A Brief Commentary on the Bodhisattva Vows - Guidelines for Awakening Compassion and the Altruistic Mind (25 March 2011)

· · · silence, 4 minutes

3:59 think maybe next time we'll set it up like the senior seminar, you know, sort of a little arc. It is sort of a senior seminar. Report an error in the passage at 3:59 Highlight the passage at 3:59

4:12 Jessica just can't be here tonight. She's going to take it. Report an error in the passage at 4:12 Highlight the passage at 4:12

4:31 likes Maria. She has to sit by herself. Ann's going to come in late too. Then she'll join you. If she sits on that side too, then we'll know something's up. Report an error in the passage at 4:31 Highlight the passage at 4:31

4:49 It's my Libra. It's like this is heavy on this side. Report an error in the passage at 4:49 Highlight the passage at 4:49

4:58 It's your right and my left. All right, so let's just start with a little meditation and set our motivation for this class. Report an error in the passage at 4:58 Highlight the passage at 4:58

5:14 So just start with taking some nice deep belly breaths and letting go of your day. yeah. Report an error in the passage at 5:14 Highlight the passage at 5:14

· · · silence, 1 minute

5:19 Letting go of any distractions that keep you from being fully present, Report an error in the passage at 5:19 Highlight the passage at 5:19

5:30 any problems you've been working on or challenges you have in your life or if you're really tired from the week, just allow yourself some nice deep breaths to just breathe them out into the night air. Imagine them just dissolving. Report an error in the passage at 5:30 Highlight the passage at 5:30

6:09 If you feel any tension in your body, you can also focus on that and apply the breathing to release that tension. Report an error in the passage at 6:09 Highlight the passage at 6:09

6:42 And then just focus on your breath for a few rounds of ten, just to bring the mind to neutral. Report an error in the passage at 6:42 Highlight the passage at 6:42

· · · silence, 2 minutes

8:44 Since the center is on a busy corner, I often like to use the noises that we hear to inspire the mind rather than to distract it or upset it. Report an error in the passage at 8:44 Highlight the passage at 8:44

8:56 Just thinking about all those sounds are connected to living beings, and they're all trying to get happy, and they're all trying to get away from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 8:56 Highlight the passage at 8:56

9:10 So all the sounds of engines that we hear and cars and motorcycles and skateboards and scooters, they're all people trying to get somewhere, trying to get home, trying to go out, trying to get happy, trying to stop their pain. Report an error in the passage at 9:10 Highlight the passage at 9:10

9:40 And all the people we hear walking by or on their bicycles are doing the same thing. Report an error in the passage at 9:40 Highlight the passage at 9:40

9:58 And the Buddha taught that we're all the same exactly in this way, that we all want to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 9:58 Highlight the passage at 9:58

10:08 And we all want to avoid pain and suffering. Report an error in the passage at 10:08 Highlight the passage at 10:08

10:19 It's unfortunate that most of the time, up until now, everything we've done to avoid pain has only caused more pain for ourselves and others. Report an error in the passage at 10:19 Highlight the passage at 10:19

10:33 And everything we've done to avoid that pain, to have happiness, has just brought more suffering due to ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 10:33 Highlight the passage at 10:33

10:47 But we have a chance to turn it around. Report an error in the passage at 10:47 Highlight the passage at 10:47

10:53 In this life, we have the conditions to turn it around. Report an error in the passage at 10:53 Highlight the passage at 10:53

11:00 Not just for ourselves, but for all those living beings around us right now, our sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 11:00 Highlight the passage at 11:00

11:21 May whatever merit we create by doing this class together tonight and for the next six weeks, talking about bodhicitta and the bodhisattva vows in as much detail as we can, and trying to apply those teachings to our lives, to our minds, to our hearts. Report an error in the passage at 11:21 Highlight the passage at 11:21

11:45 May this become the cause of enlightenment in each of us so that we can help all those living beings, every one of them, without bias, without exception, including ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 11:45 Highlight the passage at 11:45

12:15 And then when you're ready, you can end your meditation and we'll start with an opening prayer, Report an error in the passage at 12:15 Highlight the passage at 12:15

12:32 which will be on page 8, Report an error in the passage at 12:32 Highlight the passage at 12:32

12:46 with the wish to free all beings. I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain. Report an error in the passage at 12:46 Highlight the passage at 12:46

13:16 And dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 13:16 Highlight the passage at 13:16

13:31 Just to make sure you're in the right room, this is the Bodhisattva Vows class. Report an error in the passage at 13:31 Highlight the passage at 13:31

13:38 And I am Lobsang Chokyi. I know all of you, so that's good. I'm going to send around this. This is the roster for this class, just so that it's all in one place. Since you're on that side of the room, then you're going to have to do that. No, I'm kidding. Just go to each person. All right. All right. Report an error in the passage at 13:38 Highlight the passage at 13:38

13:59 Oh yeah, no, just pass it around, I was just teasing. Yeah, you could be like the waitress. Report an error in the passage at 13:59 Highlight the passage at 13:59

14:07 So I was going to start with introducing myself, I don't think I have to, so I won't. I will tell you in a few minutes kind of my relationship with this class, but I don't think I need to do that. We will go around really quickly, about halfway through, and just sort of introduce ourselves, especially in the context of bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 14:07 Highlight the passage at 14:07

14:27 It's interesting because... Right now, well this spring, we're going to have three different classes on three nights a week on emptiness. And this is the only one on bodhicitta. So we have this sort of precious space on the calendar of balancing all that wisdom. So it kind of puts a little pressure on. Report an error in the passage at 14:27 Highlight the passage at 14:27

14:58 So I wanted to mention a few things just logistically about this class. It's six weeks, due to end on the 29th of next month, of April. Report an error in the passage at 14:58 Highlight the passage at 14:58

15:13 And just a few things that I want to make sure that we cover in the class, or that my goal is that we cover in the class. And one is introducing bodhicitta, just in case. People have made it this far and don't know what bodhicitta is. I thought it might be a really good thing to talk about before we talk about the vows because I want to make sure that when you take bodhisattva vows, you're really taking them, at our level, we're taking them to strengthen and enhance our bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 15:13 Highlight the passage at 15:13

15:52 And ideally, we take them after we've already generated bodhicitta. But at our level, I tend to think of them more as training wheels. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 15:52 Highlight the passage at 15:52

16:08 I think those are more the Pradymoksha vows. I think these are more the regular bicycle. you. on. Report an error in the passage at 16:08 Highlight the passage at 16:08

16:24 So I want to introduce bodhicitta tonight, talk about that a little bit before the break. And then after the break, talk a little bit about why we take vows. In this tradition, vows are really honored and respected and talked about a lot, especially in the Galukpa lineage of the four schools out of Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 16:24 Highlight the passage at 16:24

16:46 So I want to talk about vowed morality. And then next week... Well, probably the next two or three weeks, I think probably three weeks, we'll just go into each of the vows in detail and talk about the vows, starting with the root vows next week and then the following two weeks, spend more time on the secondary vows and then some additional commitments that come with the Bodhisattva vows, like the black and white deeds. Report an error in the passage at 16:46 Highlight the passage at 16:46

17:13 Talk about them all in as much detail as we can. And then in the final week, Talk about, or maybe it might be a little bit in the fifth week, so the fifth and sixth weeks, talk about more about sort of how to keep the vows and how to purify them when they break, what we do when we screw up, and how we restore them. Report an error in the passage at 17:13 Highlight the passage at 17:13

17:38 And also a little bit about how to track them if we want to kind of do this one practice. And I might actually, if there's interest, I might. Add an extra time to talk about that practice, which is a vow book practice. Sort of a way to keep an eye on how you're doing with those vows. Because otherwise, if we don't keep an eye on how we're doing, they're just something that we say we hold, but we don't really know. And it's really important for us to know what vows we're holding in as much detail as we can, what they mean, and what it means to... Report an error in the passage at 17:38 Highlight the passage at 17:38

18:16 Break them and why we're holding them, what we expect them to do for our minds. Because otherwise it's like an exercise of some sort. Report an error in the passage at 18:16 Highlight the passage at 18:16

18:30 And I want to give you guys some readings. So I want to give you some stuff to read about the vows and about bodhicitta and also a couple of translations of the vows so that you'll have your own sort of little resource workbook. Report an error in the passage at 18:30 Highlight the passage at 18:30

18:47 To get to know your vows. A companion book for holding and keeping the bodhisattva vows. Report an error in the passage at 18:47 Highlight the passage at 18:47

18:56 So we'll start with the first couple of those things tonight and then like I said, then we'll sort of progress through the vows for the oncoming weeks. Report an error in the passage at 18:56 Highlight the passage at 18:56

19:07 So we decided, just from the center's point of view, we decided to offer this class when Lama Zopa Rinpoche was just here and was going to give the... And gave the Medicine Buddha Jainang. And originally the commitment was going to be the bodhisattva vows, taking the bodhisattva vows. In the end he sort of softened that and allowed people to stay as long as they generated compassion, agreed to generate compassion, I think is the way he said it, as much as they can every day, which is really kind of him. Report an error in the passage at 19:07 Highlight the passage at 19:07

19:42 And he did the same thing for the White Tara. Tara J. Nong at Giawagatsa Buddha Center. But all the same, some people in the group decided at that time to go ahead and take the bodhisattva vows at the engaging level. And so we'll talk about that a little bit as we go. But that was where the idea came from to try to do this course. This is one set of vows that you can study before you've taken them. Report an error in the passage at 19:42 Highlight the passage at 19:42

20:15 I'm not assuming that everybody in this class has already taken the bodhisattva vows, but that was the reason that we originally came up with the idea for this class. And we did ask Emily first to teach it, and she couldn't. So you get me. Report an error in the passage at 20:15 Highlight the passage at 20:15

20:33 But I think this is a really beautiful set of vows to study together. And. Report an error in the passage at 20:33 Highlight the passage at 20:33

20:46 Not just the vows themselves, but also why we take them and what they do for our minds. And my relationship with them is kind of an interesting thing. This is actually the second class I ever took in Buddhism is on the bodhisattva vows. I took a class at Sechenling in 1995, actually. My very first Buddhist class happened to be at Sechenling, even though I never went to another class there again, here again. Thought I had no karma with the place. Report an error in the passage at 20:46 Highlight the passage at 20:46

21:17 I took a class from John Landau called Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up. And then a few months after that, I took refuge and immediately took a class on the Bodhisattva bells at Land of Medicine Buddha and took... Report an error in the passage at 21:17 Highlight the passage at 21:17

21:34 Lay vows during the class, and then we all took the bodhisattva vows together at the end of the class, which is really sweet. It was really moving. And that was when I jumped in. That was when I engaged. So I kind of have always thought that it was a pivotal, it was a very pivotal class for me. So it's kind of interesting that now I'm sitting here attempting to teach it. This is the first. Report an error in the passage at 21:34 Highlight the passage at 21:34

22:00 It's an ongoing class that I've taught that's outside of the Discovering Buddhism program. So it's very exciting from that side too. There's a little more freedom to do something different. But of course I probably won't. I'm pretty well trained. Report an error in the passage at 22:00 Highlight the passage at 22:00

22:19 And I've done my best. I have studied the vows with several teachers. Geshe-la a few times has taught the bodhisattva vows here. Report an error in the passage at 22:19 Highlight the passage at 22:19

22:30 I also studied with Geshe Michael Roach and Geshe Zeppel, who is my refuge Lama, and have tried my best to hold on to the vows and to keep the vows as well as I can for 15 years. So I will try my best to impart whatever I know, including resources so that you can do some self-learning as well by the end of the course. Report an error in the passage at 22:30 Highlight the passage at 22:30

22:57 But as I find them a very exciting set of vows, then I hope that I can kind of impart some of that excitement onto you guys too. Report an error in the passage at 22:57 Highlight the passage at 22:57

23:08 And then hopefully, of course, they will help the little baby bodhisattva seeds in your mind take root and blossom and guide you to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 23:08 Highlight the passage at 23:08

23:23 So I guess my first question is, what is bodhicitta? And I was going to ask that out loud and just see if anybody... I would say Report an error in the passage at 23:23 Highlight the passage at 23:23

23:57 that bodhicitta is the wish to attain enlightenment. For the benefit and welfare of all sentient beings. You would say right. Very good. Sometimes people call it the mind of enlightenment, but that's a little bit confusing because I think it sort of sounds like the mind already is enlightened. And so that's Maitreya's definition actually. Bodhicitta is the wish or the desire or the aspiration to become a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 23:57 Highlight the passage at 23:57

24:33 To become enlightened, fully enlightened, for the benefit of all sentient beings. And so it has to have those two parts. There's the wish to get enlightened and the wish to help all sentient beings. And so sometimes when we say it that other way, it kind of gets lost. Those two sections get lost. I also think that term wish is a little... Report an error in the passage at 24:33 Highlight the passage at 24:33

24:55 flaky sounding. It sounds like we might just sort of wake up and be like, when I wish upon a star kind of thing. It doesn't sound strong enough. And bodhicitta is actually the most powerful mind we can have as an ordinary being on the path. So I think actually determination is a better word because by the time we reach the level of wanting to take vows, and actually I think taking the vows helps us develop our resolve. Report an error in the passage at 24:55 Highlight the passage at 24:55

25:27 But I like the word determination. I'm determined to become a Buddha in order to help all sentient beings. No matter how long it takes, no matter how difficult it is, that's the kind of mind that kind of is going to get me there. If I just have this wish or desire to help all sentient beings, I don't know how strong that is yet. So I kind of wonder if that word might not be a proper translation, even though it's used quite often. Report an error in the passage at 25:27 Highlight the passage at 25:27

25:57 It's really good to mention again, too, that we're talking about every single sentient being, not just the people that we like. I started doing this exercise. Rinpoche, I think, mentioned this. I think it came up during the teachings at some point in the last month. Oh, yeah, that's right. He was saying, he was actually using insects and animals as well. And he was saying, you know, every time you see any ant, that's... Report an error in the passage at 25:57 Highlight the passage at 25:57

26:26 That's one of the sentient beings that you're wanting to protect. Every time you see any worm, that's one of the sentient beings that you're working for. Every time you see any person, any person at all, that's one of the sentient beings you're working for. So I've been trying that on the bus, on the 22. Report an error in the passage at 26:26 Highlight the passage at 26:26

26:48 I'm like, that's my sentient being. And then people are getting these little tips lately on the 22. too. Report an error in the passage at 26:48 Highlight the passage at 26:48

26:55 And it's like to look at both of them and be like, that's my sentient being, that's one of my sentient beings, you know, and this one's all offended and sits down and this one walks off in a huff, you know, and she's my sentient being, you know. And just really trying to see that and to feel it in my heart in some way because otherwise they're just nameless. Report an error in the passage at 26:55 Highlight the passage at 26:55

27:16 Sentient beings tend to be this sort of faceless, nameless blob that I say that I'm working for but I don't really have any. contact with. So I think it's good to remember that we're talking about every single sentient being, not just the people that we love and know and not just people, but animals and insects and the spirits that we can't see that are in this room, you know, like that. Report an error in the passage at 27:16 Highlight the passage at 27:16

27:46 They say, as I said, they say that this mind of bodhicitta is the most powerful mind that we can generate and it takes years and years and possibly lifetimes to generate, but we can try now. And we can get tastes of it now and I think it's important for us to get tastes of it now. And part of the reason that we motivate and dedicate every class is to get... Report an error in the passage at 27:46 Highlight the passage at 27:46

28:13 It's to color our mind with this mind of bodhicitta from the very beginning, even before we generate it. So it's made of these two parts of wanting to get enlightened and wanting to help all sentient beings. And so we talk about this mind of enlightenment. So what's enlightenment? I sometimes just... Report an error in the passage at 28:13 Highlight the passage at 28:13

28:36 Just simplify enlightenment as perfect mind. But basically they say it also has two parts. One is that the mind of a Buddha is completely free of all negative aspects, all negative, harmful, disturbing aspects, which we probably know pretty well right now that our minds are not free of those. Report an error in the passage at 28:36 Highlight the passage at 28:36

29:00 And of course one of the problems with our minds... We have all these afflicted states of mind that continually cause us to act and to create karma, and that's what keeps us in suffering. Report an error in the passage at 29:00 Highlight the passage at 29:00

29:17 So Buddhists don't have that. All of these crazy states of mind that we have, like anger and attachment and depression and sadness. Report an error in the passage at 29:17 Highlight the passage at 29:17

29:28 Jealousy and hatred and like that, all of them can be removed and the Buddha figured out how to eliminate them and their imprints, the imprints that cause them to reform and arise again in minds. So the Buddha has completely eliminated all of them and the Buddha has purified and developed to the point where they can't be developed any further. Report an error in the passage at 29:28 Highlight the passage at 29:28

29:54 All the positive qualities, so all the great things that we want, like patience and joy and optimism and curiosity and wisdom and compassion and love and tirelessness, which is one of my personal favorites that I want, and joyful effort. Um. And generosity and all those things that we work on on the path. So the Buddha has actually developed them to the point where they can't be developed any further. So that's why I like to simplify enlightenment as just basically a completely perfect mind. Report an error in the passage at 29:54 Highlight the passage at 29:54

30:36 The mind is completely free of everything harmful and negative and has completely perfected everything that's positive. But that's of course totally simplifying it because the cool thing about Buddhas is that... They also then, because of this, they have all these incredible skills and capacities to help that we don't currently have, like this amazing clairvoyance, this ability to see people's karma all the way back through beginningless time, so you know how to help them, this ability to emanate in any form to anyone in the world, simultaneously to everyone in the world that you have karma with, in whatever form would help their mind without effort. Report an error in the passage at 30:36 Highlight the passage at 30:36

31:19 And without conceptual thought, you know. Billions and billions of emanation bodies we can send out when we get enlightened. And that's part of the Buddhist skillful means. So that's why we want to become a Buddha. So the main goal is to help, and the main tool is enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 31:19 Highlight the passage at 31:19

31:41 And so that's why we want to get enlightened. And sometimes it seems so far away to have this mind. But one of the other things that Rinpoche kept saying throughout the course of the last month is our mind is like dough. Our mind is like dough. Our mind is like dough. It can basically take any shape that we want. It can be molded. It can be formed into whatever we want it to be. So part of the way that we do it is like training the mind when we do things like motivating. Report an error in the passage at 31:41 Highlight the passage at 31:41

32:15 Our activities or even our mundane activities, like John and I were talking about taking an exam with a bodhicitta motivation, even if that exam has nothing to do with whatever that means, Dharma, even working a mundane job with the mind of bodhicitta is part of how we mold our minds to become enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 32:15 Highlight the passage at 32:15

32:35 That's really all it is. Shantideva in The Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life is always talking about how if we do anything, With enough repetition and building a new habit, we will get as used to it as we do our negative habits. Because they've only become habits because we've allowed them to become habits. But now we can make new habits. And those new habits can include patience and happiness and skillful means. Report an error in the passage at 32:35 Highlight the passage at 32:35

33:06 So it's just a matter of creating new habits. Report an error in the passage at 33:06 Highlight the passage at 33:06

33:12 so. The other thing I always like to point out is that we can get these things at an intellectual level, but it doesn't mean that we've actually generated it in an irreversible, sincere, genuine manner. So we can understand what bodhicitta is, but until we have actually generated it in our mind stream. Report an error in the passage at 33:12 Highlight the passage at 33:12

33:37 And even then, with bodhicitta, once we've generated it, it's still possible for it to reverse. And so we have to strengthen it all the time. It's not like having a direct perception of emptiness. Once we have a direct perception of emptiness, we are forever changed. It takes a lot of work to get there, but once we have that moment, that realization, our mind is forever changed and we actually become a completely different type of being, an Arya being. Report an error in the passage at 33:37 Highlight the passage at 33:37

34:06 With bodhicitta, we become a bodhisattva, but there's ten levels, boomies, on the bodhisattva path. And so on the first seven levels, it's still possible for us to lose our bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 34:06 Highlight the passage at 34:06

34:20 A lot of the reason that we take the vows is to actually strengthen that mind of bodhicitta. I call it the sort of baby bodhicitta in our mind stream. It hasn't quite gotten strong enough to go forward on its own, and it's very fragile, and it can be blown, you know, as Lama Yeshe always used to say, it's like a really tiny little candle, like in the wind, and it's not strong enough really, and we have to really protect it, you know. Report an error in the passage at 34:20 Highlight the passage at 34:20

34:47 And Riva Rinpoche used to say, one that I read almost every day, is don't let your bodhicitta ever go out. Always feed it. It's like you've got this little fire and you're just feeding it with everything you can. Inspiration, quotes, teachings, books, whatever you can to keep it alive. And every time it gets damaged or... Report an error in the passage at 34:47 Highlight the passage at 34:47

35:11 You know, broken or injured, then we have to fix it. We have no choice because that little baby bodhicitta, even though it's really fragile, that's what's going to get us enlightened. That's the only thing that's going to get us enlightened. We can't get enlightened without bodhicitta, you know. We can have individual liberation. We can get nirvāṇa, but we can't get that perfect mind that we just talked about. Report an error in the passage at 35:11 Highlight the passage at 35:11

35:36 So we have to keep our bodhicitta alive. life in whatever way we can. Report an error in the passage at 35:36 Highlight the passage at 35:36

35:46 There are some traditional things about bodhicitta. They talk about all the different benefits of bodhicitta. One of them is that one I just said, that it's the only thing that's going to get us to Buddhahood. We cannot attain enlightenment without the mind of bodhicitta. For that reason, they call it the elixir that transforms base metal into gold. Report an error in the passage at 35:46 Highlight the passage at 35:46

36:11 This is the base metal. That's the gold, you know? So it turns this ordinary body and mind into Buddha, Buddha body and Buddha mind, basically. And it is totally possible, according to the Buddha. He wasn't already enlightened when he came into this world. He became enlightened through a lot of effort and practice, but also through this mind of bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 36:11 Highlight the passage at 36:11

36:37 And one of my favorite things, benefits about bodhicitta is that once we have it in our mind stream, it just keeps creating more and more and more merit. So even when we're distracted and tired and watching TV, asleep even, it keeps creating more and more merit without any interruption, which is pretty cool. Report an error in the passage at 36:37 Highlight the passage at 36:37

37:00 It's like finding a really hugely high interest-bearing account. Report an error in the passage at 37:00 Highlight the passage at 37:00

37:07 I just thought of that, but it's very much like that. I mean, Geshe-la always talks about that. He's always talking about really increasing your profit. I think he must know that Americans are into that or something. He's like, you would do that to increase your profit. It's like, hmm, okay. But yeah, this is like, bodhicitta is like the best way for us to... Report an error in the passage at 37:07 Highlight the passage at 37:07

37:29 We constantly be getting interest day and night, day and night, no matter what. So even if we just have this little tiny bit, it grows and grows and grows because it keeps feeding on itself. So as long as we can kind of protect it and take care of it and nurture it, it keeps growing and generating this merit. Why do we need a lot of merit? Report an error in the passage at 37:29 Highlight the passage at 37:29

37:50 To have a direct perception of emptiness. So the two really work together because we need an enormous amount of merit to have a direct perception of emptiness. We have to have a direct perception of emptiness to also get enlightened. And the one way that we can get that much merit is through generating bodhicitta. Why? Because generating bodhicitta is in relationship to every single living being that exists. Report an error in the passage at 37:50 Highlight the passage at 37:50

38:17 So it's not just like... If I devoted myself entirely to you, which Rinpoche says basically that could get you enlightened, if I just threw myself at your feet and did everything for you, it would just take a really long time. But what's so cool about bodhicitta is that same amount of care and tenderness is to everyone, without exception. Report an error in the passage at 38:17 Highlight the passage at 38:17

38:44 So it's just creating this enormous amount of merit constantly. Also, every single action, even if you're taking a science exam, becomes a bodhicitta activity. Washing the dishes can become a bodhicitta activity. Doing taxes can become a bodhicitta activity. And so every single thing, feeding the cat can become a bodhicitta activity, especially if you remember to actually blow mantras on the cat food. Report an error in the passage at 38:44 Highlight the passage at 38:44

39:12 Anything done with a bodhicitta motivation, even taking a nap, can become a bodhicitta activity and therefore result in the merit that helps us get enlightened so that we can benefit others. So it doesn't have to be going to the temple and doing offerings or something that we might think of as traditional Dharma activity. With bodhisattva activities, every single thing that we do can become a bodhicitta activity. Report an error in the passage at 39:12 Highlight the passage at 39:12

39:42 And basically what ends up happening with bodhicitta is the opposite of bodhicitta is self-cherishing mind. So that becomes more and more diminished and destroyed and ultimately completely destroyed when the bodhicitta gets bigger and bigger and bigger. So it's like the little tight, hard mind of self-cherishing just has to go away. It's sort of like the hard casing on a seed. Report an error in the passage at 39:42 Highlight the passage at 39:42

40:10 When a plant is growing, it just has to fall off of it, you know, so the leaves can come out and the plant can grow because we just, there's no room for it anymore. It keeps us tiny and tight and that little tiny mind that Lama Yashi is always talking about. He's like, we're trying to grow a big mind, you know, we're trying to grow a big mind. Report an error in the passage at 40:10 Highlight the passage at 40:10

40:30 So Lama Yashi also says that bodhicitta just makes us much more easygoing and spacious. And creative in our problem solving and things like that. It just makes us sort of this more big hearted. Whereas the opposite ego and self-cherishing makes us tight and tiny and narrow minded. So it's like we're trying to work against that. Report an error in the passage at 40:30 Highlight the passage at 40:30

40:58 And with bodhicitta, one of the other things that we do is purify all these huge amounts of negative karma that we've been carrying with us for a long time. So it actually works as this intensive purifier. Report an error in the passage at 40:58 Highlight the passage at 40:58

41:12 Which is pretty cool, too, because we have tons that we haven't even begun to deal with, even if we are trying to do purification practices every day. Unless we're doing massive quantities of purification and we're basically doing them nonstop, if you consider the fact that we've been living for limitless lifetimes, it's really hard to get every single one. Report an error in the passage at 41:12 Highlight the passage at 41:12

41:34 So we're trying, but bodhicitta allows us to... To hit more of those negativities and wipe them all out. And so there are two kinds of bodhicitta. They call them the wishing bodhicitta or aspiring bodhicitta and then engaging bodhicitta. Wishing bodhicitta is bodhicitta in the form of an aspiration, which is another reason why I don't like. Report an error in the passage at 41:34 Highlight the passage at 41:34

42:10 The term wish when you define all bodhicitta because I don't think it's always in the form of an aspiration. Wishing bodhicitta is the wish that you will devote your life to all beings, but you haven't yet. So it's still in this mind of having this ideal or like planning to do it. As one of my friends says, getting ready to get ready. But you haven't gotten ready yet. You haven't actually jumped into the pool. You've walked around the pool. Report an error in the passage at 42:10 Highlight the passage at 42:10

42:41 You're noting the best place to get in. Maybe you're reading up on it. Sometimes they describe it as planning to take a trip, and you get all the materials, and you sort of plan where you're going to walk, and maybe even do that above-ground Google thing. Report an error in the passage at 42:41 Highlight the passage at 42:41

42:57 Totally takes the mystery out of travel now. Before I went to Paris, I was like, okay, now what's on the corner? I'm out looking around. It's so weird that you can actually do that. We can't really do that with our vows. But wishing is sort of like that where you're planning it, you're getting to know what it might be like, you're preparing your mind to do it with this aspiration to do it in this life or in the next life, but you haven't really done it yet. Report an error in the passage at 42:57 Highlight the passage at 42:57

43:26 Engaging bodhicitta is in the form of action. So it's bodhicitta, you know, this wish for enlightenment or this mind of enlightenment in the form of action. don't know. I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 43:26 Highlight the passage at 43:26

43:36 And so once we get to the level of engaging bodhicitta, that's when we start trying to work with the six perfections, which are considered the activities of a bodhisattva, and that's when we take the vows at that level, the engaging level. Report an error in the passage at 43:36 Highlight the passage at 43:36

43:55 And what we're trying to do is to get to this point with the engaging level that all through every single day, without really thinking about it, but we're trying to just sort of develop that habit that we're really on the lookout of how we can help others. So we're just kind of always keeping an eye out. In the last class that I taught on transforming problems, I talked about... Report an error in the passage at 43:55 Highlight the passage at 43:55

44:20 The attendant of this Lama named Jampa. His name is, the attendant was named Jampa, not the Lama. The attendant was named Jampa. And he was very, I never met Jampa actually, but I heard about Jampa. But he had this habit or this ability to just sort of sense who needed help and how they might need help before the person themselves had figured out. Report an error in the passage at 44:20 Highlight the passage at 44:20

44:48 How they might need help. So the way the story went, you know, you would just sort of just be thinking, maybe it'd be nice to have a cup of tea. And all of a sudden he would bring you a cup of tea, you know, or you'd be like, hmm, I could use a little something to eat. And all of a sudden there'd be cookies in front of you. And so when the, you know, the person that was telling the story, we were all like, we would, our homework assignment was to go out and try to be like Jampa for a week, you know, and just kind of look around and try to figure out, you know. Report an error in the passage at 44:48 Highlight the passage at 44:48

45:16 How we can help people around us with that sense of sort of fun too. And he kind of did it in this really quiet way. He didn't make a show of it. He didn't try to be like super jumper. The way he described it, he would kind of like slink up, do it and slink away. So he wouldn't wait for any thanks either. He just kind of like, you know, you might even have your eyes closed and be like, a cup of tea might be done. Report an error in the passage at 45:16 Highlight the passage at 45:16

45:43 And you look down and you be like, where did it come from? You know, you didn't even know. So that could be our homework assignment. I didn't actually give you guys homework this time. So maybe our homework assignment is at least for one day, try to be like Jampa. I'm going to try to be like Jampa for one day. Try to think about what people around you might need before they even think about it themselves. Report an error in the passage at 45:43 Highlight the passage at 45:43

46:05 And make it fun. Any questions so far on any of the stuff that we just... to any of my blathering. Report an error in the passage at 46:05 Highlight the passage at 46:05

46:18 bodhisattva blathering so why don't we introduce ourselves then we'll take a little break think I started, and you're the only one on that side of the room, so I guess that means you have to go first. Report an error in the passage at 46:18 Highlight the passage at 46:18

46:34 I'm Report an error in the passage at 46:34 Highlight the passage at 46:34

46:40 Alice. No, just say why you're in the class. You don't have to say anything you don't want to say. My name is Maria. your name. I'm Alice. Report an error in the passage at 46:40 Highlight the passage at 46:40

46:50 and, I've been coming to the center for, what, about a year? I never know. It always seems like an entire lifetime. I can't imagine the center before Maria came. I feel like I've lived here for a long time. And I'm here because I want to do whatever it takes to get the determination to generate bodhicitta and do whatever I can to... Report an error in the passage at 46:50 Highlight the passage at 46:50

47:22 As venerable Chokyi would say, get that below the neck experience. So not just in the head, not just academic or intellectual. Excellent. Report an error in the passage at 47:22 Highlight the passage at 47:22

47:46 I'm John. Hi, John. Hi. I'm here taking this class so that I can learn more about the vowels. And how best, exactly what you went over, how best to keep them, what to do when things go awry. Report an error in the passage at 47:46 Highlight the passage at 47:46

48:10 Which, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 48:10 Highlight the passage at 48:10

48:16 That's cool. My name's Henry and I've been coming here for almost a year as well, since April 2010. And like John, I'm trying to understand more about the bodhicitta vows. Report an error in the passage at 48:16 Highlight the passage at 48:16

48:33 And to learn more about why I went to see Lama Zopa last month. Report an error in the passage at 48:33 Highlight the passage at 48:33

48:46 I like that little look. I'm Christine and I've been coming here for two and a half years. I'm not really sure why I'm here. Report an error in the passage at 48:46 Highlight the passage at 48:46

48:56 I'm sorry. I've been taking all of Chokyi's classes and I just felt like I need to take this one. I mean, I haven't taken the vows. But I have been taking all the classes, and I don't know, I just feel like I'm stuck with my practice, so I don't know if this will help. Yeah, yeah, good. So why don't we take a little break and just come back together in about five minutes or so? Report an error in the passage at 48:56 Highlight the passage at 48:56

49:28 Is that enough? Okay, cool. Christine, I want to talk to you for a second. Not about anything you just said, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 49:28 Highlight the passage at 49:28

49:40 Turn the mic off. Report an error in the passage at 49:40 Highlight the passage at 49:40

49:50 right, right. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 49:50 Highlight the passage at 49:50

· · · silence, 1 minute

50:28 pressure's on. Report an error in the passage at 50:28 Highlight the passage at 50:28

50:57 good. She likes it. Oh, good. Okay. She probably loves it. In fact, I have a picture John took, but I want to take a picture this level. That's where you can just see the lines in the air. She's so glad she likes it. Oh, my gosh. Report an error in the passage at 50:57 Highlight the passage at 50:57

51:18 down and fill out dates for each class, but I haven't gotten through all of them. I think it's easier if you do it each class. David actually gave me the ones for the last class, and I realized he needs to fill them out like I can. Report an error in the passage at 51:18 Highlight the passage at 51:18

51:35 I think Report an error in the passage at 51:35 Highlight the passage at 51:35

51:41 I can figure it out. I know what I read and what I haven't read. Report an error in the passage at 51:41 Highlight the passage at 51:41

51:53 But I would say do it as close to the class as possible. Every class, and otherwise, you get . Yeah, no, I think, like, I know what I, and I have a calendar. Report an error in the passage at 51:53 Highlight the passage at 51:53

52:04 weird about that. I have everything that's on it. But that other book Report an error in the passage at 52:04 Highlight the passage at 52:04

52:15 that's not in publication. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 52:15 Highlight the passage at 52:15

52:25 Let me make a note, and make sure If I can't do it by tomorrow, I'll have to make sure you get a copy by next week or something. The whole book? No. There's a PDF, though. The whole book? Yes. The whole book? Yeah, of the whole book. Yeah, on the... Report an error in the passage at 52:25 Highlight the passage at 52:25

52:43 me ask you at Wisdom Archives' website. What's confusing is you have to go into three documents on the side because the one on the side is the same exact. page pagination as the assignments are. So when the assignments say page to 126 or something, you have to go with that one. You can't go with, it's kind of confusing. But anyway. Report an error in the passage at 52:43 Highlight the passage at 52:43

53:12 I can find that link and give that to you. Report an error in the passage at 53:12 Highlight the passage at 53:12

53:17 Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I can my computer and I because I... I think I put it on the last class, one of the homeworks, one of the final homeworks of the last class. It's on almost all the sheets or almost all the classes. There's like some part of it, I think. No, but I mean that link, actual link, yeah, to that one, to that assignment for the last class. Report an error in the passage at 53:17 Highlight the passage at 53:17

53:52 But yeah, the whole thing is on there. And it's just, you just have to kind of wage your way through it. I don't think they, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 53:52 Highlight the passage at 53:52

54:03 that makes it a lot easier than when I was trying to just, like, hand out the different pages and stuff. that way you can also just not print it. Report an error in the passage at 54:03 Highlight the passage at 54:03

54:22 I mean it could be 10.30. Report an error in the passage at 54:22 Highlight the passage at 54:22

54:45 to the meditation so let's do 10.30 we'll do it after just meet you. Report an error in the passage at 54:45 Highlight the passage at 54:45

54:54 you need a break? No, I kept you in. So why take vows? What's the point? What is the point of vows? It harms yourself. It harms others. Wait, wait, wait. If you're going to talk, you have to talk into the mic. And you didn't introduce yourself, so you have to introduce yourself. You ran out when we were introducing yourself. Report an error in the passage at 54:54 Highlight the passage at 54:54

55:21 Many apologies. Yeah, you have to hold it up to your mouth like that. Just pretend you're a lounge singer. My name is Catherine. I'm visiting here from Santa Fe. We have an FPMT center there. And I study under... Report an error in the passage at 55:21 Highlight the passage at 55:21

55:39 A very wonderful person, Don Hendrick. Who is actually originally from here. Yes. He studied at Sechen Ling for a long time and then he did the master's program. Yes. And it Report an error in the passage at 55:39 Highlight the passage at 55:39

56:01 was tremendously difficult, I think, to understand the true meaning of becoming a bodhicitta, in that you take on... Not only your own Report an error in the passage at 56:01 Highlight the passage at 56:01

56:25 burden of having caused harm, but then to open your heart up to understand the suffering and sufferings of others. It Report an error in the passage at 56:25 Highlight the passage at 56:25

56:45 would be great if we were all enlightened, they Report an error in the passage at 56:45 Highlight the passage at 56:45

56:55 tell me, in order to hold it in a meaningful way. Report an error in the passage at 56:55 Highlight the passage at 56:55

57:10 From which you can actually help others that Report an error in the passage at 57:10 Highlight the passage at 57:10

57:19 I see as being the most difficult. Most experiences I've had have Report an error in the passage at 57:19 Highlight the passage at 57:19

57:32 shown me that not only that I won't let others help me, because I'm pretty stubborn, thick-headed, and set in my own beliefs that I won't allow Information in to change from habitual numerous Report an error in the passage at 57:32 Highlight the passage at 57:32

58:10 lifetimes of practicing. But I'm here to help some family members. And my experience has been that same, same. Report an error in the passage at 58:10 Highlight the passage at 58:10

58:32 You can have all the knowledge and wisdom in the world. But until you can open your heart up, you Report an error in the passage at 58:32 Highlight the passage at 58:32

58:44 can't have true understanding. Report an error in the passage at 58:44 Highlight the passage at 58:44

59:06 Yeah. Wait. You were going to say, why do you take vows? I haven't taken my vows yet because I understand that I would probably break them left and right. And I understand that that is pretty heavy karma. Report an error in the passage at 59:06 Highlight the passage at 59:06

59:38 Don't kill. How do you not kill? Intentionally. Intentionally. The vow is intentionally, yeah. But anyway, that's that Pradhimoksha vow. But what you were going to say, why does one take vows, period? Report an error in the passage at 59:38 Highlight the passage at 59:38

59:54 You were starting to answer that one first, and then I made you check in. You were starting to say, do you remember? Report an error in the passage at 59:54 Highlight the passage at 59:54

1:00:11 And if not, then somebody else might, and then you might remember what you were going to say. Well, for me, taking vows, it Report an error in the passage at 1:00:11 Highlight the passage at 1:00:11

1:00:26 goes really deep. When I do something, I know that's wrong. It Report an error in the passage at 1:00:26 Highlight the passage at 1:00:26

1:00:47 causes harm for everyone. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:47 Highlight the passage at 1:00:47

1:00:57 So I see it as being, you know, if I was very ignorant and stabbed and killed an ant without any intention, that's one thing, but if I step and kill an ant, knowing I'm killing the ant, it's harmful. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:57 Highlight the passage at 1:00:57

1:01:21 You know, it's your awareness. And as long as we're in the ignorance and don't have any kind of understanding about what we're doing, that's one thing. But when we do understand what we're doing and we still do it, then it becomes heavy. Does anybody else want to say why we might take those? What might be a purpose for taking vows? Anyone, please. And it can be any level of vows. I actually hadn't intended to ask that as a question. I was just starting the next section. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:21 Highlight the passage at 1:01:21

1:01:58 But now that I have, does anyone want to just jump in and say why you think we might take vows? Because vows are really important in this tradition. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:58 Highlight the passage at 1:01:58

1:02:10 Christy? You kind of said it. I mean, it helps you develop the mind. It develops your bodhicitta. And then you accumulate merit constantly. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:10 Highlight the passage at 1:02:10

1:02:21 Yeah, yeah. No, that's true. You do accumulate more merit, and I'll talk about why in a second. John, did you? You're looking kind of like you might have had something in mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:21 Highlight the passage at 1:02:21

1:02:33 And there's no wrong answer. You don't have to worry. You can disguise your voice. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:33 Highlight the passage at 1:02:33

1:02:40 Juan? Jose, would you like to? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:40 Highlight the passage at 1:02:40

1:02:47 Boris? I think Christine, you know. I don't know. No, I Report an error in the passage at 1:02:47 Highlight the passage at 1:02:47

1:02:52 Summed it up nice and succinctly. You take vows to go and help develop that intention and that wish that you already have, however small or however big it may be, and to also go and Report an error in the passage at 1:02:52 Highlight the passage at 1:02:52

1:03:14 plant the seed in one's mind, whether it be a small seed or a big seed, that... As over time, as long as you go and hold the vows and keep the vows over time, that seed, karma increases. So that seed is constantly growing into something bigger and more expansive. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:14 Highlight the passage at 1:03:14

1:03:46 And by having that seed in your mind, having that imprint in your mind, Even when you're asleep in the shower or whatever, you still have that vow. Take the Pratimoksha vows, for instance. If you don't take the vow not to kill, then you only get the merit of not killing when you see... That's squirrel and you don't shoot it or something like that. Whereas if you take the vow not to kill, even if there's no squirrel around, you're still getting the merit of not killing the squirrel, which is great for you and great for the squirrel. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:46 Highlight the passage at 1:03:46

1:04:36 So there's that. So it's like a merit multiplier. Yeah, that's a big one. Yeah, Rinpoche says basically every moment that we have the vows on our mind stream, we gain merit. So, um, if If we haven't taken the vow not to kill, the only time we can gain merit is when we're actually in a situation where we might normally kill and we decide not to kill. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:36 Highlight the passage at 1:04:36

1:05:04 So that's actually fairly rare in the scheme of our lives. Whereas if we have the vow not to kill, even if we're never in a situation again, we have made this determination to live our lives in a certain direction. And that strengthens our mind, thus the training wheel idea. But it also, every moment that we're holding those vows actually produces more and more merit, even when we're not actively restraining ourselves from harming others. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:04 Highlight the passage at 1:05:04

1:05:39 And the prodi moksha vows, the vows of individual liberation. That we've mentioned a couple of times, Pradhimoksha simply means vows of individual liberation in Sanskrit. Those are the lay vows and the ordination vows. And they are considered the vows that basically are, as Venerabhina says, zip your lip and keep your hands to yourself. It's the level of morality that is based totally on karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:39 Highlight the passage at 1:05:39

1:06:15 So getting it physically, what we do, is not even so much what we say at that level. A little bit, definitely with the refuge commitments, we do get into our speech as well. And I guess we do it with lying. I guess there's lying with one of the lay vows. So it is our speech, our body and our speech that we're working with. But it's basically from the standpoint of karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:15 Highlight the passage at 1:06:15

1:06:43 So it's... It's trying not to harm others in a really very sort of gross way. From the standpoint that if I'm continuing to harm others, I'm going to also suffer, right? Because I'm going to create the negative karma that's going to ripen as my own suffering. So it's still from that very, very basic level. One of the things that I didn't hear anybody say when we talked about why take vows, Report an error in the passage at 1:06:43 Highlight the passage at 1:06:43

1:07:14 This came up actually, I'm doing the Foundation for Buddhist Thought Program and we were talking about why you take the bodhisattva vows versus just holding the aspiration to try to follow a bodhisattva way of life or something like that. And one person suggested, he said it's sort of like when you make the decision to live with somebody for a while and then you step forward and get married. You sort of stand up publicly and say, I am going to do this. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:14 Highlight the passage at 1:07:14

1:07:43 And I thought that was a kind of interesting idea, and I think it's true. I think it is sort of not necessarily publicly, because they are kind of hidden, but it's more like you are making that determination. And from that standpoint, it's actually a lot more like, you know when you make a decision to go to the gym, or you make a decision, you've been thinking about going on a diet for about five years, and then finally you're like, okay, this is it. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:43 Highlight the passage at 1:07:43

1:08:11 I'm starting. I'm getting rid of all the crap. I'm only going to have really healthy stuff. I'm going to set my motivation. It all starts in the mind, and your mind just goes in that direction. That's when it starts to work. All the other times you've been attending the WW meetings, but you're not really there yet. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:11 Highlight the passage at 1:08:11

1:08:30 The mind hasn't really gotten there yet. You're even talking to your friends about it, but they can tell you haven't made that shift. Then at some point you make that shift, and that's when it finally works. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:30 Highlight the passage at 1:08:30

1:08:41 There's no shifting. Even if you screw up and fall off, you get back on it. Bodhisattva vows are like that. Any vows are like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:41 Highlight the passage at 1:08:41

1:08:52 You kind of stop. I always use that idea of walking around the pool because that's kind of the way it felt to me when I was first beginning to read about Buddhism, finding books in the library and taking kind of here and there classes and stuff. I always thought of it like walking around the pool. And at some point I dived in. And I have since screwed up a number of times. So it's not like I stopped screwing up. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:52 Highlight the passage at 1:08:52

1:09:17 But at some point I made this really firm decision, and it was before I put on the funny outfit, but I made this really firm decision that this is my way of life, this is what I want to do with my life even if I screw up. And that's the level that I started taking first the Pratimoksha vows and then the next level is the Bodhisattva vows. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:17 Highlight the passage at 1:09:17

1:09:42 So the Pratimoksha vows are at this level of how karma works. How I can help others by not harming them, basically. They're still at that level. So I'm going to help others by not lying to them, not stealing from them, not hitting them or harming them, you know. So it's kind of, it's almost like a grade school level of morality. Bodhisattva vows are definitely much more mental. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:42 Highlight the passage at 1:09:42

1:10:10 I mean, we still are using, and they're still physical and I think even verbal ones. But it's all at a level that's much more hidden from view. We can be secret bodhisattvas in a way. People don't necessarily need to know that we've taken bodhisattva vows or that we haven't, that we're even considering them. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:10 Highlight the passage at 1:10:10

1:10:29 They are vows that function in a way that help us to benefit others more and more actively. For example, there's a bodhisattva vow of helping people get somewhere, helping someone get somewhere. I love that one. I mean, it's just so practical. You know, they're kind of at that practical level, you know, helping someone learn a skill as long as it's not harmful, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:29 Highlight the passage at 1:10:29

1:10:55 Helping someone learn a language. I mean, you know, they're just like these really kind of, they're kind of very practical and helpful. It's helping us help others. And so we practice helping others in the context of these vows. Then the other level, so when we're talking about... Three sets of vows. You know, sometimes we talk about three sets of vows. The first set of vows is the vows of individual liberation, which is Pratimoksha vows, which includes even the one-day vows are included in that, so the eight Mahāyāna precepts. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:55 Highlight the passage at 1:10:55

1:11:30 Actually, the eight precepts, whether they're Mahāyāna or Hinayana, but in our case, the eight Mahāyāna precepts. The five lay vows and all the levels of ordination. All the way up to fully ordained monk and nun are included in that. And those are actually the sort of more outward form of morality. People can kind of see us behaving in a different way. They might see us behaving. And when they're talking about the different manifestations of the Buddha, that one relates to the Buddha as a monk. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:30 Highlight the passage at 1:11:30

1:12:03 We see Shakyamuni Buddha in the way we think of the historical Buddha as a monk, behaving in this really outwardly very moral. The same way that we see Geshe-la or Lama Zopa Rinpoche or Chita Rinpoche or His Holiness the Dalai Lama manifesting in that form where they're very moral, we feel very safe around them and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:03 Highlight the passage at 1:12:03

1:12:22 They live in a very outwardly mobile way, moral way, upwardly mobile way, actually probably more downwardly mobile. And then the bodhisattva vows are more at the level of the hidden vows. How we're beginning to train our mind, how we're beginning to mold our mind with that dough, that idea again. But nobody has to necessarily know about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:22 Highlight the passage at 1:12:22

1:12:50 And they represent the hidden aspects of the Buddha. And then the tantric vows, which is the third level of vows, are at the secret level. And that's why all the teachings of tantra are completely secret. And kept secret. And in fact, you have to actually make a vow during the ceremonies, the different empowerments and initiations and jainungs that you won't ever share with anybody who isn't, not just who hasn't taken the empowerment, but who has taken it and lost faith is the way they say it. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:50 Highlight the passage at 1:12:50

1:13:25 So there have, you know, of course, obviously people take it and then they lose faith later and we can't discuss it with them. So that's the hidden level of morality. And that also works on all body, speech and mind. Simultaneously on completely different levels. And also works with the most subtle level of your body. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:25 Highlight the passage at 1:13:25

1:13:47 You know, like last night we were talking about the posture, the meditation posture and how that works with the subtle level of your body. Tantra also works with the subtle level of your body. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:47 Highlight the passage at 1:13:47

1:13:58 So, yeah, so there's the outer, the inner and the secret levels of morality that correspond with those. The bodhisattva vows are, there are 18 root vows and there are 46 secondary vows. And each vow is really filled with a lot of detail. And so going through them with as much detail, I think it's going to take us all of this class, I would say. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:58 Highlight the passage at 1:13:58

1:14:28 The bulk of this class is just going to be going through the vows and trying to answer questions about the vows and trying to understand the vows as well as we can. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:28 Highlight the passage at 1:14:28

1:14:39 And I always like to look at different translations of the vows because I feel like... Did somebody try to come in just a minute ago and just not get very far? Oh, I wonder if the door is locked and Anne is trying to come in or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:39 Highlight the passage at 1:14:39

1:15:01 No, come on in. Come on in. It's okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:01 Highlight the passage at 1:15:01

1:15:06 See, that was a way of helping someone get somewhere. That was good. You helped somebody get somewhere. You kept your vows. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:06 Highlight the passage at 1:15:06

1:15:16 We're actually almost done. We're going to end early. Sorry. Sorry. But anyway, it's a massive amount of vows that you take in a single moment. You take the 18 root, the 46 secondary, and then there's this sort of extra Samaya that we take, the black and white deeds, and there's this sort of little extra list at the end. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:16 Highlight the passage at 1:15:16

1:15:41 When you add them all up, there's quite a bit. So I want to allow time for all of that and for all the questions that will come up. Even if we don't, even if I'm not able to answer it, then we can get answers from Geshe-la because Geshe-la will be back really soon. I still think it would be a really great idea. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:41 Highlight the passage at 1:15:41

1:15:59 To request Geshe-la after he finishes Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life to teach on the Bodhisattva vows. And so I'm still thinking that we should ask him to offer the Bodhisattva vows and then also to give commentary on the Bodhisattva vows. But at the rate that he's teaching it, that probably won't be until next year. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:59 Highlight the passage at 1:15:59

1:16:21 So you guys are stuck with me. So we're just going to navigate our way through these waters and do our best to try to understand these vows together and then whatever we can't come up with, we'll come up with some questions and maybe at the end we can interview, get a Q&A session with Gashala and maybe pick. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:21 Highlight the passage at 1:16:21

1:16:45 Like the top five questions or something that come out of the class that we haven't figured out an answer for and then take them to him and see what he says. And that can be the way we end our class. So just an idea. Any questions? Any questions about why vows or why bodhisattva vows? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:45 Highlight the passage at 1:16:45

1:17:07 Yeah, I said that thing about the training wheels because I do think... When I took the bodhisattva vows, that was the way they were sort of introduced to me because I think there's no way that we can be perfect before we take them. And I feel like they are a way of making me perfect, but I'm not there yet. So what is important is to understand what I do when, how did you say it, when you really screw up? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:07 Highlight the passage at 1:17:07

1:17:39 Because it will happen the same with the... When we take refuge and when we take the pratimoksha vows, how do we do our best to keep from breaking them and then what do we do when we break them and how do we restore them and how can we do that on a regular basis so that we can keep them as whole as possible. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:39 Highlight the passage at 1:17:39

1:18:04 I think one of the reasons that a lot of people run to empowerments when they're given is to retake their bodhisattva vows. It's a huge one. It's such a nice feeling to feel clean again at the end. You're like, oh good, well at least for one night before I screw up again tomorrow. But they're a way of getting us there. They're a way of getting us to the point where our minds can be like His Holiness' mind and Lama Zopa Rinpoche's mind and Geshe-la's mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:04 Highlight the passage at 1:18:04

1:18:39 And the Buddhist mind, it's the only way that we can get there, I think, is doing these actions that are in the vows that we might not think of on our own, you know. And then also just strengthening and purifying and accumulating the merit that we need for the whole rest of the path. So it's sort of just like, that's why it feels like they're sort of the training wheels once we get on the, we're on the big bike now. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:39 Highlight the passage at 1:18:39

1:19:08 But we're still on the training wheel, so we can kind of wobble this way and that way. It kind of helps us, at least on the flat. When we get on the hills, it's a little rough. We might have to have somebody running and kind of holding onto the bikes. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:08 Highlight the passage at 1:19:08

1:19:28 Any questions? You know, growing up in this society where there's the Puritan... Mindset and emphasis on being perfect. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:28 Highlight the passage at 1:19:28

1:20:00 The Christian viewpoint of redemption from something other than ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:00 Highlight the passage at 1:20:00

1:20:11 Those things I think for a lot of us is ingrained from birth. So to hear these teachings, there's Report an error in the passage at 1:20:11 Highlight the passage at 1:20:11

1:20:24 always that kind of what's going to save us. We're going to save ourselves. That's the difference. Yeah, you know, there's not like there's anyone that's keeping track of us, except we can get help. But it's not so much, you know, cleaning. You know, we do talk about purification practices, but we're purifying our own mind because we're the ones who, you know, created it. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:24 Highlight the passage at 1:20:24

1:20:55 So it's sort of like... The hugest difference, I think, between these teachings and Christianity or Judaism is that whole concept of karma. And that karma is without blame or judgment. And that is the piece that's so difficult for me to jump because there's a lot of self-blame. You're a bad person. Which is just habit. Which is just habit. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:55 Highlight the passage at 1:20:55

1:21:25 There's just habit. That's just habit in your mind. So it's spiritual. Yeah, there's no concept of that blame or that self-blame in Tibetan Buddhism. There's none. It doesn't exist in that way. But why do we have that karma to hook into that so strongly? Because of habit. The same with suicide. I want to commit suicide because I have the habit of thinking that it's a way out. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:25 Highlight the passage at 1:21:25

1:21:57 You know what I mean? So it's like whatever, I have the karma to care for somebody because I've created that particular mental habit. So it's just, that's all it is. It's just we can train our minds to have certain habits, but without training, we have just lifetimes of having developed harmful habits, negative habits. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:57 Highlight the passage at 1:21:57

1:22:18 So in taking just the five lay vows and then breaking one of them, Being very aware that I lied to someone for maybe self-preservation, enormous amounts of shame and guilt comes out. But doesn't have to. That again is just mental habit because the whole idea is if you have taken the lay vows and you break one and you're aware that you break one, you purify it. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:18 Highlight the passage at 1:22:18

1:22:54 That's all. Isn't that interesting that I just lied again? I must have that habit of lying. I'm going to purify. And that's it. It doesn't have to turn into this whole that's just mental habit if it turns into self-hatred. And I'm not saying it's not painful mental habit because I have a lot of it too. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:54 Highlight the passage at 1:22:54

1:23:14 But it's just mental habit that can be changed just like smoking or drinking or something like that. Or getting addicted to a certain kind of food or needing to have a soft pillow or socks. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:14 Highlight the passage at 1:23:14

1:23:36 Right, right. Just being this warm but not that cold. Right, yeah, yeah. Okay, but there's still, you know, and the Dalai Lama has spoken about this. His Holiness has addressed this. Yeah, yeah. And I think it still is being addressed. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:36 Highlight the passage at 1:23:36

1:23:54 And my teachings from my teachers that were, particularly in the U.S., so ingrained with these habitual self-degregation. Yeah. Is that the word? But it can shift. Yeah. It can shift. I think the idea is not so much to identify it as you. Do you know what I mean? Well, we'll do emptiness next week. No, but I mean just in the idea of, you know, if I screw up and I lie, for example, because I just, you know, I do that habitually, not to think, oh my God, Chokyi, you did it again. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:54 Highlight the passage at 1:23:54

1:24:43 You're so horrible. Just be like, okay, isn't that interesting what my mind did again? Wow, that one's really ingrained. I didn't even see that one coming in here. I just popped right out with it and just told John I, you know, wasn't going to work today when I was, you know. So it's just as much as we can to try to pull away that idea that because I have mental afflictions, I am horrible. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:43 Highlight the passage at 1:24:43

1:25:08 Because we all do. Because we all do. And then also when every time that you have a mental affliction attack, a cletia attack, that's just... An opportunity to look at your mind and go, wow, that anger really arose without any warning. That must be a really deeply ingrained one. It doesn't make me horrible, though, to have it. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:08 Highlight the passage at 1:25:08

1:25:28 That's the difference, you know. To see it, to observe it, to analyze it, because we have to, because otherwise we're never going to extract it from our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:28 Highlight the passage at 1:25:28

1:25:44 So we have to spend some time analyzing it. We can't just push it away and be like, yuck, that's yucky, I don't want to look at it. But it's not me. It's not oneness with me. It's something that arose in my mind and can be removed from my mind. You know, it's like Robina. She speaks freely about having practiced anger. It's not what I do very well. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:44 Highlight the passage at 1:25:44

1:26:13 And very well practiced on some other levels. And then not to let it overwhelm you to the point that your mind then goes into depression or goes into a real negative state and then bring the mind back up into a positive attitude. That's right. That is so... It's so hard. That's like a lifetime's work right there. I know. I only have a little bit of time left. I know, but it's so worth it whatever we can do in that vein to try to see the difference between my mind and this thing I think of as me, you know, and so that we don't relate so strongly to the negative states of mind that just arise through mental habit. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:13 Highlight the passage at 1:26:13

1:27:12 And in fact, then we can shift it. Because otherwise we do get paralyzed. That's the difference with guilt. Guilt just paralyzes us. We just become unable to move or change or do anything. Whereas regret allows us to then move on and do the purification and so forth. and to progress than to progress. Guilt just locks us. It just gets this little fetal position rocking. What does the mind do with the guilt? Guilt is also a mental state that is negative that we've practiced. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:12 Highlight the passage at 1:27:12

1:27:44 So for what I try to do when I see, because I have a lot of guilt too. Even though I was never raised Catholic, I was raised Lutheran. Who knows where it came from? Probably other lifetimes. We didn't have a whole lot of guilt in the Lutheran religion, but I try to just see, oh yeah, this is another, I mean, Rinpoche says that's another negative state of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:44 Highlight the passage at 1:27:44

1:28:05 It just makes, it like compounds the other negative state of mind. So if you were, if you got angry, for example, if I got angry today, then Lock or layer the guilt on top of it just compounds the issue. And so then I can't even do anything about it because I feel guilty for being an angry person because anger arose in my mind, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:05 Highlight the passage at 1:28:05

1:28:26 So it's just to try to separate the two. Is it part of putting a label on ourselves? Yeah. Yeah. And then... And then believing that label 100%. Yeah, then believing that label 100%. Okay. So part of it then becomes dissecting it, you know, removing all the various layers and labels that we place on ourselves, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:26 Highlight the passage at 1:28:26

1:28:55 At least stopping believing it, to step back a little bit and to kind of – and usually kind of when you're not angry, you're not upset, you're not – You know, overwhelmed by depression or guilt or self-hatred. But in the meditation session to try to look at the mental states that arose that day when you're not upset. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:55 Highlight the passage at 1:28:55

1:29:18 Because otherwise when you are upset you'll never be able to. Like if we can't do it in kind of a little, create that little container of meditation when we are calm, we'll never be able to do it when we're upset. So we have to practice it when we're kind of calm. So please... Just give me a simple explanation of what bodhicitta means. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:18 Highlight the passage at 1:29:18

1:29:45 Bodhisattva is the heart. Bodhisattva is somebody with bodhicitta. So they're two different meanings. So bodhisattva is somebody who has generated the mind of bodhicitta. Whether it's the baby, little blips of it, or whether they're all the way up to the 10th level bodhisattva who's like almost enlightened. They still have that same... Report an error in the passage at 1:29:45 Highlight the passage at 1:29:45

1:30:07 In fact, Report an error in the passage at 1:30:07 Highlight the passage at 1:30:07

1:30:11 His Holiness allows us to call ourselves bodhisattvas when we're on the path, the bodhisattva path. We've taken that with strong determination by either taking the vows or aspiring to take the vows. He allows us to call ourselves bodhisattvas out of His kindness. I like the term bodhisattva wannabe or baby bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:11 Highlight the passage at 1:30:11

1:30:35 You know, because I don't want to say that I'm a bodhisattva when I'm not a bodhisattva yet, but I want to be. So that's close. But bodhicitta basically means I have generated in my mind, even for an instant, this wish to help all living beings become enlightened too. And that I, in order to do that, I want to get enlightened. That's why I want to get enlightened, is to help them get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:35 Highlight the passage at 1:30:35

1:31:07 Technically, it starts with the Hinayana, then the Mahāyāna, and then the Tantra. Well, the Tantra is really part of Mahāyāna, yeah. So there's really just the two. There's the vision of attaining Nirvāṇa, and then there's the vision of attaining full enlightenment. Is there anything under Hinayana I could start with? No. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:07 Highlight the passage at 1:31:07

1:31:32 You know, really, you know. No. You've been studying the Discovering Buddhism classes, right, with Don? You've been doing the Discovering Buddhism classes? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:32 Highlight the passage at 1:31:32

1:31:47 And will continue, hopefully. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:47 Highlight the passage at 1:31:47

1:32:02 Take the vows to say, I will not kill, I will not steal, I will not lie, I will not have sexual misconduct. What's the fifth one? Intoxicant. Intoxicant. Oh, yes. I will not take an intoxicant. Because then I'll do all the other ones. Right. Can you tell that story? Yeah, no. Well, not in here, actually. I mean, I could do, but that one's more about the lay valves. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:02 Highlight the passage at 1:32:02

1:32:34 But yeah, yeah. Yeah, the intoxicants actually isn't considered a root valve of the lay valves. It's considered a branch. It sort of supports all the other ones because once we start taking intoxicants, we just easily will break all the other ones. And then, yeah, there is a story of this. Monk, actually, I think it was, or somebody who was holding the five vows and was seduced. It's always by a woman, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:32:34 Highlight the passage at 1:32:34

1:33:02 Was seduced by this woman, and she said, basically, you know. I think I forgot exactly something like break one of your vows for me or something like that. And he said, well, let's drink alcohol together because that's like the least amount. It wasn't like a full root one. So let's drink alcohol together. And of course, then they killed a pig to eat and had sex and, you know, did all the other ones. I forgot what they lied about. But anyway, that was that was the least interesting of the story. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:02 Highlight the passage at 1:33:02

1:33:33 But anyway, by the end of the evening, he had broken them all. So the point of that story was that the intoxicants allowed him to do all the other ones, so that just sort of lowered the inhibition and ended up breaking all the other ones. Anne, do you want to, do you want to, you missed the check-in when we all said who we were, and so would you like to say who you are and introduce yourself? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33:33

1:34:00 Sure. Sorry for coming so late. My name is Anne. Hi. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:00 Highlight the passage at 1:34:00

1:34:10 That's all. And I started coming to Sei Chen Ling last August and I'm taking Discovering Buddhism classes and I'm enjoying it very much. Thank you, Venerable Chokyi, so much. My wee, wee little mind. I think that's all to share right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:10 Highlight the passage at 1:34:10

1:34:36 So I'm going to end. I'm going to end right here. And then... So... Report an error in the passage at 1:34:36 Highlight the passage at 1:34:36

1:34:45 We will meet next week, and next week I will have readings for you guys pulled together, and then we're going to start with the root bells. So we're going to just dive into the 18. It may take more than the first class to do, but we'll do as much as we can in the first class. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:45 Highlight the passage at 1:34:45

1:35:10 So I would like very much to do the special dedication gold book. Yeah, so if we could do that one, just because that one's such a... Yeah, the Shantideva dedication to remind us of our bodhicitta, our baby bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:10 Highlight the passage at 1:35:10

1:35:35 I think it's page 246. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:35 Highlight the passage at 1:35:35

1:35:45 So just take a moment to imagine all of the merit that we've just created by thinking about bodhicitta and thinking about these vows, these powerful vows, and talking about them. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:45 Highlight the passage at 1:35:45

1:36:06 And how they help this mind of bodhicitta take root and grow. And then we dedicate that merit that we've created tonight to, we put it in our account, that high interest bearing account. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:06 Highlight the passage at 1:36:06

1:36:25 So that it takes us all the way to enlightenment. This is like one of those really hugely high, you know, like the CDs that you get, like so much interest. They're all gone now. They don't exist anymore. The ones that existed a long time ago. May all beings everywhere plagued by sufferings of body and mind obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:25 Highlight the passage at 1:36:25

1:36:49 May no living creatures suffer, commit evil or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored when finding repose. May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drinks. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:49 Highlight the passage at 1:36:49

1:37:24 May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:24 Highlight the passage at 1:37:24

1:37:49 May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:49 Highlight the passage at 1:37:49

1:38:25 I'm going to put you on this list too. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:25 Highlight the passage at 1:38:25

1:38:31 I know we have Jessica too. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:31 Highlight the passage at 1:38:31

1:38:35 couldn't come tonight. She's traveling. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:35 Highlight the passage at 1:38:35