Mahayana Mind Transformation (14 September 2007)

0:25 No, it's not. There you go. We could delete that. Report an error in the passage at 0:25 Highlight the passage at 0:25

0:35 Let's Report an error in the passage at 0:35 Highlight the passage at 0:35

0:58 start with a meditation. Report an error in the passage at 0:58 Highlight the passage at 0:58

1:06 We'll just settle our minds and focus on the breath for a few minutes and try not to let the mind wander. Let's Report an error in the passage at 1:06 Highlight the passage at 1:06

· · · silence, 2 minutes

3:40 try to set a bodhicitta motivation, remembering Report an error in the passage at 3:40 Highlight the passage at 3:40

3:55 the kindness of sentient beings, how Report an error in the passage at 3:55 Highlight the passage at 3:55

4:03 everything that we have is dependent on others. Report an error in the passage at 4:03 Highlight the passage at 4:03

· · · silence, 1 minute

4:37 All sentient beings are just trying to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

4:56 And yet we'll continue to experience suffering again and again due to being under control of karma and affliction. Report an error in the passage at 4:56 Highlight the passage at 4:56

5:23 This is the nature of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 5:23 Highlight the passage at 5:23

5:38 So the only way to get beyond suffering is to get out of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 5:38 Highlight the passage at 5:38

5:52 But it doesn't make sense to focus only on our own liberation. Report an error in the passage at 5:52 Highlight the passage at 5:52

6:02 There are countless other beings who have been kind to us. Report an error in the passage at 6:02 Highlight the passage at 6:02

6:18 So let's strive for complete enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 6:18 Highlight the passage at 6:18

6:24 For the welfare of all sentient beings, Report an error in the passage at 6:24 Highlight the passage at 6:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

7:27 obeisance to my guru and protector, Manjushri, who holds to his heart a scriptural text symbolic of his seeing all things as they are, whose intelligence shines forth as a sun, unclouded by delusions or traces of ignorance, who teaches in sixty ways with the loving compassion of a father for his only son, all creatures caught in the prison of saṃsāra, confused in the darkness of their ignorance, overwhelmed by their suffering. Report an error in the passage at 7:27 Highlight the passage at 7:27

7:53 You, whose dragon thunder-like proclamation of Dharma arouses us from the stupor of our delusions and frees us from the iron chains of our karma, who wields a sword of wisdom hewing down suffering wherever its sprouts appear, clearing away the darkness of ignorance. You, whose princely body is adorned with 112 marks of a Buddha, who has completed the stages achieving the highest perfection of a bodhisattva, who has been pure from the beginning, I bow down to you, Amanjushri. Report an error in the passage at 7:53 Highlight the passage at 7:53

8:23 Obeisance to my guru and protector, Manjushri, who holds to his heart a scriptural text symbolic of his seeing all things as they are, whose intelligence shines forth as a sun, unclouded by delusions or traces of ignorance, who teaches in sixty ways with the loving compassion of a father for his only son, all creatures caught in the prison of saṃsāra, confused in the darkness of their ignorance, overwhelmed by their suffering. Report an error in the passage at 8:23 Highlight the passage at 8:23

8:50 You, whose dragon thunder-like proclamation of Dharma arouses us from the stupor of our delusions and frees us from the iron chains of our karma, who wields the sword of wisdom hewing down suffering wherever its sprouts appear, clearing away the darkness of ignorance. You, whose princely body is adorned with 112 marks of a Buddha, who has completed the stages achieving the highest perfection of a bodhisattva, who has been pure from the beginning, I bow down to you, Amanjushri. Report an error in the passage at 8:50 Highlight the passage at 8:50

9:20 Obey a sense to my guru and protector Manjushi, who holds to his heart a scriptural text symbolic of his seeing all things as they are, whose intelligence shines forth as the sun, unclouded by delusions or traces of ignorance, who teaches in sixty ways with the loving compassion of a father for his only son, all creatures caught in the prison of saṃsāra, confused in the darkness of their ignorance, overwhelmed by their suffering. Report an error in the passage at 9:20 Highlight the passage at 9:20

9:46 You, whose dragon thunder-like proclamation of Dharma arouses us from the stupor of our delusions and frees us from the iron chains of our karma, who wields the sword of wisdom hewing down suffering wherever its sprouts appear, clearing away the darkness of ignorance. You, whose princely body is adorned with 112 marks of a Buddha, who has completed the stages achieving the highest perfection of a bodhisattva, who has been pure from the beginning, I bow down to you, O Manjushri. Report an error in the passage at 9:46 Highlight the passage at 9:46

10:18 With Report an error in the passage at 10:18 Highlight the passage at 10:18

10:36 the brilliance of your wisdom, O compassionate one, illuminate the darkness in closing my mind, enlighten my intelligence and wisdom so that I may gain insight into Buddha's words and the texts that explain them. Report an error in the passage at 10:36 Highlight the passage at 10:36

10:58 Okay, so I changed the slide a little bit for something new. So just remember that the root cause of all our problems are the two inner enemies, our self-grasping ignorance. I'm misconceiving the nature of the self and then cherishing that self as being more important than others. Report an error in the passage at 10:58 Highlight the passage at 10:58

11:29 So the self-grasping ignorance is overcome by ultimate bodhicitta and the self-cherishing is overcome by cherishing others and ultimately conventional bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 11:29 Highlight the passage at 11:29

11:48 So just a review on the section on emptiness in this text. Report an error in the passage at 11:48 Highlight the passage at 11:48

11:56 See, verse 104 talked about how everything that exists is a dependent arising, therefore nothing inherently exists. So this is the king of reasonings proving that things don't inherently exist. They don't inherently exist because they're dependent arisings. And then there are three levels of dependent arising, dependent on causes and conditions, dependent on parts, and dependent on imputation. Report an error in the passage at 11:56 Highlight the passage at 11:56

12:29 So who can explain the dependent on causes and conditions? Report an error in the passage at 12:29 Highlight the passage at 12:29

12:45 And maybe to explain that one in relation to the self, how the self is dependent on causes and conditions? Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

12:57 I have to think about that. I was going to start with every particle and every part of every form and every shape is dependent upon the causes and conditions that make it up. And every self is dependent upon the causes and conditions of all the karmic actions that make it up. And all the parts, the eye, all the sense organs are dependent upon the causes and conditions that make up those sense organs. Report an error in the passage at 12:57 Highlight the passage at 12:57

13:23 So everything from karma to the smallest particle in our body is dependent upon the causes and conditions. And when those causes and conditions no longer exist, then our body and form and consciousness will no longer exist. Because even our consciousness is made up of causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 13:23 Highlight the passage at 13:23

13:43 And in the end, our karma, which is also made up of causes and conditions, will continue or be abandoned. Report an error in the passage at 13:43 Highlight the passage at 13:43

13:56 Okay. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 13:56 Highlight the passage at 13:56

14:02 Right. So let's specifically talk about the self. So what are some causes and conditions of the self? You mentioned like karma. Okay. And then... Everything that happens to me, every thought I have, is dependent upon the causes and conditions of my karma, past and from former lives, so that I exist and function as a form as determined by my karma every day in every way. Report an error in the passage at 14:02 Highlight the passage at 14:02

14:41 And I think that's the fundamental causes and conditions for the self, but everything within the self also is determined by causes and conditions because everything exists. Report an error in the passage at 14:41 Highlight the passage at 14:41

14:54 So does this reasoning apply to all phenomena? Anybody else? Are all phenomena dependent on causes and conditions? Report an error in the passage at 14:54 Highlight the passage at 14:54

15:07 Hillary? I think you said all impermanent phenomena are dependent upon causes and conditions. Right. I was thinking like in the self, you can kind of trace it back each moment by moment by moment. Report an error in the passage at 15:07 Highlight the passage at 15:07

15:28 Skin arose from not only my karma but, you know, the food I ate and the thought I'm having now depends on the thought I had just before that. That's part of, I think, I think that fits under causes and conditions. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, that was kind of, that chart was real good because I thought, oh yeah, impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 15:28 Highlight the passage at 15:28

15:51 I don't know, I hadn't made that distinction before. Right. So this first level of dependent arising only applies to impermanent phenomena, things that are produced, things that are changing from moment to moment, like all the sense objects. But then there are permanent phenomena like uncomposed space. Report an error in the passage at 15:51 Highlight the passage at 15:51

16:22 It's considered permanent phenomena. And that's just an absence of obstructive contact. And so that doesn't arise from causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 16:22 Highlight the passage at 16:22

16:40 So this, I mean, this first level of dependent arising, all of the Buddhist schools, all of the Buddhist schools of tenants subscribe to this first level of dependent arising. But it has its limitations, right? Because it only applies to impermanent phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 16:40 Highlight the passage at 16:40

17:05 The second. Dependent on parts. So who can talk about that in terms of the self? The self is dependent on its parts. So the self cannot be inherently existent because it depends on its parts. Report an error in the passage at 17:05 Highlight the passage at 17:05

17:40 Anybody else? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 17:40 Highlight the passage at 17:40

17:47 So would this be related to parts of the body? Like when people say that their self is their body and then their body is composed of parts, but none of the parts individually is a self. Report an error in the passage at 17:47 Highlight the passage at 17:47

18:03 Somehow related to that. And then I guess, I don't know if you could take that even further and go into things like emotions or other parts that aren't necessarily as solidly appearing. Report an error in the passage at 18:03 Highlight the passage at 18:03

18:20 Yeah. Is it in that area? Yeah. Yeah, so the self is... It's merely imputed on the five aggregates, the four or five aggregates, the body and the mind, basically. Sometimes it's imputed on just the body, sometimes imputed on just the mind. Report an error in the passage at 18:20 Highlight the passage at 18:20

18:42 So the body has parts, and the mind has parts, too. And usually the mind is talked about, the parts of the mind are usually talked about in terms of the different moments of mind. Report an error in the passage at 18:42 Highlight the passage at 18:42

18:57 Also you could talk about... The mind in terms of its parts, in terms of like the main mind and the mental factors. Report an error in the passage at 18:57 Highlight the passage at 18:57

19:10 So the self cannot be inherently existent because it's dependent on its parts. It's the body and the mind. Report an error in the passage at 19:10 Highlight the passage at 19:10

19:25 And then the third level, dependent on imputation. Report an error in the passage at 19:25 Highlight the passage at 19:25

19:32 Let's try that one. David or Janet? Report an error in the passage at 19:32 Highlight the passage at 19:32

19:42 Even though Janet wasn't here for that class. Report an error in the passage at 19:42 Highlight the passage at 19:42

19:47 Well, the self... Depending on imputation, you have a collection of these parts that are brought about because of causes and conditions, the aggregates, consciousness, all put together. And then, depending on imputation is where we actually label those, this is the self, and we give a name to a collection of those things. Report an error in the passage at 19:47 Highlight the passage at 19:47

20:17 So, so. All it is is a bunch of parts and that we're merely naming self. Report an error in the passage at 20:17 Highlight the passage at 20:17

20:28 That's it. Yeah, great. So we tend to think that the self is this one solidly existing thing, right? But it's dependent on the coming together of all these causes and conditions. It's depending on all of these parts coming together. And then it depends on... Imputing something or labeling to those parts. So oftentimes the lower schools will say, well the parts of the self are the self. Report an error in the passage at 20:28 Highlight the passage at 20:28

21:07 The body and mind are the self. But Prasangika says, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's more subtle than that. The parts are the basis of imputation. And the self is merely imputed on... The parts. But if you search the parts, you can't find the self, right? Because the self is just imputed on those parts. Report an error in the passage at 21:07 Highlight the passage at 21:07

21:37 Yeah, exactly. Even if you try to find the parts, you can't find anything. Yeah, then you go to that next level. Report an error in the passage at 21:37 Highlight the passage at 21:37

21:48 It is interesting to think about, you know, because it's like we call it self and it's like we're so attached to self, but it's no different than the name that we get. And then, you know, something happens. Maybe we do refuge, we get a different name, and then something else happens. It's like there's nothing concrete. Report an error in the passage at 21:48 Highlight the passage at 21:48

22:10 There's nothing solid about it. It's just a bunch of parts, and now we're calling it this, and then we're calling it that. So it's just changing all the time, too. And there's nothing really there. That's what you call it. Yeah, yeah. So the name is changing and then the parts themselves are changing too, right? So we tend to think, okay, well we're naming, we're putting a different name to the same parts, right? Report an error in the passage at 22:10 Highlight the passage at 22:10

22:44 But the parts are constantly changing too. So as soon as you try to search for it, there's nothing that you can find. It's so elusive. Report an error in the passage at 22:44 Highlight the passage at 22:44

23:00 So if somebody insults us, we think. How can that person be insulting me? How can they say that to me? When we think there's this solidly existing, kind of permanently existing self. And then as soon as we analyze, okay, well who is being insulted? What is being insulted? Is Report an error in the passage at 23:00 Highlight the passage at 23:00

23:28 it the mind? Is it the body? What part of the body is being insulted? You just can't find it. And Report an error in the passage at 23:28 Highlight the passage at 23:28

23:45 then for ordinary beings, Everything appears falsely. All appearances are like illusions, similar to a whirling firebrand. So everything that appears to us is mistaken. Report an error in the passage at 23:45 Highlight the passage at 23:45

24:04 Nothing exists the way that it appears. Nothing exists out there solidly. Report an error in the passage at 24:04 Highlight the passage at 24:04

24:17 Is that in any way related to the fact that we see conceptually or that that's conceptual knowledge and all conceptual knowledge is mistaken? Report an error in the passage at 24:17 Highlight the passage at 24:17

24:30 I mean, it's related in that our ignorance is conceptual. Our ignorance, misconceiving the nature of reality, is non-conceptual. Or is conceptual. But even to our sense consciousnesses, even to our non-conceptual consciousnesses, everything appears mistakenly. And that's said because of the latencies of ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 24:30 Highlight the passage at 24:30

25:03 So the reason everything appears falsely is because of the latencies of our ignorance. And so our ignorance itself is considered an afflictive obstruction. It's an obstruction to attaining liberation. But the appearance of inherent existence is a knowledge obstruction or an obstruction to omniscience. Report an error in the passage at 25:03 Highlight the passage at 25:03

25:30 So if somebody has... Attained liberation from cyclic existence. They've abandoned ignorance, but they haven't yet abandoned the latencies of ignorance which caused this mistaken appearance. So you can be out of cyclic existence and still see everything mistakenly. And it's only a Buddha who has gotten rid of all of the latencies of ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 25:30 Highlight the passage at 25:30

25:57 So it's only a Buddha that doesn't have any mistaken appearance. Report an error in the passage at 25:57 Highlight the passage at 25:57

26:09 So even if you've directly realized emptiness, if you're in meditation directly realizing emptiness, then that emptiness doesn't appear mistaken. But as soon as you arise from that meditation, then once again everything appears mistakenly again. But you no longer believe in it anymore. You don't believe in the mistaken appearance after you've directly realized emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 26:09 Highlight the passage at 26:09

26:40 And we talked about that, how that's similar to a reflection in a mirror, where you look in the mirror and it appears that you're out there in the mirror, but you don't believe in it, right? Because you know you're not out there. Similar with an aria who's directly realized emptiness. They see things as appearing to be inherently existent, but they no longer believe in it. Report an error in the passage at 26:40 Highlight the passage at 26:40

27:07 They don't believe in that appearance. Report an error in the passage at 27:07 Highlight the passage at 27:07

27:17 But our mistake is that not only do things appear mistakenly, then we believe in those appearances again and again. Report an error in the passage at 27:17 Highlight the passage at 27:17

27:33 So we believe the objects of our attachment exist out there. Our objects of aversion exist out there. Report an error in the passage at 27:33 Highlight the passage at 27:33

27:56 So if somebody who doesn't inherently exist was in meditation and they had that experience you were talking about or they thought they had a direct realization of emptiness and then they... Somehow came back to their everyday conceptual reality and they weren't quite sure about what they saw. It's kind of like what you were saying. Report an error in the passage at 27:56 Highlight the passage at 27:56

28:19 Is it something where you see it one time and then that's it? You never see things again the same way forever? Or is it something that kind of like... It expands over a period of time. You continue to see it and then you kind of go back to your conceptual habits of thinking of things as solid and thinking that you inherently exist as an I sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 28:19 Highlight the passage at 28:19

28:45 You go back and forth. You know what I mean? For some people, do they just have that once and then that's it? I know none of this makes sense. No, no, no, it does. Yeah. No, it's a graduated path, right? So, you know, according to this path, you know, first we try, you know, we listen to teachings on emptiness and we think about them and we meditate on them. Report an error in the passage at 28:45 Highlight the passage at 28:45

29:11 And so we can get a realization of emptiness intellectually through reasoning and all of that. And then through meditation, then we develop calm abiding. Like this strong level of concentration. And with that basis of a calm abiding, then we do the analysis. And then you can realize emptiness with that stronger mind, but still intellectually. Report an error in the passage at 29:11 Highlight the passage at 29:11

29:40 And then you keep familiarizing yourself with that. And then gradually... You realize emptiness directly. So it's not just kind of a haphazard. You happen to directly realize emptiness. It's this gradual thing. And then when you directly realize emptiness, the first time, that completely changes your life. Report an error in the passage at 29:40 Highlight the passage at 29:40

30:08 You've moved from an ordinary being to an aria being. At that point, you eliminate... All of the doubt that you've ever had about the path, like the Four Noble Truths, etc. is eliminated because you've seen the truth directly. Report an error in the passage at 30:08 Highlight the passage at 30:08

30:27 And so when you arise from that, you no longer... So things will still appear. I mean, there's two things, right? The appearance and then the conception. Like you were saying, you go back to your conceptual habits. And you wouldn't go back to your conceptual habits so much. I mean, you're... Things will still appear falsely, but conceptually you won't believe it anymore. I mean, there will still be probably these habits of, you know, the ignorance would arise, but you wouldn't believe in it, so, you know, you wouldn't become, like, overcome by it, right? Report an error in the passage at 30:27 Highlight the passage at 30:27

31:11 It's like... Well, I don't know a modern day example, but the example that they use in the Tibetan texts oftentimes is this magician's illusion. Like if there's a magician who casts a spell on the audience and this elephant appears. Report an error in the passage at 31:11 Highlight the passage at 31:11

31:33 You know, the audience that doesn't know about the spell, you know, they believe that there's an elephant there. And so this is most of us, right? There's this mistaken appearance and then we believe in it. But the magician himself sees the elephant but doesn't believe that there's an elephant there because he knows that he cast the spell. Report an error in the passage at 31:33 Highlight the passage at 31:33

31:55 So that's the way an aria is, is that things appear to be inherently existent but they don't believe in it anymore. Report an error in the passage at 31:55 Highlight the passage at 31:55

32:07 Does that answer your question? Okay. And then once you've directly realized emptiness for the first time... Then you familiarize yourself with that again and again. You have to accumulate merit, purify, etc. And then through doing that, then over time, then eventually you'll eliminate all of your obstructions and attain Buddhahood. Report an error in the passage at 32:07 Highlight the passage at 32:07

32:52 So then there was a verse that talked about life being like a plantain tree, a bubble, a mist, a mirage, a reflection in a mirror, and clouds and fog. Report an error in the passage at 32:52 Highlight the passage at 32:52

33:08 It's also like this. It seems as if it's really existent, truly existent, but these phenomena have never been really true anytime, anywhere. Report an error in the passage at 33:08 Highlight the passage at 33:08

33:21 So nothing has ever been truly existent or inherently existent. Report an error in the passage at 33:21 Highlight the passage at 33:21

33:30 And then the wheel of karma is the same. It lacks inherent existence, yet appears like a reflection of the moon in water. So everything is just an appearance due to our karma. Everything that we see is an appearance due to our karma. So it's important to practice virtue and avoid non-virtue. Report an error in the passage at 33:30 Highlight the passage at 33:30

33:56 So sometimes people believe that because nothing inherently exists, then I can do whatever I want and I don't need to follow the law of cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 33:56 Highlight the passage at 33:56

34:09 But because things are inherently existent, are not inherently existent, then it's even more important to practice virtue and avoid non-virtue. Report an error in the passage at 34:09 Highlight the passage at 34:09

34:23 Do people get that point? No. Okay. So things don't inherently exist. They don't exist from their own side. Nothing is pleasant or unpleasant from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 34:23 Highlight the passage at 34:23

34:49 But the reason we experience things as being pleasant or unpleasant is because of the karma that we've created. So if we created virtuous karma, then we'll experience things as being pleasant. So this is a subtle point. Report an error in the passage at 34:49 Highlight the passage at 34:49

35:12 What Report an error in the passage at 35:12 Highlight the passage at 35:12

35:20 I was thinking of it was that it all leads back to the Four Noble Truths and the causes of suffering dependent upon causes and conditions so that everything is kind of circular and even emptiness leads back to the need to practice virtue. Report an error in the passage at 35:20 Highlight the passage at 35:20

35:42 And the basic teachings and the Four Noble Truths. But that was just my idea. It just seemed to flow like that. Report an error in the passage at 35:42 Highlight the passage at 35:42

35:53 And that suffering is based on causes and conditions. And so it's important to practice virtue. Otherwise, you just reinvent causes and conditions for suffering. Report an error in the passage at 35:53 Highlight the passage at 35:53

36:05 We kind of reinvent. They just recur again. If you don't practice virtue, you practice and avoid non-virtue, then you just bring about the causes and conditions of suffering, attachment. So what is the cause of suffering? Self-cherishing and self-grasping and attachment to the self. So basically the cause of suffering is non-virtue. Report an error in the passage at 36:05 Highlight the passage at 36:05

36:32 Yes. Right. So the causes of suffering are non-virtue and the causes of happiness are virtue. Yeah, which is precisely why we need to practice virtue and avoid non-virtue. Report an error in the passage at 36:32 Highlight the passage at 36:32

36:51 Okay, and then the last verse we covered last week was, When in a dream a peat fire blazes, we are terrified by the heat, although it is without substance. In the same way, although the hell realms and such are without substance, we fear the smelter's fire and other tortures. As that is so, we should forsake evil actions. Report an error in the passage at 36:51 Highlight the passage at 36:51

37:15 So here it's talking about how when there's a fire in a dream, we still feel fear, even though it's just a dream fire, right? It doesn't really exist. And similarly, when we're awake, the hell realms and other sufferings don't exist inherently, but we still have fear of them. So we still have the experience of fear and we still have the experience of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 37:15 Highlight the passage at 37:15

37:44 Even though they don't inherently exist. Therefore we should forsake evil actions or negative actions or non-virtuous actions, which are the cause of the suffering. Report an error in the passage at 37:44 Highlight the passage at 37:44

38:06 Verse 109 follows from that. So in a feverish delirium we may feel as if we are wandering around suffocating in a deep cave, even though there is no darkness at all. In the same way, even though ignorance and the like are without substance, We should get rid of our delusions through the three wisdoms. So here, so we're in a feverish delirium, right? Report an error in the passage at 38:06 Highlight the passage at 38:06

38:32 And so we're hallucinating and perhaps we feel like we're wandering around and suffocating in a deep cave. Or we have other hallucinations, right? Even though our hallucination, the object of our hallucination isn't there at all. Report an error in the passage at 38:32 Highlight the passage at 38:32

38:58 We still experience the suffering there, right? And so even in the same way, even though ignorance and all of the afflictions, the attachment, the anger, the jealousy, the pride, miserliness, etc. don't exist inherently. They don't exist from their own side. We need to get rid of our delusions. We still need to get rid of them. Report an error in the passage at 38:58 Highlight the passage at 38:58

39:28 Through creating the causes of getting rid of them, which is the three wisdoms. So the wisdoms of hearing, reflecting and meditating. Report an error in the passage at 39:28 Highlight the passage at 39:28

39:40 So the wisdom of hearing, the wisdom we develop from listening to teachings and Report an error in the passage at 39:40 Highlight the passage at 39:40

39:52 then the wisdom we develop from reflecting on the teachings and then the wisdom we develop through meditating on the teachings with calm abiding. And special insight. So it's only through these three wisdoms that we'll actually get rid of the seeds of our ignorance and the seeds of all of our afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 39:52 Highlight the passage at 39:52

40:18 Oftentimes we just leave it at listening to teachings and think that's enough. But by just listening to the teachings we can't get rid of our afflictions. We need to really take time to reflect on them and then meditate on them with... Calm abiding and special insight. And it's only by doing that that we can actually remove the seeds of our afflictions and get out of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 40:18 Highlight the passage at 40:18

40:59 Okay, then verse 110. When a musician plays a song on a lute, the sounds, if analyzed, do not in fact exist inherently. But when not analyzed, the arisal of pleasant sounds by means of the collection of notes. Dispels the anguish in the minds of beings. Okay, so a lute. I'm not sure what a lute is, but we can think of any musical instrument. Okay, okay. Report an error in the passage at 40:59 Highlight the passage at 40:59

41:37 So if you think of it, yeah, I mean it's a string instrument, right? So a musician plays a song on this lute. Report an error in the passage at 41:37 Highlight the passage at 41:37

41:51 Let's say this beautiful song. So we tend to think, if we don't analyze, we think that the music is beautiful from its own side, right? The sounds are beautiful from its own side, from their own side. But then if we analyze, where is the beautiful music? Report an error in the passage at 41:51 Highlight the passage at 41:51

42:14 This song is a compilation of many different notes, right? So is the... Is the high C the beautiful sound? Is it the A? Is it the B? Which is it? Where is that beautiful sound when we search for it? Report an error in the passage at 42:14 Highlight the passage at 42:14

42:50 We can't find it from its own side. It's just this combination of many different sounds coming together that our conceptual mind links together, right? And then we... Call it a song or call it music. We label it and then we label it beautiful or not. Report an error in the passage at 42:50 Highlight the passage at 42:50

43:18 And we experience it as pleasant because of the virtuous karma we've created in the past. If we experience it as being awful music, it's because of the non-virtuous karma we've created in the past. So it's not beautiful from its own side. We experience it. As being pleasant or unpleasant, depending on the karma we've created in the past. Report an error in the passage at 43:18 Highlight the passage at 43:18

43:55 So if we analyze the music, we can't find it from its own side if we look for it. But it still functions. It still functions if we experience it as beautiful music. It still functions to make the mind more peaceful or more happy or dispels the anguish in our minds. Report an error in the passage at 43:55 Highlight the passage at 43:55

44:27 So similarly, if somebody insults us, it's not insulting from its own side. We tend to think it's insulting from its own side, right? But it's just a series of sounds that our conceptual mind labels as unpleasant or insulting, that we experience it as unpleasurable because of our negative karma that we've created in the past. Report an error in the passage at 44:27 Highlight the passage at 44:27

45:08 But it's not negative or bad or insulting from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 45:08 Highlight the passage at 45:08

45:17 What do people think of that? Do you agree with that? Report an error in the passage at 45:17 Highlight the passage at 45:17

45:28 Hamlet said, there's nothing either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so. He was a pretty smart guy. Report an error in the passage at 45:28 Highlight the passage at 45:28

45:41 When you analyze it, it's not completely impossible to see. I keep thinking of an example, one of our teachers. but... Report an error in the passage at 45:41 Highlight the passage at 45:41

45:53 I think it was a similar class as this, and then he went outside and his car was stolen. Yeah, exactly. I was like, oh no. It's one thing to talk about it. Yeah, maybe he hadn't had the direct realization of emptiness. I don't know, but anyway. Right. Or anyway, yeah. Yeah. Hard to apply all the time. Definitely. Report an error in the passage at 45:53 Highlight the passage at 45:53

46:23 Well, the first thing is to intellectually understand it, right? And then believe it. And then we can apply it in our lives, right? So, Report an error in the passage at 46:23 Highlight the passage at 46:23

46:36 you know, what's... Yeah, so we can... Yeah. It's good to... That's a good point. It's good to start with little things, right? Our little afflictions, little irritations, right? Report an error in the passage at 46:36 Highlight the passage at 46:36

46:57 And then, like, the fly that lands on... On us, you know, they're not annoying from their own side. We try to find the annoyance from its own side and we can't find it or the annoying object. And then gradually we can work up to it. I think the trick is sometimes even one, well, first of all, overcoming the laziness and actually doing the analysis and saying, you know, when an affliction arises. Report an error in the passage at 46:57 Highlight the passage at 46:57

47:33 To actually apply the antidote to do the analysis. Report an error in the passage at 47:33 Highlight the passage at 47:33

47:43 Because I think oftentimes we're just too lazy. We just fall into our habits and we're just annoyed and we just accept that we're annoyed and we move on. But we still believe that that person or that thing is annoying from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 47:43 Highlight the passage at 47:43

48:22 So when we say that... Our karma oftentimes makes an experience positive or negative. Then when we analyze a situation that might be to us negative, are we changing the karma or what is happening? Because that's such a difficult thing to do. You know, like I think right now, oh, all those annoying things my roommate does, which, yeah, of course, you know, it's probably me. Report an error in the passage at 48:22 Highlight the passage at 48:22

48:55 It's not even really her. But they do continually annoy me again and again and again, even though I'm trying to, you know, kind of deal with it. So I'm wondering, is it because the fact is that it's a karmic thing and it's so difficult to change at this point since, you know, it's something I would have accumulated in the past. Report an error in the passage at 48:55 Highlight the passage at 48:55

49:20 Yeah, I mean, the reason you experience it as unpleasant is because of the negative karma you've created. But then if we analyze it, if we apply an antidote, then we can change the way that we react to it. We can change the way we think about it, which is then creating the positive karma to experience happiness in the future. Report an error in the passage at 49:20 Highlight the passage at 49:20

49:51 But yeah, it's so difficult to do that because we're experiencing it as being unpleasant. And so generally, you know, what happens is we have a feeling of unpleasantness and then we immediately develop aversion toward it, you know, almost without any lapse of time, right? So, you know, so that's our opportunity for practices, right, is lengthening that time and experiencing it as unpleasant but changing the way. Report an error in the passage at 49:51 Highlight the passage at 49:51

50:30 We think about it and not automatically developing a version toward it. Or if we do develop a version, then to work with it. With the various techniques, maybe emptiness will work. If our understanding of emptiness is good enough, maybe it will be good enough, strong enough to overcome that annoyance. Report an error in the passage at 50:30 Highlight the passage at 50:30

50:52 But if not, then there's a host of other antidotes that we can use. Somehow we just picked up Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, slowly, slowly, right? We need the mindfulness and we do it once. You know, we apply the antidote once and then we'll slowly get in the habit of applying the antidote more and more and pretty soon we won't need to. Report an error in the passage at 50:52 Highlight the passage at 50:52

51:20 Well, I don't know about pretty soon. But, yeah. But if we keep putting the effort in, then eventually it gets easier, right? At the beginning it's so hard, but if we keep doing it, it's easier. It becomes more habitual, more natural after a while. At least with the small things, with the big things, that takes a lot more effort. Report an error in the passage at 51:20 Highlight the passage at 51:20

51:52 Yeah, so slowly, slowly. Report an error in the passage at 51:52 Highlight the passage at 51:52

51:59 Keith, David? Report an error in the passage at 51:59 Highlight the passage at 51:59

52:06 I was just thinking as you were talking, at least with me anyway, when somebody annoys me, it's because they're doing something that I'm annoyed about. within myself that I do, and when I like somebody, it's because they're doing something that I tend to like about myself, and so it comes back to self-cherishing, either when I like somebody, it's self-cherishing, and when I don't like somebody, it's self-cherishing, because it all seems to reflect outside from myself, if I look at it deeply, and if does something that doesn't bother me, it's because I don't have that within myself to annoy me anyway. Report an error in the passage at 52:06 Highlight the passage at 52:06

52:38 So Report an error in the passage at 52:38 Highlight the passage at 52:38

52:51 this verse is clear? The music doesn't come from its own side. The beautiful music doesn't come from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 52:51 Highlight the passage at 52:51

53:07 The construction workers outside who are making all kinds of racket, it's not unpleasant from its own side. Do we believe that? Report an error in the passage at 53:07 Highlight the passage at 53:07

53:27 I think, I mean, yeah. I mean, I think we can see that in little ways. You can answer right on Report an error in the passage at 53:27 Highlight the passage at 53:27

53:34 Noise is something that has always been an irritation for me because I can close my eyes and don't see you, but if you live in an apartment in the city and you're playing your music at midnight, it's really hard to ignore. Report an error in the passage at 53:34 Highlight the passage at 53:34

53:49 Unfortunately, I don't have that neighbor anymore, so I haven't been tested. But I have noticed, particularly when I'm trying to do a meditation or something, there are... I hardly notice the noises anymore, but admittedly I'm not doing calm abiding. And I mean, there's people working next door and all kinds of stuff, and I just kind of started thinking, oh, those people are just trying to be happy, you know, and they're having a party. Report an error in the passage at 53:49 Highlight the passage at 53:49

54:21 And suddenly, like, I wasn't hearing the noises so much. I mean, when I became conscious of that I was, but it really wasn't, and I mean, it was really irritating before. So I don't say that all the time, but I mean that's just a little thing that I've certainly noticed that it made a big change in something that I found really irritating. Report an error in the passage at 54:21 Highlight the passage at 54:21

54:45 Yeah, I mean you changed your mind about it and you didn't label it as irritating anymore. Yeah, and a big one was when I labeled it as pleasant in a way. It really, I mean in a certain way pleasant. I was like, oh. Like these people were partying next door. They just want to be happy. And it's like, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 54:45 Highlight the passage at 54:45

55:19 No, it doesn't always work. But yeah, that's excellent. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I find that's really helpful if we try to see it from their perspective and think, oh, it's just trying. They're just trying to be happy. And oh, yeah, I've done that plenty of times myself, you know, played loud music or, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 55:19 Highlight the passage at 55:19

55:45 Changing the label makes such a big difference. Report an error in the passage at 55:45 Highlight the passage at 55:45

55:56 So when we analyze all causes and effects, they lack inherent nature as either identical or different. Yet phenomena vividly appear to arise and perish, and we experience pleasure and suffering as if they really existed. Even though they are just appearances, I urge you to embrace virtue and avoid sin. So there's a common theme to all of these. Report an error in the passage at 55:56 Highlight the passage at 55:56

56:23 So when we analyze all causes and effects, they lack inherent nature as either identical or different. So I was looking in the commentaries on this and it didn't really talk much about this lacking inherent nature as either identical or different. But in general, this reasoning is used to Report an error in the passage at 56:23 Highlight the passage at 56:23

56:58 To prove that things, well, phenomena do not inherently exist because they're neither one with their parts nor inherently different from their parts. So phenomena do not inherently exist because they are neither identical, inherently I inherently one with their parts, nor inherently different from their parts. So this is a big one used, reasoning used to prove the lack of inherent existence of the self. Report an error in the passage at 56:58 Highlight the passage at 56:58

57:46 So the self does not inherently exist because it's neither inherently one with its parts, with its body and mind, nor inherently different. From the body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 57:46 Highlight the passage at 57:46

58:10 So the self is not inherently one with the body and mind. So if the self was inherently one with the body and mind then there are various absurd consequences that arise. Report an error in the passage at 58:10 Highlight the passage at 58:10

58:34 So one of them would be since There are many parts to the self. Then there would have to be many selves. So if it existed, if the self was inherently the same as the body and mind, then there would have to be many selves because there are many parts. Report an error in the passage at 58:34 Highlight the passage at 58:34

59:04 Because they're the same. Or you'd have to say there aren't many parts. There would be... Either many selves or there would only be one part since there's only one self. Report an error in the passage at 59:04 Highlight the passage at 59:04

59:27 There's other absurd consequences and I won't go through all of them now. Report an error in the passage at 59:27 Highlight the passage at 59:27

59:46 Another one is that it wouldn't, there wouldn't be any reason to call it a self. Because it's the same as the parts. If it's the same as the body and mind then why call it the self? There's already a body and mind, why call it a self? Because it's the same, inherently the same as the parts. Report an error in the passage at 59:46 Highlight the passage at 59:46

1:00:25 And then the self is not inherently different from its parts. Because if it was inherently different, then they would be unrelated. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:25 Highlight the passage at 1:00:25

1:00:41 They'd be unrelated. You could have the parts of the self over here, the body and mind over here, and the self over here. Because they'd be unrelated. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:41 Highlight the passage at 1:00:41

1:00:53 Because they're inherently different. They're different from their own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:53 Highlight the passage at 1:00:53

1:01:03 So if you take away all the parts, there'd still be a self there. If you take away the mind, you take away the body, there'd still be a self there. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:03 Highlight the passage at 1:01:03

1:01:21 So it's similar with any phenomenon. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:21 Highlight the passage at 1:01:21

1:01:27 They use the example of the chariot in the scriptures a lot. Or the car. The car is not inherently the same as its parts. It's not inherently different from its parts. on, you know, the, Report an error in the passage at 1:01:27 Highlight the passage at 1:01:27

1:01:41 Therefore it can't be inherently existent. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:41 Highlight the passage at 1:01:41

1:01:48 So it's the same here in this verse when we analyze causes and effects. They can't be inherently existent because they're neither inherently the same as their parts nor inherently different from their parts. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:48 Highlight the passage at 1:01:48

1:02:06 So therefore causes and effects do not inherently exist. Yet phenomena vividly appear to arise and perish. So they don't... Exist from their own side. Causes and effects don't exist from their own side, yet there are these vivid appearances of phenomena arising and perishing. The body being born and dying. Things coming into existence and going out of existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:06 Highlight the passage at 1:02:06

1:02:45 So they don't exist, nothing exists from its own side, and yet they vividly appear to come into existence. And go out of existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:45 Highlight the passage at 1:02:45

1:03:01 We experience pleasure and suffering as if they really existed. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:01 Highlight the passage at 1:03:01

1:03:10 We experience pleasure and suffering as if they really existed. That headache really truly exists from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:10 Highlight the passage at 1:03:10

1:03:25 Even though they're just appearances, I urge you to embrace virtue and avoid sin. So similarly, we experience pleasure because of the virtue that we've created. we experience Suffering because of the non-virtue that we've created in the past. So if we really get that, if we really get that, we wouldn't intentionally create non-virtue at least and we would really, really try to not create non-virtue. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:25 Highlight the passage at 1:03:25

1:04:05 If we really got that all of our suffering comes from non-virtue that we've created and all of our pleasure comes from virtue that we've created. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:05 Highlight the passage at 1:04:05

1:04:30 Okay, shall we take a break? Report an error in the passage at 1:04:30 Highlight the passage at 1:04:30

1:04:35 Oh, you want to ask a question and then we take a break? Okay. So why is it that sometimes, or have you read anything about why sometimes in our dreams things don't appear as vividly as they do in our waking day-to-day life? It just seems easier somehow to kind of catch yourself when you're in a dream state and maybe not be so attached to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:35 Highlight the passage at 1:04:35

1:05:04 Maybe you're not as attached to your eye. I mean, there definitely are some times when your dreams seem very vivid and you're scared and then you realize, oh, it's just a dream. But I don't know, a lot of times when I'm in a dream, it seems easier to kind of know that I'm in a dream and I'm not really sure, like, why in my day-to-day waking state. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:04 Highlight the passage at 1:05:04

1:05:24 It's not so easy. Everything seems so much more solid. Yeah. Even, you know, if they're really similar, then I don't understand why one seems more solid than the other. I don't know why. I haven't heard anything about why. Has anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:24 Highlight the passage at 1:05:24

1:05:47 Yeah, I mean, it is a practice, right, that, you know, lucid dreaming is a practice, you know, because it's easier to see something. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:47 Highlight the passage at 1:05:47

1:06:05 I don't know, that's probably not the whole thing, but there, you're, like, isn't dreaming primarily a mental? Right. Mental consciousness. Mental consciousness. In your Reiki state, there's mental consciousness and there's a lot more awareness of your sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:05 Highlight the passage at 1:06:05

1:06:30 There must be, there seems, I could be totally off, but it seems as though your senses, your sense powers Report an error in the passage at 1:06:30 Highlight the passage at 1:06:30

1:06:43 are somehow more real when you're awake. I don't know. I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:43 Highlight the passage at 1:06:43

1:07:03 These why questions. Karma. And that's the easy answer to everything, right? No, I'm not sure. Anna? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:03 Highlight the passage at 1:07:03

1:07:18 The other day, Venerable Rubina was saying that we should actually make an effort in our dream state to realize that we are in a dream state. So you've got an advantage. Yeah, exactly. That's a start. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:18 Highlight the passage at 1:07:18

1:07:47 I'm trying to recall Geshe-Lo's glasses too and I'm not doing very well. But aren't the objects in a dream state non-existent, even conventionally, whereas in a waking state objects do exist conventionally. So there is a difference in the way they exist. Because it's a wrong consciousness, a dream. I think, isn't it? Where we have a mistaken consciousness in the waking, conventional? Yeah, if I'm... Report an error in the passage at 1:07:47 Highlight the passage at 1:07:47

1:08:29 Yeah, I mean, when we're awake, yeah, I mean, our correct consciousnesses at least perceive objects that exist conventionally. So they're not just pure fantasies of our mind, whereas in dreams... The objects of our dreams don't exist at all, conventionally, as Janet was saying. They're just complete mental fabrications. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:29 Highlight the passage at 1:08:29

1:09:01 So that can potentially be why it's easier to recognize them. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:01 Highlight the passage at 1:09:01

1:09:14 Yeah. Okay, let's take a break. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:14 Highlight the passage at 1:09:14

1:09:21 And if anybody has any homework they want to give me, either now or in the future. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:21 Highlight the passage at 1:09:21

1:09:48 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:48 Highlight the passage at 1:09:48

1:09:54 I discovered later that I had one of the same questions on this one as in the previous homework, but that's okay. It doesn't hurt. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:54 Highlight the passage at 1:09:54

1:10:08 Oh, and David, I forgot to give you your slides. Yeah, really. Maybe the print is too small. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:10:08 Highlight the passage at 1:10:08

1:10:31 after Heart Sūtra. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:31 Highlight the passage at 1:10:31

1:10:38 Choki has requested a Report an error in the passage at 1:10:38 Highlight the passage at 1:10:38

1:10:57 self that exists. um Report an error in the passage at 1:10:57 Highlight the passage at 1:10:57

1:10:58 They say there is a self that exists, right? Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:58 Highlight the passage at 1:10:58

1:11:10 Right, it's not self-sufficient, substantial existence. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:10 Highlight the passage at 1:11:10

1:11:26 Yeah. kind of touched on it in here, and then he was touching on it recently. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:26 Highlight the passage at 1:11:26

1:11:42 I know that you have some things that you think, I don't think they're too big, you know, I pushed it out as to that self-reveal. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:42 Highlight the passage at 1:11:42

1:11:55 Yeah, that... Yeah, it's so subtle trying to find those differences. But my understanding, I mean, okay, if we first talk about the cup and then we can talk about the self. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:55 Highlight the passage at 1:11:55

1:12:14 So Svatandrika would say... Report an error in the passage at 1:12:14 Highlight the passage at 1:12:14

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:13:03 And then I came back into it kind of in the middle. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:03 Highlight the passage at 1:13:03

1:13:15 Thank you. you know, just kind of put it all on you, but, you know, it's like an Einstein. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:15 Highlight the passage at 1:13:15

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:13:56 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:56 Highlight the passage at 1:13:56

1:14:21 think it's because a lot of understanding. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:21 Highlight the passage at 1:14:21

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:15:10 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:10 Highlight the passage at 1:15:10

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:16:05 That's why I kind of like what I was saying about his name. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:05 Highlight the passage at 1:16:05

1:16:23 okay, that's fine. it's like, self is more different But sometimes I just need a big investment from this little color called self. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:23 Highlight the passage at 1:16:23

1:16:36 me, they're like, this is, yeah, you know. And so it's like, I have to remind myself. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:36 Highlight the passage at 1:16:36

1:16:48 Sometimes, you know, when I'm sitting down in a class and teaching about it, I'm going to work a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:48 Highlight the passage at 1:16:48

1:17:01 begin with all of the intellect. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:01 Highlight the passage at 1:17:01

1:17:14 Thank Report an error in the passage at 1:17:14 Highlight the passage at 1:17:14

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:18:27 you. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:27 Highlight the passage at 1:18:27

1:18:42 reminding you of the bad boys, but we're reminding you boys. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:42 Highlight the passage at 1:18:42

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:19:34 It's all empty, huh? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:34 Highlight the passage at 1:19:34

1:19:59 So how are we doing with this stuff? Is it done? I think we're doing really good. Okay. I do. There's moments when it's just really, it's like a fire when the ember really glows. There's moments like that. Yeah. Okay. Great. And then you keep pumping the bellows. I know. Exactly. Keep trying and saying some words and maybe something at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:59 Highlight the passage at 1:19:59

1:20:28 Glow. Yeah. And then you see for a second. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:28 Highlight the passage at 1:20:28

1:20:38 It's funny, I think of the darkest things that are actually in the Bible that sometimes are pretty wise. You know, like we see now as in a glass darkly, but then face to face. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:38 Highlight the passage at 1:20:38

1:20:49 And glass is also sometimes translated as mirror. We see now as in a mirror darkly. Oh, yeah. So that's now, but then face to face. Uh-huh. Yeah, I mean... That's sort of a promise. Yeah. Or that's what you could hope for. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:49 Highlight the passage at 1:20:49

1:21:07 that's a lot of the same. Yeah. And Shakespeare blows my mind having they were burning people for that right across the water. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:07 Highlight the passage at 1:21:07

1:21:19 I Report an error in the passage at 1:21:19 Highlight the passage at 1:21:19

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:22:20 thought before we go on to the next verse, I'll read you something from Emptiness Yoga from Jeffrey Hopkins because he has so many great practical suggestions for how to... Realize emptiness and develop a greater understanding. So here Report an error in the passage at 1:22:20 Highlight the passage at 1:22:20

1:23:05 he says, so we cannot just sit around and wait for emptiness to dawn. We have to figure out a way to achieve this internal direct cognition. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:05 Highlight the passage at 1:23:05

1:23:21 So first get a vivid sense of inherent existence. So first we need to really get a strong sense of how. We believe things to exist. So first get a vivid sense of inherent existence. Then reflect on a reasoning. So there are many different reasonings that we can use. It could be the reasoning of inherently one or different that we just talked about in this class. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:21 Highlight the passage at 1:23:21

1:23:51 It could be the reasoning of dependent arising. There are many different reasonings we can use and we need to try a lot of them. You know, because all of them are getting at it from a different angle and we need to, we need all the help we can get, right? So seeing different perspectives can really help. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:51 Highlight the passage at 1:23:51

1:24:11 Okay, then reflect on a reasoning, discovering from the depths that you cannot find such concrete objects. The appearance of things will change. Such reasoning works. You write into the stuff of reality. You must really become engaged in this. If you just dryly repeat, It does not exist the way it appears. It does not exist the way it appears. It will not help. We are not aiming in the end to be thinking or reciting something to ourselves, but to realize the truth. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:11 Highlight the passage at 1:24:11

1:25:00 And then along the same lines, he says, What if I were sitting next to you and someone came along and cut off my ear? You would certainly feel that my ear was cut off, but even an experience of something as forceful as that, When you know how to analyze, it becomes transformed. This analysis is not a vague process of turning your mind away from events. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:00 Highlight the passage at 1:25:00

1:25:31 When you analyze, you are more engaged than you ever were before in your life. It is said, one who knows emptiness is aware, more perceptive, more awake, more conscientious. It is not that when an event happens to you, you superimpose emptiness on it or turn your head away from it in order to remember its emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:31 Highlight the passage at 1:25:31

1:25:58 The only way that you can get into emptiness is to get more into objects. When you realize emptiness, you will become more familiar with objects. Your mind will be more brilliant and more clear. By turning your mind away from experiences, you will never get to emptiness. You have to go right to the thing itself as it is happening and let it happen again and again mentally, then analyze. So you can, without analyzing, turn the mind away to some sort of a vacuity, but in doing so you are just tricking yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:58 Highlight the passage at 1:25:58

1:26:51 So that can be a mistake, right? Turning our minds to some sort of a vacuity or the spaciousness of mind. And thinking that we're realizing emptiness. But actually we need to analyze, you know, get more and more deeply into objects and analyze the objects. And realizing emptiness is realizing or is not finding the object of negation. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:51 Highlight the passage at 1:26:51

1:27:26 Searching for the object of negation and then not finding it. So the emptiness is a not finding. It's a negation. It's a negation of inherent existence. It's a negation of the way we've always believed that things existed. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:26 Highlight the passage at 1:27:26

1:27:53 Does that make sense? Report an error in the passage at 1:27:53 Highlight the passage at 1:27:53

1:28:03 I actually thought it was the other way around. It was that we had to find the object to be negated. Right. So that's the first step. We need to find the object to be negated. Really experience the object of negation first. And then we apply the reasoning. We search for that object of negation and then when we don't find it, then we find the emptiness of that object of negation, that emptiness of inherent existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:03 Highlight the passage at 1:28:03

1:28:42 So you have to start with that object negation and then you negate it by looking for it and not finding it, realizing it doesn't exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:42 Highlight the passage at 1:28:42

1:28:52 So the emptiness is emptiness. It's an emptiness of that object of negation. The emptiness of inherent existence. It's not just emptiness in general. It's the emptiness of something in particular. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:52 Highlight the passage at 1:28:52

1:29:09 But I'm still confused because the cup is not the object to be negated. Exactly. Right? It's what we think is the existence of a real cup. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:09 Highlight the passage at 1:29:09

1:29:25 It's that overlay that we put on conventional. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:25 Highlight the passage at 1:29:25

1:29:32 Yeah. Yeah. So you're right. So the cup, we're not negating cup, right? Because cup exists, right, conventionally. We're negating a particular way that the cup exists, the inherent existence of the cup, the inherently existent cup, the cup that seems to be out here existing from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:32 Highlight the passage at 1:29:32

1:30:04 So that's where, you know, we need to get a real strong sense of how we think this exists from its own side. Normally we don't even pay attention, you know, that's a computer, that's, you know. So we need to pay, just to start this process, we need to really pay attention to how we believe things exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:04 Highlight the passage at 1:30:04

1:30:31 And that's the start of the process. So oftentimes we listen to teachings about how it doesn't inherently exist and that doesn't inherently exist, but maybe we don't have a strong sense of what it means to be inherently existent so it doesn't make a strong impact on our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:31 Highlight the passage at 1:30:31

1:30:49 So the more we really pay attention, I mean particularly the self, because our afflictions really arise in relation to the self, right? So how do we really believe that we exist? Report an error in the passage at 1:30:49 Highlight the passage at 1:30:49

1:31:04 When we're, you know, when we have a strong affliction, when we're angry, it's a really good opportunity to see, okay, well, what is the self that we think exists? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:04 Highlight the passage at 1:31:04

1:31:14 Sometimes they, you know, the scriptures say, you know, when you're, you know, go up to the top of a cliff and, you know, that sense of I that comes up. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:14 Highlight the passage at 1:31:14

1:31:27 It's the object negation. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:27 Highlight the passage at 1:31:27

1:31:35 Yeah. Is that kind of clear? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:35 Highlight the passage at 1:31:35

1:31:45 Venerable Amy Miller's class. We were talking a little bit about that too and how it oftentimes, the object that we're trying to negate, the one that we believe in, oftentimes it arises when we feel like you were saying anger or it'll arise when we'll feel fear. And then that's when you can see that it's there. I don't know what you do with it after that point, but yeah, that's what arises. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:45 Highlight the passage at 1:31:45

1:32:18 That's what she's saying. Yes, that is actually the object that you're trying to negate. But of course you feel such one with it, you know. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:18 Highlight the passage at 1:32:18

1:32:34 One of my teachers used to say if you want to notice your really big sense of eye, be sitting in a Dharma class if your cell phone goes off and everybody turns around and looks at you. Like suddenly your eye feels really huge. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:34 Highlight the passage at 1:32:34

1:32:52 Embarrassment. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:52 Highlight the passage at 1:32:52

1:32:58 Pride is a good one too, you know, feeling puffed up. It feels like there's something inside, you know, this I inside occupying this body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:58 Highlight the passage at 1:32:58

1:33:11 And then as we'll see in future classes, I mean, some of those objects of negation are like the self-sufficient, substantially existent self. Some of them are the inherently existent self. And so there's different subtleties. But, you know, it's good to start with whatever, you know, if we can negate the self-sufficient, substantially existent self, that's wonderful. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:11 Highlight the passage at 1:33:11

1:33:38 Because generally I think that, My understanding of that strong eye that comes up, you know, when fear comes up, tends to be the self-sufficient, substantially existent self. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:38 Highlight the passage at 1:33:38

1:33:57 Maybe I won't go there. I won't go there. That's a big topic. Okay, let's go on. Verse 112. When drops of water fill a jar, the first drop doesn't fill it, nor the last, nor each drop individually. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:57 Highlight the passage at 1:33:57

1:34:18 Yet the dependently arisen aggregate or aggregation or collection fills the jar. So when we fill a jar, it's not the first drop of water that fills it. It's not the last drop of water that fills it. It's not any of the drops in between that fill it. It's the collection of all of them together, right, that fill the jar. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:18 Highlight the passage at 1:34:18

1:34:49 So similarly... When someone experiences their reward of pleasure or pain, it is due neither to the first moment of the cause nor to the last moment of the cause, and so on. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:49 Highlight the passage at 1:34:49

1:35:07 Yet the dependently arisen aggregate makes us experience pleasure or pain. Even though they're just appearances, I urge you to embrace virtue and avoid sin. So again and again, it keeps talking about karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:07 Highlight the passage at 1:35:07

1:35:23 So when we experience pleasure or pain, that's the result of the virtuous or non-virtuous karma we've created. So we experience this pleasure or pain not because of the first moment of the cause or the last moment of the cause or any of the moments individually in between. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:23 Highlight the passage at 1:35:23

1:35:52 So let's say we practice... Generosity. We give, let's say we give Gishadakpa an offering. So what is that act of generosity? Report an error in the passage at 1:35:52 Highlight the passage at 1:35:52

1:36:13 It consists of many moments, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:13 Highlight the passage at 1:36:13

1:36:19 It consists of many moments of mind, right? The mind of generosity as well as of the body, right? Many moments of, you know, kind of giving it to him. And maybe moments of speech too if we say something to him. So the generosity is, this act of generosity is this aggregation of these many moments of mind and these many moments of speech and these many moments of body. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:19 Highlight the passage at 1:36:19

1:37:00 And then we label that generosity. We label generosity onto these many moments of various things. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:00 Highlight the passage at 1:37:00

1:37:16 This collection of these many moments of actions of body, speech and mind that create the cause for the pleasure we experience in the future, the pleasure of experiencing wealth, let's say. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:16 Highlight the passage at 1:37:16

1:37:37 So we experience the pleasure of wealth in the future, not because of the first moment of the cause of generosity, it's not from the last moment. Or any of the moments in between. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:37 Highlight the passage at 1:37:37

1:37:56 Then lastly, once again, even though they're just appearances, I urge you to embrace virtue and avoid sin or non-virtue. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:56 Highlight the passage at 1:37:56

1:38:09 Okay. So does that verse make sense? Report an error in the passage at 1:38:09 Highlight the passage at 1:38:09

1:38:20 So that act of generosity did not exist from its own side. It was merely labeled on all of these moments. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:20 Highlight the passage at 1:38:20

1:38:33 Yet, it gives rise to a result in the future. Pleasure. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:33 Highlight the passage at 1:38:33

1:38:45 I see a lot of tired faces out there. How are we doing? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:45 Highlight the passage at 1:38:45

1:39:01 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:01 Highlight the passage at 1:39:01

1:39:08 Let's see. I Report an error in the passage at 1:39:08 Highlight the passage at 1:39:08

1:39:15 don't know if it's worth saying. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:15 Highlight the passage at 1:39:15

1:39:19 You know, when you were saying about you Report an error in the passage at 1:39:19 Highlight the passage at 1:39:19

1:39:25 reflect on these things, but you analyze emptiness Report an error in the passage at 1:39:25 Highlight the passage at 1:39:25

1:39:36 and it's not just like a spacing out or something. It must take, like, because in... The teachings, you know, ultimately, I guess this is after you've developed calm abiding, they say, you know, and then you kind of stay there, like you analyze this thing and then you can't find it, and then you stay with that thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:36 Highlight the passage at 1:39:36

1:40:01 I don't know the words, but kind of like non-analytically, I think, is the implication. And, I mean, for me, I can analyze things and, you know, sometimes... And it's making sense. But if I try to hold it, I mean, there's like three seconds, you know. So I think that part of the teaching probably doesn't apply to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:01 Highlight the passage at 1:40:01

1:40:30 I don't know. It kind of ties in with this, too. It's like you get that spacey feeling. It's like, OK, this makes sense, but it's so slippery. It's so slippery. So I suppose it takes a long time to get past that. Just analyze over and over again, like you said, with the different reasonings. Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:30 Highlight the passage at 1:40:30

1:40:57 Because otherwise, sometimes I kind of can, especially say if you're on a little group retreat, which has been my only experience on this kind of thing, and you seem to be able to kind of stick with it a bit more, but it's still for me mostly analyzing it. You know, almost only analyzing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:57 Highlight the passage at 1:40:57

1:41:19 I guess I don't have a question. I mean, that brings us to the importance of, well, I think two things. First of all, merit. We need to create a lot of merit and purify. But then the importance of developing concentration, developing a concentrated mind and using that as a basis for analyzing. And then when we come to a conclusion, then we can stick to that. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:19 Highlight the passage at 1:41:19

1:41:52 And we can remain focused on that conclusion, that groundbreaking, kind of earth-shattering conclusion that things don't exist the way that we think that they do. And then stay on that and deepen that. Because normally it's exactly what you said, is we analyze and we get this kind of flash of insight and then... Report an error in the passage at 1:41:52 Highlight the passage at 1:41:52

1:42:26 Two seconds later it's gone. It still makes an impression on the mind, but not so strongly that you can bring that up again and again when you're having an affliction and have that really work. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:26 Highlight the passage at 1:42:26

1:42:42 So I think that gets to the importance of concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:42 Highlight the passage at 1:42:42

1:42:52 And in the instructions, they say to develop calm abiding, and then on the basis of that, then do analysis. And then when the object starts getting unclear again, you go back to calm abiding. And then when the mind is stable again, then you go back to analysis. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:52 Highlight the passage at 1:42:52

1:43:14 And then when it becomes unclear again, then you go back to calm abiding. And then you go back to analysis. So you go back and forth. So you need the calm abiding to develop that stable mind so your mind can stick to a conclusion. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:14 Highlight the passage at 1:43:14

1:43:34 Not just on emptiness, but on any of the lamrim topics. But emptiness is the really hard one to stick to. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:34 Highlight the passage at 1:43:34

1:43:43 So oftentimes we don't really want to hear about how we need calm abiding because it's so difficult to develop calm abiding. But it's so important. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:43 Highlight the passage at 1:43:43

1:44:02 Otherwise our insights are just fleeting. They come and go. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:02 Highlight the passage at 1:44:02

1:44:18 It seemed to me in reading these verses that it always comes back to the basis. Again, the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. And if we stay with that, that's the base. And then the rest comes from that and goes back to that. Because the verses often end with doing good and avoiding evil or virtue. And so it seems like it's saying the base of all our work is really, it comes back to the first turning of the wheel. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:18 Highlight the passage at 1:44:18

1:44:51 But then you have to do more than that. You have to go to the second and the third, but you have to always keep the first turning working for you. Otherwise nothing works. If you don't have virtue, then nothing will work. Yeah. It's like the three higher trainings, right? We need ethics as a basis for everything else. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:51 Highlight the passage at 1:44:51

1:45:12 Ethics as a basis for concentration. Concentration as a basis for wisdom. Practicing ethics, practicing virtue is really the basis of all of it. Exactly. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:12 Highlight the passage at 1:45:12

1:45:28 And all the teachings can be subsumed into the Four Noble Truths. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:28 Highlight the passage at 1:45:28

1:45:49 Okay, I didn't put verse 114 on here, but we could move on to verse 114 if we want, if we have any energy. Do we know what next week's schedule is? Yeah, actually we need to talk about that. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:49 Highlight the passage at 1:45:49

1:46:12 Do we want to go on to the next verse first or do we want to talk about next schedule? Do we have a slide? We don't have a slide. But do people have their texts with us? With them? Report an error in the passage at 1:46:12 Highlight the passage at 1:46:12

1:46:27 Yeah, there are different translations. But the translation I'll read is from the peacock in the poison grove. Verse 114. Aha! The appearance that delights our mind, though independent when unanalyzed, definitely lacks an inner core. However, the fact that phenomena appear as if they exist is profound and difficult for the dull-witted to understand. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:27 Highlight the passage at 1:46:27

1:47:05 So Report an error in the passage at 1:47:05 Highlight the passage at 1:47:05

1:47:09 the appearance that delights our mind. Though independent when unanalyzed, definitely lacks an inner core. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:09 Highlight the passage at 1:47:09

1:47:21 So everything that appears to our mind is just an appearance due to our karma. It delights our mind. Well, sometimes the appearances delight our minds. And we think that they exist inherently or independently when we don't analyze them. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:21 Highlight the passage at 1:47:21

1:47:45 But as soon as we analyze them, we realize that they don't exist from their own side. They don't exist inherently. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:45 Highlight the passage at 1:47:45

1:47:56 So the appearance delights our minds, and when we don't analyze, they seem as if they're inherently existent. But when we analyze correctly, then we understand that they don't exist inherently. They don't exist the way they appear. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:56 Highlight the passage at 1:47:56

1:48:22 They don't exist from their own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:22 Highlight the passage at 1:48:22

1:48:33 However, the fact that phenomena appear as if they exist is profound and difficult for the dull-witted to understand. Okay, so Report an error in the passage at 1:48:33 Highlight the passage at 1:48:33

1:48:50 realizing the true nature of reality is very profound. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:50 Highlight the passage at 1:48:50

1:48:59 So it's difficult to understand. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:59 Highlight the passage at 1:48:59

1:49:08 So there are the various schools, philosophical schools. The tenant schools and all of the schools below Marimika Prasangika are presenting a view that's not negating enough really. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:08 Highlight the passage at 1:49:08

1:49:58 So once again this verse is emphasizing the fact that nothing exists inherently but things do exist conventionally. They exist conventionally if we don't analyze them. But as soon as we analyze, we Report an error in the passage at 1:49:58 Highlight the passage at 1:49:58

1:50:24 understand that things don't exist inherently. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:24 Highlight the passage at 1:50:24

1:50:30 So they don't exist inherently. They don't exist from their own side. They don't exist truly. They don't exist ultimately. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:30 Highlight the passage at 1:50:30

1:50:42 They don't exist objectively. They don't exist independently. They don't exist in any of those ways. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:42 Highlight the passage at 1:50:42

1:50:55 But they do exist conventionally if we don't analyze. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:55 Highlight the passage at 1:50:55

1:51:04 So the solution is to analyze, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:04 Highlight the passage at 1:51:04

1:51:10 When that affliction arises, analyze that object of affliction or analyze that self and see if we can find it. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:10 Highlight the passage at 1:51:10

1:51:36 We are so close to the end of the text. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:36 Highlight the passage at 1:51:36

1:51:43 Should we try to finish it? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:43 Highlight the passage at 1:51:43

1:51:58 that's better for everybody else to actually... actually be able to wrap it up, you guys should go What do people want to do? Who wants to stay? Well, it's been five minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:58 Highlight the passage at 1:51:58

1:52:16 I'm not attached. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:16 Highlight the passage at 1:52:16

1:52:32 Yeah, we're going to have study groups anyway, so we could finish the text and do study group the same session. Or we could try... Actually, I don't want to finish it right now, because it's good to do a summary at the end as well, instead of just rush through the end. So, okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:32 Highlight the passage at 1:52:32

1:52:59 Or oftentimes the lamas, they'll get through a certain part of the text and then they have one hour left. They always tend to finish, but how much detail is another question. Okay, so we'll stop there for this week and then we'll just have three verses next time and then we'll... and it worked Report an error in the passage at 1:52:59 Highlight the passage at 1:52:59

1:53:30 Do a summary and then if we have time we'll start a study session, a study group after that. So let's talk about that. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:30 Highlight the passage at 1:53:30

1:53:44 So next Friday is Sok. The Friday after that is Venomorine. The Friday after that is Sok. And the Friday after that is October 12th. And the Friday after that is October 19th. And Choki wanted to start Heart Sūtra either the 19th of October, ideally the 19th of October or the 26th, because Geshu Dakpa is leaving that week, and so it's best if we start a new class. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:44 Highlight the passage at 1:53:44

1:54:20 So she and I talked about starting the Heart Sūtra on the 26th. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:20 Highlight the passage at 1:54:20

1:54:29 So if we... run them together. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:29 Highlight the passage at 1:54:29

1:54:33 So I thought that perhaps we could shoot for having the exam on the 12th to give us at least one week off between this class and the Heart Sūtra, which means that we'd have to do study groups during the time, the next three weeks, when the Sok and Renee are here. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:33 Highlight the passage at 1:54:33

1:54:59 So one option is to do it on a Sunday afternoon. How does Sunday afternoon work for people? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:59 Highlight the passage at 1:54:59

1:55:13 It won't be this Sunday. That's two days from now. But a week from Sunday, if we did... Report an error in the passage at 1:55:13 Highlight the passage at 1:55:13

1:55:35 Well, I talked to Chokie and maybe we could use LPP. Go downstairs and use them. Yeah, I mean, next weekend is Feng Shui weekend, all day Saturday and all day Sunday. So we'd have to go downstairs. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:35 Highlight the passage at 1:55:35

1:55:57 So what do people think? Who can't do Sunday afternoon? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:57 Highlight the passage at 1:55:57

1:56:14 Yeah, that's a good question. All right, so I was thinking Sunday afternoon on the 23rd. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:14 Highlight the passage at 1:56:14

1:56:28 So if we did it at 2 o 'clock, Report an error in the passage at 1:56:28 Highlight the passage at 1:56:28

1:56:34 say if we did 2 to 4, we could do 2 to 4, and who would not be able to do that? Who Report an error in the passage at 1:56:34 Highlight the passage at 1:56:34

1:56:46 would be able to do that? Okay, that sounds good. So we'll plan on that. And then we can, that's next Sunday, a week from Sunday, the 23rd. Yeah, okay. And then we can decide next week if we want to have a study group the following Sunday and the Sunday after that. We can see. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:46 Highlight the passage at 1:56:46

1:57:24 So the last class will be Sunday the 23rd. Yeah, and if we have time we'll do study group too, after that, yeah. Right, exactly. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:24 Highlight the passage at 1:57:24

1:57:42 I will let you know, Chokey needs to check with LPP to see if that space is, it's okay for us to use that space, but homework. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:42 Highlight the passage at 1:57:42

1:58:00 I'll email him, yeah. Jay and Tim and Robert, Betty. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:00 Highlight the passage at 1:58:00

1:58:23 Oh yeah. then how will Jay find out? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:23 Highlight the passage at 1:58:23

1:58:28 Here, I have plenty. Anybody else didn't get one? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:28 Highlight the passage at 1:58:28

1:58:46 Page six. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:46 Highlight the passage at 1:58:46

1:59:02 Through the merits of these virtuous actions, may I quickly attain the state of a Guru Buddha and lead all living beings without exception into that enlightened state. May the supreme jewel bodhicitta that has not arisen arise and grow and may that which has arisen not diminish but increase more and more. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:02 Highlight the passage at 1:59:02

1:59:24 In the land encircled by snow mountains, you are the source of all happiness and good. All-powerful Chenrezig, Tenzin Gyatso, please remain until saṃsāra ends. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:24 Highlight the passage at 1:59:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:00:16 Oh, I'm going to have to stick the glass on the main part before I get it, huh? I'm going to do this vlog and write it out, but I just want to do it. It's great to just try. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:16 Highlight the passage at 2:00:16

2:00:32 is there a stoplight? Report an error in the passage at 2:00:32 Highlight the passage at 2:00:32