Special Insight 3: Wisdom of Emptiness (13 December 2011)

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3:50 slides. love the slides. Oh, shucks. We won't have slides tonight actually, but I want to show a little video. Yeah, one of these days I might do slides again. Report an error in the passage at 3:50 Highlight the passage at 3:50

4:10 Yeah, was there a voice in the distance? Report an error in the passage at 4:10 Highlight the passage at 4:10

4:15 Class hasn't started yet. Report an error in the passage at 4:15 Highlight the passage at 4:15

4:30 All right, well, we have a sparse crowd this evening. Report an error in the passage at 4:30 Highlight the passage at 4:30

4:52 CNN, or what do you think of the name? It was two-thirds of the ago. Two-thirds? It's going to be on the 18th. The 18th? Report an error in the passage at 4:52 Highlight the passage at 4:52

5:01 Wow, on Snobby? They were doing a thing on him, wow. Report an error in the passage at 5:01 Highlight the passage at 5:01

5:11 Yeah, he does that art. Report an error in the passage at 5:11 Highlight the passage at 5:11

5:19 I bet. bet. so cool. Report an error in the passage at 5:19 Highlight the passage at 5:19

5:25 I figured he wouldn't shot it himself I went there I found out of use Report an error in the passage at 5:25 Highlight the passage at 5:25

5:42 All right, well, we'll start and see if anybody pops in later. So let's start by meditating on the breath and then moving into our motivation. So Report an error in the passage at 5:42 Highlight the passage at 5:42

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7:24 in sitting our motivation, we can think about how most of us are still just trying to make our saṃsāra better. Report an error in the passage at 7:24 Highlight the passage at 7:24

7:58 But any pleasure or happiness or success? That we have in saṃsāra can't last. Report an error in the passage at 7:58 Highlight the passage at 7:58

8:15 It's temporary. Report an error in the passage at 8:15 Highlight the passage at 8:15

8:24 Everything is impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 8:24 Highlight the passage at 8:24

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8:57 Our homes, Report an error in the passage at 8:57 Highlight the passage at 8:57

9:02 our jobs, Report an error in the passage at 9:02 Highlight the passage at 9:02

9:08 our friends, Report an error in the passage at 9:08 Highlight the passage at 9:08

9:16 our relationships. Report an error in the passage at 9:16 Highlight the passage at 9:16

9:21 Eventually, sooner or later, we will lose all of them for Report an error in the passage at 9:21 Highlight the passage at 9:21

9:32 sure. And Report an error in the passage at 9:32 Highlight the passage at 9:32

9:44 our health, our body will fail us. Report an error in the passage at 9:44 Highlight the passage at 9:44

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10:32 And because we're under the control of karma, Report an error in the passage at 10:32 Highlight the passage at 10:32

10:38 anything can happen at any time. And Report an error in the passage at 10:38 Highlight the passage at 10:38

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11:23 the more we grasp, the Report an error in the passage at 11:23 Highlight the passage at 11:23

11:29 more we hold on to things, the Report an error in the passage at 11:29 Highlight the passage at 11:29

11:37 more we suffer. Report an error in the passage at 11:37 Highlight the passage at 11:37

12:03 So we have no choice except to work on our minds, Report an error in the passage at 12:03 Highlight the passage at 12:03

12:32 to train our minds to be happy no matter what. Report an error in the passage at 12:32 Highlight the passage at 12:32

12:43 Because we can't control external circumstances. Report an error in the passage at 12:43 Highlight the passage at 12:43

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13:21 We can only try to control our minds. And Report an error in the passage at 13:21 Highlight the passage at 13:21

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14:22 the mental afflictions that are the source of our suffering have at their root. This ignorance. This ignorance. Believing that there is a solid objective reality. Report an error in the passage at 14:22 Highlight the passage at 14:22

14:52 Believing that there is something to hold on to. There Report an error in the passage at 14:52 Highlight the passage at 14:52

15:04 is nothing. Nothing substantial. Report an error in the passage at 15:04 Highlight the passage at 15:04

15:19 Nothing to hold on to. Report an error in the passage at 15:19 Highlight the passage at 15:19

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15:56 There are just constantly changing elements. Report an error in the passage at 15:56 Highlight the passage at 15:56

16:11 Minds organized into objects. Report an error in the passage at 16:11 Highlight the passage at 16:11

16:22 Nothing solid. Nothing static. Report an error in the passage at 16:22 Highlight the passage at 16:22

16:30 Nothing substantial. Report an error in the passage at 16:30 Highlight the passage at 16:30

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17:05 We can develop the aspiration to realize emptiness and Report an error in the passage at 17:05 Highlight the passage at 17:05

17:12 undercut all of our mental suffering and Report an error in the passage at 17:12 Highlight the passage at 17:12

17:32 get out of saṃsāra, not just for ourselves or Report an error in the passage at 17:32 Highlight the passage at 17:32

17:59 all these other sentient beings upon whom we depend for our winning and happiness. Report an error in the passage at 17:59 Highlight the passage at 17:59

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18:50 Okay, so let's start with the priest to Manjushri on the first page of the white book, Report an error in the passage at 18:50 Highlight the passage at 18:50

19:08 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 19:08 Highlight the passage at 19:08

19:33 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 19:33 Highlight the passage at 19:33

20:02 Rappitsan and Imrapsan, Imrapsan, Report an error in the passage at 20:02 Highlight the passage at 20:02

20:12 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 20:12 Highlight the passage at 20:12

20:40 I prostrate to the Aria Triple Gem. Thus did I hear at one time, the Bhagavan was dwelling on Mass Vultures Mountain in Rajkriya, 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 Arya Avalokiteshvara, 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 20:40 Highlight the passage at 20:40

21:13 Then through the power of Buddha, the venerable Sariputra 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 in the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara said this to the venerable Sariputra. Report an error in the passage at 21:13 Highlight the passage at 21:13

21:34 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 21:34 Highlight the passage at 21:34

22:01 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 touch and no phenomenon. Report an error in the passage at 22:01 Highlight the passage at 22:01

22:31 There is no eye 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 22:31 Highlight the passage at 22:31

22:56 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 22:56 Highlight the passage at 22:56

23:20 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. Tayata, Om Gatte Gatte, Paragatte, Parasam Gatte, Bodhissoha, Shariputra, the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Shatrin and the profound perfection of wisdom like that. Report an error in the passage at 23:20 Highlight the passage at 23:20

23:48 Then the Bhagavan arose from that concentration and commended the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Arya, Avalokiteshvara, 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 Dittattagas rejoice. The Bhagavan having thus spoken, the venerable Sarivadiputra, the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Arya, Avalokiteshvara, 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. Report an error in the passage at 23:48 Highlight the passage at 23:48

24:24 And then on page 98 is Refuge and Bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 24:24 Highlight the passage at 24:24

24:33 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 24:33 Highlight the passage at 24:33

24:56 I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 24:56 Highlight the passage at 24:56

25:19 A little later I want to show the video, but maybe we'll do a little bit of normal class first. So, you know, we've been talking about the two truths. And last time we were talking, we started talking about ultimate truth, right? There's concealer truths and ultimate truths, and concealer truths are actually falsities, right? Report an error in the passage at 25:19 Highlight the passage at 25:19

25:39 None of them exist the way they appear. Whereas ultimate truths, right, do exist the way they appear. That's the way that things exist, the final way that things exist, right? The lack of inherent existence, the lack of intrinsic existence, right? Emptiness. So we talked about how the definition of ultimate truth was that which is found by seeing the object of knowledge that is the real meaning. Report an error in the passage at 25:39 Highlight the passage at 25:39

26:07 So the real meaning, the real way that things exist, that everything exists. And it's found by this reasoning consciousness that analyzes how things exist. Report an error in the passage at 26:07 Highlight the passage at 26:07

26:23 So there's this uncontaminated meditative equipoise on emptiness, right, in the direct realization of emptiness. Nothing appears. Nothing at all appears. It's the lack of inherent existence appears, which is like space. The lack of findability of anything. So nothing is findable. Nothing is Report an error in the passage at 26:23 Highlight the passage at 26:23

27:04 findable. There's nothing. There's no person really here. There's no body really here. There's no mind really here. There are no atoms really here. There are no subatomic particles really here. Report an error in the passage at 27:04 Highlight the passage at 27:04

27:20 And it said, like one description of the subtle object of refutation is right if you stick your hand out here and you feel like there's something there. You feel like there's something there. If we feel like there's someone here. That's an object of refutation. If we think that there's something here, that's an object of refutation. Report an error in the passage at 27:20 Highlight the passage at 27:20

27:54 So it's very subtle. It's very subtle. So we'll talk about the object of refutation a little bit more if we have time. Report an error in the passage at 27:54 Highlight the passage at 27:54

28:06 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 28:06 Highlight the passage at 28:06

28:11 So on page 298, toward the top of Report an error in the passage at 28:11 Highlight the passage at 28:11

28:22 the second paragraph, all right, so... So we were talking about how even emptiness just conventionally exists. Emptiness also doesn't truly exist. It doesn't ultimately exist. It's just posited by convention. It just conventionally exists. It doesn't exist from its own side. And then the second paragraph on page 298, Lama Tsongkhapa says that this system, the prosangicas, does not... Report an error in the passage at 28:22 Highlight the passage at 28:22

28:53 Does not posit things in the way that lower schools posit, right? So the lower schools say that if it's findable, then it exists, right? Report an error in the passage at 28:53 Highlight the passage at 28:53

29:06 If it's not findable, then it doesn't exist. And that's what we generally think, right? If I can't find it, then it can't exist, right? Whereas Prasangikas say, well, if it was findable, then it would be truly existent, but nothing is findable, even conventionally. Report an error in the passage at 29:06 Highlight the passage at 29:06

29:27 Nothing's findable under analysis. So then the next section brings up some objections that people might have or some people have. Report an error in the passage at 29:27 Highlight the passage at 29:27

29:42 And I was going to skip this section, but there's a lot of interesting information here about the way Buddhas see things. So I thought you might want to hear some of this stuff. So there's this Report an error in the passage at 29:42 Highlight the passage at 29:42

29:59 statement from... I think Chandrakirti's commentary on the entrance to the middle way that says, is such a nature, right, this emptiness, is such a nature not unseen? Report an error in the passage at 29:59 Highlight the passage at 29:59

30:14 Therefore, how do they see it? That is indeed true, however. It is said that they see it by means of non-seeing. So, you know, it sounds like a colon, right? You see emptiness by means of not seeing. Right, so this confuses somebody. Report an error in the passage at 30:14 Highlight the passage at 30:14

30:38 Lama Tsongkhapa says it explains that the non-seeing of anything at all to be suchness or emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 30:38 Highlight the passage at 30:38

30:53 As a source for that, the explanation that ultimate truth transcends even the objects of the omniscient, exalted wisdom is quoted. It is also explained that at the level of Buddhahood, the movement of minds and mental factors has permanently stopped. And then at that time of attaining the ten powers, when the Buddha does not perceive aggregates and so forth, he knows all phenomena. How are you not contradicting these explanations? Report an error in the passage at 30:53 Highlight the passage at 30:53

31:21 So this next section is going to address some of these things, well, all of these objections. So first of all, what does it mean to see by means of non-seeing? So we see emptiness by means of non-seeing. Report an error in the passage at 31:21 Highlight the passage at 31:21

31:40 This does not refer to not seeing any objects at all. Rather, it points out that if these objects observed due to the cataract of ignorance existed in reality, they would have to be observed by the uncontaminated, exalted wisdom of an aria's meditative equipoise. So their suchness or emptiness is seen by way of their utter non-seeing. So if these... Report an error in the passage at 31:40 Highlight the passage at 31:40

32:09 Solid, substantial objects, these concrete objects, these objects, real objects existed, then they would have to be seen by this direct realization of emptiness, this uncontainment of meditative equipoise. But they're not seen. They're found to be non-existent. So they're seen by way of not seeing because you start right with the object of refutation, then you search for it and you can't find it. Report an error in the passage at 32:09 Highlight the passage at 32:09

32:39 And when you can't find it, when you've searched thoroughly and become completely convinced that it doesn't exist at all. Report an error in the passage at 32:39 Highlight the passage at 32:39

32:51 And so that's one of the key things about meditating on emptiness, is we need to get to the point where our not finding convinces us that it can't exist. Report an error in the passage at 32:51 Highlight the passage at 32:51

33:05 If we have this kind of lackadaisical attitude, okay, well, I can't find it. Oh, well, you know, whatever. It doesn't mean anything, right? Like I can't find my socks. But it doesn't mean that they're not, they don't exist, right? But in emptiness meditation, right? Remember the four-point analysis? The second one is, you know, identifying all the possibilities, right? So you identify all the possibilities and then you search thoroughly in all those places. Report an error in the passage at 33:05 Highlight the passage at 33:05

33:32 So when you can't find it, we're utterly convinced that it doesn't exist. It can't exist. Report an error in the passage at 33:32 Highlight the passage at 33:32

33:44 So, you know, through practice, you know, David. Report an error in the passage at 33:44 Highlight the passage at 33:44

33:56 I don't remember if you were at Shantideva last Wednesday, but that's where, is this the point then when Keisha Lo was talking about the reason why there's not infinite regression at the point that you realize that there's nothing there, then sort of the whole object and process stops at that point? Report an error in the passage at 33:56 Highlight the passage at 33:56

34:19 Yeah, I think what he was saying, right, so when you realize, let's say, the emptiness of the person, right, you realize the emptiness of the person. It's utterly unfindable. And so you're explicitly realizing the emptiness of the person. But based on having realized the emptiness of the person, you can infer that the mind realizing emptiness also is unfindable. Report an error in the passage at 34:19 Highlight the passage at 34:19

34:44 It's not that you have to turn your mind to every single phenomenon in order to realize its emptiness. So there was this debate on... With this objection, right? Then you'd have to realize the emptiness. You know, turn your mind and realize the emptiness of the mind that realized the emptiness. And then you'd have to realize the emptiness of the mind that realized the emptiness of the mind, right? And then infinite regression. That was my understanding of that objection. Report an error in the passage at 34:44 Highlight the passage at 34:44

35:16 And Geshe was saying, no, you know, you don't have to do that, right? Turn your mind to every single phenomenon, right? Based on having realized emptiness of one, you can realize the emptiness of every other phenomena. So there's two different levels. There's the conceptual realization, where you realize emptiness of one thing, and then you turn your mind to realizing the emptiness of another, and then another, and another. Report an error in the passage at 35:16 Highlight the passage at 35:16

35:44 But then there's the direct realization of emptiness, where it's said that you're removing the superimposition of true existence of all phenomena. It's not that you have to turn your mind to every phenomenon when you're directly realizing emptiness, but you're removing your belief that things truly exist once, you know, that anything truly exists once you've directly realized. Report an error in the passage at 35:44 Highlight the passage at 35:44

36:07 Is that what you were referring to? Report an error in the passage at 36:07 Highlight the passage at 36:07

36:12 It's partial, partial. Because I think he was, as I was looking at this, it was, yeah, there was that idea that once you have that realization that the reason why there's not the infinite regression is that it just... Sort of even the basis for that is gone. The basis for what? At the point when you realize the emptiness of the object of negation, then you're no longer searching for things to negate, including the thing that was doing the analysis in the first place. Report an error in the passage at 36:12 Highlight the passage at 36:12

36:53 Yeah. Which was a little bit different kind of... Emptiness are a little different than saying you can infer the emptiness of all other objects, but the whole process of the reason why there wasn't an infinite regression. Report an error in the passage at 36:53 Highlight the passage at 36:53

37:13 Yeah, that wasn't my understanding of what he was saying. Report an error in the passage at 37:13 Highlight the passage at 37:13

37:25 So will you repeat what you just said again? I didn't quite understand your point. Report an error in the passage at 37:25 Highlight the passage at 37:25

37:40 He is. Report an error in the passage at 37:40 Highlight the passage at 37:40

37:59 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 37:59 Highlight the passage at 37:59

38:04 I think it's quite the same thing, but it feels a little different, but it's that idea that, you know, on the one hand, that you see the emptiness, when you realize the emptiness, you have that realization of emptiness, you don't have to go and search for every single object because you understand that applies. Report an error in the passage at 38:04 Highlight the passage at 38:04

38:27 But it was that also that, I guess it's just the other side of that coin, the coin was over there, that there that same reason why you don't just keep saying well what's this thing that Report an error in the passage at 38:27 Highlight the passage at 38:27

38:39 mind that realizes emptiness once that the object of that analysis no longer exists in the process The object no longer exists and the process stops. Yeah, I don't think it's that the process stops there. Because it's taught very much conceptually, we do need to realize the emptiness of different things. Because we hang on to the real existence of many different things. Report an error in the passage at 38:39 Highlight the passage at 38:39

39:18 So if I just realize the emptiness of the cup, it's not necessarily going to help me with my hurt or my irritation. or right right so so we do Report an error in the passage at 39:18 Highlight the passage at 39:18

39:50 I think that Gisela was talking about the direct realization of emptiness and how when you realize the emptiness of one thing directly, then indirectly you're realizing the emptiness of everything. So you don't have to keep turning your mind to other things. Right, right. Report an error in the passage at 39:50 Highlight the passage at 39:50

40:18 Yeah, and then Gisela was making the point that... An aria being is only on the third path, the path of seeing. And it does not have the omniscient mind yet. So it's not that being, when they directly realize emptiness, they're explicitly realizing the emptiness of everything that exists. Because if you did that, then you'd have to have the omniscient mind because you'd have to know everything that exists. Report an error in the passage at 40:18 Highlight the passage at 40:18

40:45 So it was more explicitly realizing the emptiness of one and implicitly realizing the emptiness of everything was my understanding. Okay. I very much could be wrong, but that was my understanding. Okay. Yeah. All right. Okay. So, yeah. So with this direct realization of emptiness, so then... Lama Tsongkhapa continues on page 299. He says, what is not seen is said to be the five aggregates and what is seen is reality. Report an error in the passage at 40:45 Highlight the passage at 40:45

41:16 So usually, you know, the main thing we're meditating on emptiness on in the beginning is me, right? The emptiness of me because that's the biggest troublemaker. Report an error in the passage at 41:16 Highlight the passage at 41:16

41:26 So you don't see, right, you don't see the me, you don't see the five aggregates, you don't see anything at all. And what you do see is emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 41:26 Highlight the passage at 41:26

41:38 And then... Here it says, more specifically in the analogy, space is the mere elimination of obstructive, tangible objects. So when we see space, we don't see something obstructive. We don't see something tangible. And similarly with emptiness, we don't see, if we're realizing the emptiness of blue, we don't see blue. Report an error in the passage at 41:38 Highlight the passage at 41:38

42:07 We realize the emptiness of the five aggregates. We don't see the five aggregates. So we're seeing the absence of. Report an error in the passage at 42:07 Highlight the passage at 42:07

42:24 And then next, we talked about this last week about we don't see, when the direct realization of emptiness, you don't see the object and the subject as separate. You don't see the mind that's realizing emptiness as separate from emptiness. You don't see these two things, the mind. And then the emptiness is separate. They're mixed in the direct realization. They're mixed like water poured into water. You can't distinguish those two. Report an error in the passage at 42:24 Highlight the passage at 42:24

42:59 Then there's this other thing about minds and mental factors. Minds and mental factors. When we perceive things, there's a main mind that's perceiving things. And then there are these mental factors that are operating at the same time. So there's a mental factor of feeling. That distinguishes pleasure from pain from neutral. If we have mental affliction, we have mental affliction. Like anger, irritation, attachment, all this kind of thing. Report an error in the passage at 42:59 Highlight the passage at 42:59

43:31 There are all sorts of mental factors, right? There's a discrimination mental factor, etc. So when the text says the movement of minds and mental factors come to an end when we realize emptiness directly, it's not saying that there's... No minds and mental factors at all. It means that all conceptual thought is stopped. So when you're realizing emptiness directly, there's no conceptual thought at all. Report an error in the passage at 43:31 Highlight the passage at 43:31

44:01 There's no movement of conceptual thought. Because conceptual thought is a movement of mind. So there's no conceptual thought at all. Report an error in the passage at 44:01 Highlight the passage at 44:01

44:14 So when we directly realize emptiness, we have no conceptual thought during the realization of emptiness. But when we arise, conceptions start again. But with Buddhas, when you become a Buddha, no more conceptual thought at all ever again. Report an error in the passage at 44:14 Highlight the passage at 44:14

44:35 You see everything directly, which is hard to imagine. But anyway, I don't know what that really would be like. Report an error in the passage at 44:35 Highlight the passage at 44:35

44:49 Yeah, so that's kind of beyond conception. All right. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 44:49 Highlight the passage at 44:49

45:20 So then there's this next section. Okay, so then it talks about the omniscient mind, right? The Buddha's mind. So the Buddha's, the omniscient mind is said to realize everything, right? It's omniscient, right? So it knows everything. But conceptually, you can divide the omniscient mind into, which I don't even know if you guys want to hear this, but... Report an error in the passage at 45:20 Highlight the passage at 45:20

45:49 The exalted knower of modes and the exalted knower of varieties. Modes and varieties, which is basically just the exalted knower that realizes emptiness versus the exalted knower that realizes all conventional phenomena, all conventionalities. So the omniscient mind realizes everything simultaneously. But conceptually you can divide the omniscient mind into an exalted knower of modes. Report an error in the passage at 45:49 Highlight the passage at 45:49

46:20 Versus Exalted Noah varieties. Emptiness and not. Depending on what object that you're talking about, you can conceptually divide it. Report an error in the passage at 46:20 Highlight the passage at 46:20

46:32 So here, because there's somebody who says, okay, well, the Buddha, then the Buddha wouldn't see Report an error in the passage at 46:32 Highlight the passage at 46:32

46:46 varieties, wouldn't see conventional phenomena. But the Buddha sees everything. So how does... How does the Buddha perceive everything? So for Report an error in the passage at 46:46 Highlight the passage at 46:46

47:09 ordinary beings here, so they're talking about two kinds of phenomena that we can see that are appearing objects. Those that are unpolluted by the predispositions of ignorance and those that are polluted by the predispositions of ignorance. So most of the things we perceive are polluted by the predispositions of ignorance, which is the impure world, the impure world and beings within it. Report an error in the passage at 47:09 Highlight the passage at 47:09

47:43 But then if we have good karma, we can actually perceive Buddhas, Buddhas bodies, you know, pure, pure Buddhas bodies. But for those of us who have not abandoned ignorance, and I'm on page 302 at the top. All of us non-Buddhas, right? When we see a Buddha's body, major and minor marks, they still appear to exist from their own side, right? Report an error in the passage at 47:43 Highlight the passage at 47:43

48:14 Even though it doesn't. And the reason for that is not because the object is polluted by ignorance, right? The Buddha's body isn't polluted by ignorance. He's saying, rather, the reason they appear... That way as existing from their own side is due to the pollution of ignorance in our mind, right? So we see things as existing from their own side due to the pollution of ignorance in our minds, right? Report an error in the passage at 48:14 Highlight the passage at 48:14

48:47 Not through the force of the object, but through the force of our mind, right? The ignorance that's in our mind. Report an error in the passage at 48:47 Highlight the passage at 48:47

48:56 So in contrast, the Buddha's, Report an error in the passage at 48:56 Highlight the passage at 48:56

49:03 here, I'll read this, form sound and the like. Objects that are not established by way of their own characteristics but still appear that way to someone who has not abandoned ignorance. They appear to a Buddha's exalted wisdom knowing the varieties only by means of their appearance to persons with the pollution of ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 49:03 Highlight the passage at 49:03

49:27 So a Buddha's mind also sees that things exist from their own side through the force of knowing. Others' minds, right? So the Buddhas will see that others perceive things as existing from their own side. Report an error in the passage at 49:27 Highlight the passage at 49:27

49:50 But it's not from the Buddha's perspective that things exist from their own side. It's only through the Buddhas perceiving it through the minds of sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 49:50 Highlight the passage at 49:50

50:06 So therefore, a Buddha knows forms and the like that are not inherently established, but still appear to be. Yet it is from the perspective of their appearing that way to the ignorant. Independently of their appearing that way to those persons, from a Buddha's own perspective, he would not know them in the manner of appearing that way. Report an error in the passage at 50:06 Highlight the passage at 50:06

50:28 Hence, there is no sense that he is deceived by appearances because they do not appear from the pollution existing within exalted wisdom, but due to the fact that wisdom necessarily knows all objects of knowledge. Report an error in the passage at 50:28 Highlight the passage at 50:28

50:46 So that's basically what I was just saying. That being so, all things appear to be selfless, inherently non-existent entities from the perspective of an exalted knower of the varieties, whereby they appear as illusion-like falsities. They do not appear as truths. So the Buddha will see things as existing from their own side through the sentient beings' minds, but the Buddha... Report an error in the passage at 50:46 Highlight the passage at 50:46

51:17 The Buddha won't see that from their own perspective and the Buddha knows that all of those things are like illusions, right? And doesn't perceive those appearances as being true. Report an error in the passage at 51:17 Highlight the passage at 51:17

51:46 So the Buddhas don't have mistaken appearance, right? they, when those. Report an error in the passage at 51:46 Highlight the passage at 51:46

51:52 They don't believe in that appearance, right? They don't have mistaken appearance because they only see existence from their own side from the perspective of sentient beings because they see what sentient beings see. Report an error in the passage at 51:52 Highlight the passage at 51:52

52:04 Am I making any sense? Hilary? Report an error in the passage at 52:04 Highlight the passage at 52:04

52:14 Can you remind me of what the definition of conceptualization is? Because I'm trying to imagine how a Buddha knows the difference. I mean, it comes up at other times, but in this instance, how they know. Report an error in the passage at 52:14 Highlight the passage at 52:14

52:31 That what they're seeing is emptiness and that what they're seeing through your eyes is not. Sometimes I'm not sure what I think of conceptualization as thought as I use it in everyday language. Yeah, so there are different meanings of the word conceptual in the Dharma. Well, I think there are actually three, but I know I can... Report an error in the passage at 52:31 Highlight the passage at 52:31

52:39 you know, I... Report an error in the passage at 52:39 Highlight the passage at 52:39

53:01 Say two of them. So in the context of calm abiding teachings, we say that you're focused on an object without conceptualization. You're focused on your object without any movement of mind. So I think that's not the meaning here. The Buddha has movement of mind. It's not that the Buddha's mind is still on one object without perceiving anything else. Report an error in the passage at 53:01 Highlight the passage at 53:01

53:29 Another meaning of conceptualization is viewing things through a mental image, through a meaning generality. And so that's how we think. We think through this meaning generality, this mental image in our minds. Our memories are necessarily searching this database in our mind of mental images and remembering based on a conceptual mind. Report an error in the passage at 53:29 Highlight the passage at 53:29

53:57 All of our discursive thought is based on a conceptual mind through images that we have in our minds. We're not perceiving things directly when we're thinking. We're perceiving the image that's in our mind, kind of mixed with what's our direct perception. Report an error in the passage at 53:57 Highlight the passage at 53:57

54:20 So a Buddha doesn't have that. The Buddha sees everything directly. It's not perceiving things through a mental image. Report an error in the passage at 54:20 Highlight the passage at 54:20

54:32 So that's my understanding. How that works, we Report an error in the passage at 54:32 Highlight the passage at 54:32

54:40 can wait until we... Report an error in the passage at 54:40 Highlight the passage at 54:40

54:49 Is this interesting for you guys? Oh, okay. Report an error in the passage at 54:49 Highlight the passage at 54:49

54:56 I wasn't sure. Report an error in the passage at 54:56 Highlight the passage at 54:56

55:01 So, Report an error in the passage at 55:01 Highlight the passage at 55:01

55:05 another question. I heard the microphone. This might not be the place for it, but I've been... Last week, you made... It kind of flew by me, and then I was like, whoops. Cessation of suffering. There was... Something about two different views about whether it was an ultimate truth or not. And again, if this isn't the place for it, maybe we can talk about it some other time, but that's been like a little pitiful in my shoe all week. Report an error in the passage at 55:05 Highlight the passage at 55:05

55:49 Which is okay, which is okay. But anyway. I don't think you're wrong. Report an error in the passage at 55:49 Highlight the passage at 55:49

55:55 am. I would have to say I'm not well versed enough about the different opinions. There's a lot of different opinions about what a true cessation is and whether it's an emptiness or not. Svatantrikas say true cessations are not emptinesses and they're not ultimate truths and Prasangikas say they are ultimate truths. Some of Prasangikas say they're emptinesses and some of them say they're not. Report an error in the passage at 55:55 Highlight the passage at 55:55

56:24 So... For more information on that, Guy Newland in his book The Two Truths has some good information on that. Report an error in the passage at 56:24 Highlight the passage at 56:24

56:37 But I haven't really put my mind into why these people think this and why these people think that. So I wouldn't be good to explain that. Report an error in the passage at 56:37 Highlight the passage at 56:37

56:53 Alright, then the middle of page 302 says, okay, those who are skilled, so this is quoting the 60 verses of Reasonings, which I think is Nagarjuna. Those who are skilled with respect to things see collections, impermanent things, deceptive phenomena, and their emptiness and selflessness as their aspects, as isolates. Report an error in the passage at 56:53 Highlight the passage at 56:53

57:23 So when we become really skilled in emptiness, first of all, we see everything as being a collection. A collection of parts. Right now we see things as being whole objects. Like this is a single whole person. This is a single whole cup. This is a single whole table. But once we become skilled in emptiness, we'll see everything as being a collection of parts. Report an error in the passage at 57:23 Highlight the passage at 57:23

57:52 That's the first thing. Second thing, impermanent. We keep getting fooled by the way things look, but eventually we'll perceive everything. Remember that things are impermanent, constantly changing. There's nothing solid. There's nothing static. It's constantly changing. The cup's constantly changing. I'm constantly changing. The person I'm annoyed with is constantly changing. Report an error in the passage at 57:52 Highlight the passage at 57:52

58:16 The person that I'm attached to is constantly changing. Everything is constantly changing. Everything is constantly disintegrating. I'm going to lose everything. So eventually, we see everything that way. Report an error in the passage at 58:16 Highlight the passage at 58:16

58:35 Deceptive, eventually we'll see everything is not existing the way it appears. It appears as existing from its own side. It's not. It appears as if there's a person sitting here. There's no person right here on the aggregates. But it appears as if there is. Report an error in the passage at 58:35 Highlight the passage at 58:35

58:55 And then eventually we'll see there. Emptiness, which this is, this emptiness in this context is talking about the third attribute of true sufferings, right? So there's four noble truths, right? True sufferings, true origins, true cessations and true paths. The first noble truth, true sufferings has four attributes, which is impermanent, suffering, empty and selfless. Report an error in the passage at 58:55 Highlight the passage at 58:55

59:23 So, sorry, I'm going through this really quick. So what's the difference between empty and selfless? According to Prasanghikas, empty is referring to the emptiness of a self-sufficient person. We talked about the self-sufficient person before, the lack of a person that's in control of the aggregates, the controller of the body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 59:23 Highlight the passage at 59:23

59:46 So eventually we'll see all persons as lacking that self-sufficient person, a person that's in control. Report an error in the passage at 59:46 Highlight the passage at 59:46

59:59 As well as a person that has a body and mind. As well as selflessness, then eventually perceiving everything as lacking, right, inherent existence, lacking existence from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 59:59 Highlight the passage at 59:59

1:00:18 So through practice, right, through practice, we remind ourselves of that again and again. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:18 Highlight the passage at 1:00:18

1:00:29 Here in the commentary on this, it says that those who have completed the deeds perceive things in that way. So I guess that means Buddhas. So once we become a Buddha, we'll see everything that way all the time. Now we remember sometimes when we become a Buddha all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:29 Highlight the passage at 1:00:29

1:00:54 And then next it says, omniscient knowers directly perceive all the dependently arisen, free from superimposed entities, just this, just as it appears. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:54 Highlight the passage at 1:00:54

1:01:09 Omniscient knowers directly perceive everything as dependent and free from right existence from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:09 Highlight the passage at 1:01:09

1:01:25 And then on the top of page 303, it says they are said, right, Buddhas are said to perceive all the varieties directly and vividly. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:25 Highlight the passage at 1:01:25

1:01:41 So furthermore, when consciousness and objects of knowledge and the self are not perceived, since signs do not appear to him, he firmly abides so he does not arise. So here this is, you know, when we're sentient beings still and we're, when we directly realize emptiness, we're either in meditative equipoise or we're in post-meditation or subsequent attainment, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:41 Highlight the passage at 1:01:41

1:02:08 Meditative equipoise, directly realizing emptiness, where no conventional phenomena appear at all, right? Just emptiness appears. Or when we arise from that, then everything appears again, right? So we're either in meditative equipoise. Or we're in subsequent attainment. We're either directly realizing emptiness or we're perceiving conventional phenomena. And we can't perceive the two at the same time. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:08 Highlight the passage at 1:02:08

1:02:34 We can't perceive the two truths simultaneously with the same mind until we become a Buddha. So that's one of the obscurations to omniscience is the obscuration for one mind to see the two truths simultaneously. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:34 Highlight the passage at 1:02:34

1:02:55 So a Buddha does see the two truths simultaneously. The Buddha never arises from their meditative echo poise. They never arise from their direct realization of emptiness. And from within that direct realization of emptiness, they can perform actions and conventional phenomena appear. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:55 Highlight the passage at 1:02:55

1:03:31 Lama Tsongkhapa says, to someone who does not understand these statements of two modes correctly, it will seem contradictory to assert both and not just one of the two, but there is no contradiction. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:31 Highlight the passage at 1:03:31

1:03:45 So this is a point that I've talked about before, but maybe it's worth repeating because it's a big misunderstanding that people have. The two truths, the concealer truths and Ultimate truths are found by a certain kind of consciousness, a certain kind of valid cognizer, a reasoning consciousness perceiving the ultimate. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:45 Highlight the passage at 1:03:45

1:04:16 So it's an ultimate valid cognizer. Whereas concealer truths are perceived also by a valid cognizer, perceived by conventional valid cognizers. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:16 Highlight the passage at 1:04:16

1:04:33 So... The two truths do not contradict each other. They are both valid. There are two different kinds of valid minds that perceive different kinds of objects. Certain valid minds perceive conventionalities and certain valid minds perceive ultimate truths. And it's not that emptiness invalidates conventionalities, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:04:33 Highlight the passage at 1:04:33

1:05:00 Emptiness does not invalidate the existence. The conventional existence of people, of the I, of everything. It invalidates the existence from its own side. It invalidates the findable existence, the objective existence. It does not invalidate its conventional existence, its mere imputation. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:00 Highlight the passage at 1:05:00

1:05:42 So that's something to be cautious about because I notice a lot of people hang on to things as being, you know, conventional existence of things as being something much more than it is. It's like, okay, yeah, okay, I know I don't ultimately exist. I don't know I don't inherently exist, but I do conventionally exist. There is still a person to, you know, to get angry and to, you know, who gets mistreated, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:42 Highlight the passage at 1:05:42

1:06:08 So that's still hanging on to something. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:08 Highlight the passage at 1:06:08

1:06:14 The conventional existence is everything is constantly changing. There's nothing substantial. Nothing at all that's substantial. Nothing. Everything's constantly changing. What does exist is a label on that constantly changing, insubstantial stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:14 Highlight the passage at 1:06:14

1:06:40 It's just a label on constantly changing, insubstantial. So, Report an error in the passage at 1:06:40 Highlight the passage at 1:06:40

1:06:51 do you get angry at a constantly changing, insubstantial nothing, right? Do we grasp onto, you know, can a constantly changing, insubstantial self get insulted? It's like insulting, right? Missed, right? There's nothing substantial there. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:51 Highlight the passage at 1:06:51

1:07:24 So the conventional existence is just a label on constantly changing its insubstantial appearances. Nothing really there, nothing solid, nothing substantial. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:24 Highlight the passage at 1:07:24

1:07:41 So that label on an appearance, a constantly changing appearance, is what exists. That's the conventional truth. Anything more than that is refuted by the ultimate truth. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:41 Highlight the passage at 1:07:41

1:08:03 As Lama Zopa says, Anything even slightly more than that which is merely imputed by thought is the object of refutation. Anything findable, anything solid, anything that exists independent of conception is an object of refutation. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:03 Highlight the passage at 1:08:03

1:08:30 So I think that that's very subtle, right? That takes a while to really get. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:30 Highlight the passage at 1:08:30

1:08:41 So anyway, so there's no contradiction in the two truths at all. So is that clear? That's a really important point. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:41 Highlight the passage at 1:08:41

1:08:52 Well, if you don't get it completely now, it's fine, right? But that's a very subtle and profound point that is good to get at some point. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:52 Highlight the passage at 1:08:52

1:09:10 We have a question from the other room or a comment. No, Report an error in the passage at 1:09:10 Highlight the passage at 1:09:10

1:09:21 I think that it seems to me that I remember when Geshe-la was... Teaching on emptiness, he did make this statement that until you have a direct realization of emptiness, that understanding merely imputed or merely labeled was pretty impossible. To really understand that it comes after that direct realization. Because I get up to a point and it's just like, yeah, and then it kind of blows up. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:21 Highlight the passage at 1:09:21

1:09:57 Yeah. So it's not necessarily a direct realization. But they say, I mean, my understanding. OK, my understanding. Right, so there's the three levels of dependent arising, right? Dependent on causes and conditions, dependent on parts, dependent on imputation. So according to some schools of thought, only the first two levels of dependent arising can be realized before you realize emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:57 Highlight the passage at 1:09:57

1:10:21 And then the last one, right, dependent on thought, is Like a subtle conventional truth, so you realize the coarse conventional truth, then you realize ultimate truth, and then you can realize the subtle conventional truth. So in some schools of thought, right, that subtle conventional truth that you realize only after you realize emptiness is that it's merely imputed by thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:21 Highlight the passage at 1:10:21

1:10:46 Yeah, yeah. So that's what I had learned. There's another subtle conventional truth, right? That Geshe-la was talking about last week, that you realize after you realize emptiness. And that's that, you know, that although things are empty, they still, right, actions and agents, right, cause and effect still functions, right. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:46 Highlight the passage at 1:10:46

1:11:07 And actually, Lama Tsongkhapa talked about. Yeah, so I think we don't really understand that things are merely imputed by the mind until we really get emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:07 Highlight the passage at 1:11:07

1:11:19 Nothing, nothing at all Report an error in the passage at 1:11:19 Highlight the passage at 1:11:19

1:11:32 findable. Independent of our conception. That's pretty, that's negating a lot, right? I mean, that is negating a lot more than what we think we're negating when we first get teachings on emptiness, I think. Yeah, there's actually, I have a great Lama Zopa quote in this from his upcoming book. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:32 Highlight the passage at 1:11:32

1:12:08 So, he's talking about how, like, Report an error in the passage at 1:12:08 Highlight the passage at 1:12:08

1:12:16 when we really... Yet, get it, you know, fear often arises, right? Because we're negating, we're Report an error in the passage at 1:12:16 Highlight the passage at 1:12:16

1:12:30 negating a lot. We're totally losing the eye, right? We're totally losing the eye when we're meditating on emptiness. We're totally negating any findable eye. So Rinpoche says, when the experience of losing the eye comes, you know, for some people, very deep fear arises. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:30 Highlight the passage at 1:12:30

1:13:01 So he says, just as when one is crossing a river, one must go through that fear. That fear coming is actually the best sign. That means your meditation on emptiness is working. It's working and it's hurting. It's destroying the enemy. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:01 Highlight the passage at 1:13:01

1:13:26 When the fear comes, it harms the ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:26 Highlight the passage at 1:13:26

1:13:35 So he says, let... Let the experience of the loss of the eye that is occurring in your view continue so that it can be totally lost. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:35 Highlight the passage at 1:13:35

1:13:51 Only then are you able to realize that it can be totally done. Only then are you able to realize emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:51 Highlight the passage at 1:13:51

1:14:03 Otherwise you just start to see that it is empty. You get some idea but is not complete. So you must let it be empty. I'm absolutely lost. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:03 Highlight the passage at 1:14:03

1:14:21 no danger. Only in this way are you led to the middle way, understanding that losing the I is not nihilism. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:21 Highlight the passage at 1:14:21

1:14:33 you can realize the conventional truth, right, later, right, that the I exists, but it exists in mere Letting the I be totally lost is therefore the key essential. It is extremely essential. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:33 Highlight the passage at 1:14:33

1:15:02 So yeah, so I notice that sometimes when people meditate on emptiness, you know, they come up with a non-findability and then their mind shifts, right? To, okay, well, what does exist then? And we need to not do that. If we want to realize emptiness, we need to stay with the not finding. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:02 Highlight the passage at 1:15:02

1:15:28 The eye is totally lost because it cannot be found anywhere. It's totally unfindable. It's nowhere. It is nowhere. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:28 Highlight the passage at 1:15:28

1:15:45 So Rinpoche is pretty clear. He's pretty strong. We have to let it be totally lost. And anyway, so he says then with this fear, so when this very deep fear arises, he says at that time you must not stop. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:45 Highlight the passage at 1:15:45

1:16:07 Definitely you must not run away. I don't mean physically run to the mountain or anything external like this. What I mean is that it is a huge mistake to stop the meditation at this point. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:07 Highlight the passage at 1:16:07

1:16:24 If you're not aware ahead of time of what's going to happen, then there is an opportunity for unbelievable fear to arise at the very time that you arrive at the experience constituting the special part of the realization. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:24 Highlight the passage at 1:16:24

1:16:39 Why it is so important to understand the texts and have special oral instructions from experienced lamas and gurus now comes to the fore. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:39 Highlight the passage at 1:16:39

1:16:57 So in meditation, we need to let the I be completely lost, completely unfindable, nothing. No I there at all. But then Rinpoche says, but although you feel that the I is becoming non-existent, Report an error in the passage at 1:16:57 Highlight the passage at 1:16:57

1:17:18 It's not actually, right? The conventional I isn't becoming non-existent. The findable I is non-existent. He says you should know it's impossible for the I to become completely non-existent like that because, you know, because there's always a mental continuum, right? There's still a continuum of mind. No matter what, there's going to be a continuum of mind. And we can impute I on the continuum of mind, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:18 Highlight the passage at 1:17:18

1:17:49 The mind, you know, the continuum mind will continue. It's not that that will stop, right? It feels like there's no I at all anymore, but there is that subtle I that you can impute on the continuum of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:49 Highlight the passage at 1:17:49

1:18:11 Make sense? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:11 Highlight the passage at 1:18:11

1:18:26 It makes sense, but I can see where you would want a guru because it almost sounds like, you know, a couple minutes ago you were going, it doesn't exist at all, at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:26 Highlight the passage at 1:18:26

1:18:41 And as I get settled, I remember vaguely one teacher talking about His Holiness and he kept going, well, don't you think he has a personality? He has a very strong personality and things like that. And I don't know, it was sort of on this issue, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:41 Highlight the passage at 1:18:41

1:19:05 Anyway. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:05 Highlight the passage at 1:19:05

1:19:08 I kind of get it, but it is really hard to, it's like I can see it gets more and more subtle, but my mind jumps from almost, you know, from the nihilism to the permanence thing or whatever. There's a back and forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:08 Highlight the passage at 1:19:08

1:19:33 Yeah, I guess that's where I start looking for what does exist. You know, when I look for it, it doesn't exist. But it's... That when you get up and you're walking around, never mind, make a question out of this Emily. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:33 Highlight the passage at 1:19:33

1:19:58 Very subtle, yeah. Yeah, I mean that's the trick, right? I mean that's what Lama Tsongkhapa says is so difficult, right? Getting that nothing is findable at all and yet things still exist and function. You know, when we've gotten that, he says our analysis is complete, our understanding is complete. So if we haven't gotten that yet, that's normal, right? So another thing on that is that Rinpoche is very clear in this book, and I've never heard anyone be this clear before on this point, is that, you know, there's two ways you can meditate on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:58 Highlight the passage at 1:19:58

1:20:41 You can meditate and search for the me or the I, right? You can identify the object of negation first. Object of negation. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:41 Highlight the passage at 1:20:41

1:20:55 And then you search for that. He says the first is wrong. That's where we get confused, is that we're searching for the I without having identified the object of negation first. So then when we don't find it, we're really confused. We think, oh, well, there's no I that exists at all. Because we didn't identify the object of refutation first. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:55 Highlight the passage at 1:20:55

1:21:22 That's why... Lama Tsongkhapa emphasizes so much, spend time, right, identifying that object of refutation. Then when you can't find it, when you find it doesn't exist, it doesn't throw you into nihilism. It doesn't throw you into utter confusion. And Report an error in the passage at 1:21:22 Highlight the passage at 1:21:22

1:21:44 that just, you know, that just takes time, right? Lama Tsongkhapa says it's extremely difficult to identify the subtle object of refutation, the object of negation. But we have to do that at some point. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:44 Highlight the passage at 1:21:44

1:22:05 Jessica, did you have a comment or question? You were just getting the microphone. Okay, so let's take a break and there are snacks in there and then we'll watch a little bit of a video afterwards. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:05 Highlight the passage at 1:22:05

1:22:34 have New Year's Eve, right? Scott is Report an error in the passage at 1:22:34 Highlight the passage at 1:22:34

1:22:42 is your New Year's Day Vata Sapa practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:42 Highlight the passage at 1:22:42

1:22:48 coming for a weekend in August Do people know who she is? Yeah, she's the one who wrote. No, I don't. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Probably. Probably everybody here. Kathleen McDonald. Kathleen. Kathleen. Kathleen. Kathleen. Kathleen. Kathleen. Kathleen. Kathleen. Kathleen. Kathleen. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:48 Highlight the passage at 1:22:48

1:23:13 Kathleen. Kathleen. Kathleen. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:13 Highlight the passage at 1:23:13

1:23:19 Kathleen. we have Special Insight for starting, and then we have Presenting the Path for Report an error in the passage at 1:23:19 Highlight the passage at 1:23:19

1:23:36 a lot of stuff went on in January. Action packed. Awesome. I know. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:36 Highlight the passage at 1:23:36

1:23:54 I think we're going to get over a bit of a cold. Long day. Long day working when you're sick. Yeah, I bet I'm 11 years Yeah, I lost my voice. I was supposed to go to Sunday school on Sunday and I woke up with no voice. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:54 Highlight the passage at 1:23:54

1:24:10 Did you catch it from your daughter? Well, you know, actually, my kids are Report an error in the passage at 1:24:10 Highlight the passage at 1:24:10

1:24:27 But, yeah. Exactly. And then I think I caught Thank you. Yeah, I mean, you know, like, voice, like, you don't have that, like, puffy, red-eye thing. I was on Sunday, then Monday, yesterday, yesterday. Yeah, tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:27 Highlight the passage at 1:24:27

1:24:53 sound like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:53 Highlight the passage at 1:24:53

1:24:58 All of you yesterday. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:58 Highlight the passage at 1:24:58

· · · silence, 18 minutes

1:42:58 Do you really? I had no idea. forget about it. Here's your tattoos. All I can do is show you a scar. Oh wow. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:58 Highlight the passage at 1:42:58

1:43:13 I like that, it's really cool. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:13 Highlight the passage at 1:43:13

1:43:24 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:24 Highlight the passage at 1:43:24

1:43:35 have a little video to show. Thanks for sharing. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:35 Highlight the passage at 1:43:35

1:44:02 I think the sound is very good, but maybe try it. What is this? It's on quantum physics. Oh, cool. You're going to love that. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:02 Highlight the passage at 1:44:02

1:44:31 It's only 10 minutes long. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:31 Highlight the passage at 1:44:31

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1:45:05 time, consciousness, Report an error in the passage at 1:45:05 Highlight the passage at 1:45:05

1:45:13 Unconscious is a matter of the brain. at something as immaterial, experience. you want to see fear... Report an error in the passage at 1:45:13 Highlight the passage at 1:45:13

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:47:13 manufacturers our brain receives billions of signals every minute we organize them into holograms which we project outside ourselves and call reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:13 Highlight the passage at 1:47:13

1:47:29 two-dimensional we can start with Report an error in the passage at 1:47:29 Highlight the passage at 1:47:29

1:47:38 A hologram is a metaphor, how you take n dimensions information and you bring them down into minus one dimensions. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:38 Highlight the passage at 1:47:38

1:47:59 reality, like the non-insider, but they're not here, and most of Report an error in the passage at 1:47:59 Highlight the passage at 1:47:59

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1:48:38 Thank Report an error in the passage at 1:48:38 Highlight the passage at 1:48:38

1:48:57 you. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:57 Highlight the passage at 1:48:57

1:49:02 all at once part of that same particle created this whole universe today. And we know those particles are now separate and expanding. And studies show that they are lost. That's fantastic. The Parallel Universe. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:02 Highlight the passage at 1:49:02

1:49:26 that means that Report an error in the passage at 1:49:26 Highlight the passage at 1:49:26

1:49:36 galaxy, everything. that's what we call it, parallel universe theory, rather than just parallel electrons. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:36 Highlight the passage at 1:49:36

1:49:50 and that's right, the same theory that says that the atoms exist in more than one place in different humans, says that the humans also exist in more and in more than one state of mind and so forth in different Report an error in the passage at 1:49:50 Highlight the passage at 1:49:50

1:50:04 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:04 Highlight the passage at 1:50:04

1:50:33 minds receive, mind is coming from my mind, your two is coming from your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:33 Highlight the passage at 1:50:33

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1:51:22 it going to have credits for who the scientists are? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:22 Highlight the passage at 1:51:22

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1:54:44 awesome, yeah, I love it, actually, this is the kind of stuff that makes me want to go back to, I wish I could go back to school and study science. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:44 Highlight the passage at 1:54:44

1:54:59 how the scientist people here, how... This is not very scientific. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:59 Highlight the passage at 1:54:59

1:55:23 I've read a lot about it because I find it really what I know about it is totally accurate. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:23 Highlight the passage at 1:55:23

1:55:32 that I haven't heard in our house, so go ahead and say, mean, I graduated college in 1980 and I took one physics class and I loved it. I've always felt like this is real interesting. There's a whole body of studies. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:32 Highlight the passage at 1:55:32

1:56:02 we're at five minutes. That's Report an error in the passage at 1:56:02 Highlight the passage at 1:56:02

1:56:08 actually one of the things that's always really on me is that it just seems like it's so right on. Actually, that's what was actually going through my mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:08 Highlight the passage at 1:56:08

1:56:31 talk about this and then. What's occurring to me is that how remarkable it is that Buddhist scholars were right about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:31 Highlight the passage at 1:56:31

1:56:46 You know what I mean? In some sense. The nature of reality. Yeah, I mean, it was interesting. And that was what it was like. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:46 Highlight the passage at 1:56:46

1:57:02 Exactly. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:02 Highlight the passage at 1:57:02

1:57:08 There's a limit on what science means, why they lose attraction. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:08 Highlight the passage at 1:57:08

1:57:25 not need to start any of our own source of pollution, we search term, we cannot find the source Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:25 Highlight the passage at 1:57:25

1:57:45 Thank you. Thank you. Thank Report an error in the passage at 1:57:45 Highlight the passage at 1:57:45

1:58:02 you. Thank Report an error in the passage at 1:58:02 Highlight the passage at 1:58:02

1:58:25 you. Modifier is green by that. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:25 Highlight the passage at 1:58:25

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:58:43 billion, billion times smaller, it infinite in its diameter. simply, what... What instruments do you have to see for these end services? Do you use end services? If you're seeking a private, it is like wanting to go to more people about time. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:43 Highlight the passage at 1:58:43

1:59:06 We Report an error in the passage at 1:59:06 Highlight the passage at 1:59:06

1:59:13 try to perceive at the ultimate level of reality and we search for any kind of method. For example, new technology, atomic power, etc. But in searches we might, we cannot perceive the ultimate level of reality using these mechanisms. The ultimate level of reality is fundamentally empty and not observable using these scientific methods. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:13 Highlight the passage at 1:59:13

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:00:18 you define the green? talking about what you didn't see, didn't see, and what you didn't see, and what you Report an error in the passage at 2:00:18 Highlight the passage at 2:00:18

2:00:28 by your work, our brains can't Report an error in the passage at 2:00:28 Highlight the passage at 2:00:28

2:00:34 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:34 Highlight the passage at 2:00:34

2:00:43 know what is going on with the fire. the eyes, the back of the red button, triggers the coming down to the back of the brain. The brain is very clever. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:43 Highlight the passage at 2:00:43

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:01:29 condensed a small vibration. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:29 Highlight the passage at 2:01:29

2:01:34 consciousness experiences itself Report an error in the passage at 2:01:34 Highlight the passage at 2:01:34

2:01:39 no such thing death. Life is only a dream. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:39 Highlight the passage at 2:01:39

2:02:08 intact in the middle right now. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:08 Highlight the passage at 2:02:08

2:02:13 I'm going to definitely post it on my face. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:13 Highlight the passage at 2:02:13

2:02:21 was great. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:21 Highlight the passage at 2:02:21

2:02:32 I mean, a lot of the physics stuff they talk about. I mean, this is the guy who was talking about the end, like, world and consciousness. I don't think it's like that, but... Report an error in the passage at 2:02:32 Highlight the passage at 2:02:32

2:02:47 And Buddhism wouldn't necessarily buy a lot of, you know, some of the stuff in there either. But it's definitely food for thought. So Report an error in the passage at 2:02:47 Highlight the passage at 2:02:47

2:03:03 long for, you know, here to here or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:03 Highlight the passage at 2:03:03

2:03:12 There's some besides speech. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:12 Highlight the passage at 2:03:12

2:03:24 Right. I mean, there's a lot of theories about that. I don't think they're universally accepted, you know. So that's the, whereas quantum physics, that stuff is accepted. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:24 Highlight the passage at 2:03:24

2:03:38 But yeah, I mean, there's clearly stuff we don't understand about the brains. so we're going to need to open a lot. -hmm. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:38 Highlight the passage at 2:03:38

2:03:53 Buddhism would also say the mind is not the brain, right? The coarser levels of mind are dependent on the brain, right? But the subtle level of mind is not dependent on the brain. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:53 Highlight the passage at 2:03:53

2:04:14 No, no. No, I mean we're interdependent, right? But not one, yeah. right. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:14 Highlight the passage at 2:04:14

2:04:23 Yeah, so I'm not sure where that's coming from. Yeah, that's like this. Yeah, so it would have been interesting to see, you know, who these people were, you know, what their credits were. Something Report an error in the passage at 2:04:23 Highlight the passage at 2:04:23

2:04:41 fun and interesting. So I'll send out the link. Right, so, sorry, no time for meditation today. But anyway, you guys, you know, so during the break we'll resume on January 10th, so, you know, maybe you can keep looking for that object of refutation. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:41 Highlight the passage at 2:04:41

2:05:20 What are you talking about? So page 246 will end with Shantideva. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:20 Highlight the passage at 2:05:20

2:05:41 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 2:05:41 Highlight the passage at 2:05:41

2:06:07 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. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:07 Highlight the passage at 2:06:07

2:06:31 May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments, whatever diseases there are in the world. May they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:31 Highlight the passage at 2:06:31

2:06:59 And Report an error in the passage at 2:06:59 Highlight the passage at 2:06:59

2:07:05 also dedicating for the quick recovery of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the long life of all our spiritual masters. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:05 Highlight the passage at 2:07:05

2:07:37 Everybody have a good holiday. Be safe. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:37 Highlight the passage at 2:07:37

2:07:44 Oh, there's Louis. He made it. Just in time. just in time! Report an error in the passage at 2:07:44 Highlight the passage at 2:07:44

2:08:03 See you in the new year. Thank you. Have a good one. Are you sticking around? Oh, yeah, yeah. No, my family's on a no-go anywhere. Yeah, you guys traveled a little bit last year. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:03 Highlight the passage at 2:08:03

2:08:22 Yeah? I liked it. It was on Karuṇā Caton's website. I mean, Facebook page. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:22 Highlight the passage at 2:08:22

2:08:41 Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:41 Highlight the passage at 2:08:41

2:08:48 Yeah, and it goes, you know, yeah, anyway. It complements nicely our. yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:48 Highlight the passage at 2:08:48

2:08:52 You know, our Dharma studies. Yeah. Anyway, I don't know much about it, but I would like to learn more. And then those mind-life books are just so interesting from the mind-life conferences. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:52 Highlight the passage at 2:08:52

2:09:09 Yeah. Yeah, and then you kind of understand better what are the kind of commonalities between science and Buddhism and where the departures are. Because for sure, there are still departures. But they Report an error in the passage at 2:09:09 Highlight the passage at 2:09:09

2:09:29 haven't... Yeah, they don't have the instruments yet. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:29 Highlight the passage at 2:09:29

2:09:52 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:52 Highlight the passage at 2:09:52

2:10:25 It invalidates some of this cosmology. There's no way of them thinking about the cosmology and stuff. It even gets lost. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:25 Highlight the passage at 2:10:25

2:10:38 Thank you. cosmology, or is it not the problem? Well, are they... It's in the Abhidharma. It describes the cosmology very, you know, pretty specifically. And His Holiness says in one of those long-life books, you know, there's still a lot of monks who think that the world is flat and they need to update their understanding based on science. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:38 Highlight the passage at 2:10:38

2:11:08 So, but see, yeah, anyway. But that was cosmology. I think it was based on the popular view of India at that time. It wasn't the way I had it. It Report an error in the passage at 2:11:08 Highlight the passage at 2:11:08

2:11:26 was the simpler and louder. But you guys could hear it kind of. Yeah, yeah. I just had to do things very differently. It made me think more things. Exactly. Any Report an error in the passage at 2:11:26 Highlight the passage at 2:11:26

2:11:47 way of thinking of what there's the science of what it is, it's like there's this constant challenge to... Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:47 Highlight the passage at 2:11:47