Four Applications Of Mindfulness Retreat 2013 with B. Alan Wallace (part 21)

0:07 So to highlight just a little bit more the utter centrality of these three very simple modes of feeling, pleasure, pain and indifference, for all sentient beings, but we'll focus especially on our own mode of existence as human beings. Report an error in the passage at 0:07 Highlight the passage at 0:07

0:23 In terms of the second noble truth, the sources of suffering, the Buddha especially highlights the role of craving. And if you go to the Pāli Canon, to the first turning of the wheel of Dharma, when the Buddha teaches the Four Noble Truths, And when he comes to the second of the Four Noble Truths, he says, so what is the source of suffering? And he highlights craving, grasping, attachment. Report an error in the passage at 0:23 Highlight the passage at 0:23

0:50 But of course, suffering also is aggravated or catalyzed by other mental processes such as hostility. Well, and then also delusion. And so those are the three poisons, but there's a lot of emphasis on the craving and attachment, greed, grasping, so forth. Report an error in the passage at 0:50 Highlight the passage at 0:50

1:14 Whenever we're experiencing that mental affliction, let's just call it craving, these other words are good for it as well, it's always about pleasure. It's always about pleasure. We crave, we have lust, we have clinging, attachment and so forth to something that we consider to be an actual source of pleasure. Report an error in the passage at 1:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14

1:35 It's very important here as we attend to the Second Noble Truth and its very close relationship with this second application of mindfulness to distinguish between desire, And the mental affliction of craving. Because often that distinction isn't made. And there are some translations out there that are just awful. Report an error in the passage at 1:35 Highlight the passage at 1:35

1:55 I read one just recently. I've seen it a couple of times now. Once by an Asian translator, once by a Western translator. And I was just kind of like, ooh, terrible. Where the word mental affliction. Mental affliction. Klesha. Klesha. It's translated in various bad ways. Just terribly misleading ways. But the worst one that I've seen. Report an error in the passage at 1:55 Highlight the passage at 1:55

2:14 It is translating klesha as emotion. I've seen that. Amazing. As if the ideal of Buddhist practice is to have no emotions whatsoever. So if you see somebody truly flourishing, exuberant, delightful children at play, a person giving some profound realization and so forth, you're stone cold. Don't give a damn. Don't bug me, I'm enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 2:14 Highlight the passage at 2:14

2:45 It's amazing. I mean, it really flabbergasts me. It's completely wrong. Report an error in the passage at 2:45 Highlight the passage at 2:45

2:52 Let alone a Buddha, let alone an Arhat. But there are some individuals around who are quite highly enlightened. You've probably met some of them. I certainly have. And boy, there's no dearth of emotion, of delight, of sometimes sadness, of just a whole range. What they don't have is afflictive emotions. Report an error in the passage at 2:52 Highlight the passage at 2:52

3:10 They don't have hatred. They don't have envy. They don't have spite. They don't have contempt. These are emotions. But having a rich array of wholesome emotions, that's absolutely part of liberation, absolutely part of enlightenment itself. I'll tell you a lovely story, and I'll offer it as a mythopoetic story. And I'm certain many Tibetans take it literally, and I'm content with either way. Report an error in the passage at 3:10 Highlight the passage at 3:10

3:36 But there's a story of Avalokiteshvara, Avalokiteshvara, as a tenth stage bodhisattva. So not a Buddha, but highly realized being great bodhisattva. And he's devoting himself for eons upon eons of seeking to alleviate the suffering of the world. That's his one job. The job description of Avalok Javara is very simple. Alleviate either suffering and the cause of suffering. And so there he is, he's striving for so long throughout the whole world, doing all he can to alleviate suffering. Report an error in the passage at 3:36 Highlight the passage at 3:36

4:08 And then he pauses for a moment to take stock. How did it turn out? And he's seeing there's still such an ocean of suffering. Just overwhelming, that he just weeps, he just weeps, just like, ah, when will it ever end, the suffering of sentient beings? Tears flow from his, and one of the tears drops and falls to the ground, and out of his tear emerges Tara, the feminine embodiment of dynamic compassion. Report an error in the passage at 4:08 Highlight the passage at 4:08

4:38 Tara emerges from one of his tears, and she says, do not weep, I shall help you. I love the story, just in so many different ways. And I don't really worry about literal and non-literal. The story is really a good story. But the point there is that even with a very highly realized being, a great bodhisattva, there's still sadness. Report an error in the passage at 4:38 Highlight the passage at 4:38

5:01 Still sadness. If you want to take somebody who's alive now, I think it's a very safe statement to say that the Dalai Lama is a true bodhisattva. And I've seen him weep on multiple occasions. Report an error in the passage at 5:01 Highlight the passage at 5:01

5:12 Always very wholesome. Sometimes weeping out of gratitude. Sometimes weeping out of reverence. Sometimes weeping out of sadness. Report an error in the passage at 5:12 Highlight the passage at 5:12

5:20 That certainly is there. That's part of his repertoire. Hatred isn't. That's an emotion. That just doesn't happen. He says it. I've never seen any indication of it. And so there's one horribly, horrible translation. And just kind of a translator's deal, because you'll see this a lot. Translating mental afflictions as afflictive emotions. Report an error in the passage at 5:20 Highlight the passage at 5:20

5:42 That's not as bad, but it's really very, it's really incorrect. And I'm surprised that really smart people who know Buddhism very well keep on using it. Because it's just wrong. Delusion is not an emotion. Nobody thinks delusion is an emotion. Ignorance isn't an emotion. But that's the root mental affliction. So how can you call all mental afflictions emotions when the fundamental one, the most important one, is not an emotion? It's bad translation. Report an error in the passage at 5:42 Highlight the passage at 5:42

6:10 And likewise, craving is not an emotion. It's conative. I gave a talk on conative intelligence a few days ago. Conative is about desire and intention. Desires are not emotions. It's a different category. It's a different type of mental process. They are not emotions, but some desires are afflictive. But they're not afflictive emotions. Report an error in the passage at 6:10 Highlight the passage at 6:10

6:31 They're afflictive conations, if you like, and so forth. So many of the mental afflictions, and there's different categories of them. Pride is not an emotion. It's a cognitive imbalance of thinking that one is superior to other people. That's not an emotion, though. It can come with an emotion, but it's not an emotion. Report an error in the passage at 6:31 Highlight the passage at 6:31

6:51 There are many afflictive emotions, and so those are emotions that are afflictive by nature. They're conjoined with a mental affliction. But mental afflictions are not simply equivalent to emotional afflictions. Because there's cognitive ones, there's cognitive ones, there are attentional afflictions. Like laxity and excitation, those are mental afflictions. But they're not emotions, right? Report an error in the passage at 6:51 Highlight the passage at 6:51

7:11 So it's a bit of a translator's beef, but words are important. And if we think mental afflictions is just afflictive emotions, then we've got... Cut off most of the mental afflictions, but they're not mental afflictions. So that's my little translator's spiel. Come back to something that's very important that's not just a translator's spiel. Report an error in the passage at 7:11 Highlight the passage at 7:11

7:29 And that is this second noble truth. It's a mental affliction of craving. Unfortunately, that's often translated as desire. So once again, this is a translator's deal, but it's really, it's not nitpicking at all. And that is there are some people who translate the mental affliction of Kana or of Rāga, these are mental afflictions, as desire. Report an error in the passage at 7:29 Highlight the passage at 7:29

7:56 Well, what does that imply once again? That if you achieve liberation, you become an Arhat, you have no desires. Because that's it. If desire is the root of suffering and you've cut the root of suffering, this means you have no desires. Report an error in the passage at 7:56 Highlight the passage at 7:56

8:10 And that means that if you see somebody who's fallen in a river and you're a good swimmer, you have no desire to help them. I'm an Arhat. Report an error in the passage at 8:10 Highlight the passage at 8:10

8:22 I just sit here. Not because I want to. I just sit here. But maybe I do want to. Maybe I should stop doing that. Maybe I should get up and move. But then I would want that. But I can't want that. But I can't want this either. You know, it's really impossible. It's crazy. The Buddha did go out on alms realms after all. You get a bit hungry, you want some food. You get thirsty, you want to drink. Report an error in the passage at 8:22 Highlight the passage at 8:22

8:51 You want to stretch your limbs a little bit. Desire is built in. The Buddhas have desire. The job description of a Buddha is to alleviate the suffering of all sentient beings. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain. So Buddhas have desire. Arhats have desire. Buddhas have desire. There are meaningful desires, tremendously meaningful desires. And we've all had them. The great altruists, the great saints of history throughout the world, they've all had very, very meaningful desires. Report an error in the passage at 8:51 Highlight the passage at 8:51

9:18 And we do too. And so the Second Noble Truth is not desire. It's afflictive desires. There are meaningful desires, wholesome desires, neutral desires, and unwholesome desires. But now what makes this mental affliction, the klesha of craving, craving for that which we don't have and attachment to that which we do have, those are the two sides of this mental affliction. Report an error in the passage at 9:18 Highlight the passage at 9:18

9:44 And what makes craving, this is so related to desire, to feelings, what makes craving a mental affliction? As we attend to the object of craving, we're seeing that as the veritable source of our pleasure. Either because we already have it, so I've got a relatively recent model, it's getting older and older as I keep on coming up with updated models of my cell phone. Report an error in the passage at 9:44 Highlight the passage at 9:44

10:08 But okay, I've got it now, and so this makes me happy, this is very useful, I like it, and so I'm clinging to this as an object of, you know, this actually gives me pleasure, security, something. And so then I've already got it. But if I see the new model, because I see some people have the newer model, it's thinner. This is a little chunky fatso. Whereas theirs is sleek, you know, it's like a fashion model. Report an error in the passage at 10:08 Highlight the passage at 10:08

10:34 It's tall and slim and nice curves, you know. Mine is kind of like a little pudgy, fat, bald guy. But if I had one of those slim ones, I'm sure I'd be happier. And they're faster too, and I like fast. And so then when Kukaeva, oh, I wish I could get rid of this one and get that new one. And they're coming out with a new one soon. Report an error in the passage at 10:34 Highlight the passage at 10:34

10:52 In fact, I wish I could have the one they'll make five years from now. Because it's going to be much better than the ones until then. Because, of course, they antiquate them. They make them so they're already antiquated when they come out. So you'll be sure to be primed for the next one. And so that's how they keep us going, you know. That's how they keep us going. The one you have is old. In fact, we'll make sure it's old because we'll change the software so yours doesn't work anymore. Report an error in the passage at 10:52 Highlight the passage at 10:52

11:13 So clever. So that's how they keep the whole marketing industry, the whole advertising industry, always, here's what's going to make you happy. And this is going to make you happier. It's going to make you happier. And thinking, that'll do it. If I just had that, that's where craving comes in. Cell phones are very useful. I'm glad I have one. Report an error in the passage at 11:13 Highlight the passage at 11:13

11:34 I'll probably get another one eventually. I will, if I live long enough. They're very useful. And to the desired cell phone, when it's very useful for your work and communication and so forth, that's not in itself craving. Not at all. If that's very useful, I could use that. Can I afford it? Yeah, okay, good, I'll get one. So desire can be meaningful, but the craving comes in. Report an error in the passage at 11:34 Highlight the passage at 11:34

11:53 When we glom onto that as the very source of our happiness, something we already have, it can be a spouse, it can be a job, it can be a home, it can be possessions, it can be our own bodies, it is, can be, will be, for the time being, very strong identification with the body, and being attached to the body, or wishing you had another kind of body, then going to the gym to have a kind of body you don't have yet, but one day, if I could look like that, I would be happier. Report an error in the passage at 11:53 Highlight the passage at 11:53

12:21 I hear this so often, I'll have much better self-esteem if I have bigger pecs. Interesting way to get self-esteem. Or if I was a bit bulked out, I'd feel better about myself. So I walk around like this, not like this, because I can't get my hands down to the side. I look like a little fletching chicky about to take off. Report an error in the passage at 12:21 Highlight the passage at 12:21

12:51 I mean, I'm sympathetic and yet I'd have to be a bit of a chuckle as well. Because this, of course, is total identification with the body. I feel better about myself because my body looks better or is stronger, what have you. And so there's attachment to that which we do have, craving to that which we don't have. And it always has this delusional element in it. Report an error in the passage at 12:51 Highlight the passage at 12:51

13:12 Mental afflictions are all rooted in delusion. If they are not rooted in delusion, they're not mental afflictions. That's a definition. And being rooted in delusion, this means mental afflictions always misapprehend their object, by definition. If they don't misapprehend their object, they're not mental afflictions. Definition. Report an error in the passage at 13:12 Highlight the passage at 13:12

13:32 So that's why delusion, number one, ignorance, we don't understand, and number two, we think we understand, and we deludedly hasten after this, because we think that will bring me pleasure. And then we hasten away from that because we're convinced that makes me unhappy, or that's painful. And we move away from that. Report an error in the passage at 13:32 Highlight the passage at 13:32

13:53 And so the craving as a mental affliction identifies the object as the very source of our pleasure. And then the craving also, by its very nature, It's called in Sanskrit klishta. We have klesha and then klishta. Klishta is the adjective. And klishta means to distort, to warp. It entails a cognitive bias or a warping, a distortion of what we're attending to. Report an error in the passage at 13:53 Highlight the passage at 13:53

14:15 And when I'm attached to anything, great big generalization coming. When I'm attached to anything or when I crave, again craving that which I don't have, attached to what I do have. When I crave anything. Report an error in the passage at 14:15 Highlight the passage at 14:15

14:31 I not only see it as the very source of pleasure, but I also, by the very fact of craving it, there's already a cognitive bias in it that I'm embellishing, exaggerating its attractive qualities. Report an error in the passage at 14:31 Highlight the passage at 14:31

14:46 I'm editing out, marginalizing its unattractive qualities. And even the neutral qualities, I'm bending them over to the positive side. So there's a whole tilt. In other words, I'm sugarcoating. I'm looking through rose-tinted glasses at the object of my craving and then it appears to me, it appears to me to be attractive, as if it's absolutely objective. Report an error in the passage at 14:46 Highlight the passage at 14:46

15:15 And if I turn to somebody else, and I won't give a cell phone, it's too silly, but it can be anything. But now when I'm locked into this grid, like having my head in a vice, and I'm locked onto it, that gives me pleasure and I'm seeing it with this cognitive bias of seeing it. Highlighting its attractive qualities, marginalizing or not even seeing its unattractive qualities. That whole tilt. And then I turn to somebody else. Isn't that fantastic? Report an error in the passage at 15:15 Highlight the passage at 15:15

15:41 And whatever it is I'm pointing, isn't that fantastic? And you look, what? No, no, no, you can't see it? I mean, look. Isn't that incredibly attractive? And if you're not sharing my craving, you're saying, I don't get it. You're seeing something as I'm not seeing. And of course, what's happening here is I'm projecting something that he's not projecting. Report an error in the passage at 15:41 Highlight the passage at 15:41

16:03 But that's where the delusion comes in. And that's why in the Vipassanā practice, this segregation, this separation between what's being presented and what's being projected is so utterly crucial. So that's what is the root of suffering, is focusing on things that are not by nature pleasurable, not veritable wellsprings of pleasure, but seeing them as such. Report an error in the passage at 16:03 Highlight the passage at 16:03

16:28 And as seeing them as such, Then we, in our way of viewing them, we have that cognitive bias of seeing them as attractive. We embellish, we exaggerate, we even fully project things that aren't there at all. You know, when we really get carried away. As an infatuation, like sexual infatuation. That's a really extreme but rather common case. We become sexually infatuated with a person and we just see that person as 100 % golden. Report an error in the passage at 16:28 Highlight the passage at 16:28

16:54 Everything about, something about the way she moves. It moves me like no other. And another guy who's not infatuated says, but she's just walking. She's just walking. What's the big something about the way she moves? It goes one foot after another. What's special? I don't kind of get it. Oh, but it's something about the way she moves. Report an error in the passage at 16:54 Highlight the passage at 16:54

17:16 And then the voice and the mannerisms and the little chuckle, the way she turns her lips, the way she eats her food, the way she's so picky, but it's so charming. And everything is so charming and everything about her, even her bad breath. It's not like other people's bad breath. There's just something about it. Report an error in the passage at 17:16 Highlight the passage at 17:16

17:34 It shows character. It shows character. And on it goes. And then, of course, as soon as we... So that's craving. That's flamboyant craving. Report an error in the passage at 17:34 Highlight the passage at 17:34

17:44 And then it's kind of like being mesmerized, you know, like hypnotized. Like, what? And then in that type of infatuation, we say love turns to hate, but it doesn't. It's attachment when the... Veils lift and things shift and reality starts poking through, then that can be quite startling. Because when you see this person, and it can be a car, it can be a Porsche, it can be your motorcycle, especially Harley Davidson's, where you see it as absolutely 100%, this is utterly fantastic. Report an error in the passage at 17:44 Highlight the passage at 17:44

18:17 But then when reality starts poking through and punching holes in our illusion, which is 100 % positive, it keeps on... Punching holes. And that can be quite startling. It can be upsetting. Until actually they put so many pins on our balloon that the balloon is a little pile of limp rubber. And now we're seeing, and what now we're seeing, but I had so much hopes for you, so much expectation that you would really make me happy. And you haven't done it. Report an error in the passage at 18:17 Highlight the passage at 18:17

18:47 And then there can be this sea change. Like 100 % positive and then wobble, wobble, wobble. And then I'm really disillusioned. I think I'm going to go for another illusion. You're awful. You're just terrible. Everything about you moves me, makes me want to throw up. Report an error in the passage at 18:47 Highlight the passage at 18:47

19:07 And as we call love turns to hate, no, it's just attachment turning into hostility, aversion, aggression, hatred, disgust, contempt, and so forth. And then, and how many marriages go this way? I've seen one. I've seen one where I saw the couple come together. I saw the bride's eyes. She just looked like she was an angel. And the eyes are so filled with joy. Report an error in the passage at 19:07 Highlight the passage at 19:07

19:29 So filled with joy. She's a beautiful young woman. Her partner there, husband-to-be, dashing, very good-looking. He gazing at her, she gazing at him. I was there at the wedding. And man, it looked good. You know, attractive young couple, obviously really in love with each other. And seven years later, they can't stand being on the same planet. Can't stand it. They have nothing good to say about each other at all. I mean, nothing. This person is a complete 100 % schmuck. Report an error in the passage at 19:29 Highlight the passage at 19:29

20:00 That woman is a total, nothing positive at all. They can't even talk civilly. The thought of each other gives each other misery and anger and resentment. They talk as little as possible. When they do, it's still on edge and conflictive and so forth and so on. So clearly that man is the very source of my misery. Report an error in the passage at 20:00 Highlight the passage at 20:00

20:22 And yes, you are the source of my misery. And seven years older, I can't live without you. So, how many times has it happened? About 50 % of the time, anything in America. And my sense is that it's, number one, the fact that we use this one word, love, for a very splendid aspiration. May you find happiness. May you find fulfillment. May you find joy. May I help you. I'd love to help you. It's called love. It's called loving kindness in Buddhism. Maitri. Report an error in the passage at 20:22 Highlight the passage at 20:22

20:53 It's a noble virtue. You can't have too much of that virtue. There's no such thing as having too much loving kindness. It can be infinite. That'll be just fine. It can be unconditional. That would be splendid. It's a virtue promoted in many of the great religions of the world. So there's loving kindness. And then there's sexual infatuation, which is totally an I-it relationship. Report an error in the passage at 20:53 Highlight the passage at 20:53

21:11 It's totally I-it. You can make me happy. You can make me happy indefinitely. Just stay the same way you are right now and keep on delivering the goods. And then they don't. They don't stay the same way. And they don't deliver the goods. And then all that expectation will be piled on the other person. Report an error in the passage at 21:11 Highlight the passage at 21:11

21:29 It gets blown apart by reality. We become radically disillusioned and then resentful. How could you? I had so much promise. You had so much promise. I had so much expectation and you completely devastated everything I expected from you. I can't imagine being more disappointed in you than I am. You're a 100 % awful person and you make me unhappy. And there's the finger coming out again. You make me unhappy. If you would disappear or at least go to another continent. Report an error in the passage at 21:29 Highlight the passage at 21:29

21:59 I have a chance of being happy. But as long as we are in telephone distance, just the notion that you might telephone me gives me the creeps. Report an error in the passage at 21:59 Highlight the passage at 21:59

22:09 Because I'll get infected by you just hearing your voice. If I hear your name, it gives me the creeps. I want your name to be kind of siphoned off and nobody ever gets to use it again. Because it's a bad name. I think you've got the idea now what this mental affliction of anger, hostility and so forth is. Report an error in the passage at 22:09 Highlight the passage at 22:09

22:26 It's the same thing. It's just, wherever it was positive, now turn it negative. You make me unhappy. You're the very source of my unhappiness. Everything about you is just disgusting. Even though you're physically attractive, it's just, you're white trash. You're just disgusting. Don't want to look at you. You would be attractive if you were a different person, but you're not. Report an error in the passage at 22:26 Highlight the passage at 22:26

22:48 And so now everything is negative. Everything about you is negative. And so there's total cognitive bias on the outside. So if we're very good at infatuation, craving, attachment, We're going to be very good at the opposite. Because reality just punctures through after a while. It doesn't deliver the goods. And instead of being disillusioned with our own delusion, we get disillusioned with the object and we look for another object. Report an error in the passage at 22:48 Highlight the passage at 22:48

23:15 We start all over again. This one looks like she'll make me happy. Or he will make me happy. Or I lived in this area, it was terrible. But I'm moving to this area, I think this will be better. I had this job, it was terrible. But I think this job will be better. And so forth, and so forth. So it spins on and on and on. Report an error in the passage at 23:15 Highlight the passage at 23:15

23:33 All of this stems from feeling. What we really want is happiness, physical pleasure, mental happiness. What we want to avoid is physical and mental displeasure, pain. But the delusion here that makes Avalokiteshvara weep and Tara come to his rescue is that we keep on attributing the whole weight of that which makes us happy and unhappy to objects, whereas it never is. Report an error in the passage at 23:33 Highlight the passage at 23:33

24:02 It looks like it. It really appears to be. But it's not. Otherwise one person would make everybody happy, but even the Dalai Lama doesn't. I read in the newspaper this morning, now the Chinese government has a major mission to mute the Dalai Lama. Mute the Dalai Lama. They want to make sure that nobody, they'd really like to mute him for the whole world. But they don't have that much control yet. Report an error in the passage at 24:02 Highlight the passage at 24:02

24:26 Let's see how things turn out over time. But they are now absolutely intent. This is from a very high level. They want to mute him. So that nobody in all of China and Tibet ever hears his voice or gets any information about him or of him or from him. Zero. They want him to be a non-entity. And they're going to monitor everybody's cell phone. They are. But now you have to register under your own name. They'll monitor your cell phone. Report an error in the passage at 24:26 Highlight the passage at 24:26

24:51 They'll monitor your internet. They'll monitor every email you send. And they'll do absolutely their best to guard that 1.3 billion people. From hearing anything whatsoever about the Dalai Lama or from the Dalai Lama. Okay? And that they hear only what the Chinese government wants them to know. Report an error in the passage at 24:51 Highlight the passage at 24:51

25:11 That strikes me as rooted in very, very deep fear. Extremely deep fear. Because here's a 78-year-old man who's a monk who always refers to the Chinese as brothers and sisters. And says all we're looking for is human rights in our own country and the right to preserve our own culture. That's all he's been saying for like 30 years. Report an error in the passage at 25:11 Highlight the passage at 25:11

25:31 And they want to make sure that nobody can hear him. So, that just really struck me this morning. That here's a man who, anybody, almost anybody, is in his presence. You simply feel very happy. Whether you're a Christian, you're an atheist. He's met with so many atheists, so many materialists in these Mind and Life meetings. Because they're mostly materialists that come. And they're so moved by him. They're so moved by him. Report an error in the passage at 25:31 Highlight the passage at 25:31

25:58 That's often what they bring away most. I shared my science with him. He was very attentive, very interested. But there was such a good feeling being in the room with him. That's just very, very common. Very, very common. And they don't shift their worldview. They don't say, oh, and I'm a Buddhist, or I'll stop my, you know, get off my datura fixation. Report an error in the passage at 25:58 Highlight the passage at 25:58

26:16 Usually not. But they come away with the feeling he's a really good man. That's what almost everybody picks up. But even he can't, even his presence, everything he says, everything he stands for, all of the activities, can't persuade everybody. The whole government just wants to make him become non-entity. Report an error in the passage at 26:16 Highlight the passage at 26:16

26:36 Mute like they put duct tape over his mouth. So it doesn't matter who we are. We can't please everybody. Maybe that's such a truism it doesn't need to be said. But maybe it would be a good idea not to try. If even the Dalai Lama can't do it, the Buddha couldn't do it, people hated him, Jesus, nothing needs to be said. So there we go. Report an error in the passage at 26:36 Highlight the passage at 26:36

26:55 So feelings. So the simple point here, rather elaborately stated, was that these feelings of pleasure and pain, pleasure and displeasure, these are at the root, of craving and hostility. If we hadn't had any feelings, we'd have no mental afflictions of craving and hostility because it's all about getting happiness and avoiding suffering. Report an error in the passage at 26:55 Highlight the passage at 26:55

27:16 But then doing so in a delusional fashion. And it always entails that, glomming on the object as being the very source and then twisting or distorting our vision of it either to the positive side or the negative side. And all of this rooted, both of these mental afflictions rooted in delusion, which is... Report an error in the passage at 27:16 Highlight the passage at 27:16

27:35 Primes us to misapprehend whatever we're attending to, especially when we get very passionate about it. And so in this regard, feelings are utterly central. And if we are very interested in attenuating, diminishing, subduing, calming, healing our mental afflictions, then we just, we have to gain deeper insight into feelings. Report an error in the passage at 27:35 Highlight the passage at 27:35

27:56 We can't be ignorant and delusional about feelings and somehow be able to fix our mental afflictions, which are direct response to those feelings. So we have to do some deep digging into the earth. What we don't really like are the effects of mental afflictions. We don't like stress, we don't like depression, we don't like anxiety. Report an error in the passage at 27:56 Highlight the passage at 27:56

28:16 And so when a drug company comes in, oh good, here's for stress, here's for anxiety, here's for insomnia, here's for anger. We'll zap, zap, zap, zap. We'll get all those messengers and just keep taking that drug because of course this isn't rooting out anything, but it certainly is muting them. That's what it's doing. All the drugs are muting. Report an error in the passage at 28:16 Highlight the passage at 28:16

28:36 The symptoms, muting the voice of our mental afflictions, calling out for help. Help me, help me, shut up. Take another dose. And so, we don't like the symptoms? That's called blatant suffering. We go to the causes, the underlying causes, craving, hostility, delusion. Now we come to the causes, but what are they in response to? Report an error in the passage at 28:36 Highlight the passage at 28:36

28:57 Feelings, pleasure, pain, indifference. Pleasure, giving rise to craving. Displeasure, giving rise to anger, hatred. And neutrality? Giving rise to stupor, when nothing's happening. Like the fellow I was on the Skype conference call a couple of days ago. Zona and I were speaking and didn't find it interesting. Report an error in the passage at 28:57 Highlight the passage at 28:57

29:27 So my other conference call partner said, why don't we cancel this Skype call, I'll call you right back. So at least we don't have the bullfrog in the background. Report an error in the passage at 29:27 Highlight the passage at 29:27

29:41 And I'm not mentioning, I have no wish to ridicule a person. It's a funny story. But there it is. That's the principle. Pleasure gives rise to craving. Displeasure gives rise to hatred. And when it's neutral, we fall asleep. Report an error in the passage at 29:41 Highlight the passage at 29:41

29:56 Or just get dull, passive, apathetic, like nothing's happening, whatever. And we're out. So on the negative side of the ledger, these three fundamental feelings. I mean, this is where we share with Nazis and with progressive people and communists and Democrats, Republicans and Labor Party and all of that. Report an error in the passage at 29:56 Highlight the passage at 29:56

30:18 And for Frogs and cockroaches and devas and hell beings and pretas and so forth. Here's the common ground. If we're looking for common ground so that we can actually feel empathy for people who engage in absolutely awful behavior and we feel so alienated from them like, wow, am I not like you? Well, that's quite true. On a certain level of behavior, attitude and so forth, we're not like them. That's quite true. Of course, we're not like everybody else. But just keep on going deeper. Report an error in the passage at 30:18 Highlight the passage at 30:18

30:42 Keep on going deeper until you get to that level. This person, and now name any kind of behavior, I don't need to give examples, but call to mind some of the most atrocious behavior that's ever been exhibited by human beings. And I'll bring to mind some of the most benevolent, saintly, marvelous behavior ever exhibited by human beings. And you see the common ground between the awful person and the wonderful person is that they're both looking for happiness for themselves and probably for others too. Report an error in the passage at 30:42 Highlight the passage at 30:42

31:15 At least the ones they care about. It's very true. And for the Buddha, that's everybody. And for the desperate, the tyrant and so forth, it's definitely a more limited number of people. But they still want happiness. For them and theirs. And they want to be free of suffering for them and theirs. And that's true for everybody. And for a Buddha, them and theirs is everybody. Report an error in the passage at 31:15 Highlight the passage at 31:15

31:40 As the Dalai Lama was asked, who do you regard as your peer? You know, like the Pope, Prime Minister, Kings, who's at your level? He was asked, who do you regard as your peer? Report an error in the passage at 31:40 Highlight the passage at 31:40

31:52 He said everybody. And I think he really meant it. Everybody. And so, who is in the Dalai Lama's family? Welcome. We're all in his family, right? Because he identifies, quite true. And I keep on mentioning him because I know him rather well, he's my teacher. But happily he's not the only one. Happily not the only one. So there we go. Report an error in the passage at 31:52 Highlight the passage at 31:52

32:14 So on the negative side of the ledger, three mental afflictions, three root mental afflictions associated with the three feelings related to the three mental afflictions. But then, of course, feelings don't simply inspire mental afflictions and behavior aroused by mental afflictions. Consider one of the, perhaps the most universally acclaimed virtue throughout the world by all religions and irreligious or non-religious people. Report an error in the passage at 32:14 Highlight the passage at 32:14

32:39 Who doesn't value benevolence? Or you can call it love, but now we know what you mean by loving kindness. That's the confusion about love. It refers to something utterly bestial and stupid, as well as something incredibly noble. And one word is covering the whole bundle. As well as, I love chocolate. Report an error in the passage at 32:39 Highlight the passage at 32:39

32:58 And I love that motorcycle and I love nature. So it's just one of those words that covers so much territory. You kind of wonder, is it salvageable? Because it covers so many sometimes incompatible things. But loving kindness is nice and clean. So let's call it loving kindness. One of the core virtues in Buddhism, but we'll find it in the teachings of Jesus. Report an error in the passage at 32:58 Highlight the passage at 32:58

33:17 Outside of religion and so on. So where's that coming from? It's a noble virtue that it would be wonderful to expand it without limit. And what's it all about? Number one, in Buddhism, loving kindness is not an emotion, it's not a feeling. In English it can be, that's fine. I'm not debating one language versus another, but in Buddhism, a rather important point, loving kindness is not an emotion. When you feel loving kindness for someone, there's certainly an emotion that's along with that. Report an error in the passage at 33:17 Highlight the passage at 33:17

33:47 Almost for certain, for sure. But it's not an emotion and not a feeling. Loving kindness is an aspiration. It's a wish. May you find happiness. May you find the causes of happiness. Report an error in the passage at 33:47 Highlight the passage at 33:47

34:04 Inspiration. It's cognitive, not affective. But when you gaze at someone with affection, with warmth, with kindness, a sense of real connection, and you truly yearn. As a mother yearns for the well-being of her children, loving spouses yearn for each other's well-being. Friends attend to each other. In a spirit of affection, warmth and kindness. And it happens for communities and so forth. So we find loving kindness is really quite happily, crops up throughout the world. Report an error in the passage at 34:04 Highlight the passage at 34:04

34:32 And in the Buddha's understanding of this loving kindness, although it comes with a feeling for sure, but what makes loving kindness loving kindness is that it is an aspiration. It is true, a yearning, a wish, that easily, when the opportunity arises, clicks over into, or triggers, an intention, an intention. Report an error in the passage at 34:32 Highlight the passage at 34:32

34:54 And so if you're hungry and I wish you had some food, and then you say, oh, here's some food. I already wish for you to have the food. I wish for you to have enough to eat. And then you say, oh, here's some food or here's a checkbook. But I was already wishing that. Well, oh, good. Oh, good. Then here's writing a check or here's some food, please. Report an error in the passage at 34:54 Highlight the passage at 34:54

35:13 Ha, ha. So you're already poised. And so desire is not an intention, but it easily triggers the intention where the opportunity arises. And that's, of course, on positive and negative sides of the ledger. Simply put though, without running on too much, loving kindness, this noble virtue, is all rooted in the aspiration for happiness, pleasure, happiness in the body, good health, santé, to your good health, to your physical happiness, to your physical well-being. Report an error in the passage at 35:13 Highlight the passage at 35:13

35:43 We all value that. Animal, human, everybody would like to feel good in the body, not to feel ill. So may you feel physically well, psychologically may you be well, may you be happy, satisfied. Fulfilled, content, joyful. May it be so. May it be so. It's all about feeling. Positive feeling. And then we have this noble virtue which lies at the very root of Buddha Dharma and yet happily is not confined to any one religion or to religion as a whole and that's compassion. Report an error in the passage at 35:43 Highlight the passage at 35:43

36:13 So there are many scientific materialists, atheists and so forth, that have genuine compassion. There's no doubt about it. There's no doubt about it at all. It's so obvious. There's so much evidence. That's an evidence-based claim. And so with or without religious feeling or... Theistic feeling or belief or anything like that, compassion, once again, in the Buddhist understanding, is not an emotion. It's not feeling sorry for someone. Anybody can feel sorry for anyone. Report an error in the passage at 36:13 Highlight the passage at 36:13

36:38 But just feeling sorry for somebody actually isn't by itself. If that's all it is, just, I'm so sorry for you, boo-hoo, and then I go watch television. And frankly, who cares? Really. I mean, it's a bit of empathy, which is a step in the right direction. But if it stops there, then it kind of fizzles out, like a firecracker, and then dies. Report an error in the passage at 36:38 Highlight the passage at 36:38

36:57 If that's all it is, I felt really sorry for this person, then I got over it. So that's an emotion. Feeling sorry is an emotion. But compassion is an aspiration. It's the flip side of loving kindness. Compassion is an aspiration. May you be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. So simple. May we be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 36:57 Highlight the passage at 36:57

37:18 Compassion 360 degrees. That's an aspiration. Now that means something. That really means something. That's meaningful. That's just a step away from an intention. The desire is just a step away, one step away from an intention. This is what I can do to alleviate your suffering. This is what I can do to help you overcome these causes of suffering that you may be perpetuating or over which you may have no control. Maybe I can help. I want to help. Report an error in the passage at 37:18 Highlight the passage at 37:18

37:48 Oh, I can help. Good, now I will. So we see, ah, that's something. That's got a lot of horsepower behind it. The emotion may or may not, but the actual aspiration, if it's authentic, That's poised for action. So when one sits quietly in one's meditation cushion and one is cultivating loving kindness or engaging in a practice to cultivate compassion, very good, it's virtue. Report an error in the passage at 37:48 Highlight the passage at 37:48

38:10 But the whole point of that is not only the transformation of one's own heart and mind, moving away from apathy, from indifference, self-centeredness and so forth, really the sense of extension, of caring, of concern, of awareness for those around us. And so that's certainly worthwhile, bringing about this inner transformation you do on your cushion. You may be practicing Dong Len, we may get to it later, or reciting mantras or prayers or what have you. Report an error in the passage at 38:10 Highlight the passage at 38:10

38:37 But what the manifestation of the goodness of that practice is, when you get off the cushion, you're poised for loving behavior and compassionate behavior. You see an opportunity to bring someone a bit of happiness, and you're already poised. It's like a cocked gun. But this is a gun of benevolence. And you're ready to pull the trigger and do something really kind. You're already ready. You're poised. And likewise, when you see somebody in distress, you're already poised. Report an error in the passage at 38:37 Highlight the passage at 38:37

39:07 The gun of, I know that's terrible, but I'm going to stick with it. The gun of compassion. You're ready to pull the trigger and do something to alleviate the suffering of others. The mental distress, the physical distress, whatever it may be. You're already ready. And then the desire already being there. Report an error in the passage at 39:07 Highlight the passage at 39:07

39:22 You say, ah, there's opportunity. I've got the motive, got the opportunity, I'm going to do it. And then you do something. That's what meditation is good for. And that's measurable. So for scientific studies of meditation, we should be looking not only at brain waves and all that kind of thing, but how does it manifest in behavior? Report an error in the passage at 39:22 Highlight the passage at 39:22

39:39 If it doesn't at all, one might wonder, well, what's it good for? So, I think maybe that's a good time to break. Let's see if there's something. Report an error in the passage at 39:39 Highlight the passage at 39:39

39:49 But that's a big one. It's on the bottom of page 9. The Dhamma is a feeling in our lives for altruism, for loving kindness, compassion, as well as craving, hostility and conflict. Enormous. So all the more reason, we will take a break now, but all the more reason why the Buddha made five skandhas rather than four and one got its own little skanda and that's feelings. Report an error in the passage at 39:49 Highlight the passage at 39:49

40:12 Why among the four applications of mindfulness, when some of them, the mind covers so many phenomena, so many activities of the mind, phenomena, the fourth one covers everything. Report an error in the passage at 40:12 Highlight the passage at 40:12

40:22 Why did feelings get their own cubicle, their own apartment? Why did it get treated so special? When after all, there's just one of many types of mental factors. Well, that's why, for really good reason. We so profoundly and involuntarily care about our feelings. Report an error in the passage at 40:22 Highlight the passage at 40:22

40:43 We can't help it. We shouldn't want to help it, but we can't help it even if we tried. Deeply, deeply, primally caring about our feelings, and then the feelings, Of anyone we identify with, can't help it. If you have children and you're just an ordinary parent, let alone a superb parent, you can't help it. Report an error in the passage at 40:43 Highlight the passage at 40:43

41:05 You care about your children. You want them to be happy, you want to protect them from suffering. If you have a relationship that is loving with a spouse, you can't help it. If you have a family and you love them, you can't help it. And then, as the Dalai Lama points out, I'll end on this note, this is an enormous important point. He said, biologically, biologically, Especially women, but also to a somewhat lesser extent men. Biologically we have a kind of a biological imperative for compassion, for loving kindness, but especially compassion when it comes to our own children. Report an error in the passage at 41:05 Highlight the passage at 41:05

41:39 And generally speaking women somewhat more so. Happily would give their lives, happily would make sacrifices, do make sacrifices, and they've been doing it for the whole history of humanity and of course it's not confined to human beings. And so that's a biologically driven imperative, and it is genuinely compassion, but it's biologically driven. And a loving father will do the same thing, spouses may do the same thing, protecting their siblings. Report an error in the passage at 41:39 Highlight the passage at 41:39

42:05 And so that's a given. We don't need to necessarily cultivate that. That's often, in most cases, except for the deviant cases, the exception, the unloving mother. They get in the news because it's so odd, but the loving mothers never get in the news because it's so common. It's marvelous, but benevolent. Report an error in the passage at 42:05 Highlight the passage at 42:05

42:21 But it's so normal that it doesn't get in the news very often. Oh, this mother made the sacrifice for a child. Yeah, but what's new? Oh, that woman drowned her children in a bathtub. Okay, that makes headlines. But only because it's so incredibly odd and anomalous, right? So to get to the Dalai Lama's point here, and that is to a certain level, then compassion flows quite spontaneously. Report an error in the passage at 42:21 Highlight the passage at 42:21

42:42 For myself, okay, sure. And then my nuclear family, okay, maybe my extended family. And how about my tribe? How about my neighborhood? How about my city? Yay, Santa Barbara. Good Santa Barbarans, but not so much those people up in Los Angeles or up in San Jose. But Santa Barbara, oh boy, Santa Barbara, you know? Or California, not Nevada. Californians. No, we Californians stick together. We West Coast people are not like those East Coast people. Report an error in the passage at 42:42 Highlight the passage at 42:42

43:11 We stand up for the West. The West is best. And America, not those Canadians. Eh? You know, come on. The Americans know where it's at. We stick up for us Americans. Yes, us North Americans. And so there, you know, the hemisphere, you know, you people down here walking upside down, we're suspicious of you. You know, the North Hemisphere people. We know what's at, but you people walking upside down, it's kind of weird. Report an error in the passage at 43:11 Highlight the passage at 43:11

43:32 I'm trying to empathize with you, but it's a bit hard, walking upside down all the time. It's very strange. I don't know how you got used to it. So I'm being silly, of course. But it's that all these divisions, and I'm making silly because frankly the whole thing is silly. Report an error in the passage at 43:32 Highlight the passage at 43:32

43:46 Rooting for your football team because you went to a school 40 years ago. Is that maybe silly? Or in America, they'll sell football teams. So the Los Angeles Rams used to be Los Angeles, but they've been in some other cities, St. Louis or something. But some people sell, but it's still the Rams. And what they're clinging to is a name, you know, Rams. And so whatever we identify this, that's what we care for. Report an error in the passage at 43:46 Highlight the passage at 43:46

44:14 So again, finally coming to the Dalai Lama's point, to this point where, to the extent that we have this natural biological identification with, that's my child. Your child, that's something separate. Not so sure about that point. But my child, I'll sacrifice for. And not your child, though. But you'll sacrifice for yours. So that's biologically given. Report an error in the passage at 44:14 Highlight the passage at 44:14

44:32 And now what's the point of Dharma? Because you don't need to practice Dharma and learn about Buddhism or anything like that to be a very loving mother. That can be really built in. Incredible. With no religion, no nothing. Just, boom, there it is. Incredible mothers. And there are many of them, happily. That's why we survive. But then how do you move beyond that bubble? Report an error in the passage at 44:32 Highlight the passage at 44:32

44:53 How do you move beyond the barriers? This is where I drew the line, the 48th parallel between the United States and Canada, or the Rio Grande River. Okay, not those Mexicans, but yes, the Americans. So those are barriers, right? And we have many barriers, the Buddhists and not the Buddhists, the whites and the pinks and the blacks and the browns and so forth. So skin color barriers, ethnic barriers, ideological barriers, and so forth and so, species barriers. Report an error in the passage at 44:53 Highlight the passage at 44:53

45:16 Thumbs up with human beings, animals or food. Okay, that's where we drew the line. They have no rights. We have all the rights. They're not like us. Boom. And so the whole point of Dharma is to break down all the barriers. That doesn't come naturally. It's not biologically driven. It may not be biologically adaptive, but it's the right thing to do, to break them all down, so that you care about others' children as much as your own. Report an error in the passage at 45:16 Highlight the passage at 45:16

45:41 When there's an airline crash, you care about everybody who died and not just those who have a passport like your own, that it breaks it down. And that takes some effort. But what we're breaking down are the barriers created by delusion. It's that simple. So there are just some things in life that I think are just absolutely worthwhile. Report an error in the passage at 45:41 Highlight the passage at 45:41

46:03 And I mean irrelevant time, space, which galaxy you're living in, what species you are. I think there are some things that are absolutely good. And the cultivation of loving-kindness is one of them. The cultivation of compassion is one of them. Whoever you are, wherever you are, whenever you are, that's one of the keepers. And it has to do with feeling. Report an error in the passage at 46:03 Highlight the passage at 46:03

46:26 Loving-kindness for pleasure, compassion for suffering. It's a big deal. So to understand how can we cultivate love and kindness and compassion might be a good idea since we're aspiring for not only may you find happiness, the effect, but Buddhist cultivation of love and kindness is may you find happiness and the causes of happiness. Report an error in the passage at 46:26 Highlight the passage at 46:26

46:47 Compassion is not only may you be free of suffering, may you be free of the causes of suffering. But of course for that aspiration to have any substance to it. You have to know what those causes are, otherwise you're kind of just empty aspiration. May you have something that I don't know anything about. And so as we look into the causes of happiness, the causes of suffering, that's where wisdom is needed and where we better understand the nature of happiness and the nature of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 46:47 Highlight the passage at 46:47

47:13 And that's where Vipassanā comes in. Wisdom supporting universal rule, great principle, something to live by. Report an error in the passage at 47:13 Highlight the passage at 47:13

47:25 Let's come back at 10.55. Report an error in the passage at 47:25 Highlight the passage at 47:25