Tonglen Retreat: Developing the Courage of Heart and Mind (17 March 2012, afternoon)

· · · silence, 1 minute

0:57 Good afternoon, everybody. We're heading down the home stretch of this course. But before we get into it, I wanted to mention something. It's always possible that there might be questions that arise once you take this practice home. Report an error in the passage at 0:57 Highlight the passage at 0:57

1:23 You might encounter some questions. And if that's the case, I'd be very happy to receive emails from you. And if you ask a question that I don't know the answer, I'll let you know that right away. But if it's something that I think maybe I can provide something helpful, then I'll respond as soon as I'm able. Report an error in the passage at 1:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23

1:44 Sometimes it's rather quickly, other times it takes a while. But I'd be very happy to address any of your questions or issues if I can. So I'll just tell you what my email address is now if you're interested and feel... Feel free to use it. And if it's something that's not even specifically related to this course, but you think that maybe it's something you'd like to discuss with me, then you're more than welcome to use it in that case as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:44 Highlight the passage at 1:44

2:14 So the email address starts just with my name, John Landau, which is spelled J-O-N-L-A-N-D-A-W. That W is unusual. Most people spell the name Landaw with a U, but not us. So John Landaw, J-O-N-L-A-N-D-N-W at sbcglobal.net. I think many of you know that domain, sbcglobal.net. So feel free to use that. And as I said, if I feel I can be helpful, I'll try to be. If I don't think I know, then I'll admit that right away. Report an error in the passage at 2:14 Highlight the passage at 2:14

3:06 Okay, so now we're ready to engage in the last set of practices for this weekend. And all Report an error in the passage at 3:06 Highlight the passage at 3:06

3:21 of the things that we've done so far, from the breath awareness meditation to the loving kindness meditation to the taking on our own suffering and the suffering of others. And having it being exhausted in the light of loving kindness in our own heart. And then using the power of imagination to give others happiness and the causes of happiness. Report an error in the passage at 3:21 Highlight the passage at 3:21

3:49 All of this is part, parcel of the traditional tonglen or sending and receiving practice. But as some of you who have studied Report an error in the passage at 3:49 Highlight the passage at 3:49

4:04 This topic before may have recognized there is something that I haven't mentioned, which is very significant to the practice of tonglen, to what we might call the complete or the deeper practice of tonglen. So I wonder, anyone who fits in that category, what is it that I was going to say that we've left out? Report an error in the passage at 4:04 Highlight the passage at 4:04

4:29 It's not true. What is it that I've left out up to this point? Do you have a feeling for what it is in your previous experience? Report an error in the passage at 4:29 Highlight the passage at 4:29

4:37 I'm looking on the left side of the room because I think the answer is on the right side. Any guess? Yeah, now to the right side. Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

4:50 I saw something. Report an error in the passage at 4:50 Highlight the passage at 4:50

4:56 First Amila and then, Report an error in the passage at 4:56 Highlight the passage at 4:56

5:05 yeah. Thank you. It's only five words. Destroying the self-cherishing mind. Destroying the self-cherishing mind. Exactly. Exactly. And I wonder if anyone else had either. Something further or a different way of stating that that you had in your mind? Okay. That's it. That's it. Combating or destroying the self-cherishing mind, which is, in fact, the ultimate purpose of the sending and receiving practice. Report an error in the passage at 5:05 Highlight the passage at 5:05

5:43 But we haven't even mentioned the term the self-cherishing mind yet, have we? I don't recall that it's come up. And there are several reasons why I've postponed it. until now to get into this part of the practice. And one of the reasons is that a lot of people, when they hear that the aim of this practice is to destroy self-cherishing, they misunderstand what's meant by that. Report an error in the passage at 5:43 Highlight the passage at 5:43

6:14 They think cherishing yourself means liking yourself, being happy with yourself, and destroying it, overcoming it, means kind of obliterating who and what you really are, or going against Your deepest desire for happiness and well-being. Some people can make that mistake just based on the words themselves, self-cherishing. Report an error in the passage at 6:14 Highlight the passage at 6:14

6:39 But self-cherishing, what Kepji Rinpoche of Lama Zopa sometimes refers to as the demon of self-cherishing, the enemy, the demon of self-cherishing, does not mean kind of liking yourself or Working for yourself or being happy for yourself, that's not what it refers to. It refers to an attitude in which we promote our own welfare as being more important than the welfare of others. Report an error in the passage at 6:39 Highlight the passage at 6:39

7:20 It's kind of like the attitude typified in a birthday party for young children. I like using this example for some reason. And there's only one piece of cake left, and the kids are pushing to get into the front of the line because they want that piece of cake. Even if they don't finish eating it, end up throwing it out, they want to be in control. So at that moment, they're under the force of this demon of self-cherishing, what George Harrison called, I-me-me-mind mentality, promoting. Report an error in the passage at 7:20 Highlight the passage at 7:20

7:58 One's own welfare above others and even at the expense of others. That's what self-cherishing means. It's kind of a rampant form of eco-centricity. So you shouldn't think that overcoming self-cherishing means that after that we don't take care of ourselves anymore. Report an error in the passage at 7:58 Highlight the passage at 7:58

8:20 That we become doormats. That we become kind of spiritual wimps. It doesn't mean that. It means we identify the source of our problems as deriving from this very destructive attitude of thinking that the welfare of one person, that is oneself, is more important than the welfare of others. Even if there's seven billion others on the planet, we promote it. Report an error in the passage at 8:20 Highlight the passage at 8:20

8:57 Often the balance is not 7 billion to 1, often it's 7 billion to 10 or 20, because on our side there's people who we like very much, who like us, so temporarily they're on our side of the ledger. So we'll do things for their welfare, as long as they don't cross us. If they do something that displeases us. Report an error in the passage at 8:57 Highlight the passage at 8:57

9:23 Then we expel them from that group, and then they become part of the seven billion anonymous others. But the only permanent member of that group, the group whose welfare we deem to be so important and so necessary, the only permanent member of that group typically is ourself. And then friends come and go and join that group on a temporary basis. So that attitude. Report an error in the passage at 9:23 Highlight the passage at 9:23

9:54 Of thinking the welfare of very, very few outweighs the welfare of others is said to be a root cause of all difficulties, all problems, all conflicts comes directly from that. Report an error in the passage at 9:54 Highlight the passage at 9:54

10:14 And it basically, the more we buy into that attitude, that self-cherishing attitude, the more distant we come. The more distant we're taken from the goal of true, lasting happiness. It looks like by promoting ourself at the expense of everyone else, we're actually serving our purposes. But in reality, we're destroying our own purposes. We're taking us further away from the happiness that we want. And His Holiness the Dalai Lama has a kind of an unusual, somewhat joking way. Report an error in the passage at 10:14 Highlight the passage at 10:14

10:56 Many of you have probably heard. I myself have heard it on a number of occasions. It's a figure that he likes to use. And he does it by kind of defining selfishness not as a delusion in this instance, but selfishness as simply the attitude of looking out for one's welfare, which is legitimate, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 10:56 Highlight the passage at 10:56

11:23 it, you know? And so... From that point of view, we're all selfish because we're all looking out for our welfare. So he says, as long as we're going to be selfish, in other words, as long as we're going to look out for our own welfare, he says, we should be what? Many of you have heard this. Louder. No? Yeah, but the term he uses is different. Report an error in the passage at 11:23 Highlight the passage at 11:23

11:57 Wisely selfish. Wisely selfish. As long as we're going to be selfish, meaning as long as we really are interested in our own happiness, let's go about it in a wise way, in a way that actually brings us the happiness that we want. So it's an unusual use of the word, because usually we think of selfishness as a negative quality. Here he's just talking about simply wanting to be happy, you know, that yearning that we all have to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 11:57 Highlight the passage at 11:57

12:21 So as long as we're going to be selfish, let's be wisely selfish. Let's engage in those attitudes and actions which do have a chance, a realistic chance of bringing us the genuine happiness that we look for. And to do that, then a transformation has to take place or as it's described in the teachings, an exchange takes place. Report an error in the passage at 12:21 Highlight the passage at 12:21

12:46 And then instead of promoting our own welfare as being more important than others and devoting ourselves To that, at the expense of others, we switch the attitude and consider that the purpose of our life is to work for the benefit of other beings. Because if we do that, if instead of cherishing self, we cherish others, and remember that doesn't mean we neglect ourselves or that we beat ourselves, it just means... Report an error in the passage at 12:46 Highlight the passage at 12:46

13:21 That we shift the attitude of importance where it belongs on the welfare of others. If we do that, the result is, no matter what effect it may have on others, the result that we can be assured of is that we ourselves will be happy. Report an error in the passage at 13:21 Highlight the passage at 13:21

13:41 We'll experience a sense of well-being that eludes us when we're looking out only for our own welfare. And in the traditional teachings, there are quotations which sum up this situation. They say, compare our situation with that of the high bodhisattvas or the fully realized Buddhas. What's the difference? What's the difference? We ourselves, those who are not advanced along the path to enlightenment or haven't experienced the full awakening of enlightenment, know? Uh. Report an error in the passage at 13:41 Highlight the passage at 13:41

14:20 Up to now, the syndrome has been that we've looked out only for our own welfare. And the end result is we're still caught in the cycle of dissatisfaction, you know, recurring problems that we call saṃsāra. That's been the result. Look at the case of the Buddhas. They've completely overcome self-cherishing. Report an error in the passage at 14:20 Highlight the passage at 14:20

14:44 They've devoted themselves to the welfare of others. And what's their reward? The blissful state of full enlightenment in which all suffering and its causes have been completely removed from the field of their awareness and all good qualities such as love and compassion and skill and patience have been fully developed. Report an error in the passage at 14:44 Highlight the passage at 14:44

15:08 So they live, they exist in a state of unalterable bliss and well-being no matter what the outer circumstances may be. So... In one of the teachings, I think it's by Shantideva, he says, we don't have to discuss this issue at any great length. Just look at the difference between ourselves and the enlightened beings. Report an error in the passage at 15:08 Highlight the passage at 15:08

15:31 We look out only for ourselves and are miserable. The Buddhas look out only for others and are blissfully happy. So this is kind of the essence of this practice, how to overcome this demon of . And Report an error in the passage at 15:31 Highlight the passage at 15:31

15:53 the tonglen, or the Sending and Receiving Practice, is primarily or ultimately designed to lessen the strength of this self-cherishing mind and increase the strength of our compassionate concern for the welfare of others. Report an error in the passage at 15:53 Highlight the passage at 15:53

16:20 How is that different, or how does that go beyond the practice of tonglen that we've been doing so far? Well, so far, when we visualize taking on, with the in-breath, the suffering that, like a cloud or a shroud, surrounds suffering beings, and drawing it to ourselves, drawing it away from them to ourselves, Report an error in the passage at 16:20 Highlight the passage at 16:20

16:53 We don't actually think of taking it on because we cultivate this very strong mind of loving kindness beforehand. It's like this extraordinary radiance coming from the center of our heart. And as that shroud of suffering comes closer, it's overwhelmed by that radiance, by that white radiance. So the suffering never actually reaches us, does it? Does that make sense? And then we give the giving practice of giving our happiness, the experience of happiness in all its various forms to others. Report an error in the passage at 16:53 Highlight the passage at 16:53

17:41 So it's a very valid practice of sending and receiving. It's a very accessible practice, but we haven't used it specifically to counter the habit of self-cherishing. Report an error in the passage at 17:41 Highlight the passage at 17:41

17:55 So, before the Course ends, I thought it would be helpful to show how this segues into what I'll, what I'll call the full practice of Tonglen. Report an error in the passage at 17:55 Highlight the passage at 17:55

18:09 In this fuller practice of Tonglen, out of great compassion for others, we developed the thought of actually taking on the suffering of others. Report an error in the passage at 18:09 Highlight the passage at 18:09

18:27 And for that, we can actually think of experiences in our life that are similar to that attitude. Because we might say, well, nobody wants to take on anybody else's suffering. But even in very ordinary beings, even beings never exposed to the spiritual path, there are instances when that thought arises. And I've quoted this example before on a number of occasions, so maybe you've heard it. Report an error in the passage at 18:27 Highlight the passage at 18:27

18:53 But one of my older brothers... As far as I know, he doesn't follow any kind of spiritual path at all or show any interest in it. But I have a very vivid memory of when his son was a small child and was experiencing the aches and pains of teething. And if you've ever spent time around a small child experiencing that, it's really excruciating. Basically, his bone is cutting its way through the... Report an error in the passage at 18:53 Highlight the passage at 18:53

19:26 Poor baby's gums, and he doesn't know what to do to alleviate it. And even the parents, they can apply some kind of oils or something, but it's just something they have to go through. Report an error in the passage at 19:26 Highlight the passage at 19:26

19:38 It's just the curse of having this kind of body is that as you grow up, bone cuts through flesh. And it's painful. It's very painful. And I remember, very distinctly remember, my brother saying, as he viewed the pain of his son, Saying, if I could take on my son's pain of teething, I would. Report an error in the passage at 19:38 Highlight the passage at 19:38

20:05 And that's just a father, an ordinary father with no spiritual training, no exposure to any of these types of teachings that we're talking about. And yet, out of that incredible love and affection and compassion for the child, that thought comes up, I would gladly take it on myself. Report an error in the passage at 20:05 Highlight the passage at 20:05

20:25 And he wasn't joking. If someone had given him the power to actually transfer that suffering to himself, he would have done it. Would he have liked to have had the pain? No. He wouldn't have liked to have the pain. But would he rather have it himself than have his son experience it? Yes. It was true. Report an error in the passage at 20:25 Highlight the passage at 20:25

20:49 So that experience that I just described in relationship to that one person, is that totally foreign to your experience? Is that something you can relate to? I think... I think at different points in our life we can enter into that, into that frame of mind which would actually willingly take on suffering if it meant alleviating the suffering of someone that we loved. Report an error in the passage at 20:49 Highlight the passage at 20:49

21:15 So it is something that we can cultivate. We can cultivate an attitude like that. However, there is a very strong counter-attitude. Report an error in the passage at 21:15 Highlight the passage at 21:15

21:33 Which blocks that wish to take on the suffering of others. It's the attitude that says, oh, if someone's going to have to suffer, let it be somebody else, not me. Report an error in the passage at 21:33 Highlight the passage at 21:33

21:47 I don't have to ask you if you're familiar with that experience, because if you haven't experienced it yourself, I'm sure you've met people who experience, who live by that credo. It's a very, very common... If there's happiness, let me experience it. If there's suffering, let somebody else experience it. Is that unduly pessimistic or is that realistic? Report an error in the passage at 21:47 Highlight the passage at 21:47

22:18 I think it's very widely experienced. So that attitude is what we mean by the demon of self-cherishing. Report an error in the passage at 22:18 Highlight the passage at 22:18

22:32 And very often it arises, excuse me, very often when it arises, it has a kind of a What we might call a physical component to it. Let's say there's a friend of yours who's ill at home or in the hospital. You go to visit this person and you suspect that he or she has a contagious disease. When you go into that person's presence or even when you think of going into that person's presence, something tightens up in the center of your heart. Report an error in the passage at 22:32 Highlight the passage at 22:32

23:08 Some people feel a little bit lower around the solar plexus, the abdomen area. Most people, well I shouldn't say most, many people experience it up in the heart region, as if a cocoon was forming, something tight, something self-protective, and we sort of go for protection into that area, into that tight area. Report an error in the passage at 23:08 Highlight the passage at 23:08

23:37 It's as if our heart, which previously may have been quite open, is now closing. Closing out of, we often would describe that feeling as self-protection. You know, I don't want to catch that disease. Report an error in the passage at 23:37 Highlight the passage at 23:37

23:55 So very often, when this thought or attitude of self-cherishing arises, we can note that it seems to have that physical correspondence. Something tight, maybe something dark, something hard, something adamantine. Deep within us, often in the chest area. Now, we have to check from our own experience if we've ever noticed that. Report an error in the passage at 23:55 Highlight the passage at 23:55

24:27 If we've ever noticed where, you know, sometimes we're in an attitude and everything is kind of free and open, you know, very new agey, right? And then something happens and we close down somehow. Report an error in the passage at 24:27 Highlight the passage at 24:27

24:42 That is a symptom of what Lama Zopa calls the demon of self-cherishing. So... With what I'm now calling the fuller, more profound practice of Tonglen, we observe the suffering that others are experiencing, seeing it as a shroud clouding their true nature. Report an error in the passage at 24:42 Highlight the passage at 24:42

25:13 You can use any kind of image that really works, that speaks to you. One of the images that I like best for this is imagine someone the future. Report an error in the passage at 25:13 Highlight the passage at 25:13

25:25 As if he or she is walking around with a storm cloud over their head. And it's lightning. It's sending down lightning that is hurting that person. So that those storm clouds with the lightning is some kind of oppression, physical illness, heartache, some form of happiness. And that poor person is the victim, is being victimized by it, is being oppressed by it. Report an error in the passage at 25:25 Highlight the passage at 25:25

25:55 So something is storming down on that person. So, you know, that suffering and the causes of suffering aren't coming from the deepest nature of that person, but like the clouds obscuring the sun is shrouding it, like hanging over it. Or whatever image works for you. That image is one that works for me, so I tend to use it. Report an error in the passage at 25:55 Highlight the passage at 25:55

26:22 And then, as you do the practice, even the practice as it was described so far, of gender, you know, Tuning in to the fact that at a very deep level of our being, we yearn, we long for happiness in all of its forms, a sense of well-being, peace, contentment, flourishing, all the ways we've been describing it. Report an error in the passage at 26:22 Highlight the passage at 26:22

26:46 Not just temporary pleasure, but real abiding sense of well-being. And then expand it to recognize, well, just as I feel that way, so does everyone else. Report an error in the passage at 26:46 Highlight the passage at 26:46

27:00 You know, I'm not special in that regard. There are many differences between myself and others, but in this regard, the wish to be happy and to avoid suffering, that's not anybody's sole possession. You know, all beings feel that way, one form or another. And then when we contemplate that even further and recognize not only are we, we have a fundamental similarity to others in our aspiration for happiness, in our aspiration to be... Report an error in the passage at 27:00 Highlight the passage at 27:00

27:32 Free from suffering. Not only that, but our lives and their lives are completely interconnected. Report an error in the passage at 27:32 Highlight the passage at 27:32

27:44 Where did we get the language that we speak? Where do we get the ideas that go through our head? Where did we get this body itself? Where do we get the nourishment that sustains this body? Where do we get the clothes that protects us from being cold and the houses that... Protect us from the weather. Where do we get all of the things that support our life? Not from ourself. Report an error in the passage at 27:44 Highlight the passage at 27:44

28:18 We have this expression which goes back quite a long time, at least several hundred years. This idea, well, the language itself is sexist, but we don't have to interpret it sexist. The language of the self-made man. You can say the self-made man, the self-made woman, the self-made person. As if I'm... Report an error in the passage at 28:18 Highlight the passage at 28:18

28:37 I'm totally responsible. I work for it. I deserve it. It all comes from me. That is a very superficial way of looking at things. Everything that we have, we've received, no matter what efforts we put in, they do come from others, don't they? We didn't create this body. It comes from the sperm and the egg of two other people, our mother and father. Most of us don't grow all our own food from seed. Report an error in the passage at 28:37 Highlight the passage at 28:37

29:08 Often the most we do is prepare it or go to a restaurant and have someone else prepare it. Most of us haven't sewn all our own clothing, constructed the chairs that we sit on, built the houses that we live in, invented the language that we speak with. All of that comes from others and all the support because, as it was pointed out, we long for a kind of connectedness. Report an error in the passage at 29:08 Highlight the passage at 29:08

29:36 The expression is often used that human beings are social animals. You might not like the word animal in this case, but the important point is the sociability of it. You take a human being and completely isolate him or her, they might be able to survive in the sense of stay alive, but they're not going to flourish as a complete human being, completely separate from everyone else. Report an error in the passage at 29:36 Highlight the passage at 29:36

30:00 So these two considerations, that our aspirations and the aspirations of other beings are fundamentally similar. And that our lives and the lives of others are fundamentally interconnected. The more we meditate and consider those two facts, the more we become convinced through observation and experience that this is true, that this describes the nature of the reality we live in, the more we open our hearts to cultivating compassion for others, loving kindness and compassion for others. Report an error in the passage at 30:00 Highlight the passage at 30:00

30:39 But, as pointed out, there is another force which prevents the full development of such loving kindness and compassion, and that's the self-cherishing attitude, that attitude of recoiling back, wanting to protect ourselves from any form of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 30:39 Highlight the passage at 30:39

31:00 So here, in terms of that, the Tong Lin practice has this profundity of using The same basic visualization that has been described before, but taking it another step further, which allows us, over time, to lessen the strength of the self-cherishing attitude and increasing the courage and the strength of the attitude with which we cherish others. Report an error in the passage at 31:00 Highlight the passage at 31:00

31:31 So, in this case, it starts out the same. Report an error in the passage at 31:31 Highlight the passage at 31:31

31:41 On the basis of cultivating Loving kindness and so forth. We turn our attention to someone other than ourself. Actually, you can begin the practice of turning the attention to oneself to start with. But we've already covered that in the previous Tom Land practice. So let's go to where the main aspect of the practice is. Report an error in the passage at 31:41 Highlight the passage at 31:41

32:08 We bring to mind someone else. And again, it's very, very helpful to start with someone. That we already feel close to, right? Because if we start with somebody that we feel very distant from, or actively dislike, and we bring to mind his or her suffering, the voice inside us might say, oh good. Report an error in the passage at 32:08 Highlight the passage at 32:08

32:30 But if we start with someone that we care for, we're never going to come up with that voice. So we bring to mind the experience of someone, especially if it's someone who's not only dear to us, but is manifestly experiencing some difficulty. Report an error in the passage at 32:30 Highlight the passage at 32:30

32:51 And again, it can be mental, like some confusion in their mind. It can be emotional, like a heartbreak of some sort. It can be physical, like a disease. So someone, we bring to mind someone who's having this kind of difficulty. Report an error in the passage at 32:51 Highlight the passage at 32:51

33:13 And then we cultivate the compassionate thought, how wonderful it would be if this person, this dear person, We're free from that, could be released from that suffering. And that's not difficult to imagine, especially if it's a friend of ours. You know, we know what it's like when that friend is smiling and everything is going well, but now the friend is not smiling. The friend's in pain. It's very easy to think, oh, how wonderful it would be if he or she were smiling again. Report an error in the passage at 33:13 Highlight the passage at 33:13

33:48 It's not difficult. So... You visualize the suffering that person is experiencing again as a shroud or a storm cloud, oppressing the basic goodness and clarity of that person's, of the deep nature of that person's mind, of their heart. Report an error in the passage at 33:48 Highlight the passage at 33:48

34:09 You know, the dust or the impediment obscuring the crystal quality for that person's consciousness. And then, having cultivated Strong loving kindness and compassion through all the various methods that we've described so far. Then you develop this, you cultivate this wish, this wish which goes beyond merely wishing that the other person were released from suffering, who could be free from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 34:09 Highlight the passage at 34:09

34:44 But beyond that, what is sometimes called the pure selfless wish, or the courageous attitude which Not only do I wish that others, this other person, were free from suffering, but I myself will work for that. Taking on that personal responsibility. The same way that if a child is in danger, maybe he's playing near a river and a child falls in, there's a lot of people looking on who will say, oh, that's terrible, that child is going to drown. Report an error in the passage at 34:44 Highlight the passage at 34:44

35:24 But if in the crowd there's that child's mother or father or other really close relative, he or she's not going to be content with saying, oh, I wish the child were safe from drowning. They'll take on the personal responsibility to whatever extent they can to go in and rescue the child. Or if they can't, at least somebody can do it. Report an error in the passage at 35:24 Highlight the passage at 35:24

35:47 They won't be content just wishing the child to be safe. They'll actively take on the responsibility of finding a solution. That's the pure selfless wish. So it's based on loving kindness, it's based on compassion, but now it becomes, you Report an error in the passage at 35:47 Highlight the passage at 35:47

36:10 know, the word responsibility may sound a little too heavy, a little puritanical, I don't mean it that way, but we take on the personal responsibility of working for the sake of this dear one. Report an error in the passage at 36:10 Highlight the passage at 36:10

36:23 I'll do it myself, like my brother. If I could take it on myself, I would. So now... We visualize this person, this dear friend, with this obscuring, threatening, oppressive suffering, bearing down. Report an error in the passage at 36:23 Highlight the passage at 36:23

36:46 And now, when we breathe in, we feel that we're breathing this source of suffering, this experience, this darkness, right into ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 36:46 Highlight the passage at 36:46

37:04 into the of our heart. Report an error in the passage at 37:04 Highlight the passage at 37:04

37:15 what we're placing suffering on, that destructive energy, what we're placing it on, Report an error in the passage at 37:15 Highlight the passage at 37:15

37:25 our own self-cherishing attitude. That attitude which looks one's own welfare as being more important than the welfare of others. As Lama Zopa Rinpoche often says, we place the destructive energy of that suffering Right on the head of that demon of self-cherishing. So that's subtly different, isn't it, from taking the suffering on our self. Report an error in the passage at 37:25 Highlight the passage at 37:25

37:54 We're taking the suffering on our self-cherishing attitude. Sounds similar, but can you see that there's a difference? Report an error in the passage at 37:54 Highlight the passage at 37:54

38:06 We're not actually wishing, you know, may I suffer. We're saying this suffering has a very destructive quality. So if it's going to destroy anything, let it destroy my self-cherishing. Because the self-cherishing is the whole reason why I'm suffering, why I'm not yet a Buddha, right? Why I find it difficult to complete the bodhicitta. So we take that experience, that destructive energy, and we allow it to crash down on that pocket, that tightness, that obscuration that we feel. Report an error in the passage at 38:06 Highlight the passage at 38:06

38:51 As I said, some people feel it in their gut. Most people seem to feel it in the chest area. Wherever that tightness, wherever that darkness seems to be crystallizing, we place it right on the head of that. Report an error in the passage at 38:51 Highlight the passage at 38:51

39:06 So it's a little bit like fighting fire with fire. The suffering of the other person, that's a destructive energy. And the self-cherishing in our heart, that's a destructive energy. So we use the destructive energy of one to attack the destructive energy of the other. So the image that we use, the way we relate to it, can be very individual. Report an error in the passage at 39:06 Highlight the passage at 39:06

39:36 It could be, for example, like a discharge of electricity, like a lightning bolt, which has the ability to pulverize a rock. Some of my friends have gone hiking in the countryside, and they report. Being in a thunderstorm and this bolt of electricity comes and just turns a big boulder into powder. I've never seen it myself, but apparently it can happen. Report an error in the passage at 39:36 Highlight the passage at 39:36

40:02 So that image is very strong in their mind. So when they think of taking on the suffering of others to combat the self-cherishing in their heart, they imagine it as a lightning bolt, pulverizing this dark, tight, tense, self-cherishing attitude. Report an error in the passage at 40:02 Highlight the passage at 40:02

40:22 Other people may use different images, like water washing something away or wind blowing something away or detergent cleaning something away. Whichever way speaks to you and carries that image of using powerful energy to overcome another powerful energy, to begin to release it, then that's… That's what you use. And some people's minds very possibly don't work imagistically at all, just the thought. Of course, that's fine too. Report an error in the passage at 40:22 Highlight the passage at 40:22

40:57 Whichever way it speaks, whichever way it works, that's the image you use. Now, as we breathe in and this powerful energy comes and pulverizes, loosens or dissolves that tightness of the self-cherishing attitude, The immediate result of that is a certain relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 40:57 Highlight the passage at 40:57

41:26 Before, there was this tight knot in our heart or somewhere in the heart area. And as a result of this pulverization or dissolution or cleansing or whatever it is, as a result of that, what was so tight before starts to open up. Report an error in the passage at 41:26 Highlight the passage at 41:26

41:48 It's no longer as tight as it was before. It's as if - We've been carrying a heavy burden and as if at least some of the burden falls off our shoulder. And so we feel lighter, more open, more relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 41:48 Highlight the passage at 41:48

42:09 So that experience itself in which something oppressive has now started to dissolve, become lighter, that experience itself is an experience of well-being. It's an experience of happiness, isn't it? What was so heavy before is now no longer as heavy. What was so burdensome, so destructive, is not nearly as burdensome and as destructive as it was before. Even before it's totally obliterated, even when it's just reduced, it's like, oh. Report an error in the passage at 42:09 Highlight the passage at 42:09

42:43 It is like a sigh, isn't it? So that is the happiness that we then give when we breathe out. So the in-breath takes on the suffering of others to lessen or attack, we could say. That demon of self-cherishing. And to whatever extent we experience relief, even if it's a little bit, we identify that as the happiness that we're then going to give out with the out-breath. Report an error in the passage at 42:43 Highlight the passage at 42:43

43:15 So it takes a while to explain it in words, especially for someone like me. I never use one word when 50 will do. So it can take a while to explain it, but think about it. All of that can be done in the space of one inhalation and one exhalation, as long as you prepare for it. There's no reason it has to take 10 or 15 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 43:15 Highlight the passage at 43:15

43:43 It's just the duration of one in-breath and one out-breath, the more we get used to it. So, when it's time to do the out-breath, what we're breathing out is the goodness, the white light, the happiness of that experience of no longer being Quite as burdened by the self-cherishing attitude as we were before. That experience of openness, of unfolding, that's what we give out. Report an error in the passage at 43:43 Highlight the passage at 43:43

44:14 And we give it out in whatever form is appropriate. Like typically, the way they describe, the light that we bring, come in, is dark color, like a dark cloudy color. Report an error in the passage at 44:14 Highlight the passage at 44:14

44:29 And then as this burden of the self-cherishing is lessened, what we give out now It has this light quality, like white light, brilliant light, clear, unpolluted energy. So as we give that out, now we really are in the position of being George Lucas or someone like that. We have industrial light and magic on our side, completely, right? Report an error in the passage at 44:29 Highlight the passage at 44:29

45:08 Because our imagination, what's the limit to it? There's no limit. So that white light we can imagine as transforming into whatever that person will need. And often what we do, what's often helpful, is to start with what they need immediately. So in the typical traditional explanation of this practice, if the person is suffering from cold, then the white light takes the form of something that warms them up. Report an error in the passage at 45:08 Highlight the passage at 45:08

45:40 If they're suffering from heat, the white light takes the form of a cooling breeze or a cooling drink of water. Or if they're hungry, it takes the form of food. Report an error in the passage at 45:40 Highlight the passage at 45:40

45:52 It can be more abstract. If they're frightened, it takes the form of confidence. If they're being attacked, it takes the form of protection. Report an error in the passage at 45:52 Highlight the passage at 45:52

46:04 And not just some abstract quality, but you can really imagine a situation in which they're being fed, being protected, being satisfied. Report an error in the passage at 46:04 Highlight the passage at 46:04

46:16 So then you start with what the immediate concern is. But all experiences of suffering have a deeper root than just an ache in the stomach or a disease or something like that. Ultimately, what is the, any experience of suffering is said to be the fruition of, what am I going to say, karma, negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 46:16 Highlight the passage at 46:16

46:46 In other words, if we do something motivated by the delusion that gives harm to others, that becomes the karmic cause, and the natural result, not some punishment from outside, but just the natural consequence of that, is that suffering rebounds upon ourselves. It's the echo effect. If we shout out with a mean, harmful intention, That mean, harmful intention comes back on ourself in the form of a suffering experience. So anything that we're experiencing that's unpleasant, that's painful, if we were to check deeply enough, we could see that it has its root in some form of harmful behavior on our part. Report an error in the passage at 46:46 Highlight the passage at 46:46

47:35 Even if it's harmful behavior that happened so long ago that we don't have the ability to remember it. That doesn't affect it at all. It doesn't rely on us remembering it. But we can assume it comes from there. So, that negative karma didn't pop into existence from nowhere. We created that negative karma because we were under the influence of those afflictions or delusions that we were talking about before. Report an error in the passage at 47:35 Highlight the passage at 47:35

48:07 And we enumerated them several times, didn't we? You know, jealousy, hatred, desirous attachment, etc., etc. And all of them have their basis in Report an error in the passage at 48:07 Highlight the passage at 48:07

48:23 not Report an error in the passage at 48:23 Highlight the passage at 48:23

48:32 just sense of self, because you can have a sense of self that's not diluted. Like at the moment, all of you can be thinking, I'm sitting here. Well, that's not diluted. It's true. You are sitting here. But on top of that, there's another sense of self, a diluted sense of self, that we exist somehow separate and independent, some kind of solid self. Report an error in the passage at 48:32 Highlight the passage at 48:32

48:58 Perpetuating entity, different from body, different from mind. And that, in typical Buddhist parlance, that's referred to as avidya, or ignorance, or misconception, misknowing the nature of reality. Report an error in the passage at 48:58 Highlight the passage at 48:58

49:15 And through it comes this secondary problem of self-cherishing. So here we have the self-grasping ignorance, the misconception of the nature of self. That's like the general. And then one of the general's major lieutenants who carries out his work is the self-cherishing attitude. So the two of them work in tandem, don't they? Report an error in the passage at 49:15 Highlight the passage at 49:15

49:41 So sometimes you'll hear in teachings that the root cause of all our problem is self-grasping ignorance, that misconception of the nature itself. And sometimes you'll hear it described as the self-cherishing attitude, which derives from it. So it's not as if one answer is right and the other is wrong. It's just whichever level you're looking at. Report an error in the passage at 49:41 Highlight the passage at 49:41

50:01 Because they work together. So there's that person who's suffering from whatever he or she is suffering from. And initially, when you give out that white light of loving kindness, giving that person, imagining giving that person what he or she needs to experience to overcome that ailment, that problem, you give something that has that immediate value to it, like food for a hungry person. Report an error in the passage at 50:01 Highlight the passage at 50:01

50:33 But then you give what's necessary for that person to be able to avoid creating further negative karma in the future, which means overcoming the delusions, jealousy, hatred, etc., which means overcoming ultimately self-cherishing and this basic ignorance, this misconception of the nature of reality. So, after you deal with their immediate problem, Feeding the hungry, you know, clothing those without protection from the cold. After you give that, then you start working on these deeper levels. Report an error in the passage at 50:33 Highlight the passage at 50:33

51:16 And again, the only limit is imagination. You know, you can imagine giving, giving Dharma texts, which point out very, very clearly how to avoid creating negative karma. And to replace it with the creation of positive karma. You can imagine giving teachers, you know, that white light takes the form of, you know, you know of a teacher like Ms. Report an error in the passage at 51:16 Highlight the passage at 51:16

51:46 Holiness the Dalai Lama or Lama Zopa Rinpoche or any of these extraordinary teachers, whether from the Buddhist tradition or any other tradition, who have the ability to really communicate the essence of the Dharma, love, compassion and wisdom. You imagine the white light is becoming those teachers and leading that person step by step along the spiritual path towards liberation and enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 51:46 Highlight the passage at 51:46

52:15 So you start with what's immediate. I almost said a hamburger. Maybe we don't want to offer hamburgers. A vegetarian hamburger. And then offering beyond that everything from... right? Report an error in the passage at 52:15 Highlight the passage at 52:15

52:33 Protection, companionship, courage, teachings, realizations. And you use the power of imagination, this industrial light and magic that exists in your own mind, in your own imagination, to picture that person going through those transformations, being satisfied instead of being hungry, learning how to avoid negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 52:33 Highlight the passage at 52:33

53:07 How to overcome delusions, how to create positive states of mind, how to diminish the force of the self-cherishing, the ego-grasping ignorance. And then if you've been introduced to the stages of the path, such as the various levels that the bodhisattva goes through on his or her way to enlightenment, you can imagine that person going through those stages until by the end of the practice in front of you is A fully awakened Buddha. He Report an error in the passage at 53:07 Highlight the passage at 53:07

53:41 starts out as an ordinary suffering being, but by removing everything that is enclosing that Buddha nature within a cocoon of suffering and ignorance, by removing that by taking it on yourself, and then by giving what is necessary to that person to actualize their potentially enlightened nature. Report an error in the passage at 53:41 Highlight the passage at 53:41

54:06 You can visualize that person is actually becoming enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 54:06 Highlight the passage at 54:06

54:12 From this point of view, from the Mahāyāna point of view, everyone is a potential Buddha. There's nobody who, no matter how cruel and how deluded or circumscribed their existence is, no one is bereft of awareness. And the deepest nature of awareness is that it is unsullied. Report an error in the passage at 54:12 Highlight the passage at 54:12

54:43 That it can manifest in the form of, to keep enlightened, all those positive qualities. In fact, in the language of certain spiritual traditions, the way they term it is that we're already enlightened, and it's just a matter of removing everything that's obscuring that experience. That's one way of talking about it. Another type of language that's used is that we're progressing along the path. It's not as if we're already enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 54:43 Highlight the passage at 54:43

55:16 But we have the potential to be enlightened. And my own feeling is both of those work together. Sometimes it's really helpful to the mind to think that we have an already enlightened experience and it's just a matter of expressing it. Other times it's helpful to think in terms of the gradual path to fulfill that enlightened potential. Report an error in the passage at 55:16 Highlight the passage at 55:16

55:41 And different styles of teaching emphasize different approaches. You know, very often it's the same teacher who on Monday teaches one approach and on Tuesday teaches another. So they're not totally incompatible. Not at all. It's just a matter which style, which approach is the most meaningful for us. So we breathe in and take away the suffering of others, use that powerful energy to attack the strength of the self-cherishing in our own heart, feel that release. Report an error in the passage at 55:41 Highlight the passage at 55:41

56:18 As a form of radiant light energy, which when we breathe out, we send to the others in whatever form is going to help them progress along the spiritual path to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 56:18 Highlight the passage at 56:18

56:35 And that's an outline of the, which Report an error in the passage at 56:35 Highlight the passage at 56:35

56:45 what seems to me as the most profound form of the sending and receiving practice. Does that mean what was said earlier, you know, yesterday and today? Earlier today, you know, about taking on the suffering of others, but it doesn't actually ever reach you because it's exhausted in the strength of your loving kindness. Report an error in the passage at 56:45 Highlight the passage at 56:45

57:06 Does that mean that that approach is invalid, that it's wrong? It's not the same. So was the other approach wrong? Did you feel it was wrong? To my mind, that other approach is a way into the practice. Report an error in the passage at 57:06 Highlight the passage at 57:06

57:27 It's valid in its own right, and it also sets the basis. For being able to do this more profound practice. Because otherwise, and I've seen this, I've seen it to an extent in myself, and also listening to other people speak, I've seen it in them as well. They receive a teaching on the Tonglen practice, and it's given, you know, in this most profound way, right from the start. Breathe in the suffering of others, and right into the center of your heart, and use it to crash your self-cherishing attitude, and people freak. Report an error in the passage at 57:27 Highlight the passage at 57:27

58:07 I don't want that. Stay away from me. And so you have this really powerful, this really profound meditation, but it can be just too scary to be used. Report an error in the passage at 58:07 Highlight the passage at 58:07

58:23 So this approach, starting in a way that eases us into it, that's very valid, very helpful for cultivating the loving kindness and compassion, which is the basis. Report an error in the passage at 58:23 Highlight the passage at 58:23

58:38 To my mind, it's very helpful because so far in my experience, no one has rebelled against it. No one has said, oh, I don't want the suffering of others to be exhausted in the strength of my loving kindness. Nobody feels that. Everybody's happy for that to happen. You know, there's no resistance at all, is there? Is there? Report an error in the passage at 58:38 Highlight the passage at 58:38

59:02 It's hard to imagine. I would love it to imagine that the suffering of other people are exhausted in the strength of my loving kindness. That would make me feel really good, not threatened at all. Report an error in the passage at 59:02 Highlight the passage at 59:02

59:17 So, you get into the practice that way, or you can. I mean, there's other ways of practicing. You get into the practice that way, and then once you build up this confidence and ability, then the way is open to apply this practice against. against demon of self-church. Now, I've had the experience of teaching the, what I'll call the gentle approach, okay, of teaching the gentle approach and then in people's experience, intuitively, they come up with a profound approach. Report an error in the passage at 59:17 Highlight the passage at 59:17

59:57 They report, you know, as I'm taking on the suffering of others, thinking for it to be exhausted in the strength of my loving kindness. I discover that it's coming across a dark knot in my heart. That's without me or anyone saying anything. They just notice it. That the approach of that cloud of suffering causes a reaction. And then all that's necessary to do is say, that's it. Report an error in the passage at 59:57 Highlight the passage at 59:57

1:00:30 You've discovered it. That's the enemy. That's the demon. Not you. Not you're a bad guy. But that habit of self-cherishing. What you now experience as this knot in your heart, that's the clue. So apply the destructive energy on the head of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:30 Highlight the passage at 1:00:30

1:00:50 So some people come to this more profound practice, one could say almost intuitively, even without the instructions, it's possible. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:50 Highlight the passage at 1:00:50

1:01:02 So that's the first hour. So what we're going to do now is take a break, and when we come back we'll actually practice. This meditation for a while and then engage in what's ever necessary to conclude time together including the recitation of a prayer which I've been advised is an excellent prayer for the dedication of whatever positive energy is generated through practices such as this practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:02 Highlight the passage at 1:01:02

1:01:37 So why don't we return at... Is 11 minutes enough? I don't want to starve you of your break. If 11 minutes is enough, then at 3.15 we'll reconvene. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:37 Highlight the passage at 1:01:37

1:02:03 Of course, Report an error in the passage at 1:02:03 Highlight the passage at 1:02:03

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:03:00 the disadvantage is if you don't look in the right place, then you end up seeing me. extraordinary advantage over Report an error in the passage at 1:03:00 Highlight the passage at 1:03:00

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:02:36 kind of great. Right from that, or at least what they represent. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:36 Highlight the passage at 1:02:36

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:04:23 So here we are for the concluding section of this weekend's practice. And what I'm going to try to do is limit as much as I can the commentary to the meditation. So that you can have more time to do it without the interruption of being diverted by the sound of my voice. Now, I won't be able to avoid completely making comments, but I'm hoping that by limiting them somewhat that will each of us individually have a chance to get deeper into the practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:23 Highlight the passage at 1:04:23

1:05:10 So to enable that to happen... I'm going to just reiterate a basic outline for the practice, and then we'll start at our own speed, and then occasionally, through it, just very brief reminders. Now, when we get to the point where I'm offering those brief reminders, it's doubtful if what I say is going to be exactly where you are in your practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:10 Highlight the passage at 1:05:10

1:05:38 You may not have reached there. You may have reached it quite a while ago and on to something else. So don't let what I say determine what you're doing. Instead, just let it remind you of the various stages you might go through, even if you're not up to them yet or even if you've passed them. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:38 Highlight the passage at 1:05:38

1:06:01 So I'll try my best, don't promise anything, to keep them brief so that we can actually do the practice. So here's a basic outline that we can follow. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:01 Highlight the passage at 1:06:01

1:06:16 We start by any practice that begins with stabilizing the mind. So, just cleansing breath practices that we talked about before followed, if we wish, by observing ten consecutive cycles of breath, keeping the mind in the present moment of the breath, thinking breath is going in during the inhalation, breath is going out during the exhalation, for example. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:16 Highlight the passage at 1:06:16

1:06:43 Bringing the mind back. Whenever it is distracted by something else. So that's the way we can begin. And we can begin every meditation session like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:43 Highlight the passage at 1:06:43

1:06:57 And then we move into the practice of Tonglen by inviting to take a place in front of us, starting with someone that we already feel connected with. Maybe we've used that person already and it was going well, or maybe it's time to switch to someone else. It doesn't matter, that's up to you. But someone who we feel positive affectionate feelings for. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:57 Highlight the passage at 1:06:57

1:07:31 And then just observe that person as someone who, despite possessing the Buddha nature, fundamental purity, is somehow or other oppressed by suffering in any form. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:31 Highlight the passage at 1:07:31

1:07:48 And then spend some time... Cultivating a heartfelt wish which can be expressed how wonderful it would be if this dear person could be released from the oppression of that suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:48 Highlight the passage at 1:07:48

1:08:04 And it isn't bad, by the way, if you were to devote the entire meditation session just to that. Don't feel, oh, I didn't really complete the course because I never got past the first stage of the practice. No, that's very, very important. And meditating on it for the duration of the meditation session would not be a mistake. But if it doesn't last that long, if you're really able to cultivate that wish, how wonderful it would be for them to be separated from suffering, then you can move on to that pure selfless wish. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:04 Highlight the passage at 1:08:04

1:08:45 And you move on to that pure selfless wish of taking on the responsibility by thinking how interrelated we are to others. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:45 Highlight the passage at 1:08:45

1:08:56 And the more we develop that loving kindness and compassion, then the more we can develop that wish, I myself must help this dear person find the way out of suffering and to ultimate happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:56 Highlight the passage at 1:08:56

1:09:15 And then once that thought, that pure selfless wish of, I must do something, it's my responsibility, if I don't do it, who will? Report an error in the passage at 1:09:15 Highlight the passage at 1:09:15

1:09:26 Once that starts getting developed in the mind, Then we can move into the actual tonglen practice itself, and that is observing the incoming and outgoing breath, and with each in-breath, drawing more and more from the layers of suffering that's oppressing that person. And for many, many people, the easiest way of doing that is envisioning that suffering, that oppression, as layers of dark cloud or something similar. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:26 Highlight the passage at 1:09:26

1:09:58 And each time we breathe in, it's like a barber shaving the customer. It shaves off a layer of that darkness. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:58 Highlight the passage at 1:09:58

1:10:11 And then we bring that closer and closer to ourselves and place it directly on the head of the self-cherishing, which we might feel as a knot in the heart, Report an error in the passage at 1:10:11 Highlight the passage at 1:10:11

1:10:29 something solid like a stone in the heart. Or just a feeling of tension, or a feeling of fear and aversion. However it appears to us, we place the strength, the destructive strength of that suffering right on the head of that self-cherishing attitude. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:29 Highlight the passage at 1:10:29

1:10:53 And feel that it starts the work of obliterating it, like a lightning bolt, like a cleansing, like a washing, whichever way. That works for us. We use that destructive strength to attack the solidity, the heaviness of that self-cherishing attitude, and then to whatever extent it diminishes, even if it's just a little bit, even if it just takes the very edge off of it, Report an error in the passage at 1:10:53 Highlight the passage at 1:10:53

1:11:28 allow oneself to feel that level of release, that level of having laid down the burden, identify that as the source of happiness, the love. We're going to give to others. So from that experience, we send out that white light in the center of our heart towards that other person in whatever form or forms helps lead that person from their present state of suffering all the way up in stages to the experience of enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:28 Highlight the passage at 1:11:28

1:12:01 And once we feel that we have done this to some reasonable, satisfactory extent, For one person, then we can invite someone else in. And it would be helpful, if we can, to have a range of people that we do the practice for. The general suggestion is to start with someone that we already feel close to. Then we might move to people who we're acquainted with, you know, like the local postman or the person who works behind the counter at the grocery store or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:01 Highlight the passage at 1:12:01

1:12:40 So we're acquainted with that person, we recognize that person, but we're neither friends or enemies with him or her. We just recognize the face. And then think, well, that person has as rich an inner life, as rich a set of experiences as I do, even if I don't know that person. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:40 Highlight the passage at 1:12:40

1:13:01 And then think to take on his or her oppression. And then do the same thing. Put that on the head of the self-cherishing attitude and then breathe out in the form of happiness whatever would lead that person to a sense of well-being. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:01 Highlight the passage at 1:13:01

1:13:24 Now don't worry that when you do the practice the first time and you obliterate the self-cherishing, then you're done for the day. Through habit, it's been with us for a while. So even when we... We do the meditation practice in which we release the burden of the self-cherishing. By the time we reach the next person, I'm sure there's going to be some left. So then we do it with an acquaintance. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:24 Highlight the passage at 1:13:24

1:13:51 And then, on the basis of that, then we can move to the level of the person who is neither a friend nor a casual acquaintance, but someone that we really have a difficulty with. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:51 Highlight the passage at 1:13:51

1:14:09 Someone who even to think about. It can cause irritation to arise in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:09 Highlight the passage at 1:14:09

1:14:17 And again, my suggestion is don't start with someone who has done something dastardly to your entire family. Start with someone who you have a border disagreement with, who uses your clothesline without asking. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:17 Highlight the passage at 1:14:17

1:14:34 Or borrows a cup of sugar and never returns it. Start with something a little easy before we get to this really sociopathic criminality. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:34 Highlight the passage at 1:14:34

1:14:46 And then work the way through with something like that. But how you progress, which stage you stay at, which one you concentrate, that's completely up to you. It doesn't have to accord with the outline that I've given. The most important thing is that you really get a feeling that you're cultivating the courage to take on the suffering of others and to use it. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:46 Highlight the passage at 1:14:46

1:15:13 As a pathway to enhance your own cultivation of bodhicitta. So that going right back to the very beginning of this course, you can really begin to feel honestly, even if it's just for a moment, the purpose of my life is to lead all kind mother sentient beings from suffering and establishing them in enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:13 Highlight the passage at 1:15:13

1:15:38 And if you can feel that even a little bit about one person, then you can say the meditation. has been a success. And of course if you can develop it beyond that, of course it's wonderful. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:38 Highlight the passage at 1:15:38

1:15:54 So I will offer occasional reminders of that, but the entire meditation will probably take somewhere in the vicinity of maybe 20 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:54 Highlight the passage at 1:15:54

1:16:09 So before we start, any questions? So again, just check to see that the The posture you're sitting in is something comfortable enough so that for 20 minutes there's no necessity of unnecessary movement or distraction. Of course, if you have to move, do so. It's not an endurance test, but it's really helpful. You can stay still. There's a still body. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:09 Highlight the passage at 1:16:09

1:16:43 It becomes a very good vessel for a still mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:43 Highlight the passage at 1:16:43

1:16:56 Following the advice of our teachers, it's very good to begin. By making a heartfelt request to our own spiritual master, if we've cultivated a connection with a guru or a Lama, make a heartfelt request to receive inspiration so that we're able to engage in this practice on a sincere level and use it to weaken the strength of our self-cherishing attitude and to Report an error in the passage at 1:16:56 Highlight the passage at 1:16:56

1:17:32 Develop, in progressive stages, the heart of bodhicitta, the wish to attain enlightenment and the sake of benefiting others. If we start with that kind of request, some people like mentally to make a mandala offering to the Guru and make that request and then have the inspiration of the Guru dissolve into us. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:32 Highlight the passage at 1:17:32

1:17:55 That's an excellent way to begin. You know how to do that kind of practice. You feel comfortable with it. Invoking that inspiration to start with is very powerful. So, Report an error in the passage at 1:17:55 Highlight the passage at 1:17:55

1:18:11 everything from the cleansing breath to the ten cycles of breathing to the invocation of the dear person, recognition of his or her suffering, cultivating the minds of love and compassion, ultimately the pure selfless wish to remove them from suffering, and then the actual practice that we mount on the incoming I'm going to regret, okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:11 Highlight the passage at 1:18:11

1:18:36 So every once in a while I may say a word or two. Or I might just simply sound the gong briefly, just to remind you to continue with the practice. Or, if your mind has wandered to something that's not the practice, to bring it back to the practice itself. Okay? So now we can begin. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:36 Highlight the passage at 1:18:36

· · · silence, 7 minutes

1:25:58 Others have this desire for having the same version Report an error in the passage at 1:25:58 Highlight the passage at 1:25:58

1:26:09 of kindness. It Report an error in the passage at 1:26:09 Highlight the passage at 1:26:09

· · · silence, 5 minutes

1:31:25 is possible in the course of this practice, if things seem to be going well, it is possible for arrogance to arise. As in, I'm such a good person. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:25 Highlight the passage at 1:31:25

1:31:44 It's also possible if things are not going well, that doubt or self-reproach may arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:44 Highlight the passage at 1:31:44

1:31:54 I'm not a good practitioner. Or the practice doesn't make sense. Either. Both of these reactions is just a disguised form of the demon of self-cherishing. So if they arise, now we know onto whose head to place the suffering of others. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:54 Highlight the passage at 1:31:54

· · · silence, 5 minutes

1:37:37 So now, when we're on the verge of bringing this practice and the entire weekend to a close, just observe the nature of your mind at this moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:37 Highlight the passage at 1:37:37

1:37:59 Someone more open than before, as if you've contacted a deep source of loving kindness and compassion within yourself, then rejoice at that development and cultivate the wish for it to continue and to grow deeper. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:59 Highlight the passage at 1:37:59

1:38:24 If, however, upon checking the state of your mind at the moment, you discover that it feels uncomfortable or even tighter than before, more closed, Report an error in the passage at 1:38:24 Highlight the passage at 1:38:24

1:38:41 This can also be a cause for rejoicing because it is allowing us to identify where the self-cherishing attitude is located in our being. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:41 Highlight the passage at 1:38:41

1:38:55 And we can think, just as I experience the discomfort of a tight, destructive mind, may that be sufficient to exhaust the suffering of all other beings who suffer from the self-cherishing mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:55 Highlight the passage at 1:38:55

1:39:16 So even when the practice doesn't seem to be working, it can be the fruit of successful practice, the instigator of successful practice in the future. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:16 Highlight the passage at 1:39:16

1:39:44 And now that we're approaching the very end of the class, I'd like to quote briefly from some teachings of a Western teacher, venerable Pema Chodron, not to be confused with venerable Tutin Chodron, Coming to the center shortly. But Pema Chudra, who is one of the great teachers of Tonglen practice in the world today, who explains the Tonglen practice in many of her books and lectures, Report an error in the passage at 1:39:44 Highlight the passage at 1:39:44

1:40:24 and she had the following to say. This is the basic Tonglen logic. When you feel discomfort, just generate the thought, other people feel this. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:24 Highlight the passage at 1:40:24

1:40:47 Then if you want to take it further, You can think, may we all be free of this. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:47 Highlight the passage at 1:40:47

1:40:59 And then, the most dramatic and probably the most difficult thought to generate, taking it even one step further, would be to say, since I'm feeling this discomfort anyway, may I be feeling it so all others could be free of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:59 Highlight the passage at 1:40:59

1:41:22 So it's as if there are three levels of courage. The least courage... It's simply to recognize other people feel this when we experience discomfort. And that is enough. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:22 Highlight the passage at 1:41:22

1:41:40 But if it feels genuine, we could say and think, may this discomfort that I'm experiencing now become a path for awaking the heart for all of us. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:40 Highlight the passage at 1:41:40

1:42:01 And then it may be possible to generate the deepest level of courage, Which is to say and feel, since I'm feeling this discomfort anyway, may I feel it so that others can be free of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:01 Highlight the passage at 1:42:01

1:42:21 This is the Tonglen attitude towards pain. It doesn't involve breathing in and breathing out, but it is the very spirit of Tonglen. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:21 Highlight the passage at 1:42:21

1:42:38 So, Report an error in the passage at 1:42:38 Highlight the passage at 1:42:38

1:42:49 if there has been any value in attending this weekend course, Then it would be excellent advice to research further teachings. There are so many available in different texts and so forth for the teachings on Tonglen. If you're interested in finding those teachings, then there's a body of literature known in Tibetan as Lojong, or Thought Transformation. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:49 Highlight the passage at 1:42:49

1:43:23 Within that body of literature, there's such famous texts as the Eight-verse training of the mind, or the seven-point training of the mind. And within that, these Tonglen teachings have their scriptural source, at least from the Tibetan tradition. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:23 Highlight the passage at 1:43:23

1:43:41 And many Lamas, all the way up to and including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, have given extensive commentary on how to practice this Mahāyāna thought transformation, focusing on this very practice of Tonglen. And as I indicated beforehand, each teacher has his or her own particular style of presenting the teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:41 Highlight the passage at 1:43:41

1:44:07 So the more we broaden our base in these teachings, the more techniques we have to draw from. And if the only result of this weekend was to whet your appetite to learn more about the Tonglen practice, then I... I feel that I've done my job. So I want to thank everyone for attending and to be so attentive while attending and being patient with long-winded explanations. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:07 Highlight the passage at 1:44:07

1:44:41 And so now we've reached the point to dedicate whatever the positive energy has been through these practices. And to do that... It is suggested that we do the dedication prayers which in this book that we have in front of us start on page 235 and Report an error in the passage at 1:44:41 Highlight the passage at 1:44:41

1:45:14 continue to page 239. So I think perhaps what we'll do is just simply read together the English of these and if you don't feel like reading Then just simply pay attention to the meaning of the words as others recite them, whatever you find comfortable. So starting with stanza one. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:14 Highlight the passage at 1:45:14

1:45:45 Due to the merits of these virtuous actions, may I quickly attain the state of a Guru Buddha and lead all living beings, without exception, into that enlightened state. May the Supreme Jewel Bodhicitta That has not arisen arise and grow. And may that which has arisen not diminish but increase more and more. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45:45

1:46:11 Just as the brave Manjushri and Samantabhadra too realize things as they are, I too dedicate all these merits in the best way that I may follow their perfect example. I dedicate all these roots of virtue With the dedication praised as the best by the victorious ones thus gone of the three times, so I might perform good works. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:11 Highlight the passage at 1:46:11

1:46:39 I dedicate whatever virtuous I've ever collected for the benefit of the teachings and of all sentient beings, and in particular for the essential teachings of perfect, pure Los Andrakpa to shine forever. May we not arise heresy even for a second? In the actions of the glorious Guru, may we regard whatever actions are done as pure. With this devotion, may we receive the blessings of the Guru in our hearts. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:39 Highlight the passage at 1:46:39

1:47:13 In all my lives, through the Victorious One, Lama Tsongkhapa, acting in person as the Mahāyāna Guru, may I never turn aside for even an instant from the excellent path praised by the Victorious Ones. In whatever way you appear, glorious Guru, with whatever retinue, lifespan and pure land, whatever noble and holy name you take, may I and others attain only these. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:13 Highlight the passage at 1:47:13

1:47:43 Every supreme and mundane attainment follows solely upon pure devotion to you, my Savior. Seeing this, I give up my body and even my life. Please bless me to practice only what will please you. May the glorious Guru's lives be long and stable. May all beings equal the extent of space have happiness. May I and others without exception accumulate merit and purify negativities and may we be blessed to quickly attain Buddhahood. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:43 Highlight the passage at 1:47:43

1:48:18 Only by the kindness of my Gurus have I met the unequal teachings of Buddha. I dedicate all this merit so that all migratory beings without exception May be guided in the future by kind and holy gurus. Until saṃsāra ends, may the teachings that benefits not be moved away by the wind of the evil superstitions. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:18 Highlight the passage at 1:48:18

1:48:42 May the whole world always be filled with people who have understood and found stable faith in the teachings. May I pass the time, day and night, thinking and examining by what means this teaching can spread in the minds of myself and all sentient beings. Due to all these merits, may all the father and mother sentient beings have all happiness and may all the lower realms be empty forever. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:42 Highlight the passage at 1:48:42

1:49:12 Wherever there are bodhisattvas, may all their prayers be accomplished immediately. May I cause this by myself alone due to all the merit accumulated in the three times by myself and others. May those beings who merely see, hear, remember, touch or talk to me be freed in that very second from all their sufferings and abide in happiness forever. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:12 Highlight the passage at 1:49:12

1:49:39 Whatever suffering sentient beings experience, may it ripen on me. Whatever merit and its resulting happiness I have accumulated, may others experience it. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:39 Highlight the passage at 1:49:39

1:49:57 all these dedications become truly excellent we follow The example of the Gurus and the Holy Buddhas and Bodhisattvas by recognizing that ourself as the ones making the dedication and all others who receive the dedication and Report an error in the passage at 1:49:57 Highlight the passage at 1:49:57

1:50:22 the very act of dedication itself, all these three spheres of activity lack even one atom of concrete self-existence. It arises as a mere appearance to the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:22 Highlight the passage at 1:50:22

1:50:41 If we make these dedications with that understanding, the merits are beyond calculation and lead to full awakening. May Report an error in the passage at 1:50:41 Highlight the passage at 1:50:41

1:50:56 all those who come to this place, Sei Chen Ling, in search of mental, physical and emotional health and well-being, have Report an error in the passage at 1:50:56 Highlight the passage at 1:50:56

1:51:09 their wishes fulfilled just as they desire. In the future may we receive these Tonglen teachings. From completely qualified gurus who are able to convey the essence of these teachings directly into the center of our being. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:09 Highlight the passage at 1:51:09

1:51:29 If, through lack of skill, lack of study, lack of realization, any of the things that have been said here during this weekend do not accord with the intention, the intended meaning of the teachings of the Holy Ones. May it leave no impression on our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:29 Highlight the passage at 1:51:29

1:51:53 On the other hand, if there is anything that has been said or thought during this weekend that does accord with the intended meaning of the holy beings and the teachings on Tonglen, may it take deep root in our consciousness, leading to the experience of full awakening, not simply for our own sake. But for the sake of repaying the infinite kindness we receive from each and every sentient people. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:53 Highlight the passage at 1:51:53

1:52:45 Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:45 Highlight the passage at 1:52:45

1:53:01 Thank you. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:01 Highlight the passage at 1:53:01

1:53:24 Well, certainly, if there really is genuine interest in the general community, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:24 Highlight the passage at 1:53:24

1:53:38 But you're old timers already. What about the new people? No, I'd be very, very, very happy. This year, as I mentioned to someone earlier, I have more travel than I have in quite a while, but during the periods of time that I am here and that I'm available, I'd be very happy to come again. And one thing I wanted to say, which I hadn't had a chance to say yet, is that, for me, it's a great privilege to be able to give these teachings because... Report an error in the passage at 1:53:38 Highlight the passage at 1:53:38

1:54:17 This is not false modesty speaking here, but I'm actually not much of a meditational practitioner. When I sit alone in meditation, very often nothing happens. However, when I'm in a room with people who are truly interested, when they're really pulling forth from the cosmos, Report an error in the passage at 1:54:17 Highlight the passage at 1:54:17

1:54:54 The essence of the teachings, out of a sincere desire. Then, through the blessings of teaching teachers that I am so fortunate to study with, such as Kinriniche, Kishidhargai, Report an error in the passage at 1:54:54 Highlight the passage at 1:54:54

1:55:08 Tuktinyeshe, whose name is hard to even pronounce without crying, Kapche and Zopa Rinpoche, and of course, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, through their blessings, something comes through. I rarely know what I am going to say before I open my mouth. But so far the Gurus have never let me down. That doesn't happen when I'm alone in meditation, but it does happen repeatedly when you're here. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:08 Highlight the passage at 1:55:08

1:55:40 From the bottom of my heart, or as a friend of mine says, from the heart of my bottom, I thank you very, very much. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:40 Highlight the passage at 1:55:40

1:56:04 And I don't know whether it's planned to do this or not, but... But maybe we can take pictures? Is that possible? Would you like to do something like that? Report an error in the passage at 1:56:04 Highlight the passage at 1:56:04

1:56:19 So I don't know what the best setup is, whether I should just stay here or whether you should go outside or into another room. But people who are familiar with the center, you probably have an idea of how it can be set up. Should I just stay here? Report an error in the passage at 1:56:19 Highlight the passage at 1:56:19