Buddhism from A-Z, 2nd Semester - Bodhicitta: Developing the Big Heart (16 February 2010)

0:04 said, goodbye, sleepy time. Well, practice time is very challenging. Report an error in the passage at 0:04 Highlight the passage at 0:04

0:13 I have friends who are friends who are like, you know, I don't know how you get in this class, but you've heard Emily talk about people who have been really eager to take a lot of of initiations and then have a lot of commitments and so they have like two hours of practice that they Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 0:13 Highlight the passage at 0:13

0:38 I'm bringing up one of your words. Report an error in the passage at 0:38 Highlight the passage at 0:38

0:43 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 0:43 Highlight the passage at 0:43

1:05 you. Report an error in the passage at 1:05 Highlight the passage at 1:05

1:14 you. Report an error in the passage at 1:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14

1:34 don't feel comfortable if you guys prostrate to me, you know? I don't do that. We really can prostrate together. I can prostrate to you back. Report an error in the passage at 1:34 Highlight the passage at 1:34

1:45 So Report an error in the passage at 1:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45

· · · silence, 2 minutes

4:05 let's start by meditating on our breath for a couple of minutes. We can settle our minds a bit. Report an error in the passage at 4:05 Highlight the passage at 4:05

4:23 And just letting the thoughts go as they arise and don't follow them. Just gently return to the breath. Report an error in the passage at 4:23 Highlight the passage at 4:23

· · · silence, 2 minutes

6:52 And setting our motivation for tonight. Report an error in the passage at 6:52 Highlight the passage at 6:52

7:02 Visualizing all sentient beings around us. Report an error in the passage at 7:02 Highlight the passage at 7:02

7:16 They've all been close to us. They've all been kind to us. And Report an error in the passage at 7:16 Highlight the passage at 7:16

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8:18 yet they experience suffering again and again. Report an error in the passage at 8:18 Highlight the passage at 8:18

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8:59 So developing a motivation to help others as much as we can. And Report an error in the passage at 8:59 Highlight the passage at 8:59

9:17 the best way to do that is to attain enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 9:17 Highlight the passage at 9:17

9:23 The omniscient mind in Report an error in the passage at 9:23 Highlight the passage at 9:23

9:29 order to fully benefit others. Report an error in the passage at 9:29 Highlight the passage at 9:29

· · · silence, 1 minute

10:36 Praise to Manjushri on page 84. Report an error in the passage at 10:36 Highlight the passage at 10:36

11:01 Obey since 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 the patient love of a father for his only son. Report an error in the passage at 11:01 Highlight the passage at 11:01

11:20 All creatures caught in the prison of saṃsāra, confused in the darkness of their ignorance, overwhelmed by their suffering. 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 body is adorned with 112 marks of a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 11:20 Highlight the passage at 11:20

11:50 Who has completed the ten stages achieving the highest perfection of a bodhisattva. Who has been pure from the beginning. O Manjushri, all loving one, with the brilliance of your wisdom, illuminate the darkness in closing my mind. Enlighten my intelligence and wisdom so that I may gain insight into Buddha's words and the texts that explain them. We'll do some Manjushri mantras. Report an error in the passage at 11:50 Highlight the passage at 11:50

12:14 omarapatsanadi, omarapatsanadi, omarapatsanadi. Report an error in the passage at 12:14 Highlight the passage at 12:14

12:46 Refuge and Bodhicitta on the bottom of page 88. Report an error in the passage at 12:46 Highlight the passage at 12:46

12:59 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'm 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 12:59 Highlight the passage at 12:59

13:25 I go for refuge until I'm 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

13:49 Okay, so here we are recovering bodhicitta. Are you getting all of these slides? Report an error in the passage at 13:49 Highlight the passage at 13:49

14:03 Okay, so we've been covering the two methods for developing bodhicitta. Actually, the first method, the seven-fold instruction on cause and effect, which was the most widespread instruction in Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 14:03 Highlight the passage at 14:03

14:20 And so we've been talking about the six causes and one effect. So the basis. Being equanimity, remembering that first we need to start and even out our minds, try to reduce our attachments and attachment to certain beings and our aversion to other beings that we have such a strong habit of doing. So we need to start by kind of evening that out so we don't... Report an error in the passage at 14:20 Highlight the passage at 14:20

14:53 Continue to perpetuate our attachment and aversion, right? Because true love and bodhicitta is based on love for all beings, right? Equally. And great compassion for all beings, right? Not just the ones that we like, not just the ones that, right, have been, like, who meet our standards, right? Or who have been nice to us and done things for us. But for all beings. Yeah, so that's... Report an error in the passage at 14:53 Highlight the passage at 14:53

15:24 That's the basis of both of these methods of developing bodhicitta. And then we moved on to developing affectionate love for all beings, this feeling that all beings are dear. And we did that by viewing all beings as one's mother, by remembering their kindness and wishing to repay their kindness. So in this way, naturally we'll have a feeling of love and affection for others. If we do this long enough. Report an error in the passage at 15:24 Highlight the passage at 15:24

16:00 And it might take a lifetime to develop affection for all beings, but it's a lifetime well worth. Well, it's a job well worth it. And then last time I gave you this quote. Suppose your mother were mad, carrying a knife and trying to kill you, her child. You would not be angry with her. You wouldn't turn against her. Report an error in the passage at 16:00 Highlight the passage at 16:00

16:35 If we have a deep enough feeling for her, we wouldn't turn against her, but we would try to help her. You would surely try to rid her of her madness. This is how you must repay the kindness of your enemies. So not turning against someone who's... Doing something harmful to us, but understanding that they're under the influence of mental afflictions and they need help. Report an error in the passage at 16:35 Highlight the passage at 16:35

17:08 Because we're all under the influence of mental afflictions. That's why we do silly things. That's why we hurt each other. It's not because we're inherently bad. It's just that we're under the influence of attachment and ignorance and irritation. Report an error in the passage at 17:08 Highlight the passage at 17:08

17:27 You know, jealousy, etc. And that's why we hurt each other. Report an error in the passage at 17:27 Highlight the passage at 17:27

17:34 But fundamentally we're all pure. Fundamentally we all have Buddha nature. Our minds are fundamentally pure. And these mental afflictions are just like clouds. Clouds in the sky that we can get rid of. Even the most, you know, quote-unquote evil seeming person. They still have a pure nature. They just have very strong... Report an error in the passage at 17:34 Highlight the passage at 17:34

18:00 Habits of mental afflictions, negative afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 18:00 Highlight the passage at 18:00

18:09 So when we can really internalize that, I think that's when we can really generate deep compassion for all beings. Really understand that they're suffering. Their nature is pure. They're just suffering. They're under the control of mental afflictions. And that's why they're doing these things. And then we try to help them. Report an error in the passage at 18:09 Highlight the passage at 18:09

18:36 And then last time we talked about The love that wishes for others to be happy. The three levels, thinking how wonderful it would be if all sentient beings have happiness. So we do that in the beginning, and then once we have some power, then we wish them happiness. May they have happiness. And then the last level, I will cause them to have happiness. Report an error in the passage at 18:36 Highlight the passage at 18:36

19:07 So we'll move on to compassion, great compassion now. So Lama Tsongkhapa presented this love wishing others to have happiness before great compassion. But it's not that these are kind of cause and effect. It's not that you have to generate this love wishing others to have happiness first and then this wish for beings to be free from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 19:07 Highlight the passage at 19:07

19:31 Those actually happen simultaneously. We train in them kind of one after the other. I mean sometimes we emphasize more love, sometimes we emphasize. More compassion. Pobongka Rinpoche actually says that in the ancient text, compassion is meditated on first and then love. So we don't have to take the sequences. It's kind of set in stone. But the main thing is we need to develop affection for all beings first before we can develop great compassion, right? Report an error in the passage at 19:31 Highlight the passage at 19:31

20:03 Because otherwise if we see someone suffering, if we don't have any positive feeling for them, then we're not going to have compassion for them. If it's someone that we dislike and they lose their job, we might think, oh, good, kind of thing, instead of, oh, this poor person. Report an error in the passage at 20:03 Highlight the passage at 20:03

20:27 So we need to develop affection first. Report an error in the passage at 20:27 Highlight the passage at 20:27

20:32 So compassion. So what's the difference between love and compassion in general? So love is, in the Buddha Dharma, love is the wish for others to have happiness. Whereas compassion is the wish for others to be free from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 20:32 Highlight the passage at 20:32

21:02 So does compassion require more understanding then? Report an error in the passage at 21:02 Highlight the passage at 21:02

21:08 Since you have to understand that somebody's suffering in the first place. Yeah, it requires more understanding of suffering, probably. Compassion. Report an error in the passage at 21:08 Highlight the passage at 21:08

21:21 Yeah, and we'll cover that today. We'll cover the different levels that we need to meditate on in order to develop. Great compassion. When we covered love, we thought about how beings lack happiness, how they lack a particular kind of happiness, and then we visualize sending them that kind of happiness. Report an error in the passage at 21:21 Highlight the passage at 21:21

21:45 This person lacks contentment. We visualize sending them contentment. This person lacks... You know, a job, we visualize having, you know, sending them a job. This person lacks, you know, money, you know, send them money, lacks, you know, the partner that they want. We visualize sending them that, right? Things like that. But compassion, great compassion requires more, a deeper level of understanding that they're suffering, I think. Report an error in the passage at 21:45 Highlight the passage at 21:45

22:13 It's particularly great compassion. Yeah. So great, so compassion is moving into a, A practice that's more uncomfortable for us. I think developing affection for beings is a nice, soft, warm kind of feeling. But when we move to compassion, then we have to start meditating on others' suffering, which isn't something that we necessarily like to do. Report an error in the passage at 22:13 Highlight the passage at 22:13

22:45 Lama Tsongkhapa says that the observed object of compassion is sentient beings who are suffering due to any of the three kinds of suffering. Sentient beings who are suffering due to any of the three kinds of suffering. So the observed object of compassion isn't, oh, these sentient beings, they're all so happy. If we think all sentient beings are so happy, then there's no basis for developing compassion. Report an error in the passage at 22:45 Highlight the passage at 22:45

23:14 So, so... To develop this great compassion, we need to understand that beings are suffering due to one or more of these three types of suffering. The suffering of suffering, the suffering of change and pervasive suffering. So we covered this in the last class last fall, but I'll talk about it briefly again. Report an error in the passage at 23:14 Highlight the passage at 23:14

23:39 So the suffering of suffering is what we normally consider suffering. Headaches, backaches. Colds, flu, mental suffering, right? Depression, unhappiness, these kinds of things, right? These are all the suffering of suffering. And we all can agree that that's painful, that's suffering. And then, and all beings of the desire realm, well, human beings in the lower realms all experience the suffering of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 23:39 Highlight the passage at 23:39

24:16 The suffering of change is something that we don't. Typically consider as suffering. And this is even the pleasurable things that we experience. Good food, the nice warm sunny days, good company. All of these things aren't in the nature of true happiness. Because if we keep eating this good meal, soon it turns into suffering. Report an error in the passage at 24:16 Highlight the passage at 24:16

24:48 If we keep sitting in the sun for hours and hours, that turns into suffering. So these ordinary sense pleasures turn into suffering. They're not in the nature of happiness. They're just a reprieve from a previous discomfort. So that's the suffering of change. Report an error in the passage at 24:48 Highlight the passage at 24:48

25:10 And then the pervasive suffering is the level of suffering that we really need to understand. And that's the suffering that pervades all experience within its... cyclic existence because we are under the control of karma and mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 25:10 Highlight the passage at 25:10

25:24 Kishisopa says, every feeling and the web of experience in which it is embedded is the product of karma and afflictions. Not only that, this moment of experience carries with it the potential in the form of afflictions for All right, so even if we're not experiencing any kind of gross level of suffering, but just, for example, just having this body, for example, Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

25:50 We have this seed for future suffering. Just having this body, this body can get sick, this body's going to die, this body can be hit by a car, this body can have a backache, this body can get, you know, all sorts of things, right? Report an error in the passage at 25:50 Highlight the passage at 25:50

26:07 Just having this body, there's the potential for physical suffering. And then having mental afflictions, you know. We create negative karma, which brings about causes for our future suffering. We suffer mentally. Just having attachment, just having anger, we suffer mentally. So as long as we're in saṃsāra, we're under the control of karma and mental afflictions, we don't have any security. Report an error in the passage at 26:07 Highlight the passage at 26:07

26:41 None of us can ever say, Okay, I'm never going to get sick again. No one's ever going to say, as long as we're in cyclic existence. We can never say, I'm never going to lose my job again. I'm never going to be homeless. I'm never going to be poor. We don't know. We don't have any control over that. Report an error in the passage at 26:41 Highlight the passage at 26:41

27:05 So when we really understand that sentient beings are all suffering due to this pervasive suffering. That suffering is just around the corner for any of us. Then we can really develop great compassion for all beings. If we've developed a level of affection for them, and then we see that, wow, something really bad can happen to them because they're still in saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 27:05 Highlight the passage at 27:05

27:38 And then we can develop great compassion for everybody. Even the beings that are harming others, the beings that we really don't like. Report an error in the passage at 27:38 Highlight the passage at 27:38

27:51 And really understand that they're creating the causes for suffering again and again. We can develop compassion for them. And that's what we need to develop compassion for beings like Osama Bin Laden and beings that are harming others. We need to really understand that they're suffering too. Report an error in the passage at 27:51 Highlight the passage at 27:51

28:21 Just a few quotes. In every samsaric rebirth, no matter how high, there's always the possibility of falling back into a suffering realm because we remain under the power of karma and afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 28:21 Highlight the passage at 28:21

28:33 Shantideva says, once you're caught in the wheel of saṃsāra, your future is like a feather blown helplessly about by the wind. Report an error in the passage at 28:33 Highlight the passage at 28:33

28:43 And then finally, the nature of fire is to burn. If you do not want to get burned, you need to get away from the fire. And as long as you remain within cyclic existence, there's no way to escape these suffering outcomes. Report an error in the passage at 28:43 Highlight the passage at 28:43

29:01 So we do really need to understand very deeply that the nature of cyclic existence is suffering. And once we do that, then we can develop compassion for all beings. Report an error in the passage at 29:01 Highlight the passage at 29:01

29:21 Gishisopa says, without studying this subject, we only recognize the first type of suffering, and usually just in relation to ourselves. It takes more knowledge to see that we are suffering from the other two types of misery as well. Even if we are aware of the other two, we often try to ignore them. Report an error in the passage at 29:21 Highlight the passage at 29:21

29:41 But the object of great compassion is any sentient being enduring any of the three types of suffering. So the practice of great compassion does not only focus on those who have immediate pain. It encompasses all beings who are born in the three realms of saṃsāra under the power of karma and the mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 29:41 Highlight the passage at 29:41

29:58 Therefore, those who practice the Dharma examine all types of suffering and its causes. Report an error in the passage at 29:58 Highlight the passage at 29:58

30:10 Yeah, so there's certain beings who seem like they've got the life now. Maybe they have a lot of money and they have power and it's hard to develop compassion for them. Report an error in the passage at 30:10 Highlight the passage at 30:10

30:23 Because we kind of get stuck in the immediate appearances. It's like we think, okay. Right? And... Report an error in the passage at 30:23 Highlight the passage at 30:23

30:31 Whatever, Donald Trump, you know, he's rich, he's famous or whatever, you know. Maybe it's hard to develop compassion for him. But then we see he's not always going to be Donald Trump, right? He's not always going to be rich. He's not always going to be healthy. So if we think, oh, you know, he's going to die. Report an error in the passage at 30:31 Highlight the passage at 30:31

30:52 His hair helps me have compassion. Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Report an error in the passage at 30:52 Highlight the passage at 30:52

31:03 Even if his hair doesn't help you. That's some bad hair. Report an error in the passage at 31:03 Highlight the passage at 31:03

31:25 Yeah, yeah, we have to kind of, Report an error in the passage at 31:25 Highlight the passage at 31:25

31:34 exactly, exactly. And that's what contemplating these three types of suffering is about, is we need to really, we really need to look more deeply, as you're saying. Report an error in the passage at 31:34 Highlight the passage at 31:34

31:47 Like for me, it's really helpful to think, you know, for my compassion to think, oh my gosh, they're going to die. Report an error in the passage at 31:47 Highlight the passage at 31:47

31:58 They feel all secure and comfortable now and thinking that they're always going to have their money and their homes and their jobs and their loved ones. They're going to lose it all. They're going to die. And who knows what the next life will bring. And if they're creating negative karma now, you know that it's... Report an error in the passage at 31:58 Highlight the passage at 31:58

32:28 They're going to be experiencing the results of that sooner or later. So then, you know, compassion can easily arise, right, for someone if we really contemplate that. Report an error in the passage at 32:28 Highlight the passage at 32:28

32:46 Yeah, Effie. Report an error in the passage at 32:46 Highlight the passage at 32:46

32:49 Throw in my quick follow-up to Donald Trump. And what you're saying, which is that the higher they are, the harder they fall in a way because they have so much more to be attached to and so it's sort of karmically more dangerous. Report an error in the passage at 32:49 Highlight the passage at 32:49

33:13 So that's one of the sufferings of saṃsāra, right? It's going from high places to low places, you know, kind of going back and, you know, up and down and back and forth. Yeah. Yeah, it's very dangerous when we think that our good, when we become really attached and believe that our good circumstances are going to last. Report an error in the passage at 33:13 Highlight the passage at 33:13

33:45 And then similarly to love, there are the three levels of thinking, you know. How wonderful it would be if they were free from suffering, then may they be free from suffering, and I myself will free them from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 33:45 Highlight the passage at 33:45

34:03 So in the beginning, then the middle, and then the end. Report an error in the passage at 34:03 Highlight the passage at 34:03

34:23 The last saying, saying that you'll free them from suffering, isn't that kind of really, I guess depending on your, I don't know, it sounds a little bit like... Ego. Yeah. hope all freedom from the country here Report an error in the passage at 34:23 Highlight the passage at 34:23

34:38 If we do this right, it's not ego. If it's coming from a deep sense of compassion, a deep sense of, oh my gosh, this person is really creating a lot of causes for suffering. This person, or this being, doesn't have to be a person. Report an error in the passage at 34:38 Highlight the passage at 34:38

35:04 And we feel so much compassion for them that we can't just leave it up to others to help them. We're willing to take responsibility for their suffering ourselves or for their happiness ourselves. But you kind of have to have wisdom for the circumstances too because I've had people who had good intentions to help but they don't really understand exactly what's going on. Report an error in the passage at 35:04 Highlight the passage at 35:04

35:31 Oh, for sure. I'm happy that they're thinking, oh, I'll help you, I'll help your suffering. But at the same time, you're like, hmm, you need to know a little bit more. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, very much so. You know, that's why in this, you know, in these teachings we emphasize wisdom and compassion, right? The method and the wisdom sides. Not just, you know, there's always the danger in these teachings of thinking. Report an error in the passage at 35:31 Highlight the passage at 35:31

36:02 I need to do something. The ego coming into it, thinking, oh, this person is suffering. Oh, well, I need to help them. When sometimes the best thing is for us to put ourselves aside. Well, always for us to put the me aside. And just think about, well, what's most beneficial for this person? So we've talked about this in previous classes. What's the most beneficial thing for this person? Is it for me to do something? Is it for me to ask somebody else to do something? Report an error in the passage at 36:02 Highlight the passage at 36:02

36:43 Is it for me to help them in a way that they don't even know about? Or is it for me to make prayers for them? It really requires a lot of wisdom. We have to constantly think about what's most beneficial for... That being, right? Not, what do I need to do for my own ego and for my own happiness to make me feel better? Yeah, Peter. Report an error in the passage at 36:43 Highlight the passage at 36:43

37:14 Well, it was my understanding that this is talking about the desire, the wish to become a Buddha, that we can't really do all that much in our ordinary aspect. I mean, we can bring someone a cup of tea or donate money to a charity, but we're not going to really be able to help people in a big way until we become a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 37:14 Highlight the passage at 37:14

37:31 So I thought it was about a bigger mind than just being a Boy Scout with people. Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point. I mean, I think it's, I mean, the extraordinary thought is really about, Report an error in the passage at 37:31 Highlight the passage at 37:31

37:49 is more about helping them in the long run, helping them out of saṃsāra. Yeah. But it's also the things, you know, on a day-to-day level too, right? Yeah, so I think there's a balance there. Report an error in the passage at 37:49 Highlight the passage at 37:49

38:05 But it is very limited what we can do now, you know, because we just don't have the wisdom. We don't know the best way to help others. But also we need to not turn our backs, yeah. Words aren't coming to my mind tonight. Report an error in the passage at 38:05 Highlight the passage at 38:05

38:32 Well, we used the example previously of, like if, let's say they're burning people trapped in the fire, you know, burning people trapped in a house that's on fire. Report an error in the passage at 38:32 Highlight the passage at 38:32

38:47 You don't have very much compassion for that person. You feel bad for them and you wish for them to be freed or not to suffer. But if you're that person's father, you're probably going to run in the house and save your child. So that's a much greater level of compassion than the one that just wishes that they're not suffering. Report an error in the passage at 38:47 Highlight the passage at 38:47

39:15 You really wish they're not suffering, and you're willing to endanger yourself in order to help them. So that's the difference between may they be free from suffering and I'm willing to go in and free them from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 39:15 Highlight the passage at 39:15

39:34 Yeah, if nobody else is around to do it. I just wanted to say, I think this is, for me personally, the most challenging part of our Galug, very intellectual, very studious school of Buddhism. Like I'm kind of inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh and you know they were Mahāyāna Buddhists and that idea like they felt like they couldn't sit on their cushions anymore at a certain time during the Vietnam War and they had to like break out and take action. Report an error in the passage at 39:34 Highlight the passage at 39:34

40:04 And so that for me is always a challenge. Like part of me can see that I need to keep working on myself and I'm not going to be able to... You know, do that much now. But on the other hand, I don't know, I just feel funny. Like it just seems really hard to think that you're going to get to that other point and you're going to sit on your hands until you get there. Report an error in the passage at 40:04 Highlight the passage at 40:04

40:25 I'm just saying I think this is a really challenging balance. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, how much do you, you know, sit on the cushion and, yeah, and really work for enlightenment and how much do you get off the cushion and help in day-to-day life? Report an error in the passage at 40:25 Highlight the passage at 40:25

40:43 I think we all have to kind of figure that one out. But there's this one woman that I know, she's a nun, and she's been in retreat since before I met her in 1997. Report an error in the passage at 40:43 Highlight the passage at 40:43

41:04 She was in retreat for something like three or four years or five years when I met her, and she's still in solitary retreat. And she's just amazing. She's so... I met her in 1997. Report an error in the passage at 41:04 Highlight the passage at 41:04

41:19 And she says, what keeps you in retreat is bodhicitta. It's the lazy way out to go out and say, okay, well, I'm just going to go and help others right now. Because on a very deep level, she understands that by becoming enlightened is how she's going to really help others. Yeah, yeah, because what... And understanding that what she can do now is extremely limited. So the greatest benefit is for her to stay in retreat and get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 41:19 Highlight the passage at 41:19

41:56 And that's what she's so dedicated toward. And the things that she's had to deal with and the illnesses. And she's just amazing. So sometimes we think, oh, you know, it's better to... know, it's better to just do something now for others and we skip sitting on the cushion and things, you know, but. Report an error in the passage at 41:56 Highlight the passage at 41:56

42:23 yeah, so. She definitely has a point. When I'm reading some of this, sometimes it strikes me that there's an aspect of this focusing on compassion that drives a person to search for the truth and be willing to accept the truth, the reality of a situation. In order to help somebody, even if it's at their own expense. Do you know what I mean? If you see a truth, if you see the true aspect of a situation that requires you to give money to someone, for example, in order to relieve their suffering and it's at your expense, then you would do that if you recognized that was really the truth. Report an error in the passage at 42:23 Highlight the passage at 42:23

43:05 But there may be times when you really don't know what the truth is, so then you'll just try to learn more and try to seek enlightenment. But to be open to the possibility that you may do something that... help them, but it's sort of at your expense. Do you know what I mean? Like, it's sort of like being willing to embrace the truth, the search for the truth, even if it's not in your own best interest, guess. Report an error in the passage at 43:05 Highlight the passage at 43:05

43:29 There's that aspect to it that I see when I read some of this stuff. That compassion drives you to enlightenment, drives you to see reality as it really is, not just what's comfortable. Yeah, for sure. A lot of this stuff is really uncomfortable, right? Meditating on suffering isn't exactly what we'd all like to do on our Sunday afternoon. Report an error in the passage at 43:29 Highlight the passage at 43:29

44:00 And a lot of aspects of the lamrim, right? But if we have compassion for others and really understand that the way to help others is to help them out of cyclic existence. I mean, this isn't a, you Report an error in the passage at 44:00 Highlight the passage at 44:00

44:14 And the best way to do that is to get out of cyclic existence ourselves, right? Free ourselves from mental afflictions. Yeah, that can drive us. I don't know if that's what you're saying. Report an error in the passage at 44:14 Highlight the passage at 44:14

44:35 Okay, so here, Geshe Giampi Giazzo, my teacher in Italy, says, here we should think about the fact that sentient beings have been our mothers. Report an error in the passage at 44:35 Highlight the passage at 44:35

44:46 So we think about that, right, too. wasn't sure what what I was thinking. Report an error in the passage at 44:46 Highlight the passage at 44:46

44:48 To develop this sense of affection for them, right? Rather than indifference. And then that they have fallen into the ocean of cyclic existence. That they are experiencing the general sufferings, which are the three types of sufferings. And they are experiencing the specific sufferings of their respective realms. Report an error in the passage at 44:48 Highlight the passage at 44:48

45:07 For example, those of human beings. So we recall our affection for others. And then we... Yeah, and then we reflect on how they're suffering. Yeah, so this will bring up the compassion. This is what Lama Tsongkhapa is saying here. And so just briefly, I just wanted to remind people of the eight types of suffering and the six types of suffering. So I'm not going to go through these lists. Report an error in the passage at 45:07 Highlight the passage at 45:07

45:38 But whatever, I mean, it's useful to meditate on all of these. But then, you know, if we don't have very much time, we can focus on the couple of sufferings that really resonate with us, that really feel painful for us. You know, for me, you know, I said the suffering of death, you know, just walking around and just looking at people and just thinking, oh my gosh, you know, this poor person's going to have to die. Report an error in the passage at 45:38 Highlight the passage at 45:38

46:06 You know, oh, this person's going to have to die. Oh, this person's going to have to die. In this Report an error in the passage at 46:06 Highlight the passage at 46:06

46:32 way we should think about the sufferings of sentient beings and generate the wish to free them from their suffering. If we understand how they are suffering, a strong wish to free them from suffering will arise. Contrarily, if we do not understand how they are suffering, our wish to free them from suffering will not be strong. So this is what we were talking about. So we have to work to see sentient beings as suffering. Report an error in the passage at 46:32 Highlight the passage at 46:32

46:56 I remember growing up, I always thought everybody else was happy. I was the only one who wasn't unhappy. I wasn't happy, right? So compassion doesn't arise, right? When you think everybody else is happier than you are. Report an error in the passage at 46:56 Highlight the passage at 46:56

47:10 But then if you contemplate suffering and you start seeing suffering around you a lot, then compassion arises. Report an error in the passage at 47:10 Highlight the passage at 47:10

47:22 Okay, I have a lot of quotes here because I just found many of them very useful. The meditations on suffering prescribed for those of intermediate spiritual capacity cannot be skipped. So it's in the intermediate scope that we talked about all the various types of suffering. Of cyclic existence. And we like to just skip to bodhicitta. But we won't be able to develop great compassion if we don't really understand that beings are suffering. Report an error in the passage at 47:22 Highlight the passage at 47:22

47:50 Yeah, so we need to meditate on the intermediate scope. If we try to start by thinking about other suffering and not our own, we will not develop compassion from the heart. Therefore, those on the Mahāyāna path need to think about the suffering of saṃsāra in hundreds and thousands of ways because one's compassion and love is in proportion to one's understanding of others' suffering. Report an error in the passage at 47:50 Highlight the passage at 47:50

48:14 If we do not see that others have a problem or just acknowledge that they have a little difficulty, the strength of our compassion will be weak. Meditation on suffering in great detail brings a special urgency, power and spontaneity to love and compassion. Report an error in the passage at 48:14 Highlight the passage at 48:14

48:30 I find this very, very true for me in my own practice. I meditate on love and compassion a lot. Well, actually, I shouldn't say. I meditate on love a lot because it feels good. But compassion, I notice that I have a resistance to meditating on suffering again and again. And I notice that when I haven't meditated on suffering for a while, my compassion really gets... Report an error in the passage at 48:30 Highlight the passage at 48:30

49:01 It really diminishes. There's this one monk that I know of who's done a lot of retreats and he's done long retreats. And he puts pictures of people suffering on his altar to remind him. It's like the horrible pictures from the Vietnam War or something like that. Really remind us of suffering. Because there's something about our self-cherishing minds that we don't like to think about people suffering. Report an error in the passage at 49:01 Highlight the passage at 49:01

49:32 It's like the disaster in Haiti. You turn on the TV and you can watch it for a while, but then after a while you have to turn the channel. It's like, okay, I can't deal with that much suffering. It's not like you watch it for 24 hours a day. We have to kind of turn it off. So I think that's a natural tendency of ours. So we need to put the effort into meditating on other suffering. I mean our own suffering too. Report an error in the passage at 49:32 Highlight the passage at 49:32

50:06 Therefore, we need to think about many aspects of suffering to make our compassion strong. We consider these for a long time to make our compassion stable. Most of us, however, do not want to contemplate the misery of our lives. We're like someone stuck in jail, but we see our prison as a nice place. I guess Yusufa has some great quotes. Report an error in the passage at 50:06 Highlight the passage at 50:06

50:33 So also, considering these for a long time to make our compassion stable. So going back to the Haiti example, It's like when we really think about the suffering there, our compassion comes up. But then we don't think about it for a while, and then it's like it's not even happening. So our compassion kind of comes and goes. But if we contemplate it again and again, then it becomes stronger. Report an error in the passage at 50:33 Highlight the passage at 50:33

51:05 But you do not need to sit in an unmoving solitude to do this kind of meditation. Think about what is taught in the scriptures and apply it to what is occurring around you. When you begin to realize the truth of suffering, everywhere you look, you will see it immediately. When you're out in traffic, look at other people hurrying around. Think about their misery. They would not be rushing so much if they did not have so many problems. Report an error in the passage at 51:05 Highlight the passage at 51:05

51:34 But like when we see people rushing around, do we think? Do we think that they're suffering? If we really think about it. We do, yeah? Oh, yeah. They're really stressed out, right? If they're rushing around. Report an error in the passage at 51:34 Highlight the passage at 51:34

51:51 Yeah, yeah. They're kind of in their own little world, too, right? You know, just zoom, zoom, zoom, get out of the way kind of thing. But that's our culture, right? It's, you know, it's good to be really busy. So, Report an error in the passage at 51:51 Highlight the passage at 51:51

52:08 yeah. So the more we contemplate this, the more we'll see suffering around us. Report an error in the passage at 52:08 Highlight the passage at 52:08

52:17 So once again, we start with friends and relatives. We meditate on compassion for... The ones that we're close to. And then when we have some sort of experience there, some transformation of our minds, then we can move on to neutral beings, enemies and all sentient beings or difficult beings. So once again, we start with the easiest, have an experience, then we move to more difficult ones. Report an error in the passage at 52:17 Highlight the passage at 52:17

52:45 It's like, you know, when you're in love, when you first fall in love, like everyone looks beautiful, you love everyone, right? So you start with, you know, that sort of feeling makes it easier for you to have feelings for others. So similarly, we meditate on compassion for the easier beings and really develop a strong feeling and then we expand that out. Report an error in the passage at 52:45 Highlight the passage at 52:45

53:10 Okay, Matt. Doing this meditation, I had been starting by trying to, I guess, meditate on equanimity first. Is that correct? I know the second one says neutral persons, but do you literally start with equanimity, calming your mind and then friends and relatives and then neutral and then enemy and then all sending beings? Report an error in the passage at 53:10 Highlight the passage at 53:10

53:41 Okay, so equanimity is different from what this is saying. So we do start with equanimity, right, when we meditate, and then we develop affection for beings. This is specifically in relation to meditating on compassion. So we start by thinking about, let's say, the person that we love the most, right? Report an error in the passage at 53:41 Highlight the passage at 53:41

54:08 And we think, okay, well... This person is experiencing all sorts of suffering. Oh, this person is going to die. Oh, this person is going to get sick. After they die, say it's my best friend, they're going to die. What's their next life going to look like? They've created negative karma, so their next life could be a suffering life. Compassion arises, right? Compassion naturally arises, right? Report an error in the passage at 54:08 Highlight the passage at 54:08

54:41 And so, okay, so then we can think about somebody else, another friend, you know, who we don't love quite as much, right? We think, okay, well, this person's going to die. Report an error in the passage at 54:41 Highlight the passage at 54:41

54:52 He's also, you know, who knows what's going to happen to him in the future? You know, he's going to get sick. He's going to lose all his loved ones. He's going to lose all of his money. He's going to lose all of his status, right? So then compassion arises. And maybe not as strong of compassion will arise for the second. Report an error in the passage at 54:52 Highlight the passage at 54:52

55:13 So we keep working on it until the compassion for that second person is as strong as that one for the first person. And then we choose another friend or a brother or a sister or something and we do the same thing. So that's what it means by starting with friends and relatives. And then once we're able to develop... Report an error in the passage at 55:13 Highlight the passage at 55:13

55:36 A similar level of compassion for all of those different friends. Then we think about, oh, that checkout clerk in the grocery store. Okay, well, she's going to die. Report an error in the passage at 55:36 Highlight the passage at 55:36

55:48 And who knows what's going to happen to her in the future? And we keep doing that until we develop compassion for her, right? Not just in our heads, but right in our hearts, you know? The same level of compassion for her as for our friends. So we keep doing that. And, you know, it's not like all in one meditation session that we do this, but just, you know, gradually over time, right, we have some transformation with regard to friends and relatives, the close beings, and then we move to the more difficult ones after we've had some success. Report an error in the passage at 55:48 Highlight the passage at 55:48

56:27 Because if we can't develop compassion for the beings that are close to us, then we're not going to develop compassion for those beings that, you know, we barely know. Report an error in the passage at 56:27 Highlight the passage at 56:27

56:39 And particularly the difficult beings. So you shouldn't try to meditate on all four in one sitting? You can try once in a while, but I don't think that's not how you're going to really have the transformation in your mind. Unless you've done, let's say, the first three a lot. And you have a feeling for the first three, and then you can go. Report an error in the passage at 56:39 Highlight the passage at 56:39

57:08 To the fourth. Because in the beginning, we spend a lot of time on the friends and relatives. And then once we have some success, then we move to the neutral beings. And then we have some success, then we go to the difficult beings. And that will probably take a while. And then once we have success, then we can move on to any other being that we think of. Report an error in the passage at 57:08 Highlight the passage at 57:08

57:32 Oh, the dog, the goat, the chickens, the fish. And then, you know, once we really have some power in that meditation, then we can meditate on many different beings in one session, right? But that's because you already have a hard experience, right? So you have a hard experience of... You know, having compassion for Saddam Hussein. Well, if you can do that, then you can do it toward the grocery store clerk, right? And, you know, and then you can just, and then you just keep practicing. Report an error in the passage at 57:32 Highlight the passage at 57:32

58:02 You just go back and forth. You just, okay, Saddam Hussein, oh, my boss at work. Oh, you know, my next door neighbor. Oh, the dog, you know, and just seeing if you can develop that same level of compassion for every being you think of, you know. So in the beginning, you know, start with just a few, but then once you have some power, then you can move to a lot of different beings. Does that make sense? Report an error in the passage at 58:02 Highlight the passage at 58:02

58:28 It does. It's just that for the past few weeks, I started this job and I have to ride my bike across the whole city. And so I've been sort of breaking that up into four. Like when I leave my house, I'm like, all right, friends and relatives. When I get up through the panhandle, I'm like, all right, mutual persons. And I'm like, all right, get down to Market Street. Report an error in the passage at 58:28 Highlight the passage at 58:28

58:47 All right, your enemies. And then I'm going into the home stretch. I'm like, all right, all Santan beings. I mean, it's nice. How is it working for you? It's great. I mean, because it was like the previous slide. You know, you walk around and you see people rushing around while you're riding your bike through a city. I mean, trains full of people and just. Report an error in the passage at 58:47 Highlight the passage at 58:47

59:07 Homeless people and rich people and kids and the whole thing. You're just passing piles of people. Yeah, and then you can do it toward everyone you see. It's just more that doing this kind of meditation, it's useful to do it on the cushion as well as... yeah or oh okay yeah yeah Report an error in the passage at 59:07 Highlight the passage at 59:07

59:32 right as well as life right on the cushion I would I would say start with just a few you know just start with one and then move to another Okay. in life, we can do it with everybody that we meet. So it's great, long as you don't get hit by a car or something like that. You don't watch where you're going. Report an error in the passage at 59:32 Highlight the passage at 59:32

1:00:01 All right. So does that make meditation make sense, the sequence and, you know, how we actually go about it in day-to-day life? Any Report an error in the passage at 1:00:01 Highlight the passage at 1:00:01

1:00:14 other questions about how to meditate on love or compassion? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:14 Highlight the passage at 1:00:14

1:00:32 Just to confirm about the time to meditate, I'm doing it every day as soon as I get up, about 20 minutes. I know that we have to have certain time to meditate. We cannot go like a... An hour of meditation, correct? Is that correct? We have to practice a certain time or we can go a little bit farther. I don't know. Oh, you mean the amount of time? About the time, yes. Or the time of day? The amount of time? Amount of time, each time. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:32 Highlight the passage at 1:00:32

1:01:09 Well, I mean, I think, you know, what they normally recommend is to start meditation sessions. We start with shorter meditation sessions until our concentration builds. So if we can meditate for 20 minutes without the mind going all over the place, without a lot of distraction, then 20 minutes is great. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:09 Highlight the passage at 1:01:09

1:01:32 But if we try to meditate an hour, if our capacity for concentration is 20 minutes and we try to meditate for an hour, then our mind gets really tired and then we think. Oh, this meditation stuff is really a drag. And then you get off the cushion and you think, I don't really want to meditate tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:32 Highlight the passage at 1:01:32

1:01:54 So then an hour is too long. So they recommend to stop meditating when you still want to meditate. Yes, you feel good. You want to continue in that position. Exactly. So you'll keep doing it day after day. oh right yeah so so So whatever works for you with that. Okay, thank you. And I notice that for me. I get a negative mind if I try to do a session that's too long. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:54 Highlight the passage at 1:01:54

1:02:26 Try to do all my prayers in one session, you know, for a three-hour session, and then at the end I'm just like, I don't want to do this anymore, right? But if I do a shorter session, it's like, that was really nice, and let's do it again. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:26 Highlight the passage at 1:02:26

1:02:46 All right. Okay. Anything else on meditation? Rose. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:46 Highlight the passage at 1:02:46

1:02:55 I was in Italy also in this institute, Lama Tsongkhapa, and I barely saw someone sitting in meditation. I was wondering, when do they sit? Rarely did people meditate. Well, people did their own meditation practices. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:55 Highlight the passage at 1:02:55

1:03:19 We didn't do a lot of group practice. We started off by doing some group practice. But we had five hours of class time a day. So then also doing group practices. And then we do pujas often in the nighttime. And so, you know, we did group meditation once a week. But people were pretty tired of doing group everything kind of thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:19 Highlight the passage at 1:03:19

1:03:48 So a lot of people meditated on their own. But also a lot of times when people study a lot, they don't meditate. A lot, either. Like, in the Geshe program, it's said that some people, you know, they study, study, study for those 20 years and then they go into meditation retreat for three years or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:48 Highlight the passage at 1:03:48

1:04:10 You know, so it depends on the individual. Like, for me, meditation was really important just to keep my sanity every day, so I meditated every day. But I don't, you know, but everybody was different. Okay? All right. So let's take a break at this point. All Report an error in the passage at 1:04:10 Highlight the passage at 1:04:10

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:05:23 right. So we'll resume on compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:23 Highlight the passage at 1:05:23

1:05:30 Lama Tsongkhapa covers a point we've talked about a few times. I'll just go through it quickly. This gradual meditation on equanimity, love and compassion where you divide the objects into specific categories was developed by Acharya Kamala Shila following the Abhidharma Sūtra. This is a very important point because if from the start you train in observing sentient beings in general without dividing them into specific categories, it will seem as though these attitudes have arisen. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:30 Highlight the passage at 1:05:30

1:06:01 But when you think about them individually, it will appear that it does not arise for any of them. So once again, if we develop compassion for all sentient beings, the amorphous mass of all sentient beings, it doesn't... Translate to that annoying person at work, because they're not all sentient beings, they're the annoying person at work. So we really do have to work with people one by one, starting with the easier ones. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:01 Highlight the passage at 1:06:01

1:06:33 People, I keep saying people, beings, we need to include animals, other beings as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:33 Highlight the passage at 1:06:33

1:06:43 However, if you experience a change in your mind towards the individual persons as explained above, then extend it to many. When at the end you observe them in general and sustain that attitude, it will arise purely regardless of who is observed, whether a group or an individual. So if we start with individuals and we have a change and our hearts open toward the individual beings, then when we spread it out to all sentient beings, it's fine. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:43 Highlight the passage at 1:06:43

1:07:15 When we actually have success. And then we go, you know, you train the mind, you go back from individuals to everyone, back to individuals, you know, just kind of making the mind flexible. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:15 Highlight the passage at 1:07:15

1:07:28 It's like, I was just thinking of the, you know, the skiers, right? Because the Olympics are on right now. And, you know, it's like when you first learn how to ski, you kind of, you know, you try one hill, you know, you try the bunny hill, right? And then you try... You know, a harder hill, you know, and you kind of master that one and then you try a harder one, right? You know, you kind of go gradually and then eventually you can go on any hill. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:28 Highlight the passage at 1:07:28

1:07:56 Quick question. Does it make a difference or do you recommend any particular way? Like starting at the easiest, going to the hardest and then starting back at the easiest or once you reach the hardest, going in reverse? Does it make a difference, do you think? I don't think it makes a difference at that point. If you've gone to the hardest and you've developed compassion for the hardest, then I think you just kind of jump to anyone who comes to your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:56 Highlight the passage at 1:07:56

1:08:28 It's like, oh, you know, that person, that person, that being, you know, whatever. Yeah, and then it's useful, I think it's useful to remember like... you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:28 Highlight the passage at 1:08:28

1:08:41 The fish, the beings in the sea, like a lot of times we forget about those beings because we don't see them, right? The food that we ate, you know, the being that we ate for lunch, you know, do it for them, right? So, you know, try not to exclude anyone because our minds, you know, kind of get stuck in certain categories and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:41 Highlight the passage at 1:08:41

1:09:05 So, you know, to just expand the mind and just try different beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:05 Highlight the passage at 1:09:05

1:09:14 For me, I find it interesting with the difficult beings, like if I try to generate compassion for one difficult being and I have some success, you know, it's really exciting, right? And then I just jump to other difficult beings. And then, oh, you know, what about Saddam Hussein? What about that person who really pushes my buttons? Report an error in the passage at 1:09:14 Highlight the passage at 1:09:14

1:09:38 What about, you know, you just kind of keep thinking of other beings and it... It kind of becomes fun. I'm kind of a nerd that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:38 Highlight the passage at 1:09:38

1:09:53 My question was, when in this process would one start meditating upon beings in other realms, not only just humans and animals, but like pretas and hell beings? my question was, Report an error in the passage at 1:09:53 Highlight the passage at 1:09:53

1:10:17 Davis and beings like that, when do you start meditating upon those beings? I would say during this part with the all sentient beings, like after we've done friends, neutral beings and enemies, but that's just my own thinking. Because it's important to meditate on real, kind of real beings kind of thing, like pretas and hung... Report an error in the passage at 1:10:17 Highlight the passage at 1:10:17

1:10:50 Well, hungry ghosts, hell beings, they're just kind of, right now, they're just kind of ideas in our minds, right? There's not like a particular hell being that has been really annoying us lately, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:10:50 Highlight the passage at 1:10:50

1:11:06 Yeah, that we know of, exactly. Yeah. Right, right, right. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:06 Highlight the passage at 1:11:06

1:11:15 Yeah, so it's important to meditate on the beings that we actually, right, come into contact with in our lives, to make it real, right? And then, you know, and then spread it out, you know, once we have some success to other beings. Because it's easy, actually, to develop compassion for hell beings, you know, if you really think about the sufferings that they're undergoing. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:15 Highlight the passage at 1:11:15

1:11:40 Yeah, so. But I've never read in any text, you know, Wendy. At this point, meditate on compassion for held beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:40 Highlight the passage at 1:11:40

1:11:55 Actually, just to embroider on his question, what about mischievous beings? Because, you know, at least in the Tibetan tradition, they believe that sometimes disincarnates can cause problems for you. And I've known people that have felt like they've been affected by this. You're trying to lessen their grip on you, but do you do it through compassion for them? Report an error in the passage at 1:11:55 Highlight the passage at 1:11:55

1:12:18 You sort of need to do two things with those types of beings at the same time, it seems. Yeah, I mean, I think we can, if they're causing us problems, then maybe with difficult beings, you know, when we're meditating on difficult beings. Yeah, and meditate on love and compassion for them both. Yeah, and we can switch back and forth, sometimes compassion, sometimes love. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:18 Highlight the passage at 1:12:18

1:12:42 Does that answer your question? I'm not sure if I got it. Well, definitely. I guess it's just sort of like you're trying to do practices to not be affected by them and the problems that they can cause, but at the same time you want to have love and compassion for them. So I was wondering how you could sort of work that together. Will you repeat that? I'm sorry. It's all right. You know, when you're affected, as some are by disincarnates that cause problems, You're trying to lessen their grip on you and on your mind so that they don't cause you problems, but at the same time you want to have compassion for them because of the situation that they're in. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:42 Highlight the passage at 1:12:42

1:13:18 And I'm just wondering how you sort of balance that. Well, the main way to lessen their grip on us is to meditate on love and compassion for them. Yeah, exactly. Like the Buddha said, maybe last week we covered that. The greatest protection is love. Our greatest protection is love. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:18 Highlight the passage at 1:13:18

1:13:40 It all comes together. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:40 Highlight the passage at 1:13:40

1:13:46 So this is also, like, the question came up last week where someone asked, it might have been Peter, you know, it's not so difficult, right? It's pretty easy to develop affection for others, but others irritate. You know, it's easy for me to get irritated. I love everybody, but why did it drive me? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:46 Highlight the passage at 1:13:46

1:14:11 That's where compassion, like, meditating on compassion for the beings. We love them, but they irritate us, right? So really, really meditating on the fact that they're, you know, they're driven by afflictions. They have mental afflictions. That's really the big one to help with our irritation. Because people do do irritating things, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:11 Highlight the passage at 1:14:11

1:14:37 Even we do irritating things because we have mental afflictions, right? So when we really understand the reason why I do things that I don't want to do, why I say stupid things and why I said something mean to somebody or lost my temper or lost my patience or whatever, the reason I do that is because I have mental afflictions because my attachment, because my lack of capacity to love all beings right now, my lack of capacity to be patient in all circumstances. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:37 Highlight the passage at 1:14:37

1:15:19 So my limitation is because I have mental afflictions. Similarly, others are exactly the same way. They do things because of their mental afflictions. And the more we meditate on that, I think the more we'll... And be able to overcome our irritation. Because there's a part of our minds, well I don't know if everybody's like that, but the way I grew up is I always thought that people should be perfect. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:19 Highlight the passage at 1:15:19

1:15:44 You know, and so, you know, so therein that causes problems immediately, right? When you expect something that's not possible, right? And so get irritated when somebody doesn't act in the way we think they should, right? So that's starting from a basis that's just not valid. Thinking that beings should be perfect, right? So if we can start from the basis that beings are, you know, sentient beings are necessarily not perfect by definition, they have mental afflictions, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:44 Highlight the passage at 1:15:44

1:16:14 Then there's not as much room for irritation to arise. Okay. Yes, something that I believe is helpful for this kind of practice that I'm trying to do, it's, you know, practicing the love and compassion. When somebody, especially the hard person that pushing my buttons, I start practicing to feel thankful for the person because in some way the person is helping me to understand, you know, go a little bit farther in this time of my life. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:14 Highlight the passage at 1:16:14

1:16:57 That's helping a little bit to... Feel more compassion and more love for the person. I say, well, thank you for this. I know you're trying to help me. It hurts, but I believe you're trying to help me at the same time. That helps a little bit to see the person in a different way. Great. Yeah, that's really great. Yeah. His Holiness the Dalai Lama says that too sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:57 Highlight the passage at 1:16:57

1:17:28 You know, grateful that somebody's pushing your buttons. They're giving us an opportunity to develop patience, right? Otherwise, we can't develop our practice of patience, right? Not so easy to do, but it's great. The other thing that comes to my mind is that, you know, when we're irritated with someone that's come to us or said something to us or approached us, it kind of highlights something about us. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:28 Highlight the passage at 1:17:28

1:17:56 Do you know what I mean? I mean, that other person is drawn to us for some reason. They need something from us. They want to hear something from us. They're asking us for something. And if we were perfect, we would give them what they needed. You know what I mean? And they would go away happy for a bet or something like that. The reason we're irritated is because we can't give that. We're not willing to give that. You know what I mean? So that's how I always kind of think about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:56 Highlight the passage at 1:17:56

1:18:16 I'm like, you know, somebody asks me for a dollar on the street and I feel annoyed. Why do I feel annoyed? Because I don't want to give. How dare you ask me for a dollar or I don't think I can help you or I don't think giving you a dollar is going to help you or I don't know how to, you know. It brings up all the stuff in me. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:16 Highlight the passage at 1:18:16

1:18:31 I'm the one that's irritated. It's not the other person. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's really hard to get that the irritating person isn't out there, right? It's in our minds, yeah. But when we really get that, then it's hard to get, to really buy into our irritation at least, right? This irritating person was created by our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:31 Highlight the passage at 1:18:31

1:19:03 Okay, so Report an error in the passage at 1:19:03 Highlight the passage at 1:19:03

1:19:10 when have we developed great compassion? What is great compassion? How do we know when we've developed it? So Kamala Shila says in his first stages of meditation, at the point where the compassion has the aspect of the desire constantly to remove the suffering of all beings, just as if your own beloved child was unhappy, When it operates naturally in you, spontaneously, and operates in accordance with your own nature, it is complete. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:10 Highlight the passage at 1:19:10

1:19:44 Thereby it obtains the name great compassion as it is then complete. So when we constantly, perpetually, all the time have the desire to free beings from suffering, compassion arises when we see anyone on the street. you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:44 Highlight the passage at 1:19:44

1:20:05 The compassion arises spontaneously, not like, oh yeah, they're experiencing the three types of suffering, right, where it's not through effort, but just spontaneously the compassion arises all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:05 Highlight the passage at 1:20:05

1:20:21 So there's this concept of spontaneous or uncontrived versus contrived that comes up again and again in the teachings, right, where contrived is when we have to make effort in developing, for example, The great compassion or the bodhicitta. Whereas when it becomes spontaneous or uncontrived, you know, just arises naturally, then that's the measure of a realization. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:21 Highlight the passage at 1:20:21

1:20:51 So when we have to think, you know, in the beginning, it's contrived, right? We have to make effort. We have to think of a particular being, think about how they're suffering and develop, you know, compassion for them. But then eventually it gets to the point where we just see a being and immediately compassion arises without even having to think. So that's the measure of great compassion when it's spontaneous all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:51 Highlight the passage at 1:20:51

1:21:26 So Gishisopa says that. So the key factor measuring your progress is whether compassion for all sentient beings arises spontaneously, naturally and effortlessly by itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:26 Highlight the passage at 1:21:26

1:21:38 Again, so it's toward all sentient beings, right? Every single sentient being. Spontaneous compassion is similar to the feeling that a mother has for her one darling child. She does not need to make an effort to think about it. It arises naturally, right? So, you know, if it's your only child and she's hurt automatically, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:38 Highlight the passage at 1:21:38

1:22:01 We want to free her from that hurt. It's not something that we have to think about. It just automatically arises. So great compassion is to feel this way for all sentient beings so we can examine whether or not we have that all the time or not. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:01 Highlight the passage at 1:22:01

1:22:21 And then in the beginning, Kishisopa says, it will not be there at all, but then through the practice you become more and more aware of others' problems and your compassion will become stronger and stronger. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:21 Highlight the passage at 1:22:21

1:22:35 So I always like these kinds of quotes. So we expect, you know, in the beginning... Before we've trained our minds, then compassion won't arise at all. But the more we train, the more progress we'll make. It's just a day-by-day thing. It'll definitely grow if we keep practicing. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:35 Highlight the passage at 1:22:35

1:23:05 So Pavonka put it in a slightly different way. He says, you have developed it if while eating or drinking you think about all sentient beings and want them all to be free of suffering, just like a mother worrying about her. Favorite child who has been struck down by a virulent disease. So another way of saying all the time, even while eating or drinking. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:05 Highlight the passage at 1:23:05

1:23:40 So do not think this is some minor ancillary practice or something only for beginners. It is the heart of the Mahāyāna. It may take your whole life to develop this strong compassion. It may take more than one life to spontaneously generate the intention to take responsibility to free all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:40 Highlight the passage at 1:23:40

1:23:59 You will reach that level, but it develops gradually from following the same method we use to develop love and equanimity. So the effort we make will never be wasted. We just keep making the effort. It will just grow. Anything we pay attention to will grow. Anything we make effort in will grow. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:59 Highlight the passage at 1:23:59

1:24:27 So this is one of those practices that can get frustrating because... It's hard to see progress from day to day. Sometimes the heart stays closed, but we just keep making the effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:27 Highlight the passage at 1:24:27

1:24:45 We're just developing new habits, new more positive habits. It just takes time to overcome the old ones. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:45 Highlight the passage at 1:24:45

1:24:57 Then the extraordinary attitude. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:57 Highlight the passage at 1:24:57

1:25:03 So having meditated on love and compassion in this manner, finally you will think, alas, if these sentient beings were... Pleasant and attractive to me are thus deprived of happiness and tormented by suffering. How shall I make them meet with happiness and how shall I free them from suffering? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:03 Highlight the passage at 1:25:03

1:25:23 In taking upon yourself, at least in mere words, the responsibility to liberate them, your mind is trained. So we decide to take responsibility to free others from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:23 Highlight the passage at 1:25:23

1:25:39 So this is like... Going into the burning house to save the person instead of leaving it up to others. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:39 Highlight the passage at 1:25:39

1:25:56 So this extraordinary attitude is exceedingly powerful compassion and love that takes full responsibility to free others from misery and lead them to the highest happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:56 Highlight the passage at 1:25:56

1:26:19 Although this point has already been made briefly in the context of repaying the kindness, it is shown here that the love and compassion that think, if only they were to meet with happiness, and if only... They were free from suffering are not sufficient. So it's not sufficient just to wish that others have happiness and freedom from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:19 Highlight the passage at 1:26:19

1:26:41 This is because it was taught that it is necessary to generate the love and compassion that are able to induce the thought, I myself will accomplish the happiness and benefit of sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:41 Highlight the passage at 1:26:41

1:26:53 So if we keep meditating on love and compassion, so the power, the strength of that will... Become greater and greater and greater until we can no longer, well, until we're willing to take on the responsibility ourselves to free them from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:53 Highlight the passage at 1:26:53

1:27:15 So it's, you know, the extraordinary attitude itself is great compassion and great love. It's just an extremely strong level of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:15 Highlight the passage at 1:27:15

1:27:31 And then Lama Tsongkhapa says, this is not to be done just during meditation sessions, but is to be sustained continuously. Remembering it during all behaviors after the session and so forth as taught in the middling stages of meditation. So not just during meditation session, not just during the 15 minutes or 20 minutes or half hour, but throughout the day as much as we can. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:31 Highlight the passage at 1:27:31

1:28:07 Gishisopa says for successful progress one should keep the subject in mind after the meditation session too. If we consider a topic during meditation sessions and let the mind go its habitual negative direction at other times, we're not reinforcing positive development. By keeping the meditation subject in mind when we are cooking, walking or eating, we condition the mind so that when we go back to another session, our meditation will be more powerful. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:07 Highlight the passage at 1:28:07

1:28:38 so we've talked about this before, you know, about habits, right? So we're developing. New habits to see beings in a compassionate way. So if I meditate on compassion for 20 minutes in the morning and then the rest of the day I let myself be irritated at people all day long. So what am I cultivating more of? That 20 minutes isn't going to have the power to overcome the 16 hours that I become irritated at people. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:38 Highlight the passage at 1:28:38

1:29:19 So this is the general advice in the Dharma period. I mean, I noticed this for myself with emptiness in particular, like meditating on emptiness and seeing everything as being empty. And then the rest of the day, seeing everything as being solid and existing from its own side. Hmm, yeah, maybe I'm not, you know, why am I not making progress on emptiness, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:19 Highlight the passage at 1:29:19

1:29:43 So, you know, meditate on emptiness for 15 minutes. Meditate on solidity for 23 hours and 45 minutes. So obviously this is a gradual process, but we need mindfulness throughout the day. When that irritation arises, first we need to notice it and then try to develop compassion for that being. Instead of just letting the mind go off and be irritated at that person without even... Report an error in the passage at 1:29:43 Highlight the passage at 1:29:43

1:30:19 Trying to counteract it, just buying into the irritation. So that's why we don't make very quick progress if we're just doing our practice for that half hour, 20 minutes a day and then letting the mind do whatever it normally does the rest of the day. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:19 Highlight the passage at 1:30:19

1:30:47 So as much as we can to try to remember throughout the day. And that's why it's really good to do retreats, right? Because when you do a retreat, then you're habituating your mind all day long to remember emptiness or compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:47 Highlight the passage at 1:30:47

1:31:06 Then when you get out of retreat, then you're more likely to have the mindfulness throughout the day because you've developed that habit of being mindful through the day. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:06 Highlight the passage at 1:31:06

1:31:18 Peter. I was just going to say, I find that whenever we try to focus on a subject like bodhicitta, something will happen that day that will just slam it into you. Sometimes literally, whatever way you can. You know, I write these little things about various Buddhist subjects on Facebook, and I have to be careful about what I write, because that will be my day the entire next day of dealing with whatever my... Report an error in the passage at 1:31:18 Highlight the passage at 1:31:18

1:31:42 The concept of solid reality is, it'll just keep coming at me. So I think it kind of raises our habituations in a way. And that's our opportunity too, is to kind of work through that. Because I find whenever I try to work on bodhicitta, people are driving crazy. So that's kind of an opportunity there too. It's interesting how that happens, how obstacles, like sometimes when we want to do something really virtuous, the obstacles we see, all sorts of obstacles arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:42 Highlight the passage at 1:31:42

1:32:13 They say that that happens in the Dharma. We just have to, you know. Yeah. Yeah, because if you think about it, I mean, it's going against the grain of cyclic existence and our habits. So it kind of makes sense that obstacles would arise. It's not going to be so easy, right? But, yeah, we just try not to give up. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:13 Highlight the passage at 1:32:13

1:32:49 Yeah, I mean, sometimes it's that we're more conscious, for sure. And sometimes, you know. Karma ripens more quickly as well, and we do have more obstacles when we're practicing more deeply, in a more dedicated way. Yeah, it's kind of interesting. John? I have a question. So I can understand that throughout the day, while you're awake, Report an error in the passage at 1:32:49 Highlight the passage at 1:32:49

1:33:24 one can make a If one doesn't have spontaneous bodhicitta arising in one's mind, that one can make the conscious effort throughout the day to go and engage in those practices and behaviors to go and help foster a development of bodhicitta. Now, what about when you're asleep? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:24 Highlight the passage at 1:33:24

1:33:55 It seems to me that when you're asleep, your mind, well my mind, is more apt to go and run in those ways where, you know, like I can have a dream where I'm getting really angry at somebody or somebody's beating me and, you know, I go into like, oh, I'm going to beat you too. And would that not be detrimental to the development and maintenance of whatever bodhicitta that you have? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:55 Highlight the passage at 1:33:55

1:34:22 So are there ways of working on preserving the level of bodhicitta that you have while you're sleeping? Or is that kind of like a really advanced sort of practice? Well, I think the more we cultivate it during the day, that will reflect in our minds during our dreams as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:22 Highlight the passage at 1:34:22

1:34:44 But then one particular piece of advice that's given in this tradition is, As we lay down to go to sleep, cultivate bodhicitta before we fall asleep. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:44 Highlight the passage at 1:34:44

1:35:03 It's said that if the mind is virtuous when you fall asleep, then the entire time you're sleeping is considered to be virtuous. You're creating virtuous karma. If you're angry... know, so, so the, mind, like if Report an error in the passage at 1:35:03 Highlight the passage at 1:35:03

1:35:16 The time you go to sleep, you know, if you develop a negative mind or afflicted mind at the time of sleep, then the entire sleep is non-virtuous. So helpful to pay attention to your mind before you go to sleep and try to develop bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:16 Highlight the passage at 1:35:16

1:35:36 So let's try to finish Extraordinary Attitude. Right, so once again, meditate on compassion all the time, whether you're sitting in meditation or engaging in other behavior. By doing this, wherever we go, we will see the problems, desires, misery and dissatisfaction of sentient beings. Everything will contribute to the increase of our desire to help others. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:36 Highlight the passage at 1:35:36

1:36:02 Our compassion and love will start like a small fire that we feed with some paper and kindling so that it becomes a large blaze. So gradually everything will contribute to our practice of bodhicitta. I'm Report an error in the passage at 1:36:02 Highlight the passage at 1:36:02

1:36:25 not going to go through this, but this is basically the same point. it takes. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:25 Highlight the passage at 1:36:25

1:36:32 A sprinkle of sugar cannot make the sour taste of a bitter lemon sweet, so just a few good qualities won't transform a mind that's been soured by mental afflictions. All right, so we've had these mental afflictions since beginning with time, right? So we can't expect to overcome them immediately. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:32 Highlight the passage at 1:36:32

1:36:58 The scale of change needed to transform the mind takes a long time and requires a lot of reinforcement. It takes firm and constant effort to change. We have to start small and build from there. We cannot do the big things until we have done the small ones. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:58 Highlight the passage at 1:36:58

1:37:17 So an example I was thinking of this was if we were trying to desalinate a cup of salt water, a cup of ocean water, it doesn't take much, but we're trying to desalinate. The entire ocean. That's our mental afflictions, right? And we've had them since beginningless time. So we're trying to remove our mental afflictions that we've had forever. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:17 Highlight the passage at 1:37:17

1:37:46 Like the salt in the ocean is so vast. So that's helpful, at least to me, to not expect quick results. So a few meditations on compassion aren't going to change everything. But if we just keep going, you know, gradually, we'll be able to desalinate the ocean. So let's do a little meditation on compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:46 Highlight the passage at 1:37:46

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:39:03 So imagine in front of us someone that we dearly love. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:03 Highlight the passage at 1:39:03

1:39:35 This person, right here, she is definitely going to die. He Report an error in the passage at 1:39:35 Highlight the passage at 1:39:35

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:40:29 or she will lose everything. Who Report an error in the passage at 1:40:29 Highlight the passage at 1:40:29

1:40:46 knows what the next life will bring and Report an error in the passage at 1:40:46 Highlight the passage at 1:40:46

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:41:39 be a good rebirth. Or it could be a suffering rebirth to Report an error in the passage at 1:41:39 Highlight the passage at 1:41:39

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:43:39 free them from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:39 Highlight the passage at 1:43:39

1:43:43 This suffering of cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:43 Highlight the passage at 1:43:43

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:44:46 Think of another person or being that we're close to. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:46 Highlight the passage at 1:44:46

1:45:14 He or she is definitely going to die and Report an error in the passage at 1:45:14 Highlight the passage at 1:45:14

1:45:41 lose everything. Everything and everyone who Report an error in the passage at 1:45:41 Highlight the passage at 1:45:41

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:46:29 knows what the next life will bring. Could be a good life. Could be a greatly suffering life. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:29 Highlight the passage at 1:46:29

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:48:37 This is the meditation for this week. The homework for this Report an error in the passage at 1:48:37 Highlight the passage at 1:48:37

1:48:45 meditate like that on various beings. Starting with the ones that are close to us, Report an error in the passage at 1:48:45 Highlight the passage at 1:48:45

1:48:56 moving on to more difficult. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:56 Highlight the passage at 1:48:56

1:49:10 It's interesting to watch the level of compassion that arises for different beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:10 Highlight the passage at 1:49:10

1:49:19 Some will be greater and some will be stronger and some will be less. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:19 Highlight the passage at 1:49:19

1:49:45 The homework I sent to you and I also have some copies up here. So after we dedicate, if people want a copy. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:45 Highlight the passage at 1:49:45

1:49:57 So we'll dedicate with Shantideva on page 246. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:57 Highlight the passage at 1:49:57

1:50:25 Male beings everywhere. Plagued by sufferings of body and mind, obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no living creature suffer, commit evil or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:25 Highlight the passage at 1:50:25

1:50:47 May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drinks. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:47 Highlight the passage at 1:50:47

1:51:12 May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill Quickly be freed from their ailments, whatever diseases there are in the world. May they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:12 Highlight the passage at 1:51:12

1:52:07 So that's a hard meditation, isn't it? It's really painful. Yeah, so maybe we can alternate that one with doing meditation on love, you know, so we don't get kind of overwhelmed by the pain and send them happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:07 Highlight the passage at 1:52:07

1:52:33 It's Report an error in the passage at 1:52:33 Highlight the passage at 1:52:33

1:52:43 Friday. Geshevah's teaching. That's right. Preparing for Tantra. Well, I can give you a ride home tonight. Okay. Actually, I'm going up to Marin, so that's on my way. Then it's not out of your way, and I don't know that, so that's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:43 Highlight the passage at 1:52:43

1:53:07 Homework is up here if anybody wants one. Oh, and if you have previous homework you want me to look at, can you give it to me? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:07 Highlight the passage at 1:53:07

1:53:24 Yeah, there's not a lot of enthusiasm for doing homework, but it's great that people are meditating on them. That's the most important thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:24 Highlight the passage at 1:53:24

1:53:48 Did tonight's class get recorded? the street. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:48 Highlight the passage at 1:53:48

1:53:53 Did somebody start it? Yeah. You did? Okay. Oh, okay. When Chad's not here, I think. AV guy's not here. Three, okay. Only if they're really quick. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:53 Highlight the passage at 1:53:53

1:54:20 Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:20 Highlight the passage at 1:54:20

1:54:33 Oh, that's to increase our wisdom. D-D-D-D-D-D-D, yeah, D-D-D. Well, I mean, the whole mantra, but then it's traditional to do the D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D in one breath as many as you can. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:33 Highlight the passage at 1:54:33

1:54:49 Yeah, to increase our, like the monks in the monasteries, they memorize their texts, so they try to memorize as much as possible. So they do a lot of mantras to help them with their memorization and their understanding. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:49 Highlight the passage at 1:54:49

1:55:14 Mmm. Mmm. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:14 Highlight the passage at 1:55:14