 246. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:38 Highlight the passage at 2:14:38