Four Applications Of Mindfulness Retreat 2013 with B. Alan Wallace (part 27)

0:06 I'm going to come out of left field here in an unexpected direction. First of all, what's his name? Report an error in the passage at 0:06 Highlight the passage at 0:06

0:24 Go to Thomas Aquinas. Thomas Aquinas, this mastermind, this extraordinary genius that fused two things that did not lend themselves to being fused. And that is the philosophies of Greek antiquity, especially that of Aristotle, who was not a Christian, of course. Pagan. But brilliant and covered so many fields of knowledge. He was breathtaking. He took Aristotelian philosophy and then took the Bible and the whole biblical tradition, Judaism, Christianity, and then somehow, through a feat of enormous genius, welded these into one unified whole. Report an error in the passage at 0:24 Highlight the passage at 0:24

0:59 It's quite breathtaking. And it worked for many people. It worked for two centuries. They thought, that's the final say. That's it. We now know reality. We know everything important about reality we need to know. And it's all integrated. There's the pursuit of virtue that comes from Christianity. There's the pursuit of knowledge that comes from Aristotle and Christianity. And there's the pursuit of genuine happiness. Report an error in the passage at 0:59 Highlight the passage at 0:59

1:17 And that comes from both Christianity and Aristotle, who wrote about eudaimonia with a lot of insight. And so they had a package deal that was everything integrated. And they thought, this is it. This is the final word. Until, you know, those rascals like Galileo came along and ruined everything. And Luther, he really ruined things. Report an error in the passage at 1:17 Highlight the passage at 1:17

1:34 I mentioned him just for context, but he made a statement that has really lingered with me, because I studied him when I was at Stanford, and he said, and it's a very close paraphrase, if not a direct quote, he said, the whole point of the political life is the contemplative life. Report an error in the passage at 1:34 Highlight the passage at 1:34

1:49 And by that he meant not just politics as politics, but really politics as all mundane endeavors, education, business, politics, everything that people do in the pursuit of hedonic well-being, it's politics. And he said the whole point of that, all of our mundane pursuits, all of our pursuits of hedonic well-being, which are very important, we all know that. If you're hungry, you want food first, not a meditation lesson. Report an error in the passage at 1:49 Highlight the passage at 1:49

2:13 But the whole point of that is the contemplative life. That's where everything is pointing to. That's the culmination. That's what gives everything meaning. And I know quite a number of people, including very successful ones, hedonically, where they've won. They're successful, they're good-looking, they're healthy, they have the house, the job, the status, prestige, all of that. Report an error in the passage at 2:13 Highlight the passage at 2:13

2:33 And it's just, they find it empty, you know. And either they just say, well, what can you expect? We're only human. And they just go on with the daily grind. Or they go to more extreme things. How about more money? How about more sports? More, more, more. Or they get really depressed or they find Dharma. It's kind of one of those options is the most prominent. Report an error in the passage at 2:33 Highlight the passage at 2:33

2:53 Or you find Dharma. And that's when you see there's nothing wrong with all this. There's nothing wrong with being wealthy or healthy or wise. But the whole point of that is to find a meaningful life. Where should that be a surprise? And Thomas Aquinas pointed this out, that all of that, all of civilization really, civilization is primarily for the sake of establishing hedonic well-being, safety, security, happiness, good health. Report an error in the passage at 2:53 Highlight the passage at 2:53

3:17 It's all for the sake of the contemplative life, of finding the meaning of life. And I believe it's true. I believe that's correct. And then the other one I wanted to cite was Augustine. So those are two of the great pillars of the Western Church, even the Eastern Church to some extent, Augustine. And he wrote at length about what he called Amor Dei. Report an error in the passage at 3:17 Highlight the passage at 3:17

3:39 I found this very fascinating. Again, thanks to my graduate training. But Amor Dei, of course, means the love of God. And that's a phrase that I have to admit never made any sense to me as I was raised in a Christian household. I had to go to church every Sunday until I was 18 and escaped. Report an error in the passage at 3:39 Highlight the passage at 3:39

3:57 But the notion of love of God, I just thought that's a mixed bag. I mean, I'm sorry, I can't really buy that. I mean, at most I can feel ambivalence about Him. Because yes, I'm very fortunate, I have loving parents and all of this, and I have a good education, I have many things to be thankful for. At the same time, I had two herding operations when I was a kid, and that really did some damage. Did you really have to give me that? What did I do to deserve that? I was a little kid. And then this bad thing happened, and that bad. Report an error in the passage at 3:57 Highlight the passage at 3:57

4:22 But that's just my life. I miss oh did you really have Was this your best shot? This is as good as you could do? I mean, if you're responsible for everything here, I think you gave the animals a real tough deal. They got no immortal souls, they got nothing to look forward to, and they're all eating each other. And I think I could have done better than that. Make them all vegetarians. Report an error in the passage at 4:22 Highlight the passage at 4:22

4:46 Why do we need carnivores? Why not just a whole bunch of deer? And they all die of natural death and then eaten by ants after they're dead. How much of sickness? Why so many natural calamities? I mean, I have a lot of things to blame you for. So I'm going to put a list here, thank you and no thank you, and I don't really get it. Report an error in the passage at 4:46 Highlight the passage at 4:46

5:05 Oh, love of God, love of God. I just didn't get it. If God's responsible for everything, He's responsible for all the crappy things going on that we're not responsible for. So I didn't get it. And then 20 years later, I'm in graduate school at Stanford, and I'm reading Thomas, that is Augustine. And he said, the love of God is not that. Report an error in the passage at 5:05 Highlight the passage at 5:05

5:25 There's a blow for that, thankfulness, gratitude, certainly. But he said the love of God is the passionate yearning to know God. That's what the love of God is. The passionate yearning to know God. Report an error in the passage at 5:25 Highlight the passage at 5:25

5:37 Now that I, even though I'm not a theist in the Christian sense, that I can understand. Why a Christian contemplative might sacrifice everything in the pursuit of knowing God, seeing the face of God. That's how he described it. He described coming face to face with God. Because Augustine was in fact an accomplished contemplative himself. Report an error in the passage at 5:37 Highlight the passage at 5:37

5:55 And he said that's the summit, that's the culmination of the contemplative life. Face to face with God, and he described God as not seeing an old man, some silly caricature, but rather coming face to face with a changeless light. That's how he characterized God, the changeless light. And that's the summit of contemplative inquiry, which he said can be begun in this lifetime, but come to its culmination only in the next lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 5:55 Highlight the passage at 5:55

6:21 So there's a Christian view. But what I'm getting at here is an addendum to that. And he described the whole of the spiritual life. So what does it mean to be a dedicated Christian or devoting oneself to the spiritual life? And he said the spiritual life is all a matter of the prioritization of one's desires. Report an error in the passage at 6:21 Highlight the passage at 6:21

6:39 That really resonated with me. The prioritization of your desires. So if you're a Christian, what is your highest desire? There's a hierarchy here, absolutely. And we all have them. That's inescapable. We all desire some things more than others. There we go. He said, but if you're a devoted Christian, utterly devoted to following the way of Jesus, what's your highest desire? Well, that's the amor de, that's the love of God. Report an error in the passage at 6:39 Highlight the passage at 6:39

7:04 Your highest desire should be to know God. And then you can stack everything down. And so I've often commented, and maybe I should stop, but when I look at my hierarchy desires, then I'm looking way down at the bottom, and I really mean this, it's kind of like way at the bottom, I like dark chocolate more than milk chocolate. Report an error in the passage at 7:04 Highlight the passage at 7:04

7:21 And then I've gotten tons of dark chocolate ever since I've made that comment. This is not to keep that machine in motion. But it is simply to point out a trivial desire. Because I like milk chocolate, nothing wrong with it. I just kind of like dark chocolate a bit better. But if I don't have a bar of chocolate the rest of my life, I'm really not going to miss it. There's lots of good sweets. Report an error in the passage at 7:21 Highlight the passage at 7:21

7:41 And so there it is. So I'm just pointing out theirs on the bottom. And then if we go to Buddhism, let's say Mahāyāna Buddhism. So what's the pinnacle of all desires? Anybody? Mayana Buddhism, there's only one right answer. What's the desire of all desires? What's the pinnacle of all desires? Any guesses? Report an error in the passage at 7:41 Highlight the passage at 7:41

8:00 TL? Nothing comes to mind, okay? Somebody does come to mind. Just one, because I can't hear many people at the same time. Yes, please. Report an error in the passage at 8:00 Highlight the passage at 8:00

8:13 That's really good. Sure, not wrong. Yes, please. And I've seen him so many times. Please remind me of your name. Right back here. I'll get right to you, Fran. But you're very familiar to me, just not your name. Don, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 8:13 Highlight the passage at 8:13

8:31 Compassion as in sense of alleviating suffering of all sentient beings? The cessation of suffering. Yes, that would definitely be not wrong, for sure. Anybody else? Mahāyāna Buddhism, highest ideal, the desire of all desires. Yes, please. Rhonda first and then Fran, because Fran had her hand up. Go ahead, Rhonda. Report an error in the passage at 8:31 Highlight the passage at 8:31

8:54 Yeah, that's a really good one. Bodhicitta. Bodhicitta. Fran? Report an error in the passage at 8:54 Highlight the passage at 8:54

9:01 Yeah, really. All of these are right. They're a package deal. If we want to put it really simply, I think it's a pretty safe answer. Bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 9:01 Highlight the passage at 9:01

9:09 The aspiration is all of the above, everything everybody said. It is, it's not my opinion, it's really right there. It is this aspiration to achieve perfect enlightenment, whatever that may be, even obviously we can't fully imagine it, but we can get some idea, we can know the right direction, and that would be the direction would be free of all mental afflictions, free of all evil, free of all obscurations of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 9:09 Highlight the passage at 9:09

9:30 And whatever the fulfillment may be of wisdom, of compassion, A creative ability to serve the needs of others, that wherever that maxes out, wherever that becomes just boundless, that's it. That's perfect awakening. And not simply for the sake of one's own well-being, but to enable us to be of greatest possible benefit to all sentient beings. And then to echo Shantideva's marvelous prayer. Report an error in the passage at 9:30 Highlight the passage at 9:30

9:54 For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, so long may I remain to alleviate the suffering of the world. By first achieving enlightenment, and then... From that vantage point. So there it is. That's the right answer. It's really not kind of debatable and there was no real differences here, just putting that all into one composite. Report an error in the passage at 9:54 Highlight the passage at 9:54

10:15 But there it is. So in the Christian ideal, there it is. I think he spoke very, very well. It's the desire to know God. In the Mahāyāna ideal, it's not simply the pursuit of one's own liberation, which is a very noble pursuit, but it is highest awakening for the sake of all such beings. And then we see, now this is straight Buddhism, but I do a parallel. Report an error in the passage at 10:15 Highlight the passage at 10:15

10:35 Because I think these are meaningful parallels. Now coming right back to Mahāyāna Buddhism, when one establishes that as the North Star, the point of reference, that's my highest ideal. Then everything else falls in place. So for myself, I aspire for that to be my highest aspiration, do my best. But many, many, many, many, all the way down, down to the most trivial, yeah, dark chocolate, thumbs up. Report an error in the passage at 10:35 Highlight the passage at 10:35

11:01 Everything is in between. And Augustine, I think, said very wisely, That the spiritual life is all a matter of getting your priorities straight. The most meaningful. And I'm not suggesting there's one right answer, like, okay, we're better than the Christians. I'm not suggesting that at all. In the Christian, that would be the highest ideal, at least for many people. Mahāyāna Buddhism is a high ideal. Theravāda Buddhism is going to be a somewhat different ideal, but still a noble one. Report an error in the passage at 11:01 Highlight the passage at 11:01

11:27 But that prioritization of desires, well, this has everything to do with feelings. What will give us the greatest sense of well-being? And so the Buddha himself addressed this in a way that is, On the one hand, quintessentially Buddhist, on the other hand, so familiar. This is now, straight from the, I give you the source, so you can check out. I want you to see, I want it to be perfectly evident that at all times I'm in dialogue with the Buddhist tradition and with the Buddhist teachings themselves. Report an error in the passage at 11:27 Highlight the passage at 11:27

11:54 And here we go right back to the Majjama Nikaya on page 10. And the Pāli Canon, the foundational teachings of the Buddha. And this is a paraphrase, but it's a very close one. You can see for yourself. All of these are well translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi especially. Wonderful translations. So the theme there was find out what really constitutes true happiness and based on this understanding, pursue it. Report an error in the passage at 11:54 Highlight the passage at 11:54

12:18 What truly makes you happy brings a sense of satisfaction, of fulfillment, of meaning, of contentment. It's dynamic. None of us are looking for some static sense of complacency. That's clearly not the ideal. But find out what truly makes you happy and then pursue that. So, ever heard the phrase, follow your bliss? Joseph Campbell? Modern, because he's not a trivial man. Report an error in the passage at 12:18 Highlight the passage at 12:18

12:45 He wasn't suggesting find what kind of flavor of ice cream you like and then just pig out on it forever. That would be follow your hedonic bliss. But no wise people ever say that. Einstein, as I quoted a couple of nights ago in the lecture, Einstein said, morally speaking, the pursuit of happiness is the ambition of a pig. Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

13:06 If by happiness you mean hedonic pleasure, well, you're right. I mean, there's really no difference. Pigs like pleasure. We like pleasure. And so if that's all you're going for is hedonic and it's food, okay, piggy. But if it's also how much money can I make in the stock market, okay, smart piggy. But it's still a piggy, you know. Or you want fame or you want notoriety, you want power, okay, piggy, piggy, piggy. Report an error in the passage at 13:06 Highlight the passage at 13:06

13:27 It's just more pig. Smart pig as opposed to a dumb pig, but it's still a pig, you know. Or one of my favorite little quotes from Lily Tomlin. Remember her? Still alive, I think. You know the phrase? The problem about winning the rat race is even if you win, you're still a rat. Report an error in the passage at 13:27 Highlight the passage at 13:27

13:46 So it's pig, pig, pig or rat, rat, rat. But there it is. The pursuit of hedonic pleasure as an end in itself is pretty empty. And the people who know that best are the ones who have won the most. Or they've simply so ensnared their minds in the illusion of happiness that they don't recognize how much they're actually experiencing. Report an error in the passage at 13:46 Highlight the passage at 13:46

14:04 The perceptive ones do. And some of them like, oh, I'll mention, sure, why not? Angelina Jolie, her husband, they won the lottery, right? They're beautiful, they're rich, they're wealthy, they're influential. And they're using their celebrity status for very good things. I really admire that. Good. They're not just party, party, party. Report an error in the passage at 14:04 Highlight the passage at 14:04

14:21 I think they've already done that. And they're using that celebrity. Congratulations. Well done. Thank you. And they're not the only ones. I just mentioned two. Or Gwyneth Paltrow, another one who won, won the samsaric lottery. Report an error in the passage at 14:21 Highlight the passage at 14:21

14:34 A quote from the great sage, Linda Paltrow. She said, if all you have is wealth, beauty and fame, you don't have much. And I think she should know. I wouldn't, because I don't have the fame and I don't have beauty or the wealth. So then I would just have to know by imagination. But she actually won the samsaric lottery. And if she says it, then I think we should take her in authority. Report an error in the passage at 14:34 Highlight the passage at 14:34

14:55 So the prioritization, and this is what the Buddha is getting at here, and that is find what is genuine, genuine happiness, a sense of true well-being. Pick up the fragrance of it. See what it's like and then pursue that. And all of the hedonic, as Thomas Aquinas said, as Augustine implied, all of the rest is all in the support of that. Report an error in the passage at 14:55 Highlight the passage at 14:55

15:17 As we attend to the needs of others, if they're hungry, you give them food, not a meditation lesson. If they're thirsty, if they have no shelter, if they have no clothing, if they're lonely. Shantideva's verse is in the second chapter or so. It says, For those who are lonely may I be the companion, for those seeking to cross the river may I be the bridge. Report an error in the passage at 15:17 Highlight the passage at 15:17

15:35 Ah, it's breathtaking. It really is a masterpiece of poetry and never really adequately translated. My wife and I did our best, but the sheer beauty of the Sanskrit and the Tibetan for that matter, it's hard to translate. But there he's going right to that level and that is meet people where their needs are, what they're wishing for right now. And as long as it's wholesome, nothing wrong with it, then meet them there and let them have enough to eat and have enough education and have medical care, have shelter, food, clothing. Report an error in the passage at 15:35 Highlight the passage at 15:35

16:05 And all of that. Let them have enough. Help them have enough. And there, in terms of scientific studies of happiness, a marvelous book called The High Price of Materialism. Excellent book. Summarizing a lot of research. High Price of Materialism. I recommend it. He looks at this geopolitically, that is, across different cultures and societies, and he finds that when people are impoverished, they don't have enough food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and we'd have to say in the 21st century, education. Report an error in the passage at 16:05 Highlight the passage at 16:05

16:33 You've got to have some education. The basic requisite is to be able to flourish hedonically. When people don't have enough, that's their highest priority. They're just trying to survive. They're trying to make it through and take care of their children. And that's what they care about most. And if they don't have it, they're anxious, they're unhappy, they're ill at ease. It's hard to be happy. When you're hungry, you don't have enough shelter, you can't take care of your children, you can't get an education for yourself and your children. Report an error in the passage at 16:33 Highlight the passage at 16:33

17:02 It's hard to be happy. You have a lot to be unhappy about. But then you get to the point, those fortunate ones, where you do have enough. You're no longer worrying. Your children are taken care of. You've met the requisition. You're not really worrying. You're not anxious about, well, how about tomorrow and the next day? You've gotten to some point of some reasonable, relatively speaking, some security. So good. Report an error in the passage at 17:02 Highlight the passage at 17:02

17:23 And now that suffering from not having that is alleviated. You're kind of breathing a sigh of relief. And now what? Now you've come to the fork in the road. The fork in the road is right there. You have enough. You have enough for yourself, maybe your parents, if they're dependent on you, your children, they're dependent until they're no longer dependent, you come to a fork in the road. And what I find remarkable about the human species, I know one of them quite well, is that we wish to be happy, but that's what we share with all sentry beings, we wish to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 17:23 Highlight the passage at 17:23

17:55 But what I find remarkable about us human beings is that we not only wish to be happy, but we wish to be happier. And I had pets when I was growing up, we had dogs. Report an error in the passage at 17:55 Highlight the passage at 17:55

18:07 My dogs would get happy and then they would go to sleep. They play for a while and then they're happy to just take a sleep or eat something. But I didn't see any evidence they wanted to be happier from year to year to year. Report an error in the passage at 18:07 Highlight the passage at 18:07

18:20 Pretty much a bit of play, occasional sex, food on a regular basis, goofing around. And they're pretty happy. Seem pretty satisfied. I had very contented dogs. Whereas I know from first person, this person I've been watching pretty closely for some decades now. I don't know. I don't really want to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 18:20 Highlight the passage at 18:20

18:41 I want to be happier. But then we can ask, okay, what do you mean by that? Do you just want more of the same? Do you want, I have a car? Report an error in the passage at 18:41 Highlight the passage at 18:41

18:51 Two cars? Or maybe a later motor car, a more expensive car? More doodads on the car? What's your vision? What's your vision? If you want to be happier, what's your vision? And for those with what I call imagination deficit disorder, when we think of happier, we just think more of the same. I got one wife, how about a mistress? How about two? Can I find a country where that's legal? Report an error in the passage at 18:51 Highlight the passage at 18:51

19:16 I've got two cars, but how about three? I've got a good car, but how about a better car? I've got one house, how about two? Maybe I can get an extreme makeover. I can look younger and sharper and different hair color. That could do it. That could make me happier. And we just think more of the same. More and more and more until you get up to like Carlos Slim with 60, 80 billion. Report an error in the passage at 19:16 Highlight the passage at 19:16

19:35 A lot more of the same. And I saw him on television. He looks less happier than I am. He kind of looked really heavy. And I've known some really wealthy people. Bumped into him occasionally. None of them strike me as being, man, I'm ten billion dollars worth happy. Not one. They kind of think, man, you look a bit tired. One man is managing the portfolios, tens of billions of dollars of other people's money, and he's making a lot of his own. Report an error in the passage at 19:35 Highlight the passage at 19:35

20:03 He didn't even enjoy a meal. I had a meal with him. He couldn't even get through the meal. He had to break right through the meal, go to his smartphone and dialing in the main office and taking care of portfolios. Man, I couldn't even enjoy a meal. I could. I'm not looking after anybody's portfolios. Which is good for everybody, by the way. Everybody can thank me. It's one of my offerings to the world, not attending to anybody's portfolios. Report an error in the passage at 20:03 Highlight the passage at 20:03

20:31 So it's a fork in the road. And that is the, I mentioned this high price of materialism. And that is you get up to the breaking point where you're breaking even, you're really doing okay, you really feel some security there. And you're happy, happy, happy until you get to that point. And then if you have two times as much, ten times as much, a thousand times as much, Your wealth is going up, wealth, power, fame perhaps, and your happiness is just disengaged. The two lions have just, they're parting company. There is nothing of that sort, parallel. Report an error in the passage at 20:31 Highlight the passage at 20:31

21:01 I think it almost never happens. So then we can get smart. That's research other people have done. And it's well known, there's no mystery here. But here we are, we want to be happier. Right? Unless we simply lose all hope, in which case we settle. And people ask you, how are you doing? You say, I'm getting by. Doing okay, how about you? Report an error in the passage at 21:01 Highlight the passage at 21:01

21:20 Could be worse. Could be worse. Imagination deficits order. We want to be happier, but we've given up hope on it. That happens a lot. So we go back to the daily grind, just get old and then die. But if we keep the vision, then it's a vision either more of the same, which then depletes the planet and leads to human destruction, because you just can't have 7 billion people wanting that and have it work out well. Report an error in the passage at 21:20 Highlight the passage at 21:20

21:46 Everybody, China, India, they can't emulate the United States. If they do, we're all doomed. They can't emulate Western Europe. They can't emulate Australia. Because if they're all consuming as much as we are, we're screwed. There's just not enough. There's just not enough to go around. The population is getting larger too. So that's one scenario that's not going to turn out well. Everybody emulate the great, you know, the great 1950s dream. Report an error in the passage at 21:46 Highlight the passage at 21:46

22:09 More and more and more of the same. And let's just tap, tap, tap more of the external resources of the world until it's all empty. And then, whoops, why didn't somebody tell me? So there's one avenue, more of the same. And of course it's going to give rise. I mean we don't have to be a prophet to recognize this is just going to give rise to more and more conflict. It's going to be about water, it's going to be about oil, it's going to be about energy, natural resources, copper, gold, aluminum, everything else. Report an error in the passage at 22:09 Highlight the passage at 22:09

22:34 It gets less and less and everybody wants more and more of less and less. Is that going to turn out well? So that's one avenue. So we can predict that one. That's called a Greek tragedy. That's not going to turn out well. And the other one is you have enough? Great. There actually is enough on this planet for 7 billion people if we're satisfied with more or less enough without these wild extremes of inconceivable wealth where 3 % of the American public owns 95 % of the wealth. Report an error in the passage at 22:34 Highlight the passage at 22:34

23:06 That's rather recent actually. Doesn't look good. And the other one is you get enough so you're content and then you follow Aquinas. You follow the Buddhist tradition. You follow Augustine. Say, good, I'm happy to have enough. And now let's use this as a platform to lead a more and more meaningful life by way of ethics, benevolence, generosity, nonviolence, treating each other with courtesy and with respect and empathy. Report an error in the passage at 23:06 Highlight the passage at 23:06

23:33 A lot of satisfaction in that. It doesn't cost anything. And then a meditation doesn't cost much at all. I calculated to support a yogi in full-time practice, full-time support, living as a yogi, simple food, as opposed to supporting, let's say, a graduate student in neuroscience, Good thing to do? About four times as much, four or five times as much to support the graduate student in science than a yogi. And that's a yogi in a nice hut. Report an error in the passage at 23:33 Highlight the passage at 23:33

23:59 Not living in a cave, a nice hut with good organic food, you know, kind of a luxury yogi. And so it's a good cheap date. Report an error in the passage at 23:59 Highlight the passage at 23:59

24:09 Support yogis. Thumbs up on supporting yogis. It's a good investment. Tibetans knew that. That's why after their culture had been decimated. The first thing they were putting up, and I saw this happen, when I went to Tibet for the first time in 1992 with my wife, we went to one region in eastern Tibet, a place called Amdo, Amdo Naba, Naba, it's called Abba in Chinese. Report an error in the passage at 24:09 Highlight the passage at 24:09

24:32 We visited there, I was just, I was blown away, I wanted to just move there, except it was under Chinese communism. But it was incredible. We moved there, we visited there, visited several monasteries, spoke at length with some of the monks there. We were there in 1992, in 1980, There was nothing there spiritually. It was a desert. It was a barren wasteland. Everything was destroyed. Because you couldn't practice Dharma in the public. You could go to prison. Twelve years later, from 1980, it became legal to publicly practice Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 24:32 Highlight the passage at 24:32

24:59 You could say Omanipemahum without going to jail. Very nice when that happens. Twelve years later, in this valley, this region, it wasn't very high, maybe only 3,000 meters or so, maybe 2,500 meters. Really rich barley, really good soil, good crops. In that large valley, It had no monasteries in 1980, in 1992. Okay, now let's run them off. There was Segomba, that had 800 monks. Report an error in the passage at 24:59 Highlight the passage at 24:59

25:25 Just down the road was Kiti Monastery, 2,000 monks. Just down the road from there was Gomang Monastery, a branch of Gomang, that had 500 monks. Across the river was Sakya Monastery, that had 500 monks. And then just down the road over there was Amjok Rinpoche, his monastery, that had 500 monks. Amjyot Senyuk Gurn it was called of Amjyot Rinpoche Report an error in the passage at 25:25 Highlight the passage at 25:25

25:46 And all of them were well supported, full of monks, full of meditators. And that's within one large valley. 800, 500, 500, 500. You look out, I mean it just filled me with so much happiness. I bow up on the hilltop and look out and I see all these monks. It was like red poppies in a field. And that's in 12 years. How did that happen? Report an error in the passage at 25:46 Highlight the passage at 25:46

26:07 Government grants, some great big fat dude come in and just start writing checks? Nope. Hardly any government subsidy at all. Although there was a tiny bit. It was remarkable. No big fat dude with a big checkbook. It was the farmers in that region that were so happy to have their freedom back that many of them were giving 50 % of their revenue to rebuilding the monasteries and supporting the monks and nuns in them. Report an error in the passage at 26:07 Highlight the passage at 26:07

26:33 50%. And why? Because they knew that was the best investment for them and their children, their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren and so on. Because it was an investment in genuine happiness. And that's what they prized above all. And that's recent. Not the only place. When the Tibetan refugees came down to Dharamsala, the first thing they put up was their temple. They had almost nothing. Almost all of them were flat broke. The first thing that go up, that yellow temple there, really ordinary, but that yellow temple, that's the first thing they built. Report an error in the passage at 26:33 Highlight the passage at 26:33

27:02 First of all, highest, your Dharma. That's what everything else is for. And then they built up everything around that, their core, their nucleus. So this is what the Buddha was getting at. He said, find what truly makes you happy and pursue that. And you'll find what truly makes you happy is leading a blameless life, a benevolent, altruistic, non-violent, ethical way of life. And then if you have the gumption, you have the drive and the vision, you might go into samādhi and start cultivating your mind from within. Report an error in the passage at 27:02 Highlight the passage at 27:02

27:27 And if you have a foundation for that, you may actually go for liberation and find the greatest possible joy. What Augustine, coming back to him, called the truth-given joy, the highest of all joys, the joy of knowing reality as it is. And for him, that was knowing God. Report an error in the passage at 27:27 Highlight the passage at 27:27

27:44 Final point, we're running out of time, but we'll have time this evening for discussion. This is very rich and immensely meaningful material, from my perspective anyway. Let's come back to the theme that I've mentioned before, and that is, for each of the four applications of mindfulness, the Buddha said, attend, closely observe, internally, externally, internally and externally. Report an error in the passage at 27:44 Highlight the passage at 27:44

28:05 Well, that's important for all four, but I don't know if there's any of them for which it's more important. I don't think so. Then attending internally, externally, internally and externally to feelings. Feelings. To observe, to be very present with, to truly understand and experience fully one's own raw basic feelings. Report an error in the passage at 28:05 Highlight the passage at 28:05

28:27 This is happiness. This is unhappiness. And this is neutrality. And the distinguishing by way of one's own immediate experience, your own discerning intelligence within happiness, this is hedonic pleasure. It's stimulus driven, take away the stimulus, you're left flat, you're left right where you were. Here's genuine happiness, that's a keeper. Nobody can take that away from you because nobody gave it to you. Report an error in the passage at 28:27 Highlight the passage at 28:27

28:52 So I've got both of those, they're both of value, but ones of greater value. And here's genuine unhappiness and here's hedonically driven unhappiness. The stimulus taken away, you're no longer hedonically unhappy. Genuine unhappiness, you've got to get to the roots of that. That's not anybody else's fault. Here's neutrality, okay, fertile ground, that's where the genuine happiness comes up from. Report an error in the passage at 28:52 Highlight the passage at 28:52

29:13 And so really understanding by closely attending to factors of origination, dissolution, how are they present, what are the true wellsprings of happiness? I love the phrase, like an artesian well, artesian well, where you see the water coming right out of the earth. That's a wellspring, right? And I'm using that, I think it's a very strong analogy, in the sense that I know some land where I've done a lot of retreat and this beautiful sparkling water comes right out of the granite. Report an error in the passage at 29:13 Highlight the passage at 29:13

29:43 And it's always pure, it's always cool, and it's just delicious. It's just great water out there in the desert in California. And the thing about that artesian well is whenever you go to it, there's water. If you stay there for 12 hours, you get water all the time. The more you drink, the more you drink. I mean, it's just water. You found a true source of water. Not ultimately, but for all practical purposes, that's a source of water. Report an error in the passage at 29:43 Highlight the passage at 29:43

30:05 And you know it because whenever you go there, you get water. And for as long as you stay, you get water. And it's never different. It's just water all the time, because that's where it's coming from. And so that's a source of water, relatively speaking, right? So now we can ask this. I think it's one of the juiciest questions in the contemplative scientific study of feelings. Is there such a thing as an artesian well of happiness? Report an error in the passage at 30:05 Highlight the passage at 30:05

30:29 Is there anywhere you can go, as if you're looking for water in the desert, that it's not just maybe here and then it's not there anymore, but you go to it and it's just always water. And the longer you stay, you just get more and more water. Is there anything you can attend to? Is there anywhere in your whole field of your experience where you say, I go there and wherever I go there I find happiness and for as long as I stay I find happiness. Report an error in the passage at 30:29 Highlight the passage at 30:29

30:52 That's an artesian well. That would be a true source of happiness. Not simply a catalyst because all kinds of things can catalyze happiness. Right? Make you happy today but not tomorrow. Make you happy for five minutes but not for ten minutes. That's a catalyst. That's not a source. Report an error in the passage at 30:52 Highlight the passage at 30:52

31:08 So is there such a thing as a source of happiness, a true source, a wellspring of genuine happiness, of pleasure? And so that's one to linger on. Report an error in the passage at 31:08 Highlight the passage at 31:08

31:21 It's very easy to think in the flesh of a romance, yes, I found her. Because whenever I think of her, I'm happy. Whenever I see her, my heart lights up. As long as I stay with her, I'm happy every single moment. I'm always sad to part from her. I love her touch. I love the sound of her voice. I love the smell of her perfume. Report an error in the passage at 31:21 Highlight the passage at 31:21

31:41 And so forth. She just makes me happy. Isn't that romantic? Because it doesn't last. All I have to do is get married and you find that out. Report an error in the passage at 31:41 Highlight the passage at 31:41

31:51 It's not that the spouse is bad. It's just that it's not a wellspring of happiness. They have bad moods. They're people. And moreover, there's no other person who is actually handcrafted to make us happy. You know, like God said, oh, there's Alan. Let's find a little happy machine for Alan out there. Okay, let's make her in the form of a woman. Okay, woman, I've just wound you up. Make him happy. Report an error in the passage at 31:51 Highlight the passage at 31:51

32:09 And stand back. It doesn't happen. God can't do it, didn't do it, karma didn't do it. Nobody's created to make somebody else happy. Here's your little happy machine to plug into this person and make you happy every single time. It looks like it when we're infatuated. Like I have a friend who, a successful doctor, what he really wanted was a $300,000 Porsche. Report an error in the passage at 32:09 Highlight the passage at 32:09

32:32 He thought that would make him happy. So he has no house. He lives with his parents. But he got a Porsche. Report an error in the passage at 32:32 Highlight the passage at 32:32

32:43 And he took me for a drive in his portion. It's a nice car. But whether he feels happy every time he gets in it, I don't know, maybe. But I doubt it. For the first six months, probably. Six months, give it some time. And after a while, the paint isn't quite what it was. The seats are a little bit worn. Report an error in the passage at 32:43 Highlight the passage at 32:43

33:01 Maybe somebody, you know, fender bender, somebody put a dent in it. Somebody keyed it. It needs some repair. And oh, crap. And by the way, the insurance is out of this world. Paying those insurance bills, that can get you down. Report an error in the passage at 33:01 Highlight the passage at 33:01

33:14 Whenever we find an object of attachment, it has the little neon sign, the advertisement, this will make you happy. This is a real source. This person, this place, live here. Move to Phuket. Get this car. Get this, get this, get this. The advertisement is, this is it. This is a real source. Just watch the advertising. Or this is the drug. Report an error in the passage at 33:14 Highlight the passage at 33:14

33:33 This is the one. This is the one. Ecstasy, cocaine, marijuana or some legal drug. This is going to be, this is it. This is going to make you happy. Report an error in the passage at 33:33 Highlight the passage at 33:33

33:42 But is it all fraud? Is it all? deceit, all misleading and if it is, it doesn't mean that we have no luck that it's just hopeless, there's nothing we're just all in a lottery we're all in the luck of the draw Report an error in the passage at 33:42 Highlight the passage at 33:42

33:56 wishing for the best, getting lucky but not getting lucky? Or is there actually source of happiness? Can we find it? Can Report an error in the passage at 33:56 Highlight the passage at 33:56

34:08 that's what dharma is for. answer is yes. Buddha Shakyamuni didn't make everybody happy. He made one person incredibly jealous, so much so that he tried to kill him multiple times. Report an error in the passage at 34:08 Highlight the passage at 34:08

34:21 That's not happy. You don't try to kill somebody because they make you so happy. Try to kill them because it pisses you off that they have the fame, the renown, and you don't. That was his cousin, Devadatta. Other people just responded to him with indifference. Like the first person he met after he rose from his seat of enlightenment. Cool story, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 34:21 Highlight the passage at 34:21

34:40 On his way to Benares to meet his five disciples, he turned the wheel of Dharma, meets another wandering ascetic. Shantideva sees there's something very special about him, asks him, who's your teacher? What have you discovered? Looks like you've found something special? And the Buddha said, yeah, I'm perfectly enlightened. I have unimpeded awareness. Report an error in the passage at 34:40 Highlight the passage at 34:40

34:55 I am a conqueror. I've gained victorious over all mental afflictions. And the guy said, whatever you say. And walked away. Report an error in the passage at 34:55 Highlight the passage at 34:55

35:05 His name was Upaka. The first guy that Buddha met after his enlightenment. He said, whatever, dude. And walked away. Not much impact, you know. So he couldn't make him happy. Because he had another teacher. And he was devoted to his other teacher. And the Buddha just said, I'm the only one. At this point, I'm the only one who is a true conqueror, a victorious one, a Buddha. And this guy's thinking, uh-uh, my teacher. Report an error in the passage at 35:05 Highlight the passage at 35:05

35:28 Eventually became disillusioned with his teacher, got married, had a kid, and then thought about the Buddha, circled around, sought out the Buddha, became his follower and became an Arhat. Report an error in the passage at 35:28 Highlight the passage at 35:28

35:42 Whatever goes around comes around, eh? So there it is. But is there, it's a really cool question, isn't it? Is there anything that is truly a source of happiness? And not just putting microelectrodes into your left prefrontal cortex and going, you know. That might do it, but I think even that might wear off. Report an error in the passage at 35:42 Highlight the passage at 35:42

36:01 I mean, that's supposed to be the pleasure center, right? Left prefrontal cortex, Ask Richard Davidson, strongly correlated with pleasurable affect. And the microelectrodes, they can really turn you on. I kind of wonder. Number one, I don't want them to do it. I'm not interested. But I just kind of wonder. Just keep that electrode there. And then find out for yourself, is that true source of happiness? Report an error in the passage at 36:01 Highlight the passage at 36:01

36:23 Or after a while, are you going to say, would somebody shut this goddamn thing off? Driving me crazy. Report an error in the passage at 36:23 Highlight the passage at 36:23

36:33 Remember there was that movie, Altered States, wasn't it? Same story, right? They could just turn on that pleasure, that pleasure, and they kept it on. They went crazy, right? I think they went pretty bonkers. So we know ways that don't work. They said that Edison tried out 700 ways of trying to create an electric light bulb and it didn't work. Report an error in the passage at 36:33 Highlight the passage at 36:33

36:55 And he said, I've learned from each one how not to make a light bulb. And then, of course, he succeeded. One more invention. So we know many ways that don't work of trying to find in the great mystery of life what's a true source of happiness, a true wellspring, an artesian well. We know many things that don't work. One marriage, two marriages, one car, two cars, one job, two jobs, living here, living there. This type of appearance, that kind of appearance. Not, not, not, not, not. Report an error in the passage at 36:55 Highlight the passage at 36:55

37:24 Is there any yes? And when you've tried out everything else, then what remains standing as a possibility is Dharma. Dharma is generic. Again, I'm not just plugging Buddhism. Buddhism is a wonderful form of Dharma. Not the only one in town. So that's genuine happiness. The Buddha said, find it. Find what brings you genuine happiness. Report an error in the passage at 37:24 Highlight the passage at 37:24

37:43 Trace it to its source. And you'll find not only pleasure, you'll find meaning. You'll find knowledge. You'll find virtue. And that's the real deal. Where it's virtue, it's truth, and it's genuine happiness. And it's all bound up into one. That's the promise of Dharma. That's what it's all about. And everything else is in the service of that. In a world that's got its head screwed on correctly, everything else is in the service of that. Report an error in the passage at 37:43 Highlight the passage at 37:43

38:09 So I think it's really the highest science, the greatest science there has ever been. And nobody has a monopoly on it. Well, that's all. So, final point, because our time is running out. The point that Peter raised a couple of days ago, it's so fascinating. Again, we just cracked the door open in this one day. Report an error in the passage at 38:09 Highlight the passage at 38:09

38:29 It's one day for feelings. Tomorrow we move on. It's a taste of the town. But this fascinating theme that comes up so prominently and unavoidably in quantum mechanics, and that is whatever you measure, this is just universally true, in the field of quantum mechanics, Report an error in the passage at 38:29 Highlight the passage at 38:29

38:47 where you're observing, measuring very minute phenomena, individual photons, electrons, protons, quarks, neutrinos, you've gone down to the fundamental constituents of physical world, the little corpuscles of energy called photons of matter, elementary particles, down to quarks. Report an error in the passage at 38:47 Highlight the passage at 38:47

39:06 Whatever you measure, and it's always the case, no exceptions, whatever you measure by the sheer act of measuring on that level, the sheer act of measuring always alters influences that which you're measuring. You cannot make a measurement without influencing that which you measure. Very good reasons for it, it's quite transparent. But that doesn't... Report an error in the passage at 39:06 Highlight the passage at 39:06

39:27 But that means there's always going to be a subjective impulse, a subjective element. This isn't truly objective. If you can't observe it without influencing it, then it's not really an objective observation because you're always observing something in interaction with your system of measurement. So there's always going to be a subjective element there. That's true. It's also the most successful branch of physics. So although that's true, there's always a subjective element in the sense that your measurement system is always influencing that which you're measuring. Report an error in the passage at 39:27 Highlight the passage at 39:27

39:57 That didn't prevent that from being the most successful branch of all of physics. It was incredible, including my wristwatch and this and this and this and this. Quantum mechanics is all over the world now. You can hardly turn on the engine in your car without tapping into one of the applications of quantum mechanics. Maybe GPS for starters. And so there is fabulously successful, tremendous derivative benefits in technology. Report an error in the passage at 39:57 Highlight the passage at 39:57

40:22 But the inescapable fact is every time you make a quantum measurement, you're altering that which you're measuring. And so here's where the observer participancy is. It's not purely objective and never can be, but still a fabulously successful branch of modern science. Now we are once again in a system. You have a quantum system that you're measuring, but you move it as soon as you measure it. So what you're observing is always arising relative to your system measurement. Report an error in the passage at 40:22 Highlight the passage at 40:22

40:48 It's a fascinating theme, and it's inescapable, and it was recognized more than about a century ago, that what you're observing is never nature in itself. That is, it is absolutely out there in and of itself. What you're observing is always nature as exposed to your method of inquiry. That's Werner Heisenberg. Pretty much a direct quote. Report an error in the passage at 40:48 Highlight the passage at 40:48

41:07 And now we are here seeking to observe the mind. But now not the mind as one great big monolithic chunk of something. We've already looked at it. And that is we're seeing thoughts, we're seeing images, emotions, desires, it's a whole plethora, it's a zoo of all kinds of phenomena. But a central point ever so helpful here is that, for example, as I gaze over at Report an error in the passage at 41:07 Highlight the passage at 41:07

41:29 Alistair? Alistair. As I gaze at Alistair, I can't see all of his body. In fact, no one ever sees all of his body. I mean, we're talking about liver and there's a lot of stuff in there nobody's probably ever going to see. And your clothes, so a lot of your body can't see because you're clothed. But I look at your face and I recognize your face is distinct, it's unique, nobody else looks like you. Report an error in the passage at 41:29 Highlight the passage at 41:29

41:50 And so if I look at Alistair and I recognize, yeah, that's Alistair. Have I seen Alistair? Have I seen Alistair's body? And if you say no, Then you'd have to imply nobody's ever seen Alistair's body. If by seeing Alistair's body you have to see all of it, well nobody ever sees, you've never seen all of your body, you've never seen bone marrow in your leg, that's part of your body, you'll probably never see it, hopefully not. Report an error in the passage at 41:50 Highlight the passage at 41:50

42:17 So a lot of your body parts you never want to see, but Alistair has seen his body, he can see it from a very unique perspective, but the point here is a very simple one. And that is, as I go for Alistair and I see his face, I can say yes. Have you seen Alistair? Have you seen Alistair's body? Sure, it's right there. I've seen it. Seeing his face is enough. Report an error in the passage at 42:17 Highlight the passage at 42:17

42:40 Seeing his face is enough. I've seen a distinctive part of his body. And even though I've not seen the whole body, nobody does. But have you seen Alistair? Can you recognize him in a room? Yes, I can. How? By looking at his body. When did you see his body? I just saw his face. But you haven't seen his back. Doesn't matter. Report an error in the passage at 42:40 Highlight the passage at 42:40

42:56 I've seen enough. It's representative. And that's just true. Nobody's right mind says you can't see Alistair. You can't see Alistair's body because you can't see all of it. That's absurd. Then nobody would ever see anything. I mean, really, we'd all be blind to everything because who can ever see, I've seen all of X. When did that ever happen? I don't think ever does. We're always seeing some portion of X. Report an error in the passage at 42:56 Highlight the passage at 42:56

43:20 So similarly, When John Searle makes this absurd claim, a very smart guy making absurd claims, the mind can't observe the mind, you can never spect intro, introspection doesn't exist because the mind is one thing and the mind can't observe the mind, a blade can't cut the blade, and so forth. The mind can't observe the mind because the act of observation requires a subject and an object and the mind is one thing. What bullshit, I'm sorry. But really, this is a smart man making really stupid statements. Report an error in the passage at 43:20 Highlight the passage at 43:20

43:46 This is like saying, I can't see Alistair because I can't see all of Alistair. Seeing a thought is sufficient. You've seen your mind. You've seen the thought. It's not all of your mind, but nobody who's ever seen all of your mind. Who wants to? Report an error in the passage at 43:46 Highlight the passage at 43:46

44:02 Observe an image. Okay. You're seeing the face. You're seeing an image. Observe a memory. Observe a desire, an emotion, a feeling. Observe a dream. Right? That's enough. And your mind has many faces, just like there are many body parts. See his elbow. You've seen his elbow? Okay. Yeah, I saw him. I saw his elbow. See his hands. Report an error in the passage at 44:02 Highlight the passage at 44:02

44:22 See a part is enough. You don't need to see all of them. And so likewise you're observing the mind. Observe a part is sufficient. You can say, I've been observing my mind. What did you see? I was looking at thoughts and ruminations and I saw some images come up. Good, good. Let's see what you see next time. Maybe next time it's going to be emotion that's highlighted. Report an error in the passage at 44:22 Highlight the passage at 44:22

44:42 Maybe it's fantasy, desire, what have you. And so there it is likewise with observing emotions. Time is out. Observer participancy. It's a fascinating area, rich with research, waiting to happen again from multiple disciplines and perspectives. But observing what happens when you observe an emotion. Report an error in the passage at 44:42 Highlight the passage at 44:42

45:05 I would say you can, but when you observe an emotion, I'll just leave you with some working hypotheses that you may entertain and explore. When you observe an emotion, it's always retrospective. It's an emotion that was just there before you looked. You're seeing its contrail. It's just there. But by the time you're seeing it, you're seeing the one that was just there. Report an error in the passage at 45:05 Highlight the passage at 45:05

45:29 And especially in the case of emotions and desires, these subjective impulses, the sheer act of observing them very clearly has an impact on what you're observing. Report an error in the passage at 45:29 Highlight the passage at 45:29

45:41 Watch it. Observer participancy. Many, many insights can be gleaned through the direct observation and mental events. And perhaps in all of them, you're going to bump into observer participancy. The sheer act of observing them is already modifying them. But that doesn't discount the validity of the observations, because if it does, you've just thrown out all the quantum mechanics. Report an error in the passage at 45:41 Highlight the passage at 45:41

46:04 We shouldn't do that. Bad idea. It's too successful to be thrown out. So, that was the taste of the town. You have the rest of the day. Watch emotions, feelings, pleasure, pain and indifference. It should keep you busy. Tomorrow we're moving on. Remember the movie, it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium. The old timers, the gray haired ones. It's, what is this, Saturday, eh? Sunday. Sunday, it must be feelings. Report an error in the passage at 46:04 Highlight the passage at 46:04

46:33 Monday, next stop, mind. Bring your seatbelts tomorrow. It's going to be a wild ride. See you tonight. Report an error in the passage at 46:33 Highlight the passage at 46:33