Special Insight 4: Wisdom of Emptiness (7 February 2012)

0:01 Do you have a party? Do you have a party for a new nun? Yeah, we can have a party for her when she comes back. We can have filtered tap water. Report an error in the passage at 0:01 Highlight the passage at 0:01

0:17 Before noon. All right. Report an error in the passage at 0:17 Highlight the passage at 0:17

0:33 So let's start. Report an error in the passage at 0:33 Highlight the passage at 0:33

0:37 See if we can calm our minds a little. Report an error in the passage at 0:37 Highlight the passage at 0:37

0:42 I meditate on the breath. Report an error in the passage at 0:42 Highlight the passage at 0:42

0:49 Just letting our minds and our bodies totally relax. We Report an error in the passage at 0:49 Highlight the passage at 0:49

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2:11 consider motivation that Report an error in the passage at 2:11 Highlight the passage at 2:11

2:20 all of these samsaric pleasures, all Report an error in the passage at 2:20 Highlight the passage at 2:20

2:28 of the external things, the successes, the enjoyments, the relationships, Report an error in the passage at 2:28 Highlight the passage at 2:28

2:49 never bring lasting satisfaction or lasting happiness because Report an error in the passage at 2:49 Highlight the passage at 2:49

3:25 they are by their nature impermanent, Report an error in the passage at 3:25 Highlight the passage at 3:25

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4:23 losing everything. The Report an error in the passage at 4:23 Highlight the passage at 4:23

4:45 only thing we carry with us. Is our subtle mind and Report an error in the passage at 4:45 Highlight the passage at 4:45

4:56 the karmic imprints we've created. Report an error in the passage at 4:56 Highlight the passage at 4:56

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5:45 So what's the most useful way to spend our time? Start Report an error in the passage at 5:45 Highlight the passage at 5:45

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7:49 with the Manjushri prayer. On the first page of the white book, Report an error in the passage at 7:49 Highlight the passage at 7:49

8:10 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 8:10 Highlight the passage at 8:10

8:36 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 bodhisattva, who has been pure from the beginning, I bow down to you, O Manjushri. Report an error in the passage at 8:36 Highlight the passage at 8:36

9:21 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, page 76 in the Gold Book. I Report an error in the passage at 9:21 Highlight the passage at 9:21

9:54 prostrate to the Arya Triple Gem. Thus did I hear at one time, the Bhagavan was dwelling on my culture'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, avalokitesvara, 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 9:54 Highlight the passage at 9:54

10:25 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 10:25 Highlight the passage at 10:25

10:47 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. It's also not other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness are empty. Report an error in the passage at 10:47 Highlight the passage at 10:47

11:13 Shariputra, likewise all phenomena, 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 and no phenomenon. Report an error in the passage at 11:13 Highlight the passage at 11:13

11:43 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. Report an error in the passage at 11:43 Highlight the passage at 11:43

12:03 There is no exalted wisdom, no attainment, and also no non-attainment. 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 and reliance on the perfection of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 12:03 Highlight the passage at 12:03

12:32 Therefore, the mantra of the perfection of wisdom. The mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, the mantra equal to the unequaled, 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 gate gate paragate parasam gate bodhissoha. Report an error in the passage at 12:32 Highlight the passage at 12:32

12:55 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 Tadatagas rejoice. The Bhagavan having thus spoken the venerable Sharivadiputra. Report an error in the passage at 12:55 Highlight the passage at 12:55

13:24 The Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokitesvara. 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. Then page 98, refuge in bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 13:24 Highlight the passage at 13:24

13:49 So when we say the refuge prayer, Kishitashi recommends we first think about what kind of happiness are we looking for? What kind of happiness are we wanting? I Report an error in the passage at 13:49 Highlight the passage at 13:49

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15:13 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 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 15:13 Highlight the passage at 15:13

15:38 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 15:38 Highlight the passage at 15:38

16:15 So I showed this quote last time about how once we've realized emptiness, or once we've at least had an experience of emptiness, having reached the point where the eye becomes completely lost, then we have to continue to do the same meditation on a daily basis. So we need to, right, initially our experience of emptiness is fleeting, right? We have some kind of aha moment maybe, right, in meditation, and then it lasts for, what, a few seconds, and then it's gone, right? Report an error in the passage at 16:15 Highlight the passage at 16:15

16:58 So we need to reinforce that, right? We need to make it stronger and stronger, and we need to make it stable, right? So then we need to work on our concentration. First of all, we need to meditate on it every day and then we need to increase our concentration because the reason why the experience isn't that strong, the reason why we can't bring it into our life all day every day is because we have a distracted mind. Report an error in the passage at 16:58 Highlight the passage at 16:58

17:28 So we have a bit of an experience and then we start thinking about something else and it's gone. Or we have an experience and then we think, I got it. And it's gone. I got it. Yeah. So that's where calm abiding and special insight come. Report an error in the passage at 17:28 Highlight the passage at 17:28

17:52 So a reminder, right? Calm abiding is where we have the single pointed concentration, right? Completely unwavering on the object. Completely focused. Completely calm. Completely clear. Report an error in the passage at 17:52 Highlight the passage at 17:52

18:10 Single-pointedly focused on the object of meditation for as long as we want, right? Without any dullness, without any distraction, without any excitement. Just this laser-like focus on the object, right? Which is what makes the meditation so powerful, right? Because the mind stays on it without wavering. But calm abiding is... Report an error in the passage at 18:10 Highlight the passage at 18:10

18:42 Very powerful, but it's not enough. So calm abiding is the stabilizing meditation. It can focus, and that's the perfection of concentration. But with calm abiding alone, we can't achieve the perfection of wisdom. So for wisdom, we need special insight. So calm abiding stays on the object of meditation by itself. Report an error in the passage at 18:42 Highlight the passage at 18:42

19:14 Without any effort, right? And then all of this bliss of physical and mental pliancy arise. Remember, this bliss that arises with calm abiding is a bliss that's far beyond any samsaric pleasure that we've ever experienced. Well, that's what they say, right? Report an error in the passage at 19:14 Highlight the passage at 19:14

19:40 So when that bliss of physical and mental pliancy arises, then it's calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 19:40 Highlight the passage at 19:40

19:48 And then special insight is right with the basis of a calm abiding, with the basis of that stable single pointed mind. Then we start analyzing. We develop wisdom. And then eventually a bliss of physical and mental pliancy arises through analysis. And then that's special insight. But we're going to talk about that more. So through special insight we get wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 19:48 Highlight the passage at 19:48

20:23 And we talked about how special insight can be focused on conventionalities or it can be focused on emptiness, right? Special insight isn't necessarily focused on emptiness. It can be focused on the Four Noble Truths. It can be focused on the suffering nature of saṃsāra. It can be focused on karma. It can be focused on any of the subjects within the Lamrim, actually. But the special insight we're talking about here in this section is a special insight realizing emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 20:23 Highlight the passage at 20:23

20:57 Microphone. David's got it. Report an error in the passage at 20:57 Highlight the passage at 20:57

21:04 So when it says having achieved a physical and mental pliancy, what does the physical aspect mean besides like the winds? Can you talk about that? I want to talk about pliancy a little bit later. Yeah. I'll read you a few things. Report an error in the passage at 21:04 Highlight the passage at 21:04

21:28 So then, okay, so once we attain calm abiding. So when we have calm abiding, right, we have incredible bliss. We have incredible focus and it's very tempting to just stay there, right, they say, right, because you have everything, right, you don't have any dissatisfaction when you're in calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 21:28 Highlight the passage at 21:28

21:48 So they say don't stay there, right, because it's not a permanent state, right, we'll fall from it, right, we're still not out of saṃsāra. So Gishulodhan says having attained calm abiding, you should not delay by dwelling in the bliss of pliancy. But use the power of your stabilized mind to investigate the nature of phenomenon by engaging in the practice of special insight. So there are these stories of people who have attained all these high levels of concentration and thought they were liberated from cyclic existence and then they realized that they were going to fall from that. Report an error in the passage at 21:48 Highlight the passage at 21:48

22:28 And then they developed, you know, anguish and this belief that, oh, okay, well, liberation isn't possible then because they thought they had liberation and it was not a permanent state, right? So in this tradition, we're very much encouraged, okay, great, you attain calm abiding, but that's not the end in and of itself, right? Report an error in the passage at 22:28 Highlight the passage at 22:28

22:51 Right, exactly. Now we have to develop wisdom because the... Right. Report an error in the passage at 22:51 Highlight the passage at 22:51

22:59 There's the only way, right, to uproot our mental afflictions, right, all of our suffering is caused by mental afflictions, right, one way or the other. And the only way to get rid of those mental afflictions forever is to realize emptiness, right, because all of the mental afflictions are based on a hallucination, right. Report an error in the passage at 22:59 Highlight the passage at 22:59

23:21 It's based on a fantasized way of believing things exist, right, believing things exist. In a way that they don't, right? In a concrete way. So we have to realize emptiness. No choice if we want to end suffering or problems. Report an error in the passage at 23:21 Highlight the passage at 23:21

23:44 So we need special insight. So we talked about this, how special insight, well calm abiding is generated first and then special insight. Report an error in the passage at 23:44 Highlight the passage at 23:44

23:59 So what we do, so after observing suchness or emptiness. And generating calm abiding, then you generate special insight through analytical meditation, observing that same object of observation. So we talked about this last time, right? We generate calm abiding on whatever object we happen to be using. It might be the breath, it might be the image of a Buddha, it might be something else. Report an error in the passage at 23:59 Highlight the passage at 23:59

24:26 Then once we attain calm abiding on that object, then we switch our object to emptiness. And so then we do calm abiding on emptiness. And then that's still not calm abiding special insight realizing emptiness. That's just calm abiding focused on emptiness without analysis. Then on the basis of that, then we start to analyze using the reasonings we've talked about. Report an error in the passage at 24:26 Highlight the passage at 24:26

24:52 Reasoning of dependent arising, reasoning of the four-point analysis, etc. Whatever works for you. Then we analyze. Using that same object. So then we analyze emptiness. So combining on emptiness and then analysis of emptiness. Okay. And then we'll talk tonight about how we do that. Well, we're going to try. Okay. Peter, do you have a question now or do you want to wait? Report an error in the passage at 24:52 Highlight the passage at 24:52

25:24 Talking stick. How do you visualize emptiness? The way you visualize like the image of a Buddha. I'm not quite sure that works. Yeah. Okay. Well, you know. When we meditate on emptiness, you start with your object of refutation. Let's say it's the eye. That concrete eye that we hang on to. Then we search for that within the body, search for it within the mind. We search until we develop a certainty that it does not exist anywhere. Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

26:05 We come up with this This mere absence of that object of refutation, so that mere absence of that concrete eye. It's almost like meditating on space, but it's not because you're specifically refuting that object of refutation. Then you have a mental image of emptiness. That absence of that concrete eye is a mental image of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 26:05 Highlight the passage at 26:05

26:36 So in the beginning, it's fuzzy. It's fuzzy because we don't have combating special insight. We still have a distracted mind. But we start with that. So that's a great start to end up with that absence. And then we stabilize on that absence. So we have mental image of emptiness, which is a much more difficult mental image. Report an error in the passage at 26:36 Highlight the passage at 26:36

27:05 To stabilize on than like the image of a Buddha. First of all, it's a negative phenomenon. And the other thing is we talked about last time how we come up with that absence, emptiness, and then that ends up turning into space. Report an error in the passage at 27:05 Highlight the passage at 27:05

27:21 We're refuting the eye. It's like looking for your wallet and finding the absence of your wallet. So in the beginning it's like... right the meeting like Report an error in the passage at 27:21 Highlight the passage at 27:21

27:35 Oh my gosh, my wallet isn't there. But if you try to stabilize on that, then that can turn into just space. And that's what emptiness is like, right? Oh my gosh, that I is nowhere to be found. And then we stabilize on that and then suddenly, well not suddenly, but gradually it's just like meditating on space, right? Report an error in the passage at 27:35 Highlight the passage at 27:35

27:58 Then we have to analyze again to get that absence of that concrete I again. So we'll go back and forth. Report an error in the passage at 27:58 Highlight the passage at 27:58

28:10 Yeah, so these instructions are sweet, right? I mean, just to get Lama Tsongkhapa's instructions on how to meditate on emptiness is just wonderful. Report an error in the passage at 28:10 Highlight the passage at 28:10

28:24 So difficult Report an error in the passage at 28:24 Highlight the passage at 28:24

28:31 to get meditation instructions. So, right, Report an error in the passage at 28:31 Highlight the passage at 28:31

28:40 oh, we've already talked about that. Okay, so that now, the actual way to cultivate special insight based on calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 28:40 Highlight the passage at 28:40

28:50 First of all, Lama Tsongkhapa says if you have not gained the view of selflessness, no matter what meditation system you embark upon, That meditation will not rest on the meaning of suchness or emptiness. That is why it's necessary to gain the view. That's why we've spent so much time on trying to get the correct view. Report an error in the passage at 28:50 Highlight the passage at 28:50

29:11 So once we get the correct view, then we can develop calm abiding on that correct view. Then we can develop special insight on that correct view. Without having attained the correct view, then we're not going to get special insight on that correct view. Report an error in the passage at 29:11 Highlight the passage at 29:11

29:33 Slowly, slowly. Maybe I'll read you just to remind us of the correct view again and again. Report an error in the passage at 29:33 Highlight the passage at 29:33

30:07 I lost it. Report an error in the passage at 30:07 Highlight the passage at 30:07

30:19 So Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, so the I, for example, exists in dependence on being merely labeled to the base that is the body and mind belonging to us. Report an error in the passage at 30:19 Highlight the passage at 30:19

30:32 By relating to that particular association of body and mind, we label I. So I is nothing other than a label on our body and mind, right? There's no I in there. There's no I separate from the body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 30:32 Highlight the passage at 30:32

30:52 There's no I on top of the body and mind. The I is just a label on the body and mind. But although the I exists in mere name in relation to being labeled on that base, it appears as not merely labeled from the side of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 30:52 Highlight the passage at 30:52

31:14 So it appears... As if there's a real I in here somewhere. It doesn't appear as if it's just something we made up with our minds. Seems like there's a real I here. And if we look in the mirror, it seems like there's a real me there, right? On that body that appears back. So that's an object of refutation. Likewise, the mind also exists in mere name. Report an error in the passage at 31:14 Highlight the passage at 31:14

31:44 Having been merely imputed from the side of the mind in relation to the phenomenon which is formless, has no color, no shape, whose nature is clear and able to comprehend objects. Report an error in the passage at 31:44 Highlight the passage at 31:44

31:57 This base which is formless, clear, knowing, etc. receives the label mind. Likewise, depending on the continuity of mind over a number of years, the mind receives the label today's mind, yesterday's mind, tomorrow's mind. Report an error in the passage at 31:57 Highlight the passage at 31:57

32:16 So the mind also seems to be some solid concrete thing. But what is actually, what is the mind? We have perceptions. We have thoughts that are constantly changing. They arise within space, basically. The space of the mind. The mind is not physical, according to the Dharma. There's just space. The mind itself is just Clear, like space, and knowing, or aware. So there's no form to it, there's no shape, there's no color to it. Report an error in the passage at 32:16 Highlight the passage at 32:16

33:01 It's just like space, except it perceives things. Report an error in the passage at 33:01 Highlight the passage at 33:01

33:15 So the mind, if we think about the mind, the ear consciousness right now is the mind that hears the sound. The here's the sound of my voice, the ear consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 33:15 Highlight the passage at 33:15

33:39 Whatever you think about this is the conceptual consciousness. But the mind is just clear. It's like space. And it's cognizing or knowing or aware. Report an error in the passage at 33:39 Highlight the passage at 33:39

33:57 So what it is, right? So there are these thoughts and the perceptions and sensations, these feelings. They're constantly changing. We label mind to that. Report an error in the passage at 33:57 Highlight the passage at 33:57

34:20 There's no real substance, a real thing that's mind. A Report an error in the passage at 34:20 Highlight the passage at 34:20

34:32 label on something that's constantly changing. Report an error in the passage at 34:32 Highlight the passage at 34:32

34:40 Like we talked about like a song, right? There are different tones, different sounds that our mind... Conceptual mind links together and calls it a song. There's no real song out there. Report an error in the passage at 34:40 Highlight the passage at 34:40

35:06 The song was a conceptual creation of our mind, right? Song is a creation of our conceptual mind. Similarly, mind is a label. It's a creation by our conceptual mind. Report an error in the passage at 35:06 Highlight the passage at 35:06

35:29 So there's no mind. Report an error in the passage at 35:29 Highlight the passage at 35:29

35:50 So the essential point... Report an error in the passage at 35:50 Highlight the passage at 35:50

35:58 How do we have the apprehension of the false I? When someone asks you what you are doing, then before even answering that, the mind thinks of what the body is doing and what the mind is doing. Report an error in the passage at 35:58 Highlight the passage at 35:58

36:16 Then, if the mind sees that the aggregates, the body, is sitting, then the mind makes up the label, I am sitting. Or this mind which sees that this consciousness or mental factors are listening to the teaching and that the aggregates are paying attention, then the mind makes up the label, I am listening. Report an error in the passage at 36:16 Highlight the passage at 36:16

36:41 Likewise, when the mind is happy, the mind makes up the label, I am happy. Or if the mind is sad, we think, I am sad. The thought that makes the label... Merely imputes I am happy or I am sad and then believes in that. No problem with imputing I am happy or I am sad, but then we believe in it. Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

37:14 Because conventionally the mind is happy and the mind is sad, so the I is happy or sad. But then we really believe in it. Let me just finish reading this. Over the duration of a day and night, Depending on what the body and mind are doing, our thought, seeing that, constantly makes up the label, merely imputing the I and merely imputing the action of the I. Report an error in the passage at 37:14 Highlight the passage at 37:14

37:42 From birth until death, this is done. From beginningless rebirth until enlightenment, this is done. The essential point to realize here is that... Is that it is our mind that constantly makes up the label I and merely labels all of our actions and experiences in dependence on what is happening to the aggregates, what they are doing, experiencing, etc. Report an error in the passage at 37:42 Highlight the passage at 37:42

38:13 Therefore the I exists in mere name. The I is merely labeled by the mind. What exists is merely labeled by the mind. What does not exist is what appears back to you as not merely labeled by the mind. Report an error in the passage at 38:13 Highlight the passage at 38:13

38:41 So first our mind labels I, and then subsequently what is merely labeled immediately appears back to you as not merely labeled. Report an error in the passage at 38:41 Highlight the passage at 38:41

38:55 So first the mind labels I, independence on the actions, then immediately after that the I appears back to you as not merely labeled by the mind. Report an error in the passage at 38:55 Highlight the passage at 38:55

39:07 This one appearing back as not merely labeled is the false eye. This false eye is what does not exist. Report an error in the passage at 39:07 Highlight the passage at 39:07

39:24 And the false eye is the cause of all our problems. Report an error in the passage at 39:24 Highlight the passage at 39:24

39:33 We are all hallucinating all the time. Report an error in the passage at 39:33 Highlight the passage at 39:33

39:52 So imputing is one thing and then the believing in it is the Report an error in the passage at 39:52 Highlight the passage at 39:52

40:06 not Existing is what does not exist. Report an error in the passage at 40:06 Highlight the passage at 40:06

40:15 Yeah, so back to the cup, right? What we perceive are colors and shapes, right? What the eye consciousness perceives, colors and shapes. Then the mind imputes cup, no problem so far. Because conventionally it is a cup. We've agreed in the world that this is a cup and it functions as a cup, no problem. Report an error in the passage at 40:15 Highlight the passage at 40:15

40:42 Then it appears back to you as if it really is a cup, right? It appears back to you as if this is a cup. And that's not the problem either. The problem is then that I believe that it really is a cup, right? Right. The believing that it really is a cup is the problem. I mean, not that the cup is really our problem, but... Report an error in the passage at 40:42 Highlight the passage at 40:42

41:17 I like to bring up the example of our opinions because we tend to believe so strongly in our opinions. We create opinions with our minds and then they appear as if they are really right. They are right from their own side. They're not something that I just created with my mind. It's really right, right? Report an error in the passage at 41:17 Highlight the passage at 41:17

41:55 It's not just a convention, right? It's not just merely labeled by the mind. It really is right. Okay, it was my thought, but it's a right thought, right? Report an error in the passage at 41:55 Highlight the passage at 41:55

42:15 And that is my thought, right? It Report an error in the passage at 42:15 Highlight the passage at 42:15

42:22 is a movement of mind. It was something that we created with our minds. It's a movement of mind. And then we grasp onto it and then we believe it's real and then we believe it's right. Report an error in the passage at 42:22 Highlight the passage at 42:22

42:37 You know, our objects of attachment, we impute that they're beautiful and desirable and wonderful. Beautiful desire and wonderful comes from our mind, not from the object at all. It comes from our mind, right? We just perceive colors and shapes and sounds and odors. You know, smoothness, roughness, and our mind imputes, right? That was the best meal, or that's a beautiful person, or that, you know? Report an error in the passage at 42:37 Highlight the passage at 42:37

43:21 And then it appears back as if it really is beautiful and wonderful, and then we grasp onto it, right? As if we believe it really is beautiful and wonderful. It's not just something we labeled, but it really is. Report an error in the passage at 43:21 Highlight the passage at 43:21

43:42 And the same thing with something undesirable, right? The irritating person, right? We imputed them as irritating. There's no irritating person at all from its own side. And that one's really hard to believe, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 43:42 Highlight the passage at 43:42

44:03 Irritating came from our mind, right? And then we believe that they really are irritating. Why did we label them irritating? Report an error in the passage at 44:03 Highlight the passage at 44:03

44:13 Because of what we thought about them. So, Report an error in the passage at 44:13 Highlight the passage at 44:13

44:22 believe that they really are irritating from there. And then we have mental afflictions. Right? This is our day, all day, every day. Right? Attraction, aversion, attraction, aversion, attraction, aversion. Report an error in the passage at 44:22 Highlight the passage at 44:22

44:44 So, anyway. So, you know, when we really get that we're hallucinating all the time. ha, ha, ha. Report an error in the passage at 44:44 Highlight the passage at 44:44

44:56 Huge progress. But I think it's really hard to let go of our belief in our opinions and our thoughts and our labels, right? Report an error in the passage at 44:56 Highlight the passage at 44:56

45:14 So we need to develop the correct view. Report an error in the passage at 45:14 Highlight the passage at 45:14

45:20 Any questions on that? Report an error in the passage at 45:20 Highlight the passage at 45:20

45:24 All right, that's a big job, but anyway. Jessica. I just wanted to clarify really quickly because I was kind of in and out. So when you say the correct view, that's really the conceptual understanding of emptiness and then... So that's the basis on which you then, if you don't have that, you can't embark on the real meditation. So that's what this is saying. Report an error in the passage at 45:24 Highlight the passage at 45:24

45:47 This is a fundamental conceptual understanding or intellectual understanding. Right, exactly. Right through having listened to teachings and contemplated them and meditated on them. Yeah, this tradition is very much about developing a conceptual understanding of it first. Report an error in the passage at 45:47 Highlight the passage at 45:47

46:08 As opposed to what we'll get to later, as opposed to a popular view at the time that Lama Tsongkhapa lived in Tibet. There was this popular practice of blanking out your mind, right? You just stop thinking and people thought that was meditating on emptiness. So Lama Tsongkhapa is like, no, you know. We have to get the correct view first and then we can meditate on that and then we can develop calm, abiding and special insight on that. Report an error in the passage at 46:08 Highlight the passage at 46:08

46:42 And that is what's going to uproot our mental afflictions, right? Because how can we uproot our attachment forever if we still believe that it's beautiful from its own side? Report an error in the passage at 46:42 Highlight the passage at 46:42

46:59 If you stop thinking, okay, you're not going to have the attachment at that moment. But as soon as you start thinking again, it's just going to rise again because you haven't removed the fundamental basis of that attachment. You haven't damaged your belief that that object is really an object of pleasure. So we can't uproot our attachment, our aversion, our jealousy, our pride until... Report an error in the passage at 46:59 Highlight the passage at 46:59

47:30 We see that that object that we're grasping onto does not exist the way we think it does. Report an error in the passage at 47:30 Highlight the passage at 47:30

47:45 So then Lama Tsongkhapa says, if although you have an understanding of the view, if you're not mindful of it and place the mind upon it during meditation on suchness, it will not be a meditation on suchness. So if I listen to teachings, I think about emptiness and I think I understand it. And then I just blank out in meditation and not meditate on that view. That's not a meditation on emptiness. We have to meditate on that view in order for it to be a meditation on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 47:45 Highlight the passage at 47:45

48:21 Also, therefore placing the mind without reflecting on anything at the end of each preparatory analysis of the view also does not consist sustaining suchness either. Being mindfulness... Being mindful of the view and merely familiarizing oneself with placing the mind upon it also amounts to nothing more than the above method for sustaining calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 48:21 Highlight the passage at 48:21

48:47 So this is what we were talking about before. As we do our meditation on emptiness, for example, in this class, we search and then we hopefully come up with, okay, that concrete eye does not exist. We're in this lack. The absence of that. We're meditating on that. And then we stabilize on that absence. So that is developing calm abiding or stabilizing meditation on the view. Report an error in the passage at 48:47 Highlight the passage at 48:47

49:21 That's what Lama Tsongkhapa is saying here. If we just familiarize ourselves with that conclusion and stabilize on that, that's only the way to sustain calm abiding on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 49:21 Highlight the passage at 49:21

49:40 You get that distinction? Report an error in the passage at 49:40 Highlight the passage at 49:40

49:45 Then, that is why we should individually analyze the meaning of suchness by means of wisdom, as explained before, and then sustain it. Report an error in the passage at 49:45 Highlight the passage at 49:45

49:59 So, we analyze, we come up with the lack of that concrete I, we sustain that, we stabilize on that when that starts to fade, we analyze again, and then we come up with another. The conclusion again, and then we stabilize on that. And then that becomes less clear and less sharp, and then we analyze it again. Report an error in the passage at 49:59 Highlight the passage at 49:59

50:30 So we go back and forth like that. Report an error in the passage at 50:30 Highlight the passage at 50:30

50:36 But if we only do analytical meditation, so some of us are addicted to analysis, right? We're addicted to thinking. But if we only do analytical meditation, though, then... Well, if we've attained calm abiding before, then that will deteriorate, right? So those of us who are addicted to analysis, we just keep analyzing, right? Report an error in the passage at 50:36 Highlight the passage at 50:36

51:03 And we never stabilize on it, then our stabilizing meditation, our calm abiding will degenerate. So we need to cultivate like 50 % calm abiding, 50 % analysis, right? 50 % stabilizing meditation, 50 % analytical meditation. Because the analytic meditation all by itself without having the stability won't have the power. Report an error in the passage at 51:03 Highlight the passage at 51:03

51:33 We all know how to think. We're all habituated to thinking. But that in and of itself is not powerful enough to uproot the mental afflictions. We need to combine it with that laser-like focus of calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 51:33 Highlight the passage at 51:33

51:56 So in Lama Tsongkhapa's great treatise, He says, while this is so, if you perform only analytical meditation while cultivating special insight, after you have achieved calm abiding, your earlier calm abiding will be destroyed. Since it was not refreshed, calm abiding will be gone. Thus, as explained earlier, special insight will also not develop. Report an error in the passage at 51:56 Highlight the passage at 51:56

52:20 Special insight won't develop without the basis of calm abiding. Therefore, you must sustain the calm abiding that previously set up a condition of mental stability. So the calm abiding brings this extremely stable, focused, calm, sharp. Report an error in the passage at 52:20 Highlight the passage at 52:20

52:47 Since you must also practice analytic meditation, both are necessary. Report an error in the passage at 52:47 Highlight the passage at 52:47

52:56 Furthermore, in the practice of special insight, At the conclusion of analytical meditation, you practice stabilizing meditation on that meaning. Right? That's what we were talking about, right? You do analysis and then you stabilize on the conclusion. Then you analyze more and then you stabilize. Right? Report an error in the passage at 52:56 Highlight the passage at 52:56

53:17 So, you know, when we do that meditation on emptiness, right, and then we come up with the conclusion, then we try to use as much Focus as we can on that conclusion. We just use as much of our concentration as we have and just focus on that. If we come up with a conclusion and we let ourselves think about other things, then the conclusion won't be powerful. So we stabilize on that and that is what will bring it power and stability. Report an error in the passage at 53:17 Highlight the passage at 53:17

54:07 So therefore... We should first mount the horse of calm abiding. So start with calm abiding, then sustain analysis, and then occasionally alternate it with stabilizing meditation. So calm abiding, analysis, and alternate occasionally. Report an error in the passage at 54:07 Highlight the passage at 54:07

54:40 So then, Lama Tsongkhapa says more specifically, If the stabilizing factor lessens through increased analytic meditation, you should do more stabilizing meditation and refresh the stability factor. So this is where we really need that introspection, that mind, that part of the mind, that internal spy that notices the quality of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 54:40 Highlight the passage at 54:40

55:05 So we do stabilizing meditation, then we do analytic meditation. And we notice that the stability... If the mind is getting lost, there's too much analysis and not enough stability, then we go back to stabilizing meditation. Report an error in the passage at 55:05 Highlight the passage at 55:05

55:27 Or if we don't feel like analyzing because of increased stabilizing meditation, or if despite analysis your mind is not fit to go anywhere and becomes engrossed in the stability factor, you should do more analytic meditation. Report an error in the passage at 55:27 Highlight the passage at 55:27

55:48 So I think as we get a stabler and stabler, calm-abiding meditation, it's very tempting to just stay there. Because that mind is completely still, completely calm, completely peaceful, and it's very intoxicating to just stay there. So if that happens, it's kind of like it's Report an error in the passage at 55:48 Highlight the passage at 55:48

56:22 very tempting to just... Fall into a, well, it's not really like falling into a dull mind, but, you know, it's really tempting to just kind of space out, right, and just relax the mind and not have to think sometimes, right? It's maybe a little bit like that, but of course, calm abiding is much, much different than that, right? It's not a dull mind, but it is, right? I mean, you know, if the mind is blissed out, we can see how that can be addictive, right? Report an error in the passage at 56:22 Highlight the passage at 56:22

56:52 So if the mind is... Focus too much on the stabilizing meditation, then we need to start analyzing. Report an error in the passage at 56:52 Highlight the passage at 56:52

57:08 Since it's very powerful, if you cultivate the two, calm abiding and special insight in continuous equality, you should do it that way. Report an error in the passage at 57:08 Highlight the passage at 57:08

57:21 Equal parts calm abiding and special insight. Or equal parts stabilizing and analysis. Report an error in the passage at 57:21 Highlight the passage at 57:21

57:36 This quote by Kamala Shila. This is at times when wisdom becomes very predominant because special insight has been cultivated, then stability is lessened. Therefore, since the mind will be moving like a butter lamp set in a breeze, it will not perceive suchness very clearly. That's why you should do stabilizing meditation at those times. So when our mind is analyzing too much, then... Report an error in the passage at 57:36 Highlight the passage at 57:36

58:07 The emptiness, the perception of emptiness won't be that clear, right? Because it's moving like the flame in the wind. Report an error in the passage at 58:07 Highlight the passage at 58:07

58:20 Then also whenever calm abiding predominates, like someone asleep, you do not see suchness clearly. Therefore at those times you should cultivate wisdom. So when we're not doing enough analysis and it's just calm abiding, we Report an error in the passage at 58:20 Highlight the passage at 58:20

58:41 may notice right in our meditation, you know, the It becomes less clear, right? Our understanding of emptiness becomes less clear, right? If we just stabilize on that. It's like through the analysis that you get the aha, and then you stabilize on that aha, and then it starts to get less clear. Report an error in the passage at 58:41 Highlight the passage at 58:41

59:18 Okay, actually, before we go on there. So maybe we'll take a break here, and then we'll finish after the break. Report an error in the passage at 59:18 Highlight the passage at 59:18

59:29 like by have our own group. You're learning how to be your own guru. Well, I mean, developing the skills that you can become your own guru, do you think? Yeah, because when you do this kind of meditation, like, you have to really develop your own wisdom, right? And see, okay, well, I've got too much... Report an error in the passage at 59:29 Highlight the passage at 59:29

59:53 Analysis going on, so I need to adjust, right? Or I have too much stability, I need to adjust. I mean, similar with calm abiding, right? I have laxity going on, need to adjust. I have excitement going on, need to adjust, right? So there we're developing our own inner wisdom more and more, right? And it's not like we can go to the guru every time, like our mind is getting dull. Report an error in the passage at 59:53 Highlight the passage at 59:53

1:00:17 Oh, what should I do now, right? That's why it's so useful to study, right? Lama Tsongkhapa. It really focuses on how we need to study the texts first, right, before you go into retreat, because then you'll know what to do when these situations happen. If we haven't studied this and then we try to develop calm abiding, you know, you can just waste a lot of time, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:17 Highlight the passage at 1:00:17

1:00:46 Right, exactly. All right, enjoy your break. So the cafe. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:46 Highlight the passage at 1:00:46

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:01:27 Going to be giving a Sunday morning talk here this Sunday. Dr. Mark Levy, he's a professor of art history at Cal State Hayward and he was one of Lama Yeshe's earliest students at Copan and also studied with Cho Gyum Trungpa Rinpoche and he's a really fascinating lecturer. He's a multidisciplinary professor so it's like having Joseph Campbell give a talk and he's going to be talking on emptiness and art which should be right up. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:27 Highlight the passage at 1:01:27

1:01:54 And he has wonderful slides because he's traveled extensively throughout Asia. And he's very warm and engaging, totally approachable and very delightful. So I'd encourage everyone to come if you can. It's free. 10 o 'clock Sunday morning. Thank you. Dr. Mark Levy. It'll be good. I can guarantee it. I want to give a couple other plugs. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:54 Highlight the passage at 1:01:54

1:02:14 or Levy, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:14 Highlight the passage at 1:02:14

1:02:25 All right, so the first weekend in March, Guy Newland is going to be here. Something to not be missed. He's really so clear and so knowledgeable and such a wonderful, warm, funny teacher. You know, humble, you know, for being such a great scholar. You know, it's impressive. His humility is impressive. So he'll be here. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:25 Highlight the passage at 1:02:25

1:02:56 On Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, March 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:56 Highlight the passage at 1:02:56

1:03:04 It's supposed to be here, but I don't see any flyers. I don't know which weekend, but it might actually be this month. Do you know, Jessica, when Penn Day is going to be here? Report an error in the passage at 1:03:04 Highlight the passage at 1:03:04

1:03:19 Yeah. March or February? Yeah, yeah. So Penn Day is Western. He's a lay person now, but he was a monk for over 20 years, and he's an incredible scholar and just wonderful teacher, very clear and funny. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:19 Highlight the passage at 1:03:19

1:03:53 Yeah. And he's going to be teaching a text called The Songs of Four Mindfulnesses, which is... he's Report an error in the passage at 1:03:53 Highlight the passage at 1:03:53

1:04:02 I've heard him teach at least part of that text before and it's just wonderful. Part of it is on emptiness and part of it is on tantra as well. He has something like 30, 40 years of experience in the Dharma so he brings so much practical experience. Now he's married with a kid so he brings the perspective of being A monk as well as a perspective of being a lay person trying to live in the world with Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:02 Highlight the passage at 1:04:02

1:04:38 So really, I mean, that's a wonderful thing to try to check out as well. And Jessica has the dates. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:38 Highlight the passage at 1:04:38

1:04:51 April. Okay. So, no weekends in February. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:51 Highlight the passage at 1:04:51

1:05:09 Right. In March. John Landau doing a Tonglen retreat. March 16th and 17th, so Friday, Saturday. And John Landau is just wonderful, wonderful, big-hearted. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:09 Highlight the passage at 1:05:09

1:05:27 He wrote Buddhism for Dummies. He edited Introduction to Tantra and just a hugely wonderful human being. And he's very funny. So, anyway. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:27 Highlight the passage at 1:05:27

1:05:49 Oh, in Tupedin Children. Wow. Treasury of Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:49 Highlight the passage at 1:05:49

1:06:04 All right. So free up your weekends in March. There's a lot going on. All right. Okay. So I want to read you something that I find very useful from this book called Meditative States by Lati Rinpoche. It's about how you go from calm abiding to special insight. Meditation. So here he's talking, right, when we talk about special insight, there's special insight on emptiness. There's another special insight that you can develop to go from the desire realm to the form realm to the formless realm by viewing the upper realm as peaceful and the lower realm, right, or the current realm as undesirable. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:04 Highlight the passage at 1:06:04

1:06:50 So this description is how you do that, but the same process applies for developing special insight on emptiness. So it's called meditative states. It's wonderful if you want to learn more about concentrations. So he says, since calm abiding has already been attained, so it's on the basis of this mind of calm abiding that one meditates. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:50 Highlight the passage at 1:06:50

1:07:19 So with this one-pointed equipoise, so in our case, the object of observation will be emptiness. So the meditator begins to analyze it. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:19 Highlight the passage at 1:07:19

1:07:30 Because the meditator is analyzing, he or she cannot remain in calm abiding, but has to cultivate the nine mental abidings within analytic meditation. Independence on the calm abiding already achieved. Right, so you remember the nine mental abidings, right, where you start by being off the object more than you're on the object, right, and then you progress and then you, you know, by the fourth mental abiding, your mind never... Report an error in the passage at 1:07:30 Highlight the passage at 1:07:30

1:08:00 Strays from the object, right? Your mind is always on the object at least somewhat, but you still have laxity and excitement, right? And so then as you progress, you eliminate laxity and excitement, and by the eighth mental abiding, you're completely without laxity and excitement, but you're still making effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:00 Highlight the passage at 1:08:00

1:08:22 So the ninth mental abiding, you're completely without laxity and excitement, but you're not having to make any effort anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:22 Highlight the passage at 1:08:22

1:08:30 And then physical and mental pliancy arise and then the bliss of physical and mental. Okay, so with the stability of mind, then we analyze. At the beginning of this type of analysis, it is difficult to maintain the analysis for very long. This experience is equivalent to the first of the nine mental abidings. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:30 Highlight the passage at 1:08:30

1:08:55 Thus, because the meditator is again cultivating the first mental abiding, It is necessary to rely on the antidotes, the powers and the mental engagements explained earlier with regard to calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:55 Highlight the passage at 1:08:55

1:09:10 Because the meditator is mixing the mind of calm abiding with analysis, it is difficult to analyze. Therefore, it is easy to become lazy again. At this point, it is necessary to contemplate the advantages of meditative stabilization, as explained earlier, and to take joy in it and therefore develop faith. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:10 Highlight the passage at 1:09:10

1:09:31 When through reflection on the advantages of meditative stabilization, faith in it arises, aspiration for it arises automatically. With the aspiration to meditative stabilization, then exertion or effort also arises. And indeed, as happens after the ninth mental abiding leading to calm abiding, then pliancy also arises. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:31 Highlight the passage at 1:09:31

1:09:55 So thus, pliancy, the actual antidote to laziness, is now the way of overcoming laziness. So if forgetting the object of meditation occurs, it is necessary to regain the object through mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:55 Highlight the passage at 1:09:55

1:10:14 Then he goes on by saying, since laxity and excitement are also faults at this time, then we need introspection to investigate whether laxity or excitement has arisen, Report an error in the passage at 1:10:14 Highlight the passage at 1:10:14

1:10:28 etc. So the same kind of instructions is for calm abiding. You kind of remember those instructions for calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:28 Highlight the passage at 1:10:28

1:10:43 But then there's this part. But Report an error in the passage at 1:10:43 Highlight the passage at 1:10:43

1:10:52 then he says, however, the mode of applying the antidotes will be different with analytic meditation. He says, at this point, because the meditator is analyzing the object and is engaged in many investigations concerning it, excitement can be generated and stability lost. He or she may become unable to stay on the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:52 Highlight the passage at 1:10:52

1:11:17 When through introspection the meditator realizes that excitement has set in, it is necessary to enter into stabilizing meditation and merely set the mind on the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:17 Highlight the passage at 1:11:17

1:11:30 Initially, however, with engagement in stabilizing meditation, it is possible for the object of observation and the aspect of the consciousness analyzing it to become slightly unclear. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:30 Highlight the passage at 1:11:30

1:11:43 If either coarse or subtle laxity begins to arise, the meditator should immediately begin to analyze again. Thus, it is necessary to alternate analytic meditation and stabilizing meditation. When one realizes that excitement is about to arise, one should engage in stabilizing meditation. And when one realizes that laxity is about to arise, one should engage in analytic meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:43 Highlight the passage at 1:11:43

1:12:10 Although it is difficult to analyze, it is less difficult than it would have been had calm abiding not been achieved. The meditator has a very stable mind. However, it is necessary to develop skill in alternating analytic meditation and stabilizing meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:10 Highlight the passage at 1:12:10

1:12:44 Hello. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:44 Highlight the passage at 1:12:44

1:12:59 So, are we supposed to be obtaining calm abiding completely? Before we start this, or no, we just... Yeah. I mean, that's what we need to do now as well, right? Do some stabilizing meditation, do some analytical meditation, go back and forth. But at a certain point, we need to get calm abiding, and then we get special insight. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:59 Highlight the passage at 1:12:59

1:13:27 But it's not that we shouldn't do any analytical meditation until we get calm abiding, or else we won't do analytical meditation for a long time. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:27 Highlight the passage at 1:13:27

1:13:42 But yeah, this is very applicable to what we're doing now. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:42 Highlight the passage at 1:13:42

1:13:50 So any other questions on that? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:50 Highlight the passage at 1:13:50

1:14:03 Are you going to go over either tonight or another night, like what are the pitfalls that you can fall into trying to develop calm abiding and special insight? I mean, where you kind of are convincing yourself that you've had a realization that maybe you haven't had or developing the wrong kind of... Report an error in the passage at 1:14:03 Highlight the passage at 1:14:03

1:14:23 Are you going to go over any of these potential pitfalls we can fall into when trying to develop this? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:23 Highlight the passage at 1:14:23

1:14:40 That's why we get these instructions. When we studied calm abiding, we talked about the pitfalls where you can fall into dullness meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:40 Highlight the passage at 1:14:40

1:14:52 That's not calm abiding. right? We get the, we get the... Report an error in the passage at 1:14:52 Highlight the passage at 1:14:52

1:14:56 You know, we have to be really honest with ourselves, right? Okay, well, you know, my mind might not be distracted, but it's falling into dullness meditation, so, you know, so we need to sharpen our focus on the object, right? Sharpen, really sharpen the mind, that kind of thing. It's tricky, though, because the ego can trick you, even with things like this, to keep its control over your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:56 Highlight the passage at 1:14:56

1:15:27 So it seems like there's points of this where you could be on kind of a razor's edge. Is that where you need a guru to kind of keep you on track? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:27 Highlight the passage at 1:15:27

1:15:46 I mean, of course the guru. The guru's job is to destroy our egos. Get us out of some sorrow. So, yeah. So, yeah, the guru's job is not to stroke our egos, right, but to destroy. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:46 Highlight the passage at 1:15:46

1:16:05 So, yeah, so that can be helpful. But I think, though, I mean, at this point, when we're trying to develop calm abiding and special insight, we will be on our own, right, in retreat. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:05 Highlight the passage at 1:16:05

1:16:19 And, you know, it really comes down to, I think, our aspiration. What do we really want, right? If we want more saṃsāra, then we can fool ourselves all we want, you know, and we're going to... We're going to successfully achieve saṃsāra, right? But if we really want to get out of saṃsāra, if that's really what we want, then we need to cultivate being really honest with ourselves, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:19 Highlight the passage at 1:16:19

1:16:52 To really get to know our minds and be willing to look at it barely, nakedly, right? But that takes a lot of practice, right, to get to know the mind and also a lot of gentleness. If we're hard on ourselves, we need to work on that and just let go of that because it's too painful to look at our minds honestly if we're hard on ourselves, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:52 Highlight the passage at 1:16:52

1:17:20 So we let go of that, develop loving kindness and gentleness. And then just... And then emptiness really helps, right? Because there's no me to be hard on anyway. I mean, no concrete me. It's just a temporary mental event that's arising and falling. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:20 Highlight the passage at 1:17:20

1:17:41 I think as we progress on the path, we notice our motivation, right? If it truly is ego or if it's truly... you know, so. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:41 Highlight the passage at 1:17:41

1:17:58 To help others or to get out of saṃsāra. I don't know. That's what I think at least. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:58 Highlight the passage at 1:17:58

1:18:14 Sometimes I feel like I'm back to the beginning. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:14 Highlight the passage at 1:18:14

1:18:20 When you say we want to get out of saṃsāra, isn't it the ego that wants to get out of saṃsāra? It depends. It depends on our motivation. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:20 Highlight the passage at 1:18:20

1:18:39 Not necessarily. Not necessarily. You know there's an I that exists and an I that doesn't exist. We never... It seems that in this tradition we don't talk about the I that exists. Well, we have been. It's the one that's imputed by the mind. It's the one that's merely labeled by the mind. It's just a label on a constantly changing body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:39 Highlight the passage at 1:18:39

1:19:09 That's the I that exists? That's the I that exists. The label. The only one. Is the label on a constantly changing body and mind. So if it's the ego that wants to get out of saṃsāra, we're never going to get there. So the ego is not the eye that exists. The ego, well the ego, I mean the ego isn't a technical term in the Dharma, but usually if we use it in the context of the Dharma, it's the ego. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:09 Highlight the passage at 1:19:09

1:19:38 So it's different than in psychology. It's the... Ego, in the sense of the Dharma, is the eye that doesn't exist. The eye that seems to be independent of labeling. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:38 Highlight the passage at 1:19:38

1:19:53 Okay, so I'm glad you clarified that. Yeah, yeah. So there is a constantly changing body and mind, right? And the label is the eye that exists. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:53 Highlight the passage at 1:19:53

1:20:11 But if we are hanging on to a concrete eye... We're not going to get out of saṃsāra. In order to get out of saṃsāra, we have to let go and realize that that doesn't exist. But, you know, in the beginning, it's the concrete I that wants to end our suffering and wants happiness. And that's fine, right? And then gradually we have to let go of that. I Report an error in the passage at 1:20:11 Highlight the passage at 1:20:11

1:20:40 mean, that's the motivator, right? Get out and, you know, finish our suffering. Let's finish all those problems, right? I know that's what motivated me in the beginning. The reason I ask is because it doesn't seem to be a sufficient motivator. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:40 Highlight the passage at 1:20:40

1:21:01 Ending suffering? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:01 Highlight the passage at 1:21:01

1:21:06 I guess what I look for is an inspiration for what... I guess we are talking about bliss as being the experience of being enlightened, aren't we? And so Report an error in the passage at 1:21:06 Highlight the passage at 1:21:06

1:21:20 Well, yeah, I mean, the experience of enlightenment is, yeah, beyond what we can imagine, I think. But it's, I mean, it's a state totally beyond any sort of disturbing emotions, any sort of dissatisfaction, any sort of pain, you know? I mean, it's beyond that and it's... Okay. Yeah. I mean, you just have to look at the face of an enlightened being and you know that they're not... Report an error in the passage at 1:21:20 Highlight the passage at 1:21:20

1:21:48 In the same mind state as I am. In the lamrim, we meditate on the suffering of saṃsāra, the inevitable suffering in saṃsāra, as well as the benefits of enlightenment. If we meditate on those enough, then there's no question. Everlasting bliss, happiness, or... Right? So, so yeah, so... Report an error in the passage at 1:21:48 Highlight the passage at 1:21:48

1:22:20 The uncertainty and suffering of saṃsāra, you know? The aging and death and losing everything that you love and, you know, the potential for tremendous suffering all the time. Or everlasting bliss and happiness and no suffering ever again, you know? Not a difficult choice, right? If we meditate on it enough, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:20 Highlight the passage at 1:22:20

1:22:49 The problem is that we're not so convinced that suffering is inevitable in saṃsāra. We're not so convinced that it's worth the effort to get out because we're just trying to make saṃsāra better and it's getting better for many of us and that's good enough for most of us because we haven't really contemplated what could happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:49 Highlight the passage at 1:22:49

1:23:15 Like... Report an error in the passage at 1:23:15 Highlight the passage at 1:23:15

1:23:22 Your friend who got in a car accident and crushed her pelvis, and that could happen to us any time. My friend whose son, or whose daughter, 24-year-old daughter, killed in a car crash. Saṃsāra destroyed for him in one moment, right? That can happen to any of us any time. And we don't like to think about that, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:23:22 Highlight the passage at 1:23:22

1:23:54 In other words, the realization of that hasn't entered our consciousness, but it can happen. There's no reason why it can't happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:54 Highlight the passage at 1:23:54

1:24:06 So we meditate on that, and, you know, saṃsāra becomes less appealing, right? And then, you know, and then just being around the Lama Zopa Rinpoches and the Chodan Rinpoches and, you know, the Geshe Dagpas and just seeing how they don't have the kind of mental suffering that we have. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:06 Highlight the passage at 1:24:06

1:24:27 Then we get inspired. It's like, hey, that's possible for us too, right? That's a big realization to get too, right? That I can do that too. But, you know, but if we contemplate it, then why not? You know, why not? We all have the same Buddha nature. And if we meditate, we see that we all have that fundamentally pure mind. So we can get enlightened too, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:27 Highlight the passage at 1:24:27

1:24:56 But it's a big thing to develop renunciation. It's no small task. But if we contemplate it, we'll move toward it. It Report an error in the passage at 1:24:56 Highlight the passage at 1:24:56

1:25:13 takes a lot of time. And accumulation of merit and purification. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:13 Highlight the passage at 1:25:13

1:25:21 All right. So this section, I'll go through just quickly. Lama Tsongkhapa gets into this incorrect understanding of meditating on emptiness where some people say all conceptual minds Report an error in the passage at 1:25:21 Highlight the passage at 1:25:21

1:25:41 All conceptions of true existence. All conceptual minds are to be abandoned. So we need to just stop all conceptions. We just need to stop thinking. That's what some people say. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:41 Highlight the passage at 1:25:41

1:25:58 Lama Tsongkhapa is saying, well, but it was proven several times before, well, he proved several times before that conceptions that apprehend true existence are only one class of conceptions, right? Not all conceptions are bad, right? We deliberately develop conceptions on the path, right? Develop more compassion for others, develop a conceptual understanding of emptiness, et cetera. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:58 Highlight the passage at 1:25:58

1:26:22 This goes back to Jessica's question, right? If you have not gained the view of suchness through correct prior analysis, You will not be able to engage in the meaning of suchness or emptiness non-conceptually. So first understand it conceptually, then we get to a non-conceptual understanding. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:22 Highlight the passage at 1:26:22

1:26:43 So to achieve this non-conceptual sublime wisdom, we alternate developing certainty, profound certainty that there is not even a particle of true existence in anything or non-thing whatsoever. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:43 Highlight the passage at 1:26:43

1:27:02 So this is a key statement, right? We need to develop certainty, right? Right now when we meditate on emptiness, you know, we come up with some sort of experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:02 Highlight the passage at 1:27:02

1:27:15 But we're not completely without doubt. It takes time to get completely without doubt. So we meditate again and again and we search everywhere again and again, go through the reasonings until... There's not a shadow of a doubt in our minds that that concrete I does not exist at all. It cannot exist at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:15 Highlight the passage at 1:27:15

1:27:50 And then it'll be a real... We Report an error in the passage at 1:27:50 Highlight the passage at 1:27:50

1:28:07 stabilize our meditation on the conclusion. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:07 Highlight the passage at 1:28:07

1:28:13 So we alternate that analysis, developing certainty, and then the stabilizing meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:13 Highlight the passage at 1:28:13

1:28:23 You cannot achieve such wisdom by simply constricting mental activity without any analysis of the object. So we've been talking about that. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:23 Highlight the passage at 1:28:23

1:28:37 Also then Lama Tsongkhapa says in order to sustain special insight in that manner we should know about the reliance on the six preparatory practices and what we do during the actual meditation session afterwards and in between sessions. Right? So we went through this about Report an error in the passage at 1:28:37 Highlight the passage at 1:28:37

1:28:57 Three years ago when we first started this test. So, you know, Report an error in the passage at 1:28:57 Highlight the passage at 1:28:57

1:29:09 2011? No, no. That was maybe when we started Special Insight. Yeah, yeah. So, the section on the meditation session, you know, the preparations, the six... we're done with this one. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:09 Highlight the passage at 1:29:09

1:29:30 The six preparations are the preparatory practices to clean the place where you're meditating and arrange representations of the body, speech and mind right on your altar. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:30 Highlight the passage at 1:29:30

1:29:44 Make offerings. Offerings that you haven't stolen. Make offerings honestly obtained. Dane. Dane. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:44 Highlight the passage at 1:29:44

1:30:03 I was listening to Tubeton Chodron talking about this, but kind of in a way that you don't really think about. And if you go and buy candles for your altar and then the lights go out, then those aren't the candles that you need to use to be able to see unless you're doing, you know, you've offered them to the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:03 Highlight the passage at 1:30:03

1:30:27 I mean, it's like she's talking about the things that you buy for the Dharma, then you just don't use them for your household just because you run out of... Whatever else it is that, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:27 Highlight the passage at 1:30:27

1:30:40 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's like if you buy cookies to put on the altar and then you get hungry, you don't just eat them because you bought them, right, as offerings, right? So, yeah, so if you're buying something with the intention to use them as offerings, not to just be lackadaisical and then just use it for something else, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:30:40 Highlight the passage at 1:30:40

1:31:12 Alright, so then the third preparatory practice is to sit in the seven-point virachana posture, right? Remember that? And then, yeah, anyway, and then set our minds and go for refuge, develop bodhicitta, etc. And clear your mind of the obscurations of sleepiness and lethargy. Number four, then you visualize the refuge field, right, or the merit field. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:12 Highlight the passage at 1:31:12

1:31:44 Number five, do the seven limb practice, the prostrations, offerings, etc. for purification and accumulation. And then number six was offering the mandala and making supplications. So those are the six preparatory practices. Then during the actual meditation session, Report an error in the passage at 1:31:44 Highlight the passage at 1:31:44

1:32:15 Is where we sustain our object of meditation by repeatedly focusing our mind on a virtuous object of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:15 Highlight the passage at 1:32:15

1:32:30 So meditation is really the same word as familiarization, right? So we're familiarizing our mind with that object again and again. So we make, so we decide ahead of time. What we're going to meditate on. Right. And then we stick with that. Right. It's not that you sit down and think, OK, well, what should I meditate on? Report an error in the passage at 1:32:30 Highlight the passage at 1:32:30

1:33:00 And then just kind of go with whatever the mind thinks about. Right. We need to we need to decide ahead of time and then do that. Right. He says, you know, we might consider setting up whatever setting. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:00 Highlight the passage at 1:33:00

1:33:24 A variety of virtuous objects in meditation in no specific order, but if you do that you will not be able to take up your object of meditation with this method. You would greatly hinder your mind's ability to be directed as you wish toward a virtuous object of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:24 Highlight the passage at 1:33:24

1:33:45 So we need to learn to control our minds, right? So if we just let the mind wander to whatever it feels like, we're not developing that tamed mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:45 Highlight the passage at 1:33:45

1:34:06 So there's a lot of different meditation instructions, and we'll talk about that later. And then in post-meditation, after the meditation session, then Lama Tsongkhapa talked about how we shouldn't just forget about our object of meditation. In between sessions, right? Like if we meditate on emptiness for, let's say, 15 minutes a day and then the rest of the day just totally get sucked into concrete appearances, we're not going to make very much progress, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:06 Highlight the passage at 1:34:06

1:34:46 So on that note, I want to read something else from Lama Zopa. Is that too much, how much I'm reading? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:46 Highlight the passage at 1:34:46

1:34:58 So he says, on the inherently existent cushion, There's an inherently existent Lama Zopa sitting on an inherently existing Mickey Mouse throne. An inherently existent Mickey Mouse Zopa is talking. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:58 Highlight the passage at 1:34:58

1:35:15 It's very Lama Zopa, right? Then he is coming down inherently existent steps, then walking out on the inherently existent floor, entering the inherently existent door, wearing inherently existent shoes, which are not there. Drinking inherently existent tea, which is not there, which does not exist. Going into the inherently existent kitchen or inherently existent bedroom to the inherently existent toilet to do inherently existent pee-pee caca. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:15 Highlight the passage at 1:35:15

1:35:52 Then, he talks about that. Then, on to an inherently existent dinner, which is not there, made by an inherently existent cook, who is not there. All in order to do an inherently existent meditation course, which doesn't exist. He says we need mindfulness like this to recognize that everything from the point of view of our ignorance appears inherently existent like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:52 Highlight the passage at 1:35:52

1:36:29 So here, you know, I'm talking according to the belief of our wrong concept. So we go on to get an inherently existent degree that doesn't exist. In order to get an inherently existent job that doesn't exist, with inherently existent money that doesn't exist, we go and buy an inherently existent car that doesn't exist, we go to an inherently existent shop, supermarket or department store, which is not there, which does not exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:29 Highlight the passage at 1:36:29

1:36:58 We buy an inherently existent dress, which does not exist, from an inherently existent shopkeeper who doesn't exist. With such mindfulness, we should approach everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:58 Highlight the passage at 1:36:58

1:37:12 So, you know, as much as we can, try to remember throughout the day. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:12 Highlight the passage at 1:37:12

1:37:23 One thing I find really useful, you know, once we get used to meditating on the emptiness of the I, like we start loosening up on that belief in a concrete I, and it's also useful to meditate on the inherently existent other person, right, the person that you're attached to or the person that you have aversion to. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:23 Highlight the passage at 1:37:23

1:37:46 And loosen up on that. And then also to meditate on the emptiness of the situation or the action. So then the situation that we're having a problem with, the situation that is difficult, that also doesn't inherently exist. It's not good or bad from its own side. So all of that, you know, like really meditating on the emptiness of all of these things in our life that are causing us problems, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:37:46 Highlight the passage at 1:37:46

1:38:26 So the I, the other person, and the situation or the action that we had a problem with, right? And then, you know, again and again and again. And then loosens up, right? It loosens up our frustration, right? It loosens up our... Report an error in the passage at 1:38:26 Highlight the passage at 1:38:26

1:38:47 Tenseness, right, or loosens up our distress, right? Slowly, right? I mean, it doesn't happen overnight, but over time, like Leslie was saying last night, you know, it just, you know, if we just do it every day, then slowly, you know, the same situation arises and for some reason we're not so upset about it over time, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:38:47 Highlight the passage at 1:38:47

1:39:11 It's like a blip. It's like, oh, that's irritating, but then the irritation doesn't last so long. Or we're grasping onto something, but we don't believe in it so much. So there's fewer emotional ups and downs. It's like we can become more of an objective observer. It's like, oh, yeah, I see. That's happening in my mind again. It looks like I'm getting frustrated. And then we let it go. The emotional charge. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:11 Highlight the passage at 1:39:11

1:39:50 Gets less and less, right? But only if we do this reflection consistently, if we just forget about it, right? Then, you know, then we get sucked in, right? Again and again and again. But if we consistently do this meditation, then it will become more powerful and then it will become, then it will really have results in our life. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:50 Highlight the passage at 1:39:50

1:40:18 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:18 Highlight the passage at 1:40:18

1:40:22 So I didn't leave enough time for a meditation, I'm sorry. We Report an error in the passage at 1:40:22 Highlight the passage at 1:40:22

1:40:33 talked about meditation, but we didn't even meditate. Yeah, please. I think you just answered it, but I want to just clarify because I definitely find that thinking about this and learning it has helped me lessen the degree of emotional reaction that I have for sure. Great. So that is check. Okay, good. It's like progress, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:40:33 Highlight the passage at 1:40:33

1:40:59 But I mean, it's not there, but it's progress. I can see progress. Right. But sometimes when I'm meditating or trying to think about trying to deconstruct this, like maybe doing an analytical, even if I'm not actually on the cushion, but I'm like in the moment and I'm trying to analyze the situation to deal with it, then I'll still be like, I'll get to this place where I'm like, okay, so this... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:59 Highlight the passage at 1:40:59

1:41:19 But this moment of my mind is still really irritated with that moment of that person's mind. Like I still like I can get to this point of like it's lessened. Yeah. But I'm still like I get that it's a moment of mind and then it's like relative and then it's you know. But I still like have this recognition that there's I mean I guess it's still me grasping onto that little still that I or and then there's still a level of inherent existence there that I haven't quite gotten through. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:19 Highlight the passage at 1:41:19

1:41:49 But yeah. Obviously, right? Well, of course. But I mean, is that what that is? I just need to keep, like what you said, if you just keep working on it. Because I mean, I kind of can get to this analytical place where I'm like, okay, yeah, that was just a moment of that person's mind. It's my perception. But I'm still like, that is still, you know? Right, right, right, right. Yeah. So there's a conventional level that exists, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:49 Highlight the passage at 1:41:49

1:42:13 Yeah. Your irritated mind with their... Their mental state, right? But then why are you irritated, right? You're irritated because you believe that what they did or whatever is wrong from its own side, right? So in our meditation we have to work on what's underneath that irritation, right? And we... And oftentimes I think we try, like in the moment we think that our remembrance of emptiness is going to cut through the mental affliction, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:42:13 Highlight the passage at 1:42:13

1:42:56 But it doesn't work quite that way, right? Because it's just this like intellectual understanding. But what will help is when we have a deeper experience in meditation and then we bring that experience from meditation. Into that situation. If we haven't had an experience in meditation, then we won't be able to bring that into life. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:56 Highlight the passage at 1:42:56

1:43:19 You can only get to a certain intellect place. Yeah. Well, I mean, we all do. We all do. I remember when I was studying emptiness, you know, and I wasn't meditating. Enough on emptiness and then the situation would arise and, you know, I would still, you know, the same mental affliction would arise and it would, you know, but it's conventionally wrong, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:19 Highlight the passage at 1:43:19

1:43:53 And so, so my meditation on emptiness was not helping my mental affliction because, you know, it wasn't strong enough. I hadn't meditated on how wrong came from the side of my mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:53 Highlight the passage at 1:43:53

1:44:09 So, yeah, so it's very much about getting experience in meditation and then that will help us. Just intellectual understanding isn't strong enough. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:09 Highlight the passage at 1:44:09

1:44:21 That's helpful actually because I think part of it is that I would think about the I or that person and the lack of inherent existence, but I think taking a different angle, which is why is it wrong, that that's part of my mind too, you know, that that will help. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:21 Highlight the passage at 1:44:21

1:44:38 It's sort of a different angle to think of it as. Not like that person isn't an I, just like I'm not. You know what I mean? It's a sort of different question in a way. It's a different way to analyze the situation. Right, exactly. And oftentimes it takes multiple ways, right? Analyzing the emptiness of the person, analyzing the emptiness of... Report an error in the passage at 1:44:38 Highlight the passage at 1:44:38

1:44:59 It being right or wrong. That's where the emptiness of the situation, the emptiness of the person and the emptiness of the eye. I find that it's useful to meditate on the emptiness of all three of them because just one of them isn't necessarily strong enough or enough to undercut. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:59 Highlight the passage at 1:44:59

1:45:19 We just try everything until something works. We have our toolkit. kit. Alright, okay, so let's, Report an error in the passage at 1:45:19 Highlight the passage at 1:45:19

1:45:35 we'll do our normal Shantideva on page 246. And so I didn't answer your question of Margaret on pliancy, but we'll do it next time. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:35 Highlight the passage at 1:45:35

1:46:01 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. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:01 Highlight the passage at 1:46:01

1:46:22 May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drinks. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. 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 1:46:22 Highlight the passage at 1:46:22

1:46:55 Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:55 Highlight the passage at 1:46:55

1:47:22 Let's also dedicate for the quick recovery of Lama Zopa Rinpoche from his stroke and Report an error in the passage at 1:47:22 Highlight the passage at 1:47:22

1:47:44 his long life, as well as the long life of Geshe Dadpa, Chodron Rinpoche, His Holiness the Dalai Lama or any other Lamas that we have. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:44 Highlight the passage at 1:47:44

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:48:43 Ohhhhhhhhhh. Enjoy it while it comes to our lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:43 Highlight the passage at 1:48:43