Buddhism from A-Z, 3rd Semester - Bodhisattva Conduct (22 June 2010)

0:15 Okay, let's start by settling our minds, meditating on our breath for a few minutes. Report an error in the passage at 0:15 Highlight the passage at 0:15

0:32 So trying to keep our spines straight, Report an error in the passage at 0:32 Highlight the passage at 0:32

0:37 our minds alert and Report an error in the passage at 0:37 Highlight the passage at 0:37

0:42 yet also relaxed, Report an error in the passage at 0:42 Highlight the passage at 0:42

0:50 not too relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 0:50 Highlight the passage at 0:50

1:13 It strays to a thought, just noticing it, Report an error in the passage at 1:13 Highlight the passage at 1:13

1:22 gently bringing the mind and firmly bringing the mind back to the breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:22 Highlight the passage at 1:22

· · · silence, 4 minutes

5:19 The commonality that we all have, Report an error in the passage at 5:19 Highlight the passage at 5:19

5:27 each of us just wants to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 5:27 Highlight the passage at 5:27

· · · silence, 1 minute

6:22 Cherishing primarily myself for most of this life or Report an error in the passage at 6:22 Highlight the passage at 6:22

6:32 my previous lives, meaning Report an error in the passage at 6:32 Highlight the passage at 6:32

6:37 that this will make me happy. And Report an error in the passage at 6:37 Highlight the passage at 6:37

6:49 if it worked, Report an error in the passage at 6:49 Highlight the passage at 6:49

6:54 we would be supremely happy by now because we've practiced it for a long time. Report an error in the passage at 6:54 Highlight the passage at 6:54

· · · silence, 1 minute

7:42 Self-cherishing is such a troublemaker. Report an error in the passage at 7:42 Highlight the passage at 7:42

7:50 Feel dissatisfied, Report an error in the passage at 7:50 Highlight the passage at 7:50

· · · silence, 1 minute

8:34 whereas cherishing others is Report an error in the passage at 8:34 Highlight the passage at 8:34

8:40 the road to true lasting happiness. Feeling of well-being. Being Report an error in the passage at 8:40 Highlight the passage at 8:40

8:59 the example of the great beings. Report an error in the passage at 8:59 Highlight the passage at 8:59

9:10 His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Report an error in the passage at 9:10 Highlight the passage at 9:10

9:16 Mother Teresa. We Report an error in the passage at 9:16 Highlight the passage at 9:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

9:54 can test it out, try it out for ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 9:54 Highlight the passage at 9:54

10:07 We need to cherish others more and more, Report an error in the passage at 10:07 Highlight the passage at 10:07

10:16 less and less self-centered, Report an error in the passage at 10:16 Highlight the passage at 10:16

10:24 less and less focused on what I want. Report an error in the passage at 10:24 Highlight the passage at 10:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

11:41 Okay, we'll start with the praise to Shakyamuni Buddha on page 73. To Report an error in the passage at 11:41 Highlight the passage at 11:41

· · · silence, 1 minute

12:16 the founder, the endowed transcendent destroyer, the one gone beyond, the faux destroyer, the completely perfected, fully awakened being. Perfect in knowledge and in good conduct, Sugata, knower of the world, supreme God of human beings to be tamed, teacher of gods and human beings, to you, the completely and fully awakened one, the endowed transcendent destroyer, the glorious conqueror, the subduer from the Shaky clan, I prostrate, make offerings, and go for refuge. Report an error in the passage at 12:16 Highlight the passage at 12:16

12:46 To the Founder, the Endowed Transcendent Destroyer, the One Gone Beyond, the Foe Destroyer, the Completely Perfected, Fully Awakened Being, Perfect in Knowledge and in Good Conduct, Sugata, Knower of the World, Supreme Guide of Human Beings to be Tamed, Teacher of Gods and Human Beings, to you, the Completely and Fully Awakened One, the Endowed Transcendent Destroyer, the Glorious Conqueror, the Subduber from the Shakyat Klan. Report an error in the passage at 12:46 Highlight the passage at 12:46

13:13 I prostrate, make offerings and go for refuge to the founder, the endowed transcendent destroyer, the one gone beyond, the foe destroyer, the completely perfected, fully awakened being, perfect in knowledge and in good conduct, Sugata, knower of the world, supreme God of human beings to be tamed, teacher of gods and human beings, to you, the completely and fully awakened one. Report an error in the passage at 13:13 Highlight the passage at 13:13

13:38 The Endowed Transcended Destroyer, the Glorious Conqueror, the Subduer from the Shucket Clan, I prostrate, make offerings, and go for refuge. When, O Supreme amongst humans, you were born on this earth, you paced out seven strides, then said, I am supreme in this world. To you who were wise, then I prostrate. With pure bodies formed supremely pure, wisdom ocean like a golden mountain. Report an error in the passage at 13:38 Highlight the passage at 13:38

14:04 Fame that blazes in the three worlds, winner of the best, Lord, to you I prostrate. With the supreme signs, face like the spotless moon, color like gold, to you I prostrate. Dust free like you, the three worlds are not, incomparably wise one, to you I prostrate. The Savior having great compassion, the founder having all understanding, the field of merit with qualities like a vast ocean, to you, the one gone to lessness, I prostrate. Report an error in the passage at 14:04 Highlight the passage at 14:04

14:34 The purity that frees one from attachment, the virtue that frees one from the lower realms, the one path, the sublime pure reality, to the Dharma that pacifies, I prostrate. Those who are liberated and who also show the path to liberation, the holy field qualified with realizations, who are devoted to the moral precepts, to you, the sublime community intending virtue, I prostrate. Report an error in the passage at 14:34 Highlight the passage at 14:34

14:59 Homage to the Supreme Buddha. Homage to the Dharma Refuge. Homage to the great Saṅgha. To all three, ever devout homage. To all worthy of respect, bowing with bodies as many as all realms, atoms, and all aspects, with supreme faith I pay homage. Do not commit any non-virtuous actions. Perform only perfect virtuous actions. Subdue your mind thoroughly. This is the teaching of the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 14:59 Highlight the passage at 14:59

15:26 A star, a visual aberration, a flame of a lamp, an illusion, a drop of dew or a bubble. A dream, a flash of lightning, a cloud. See conditioned things as such. Through these merits may sentient beings attain the rank of all seen, subdue the foe of false, and be delivered from saṃsāra's ocean, perturbed by the waves of aging, sickness and death. Report an error in the passage at 15:26 Highlight the passage at 15:26

15:52 And then on page 98, Refuge in Bodhicitta. I Report an error in the passage at 15:52 Highlight the passage at 15:52

16:04 go for refuge until I'm enlightened. To the Buddha, the Dharma, 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 16:04 Highlight the passage at 16:04

16:30 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 sateen beings. Report an error in the passage at 16:30 Highlight the passage at 16:30

16:52 So we've almost finished up with the perfection of patience. So a reminder what patience is, right, is the mind that's undisturbed, at ease, that doesn't get angry in the face of hardships and suffering and harm by others, which Report an error in the passage at 16:52 Highlight the passage at 16:52

17:19 doesn't mean, once again, that you're passive and you don't do anything about. You know, when people are abusing others or yourself, it doesn't mean being a doormat. It just means keeping a clear, calm mind so then you can figure out what to do instead of having that harmful mind that wants to, you know, get back at them, right, which is what the angry mind wants to do. Report an error in the passage at 17:19 Highlight the passage at 17:19

17:46 So to do something constructive as opposed to something out of anger. So patience. Patience. Having the undisturbed, calm, clear mind. Report an error in the passage at 17:46 Highlight the passage at 17:46

18:00 And we talked about the three types of patients. First of all, keeping that calm, clear, undisturbed mind when others harm you. Report an error in the passage at 18:00 Highlight the passage at 18:00

18:12 The second one, accepting the suffering arising in your mind stream. So this is any hardships, any physical illness, any difficulties that arise. To accept it without immediately rejecting it, without having... A lot of aversion to it. And then the third one, being certain about the Dharma, and we'll talk about that one today. So we've gone through the first two. Report an error in the passage at 18:12 Highlight the passage at 18:12

18:45 Yeah, so disregarding harm done to you. You know, this one's a really hard one, right? Because sometimes people do things that seem really atrocious, that are really atrocious, right? But the main thing is that... Anger doesn't do any good. Like if anger would help the situation, then okay, you know, get angry. But anger doesn't help at all. Report an error in the passage at 18:45 Highlight the passage at 18:45

19:17 It hurts. It hurts our ability to react, you know, act in a constructive way. It hurts our ability to help others. It hurts in every possible way, getting angry. Like, you know, so the Dharma says when something... You know, suffering happens, you know, when someone harms us, right? That's a result of a seed that we've planted in the past. It's a result of a karma. And if we don't do anything, then that, you know, if we don't get angry, then that karma completes, right? Report an error in the passage at 19:17 Highlight the passage at 19:17

19:50 We're finishing that negative karma. So that's a positive thing. But then if on top of that we get angry, then we're perpetuating the negative karma. So we're not just finishing. A negative karma and saying, phew, phew, that's done. We're creating more negative karma so that we have to suffer more. Report an error in the passage at 19:50 Highlight the passage at 19:50

20:15 So even if we convince ourselves in our minds that the other person was completely wrong, and sometimes it is that case, the other person or the other group of people or the corporation was completely wrong, and they're doing very harmful things, it still doesn't do any good to get angry. It just hurts. Report an error in the passage at 20:15 Highlight the passage at 20:15

20:36 It hurts us and others if we do get angry. So I have this example of this friend of mine who's this amazing woman and practitioner who's like in her 70s and she lives in Nepal and she came back here to visit her kids and one of her kids was taking care of her finances. He had the power of attorney. So she was trying to take money out of the ATM one day and Found out that she didn't have enough funds. She's like, what? I have plenty of money. Because she thought she was coming back here to sell her house so she could buy, you know, find some place to retire. Report an error in the passage at 20:36 Highlight the passage at 20:36

21:19 And, you know, she was set financially. Well, she came back and she found out that her son had been embezzling her funds. And she had almost nothing left. Anyway, long story. Report an error in the passage at 21:19 Highlight the passage at 21:19

21:32 So basically she had almost no money. She thought she was financially set. She had almost no money. And so then she tried to talk to her son about it and he said, talk to my lawyer. Report an error in the passage at 21:32 Highlight the passage at 21:32

21:44 You know, and she's just this lovely, really warm, beautiful, loving person. You know, light up when you see her. And so this was obviously devastating for her. But she didn't get angry, or at least as far as I could tell, she didn't get angry. She just knew what she had to do and she got another son involved and, you know, got a lawyer and, you know, she's trying to get her money back, right? But it was, you know, so even in the midst of, like, one of the most horrible stories, you know, horrible things that can happen to you, you know, it's still, it wouldn't have done her any good to get it. Report an error in the passage at 21:44 Highlight the passage at 21:44

22:24 So she was purifying a lot of karma by not getting it. So I think, you know, what I've come to with Ruth Richard to anger is, Report an error in the passage at 22:24 Highlight the passage at 22:24

22:37 If we ask ourselves the question, are we right to get angry? That's really the wrong question. Because that's the question we normally ask ourselves. Are we right? Yes! So I'm justified to get angry. But I think the more constructive questions are, will it help to get angry? And will anger make me happy? Report an error in the passage at 22:37 Highlight the passage at 22:37

23:11 So are we right to get angry? Probably a lot of situations we are, but that's not the constructive question. But does anger help and does it make us happy? Report an error in the passage at 23:11 Highlight the passage at 23:11

23:25 And I remember one day I was really struggling with something that a guy knew did and I thought that there were negative consequences and all of this. And I was getting myself worked up because he was wrong. I just knew he was wrong. And then when I switched my way of thinking about it and thought... Report an error in the passage at 23:25 Highlight the passage at 23:25

23:47 Okay, well, is anger going to help? No. Is anger going to make me happy? No. And that was when I was able to drop it. If I kept thinking about how wrong he was, that just fed the anger. Report an error in the passage at 23:47 Highlight the passage at 23:47

24:07 It was helpful. Report an error in the passage at 24:07 Highlight the passage at 24:07

24:11 Why make myself miserable if it's not going to help? Report an error in the passage at 24:11 Highlight the passage at 24:11

24:17 So I think that really helps me, at least, with this disregarding harm done to you. Report an error in the passage at 24:17 Highlight the passage at 24:17

24:30 Zoom through these slides that we've already talked about. So we talked about a lot of different methods, right, for counteracting. The anger when the harm, when we feel like someone's harmed us, right, remembering that the offender, right, is being controlled by their mental afflictions, that, well, if we think that that harm is in the nature of that person, why get angry? Report an error in the passage at 24:30 Highlight the passage at 24:30

24:59 It's like getting angry at fire for being hot. Or if we think anger is not, or that harm isn't in the nature of the person. Then why get angry at the person when it's just causes and conditions? It's like the clouds coming and going in the sky, so why get angry at the sky, the clouds, or you can get angry at the harm done, but why get angry at the person? Report an error in the passage at 24:59 Highlight the passage at 24:59

25:27 That's like getting angry at the sky for having clouds. Report an error in the passage at 25:27 Highlight the passage at 25:27

25:33 And then we went through some other ones, so I'm not going to go through all of those, but all of these can be helpful in different situations, so we just kind of... We can try different antidotes in different situations until something helps. Report an error in the passage at 25:33 Highlight the passage at 25:33

25:52 So then we talked about how to cultivate the patients that accept suffering. So suffering, you know, painful situations are just the nature of life in cyclic existence, right? Things are going to happen. Just having a body, we're going to, you know, we're going to ache and we're going to have back aches and knee pain, headaches and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 25:52 Highlight the passage at 25:52

26:13 It's just the nature of cyclic existence. It's to experience physical pain and mental. So we might as well learn how to accept it instead of having that knee-jerk reaction of this is bad. Report an error in the passage at 26:13 Highlight the passage at 26:13

26:30 So Shantideva says, if there's a remedy, then why be unhappy about it? And if there's no remedy, what's the use of being unhappy? Report an error in the passage at 26:30 Highlight the passage at 26:30

26:40 Why be unhappy? Report an error in the passage at 26:40 Highlight the passage at 26:40

26:46 And then we went through the good qualities of suffering. Without suffering, we would never... We would never have the energy to practice the spiritual path. So it spurs us on to practicing. Report an error in the passage at 26:46 Highlight the passage at 26:46

27:05 It dispels any arrogance that we have. It creates humility. It causes us to stay away from negative actions, which will bring about more suffering in the future. It causes us to like cultivating virtue, which is the cause for more and more happiness in the future. And then this is how we generate compassion for others. When we suffer, then we generate more genuine compassion for others. So this teaching is to counteract that belief or that knee-jerk belief that suffering is just bad. Report an error in the passage at 27:05 Highlight the passage at 27:05

27:47 Suffering is categorically absolutely bad. But, you know, there are some good aspects of suffering. And so this is really mind training, right? If we have to suffer, we might as well do something good with it instead of rejecting it, struggling against it. Because as we were talking about last time, there's a certain amount of suffering or pain that's inevitable, and then all of the resistance, the mental reaction to it, we can create so much more pain. Report an error in the passage at 27:47 Highlight the passage at 27:47

28:20 So just accepting the pain and not struggling against it. That doesn't mean not doing anything about it, but why lament about it? Why me? Why does this always happen to me? Report an error in the passage at 28:20 Highlight the passage at 28:20

28:43 So this is just a matter of familiarization, becoming used to smaller sufferings, accepting smaller sufferings, and then gradually we can accept greater and greater. Report an error in the passage at 28:43 Highlight the passage at 28:43

29:02 Then the third type of patience is how to cultivate the patience devoted to a mind of certainty regarding the Dharma. And what does that mean? So this, this Lama Tsongkhapa says, this is the generating the forbearance of conviction. Report an error in the passage at 29:02 Highlight the passage at 29:02

29:21 And Gishisopa, I don't know if you can read this, says this is thinking about the nature of reality, causality and emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 29:21 Highlight the passage at 29:21

29:31 So this, you know, developing this mind that's not, you know, when we, when we get these teachings on emptiness, We can develop a lot of doubt or a lot of resistance, negativity to some of these teachings, particularly when we have a strong attachment or a strong mental affliction about something. Like if we're angry at somebody and somebody says, Oh, that's just imputed by your mind. There's no wrong person independent of your imputation. Report an error in the passage at 29:31 Highlight the passage at 29:31

30:09 We're not too pleased when people say things like that. We're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you talk about emptiness, whatever. We don't believe that. So the patience of... Report an error in the passage at 30:09 Highlight the passage at 30:09

30:25 The mind of certainty with regard to Dharma is not to just reject that outright, but to look at that and say, okay, well, is it true that this jerk is not really a jerk from his own side? The mind usually says, yes, he is. Of course he is. Just ask anybody. He's a jerk, right? But then continuing with the analysis. Report an error in the passage at 30:25 Highlight the passage at 30:25

30:55 Not just giving up, but thinking about it, reflecting on it, meditating on it. Where's the jerk? Is the jerk the ears? Is the jerk the hair? Is the jerk the eyebrows? Is the jerk the body? Is the jerk the mind? Is the jerk the mind in this moment? In this moment? In this moment? Because the mind is ever changing. The body is ever changing. The mind is ever changing. So where is the jerk? This solid, unchanging jerk in our minds. Report an error in the passage at 30:55 Highlight the passage at 30:55

31:33 And the more we do that analysis, we see, actually, that jerk is just an image that I created in my mind. And of course, we don't want to hear that. We're like, yeah, BP, they were definitely wrong. And Report an error in the passage at 31:33 Highlight the passage at 31:33

31:53 conventionally, yeah, they did a lot of harmful things. But still, jerk was imputed by the mind. The enemy is imputed by the mind. Report an error in the passage at 31:53 Highlight the passage at 31:53

32:11 This fortitude is to contemplate the ultimate nature of reality and not just give up. So Geshe-sopha says, sometimes when people are unfamiliar with concepts such as karma and shunyata, emptiness, they become impatient or uneasy when the truth is explained. So we experience the same thing with karma too, right? Report an error in the passage at 32:11 Highlight the passage at 32:11

32:38 If we're experiencing a lot of good happening in our lives and people say, it's your karma, we don't have a problem with that. But if we're going through a hard time and then somebody says, it's your karma, we're not too happy about that. Report an error in the passage at 32:38 Highlight the passage at 32:38

32:56 So trying to not resist that and just think about that. Everything is our karma, which just means that we created the cause. It doesn't mean that we are bad. I think a lot of times our resistance to the concept of karma happens when we identify with that negative action. Oh well, if I have health problems now that means I harmed others in the past. That means I'm a bad person. Report an error in the passage at 32:56 Highlight the passage at 32:56

33:34 So that last bit is extraneous. You know, we're not bad people because we harmed others in the past. Everybody's harmed others in the past in our countless lives. Everybody's, you know, killed an insect at some point, right? Everybody's, you know, harmed others, right? So, um, I'm getting off. But anyway, so sometimes we have resistance to thinking about karma, and sometimes we have resistance to thinking about when it doesn't suit us, right? Report an error in the passage at 33:34 Highlight the passage at 33:34

34:07 When it suits us, we like it, right? When it doesn't suit. the particular situation and we're not too happy about it. And we can project the negativity onto the teaching, right? Instead of just looking at the resistance in our minds, we can say, oh, well, that teaching, that's, you know, that's full of, they're full of it kind of thing. Report an error in the passage at 34:07 Highlight the passage at 34:07

34:31 So Geshe Soppa continues and he says, they do not want to hear about the nature of reality because they do not want to learn to think in new ways. Report an error in the passage at 34:31 Highlight the passage at 34:31

34:44 We don't like to think that there's not an objective reality that we always believed existed. I remember one nun, she's very, very serious. She's been in retreat for something like 20 years. And she used to be a Western philosophy professor and a neuroscientist. And she said... Report an error in the passage at 34:44 Highlight the passage at 34:44

35:09 She said, at least you guys don't have to unlearn everything that you learned. She said, I have to unlearn all of these things that I learned in all of those years. It was pretty frustrating, right? A lot of our upbringing was reinforcing this belief in an objective reality. You know? You know? Report an error in the passage at 35:09 Highlight the passage at 35:09

35:24 So, um, so Report an error in the passage at 35:24 Highlight the passage at 35:24

35:38 So the third kind of patience is being able to learn, analyze, and understand the subject, object, and the action of someone harming us from the perspective of ultimate truth. It involves seeing that there's no real ultimate enemy. There's simply a combination of causes and conditions. The actions, actor, and object of the action are like an illusory phenomenon. Report an error in the passage at 35:38 Highlight the passage at 35:38

36:04 An errorless understanding of emptiness makes uneasiness and fear go away. Because we see there's no real enemy trying to cause us absolute harm. The true nature of reality is that there's nothing to be angry about. Report an error in the passage at 36:04 Highlight the passage at 36:04

36:19 So this is the subtlest form of patience, right? And the really difficult one is that Report an error in the passage at 36:19 Highlight the passage at 36:19

36:31 it's just all like an illusion. But this is a hard understanding to come by, right? It'll take a long time and lots of reflection. But this is the third level of patience. Report an error in the passage at 36:31 Highlight the passage at 36:31

36:54 So Gishisopa also says that this is a mental clarity about reality. So mental clarity here meaning faith or we could say a trust without any negative reservations or a pure motivation for doing a practice. So faith, not faith in the sense of blind faith, but the trust or the confidence in the teaching after having reflected upon it. Report an error in the passage at 36:54 Highlight the passage at 36:54

37:23 So sometimes there's certain practices that we like and certain practices that we don't like and we can get negative about, like, I don't know, about prostrations, mandala offerings, or whatever, you know, things that we don't understand. Tantra, you know, we can get negative about them because we don't really get them, right? We don't really understand the benefit. So here with this type of patience, we're not just rejecting it, but we're looking at it, investigating it. Report an error in the passage at 37:23 Highlight the passage at 37:23

37:59 Yosufa says, when we do not know something, we have doubts about it that makes us feel negative. Not liking a practice, not wanting to do a practice, even if we do it feeling uncomfortable and having reservations about the practice, are all aspects of impatience. Report an error in the passage at 37:59 Highlight the passage at 37:59

38:22 I think this is normal fine. Shushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushushush Report an error in the passage at 38:22 Highlight the passage at 38:22

38:29 To feel uncomfortable or not to like certain practices, but then not to just let it stop there, but just continue to study and continue to try to understand what it's about. So we don't become negative about it, right? It might not be the appropriate practice for us at this time, but it doesn't mean it's a wrong practice or a bad practice necessarily. Report an error in the passage at 38:29 Highlight the passage at 38:29

38:59 Does that make sense? Sometimes this stuff can sound dogmatic and it's not meant to be dogmatic. It's just encouraging us not to get negative just because we don't understand what the practice is or we don't see the benefits. It doesn't mean we have to get negative about Report an error in the passage at 38:59 Highlight the passage at 38:59

39:23 it. Report an error in the passage at 39:23 Highlight the passage at 39:23

39:31 You might just have said, but I'm still confused with translating having doubt with impatience. I mean, is it... Saying it's the same or is it saying... Yeah, so having doubt about the practice is said to be a level of impatience, a third level of impatience. Because Report an error in the passage at 39:31 Highlight the passage at 39:31

40:03 at a certain point in the practice, in the beginning, you know, we're encouraged to question. Don't just accept these teachings. Don't just see if it's beneficial. But there's a certain point where doubt becomes an obstacle in the practice. Because if I doubt, Report an error in the passage at 40:03 Highlight the passage at 40:03

40:29 is meditation really going to help? It's a reason to not use it as an excuse. Report an error in the passage at 40:29 Highlight the passage at 40:29

40:38 If we do it a little bit, then we don't really put our full effort in it. It's just kind of, okay, well. Report an error in the passage at 40:38 Highlight the passage at 40:38

40:51 So there's a certain level where doubt is an excuse not to put yourself. And I notice that for myself a lot. Like, well, I remember years ago I was given a mandala offering Report an error in the passage at 40:51 Highlight the passage at 40:51

41:13 for guru yoga. I was not at the point where I... I saw the benefits of these practices. Since I really trusted my guru who gave me these practices, I decided, okay, well, I'll try it. But I could see this kind of mind a Report an error in the passage at 41:13 Highlight the passage at 41:13

41:40 little bit. Okay, I'm supposed to do Mandela Avery, so I'm going to do 10. You know, 10 a day, right? You don't really see that much benefit when you do 10 a day, but a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 41:40 Highlight the passage at 41:40

41:54 So I could see, you know, there are certain times when, you know, I might do the practice, and you don't really see much benefit. And other times when you do really Report an error in the passage at 41:54 Highlight the passage at 41:54

42:10 put the effort in, then you really see the benefit. And I'm going to look at Rose here, because before I came to Tibetan Buddhism, I was in Zen for a while, and I would sit in Zen, and I really saw the benefit. And then there was a certain point where I needed answers. I didn't have enough trust to meditate every day, because I thought, Report an error in the passage at 42:10 Highlight the passage at 42:10

42:40 sit here and meditate for... 45 minutes and not even know if I'm doing it right. I'm just going to be wasting my time. So it was important at that point to get more instructions before I could really engage and commit myself to doing the practice. So I think that's what this is saying. So don't just stay at the doubt part. Get more instructions. Study more and try to understand what this is all about. Report an error in the passage at 42:40 Highlight the passage at 42:40

43:12 Otherwise, you're just never going to do it. If you have doubts, you're not going to do Report an error in the passage at 43:12 Highlight the passage at 43:12

43:24 it. I agree with you that it's really difficult in Zen because the field is so wide and sometimes I just don't know what I'm doing when I'm sitting in meditation. Report an error in the passage at 43:24 Highlight the passage at 43:24

43:38 But I think I have also my limits. I'm very grateful for the teaching I get here. But I see when it gets to the mandal offering and tantra and things like this, I just can see that... Report an error in the passage at 43:38 Highlight the passage at 43:38

43:54 There are limits, and I have a really big difficulty to overcome. Then I think I have just to step back always, you know, go back to things I understand. Report an error in the passage at 43:54 Highlight the passage at 43:54

44:11 Yeah, and I think that's normal. You know, when I read this, I thought, there's certain practices that we may just, Report an error in the passage at 44:11 Highlight the passage at 44:11

44:28 maybe it's not so useful to do Report an error in the passage at 44:28 Highlight the passage at 44:28

44:34 with Buddhism, right? Otherwise we wouldn't be. Report an error in the passage at 44:34 Highlight the passage at 44:34

44:47 If you have a Lama that you trust, and they say, oh, it would be beneficial for you to try this practice. Report an error in the passage at 44:47 Highlight the passage at 44:47

45:18 Oh, this is going to be simple. About three weeks ago, I ran into a tree. I parked my car, and when I got out of my car, and I just like turned around, boom. Ouch. Ouch, yeah. It really hurt, and you can see stress on my face. And, you know, knowing the practicing patient, I wasn't really angry at the tree, but instead I look at the tree, okay, Lama is justified. Report an error in the passage at 45:18 Highlight the passage at 45:18

45:44 You know, everything happens based on cause and condition. So it's really a negative karma between me and the tree, which is a non-sentient being, or do things happen out of random. Report an error in the passage at 45:44 Highlight the passage at 45:44

46:09 I mean, it was the ripening of a negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 46:09 Highlight the passage at 46:09

46:18 Some sort of harm, experiencing physical... Yeah, maybe you pushed someone. Report an error in the passage at 46:18 Highlight the passage at 46:18

46:33 But yeah, but the exact karma cause, you know. Report an error in the passage at 46:33 Highlight the passage at 46:33

46:41 Maybe when you were like five years old. Report an error in the passage at 46:41 Highlight the passage at 46:41

46:46 But yeah, karma in relation to others. Report an error in the passage at 46:46 Highlight the passage at 46:46

47:04 I'm going to go through this just really quickly about the objects that we're trying to develop a sense of conviction or trust in the following objects as part of this patient. So the three jewels. So we take refuge in the three jewels. But do we really understand what the three jewels are? Report an error in the passage at 47:04 Highlight the passage at 47:04

47:27 So we can't really take refuge until we understand what they are. So here to develop this. This kind of patience, then we need to study. What is the Buddha jewel? What is the Saṅgha jewel? What is the Dharma jewel? The objects to be actualized, which are the two types of selflessness. So selflessness of persons and selflessness of phenomena. The keys, realizing these are the keys to getting out of cyclic existence. So we need to study and reflect on those two. Report an error in the passage at 47:27 Highlight the passage at 47:27

48:00 The Report an error in the passage at 48:00 Highlight the passage at 48:00

48:03 object of desire, the great power of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. So how can we aspire to... Enlightenment if we don't even understand what it is. So understanding what are these powers of the Buddhas? What does it mean to have an omniscient mind, to be able to manifest body? Fourth and fifth, the objects to be adopted and discarded. Report an error in the passage at 48:03 Highlight the passage at 48:03

48:28 So to practice effectively we need to know clearly in our minds what are the things to practice and what are the things to abandon. We want to progress on the path. And we think, okay, well, Report an error in the passage at 48:28 Highlight the passage at 48:28

48:44 increasing my... Arrogance and pride is the way to get to enlightenment. We're not going to get very far to enlightenment. So we need to know what we need to practice and what we need. Report an error in the passage at 48:44 Highlight the passage at 48:44

49:02 Objects of meditation. Enlightenment, so understanding what enlightenment is. Understanding the path to enlightenment, which are the bodhisattva trainings, the six perfections. And then the objects of hearing and thinking, which is basically the Dharma. So we need to... We need to understand the Dharma more and more in order to overcome our doubts and hesitations. Report an error in the passage at 49:02 Highlight the passage at 49:02

49:33 Okay, so I'm going to finish this. Report an error in the passage at 49:33 Highlight the passage at 49:33

49:41 Fast forward to joyous effort, the fourth perfection. Joyous effort or perseverance. So this is explained by a saṅgha as a mind that delights strongly for the sake of gathering virtue. And working for the welfare of sentient beings. So this is the mind that's happy about doing Dharma practice. If we think, oh, Report an error in the passage at 49:41 Highlight the passage at 49:41

50:14 meditate, you know, they say that I'm supposed to meditate every day. You know, and we have this mind of treachery, you know, it's like, oh gosh, I have to go to, oh yeah, my commitments, I have to do that, right? We don't, we're in... If we don't happily engage in our practices, we're not going to make much progress. We're not going to really do it well if we're not happy about it. Report an error in the passage at 50:14 Highlight the passage at 50:14

50:41 So joyous effort is being happy about doing our practices, being happy about practicing generosity, being happy about being patient with others, being happy about not Report an error in the passage at 50:41 Highlight the passage at 50:41

50:59 harming others, being happy about practicing ethical discipline. So I think some of us have baggage from growing up about religion. Religion is what you're supposed to do. It's something that somebody else is telling us what we have to do. Report an error in the passage at 50:59 Highlight the passage at 50:59

51:18 And that's one way to practice, but it's not a very joyful way to practice. So in the Dharma we're encouraged again and again to examine what the benefits are to doing the practice and the drawbacks of not doing it. So that internally we see it and we want to do it. We want to do it because we see the benefits of it. Report an error in the passage at 51:18 Highlight the passage at 51:18

51:45 It's like motherhood Report an error in the passage at 51:45 Highlight the passage at 51:45

51:52 or parenthood. People really want to have a child and they see that that's going to satisfy something and they're happy about doing it. Not everybody, but you know. Some people, right? So they're willing to go, you know, endure whatever hardships it involves because they see the benefit of it, right? Report an error in the passage at 51:52 Highlight the passage at 51:52

52:22 Maybe. Maybe not all the time. I have a reverse order. My first thought was selfish. Yeah, that's my free time. Can I deal with it? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 52:22 Highlight the passage at 52:22

52:34 So maybe I should say the parents who decide they want to have a baby and then try to have a baby and then they're happy. Like Matt, actually Matt who used to come to this class, he and his wife had a baby in April and he's really happy. Report an error in the passage at 52:34 Highlight the passage at 52:34

52:52 Some parents are like that and others are like, oh gosh, here goes my freedom. So it really depends on you're seeing the benefits of it. It makes you happy. So similarly with the Dharma practice, or maybe, you know, maybe it's a job or something, you know, you know that there's some difficulties with the job, but you're really happy with the paycheck or something, right? Report an error in the passage at 52:52 Highlight the passage at 52:52

53:17 And so you can endure whatever, you know, difficulties about the job because you're happy with the paycheck part of it. Report an error in the passage at 53:17 Highlight the passage at 53:17

53:29 So anyway, this is, so with Dharma practice, it's important to try. To be happy about whatever you practice Report an error in the passage at 53:29 Highlight the passage at 53:29

53:47 to do and something like that. To develop your Dharma practice in terms of what you can happily do. Report an error in the passage at 53:47 Highlight the passage at 53:47

54:01 You can happily sit down and meditate for 20 minutes, then meditate for 20 minutes. If sitting down and meditating for an hour brings up dread in your mind, then don't try to meditate for an hour, meditate for 20 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 54:01 Highlight the passage at 54:01

54:21 So it's the mind that delights strongly for the sake of gathering virtue and working for the welfare of sentient beings. As well as the actions of three doors motivated by it. So it's the mind that delights in the virtue of Report an error in the passage at 54:21 Highlight the passage at 54:21

54:44 body, speech and mind, basically. Report an error in the passage at 54:44 Highlight the passage at 54:44

54:53 The good thoughts, the good actions, the good speech. Report an error in the passage at 54:53 Highlight the passage at 54:53

55:02 Geshe Sopa says it's a special kind of happiness that keeps one going no matter what difficulties occur. Report an error in the passage at 55:02 Highlight the passage at 55:02

55:12 Because the Dharma practice isn't always fun and happiness. Even when faculties arise. So the opposite of joyous effort is laziness. We'll talk more about laziness in a little while. But laziness, Gishasoppa says, is the feeling that other things are more important. So we do not want to start a spiritual practice. So all the times we think this, right? Report an error in the passage at 55:12 Highlight the passage at 55:12

55:44 A lot of other things are more important. Report an error in the passage at 55:44 Highlight the passage at 55:44

55:59 All of these things are forms of laziness and obstacles to joyous effort. Report an error in the passage at 55:59 Highlight the passage at 55:59

56:07 So there's three types of joyous effort. The armor-like joyous effort, the joyous effort of gathering virtuous dharmas or actions, and joyous effort of working for the welfare of sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 56:07 Highlight the passage at 56:07

56:22 Let's start with armor-like joyous effort. Report an error in the passage at 56:22 Highlight the passage at 56:22

56:27 So this is when Report an error in the passage at 56:27 Highlight the passage at 56:27

56:34 bodhisattvas undertake joyous effort prior to applying themselves. They put on the armor of the thought that first delights the mind. It's like, okay, I'm going to do... Report an error in the passage at 56:34 Highlight the passage at 56:34

56:48 A retreat for a week. So you start off by thinking, okay, Report an error in the passage at 56:48 Highlight the passage at 56:48

56:57 really beneficial for me to do this. It's, you know, get a chance to really delve into my practice and, you know, you think about the benefits of doing this retreat, right? So you get your mind happy about doing the retreat. Because once you sit down and do the retreat, there are going to be difficulties that arise. Report an error in the passage at 56:57 Highlight the passage at 56:57

57:18 You're going to have knee pain and you're going to have headaches. You know, you're going to see your mind, right? So that's sometimes not very pleasant, right? So what gets you through the retreat is remembering why you're doing the retreat in the first place, right? Report an error in the passage at 57:18 Highlight the passage at 57:18

57:40 So that's the armor-like joyous effort, okay? Before you get in, Report an error in the passage at 57:40 Highlight the passage at 57:40

57:47 mentally preparing yourself for whatever happens, right? Mentally preparing yourself and saying, okay, this is going to be a really good thing to do. And then being able to persevere no matter what happens. Report an error in the passage at 57:47 Highlight the passage at 57:47

58:07 So this armor is to put on prior to going into battle. This armor is mental preparation. Shantideva says it means having courage. It's courage and happiness and determination. Making that decision, I'm going to do this retreat and I'm not going to give up just because my knee hurts. But having that courage, that perseverance, which is what we really need on the Bodhisattva path. Report an error in the passage at 58:07 Highlight the passage at 58:07

58:45 Because we can decide, oh, I'm going to work for the benefit of sentient beings, right? But then if we don't have this armor-like joyous effort, as soon as a sentient being that we're trying to help yells at us and doesn't appreciate what we're doing, we can easily give up, right? If we have a romantic notion about working for this welfare of sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 58:45 Highlight the passage at 58:45

59:10 But if we take the bodhisattva vows with the understanding that this isn't going to be easy, I'm not going to expect appreciation, I'm not going to expect that people are going to act in the way that I think that they should, if we prepare ourselves realistically, then we can persevere. Report an error in the passage at 59:10 Highlight the passage at 59:10

59:32 But if we don't do that preparation, then we're fair-weathered bodhisattvas. Report an error in the passage at 59:32 Highlight the passage at 59:32

59:41 So we need to have that strength of mind, that determination and that realistic, Report an error in the passage at 59:41 Highlight the passage at 59:41

59:49 continue to persevere in order to attain enlightenment. Or really, in order to finish anything that's difficult, right? We have to have this level of determination. Otherwise, we just give up as soon as something gets difficult. Report an error in the passage at 59:49 Highlight the passage at 59:49

1:00:18 So this is what Geshe Soppa is saying. Bodhisattvas need strong armor to survive the many attacks of the internal enemy on the way to their goal. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:18 Highlight the passage at 1:00:18

1:00:28 So this one's a good one. So we take the bodhisattva vows, which means that we're not going to indulge our self-cherishing mind. But when we look at our minds, there's a lot of self-cherishing, at least in my mind, in a lot of minds. So we need this reminder of, yeah, I'm working for the benefit of others, so that we're not... Report an error in the passage at 1:00:28 Highlight the passage at 1:00:28

1:00:56 Constantly falling prey to the self-cherishing, the what about me? I'm always making the effort with this other person and they never do anything back and they don't appreciate me. What about me? I'm a bodhisattva, dang it. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:56 Highlight the passage at 1:00:56

1:01:27 it's seagulls didn't Report an error in the passage at 1:01:27 Highlight the passage at 1:01:27

1:01:32 Mine, mine, mine. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:32 Highlight the passage at 1:01:32

1:01:36 So we have, you know, the hidden self-cherishing that's just kind of lurking and ready to pop up. Like a friend of mine uses the analogy of the jack-in-the-box, right? You think, oh, I'm doing pretty well. I don't know what's self-cherishing, and then boing! mine. Yeah, exactly. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:36 Highlight the passage at 1:01:36

1:01:57 That person just insulted us, and boing, that self-cherishing comes in living color. So we need this armor to remember, oh yeah, I'm working for the benefit of others, and not get into that big story about, what about me? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:57 Highlight the passage at 1:01:57

1:02:21 Also, spiritual practitioners must fight hard against laziness so they will not give up their practice. The unyielding armor of joyous perseverance is the courage to stay with the practice all the way through to the goal. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:21 Highlight the passage at 1:02:21

1:02:41 Okay, prepare yourself for this quote. That is, they delight even if they are to attain Buddhahood after abiding only in hell for 100,000 times 10 million rounds of three immeasurable eons in order to eliminate the suffering of one single being. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:41 Highlight the passage at 1:02:41

1:03:00 So anyway. Yeah. Yeah, so here Lama Tsongkhapa is saying, you know, the bodhisattva is even willing to stay in hell for this many eons, right, in order to help one single being. Right, so this is obviously a high level of joyous perseverance. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:00 Highlight the passage at 1:03:00

1:03:23 Kishisafa says, because of their compassion for others, bodhisattvas wearing the armor of perseverance feel joy even when faced with the necessity of practicing such an incredibly long time. Right, so this is another thing, right? So we live in an immediate gratification kind of culture. If I want cookies at 2 o 'clock in the morning, I can go out and get cookies, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:03:23 Highlight the passage at 1:03:23

1:03:51 I remember when I was living in Europe and the stores were open from like 9 to 12 and 3 to 6. What? During my lunch time I can't go and get something? What? In the evening I can't go and get something? What? There are no 24 hour stores. So in this culture we don't have to delay our gratification at all, even if it's the middle of the night. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:51 Highlight the passage at 1:03:51

1:04:24 So the thought of taking three great countless eons to attain enlightenment doesn't really for us. We're practicing the Dharma and and one thing that's I think very common for people is you know you get really you meet the Dharma you get really enthusiastic about it you feel uplifted you try and practice it And that, you know, Report an error in the passage at 1:04:24 Highlight the passage at 1:04:24

1:05:05 that's a lack of this armor-like joyous effort. You know, if that's where we are, that's where we are, but that's not going to get you to enlighten. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:05 Highlight the passage at 1:05:05

1:05:26 Like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, probably a lot of you have heard this story of when he was asked the question, what's the quickest, easiest way to get enlightened? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:26 Highlight the passage at 1:05:26

1:05:38 Cheapest. Yeah, and cheapest way to get enlightened. And he kind of sighed. He was sad. If we even have that question. So that's not about the quickest way. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:38 Highlight the passage at 1:05:38

1:06:00 Yeah. Quick and dirty way. Yeah. So just remembering the goal, right? The goal is ending our suffering forever and helping others do the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:00 Highlight the passage at 1:06:00

1:06:19 So we think about the amazing, you know, what that really, what Report an error in the passage at 1:06:19 Highlight the passage at 1:06:19

1:06:28 else is there to do? You know, really. You know, and then you're willing to put up with, well, Report an error in the passage at 1:06:28 Highlight the passage at 1:06:28

1:06:39 this is Report an error in the passage at 1:06:39 Highlight the passage at 1:06:39

1:06:52 difficulties that I have in my life forever, and I'll be able to help all these people who are suffering, you know, all these beings Report an error in the passage at 1:06:52 Highlight the passage at 1:06:52

1:07:04 care about. I feel powerless to help. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:04 Highlight the passage at 1:07:04

1:07:13 Then, okay, I have some back pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:13 Highlight the passage at 1:07:13

1:07:23 Really, what else is there to do? You know, I can eat good food and enjoy a lot of movies and do this and do that, but they're all just temporary. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:23 Highlight the passage at 1:07:23

1:07:38 will continue to come. We'll have good periods and not-so-good periods. some sorrow, we're going to go through a difficult Report an error in the passage at 1:07:38 Highlight the passage at 1:07:38

1:07:49 try and work to get, finish those, Is Report an error in the passage at 1:07:49 Highlight the passage at 1:07:49

1:08:06 there a possibility that you can get to the point where you enjoy your pain and suffering, or is it always just And urines and accepting. Well, I'm certainly not. I Report an error in the passage at 1:08:06 Highlight the passage at 1:08:06

1:08:34 mean, there's a certain point where you don't even have this, when you directly realize emptiness, you don't even have this. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:34 Highlight the passage at 1:08:34

1:08:52 Maybe, I mean, you hear these stories about like Rinpoche, you know, being tortured in the prisons of Tibet, you know, and seeing, somebody was telling a story recently about how, you know, when, you know, at the beginning when he... Was getting tortured in Tibet, you know, he'd really dread it and all that. But then he got, you know, he saw that that was really fuel for his practice of compassion, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:52 Highlight the passage at 1:08:52

1:09:20 And so, somebody was saying, that was close to Rinpoche was saying, over time he started to look forward to when the guards would come and torture him and be disappointed if they didn't. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:20 Highlight the passage at 1:09:20

1:09:37 He didn't have an opportunity to. So. Yeah, so at that point, hard to imagine, but at that point, I guess the suffering was, it was physical pain, but mentally he wasn't suffering. I meant in this love, compassion space, which is just happening. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:37 Highlight the passage at 1:09:37

1:10:09 Yeah, and then there's certain practices like in Vipassanā, you know, where you scan the body and, you know, like if you have knee pain, you see it as being tingling. And people have told me then they... They actually experience it as being pleasant if they're concentrated on it. But then if you become distracted then it feels really painful again. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:09 Highlight the passage at 1:10:09

1:10:36 So there are practices. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:36 Highlight the passage at 1:10:36

1:10:43 The main thing with the Dharma is we can develop more and more mental happiness and physical pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:43 Highlight the passage at 1:10:43

1:11:00 Let's take a break. And Jeannie brought some lovely muffins and coffee cake over there, so help yourselves. No sugar muffins. So if you want sugar, stick with the coffee cake. Are they garlic flavored? Carrot and raisins. Hey, Report an error in the passage at 1:11:00 Highlight the passage at 1:11:00

1:11:35 I like them. amazing. Suffering luxury? That's not good. Suffering luxury. Booty stock. I know. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:35 Highlight the passage at 1:11:35

1:11:24 try one on these days. I can do it all with coordination. Yeah, that's okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:24 Highlight the passage at 1:11:24

1:11:36 Thank you. Thank you. Is there a banana in there too? Oh yeah, there's banana in there. Oh, interesting. All the nature fruits are sugar. Yeah. No, it's good. I'm becoming more and more sensitive to sugar, like just not wanting super sweet things anymore. I like a little bit of sugar, but I'm not. I've been trying to get rid of white flowers and white things. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:36 Highlight the passage at 1:11:36

1:12:09 I mean, you know. Right. And I guess with white flour, like bread now, it just feels kind of pasty. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's just over time, you know, you get a little more. I never thought I'd come to that. I know. No TV. What? No white flour. What? I know. That's why you're so darn happy. I know. Yeah. I remember coming back to college or whatever, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:09 Highlight the passage at 1:12:09

1:12:38 I've been trying to eat more and more healthy. Oh, going to Texas, where my mom lives. People still eat like that? You know, being supremacist. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:38 Highlight the passage at 1:12:38

1:12:47 Where's the greens? The relish, pickle relish. Or donuts. Oh, I have one every once in a while. Really? What a great combination. Grease, white flour, sugar. They have this amazing donut. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:47 Highlight the passage at 1:12:47

1:13:12 It's called Peoples. It's spelled P-E-P-P-L-E. Peoples Donuts. So good and healthy. Oh, okay. Well, healthy donuts. Okay. But the traditional sugar white flour fried? I don't know what to say. Good donuts. There's a couple of those out there that, you know. Yeah, I've heard nothing. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:12 Highlight the passage at 1:13:12

1:13:40 know, they're really tasty. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:40 Highlight the passage at 1:13:40

1:13:45 have, I just found out they have an inferior religion, they have a little bit of the.O.I. Yeah. The what? The people's don't. Oh, mm, mm. And the inferior religion. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:45 Highlight the passage at 1:13:45

1:14:01 Healthy doughnuts. I don't know how healthy really, but relatively. Relative to normal doughnuts. Yeah. Well, they taste like I mean, it's just like, it's not the box type of stuff, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:01 Highlight the passage at 1:14:01

1:14:23 it's, like, organic ingredients and, you a donut at least, you know, eat a good donut. thought about donuts for two weeks. Wow, Report an error in the passage at 1:14:23 Highlight the passage at 1:14:23

1:14:38 good for you. Well, I didn't mean anything. I finally broke down. Wow. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:38 Highlight the passage at 1:14:38

1:14:42 bad about people who eat donuts. But they were just out of my consciousness for a long time. Or to have that as a breakfast. But that's your breakfast. With a cup of coffee. have that, that's an extra Report an error in the passage at 1:14:42 Highlight the passage at 1:14:42

1:15:07 don't travel, so... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:07 Highlight the passage at 1:15:07

1:15:10 Yeah, that's true. You know, I'm a vegetarian, and in just certain countries, like Germany, you know, is a very meat-eating country, you know, like Report an error in the passage at 1:15:10 Highlight the passage at 1:15:10

1:15:28 a rabbit. They have it, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:28 Highlight the passage at 1:15:28

1:15:41 My big weakness though is chocolate. Chocolate with nuts. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:41 Highlight the passage at 1:15:41

1:16:14 The nuts are the best part. our own stage. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:14 Highlight the passage at 1:16:14

1:16:33 I was like, yes, I'm going to have chocolate, nuts, I was like, chocolate butter. Yeah, see that's something I can't fathom is people who don't like nuts in their chocolate. How is that possible? Is it possible? Yeah. As if possible. As if possible. Galactic! Report an error in the passage at 1:16:33 Highlight the passage at 1:16:33

1:17:01 I agree, but not chocolate. Oh, mint and chocolate, what a great combination. Yeah, I know. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:01 Highlight the passage at 1:17:01

1:17:17 Cornbread and chocolate? Yes. Spaghetti and chocolate? Yes. Salted chocolate. Salted chocolate now. Salted chocolate. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's true. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:17 Highlight the passage at 1:17:17

1:18:03 Well, it's the same thing with the chocolate with nuts. didn't have the nuts, I would have finished, but because it has nuts, I go like, okay, I believe in the chocolate, it's always a little more sexy. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:03 Highlight the passage at 1:18:03

1:18:19 Yeah, I don't like to play with my, you know, I Report an error in the passage at 1:18:19 Highlight the passage at 1:18:19

1:18:26 one time I got one that I really didn't like. So I ended up working. Thank you. I'm going to do it first, so... Report an error in the passage at 1:18:26 Highlight the passage at 1:18:26

1:18:59 Oh, and you can do that too. Yeah. I just need the water. I have some money. Yeah. Uh-huh. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:59 Highlight the passage at 1:18:59

1:19:14 But then if the chocolate you like is $4, it takes $2. Yeah. You know, something like this? Yeah. Because I remember it was really good for a handful of people, but I would go for a walk. And then I would take a version of the hours to do everything I want. And I just got like five bucks for an emergency. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:14 Highlight the passage at 1:19:14

1:19:44 Thank you. It wasn't done. It really, I have no choice to buy It's done. Yes. It works. But that's the thing. have, like, up, and, you know, that would come but I would get, chips and, like, this is what I Especially because when I was working for a long time, not by the grocery store. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:44 Highlight the passage at 1:19:44

1:20:23 Well, Report an error in the passage at 1:20:23 Highlight the passage at 1:20:23

1:20:29 you know, this is my question about suffering. If I hope to get to the point where I can feel, wow, to resist somehow, this is suffering. If I go out, I don't budge up. Thank Report an error in the passage at 1:20:29 Highlight the passage at 1:20:29

1:21:00 I, not like chocolate, but when you get it. Actually, I present sometimes playing around the better. I just want to feel just like harder. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:00 Highlight the passage at 1:21:00

1:21:12 I need chocolate, I do, you know, with harder things. things like you take a lot of things and the arms just even though I'm a little bit hot to a Korean person or something like that, just like you know, so then I think of the arm and... Thank you. Sometimes I really concentrate on, okay, if I just give it, if I still give it now. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:12 Highlight the passage at 1:21:12

1:21:44 So once I gave in and it was terribly wrong and then I tried to remember that time that I gave in. I'm going to have a person who is not harmed. I'm going to be more harmed. But with the chocolate, it's hard because it's not like you're not going to be much. I mean, immediately you're harmed. But you can think, well, resisting my house is setting up. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:44 Highlight the passage at 1:21:44

1:22:13 You actually have to be more anxious to try to get more. There wasn't that time when I told you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Even on the days when it's closed, I'm going to have a patient. Do you have a patient? No, no, no, I need patients. Oh, you have a patient. I say. Goodbye, my God. Well, Report an error in the passage at 1:22:13 Highlight the passage at 1:22:13

1:23:01 what am I avoiding? Sometimes I ask myself. don't be patient, but I won't just let you do that dry ball. I don't know. I don't know. But if I go and find each other, I'm going to have to do that. Well... Report an error in the passage at 1:23:01 Highlight the passage at 1:23:01

1:23:05 a lot of fun. You know, because sometimes I... I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:05 Highlight the passage at 1:23:05

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:24:17 Yeah, me too. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:17 Highlight the passage at 1:24:17

1:24:36 A little bit of a mark. All Report an error in the passage at 1:24:36 Highlight the passage at 1:24:36

1:24:44 right, so we are talking about being willing to abide in the hell realms for eons for the sake of one being. And being happy about it. So, let me just go through the slide and then, Tsongkhapa says, but it's not necessary to start with the amazing perseverance of a bodhicitta. Right, because sometimes we hear these things and we think, we get kind of discouraged. So you don't start there. That may be too much. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:44 Highlight the passage at 1:24:44

1:25:27 So we gradually train the mind to want to undertake the enormous practices of the long, long time. We begin by simply wishing that we could do it. We aspire to have the compassion that results in joyfully doing anything necessary to help others. I Report an error in the passage at 1:25:27 Highlight the passage at 1:25:27

1:25:46 find for myself, I mean, I've finally gotten to the point. Okay, I mean, before, I mean, when I first met the Dharma, I was very much a, I want to achieve it. I want to do it now, you know. And, you know, and so I really worked myself up and do retreats whenever I could and all of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:46 Highlight the passage at 1:25:46

1:26:14 inorganic way about going about very-oriented, results-oriented. And I had to learn the hard way, but then I think I developed a... A healthier way of going about it and just kind of going at a more organic pace. Doing more and more practice, but doing what I realistically could do. You know, living my life just trying to keep a happy mind. Doing practice, noticing that I was happier when I did more practice. Noticing that when I didn't do practice, I sucked into the worldly stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:14 Highlight the passage at 1:26:14

1:27:14 It's like, you know, you sit in front of the TV for three hours and then you turn it off. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:14 Highlight the passage at 1:27:14

1:27:22 It's garbage in your mind, right? You know, and you don't really feel satisfied or happy, right, after you've watched TV for three hours. You've distracted yourself for three. You don't really feel like you've progressed spiritually or you don't feel more happy, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:27:22 Highlight the passage at 1:27:22

1:27:46 Or, you know, you sit and keep the TV off and you do some loving-kindness meditation and then you feel really good and you're like, hey. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:46 Highlight the passage at 1:27:46

1:27:56 And then you go from there, right? And so then you do the practices because you want to. And then if the mind is like, oh, I'm tired and I had a long day and I just need to sit and veg in front of the TV for three hours, then you let yourself, right? Because, you know, if you force yourself to do the practice when you really need to veg out, then you start disliking the practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:56 Highlight the passage at 1:27:56

1:28:32 So you give yourself a break, you give yourself a vacation. If, you know, if you're not doing it all the time, right? If you're giving yourself a vacation 24 hours a day, every day, then maybe you're not going to make any spiritual progress, right? But if you're practicing, you know, and then you need a break, then it's important to take a break. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:32 Highlight the passage at 1:28:32

1:29:11 Where you are and watching your mind, Report an error in the passage at 1:29:11 Highlight the passage at 1:29:11

1:29:19 really growing your practice, I think is a more healthy way to go about it. And then you can do it for the long term. At the pace I'm going right now, I feel like I can easily practice for the rest of this life and future lives. But at the pace I was going ten years ago, I was on my way to burnout. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:19 Highlight the passage at 1:29:19

1:29:51 Anyway, Carly, you had a question. It wasn't a question. I was just going to say, yeah, he was talking about bodhicitta, not me. Me. When you know the... Report an error in the passage at 1:29:51 Highlight the passage at 1:29:51

1:30:14 And then there's a three-hour documentary on Buddha's life on PBS. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:14 Highlight the passage at 1:30:14

1:30:25 I was just, what you were saying, I was just thinking, the other day I was flipping the channels and thinking, oh, I'm going to just veg out here. I just, no, no, Report an error in the passage at 1:30:25 Highlight the passage at 1:30:25

1:30:37 Progress and all of that, and all of a sudden I was like, Buddha's life, yay, three hours. Forever Report an error in the passage at 1:30:37 Highlight the passage at 1:30:37

1:30:47 I did that, the first Report an error in the passage at 1:30:47 Highlight the passage at 1:30:47

1:30:59 because I, you know, I've been preparing all day long, you know, for the classes, you know, I was like, I did my all day Dharma thing and then, you Report an error in the passage at 1:30:59 Highlight the passage at 1:30:59

1:31:12 know, I'm going to watch, you know, whatever it was, desperate housewives, you know, whatever it was, I don't know. But I'm going to feel a little guilty about it in my life. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:12 Highlight the passage at 1:31:12

1:31:27 You'd be happy to watch it another time, but that moment, it was going to be forcing myself to watch it. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:27 Highlight the passage at 1:31:27

1:31:39 A lot of us have that baggage about religion, I think. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:39 Highlight the passage at 1:31:39

1:32:01 Shantideva says, picture yourself confident, happy and with no reservations, even if you have to practice for so long. No matter how much difficulty you imagine, your mind still says, okay, no problem, I'm happy to do it. This kind of preparation gives the mind enormous power. It is armor made out of something precious and strong. Nothing can pierce it, and it can deflect every obstacle. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:01 Highlight the passage at 1:32:01

1:32:29 If we train ourselves this way, our enthusiasm will gradually become firm as a bodhisattva's diligence. Also just gradually, slowly, slowly. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:29 Highlight the passage at 1:32:29

1:32:47 Also with helping others. You know, sometimes, you know, somebody, you know, there's somebody who is asking you for help, and if... You help them. You know you're going to resent it. You're already grumpy. It's a good idea not to help them if you know that your mind is just going to be negative about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:47 Highlight the passage at 1:32:47

1:33:10 Give yourself the permission to take care of your own mind. Then you can happily give when you're more fresh. A Report an error in the passage at 1:33:10 Highlight the passage at 1:33:10

1:33:26 self-defeating way to go about it. I'm an aspiring bodhisattva, so I have to. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:26 Highlight the passage at 1:33:26

1:33:38 suddenly it's have to, and it's not, I want to help, It's Report an error in the passage at 1:33:38 Highlight the passage at 1:33:38

1:33:53 important to train the mind this way because it will make every practice much easier. When we're happy about doing things, it just makes it easier. If we're able to produce this kind of thought even for a moment, we'll have the courage to face every difficulty we encounter while helping other sentient beings. This heartfelt enthusiasm in itself creates more merit than years and years of practicing generosity and other virtues. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:53 Highlight the passage at 1:33:53

1:34:18 In addition to accumulating a limitless amount of merit, perseverance purifies innumerable obstacles and negative consequences. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:18 Highlight the passage at 1:34:18

1:34:31 And then the second type of joyous effort is the joyous effort of gathering virtuous dharmas. So it's basically to practice virtue for the sake of accomplishing the six perfections. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:31 Highlight the passage at 1:34:31

1:34:46 This is pretty self-explanatory, being happy about virtue. And the third, the joyous effort of working for the welfare of sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:46 Highlight the passage at 1:34:46

1:34:57 The joyous effort of working for the welfare of sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:57 Highlight the passage at 1:34:57

1:35:03 Once Report an error in the passage at 1:35:03 Highlight the passage at 1:35:03

1:35:13 again, being happy about working for the welfare of others. Not so much about, I should help others, but I'm happy. We see the benefits. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:13 Highlight the passage at 1:35:13

1:35:28 Then how do we generate joyous effort? Report an error in the passage at 1:35:28 Highlight the passage at 1:35:28

1:35:35 So once again, like all of these perfections, we start by contemplating the benefits of doing the practice and the disadvantages. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:35 Highlight the passage at 1:35:35

1:35:48 The way Report an error in the passage at 1:35:48 Highlight the passage at 1:35:48

1:35:53 to begin is to become interested in the practice. We only do things if we think there is a distinct advantage in doing it and a disadvantage in not doing it. The amount of determination we bring to an activity is based on how vividly we see these advantages and disadvantages. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:53 Highlight the passage at 1:35:53

1:36:16 It only helps us if we actually do contemplate the advantages. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:16 Highlight the passage at 1:36:16

1:36:29 So what are the advantages? joyous effort. So we won't be overcome by distraction and so forth and achieve the two attainments. So we'll actually accomplish something and we won't get sidetracked. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:29 Highlight the passage at 1:36:29

1:36:46 So from the ornament of the Mahāyāna Sutras, it says joyous effort is best among virtue's collection, thus relying on it one attains that which follows. Through joyous effort, immediately, best source of happiness. Including mundane and supermundane. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:46 Highlight the passage at 1:36:46

1:37:09 So through joyous effort, we're going to get lasting happiness, lasting feeling of well-being, including enlightenment, including mundane and supermundane attainments, including clairvoyances, including realizations of emptiness, bodhicitta, etc. Through joyous effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:09 Highlight the passage at 1:37:09

1:37:36 Not giving up, you know, continuing to do the practice at a steady pace, like a turtle, not a hare, right? You know, day by day. If we keep at it, we're going to attain the result. If we give up, we won't, but if we just keep at it, sooner or later we won't. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:36 Highlight the passage at 1:37:36

1:38:02 So through joyous effort, one gains worldly wealth one desires. So if we work hard enough, if we persevere, then we'll get the... Report an error in the passage at 1:38:02 Highlight the passage at 1:38:02

1:38:14 Worldly, like worldly goals, like wealth. Also through joyous effort, one becomes totally pure. So through joyous effort and practicing more and more, our minds become more and more pure. Through joyous effort, one is liberated. We can be liberated from cyclic existence and suffering, passing beyond the transitory collection. So passing beyond this... Report an error in the passage at 1:38:14 Highlight the passage at 1:38:14

1:38:48 Contaminated aggregates, the contaminated body line. And then also through joyous effort, we become a bodha. Through Report an error in the passage at 1:38:48 Highlight the passage at 1:38:48

1:39:01 joyous effort, we can accomplish anything, you know, just persevere at whatever pace is appropriate for us. And that's how we get to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:01 Highlight the passage at 1:39:01

1:39:19 Like before, this one? When it says joyous effort is best, no, which one? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:19 Highlight the passage at 1:39:19

1:39:28 I offer wealth, through choice effort, one gains worldly wealth and desires. I can see that there is also the challenge in it. You know, as soon as you get worldly wealth, then if we aspire that, this means also that we get easily attached. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:28 Highlight the passage at 1:39:28

1:39:53 To seek worldly wealth, this is saying even anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:53 Highlight the passage at 1:39:53

1:40:22 Worldly wealth is a side effect. It's not a goal. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:22 Highlight the passage at 1:40:22

1:40:50 But it's not, right. As Report an error in the passage at 1:40:50 Highlight the passage at 1:40:50

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:41:25 long as everybody is really kind to me and everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:25 Highlight the passage at 1:41:25

1:41:31 you know, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:31 Highlight the passage at 1:41:31

1:41:53 great joyous effort and does not dismay there's nothing that can't be attained can't be accomplished Report an error in the passage at 1:41:53 Highlight the passage at 1:41:53

1:42:17 not undertaking joyous effort. For the lazy, enlightenment is very far, and far in all ways. The generosity through wisdom do not exist through the welfare of others. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:17 Highlight the passage at 1:42:17

1:42:48 close place in the mindfulness sūtra. This is quite interesting. So, you know, anger arises, attachment arises. You know, if we have mindfulness and determination to overcome the afflictions, you know, we can do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:48 Highlight the passage at 1:42:48

1:43:20 We can do it. We just notice it and we try to apply the antidote. And we will always be successful. But that's how we reduce our mental illness and applying the antidote. But the problem is, you know, oftentimes we're lazy that, you know, the mental affliction arises and we just don't counteract it. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:20 Highlight the passage at 1:43:20

1:43:44 Irritation arises and we justify it. Obsession arises and we follow it. So, you know, so Buddha Shakyamuni, at one point, the Report an error in the passage at 1:43:44 Highlight the passage at 1:43:44

1:44:06 difference is that he worked harder than he did. still in second And I can see there's this book, the biography of Acharya Moon, who was a Theravāda monk in the 1900s. An extensive biography. You don't read biographies that extensive very often. You know, I was just reading it and thinking, oh my gosh, I'm so lazy. Because, you know, he didn't, I mean, he was meditating all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:06 Highlight the passage at 1:44:06

1:44:48 He didn't care about. He didn't care about sleep. He was meditating all the time. And he, quoting this biography, got liberated in that life. And I thought, Report an error in the passage at 1:44:48 Highlight the passage at 1:44:48

1:45:01 that's what it takes. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:01 Highlight the passage at 1:45:01

1:45:08 It's not a matter of doing my practice for a couple hours in the morning and my hour in the evening. And that's it, right? I mean, that's good, right? But you don't get liberated. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:08 Highlight the passage at 1:45:08

1:45:30 Which maybe seems to counteract what I was just saying about the turtle in the air. But Archari Moon was at that point where he was happy, right, to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:30 Highlight the passage at 1:45:30

1:45:44 If we try to do that now, it's Report an error in the passage at 1:45:44 Highlight the passage at 1:45:44

1:45:50 a shock. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:50 Highlight the passage at 1:45:50

1:45:53 You know, working, been working for time for, you know, just Report an error in the passage at 1:45:53 Highlight the passage at 1:45:53

1:46:02 went into a three-year retreat. And I got a letter from her the first month she was in the retreat. She said, oh yeah, I'm doing 12 hours of sessions a day. What? You know? From working full-time to, you know, a month into the retreat doing four, three-hour sessions today and I thought, it's sick. And sure enough, she got sick. Her nervous system started freaking out. Just can't. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:02 Highlight the passage at 1:46:02

1:46:35 I'm just going to meditate all the time, right? It needs to be a gradual process. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:35 Highlight the passage at 1:46:35

1:46:46 Shortened my session on Report an error in the passage at 1:46:46 Highlight the passage at 1:46:46

1:46:58 how to generate joyous effort. So there's two opposing factors in this effort. Seeing that one is able to accomplish virtuous thermos but not doing them. And then the discouragement that thinks, how could I overcome it? So either we think, oh yeah, I can get enlightened, but we just don't do it. Or we think, it's really hard. The Report an error in the passage at 1:46:58 Highlight the passage at 1:46:58

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

1:47:39 one, thinking, oh, I can do it, but not doing it, has two sub points. We may postpone our practice until later, thinking, Report an error in the passage at 1:47:39 Highlight the passage at 1:47:39

1:47:55 I'll do it when I retire. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:55 Highlight the passage at 1:47:55

1:48:01 Or... One is overcome by attachment to meaningless worldly activities. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:01 Highlight the passage at 1:48:01

1:48:10 Correspond to the three types of laziness. The three types of laziness which oppose the joyous effort. The laziness of procrastination, laziness of attachment to worldly activities, and the laziness of discouragement. So Report an error in the passage at 1:48:10 Highlight the passage at 1:48:10

1:48:36 this first one, postponing things until later, is the laziness of procrastination overcome by attachment to worldly activities. Can't Report an error in the passage at 1:48:36 Highlight the passage at 1:48:36

1:48:52 do it. Discouragement or lack of self-confidence. So how do we overcome these three types of laziness? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:52 Highlight the passage at 1:48:52

1:49:08 Procrastination. I should Report an error in the passage at 1:49:08 Highlight the passage at 1:49:08

1:49:15 meditate, but you know, I have a few more years of work. So Report an error in the passage at 1:49:15 Highlight the passage at 1:49:15

1:49:30 the antidote is to meditate on the three. First of all, this body that you have, have obtained, quickly disintegrates. So if I'm thinking, okay, I'm going to meditate when I'm 65 and retire. I can really get into Report an error in the passage at 1:49:30 Highlight the passage at 1:49:30

1:49:52 I'm still going to be alive? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:52 Highlight the passage at 1:49:52

1:50:21 I had six months to live, would I live, would I... Report an error in the passage at 1:50:21 Highlight the passage at 1:50:21

1:50:30 not going out to the movies every day. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:30 Highlight the passage at 1:50:30

1:50:46 death becomes real. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:46 Highlight the passage at 1:50:46

1:51:00 death in the morning, then you waste the morning. So it's not Report an error in the passage at 1:51:00 Highlight the passage at 1:51:00

1:51:14 pleasant to meditate on death. If we do, then we end up making better decisions about our lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:14 Highlight the passage at 1:51:14

1:51:28 You know, I mean, it doesn't say this here, but, you know, understanding the preciousness of this human life that we have really helps as well. Okay, well, I have this life. I'm at the Dharma. This kind of life isn't easily come by. You think about the six-plus billion human beings on this planet, like how many beings are as fortunate as we are. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:28 Highlight the passage at 1:51:28

1:51:57 Not that many. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:57 Highlight the passage at 1:51:57

1:52:03 Tier of fortunate beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:03 Highlight the passage at 1:52:03

1:52:08 And then there's, you know, how many animals, insects, fish, you know, Report an error in the passage at 1:52:08 Highlight the passage at 1:52:08

1:52:20 in the next life we're automatically going to have one like this one. Odds aren't very good. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:20 Highlight the passage at 1:52:20

1:52:30 Gil and Gyatso did this little project, actually we should do it tonight, where she got this bin of rice, she put in alphabet pasta, a few bits of alphabet pasta, and had... Had people reach into the rice to see if they could reach in blindly. Because she put in the proportions roughly, no, actually, your odds of getting, like, if you got a vowel, then that was roughly equivalent to the odds of getting human rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:30 Highlight the passage at 1:52:30

1:53:06 If you got another letter, the possibility of, no, a vowel was precious human rebirth. You know, letter was a human rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:06 Highlight the passage at 1:53:06

1:53:21 But the odds actually were much greater to get a letter than in actuality. So she had people reach in blindly and see Report an error in the passage at 1:53:21 Highlight the passage at 1:53:21

1:53:39 how difficult it is. I had people look and try to get. It's Report an error in the passage at 1:53:39 Highlight the passage at 1:53:39

1:53:49 very sobering, right? You know, I tried it. That were rice grains. I didn't get any alphabet. Alphabet, pasta. So anyway, so the point is, so Report an error in the passage at 1:53:49 Highlight the passage at 1:53:49

1:54:12 we shouldn't take Report an error in the passage at 1:54:12 Highlight the passage at 1:54:12

1:54:17 this life, who knows, after Report an error in the passage at 1:54:17 Highlight the passage at 1:54:17

1:54:38 death you will fall into the bad migrations. Think about the possibility of, okay, have I created the karma to have an animal rebirth? Have I created the karma to have a hungry ghost rebirth? If we're honest with ourselves, well, yeah. You know, like, increase the karma then... Report an error in the passage at 1:54:38 Highlight the passage at 1:54:38

1:55:11 angry, you know, more than a handful of times in my life. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:11 Highlight the passage at 1:55:11

1:55:23 possibility of to a family. suffering life next time then it will be difficult to find such a good support once again, a precious human Report an error in the passage at 1:55:23 Highlight the passage at 1:55:23

1:55:44 Pure ethical discipline, which is pretty difficult. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:44 Highlight the passage at 1:55:44

1:55:57 say things sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:57 Highlight the passage at 1:55:57

1:56:10 your commitments to your Report an error in the passage at 1:56:10 Highlight the passage at 1:56:10

1:56:38 lot some years ago. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:38 Highlight the passage at 1:56:38

1:56:49 I noticed myself attached to sitting down, laying down, getting more complacent. So I'm Report an error in the passage at 1:56:49 Highlight the passage at 1:56:49

1:57:13 wanting to kind of forge on because I realize we only have two classes left after today and we have three perfections. So I'm not sure how we're going to get it all done, but I'm going to try. So the second, the laziness of attachment to worldly activities. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:13 Highlight the passage at 1:57:13

1:57:37 So I'm thinking that all of these other things are more important than practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:37 Highlight the passage at 1:57:37

1:57:51 Having a comfortable life, and entertained, and taking trips, and you know, prioritizing a lot of things in front of. The Report an error in the passage at 1:57:51 Highlight the passage at 1:57:51

1:58:12 Holy Dharma is the cause for the arisal of boundless joy in this and future lives. So practicing the Dharma is just going to create a better, you know, a happier and happier mind, and better, better conditions for us. So contemplating that, right? The Dharma isn't about doing something that we should do. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:12 Highlight the passage at 1:58:12

1:58:32 It's that's going to bring us joy, great happiness, Report an error in the passage at 1:58:32 Highlight the passage at 1:58:32

1:58:46 idle chatter and the distractions of excitement and so forth degenerate the great aim Report an error in the passage at 1:58:46 Highlight the passage at 1:58:46

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:59:21 thirdly, through seeing it to be the source that generates So this is following our attachment to worldly things. We can think, okay, well, what's so bad about that? So I follow my attachment to chocolate, I follow my attachment to Thai food, I follow my attachment to... I Report an error in the passage at 1:59:21 Highlight the passage at 1:59:21

1:59:55 follow all these attachments, you know, what's wrong with that? You know, I get some temporary pleasure. The Report an error in the passage at 1:59:55 Highlight the passage at 1:59:55

2:00:07 thing is, every time we follow through Report an error in the passage at 2:00:07 Highlight the passage at 2:00:07

2:00:16 having, through Report an error in the passage at 2:00:16 Highlight the passage at 2:00:16

2:00:22 indulging our mental afflictions, we're creating causes for more discomfort. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:22 Highlight the passage at 2:00:22

2:00:33 Does this mean we should give up all of our pleasures? Report an error in the passage at 2:00:33 Highlight the passage at 2:00:33

2:00:43 slowly, slowly, right, gradually. But the thing is, we're trying to counteract the laziness. It's putting off our Dharma practice in favor of worldly activities. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:43 Highlight the passage at 2:00:43

2:00:58 So, you know, instead of doing that, we can practice the Dharma and then still engage in our worldly activities, but less and less so, right, gradually. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:58 Highlight the passage at 2:00:58

2:01:14 You know, and having less and less attachment to these. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:14 Highlight the passage at 2:01:14

2:01:29 up all the good food and only ate. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:29 Highlight the passage at 2:01:29

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2:02:02 just indulges whatever, whatever desire arises, oh, I feel like, You know, Report an error in the passage at 2:02:02 Highlight the passage at 2:02:02

2:02:17 one thing after another. So you're just binding yourself more and more. Does that mean I should never eat the chocolate and the pretzels? No. Oh, now I feel like chocolate. Oh, let's Report an error in the passage at 2:02:17 Highlight the passage at 2:02:17

2:02:14 know it's just like know one Report an error in the passage at 2:02:14 Highlight the passage at 2:02:14

2:02:30 At least sometimes I could say, okay, Emily, you've had enough. You've had chocolate and pretzels. You don't really need something else. Chocolate and red pretzels? Those are really good. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:30 Highlight the passage at 2:02:30

2:02:46 So stopping that belief that those worldly pleasures are giving us anything but a temporary fix. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:46 Highlight the passage at 2:02:46

2:03:08 we're tied closely Report an error in the passage at 2:03:08 Highlight the passage at 2:03:08

2:03:16 it's not very pleasant to hear. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:16 Highlight the passage at 2:03:16

2:03:26 to have chocolate every day, developed that habit. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:26 Highlight the passage at 2:03:26

2:03:34 stop doing it, then you loosening the attachment. If you indulge in the chocolate today... You have to have it every day. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:34 Highlight the passage at 2:03:34

2:04:05 finish up joyous effort next time concentration. We can go through concentration of wisdom quickly because we're going to do a big chunk of, a whole class on concentration, a whole series, and then we'll do a whole series on wisdom. It's Report an error in the passage at 2:04:05 Highlight the passage at 2:04:05

2:04:29 the four means of gathering. Anyway, we'll do it when we can. Okay, so we have class next week, and then two weeks from now we won't have class. Two weeks from now is July 6th, which is His Holiness the Dalai Lama's birthday, and His Soak Day. So we won't have class two weeks from now, but then we'll have our last class on July 13th. So I think in the E-News it had us finishing class today even, or next week, but it's not next week, it's actually July 13th is our last class on Bodhisattva Kanda in August 1st. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:29 Highlight the passage at 2:04:29

2:05:25 So we try to dedicate in a heartfelt way, right, not just a reciting on page 246. dedicate sincerely can be Report an error in the passage at 2:05:25 Highlight the passage at 2:05:25

2:05:43 May Report an error in the passage at 2:05:43 Highlight the passage at 2:05:43

2:05:54 all beings everywhere, laid 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 the mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms, and the deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are born with toil. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:54 Highlight the passage at 2:05:54

2:06:19 Here's the story of Finding Repose. May the poor find wealth, those who leave the sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:19 Highlight the passage at 2:06:19

2:06:48 quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. the fright cease to be invigorated, and those bound to 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 The Report an error in the passage at 2:06:48 Highlight the passage at 2:06:48

2:07:44 joyous effort. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:44 Highlight the passage at 2:07:44

2:07:54 And Report an error in the passage at 2:07:54 Highlight the passage at 2:07:54

2:07:57 apply the antidote. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:57 Highlight the passage at 2:07:57

2:08:04 So I have a handout that I emailed out, but I have a few hard copies too, if you want, just to remind you of the different answers. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:04 Highlight the passage at 2:08:04

2:08:17 I Report an error in the passage at 2:08:17 Highlight the passage at 2:08:17

2:08:23 have a lot of them right now. Yeah, I know. I'm doing lots of meditating. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:23 Highlight the passage at 2:08:23

2:08:44 There's just a couple of announcements also. This Saturday, there was a Tibetan sleep group that started. And Report an error in the passage at 2:08:44 Highlight the passage at 2:08:44

2:08:56 also, we found an interpreter for the Chevron, and the name is Ziggy. And so we're asking anybody for donations to help bring around. similar work, would be appreciated. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:56 Highlight the passage at 2:08:56

2:09:12 She's a superb scholar. in her own right. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:12 Highlight the passage at 2:09:12