Introduction to Basic Buddhist Thought (3 October 2009, 2a)

0:00 This is three minutes, and mine is like one minute after. Yeah. That's right. That's right. I should probably wait until I hear the upstairs bell before I start coming upstairs. I'm very Zen-like in my precise timing. Not that many Tibetan teachers are on time. It's some Zen holdover from a past life. Very prompt. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:31 Very much on time, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 0:31 Highlight the passage at 0:31

0:37 That's it, yeah, boom. Report an error in the passage at 0:37 Highlight the passage at 0:37

0:41 Actually, Geshe Tecchak at Land of Medicine Buddha would always be like ten minutes early. And then we finally had to get used to, you had to be there a quarter of if the teaching was seven o 'clock. Because then it was so embarrassing, he'd be sitting there just waiting and you'd be coming in later and you'd be frustrated. Report an error in the passage at 0:41 Highlight the passage at 0:41

1:02 Yeah, it was very confusing. It was very un-Tibetan, the way he was so prompt like that. Okay, so let's sit for just a minute and renew our motivation for this afternoon's session. We're first just watching our breath, again for a few minutes settling our minds, Report an error in the passage at 1:02 Highlight the passage at 1:02

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:55 and then again tuning into our motivation. It may be that even since first thing this morning, our motivation may have changed a bit as you've understood more about the nature of suffering and starting to get an understanding of how it's caused. But just tune in again for just a minute. The motivation that brought you to this kitchen. Report an error in the passage at 1:55 Highlight the passage at 1:55

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:56 So just to review a little bit where we've gotten up to. So we started talking about the story of the Buddha, you know, and also... Kind of looking at it as a metaphor for our own life, you know, in a sense of kind of having this incredibly privileged life. And then you just see that even that's not enough. Report an error in the passage at 2:56 Highlight the passage at 2:56

3:16 There's still problems that we're subject to no matter how much you have. The good life, still there are these problems. And then looking at the first... Oops, is it not on? Oh, Report an error in the passage at 3:16 Highlight the passage at 3:16

3:33 are you channeling him for this too? Report an error in the passage at 3:33 Highlight the passage at 3:33

3:40 Wow, Chad, an emanation body already. How do you do it? I need another one. Hey, can I have her when you're done? I could use one myself. Okay, Report an error in the passage at 3:40 Highlight the passage at 3:40

3:57 so just to review, you know, talking about the Buddha's life and then, whoops, is it? okay. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 3:57 Highlight the passage at 3:57

4:03 So, and that's it. The green light's on, that looks promising, this is on, okay. And then looking at the first teaching that the Buddha gave. And again, not because that's the order in which our suffering arises. Obviously the cause arises first and then the suffering follows. But in order to be motivated, to put the time into understanding things, we need to kind of realize what our situation is. So then we talked about two different lists. Report an error in the passage at 4:03 Highlight the passage at 4:03

4:11 that's all right. Report an error in the passage at 4:11 Highlight the passage at 4:11

4:37 And I think, again, that list of six, the second list we talked about, I think we can all relate to that. And again, this word that we translate often is suffering, which is more dissatisfaction, the out of kilter wheel thing. You know, think about that grocery cart and how many of us have had that experience in our life that we just try and get it steering in a certain direction. It seems so clear, the path is clear, and it just won't go quite the way we want it. Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

5:06 That's what the Buddha said about our experience. I'm really into language. I remember when I learned the etymology of that word dukkha, it made a lot of sense. There's also a meaning of it, of constricted space. Sometimes I think of it like this, like we just have such a narrow idea of what happiness is. Report an error in the passage at 5:06 Highlight the passage at 5:06

5:28 We have this little box. And we're trying to kind of shove reality into this tiny little box. Like it's so much bigger than that. And we have this tiny little constricted idea. And if reality somehow doesn't squeeze into that little box that we've created by our concepts, we're miserable. And then how much is your box the same as somebody else's box? Report an error in the passage at 5:28 Highlight the passage at 5:28

5:50 That little constricted space. You have an idea of happiness. Then you're in, what if you're in a relationship and there's not even much overlap? The other person's idea is way over here. So there's a word that's the opposite of dukkha and that's sukha, often translated as bliss. And what it means literally is wide open space. So it's this beautiful idea of open space, this open mind accepting everything, not having this constricted type idea of what reality should be like, what our life should be like. Report an error in the passage at 5:50 Highlight the passage at 5:50

6:26 So the difference between dukkha and sukha, you know, dukkha, constricted space, sukha meaning wide open space. And it's really beautiful to think like that, like that's what happiness is, just letting go of all of those tight, narrow ideas of what we need. And usually our vision is so limited, you know, then you start hearing about what a Buddha is, what an enlightened being is. It makes our idea of happiness seem completely ridiculous, you know, when you hear about these qualities. Report an error in the passage at 6:26 Highlight the passage at 6:26

6:56 of an enlightened being and it changes all of your concepts. So that being our condition said the Buddha and then there's a cause for that and that's this relationship here. Ignorance again being ignorance of both the ultimate nature of reality. We think that things exist in exactly the way they appear to us and yet they exist in a completely different way. Report an error in the passage at 6:56 Highlight the passage at 6:56

7:22 That's a long story. We'll touch on it a little bit tomorrow. If you want the whole story, come. We'll give an advertisement here. Two weeks later, we'll do the Heart Sūtra, which is all about the ultimate nature of reality. So go into it in a lot more depth, but we'll touch on it tomorrow. And then also ignorance of the law of cause and effect, which we'll talk about a lot today and tomorrow morning. Report an error in the passage at 7:22 Highlight the passage at 7:22

7:47 Exactly how... Cause and effect operates. Cause misunderstanding that, misknowing that, what happens? You do all kinds of things hoping that it'll bring you happiness and it's just the cause of suffering. Which is mostly where we've been since beginning of this time. You know, now we're like that turtle that stuck its nose through the golden ring. Finally, after all these times coming up for air every hundred years and we finally scored, you know. Report an error in the passage at 7:47 Highlight the passage at 7:47

8:15 The nose went through the golden ring. So like really understanding then cause and effect so we can create the right causes for the results that we want. The reason for understanding karma is to use it in our favor. Understand how it works so we can create the causes for the kind of reality that we want. Report an error in the passage at 8:15 Highlight the passage at 8:15

8:35 So afflictive emotions we started talking about. And we said that those are any thought that disturb your peace of mind. And just thinking of these as thoughts, in a way, is quite liberating. Because like any other thought, it can change. You can retrain your thinking. And this is a lot of what we do with Buddhist practice, is dealing with this level right here, these afflictive emotions. Report an error in the passage at 8:35 Highlight the passage at 8:35

9:00 So, I told you that there was this list of 26. And then we talk about the three primary... Afflictive emotions are the three poisons, is a word we often use, being ignorance, attachment and aversion. Those are the three poisons. And so what do you think the definition of attachment would be? What do you think? Report an error in the passage at 9:00 Highlight the passage at 9:00

9:24 Michael, why don't you guess? Because you're the one that brought it up in the first place. Report an error in the passage at 9:24 Highlight the passage at 9:24

9:34 For myself, I'd say... In a negative way is holding on to something so drastically that it starts to have a negative impact on your life in one way or another. For me it can manifest fear and just all those different really harsh uncomfortable emotions that it takes away from the pleasure of the thing. Report an error in the passage at 9:34 Highlight the passage at 9:34

9:56 And it kind of makes it secondary, which is kind of beside the point. Right, right. So it's got this aspect of clinging, clutching onto something. Holding on too hard. And where does the ignorance come in, do you think? How come ignorance is the first step? Where does ignorance kind of, you know, feed into attachment or give rise to attachment? Report an error in the passage at 9:56 Highlight the passage at 9:56

10:18 Anna's nodding her head. Why don't you? That's the danger of giving that positive visual feedback. go. Report an error in the passage at 10:18 Highlight the passage at 10:18

10:27 I think it's because we believe that the object of attachment, one, exists inherently from its own sign and that that is what brings us that happiness. So that's why we have this attachment to the object. Perfect. And that's exactly the way the ignorance feeds in. And the actual definition for attachment is... Report an error in the passage at 10:27 Highlight the passage at 10:27

10:54 Exaggerating the positive qualities of an object, thinking that by possessing that object you'll have lasting happiness. So it starts with that misperception, it starts with that ignorance, because we're not seeing the object truly, we're exaggerating the positive qualities, which just presumes you're ignoring the negative qualities. Report an error in the passage at 10:54 Highlight the passage at 10:54

11:14 The positive qualities are looming so large that they completely overshadow the negative qualities. And then you think, If only I could have that object, then I'll live happily ever after. Okay, so it's got that ignorance in there, it's got the grasping, that attachment that Michael mentioned in there, and then lasting happiness as a result. Report an error in the passage at 11:14 Highlight the passage at 11:14

11:37 Has anybody ever fallen in love? What's going on, right? Especially, I think, for me, this is like, well, especially the first two weeks. Six months, that's my six-month thing. That's as long as that delusion can last. I remember one time totally falling in love with this guy and then I take him to this party so that all my friends can meet him. Report an error in the passage at 11:37 Highlight the passage at 11:37

12:04 And I'm just kind of like, this is the one. My friends are like, nice to meet you. And then the next day, you're trying to get your friend's reaction because of course they have to see how completely supreme this guy is. And you're like, yeah honey, he's great. Glad you're happy. How about, do you want to go to the movies at seven and have the pizza after or go to the later show now? And I'm like, no, no, but like, isn't he amazing? Report an error in the passage at 12:04 Highlight the passage at 12:04

12:32 They're like, yeah, we're so happy. Let's go to the movie first. And you're just like, all your friends are blind and stupid and they don't get it. And what are you doing? Like, you're completely exaggerating. And then what happens? You move in together and a couple of months later, you're like, you're not the person I fell in love with. Report an error in the passage at 12:32 Highlight the passage at 12:32

12:52 Sure he was. You're just suddenly seeing the other parts too, right? That exaggeration can only last too long. And then he leaves the toilet seat up in the middle of the night and like you can't stand him anymore and you hate the way he chews, you know? And that's happening six months down the line and you break up. So that's the function of attachment to exaggerate those positive qualities. Report an error in the passage at 12:52 Highlight the passage at 12:52

13:14 You will do anything to get together with that person or whatever the other object is. And that it always leads to suffering because you believe it and then you're disillusioned. And then I think if it's love can survive attachment, it's seeing both the positive and the negative and still really appreciating the person and caring for the person and wanting them to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 13:14 Highlight the passage at 13:14

13:39 I think then if the relationship lasts, then love has come in to replace the attachment and not exaggeration. Because sometimes there's this rumor. This Dharma rumor that Buddhists aren't supposed to like anything, right? And we're also supposed to be stoic and detached and kind of... His Holiness the Dalai Lama was talking about this last week in Long Beach. He was teaching there and he had got some question about this, about attachment. Report an error in the passage at 13:39 Highlight the passage at 13:39

14:06 And he goes, it's not like you're supposed to sit there like a stone. And then he made this great face. He's like, no, it's not like that. Like, it's okay to like things. But it's a misunderstanding. Which relates to Michelle's question about happiness. Is it okay for a Buddhist to like things? Sure. Just don't exaggerate the object. Report an error in the passage at 14:06 Highlight the passage at 14:06

14:29 Don't think that you won't be able to live without having that object and that that's the source of your happiness. I really like chocolate. I can't stand licorice. I'm a Buddhist nun. That's okay. It's really alright, but I don't think either the chocolate or the licorice is the cause of my suffering or happiness. It's just a preference. It's a realistic preference. Report an error in the passage at 14:29 Highlight the passage at 14:29

14:53 So any of you who are going to give me boxes of licorice after the class, just exchange them for dove bars, please. So it's alright. We can like things, but it's just that misunderstanding of... The nature of that object, that's going to give me happiness, it is the way it appears to me, just like the boyfriend is, the first two weeks, perfect, prince charming, exactly like that. Report an error in the passage at 14:53 Highlight the passage at 14:53

15:18 And then you think that if you get that object, you're going to have lasting happiness. And that's the recipe for disappointment. If it worked, I'd say, go for it. You know, knock yourself out. But it doesn't work, the Buddha said no. And often... That attachment leads to negative actions. What kind of actions do we do trying to get those things that we think will make us happy? And then aversion, exactly the opposite. Report an error in the passage at 15:18 Highlight the passage at 15:18

15:46 Who can guess the definition of aversion? Very similar but opposite dynamic. Carla, the microphone is closest to you. Report an error in the passage at 15:46 Highlight the passage at 15:46

15:57 What do you think, aversion? Exaggerated and negative qualities of the object. And then thinking what? More? And then what do we do in relation to that object that we think is horrible from its own side? Report an error in the passage at 15:57 Highlight the passage at 15:57

16:16 I'll give you a hint. Report an error in the passage at 16:16 Highlight the passage at 16:16

16:23 Well, I mean, for example, if it's a person, we start talking bad about that person. We think that by being somehow separated from that object, you're going to have happiness. So it's exactly the same. It's what's going on as attachment. Like we only see the bad qualities. We think that by being separated from that object somehow, then we're going to have lasting happiness. Report an error in the passage at 16:23 Highlight the passage at 16:23

16:46 So that's the definition of aversion. And have any of you ever had one of those bosses that's just such a jerk and you can't believe he's married and he has kids and the kids run in after work, daddy, daddy, and jump in his lap and you're like, ooh, how can anybody even stand to be near this person? Report an error in the passage at 16:46 Highlight the passage at 16:46

17:04 Because in your mind you've completely exaggerated and made this solid, horrible person that exists that way from their own side. There's nothing about your relationship with the person that has anything to do with it. It's just like that. You can't imagine how anybody could want to be around them at all. Report an error in the passage at 17:04 Highlight the passage at 17:04

17:23 And then that list of 26. So we've got ignorance, attachment and aversion. These are the basic ingredients. In the rest of the 26, there's this sort of cookbook that gives you all of the rest of the afflictive emotions, like jealousy, sort of two parts of attachment with one part of aversion and a liberal sprinkling of ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 17:23 Highlight the passage at 17:23

17:46 All the rest of them are like that. Some combination, and actually in the scripture there's recipes, like it shows what combination of the three poisons leads to which... Emotional affliction, which one of these afflictive emotions. So we've got things like pride and jealousy and hypocrisy and pretentiousness, resentment, belligerence, all of these kind of subtle things. Report an error in the passage at 17:46 Highlight the passage at 17:46

18:10 And it's very interesting to study these lists. And I think we can identify when we think again, these are just thoughts that disturb our peace of mind based on ignorance, based on misunderstanding the nature of reality. Report an error in the passage at 18:10 Highlight the passage at 18:10

18:26 So one of the things in terms of dealing with these is just really understanding that that's what's going on. You know, when strong attachment arises, when strong aversion arises towards an object, think, what am I doing to exaggerate? Is it really like that? You know, are things really the way they appear to me or is there some way that I'm misperceiving and exaggerating the qualities of that object? Report an error in the passage at 18:26 Highlight the passage at 18:26

18:51 And so that alone is sometimes enough. To really subdue the emotional affliction. So any questions about those? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 18:51 Highlight the passage at 18:51

19:06 And then these often, not always, but often will lead to karmic actions. Now, there's kind of a misunderstanding about karma. That it means something like fate or destiny. And this is sometimes the way it's used in this sort of new age way. Like you'll be walking down the street in San Francisco with a friend and you'll pass a homeless person and you want to do something to help that person and your friend and go, oh no, it's his karma, there's nothing you can do. Report an error in the passage at 19:06 Highlight the passage at 19:06

19:37 Right? Like it's some kind of fate or destiny. And karma means volitional action, the actual definition of karma. The word karma is a Sanskrit word that just means action. So karma refers to volitional action. Volition meaning... Done with some intention, done with some motivation and some intention. So karma doesn't refer to the result, it refers to the cause. Report an error in the passage at 19:37 Highlight the passage at 19:37

20:05 So that action that's done with some intention and then we say it's like it plants a seed in our consciousness that later on when all the causes and conditions come together will ripen into some kind of a result. So karma refers to the action that you do with... Volition or intention. It doesn't refer to the result. We would say that would be the result of karma. And it certainly doesn't mean fate or some kind of destiny. Report an error in the passage at 20:05 Highlight the passage at 20:05

20:36 Because we say, remember we mentioned before that you're creating karma at this incredible rate. Like we're burning through the old karma and then creating new karma at exactly the same rate. Which is why we can change. You know, which is why there's hope for us. What we're experiencing now is a result of some cause that we created long in the past. Report an error in the passage at 20:36 Highlight the passage at 20:36

21:00 But every moment we're creating new causes for the experiences that we're going to have in the future. And that's why we can change so much even within one lifetime. You know, and according to Buddhism we can actually progress all the way to enlightenment in one lifetime. Because if we create powerful enough causes... Report an error in the passage at 21:00 Highlight the passage at 21:00

21:20 We're constantly creating those causes. We can experience the results even in this life. It's not like it's some kind of fixed fate or destiny that we have. It's a volitional action of body, speech and mind. And we're going to talk about these, the ten non-virtues. We'll talk about this in a second. Report an error in the passage at 21:20 Highlight the passage at 21:20

21:40 And then those karmic actions, then and again, since we're talking about the first two noble truths, we're mostly focusing on suffering. And negative karma. In a minute we're going to start talking about the laws of karma, how karma works. It applies to both positive and negative, but remember this is the bad news day. Report an error in the passage at 21:40 Highlight the passage at 21:40

22:00 We're still on the first two noble truths. We're focusing on suffering, so resulting in suffering. So this is the kind of chain reaction that shows how our suffering is created. And by understanding this well, Now we're going to go into a lot of detail about karma. We can understand how it can be stopped. Because only by understanding the mechanism do our practices make sense. Report an error in the passage at 22:00 Highlight the passage at 22:00

22:28 Because I posit that almost all of our Buddhist practices, maybe all of them, work to somehow short-circuit this chain reaction, to cut it somewhere so it won't result in suffering for us. That's the only thing that the Buddha was interested in, is stopping our suffering. He was asked, he had this one student, Vashugoda, who asked him all of these esoteric philosophical questions, was always pestering him with these questions like, how did the universe start? Report an error in the passage at 22:28 Highlight the passage at 22:28

22:59 When will the universe finish? What happens to an enlightened being after they die? All these completely theoretical questions and the Buddha would always try and sort of blow them off and say, oh, don't worry about that right now. Once they were walking through this forest of sal trees, these beautiful trees they have in northern India, a group of the monks with Lord Buddha, and Vashagoda starts up again, pestering with these questions. Report an error in the passage at 22:59 Highlight the passage at 22:59

23:25 Oh, Lord Buddha, since, you know, we have some free time before we arrive at that next monastery, I just thought I'd ask you again, you know, how is the universe created? And the Buddha picked up. A handful of leaves from the carpet of leaves in this forest and he turns around and he asks all the monks, he goes, so are there more leaves in my hand or more leaves in the trees? Report an error in the passage at 23:25 Highlight the passage at 23:25

23:47 And they all go, duh, like more leaves in the trees. And the Buddha said, what I know is equal to the leaves in the trees in this whole forest. What I teach is equal to the number of leaves in my hand. I teach about suffering, the cause of suffering. The sensation and the path that leads to it. That's all you need to know. Because no matter how it started and when the first moment of ignorance was in your mind stream, who cares? Report an error in the passage at 23:47 Highlight the passage at 23:47

24:14 The fact is, we're hurting right now. Like we're going through this right now. And it doesn't really matter how it was caused. The point is, how do we stop it now? He said, the only thing that I'm interested in teaching is about suffering. How it's caused and how you can stop it. And just forget about the other stuff. And so he didn't get into these questions. You know, Buddhism is one of the only religions that doesn't have this whole, doesn't have a creation story. Report an error in the passage at 24:14 Highlight the passage at 24:14

24:42 You know, like Genesis and all of the other religions have some creation story. And the Buddha just never talked about it. He's like, it's not important. The important thing is we're suffering right now. And then he told Vaishagoda, so if you were shot, you know, through the heart with an arrow, Before you let the doctor take it out, would you say, oh wait, wait, I need to know, what village did the guy that shot me come from and what caste was he and what did he do for a living and what is his parents' names and does he have any kids? Report an error in the passage at 24:42 Highlight the passage at 24:42

25:15 Wait, I need to know all of this. He's just like, let the doctor pull the arrow out for God's sake. Just get rid of your suffering and don't worry about all of that other stuff. So the Buddhist techniques are to cut through. And we can think about our practices, for example, even though this is the direction that it's caused, it sort of ends in the opposite direction, you know, in terms of putting things into practice. Report an error in the passage at 25:15 Highlight the passage at 25:15

25:41 For example, karmic actions, you know, easier to stop our behavior, to get a little bit of control over our behavior than it is to control our minds. You can stop yourself from punching somebody in the face pretty easily, but you still might be really angry. But at least you can stop your karmic actions. So a lot of our Buddhist practice involves vowed morality, right? Ethics, non-harming is one of the most basic tenets of Buddhism that involves stopping the action. Report an error in the passage at 25:41 Highlight the passage at 25:41

26:14 So that's the easiest to control, you know? And then we kind of go backwards. Afflictive emotions, lots of meditations that deal with this, you know, lots of meditations that deal with transforming our emotion. We just did this class in San Jose, that's where I met Dion, thought transformation, right, transforming negative emotions. Report an error in the passage at 26:14 Highlight the passage at 26:14

26:37 So all of those Lojong teachings in Buddhism, all of those teachings dealing with this. And then at the very root, we're... Dealing with that ignorance, that root ignorance about the way that things exist. But this is really hard. You know, if you tried to start here, there'd be no way. You have to first subdue a little bit your actions, start to work on your mind, and then you can start to develop that wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 26:37 Highlight the passage at 26:37

27:06 And then especially the Theravāda tradition, they emphasize what they call the three higher trainers of ethics, concentration and wisdom. They say that they support each other because by developing really pure ethics, you can develop good concentration. If you're sitting around with a mind filled with remorse about what a jerk you've been and all of your bad actions like I was in retreat, or if you're engaging in totally out of control actions, what happens when you sit down and try and meditate? Report an error in the passage at 27:06 Highlight the passage at 27:06

27:39 Forget it. So impossible to develop concentration. While your actions are still unsubdued. And then after developing a little bit of concentration, you increase your concentration and then finally with perfect single point of concentration you can use that to develop the wisdom that's the antidote to that root ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 27:39 Highlight the passage at 27:39

28:02 You can see how ethics helps lead to concentration and then concentration is completely necessary for developing the wisdom that's the antidote to that ignorance. So first we start here and then we find it influences, you know, it kind of goes backwards. I have an example from my own life. I used to have this terrible, terrible smart mouth and I would talk about people behind their back all the time. I'm in recovery, you know, I'm really trying to work on that. Report an error in the passage at 28:02 Highlight the passage at 28:02

28:31 But it was just this characteristic that I had. And then at a certain point, after being a Buddhist for a number of years, I realized this is horrible. It's just a really bad habit. You know, it was to be funny and it was to be witty and all of this stuff. And then I just realized it's awful, this terrible habit I have of talking about people behind their back. Report an error in the passage at 28:31 Highlight the passage at 28:31

28:51 So I made a deal with myself. I was like, okay, anytime I diss someone, I immediately have to say something nice about them, like simultaneously. And I started doing this and I would say these weird things like, oh, he's such a jerk and he's so devoted to Lama Zopa, you know? And then my friends are all like, You are nuts like honey. And I would force myself. When I noticed that that bad habit energy of dissing someone would happen, then I'd immediately say something nice. Report an error in the passage at 28:51 Highlight the passage at 28:51

29:22 And it was very interesting. I noticed then I started thinking more about how that person was so devoted to Lama Zopa and I wasn't thinking so much about what a jerky was. You know, so it was this completely forceful thing in the beginning. But then I noticed, oh. You know, first it was sort of this level like the words that were already out of my mouth, and then I'd apply the antidote. And then I noticed that after doing that for a while, then maybe I'd just think about it, but I wouldn't say it. Report an error in the passage at 29:22 Highlight the passage at 29:22

29:51 And then I noticed after a while, I wasn't even thinking those thoughts so much anymore, and it had kind of had an influence all the way back to even my thoughts. And it was so nice, you know, because having that critical judgmental mind, which I had my whole life. So horrible, such a burden, such a cause of unhappiness. And I noticed when I really started to work on it in my practice, isn't it so much nicer to just look at people and see all their wonderful qualities? Report an error in the passage at 29:51 Highlight the passage at 29:51

30:20 It makes us happier, it makes them happier, and you can do it. Believe me, if I could do it, you can all do it. And really working on that. So this is the way we kind of work backwards in our Dharma practice. But when you think about it, Think about ethics and morality, think about the meditations we do. I think when you see how it short-circuits this chain reaction leading to suffering, somehow then we have more faith in our practices and they make more sense. Report an error in the passage at 30:20 Highlight the passage at 30:20

30:50 It's not like you're just being ethical because Lord Buddha wants you to be a goody-goody or something. Like you're doing it to subdue your mind and start working on your afflictions so that you can see the ultimate nature of reality better. So any questions about this chain reaction? So Report an error in the passage at 30:50 Highlight the passage at 30:50

31:14 if karma is basically about seeds that you plant in your consciousness, then I was wondering why do I hear you so much in reference to events that are happening to you, like a car hits you, or to explain something bad that happens to you. And more accurately, We would say that would be the result of karma or the result of that seed that was planted in your mind. Then when the right conditions come together, then it sort of bears some fruit. Report an error in the passage at 31:14 Highlight the passage at 31:14

31:49 So you wouldn't really say that's your karma. Strictly speaking, the karma was when you planted the seed in your mind in the first place, the result of karma. So it would be a little bit more accurate to say, oh, that's the result of some karmic seed, that thing that happens. Report an error in the passage at 31:49 Highlight the passage at 31:49

32:05 I guess it's more intuitive for me when you think about the concepts that you apply. So maybe, you know, everything seems unpleasant to you, that's a result of seeds planting in your consciousness. But something that is more, you know, how does seeds that you plant in your consciousness affect something that happens in a more physical level that is not about how you see it, but that actually happens. Report an error in the passage at 32:05 Highlight the passage at 32:05

32:26 I see what you mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's kind of, it's sort of all one continuum in a way. You know, what we... Our mind, you know, in a couple of sutras Buddha says like everything is mind and mind creates your reality. And in a way, things that happen to us are just an extension of our mental energy. Report an error in the passage at 32:26 Highlight the passage at 32:26

32:48 So you can just kind of think of it as more subtle and more gross kind of experiences of mental energy, which can actually, those seeds in our mind, actually cause the energy for... Things to happen externally also because they kind of cause the entire world that we live in. We say, for example, I said that the Buddha didn't really talk about a creation story, but he did say that our world that we live in is created by our collective karma, you know, and those seeds in our mind actually give rise to the kind of world that we're creating. Report an error in the passage at 32:48 Highlight the passage at 32:48

33:21 So it's just kind of part of a continuum. So I think it's almost false to differentiate. Strongly between internal and external, because in Buddhism we say it's all kind of part of one continuum. So things like that can manifest in what seems to us like an external event, but it's still a result of those imprints in our minds. Report an error in the passage at 33:21 Highlight the passage at 33:21

33:42 And we'll talk more about that. We're going to talk a lot about karma and the mechanism, so maybe we'll be coming up here. Yeah, Catherine. Report an error in the passage at 33:42 Highlight the passage at 33:42

33:55 So, in this list, we're trying to, as you said, short-sighted. by starting with the virtues and recognizing them. Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 33:55 Highlight the passage at 33:55

34:11 Yeah. instance, I have a tent. Most of the time I can go on to the building I see, and then suddenly it's like, this is that. I don't even know where it's a total attack. Report an error in the passage at 34:11 Highlight the passage at 34:11

34:23 And it's like, whoa, where did that come from? You can't do it at that point. I'm totally caught up there. I don't even know that I'm doing it until it's already vomited. Right, right. And I think that's where a lot of... These mindfulness practices come in, which we don't emphasize a lot in the Tibetan tradition, and I wish we would more, because that's when you get much more aware of your thoughts and your feelings as they're starting to arise. Report an error in the passage at 34:23 Highlight the passage at 34:23

34:55 It's almost like this thing that the more mindfulness practice you do, the more awareness, the more you bring it to your attention in the present moment. You know, aware of your thoughts, aware of your feelings. You can almost feel it start to arise and then you can try and deal with it before it even manifests, sort of when it's right up here, right around here. Report an error in the passage at 34:55 Highlight the passage at 34:55

35:15 You know, then you can be like, oh wow, look at that, isn't that interesting? What's going on? Before it sort of explodes into some kind of words or actions. And that's what you're slowing down. Getting our attention more in the present moment is just such a huge practice that, like I say in the Tibetan tradition, we don't emphasize it much at all. Report an error in the passage at 35:15 Highlight the passage at 35:15

35:36 In Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition, that's their whole thing. He says everything results from mindfulness practice. And you go to one of his monasteries and it's like you're walking along and then they, you know, ring the mindfulness bell and you're eating lunch and you're like, and the bell goes ding and you're all, you know, and it's training that. Report an error in the passage at 35:36 Highlight the passage at 35:36

35:57 I bring all of the attention back into the present moment. And the more we do that, the more then we're able to really notice those things when they start to arise and then just figure out what's going on before it manifests in some kind of action. So I think that practice, which we don't do that much, it's very interesting. Sometimes I'll give people the homework of thinking when they're the happiest. Report an error in the passage at 35:57 Highlight the passage at 35:57

36:22 And often people say it's some completely mundane moment where they felt like they were brought into the present moment. That feels really good. And I have the theory that those extreme sports are for that reason. You know, all that bungee jumping and rock climbing and all of that stuff, it's just a way to get you completely in the present moment. Report an error in the passage at 36:22 Highlight the passage at 36:22

36:44 You know, you're hanging from the cliff face. You know, by your fingernails. You're not thinking about what your dad said to you when you were 12 years old. You know, you're right there in the moment. And I posit that that's what feels good. It's not about hanging from the cliff face. If we can just somehow get into the present moment without doing those extreme things, that's the part about it that feels good. Report an error in the passage at 36:44 Highlight the passage at 36:44

37:09 Because you can do it in more ordinary ways too, and by training yourself in that, you can start to feel those things when they arrive. So that implies more meditation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's sort of the conclusion. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. And just that sitting practice, I think is beautiful, you know, that thing that we don't do much of. And a lot of times in like Western Vipassanā, that thing of sitting, watching your breath, watching your emotions arise. Report an error in the passage at 37:09 Highlight the passage at 37:09

37:38 And often when people are under the grip of a really strong, afflictive emotion, that's what I say to do. You know, if the minute you start to feel it arise, you can just get out of the situation and sit on your cushion and really feel what's going on. Often all the answers for what you need to do about the situation manifest from just giving it attention. You know, I noticed I have this experience that happened a while ago. Report an error in the passage at 37:38 Highlight the passage at 37:38

38:05 A really good friend of mine said something and I got unbelievably angry. And I'm just not a super angry person most of the time, so it's kind of interesting when I just, like he said something and I was just furious. Being a good Buddhist nun, I immediately, we were eating lunch together. I got up from the table and left, you know, and he's like... Report an error in the passage at 38:05 Highlight the passage at 38:05

38:25 You know, and I went to my room and sat down and sat on my cushion and I was like, wow, and I'm feeling this like surging of energy through my body and then I'm like, wow, what's going on? Then I realized, oh, he really hurt my feelings. Like it's somebody I really care about, really hurt my feelings and that's what made me angry. Report an error in the passage at 38:25 Highlight the passage at 38:25

38:45 And then immediately the anger disappeared and I realized, oh, hurt feelings I can deal with. You know, because I'm going into this place of like, oh, I hope I never see him again. And we're living at this Dharma center. He lives next door to me. We eat lunch together every day. He's like this monk. You know, I'm like, that's impossible. And then I realized, oh, I felt really disrespected. And that hurt my feelings. So immediately I got up, went to his door, knocked on the door. Report an error in the passage at 38:45 Highlight the passage at 38:45

39:10 He kind of opens it like, you know, we go, can I talk to you? And he goes. And we talked about it, but it's like if I had acted on the anger, that wasn't even what was really going on. It was really hurt feelings and I think sometimes fear gives rise to anger. So the more we can just get in tune and just sort of train ourselves, when that comes up, make some space, sit down, feel it. Report an error in the passage at 39:10 Highlight the passage at 39:10

39:35 Not to dwell on it, but just to see what's going on. Because often there's something deeper going on. If you can kind of turn your mindfulness to that, you get information. Often those emotions are trying to tell us something, but we always just act out or we try and suppress them. We don't really just give them attention and try and transform them. Report an error in the passage at 39:35 Highlight the passage at 39:35

39:57 It's something that is going to help everybody. It's a practice that right now they're doing in Peru, I think all over the world. It's a practice that we wear this belt and we're trying not to complain. Oh, yes. Yes. Can I have one of those? Of course. Report an error in the passage at 39:57 Highlight the passage at 39:57

40:22 I don't think you need it. But these practices, if you practice for 21 days, not think about anything, it's going to become a habit. seen it in the past year. Report an error in the passage at 40:22 Highlight the passage at 40:22

40:34 But if you complain, you have to change the bell to the other hand and it's all over again. Yes, you can think about the complaint, but you cannot say it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's incredible. That's great. That's exactly this. Maybe, you know, can help everybody in a different way. How to change and stop. Report an error in the passage at 40:34 Highlight the passage at 40:34

40:54 I'm stopping myself when I want to complain. Yeah, you can. No, don't complain. Yeah, yeah. After a while, it turns part of you and you don't think about it. Exactly. You're not complaining. Exactly. That's great. Because it doesn't take long. I had a student tell me, yeah, I think it was something like 21 or 28 days to get a new habit going. Like if you just do it every day. And these are just bad habits, folks. Report an error in the passage at 40:54 Highlight the passage at 40:54

41:21 You know, it's nothing that needs to control you. It's just habits. They come from past lives. They might seem deep. great, so it's been a kind of big, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 41:21 Highlight the passage at 41:21

41:28 But we can have control. And that's great. And I think techniques like that are really excellent, you know, really practical reminders like that of how to deal with our karmic action. That's great. I want one of those. Any other questions about this flowchart? So keep this in mind, you know, and when you study other Buddhist teachings, always... Report an error in the passage at 41:28 Highlight the passage at 41:28

41:55 Try and see how it relates to this somehow. You know, because I think a lot of our practices really do, and then it makes more sense. You're not just doing something as Lama Zopa told you to. You're understanding how it works in terms of this mechanism here. Report an error in the passage at 41:55 Highlight the passage at 41:55

42:14 Results of karma. So results of karma. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, Katya. Report an error in the passage at 42:14 Highlight the passage at 42:14

42:28 Katya Nandani. much. I'm just trying to imagine, what would it even be like to have any goals at all without attachment? Yeah. And that's where they say it's okay to want things. It's really okay to want to be enlightened. Super okay to want all beings to be free from suffering. Those are goals that have to do with wisdom, that don't involve that exaggeration of the object, thinking that possessing that thing external, which is why to just equate attachment with liking things or wanting things to happen or having any kind of desire. Report an error in the passage at 42:28 Highlight the passage at 42:28

43:08 And in fact, I read recently and now I can't remember. This one teaching where they were saying the difference between the Tibetan words for desire and attachment and how different they were and what a different connotation they had. So wanting things realistically without exaggeration that are beneficial, absolutely. And in fact on the path we have to want urgently from the depth of our being to be free from suffering, to become an enlightened being. Report an error in the passage at 43:08 Highlight the passage at 43:08

43:38 Free all beings from suffering just with every fiber of our being. But that's different from attachment. I think you can have attachment to spiritual things, you know, and that is a danger and it's something that we have to be careful about. For example, you can have attachment to a spiritual teacher in an unhealthy way. Oh, only when I'm around that person am I happy. You know, instead of just saying that's someone who shows me the path and I have to follow it, having this clinging. Report an error in the passage at 43:38 Highlight the passage at 43:38

44:07 To the teacher or to a certain situation. So I think it can be, you know, attachment. And that we have to be careful about. But just having that strong desire and wish for liberation and enlightenment is fine. Yeah, good question. Betty had something. you very much. Report an error in the passage at 44:07 Highlight the passage at 44:07

44:31 I might have already answered my question in my own head. Will you share it with us? Anyway, it comes down to the complaining and the wearing of the bracelet that she was talking about. And the thing is, I was thinking of it in everyday circumstances, like at work. I've got co-workers, they're supposed to be doing their job role, I'm supposed to be doing my job role. Report an error in the passage at 44:31 Highlight the passage at 44:31

44:53 You see a co-worker not doing what they're supposed to be doing, it impacts you and stuff like that. And how do you constructively... Report an error in the passage at 44:53 Highlight the passage at 44:53

45:02 Criticize. And then it came down to me, it's what the motivation is. You have to check your motivation. What is the goal here? Is it goal to insult? Is it goal to improve? Is it goal to work well together? What is the motivation? Right. So, yeah. Yeah. So I was just trying to figure it out. And doing this doesn't mean you don't set limits, by the way. I mean, the goal of Buddhism is not to be a doormat and let everybody do whatever they want and you just roll over. Report an error in the passage at 45:02 Highlight the passage at 45:02

45:28 But like you said, it's the motivation, it's how you do it. You know, there's this thing that as far as I know isn't a Buddhist practice that I think is really useful and it's this Marshall Rosenberg non-violent communication thing all about the way that you say things like that and it's a very interesting, without blaming, without attacking, it's sort of owning your responsibility for your feelings in the situation and trying to communicate that to the other person. Report an error in the passage at 45:28 Highlight the passage at 45:28

45:55 The I statement kind of stuff? Yeah, like that, like that. So I think it's like the way that we do it and the... And we can learn that. You know, there's techniques of communication and there's just these conventional techniques that we can learn that can be very helpful. And then again, like you say, checking your own motivation. Report an error in the passage at 45:55 Highlight the passage at 45:55

46:13 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 46:13 Highlight the passage at 46:13

46:22 In one of your other teachings, you mentioned how you go through analysis about making a decision about what to do. Do I? Yeah, you did. Report an error in the passage at 46:22 Highlight the passage at 46:22

46:34 I'm hoping you'll remember. What did I say I did? Well, you went through analysis and you said something, well, is this going to be of benefit to others? Oh, was it the thing about speech, wasn't it? Yeah, but it's something that you could apply to all our actions. Maybe you could restate. Yeah, there was this thing. I think what it is was there is this thing that the Buddha was talking about in the sūtra when he was talking about beneficial speech. Report an error in the passage at 46:34 Highlight the passage at 46:34

47:01 This sounds like what it is in Correct Me Upon. And he said, before you say anything, check. If it's not true and not beneficial, don't say it. If it's beneficial but not true, don't say it. If it's true but not beneficial, don't say it. And only if it's true and beneficial, and then wait for the right time. Report an error in the passage at 47:01 Highlight the passage at 47:01

47:25 Isn't that interesting? Can you imagine? So if it's not true and not beneficial, don't say it. If it's beneficial but not true, don't say it. If it's true but not beneficial, don't say it. And only if it's true and it's beneficial and then wait for the right time. And I had a friend and I think he used to do this. I mean, can you imagine if you apply that criteria to everything that you said? I had a friend and I think he used to do this. He used to be a monk. Report an error in the passage at 47:25 Highlight the passage at 47:25

47:56 And you'd be talking to him and you'd just be like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you'd say something to him and he'd just be like, For like three or four seconds. And then he'd just say something like so pithy and so perfect. And he only said about like five or six sentences a day. But everything that he said was like amazing. And one of the karmic consequences of idle chatter or gossip is nobody listens to what you say. Report an error in the passage at 47:56 Highlight the passage at 47:56

48:23 And one of the consequences I noticed of what he did was he hardly ever opened his mouth. And any time he did, you're just like, you know, you're just like, oh. He's speaking, what's he going to say? And you're completely, so it's like exactly the opposite karma. And I swear, I never asked him, I should ask him, but I swear he was going through those criteria for everything he said. Report an error in the passage at 48:23 Highlight the passage at 48:23

48:46 Amazing, you know, the only thing that we talked about. So maybe I was extrapolating it to any other decision that you make. Check, is it beneficial? Is it something true? You know, you could extrapolate that to other actions too. Report an error in the passage at 48:46 Highlight the passage at 48:46

49:03 Okay, alright, so let's start talking about karma. There's a lot of details about karma and then might happen this afternoon or maybe tomorrow morning you're actually going to have a karma quiz where you're going to figure out where the experiences that are happening to you in your life have come from karmically in past lives. Report an error in the passage at 49:03 Highlight the passage at 49:03

49:29 It's really cool. So, but first a couple of details about karma. These are some laws about how karma works. Now karma, by the way, is not like you're being punished by some supreme being. Karma is a law like physics. It's completely impersonal. And in fact, what is it, the third law of thermodynamics or something, for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction, one of those laws. Report an error in the passage at 49:29 Highlight the passage at 49:29

49:56 It's just like that, totally impersonal. Nobody's keeping score. Nobody's trying to punish you. These are some of the ways that karma works. The first is that karma is definite, that the result corresponds to the cause. And by definition, we say that good karma is defined as an action that will result in happiness for you in the short term and liberation in the long term. Report an error in the passage at 49:56 Highlight the passage at 49:56

50:24 So by definition, the result... Corresponds to the cause. We say good actions, virtuous actions result in happiness. The negative actions result in suffering. So it's incontrovertible. You can't do something negative and have something happy result from it. And if it seems like that, we're fooled by proximity. Right? And sometimes people say this thing, instant karma. Report an error in the passage at 50:24 Highlight the passage at 50:24

50:55 Have you heard this? This is sort of this California thing. Forget about it, okay? It's just proximity. If you seem to do something positive and then, you know, you go to the mailbox and you won the lottery or something, it's just proximity. And we're often fooled. Cause and effect, there's this kind of pesky lag period, unfortunately. You know, if we could see the results of our karmic actions immediately, we'd change our tune, big time. Report an error in the passage at 50:55 Highlight the passage at 50:55

51:24 I have a friend who used to teach in New York. And this happens when you're a Dharma teacher. Your students are always asking for permission to do non-virtues, like you're the Pope or something, and you can give some kind of dispensation. So he was in New York, and so his students would always say, is it okay if I kill the cockroaches in my apartment? And he would respond, if, as you're going to kill that cockroach, your own ribs started to break, you'd never ask me that question. Report an error in the passage at 51:24 Highlight the passage at 51:24

51:55 So I think if we really understood the definiteness, but there's just a lag before we experience the result. And then we're fooled into thinking that non-virtue results in happiness. Let's say that you somehow cheated on your income taxes and got extra money and bought a nice new DVD player. It seems like the cheating on your taxes is the cause of the nice DVD player. Report an error in the passage at 51:55 Highlight the passage at 51:55

52:24 But the nice DVD player was created by some virtuous cause in the past, if it gave you happiness. Had to be, by definition. And cheating on your taxes is going to result in some future life or later in this life in a lack of resources. So it's sort of these overlapping things that seem by proximity to be cause and result. Report an error in the passage at 52:24 Highlight the passage at 52:24

52:48 But this law says no, it's definite. There's a definite correspondence between virtue and happiness and non-virtue and suffering. Karma increases. This is another law. It's a way karma works. You can do a small action and it will result, if it's not purified, in a great effect for you in the future. Report an error in the passage at 52:48 Highlight the passage at 52:48

53:13 People have a lot of resistance to karma because it seems to them too to sound like you deserve what happens to you. And it's not like that at all. People get really angry and they say, are you saying some baby that dies of AIDS deserved it? No, not at all. And something like that, some intense experience, could have been caused by a very, very small non-virtue that just wasn't purified and over time expanded into a big result. Report an error in the passage at 53:13 Highlight the passage at 53:13

53:42 Now remember, this also works in our favor. Even very, very small virtues can expand into big results in terms of our liberation and enlightenment. So we shouldn't just go for the big stuff. We should think about every small virtue we can possibly do because of karma increasing like this. And we should avoid even the smallest non-virtue because of this. It can expand into a big result. Yeah, John. Report an error in the passage at 53:42 Highlight the passage at 53:42

54:11 So this fact that karma increases, so if you have a very small nugget of virtue 20,000 years ago. Yeah, that's what made you, John, today. That is what can go and pull you from being a tiger or an ant back up into... Yeah, exactly, exactly. So it can, yeah, and that's why, for a lot of us, the reason that we're here is, you know, they give this example in the scripture. Report an error in the passage at 54:11 Highlight the passage at 54:11

54:39 She's kind of weird, but they said like somebody who was a disciple of the Buddha in a past life was a fly and he landed on some poop and there was a flood and the poo was going around a stupa because he circumambulated a stupa by accident as a fly or something. I don't know about that, but it's like the same kind of idea, some small virtue. Maybe a better example. Yeah, right? Report an error in the passage at 54:39 Highlight the passage at 54:39

55:05 Betty! And here you are. There was an example of Shariputra, who is one of the Buddha's two main disciples, and they said he created the cause to be the Buddha's main disciple, foremost in wisdom, because in the time of Buddha Kasyapa, the third wheel-turning Buddha, he was walking past a temple and he stopped to lace his shoe or buckle his sandal or something and looked up at a picture of Buddha Kasyapa, didn't even have any idea it was a Buddha, and said, wow, what a beautiful being. Report an error in the passage at 55:05 Highlight the passage at 55:05

55:37 And just that mind of admiration for that holy being planted that little, little seed that then in the time of Lord Buddha, which is Lama Zopa's whole theory about the Maitreya statue. Like, we don't get it, it's going to cost billions of dollars, we're like, feed the poor, what are you doing? But in his perspective... Report an error in the passage at 55:37 Highlight the passage at 55:37

55:58 All those people that go because it's going to be like a theme park and go, whoa, what an amazing statue. They're going to be born as Maitreya Buddhists. So what's another $7 billion plus or minus? You know, when you talk about the imprints being made in that many people's minds and it's exactly like Sharaputra. Report an error in the passage at 55:58 Highlight the passage at 55:58

56:17 So again, Lama Zopa has this incredible perspective of what true benefit is. So exactly like that. There's one more question. The thing about karma being definite. I can understand how, with the cockroach analogy, unless your rib starts to hurt when you're about to squash the roach. But suppose that for the majority of your life, say, you were going and committing non-virtuous acts. Report an error in the passage at 56:17 Highlight the passage at 56:17

56:54 And you have all the negative things come back at you because you're committing those non-virtuous acts. But then you go and stop doing that and start trying to practice virtue and being a benefit to beings. And you immediately start seeing all these good things start coming to you. Now is that just, you know, because that seems to me that there's... Report an error in the passage at 56:54 Highlight the passage at 56:54

57:22 No real delay there, but is that more like no real delay or you're setting up the causes and conditions for past karma to go and ripen at that point? Yeah, it can very much be that. And also sometimes people find when they start to purify, a lot of horrible things happen because they're setting up the conditions that a karmic seed that might ripen as a whole hell realm life ripens as a migraine headache. Report an error in the passage at 57:22 Highlight the passage at 57:22

57:52 You know, because of their purification practice, they're experiencing negative things, but much lighter than it would have been if they weren't purifying. So I think, you know, both things can happen. And sometimes when people engage in Dharma practice, it seems like one or the other extreme. Everything suddenly is perfect or all of a sudden life just falls apart. Report an error in the passage at 57:52 Highlight the passage at 57:52

58:13 And they're like, wait a minute, what's happening? But it's just trusting that whatever they're doing will bear fruit in the future and they could be setting up conditions then that those karmic seeds are just ready to ripen and then they ripen like that. So we're supposed to be happy actually when we're engaging in Dharma practice and the poop hits the fan because it means that we're purifying all this stuff that could have been horrible future lives. Report an error in the passage at 58:13 Highlight the passage at 58:13

58:38 So when we get those migraine headaches and this woman who was in Bodh Gaya doing this practice, she was covered in boils. She was doing this purification practice and these oozing, painful boils and Lama Tsongkhapa is like, yes, right on. Report an error in the passage at 58:38 Highlight the passage at 58:38

58:54 She was just like, oh my God, what is happening? And he was like, that's great. Because he saw the karma that was ripening, this purification of all of this negative karma that if she hadn't been doing those practices could have been really negative rebirth states. So sometimes it happens like that. So we should be happy with our heart. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 58:54 Highlight the passage at 58:54

59:20 So karma increases. So both the good stuff and the bad stuff. And the analogy they always give is like a cherry tree is a result of one tiny little cherry seed that you plant and then it blossoms into this huge tree bearing a bunch of fruit. So karma increasing in both the good and bad. And then if you didn't create the cause, you're not going to experience the result. So nothing. Report an error in the passage at 59:20 Highlight the passage at 59:20

59:45 Can happen if you didn't create the cause for it in the future. So, in other words, nothing is random. It's not like 50 % is karma and 50 % is random. You know, it's not like that. You're not going to experience the result unless you created the cause. And you're never going to experience the result unless you create the cause for the good stuff too. Report an error in the passage at 59:45 Highlight the passage at 59:45

1:00:06 It's not like we can just kind of wait around and we expect that all these wonderful things are going to happen to us. We have to create the causes if we want to experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:06 Highlight the passage at 1:00:06

1:00:16 And then karma doesn't just disappear unless it's purified. In fact, it increases. So just because you ignore it or just because you try not to think about it, you're in denial about it or a long time has passed, doesn't mean it's just going to sort of dissipate. In fact, the worst. It just picks up steam. It builds up steam. But luckily for us, there are purification practices and we're going to talk about that. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:16 Highlight the passage at 1:00:16

1:00:45 So we can do things to purify. So like John, like me, like a lot of us, you know, feel like you've had this life, you didn't have a clue, you created a bunch of non-virtue, what do you do about it? Purify. And Lama Zopa Rinpoche says you'd be insane if you went even one day without doing purification practices once you know about karma and once you know about these practices. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:45 Highlight the passage at 1:00:45

1:01:09 So yeah, questions about this, Sandra? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:09 Highlight the passage at 1:01:09

1:01:15 I've heard of the purification practices, the four opponent powers. I think I remember reading somewhere that studying emptiness is a form of purification, is that true? Yeah, yeah. And we're going to talk about purification and the four opponent powers and then some of the methods. And then more generally, does that only apply, let's say, because a friend of mine does this, but she's not purifying using that. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:15 Highlight the passage at 1:01:15

1:01:19 and Report an error in the passage at 1:01:19 Highlight the passage at 1:01:19

1:01:43 She tells me that she does purification using some other practice. Does that count? Well, from a Buddhist perspective, especially if it had the four opponent powers, then yes. She doesn't need to consider herself as a Buddhist or think of herself like that. It will still function because karma's functioning isn't dependent on whether you believe in it or not or know the details. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:43 Highlight the passage at 1:01:43

1:02:09 So it just depends. How much is she doing it with the intention to purify? How much regret does she have? How much of a resolution does she have not to do it again? And then for sure it could function as a purification for her. But from a Buddhist perspective, we would say it would need to be done with those other factors too. It wouldn't just be enough to do something as a purification. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:09 Highlight the passage at 1:02:09

1:02:34 You need to really have that focus. But then for sure it can function like that. And I think a lot of people in other religions who do these amazing good works, sure, they're purifying like crazy. You don't have to be a Buddhist. I mean, all of these Catholic monastics that way more than we do devote their life to benefiting. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:34 Highlight the passage at 1:02:34

1:02:55 And for sure their karmic stores, you know, it's going to be purification and accumulation of positive karma for them too, for sure. Yeah. Tina? If I'm thinking of the four opponent powers in terms of purification, and isn't one reliance? And maybe I'm being too dogmatic, but wouldn't the Buddhist view be that you have to have reliance on... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:55 Highlight the passage at 1:02:55

1:03:18 The stages of the path or developing bodhicitta. Well, I think, you know, the reliance is mostly on the purification methods and I think if you had a different worldview that also said that you could somehow purify a negativity, it would probably function like that. You know, it's mostly having some explanation for how it works. You know, and from a Buddhist perspective, we'd say relying on the path taught by the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:18 Highlight the passage at 1:03:18

1:03:46 But if another, you know, religion or worldview taught a similar kind of system, it could function in that way, I think. Yeah, I think it could. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:46 Highlight the passage at 1:03:46

1:03:56 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:56 Highlight the passage at 1:03:56

1:04:02 So what, um, I don't want to say the word evidence, that's not really what I mean, but I'm going to say it anyway. What evidence is there for rebirth? I mean, why isn't it, you know, why not, isn't your consciousness behind and your body? Yeah, it's funny because Lama Tsongkhapa says there's a lot of evidence for it and absolutely not one proof that it's not true. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:02 Highlight the passage at 1:04:02

1:04:27 And I think a lot of beings remember their past lives and not just Tibetans or Buddhists or people like that. In fact, there's this really interesting book called 20 Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation. By this Ian Stevenson, I think he was a psychologist at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Amazing stories about these little kids that remember explicitly their past lives, go to the village that they were born in before, you know, pick out people, they find the grocery store, the blacksmith, you know, incredible. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:27 Highlight the passage at 1:04:27

1:05:04 So I think there's a lot of evidence. I don't know that there would be conclusive proof, although His Holiness the Dalai Lama is always meeting with these Western scientists and psychologists. He's trying to get them to somehow measure consciousness, because we say consciousness is something different from brain function. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:04 Highlight the passage at 1:05:04

1:05:23 And that Western view that somehow everything ceases at the moment of death sees mind as some kind of epiphenomenon of brain function. And Buddhism says, no, it's completely different, and it doesn't... And that's kind of the main reason for rebirth in Buddhism is just saying, no, it's completely different from form, you know, the form of the physical body. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:23 Highlight the passage at 1:05:23

1:05:50 And I think the Western scientific view is, yeah, it's just electrical activity and brain function. And Buddhism says, no, there's this subtle consciousness that then continues because it's, you know, even though some of the... If grosser functions of consciousness are dependent on the brain and dependent on sense organs, that very, very subtlest level of consciousness does continue. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:50 Highlight the passage at 1:05:50

1:06:12 But I don't think there's any proof one way or another, but it doesn't seem that there's any proof that absolutely for sure it's not like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:12 Highlight the passage at 1:06:12

1:06:21 It's called 20 Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation, and then somebody told me he'd written another one, even... More than that, that's the one that I've read, but it's Ian Stevenson, so if you Google it, you'll find that he's written. Yeah, we have Gina and then Betty. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:21 Highlight the passage at 1:06:21

1:06:39 I'm trying to reconcile some of the stories you're telling now about reincarnation. I actually do believe in it, and yet I kind of play devil's advocate with myself. And you were talking before about the story about the sea turtle. And how valuable and rare this precious human rebirth is. And yet a lot of the stories of or evidence of reincarnation, it's human life to human life. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:39 Highlight the passage at 1:06:39

1:07:01 And no one remembers being a penguin, for example. Or people who seem to have stories. Stories of a rebirth or a former life, their stories are usually... Right. current culture right like i don't know of many tibetans but you don't you usually hear the story of this you know little tibetan child was a llama or someone like that but they're not necessarily saying i was a frontiers person you know in the gold rush here in san francisco because they don't know i well i don't want to make Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:01 Highlight the passage at 1:07:01

1:07:38 That kind of generalization, but let's say in a certain culture, if you don't have a lot of experience in your current life knowing about other cultures, it almost seems too convenient that they keep popping up within the same area as opposed to a jellyfish or someone in the Amazon or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:38 Highlight the passage at 1:07:38

1:07:56 And the only thing I would, I mean, I think two things. One is I think if your level of consciousness is very similar to what you were in your past life, it's more accessible to you. Like we don't know what it feels to be a dog and we might even have those memories of what it was like and not be conscious that that's what it is just because the kind of state of consciousness is so different. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:56 Highlight the passage at 1:07:56

1:08:21 From the different realms, so obviously it's humans talking about it. I mean, who knows what other realm beings have memories about their rebirth. But since, you know, we're in the human realm, we're used to humans talking about it, I think a rebirth as a human is more accessible. However, I do know people that have had memories of rebirth in other realms. I had a student, we were doing this meditation of sort of this... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:21 Highlight the passage at 1:08:21

1:08:45 Regression, you know, we're talking about continuity of mind and I was saying like, go back, go back in your life, go back to see the continuity of mind, go back to the womb, see if you have any memories, go back, see. And she had a past life memory of a hell being and she was completely freaked. She was terrified. And I didn't do that meditation anymore after that because she came to me, she was just like, I went back. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:45 Highlight the passage at 1:08:45

1:09:09 You know, she was just completely, and I had a friend. Who had a past life memory of the hungry ghost realm and animal realm. So it does happen. It definitely does happen. But I think because that type of consciousness is kind of more accessible. And also the reason we hear more stories from these cultures that believe in Ruber, maybe that's whose parents are listening to their little kids when they say these things, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:09:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09:09

1:09:36 Like I had a friend and she used to say that she was British and she said her little daughter, she had a girl when she was quite young, so she said it was kind of nice we grew up together and she said when her daughter was about four, she used to say to her mommy, Don't you remember when I was the mommy and you were the little baby? Come on, you must remember. My friend was just like, wow. She was just like, mommy, don't you remember? Report an error in the passage at 1:09:36 Highlight the passage at 1:09:36

1:10:00 So how many little Western kids are saying stuff like that and nobody's paying any attention? But if they're a Tibetan or whatever, people are kind of validating it and paying attention. So I don't think it's just the convenience factor. I just think that there are certain cultures where... Those things, because they're believed in, when little kids say stuff like that, they start to pay attention. Because this woman was in an introductory class, years later, heard about rebirth, came to me and told me the story of her daughter, and I was just like, well, excuse me, but duh. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:00 Highlight the passage at 1:10:00

1:10:34 And she kind of hadn't really, she was just like, oh, what kind of dream was she having last night or something? And all of a sudden she was just kind of thinking, wow, could she have been my mother? In a past life and I was like, well, seems like. So yeah, I think it can be like that. Another explanation I heard, which again I'm kind of arguing with myself about whether it's just convenient or it's actually evidence, is that if say a certain Tibetan Lama had reached a level of enlightenment that they might have a way to grow their karma and kind of have a say, so to speak, in their own rebirth, that it's logical for them to choose a rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:34 Highlight the passage at 1:10:34

1:11:15 That would give them still the greatest exposure to the Dharma and support their practice and their ability to pass it on. So that's why you may see that goes from Buddhist to Buddhist as opposed to Buddhist to Pangaea. Exactly, right, right. And that's it, and at a certain level they say that bodhisattvas at a certain level are no longer... Report an error in the passage at 1:11:15 Highlight the passage at 1:11:15

1:11:36 Subject to that uncontrolled rebirth, but can take volitional rebirth. So yeah, they would choose the most beneficial circumstance for them to be able to continue. And a couple of the Western reincarnate Lamas that have been discovered, usually they're born to their Western students, like as a child of one of their students or a child of another. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:36 Highlight the passage at 1:11:36

1:11:58 Kind of Buddhist student because, yeah, if you're choosing, why would you be lost in the middle of Kansas somewhere to somebody who doesn't have a clue? You know, you'd just really rather be in an environment where, I mean, sorry, casting no aspersions on Kansas. It's just kind of always my example of a place that seems completely devoid of, you know. But, yeah, then... Report an error in the passage at 1:11:58 Highlight the passage at 1:11:58

1:12:21 Then you would choose to be in a place where it's much more likely you could just continue the path because that would be your intention of taking that rebirth to benefit beings and continue the path. And then I think Betty had something and then Michael. Well, one morning when I was watching Good Morning America, there was this family, a couple with a young child came on and it was a mother, a Western mother, Christian from the South. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:21 Highlight the passage at 1:12:21

1:12:48 Whose son at the age of two started having these nightmares. And the mother, you know, being a mother, what's going on, what's happening. The plane was shot down, mom, who was in the plane, blah, blah, blah. And basically over the period of several years they were able to trace this little boy. He remembered that he was shot down in a plane over Japan. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:48 Highlight the passage at 1:12:48

1:13:09 He remembered his co-pilot, the other people. He remembered his family's name. They were able to trace it back to a family that was still alive somewhere in Texas, I think it was. And actually the name of the book is called Soul Survivor, S-O-U-L, Survivor. So it was really fascinating. This was like, and to look at the father who was a Christian father, you know, and I was assuming they were born again, but that was my assumption. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:09 Highlight the passage at 1:13:09

1:13:31 But the thing is, is that, you know, well, do you believe in reincarnation or, you know, how do you believe in this now? You know, I mean, obviously he didn't go to heaven or whatever. He had unfinished business, is what the father said, is the reason why he came back. And then, of course, there's the movie The Unmistaken Child, which is a fascinating story of a tendon finding his reincarnated Lama's birth. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:31 Highlight the passage at 1:13:31

1:13:56 It's funny, last year I was in New Zealand and I met this ordinary Tibetan monk who was living at the center. He was a Tonka painter. And he was starting to, and he had all these pictures on the computer of his village and he's showing me his village and then he goes, oh, that's, you know, this life mother and that's last life mother and sister. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:56 Highlight the passage at 1:13:56

1:14:14 And I'm like, wait, wait, what? And it turns out in his past life, he was a little boy who was the little boy of another villager in his small village, like 20 homes. And he died in an accident as a young boy, was reborn. In the life he was now, when he was a little boy, he kept walking to this family's house, and then when he got, like, he kept kind of going in the direction and wanting to go to this family's house, when he got old enough to talk, he started talking about a horse that they'd had that had died before he was born in the present life that there's no way he would have known. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14:14

1:14:49 About this horse and some other brother or sister that died. And so the past life family completely accepted him as the rebirth of their son who had died. And he had a relationship with both families and he's showing me these pictures of when this Lama came and he's like, oh look, this is past life family, past life sister. We all sat together and then he sat with the present life family and it was just completely accepted that he had these two families. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:49 Highlight the passage at 1:14:49

1:15:15 You know, one from the past life and one. So it wasn't even like he was some like High Lama. He was just sort of this, you know, ordinary Tibetan monk, but because of his karmic connection. And that kind of gets to that thing too. We're reborn. If we're not doing it by volition, you know, often reborn around the people that we have karmic connections from past lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:15 Highlight the passage at 1:15:15

1:15:37 So that's why often it could be in the same village or something like that, even if you're not in control of it. Maybe two more questions and then we'll carry on with Karma. I was wondering if any of your teachers in the past have ever spoken on their view of, to take a really extreme example, something like a Mother Teresa in karmic seats, who is not a follower of Buddhism and its path, and yet has this incredible effect on the people and the world around her. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:37 Highlight the passage at 1:15:37

1:16:08 Tremendous karmic potential there, but not a Buddhist. Is that something that they toy with? Oh no, it's completely explicit. When they hear about these beings and Jesus and Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, they go bodhisattva, who are these beings that get reborn, take rebirth willingly to benefit other beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:08 Highlight the passage at 1:16:08

1:16:29 And there's no question in their mind when they hear about it, they're like, of course. A bodhisattva doesn't have to be reborn as a Buddhist. That's no rule. It could be the penguin. It could be anybody. You know, they'll take whatever form is most beneficial. And so when these Tibetan lamas hear about these, you know, people outside of their culture, it's just really obvious to them that they're these great... Report an error in the passage at 1:16:29 Highlight the passage at 1:16:29

1:16:51 It's interesting because they reach people that they wouldn't if they were in a Tibetan culture, if they were in a Buddhist culture. Oh, absolutely. You know, it's interesting. I had this dream once a while ago. And in this dream, I was someplace, it was kind of like Bajrapani Institute, like there was a stupa in this big forest and then there was a teaching and it was the former Pabanka Rinpoche who was teaching, like go figure, you know, and I'm at this teaching and at a certain point, like I stood up. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:51 Highlight the passage at 1:16:51

1:17:19 To see who's in the front row, because usually it's like a couple of rows of, you know, reincarnate lamas, like when His Holiness the Dalai Lama teaches. And I stood up and I looked and it was like Einstein and Bono and Bob Marley and Madonna. And in this dream I'm like, well, yeah, if you're a great bodhisattva and you want to reach millions of people, would you be born as some Tibetan guy in some river valley or would you be Bono? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:19 Highlight the passage at 1:17:19

1:17:45 And like write all these songs about... You know, human rights, like it's obvious, of course, you would be reborn in a form that you can reach as many people as possible. So I think it's completely, yeah, completely possible. Maybe one more question in the back. You've been waiting patiently and then we'll get back to karma and then we'll have more questions because I want to do a little bit more before we have our break. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:45 Highlight the passage at 1:17:45

1:18:08 Yeah. Yeah, my questions are usually about more common sense things because that's what I have a hard time with. Yeah. And I was remembering as you were speaking a situation at Rajaphani many years ago where there was a coffee table and Life magazine with a cover of a little girl who had two heads. Oh, I remember that one. Do you remember that? Rubina was really into that. Well, there was... She was. I was sitting at the coffee table having my coffee and one nun walked in and said, Wow, look at that. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:08 Highlight the passage at 1:18:08

1:18:46 She really is one of those multi-headed deities. You know, there she is. How beautiful, how fortunate, how awesome, you know. Then another man walked in and I'm finished with my cup now and she says, oh, terrible karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:46 Highlight the passage at 1:18:46

1:19:06 So for me it was like this big karma teaching. Who's there to judge karma? Who is there to honestly judge anything at all? Unless you're enlightened. And it just left me in silence. That's such a perfect example. Is it this wonderful emanation body of a holy being or is it some horrible disaster? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:06 Highlight the passage at 1:19:06

1:19:31 So I just sat with that, tried to not create any negative karma with my own mind at that point. But then recently I met a teacher who, when she teaches, she beats the students. And for me, I immediately thought, you better stop that. And I asked her to stop and she said, you know, I know better because I... Report an error in the passage at 1:19:31 Highlight the passage at 1:19:31

1:19:56 I'm stopping their negative karma. They're bad students. And so my common sense is to stop someone who's beating someone. It's just, I don't have to make that complicated. That's my common sense. And yet, if it's a teacher, I freeze. And then I get confused. And I wish I didn't. But that's what happens. And so there's this moment. There's a lag. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:56 Highlight the passage at 1:19:56

1:20:21 I default to my common sense, but first I take refuge. You better help me here because I might make a big mistake by stopping this. So I just wondered about your views about that. You know, and I think, and it is hard because we don't know. I mean, unless you're clairvoyant, you have no idea what level anyone is and there can be these things that are somehow beneficial to the person and we have no way of knowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:21 Highlight the passage at 1:20:21

1:20:47 But I think... Also, if we think that, we could get completely paralyzed. Is that person mugging some little old lady on the street, a Buddha trying to teach her a lesson? We have no way of knowing. I mean, quite possible, and yet I think we need to act conventionally on the basis of what our limited wisdom says is right and wrong, and not judge. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:47 Highlight the passage at 1:20:47

1:21:11 Hold the possibility. Like say, it looks to me like some kind of harm is happening, some kind of harm is taking place, I'm going to do what I can to stop it, but also holding always the possibility that we don't know what's going on. I mean, it may be that any kind of situation like that really is some kind of enlightened activity, even though it's hard for us to understand how it could be. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:11 Highlight the passage at 1:21:11

1:21:36 But of course there are these stories in the past of... Like Talopa and the way he treated his disciple Naropa. However, I've heard His Holiness the Dalai Lama say, Naropa was already such a highly realized being. He saw that, what we would call abuse as enlightened activity. He could transform it in his mind. His Holiness said, most of us can't. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:36 Highlight the passage at 1:21:36

1:21:58 So we depend on teachers to conventionally behave properly. Because that's what works for our minds. But I think... In cases like that it's important, yeah, do what you can to intervene and stop something if it seems that harm is taking place, but without judgment and always holding. It's possible, you know, that something else is going on. But like I say, if we stop ourselves from acting, then we don't draw the line anywhere. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:58 Highlight the passage at 1:21:58

1:22:28 And anybody walking down the street kicking their dog and you don't intervene because who knows what it is. When whereas that's true, still I think we have to act. And then those kind of situations for me really motivate me to try and get my act together and get the kind of wisdom that really knows the difference. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:28 Highlight the passage at 1:22:28

1:22:46 I mean, the frustration I feel in situations like that when I feel like I really don't know what's going on and it creates confusion for me, makes me just feel like, wow, if I were already... You know, clairvoyant, I would know if I were an omniscient being, I would know exactly what to do. So sometimes I think those frustrating, confusing situations can actually, in a way, work in our favor to motivate us on the path. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:46 Highlight the passage at 1:22:46

1:23:12 But that's a great, yeah, that's a great question. But that's kind of what I've come to. Yeah, you act based on convention and withhold judgment and be open to the possibility that you don't know what's going on. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:12 Highlight the passage at 1:23:12

1:23:28 Okay. Let's see. Where are we? Maybe we need to take a break. We're about halfway through the afternoon. Yeah, let's take another break for about 15 minutes. It seems like we just started, doesn't it? Another little 15-minute break and then we'll come back and carry on with more details about karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:28 Highlight the passage at 1:23:28

1:23:52 Okay, we could just make it the ten-day course. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:52 Highlight the passage at 1:23:52

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:24:35 Any questions while we're waiting for the... You had your hand up for about 20 minutes, didn't you? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:35 Highlight the passage at 1:24:35

1:24:46 Okay, I have a question about killing, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:46 Highlight the passage at 1:24:46

1:24:55 I have always been the type of person that, you know, I've had a lot of animals and horses and cats and dogs and a menagerie. And I've always been the type that if any of my animals were suffering with debilitating illness or were nearing the end of their life but were in pain and suffering, that I always euthanize them. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:55 Highlight the passage at 1:24:55

1:25:24 Because in my mind, it's my responsibility. As their steward to do what's in their best interest. And they don't understand their suffering. They just know they are. And they're just in pain. And so now, you know, with all this, you know, you don't kill anything. I'm wondering what are the ramifications and is there a mitigating factor in the motivation behind asking them to be killed? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:24 Highlight the passage at 1:25:24

1:26:00 I think, you know, from the Buddhist view, euthanasia, the bottom line is, doesn't necessarily stop the suffering, right? Because there's other realms that could be worse. So you do, you know, we do that, and of course the kind of Western scientific view is, of course you'd be a monster to let your poor dog suffer if it's got cancer or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:00 Highlight the passage at 1:26:00

1:26:23 Put it out of its misery. But of course from the Buddhist view, it isn't at all. Putting it out of its misery necessarily, it could be sending it to a realm of worse suffering. There's also a view, if it's sort of expending that karma by being sick, better to let it just play itself out. If you interrupt and end its life before that karma is completely expended, it could ripen into a negative rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:23 Highlight the passage at 1:26:23

1:26:55 And one of the things is... We say that the state of mind at the time of death is very important in terms of the next rebirth. So especially if an animal dies in a lot of pain and anguish, then it could mean that the next rebirth. You know, so the main point is it's not the end and it could be worse. So it sort of takes away that motivation of compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:55 Highlight the passage at 1:26:55

1:27:18 I had a cat that had kidney cancer. You know, the vet, when she gave me the diagnosis, I'm sure, I mean, I wasn't a numb then, so it wasn't obvious what my beliefs were, I'm sure expected me to just say, okay, pretty god if it's misery, you know, because she kind of goes, well, there's no hope, he's just got weeks to live. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:18 Highlight the passage at 1:27:18

1:27:36 It was very hard, but I believe really strongly in taking care of him. It really motivated my practice. You know, she taught me how to give him subcutaneous fluid. Chogky was there, she remembers my cat, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:36 Highlight the passage at 1:27:36

1:27:50 Subcutaneous fluid, I fed it. Up to the day it died, it was purring in my lap. I did all this practice. I would take it to all these pujas in a box and it would sit in my lap and we'd do like Tara Puja. I mean, it was great. It really motivated me to practice. In fact, before it died, I did this whole retreat with it in my lap. It died really peacefully and then we did all the necessary prayers. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:50 Highlight the passage at 1:27:50

1:28:12 prayers for it at the time of death, and I felt really good about that. And I gave it pain medication. Like, that's fine. I mean, medicating for pain is no problem at all. There's no problem medicating for pain, but that's basically the Buddhist. view on euthanasia, if it really did stop their suffering, that would be one thing, but from that perspective, it doesn't necessarily. So you just, you know, mostly take care of the animal, it as comfortable as you can, do as many practices, try and give it as many as you can. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:12 Highlight the passage at 1:28:12

1:28:58 You know, that's our approach when we have a pet. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:58 Highlight the passage at 1:28:58

1:29:04 Okay, so continuing with karma, we have four components. For a complete karmic action, and by complete I mean that you'll experience the complete result. We'll get to what the results are in a minute. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:04 Highlight the passage at 1:29:04

1:29:20 So four components for a complete karmic action, and the first is the basis or the object that your action is in relation to. For example, we'll use killing karma, and I'm sorry it's kind of gross, but it's just a real obvious example. So let's say that you're a hunter. And you're going out to hunt deer. The object or the basis would be the deer. That's the object of your, you know, shooting with a basis or an object. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:20 Highlight the passage at 1:29:20

1:29:50 And then there needs to be an intention that's got three components to it. Motivation is one. So you need to be doing it on purpose. You need to have a motivation to do it. You have to have a recognition of the object. So for example, for killing, If you shot something accidentally, you were cleaning your gun, you know, or you're aiming, you're doing target practice and you're aiming at tin cans and you happen to shoot the deer that's walking past, you didn't have a recognition of the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:50 Highlight the passage at 1:29:50

1:30:24 So you need to have a motivation, recognition of the object, and then there needs to be some delusion mixed in with it. Some delusion. And by delusion I mean ignorance, attachment, aversion, any one of those mental afflictions. So some delusion mixed in with it. So that's the component of intention. And then the action is the actual act. You don't just think about it. You actually engage in some action. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:24 Highlight the passage at 1:30:24

1:30:52 So again, for killing karma, the action would be some action by a weapon, by poison. Something like that where you actually engage in the act of killing and then the completion has two parts too. You actually are able to kill the object that you intended to and you have some feeling of satisfaction about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:52 Highlight the passage at 1:30:52

1:31:16 So completion is both completion of the act and then some feeling of satisfaction that you actually did what you intended to. So you can see. Not all actions are complete karmas. They have to have all of this other stuff involved too. For example, what happens if you plot to kill some animal and you even shoot and it misses? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:16 Highlight the passage at 1:31:16

1:31:47 You don't actually kill the animal so there's no completion. So that wouldn't be a complete karmic action of killing. It could be another kind of... Complete karmic action, but it wouldn't be a complete karmic action of killing. So we can see that it's actually quite intentional and difficult to have a complete karmic action. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:47 Highlight the passage at 1:31:47

1:32:09 They say, even if you have regret when you're in the middle of the act, it's not complete. You pull the trigger and the bullet's going out of the gun, sorry again to be gross, and then you're like, oh no, what am I doing? I shouldn't do it. They say even then it's not a complete karmic act. So all of these four components have to be complete. So this gets into a lot of questions that we have. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:09 Highlight the passage at 1:32:09

1:32:37 What about accidental killing? And I remember one time it was one of those special days that you take one day vows, you know. So we're all in the meditation hall at Land of Medicine Buddha taking these special vows on a special practice day. And one of the special vows... We take his not to kill. I mean, a lot of us have vows not to kill anyway, but we take these extra special vows. So I'm all excited and we're going to have this whole practice day with Lama Zopa and I'm walking out of the meditation hall and it's still dark and I'm walking along and I hear this crash and I'm right next to Lama Zopa and I look down and it's rainy in Santa Cruz and I just stepped on a snail on the sidewalk. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:37 Highlight the passage at 1:32:37

1:33:21 I mean, the moments that you wish the ground would just open up and swallow you. So, the basis was there. There was a snail. The object was there. The intention, I didn't have the motivation to kill it. I didn't even, I had no recognition because I didn't even see it. You know, there was no delusion mixed in. The intention was completely missing. I didn't have any of those factors. The action, yeah, I did it. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:21 Highlight the passage at 1:33:21

1:33:51 I stepped on the snail, smashed it. The completion, 50-50. I did manage to kill the snail, but instead of being happy about it, I was totally horrified. Okay? Just horrified and embarrassed. And all those things. I think he came over and did some prayers. I mean, it was probably really good for the snail. You know, it was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to that snail because he sent it to some pure realm or something because he's, you know, kind of standing over it for like 45 minutes while I'm standing there, totally embarrassed. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:51 Highlight the passage at 1:33:51

1:34:24 Yeah, you kill anything in front of Lama Zopa, it's guaranteed. Go straight up from there. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:24 Highlight the passage at 1:34:24

1:34:35 Best time to kill something right in front of Lama Zopa. Sorry, bad joke. But you can see for something like an accidental, like an accident, wouldn't be a complete killing karma. It doesn't mean, however, you're not going to experience any result at all. It just means the results that correspond to complete killing karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:35 Highlight the passage at 1:34:35

1:34:58 Isn't going to be there. It doesn't mean you're off the hook because you shoot the deer and then you're like, oh, I'm so sorry, halfway through. It doesn't mean you're not going to experience anything. It just means you won't have the complete result. So those are the four components of a complete karmic action. So any questions about those? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:58 Highlight the passage at 1:34:58

1:35:23 You know, it's interesting. I was teaching in Bogaya and I had this friend of mine who was a lawyer doing the meditations for my class and he was sitting in on it. And he said these are some of the factors in a court of law that make the difference between the different levels. He said it totally exactly corresponds to what's going on in the law book. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:23 Highlight the passage at 1:35:23

1:35:46 So the question I have is if for whatever reason you're not able to complete a karmic action completely, so the karma that results incompletely. mitigated for you now with what the deer or the snail the Yeah, for sure. Okay. So it's a result. of karma for the snail and it's just starting the ball rolling for me right like it's sort of for that being that's experiencing the results of their karma and then I just created a new cause that I'm going to have to experience in the future yeah but for that snail for sure that was a result of some karmic action So it's always intertwined, you know, and it's interesting, and people say things like, Report an error in the passage at 1:35:46 Highlight the passage at 1:35:46

1:36:55 Like, how do you accrue karma if the other being had the karma for you to harm it? How come you get karma? And it's just complicated. You know, it doesn't mean you're off the hook. Yeah, sure, it means that any being that you harm, yeah, they have the karma to be harmed by you or someone else, but it doesn't mean that you're scot-free just because you're an agent of karmic retribution for that snail. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:55 Highlight the passage at 1:36:55

1:37:21 Yeah, yeah, so it's like that. So it's sort of overlapping. It's really interesting. You know, one person's karmic ripening is another person's karmic causation. You know, and it's always like this sort of domino effect like that. Yeah. Yeah. Personal question. How many hours of purification do you do for that stepping on this nail? Report an error in the passage at 1:37:21 Highlight the passage at 1:37:21

1:37:45 Oh, you know, that's really interesting. I think I'm still paying for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:45 Highlight the passage at 1:37:45

1:37:52 It's very interesting. When we talk about purification, we'll get into that a little bit. Because the Lamas say, you know, it's important to, like if you have some big karma to purify, it's important to decide, you know, what amount of practice you're going to do for that karma, and then after you're done, feel really strongly, okay, it worked, you know, something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:52 Highlight the passage at 1:37:52

1:38:15 Like, for example, a lot of students come to me because they got an abortion, you know, earlier in their life. Mostly women. It was interesting. Only one man has ever come to me because he's been involved in an abortion and wanted to know how to purify. But usually there's a guy involved somewhere. I don't know why only one of them came. You know, usually it's the women. And I've heard Lama say, for example, a Vajrasattva retreat of 100,000 mantras. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:15 Highlight the passage at 1:38:15

1:38:40 They've prescribed for that and then said, OK, be really strong in the end, really feel like, OK, that's finished. Because that's a big part of purification, too. I've done the purification to feel really strongly, like I've finished. So it's not this thing that you're paying for it for the rest of your life and kind of dragging around this guilt, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:40 Highlight the passage at 1:38:40

1:38:59 And it's hard to tell exactly what, that's why it's helpful to get the help of somebody like Lama Zopa to tell you, you know, for some kind of big, big karmic purification. I mean, obviously for some, a killing, even an accident or one, it wouldn't just be one round of 21 mantras. You know, it would be something more substantial than that. But then it's important after you're finished whatever you've decided to feel confident. But even after, let's say, you set some time for that one, Report an error in the passage at 1:38:59 Highlight the passage at 1:38:59

1:39:33 You know, you can still do the general killing in many past lifetimes and so forth, right? Yeah, they say when you do purification practices, it's good to think of specific things, if there's some heavy negativity that you need to purify. Also be thinking of habitual things that you just kind of want to purify because you keep engaging in them. And then of course you say, and all the other stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:33 Highlight the passage at 1:39:33

1:39:57 Because we don't know what we've done in past lives. We're only conscious of certain things. we've done in this life but you know to target it to specific things as much as possible because then it's very powerful but then also to say yeah Report an error in the passage at 1:39:57 Highlight the passage at 1:39:57

1:40:12 Okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:40:12 Highlight the passage at 1:40:12

1:40:17 so the four components of the complete karmic action and we'll look at these in relation to the ten non-virtues. So it'll become more clear when we look at the ten non-virtues. And then we have karmic results or karmic effects. And for each complete karmic action, we have four results possible. So we have what's called the ripened result, and that refers to the rebirth caused by that karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:17 Highlight the passage at 1:40:17

1:40:44 So for example, if you engage in killing in a very heavy way, sadistically, repeatedly, It could create the cause for rebirth in, for example, a hell realm, some realm characterized by extreme suffering. So that would actually be the next realm, you know, in your next life or some subsequent life caused by that karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:44 Highlight the passage at 1:40:44

1:41:07 So the rebirth state. And then we have experiences congruent with the cause. And what this means is what we usually think about when we think about karma. That what goes around comes around. You experience something similar to the cause that you created. So for example, for a killing karma, some threat to your life, illnesses, short lifespan, things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:07 Highlight the passage at 1:41:07

1:41:35 So results or experiences similar or congruent with the cause. So that's what we usually think of as sort of the boomerang thing. It comes back and you experience a similar thing. And then we have actions. Similar to the cause. And this is the worst from a Buddhist perspective. So what this is saying is, you have a habit of doing that thing over and over and over again. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:35 Highlight the passage at 1:41:35

1:42:02 You build up a bad habit, which is both the result and a new cause for you, right? So for example, I talked about my negative speech karma. So every time I engage in that negative speech, it's a result of... Having done it in the past, and it also is a cause of more karma, of all four of these karmic results. So from a Buddhist perspective, this is the worst because it's not finished. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:02 Highlight the passage at 1:42:02

1:42:32 It's just starting a whole other cycle, you know, having that habit energy. And I think that, you know, there's often when you look at small children and the differences between children, even in the same family, you can see how this is manifested. You know, I remember when I was growing up, I had this older brother and he was always kind of catching animals. And I mean, he didn't do that thing like tearing the legs off spiders. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:32 Highlight the passage at 1:42:32

1:42:57 He didn't go that far. But he was kind of shooting birds with BB guns and catching animals and all this stuff. And I would always like wake up in the middle of the night and go out in my pajamas and let them go. Like he was, you know, we lived in Florida for a while and he was always catching these possums. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:57 Highlight the passage at 1:42:57

1:43:11 And then like staking them out in the backyard with no food. And I was like eight years old and I go out in the middle of the night, you know, and with a big towel and like grab the possum and take it back to the woods in the middle of the night. You know, not that I was so great and my brother was so horrible, but it just shows, you know, some kind of habit to do these actions that came from, we grew up in the same family, same genetics, all that stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:11 Highlight the passage at 1:43:11

1:43:35 Really different in terms of the way we felt about animals especially. The actions, similar to the cause, which is the worst because it means you're going to do it again. And then the environmental result. And this is the actual environment that you live in. And these are a little bit difficult to figure out. These are a little bit more cryptic, the environmental results. But we'll look at some of these. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:35 Highlight the passage at 1:43:35

1:44:00 These are pretty easy to figure out. The environmental results is a little bit more difficult. So these are the four results of any given karmic action, if it's complete. And there's correlations from scripture. So any questions about these four? I know I'm going kind of fast and hitting you with a lot of information, but you've got all of this in your notes. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:00 Highlight the passage at 1:44:00

1:44:27 Do we have the quizzes yet? We might get to that. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:27 Highlight the passage at 1:44:27

1:44:38 Yeah. Wait a minute. Let me tell you if you have to rush it. Hang on. Hang on. Let me just check. We might not need it there. I think it would be all right. Yeah. Go ahead. We might get there. Okay. Oh, could you do me a favor? Hold over the last two columns so only the first two columns are shown. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:38 Highlight the passage at 1:44:38

1:45:09 All right, so let's talk about the ten non-virtues. Now, this doesn't cover all of Buddhist morality, but these are major categories. So this is kind of major categories that then there's a lot of more detail. For example, in the monastic vows, fully ordained nuns have something like 365 vows. You know, apart from the things that just have to do with sort of protocol and, you know, behavior and manners, most of them, you know, fall under one of these categories. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:09 Highlight the passage at 1:45:09

1:45:48 For example, there's a lot of monastic gods that have to do with how we deal with our possessions, what kind of possessions we're allowed to have, you know, having to have things offered to us by lay people. So it sort of fits under this, you know, improper. Acquisition of possessions, things like that. So you can pretty much look at this as a major umbrella of a lot of the main Buddhist ethics. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:48 Highlight the passage at 1:45:48

1:46:14 And then there's more details. So there's three of body, four of speech and three of mind. So let's go through these and talk about them in terms of the four components that make a complete karmic action. So killing. We talked about killing before. The object is either a person or an animal, even down to the smallest insect. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:14 Highlight the passage at 1:46:14

1:46:39 In Buddhism we consider that killing animals, even insects, is also killing karma. And I think that's different from probably the Christian view of like the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are all there for us to use or whatever like that. But to actually kill... An animal, even an insect or a bird, is considered killing karma. Now, you can do it either yourself, with weapons, poison, so forth, or you can get somebody else to do it for you. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:39 Highlight the passage at 1:46:39

1:47:13 According to Buddhism, it's still a complete killing karma if you ask somebody else to do it for you. So you hire a hitman. To do it for you. You still get not only the complete karma of killing, but you get the karma of making somebody else do it for you. This has big implications for somebody like an army general, isn't it? Ordering all these troops to engage in killing. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:13 Highlight the passage at 1:47:13

1:47:39 You know, from Buddhist terminology, heavy, heavy, heavy negative karma. Was that your question, Michael, or you got something? Report an error in the passage at 1:47:39 Highlight the passage at 1:47:39

1:47:51 I just want to know about that steak I eat that somebody killed for me. How does that affect me? Yeah. And that's interesting, the whole question of vegetarianism. According to the laws of karma, you don't get a killing karma for that unless you tell the farmer, I'm hungry. Look at that nice fat cow. You know, why don't you kill it for my... Report an error in the passage at 1:47:51 Highlight the passage at 1:47:51

1:48:16 Dinner, something like that. If you go to the Safeway and buy it out of the meat rack or whatever it is, it's not killing karma because you didn't ask somebody to kill it for you. However, many of us believe that even that indirect cause and supply and demand is a little too close for comfort. You know, according to Buddhism, you're not going to get the complete result of a Killing karma with all the components complete unless you ask the person to kill it for you. However, many of us choose to just bow out of that whole arena and not even create an indirect cause for animals to be killed. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:16 Highlight the passage at 1:48:16

1:48:59 And it's interesting, in the monastic vows, vegetarianism isn't prescribed for the monastics. We're supposed to just... Accept whatever is given into our begging goal. Like in the time of Lord Buddha when the monastics just went from door to door, there's this whole protocol. You stand there with your eyes lowered, whatever they put in. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:59 Highlight the passage at 1:48:59

1:49:19 You don't do this thing of, oh, that, you know, doll was really nice. Could I have some more of that? And, you know, I'm getting kind of tubby, like hold off on the rice. You just sort of stand there. The only thing that you're allowed to refuse is meat that you know is killed for you directly. Like if it was just... Report an error in the passage at 1:49:19 Highlight the passage at 1:49:19

1:49:36 you know lunch made for the family and you happen to come along and they put some in your bowl you don't have to eat it but you have to accept it but the only thing you're allowed to refuse and his holiness the dalai lama said once he was staying at some farm in india and he saw somebody butchering a chicken that morning and he knew it had been killed for his lunch and so he didn't eat it because he knew it had been killed So, to clarify, on the one... Report an error in the passage at 1:49:36 Highlight the passage at 1:49:36

1:50:06 Outlook is the meat is there regardless because you didn't contribute to it. But it can also be said that you're perpetuating the act of it happening because you're creating a demand. But, you know, like I said, that's a more subtle way. No Buddhist master would say that you get killing karma for buying meat from the Safeway that wasn't killed personally for you. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:06 Highlight the passage at 1:50:06

1:50:28 But some of us feel like, you know, it's just sort of like other... Ethical choices that we make, you don't even want to be part of that whole chain of supply and demand like that. But it's not, strictly speaking, killing karma unless you say, please, I'm hungry, please kill that animal for me. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:28 Highlight the passage at 1:50:28

1:50:51 So for that, could you regard it as, you're not getting the complete karma due to the killing, but you're getting a very, very incomplete karma. Yeah, and most pastors won't even say that. Just a tiny little bit. But what they do say is, if you're going to eat meat, they say that there's certain mantras that you can say and that you should be really aware and make prayers, you know, for the benefit of the animal. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:51 Highlight the passage at 1:50:51

1:51:16 It's sort of like Native Americans did, like they would kill the deer and then make all these prayers and apologize and do this whole thing and do it really consciously. So I think most Lamas, they won't really talk about the amount of karma you get by... Eating meat, but they do say, if you have to eat meat, at least try and do it really consciously and say these mantras and have an awareness, at least, of what you're doing. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:16 Highlight the passage at 1:51:16

1:51:40 You know, and there's these mantras even for eating meat in the FPMT prayer book. For example, the Soliness the Dalai Lama tried to be a vegetarian for a number of years and got really anemic and then his doctor said he had to eat meat and he really regretted having to because he really... He talks to the Tibetans about being vegetarian. He said, when we lived in Tibet, we didn't have much of a choice. Vegetables don't grow there. But he said, now we live in India. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:40 Highlight the passage at 1:51:40

1:52:06 You know, kind of there's no excuse for not being a vegetarian. And a lot of the younger Lamas are vegetarian. You know, the older ones that grew up in Tibet, it's too hard for them to change. But a lot of the younger ones are, you know. So there's got to be something there. You know, even though it's not directly coming from it. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:06 Highlight the passage at 1:52:06

1:52:22 Okay. So then you can do the action either yourself, get somebody else to do it for you. You know, the motivation is there. The delusion could be almost anything. It could be aversion, right, if you're killing out of some kind of anger, hatred. It could be attachment. It could be jealousy. I mean, you can think that the delusion could actually be any number of the different afflictive emotions. And then the recognition of the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:22 Highlight the passage at 1:52:22

1:52:53 So again, if you engage in some accidental killing, that doesn't count as a full karmic action. And then the completion, the object has to die before you do. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:53 Highlight the passage at 1:52:53

1:53:05 So, if you're in a fight with somebody and you die, you stab each other. I mean, this isn't going to happen to anybody in this room, but let's just say, hypothetically, right? And you die before they do. They die. But you die before they do. You don't get a complete killing karma, even though you cause their death. Because just think about it. If you see their dead body lying there and you're happy, what kind of imprint does that make in your mind versus not having that? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:05 Highlight the passage at 1:53:05

1:53:38 Because remember, part of the completion is not just that you succeed, but then you have some sense of happiness. And again, we're just talking about these imprints. In your mind, it's not like gods up in the sky keeping track of the white pile of chips over there and the black pile. It's like imprints in our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:38 Highlight the passage at 1:53:38

1:53:56 So if the object dies before you do, you get the complete killing karma. So what about suicide? Is that killing or not? But the object doesn't die before you do. So it's interesting, there's a twist. I'm feeling kind enough. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:56 Highlight the passage at 1:53:56

1:54:15 Suicide isn't, even though it's considered definitely to be a non-virtue, definitely negative from many perspectives. In Buddhism, it's not considered a complete killing karma because the object doesn't die before you, because you're the object. So it's a little twist there. So the imprint in your mind is different, even though definitely the imprint in your mind is quite negative from a couple of perspectives. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:15 Highlight the passage at 1:54:15

1:54:40 We've seen how rare this precious human rebirth is. To waste it, to take your own life when you have this incredible opportunity. So sad, incredibly sad. Also we've said the state of mind at the time of death is very important for determining the next rebirth. Most people who commit suicide are in an intense, negative state of mind, depression, you know, sadness, grief. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:40 Highlight the passage at 1:54:40

1:55:05 So their next rebirth would most likely be quite negative. So from those perspectives, suicide is seen as a negative action. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:05 Highlight the passage at 1:55:05

1:55:16 So stealing. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:16 Highlight the passage at 1:55:16

1:55:25 There's also, like when you do the confession prayers, there's the rejoicing in, let's say, a killing. Would that be considered, that would also be an incomplete crime? Let's, oh, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:25 Highlight the passage at 1:55:25

1:55:39 Like how many people in the world may have... Thought that Saddam Hussein was so horrible and that they were so happy that God is due or somebody in prison. And people like all around the world are rejoicing. Yeah, that would definitely be a negative, negative imprint. It's like part of killing, but that would be kind of incomplete. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:39 Highlight the passage at 1:55:39

1:56:04 Yeah, definitely wouldn't be a killing karma. But it would be a negative imprint, but it wouldn't at all be a killing karma. It wouldn't be killing at all. You didn't, you know, order somebody to kill him. It would just kind of be half, I keep pointing, but it's the previous one. It would kind of be half of the last one. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:04 Highlight the passage at 1:56:04

1:56:21 It would be half, it would be that feeling of satisfaction. In fact, I heard Lama Zopa, I was in retreat so I didn't see this, but apparently they showed it when Saddam Hussein was killed on TV. Lama Zopa was totally horrified because he said, created the cause for so many people to see that and be happy and such negative imprints from that. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:21 Highlight the passage at 1:56:21

1:56:41 You know, so definitely he was just like, oh, shocked that they would show something like that and that so many people would rejoice. But I think it would only be half of that last four components, so it wouldn't be a complete pain. Because I know when you do the confession prayer, they always include... Report an error in the passage at 1:56:41 Highlight the passage at 1:56:41

1:56:59 Having done, asked others to do, or rejoiced in doing. Rejoiced in doing, yeah. And that's kind of to cover the imprint that's made when you're happy about non-virtue, because it's still an imprint in your mind, even though it wouldn't be the complete karma of that. Let's see, somebody, Gina, did you ask? The Report an error in the passage at 1:56:59 Highlight the passage at 1:56:59

1:57:20 prayer Janet was talking about, but I was thinking that it might lead to a non-virtual remind. Yeah, and maliciousness, we'll get to that, because we've got this one, maliciousness, which, you know, it could be a complete maliciousness karma, which is wishing someone else harm, basically, you know, and it could be a complete maliciousness, and some of the mental ones are incomplete physical work, but covetousness can be an incomplete stealing karma, yeah, and that's a good point, Gina, so an incomplete killing karma could be a complete... Report an error in the passage at 1:57:20 Highlight the passage at 1:57:20

1:57:57 Wishing someone harm karma. Okay, let's see, so stealing. Oh, so stealing was the next one. And then stealing is basically taking anything that belongs to someone else. Okay? Not just robbing banks. Taking anything that's not offered to you that belongs to someone else that they wouldn't mind losing it. Okay? And again, just like killing, you can do it yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:57 Highlight the passage at 1:57:57

1:58:27 You can have somebody else do it for you, like your accountant can steal for you, and you still get the karma for that. The action can be by, you know, something like robbery or by deceit, by cheating on your taxes. You know, there's any number of ways that you can do it. And then it's complete when you feel like, yes, it's mine. You know, whatever it is that you wish to possess, when you have a feeling it's in your possession. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:27 Highlight the passage at 1:58:27

1:58:56 And you feel this feeling, yes, it's mine. You know, that's mine. Now, what about borrowing things and not returning them? Like all those books that you borrowed from your ex-boyfriend and it's been six years and you're not even speaking to him again and they're still on your bookshelf. Is that stealing? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:56 Highlight the passage at 1:58:56

1:59:15 Only when you develop the state of mind that says, oh, he's forgotten all about it. I don't have to return them. They're mine now. Then that would be stealing. It's not terrific. I remember when I was first studying this, I went to my bookshelf, got all these little padded envelopes, pulled all those books back and like mailed them back to all those people I borrowed them from. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:15 Highlight the passage at 1:59:15

1:59:37 You know, so it's not good to keep things forever, but it only becomes complete stealing karma when you decide it's mine. I've never have to return it, it's mine. Now, what we have to be really, really careful about these days, copying CDs. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:37 Highlight the passage at 1:59:37

1:59:56 Software, DVDs. And the Lama say, follow the copyright laws in your country. So if when you start the DVD, that federal warning flashes up, follow that advice, you know, and you'll save yourself from stealing karma. Because that's the thing that we really have to be careful about. When I was getting the... Report an error in the passage at 1:59:56 Highlight the passage at 1:59:56

2:00:16 The commentary on my monastic vows, I remember the monk that was teaching us says, it's this one that you probably want to break, but it's this one you probably will break. You know, by copying software and things like that. So we have to be really, really careful. I was just teaching in Colombia, in Bogota. It was so interesting. We got in this whole discussion. And then this one man says this rhetorical question. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:16 Highlight the passage at 2:00:16

2:00:44 Who doesn't have bootleg software on their computer? And I was like the only one who raised my hand. This woman said, oh, but it's for my kids and, you know, I can't afford it. And I was like, buy it, buy it, buy it. You have to. Okay, because that is stealing, Carmen. We have to follow the copyright laws of the country that we're in. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:44 Highlight the passage at 2:00:44

2:01:05 So that's something we have to be really careful about. Because you might look at stealing and, I don't rob banks, I don't shoplift. I'm off the hook, but you have to be really careful about all of that copyright infringement. What about in cases where you think laws might be unreasonable or prices or some people monopolize something and they're trying to take advantage of people? Report an error in the passage at 2:01:05 Highlight the passage at 2:01:05

2:01:29 Yeah, protest and write letters and try and change the laws, but don't break them. For sure, if you think something is unfair, do your utmost to protest. It's interesting, I had a friend in the mid-80s, and she was actually protesting the U.S. involvement in Nicaragua and the whole Contra thing. And so she didn't pay her taxes, but instead of taking the money, she donated it to a cause that she believed in. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:29 Highlight the passage at 2:01:29

2:01:57 And she would file her tax return and include a letter saying, okay, I owe you this amount of money, but I know that you're going to use like 93 % of it for the defense budget, and I don't believe in that. But instead of taking the money, she donated it to a cause. And I thought that was really good. She was protesting. It wasn't, you know, I'm not even sure about that in terms of Buddhist dealing, but at least she wasn't getting the profit. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:57 Highlight the passage at 2:01:57

2:02:24 It wasn't like with the motivation for her of gain. She was just protesting. And I think things like that are fine, you know, if you protest. What you feel like is injustice, but you don't just say, oh, Sony is really rich and it won't matter. I actually had this rock star in this class last November in Bogaya, some British rock star. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:24 Highlight the passage at 2:02:24

2:02:45 And when we got to this point, I had never heard of the band he was in, but everybody else did and they were all impressed and I was like, I don't know. And then he said, like, as a musician, how much... The recording industry and everything had lost from people copying CDs and he said, no, it is really real, you know, that they have lost so much money and they're actually quite struggling because of that. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:45 Highlight the passage at 2:02:45

2:03:09 I completely believe in protest, you know, and there are vehicles to do that, but by just stealing things is not the right way. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:09 Highlight the passage at 2:03:09

2:03:23 Only take when it's offered. Is this just for the monastic, part of the monastic vows? And I'll explain why. Because before I, every morning before I do my river supper prayers, I wake up, make some black tea, pour some milk. Wait, that's my roommate's milk. Did he offer to me or not? I mean, there's like so many little implications. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:23 Highlight the passage at 2:03:23

2:03:49 And I think it's really good to be explicit. They say when you're living with people that you have an arrangement to share things, like a married couple or something, that everything is in common, then it's fine, not stealing. I remember actually with Chogky. So we've been friends for so long and we were both starting to study Buddhism. And I would come stay at her apartment in San Francisco when there would be teachings. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:49 Highlight the passage at 2:03:49

2:04:13 And back then I had hair, you know. So I'd be in the shower and I'd forgotten my shampoo. And there's her bottle of shampoo. Sitting there, and before I started studying this, I would just take it. It was like, of course, she's my friend, like, what's the big deal? I got to this point of just padding out into the hall, dripping wet, hey, can I have some? Report an error in the passage at 2:04:13 Highlight the passage at 2:04:13

2:04:31 And then finally she got to the point, every time I'd come for the weekend, she'd go, look, there's the shampoo, the soap, the soy milk, the tea, it's all yours. And I think it's quite good to actually be explicit with those arrangements and not to make assumptions. Like if with your roommate, it would be good to talk about it and say, is it okay if I'm out of milk, if I take a little of yours and you can, you know, take some of mine? Report an error in the passage at 2:04:31 Highlight the passage at 2:04:31

2:04:55 At a subtler level, I mean, we wouldn't say that that would be stealing karma, but I think it is good to be quite mindful about that level of sort of making assumptions and just helping yourself to other people's. Even though we wouldn't say that that's stealing karma because she may not even notice or mind that it was gone. Yeah, Tina. Chogky wanted me to tell this story when I learned in karma class about this level of stealing karma and she used as the example like something I did very regularly which is just using office supplies in my office for personal use. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:55 Highlight the passage at 2:04:55

2:05:33 And so ever since I took the class, I was like, oh, I can't really do that anymore. I'm still working on long-distance phone calls, but for actual physical supplies. So I was doing something here. Gina, you've got to go after the long-distance phone calls, too. I'm sorry. All right. I shouldn't have said that out loud. Which Chad would have known because you're sharing them on the street. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:33 Highlight the passage at 2:05:33

2:05:55 Well, like a nun actually tells you. So I was doing something. On tape. All right. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:55 Highlight the passage at 2:05:55

2:06:03 My mom's going to miss me. I'm going to tell her it's all your fault. So I did something here for the center to put together a binder, and it was just this one plastic binder, and I thought, okay, normally I would just grab it from office supplies, but I thought, oh, I can't do that. So I actually asked our production person, and I said, you know, Angela, is it okay? I said, can I use one of the binders, and I'll pay you for it? Report an error in the passage at 2:06:03 Highlight the passage at 2:06:03

2:06:26 And she looked at me like I was insane. She just thought I had three heads, because she's like, yeah, it's okay, because we're so nice. And I think it's great to do that. I think it's awesome to get in the habit of doing that and it may make them think about their assumptions too. Because believe me, we're not enlightened because we're robbing banks and hitting people over the head and shooting people. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:26 Highlight the passage at 2:06:26

2:06:57 We're unenlightened because we're doing those small little things like taking a box of pencils from work and telling the little white lies. It's all of those little things. One of my friends calls it low-level radiation, right? And that's what kills you. It's not the big blast. It's just that small exposure to those little... Report an error in the passage at 2:06:57 Highlight the passage at 2:06:57

2:07:17 Tiny non-virtues that build up and that's what makes us unenlightened beings. I remember watching this movie a long time ago, it was this Robin Williams movie, What Dreams May Come or something like that. And it was so interesting from a Buddhist perspective because he went into a hell realm. And I remember there's one point where he's walking over people's faces and there are all these people kind of up to their neck in mud and they're all saying stuff like, oh I didn't mean to and I just took the box of pencils from work and like I didn't mean to hurt her feelings. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:17 Highlight the passage at 2:07:17

2:07:48 And I was just kind of like that's what hell realms are made of. And it was so interesting. All the people were saying those little things that we think are unimportant. And that's what builds up to create an unenlightened existence, you know, if not the big things that we're doing. So I think if we're really serious about our practice and if we're really serious about developing the realizations of the path, go for the low-level radiation on all of these things. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:48 Highlight the passage at 2:07:48

2:08:15 Sorry, Gina, including the launches and phone calls and the copying the software and all of that stuff. And ask about the roommate's milk. I mean, that's the level that we have to practice. If we're really going to make progress on the path. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:15 Highlight the passage at 2:08:15

2:08:34 We probably don't need the karma quizzes after all. Sorry. Sorry. So how do you do this and just not completely be overwhelmed to the point where you just go, oh, screw this. There's no possible way to do this. How do you start even? Target the big ones. And we'll see in the karmic quiz which ones of these rank high for us in terms of our karmic imprints. And that's where you start with. Because it's too impossible to think about everything all at once. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:34 Highlight the passage at 2:08:34

2:09:10 But you work on the ones that are the most problematic for you. And then when you start to make a lot of progress, like the worst bad habits. Like for me it was my divisive and harsh... And I started to do that weird schizophrenic thing of like saying good things right up. You know, and then after I felt like I really made some progress with that, I could go to something that wasn't so obvious. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:10 Highlight the passage at 2:09:10

2:09:34 So you start with the worst, worst things first. Because, yeah, you can't go around completely paralyzed like motivation, action, intention, you know. I mean, that's ridiculous. But you just, I mean, and we all know, and when you take the karma quiz, probably tomorrow morning, first thing, you'll know even more what kind of interests that you have. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:34 Highlight the passage at 2:09:34

2:09:55 So that's the way you do it. But be mindful of the very, you know, subtle level of this. Like the next one, sexual misconduct. This friend of mine, the same one that taught in New York, had a student that was experiencing this thing that... You know, always the garbage, she's living in Manhattan, it's summertime and the garbage truck keeps passing her street and not collecting the garbage. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:55 Highlight the passage at 2:09:55

2:10:20 And the garbage starts piling up and it's getting smelly and the rats are coming. And she goes to him, they're studying Carmen, she goes to him and said, what's going on here? You know, and they looked in the text and one of the environmental effects of sexual misconduct is a dirty, smelly environment. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:20 Highlight the passage at 2:10:20

2:10:40 And so he goes, okay, she was married, so he's like, you have affairs? No, I don't do anything like that. Okay, do you flirt with guys at parties? No, no, I don't do that at all. So they start going subtler and subtler and she rode the subway to work, it's New York, and it's like, so, do you check out guys in the subway on the way to work? Report an error in the passage at 2:10:40 Highlight the passage at 2:10:40

2:11:03 So it turned out at this very subtle level, you know, she had this habit. Right? Of sexual misconduct. She's not cheating on her husband. She's not doing it. But that very, very subtle level of just fantasizing about these cute guys in the subway on the way to work. And she thought that was fine. But it also showed that she had that imprint that was manifesting as that experience for her. So it's interesting. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:03 Highlight the passage at 2:11:03

2:11:28 You know, he would talk about these sort of concentric circles. And right in the middle is actually, you know, breaking the vow or doing one of these. And then there's other things that just get close to that, you know, and when we're really working on our morality in a subtle level, we have to be thinking about the widest level of those circles. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:28 Highlight the passage at 2:11:28

2:11:49 Yeah, very important. But slowly, one step at a time. Yeah, Carla. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:49 Highlight the passage at 2:11:49

2:11:59 But wouldn't that be the misunderstanding of a direct... don't know. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:59 Highlight the passage at 2:11:59

2:12:02 You know, cause and effect in the same moment, you know, they overlap as opposed to being sexual misconduct in a past life. Well, remember one of the four results is that you have that action similar to the cause, so she had that habit, right? So in a past life... She committed sexual misconduct. She was experiencing both the environmental result and having the habit to do that, which is one of the poor results. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:02 Highlight the passage at 2:12:02

2:12:28 So that was what that was about. You know, she had the habit to do that, even though it was just mentally, plus she was experiencing the environmental result. So it wasn't her cruising the guys, and the subway was necessarily causing the garbage in that moment, but they were both effects. And that's one of the things we're going to look at, because we can tell. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:28 Highlight the passage at 2:12:28

2:12:47 From environmental results, from our habits, what karmic seeds we have. And then we can target our purification practice, make it specific for those seeds. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:47 Highlight the passage at 2:12:47

2:13:02 So what it seems to me is that there's a correlation between, say, like with the example of checking guys out in the subway and... Dirty living environment, that even though they're not causally related right here and right now, they are correlated due to past. Yeah, there are two effects of the past karma that are both showing up simultaneously. So they're both... Report an error in the passage at 2:13:02 Highlight the passage at 2:13:02

2:13:38 So the checking out guys in the subway... Would be this one. The action is similar to the cause, right? Because she has a habit to do that. And then the smelly garbage would be the environmental result. So both of those things are results of that karma in the past. Yeah, so there's correlation. Okay. So, yeah, one more question and then we'll carry on. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:38 Highlight the passage at 2:13:38

2:14:10 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:10 Highlight the passage at 2:14:10

2:14:15 Well, Would you try to explain if that is a habit? Report an error in the passage at 2:14:15 Highlight the passage at 2:14:15

2:14:16 Yeah, and part of it was understanding what it was, that it was a habit that came from past negative karma and then if she just sort of indulged herself in that and let that go, it could just deepen that imprint. You know, she didn't like the smelly garbage. It was all kind of showing her this thing that she needed to purify. So he's like, control your mind. You know, it's not okay to just sit there and have these fantasies. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:16 Highlight the passage at 2:14:16

2:14:42 You're married, the guys are married, even though it's just mental. So I think understanding that, she realized, wow, okay, I've got to kind of control that. She was thinking, as long as I'm just thinking about it, it's okay. So she'd just sit there on the way to work, she's bored, she'd indulge herself in these fantasies, like not thinking that it was a problem. So I think just knowing that helped a lot for her. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:42 Highlight the passage at 2:14:42

2:15:06 Because he was saying, if you really want to purify the imprint, go after... The habits that are the result, because that can just kind of deepen that karmic imprint. Okay, so the next one is sexual misconduct. And for this, the object is the partner of someone else, or if you're in a committed relationship, you know, anybody else who's not your committed partner. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:06 Highlight the passage at 2:15:06

2:15:37 Mostly the Lamas, there's all these lists of what sexual misconduct is and all these details, like you're not supposed to do it in the daytime and all of this stuff. And that has nothing to do with our culture. You know, that's when you have an entire extended family of 25 people living in one room. So you can really understand that doing it in the daytime might upset people. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:37 Highlight the passage at 2:15:37

2:15:59 For us, Mom and Dad have a room way down the hall with a door that locks, you know, no problem at all. So mostly the Lamas, for us, say that the action of sexual misconduct would be somebody who doesn't consent, obviously, anything like rape, incest, and anything like adultery, you know, having sex with somebody else's partner, or if you have a partner, an inappropriate partner. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:59 Highlight the passage at 2:15:59

2:16:27 So the object would be the partner of someone else or if you're in a committed relationship, you know, anyone else. Now, you have to have the recognition that it's somebody who's involved in a relationship. If they lie to you and say that, you know, they're single and you really believe them, it's not sexual misconduct for you, okay? Report an error in the passage at 2:16:27 Highlight the passage at 2:16:27

2:16:49 So if you're misled by the person who tells you that they're single, then, you know, there's no problem at all, okay? So the recognition that it's actually an inappropriate partner, the motivation to engage in sexual activity, right? There has to be some delusion involved, mostly attachment. But I think people can have sexual relations for all kinds of motivations, probably. Attachment, might be jealousy to pay somebody back, whatever, like that. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:49 Highlight the passage at 2:16:49

2:17:18 Then engaging in the sexual activity and then having a sense of happiness about it. You know, some kind of sense of satisfaction. Some of the texts translate satisfaction as having an orgasm and that's ridiculous, okay? Because that means that monks and nuns could do whatever we want as long as we don't have an orgasm and that's ridiculous. So you see that in some texts and it's just a wrong translation of the word that means satisfaction, which just means that you're happy that it happened. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:18 Highlight the passage at 2:17:18

2:17:48 If you're a victim of rape... It's not a complete sexual misconduct. And there's examples even of nuns in the time of Lord Buddha that were victims of rape, and then the Buddha said, you didn't lose your vows, it's no fault at all of yours, you know, so no problem like that. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:48 Highlight the passage at 2:17:48

2:18:08 Oh, you're just scratching your head. Okay. Okay. Trying to think of anything else with sexual misconduct. Some of the Lamas also say three factors. Inappropriate partner is the main one. And then they also say inappropriate time. Like if you've taken one of these one-day vows, that you take a celibacy vow for 24 hours, you know, having sexual activity for that time period that you've taken a celibacy vow would be inappropriate time, an inappropriate place. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:08 Highlight the passage at 2:18:08

2:18:41 They say in a shrine room, in front of your spiritual teacher. Can't imagine anybody that would do that. You know, all these are inappropriate places. So a lot of alamas talk about partner, time and place being inappropriate. Okay, any questions about that one? Report an error in the passage at 2:18:41 Highlight the passage at 2:18:41

2:19:05 It's kind of splitting here, but it's interesting to me. So what I'm hearing a lot of is intent. So culturally, the way I was raised in my country and my culture, if in my head I think that that's an inappropriate place to do it. like what you mean. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:05 Highlight the passage at 2:19:05

2:19:20 That would kind of fulfill that, I would think. Because in my mind, I recognize it as inappropriate, so if I go forward, then I'm committing. Yeah, and that's definitely true, and there's a lot of cultural relativity with these things. Like the thing about having sexual activity in the daytime. For us, it's like, what's the big deal? But you can understand culturally how it would be inappropriate. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:20 Highlight the passage at 2:19:20

2:19:45 You know, in other circumstances. So there's definitely cultural relativity. It's not absolute things. So what do they mean by inappropriate partner? Well, that would be someone else's partner. No, it would be somebody else's partner if you're in a relationship or, yeah, if you're in a relationship, it would be anybody else or somebody else who's in a relationship. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:45 Highlight the passage at 2:19:45

2:20:07 So it would be adultery. It would be anything. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:07 Highlight the passage at 2:20:07

2:20:14 jeez. So it would be adultery. But you don't have to be legally married. It's just about having a monogamous arrangement with somebody that you're not going to have other partners. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:14 Highlight the passage at 2:20:14

2:20:28 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, or incest, something like that. Somebody underage, rape, things like that. Okay. So, four of speech. So we have lying. Which is defined as leading anyone else to believe that something that's not true is true. And in this one, even though it's under speech karma, you can do it in other ways too. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:28 Highlight the passage at 2:20:28

2:20:56 You know, you can do it by gestures, you can do it in writing, it doesn't need to necessarily be verbal speech. Even lying, what do we call it, lying by omission. Like not saying something, when somebody asks you something, if by not responding it's going to lead them to believe something that's not true, that's also considered lying. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:56 Highlight the passage at 2:20:56

2:21:18 So lying, misleading somebody, the object, the person that you're lying to has to understand what you're saying. They have to be capable of speech and understand what you're saying. If they speak another language, like if Carla started telling me tall tales in Portuguese, which I don't understand at all, it wouldn't be a complete lying karma because it has to be somebody who understands your speech and understands what you've said. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:18 Highlight the passage at 2:21:18

2:21:48 So just any kind of action that would lead people to believe. Now, the lying, you can get someone else to do on your behalf too. All of the body and speech ones, apart from sexual misconduct, you can get somebody else to do on your behalf and it's still a complete karma. The sexual misconduct, if you try and get other people to commit sexual, that's something else. But it's not a complete sexual misconduct karma for you. But these ones you can. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:48 Highlight the passage at 2:21:48

2:22:17 Okay, so we can lie to the cat and it's not a lying karma if you tell her untruths because she doesn't understand what you're saying. Okay, divisive speech. So what this means is the object is two people who share a relationship. Two or more people who share a relationship. They could be people who have a good relationship or people who have already there's some rift in their relationship. And then your words mean to either separate people who have a good relationship or make it worse. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:17 Highlight the passage at 2:22:17

2:22:54 If people are already... Kind of not having a good relationship. Your words are intended to drive them further apart. Now, you can say something that's either untrue or something that's true that's better left unsaid. And remember our little kind of rule, our tetralemma before. You know, if it's something, even if it's true and if it's not beneficial and it's better left unsaid, just leave it. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:54 Highlight the passage at 2:22:54

2:23:23 Okay? So lie. And then you can get somebody else to lie on your behalf if you ask them to do it. And then the completion is when the other person understands and believes what you said. So when you succeed in deceiving them, that would be the completion. Okay, harsh speech. And that's any speech that's abusive, insulting, demeaning, critical, okay, with the intention. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:23 Highlight the passage at 2:23:23

2:23:52 To criticize, to hurt the other person's feelings. If you say something and they're sensitive about some aspect of their appearance, for example, and you say something about it and their feelings are hurt, but you have no intention to hurt them, it's not considered harsh speech. So, for example, you may have noticed I'm extremely tall, right? Something I'm not sensitive about at all. But if I were... Report an error in the passage at 2:23:52 Highlight the passage at 2:23:52

2:24:17 You know, and people are always, when you're tall, people are always coming up and saying these really stupid things like, how's the weather up there? And do you play basketball? And, you know, it's been happening for 52 years and I don't mind so much. But if something like that hurt my feelings, they'd just be meaning to make a joke. And if it was something I was sensitive about. But from their side, it wouldn't be harsh speech. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:17 Highlight the passage at 2:24:17

2:24:39 So you actually have the intention, you know, you say the words that are critical, abusive, like that. You succeed in hurting their feelings. You know, it works. They don't take it as a joke. They don't just laugh. But you actually succeed in hurting their feelings. So again, the object has to be a person who can understand your speech. You can yell at your dog. And it's not considered harsh speech, even though it's not terrific, but they can't understand the subtlety of your insult. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:39 Highlight the passage at 2:24:39

2:25:08 So it needs to be somebody who understands, you know, your language and speaks your language. Now, idol gossip. This is a tough one. The object here is any speech that's about something meaningless that you consider meaningful, that you treat it as if it were something meaningful. And then the action would be engaging in that kind of speech, again, with somebody who understands what you're saying. The main problem here, and then in Scripture they give all these examples, talking about... Report an error in the passage at 2:25:08 Highlight the passage at 2:25:08

2:25:44 Sports, talking about politics. They don't say talking about what was on TV last night, but I'll add that one. All the time that we spend talking about these things that really don't have much meaning that you treat as meaningful. Now, it doesn't mean that we just sit around talking about the Four Noble Truths all the time. We're not going to have very many friends if we do. And they say in the scripture, you know, to put people at ease, to connect with people. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:44 Highlight the passage at 2:25:44

2:26:11 Yeah. But this is about wasting a lot of time on meaningless activities, meaningless chatter. Now this was before the days of TV. I would like to add television and video games and surfing the internet and all of that stuff. I think that's also we can consider. Think about how much of that time that we do those activities is really productive and necessary and how much of it is just... Report an error in the passage at 2:26:11 Highlight the passage at 2:26:11

2:26:42 Wasting time, okay? So it's mostly about wasting time. It's not that it's so negative, except how much can you sit around just chatting and gossiping with people before it starts to go in this direction, too? You know, how much are you just sitting around talking before you start to say maybe something negative behind someone's back or start to stretch the truth a little bit? Report an error in the passage at 2:26:42 Highlight the passage at 2:26:42

2:27:08 So one of the main problems of this... In addition to how much time it wastes, it tends to induce some of these other words. It can lead to one of the worst non-virtues. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:08 Highlight the passage at 2:27:08

2:27:23 And then there's three mental words. And these are interesting because they're kind of halfway between the physical non-virtues and the mental affliction. They're sort of halfway between. And covetousness is... So that's our next speech. I'll be passing. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:23 Highlight the passage at 2:27:23

2:27:38 Wanting to possess something that belongs to another person. So it's wishing to possess something that belongs to another person and then it's complete when you actually decide to take action to get that thing for yourself. So you haven't stolen yet. It's sort of attachment taken to the extreme of a decision to act. But you haven't stolen yet. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:38 Highlight the passage at 2:27:38

2:28:03 So you can see that an incomplete stealing karma could be a complete covetousness karma. In maliciousness, the intention to harm, it's complete when you decide to actually do something to harm that person. So it could be an incomplete killing karma. And then wrong views. This refers to denying something. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:03 Highlight the passage at 2:28:03

2:28:29 That the Buddha taught after you've been completely convinced that it's true and actually going against it, denying it. For example, rebirth, karma, things that the Buddha taught. Now this doesn't refer to just checking things out, like we're not sure, maybe we're not completely convinced about rebirth and karma and we still have some doubts. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:29 Highlight the passage at 2:28:29

2:28:51 It's not talking about that. But you've had all the evidence needed to know that it's the truth. Kind of contrariness. You know, you actually take actions to deny the teachings of the Buddha. It's not just talking about our own doubts that we have in our mind when we're just kind of checking out the path and we're not sure. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:51 Highlight the passage at 2:28:51

2:29:11 Okay. All right. So this is the list of the top ten. And you can see it's not inclusive. You know, punching somebody in the face doesn't show up on this list, but it doesn't mean that it's okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:11 Highlight the passage at 2:29:11

2:29:26 But we can see how some of those other actions are just sort of subtler versions. This is sort of the main flavors of our non-virtues. And so most of the non-virtues that we do we can see in terms of some kind of lighter version or incomplete version of one of these. And then what we're going to do tomorrow is actually take a quiz to see what... Report an error in the passage at 2:29:26 Highlight the passage at 2:29:26

2:29:51 Action were what effects we're having right now and the correlations to what karmic actions caused it. And then we're going to talk about purification because that's actually the ammunition to designing a purification plan for ourselves, like knowing specifically what actions we had in the past, we did in the past. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:51 Highlight the passage at 2:29:51

2:30:11 So we've got time for a couple of questions before we dedicate the merit, anything, about anything that we talked about today. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:11 Highlight the passage at 2:30:11

2:30:23 Oh good. Katya saves the day. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:23 Highlight the passage at 2:30:23

2:30:28 Going back to something a bit more abstract that what I asked you about before and sort of the evidence for reincarnation and just a follow-up question to that is even if like if you would say that consciousness was not like an epic phenomenon of the brain maybe and it doesn't just you know end when brain function ends but why maybe Report an error in the passage at 2:30:28 Highlight the passage at 2:30:28

2:30:54 Why does it sort of come in a bundle, do you know what I mean, and then go into another body rather than, I don't know, like dissipating, do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well they say our mind is a continuum, so one mind moment gives rise to the next mind moment, kind of carrying these karmic imprints with them. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:54 Highlight the passage at 2:30:54

2:31:15 So it's not so much that it's a bundle, it's sort of like one moment of mind kind of passes the baton to the next moment of mind. Carrying those imprints like that. And so it's just sort of a stream or a continuum that then continues into the intermediate state and then to the next life. So it's not so much a bundle as it is just a stream carrying the imprints of the past moments of consciousness that kind of flip over into the next moment of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:15 Highlight the passage at 2:31:15

2:31:46 So that's kind of one way of thinking about the way that it works. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:46 Highlight the passage at 2:31:46

2:31:52 Anything else? Report an error in the passage at 2:31:52 Highlight the passage at 2:31:52

2:31:56 Really? Yeah, yeah, good. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:56 Highlight the passage at 2:31:56

2:31:57 Wow. Chogky, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:57 Highlight the passage at 2:31:57

2:32:04 You know how Lama Zopa Rinpoche says possessed result for environmental? Do you know why? Does he? He says possessed result for environmental result. Oh, I've never noticed that. Yeah, I haven't noticed that. I'm not sure why. I have no idea why. I don't know, of course, the Tibetan or the Sanskrit. Yeah, maybe it's something more literal from the Tibetan, because sometimes he'll do that. Yeah, yeah, it could be like a literal. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:04 Highlight the passage at 2:32:04

2:32:33 Like a literal thing, and maybe the early translators just started calling it environmental because that's kind of what works for us to talk about the actual environment. I was just really noticing it in this retreat. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:33 Highlight the passage at 2:32:33

2:32:51 Yeah, I've never noticed it. Okay, so tomorrow we're going to start with the karma quiz. Look at that and look at our purification. And then we'll carry on with the last two noble truths, start talking about the actual goals of the path, the truth of cessation and what's possible for us, and then the path that leads to that. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:51 Highlight the passage at 2:32:51

2:33:15 So like I said, today was focusing more on the bad news. And tomorrow we'll get hopeful and look at the good news. So let's take a minute just to sit and dedicate the merit. So thinking. Of all of the positive energy that we generated from our exploration of the first two noble truths today. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:15 Highlight the passage at 2:33:15

2:33:43 And then dedicating that positive energy towards our goal, our spiritual goals that we've set. And again, it may be that your ideas have changed a bit since this morning. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:43 Highlight the passage at 2:33:43

2:33:57 Possibly you have an idea, a different idea of the potential. Take a minute to just focus that energy. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:57 Highlight the passage at 2:33:57

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:34:52 Hopefully your brains are totally exploding. I noticed the flatline level creeping in about 20 minutes ago. Just digest. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:52 Highlight the passage at 2:34:52

2:35:05 Yes, you can take your booklets. I hope it's nice. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:05 Highlight the passage at 2:35:05

2:35:31 you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:31 Highlight the passage at 2:35:31