Glen Svensson: Gelug Tradition of Mahamudra (part 2)

0:20 In the middle of page 1 we see that the first part is what's called the preliminaries. In other words, what is the foundation that we need to develop in order to effectively practice this Mahamudra practice of Shanta Vipassanā, looking at the mind? What is the foundation that we need to develop? So if we look at the first paragraph, the first sentence in fact, it says, In order to have a doorway for entering into the Dharma and a central pillar for the Mahāyāna, sincerely go for refuge and generate bodhicitta, without these being merely words from your mouth. Report an error in the passage at 0:20 Highlight the passage at 0:20

1:04 So here's a couple of very important points in that sentence. It says, in order to have a doorway for entering into the Dharma, we can talk about ways for entering into various levels of Report an error in the passage at 1:04 Highlight the passage at 1:04

1:33 practice. First it says the Dharma, entering into the Dharma. Now the Dharma, the word Dharma can have many meanings. Here of course Dharma refers to the teachings and the realizations of the instructions of the Buddha, the actual teachings plus then having internalized those having come to realize that that is the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33

1:58 So if we want to enter into that, enter into following these instructions and... Implementing these instructions, internalizing them, then we need to have, as it says here, we need to go for refuge. So the door of entry into the Dharma, the Buddhist spiritual path, of course, is refuge. Report an error in the passage at 1:58 Highlight the passage at 1:58

2:35 Buddhist terms, what is our object or objects of refuge? What are we taking refuge in? It Report an error in the passage at 2:35 Highlight the passage at 2:35

2:51 says go for refuge. Go for refuge to what? The three jewels. Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha. The three jewels of refuge. So the analogy often given for the three jewels is if we're sick, if we think we're sick, what do we turn to for refuge? What do we normally first do? If we think we're sick, let's go and see a doctor. So why do we go to the doctor? Report an error in the passage at 2:51 Highlight the passage at 2:51

3:24 Because we believe that the doctor is qualified in diagnosing our problem and then providing a cure. Likewise here, Overcoming our problems and sufferings in general, we go for refuge to the Buddha. The Buddha is like the doctor because we believe that the Buddha is someone qualified because they've achieved complete health themselves and that they're going to be able to help diagnose our problem and then provide us an effective cure for our problems and disturbing emotions and sufferings. Report an error in the passage at 3:24 Highlight the passage at 3:24

3:57 But of course when we go to the doctor, the actual thing that's the actual refuge for our physical illness, Report an error in the passage at 3:57 Highlight the passage at 3:57

4:08 So the actual refuge is not the doctor. The doctor is the guide, the one who's helping us. But the actual refuge, of course, is the medicine. That's the thing that's going to directly overcome our suffering, our illness. Likewise, the second of the three deals is the Dharma. The Dharma is the actual refuge here. And of course, Dharma, again, like the medicine, the doctor... Report an error in the passage at 4:08 Highlight the passage at 4:08

4:36 us a little prescription and we go to the chemist or something and we pick up the medicine. But if we have the medicine in our hand, that going to directly overcome our illness? we've sort of got that medicine there? No. fact, if we just leave it in our hand or What we need to do is to swallow it. Likewise, the Dharma is two levels. Report an error in the passage at 4:36 Highlight the passage at 4:36

5:06 The Dharma of Realisation is like the medicine in the hand. And then the Realisation. So Dharma is scripture and Realisation. So the scripture is like the script or the actual medicine in our hand. The Dharma of Realisation is like swallowing the medicine. So we have to internalise the medicine. We have to internalise the Buddhist teaching. Report an error in the passage at 5:06 Highlight the passage at 5:06

5:29 So it's actually the Dharma of Realisation which is the actual refuge for our suffering. But sometimes of course we need to spend some time in hospital to recover and so forth. And of course there the nurses help us in our recovery. Likewise the Saṅgha in the three drills is like the nurses. The Saṅgha is the spiritual community around us who helps support us in our spiritual practice. Report an error in the passage at 5:29 Highlight the passage at 5:29

5:57 So these are the things we need to turn for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha. But also we can talk about, so that's in general. If we want to turn towards the Buddhist spiritual path, we need to go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma, Shantideva. That's the door of entry into Dharma in general. But then of course within the Buddhist spiritual path, we can talk about certain levels of practice and certain spiritual paths that we follow. Report an error in the passage at 5:57 Highlight the passage at 5:57

6:31 And the first one is Report an error in the passage at 6:31 Highlight the passage at 6:31

6:43 Theravāda system of practice. This, of course, is something that can get us to the goal of Nirvāṇa. What is the door of entry into the Theravāda path? What is the thing that gets us into the Theravāda path of entry? Again, here we're talking about the path to Nirvāṇa, the path to escape from saṃsāra. So what's the thing we need to develop to enter into that path? Report an error in the passage at 6:43 Highlight the passage at 6:43

7:38 Chasing after sense pleasures and all that sort of stuff. If we're looking for happiness out there, we're not going to enter into the path to go beyond. We have to turn our mind inward. We have to let go of those eight worldly concerns, let go of craving all these things. We have to look inside of ourselves. But then, of course, we can strive not only to break free of saṃsāra, but we can strive for the further goal of enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 7:38 Highlight the passage at 7:38

8:07 Which of course is the Mahāyāna Report an error in the passage at 8:07 Highlight the passage at 8:07

8:14 path to enlightenment, what's the door of entry? And that's what it's mentioned here says, in order to enter into the Dharma and a central pillar for Mahāyāna, go for refuge and generate bodhicitta. So again here also the door of entry into Mahāyāna is this bodhicitta. All Report an error in the passage at 8:14 Highlight the passage at 8:14

8:40 we can say is that bodhicitta builds on renunciation. Because renunciation is really for ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 8:40 Highlight the passage at 8:40

8:52 Whereas bodhicitta is effectively compassion. The motivation for everyone is that here we're wanting to liberate ourselves from suffering. Here the motivation is not only to liberate ourselves but to help liberate everyone else from suffering. So bodhicitta of course builds on top of renunciation. Then the fourth door of entry is what's called the Vajrayana. Report an error in the passage at 8:52 Highlight the passage at 8:52

9:21 Vajrayana is another word for tantra. So how do we enter into the Vajrayana or tantra path? What is the door of entry that we have to go through to effectively enter into tantric path? What do we need to do first usually? To enter into tantric practice, into the tantric path. What's the first thing we need to do? Exactly. An initiation or an empowerment. Report an error in the passage at 9:21 Highlight the passage at 9:21

9:56 If we want to really enter into the Vajrayana path, we need to have initiation or empowerment where the teacher would introduce us to the practice and empower us to actually effectively engage in that. Tantra practice. So here I've talked about sort of building on top of each other. So here we've talked about three vehicles of Theravāda, Mahāyāna, Vajrayana. Report an error in the passage at 9:56 Highlight the passage at 9:56

10:22 But particularly in this Galuk school, which is what we're following here, generally we only talk about two vehicles, the Theravāda or Himyana and the Mahāyāna. And within Mahāyāna we talk about two levels of practice, as in here. It's Sūtra and Tantra level of practice. But that is the same as Hinayana. So what you're going to find particularly in the other Tibetan skills, Kagyu and Nyingma especially, they talk about three vehicles. Report an error in the passage at 10:22 Highlight the passage at 10:22

10:58 The Hinayana or Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Vajrayana. And so they split off Tantra and make it a separate vehicle. So you can talk about three vehicles. But of course Mahāyāna and Vajrayana have the same goal of enlightenment. Whereas in this school, they don't split off Tantra. They say that within Mahāyāna, there's two levels of practice, what's called Sūtra and Tantra. Report an error in the passage at 10:58 Highlight the passage at 10:58

11:27 So, it's just a different way of dividing. You can either talk about two vehicles, Theravāda and Mahāyāna, and within Mahāyāna, two levels of practice, Sūtra and Tantra, or you can talk about Tantra as being actually a separate vehicle and call it Vajrayana. But it's the same thing, it's just a different way of dividing, nothing different. That's just to be aware of because sometimes it's a bit confusing. Because in the Guluk school, really we talk about two vehicles, Hinayana or Theravāda and Mahāyāna. Report an error in the passage at 11:27 Highlight the passage at 11:27

11:58 Mahāyāna, two levels of practice, Sūtra and Tantra. But in other schools, they sort of split Tantra off from Mahāyāna and they call it Vaitriyama. So we can talk about three vehicles, but it's just a different way of dividing. There's no difference. Report an error in the passage at 11:58 Highlight the passage at 11:58

12:18 These are the doors of entry into the various levels of practice. Now of course Mahamudra practice in the Mahāyāna, we're talking about striving for enlightenment. So we can talk about these two levels of practice, the Asutra and Tantra. And so of course the entry point into Mahāyāna is bodhicitta. Hence we see here to enter into the Dharma and the central pillar. Report an error in the passage at 12:18 Highlight the passage at 12:18

12:45 So we can also talk about entering into Mahāyāna. We have to do refuge and bodhicitta. These are the two doors of entry. But of course also here, not only does it say that refuge is the door of entry into the Dharma in general and bodhicitta is the entry point to Mahāyāna, it says that bodhicitta is the central pillar for the Mahāyāna. Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

13:12 Oh, by the way, does everyone know what the word bodhicitta means? Or do I need to explain that? Or just very briefly anyway. Bodhi means enlightenment. Chitta means mind. Report an error in the passage at 13:12 Highlight the passage at 13:12

13:29 So bodhi is enlightenment. Chitta is mind. So literally it's the mind of enlightenment. It's the mind which is striving for enlightenment. Why? In order to help liberate everyone from saṃsāra. So the definition of the word bodhicitta is it's an aspiration for enlightenment in order... To benefit others or for the welfare of others. And what we look at, what does it mean to benefit others or the welfare of others? It means so that we can effectively help liberate everyone else from sansara as well. Report an error in the passage at 13:29 Highlight the passage at 13:29

14:03 So that's bodhicitta. So in bodhicitta there's two aspirations. There's the aspiration for enlightenment and the aspiration to liberate everyone from sansara. That's bodhicitta. Now, here though, It says that it's also the central pillar for the Mahāyāna. So here we need to understand that not only do we need to develop this bodhicitta to try and enter into the path, and of course bodhicitta is based on renunciation, Report an error in the passage at 14:03 Highlight the passage at 14:03

14:42 not only do we need to develop that to enter into it, but that is the central support of all of our practice, not just in Mahamudra but in all the Mahāyāna. In all of our, if we're following a Theravāda practice, then the central support of our practice is renunciation. In the Mahāyāna, it's bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 14:42 Highlight the passage at 14:42

15:07 So here, of course, in Mahamudra, we're talking about the nature of the mind. We are focusing a lot on the Vipassanā practice, the wisdom practice. But what we need to not forget is that that needs to be done in the context Or with the support of, the central support of bodhicitta. And often people forget this. Often people, not just in Mahamudra practice, also not just in Mahāyāna, but often people forget the support, this compassion. Report an error in the passage at 15:07 Highlight the passage at 15:07

15:45 Because renunciation is effectively compassion for ourselves. And so... In any spiritual practice, whether it's Mahamudra, Mahāyāna, Theravāda, even if we're not Buddhists, I think in any spiritual practice, even if we're not spiritual and we just want to have a meaningful life, I think we need to focus on these two aspects. Report an error in the passage at 15:45 Highlight the passage at 15:45

16:07 In general, the two aspects of wisdom and compassion. In fact, we talk about the two aspects of practice in Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 16:07 Highlight the passage at 16:07

16:40 There's method and Report an error in the passage at 16:40 Highlight the passage at 16:40

16:44 there's wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 16:44 Highlight the passage at 16:44

16:54 Activities that we're engaging in. And of course the underlying motivation for all of those activities, Report an error in the passage at 16:54 Highlight the passage at 16:54

17:06 so sometimes upāya, rather than being translated as method, to emphasise that compassionate motivation, sometimes this other aspect is called simply compassion. Report an error in the passage at 17:06 Highlight the passage at 17:06

17:24 Upāya means method, but underlying all of our methods, our activities, is the motivation of compassion. And so often the analogy given is that Just like a bird needs two wings to fly to a certain destination, likewise in our spiritual practice, if we want to progress to a certain goal, we need these two wings of compassion and wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 17:24 Highlight the passage at 17:24

17:51 And so that's really what the Panchen Lama is emphasizing a little bit here, is that the central pillar for the Mahāyāna, the central support is bodhicitta or simply just... Report an error in the passage at 17:51 Highlight the passage at 17:51

18:07 So even though here we're going to talk about the main practice of Vipassanā or wisdom, we need to not forget that. Unfortunately, often people in many different spiritual practices and paths sort of tend to gravitate towards one or two of these, one of these only, and tend to neglect the other one. Report an error in the passage at 18:07 Highlight the passage at 18:07

18:31 Particularly, I think men tend to gravitate a lot to the wisdom and sort of forget about the compassion. And sometimes women, it's a little bit the opposite there. I think women generally are more compassionate by nature and so often gravitate strongly to that but neglect the wisdom side of it a bit. Report an error in the passage at 18:31 Highlight the passage at 18:31

18:49 If we do that, we leave ourselves open to potentially some difficulties in our spiritual practice. And actually it's a little bit like a bird trying to fly with one wing and the other one sort of doesn't work really. Difficult. Report an error in the passage at 18:49 Highlight the passage at 18:49

19:06 Example, you know you get a lot of people really emphasising the passionist wisdom practice, neglect the compassion practice and what happens there is often people become very self-absorbed, they become very disconnected from the world, they become very insensitive to sufferings of others and even sometimes in extreme cases because they believe that they're some high level. Report an error in the passage at 19:06 Highlight the passage at 19:06

19:34 And of course disastrous results. Likewise though if we just practice compassion and we don't put effort into wisdom, We can also have a lot of difficulties. And we see that quite a lot in the world actually. Of course one thing is that if we're trying to be compassionate without wisdom, our compassion can be a little bit biased. Report an error in the passage at 19:34 Highlight the passage at 19:34

20:20 You know, I'm going to help these people because they deserve help. These people? No way. In fact, I hope they suffer because they're doing some harmful things. So actually I want them to suffer because they're nasty people. We don't help nasty people. So this can happen. We become very biased in our compassion. But of course without wisdom, even with a very good intention, if we don't know how to help people, we can end up trying to help but not knowing what to do. Report an error in the passage at 20:20 Highlight the passage at 20:20

20:50 We can end up creating a lot more harm than help. So sometimes we lack the skillful methods because we don't know what we're doing. But of course also with compassion without wisdom, It can become a big ego trip. Look at me, how wonderful a person I am. I'm helping all these people here. You need to praise me. You need to look at me in a good way because I'm wonderful. In fact, I'm better than you. You're not helping people. So you should be like me and be a really nice, really wonderful person. Report an error in the passage at 20:50 Highlight the passage at 20:50

21:28 So what can happen is it can become a big ego trip. Report an error in the passage at 21:28 Highlight the passage at 21:28

21:34 he Here what we're talking about with wisdom practice is we're trying to smash ignorance, or in other words we're trying to transcend the ego. So if we neglect that, then our spiritual... What happens of course is that our ego, you know, wisdom will kill the ego, this idea of a solid independent me. And so of course the ego doesn't want to die, so what happens is the ego sort of hijacks our spiritual practice. Report an error in the passage at 21:34 Highlight the passage at 21:34

22:04 And then we become a spiritual ego. And so this can pollute our practice. But also, more tragically I think, is if we just focus on compassion and don't focus on wisdom, then what can happen is, and we see this unfortunately quite a lot, is we see people who are very compassionate people, who want to go out and heal the world, fix the world. Report an error in the passage at 22:04 Highlight the passage at 22:04

22:31 So they go out and do volunteer work, they go out... To third world countries trying to heal sick people and do a lot of good work. But what happens a lot is if they don't focus on the wisdom is that they go out with a huge motivation, a huge amount of energy and very often within three to six months they burn out. Report an error in the passage at 22:31 Highlight the passage at 22:31

22:57 They have what's called compassion burnout and they give up because it's all too much and they can't fix the world. And this is again compassion without wisdom. The wisdom understanding what they can do to help, what the limits are and the wisdom of knowing when to rest. And so this is important. And also probably most of us have experienced the next one is that we go and try and help people and then they take advantage of us. Report an error in the passage at 22:57 Highlight the passage at 22:57

23:29 Again this is an example of compassion lacking wisdom. That with wisdom we would help people of course but not allow... So we can use wisdom to stop people taking advantage of us. So I think here it's important that we don't forget this where in the text Panchen Lama says that it's the central pillar for the Mahāyāna, that all of these wisdom practices need to be done in the context of compassion or bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 23:29 Highlight the passage at 23:29

24:10 But equally important, probably more so, what says in the same at the end of that sentence, without these being merely words from your mouth. Report an error in the passage at 24:10 Highlight the passage at 24:10

24:22 Often we have some practice or meditation, at the beginning there's this little four line verse that says, I go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha, and by the virtue of practicing generosity and so forth may I achieve enlightenment for the benefit of others. So we sort of parrot off this verse, which is refuge and bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 24:22 Highlight the passage at 24:22

24:41 Without really it affecting us. To avoid that then we need to engage in these other preliminary practices which are a bit mentioned further down the page. So to introduce that maybe we can look at the, not the next paragraph, the one after it where it says in particular. And it says in particular with regard to first meditating on loving kindness, compassion, bodhicitta, renunciation, karma, death and impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 24:41 Highlight the passage at 24:41

25:13 The Supreme Disciple of Highest Yoga Tantra, the Lord of Yogens Milarepa, also gave advice saying, and what he says is, Being very afraid of the eight states of non-leisure I meditated on impermanence and the disadvantages of saṃsāra meticulously followed the principles of karma the law of cause and effect and constantly entrusted myself to the three jewels of refuge trained my mental continuum in the method of bodhicitta I cut the flow of latency, obscurations and And realized that all appearances are like illusions. Now I am without fear of the three lower realms. So in the second verse there, he talks about these two aspects. Report an error in the passage at 25:13 Highlight the passage at 25:13

25:57 The compassion and the wisdom. So these are the two core practices. But then on the first verse he says, what is the basis for that? And here in these four lines, we see the last line, constantly entrusting myself to the three jewels of refuge. In the previous three lines we see what are the core practices that we need to really work on to have a good foundation for the refuge bodhicitta and the Vipassanā practice on top of that. Report an error in the passage at 25:57 Highlight the passage at 25:57

26:31 And of course all of these are mentioned in all of the traditions and they're packaged a little bit differently within different traditions. Within the Kagyu tradition, which again Mahamudra is the main practice, These four practices are packaged in a very nice way, so I'll like to present them from that presentation. Report an error in the passage at 26:31 Highlight the passage at 26:31

27:15 So here, these four practices that are the basis so Report an error in the passage at 27:15 Highlight the passage at 27:15

27:26 that we can sincerely go for refuge, generate bodhicitta, without them being merely words from our mouth. In Report an error in the passage at 27:26 Highlight the passage at 27:26

27:48 Kagu tradition, these are packaged and they're usually called something like the four thoughts that turn the mind. That turn the mind... Towards Dharma, that turn the mind towards developing this mind of renunciation, towards the mind of refuge, away from behaviour, Report an error in the passage at 27:48 Highlight the passage at 27:48

28:14 away from getting caught up in the eight worldly concerns. Report an error in the passage at 28:14 Highlight the passage at 28:14

· · · silence, 1 minute

28:52 Particularly here, I think these two are together very well. And these two, particularly, you know, if we're the sort of person that is trying to do some sort of meditation practice, Trying to really develop some sort of spiritual life but we find ourselves a bit lazy, not really putting much effort into meditation. Report an error in the passage at 28:52 Highlight the passage at 28:52

29:22 And often the excuse is, oh yeah I'd like to meditate but I don't really have time to meditate on too many things in my life, too busy. I'm either too busy or too tired. I don't have any time and energy to meditate. I really want to but, but, but, but, but. There's always a long list of excuses. And usually quite valid in our own mind, is a valid excuse. Most often the reason for this is that, is simply we haven't really appreciated the situation we find ourselves in. Report an error in the passage at 29:22 Highlight the passage at 29:22

29:58 Of course intellectually we may always say, yes, yes I know, I've got a precious human life and it's not going to last forever, blah blah blah. So intellectually we say, yes I know that, so I don't need to meditate on that. I already know that, I've been told that a hundred times. So we don't meditate on it but of course it just remains some little vague intellectual understanding so it doesn't impact us which means that what we do is we fail to really appreciate these points so we waste our life. Report an error in the passage at 29:58 Highlight the passage at 29:58

30:28 We engage in lots of activities that are not very meaningful. Of course in our view they're very meaningful but we haven't really thought about our life. Report an error in the passage at 30:28 Highlight the passage at 30:28

30:40 And so what we really need to do here is to really reflect on these two ideas, is to really internalise our precious human life and death. To really appreciate experientially, not just intellectually, that we've got this precious opportunity and it's not going to last forever. And really if we do this meditation and try and internalise these ideas, what you'll find is going to happen I think. Report an error in the passage at 30:40 Highlight the passage at 30:40

31:08 Is that you're going to start to prioritise your life. You're going to look at your life and you're going to say, yes, let's have a look at my life. What is really meaningful in my life? What do I want to really get out of my life? And then what you're going to find is that some of the activities that you're now putting a lot of time and energy into, you'll see that these activities are not that useful. Report an error in the passage at 31:08 Highlight the passage at 31:08

31:37 In fact, they're not really bringing us much at all. In fact, they're just really wasting our time. And so we're going to lose interest in doing these things. Of course, I'm not talking about earning enough money to have enough food and a roof over our head. Of course, there are certain activities that are essential. But of course, maybe we don't need to work 60, 70 hours a week to have enough money to eat. Report an error in the passage at 31:37 Highlight the passage at 31:37

32:01 Maybe we're working 60, 70 hours a week so we can earn a few extra dollars. So that we can have some extra little bit of luxury that's not that critical for us. So by reflecting on these two things, I think again what you're going to find is that things that are not really bringing us anything meaningful, we're going to lose interest in it. Report an error in the passage at 32:01 Highlight the passage at 32:01

32:25 And then suddenly our super busy life, there'll be some openings opening up. Some time and then we're going to have some energy to really devote ourselves to something meaningful, to develop ourselves in a meaningful way. So I think these two things again are very important. Report an error in the passage at 32:25 Highlight the passage at 32:25

32:50 Here of course it comes in the context of preliminaries, which again the word preliminary is a little bit unfortunate because maybe we've been in the Buddhist area for some years. And we look at the word preliminary there, oh yeah, yeah, that's for beginners. But I'm not really a beginner anymore because, you know, I've done these things for some years now. Report an error in the passage at 32:50 Highlight the passage at 32:50

33:13 So, you know, that's just for beginners. I've gone beyond that, so give me something more juicy. Give me something really juicy that I can get my teeth into. Those preliminaries, you know, I understand that. I've got teachings on that. I know about those things and I've gone past that. And that's often the attitude we have. Report an error in the passage at 33:13 Highlight the passage at 33:13

33:32 And of course, with this attitude... Report an error in the passage at 33:32 Highlight the passage at 33:32

33:37 Not going to get very far. In fact, on that very point, if we turn over to page 2, we go to the second paragraph where it says, Since, in their treatises on authentic sutras and tantras, every Indian and Tibetan scholar and adept praise those paths highly, do not think they are merely preliminaries, even though they have been explained in the context of the preliminaries, But rather practice them by integrating them into your actual practice. Report an error in the passage at 33:37 Highlight the passage at 33:37

34:14 So again, we shouldn't think that these ideas are something we do as a beginner a little bit and we forget about it. It's something that we need to use as a foundation, a central support of our practice. In fact, in this book here, which is His Holiness' book on this very text, on this very point he says that we should put at least as much effort into these so-called preliminary practices As with the actual practices of shamatanpapashya. So again, we shouldn't trivialise these things because if we do, then we don't have a good support. Report an error in the passage at 34:14 Highlight the passage at 34:14

34:51 We're going to find that we're going to be lazy. We don't have time to do any of these practices and we'll be caught up in all sorts of other activities that are not really so helpful to us. So I think particularly these two first reflections, precious human life and death, Something that we really need to work on, really to internalise and that will start to turn our mind then away from chasing after or doing lots of activities that are not very helpful to us and turn our mind towards a more meaningful way of life. Report an error in the passage at 34:51 Highlight the passage at 34:51

35:28 Because we don't really want to be one of these people that as we're approaching death we look back on our life. And then we have all sorts of regrets about wasting our life. I think we can avoid that if we really internalise these two points and then really, you know, prioritise our life in a good way and really not waste our life on sort of fairly meaningless activities. Report an error in the passage at 35:28 Highlight the passage at 35:28

36:00 The third and fourth preliminary, Report an error in the passage at 36:00 Highlight the passage at 36:00

· · · silence, 1 minute

36:41 so in all spiritual practices, As part of the foundation is we need to have an ethical lifestyle. And so reflecting on karma, cause and effect, we can come to appreciate that if we're doing harmful actions we're going to cause a lot of suffering for ourselves and others and if we want some good condition, some happiness, we need to engage in positive, virtuous actions. Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

37:08 So that reflection can really help us to have that ethical lifestyle. Report an error in the passage at 37:08 Highlight the passage at 37:08

37:17 But then the fourth one is also very important, the unsatisfactory nature of saṃsāra. And again what that means is to reflect on our experiences because now we tend to feel as if the source of our happiness is sort of out there. And so what we try to do of course is we try to attract people, places and things that seem to give us happiness. Report an error in the passage at 37:17 Highlight the passage at 37:17

37:49 Clinging, craving and attachment to various people, to various pleasurable experiences. Because we believe that these pleasurable experiences are the source of our happiness. Report an error in the passage at 37:49 Highlight the passage at 37:49

38:04 Here, this reflection is to help us to appreciate that these pleasurable experiences that we have are simply transient, pleasurable experiences. Report an error in the passage at 38:04 Highlight the passage at 38:04

38:22 And not to grasp at them believing that they're the source of our happiness. Because they are simply transient, they're stimulus based and there's no guarantee that we're going to be happy even if we get that pleasant thing. We could maybe not have a good experience. And of course the craving clinging to these experiences itself creates a lot of suffering for us. Report an error in the passage at 38:22 Highlight the passage at 38:22

38:51 And then at a deeper level, this unsatisfactory nature of saṃsāra of course, is what the Buddha was describing in the first noble truth, the four truths. So what was the first noble truth called? The truth of what? Report an error in the passage at 38:51 Highlight the passage at 38:51

39:10 Suffering. Again, this word can be misleading. The original word in Sanskrit is dukkha. Report an error in the passage at 39:10 Highlight the passage at 39:10

39:24 The Buddha described to describe the unsatisfactory nature of saṃsāra. Again, most often translated as suffering in the four noble truths, the first noble truth. And so then you'll hear... With respect to this fourth point that sometimes you'll hear in Buddhism, oh, according to Buddhism all life is suffering. Whenever I hear that I sort of feel very uncomfortable because generally when we see the word suffering we associate that with pain. Report an error in the passage at 39:24 Highlight the passage at 39:24

39:56 Suffering equals some sort of painful experience. So it sort of seems like Buddhism saying all life is painful. I think that's not what the Buddha was saying here. He said all life is dukkha. Report an error in the passage at 39:56 Highlight the passage at 39:56

40:09 Which is all of our experiences. Of course we have three types of experiences. We have painful experiences, we have pleasant experiences, we have neutral experiences. So then in Jukka we can talk about these three aspects. The first one of course is, yes, sometimes we have painful experiences. That's pretty easy to appreciate. Report an error in the passage at 40:09 Highlight the passage at 40:09

40:29 It's unsatisfactory. It's not rocket science to understand that our painful experiences are not unsatisfactory. A little bit more difficult. Is to understand that our pleasant experiences are unsatisfactory. Because usually we equate pleasant experiences with happiness. But here the Buddha in his explanation of Dukkha was saying, well these pleasant experiences in the nature of change, they're transient, they never last. Report an error in the passage at 40:29 Highlight the passage at 40:29

41:00 Stimulus is gone, experience is gone. And if we grasp at these pleasant experiences, we crave them, we cling to them, that's going to induce a lot of suffering for us. Report an error in the passage at 41:00 Highlight the passage at 41:00

41:12 And of course they're unreliable because we can't just click our fingers and have a pleasant experience. They require some stimulus. If the stimulus is not there, no experience. Hence in this way they're unsatisfactory because at best they can give us some transient, temporary, pleasant experience. At worst they can induce a lot of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 41:12 Highlight the passage at 41:12

41:34 But at the deepest level of understanding Dukkha, he said that underlying all of these experiences is this ignorance. It's fundamental ignorance. As long as we've got that, as long as we misunderstand how we exist and the world around us exists, we're stuck. We're going to have problems and sufferings coming up. And so this is what it means to reflect on the unsatisfactory nature of saṃsāra, is to really appreciate that our pleasant experiences are not, they're simply transient pleasant experiences. Report an error in the passage at 41:34 Highlight the passage at 41:34

42:10 And at a deeper level to appreciate the fact that as long as we have this fundamental ignorance, We're in trouble. There's always a potential for some sort of problem or suffering to arise. So if we really reflect on the fourth one, it's going to help us to turn away, turn the mind, to turn away, well the third one is to turn the mind away from an unethical lifestyle. Report an error in the passage at 42:10 Highlight the passage at 42:10

42:34 The fourth one is going to help turn the mind away from chasing after these eight worldly concerns, chasing after fame and money and pleasure and praise. Hoping that those things are going to make us happy. So chasing after having attachment, clinging to those things. And it's also going to, at the deepest level, understanding that while we have ignorance in our mind, we're stuck, there's always a potential of suffering, it's going to turn our mind away from looking for a source of suffering out there and turn our mind inwards. Report an error in the passage at 42:34 Highlight the passage at 42:34

43:14 Hence, With the fourth one it's going to help us to develop renunciation which is again the basis of bodhicitta. So these four points I think are very important not only as a beginner but at all levels of practice that we really need to put effort in internalizing these ideas not just having some vague intellectual understanding of them. Report an error in the passage at 43:14 Highlight the passage at 43:14

43:41 A vague intellectual understanding of them is not going to... Dramatically turn our mind towards anything. Like example for that, and that comes in actually here, impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 43:41 Highlight the passage at 43:41

43:57 This idea that things are changing from moment to moment, I think since we were this high at school, our teachers and scientists have told us things are changing in every moment. I think science has conclusively proved that. So we know from school and from scientists that everything is in a constant state of flux and change. Report an error in the passage at 43:57 Highlight the passage at 43:57

44:18 At the atomic, subatomic level. So I think we all accept that intellectually, I guess. But does that intellectual understanding of impermanence that's been ground into us for years, is that somehow driving our behaviour, affecting our behaviour, that intellectual understanding? I think not. Because if it did, we would actually never have attachment to anything. Because if we really understood that things are constantly in a stage of... Report an error in the passage at 44:18 Highlight the passage at 44:18

44:52 A state of flux and change. Attachment's got nothing to grab hold of because everything's constantly changing. Attachment holds on to things hoping that it doesn't change. So actually our attachment and craving and clinging to things is completely opposite to impermanence. But if we internalise that intellectual understanding of impermanence in meditation to experientially come to appreciate flux and change... Report an error in the passage at 44:52 Highlight the passage at 44:52

45:23 Our attachment would dramatically decrease, dramatically. We wouldn't be craving and clinging. Does that mean our pleasurable experiences become boring? No. In fact, it means the opposite. It means we would enjoy our pleasant experiences more because now, with our pleasant experiences, we have some craving and clinging to them which agitates the mind, creates frustration, disappointment. Report an error in the passage at 45:23 Highlight the passage at 45:23

45:47 Without that, when we have a pleasant experience... We could actually enjoy it while it was there. And when it finished, we wouldn't be disappointed. And if it didn't eventuate, we wouldn't have any... What's the word I'm trying to think of? We wouldn't have any... We wouldn't be, again, disappointed that it didn't happen. So that's what we really need to do here. Report an error in the passage at 45:47 Highlight the passage at 45:47

46:11 We really need to integrate, as mentioned in the text, we need to integrate this into our daily life. We need to really work on these so that they become something experiential. And not just some vague intellectual understanding. Report an error in the passage at 46:11 Highlight the passage at 46:11

46:28 Then it goes on to say though that in the second paragraph in preliminaries it says in general on page one, in general as a preliminary for giving any profound instructions or engaging in meditation, all the holy beings of the different traditions in Tibet concord in what is called the four guiding instructions, going for refuge and generating bodhicitta, Vajrasattva Meditation, Mandala Offering and Guru Yoga. So here, Report an error in the passage at 46:28 Highlight the passage at 46:28

47:03 before giving any profound instructions, so when it talks about profound instructions here, it's really talking about the highest level of practice, this Tantra or Vajrayana level of practice. So it says as a sort of preliminary for that highest level of practice, we need to have a good foundation. And so the first one here is going for every jinnara and bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 47:03 Highlight the passage at 47:03

47:27 So this, of course, is the foundation for even the sūtra level of Kaseya in the Mahāyāna in general. But then, if we want to, as mentioned over the page, if we look at third paragraph in page two, it says, Moreover, since seeing the ultimate nature of the mind, Is dependent upon having accumulated the collections and purified the obscurations. Recite the hundred syllable mantra of Vajrasattva. Report an error in the passage at 47:27 Highlight the passage at 47:27

48:06 And then a little bit later it says... No, that's it. So what it's saying here is that if we want to... And this applies to all levels of practice as well. If we want to have a solid foundation for any sort of practice, then... As mentioned here on the page, we need to accumulate the collections and purify the obscurations. What that means is that we need to put the mind in a very good state. Report an error in the passage at 48:06 Highlight the passage at 48:06

48:39 We need to purify the obscurations. We need to purify negativities in our mind. So as long as we have a lot of negativities in our mind, that's not going to have our mind in a very good state to do practice. How do we purify negativities in our mind? Then we use what's called the four opponent powers, which is if we've done a negative action, we have some sincere regret. Report an error in the passage at 48:39 Highlight the passage at 48:39

49:10 Then the second opponent power is the power of reliance. To Report an error in the passage at 49:10 Highlight the passage at 49:10

49:36 purify our mind of negativities, then every time we do some negative action, develop some sincere regret for having done that negative action. Then the second step is called reliance. Report an error in the passage at 49:36 Highlight the passage at 49:36

49:56 If we do a harmful negative action, then we've fallen off our foundation. We're trying to follow a good life. And so we need to pick ourselves back up and re-establish the foundation. So here, of course, in the Mahamudra practice, what is our foundation? What is our entry point and our foundation, the central pillar of our practice is refuge and bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 49:56 Highlight the passage at 49:56

50:26 So the reliance here would involve reaffirming our refuge in Buddha Dharma Saṅgha and generating the mind of bodhicitta again to re-establish that firm foundation. Report an error in the passage at 50:26 Highlight the passage at 50:26

50:44 Third opponent power is called remedy. Here we think of some positive action opposite to the negative thing we did. Example, maybe we said something abusive to someone at work. Then, of course, a remedy can be simply go and apologize. So, remedy here is some positive opposite to work against that negative action. Report an error in the passage at 50:44 Highlight the passage at 50:44

51:14 The fourth point is called resolve. Strong Report an error in the passage at 51:14 Highlight the passage at 51:14

51:21 resolution not to do that negative action again. But here again we have to be practical. If the negative thing we do is a strong negative habit that we do many times every day, Not much use here saying we're never going to do it again. It's just not going to happen. So what we need to do is to be practical with the fourth one and pick a time limit that with a little bit of effort we usually can manage. Report an error in the passage at 51:21 Highlight the passage at 51:21

51:49 So if it's something we do many times a day we can simply say okay for the next hour I'm not going to do that thing. And then over time we can extend that time period. One hour to two hours to a day to a week to a month to the rest of our life. So if we do these four opponent powers together for any negative actions that we've done, this is going to help purify, as is mentioned here on page two, it's going to help purify the obscurations. Report an error in the passage at 51:49 Highlight the passage at 51:49

52:19 It's going to help purify negative actions here. Report an error in the passage at 52:19 Highlight the passage at 52:19

52:34 First thing, of course, in step one is we need to know the difference between regret and guilt. If we have guilt instead of regret, we can be very, very stuck. Report an error in the passage at 52:34 Highlight the passage at 52:34

52:50 Because if we've done a harmful action and we feel guilty, what are we focusing on? We're not even focusing on the action. And of course with guilt, bad me, bad me, bad me, it just makes us feel bad, it paralyzes us. And so often people who've done some negative actions and have a lot of guilt, and unfortunately I think the Catholics are the ones who suffer the most from that. Report an error in the passage at 52:50 Highlight the passage at 52:50

53:18 Catholics, I think. Catholics from the upbringing, I really feel sorry for them because the guilt has been inground into their brain. Report an error in the passage at 53:18 Highlight the passage at 53:18

53:30 In fact, when I'm teaching in Dharamsala and I'm talking about this point, what I understand from the Catholics, the worst is the Irish Catholics and also I have in my classes a lot of people from Israel and Jewish and the Polish Jew, a bit like the Irish Catholics on the guilt thing. huh? Report an error in the passage at 53:30 Highlight the passage at 53:30

53:55 If we have that guilt, again, it generally paralyzes us, it makes us feel bad, it makes us feel stuck. Report an error in the passage at 53:55 Highlight the passage at 53:55

54:05 According to Buddhism, guilt, we can get it and throw it out the window. We do not need to feel guilty about anything. In fact, it's just harming us. It just paralyzes us, makes us feel bad. What we need to do instead is have regret. Because if we've done something harmful and we regret, what are we focusing on? Report an error in the passage at 54:05 Highlight the passage at 54:05

54:23 What are we regretting? The action. Therefore, we can look at the action and regret the action and say, okay, what can I do about that action? How can I change that behaviour? What can I do to change that? That's something very positive. So often here, the reason that people get stuck in the first one often is because it's not actually regret, it's guilt that's crucifying them, that's really harming. Report an error in the passage at 54:23 Highlight the passage at 54:23

54:49 So again, if we have any bit of guilt about anything, we can just grab it and just throw it out the window, get rid of it immediately. It's just useless. Unfortunately though, of course, often in our culture it's been ground into us since we were this high. So what we need to do is to, whenever we feel that bad feeling, is instead focus on the action. Report an error in the passage at 54:49 Highlight the passage at 54:49

55:12 Simply focus on the action and say, what can I do about that action? I really regret that action, what can I do about that? As soon as we focus on me, it just paralyzes us. We feel stuck, we feel as if we can't really do anything to change. Because it just paralyzes us, makes us feel bad. So again, just switch and focus to the action. And this is another example for those of you who were here on Thursday. Report an error in the passage at 55:12 Highlight the passage at 55:12

55:38 This is another classic example of this idea we talked about, cognitive fusion. Cognitive fusion is my favourite word. Report an error in the passage at 55:38 Highlight the passage at 55:38

55:54 So Report an error in the passage at 55:54 Highlight the passage at 55:54

56:07 there's two things. We fuse them and make them one. So cognitively, mentally, we fuse two things together. And we do that in many areas of our life and it always creates problems. Here, the thing we do is we fuse ourself with our behaviour. Because there's me and behaviour. Two things. There's me, person, I'm doing this behaviour. Report an error in the passage at 56:07 Highlight the passage at 56:07

56:37 That's not me. It's a behaviour. I'm doing the behaviour. So there's two things here. But what we do, the way we think, is, and unfortunately for Catholics in this regard, It's been promoted to do the fusion. Instead of saying, oh, I'm doing this behaviour, whether it's good or bad, we fuse the person and the behaviour and we say, oh, bad me. Report an error in the passage at 56:37 Highlight the passage at 56:37

57:04 Bad me. You just fused. We've identified with the behaviour. I'm a bad person. I'm a hopeless person. I'm a weak person. I'm an angry person. We fuse with our behaviour and our contents of our mind, with thoughts and emotions. We fuse them together. We identify with them. And of course by identifying here in this context with our behaviour, guilt follows. Because we don't like the bad behaviour. Report an error in the passage at 57:04 Highlight the passage at 57:04

57:35 Rightly we don't like the bad behaviour. That's what regret is. Not liking the bad behaviour, regretting the behaviour. But because then we fuse that behaviour with me and say and think, bad me, and that's of course promoted by often religion and our parents. What does a parent often say if a child does something bad? Report an error in the passage at 57:35 Highlight the passage at 57:35

57:55 Bad boy, bad girl. Cognitive fusion. It's a disaster. Rather, they should be saying to the children, that behaviour is bad. That's harmful. You shouldn't do that bad behaviour. Much better. So here, again, if we do this cognitive fusion, we're going to go down the way of guilt, particularly if we have that cultural background. Report an error in the passage at 57:55 Highlight the passage at 57:55

58:18 So we need to avoid that cognitive fusion and understand there's a me here that's just trying to be happy. But because of my disturbing emotions, I've done that horrible behaviour, that bad behaviour. I really regret that bad behaviour. Let's see what we can do to overcome that bad behaviour. Anyway, on that note, we've run out of time, so let's stop there for some lunch, have a break and then come back. Report an error in the passage at 58:18 Highlight the passage at 58:18