Introduction to Basic Buddhist Thought (4 October 2009, 1)

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1:56 Marcella, is this my no criticizing bracelet? Oh, I'm so excited. I shouldn't be attached, but I was really coveting one of these. Report an error in the passage at 1:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56

2:08 Thank you. Great. I think this is a great idea. And it's even color coordinated. That's fantastic. Okay. So let's sit for just a few minutes watching our breath to settle our minds and then we'll set our motivation for today's teaching. And Report an error in the passage at 2:08 Highlight the passage at 2:08

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3:42 now let's take just a minute to set our motivation. So again, reflecting on your purpose for being here. It may be that your motivation has changed because of what you heard. Yesterday about the Four Noble Truths, the reality of our suffering and what causes it. Take just a minute to set your motivation, your focus, your purpose for listening to these teachings today. Report an error in the passage at 3:42 Highlight the passage at 3:42

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4:56 Okay, so let's review a little bit because we went through a lot of information yesterday. I think people were feeling a little bludgeoned by data. At the end of the day, I overheard some people saying they were completely exhausted last time and sort of passed out when they went home, which is completely understandable. Report an error in the passage at 4:56 Highlight the passage at 4:56

5:17 So we started talking about the Four Noble Truths and we talked about the truth of suffering and we talked about this word suffering that I like to, maybe dissatisfaction is a more accurate translation for that. We said it's this whole idea that we can't quite get our life... To work out the way we want it to. Do you want to flip around until it's time to flip the flip chart? Are you okay? Okay. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 5:17 Highlight the passage at 5:17

5:44 So we can't quite get things to work out the way that we want them to. You know, we have some kind of goal in mind and we talked about the meaning of that word, meaning something like out of kilter wheel, constricted space, you know, this sort of tight, narrow idea we have. Of what happiness should be like, what reality should be like, and it often doesn't work out that way, leading to disappointment. So the word suffering is a little strong, you know, and then we talked about some of the ways that Buddha described this condition that we have, this first noble truth, and we have that one list, the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, which says that most of the things that we consider happiness are actually just relief from more extreme Suffering, you know, it's not really any lasting happiness, it's just some kind of relief, temporary relief. And then the suffering of pervasive conditioned existence, meaning just that thing that we're in saṃsāra, you know, we're trapped in this cycle of uncontrolled rebirth driven by karma and delusion. Report an error in the passage at 5:44 Highlight the passage at 5:44

6:50 So just that very fact, even if we're not experiencing any subjective feeling of... You know, displeasure or dissatisfaction at any given moment, even in our happiest moments in this life. And we do have happiness. For sure we have happiness. You know, that does happen. But the very fact that we're still, you know, not liberated from that uncontrolled cycle is that third subtlest one. Report an error in the passage at 6:50 Highlight the passage at 6:50

7:15 And then we talked about that list of six, which I think especially describes our human condition. You know, the... Suffering of uncertainty, the suffering of dissatisfaction, being born and dying over and over and over again, going from high to low status, and the suffering of just having to go through all of it alone. Report an error in the passage at 7:15 Highlight the passage at 7:15

7:39 Ultimately, no matter how close we are to people, no matter how much people love us, we have to go through it all alone. And did anybody, I said when I have a longer class, I give a homework of people to think about these six. And what's characteristic of their life? Did anybody give that any thought or did anything come up as, you know, kind of characteristic? Report an error in the passage at 7:39 Highlight the passage at 7:39

7:59 You're probably so exhausted. You're like, I didn't want to think about it anymore after that. Okay, it's worth thinking of, you know, just to see how do these six apply to our life and characterize our life as a way to develop an understanding of what the Buddha was talking about, you know, really reflecting. Report an error in the passage at 7:59 Highlight the passage at 7:59

8:20 So we kind of sped through the first noble truth quickly and then started talking about the second, the truth of the cause of suffering. And we had that whole chart that showed the relationship between the first and the second noble truth, how suffering is caused. And who remembers how that chart went? Chad's nodding. He remembers. And I've heard he's shy, but I'm going to call on him anyway. Oh, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 8:20 Highlight the passage at 8:20

8:49 Thanks, Janet. Chad says we need the microphone. Chad, through Gina, says. I'm sort of cheating a little bit. I see my notes here. That's all right. At least you have notes, Chad. That's a good thing. So the root cause is ignorance of the very beginning of the process, which leads us to afflictive emotions, which could be attachment or aversion. Report an error in the passage at 8:49 Highlight the passage at 8:49

9:18 Which then leads us to, or could lead us, or strongly sort of pushes us to performing actions based on those afflictive emotions. Which creates the karma, which then leads to suffering, which are the results of karma. Okay. And what kind of ignorance is that, that we were talking about? That first step. What kind of ignorance are we talking about there? Report an error in the passage at 9:18 Highlight the passage at 9:18

9:42 There were two. The ignorance of the law of karma, cause and effect. And the ignorance of the fact that things don't exist the way they appear and the way we perceive them. Yeah, exactly. So those are the two big troublemakers. And they're related, as we shall see. These two big troublemakers, misunderstandings about how things exist and the law of cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 9:42 Highlight the passage at 9:42

10:06 And then those lead to what we call afflictive emotions, disturbing emotions. Sometimes they're called mental afflictions. And what's the definition of those? What did we say? Definition of those is. Yeah, Katya. They cause a disturbance in your mind. Yeah, it's any thought that disturbs your peace of mind, okay? Report an error in the passage at 10:06 Highlight the passage at 10:06

10:28 Which is interesting, we said. Even thinking of them as thoughts is kind of a revelation, you know? Because sometimes we have this idea of emotions being this overwhelming thing that overpowers you and takes control and we have no control over these emotions. They sort of take over. And in Buddhism we say, no, it's just a thought. Report an error in the passage at 10:28 Highlight the passage at 10:28

10:47 It's just a thought. Then we have the two main flavors of these afflictive emotions. Who remembers what attachment is? The definition of attachment. Report an error in the passage at 10:47 Highlight the passage at 10:47

11:02 It's kind of an exaggerated view of the positive attributes of the object. Yeah, so we're exaggerating the positive attributes of the object and then what do we do after that? Misperception, that exaggeration. Yeah, yeah. Carla. We cling. Yeah, and we think that by possessing it, we're going to have lasting happiness. So again, it's this thing of thinking that that object, happiness, somehow is inherent in that object. Report an error in the passage at 11:02 Highlight the passage at 11:02

11:35 If only we can get that object, if only it lasts forever, then we'll live happily ever after. All those fairy tales, they're so misleading, right? Prince Charming shows up and then da-da-da-da, you know, and it's like it never happens like that. Sorry, guys. It just doesn't. But this is what we think. Happiness is somehow in that object and once I get that object and if I can hang on to it forever and nothing ever changes, which is one of the other things that Buddhists say about the nature of reality, impermanence is fundamental. Report an error in the passage at 11:35 Highlight the passage at 11:35

12:09 You know, things are changing from moment to moment. So to have the expectation that anything is going to last forever. So there's two levels of misunderstanding. Thinking that happiness is in the object and thinking that anything can last forever. And it's just a setup for suffering, right? So we set ourselves up for suffering with that attachment, which is different from love. You know, it's different from love, which in Buddhism is defined as wanting the person to have happiness. Report an error in the passage at 12:09 Highlight the passage at 12:09

12:37 You know, which often when we are... In love with someone, it's a combination of a bunch of things. There's attachment in there, there is real love in there, wishing the person to be happy. But it's usually confused, it usually has these delusions mixed up with it. But we talked a little bit about how in Buddhism we don't say that loving anything and that wanting anything is wrong. Report an error in the passage at 12:37 Highlight the passage at 12:37

13:04 It's just the attachment that has that. Exaggeration mixed in with it and then that false kind of hope that you will be able to possess that thing forever. Just because it leads to suffering. Like I said, if it worked, I'd say go for it. But it always leads to suffering because it's just based on things that aren't true. You know, the way that object exists and thinking that it'll last forever. Report an error in the passage at 13:04 Highlight the passage at 13:04

13:29 And then we said aversion, very similar. Exaggerating the negative qualities of the object, thinking that by somehow being separated from it, Then you're going to have lasting happiness. And then all of the other afflictive emotions are some kind of recipe of these three main ones, ignorance, attachment and aversion. Report an error in the passage at 13:29 Highlight the passage at 13:29

13:48 We don't have time to go into the whole list of 26, but it's a really interesting list. When you think of even things that we wouldn't necessarily think of as an afflictive emotion. Report an error in the passage at 13:48 Highlight the passage at 13:48

14:01 Like exaggerated excitement, which Lama Zopa calls hallucinated excitement, which often has attachment in there somewhere, that like, whoa, you know, it's just that wild kind of state of mind. You know, it's not peaceful. It's not peaceful. And one of the things with dealing with these afflictive emotions that I think is the first step is being willing to work with them, you know, in identifying them as suffering. Report an error in the passage at 14:01 Highlight the passage at 14:01

14:29 Because often people are addicted to that kind of rollercoaster ride. You know, often new students say, oh, I really don't want, you know, those peaks and lows make me feel alive. If I felt like those mellowed out, I don't know. You know, I don't really like that. Wouldn't life be boring? Wouldn't life be dull if there weren't these kind of rollercoaster ride of emotions? Report an error in the passage at 14:29 Highlight the passage at 14:29

14:54 And it's interesting, Thich Nhat Hanh, the great Vietnamese master, makes this comment and he says, for Western, he's noticed the difference between Westerners and Asians and he says, most Western people define some kind of excitement as happiness and Asian people define peace of mind as happiness. So it's interesting to look at what... Report an error in the passage at 14:54 Highlight the passage at 14:54

15:17 What do you define as happiness? Is it that kind of excited, adrenaline rush, kind of bungee jumping feeling? For a lot of us it is, some kind of peak of adrenaline. But I think it really is that thing of, it just brings your attention into the present moment. And if there's a way to get that peacefully, much better. Report an error in the passage at 15:17 Highlight the passage at 15:17

15:39 But the first thing is to be willing. A lot of times I notice when I teach new students, they hear about somehow subduing these emotions. They're like, I don't want to. It makes me feel alive. But I think to be really willing to, you need to have hit bottom low enough to be over it. One of my friends says, to be serious about Buddhism, you need to have suffered enough. Report an error in the passage at 15:39 Highlight the passage at 15:39

16:01 And I think it's really true. And then you're no longer, you're like, no. I'm no longer into the thrill of these ups and downs. I'm just over it. I want out somehow. And I think it's really true in a lot of ways that people that are really serious, like I said yesterday, you scratch beneath the surface and some tragedy has happened. Report an error in the passage at 16:01 Highlight the passage at 16:01

16:23 You need to have suffered enough to even be willing to try and work with those emotions. And then the karmic actions that often result from them. And we talked a lot about karma. We talked about the four components that make a complete karmic action. And we see that it's not just doing the action itself, right? You need to have that intention, the recognition of the object, the sense of satisfaction afterwards. Report an error in the passage at 16:23 Highlight the passage at 16:23

16:48 All of these other components need to be complete in order for you to experience the full result of that karma. And then we started talking about the ten non-virtues, killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, divisive speech, harsh speech, idle gossip, covetousness, maliciousness and wrong views. And we defined what each of these are in terms of the four. Report an error in the passage at 16:48 Highlight the passage at 16:48

17:15 Components that make those objects complete. And then what we're going to do in a minute, I want to do one other thing while our minds are kind of fresh. And then we'll have our karma quiz, which will look at what some of the results of these are. Because we said for each one of these there's four results. There's the rebirth that you take as a result of these actions. Report an error in the passage at 17:15 Highlight the passage at 17:15

17:38 There's the experiences similar to the cause, which is sort of the rebound, like something very similar to what you did will happen to you. And then there's the action similar to the cause, which is the habit that you have. You have the habit to do that non-virtue over again. And then the last one is the environmental effect, the actual environment that you live in. Report an error in the passage at 17:38 Highlight the passage at 17:38

18:01 And those are more cryptic. They're harder to understand intuitively, but we'll look at some of those. When we look at that karma quiz. So any questions about anything that we've done so far yesterday? Any leftover unfinished business before we carry on? Report an error in the passage at 18:01 Highlight the passage at 18:01

18:23 Yeah, Tamara. Could you just repeat real quick what aversion is? Yeah, okay. So aversion would be exaggerating the negative qualities of an object. And thinking that by being separated from that object, you'll have lasting happiness. So it's kind of similar to the one for attachment except just the opposite, right? Report an error in the passage at 18:23 Highlight the passage at 18:23

18:47 It's got that exaggeration in there, but this time of the negative qualities and thinking that somehow if I'm separated from that object, then I'll be happy. Report an error in the passage at 18:47 Highlight the passage at 18:47

18:59 Okay, so let's carry on. And what I want to do now is show how the whole thing hangs together. While we're still fresh and before you're too overwhelmed by information, we're going to look at how everything hangs together. And you've got this chart in your book, which I don't have with me. I think it's page 27 of your book. So you can follow along and make notes with this chart. I know it looks like the budget for a Fortune 500 corporation or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 18:59 Highlight the passage at 18:59

19:34 And this is something called the 12 Links of Dependent Origination. Oh, thanks. The 12 Links of Dependent Origination. Now, generally, there's a picture near the entrance of any meditation hall showing the 12 links. Is it outside? Okay, so we'll look at that later. So it's this picture. Report an error in the passage at 19:34 Highlight the passage at 19:34

20:00 So there's this big monster with this huge wheel in his mouth and then there's all these pictures going all the way around and there's, you know, some person walking with a cane and like another person with an arrow through his eye and a monkey jumping around in a tree and, you know, a boat with a bunch of people in it and you're just kind of like, what is going on? Report an error in the passage at 20:00 Highlight the passage at 20:00

20:21 So I've simplified it into a schematic diagram because in the West we're used to these, right? So once you understand the principles of it, then when you look at that picture, which we'll look at later, we'll bring that in after we've looked at it conceptually, then you can identify what all the pictures are. Report an error in the passage at 20:21 Highlight the passage at 20:21

20:41 Because I remember when I first started studying this, to try and get the picture and the concept at the same time was kind of overwhelming and confusing. For a long time I didn't understand this at all. It's something that you hear about in Tibetan Buddhism. You're taught the twelve links of dependent origination. Report an error in the passage at 20:41 Highlight the passage at 20:41

21:00 This is supposed to be the big deal, the big thing that the Buddha realized under the Bodhi tree. And for years I was just kind of like, huh? You know, this is the big revelation and during that night he got enlightened. He saw the twelve links going in the forward order and the backward order and the forward order and then he got the inside and all this stuff. And I'd hear this and I was just like... Report an error in the passage at 21:00 Highlight the passage at 21:00

21:20 I don't get it. I don't get why this is so incredibly profound. And then at one point in my long meditation retreat, I was really working on meditating on the Twelve Links and I feel like I really got this insight. It actually came not when I was meditating, but when I was studying and I was sitting on the porch of this retreat cabin. Report an error in the passage at 21:20 Highlight the passage at 21:20

21:42 You know, studying a commentary on the 12 links and all of a sudden I felt like it all came together. Why this is so important. I remember I was at this hermitage and I had this neighbor that was really close and I felt like kind of jumping up and shouting, I'm free! But I didn't because I didn't want to alarm my neighbor. So I kind of stood up and went like kind of silently. Because I feel like I really got how our practice... Report an error in the passage at 21:42 Highlight the passage at 21:42

22:10 Gets us free of this cycle because this is explaining our uncontrolled rebirth in a lot of detail. So I wanted to take the time to try and share with you my little revelation there on the porch of my retreat cabin because it's really cool. It's very, very cool. And all the stuff that we've been talking about so far about the... Report an error in the passage at 22:10 Highlight the passage at 22:10

22:29 Cause of suffering and how suffering is created and how to stop it. I think this is kind of a deeper level of meaning and shows how it all hangs together. So we'll do this first. We'll go through it slowly. So in the pink on the outside is the 12 links of dependent origination. And so generally this is explained in terms of three lifetimes, showing how, you know, in the past life. Report an error in the passage at 22:29 Highlight the passage at 22:29

22:58 Our present life is created and then how our present life creates the next life. Because remember this is explaining cyclic existence. How we keep taking that uncontrolled rebirth. So we'll skip ahead just for a minute into the very inner circle you see past, present and future. So we'll explain this according to the three lifetimes in which this whole cycle happens. And then we'll see how it's happening instantaneously all the time. Report an error in the passage at 22:58 Highlight the passage at 22:58

23:28 The first link, the very first link up at the top is ignorance. And what kind of ignorance do you think that would be? Same one we had before. Same one that showed up at the top of that last chart, right? The root of saṃsāra keeps showing up in all these diagrams. Same thing, ignorance about the ultimate nature of reality. Report an error in the passage at 23:28 Highlight the passage at 23:28

23:53 Especially ignorance about the way things exist. Also, you know, the secondary one is ignorance about the law of cause and effect. But we're mostly talking about ignorance about how things exist. And then the second link, karmic formations. So we're skipping one. There's one step just presumed, assumed in here. Report an error in the passage at 23:53 Highlight the passage at 23:53

24:14 And what would that be from our other chart? What's happening before the karma is formed? Gina. Yeah, afflictive emotions. So it's not explicit in this chart, but we know from our other chart that after that root ignorance about the way things exist, the next step is attachment, aversion, one of the other combinations, jealousy, pride, hypocrisy, something else, causing a karmic action. Report an error in the passage at 24:14 Highlight the passage at 24:14

24:44 Karmic formations just means the formation of that new karmic seed as a result of that Volitional action. So new karma formed here. And here we have afflictive emotion. We can consider ignorance and afflictive emotion. And here we have karma being formed. And this is all happening in the past life. And past lives, not just the most previous one. Report an error in the passage at 24:44 Highlight the passage at 24:44

25:10 It's okay, Mama. But many past lives. So all of our karmic imprints formed. I don't know, I don't Report an error in the passage at 25:10 Highlight the passage at 25:10

25:18 From past lives is what's being talked about here. All those rebirths where that ignorance leads to that karmic formation. So now, present life, consciousness is the next link, third link. So what this is talking about is that consciousness loaded with those karmic imprints from the past life comes into the present life. Report an error in the passage at 25:18 Highlight the passage at 25:18

25:46 Let's talk about a human being here because it's easier for us to relate to. At the moment of conception, we say in Buddhism, that consciousness, that subtle, subtle consciousness loaded with those imprints, comes in, joins the fertilized sperm and egg. So we say in Buddhism, that consciousness is there from conception. Report an error in the passage at 25:46 Highlight the passage at 25:46

26:12 So consciousness loaded with all of those karmic imprints from the past. And then the fetus starts to grow in the present life. Name and form. This is a code for those of you who studied the five aggregates, but in brief, body and mind. Name, form refers to body. That's pretty easy. Name is kind of a code word that refers to mind. Report an error in the passage at 26:12 Highlight the passage at 26:12

26:43 So these are the five aggregates, the body and mind. We talk about four mental aggregates. It's kind of too much detail to go into. We don't have that much time. So you can just think of it as body and mind. Yeah, Sandra. Report an error in the passage at 26:43 Highlight the passage at 26:43

27:01 How is consciousness distinguished between mind? Report an error in the passage at 27:01 Highlight the passage at 27:01

27:07 Yeah, so this consciousness here is just a very, very, very subtle, subtle... Mental energy carrying those karmic imprints. Then at this point when actually the consciousness is associated with the body then it starts to develop the potential for sense contact which leads to some of the other aggregates like discernment, recognition, some of the other. Report an error in the passage at 27:07 Highlight the passage at 27:07

27:34 So this is just a very, very subtle form and then it starts to develop a more differentiated activity. Like what's coming into the new life doesn't have all of the aspects of mind the way we usually think of and all of those mental factors which are somewhat dependent on sense contact, brain function, things like that. Report an error in the passage at 27:34 Highlight the passage at 27:34

27:55 So here it's just a very, very subtle level. It's kind of interesting. In Sanskrit and Tibetan there's something like more than 35 words. For mind, for different aspects of mind. In the West, in English, we just have consciousness, mind, awareness. So it becomes really difficult to actually differentiate these very, very subtly different aspects of mind, which in those other languages, they have the actual words for them. Report an error in the passage at 27:55 Highlight the passage at 27:55

28:26 And we just have about three or four words. So we kind of need more of a description when we're talking about these aspects. Okay, so the body starts forming, the other aspects of mind start to form, and then at a certain point, here we've got six senses. So at this point, the new being has developed the capacity to have sense contact. This is like the potential for sense contact. Report an error in the passage at 28:26 Highlight the passage at 28:26

28:57 Okay, the six senses. And the six senses are the five that we usually think about. Hearing, smell, taste, touch. And then the sixth sense isn't ESP. It's not bending spoons with your mind or something like that. It just means mental consciousness. So the object of that would be a thought. So just like a visual object is the object of my sight, sense, consciousness, a thought is the object of my mental consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 28:57 Highlight the passage at 28:57

29:29 So we have the capacity for sense contact, which we've seen is dependent on brain, is dependent on the sense organs. So we've got this very, very subtle consciousness coming into the new rebirth. Here we have the capacity for external sense contact and thoughts, which is dependent on brain function. So six senses means that potential. And now... Report an error in the passage at 29:29 Highlight the passage at 29:29

29:58 We have contact with an object. Sense contact happens here with an external object. So my eye having contact with that bright red cushion in the chair in the back would be my potential for an eye sense consciousness with the object gives rise to that consciousness. So my eye faculty. And the object gives rise to a sense consciousness. So the contact with the object. And then the next link after that is feeling. Report an error in the passage at 29:58 Highlight the passage at 29:58

30:33 This is interesting. Feeling here doesn't refer to what we usually think about as feeling in English, like emotions. Feeling here just refers to three raw flavors. Pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. So this is really basic here. As a result of that sense contact, I feel good, I feel bad, or I could care less. So it's just pleasant, unpleasant, neutral. Report an error in the passage at 30:33 Highlight the passage at 30:33

31:04 It's not all the flavors that we usually think of when we think of feeling. Yeah, Sandra. When does imputing onto the base object come up? Is it on feeling or contact or further back? Report an error in the passage at 31:04 Highlight the passage at 31:04

31:19 Yeah, we'll get there. We'll talk about that in a second. Okay. so you I've heard, actually, just to answer your question briefly, that when you have sense contact with an object, the raw sense data comes in, like that red cushion. The raw sense data comes in, and I've heard they actually measured it recently. Some neuroscientists at one of these conferences with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, they presented this data, and he was totally excited. Report an error in the passage at 31:19 Highlight the passage at 31:19

31:53 It takes nine nanoseconds. After the raw sense data comes in before you label the object. And they showed this, and His Holiness is jumping up and down, totally excited, and all the other scientists there are like, what's the big deal? What's so exciting? And so we'll talk more about that when we talk about emptiness. But nine nanoseconds, so it's all happening in here almost instantaneously. Report an error in the passage at 31:53 Highlight the passage at 31:53

32:20 Yeah, Daddy. Oh, Mike. Report an error in the passage at 32:20 Highlight the passage at 32:20

32:27 I'm guessing it's just karma, but how does the body actually know what to do? I mean, you've got your little fetus in there, a zygote, that it starts to form and then it just, it knows what to do. I mean, we're all turning out with two arms, two legs, two eyes, blah, blah, blah. Everybody kind of looks alike in that respect. I mean, how does it really know what to do? Report an error in the passage at 32:27 Highlight the passage at 32:27

32:47 And that's, it's interesting that your karma causes you to take a rebirth. With a form that's genetically, you know, and then the rest is just up to genes. Like the karma hooks you together with that form of rebirth, but then just according to those natural laws of genetics, it evolves, you know, or it develops into a being with two arms, two legs, the ability for a certain kind of sense contact, you know, so the, let's see, how does it work? Report an error in the passage at 32:47 Highlight the passage at 32:47

33:17 The why is because of your karma, and then the how is... Because of that way that that kind of form will develop according to its genetics. So it's the difference between why and how. Well, the how, where did the recipe come from? Where did the plan come from? I mean, where did it, I mean, this is where they say God, right? But no, it's not. Yeah, and they say that the kind of, the planet that we were, you know, this planet that we live on, and these kind of bodies that we inhabit are all due to the collective karma. Report an error in the passage at 33:17 Highlight the passage at 33:17

33:50 So the collective karma of the beings who will be born on this planet is what created this planet with this beautiful atmosphere that we can breathe and these nice plants and all these growing things was created by our collective karma. And there's this great book that I've actually recommended to Dion called The Universe in a Single Atom. Report an error in the passage at 33:50 Highlight the passage at 33:50

34:13 By His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And it explains, it's beautiful, it explains the whole idea of kind of creation and cosmology and where karma fits into the whole thing from the Buddhist perspective. And it's very interesting and he talks about where... Karma intersects with natural causation. Like he says, okay, you know, originally our karma created this planet. Report an error in the passage at 34:13 Highlight the passage at 34:13

34:37 Then there's certain natural laws like physics that just operate, right? And then karma intersects again for the individual being when we're reborn here. But it's very beautiful the way he talks about... Just natural laws that operate, but that karma did create a planet where those natural laws will take effect. But then it's not karma every moment that, you know, the waterfall, the water's falling down due to gravity. Report an error in the passage at 34:37 Highlight the passage at 34:37

35:04 That's just a natural law. So it isn't dependent on the karma of any individual being until they actually see the waterfall and then they have a feeling of pleasure. You know, from that. But the whole fact of the planet with those natural laws that are in operation was created by the collective karma of the beings who have the, you know, destiny to be reborn there. Report an error in the passage at 35:04 Highlight the passage at 35:04

35:27 But it's really a beautiful book. I'd recommend it to everybody. You know, he talks about all of these things in great detail and as His Holiness always does, so clearly, just so clear. Beautiful. It's called The Universe in a Single Atom. I actually was talking about it in Colombian. They said it was available in Spanish, too, that had been translated. Report an error in the passage at 35:27 Highlight the passage at 35:27

35:48 Yeah, yeah. Okay, so just very, you know, three basic flavors to this. Pleasant, unpleasant, neutral. Now, the next one, craving. Oh, Janet. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 35:48 Highlight the passage at 35:48

36:08 Just discrimination, that kind of comes in. Right between the contact and feeling where you actually look at the specific, more specific. Right. And what Janet is talking about is one of the aggregates of mind called discrimination or discernment. Or recognition, sometimes it's called. Sometimes it's even called memory. Interesting. So what happens? You know, someone walks through the door. Report an error in the passage at 36:08 Highlight the passage at 36:08

36:37 I have that first, just the visual sense contact with the shape, the colors and shapes. And then I recognize Chogky, friend of 30 years. First there's that recognition and then pleasant feeling. So first you recognize the object and then pleasant, unpleasant or neutral kicks in. So first there's that recognition has to come first before the feeling, but it's almost instantaneous for us. It's like in sequence, but it's almost instantaneous. Report an error in the passage at 36:37 Highlight the passage at 36:37

37:12 So yeah, in terms of that discrimination, that would come in kind of right here, right before the feeling. Okay, so pleasant, unpleasant, neutral. Then what do we do? If it's something that feels good, what do we do? We want more, right? If it's something that feels bad, We push it away. So it's called craving here, but it refers to both craving for more contact and craving to be separated. Report an error in the passage at 37:12 Highlight the passage at 37:12

37:42 Craving to us seems to be, you know, I want more. And this is mostly true. And in fact, in the Theravadan tradition, they say that attachment is the root of saṃsāra. In the Mahāyāna, we say ignorance. You know, in their school they say attachment because it's mostly true. We have about a thousand I want more of the good stuff thoughts as we do to any one of get me away from the bad stuff thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 37:42 Highlight the passage at 37:42

38:09 Like for the typical human, we're going around, what's going to make me feel good? What's going to make me feel good? You know, with this kind of mind, right? And then every once in a while you're just like, oh, get me away from that thing that feels bad. But mostly we're going around. So it's mostly true. Report an error in the passage at 38:09 Highlight the passage at 38:09

38:25 Which is why they use the word craving here, but it also refers to wanting to push away more of the bad stuff. So at this point it's just an idea. I wouldn't mind having more of that. Gee, that was nice. I wouldn't mind having more of that. And then it intensifies in the next link to grasping. What can I do to get more of it? And you start to decide to take action. Report an error in the passage at 38:25 Highlight the passage at 38:25

38:53 To do something about it. To get more of the good stuff. And then the next link is becoming. And this is a weird word. You know, again it's kind of a code word. Becoming, becoming what? What it refers to is you did it. You decided, you know, you wanted more. You decided to do something to get more. And then you did it. You did some action. New karmic seed firmly planted in consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 38:53 Highlight the passage at 38:53

39:23 We see here, here it's at the level of these afflictive emotions, here it's new karmic seed, becoming. So this is all happening in the present life, this cycle, over and over and over again. And then, as a result of these new karmic seeds, what happens? It forces you into the next life, characterized by birth, old age and death and everything. Report an error in the passage at 39:23 Highlight the passage at 39:23

39:53 So we say that that cyclic existence, going through this cycle over and over and over again, is forced by your karma. I always think of it as kind of this catapult. Like your karma and your delusions are kind of like the slingshot and you're just sort of like, wow, you know, thrown into your next rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 39:53 Highlight the passage at 39:53

40:13 Without any control at all. Flung by the forces of this. You know, culminating in that karmic seed, new karmic seed formed here, right? Resulting in birth and old age and death. So this was the big thing that the Buddha saw about how our unenlightened existence is created. How saṃsāra works, how cyclic existence works. Report an error in the passage at 40:13 Highlight the passage at 40:13

40:38 And our job is to cut through this cycle somehow. So the question now is, what are some of the points that we can... Breakthrough. Again, sort of like that other flowchart we had and we said our job is to short circuit that. This is more detail. Where can we cut through this cycle? Or if there's more questions, I think Betty's got something. Report an error in the passage at 40:38 Highlight the passage at 40:38

41:06 Didn't you say that this, or did you, I don't know if you did or not, but. This can happen moment to moment, right? Yeah. I mean, this is like you leave behind one moment. It's like leaving behind death and then birth and then a new moment, right? Yeah, and we can be in, you know, we're sort of in various cycles of the 12 links all the time. Like, let's say you're in the Starbucks and you're eating the brownie bites. Report an error in the passage at 41:06 Highlight the passage at 41:06

41:29 You know, that's my favorite thing in Starbucks. So you're all the way over here, right? You went in, you saw the chocolate, you went for it, you're sitting there eating the brownie bites. And then some cute guy walks in the door. I mean, not for you, Betty. I don't know. You know, I don't know if you're still... Whatever. It's just a theory, right? Report an error in the passage at 41:29 Highlight the passage at 41:29

41:48 So, you know, you're here and then you're also over here with the nuisance contact. And there can just be overlaying, you know, levels of all of them. So this is happening, I mean, it's obviously not just once per lifetime. This is like a zillion times per minute. We're in some cycles. So between here and here, we're just doing it constantly. Report an error in the passage at 41:48 Highlight the passage at 41:48

42:16 And in any given moment, we could be in different parts in terms of two different sense objects. Yeah, Chad. Is there also a connection between 12 o 'clock and 1 o 'clock? Old age and death and ignorance to complete the cycle? chat. Report an error in the passage at 42:16 Highlight the passage at 42:16

42:34 Yeah, well it keeps going on, right? So in the future life, all of these things are happening in the future life. Like we've just expanded the present life to show the detail. But all of these things are happening in both the past life and the future life to throw, you know, new rebirth. So there's ignorance functioning here, there's ignorance functioning here, and then between here and here it just keeps happening. Like those karmic... Report an error in the passage at 42:34 Highlight the passage at 42:34

43:03 Karmic seeds that throw that new rebirth. And there's a special kind of grasping that happens at the moment of death that's especially powerful for forcing a next rebirth. Can anybody think of what that might be? At the moment of death, there's a very specific kind of one of these going on. Can anybody guess? Marcela, microphone. Report an error in the passage at 43:03 Highlight the passage at 43:03

43:34 I believe it's the stage of your mind when you're dying. Yeah, and that's really important. And what special kind of grasping can be happening at the moment of death that especially propels a new rebirth into some sort? Detachment. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we have this incredible grasping after embodiment, remember? And I said yesterday that we identify so much with our body. Report an error in the passage at 43:34 Highlight the passage at 43:34

43:58 We think it's really me. You know, and in that moment when you feel your consciousness kind of being ripped away, From the body that you so identify with. There's this incredible grasping, give me a body, you know, give me another body, I've got to have a body. This thing happens. So that's a very specific one at the moment of death, you know, the plants, the karmic seed that causes rebirth, just that grasping after embodiment, you know, at that moment of death. Report an error in the passage at 43:58 Highlight the passage at 43:58

44:27 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 44:27 Highlight the passage at 44:27

44:38 A clear attachment, I would think, to your own body, but also to embodiment in general. Yeah, like your own body that you identify with so much, and then as you feel separated from it, then it's like, I've got to have a body. I don't exist without a body because you've identified with it so much. So it's attachment to the former one, but it's just this sort of generic grasping for embodiment, for having a body. Report an error in the passage at 44:38 Highlight the passage at 44:38

45:03 Carla, did you? Report an error in the passage at 45:03 Highlight the passage at 45:03

45:09 Well, if you could just relate. The 12 links to meditation, but not the meditation on the 12 links, but just the general, you know, it's stabilizing the mind, you know, the whole shamatha practice into, I mean, it looks like it's trying to stop the wheel. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we'll talk about that more when we talk about where can we cut through the cycle. Report an error in the passage at 45:09 Highlight the passage at 45:09

45:36 So the incredible grasping toward embodiment, is that just because of habit over eons and eons? Yeah, it's the root ignorance of identifying. The most basic ignorance is a misperception of how we exist and thinking that there's some kind of solid, stable... You know, unchanging me in there somewhere and just that wrong view of how the self exists, not seeing that it's just, you know, we have this ever-changing continuum of body and mind and then the big shift will happen at the moment of death when the continuum then will, you know, continue in a really different way. Report an error in the passage at 45:36 Highlight the passage at 45:36

46:12 But we really think we are me, you know, I am me and me is my body and mind and there's something kind of solid. So it's just that ignorance about the way that we exist that causes that attachment and that identification with the body. You already said it. It was just the not understanding that the self is empty and the self grasping. Report an error in the passage at 46:12 Highlight the passage at 46:12

46:45 This sometimes seems so ubiquitous as to seem natural and unavoidable. Yeah, I got you. Report an error in the passage at 46:45 Highlight the passage at 46:45

46:55 As opposed to all this, which seems such a true description of everything going on, then there's a story until you grasp it more fully of someone or a few people who got out of it. Do you know what I mean? Right, right, right. Report an error in the passage at 46:55 Highlight the passage at 46:55

47:10 You know what I mean? It seems like, yes, that's a good description, but is it really, can you really get out of it? Yeah, and we're going to look at that now, because there are ways, you know, in using especially our wisdom, and even if we don't have the wisdom that sees the way that reality exists ultimately, we can use at least our understanding of this process to help us. Report an error in the passage at 47:10 Highlight the passage at 47:10

47:33 Get free. So that's why Lord Buddha and all the Tibetan Llamas talk about this so much because it really explains how we got there which will show us how to get out. So what we'll do now is look at a couple of places, a couple of really significant places. In this cycle where we can cut through, you know, and stop. So I think it, you know, definitely it's possible with that understanding. Which is why I like to explain all this. Report an error in the passage at 47:33 Highlight the passage at 47:33

47:58 Because again, like I said yesterday, it makes all our Buddhist practices make sense. You know, if we think of them in the context of how are they helping us kind of cut through this cycle. So we'll look at that. So does anybody see a place where we can cut through? Anna, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 47:58 Highlight the passage at 47:58

48:19 Aren't there several places? There are a couple of places, yeah. There's one really significant for the level that probably most of us are at, and then there are a couple of other places for other points on the path. So I understand that the ignorance, of course, is one place, though that takes a huge amount of realizations, right? Report an error in the passage at 48:19 Highlight the passage at 48:19

48:41 But then I guess in our everyday practice... It seems that there are several places. Several places, yeah. So the ignorance, cutting through at the root, right? And we talked about that yesterday when we had the flowchart that started with ignorance and we said we work our way back because actually getting that understanding of the ultimate nature of reality, which is the antidote to this, which will cut through at link one, is a very, very advanced realization. Report an error in the passage at 48:41 Highlight the passage at 48:41

49:09 I mean, it's true. We call that cutting samsar at the root. That realization, which we call the direct perception of emptiness, is so important, incredibly important, and very, very, very advanced. So just like we did in the chart yesterday, we have to kind of work at the easier levels while we're working. And we talked about how keeping pure morality helps us develop concentration. Report an error in the passage at 49:09 Highlight the passage at 49:09

49:36 That concentration will enable us to have that meditation on the... Ultimate nature of reality and breakthrough. But that's quite advanced. So are we just kind of stuck until we have that realization? Janet. Report an error in the passage at 49:36 Highlight the passage at 49:36

49:55 Well, where I'm working on right now, and I have to admit not doing really well, but working on, is between the grasping and becoming. Okay, tell me how you do that. Well... You know, you have a desire to say something or to have something and even your mind is beginning to like kind of go towards it and you can check it. Report an error in the passage at 49:55 Highlight the passage at 49:55

50:24 Yeah, before you act. Do I want to go grab that fifth ice cream? Right. Or I'm just making up. but but um you know And that kind of thing. Like maybe you feel the anger come up and you're ready. You really want to say something to somebody. Can you keep it from popping out your mouth? Right, right. I have a difficult time with that. And we talked about this yesterday, right? The afflictive emotion can come up. Harder to control that. Report an error in the passage at 50:24 Highlight the passage at 50:24

50:56 But at least you try and cut it before you do something about it. Yeah. Before the karma. Yeah. Good, good. And it's not easy, actually. Yeah. Yeah, it's not. At least for me. It's not. It's not. But more and more practice awareness. And like I said, the more awareness you have, you kind of feel it start to arise and then you can kind of check it. Report an error in the passage at 50:56 Highlight the passage at 50:56

51:19 Ana. Excuse me. But in the grasping in Janet's example, is that our actions of body, speech and mind? So this isn't action yet. This is still mental. This is like, ooh, I'd like to have more of that. And this is deciding to do something about it, but you haven't actually taken action until this link when that new karmic seed is formed. Report an error in the passage at 51:19 Highlight the passage at 51:19

51:42 So in the becoming, is it where we're trying to control our actions of body, speech and mind? Well, we can do it, like Janet said, before becoming. While it's still just mental and just kind of keeping it at that level. Betty had something too. Report an error in the passage at 51:42 Highlight the passage at 51:42

51:58 Sorry, Anna. I'm just thinking back at contact and feeling the pleasant, unpleasant and neutral recognition. This is where I'm thinking of Geshe-la. He does not have any neutral, pleasant or unpleasant. This is my perception. He has no judgment whatsoever towards anybody. That's my perception of it. Is that where he would cut it? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 51:58 Highlight the passage at 51:58

52:23 So you're saying the feeling wouldn't even arise of pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. And I think it's probably because of, you know, it's been cut there. Like he's not misperceiving the object anymore, right? He's not misperceiving that the object exists in that way as attractive or unattractive from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 52:23 Highlight the passage at 52:23

52:45 So that's not happening. Yeah, and again, that's pretty advanced. That's pretty advanced. But that is, yeah, that's a place. Yeah, John. Report an error in the passage at 52:45 Highlight the passage at 52:45

52:59 Could you also go and cut the length between becoming and birth through purification? Now that also is very, very advanced. They say that there are ways that beings who are very, very highly realized... Can do certain practices at the moment of death and in the intermediate state to actually attain liberation at the moment of death. Report an error in the passage at 52:59 Highlight the passage at 52:59

53:26 Because at that point your consciousness is very, very subtle and if you're extremely well trained you can meditate on emptiness at that point and actually become liberated. So that is another place also very advanced. You have to be very, very well trained to pull it off. Actually, before that, karma propels you into another rebirth. But that is a significant point. And a lot of practices that we do in the Vajrayana are training for that moment. Report an error in the passage at 53:26 Highlight the passage at 53:26

53:55 And they say if you're highly trained, you can take advantage of that moment of death. And many great meditators will stay in meditation after the actual breathing and heartbeat has stopped, sometimes for weeks. And what they're doing is doing exactly that. Using that level of consciousness that becomes manifest at the moment of death just because of the dissolution of the subtle energies in the body to meditate on the ultimate nature of reality and actually gain liberation at the time of death. Report an error in the passage at 53:55 Highlight the passage at 53:55

54:27 Yeah, yeah. Okay, I'll give you a hint what I'm looking for because there's one really significant place that we can cut through. And look at cause and effect. Look at the green. Which is cause and which is effect? And that's a hint. For where we should be looking. So look. Report an error in the passage at 54:27 Highlight the passage at 54:27

54:51 Is the feeling caused by the sense contact? No. This is all an effect of some past karma. So this is really significant. Does the pleasure, is the pleasure caused by the chocolate cake? No. The pleasure that I feel here is caused by some good deed I did in the past. Because remember we said the definition of good karma is that which will lead to an experience of pleasure in the future. Report an error in the passage at 54:51 Highlight the passage at 54:51

55:28 The chocolate cake is a condition. We talk about the difference between causes and conditions. And the cause we say is the actual thing that turns into the result. And the conditions are what's around that causes that karmic seed to ripen. If I've never done any virtue in the past, I will never have any karmic seeds that will ripen into pleasure. No amount of brownie bites is going to make me happy if I don't have the karma, right? Report an error in the passage at 55:28 Highlight the passage at 55:28

55:58 And what's the proof of that? It doesn't always work. Sometimes they taste good, sometimes you could care less. The same things aren't pleasant to everybody. If it was the cause, it would always work. And the 12th piece of chocolate cake would taste just as good as the first piece and everybody would love chocolate. If this were a cause and effect relationship. Report an error in the passage at 55:58 Highlight the passage at 55:58

56:21 But it's not. Because these are all the effects of my past karma. Even having the chocolate cake in my life is due to past karma. If it makes me feel good when I have that contact. So understanding this. Explains how Lama Yeshe and His Holiness the Dalai Lama can enjoy everything all the time and not get in trouble because they don't misunderstand that there's a cause and effect relationship here. Report an error in the passage at 56:21 Highlight the passage at 56:21

56:52 So this is huge for us in terms of where we are with our practice. Using this understanding to cut the cycle right here, we can't help how things are making us feel. That's an effect of our past karma. So when we're in the middle of the situation and it feels horrible, there's not much we can do about it. Report an error in the passage at 56:52 Highlight the passage at 56:52

57:14 That was caused way back in the past. But what we can do is make sure that that feeling that we have doesn't create the cause for more saṃsāra. So we control the way that we react. So when that chocolate cake tastes good, do you say, great. Let me have another piece. Or do you rejoice and say, I must have done something really virtuous in the past because I'm having a really pleasant experience right now and realize to create future rebirths filled with chocolate cake, give it away, you know, bake chocolate cake for all your friends. Report an error in the passage at 57:14 Highlight the passage at 57:14

57:54 Do something to create virtue to keep it. Which answers that question that we had yesterday. Should we avoid the good feelings because we're somehow using up our good karma? No. Turn it over. Realize where it came from and do something to create the cause for more. If you have something good happening in your life that you're enjoying, far out. Report an error in the passage at 57:54 Highlight the passage at 57:54

58:17 It means you did some virtue in the past. How do you keep it going? Understand what's going on. And do something virtuous with whatever that good experience that you have is. Whatever that circumstance that you have that's good and pleasant, realize where it came from and use it to benefit beings. And then you can enjoy like crazy all the time. Great. Just don't misunderstand. So this is a huge place for us. Report an error in the passage at 58:17 Highlight the passage at 58:17

58:47 And I say, you know, create a gap here. And then widen the gap before you... Before you respond stupidly to the good feelings that you have or the bad feelings that you have, realize where those good and bad feelings came from. It isn't caused by the object. I say widen the gap here between feeling and craving. One student said, I didn't even know there was a gap. Report an error in the passage at 58:47 Highlight the passage at 58:47

59:15 I just go for it. The minute I feel good or bad, I just go right to the next step. Understanding and with our wisdom, when you feel a strong feeling of pleasure or unhappiness, just stop and reflect on this and realize where it came from. You know, are you going to be stupid and react as if you didn't know about the 12 links and just do something as a reaction to that feeling that's just going to create more saṃsāra or are you going to stop? Report an error in the passage at 59:15 Highlight the passage at 59:15

59:49 Realize where it came from and respond differently. A lot of our practices are widening the gap here. Patience, for example. We talk about the paramita of patience. So the boss is yelling at you. You've got contact with the unpleasant object, the screaming boss. It feels horrible. Are you going to be stupid and create future lives filled with yelling bosses by yelling back? Report an error in the passage at 59:49 Highlight the passage at 59:49

1:00:17 Or are you going to be patient and be smart and realize you can cut it right here by being patient with that person and not responding with anger, which will just keep it going. So this is a big, big point of practice for us. And the clue is this cause and effect relationship. Because all of these effects, not much we can do. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:17 Highlight the passage at 1:00:17

1:00:39 That's a result of what's going on in the past. But we're always kind of on the cusp of this. This moment right here. It's sort of like, you know, I come from Santa Cruz, so I have this surfing analogy, right? And the surfboard, not that I've ever done it. I would kill myself. Like I have no sense of balance at all. But I've seen it, you know, and they're up on the wave, you know, and their past karma brought them to that point. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:39 Highlight the passage at 1:00:39

1:01:04 So we're kind of poised on the wave right here, you know, going forward into the future. So are we going to do it the stupid way or are we going to cut through here? With our understanding of this whole, you know, so that's how we can use some wisdom. We don't have that direct realization of emptiness yet, but we have at least some kind of intellectual understanding of this that helps us cut through. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:04 Highlight the passage at 1:01:04

1:01:29 Okay, there are a bunch of hands up, so let's take questions. Sandra. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:29 Highlight the passage at 1:01:29

1:01:42 So you have the yelling boss and you are able to go, my past karma is kind of forcing me to... See this empty object as unpleasant and yelling at me. And then so you know, because you've been taught not to yell back. So my question is, does that method prevent all yelling bosses? You know, all yelling bosses, or is it just specific to the karma with that object? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:42 Highlight the passage at 1:01:42

1:02:20 That specific object. You mean in the future if you react with patience? Yeah. If you react with patience, every time it will eliminate any yelling boss from all of your future lives. If you really put this into practice, because it was caused by a karma in the past. And we still have all of those old karmas to wear through, but at least it means since we're creating new karmas at the rate of 365 per finger snap. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:20 Highlight the passage at 1:02:20

1:02:48 At least it means that we're not going to be creating any more. It may not change our reality instantaneously because we still have all of these old karmic formations from past lives, but at least over time, if we practice well enough, it will get rid of them altogether because those old karmas will exhaust and we haven't been creating new ones for any experiences like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:48 Highlight the passage at 1:02:48

1:03:10 So it's not just necessarily specifically with that person, but it's just to have those experiences at all. And then that might not happen necessarily in this lifetime. Yeah, maybe not in this life. And that's something we have to, you know, and that's hard when you don't see instant results. And I see a lot of times students get discouraged because they've been practicing really well for a while and maybe their life isn't changing as quickly as they would want. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:10 Highlight the passage at 1:03:10

1:03:36 But I think if we just have the really, really big picture of how many lifetimes, you know, that we're talking about and that just like... What we're experiencing in this life is not necessarily a result of something that we created first. Like I did nothing in the first 35 years of my life to create a Buddhist nun, you know, His Holiness the Dalai Lama teacher rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:36 Highlight the passage at 1:03:36

1:04:01 Trust me. I'm just trying to purify all that stuff. You know, it had to have been from a past life and in the same way. Yeah, I'm going to really try to create another rebirth like this, but I know the result of the activities I'm doing in this life may not ripen until the future. And it's hard to have that perspective because we really want to see some kind of change. But I think to be patient and to just have some real faith in the law of cause and effect and to really realize that, yes, eventually it will work and it may not be. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:01 Highlight the passage at 1:04:01

1:04:35 Soon enough for us, but just to think about the experiences we have in this life and how they were most likely created by some amazing holy being in the past, you know, in that same way to have that confidence. But it's hard. It's hard. Yeah, Catherine. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:35 Highlight the passage at 1:04:35

1:04:55 So just to clarify, because I'm trying to sort of assimilate what Janet was saying about trying to stop that anger, because as I said yesterday, that's my issue I'm trying to look at here as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:55 Highlight the passage at 1:04:55

1:05:08 That she was saying between grasping and becoming but it sounds like you're backing it up a couple of steps there and saying even by the time it gets to that point which is what I was saying also that I feel like it's too late by the time I even know that I'm angry and so that's like I'm already at that becoming stage before I even know that. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:08 Highlight the passage at 1:05:08

1:05:29 Any of this has even gone on. Yeah, and I think, you know, this is a place, there's a couple of other places, but I think this can be the most effective place. Because like I said, we can't control the feelings that we have, we can't control what affects, but with wisdom we can control whether it even turns into an afflictive emotion. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:29 Highlight the passage at 1:05:29

1:05:50 You know, and it is a little bit harder after that full-blown grasping attack. To stop yourself from acting. We can work at it there, but this is super effective if you can really apply this understanding. So you're saying that the feeling is part of the effect. So the fact that I see the person as someone to get angry at in the first place. Well, the feeling remembers just that raw, unpleasant experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:50 Highlight the passage at 1:05:50

1:06:18 So the fact that I have an unpleasant feeling about this person is... That's a result. And then what I do about it is the next step. But at that moment, that person that seems unpleasant if you go, wow, somehow in the past I created the cause. To be having this unpleasant experience, it's not the fault of the person, you don't blame, you're not a helpless victim of this complete maniac who's just ridiculous. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:18 Highlight the passage at 1:06:18

1:06:44 But you just see how, wow, I created this experience. Interesting. Do I want to perpetuate this by reacting or do I want to use my wisdom to realize how this was created by me in the past and then respond really differently unless you want to keep... That ball rolling. So I think, you know, we can act here, we can act in other places, but this is super effective because it's between the new, you know, the old effects and the new causes. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:44 Highlight the passage at 1:06:44

1:07:15 So it's very effective. So it's really a matter of realizing my responsibility, meaning that I created this in the past. At that point. And an even deeper level. Right? And we'll get to this a little bit later today. At an even deeper level, using the understanding of karma to see how this whole thing was created. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:15 Highlight the passage at 1:07:15

1:07:34 And then at an even deeper level, for those of you that have studied emptiness a little bit, seeing how even your very perception of that person is created by your karma. So not only the experience you're having, but even your very perception of that person is unpleasant. Is also created by your karma because we say that things are empty of inherent existence, you know, that our concepts and our, you know, we have this certain perception of things, conceptual designation we say. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:34 Highlight the passage at 1:07:34

1:08:04 So that's an even subtler level. Like, oh, this wouldn't even be appearing to me as unpleasant if I hadn't somehow created the karma to have that perception. So that's an even subtler level that we can attack it. So in both those places. To just cut, you know, cut the wheel there. Isn't that cool? I mean, is that cool or what? Like, I never got this, and it showed me where to practice, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:04 Highlight the passage at 1:08:04

1:08:30 It just seemed like some weird theoretical thing about three lifetimes and, like, what's it all about? When I really got how it's showing me how I can apply my knowledge, at least, you know, to practice, to cut through my cyclic existence, I thought it was totally cool. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:30 Highlight the passage at 1:08:30

1:08:48 Along with this boss and cutting it in that place, you recognize that it's your karma. You know that the unpleasant feeling you're feeling is the result of past negative actions that are now manifesting in this life. And then do you create some kind of a... If you want to talk to the person and say, well, you know, this has really been disturbing me a lot. So you're trying to somehow interfere or change something outside with that person. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:48 Highlight the passage at 1:08:48

1:09:29 Does that change the karma? It's like kind of taking an aspirin for a headache. We have the bad karma to have the headache. We have the good karma to have the aspirin. Right, right. The aspirin is a condition. It's not the cause of the headache being relieved because it doesn't always work. Yeah, that's true. So the aspirin, I mean, it's great that we have the aspirin. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:29 Highlight the passage at 1:09:29

1:09:50 The aspirin will not cause the ending of the headache unless we have the karma for that, but it could act as a condition for that karmic seed for ending of headache to ripen more quickly. So that would be the same as talking with somebody about whatever. Yeah, you do what you can. But it doesn't create more negative karma for yourself is the question, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:09:50 Highlight the passage at 1:09:50

1:10:14 Right. So if you react with patients, which could include also trying to talk to them, maybe getting a mediator. All of that's fine. And realizing it isn't always going to work if the karma isn't exhausted, but it could act as a condition for the relationship to change. So because we have faith in karma doesn't mean we just sit there waiting for our karma to make things happen to us. Yeah, we act. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:14 Highlight the passage at 1:10:14

1:10:41 We do all of those conventional things because it may, just like the aspirin, it may serve as a condition for the karma to change. But we realize it won't always work because it's not the cause. But yeah, we do do what we do. Because a lot of times in the teachings, they don't add those bits in. And it gets a little confusing because you think, what am I going to be, a doormat? Report an error in the passage at 1:10:41 Highlight the passage at 1:10:41

1:11:02 Yeah, exactly. Or if I see somebody, you know. If you're abusing this little kid on the street or trying to pick him up and put him into a car, do I just stand there and go, well, that's their karma? I mean, that's ridiculous. Yeah, and if you have the karma to go to His Holiness Teachings in Long Beach, you just sit in your chair in your living room and somebody's going to buy you a ticket and the cab's going to pull up in front of you. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:02 Highlight the passage at 1:11:02

1:11:23 I mean, come on, it's ridiculous. You can take it to such an extreme. We act conventionally the way that makes sense. But yet understanding there's a deeper level of causation going on than all of the things that we try to do, you know, and not to get frustrated and attached. But yeah, we act. We definitely act. Because a lot of times they leave out that little bit. Yeah. And sometimes it can, you can let your mind just go too far in one direction. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:23 Highlight the passage at 1:11:23

1:11:56 Yeah, it can be so extreme. I mean, we have to create, and we have to keep creating the causes. Because we're constantly creating new causes for the kind of experiences that we want to have. So yeah, you can't just be passive and say, oh, if I have the karma, it's going to work out. I mean, that's just ridiculous. So it kind of takes the allure and mystery out of miracles then, I suppose. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:56 Highlight the passage at 1:11:56

1:12:23 Say more about what do you mean. Well, I mean like... Miraculous recoveries from terminal illness where suddenly somebody just goes into remission and they're better and they have no cancer and you go, you know, people say it was an act of God. Yeah, it was an act of karma and causes and conditions. That's the only thing anything is. Right, it was just... Report an error in the passage at 1:12:23 Highlight the passage at 1:12:23

1:12:51 You know some baby's karma to die horribly of a painful disease and yet you know it was somebody else's karma to recover from the brink of death from this disease that nobody... Right. Ever survives. Yeah. And yet somebody survives it. And it's those shifts in karma that explain all of those things, you know, because they're all caused. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:51 Highlight the passage at 1:12:51

1:13:14 Even though it goes against scientific thinking. Like there's so many people that Lama Zopa has given practices to do because they have AIDS or cancer or something. And then they go in complete remission and the doctors can't believe it. And, you know, they're just... It was caused. It was caused by their practices, which is even more of a miracle. When you think about how much your life can shift as a result of creating the right causes, up to the point of us becoming a Buddha, all we have to do is create the causes for that. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:14 Highlight the passage at 1:13:14

1:13:46 I mean, for me, that's even more cool. It's like we can transform into anything that we want. Forget about just recovering from some stupid disease. We can become a fully enlightened being if we create the causes for it. That, to me, is the ultimate miracle. That's very cool. Okay, maybe two more questions and then we'll take a break. Go ahead. What you said about the perception of someone is caused by your karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:46 Highlight the passage at 1:13:46

1:14:13 But what if you just look at someone and you don't like them right away, and even if they do something that is kind of minor but you take it really offensively, are you supposed to try to make yourself like them? Because that's really hard. Yeah, right. right, all right. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:13 Highlight the passage at 1:14:13

1:14:30 I think it's interesting those things when you immediately take a dislike to somebody and they haven't even done anything. I think often that could be due to some like karma from a past life that you just have instant aversion. And I think it is really hard. It's not like you can like them. And they may still appear to you as unpleasant. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:30 Highlight the passage at 1:14:30

1:14:52 But I think at least if you can stop yourself from reacting. In some way that's going to cause fresh bad karma between you, then that's the smartest thing. Like realize that it's coming from your past maybe karmic connection with this person and at least try and be patient with them and try not to like get angry at them. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:52 Highlight the passage at 1:14:52

1:15:13 Even they could keep appearing to you as unpleasant for a really long time, but to just try and react with patience and not... Not respond negatively. I think it is, you know, sometimes it takes a while, but it does happen. I've had people that I've just disliked completely and I've worked so hard and we've actually become friends. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:13 Highlight the passage at 1:15:13

1:15:32 So I think over time that, even that karma can shift if you work hard enough. But it's not like forcing yourself to just feel like you have to be everybody's best friend and be all like smiley and pleasant all the time because that's just not going to work. But at least realize where it comes from and not react in some negative way. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:32 Highlight the passage at 1:15:32

1:15:51 Okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:15:51 Highlight the passage at 1:15:51

1:15:56 I see that the wheel here is broken up into cause-effect. Now, from the way it was described, there seems to be a flow from consciousness to name and form to six senses to contact to feeling and so on. Now, I can see how feeling and contact, six senses, etc. are all effects of... Ignorance and karmic formations as being the cause. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:56 Highlight the passage at 1:15:56

1:16:31 I'm having trouble seeing the causal connection because there seems to be a causal connection between six senses and contact. Would not the six senses be the cause for the contact? It's a condition. But... Report an error in the passage at 1:16:31 Highlight the passage at 1:16:31

1:16:46 It's a condition. It's the difference between causes and conditions. Yeah, the contact depends on the condition of having those six senses as providing the potential for that sense contact. But all of it is caused by the karma from past lives that propelled this new rebirth and caused all of this. Okay, and I think you might touch on this later on, but... Report an error in the passage at 1:16:46 Highlight the passage at 1:16:46

1:17:14 My six senses, say my sense of touch. I'm touching this table here. Now, that sense of touch is leading to the generation of contact with this table. Now, if I remove that sense of touch, I now don't have, I can't sense that aspect of the table. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:14 Highlight the passage at 1:17:14

1:17:43 Isn't the sense of touch not so much a condition for sensing the table but as a cause for the sensation of the table? You see what I'm saying? Well, definitely the senses, you know, this contact has to happen. I mean, what you're talking about is the link of contact that you're actually touching the table so you have the potential for that tactile sense consciousness to arise when it comes into contact with. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:43 Highlight the passage at 1:17:43

1:18:14 The table, resulting in probably neutral feeling for a table. But the point is that that's not the cause of the contact. The contact is not the cause of the feeling. The fact that the whole thing is happening is a result of... Past karma. I mean the fact that as a human being you have that potential for that kind of sensory contact with objects, the kind of objects you're coming into contact with as a human being, the feelings that are arising, all results of past karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:14 Highlight the passage at 1:18:14

1:18:46 So it's the difference and it's sometimes subtle between causes and conditions. You know we say... They talk in Buddhism about what we call the material cause. The Tibetan is nirlingigyu. It's the material cause like an acorn that actually transforms into the oak tree. And then the conditions are the air and the water and the sunlight, all of those. But the actual thing that flips into the result is called the cause. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:46 Highlight the passage at 1:18:46

1:19:16 And all the conditions around it that will actually make that karmic seed kind of... Take off and transform into a result are the conditions. So it's very subtle with this, but we're talking about the difference between causes and conditions. And for this past, present and future, I can see that these are referring to lives, correct? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:16 Highlight the passage at 1:19:16

1:19:44 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:44 Highlight the passage at 1:19:44

1:19:50 seems that, like, in this life, if you develop... Develop a direct experience of emptiness and cut saṃsāra at the root of ignorance. Would you not be doing that in this life? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:50 Highlight the passage at 1:19:50

1:20:09 Yeah. Or is this life just, oh, okay, I see it. So it just gets rotated back. So cutting saṃsāra at the root of ignorance in this life becomes, you know, it starts the wheel going again. Yeah, backwards. I mean... Report an error in the passage at 1:20:09 Highlight the passage at 1:20:09

1:20:24 For the next slide. Right. Okay. I just answered my own question. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good. Okay. I think we're overdue for a break. Everybody's getting shifty and restless. So let's take 15 minutes, come back at 11.15 and we'll, there's another significant place where we can cut through that I want to talk about and then we'll carry on with the karma quiz, shifting back to karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:24 Highlight the passage at 1:20:24

1:20:49 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:49 Highlight the passage at 1:20:49

1:21:14 this moment forward. What is it, 21 days? I have to not complain. Okay. Yeah. no. I have to put it on the opposite wrist already. Are you? Yeah. That's. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:14 Highlight the passage at 1:21:14

1:21:35 Wow, where did that come from? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:35 Highlight the passage at 1:21:35

1:21:42 Okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:21:42 Highlight the passage at 1:21:42

1:21:47 any questions while we're waiting for... Everybody to bring their tea in. Katya has been waiting patiently for the whole tea break. I was wondering about the concept of callings. I mean, you hear in Calvinism or just in the way we use it normally, like, you know, some feeling that there's something you're meant to do or in general, like... Report an error in the passage at 1:21:47 Highlight the passage at 1:21:47

1:22:11 You know, preferences you have for some type of music or talents and you don't know where they come from. Does that connect it to you? I think that would be karmic imprints. You know, like the whole thing like Mozart could, you know, composing sonatas at the age of three or something. I mean, there's no explanation for that apart from karma as far as I can tell. And I think, yeah, I think we have, you know, certain, like familiarity from past lives for certain things. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:11 Highlight the passage at 1:22:11

1:22:37 And we're drawn to certain things maybe because of past life. I think that kind of thing can be explained by karma. Yeah, kind of like people say it's you should fall You have some inner thing you're meant to do and you have to find out what that is and be in line with that kind of... Actually, this is another one of my pet peeves. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:37 Highlight the passage at 1:22:37

1:22:59 This actually comes from a platonic idea in Western philosophy that you have some destiny that you're meant to fulfill and you're either aiming towards that or somehow you've gotten off track, like you have some kind of... You know, predestined purpose for your life. And that actually comes from Plato. And it's a very Western philosophical view. And I see students get so anxious about the decisions that they make. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:59 Highlight the passage at 1:22:59

1:23:24 And I think it comes from this thing of like you're either aiming towards it or you could get horribly off track and, you know, kind of lose your path. And in Buddhism we just say it's not like there's any one thing that's your destiny to fulfill like that idea. It's just about how you do it. You know, what kind of motivation do you bring to it? What kind of energy do you bring to it? And then there can be any number of things that you can do that benefit others and it's not this idea. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:24 Highlight the passage at 1:23:24

1:23:55 You know, I think that's another thing that we mix with our Buddhism is just that idea that we have some purpose and our goal in life is to find it and then to aim. Towards that sort of predestined purpose and that's just not a Buddhist idea at all and I see so much anxiety caused by that. And I have this one student, he's from Tasmania in Australia and he's sending me these emails like he's frozen about every decision he makes because he has this idea of like... Report an error in the passage at 1:23:55 Highlight the passage at 1:23:55

1:24:26 It's so significant and he could get totally off base if he makes the wrong choice. And this poor guy, he's like 28 years old and he's completely paralyzed and he has to email me from all over the globe, you know, every time he's making a decision. And I've tried to talk to him and just go, let go of that thing, you know, that it's like, you know, you're trying to always make these mid-course corrections to aim towards your destiny because that's just not a Buddhist idea at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:26 Highlight the passage at 1:24:26

1:24:52 Yeah. Yeah, Carla. Follow up to that question. I have some difficulties discerning between intuition and mind playing tricks. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:52 Highlight the passage at 1:24:52

1:25:08 And that's hard. Is that intuition? And I think that's, you know, for me, part of spiritual maturity is being able to differentiate between true intuition and, you know, is my, you know, kind of self-cherishing trying to win and trying to talk myself. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:08 Highlight the passage at 1:25:08

1:25:28 When is it really that inner wisdom talking? I think sometimes it is hard to tell the difference, but with practice you get used to, is it that sneaky, self-cherishing voice coming in? Come on, this is all too extreme. What are you doing? Just be normal. This is too much. Or is it something really trying to guide you truly? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:28 Highlight the passage at 1:25:28

1:25:52 I think it's hard, but just... Sort of getting more and more in tune with that and then trusting it. Michael had that question yesterday, you know, and we're talking about how sometimes your rational mind, you know, derails your intuition or your inner guru. And I think the more we listen to it, the more that you listen to that voice and you're guided appropriately in your life, then the more you sort of trust it and can differentiate that voice from the voice of self-cherishing just trying to mislead you. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:52 Highlight the passage at 1:25:52

1:26:21 I think it's just practice, mostly. Good. All right. So there's one more significant place in this chart that, you know, with our Buddhist practice we can cut through. So can anybody think of where that might be? We've talked about a couple of places, Janet said, here between grasping and becoming, and that's subduing, you know, the impulse to act, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:21 Highlight the passage at 1:26:21

1:26:48 Or we have a mind full of some... Thought, some afflictive emotion, but at least subduing that impulse to act on the basis of that. And then we talked about here that root ignorance with our wisdom, you know, overcoming that ignorance about the way things exist that gets the whole ball rolling. But we said that's a very sophisticated realization that takes lots and lots of practice. And then my personal favorite between feeling and craving. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:48 Highlight the passage at 1:26:48

1:27:18 So you have the sense contact with the object, you know, you have the feeling, realizing that that contact wasn't the cause, that the cause is some past karma and that this was just a condition. You know, so realizing if you react stupidly, you know, by stupid, as one of my friends who teaches says, liking and disliking stupidly, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:27:18 Highlight the passage at 1:27:18

1:27:43 Not... Liking and disliking based on wisdom. But attachment and aversion, he calls it liking stupidly and disliking stupidly. So on the basis of that, you carry on the wheel. And I think for us, that's a really big point of practice. It takes a lot of awareness. And yesterday we talked about mindfulness in terms of really realizing when those impulses are coming up so we can cut it here. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:43 Highlight the passage at 1:27:43

1:28:10 This also requires mindfulness. We need to just slow down. We're just going so fast and reacting the moment something happens and just slowing the whole process down and especially when we feel strong, pleasant or unpleasant feelings. Do a 180. Get out of the situation. Sit down on your meditation cushion before you react. It's like little kids. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:10 Highlight the passage at 1:28:10

1:28:38 You send them for a time out. Give yourself a time out here when you're feeling those strong emotions just like you do to your four year old. And sit in the corner and feel what's happening and try and transform it. So that's really important for us. Yeah, Betty. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:38 Highlight the passage at 1:28:38

1:29:00 Just an idea. How about between coming and birth? Cause and effect. Yeah, and that's what John said. And we said, yeah, there are ways to practice there. Very sophisticated meditations that can actually be done at the time of death, which is what some of these very advanced Tibetan Lamas are doing. But even from moment to moment, because if this is a cycle that happens continually through life, I mean, to prevent a birth of another negative thing from happening, you can check yourself at that. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:00 Highlight the passage at 1:29:00

1:29:31 You know, cause to not create the effect. Right, right, right, right. Once you've created the cause though, the effect will come unless you have a direct realization of emptiness that really cuts through. And they say that there are certain things that you can do to destroy those karmic seeds, certain purification. A direct realization of emptiness is really powerful and can keep some of those causes from detonating. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:31 Highlight the passage at 1:29:31

1:29:56 But for us, it's pretty hard. Once that karma has been implanted, chances are when it meets with the appropriate causes and conditions, it will take off. Ana, do you have something? I'm thinking that you're referring to purification. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:56 Highlight the passage at 1:29:56

1:30:16 But at the moment, I'm not sure exactly where one... And that would be purification after the karma has been formed, which is something else. Actually, where I'm thinking is here. Some of our Buddhist practices reduce our sense contact. And in fact, there's this monk, Venerable Antonio, this monk... Ordained in the Tibetan tradition who's also studied a lot in the Theravadan tradition in Burma. And he was saying in the Theravadan tradition, especially for monastics, where they cut through the wheel is this. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:16 Highlight the passage at 1:30:16

1:30:53 So they're really reducing the sense contact that will even make that feeling come up that then will respond stupidly. So a lot of that practice is by living a very subdued life to reduce sense contact. For the rest of us too, not just monastics, it's true. And a lot of times we talked about this yesterday in terms of happiness. And sometimes at the very beginning of the path we notice those objects with which the contact would be so compelling that it's almost impossible not to go here. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:53 Highlight the passage at 1:30:53

1:31:29 And then the beginning of our practice until our mind is stronger, until our wisdom... We reduce sense contact with those objects. For example, I mean the most obvious example for Buddhist monastics, we have a celibacy vow. Sexual contact is so compelling, almost impossible in the midst of that pleasant feeling to not think the guy caused it, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:29 Highlight the passage at 1:31:29

1:31:55 So stopping that kind of sense contact that almost always leads to here. Especially at the initial stages of practice. So identifying whatever that is for you. And then maybe looking at reducing that sense contact. But we see it's still not a cause and effect break, right? It can help, you know, it can help to reduce the sense contact. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:55 Highlight the passage at 1:31:55

1:32:20 And a lot of our vows, not just the monastic celibacy vow. But a lot of our vows, and a lot of times when people start to practice, they notice that they want to kind of simplify their life. I've got new students, they always tell me, I gave away my TV. I always applaud. I think a TV is one of the biggest causes of delusion that there is. I'm always totally psyched when somebody tells me they gave away their TV. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:20 Highlight the passage at 1:32:20

1:32:45 But a lot of times we simplify our lives, we just kind of naturally reduce. Our amount of sense contact. And it's something we can do deliberately, identifying what those objects are and then, you know, out of wisdom, just having a respectful, cautious relationship with those kind of objects for which the sense contact is so compelling it almost always leads us into some craving and grasping. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:45 Highlight the passage at 1:32:45

1:33:12 Okay, so that's another place. So we've identified a couple of different places. But I urge you to work here between feeling and craving because that's very interesting and it just takes a little bit of understanding to be very effective at widening this gap. You know, the next time a strong, pleasant or unpleasant feeling arises, just remember, where did it come from? Did it come from the object? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:12 Highlight the passage at 1:33:12

1:33:37 No, the object is just a condition. You know, you want more good feelings? Clean up your act. Keep your ethics. Avoid the ten non-virtues if you want happiness. Not grasping after sense contact with all of these objects. That's where happiness comes from. Living ethically and benefiting beings. And then everything will make you happy. We don't need these extreme experiences to make us happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:37 Highlight the passage at 1:33:37

1:34:03 Then just normal things will make us happy because we have the karma for that. And it's not dependent on those objects that we misunderstand is the cause. Okay, so that's a big, big part of our practice. Okay, Ana's frowning. What, Ana? The microphone's right next to you. She's scowling, actually. It's even beyond frowning. It's just a habit. Well, I think you said you were going to talk about where our understanding of emptiness or practice of emptiness would fall within those areas. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:03 Highlight the passage at 1:34:03

1:34:39 And I think, like I said, on one level, we see how that feeling... Is created by karma and not created by the object. And then on that even subtler level if you understand how everything... It's created by our concepts, understanding that even the way the object appears to us, even our very perception is created by our karma and is a concept, that it doesn't need to be that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:39 Highlight the passage at 1:34:39

1:35:05 That those things, those experiences, those incidents seem like they're just coming from their own side as inherently pleasant or unpleasant, but even starting to question that. Even starting to question the appearances, the way that things appear. So for people who have had those teachings, that's an even deeper way to work with this. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:05 Highlight the passage at 1:35:05

1:35:26 You know, an even subtler way, subtler than karma, to work with this. Okay, so the level of karma, just realizing, yeah, it was created by my karma, and then even deeper, it's even the way it looks to me. You know, even the way this situation appears to me, even the way this object appears to me, it's empty. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:26 Highlight the passage at 1:35:26

1:35:46 Of any kind of inherent existence. It's kind of coming at me in the way that it appears. It's also created by my perceptions, forced on me by my karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:46 Highlight the passage at 1:35:46

1:35:56 So that's a subtler level. Katya and then John. So craving itself isn't like a non-virtue of the mind, right? Well, there were three we listed. There might be more, but it's only when it leads to an action, which could be an action of the mind, like coveting. Craving itself isn't... But, you know, it's interesting because the worst is if this will make you engage in some kind of non-virtue to get the object or to avoid the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:56 Highlight the passage at 1:35:56

1:36:25 But even the very craving itself, for those of us who aren't yet... Don't yet have that direct realization of emptiness. Even craving has that delusion mixed in with it, right? So it still will cause saṃsāra, even if it's not one of the ten non-virtues explicitly, you know, or some negativity. But even just that misperceiving the nature of reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:25 Highlight the passage at 1:36:25

1:36:50 That results in craving because we think, you know, craving, you can think of it as attachment, thinking that that object is pleasant from its own side and that by, you know, having it, even if it doesn't lead you to do some non-virtue. Keeps creating the imprint of that ignorance and that's the root of saṃsāra. So even if it doesn't lead to any more explicit non-virtue, just in and of itself it's a delusion. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:50 Highlight the passage at 1:36:50

1:37:15 So having that imprint of that ignorance and that delusion of misperceiving the way the object exists is bad enough. So that's how this is caused even when it doesn't lead you to act in a way that's an explicit non-virtue. Yeah, yeah, Betty. Oh, John, and then Betty. Sorry, John. No, that's all right. So I think it's probably been touched on already in several different ways, but, you know, a place that looks... Report an error in the passage at 1:37:15 Highlight the passage at 1:37:15

1:37:49 Pretty obvious of where to go and cut things is between craving and grasping. Work on the afflictive emotions. Yeah, yeah. And you can, just like Janet said, between the grasping and the becoming, a little bit harder, right? If we've already kind of gone with our misperception of the object, we've already generated that wish that more... Report an error in the passage at 1:37:49 Highlight the passage at 1:37:49

1:38:10 That misunderstanding that more sense contact with the object is going to give us more happiness, a little bit harder at that point to go, but I'm not going to do it. Because if you're doing it, and by the way, this isn't going to work unless you really understand this. And especially avoiding sense contact ain't going to work unless you really understand this. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:10 Highlight the passage at 1:38:10

1:38:33 And trying to cut your craving before grasping if you don't understand that you're misperceiving where that Pleasant feeling came from. It's just going to leave you frustrated, right? So if you don't understand this well, trying to cut it here, trying to cut it here. You know, they give these pre-ordination courses. Before we get ordained, they give this course to explain all our vows to us. I think they should explain the 12 links so you understand why you're taking those vows. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:33 Highlight the passage at 1:38:33

1:39:00 Because otherwise, you're just going to think Lord Buddha is trying to spoil all your fun. And you're going to get frustrated. And I think it can be true for here if you don't really use your wisdom to understand what's going on. So I think that's a little harder there without that understanding. And one that's probably a lot harder than that. What about cutting it between karmic formations and consciousness? Yeah, and that's hard too because once you've got that mind stream loaded with those karmic imprints, unless you're one of those very, very high level beings that can purify it, At the moment of death or in the intermediate state, almost guaranteed. It's the force of those karmic imprints forces that next rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:00 Highlight the passage at 1:39:00

1:39:44 So it's kind of the same point as here, like before the rebirth into the next life. Yeah, there are ways to purify it, but again, very, very sophisticated, whereas we can all understand this one. We don't have to have some high level of concentration or realization to understand that. Yeah, good. Yeah, Betty. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:44 Highlight the passage at 1:39:44

1:40:11 I mean, I've heard over and over in teachings that a lot of the things that we do are as a result of habit. And in this, obviously, it's more detailed, but that's too simple of an explanation for me. The same thing that I do to myself every day over and over again, whether it be a mental thing that I torture myself with or a physical thing that I repeatedly do, the consumption of food or whatever, whatever, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:11 Highlight the passage at 1:40:11

1:40:37 The habit is just too simple of an explanation to me. Yeah, yeah. I mean, am I just self-sabotage? Well, it's interesting. Some of those things that we do that seem like negative, like they're really harming us, I always like to think there's some need that's getting met there. And if you can get to the root of what that is, like even our most dysfunctional behavior. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:37 Highlight the passage at 1:40:37

1:41:06 I think there's some deeper underlying need that we're trying to fulfill. Mostly it's not working. Mostly it's pretty dysfunctional. But I think before we can really solve things like that, we have to get, instead of just saying, oh, I shouldn't and suppressing, we need to just sit with it, just like we do with the afflictive emotions and get what's going on, like what deeper underlying thing is going on there. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:06 Highlight the passage at 1:41:06

1:41:31 I had a friend who is a monastic, you know, and we have these celibacy vows. And he was saying he was always having this trouble with desire. And for a really long time, he just kept trying to squash it. He'd feel this sexual desire and he was just like, I'm celibate, I'm a monk, I can't. And then at one point it was so overwhelming that he just was sitting meditating and he realized it was loneliness. It was manifesting as this secondary emotion of sexual desire. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:31 Highlight the passage at 1:41:31

1:41:59 And he realized... He was practicing in Thailand. He didn't speak the language. He just felt really disconnected. He wasn't really close to anyone. He wasn't having any kind of emotional intimacy. So it was manifesting as this sexual desire. And until he let himself feel. What was going on? He was just trying to push it away and it wasn't working. And then he said, oh, I realized I needed to like have friends and I needed to just connect with people. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:59 Highlight the passage at 1:41:59

1:42:28 And then he solved it that way and he said then the sexual desire wasn't a problem. It was really about connection with people. So I think a lot of times when we have something like that, that we think is, you know, we're labeling it negative, maybe we're suppressing it, maybe we're fighting against it. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:28 Highlight the passage at 1:42:28

1:42:44 But it's a self-torture. It's like a self-torture. I know I'm doing something that mentally and physically is not good for me, but I do it on a repetitive basis. And it's like, why am I trying to beat myself up so much? And take it to your cushion and sit with it. You know, just sit with it and see what comes up. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:44 Highlight the passage at 1:42:44

1:43:03 Because I think that struggle against it, if we just accept it, then we can go to that deeper level. Because we're always kind of fighting on the surface level with it. And it's like this big struggle, you know, and you're telling yourself that it's not right. But if you just take it to your cushion and just sit with it, often it's trying to tell you something. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:03 Highlight the passage at 1:43:03

1:43:23 I mean it's nagging at you because it's got some information that you need. It's coming out in this sort of distorted way, but there's some basic information. Just like my friend, this desire was telling him he just was lonely and needed to connect with people, a basic human need that he was ignoring, thinking, oh, I'm a monk and I'm self-sufficient. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:23 Highlight the passage at 1:43:23

1:43:45 So it's interesting to just sit with it and just to see what might be underlying it. Okay, does everybody have a pen or a pencil, something to write with? Michael doesn't have one. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:45 Highlight the passage at 1:43:45

1:44:03 It's karma quiz time. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:03 Highlight the passage at 1:44:03

1:44:18 Michael, did you get one? Got it. Okay. It's all right. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:18 Highlight the passage at 1:44:18

1:44:29 Okay. So, I will hand out a piece of paper and part of it is folded over and you have to promise that you'll, Girl Scouts honor that you keep it folded over. Oh, is it this? What, this is Boy Scouts and this is Girl Scouts? I was never either one, a Boy Scout or a Girl Scout. Is that right? God's honor. Okay. What? Vulcan's honor. Okay. All right. Now, you'll see two columns with certain, you know, experiences. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:29 Highlight the passage at 1:44:29

1:45:03 Check a box. All of these short phrases that have a box next to them. Check the box if this is representative of your experience in any way. Mostly now. Like if it happened to you once when you were five years old. Forget it, right? But if it keeps happening repeatedly or if it's characteristic of your experience right now, check the box. And kind of go with your first thoughts, with your first instincts. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:03 Highlight the passage at 1:45:03

1:45:31 Don't be really analytical. If you read the phrase and you're like, oh yeah, check the box. If you read the phrase and you're like, I can't relate to that at all, skip it. So don't be overly analytical. Has it ever happened? Just see if you have some kind of charge around that issue. Alright, and my lovely assistant Maria will now pass out the quizzes. So go ahead and begin when you get your paper. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:31 Highlight the passage at 1:45:31

1:46:00 And if you have any questions about what some of these things mean or terminology, just let me know. And you'll notice the first column is personal experience and then the second column is general environment. So just checking whatever is characteristic. Both columns, yeah. So check both columns. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:00 Highlight the passage at 1:46:00

1:46:30 Well, like I said, if it's something that happened long ago that hasn't been happening now, don't worry about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:30 Highlight the passage at 1:46:30

1:46:40 If you feel like when you read it, oh yeah, that happened in the past, that has nothing to do with my reality now, then don't check it. I think it depends how much you feel like that still affects you. So think like that. Both columns. So do both columns. Do everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:40 Highlight the passage at 1:46:40

1:47:05 Yeah, just if you feel like it's representative, either if it keeps occurring in your life over and over again, or your recent experience. Like I said, if it was some phase in your life that it happened a lot, but it hasn't happened in like 10 or 15 years, then don't worry about it. Yeah, Betty. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:05 Highlight the passage at 1:47:05

1:47:32 Yeah, yeah. Check it. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:32 Highlight the passage at 1:47:32

1:47:39 No. But Gina, this will give you the solutions. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:39 Highlight the passage at 1:47:39

1:47:48 Okay, slander means people are talking about you behind your back, like talking in a bad way about you behind your back. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:48 Highlight the passage at 1:47:48

1:48:01 It can mean death too, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:01 Highlight the passage at 1:48:01

1:48:08 Well, he's sitting right behind you. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:08 Highlight the passage at 1:48:08

1:48:24 Troublesome, yeah, both, both. It's probably both, like they're cheating on you, you're fighting all the time, it's problematic. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:24 Highlight the passage at 1:48:24

1:48:37 Not that your spouse is going through problems, but that something about the relationship is troublesome. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:37 Highlight the passage at 1:48:37

1:48:54 Well, your karma shifted, didn't it? Now you've got Michael. Yeah, it wouldn't apply to your current situation. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Katya. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:54 Highlight the passage at 1:48:54

1:49:15 Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. Check it anyway, and then when we look at the causes, we'll evaluate a little bit more. Because I had one student, and she said she'd chosen to do this volunteer project in Pakistan, which is like dry, arid, barren, but it was her choice to do something beneficial. So I think it wouldn't be so much a karmic effect that was making you suffer if it's something that you chose. So maybe just note it, but then we'll look at it more. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:15 Highlight the passage at 1:49:15

1:49:41 Yeah, Tamara. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:41 Highlight the passage at 1:49:41

1:49:46 Yeah, that's just like... The environment that you live in, just in general, you know, in general, the characteristics. Yeah, it could be something about the people, but more about the physical environment, you know, around you, like the city that you live in or the neighborhood that you live in, like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:46 Highlight the passage at 1:49:46

1:50:06 Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:06 Highlight the passage at 1:50:06

1:50:14 Great. Your karma's shifting. Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:14 Highlight the passage at 1:50:14

1:50:25 Like 80 % of them would be checked. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:25 Highlight the passage at 1:50:25

1:50:33 Right, right, right. And I think... You know, it would be interesting if there's something that has been really consistent in your life that just disappeared, maybe note it and then we'll see what caused that and you can see if you feel like you've purified that. Yeah, or some other symbol to show, oh, something that just quit happening. Because then it'll be interesting to see if you feel like you did something to purify that when we look at the causes. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:33 Highlight the passage at 1:50:33

1:51:00 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:00 Highlight the passage at 1:51:00

1:51:10 Excuse me in the back row. You're getting a little out of control. I can't hear the questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:10 Highlight the passage at 1:51:10

1:51:32 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:32 Highlight the passage at 1:51:32

1:51:38 And let's talk about that. That's such an important question. Let's talk about that after we do the karma quiz because that's super important and I want everybody to hear. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:38 Highlight the passage at 1:51:38

1:51:52 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:52 Highlight the passage at 1:51:52

1:51:57 Yeah, she's going to ask it again. She was just asking a question offline, but I wanted to ask it when everybody's paying attention because it's so important. Yeah, that's really super important. Who needs more time? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:57 Highlight the passage at 1:51:57

1:52:19 Yeah. I know. And that's our karma, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:52:19 Highlight the passage at 1:52:19

1:52:30 Yeah, and that's not representative of our experience. So, yeah. Right, right. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:30 Highlight the passage at 1:52:30

1:52:42 Yeah, this is, this is, yeah. Yeah. Oh, and by the way, by the way, good point, what Catherine said. This, you know, these karmic correlations were written in the time of Lord Buddha 2,500 years ago. So we got things like the crops fail. But for us that would be like you invest money in the stock market and it plummets. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:42 Highlight the passage at 1:52:42

1:53:05 So a lot of these sort of agricultural things, think of it as metaphorical to your own situation, like disappointing fruit and trees. You know, whatever it is that you're investing in or your business fails. So think of it more broadly. I'm sorry, I should have mentioned that before. So think of it more broadly because you might think, oh, you know, I'm not a farmer, so I don't have disappointing fruit and trees. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:05 Highlight the passage at 1:53:05

1:53:32 But, you know, apply it kind of more generally to your, like, success in your business or your work or something. Yeah, Gina. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:32 Highlight the passage at 1:53:32

1:53:43 Many of us do live in the same place or in close proximity. And I was like... Dion, I was looking at the list and thinking, oh gosh, no, you know, how lucky. I don't have, you know, natural disasters, no this, no that, great environment. And then other people in the room are saying, yes, we do. We have earthquakes and there's these fires. And so even there you see kind of the karmic perception that we're seeing it as, oh, you know, this is great. Because I didn't even think of some of the other ways that other people are seeing the same surroundings. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:43 Highlight the passage at 1:53:43

1:54:08 And I had this, I had one student who lived in Santa Cruz and she was doing this. And she was looking at it and going, hey, I live in Santa Cruz, man. I drive on. Asphalt. I don't have rough, difficult terrain. And then she noticed on the next day on the way to work, she had to drive on back roads because she couldn't afford to get her car fixed, which was another karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:08 Highlight the passage at 1:54:08

1:54:29 But she couldn't drive on the highway. And she noticed she's driving down these back roads on the way to work. This one road has all these potholes. And she said she's driving. She's like this. She makes a left-hand turn. And there are all these branches down on the other road. So she's kind of going like this. She's like, wait a minute. What am I talking about? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:29 Highlight the passage at 1:54:29

1:54:46 So I think superficially we can say these don't apply. But for her experience, the way she had to take to work because she couldn't afford to fix her car and drive on the highway was rough, difficult terrain. So it doesn't need to be that you live in the middle of Arkansas or something and driving on back roads in a pickup truck. It could be. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:46 Highlight the passage at 1:54:46

1:55:10 In the last five years, I've experienced two different layoffs. And to me, those are definitely earthquakes, you know, uprooting your life. Right, right, right. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:10 Highlight the passage at 1:55:10

1:55:20 Okay, are we ready for the next step? All right. You can open the fold. And you see that for each of these, there's two rows that correspond to each non-virtue. Okay, so the first two rows. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:20 Highlight the passage at 1:55:20

1:55:39 The second two correspond to stealing. So for each non-virtue, you have a potential of four different things that you can experience. So what I want you to do now, go and count up how many out of each four you scored. So four out of four, three out of four, two out of four, and then write it in the left-hand column. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:39 Highlight the passage at 1:55:39

1:56:02 So for each non-virtue, you have a potential of four. Calculate how many you scored and write it in the left. Everybody understand? Okay. So see how each two rows corresponds to one non-virtue. So you have a potential of four different things. So total, how many out of four you got for each non-virtue and just write it in the left-hand column. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:02 Highlight the passage at 1:56:02

1:56:36 So you could have gotten two out of four for killing, three out of four, three out of a possibility of four. Do you see that, Dionne? Like two rows, right, with four experiences that correspond to killing. So how many of those four did you check? Report an error in the passage at 1:56:36 Highlight the passage at 1:56:36

1:56:54 Yeah. It's Report an error in the passage at 1:56:54 Highlight the passage at 1:56:54

1:56:59 sort of against your will if you don't want to. Because this is negative, negative experiences, right? So do your totals in the left-hand column. Tamron, do you get it? Okay. Okay. So for each non-virtue, you see there's four different things that correspond to that because we've got two rows for killing. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:59 Highlight the passage at 1:56:59

1:57:26 So we've got two things. So there's four things that correspond. So how many out of those four did you put a check in the box? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:26 Highlight the passage at 1:57:26

1:57:37 Yeah, zero to four. So write that in the left-hand column. How many you scored? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:37 Highlight the passage at 1:57:37

1:57:55 Right on. And it's interesting to do this like Carla has. Over time, you see how things change. And it's very cool. And John's already seen that. He said, if I did it three months ago, it would have been a totally different thing. So it's really interesting to see how your practice helps. Usually it's less, hopefully, you know, less than before. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:55 Highlight the passage at 1:57:55

1:58:17 So now we can see what we have to target. Dion said yesterday, hey it's kind of overwhelming to think about avoiding all of these things. So I said go after the ones that are the most problematic for you. So now we know what they are. And it's interesting, is anybody surprised when you look at the causes for the experiences you're having? Mostly people aren't very surprised because chances are you have a habit to be doing that still. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:17 Highlight the passage at 1:58:17

1:58:48 Remember that's one of the... The result of karma is to have the habit to do that action over and over. So mostly people are like, wow, amazing, that I'm having this experience like the bumpy road that I never would have correlated to harsh speech, but that's one of my issues. Or like the woman we talked about yesterday with the garbage piling up in front of her house. Who would think that was a result of sexual misconduct if you didn't know the correlation? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:48 Highlight the passage at 1:58:48

1:59:17 Yeah, Gina. Are you? Only because I thought my biggest one would have been divisive speech and it's actually not. What comes through for me was like lying and some of the other ones aren't a surprise at all. Interesting, yeah. And it might be interesting to look more deeply at the results of that and kind of look at it a little bit more deeply and see if you might still be experiencing that. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:17 Highlight the passage at 1:59:17

1:59:50 Or maybe it hasn't kicked in. Maybe that's some new habit that you have that isn't showing results yet. Because mostly what experiences we're having in our lives are due to karma from the past. The chances are it's those habits that we even still have in this life, but it may be that there's something new that you're engaging in that you haven't experienced the results of yet. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:50 Highlight the passage at 1:59:50

2:00:12 Yeah, it's kind of making me think of the difference. Connection between my conventional reality and some of the undercurrents. Because I think in my most immediate conventional reality, then divisive speech is definitely something I have to work on. But it's kind of showing me that there's a lot of undercurrents for other things that I might not have pegged as readily. Right, right, right. Yeah, so it's interesting. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:12 Highlight the passage at 2:00:12

2:00:34 And this gives us kind of ammunition for mindfulness and purification, doesn't it? You know, because it's showing us what... Our habits are, what our karmic seeds are that are giving us our reality and we can work on purifying them. And so in the last column we have solutions. And the first solution in each row is avoiding doing that thing. That's pretty obvious. And then the second one is doing the opposite. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:34 Highlight the passage at 2:00:34

2:01:03 And when we think about how to purify, we're going to talk about purification just really briefly. We think about Doing the opposite of the non-virtue that you did. For example, my famous example I always use, I have a friend who was in the Israeli army quite a few years ago and he doesn't know for sure that he killed people but he thinks because of the situations that he was in he probably did. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:03 Highlight the passage at 2:01:03

2:01:30 He was in these conflicts that were pretty heavy and he didn't actually see shooting at somebody but he was behind the machine gun and the whole thing. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:30 Highlight the passage at 2:01:30

2:01:40 One of the things that he's doing to purify that karma is he has this thing that he rescues these dogs that are deemed to be too vicious for anybody else to handle. Like now at this moment he has nine pit bulls, right? These dogs that have been like somehow destined to be euthanized because they're too vicious and so he's in all these pit bull rescue. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:40 Highlight the passage at 2:01:40

2:02:05 Hotlines and stuff. And he's made this vow that if any dog is going to be killed, he will intervene and save it. Even though it creates total chaos in his life, both he and his partner both have full-time jobs. They have these cages with these dogs because the dogs can't be out together ever or they'll kill each other. Sometimes they do anyway. He's got these vet bills. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:05 Highlight the passage at 2:02:05

2:02:27 I mean, he's in debt for the rest of his life for the vet bills because if he... If he's running the dogs and if he goes around the corner and disappears, they'll just go for each other's throats and sometimes it happens in this whole thing. But he's doing the whole thing deliberately as an antidote for his killing karma. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:27 Highlight the passage at 2:02:27

2:02:43 So it's very interesting, you know, and he forces the dogs to listen to prayers before they eat, like he plays these mantras. And he says, You know, oh, Nico needs a little more wisdom, so I recite Manjushri's mantra before I let him eat, and then this other one needs some more compassion, so we do Om Mani Pemi Hong. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:43 Highlight the passage at 2:02:43

2:03:03 You know, he does this whole thing, and the dogs are just sitting there, and they have to listen to, like, Lama Zopa reciting these mantras before he lets them eat. But it's all very deliberate. So for him, it's a purification practice for his killing karma. So it's interesting, we can get creative with our purification. You know, there are certain practices, like Sandra asked yesterday about meditating on emptiness, studying emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:03 Highlight the passage at 2:03:03

2:03:28 We have certain purification practices that are sort of the traditional ones. Reciting certain mantras, reciting the names of the Buddhas, making Buddha images. Studying and meditating on emptiness, making offerings, things like that. But I always encourage people, in addition to the sort of standard ones that are mentioned in scripture, do something creative that's the antidote to. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:28 Highlight the passage at 2:03:28

2:03:55 Because I think that we can relate to more, you know, actually doing something. In my friend's example of rescuing the dogs... That's pretty extreme. We don't have to turn over our entire house to pit bulls. He's got these cages in his living room. The whole living room is full of these cages because he has to take turns of which ones are out of the cages. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:55 Highlight the passage at 2:03:55

2:04:16 But other things too. I had a woman who came to me when I was teaching in India and she'd had an abortion and she wanted to know what to do to purify. And she was a computer programmer. And we're kind of trying to brainstorm, like, what could she do about this karma, something about saving lives and, you know, the antidote. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:16 Highlight the passage at 2:04:16

2:04:35 And then it turned out that some adoption agency needed a volunteer computer programmer. You know, and I said, perfect. It's using your skills, you know, to help this adoption agency design their database or something. Great. Do it specifically as an antidote for your... Abortion karma. Do it for a long period of time. Devote a lot of time to it and then really feel at the end. Okay, now I've purified. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:35 Highlight the passage at 2:04:35

2:05:05 So I think we can get creative with some of these solutions. But this gives us the ammunition. And like Carla said, it changes. So it's kind of interesting to do this periodically and see what's shifted. Maybe you're having different experiences. I think the fact that we are living in this place that's quite beautiful and devoid of a lot of these environmental things, yeah, it's a collective karma that we're living here. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:05 Highlight the passage at 2:05:05

2:05:31 So we're all experiencing something similar. And it's interesting to do this with travelers, like in India and Nepal, because their home countries are all very diverse in terms of the environmental effects that they're experiencing. Okay, any questions? Yeah, Katya. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:31 Highlight the passage at 2:05:31

2:05:52 What would be a reason that you, I mean there's something you know that has been a problem for a long time but it doesn't show up in the checkboxes? Yeah, and it may be that you've purified it and you're not experiencing the results anymore or it may be like Gina's case, it might be something that's new and you're just not experiencing the results yet. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:52 Highlight the passage at 2:05:52

2:06:13 This doesn't cover everything, but like I said, mostly if we've done things in past lives, we have a habit, that action similar to the cause, to keep doing it again. So that's why sometimes this isn't a surprise. But it might be that we don't understand or we know that we're doing something and we just haven't experienced the results of it yet. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:13 Highlight the passage at 2:06:13

2:06:35 But when you say you might have purified already, you would have to have knowingly done that, right? Or it's not just something that can purify itself. Or the karma could have just exhausted itself. Because we say that there's two different things that can result from any given karmic seed. You have to either experience it or you have to purify it. And it may be that you've just exhausted those karmic seeds that there's no more left to experience. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:35 Highlight the passage at 2:06:35

2:07:05 But chances are it's not like we just do something once and create one karmic seed. for it because usually we do have the habit of doing the same non-virtue over and over again so usually there's quite a lot of for a similar kind of experience that we have to experience but it could be that it's just exhausted you know there's no more karma that you have yet to experience Report an error in the passage at 2:07:05 Highlight the passage at 2:07:05

2:07:30 Oh yeah, ask your question too. Can I say it again? Yeah, say it again. Okay. There's a fine balance between being a doormat and being patient. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:30 Highlight the passage at 2:07:30

2:07:42 Like, is it just the answer to be assertive? Yeah. And the thing is, and this is such a great question, right? Because sometimes we, and we're going to be talking about the path in the little bit of time we have left. We're still on the end of the Second Noble Truth. But we talk about, for example, being, you know, developing compassion, developing kindness, being a bodhisattva, this being that wishes for the benefit of all beings. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:42 Highlight the passage at 2:07:42

2:08:09 And like Tamra says, it's a fine line. Sometimes we misunderstand and we think kindness and compassion means doing anything that anybody wants us to do, rolling over, never setting limits, never saying no. And it's not like that at all. But the difference is we're assertive with compassion. Instead of responding angrily to people, patience is defined as not getting angry when it seems like it's justified. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:09 Highlight the passage at 2:08:09

2:08:38 Even if you set a limit, Which sometimes we need to do, and often it's the most beneficial thing for a person to actually stop them from doing something that's dysfunctional, you know, setting a limit. But we do it out of compassion and not out of a reaction and not out of anger. For example, often the way that our teachers treat us, anybody who's been the student of a Tibetan Lama, are they just going there, there, dear, patting you on the head and saying, you're doing so great. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:38 Highlight the passage at 2:08:38

2:09:08 No, sometimes they're just like, what is wrong with you? Straighten up. Sometimes they're actually quite harsh, but it's out of compassion to want to straighten you out and have you do the right thing. So I think it's important not to think... The compassion only manifests as this sort of doormat behavior. In fact, in my experience, I found it rarely does. You're not letting people get away with stuff that's actually going to be harmful to them, but the motivation for that is compassion. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:08 Highlight the passage at 2:09:08

2:09:38 I have something else, like another question to that. Yeah. And, like, what if you ask someone to stop something, but they don't? Listen to you and she just let go or she keep up after them until they do what you want. Yeah. And I think, you know, there's a couple of things. Sometimes it's in the way that you explain, explain it, you know, and explaining to them how their behavior makes you feel rather than just going like, stop that. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:38 Highlight the passage at 2:09:38

2:10:06 Don't do that. Or doing it in a way that seems like you're blaming them, which sometimes isn't effective. But often it's effective if you really explain to them, like in kind of a calm moment, how their behavior makes you feel. Sometimes people are just clueless, like they just have no idea how their behavior is affecting other people. So if you can wait for a calm moment and really explain it. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:06 Highlight the passage at 2:10:06

2:10:30 And if that still doesn't work, sometimes I think with people we have to choose. When we're going to be around them and sometimes kind of limit the situations that we're going to be around them. I have this one person in my life. I like her fine. We get along okay. We cannot go on a road trip together. We did it once and it was a total disaster. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:30 Highlight the passage at 2:10:30

2:10:54 And I realized in order for me to be, you know, to maintain a harmonious relationship with this person, I need to not... Be in certain situations like a road trip with her. Sometimes I think we need to look at that. If there's a certain situation that's always problematic, then just try to avoid that kind of situation. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:54 Highlight the passage at 2:10:54

2:11:16 And that's fine. It's a completely valid Buddhist practice. If we know that a certain situation is going to make us engage in some kind of mental affliction or negative action, totally acceptable to just... Avoid the situation until our minds are stronger and we can transform it more. Yeah, you're welcome. All right. So let's see. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:16 Highlight the passage at 2:11:16

2:11:43 We've got 20 minutes. Oh, somebody else? Report an error in the passage at 2:11:43 Highlight the passage at 2:11:43

2:11:50 All right. So are you ready to start with the truth of the cessation of suffering? I know. I promised you the good news, and it's been a lot of bad news. Let's see. All right. There we go. Oh, and by the way, we've got about 20 minutes before lunch. We were wondering, since we've still got quite a lot to do, I don't want to overwhelm you, but since we were going to finish at 4, would it be acceptable to have an hour for lunch and start again at 1.30 and then we'd have two and a half hours with a break in between? Report an error in the passage at 2:11:50 Highlight the passage at 2:11:50

2:12:31 Would that be okay? Okay, I don't want to totally overwhelm you, but obviously we're just starting the third noble truth and so we need as much time as possible. Okay, okay, great. So, the truth of the cessation of suffering. And the basic logic here is because it's caused, you can stop it, right? Our suffering, our dissatisfaction isn't some kind of random thing. We're not being punished by God. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:31 Highlight the passage at 2:12:31

2:13:00 None of that stuff. It's just caused. And it's caused by a wrong view of the nature of reality. It's caused by a mistaken perception. And because of that, all we need to do is overcome that mistaken perception. And we've gone through that whole chart of ignorance leading to mental affliction, leading to karma. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:00 Highlight the passage at 2:13:00

2:13:23 So we've seen the whole causation of it. So it can be stopped. We can short-circuit that chain reaction of causation. So that's kind of the main logic behind the truth of the cessation of suffering because it's caused by a misperception. It's caused by a mistake. Then it can be ceased. Not so easy. I noticed Janice smirking over there when I say, all we have to do is overcome the root ignorance that's the cause of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:23 Highlight the passage at 2:13:23

2:13:58 It is possible. So what happens? What's the goals of the path? And so let's talk about that in a minute. We have two goals of the Buddhist path. We have liberation and enlightenment. So these are different. Liberation and enlightenment. Two different goals. So we say... Liberation means liberation from cyclic existence. So freedom from that cycle. Freedom from that 12 links thing that we just talked about. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:58 Highlight the passage at 2:13:58

2:14:34 That's why it's so important to talk about that because we see exactly how our unenlightened existence is created and how we can cease it. So when we've ceased that cycle, when we've broken through that cycle so that it will never give us an uncontrolled Samsaric rebirth, we call that liberation. When I said equals nirvāṇa, because nirvāṇa is a state of mind, it's not a place. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:34 Highlight the passage at 2:14:34

2:15:03 It's not like heaven. Sometimes you think, oh, I'm going to go to nirvāṇa. It's a state of mind of being free of karma and delusions, being free of the cycle of saṃsāra. So liberation and nirvāṇa, synonymous. And we say what's ceased. At that point, we have an obscuration or an obstacle. The obscuration of defilements is eliminated. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:03 Highlight the passage at 2:15:03

2:15:31 What do you think the defilements are? Yeah, afflictive emotions and karma. Those are the defilements, the big troublemakers. So those are completely eliminated. So no more karma, no more delusions. So a being that's liberated... Nirvāṇa is defined as a mental state free of karma and delusions. Can you imagine? Never even a moment of jealousy. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:31 Highlight the passage at 2:15:31

2:16:03 Not a flicker of attachment. No aversion at all. A mind completely free of karma and delusions. So no more karma that's going to cause that uncontrolled rebirth. No more negative experiences anymore. And a mind completely free of delusions. So that's liberation. Now, this goal is emphasized. I hate this word, Hinayana, but I had to put it up there because you might be familiar with it. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:03 Highlight the passage at 2:16:03

2:16:34 Hinayana refers to 18 philosophical schools that were developed at the time of Lord Buddha. The main one that still exists is called Theravāda, or the tradition of the elders. So Hinayana is a terrible word that means lesser vehicle, and I hate that. But anyway. So this is the goal that's emphasized in that tradition, depending on these three higher trainings that we talked about yesterday. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:34 Highlight the passage at 2:16:34

2:17:02 So the main path is practicing ethics that lead to concentration, then the concentration leads to wisdom. So that's the main training of that school. The goal is liberation. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:02 Highlight the passage at 2:17:02

2:17:20 A liberated being is called an arhat. And this is a word in Sanskrit and Pāli, literally means foe destroyer. So the foes that have been destroyed are karma and affliction. So a foe destroyer is a being who's attained that result. Okay, so any questions about that goal of liberation? Yeah, Tina. No rebirth. No rebirth at all. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:20 Highlight the passage at 2:17:20

2:17:51 Yeah. So permanent cessation. Permanent cessation. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:51 Highlight the passage at 2:17:51

2:18:04 Does that mean no form? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Katya, did you? Report an error in the passage at 2:18:04 Highlight the passage at 2:18:04

2:18:16 I wanted to know if you could repeat. Their main path is concentration leading to wisdom? Ethics, concentration and wisdom are the three higher trainings. So that's the main path, you know. And the monastic lifestyle is very emphasized. In the Theravāda. And the main practice of monastics in that tradition is keeping extremely pure morality, you know, developing that concentration and then that wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:16 Highlight the passage at 2:18:16

2:18:45 So in that school, you know, the monastic lifestyle is very, very emphasized as a way to progress on the path. Yeah, Sandra. Mike. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:45 Highlight the passage at 2:18:45

2:19:01 I'm confused. So I thought that there... Or three kayas, and so if someone is enlightened, they could be in the nirvāṇa kaya, but they would have form. That's enlightenment. We're still talking about liberation, so that's different. Enlightenment's not higher than nirvāṇa? I thought it was. But we talk about the three kayas only in the context of enlightenment, not in the context of liberation. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:01 Highlight the passage at 2:19:01

2:19:36 I guess I'm confused about it. Okay, say your question again. I thought Enlightenment was kind of like on the continuum. No, actually that's a really good question. Because we head in two different directions. It's not like liberation is first and then enlightenment. And that's really important to understand. So near the beginning of the path, we decide, are we heading for liberation or are we heading to enlightenment? Report an error in the passage at 2:19:36 Highlight the passage at 2:19:36

2:20:03 Because different causes create both of those results. And they branch off. Pretty early on, so it's not a sequential thing. Now I get your question. It's not a sequential thing. Like first we had for personal liberation, and then after accomplishing that. In fact, they say it's even, well let's talk about enlightenment first, and then we'll go back to that question after we've explained. So enlightenment is a different result. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:03 Highlight the passage at 2:20:03

2:20:29 And we say that two... Sets of obscurations are eliminated. Both the obscurations of the defilements, just like a person who's liberated, and also what we call the knowledge obscurations. It's a very, very subtle tendency to see things as self-existent that prevents us from seeing ultimate and conventional reality simultaneously. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:29 Highlight the passage at 2:20:29

2:20:54 So those are eliminated. And then the goal of that path is Buddhahood. So a Buddha, Is a very different kind of being than an arhat. So a being who's liberated and a Buddha, really, really different. And the main thing that a Buddha has that's different from an arhat is what we call omniscient mind. And that's the result of eliminating these knowledge obscurations. The reason an omniscient mind is so necessary, if you're trying to benefit all sentient beings, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:20:54 Highlight the passage at 2:20:54

2:21:31 The main way that a Buddha helps us is by teaching us the path. Because a Buddha doesn't have the capacity to purify our karma for us. The main way that they benefit us is by teaching us. And so in order to teach perfectly, if a Buddha, if a being can see our karma directly, can see our past and future lives, Has the clairvoyance to be able to see exactly what's going on in our mind. Then they can help us perfectly. If you don't have a Buddha, they're going to be like me, just sitting up here saying all kinds of things. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:31 Highlight the passage at 2:21:31

2:22:10 Maybe it hits the mark, maybe it doesn't, whatever. If you have a Buddha, they know exactly what Carla's karma is, exactly her past lives, her future lives. She's shocked. Exactly what's going on in her mind right now. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:10 Highlight the passage at 2:22:10

2:22:27 The main quality of a Buddha is they're able to teach perfectly. That's the main way that a Buddha helps us. The main way they can do that is by having that omniscient mind. It's that mental quality. And then as Sandra was talking about, there's physical attributes of a Buddha also. They're able to emanate. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:27 Highlight the passage at 2:22:27

2:22:49 We call it emanating. These emanation bodies, countless forms wherever beings need to. So they're not limited to just one body the way that we are. Wouldn't that be great? I'd like just one more right now. Like that would be great, you know. Two or three would be fantastic. But can you imagine, you know, everywhere, anywhere that a being needed help, you could just emanate. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:49 Highlight the passage at 2:22:49

2:23:14 Effortlessly, they say. So it's not like you think, oh gee. Chad needs help. Chad needs a body to show up to teach him this thing right now. It's not like that. It's just effortlessly appearing. So this is very cool in terms of our own life. Because like I say, if you're sitting here in this room right now, you're special. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:14 Highlight the passage at 2:23:14

2:23:39 You're on a special. You have that precious human rebirth created by all those causes and conditions. Very, very hard to find. If it's a Buddhist job description to emanate to help you on the path, what are the chances that you've never run into one? Slim to non-existent, I posit, you know? So, and they may not look like somebody in red robes sitting in front of the class with a shaved head. You know, it could be that really annoying co-worker that helps you practice patience. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:39 Highlight the passage at 2:23:39

2:24:10 It could be the person that sat next to you on the bus one day and told you about Seichen Ling Center. or that person that gave you the boot. Your first Buddhist book. And it's an interesting practice. One friend of mine talks about this practice he does called spiritual revisionism. And he looks back in his life and looks at some of those special people like that fifth grade teacher that showed you special attention or some relative when you were going through a hard time, like really helped you out. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:10 Highlight the passage at 2:24:10

2:24:42 And you're kind of suspicious. Who were those people? Could they have been a Buddha emanating? I call it pro-noia. It's the opposite of paranoia. It's like thinking that everybody's showing up to get you enlightened. Like everybody's appearing in your life to get you enlightened. Because chances are extremely high, I say, for the people in this room, almost 100 % probability that you've run into one of these characters. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:42 Highlight the passage at 2:24:42

2:25:10 Because that's their job. To show up, they say, when... You're ready. When your karma has ripened, the teacher appears without wasting even a second. So if you've got enough virtue in your life, which you've guaranteed you've got it if you're sitting in this room and have met the teachings of the Buddha, chances are very high. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:10 Highlight the passage at 2:25:10

2:25:32 So practice a little spiritual revisionism. It's very cool. Look back in your life. Who were those special people that helped you? I think it's very, very cool. Because that's their job. Because they can't fix it for us magically. What's the proof of that? Yeah. I don't know about you guys. I'm still suffering. If the Buddha is as compassionate as he's made out to be, and if he could fix it for us, he would have done it by now. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:32 Highlight the passage at 2:25:32

2:26:02 And he hasn't. Because he can't. And they say that they have incredible abilities, but they say the Buddha's power and sentient beings' karma kind of meet halfway. So our job is to get ready, to prepare ourselves through purification and accumulation of merit, to prepare ourselves so we can meet those enlightened beings and be led on the path. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:02 Highlight the passage at 2:26:02

2:26:26 So it's very cool. So these are the goals. Now, one wrong view that you might hear in Mahāyāna circles is that these guys decided to become liberated because they don't care about sentient beings and they're not compassionate. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:26 Highlight the passage at 2:26:26

2:26:43 Crap. Excuse me, I was going to say a bad word, but it will show up on the MP3. You know, total BS. In the scriptures of this school, Buddhahood is not taught as a potential goal apart from, remember yesterday at the very beginning we were talking about those wheel-turning Buddhas. Those certain enlightened beings like Shakyamuni Buddha, like Maitreya Buddha that show up to get the... Report an error in the passage at 2:26:43 Highlight the passage at 2:26:43

2:27:12 Get things going again after the decline. And in the Pāli scriptures, the scriptures of this school, it said that those are the only beings that have the potential to become fully enlightened. For the rest of us, liberation is the only option. So it would be ridiculous to want to become a Buddha if you don't think it's possible at all. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:12 Highlight the passage at 2:27:12

2:27:36 It would be like me wanting to become the Queen of England. I mean, totally impossible. I'm sure there's all kinds of rules that would prevent me. Even if Prince Charles wanted to divorce what's-her-name and marry me, I'm sure there's some rule. So it would be ridiculous. Like, why wish to be something that's just impossible? So that's explained in these scriptures. In the Mahāyāna, we talk about the Mahāyāna. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:36 Highlight the passage at 2:27:36

2:28:01 In the Mahāyāna scriptures, however, it's taught that Buddhahood is possible for everyone. So why did the Buddha say something like that that seems contradictory? Why did he teach in some scriptures that liberation was the goal and in some scriptures that enlightenment was the goal? What do you think? Report an error in the passage at 2:28:01 Highlight the passage at 2:28:01

2:28:23 Maria, can we pass the mic? It's over there. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:23 Highlight the passage at 2:28:23

2:28:32 Because we all have... Different skills, different abilities and different ways of learning and different capacities. We don't all learn the same exact way with the same teachings. Yeah, exactly. People have different capacities, different capacity to hear something, to be inspired by it, to understand it. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:32 Highlight the passage at 2:28:32

2:28:56 It's really interesting. I was doing an introductory class in India this spring in March. Big class, like 60 people from all over the world. And I got to this flip chart page. I didn't have the flip chart with me. I had to make a new one in India. But I got to this point of explaining about liberation and enlightenment and explaining that a Buddha wants to benefit all sentient beings and lead all sentient beings out of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:56 Highlight the passage at 2:28:56

2:29:22 Really interesting. Two people in that class. One young man from Denmark, Kasper, he's so sweet. He's stayed and done all these things and shaved his head. He's probably going to be a monk by next Tuesday. He's sitting there. He hears about Buddhahood. He hears about bodhicitta, this wish to get enlightened for the benefit of all beings. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:22 Highlight the passage at 2:29:22

2:29:42 He's sitting there. The tears are streaming down his face. This is the first time he's heard this. He's just so moved. It was so beautiful. He's just sitting there. Then this one guy. In the back row, of course, stands up. What? You Mahayanas are crazy. You think that you can get a light to benefit all sentient beings? Report an error in the passage at 2:29:42 Highlight the passage at 2:29:42

2:30:01 You're nuts. Slams out of the room, gets his stuff out of his broom, takes a taxi down the hill. And I was like, wow. Isn't that interesting? Proof of why the Buddha taught both vehicles. For some people hearing about this, They're like Casper, tears streaming down his face, totally inspired. For some people hearing about this, they're like, you guys are nuts. Rejects the whole thing, gets in the taxi, he's out of there. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:01 Highlight the passage at 2:30:01

2:30:29 I mean, it was so shocking. Well, it was interesting because he just could not accept. No, no, no. He just could not accept, you know, that that was even possible. He thought it was insane to think that you could lead all sentient beings out of saṃsāra. He was just like. Nuts. You guys are crazy. Yeah. How could one thing function as the total inspiration for one person? Report an error in the passage at 2:30:29 Highlight the passage at 2:30:29

2:30:55 Changes all his plans, goes to Nepal to get a long Indian visa so he can stay, just finished Vajrasafra retreat at Tushida, you know. And then this other person before even the end of the class splits with his friend who didn't even really want to go, but they were traveling together, so they both go. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:55 Highlight the passage at 2:30:55

2:31:15 And all the students are upset and we had to do this whole like crisis intervention thing. I mean, it was just this whole trip. Just proving really, really different karma, really different propensities, you know, different, different. Michael had something and then Katya. This is Report an error in the passage at 2:31:15 Highlight the passage at 2:31:15

2:31:39 just a question I've had. I just wanted to know what your personal, I'm not looking for an answer, I just wondered what your personal perception was. Dion and I have talked about how we have so much world strife going on right now. And I've always wondered if one of those reasons is if you have a path that's linear, is if that's maybe because so many different individuals are on so many different points on that path. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:39 Highlight the passage at 2:31:39

2:32:00 So, you know, we always wonder why everybody's looking for the answer and kind of feel that it's because. At different points, that's your answer and that's your answer and that's your answer. How would you feel about that? Yeah, for sure, for sure. I mean, people are all at different places and that's why when you're Buddhist, you don't proselytize at all. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:00 Highlight the passage at 2:32:00

2:32:18 We don't stand on the street corner saying this is the way, the truth and the light because it's not for everybody. I mean, it's not appropriate. We need to be asked to teach three times. You know, you have to know that the student is really eager and wanting. To listen to it because everybody's at such a different level. And that's why the Buddha said so many different things to so many different people. You know, the Buddhist sutras are mostly conversations that Shakyamuni Buddha had in response to an individual question asked by somebody. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:18 Highlight the passage at 2:32:18

2:32:51 And so he would say something really different to one person and give a completely different answer. To another person, you know, and it's not contradictory. He was just speaking to the level that those people were coming from. Yeah, I read a Lama saying something to the effect of he would speak and everyone that would hear him would hear exactly what they needed to hear. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:51 Highlight the passage at 2:32:51

2:33:12 Yeah, yeah, and you hear that sometimes. It's really interesting with Lama Zopa, you know, and some of us who've been at teachings, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, our spiritual director, this happens all the time, all the time. You'll get this group of 200 people. Lama Zopa talks usually all night. He has this thing that he does until 3 o 'clock in the morning, so it's like an eight-hour teaching. Maybe you get to pee once, mostly not. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:12 Highlight the passage at 2:33:12

2:33:36 And then afterwards, everybody walks out of there, and you'll be comparing what you heard, and people will just be like, oh my God, he was talking exactly to me when he said yada, yada, yada. And you'll be like... I never heard him say that. No, he's talking to me when he said blah, yada, yada. You know, and everybody will hear exactly what they needed to hear. There was this famous time at Sechenling, actually it was 1993 or something, when it was at Carol Karate's apartment on 24th Street. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:36 Highlight the passage at 2:33:36

2:34:06 Lama Tsongkhapa Rinpoche was giving a tantric empowerment. And before the empowerment, I heard this incredible teaching on relating to the spiritual master that totally clarified everything for me. I felt like I finally got it, what that relationship between master and disciple is. It was amazing. So afterwards, I call up Carol. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:06 Highlight the passage at 2:34:06

2:34:29 This is back in the days of cassette tapes. Please make me a tape. That was amazing. I get the tape. What I heard was not on the tape. I swear. I call her back. You didn't give me all the tapes. Yes, I did. You know, the recorder was on. I swear to you, what I heard didn't show up on the tape at all. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:29 Highlight the passage at 2:34:29

2:34:49 And people have this experience all the time. It's exactly that. Because everybody's heard. The tape recorder had different karma than me. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:49 Highlight the passage at 2:34:49

2:34:58 Obviously. And everybody hears what they have the karma. To hear and receive. So this happens all the time. And this is why there's no contradiction. It's just about levels. You know, and the Buddha seemed to teach completely different things about selflessness and emptiness, but it's like steps and stages leading up to the highest view that you get up to in stages. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:58 Highlight the passage at 2:34:58

2:35:24 All right, I better really let you go, especially if I'm only going to give you an hour for lunch. So that's all right to come back at 1.30 and then we'll be able to talk about the fourth noble truth. We're all the way up to the truth of the path. So let's just take a minute before we get up to dedicate the merit of the morning so it's not wasted. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:24 Highlight the passage at 2:35:24

2:35:46 Thinking of all of the positive energy that we've generated from our discussion this morning. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:46 Highlight the passage at 2:35:46

2:35:55 And then focusing that on our spiritual goals, which may have changed as the possibilities have been presented. Maybe that your goals have undergone some transformation. Just taking a moment to focus that energy. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:55 Highlight the passage at 2:35:55

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:36:54 Enjoy your lunch and I'll see you in an hour. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:54 Highlight the passage at 2:36:54

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:37:39 create it. Report an error in the passage at 2:37:39 Highlight the passage at 2:37:39