Special Insight 3: Wisdom of Emptiness (29 November 2011)

0:03 I had a little... It's my burrito today. It Report an error in the passage at 0:03 Highlight the passage at 0:03

0:14 was the microphone. I was just kidding. Report an error in the passage at 0:14 Highlight the passage at 0:14

0:28 Alright, so we'll start by calming the mind and meditating on the breath. And Report an error in the passage at 0:28 Highlight the passage at 0:28

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1:32 set our motivation for tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:32 Highlight the passage at 1:32

1:47 We can try to think about the countless beings. We're Report an error in the passage at 1:47 Highlight the passage at 1:47

1:58 all trying to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:58 Highlight the passage at 1:58

2:29 Difficulties. Report an error in the passage at 2:29 Highlight the passage at 2:29

2:42 Anxiety. Report an error in the passage at 2:42 Highlight the passage at 2:42

3:08 So much pain. Report an error in the passage at 3:08 Highlight the passage at 3:08

3:24 To still being under the control of mental afflictions and karma. Report an error in the passage at 3:24 Highlight the passage at 3:24

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4:07 So the only way to achieve lasting happiness for ourselves and others is to tame our minds and Report an error in the passage at 4:07 Highlight the passage at 4:07

4:19 mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 4:19 Highlight the passage at 4:19

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4:55 Trying to develop a wish to free ourselves and others from this cycle of Report an error in the passage at 4:55 Highlight the passage at 4:55

5:08 avoidable suffering. Alright, Report an error in the passage at 5:08 Highlight the passage at 5:08

· · · silence, 1 minute

6:17 we'll start with the Praise to Manjushri in the White Book on the first page. Report an error in the passage at 6:17 Highlight the passage at 6:17

6:33 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 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 6:33 Highlight the passage at 6:33

6:58 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 the 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 6:58 Highlight the passage at 6:58

7:38 With 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. And then the Heart Sūtra on page 76. Report an error in the passage at 7:38 Highlight the passage at 7:38

8:08 I prostrate to the Arya triple gem. Thus did I hear at one time. The Bhagavan was dwelling on Mass Vulture's mountain in Rajgriya, together with a great community of monks and a great community of bodhisattvas. At that time, the Bhagavan was absorbed in the concentration on the categories of phenomena called profound perception. Also at that time, the bodhisattva, mahasattva, aria, avalukitasvara, looked upon the very practice of the profound perfection of wisdom and beheld those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature. Report an error in the passage at 8:08 Highlight the passage at 8:08

8:41 Then through the power of Buddha, the venerable Shariputra said this to the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara. How should any son of the lineage train who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom? He said that and the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara said this to the venerable Sharivadiputra. Report an error in the passage at 8:41 Highlight the passage at 8:41

9:03 Shariputra, any son of the lineage or daughter of the lineage who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom should look upon it like this, correctly and repeatedly beholding those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature. Form is empty, emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form. Form is also not other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness are empty. Report an error in the passage at 9:03 Highlight the passage at 9:03

9:31 Shariputra, likewise all phenomena are emptiness, without characteristic, unproduced, unceased, stainless, not without stain, not deficient, not fulfilled. Shariputra, therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness, no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no visual form, no sound, no odor, no taste, no object of touch. Report an error in the passage at 9:31 Highlight the passage at 9:31

10:00 There is no phenomenon. There is no I element and so on up to and including no mind element and no mental consciousness element. There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance and so on up to and including no aging and death and no extinction of aging and death. Similarly, there is no suffering, origination, cessation and path. There is no exalted wisdom, no attainment and also no non attainment. Report an error in the passage at 10:00 Highlight the passage at 10:00

10:26 Shariputra, therefore, because there is no attainment, bodhisattvas rely on and dwell in the perfection of wisdom, the mind without obscuration and without fear. Having completely passed beyond error, they reach the end point of nirvāṇa. All the Buddhas who dwell in the three times also manifestly completely awaken to unsurpassable, perfect, complete enlightenment in reliance on the perfection of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 10:26 Highlight the passage at 10:26

10:52 Therefore, the mantra of the perfection of wisdom. The mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, the mantra equal to the unequal, the mantra that thoroughly pacifies all suffering should be known as truth since it is not false. The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is declared. Thayata om gate gate paragate parasam gate bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 10:52 Highlight the passage at 10:52

11:15 Shariputra, the bodhisattva, mahasattva should train in the profound perfection of wisdom like that. Then the Bhagavan arose from that concentration and commended the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokitesvara saying, Well said, well said, son of the lineage, it is like that. It is like that. One should practice the profound perfection of wisdom just as you have indicated. Even the Tatatikas rejoice. The Bhagavan having thus spoken, the venerable Sharivadiputra, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokitesvara. Report an error in the passage at 11:15 Highlight the passage at 11:15

11:49 And those surrounding in their entirety, along with the world of gods, humans, asuras and Gandharvas, were overjoyed and highly praised that spoken by the Bhagavan. And then on page 98, refuge in bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 11:49 Highlight the passage at 11:49

12:11 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. I go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 12:11 Highlight the passage at 12:11

12:35 I go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 12:35 Highlight the passage at 12:35

12:59 So we've been talking about the two truths, remember? Report an error in the passage at 12:59 Highlight the passage at 12:59

13:10 It is like that. Report an error in the passage at 13:10 Highlight the passage at 13:10

13:14 You know, I've been working on an upcoming book that's coming out by Lama Zopa Rinpoche on emptiness. And I found a couple of quotes that I want to share with you that I thought were nice on the benefits of meditating on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 13:14 Highlight the passage at 13:14

13:38 So one quote. By meditating upon emptiness for even one second, the heavy negative karma of the ten non-virtuous actions is purified. As is mentioned in various sutras, even the intention to meditate upon emptiness or merely having faith in the teachings on emptiness can purify heavy negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 13:38 Highlight the passage at 13:38

14:07 So we can rejoice that we are trying. Report an error in the passage at 14:07 Highlight the passage at 14:07

14:14 Thinking about emptiness, trying to uproot our saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 14:14 Highlight the passage at 14:14

14:24 And then here's another quote where he says, we can see how even in this world many human beings are born and die with totally empty lives, lives without meaning. In our own case, even if we are unable to practice in our daily lives, at least by reading about emptiness, And by listening to teachings upon it, we leave positive imprints on our mental continuum and thus make preparation to realize emptiness in the near future. Report an error in the passage at 14:24 Highlight the passage at 14:24

15:00 Definitely we will find it much easier to understand the Buddha's emptiness teachings, as well as those commentaries by ancient, highly attained pandits, yogis and great scholars such as Lama Tsongkhapa. Emptiness realizations will also come more quickly. Report an error in the passage at 15:00 Highlight the passage at 15:00

15:22 Then through developing that wisdom, we will be able to cease the gross and subtle defilements that are the mistakes of the mind. We will be able to achieve the sorrowless state that is the cessation of suffering together with its causes that are carried on one's own mental continuum. Report an error in the passage at 15:22 Highlight the passage at 15:22

15:45 Additionally, we will be able to achieve full enlightenment, which means we attain the great liberation from even the subtlest mistakes of our mind. Report an error in the passage at 15:45 Highlight the passage at 15:45

16:02 So it's nice to remind ourselves. Once in a while. Report an error in the passage at 16:02 Highlight the passage at 16:02

16:10 What a great thing it is to think about emptiness, to meditate on emptiness, to aspire to meditate on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 16:10 Highlight the passage at 16:10

16:28 So we can do it. It's just a matter of making the effort consistently over time, Report an error in the passage at 16:28 Highlight the passage at 16:28

16:38 planting those imprints and then purifying and accumulating merit. There's another quote I need to find and I'll share it with you another time. Report an error in the passage at 16:38 Highlight the passage at 16:38

16:54 When we have all the conditions together, we've accumulated Report an error in the passage at 16:54 Highlight the passage at 16:54

17:02 merit, we purify then. It's like that. Report an error in the passage at 17:02 Highlight the passage at 17:02

17:10 Suddenly we get it. Suddenly it all becomes clear. The Report an error in the passage at 17:10 Highlight the passage at 17:10

17:24 two truths. Ultimate truth and concealer truths. Report an error in the passage at 17:24 Highlight the passage at 17:24

17:35 So just a brief review. So we talked about how everything that exists, right, all objects of knowledge are either Are one of the two truths, right? Either an ultimate truth or a concealer truth, right? There's nothing that's both and there's nothing that exists that's neither. Report an error in the passage at 17:35 Highlight the passage at 17:35

17:59 So everything that we, well everything, well okay, emptiness, right, is ultimate truth. The only ultimate truth is emptiness or true cessations or nirvāṇa. Report an error in the passage at 17:59 Highlight the passage at 17:59

18:13 Ultimate truth. Everything else that exists is a concealer truth. A concealer truth, right? So why is it called a concealer truth? Because it's deceptive. It's only a truth for ignorance. Truth meaning it exists the way that it appears. Report an error in the passage at 18:13 Highlight the passage at 18:13

18:40 So everything other than emptiness is a falsity. Report an error in the passage at 18:40 Highlight the passage at 18:40

18:49 It does not exist the way that it appears. Report an error in the passage at 18:49 Highlight the passage at 18:49

18:56 So sometimes we grasp onto, well, that's a conventional truth at least, right? Like, that's real. I know, I know it's empty, but, but, cake is delicious. Or that person really is, right, beautiful or a jerk or, right? You know, conventionally it is, right? It's a conventional truth. Conventional truths are all falsity. They aren't real. Report an error in the passage at 18:56 Highlight the passage at 18:56

19:37 They only exist from a worldly perspective. They exist. Convention from a particular perspective. They don't exist that way objectively, Report an error in the passage at 19:37 Highlight the passage at 19:37

19:58 independently, from their own side. Report an error in the passage at 19:58 Highlight the passage at 19:58

20:09 Just a convention. So they're not even truths. They're not even truths. They're only called truths because ignorance believes they exist the way they appear. They're only truths. For ignorance. But they're not really truths. They're just called truths. For ignorance. For concealers. Report an error in the passage at 20:09 Highlight the passage at 20:09

20:53 And that's a big thing to understand, right? It's a huge thing to understand. And we'll go through that a little bit more. So the two truths, right? There's nothing that's both. And everything that exists, every object of knowledge, is either a conventional truth or a concealer truth or an ultimate truth. Report an error in the passage at 20:53 Highlight the passage at 20:53

21:18 we talked about how... The two truths are the same entity, but different isolates. That the cup and the emptiness of the cup are the same entity, Report an error in the passage at 21:18 Highlight the passage at 21:18

21:40 but conceptual, they're different isolates. Conceptually we can think about them separately, but they're the same entity. Report an error in the passage at 21:40 Highlight the passage at 21:40

21:53 Just like the cup and the color of the cup are the same entity. The cup and the shape of the cup are the same entity. Like you can't separate those two. You can conceptually think about them differently, right? But they're the same entity. The cup and the impermanence of the cup are the same entity. The Report an error in the passage at 21:53 Highlight the passage at 21:53

22:20 cup and the emptiness of the cup are the same entity. Different isolates. There are two. Report an error in the passage at 22:20 Highlight the passage at 22:20

22:33 So every phenomenon you can... Posit the two truths on every phenomenon. The conventional truth or the concealer truth is the basis. The cup is the basis. And the ultimate truth or the ultimate nature is the emptiness of that basis. Report an error in the passage at 22:33 Highlight the passage at 22:33

23:02 So it's not like ultimate truth is like a whole other world. Like when I realize emptiness, I can go off and live in the ultimate truth land. And we're all in the conventional truth land. Oftentimes people kind of think that way, right? And it's not like that, right? The ultimate truth is just the final nature of phenomena. The final nature of a particular concealer truth. Report an error in the passage at 23:02 Highlight the passage at 23:02

23:36 Like, in a way, a characteristic of something. It's the final way that it exists. Report an error in the passage at 23:36 Highlight the passage at 23:36

23:49 Like emptiness, the ultimate truth, is like a characteristic of the cup. Like the emptiness of the cup is like a characteristic of the cup. The impermanence of the cup is a characteristic of the cup. Report an error in the passage at 23:49 Highlight the passage at 23:49

24:05 Yeah, the concealer truth is the basis. Like the cup, the cup is the concealer truth. And then it has many characteristics, right? Like the color, the shape, the impermanence. The emptiness of it. But the emptiness is kind of, I roughly, loosely say it's a characteristic because it's more fundamental than that. Report an error in the passage at 24:05 Highlight the passage at 24:05

24:35 It's the deepest nature of how it exists. But I just say it's a characteristic because it kind of helps us see that emptiness is not something separate from phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 24:35 Highlight the passage at 24:35

24:49 It's not space. Emptiness is not space. We talked about that last time. One of our mistakes, well, one common mistake when we meditate on emptiness, we meditate on space and think that that's meditating on emptiness. And that's not meditating on emptiness. It's a way to get a feeling of emptiness. Oftentimes it's described as space-like meditative equipoise. Report an error in the passage at 24:49 Highlight the passage at 24:49

25:22 It's similar to space, but it's not space. It's specifically negating that object of refutation. The difference between meditating on space, which is a concealer truth, and meditating on the emptiness of that object we always believe existed. The lack of that object. Report an error in the passage at 25:22 Highlight the passage at 25:22

25:53 Like the difference between meditating on space and the lack of that snake in the room that I think, you know, that I'm scared of, right? If I think that there's a snake in the room and I'm scared, I can meditate on space and I can distract myself for a little while. But as soon as I rise from that meditation, my fear of that snake will come right back. Whereas... Report an error in the passage at 25:53 Highlight the passage at 25:53

26:21 Meditating on, oh, well, that snake is not really there. That's just a figment of my imagination. Then when you rise, the fear isn't there. Report an error in the passage at 26:21 Highlight the passage at 26:21

26:31 And so that's the thing about emptiness, is that we can meditate on space. We can meditate on calm abiding without the wisdom. And we can have a vacation from the mental afflictions. And we can have peace and bliss. But it's not going to help us when we get up. Report an error in the passage at 26:31 Highlight the passage at 26:31

26:49 It's not going to remove our mental afflictions, right? It's just a holiday. day. Report an error in the passage at 26:49 Highlight the passage at 26:49

26:56 So that's why we need to combine our calm abiding with special insight so that we can uproot the mental afflictions because the basis of the mental affliction doesn't exist. Report an error in the passage at 26:56 Highlight the passage at 26:56

27:17 So the two truths can be posited on each phenomena. So each phenomena has two natures, right? A conventional nature and an ultimate nature. Conventional nature is cup. Ultimate nature is the emptiness of cup. Report an error in the passage at 27:17 Highlight the passage at 27:17

27:37 So then we get to kind of a difficult point, right? Report an error in the passage at 27:37 Highlight the passage at 27:37

27:45 So in general, Report an error in the passage at 27:45 Highlight the passage at 27:45

27:53 ultimate truths are objects known or realized by the wisdom realizing emptiness. Ultimate truths are objects that are known or realized by the wisdom realizing emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 27:53 Highlight the passage at 27:53

28:10 Concealer truths are object known. By conventional valid cognizers. Report an error in the passage at 28:10 Highlight the passage at 28:10

28:20 Concealer truths are objects known by conventional valid cognizers. Report an error in the passage at 28:20 Highlight the passage at 28:20

28:31 They're called concealer truths because they're truths for ignorance. But we're not saying that ignorance establishes the existence of conventional truths or concealer truths. Right? Right, we made that point. In the last class, but it's kind of a difficult one to get, right? So it's conventional valid cognition that validly establishes something to exist. Report an error in the passage at 28:31 Highlight the passage at 28:31

29:07 But it's called a concealer truth because it's only a truth for ignorance, right? A concealer of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 29:07 Highlight the passage at 29:07

29:21 It's an etymology of the term. Report an error in the passage at 29:21 Highlight the passage at 29:21

29:33 So it's a reminder that... All of these things do not exist the way they appear. They are falsities. They're deceptive. Report an error in the passage at 29:33 Highlight the passage at 29:33

29:47 All right. So all that is clear? Report an error in the passage at 29:47 Highlight the passage at 29:47

29:55 For now. Oh, okay. So another thing. All right. So we said, okay, so concealer truths are objects known by conventional valid cognition and ultimate truths are objects known by ultimate valid cognition. Report an error in the passage at 29:55 Highlight the passage at 29:55

30:15 And conventional... Valid cognition is not superseded or invalidated by ultimate valid cognition. So conventional valid cognition will establish this as being a cup validly. Report an error in the passage at 30:15 Highlight the passage at 30:15

30:36 Ultimate valid cognition does not refute this being a cup. It refutes it being a cup from its own side. It only refutes the inherent existence of the cup, but it doesn't refute. The conventional existence of the cup, right? Report an error in the passage at 30:36 Highlight the passage at 30:36

31:04 So we are back to the text. Report an error in the passage at 31:04 Highlight the passage at 31:04

31:16 So on the bottom of page 290, Report an error in the passage at 31:16 Highlight the passage at 31:16

31:31 so where it says the last paragraph of page 290, in accordance with this clear statement, worldly concealer truths should be understood as truths for the concealer, which is the ignorance explained earlier. Report an error in the passage at 31:31 Highlight the passage at 31:31

31:49 They should not be understood as truly established conventionally. Report an error in the passage at 31:49 Highlight the passage at 31:49

31:56 So we've talked about this before, right? So concealer truths, cups, tables, people do not exist inherently, truly from their own side, even conventionally. Report an error in the passage at 31:56 Highlight the passage at 31:56

32:16 They don't exist from their own side inherently. Ultimately, And they don't exist from their own side, even conventionally. Report an error in the passage at 32:16 Highlight the passage at 32:16

32:28 So here Lama Tsongkhapa is refuting basically the Sva Tantrikas. The Sva Tantrikas say, oh yeah, well nothing exists inherently. Ultimately, but conventionally, things must exist inherently. Because if you can't point to something as being that, Report an error in the passage at 32:28 Highlight the passage at 32:28

32:54 If you can't find it, how can it possibly exist? The Prasangika position is you can't find it at all if you search for it and it still exists and it functions. Report an error in the passage at 32:54 Highlight the passage at 32:54

33:15 So this is very difficult to understand, right? That you can't find it at all, at all, nowhere to be found and yet it still exists and it functions. Report an error in the passage at 33:15 Highlight the passage at 33:15

33:33 All the schools below Prasangika say, how can you say that it exists if you can't find it? So Svatantrikas would say, okay, well you can't find it ultimately, but conventionally you can find it, you know? Conventionally it exists from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 33:33 Highlight the passage at 33:33

34:00 Which makes a lot of sense. Very difficult to get to the Prasangika view. Report an error in the passage at 34:00 Highlight the passage at 34:00

34:14 There's probably a lot of arguments. Yeah. So, yeah, it's very difficult. It's very, very subtle. And I was just reading, Lama Zopa Rinpoche was saying, you know, the reason we study Svatantrika is to help us understand how incredibly subtle the Prasangika view. Report an error in the passage at 34:14 Highlight the passage at 34:14

34:42 Because Svatantrikas say, well, yeah, everything is imputed by the mind. This cup is imputed by the mind. But there must be something from the side of the object, something to make it valid to call it a cup, some cupness from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 34:42 Highlight the passage at 34:42

35:06 Okay, it's imputed by the mind, but there's something from the side of the object that makes it, yeah, a little bit of cupness there, right? And the prosaing can just say, nope. Report an error in the passage at 35:06 Highlight the passage at 35:06

35:25 As Rinpoche says, it's almost as if it doesn't exist at all. So subtle, so subtle. Report an error in the passage at 35:25 Highlight the passage at 35:25

35:39 So they should not be understood as truly established conventionally because otherwise it would contradict a system of non-occurrence of which establishment by way of its own characteristics. I'll Report an error in the passage at 35:39 Highlight the passage at 35:39

36:00 try that again. Because it would contradict a system in which established by way of its own characteristics is impossible even conventionally. So that's the Prasangika. Position. Establishment by way of its own characteristics from its own side is impossible, even conventionally. Report an error in the passage at 36:00 Highlight the passage at 36:00

36:36 Then there's this doubt that comes up on page 291 at the top. So this person is saying, okay, well, these concealer truths, concealer truths, if a concealer truths were established, or truths for a concealer, right, for emptiness, that means... What did I say? Truths for ignorance, that means that the self of persons and the self of phenomena are truths. Right? Report an error in the passage at 36:36 Highlight the passage at 36:36

37:09 Because ignorance posits that inherently existent persons and phenomena exist. Right? Lama Tsongkhapa says, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no. Remember, right, that it's not ignorance that... That posits the existence, the valid existence of concealer truth. It's conventional valid cognition that posits the existence. Report an error in the passage at 37:09 Highlight the passage at 37:09

37:37 Oh, Report an error in the passage at 37:37 Highlight the passage at 37:37

37:52 thanks Jessica. Report an error in the passage at 37:52 Highlight the passage at 37:52

38:00 That might bring me to what I was just thinking about because, okay, conventional valid cognition, maybe I need to be reminded of the definition because, you know, in light of what you were just saying before, somehow when we get to this point in the argument, I go back to what is it that the... Prasangikas say that makes the snake a snake as opposed to being a rope. I know that it's more than just a label, but there's something beyond. Report an error in the passage at 38:00 Highlight the passage at 38:00

38:37 I guess I don't get what they mean by what makes it the valid cognition. I need to be reminded at this point because I got lost. yeah so let's Let's talk about two things. So what makes it valid conventionally to call it a snake and not a rope? So there were those three conditions that it must be established by worldly renown, known by worldly renown as a snake and not a rope. Report an error in the passage at 38:37 Highlight the passage at 38:37

39:19 And it's not undermined by conventional valid cognition. It's not undermined by... Ultimate valid cognition. Report an error in the passage at 39:19 Highlight the passage at 39:19

39:30 So worldly renown, not damaged by a conventional valid cognizer, not damaged by a valid cognizer. Then Report an error in the passage at 39:30 Highlight the passage at 39:30

39:52 with conventional, well with valid cognition, it goes back to low rig. There's two types of valid cognition, direct valid cognition and inferential valid cognition. And Report an error in the passage at 39:52 Highlight the passage at 39:52

40:16 valid cognizer is... Report an error in the passage at 40:16 Highlight the passage at 40:16

40:21 The way they study it in Lowrig is an incontrovertible knower. Incontrovertible knower. Cannot be proven wrong by another valid cognition. I'll just say in general, loosely. Report an error in the passage at 40:21 Highlight the passage at 40:21

40:58 So interestingly, what makes a valid cognition, what makes something Validly existing, worldly renowned, not damaged by conventional valid cognition, not damaged by ultimate valid cognition. That's all from the side of the mind, right? Worldly renowned, two types of valid cognition. It's not saying what makes it exist validly is what the object really is. Report an error in the passage at 40:58 Highlight the passage at 40:58

41:31 We're not talking from the object side. This is, I think, very significant, right? Report an error in the passage at 41:31 Highlight the passage at 41:31

41:38 It's what's established by minds, whereas Report an error in the passage at 41:38 Highlight the passage at 41:38

41:50 like the Spatantricists would say, okay, well, it's validly a cup because it is a cup, right? You can call it a cup validly because it is one. It functions as one. Report an error in the passage at 41:50 Highlight the passage at 41:50

42:07 But Persangica is much more subtle. Because we have a convention that it's a cup and that's not... Refuted by another valid cognition. It's just a convention. Report an error in the passage at 42:07 Highlight the passage at 42:07

42:24 And there's functionalities included in the convention, right? Because we wouldn't call this a cup because it doesn't function as a cup. Report an error in the passage at 42:24 Highlight the passage at 42:24

42:39 Did that answer your question? Report an error in the passage at 42:39 Highlight the passage at 42:39

42:45 Partly, but for me it kind of stays intellectual at that point. I think I need to take low rig again because I'm still having difficulty. Report an error in the passage at 42:45 Highlight the passage at 42:45

43:00 Feeling the understanding of what makes something, you know, even a conventional valid cognition, you know, like, because I said so, you know. Report an error in the passage at 43:00 Highlight the passage at 43:00

43:17 That's where it's getting to for me. Yeah, I need more. Report an error in the passage at 43:17 Highlight the passage at 43:17

43:25 Well, the worldly renown part is easier to see. Report an error in the passage at 43:25 Highlight the passage at 43:25

43:33 I'd have to go back over that. Yeah, it's slippery. Yeah, I vaguely remember that there's more to it in terms of understanding these definitions, like you said, of the two types of valid cognition, and I need to kind of get back to that. Anyway, thank you. Yeah. I mean, I think it is slippery because things don't exist from their own side, right? Report an error in the passage at 43:33 Highlight the passage at 43:33

44:01 If they existed from their own side, it's... It's very clear. If it really is a cup, then it's valid to call it a cup. If it really is a person, then it's valid to call it a person. You know, this is what the lower schools say. It's valid to call it a table because it is a table. It's valid to call this Emily because it is Emily. Report an error in the passage at 44:01 Highlight the passage at 44:01

44:29 It's valid to call this Sechenling because it is Sechenling. Report an error in the passage at 44:29 Highlight the passage at 44:29

44:35 Yeah, that's the way we've been thinking since beginning list time, right? I think the reason why, I mean it's pretty key why it's difficult to really get a real good feeling of conventional valid cognition is because it's slippery. It depends on society and how we look at things and how we've agreed to look at things. Report an error in the passage at 44:35 Highlight the passage at 44:35

45:10 Right? We've just, society has agreed. You know, it's not... Valid or not from its own side. It's just an agreement. I mean, and functionality too, right? I mean, if it was just agreement, we could stop with number one, worldly renown. Maybe it's that term valid that gets me. I mean, I know it's a mind, but why is this mind valid and some other minds not? I mean, functionality does have something to do with it, right? Report an error in the passage at 45:10 Highlight the passage at 45:10

45:47 Because we say nothing exists from its own side and things still function. So Jessica's a scientist, right? She knows. It's not that all the scientists just get together and agree, okay, let's call it this, right? Report an error in the passage at 45:47 Highlight the passage at 45:47

46:07 But there are experiments. Some things operate in one way and some things operate in another way. You can't just... Agree, right, that the sun revolves around the earth and make that valid, right? I mean, we did agree on that as a society, right, a long time ago, right? But then through scientific experiments, right, you know, it was seen, oh, well, actually, it's not that way. And so the valid cognizer, right, knows new more deeply, right? Report an error in the passage at 46:07 Highlight the passage at 46:07

46:45 Had done the scientific experiments. And so, okay, well, actually, that's worldly renown, but it doesn't actually work that way, right? So that's why we need the second and the third. Actually, we don't even need the first. We only need the second and the third. But the first gives us a flavor, right, that valid existence is really determined by the world, right? Report an error in the passage at 46:45 Highlight the passage at 46:45

47:16 In general. So it kind of gives us a sense, a better sense of concealer truth. But technically speaking, we only need the second and the third. Report an error in the passage at 47:16 Highlight the passage at 47:16

47:30 Jessica and then Peter. I don't know. I'm just going to throw this out there. I don't know if it'll help you, Hillary, but because this came up for me, it's ringing a bell from the emptiness retreat. And I don't know if you remember, but I was like stuck on this. Oh, yeah. Because as a scientist, I felt like, well, scientific truths change and we still like. Report an error in the passage at 47:30 Highlight the passage at 47:30

47:46 We can think something is true today, but not in 50 years. It might be different. We might have discovered something new. So when I asked this question at the emptiness retreat, I was like, so then can the valid cognizer, I mean, that has to be a flexible thing. It's not like the valid cognizer is a valid cognizer for always and forever throughout time. There's some valid cognizers at certain periods of time given the... Report an error in the passage at 47:46 Highlight the passage at 47:46

48:13 information that's available right because isn't that kind of how we I don't know if I'm messing up the explanation, but there has to be a flexibility in valid cognizant, otherwise new information becomes apparent. Just like you said with the scientific experiment, worldly renown can be one thing. We thought worldly renown was the earth revolves around the sun, or no, vice versa, right? Report an error in the passage at 48:13 Highlight the passage at 48:13

48:44 Some scientists show that that wasn't the case. They were then the valid cognizers. It wasn't the same with worldly renown, but eventually everyone became a valid cognizer for that. I mean, now we all sort of agree on that as a truth or whatever, and kind of things can evolve. So I'm not putting it well, but I remember that I had the same issue, and I don't know if that's part of what you're getting stuck on, because I was getting stuck on how... Report an error in the passage at 48:44 Highlight the passage at 48:44

49:11 How do you change, the valid cognizant has to change when new information is discovered or is true. Because otherwise it doesn't make sense to me either. I don't know if that's... And just so you guys all know, there's not, as far as I understand, there's not a lot written in the text about conventional valid cognition. Report an error in the passage at 49:11 Highlight the passage at 49:11

49:44 And what you're saying, if it's allowed to evolve over time and all that kind of stuff, you know, is kind of, that's the way I think about it, that it can evolve over time. But I haven't found anything in the text to talk about that. So, Report an error in the passage at 49:44 Highlight the passage at 49:44

50:20 exactly, like that intrinsic objective, yeah, right, that's just, yeah, like, yeah, I mean, that's the way I think about it too, is like, Because that's what we tend to believe, right? And science is largely based on there's an objective reality out there waiting to be discovered, right? It doesn't exist that way, right? So that makes it hard for us to have like a solid ground to stand on, right? Report an error in the passage at 50:20 Highlight the passage at 50:20

50:57 It feels uncomfortable. But that's the way things actually exist. There is no objective reality. Report an error in the passage at 50:57 Highlight the passage at 50:57

51:11 Interesting stuff. So it's a good question, basically. It's a good question. And there's not an easy kind of resolution to it. Report an error in the passage at 51:11 Highlight the passage at 51:11

51:24 But it's interesting to think about. And I think thinking about it will help us get to emptiness, actually. Report an error in the passage at 51:24 Highlight the passage at 51:24

51:35 Peter, your hand up. Oh, it's actually a variation on what Jessica was saying, that worldly renown and valid cognition also changed from Time to time and culture to culture. I don't know if you remember that movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy, where the guy throws the bottle of Coca-Cola overboard and some pygmy tribe in Africa finds it and starts worshipping it as a god. Report an error in the passage at 51:35 Highlight the passage at 51:35

51:59 And so we can't really get caught up in worldly renown as, because I think our minds are looking for some kind of eternalism even in that. And worldly renown is constantly shifting and changing as well. But why it's worldly renown is because we all agree that it's a cup. A schizophrenic may see it as Napoleon. And in his mind it's valid, but that's not worldly renown. Report an error in the passage at 51:59 Highlight the passage at 51:59

52:23 I think that's really what they're getting at. There has to be some agreement with a majority in order for worldly renown to take place. And that can change from culture to culture, time to time, history to history. That's a big subject. object. Report an error in the passage at 52:23 Highlight the passage at 52:23

52:41 Yeah, like how many people do you need for it to be worldly renown? You know, I mean, we can get into big, long discussions and all that. So, Report an error in the passage at 52:41 Highlight the passage at 52:41

52:58 yeah, and I haven't seen anything specific in scriptures of what constitutes worldly renown, right? But yeah, Geshe-la often says, and I've brought it up before, right? You know, valid at a particular time. at a particular place so subjective subjective subjective depends on I mean the mind Report an error in the passage at 52:58 Highlight the passage at 52:58

53:36 intrinsically existing Report an error in the passage at 53:36 Highlight the passage at 53:36

53:41 okay so anyway okay Report an error in the passage at 53:41 Highlight the passage at 53:41

53:50 so so we also covered last time how right Report an error in the passage at 53:50 Highlight the passage at 53:50

53:57 each and every phenomenon has both a conventional and an ultimate nature and so specifically If we talk about the sprout, the sprout's nature that's found by the reasoning consciousness perceiving the meaning of suchness. So the nature that's found by the reasoning consciousness perceiving the meaning of emptiness is the ultimate nature of the cup. Report an error in the passage at 53:57 Highlight the passage at 53:57

54:31 And it's a true object of knowledge. So that's the emptiness, right? The nature of the cup. That's found by the reasoning consciousness analyzing emptiness is the ultimate nature of the cup. And that's considered a true object of knowledge because only emptiness is a true object of knowledge because it exists the way it appears. Report an error in the passage at 54:31 Highlight the passage at 54:31

55:02 And the essence found by the conventional consciousness comprehending a deceptive object is the concealer truth. The cup is the concealer truth. It's found by a consciousness that doesn't analyze the final way it exists. And so the cup is a deceptive object. It's a falsity. Report an error in the passage at 55:02 Highlight the passage at 55:02

55:29 And it's valid. Now that's kind of hard to get, right? It's a falsity. It's deceptive. It doesn't exist the way it appears. But it's valid conventionally by worldly renown. Report an error in the passage at 55:29 Highlight the passage at 55:29

55:47 But it's not really a cup, right? It's just valid conventionally because we... Agree that it's a cup. Report an error in the passage at 55:47 Highlight the passage at 55:47

56:03 So Report an error in the passage at 56:03 Highlight the passage at 56:03

56:06 then Lama Tsongkhapa makes the point. So there's two natures on the cup, the two truths, right? The cup and the emptiness of the cup. And it's not, right? And there are different kinds of consciousnesses that find the two truths on the cup, right? The ultimate consciousness, the reasoning consciousness finds the emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 56:06 Highlight the passage at 56:06

56:28 The conventional consciousness finds the cup. Report an error in the passage at 56:28 Highlight the passage at 56:28

56:35 Then he says it does not indicate that the cup is an ultimate truth for one consciousness and is a conventional truth or a concealer truth for another consciousness. It's not the cup that is an ultimate truth for one consciousness and a concealer truth for another consciousness. So sometimes people think that, right? Report an error in the passage at 56:35 Highlight the passage at 56:35

57:04 For some consciousnesses, the cup is the ultimate truth. Lama Tsongkhapa is the concealer, conventional truth. It's the emptiness of the cup that's the ultimate truth. And the cup itself is the concealer truth. Report an error in the passage at 57:04 Highlight the passage at 57:04

57:33 Then Lama Tsongkhapa gets into this, Report an error in the passage at 57:33 Highlight the passage at 57:33

57:39 this kind of technical point. Okay, so since a concealer truth is not a truth in fact, But is a truth only in the perspective of a consciousness apprehending true existence. It is necessary to ascertain it as a falsity in order to ascertain the very meaning of concealer truth. Report an error in the passage at 57:39 Highlight the passage at 57:39

58:08 So here Lama Tsongkhapa is making a distinction between, say, realizing something that is a concealer truth, like realizing this is a cup, doesn't mean that we realize it a concealer truth We realize it's a cup conventionally, but we're not realizing, necessarily realizing that it is deceptive object. Report an error in the passage at 58:08 Highlight the passage at 58:08

58:41 To realize it as a concealer truth means that we must realize that it's a deceptive object. It doesn't exist the way that it appears. Report an error in the passage at 58:41 Highlight the passage at 58:41

59:05 And in order to realize it is a deceptive object or falsity, we need to realize emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 59:05 Highlight the passage at 59:05

59:15 So we can realize it as being a cup and a conventional truth, right? But we don't realize it as a deceptive truth, right? A deceptive object until we really understand emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 59:15 Highlight the passage at 59:15

59:34 Does that make sense? Report an error in the passage at 59:34 Highlight the passage at 59:34

59:50 So... In other words, so in order to realize this cup as a false object of knowledge, realize that this is a false object of knowledge or a deceptive object, Lama Tsongkhapa says it's necessary to gain the view that causes disbelief in the conceived object of the apprehension of true existence through a rational consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 59:50 Highlight the passage at 59:50

1:00:20 So to... To ascertain this as a false object, we need to gain the view that it's not a cup from here. There's no cup at all from here. We need to understand it's merely imputed by the mind and there's no cup at all from the side of the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:20 Highlight the passage at 1:00:20

1:00:44 There's no cup from the side of the object. There's no person from the side of the body and mind. There's no me here at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:44 Highlight the passage at 1:00:44

1:01:02 Then once we understand that, then we understand, really understand it as a falsity. Then we understand the meaning, the very meaning of concealer truth. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:02 Highlight the passage at 1:01:02

1:01:24 Want a break? We have fortification in the other room. Leslie baked these amazing, do you call them raspberry bars? Raspberry bars, they're just the best from their own side. And then there are also, oh and you brought? Just desserts, brownies, wow. And there are truffles there, so we've got, we've got, so that should keep you, give you a buzz until the end of class, and then you can crash. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:24 Highlight the passage at 1:01:24

1:02:17 Definitely up and down, but I think slowly, slowly, grief, loss, Report an error in the passage at 1:02:17 Highlight the passage at 1:02:17

1:02:43 finality of it all. But, Being a Dharma practitioner, it's so much easier. It's easier to write him than it is to write somebody. Yeah, I was just talking to him this morning and he said that he got here instead. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:43 Highlight the passage at 1:02:43

1:03:05 It was very painful just to think about it. My mom dedicated a lot. She got special. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:05 Highlight the passage at 1:03:05

1:03:22 Yeah, you guys can teach each other. You can give your background, all the stuff you've learned and vice versa. That's good. We have debates. you know. Yeah, you guys have practices, but we have the philosophies. You guys don't know what you're doing. You and your practices. You're just practicing. Exactly. I think it's so funny that we're from tribal schools. No, but it's a good mix. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:22 Highlight the passage at 1:03:22

1:03:58 It's very good to get each other's perspective. And they're all coming down the same thing anyway. When it gets up to the Mahamudra Dzogchen level, it's all kind of... Report an error in the passage at 1:03:58 Highlight the passage at 1:03:58

1:04:08 Yeah, I mean different words, different ways of explaining things. You know, I mean different practices, some varying practices, but it all kind of works. Did you have a nice Thanksgiving? It was quiet, which was what I wanted. That's nice. So I really enjoyed it. I tried to do some practice. We had six people, which we never do. I'm Report an error in the passage at 1:04:08 Highlight the passage at 1:04:08

1:04:35 a Dharma student. I don't have a... Report an error in the passage at 1:04:35 Highlight the passage at 1:04:35

1:04:42 I still have enough belief in conventionality. It was fun. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:42 Highlight the passage at 1:04:42

1:04:53 Do something. You know, with people that you really love. Well, actually, one of our guests was watching here, Report an error in the passage at 1:04:53 Highlight the passage at 1:04:53

1:05:03 Levy, who Report an error in the passage at 1:05:03 Highlight the passage at 1:05:03

1:05:08 Lama Yeshe's first student, who studied with Shogun Rinpoche, Report an error in the passage at 1:05:08 Highlight the passage at 1:05:08

1:05:16 and some inspector. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:16 Highlight the passage at 1:05:16

1:05:22 He's an interesting guy. Yeah, great. Looks like it's all coming together, too. I think they have Gai Nuland scheduled. Yeah, Gai Nuland is scheduled in March. Oh, he asked people to friend his new book. Which is his new book? It's called something like Buddhism from A to Z. And it's his editing of His Holiness' Lehigh teachings, Lama teachings of Uva. That should be really helpful. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:22 Highlight the passage at 1:05:22

1:05:51 That must be what he's going to be teaching then. I saw it advertised as the Lama Rim and I thought, oh, he's going to teach the Lama Rim? I wanted him to teach something more technical because he's so brilliant at explaining. But then I remember everyone coming back from the Lehigh teachings. was like, ooh. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:51 Highlight the passage at 1:05:51

1:06:12 Because he goes into such depth that maybe this will make it more understandable. Yeah, well, I mean, no matter what, it'll be great, right? Thank you for precipitating that. If I can be a conduit. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:12 Highlight the passage at 1:06:12

1:06:30 Just ask him a good emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:30 Highlight the passage at 1:06:30

1:06:41 That's something Ziggy and I have an ongoing debate about. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:41 Highlight the passage at 1:06:41

1:06:55 I guess they have a good sign. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:55 Highlight the passage at 1:06:55

1:07:05 It's just opened up Geshe-la so much. It's true, and you can see that he's very happy with her and comfortable with her. Yeah, and so he can just... Is she homesick? Not that she's homesick. I'm not exactly sure. It's expensive. It's difficult. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:05 Highlight the passage at 1:07:05

1:07:36 Oh, yeah. I was hoping to have a class with her. We had a friend who dropped in. It would have been nice if town. Well, one door closes and another door opens. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:36 Highlight the passage at 1:07:36

1:07:57 Come eat some brownies. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:57 Highlight the passage at 1:07:57

1:08:05 years ago, he was an engineer, and it's wonderful. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:05 Highlight the passage at 1:08:05

1:08:14 we'll put a film line. I'm sort of like standing there and I'm listening to He's playing music a lot. It's a birthday. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:14 Highlight the passage at 1:08:14

1:08:28 And I'm standing there, and it was really funny because at one point I just sort of closed my eyes and I'm listening to this music and then I'm thinking, oh, I'm like, I'm trying to visualize things directly while that's going on. Because I'm thinking, well, it's a lot of noise going on in your time, you know, to be able to just sort of like do it anyway because it's there all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:28 Highlight the passage at 1:08:28

1:08:51 So it's kind of funny because it's sort of like find that space. Yeah, it was really, it wasn't like, oh, this is distracting me. It was sort of like embracing yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:51 Highlight the passage at 1:08:51

1:09:04 But it was funny because a friend was saying, oh, what was that? It was like, what did you do? And it was like, oh, we studied. Well, it was like, yeah, and then it was like, well, it's the one. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:04 Highlight the passage at 1:09:04

1:09:23 Thank you. Thank you. No, I know that. Especially when we went to the emptiness retreat, I would be like, um, you know what? I don't know how to explain what we talked about to you. But you know, I just sort of said, so, you know, it's just good to ask me questions. So I'm like, and I always say this now, it's like, do you really want to hear this? You know, and then you kind of look at every kind of thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:23 Highlight the passage at 1:09:23

1:09:43 Are they saying, oh, yes, because of your polite or are they really interested? Yeah. So, I mean, and this is what you're doing. Sort of like there's this, you know, Buddhism in this. It's deep, it's complex, you know, there's a lot of studies around these different subjects and so you spend time and time and stuff. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:43 Highlight the passage at 1:09:43

1:10:03 It's definitely not like most religions. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:03 Highlight the passage at 1:10:03

1:10:08 You don't have to study to really understand them on some level. You can study and be a scholar, but you can also not be a scholar and still believe the basics, right? Well, it's like 50 people. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:08 Highlight the passage at 1:10:08

1:10:32 Right. Just Report an error in the passage at 1:10:32 Highlight the passage at 1:10:32

1:10:37 pull out of it. I mean, it really is. I mean, you know, it's like it's a series of metaphors, but also it's like a series of weird documents that have been used for, you know, massive social media. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:37 Highlight the passage at 1:10:37

1:10:57 But there's so much that's completely irrational, too. You know, that you can't subject it to trial and error. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:57 Highlight the passage at 1:10:57

1:11:09 I agree. You just have to be unaccepted. No matter what you're studying, you're working here. Yeah. There was something that was very funny that was talking to a relative of theirs that was a Christian. And then they said, oh, you Buddhists, you know, there's like so many Buddhists, there's so much study. You know, it's like there's so much stuff, you're always working on it. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:09 Highlight the passage at 1:11:09

1:11:37 And you just sort of cut the Bible and you're going to say, what? Yeah, you didn't even have to literature that much. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:37 Highlight the passage at 1:11:37

1:11:46 Yeah, so I've been sort of like going through a phase where I'm trying to integrate a lot of this stuff into just how I process stuff every day. So it becomes part of my... Cognitive process. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:46 Highlight the passage at 1:11:46

1:12:17 No, I mean, this is just something I can give you an example. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's cool. It's like the idea that everything that takes place is a moment of karma. It's fruition. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:17 Highlight the passage at 1:12:17

1:12:37 not, and it's what, and it's. So everything, it's like if you think of, if it's like a, if you're in a river, you're flowing in a river, and everything that's sort of like the back pressure of just the molecules and the water and the movement that's taking place is like karmic fruition. And everything that's like forward is a generative process of how you respond to that. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:37 Highlight the passage at 1:12:37

1:13:09 In fact, it's sort of like, you know, you can go with it. Because at any moment, I can either forgive you or give me a chance to stop. Right, yeah, absolutely, there's always a chance. Yeah, you know, and so it's this combination of fruition from past development not determinism. Right, because you can still make a choice. We're constantly involved with ourselves. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:09 Highlight the passage at 1:13:09

1:13:31 It's almost like trying to be in a place where . Not making choices, but trying to just sort of kind of be present and feeling how that, you know, how all that stuff comes about and how we respond to people. And it's like when I look at someone and think, well, this person's my friend. I think, well, why is that person my friend? Why do I feel attractive? Why do I not want to talk to them? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:31 Highlight the passage at 1:13:31

1:13:59 And continually, you know. Yeah, you know, and so it's a combination of, you know, Report an error in the passage at 1:13:59 Highlight the passage at 1:13:59

1:14:12 I have a very strong faith and belief in the kind of connections that we do have with people, you know, that are, like, people who are sort of like Jim, and then he has like, in the future, that he's very supportive of people you don't want to be around, and then how, what we do with those signals. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:12 Highlight the passage at 1:14:12

1:14:35 And what we are attached to them, it's not possible. Just living, just living, just almost like everything we have. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:35 Highlight the passage at 1:14:35

1:14:49 It's like every time when I'm thinking of myself, it's the delusions. And not only delusions in the sense of being rational. Yeah. no, no, it's just what's your finger. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, the fundamental, the fundamental elements of it that I'm bringing towards of my own values. Right. Or your attachment or aversion or whatever is driving. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:49 Highlight the passage at 1:14:49

1:15:14 I've been trying to think about that too. Yeah. I don't know if that's a meaning or not. It is, it is what I mean. Yeah. Yeah. And then just because you can't, we're going to do it. Yeah. We're absolutely going to do it. It's interesting to think about. Like I'm a bird, I'm mad, getting riled up about something. I feel like something just works. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:14 Highlight the passage at 1:15:14

1:15:35 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:35 Highlight the passage at 1:15:35

1:15:44 often the first layer is like, know, somebody did this rude thing, but then you start thinking, you know, you start thinking, you know, I have something to say that visual What do you think of having those cookie scores? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:44 Highlight the passage at 1:15:44

1:16:07 you know what I mean you know what I mean you know what I Report an error in the passage at 1:16:07 Highlight the passage at 1:16:07

1:16:18 you We don't really need that do we? are. Coming here. Yeah. Oh, yeah. To get us back to that card. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was a, here's the music. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:18 Highlight the passage at 1:16:18

1:16:36 Ding! Report an error in the passage at 1:16:36 Highlight the passage at 1:16:36

1:16:51 I saw that you guys are doing the 12 things. I hope so. It's scheduled. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:51 Highlight the passage at 1:16:51

1:17:01 Uh, so we're a groupie. We had to sign it for example. Oh, okay. They sent me. They sent Cody and me down. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:01 Highlight the passage at 1:17:01

1:17:19 seems to be a little Report an error in the passage at 1:17:19 Highlight the passage at 1:17:19

1:17:26 Did he ballet lessons again? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:26 Highlight the passage at 1:17:26

1:17:40 To jump over to page 292 at the bottom, the divisions of conventionalities, or the divisions of concealer truths. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:40 Highlight the passage at 1:17:40

1:17:59 So Lama Tsongkhapa starts by talking about the Sva Tantricas. So the Sva Tantricas, once again to review, believe that things do exist from their own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:59 Highlight the passage at 1:17:59

1:18:16 Yeah, exactly, 292, yeah. So the Sva Tantricas believe that things exist from their own side. So things exist the way they appear, Sva Tantricas say. In general, unless you are impaired by what they call a superficial cause of error. Things exist the way they appear, right? So if you have non-defective senses, then things exist the way they appear, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:16 Highlight the passage at 1:18:16

1:18:51 The cup appears to exist from its own side. The cup appears to exist right here on its parts, and it does, according to Svatantrakas. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:51 Highlight the passage at 1:18:51

1:19:11 Not just you, but yeah. But then there are things like superficial causes of error, right, which would be, you know, sense impairment, LSD, right, hearing, Report an error in the passage at 1:19:11 Highlight the passage at 1:19:11

1:19:25 hard of hearing, right, or vision loss or colored blindness or also things like you're in a moving car and it seems like the trees are moving where you're the one who's moving, you know, stuff like that, right, superficial cause of error. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:25 Highlight the passage at 1:19:25

1:19:45 So Svatranjka say, in general, things exist the way they appear. And so they divide concealer truths into real concealer truths and unreal concealer truths. Real ones exist the way they appear, like the cup. Cup is a real concealer truth. The clock is a real concealer truth. The person is a real concealer truth. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:45 Highlight the passage at 1:19:45

1:19:50 Um. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:50 Highlight the passage at 1:19:50

1:20:16 A reflection of a face in a mirror is a false concealer truth, right? Because it appears to be a face where it doesn't exist that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:16 Highlight the passage at 1:20:16

1:20:29 Like another example they use, right? The reflection of the moon in water, right? Appears in one way but exists in a different way. So those are called, those are still concealer truths, right? A reflection exists but it doesn't exist the way it appears. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:29 Highlight the passage at 1:20:29

1:20:46 So Svatandrikas say there are real Real concealer truths and false or unreal concealer truths. If there's Report an error in the passage at 1:20:46 Highlight the passage at 1:20:46

1:21:04 a superficial cause of error, then it's a false concealer truth. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:04 Highlight the passage at 1:21:04

1:21:26 It exists the way it appears as long as there's no superficial cause of error, right? Okay. So a real concealer truth or a real conventionality appears and exists in the same way. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:26 Highlight the passage at 1:21:26

1:21:41 An unreal conventionality appears in one way but exists in a different way, for example. Reflection of a face in a mirror. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:41 Highlight the passage at 1:21:41

1:21:54 So the Report an error in the passage at 1:21:54 Highlight the passage at 1:21:54

1:22:00 Prasangikas, however, say all conventionalities are falsities, right? Nothing exists the way it appears except emptiness. So all of these things that Svatantrikas say are real conventionalities are falsities according to Prasangikas. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:00 Highlight the passage at 1:22:00

1:22:28 So the Prasangikas don't... Divide concealer truths or conventionalities into real and unreal in general. And so that's quite significant, right? None of it is real. None of it is real. There is no real cup there. There is no real person. There is no real building. There is no real right and wrong. There is no real annoying person. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:28 Highlight the passage at 1:22:28

1:23:02 Those are all deceptive. Those are all false. Joe is wanting to say something. It's Report an error in the passage at 1:23:02 Highlight the passage at 1:23:02

1:23:13 in front of Hillary. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:13 Highlight the passage at 1:23:13

1:23:19 Can I clarify Report an error in the passage at 1:23:19 Highlight the passage at 1:23:19

1:23:23 for me? Is this because when we studied the Svatantrika, we said that they believed that there was, things didn't really exist, but when you broke them down and stuff, there was some particle that really did exist, that everything was made from. There was something that did exist. From its own side. Because they seem to be saying that our senses can reveal to us what really does exist inherently, some characteristics of it if we have good, clear senses. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23:23

1:24:06 As if, like you said, the prasangakos say, there's nothing out here that is broadcasting its cupness to my mind. But the prasangakos are saying there is something out here that is projecting. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:06 Highlight the passage at 1:24:06

1:24:20 Spotantricas. Spotantricas. Yeah. That I can perceive, and if I perceive it correctly, it reveals the truth to me. Is that what they're saying? Because there is something really there, like the particles that they believe do inherently exist. Am I connecting that properly? I think you're mixing up a couple of schools. I mean, the two lowest schools, Vibashkas and Sotrantikas, say there are partless particles. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:20 Highlight the passage at 1:24:20

1:24:50 Can't be broken down further and they really exist and they really exist from their own side. But actually those schools say that everything exists from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:50 Highlight the passage at 1:24:50

1:25:02 They're dependent arisings but they exist from their own side. Sva Tantrikas, so Sva Tantrikas say, yeah, like you're saying, there is a cup-ness that projects itself to our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:02 Highlight the passage at 1:25:02

1:25:22 But for it to be a cup, it needs a mind imputing it. So for Sva Tantricas, there's something coming from the side of the cup and there's something needed from the side of the mind. It's like the two things coming together. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:22 Highlight the passage at 1:25:22

1:25:38 And Kenzer Yeshe Tupton in his book, Path to the Middle, he says, okay, this is his own. His own way of thinking about it or his own theory is it's kind of like 50-50, 50 % from the side of the object, 50 % from the side of the mind, right? Cupness meets with imputation, creates, right? Establishes existence of cup. Yeah. So Svatantrikas say, yeah, there is something coming from the side. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:38 Highlight the passage at 1:25:38

1:26:09 There is a cupness coming from the side. It's not really to do with particles because Svatantrikas also say there are no partless particles. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:09 Highlight the passage at 1:26:09

1:26:20 But, and if they say you search, under ultimate analysis, you search, well actually I don't want to say that because I'm a little bit, they're a little bit fuzzy on that. But anyway, but ultimately you can't find it, but conventionally you will be able to find it. There is a cup here, conventionally, inherently. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:20 Highlight the passage at 1:26:20

1:26:44 So there is some cup-ness coming, I think so. Vibashka kind of makes a lot of sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:44 Highlight the passage at 1:26:44

1:26:59 So that's why Svatantrikas say, That this is really a cup because it does exist from its own side as a cup conventionally. That's what makes it valid to call it a cup. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:59 Highlight the passage at 1:26:59

1:27:12 So the cup is a real conventionality. It's not an ultimate truth, but it does exist as a... I don't know if they would always call it a concealer truth. Probably not. A conventional truth. Yeah, they wouldn't even consider this a concealer truth. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:12 Highlight the passage at 1:27:12

1:27:38 Because for them it exists the way it appears. So it's a conventionality, it's a conventional truth. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:38 Highlight the passage at 1:27:38

1:27:54 So you see how that leaves something real to have a mental affliction about. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:54 Highlight the passage at 1:27:54

1:28:05 As long as you leave something as real and solid, then you have a base for mental affliction. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:05 Highlight the passage at 1:28:05

1:28:18 But prasangikas don't leave anything solid and real. So there's no basis to have a mental affliction. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:28:18 Highlight the passage at 1:28:18

1:28:37 and we'll probably, you know, if we really check, right, whenever we have a mental affliction, we can see we're reifying something, right? There's something solid that we're hanging on to, right? It's not mist, right? It's not space. It's a real annoying situation or a real insulting comment. Or it's a real object of desire, right? So sfatantrikas are still leaving something real. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:37 Highlight the passage at 1:28:37

1:29:19 And prosangikas, even that. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:19 Highlight the passage at 1:29:19

1:29:25 So there are no real conventionalities, no real concealer truths. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:25 Highlight the passage at 1:29:25

1:29:36 But then prosangikas say, well, we can talk about real and unreal conventionalities. From the perspective of the world, from a worldly perspective, we can say, okay, well, Report an error in the passage at 1:29:36 Highlight the passage at 1:29:36

1:29:56 the cup is a real conventionality. It's not a real conventionality, but from the perspective of the world it exists the way it appears, whereas a reflection of a face doesn't. So just from the perspective of the world we can say, we can divide things into things that exist the way they appear for the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:56 Highlight the passage at 1:29:56

1:30:20 I don't want to say exist the way they appear. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:20 Highlight the passage at 1:30:20

1:30:32 So maybe I'll just read Lama Tsongkhapa so I don't mess this up. So the Prasangika system Report an error in the passage at 1:30:32 Highlight the passage at 1:30:32

1:30:44 posits six consciousnesses unaffected by temporary causes of deception. Six consciousnesses that are the opposite of those, six objects apprehended by the former six consciousnesses and six objects apprehended by the latter six. So what does that mean? Right. So we have six consciousnesses, right? The five sense consciousnesses, the eye, ear, nose. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:44 Highlight the passage at 1:30:44

1:31:07 Tongue, body, the five sense consciousnesses and the mental consciousness. So those six consciousnesses, there are those that are affected by these superficial causes of error and those that are not. Like the I consciousness that's the I, yeah consciousness is the I sense power that's not affected by let's say color blindness or something and that which is. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:07 Highlight the passage at 1:31:07

1:31:43 And then there are the objects of those consciousnesses. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:43 Highlight the passage at 1:31:43

1:31:49 So Lama Tsongkhapa is saying the wrong objects and subjects are posited as wrong conventionalities. Whereas the objects and subjects, and when I talk about subjects, I'm talking about the mind, right? And the objects of the mind. So whereas the objects and subjects that are not wrong are posited as real conventionalities in relation to... Report an error in the passage at 1:31:49 Highlight the passage at 1:31:49

1:32:16 A worldly or conventional valid cognition rather than in relation to a reasoning consciousness that accords with the Arya's vision. So they posit real conventionalities and wrong conventionalities only in relation to the worldly consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:16 Highlight the passage at 1:32:16

1:32:39 But then it says, so in our Madhyamika system, actually Prasangika, so the two, the appearances of reflections and the like, And the appearances of blue and the like to someone ignorant, therefore do not differ with regard to whether or not they're mistaken in relation to their appearing objects. So this is kind of cool. So the reflection of a face in a mirror, we all know does not exist the way it appears. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:39 Highlight the passage at 1:32:39

1:33:15 Equally, this cup does not exist the way it appears. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:15 Highlight the passage at 1:33:15

1:33:30 The person does not exist the way it appears. The building does not exist. They are the same in terms of being mistaken with regard to what appears to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:30 Highlight the passage at 1:33:30

1:33:53 So real and wrong conventionalities are not distinguished in general because the cup and the person and the building equally appear mistakenly as the reflection of the face of the mirror. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:53 Highlight the passage at 1:33:53

1:34:22 But in relation to the world, the reflection... A face in the mirror is considered a falsity, whereas the cup and the person, et cetera, are considered as real conventionalities, only in relation to the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:22 Highlight the passage at 1:34:22

1:34:44 So this is, I think, very profound, right? Reflection of the face in the mirror is equally mistaken as the person sitting in front of you. That appearance is equally mistaken. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:44 Highlight the passage at 1:34:44

1:35:20 So that's where we have to kind of let go of. Our belief in things existing the way they appear. Our belief in, right, Report an error in the passage at 1:35:20 Highlight the passage at 1:35:20

1:35:38 we just believe in what we see, hear, taste, touch, right? We believe that our perceptions are correct. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:38 Highlight the passage at 1:35:38

1:35:54 This makes it difficult for a scientist. You can't believe anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:54 Highlight the passage at 1:35:54

1:36:18 to an extent that you then complain to other people. Other ways of looking at it. Interesting. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:18 Highlight the passage at 1:36:18

1:36:30 Here, let's use the mic. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:30 Highlight the passage at 1:36:30

1:36:36 I'm not really up on science like some people here are. I know Joe keeps up and you keep up, but aren't they right now just discovering all these amazing things about the universe? Like it's actually shrinking and expanding at the same time or just crazy wild new things that were never imagined before. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:36 Highlight the passage at 1:36:36

1:36:54 Actually, I'm not up on the universe, but... The body, but I mean, black holes are getting smaller. Yeah, yeah, the universe is definitely expanding. That's what people think. Although there's a lot of, interestingly, I saw on the plane, I saw a TV, like a science show about time. And it had all these different scientists arguing about what time is and whether it exists or not. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:54 Highlight the passage at 1:36:54

1:37:24 And whether there's two dimensions of time rather than just one dimension of time. It's really it was it was cool. I was thinking a lot about emptiness because it was very something so obvious that we take for granted. Like the people were talking about, you know, we just inherently think time exists. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:24 Highlight the passage at 1:37:24

1:37:42 We get older, we see things in a linear progression, but there are reasons to think that maybe there are other ways that time exists. And there's like scientists working on this. It's crazy. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:42 Highlight the passage at 1:37:42

1:38:06 Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. So that's real progress right when we doubt that things exist the way we perceive them to. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:06 Highlight the passage at 1:38:06

1:38:30 Okay. So I think that's probably all I want to cover on the concealer truths. Any questions on concealer truths? Concealer truths are Report an error in the passage at 1:38:30 Highlight the passage at 1:38:30

1:38:52 deceptive and they're valid. Conventionally, they're valid by worldly convention. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:52 Highlight the passage at 1:38:52

1:39:11 I don't think I brought it with me. So we've Report an error in the passage at 1:39:11 Highlight the passage at 1:39:11

1:39:23 gone through this a lot. I remember right there, this is the basis of designation of a cup. It Report an error in the passage at 1:39:23 Highlight the passage at 1:39:23

1:39:39 appears right as if there's a cup right here on the basis. No cup at all on this basis. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:39 Highlight the passage at 1:39:39

1:39:54 There's a body. And a mind. And there is no person at all in Report an error in the passage at 1:39:54 Highlight the passage at 1:39:54

1:40:07 or on this body and mind. There's no person at all within the body and within the mind. Findable at all on the basis. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:07 Highlight the passage at 1:40:07

1:40:27 No me findable here at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:27 Highlight the passage at 1:40:27

1:40:46 A sense, right, that there's a me in here somewhere. We have a sense that there's a me here. Somewhere, Report an error in the passage at 1:40:46 Highlight the passage at 1:40:46

1:41:00 object of refutation. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:00 Highlight the passage at 1:41:00

1:41:10 Me is labeled by the mind. Label onto the body and mind. There's no me in here at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:10 Highlight the passage at 1:41:10

1:41:31 So, I Report an error in the passage at 1:41:31 Highlight the passage at 1:41:31

1:41:38 was at a teaching recently by Yangzi Rinpoche and he was saying in our meditation on emptiness, we should spend 70 % of our time identifying the object of refutation. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:38 Highlight the passage at 1:41:38

1:41:58 70 % of our time getting that sense of an I being right here, a me being right here, and just 30 % of the time refuting it. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:58 Highlight the passage at 1:41:58

1:42:15 And that's the opposite of what most people do, I think. I think we refute it without ever getting a strong sense of the object of refutation. And then the refutation doesn't have an impact, right? It's like, oh, I didn't expect to find it. I didn't find it. Okay. I did my meditation on emptiness and no impact. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:15 Highlight the passage at 1:42:15

1:42:49 I think that's a big mistake that often we make and a real key. Remember when I used to talk about that meditation on emptiness, you identify the object of refutation. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:49 Highlight the passage at 1:42:49

1:43:10 We search for it and then we come to the lack, the not finding. And if we do it correctly, the not finding is a, Report an error in the passage at 1:43:10 Highlight the passage at 1:43:10

1:43:28 you know, like a, there's an emotional impact, right? It might be fear, it might be relief, but there's a, Report an error in the passage at 1:43:28 Highlight the passage at 1:43:28

1:43:41 aha, oh my gosh, right? A loss, a loss. I mean, it might be a loss. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:41 Highlight the passage at 1:43:41

1:43:54 Or it might be a feeling of liberation, like, oh my gosh, solid me that has caused all that trouble doesn't actually exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:54 Highlight the passage at 1:43:54

1:44:08 So it depends on the person, right, if it's a relief or if it's fear. So that aha, that wow, that light bulb thing doesn't go on if we haven't first identified the object of refutation. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:08 Highlight the passage at 1:44:08

1:44:28 So a lot of people say to me, well, I don't get that. Aha, you know, so what? I didn't find it. So what? If we have that so what, then it's a pretty good indication we didn't spend enough time identifying the object of reputation. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:28 Highlight the passage at 1:44:28

1:44:47 So I thought it was interesting that Yang Zi Rinpoche used that 70 % number. You know, I would have thought, you know, maybe 50 % at the time or whatever, but he said 70%, so that's pretty significant. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:47 Highlight the passage at 1:44:47

1:45:09 So I want to spend a bit of time, we'll do our emptiness meditation, but we'll spend some time identifying that object of refutation. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:09 Highlight the passage at 1:45:09

1:45:33 And as I've said before, in emotional situations, very useful to look for the object of refutation. On the cushion it's kind of harder to... Report an error in the passage at 1:45:33 Highlight the passage at 1:45:33

1:45:51 So we'll start Report an error in the passage at 1:45:51 Highlight the passage at 1:45:51

1:45:57 by meditating on the breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:57 Highlight the passage at 1:45:57

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:47:11 So then let's bring up our sense of self. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:11 Highlight the passage at 1:47:11

1:47:17 How we identify ourselves, our self-image, like who we think we are. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:17 Highlight the passage at 1:47:17

1:47:31 A man or a woman, a Report an error in the passage at 1:47:31 Highlight the passage at 1:47:31

1:47:38 mind person, an intelligent person, a Report an error in the passage at 1:47:38 Highlight the passage at 1:47:38

1:47:57 scientist or a travel agent or a doctor or a lawyer. Just bring up that sense of self. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:57 Highlight the passage at 1:47:57

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:49:29 Try to get into it. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:29 Highlight the passage at 1:49:29

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:50:35 With one part of your mind still focusing on that. Self-image or that me? Report an error in the passage at 1:50:35 Highlight the passage at 1:50:35

1:50:48 Another part of your mind, notice does Report an error in the passage at 1:50:48 Highlight the passage at 1:50:48

1:50:54 that me feel solid? Substantial? Or Report an error in the passage at 1:50:54 Highlight the passage at 1:50:54

1:51:04 does it feel spacious? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:04 Highlight the passage at 1:51:04

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:52:01 Does it feel pretty static? Relatively enduring? Report an error in the passage at 1:52:01 Highlight the passage at 1:52:01

1:52:14 Or does it seem like it's changing in every moment? Constantly changing? Fluctuating? Fluid? Report an error in the passage at 1:52:14 Highlight the passage at 1:52:14

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:53:19 Does it have a location? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:19 Highlight the passage at 1:53:19

1:53:31 Where does it seem that this me exists? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:31 Highlight the passage at 1:53:31

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:54:05 So just noticing that instinctive sense of me, not getting our reasoning mind, all of the teachings in there, but just noticing that instinctive kind of even subconscious sense, visceral sense of where is this me as Report an error in the passage at 1:54:05 Highlight the passage at 1:54:05

1:54:41 a location? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:41 Highlight the passage at 1:54:41

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:55:42 Does it seem like there's something substantial there? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:42 Highlight the passage at 1:55:42

1:55:56 Just notice Report an error in the passage at 1:55:56 Highlight the passage at 1:55:56

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:57:07 if I insulted you, where is that me that was insulted? Where do I feel insulted? Where do I feel that the me is that was insulted? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:07 Highlight the passage at 1:57:07

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:58:27 The body? The part of the body? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:27 Highlight the passage at 1:58:27

1:58:36 Which parts Report an error in the passage at 1:58:36 Highlight the passage at 1:58:36

1:58:55 are here we're hanging on to that sense of me with one part of our mind? And with another part of a mind we're searching for it. You Report an error in the passage at 1:58:55 Highlight the passage at 1:58:55

1:59:27 can dissolve the body into the atoms. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:27 Highlight the passage at 1:59:27

1:59:41 It's in the space between the atoms. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:41 Highlight the passage at 1:59:41

1:59:56 No solace. That's a body. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:56 Highlight the passage at 1:59:56

2:00:15 And those atoms further. And Report an error in the passage at 2:00:15 Highlight the passage at 2:00:15

2:00:25 those subatomic particles we can break down further and Report an error in the passage at 2:00:25 Highlight the passage at 2:00:25

2:00:34 further and further. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:34 Highlight the passage at 2:00:34

2:00:44 Smallest particles that cannot be broken down further. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:44 Highlight the passage at 2:00:44

2:00:54 Nothing solid there in the body. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:54 Highlight the passage at 2:00:54

2:01:28 And similarly with the mind, seems to be a solid mass that we call mind that can be broken down further into moments and sub-moments and sub-moments. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:28 Highlight the passage at 2:01:28

2:01:57 Nothing solid, that's the mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:57 Highlight the passage at 2:01:57

2:02:24 Solidity, a lack, anything to hang on to. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:24 Highlight the passage at 2:02:24

2:02:32 Space, Report an error in the passage at 2:02:32 Highlight the passage at 2:02:32

2:02:45 that's a nice person or a scientist or a... Helpful person, where is that me? Report an error in the passage at 2:02:45 Highlight the passage at 2:02:45

· · · silence, 2 minutes

2:04:30 Similarly with Report an error in the passage at 2:04:30 Highlight the passage at 2:04:30

2:04:35 cup solidity, where is the me that's insulted? Report an error in the passage at 2:04:35 Highlight the passage at 2:04:35

· · · silence, 2 minutes

2:06:29 What did people notice about their object of refutation? Did it have a location? Was it solid? Was it spacious? Report an error in the passage at 2:06:29 Highlight the passage at 2:06:29

2:06:52 I actually, it was interesting. I like the way that you did that because it definitely felt very solid and like confining. All of a sudden it felt like... Confined, you know, limited or something. It was interesting because I don't think of it in that way normally, but as soon as we started doing that meditation and something that you said about, you know, the spaciousness and it was like instantly there was this label that like eliminated spaciousness. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:52 Highlight the passage at 2:06:52

2:07:23 It just felt, it really, I felt it like physically actually. It was an interesting thing. That was my experience. Yeah. Yeah, we do, you know, when we notice. It's just normally we don't notice, right? But, yeah, we have a very strong instinctive sense that there's a solid, confined self, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:07:23 Highlight the passage at 2:07:23

2:07:50 Yeah, good. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:50 Highlight the passage at 2:07:50

2:07:56 Leslie, did you have something there, Joe? Joe. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:56 Highlight the passage at 2:07:56

2:08:01 I was thinking of myself in terms of someone else being angry or having a feeling or something. Towards me, and then that coming up like when I showed up physically and thinking, is it this that you're upset about? Is it this? When this is not here, then I'm not here? I was thinking, what am I? You know, my series of experiences and my memories and my story. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:01 Highlight the passage at 2:08:01

2:08:30 But it's when this shows up that the reaction comes. I'm kind of like, this isn't me. This isn't all of me. You know, so it sort of softened it up. I'm kind of like, well, where am I then? I'm this... It did feel a little bit spacious for me. It seemed like a little absurd to think it's this that people think is Joe or people get angry at. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:30 Highlight the passage at 2:08:30

2:08:54 Like this? This really? This is not what they're angry at. Is it this? Like, is that sort of a thing? So when I thought about it from the other person's perspective, I was kind of like... That's just kind of ridiculous. But then I started asking, where am I in that? Where do I think I am? And I was in a lot of different places, sort of, in a soft sort of way, but nowhere in particular. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:54 Highlight the passage at 2:08:54

2:09:19 You know what I mean? It was kind of like, ooh, okay. Like, it felt better. It was like, this is me. It was like, I have a sense of me, but I can't put my finger on it. So that's not... It felt like a little bit more of an improvement than the way I normally think of myself. Solid, yeah. Right here. Right? Because the me that's right here doesn't exist. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:19 Highlight the passage at 2:09:19

2:09:56 Did I tell you what Yangtze Rinpoche said right about the object of refutation, the subtle object of refutation, like the inherently existent? It's like if you reach down. Behind you and you feel something, it seems like there's something right there. Well, actually he said, it seems like there's something there. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:56 Highlight the passage at 2:09:56

2:10:24 And I said to him, right there, yeah. And he said, yeah. So it seems like there's something there. Object of reputation. So subtle. Like there seems like there's a me here. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:24 Highlight the passage at 2:10:24

2:10:47 Object of reputation. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:47 Highlight the passage at 2:10:47

2:11:06 But there is a me that exists, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:11:06 Highlight the passage at 2:11:06

2:11:13 Like Lama Zopa says, there's no me on the aggregates, right? No me on the body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:13 Highlight the passage at 2:11:13

2:11:24 No me here at all. But there's a me in the room. There's no me here on the base. Me on this body and mind at all. There's a me in the room. There's no me. A Report an error in the passage at 2:11:24 Highlight the passage at 2:11:24

2:11:49 little riddle, right? So something to think about. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:49 Highlight the passage at 2:11:49

2:11:54 There's no, the Report an error in the passage at 2:11:54 Highlight the passage at 2:11:54

2:11:59 imputed object, the technical term, the imputed object is not on the base at all. The base, there's a base and there's an imputation on the base. There's a body and mind and there's an imputation of me on the body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:59 Highlight the passage at 2:11:59

2:12:23 The base is not the imputation. The body and mind, there's no me on that body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:23 Highlight the passage at 2:12:23

2:12:44 Anyone else? Are you getting a sense of that object of refutation? Slowly, slowly, a sense that we are hanging on to a real me, a solid me, a me that has a location, a me that's in this body and mind somewhere. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:44 Highlight the passage at 2:12:44

2:13:03 And it changes, right, in different situations. Sometimes it seems like it's the whole body and mind. Sometimes it feels like it's in the heart. Sometimes it feels like it's in the head. But it changes. So just notice that. Just notice that in your day-to-day life. Just notice how the eye comes up, especially if we're feeling agitated or upset or dissatisfied, desirous. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:03 Highlight the passage at 2:13:03

2:13:34 Just notice what that eye feels like. Where is that eye? Does it feel solid? Does it feel spacious? Does it feel substantial? Does it have a location? Just notice. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:34 Highlight the passage at 2:13:34

2:13:59 Well, I had sent out the homework, right? So... I emailed it out. I want to go through the true-false next time. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:59 Highlight the passage at 2:13:59

2:14:10 So page 246, we'll dedicate with Shantideva. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:10 Highlight the passage at 2:14:10

2:14:29 May all beings everywhere, plagued by sufferings of body and mind, obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no living creature suffer, commit evil, or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:29 Highlight the passage at 2:14:29

2:14:56 May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drinks. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:56 Highlight the passage at 2:14:56

2:15:24 Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:24 Highlight the passage at 2:15:24

2:15:55 Recovery and complete recovery of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Report an error in the passage at 2:15:55 Highlight the passage at 2:15:55

2:16:11 his long life Report an error in the passage at 2:16:11 Highlight the passage at 2:16:11

2:16:16 as well as the long life of Gishin Dagpa, Report an error in the passage at 2:16:16 Highlight the passage at 2:16:16

2:16:23 Jodan Rinpoche, Report an error in the passage at 2:16:23 Highlight the passage at 2:16:23

2:16:28 His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all our spiritual masters. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:28 Highlight the passage at 2:16:28

2:16:53 our December schedule? So we'll have class. Class until December 13th. So I think it's the 13th. So what is that? Two more classes. Two more classes and then we'll break for the holidays. And then the last term will start in January. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:53 Highlight the passage at 2:16:53

2:17:17 Yeah, we're going to finish the text in March. We'll finish the entire text after all these years. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:17 Highlight the passage at 2:17:17

2:17:29 Yeah, so I think we start again January 12th or something like that and we'll go through mid-March and then we'll finish and then we'll take a break then I'll go on retreat. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:29 Highlight the passage at 2:17:29