Establishing a Daily Practice - Discovering Buddhism (5 February 2008)

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0:43 Before he voted, I won't tell you how it turned out, but maybe he'll know. Report an error in the passage at 0:43 Highlight the passage at 0:43

0:55 So for those who want them, I have copies of the eight verses that we talked about. People want that. And then also, of course, your homework, but you can have that one. But I did do the eight verses. So let's just do a short, motivating meditation. Report an error in the passage at 0:55 Highlight the passage at 0:55

1:25 Just take some nice, deep, cleansing breaths. Just let go of the day. Any conversations that you've just been having, any worries, Report an error in the passage at 1:25 Highlight the passage at 1:25

1:44 imagine breathing them out. Report an error in the passage at 1:44 Highlight the passage at 1:44

1:51 It's able to be present right here. You're focused, enthusiastic. Report an error in the passage at 1:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51

2:09 If it helps feel all your shoulders or stretch your neck from side to side, you can do that too. It helps release the tension of the day. Report an error in the passage at 2:09 Highlight the passage at 2:09

2:35 Buddha's teachings is that the one basic thing that we all have in common is that we all want to be happy and we all want to avoid any kind of suffering whatsoever. Report an error in the passage at 2:35 Highlight the passage at 2:35

2:50 And that baseline motivation is just going day in and day out, day after day, week after week, moment after moment. It's Report an error in the passage at 2:50 Highlight the passage at 2:50

3:09 what motivates us to do the good things we do as well as the harmful things we do. They're Report an error in the passage at 3:09 Highlight the passage at 3:09

3:19 all exactly the same. Can Report an error in the passage at 3:19 Highlight the passage at 3:19

3:33 you think about that in terms of yourself right now? Maybe it's part of why you're here. Maybe you're aware already of pain in your life, Report an error in the passage at 3:33 Highlight the passage at 3:33

3:47 discomfort. Report an error in the passage at 3:47 Highlight the passage at 3:47

3:51 Or are you going to let your awareness just begin to expand? Think about your classmates who also just want to be happy and don't want to suffer. And the people in this building, people who work here, volunteer here, and people in the streets outside, Report an error in the passage at 3:51 Highlight the passage at 3:51

4:23 around the city, around Report an error in the passage at 4:23 Highlight the passage at 4:23

4:29 the state, in the country, Report an error in the passage at 4:29 Highlight the passage at 4:29

4:37 the whole planet, just trying so hard to be happy and trying to get away from any kind of pain. Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

4:54 And the rooted topic, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. It's just that... We need to have a clear understanding of how to get happiness and how to not get suffering. Report an error in the passage at 4:54 Highlight the passage at 4:54

5:09 According to the law of cause and effect, we create our own suffering. We create our own happiness. We Report an error in the passage at 5:09 Highlight the passage at 5:09

5:24 know how to do it. We don't have to grasp at it or cause harm to get happiness, hurt people to get happiness or hurt ourselves to get happiness. Report an error in the passage at 5:24 Highlight the passage at 5:24

5:37 We just know how to create it. We can create limitless happiness for ourselves and actually for all those other beings we were just thinking about. Report an error in the passage at 5:37 Highlight the passage at 5:37

5:54 We'll motivate tonight's class to be able to use these teachings to do just that. Report an error in the passage at 5:54 Highlight the passage at 5:54

6:11 We're more capable, more and more willing, more and more joyful, and more able to use every moment to bring meaning into our lives. Report an error in the passage at 6:11 Highlight the passage at 6:11

6:52 And during meditation, we're going to do the opening prayer. I Report an error in the passage at 6:52 Highlight the passage at 6:52

7:06 kept it short for you, Stephanie. Report an error in the passage at 7:06 Highlight the passage at 7:06

7:10 Thank you. He's working for your happiness too. Report an error in the passage at 7:10 Highlight the passage at 7:10

7:21 With a 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. true. Report an error in the passage at 7:21 Highlight the passage at 7:21

7:38 For the benefit of all sentient beings, as long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha and 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 and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 7:38 Highlight the passage at 7:38

8:23 With a 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 and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 8:23 Highlight the passage at 8:23

8:58 Sarah, can I ask you a favor? Could you get me some hot water? Thank you. A special cup? No, just cup, cup. Report an error in the passage at 8:58 Highlight the passage at 8:58

9:10 So does anyone have any questions about the last homework assignment? Or any other reading? Catherine looks like a chair in the headlights. Report an error in the passage at 9:10 Highlight the passage at 9:10

9:24 You missed a class? Yeah, okay. I owe you some. Do I owe you more than that one? Okay. I have a question. Yeah, Stephanie, you want to grab that mic? Report an error in the passage at 9:24 Highlight the passage at 9:24

9:39 I don't know if this is exactly about last week's homework, but in general, just... Can I use somebody's pen real quick? I just want to write down, send, Catherine. Report an error in the passage at 9:39 Highlight the passage at 9:39

9:50 I have an altar question, but it also kind of goes to a more general question. I know I had asked you specifically about my altar. I have some Catholic saints up there that mean something to me. You say, oh, that's fine, you know. And then a friend of mine was here on Sunday for Geshe-Dashmas. Report an error in the passage at 9:50 Highlight the passage at 9:50

10:15 Speak for the devil. A friend of mine was here on Sunday and said that it's not okay to have other things on your altar. And you've said before that there's, to me, the way I interpret it is that there's a little bit of leeway in some of these things. But for me, I have to be careful with that leeway because sometimes I can take that and run with it. Report an error in the passage at 10:15 Highlight the passage at 10:15

10:42 I just, I don't know. like, that... He said that specifically about your setting up your altar, that it wasn't good to have any images from any other traditions on there. I wasn't here Sunday. My friend Matt was here, and he said, Matt was looking at my altar, he's like, well, I guess you thought, I said, you can't have other things on there. Report an error in the passage at 10:42 Highlight the passage at 10:42

11:04 I said, oh, I do not have this Catholic thing, I have this new thing, but these are things that... Are important to me. He comes from very old school though, too. I mean, traditionally, it probably wasn't a huge problem in Tibet. You know, because nobody was really, maybe Bon, you might have had Bon images on your, which is the religion before Buddhism in Tibet. But my experience with other lamas is that it's fine. Report an error in the passage at 11:04 Highlight the passage at 11:04

11:34 I mean, when you're going to take refuge, you're not taking refuge in those anymore. If you decide to take that step and you're taking refuge in the Dharma, that becomes your main practice. And then those are no longer your, by the term refuge, I mean that that's your main path. But if you are practicing until that point, you're still checking up. Report an error in the passage at 11:34 Highlight the passage at 11:34

11:59 And those beings, you see them as embodiment of the qualities that you also want to attain. And I suppose if they don't dis-Buddhism, that might not be a good thing. If you had somebody that was anti-Buddhism, that probably wouldn't work. But if they are all spiritual beings who share the same qualities... Report an error in the passage at 11:59 Highlight the passage at 11:59

12:24 I mean, this is always one of the problems. You basically can't ask a bunch of different teachers for the same answer. Because you're just going to get different answers and you just confuse yourself. So you just kind of have to take what feels right to you and go with that. Report an error in the passage at 12:24 Highlight the passage at 12:24

12:42 Yeah. Yeah. I'd have to listen because I wasn't here sending out of it. So I'd have to listen to what he said. Sure. You know, but also I think in Kathleen McDonald, Tsonghi Padres. Padra's book, How to Meditate, I think she has something on setting up an altar. And I know that there's an FP &T pamphlet well. And that we could just peek at that and see what they said. Report an error in the passage at 12:42 Highlight the passage at 12:42

13:13 Take a vote. I'm willing to be outnumbered. I just don't see any problem with it, personally speaking. So that's the advice I gave. Report an error in the passage at 13:13 Highlight the passage at 13:13

13:30 I think it's probably more about who you're taking refuge in. So once you get to that point, I think you can confuse yourself if you continue to really rely, you know, and decide that you want to master more than one tradition. It gets a bit much. I think that's, we do that in the West where we kind of bounce around. Report an error in the passage at 13:30 Highlight the passage at 13:30

13:51 I call it the shopping cart mentality. And I did it myself. And I think at some point you have to decide, okay, this is the one I'm going to master. This is the one I'm going to take to its completion. But that doesn't mean you can't have other interests that can support that or other spiritual traditions that can support that too. Report an error in the passage at 13:51 Highlight the passage at 13:51

14:12 But you aren't equally taking refuge in them. Can you see the difference? It's like a difference. Yeah. I mean, I think personally I feel... Report an error in the passage at 14:12 Highlight the passage at 14:12

14:23 I mean, Buddhism for me, it is my main interest, but then I have little, you know, there are other things that influence me spiritually. I don't know, I guess maybe as time moves, you know, as I get more into Buddhism, maybe things will shift, but there are things. Or not, you know. Yeah, it's not like, oh, I'm going to be a Catholic and a Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 14:23 Highlight the passage at 14:23

14:42 It's just like, oh, there's this thing. But some people are. I mean, you know, there's Jubus, right? There's, you know, people who really consider themselves Jewish and Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 14:42 Highlight the passage at 14:42

14:52 Personally, I can't quite figure out really how you would do that beyond a certain point. Personally speaking, I don't. I think my mind has a really different worldview. Completely different worldviews. But I can see that, especially if I were raised. Report an error in the passage at 14:52 Highlight the passage at 14:52

15:10 I mean, I was very Christian, but it wasn't such a strongly Christian household. But if I had been, I could see that I might, you know, I mean, I still like, I enjoy Christmas and things like that, certain Christian holidays. I don't have any, I didn't, I'm not a survivor, a Christian survivor, like some Catholic survivors. And I definitely see incredible qualities in Christ and in the different saints and things like that that I would want to emulate. Report an error in the passage at 15:10 Highlight the passage at 15:10

15:34 But ultimately, it's kind of like choosing. One world view, especially in Buddhism where you can actually become a Buddha. Like, why not just go for it, you know what I mean? But until that point, I could see that there are different things that would still inspire you. I mean, I'd love to go visit St. Report an error in the passage at 15:34 Highlight the passage at 15:34

15:56 Francis of Assisi's Hermitage and things like that, and I would gain great inspiration from that. I'm right now reading the biography or some of the memoirs of Mother Teresa, so it's like... Report an error in the passage at 15:56 Highlight the passage at 15:56

16:08 I don't think it's so black and white, but when it comes to what my world view is, it's totally Buddhist. I don't have any thought of a god or something like that out there doing it for me. Then I think it becomes, as you get deeper and deeper into the practices and into the mastering of it, then I think it would be harder to have so many different world views within your package. Report an error in the passage at 16:08 Highlight the passage at 16:08

16:35 Does it create... Bad karma? I mean, I guess I, because I did have this Christian upbringing, you know, ooh, if you do these bad sacrilegics, you know. No, I think it just creates confusion. I would think it would just create confusion. That's where I, I mean, I just think if you're trying to understand and apply the workings of karma, and you're also thinking that God, that you have to pray to an external God who caused this to happen, it's kind of confusing. Report an error in the passage at 16:35 Highlight the passage at 16:35

17:04 It's like it's not. What are you really doing? And that's what I think you need to decide. What is my real world view? That's where I think it just gets confusing. Maybe that's what Geshe was trying to head off. But we have to listen because maybe Matt heard Lama too. Maybe we'll train attention. All I know is he's told by all three, he's like, you can't hit him. Tell him you don't need any Dharma police. Report an error in the passage at 17:04 Highlight the passage at 17:04

17:34 This much I do know, we do not need more Dharma police. No, but I'll get some other opinions and we'll bring it back to class next week. I actually wanted to announce that... And in March, I was going to do a Sunday morning on how to set up an altar and including how to do a water goal practice as a Sunday morning talk. Report an error in the passage at 17:34 Highlight the passage at 17:34

18:00 So if people are interested, I think it's on the 30th of March. It'll just be like the Sunday morning thing, so the 10 to 12 slot. And also, no, I'm sorry, it's the 16th. It's the 16th. And then how to offer mandala on the 30th to do that. Because people have been asking for that. Peter wants me to do that one again too. Report an error in the passage at 18:00 Highlight the passage at 18:00

18:22 He wanted me to do it before class, and that's just too much. I think it's easier to kind of have time to answer questions than we do. So what I wanted to ask you guys is if there's any practice like that that you want us to do on a Sunday morning, we can. Like if there's something you're thinking about. Like I was thinking about, I just requested Sang Mo to teach how to do frustrations again. I don't know when, but is there anything else that anybody else would like to know? Report an error in the passage at 18:22 Highlight the passage at 18:22

18:50 Just like, um... The mandala, I'm really curious about, and also, I don't know if you could do a whole class just on, or if it would even work good to put them all in, it wouldn't work well. Give them the mic. One class, but a mantra, one. Just one going over. Something to go over mantra and how it's done, and also even if we could just get copies of mantras and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 18:50 Highlight the passage at 18:50

19:17 Different mantras? Yeah. It's really better, I mean we use mantra in here, in fact we will tonight, we're going to do bodhicitta practice. It's really better to have what's called the oral transmission of a mantra when you first start doing it. I wonder if we could get Geshe-la to teach about mantra, why it's powerful and stuff, and then maybe give the oral transmission of a couple of mantras like that, which basically means he just says it and then you say it along with. Report an error in the passage at 19:17 Highlight the passage at 19:17

19:46 Somebody requested him to do Raja Safa once and we did that in class, so that was kind of cool. But that one might be a good one. Let me use your pencil again. That one might be a good one to have him do. It's very 16th chapel if I now. Report an error in the passage at 19:46 Highlight the passage at 19:46

20:07 Anybody else? Yeah, the hand thing. The mudrā of the mandala. We'll do that in the mandala. You can do that in the mandala class. So that'll be on the 30th of March, I believe. I mean, I'll talk about how to do the practice of the mandala, which is using the thing. I don't know if you guys have all seen some people. Report an error in the passage at 20:07 Highlight the passage at 20:07

20:29 With their little three rings and all the stuff falling all over the place. So we'll do that too. But then we'll also do the mudrā. And then we'll also do what do you do if you don't have anything. Report an error in the passage at 20:29 Highlight the passage at 20:29

20:42 If you have your mala, how to hold it. We'll do that. Something on mantra. And then for Stephanie I want to find out all about altars. Report an error in the passage at 20:42 Highlight the passage at 20:42

21:03 Of this month. 30th of March. There is no 30th of this month. You say so. We're getting good at that. Anything else? Anybody else really dying for, well, you have a question, but anybody else really dying for like a certain practice thing that I'm just not thinking of that might be really useful? Report an error in the passage at 21:03 Highlight the passage at 21:03

21:29 Okay, well, if you think of it, tell me, send me an email or tell me in the break or after class. Kim, do you want to pass your number? Report an error in the passage at 21:29 Highlight the passage at 21:29

21:39 It's what? That's okay, somebody else might have the same question. I don't know whether I know of them. Oh, I think I should know it, but I don't think you guys said that. The six perfections, it's the same. Yeah, so they're the activities of a bodhisattva, once you become a bodhisattva, to strengthen your bodhisattva. So, let's see if I can do them in order. Report an error in the passage at 21:39 Highlight the passage at 21:39

22:02 Giving, morality, patience, joyful effort, concentration. And wisdom. Did I do that right? You're on. Report an error in the passage at 22:02 Highlight the passage at 22:02

22:18 Giving, morality, patience, joyful effort, concentration and wisdom. Is that six? Report an error in the passage at 22:18 Highlight the passage at 22:18

22:29 And they say joyful effort's in the middle because you need it for both the first three and the last two. You need it for both. Otherwise they kind of build on each other on a different topic. But yeah, that's a good question. I'm sure other people have the same thought. Sounds right. Patience. Report an error in the passage at 22:29 Highlight the passage at 22:29

22:47 I just ignored it. Report an error in the passage at 22:47 Highlight the passage at 22:47

22:51 Starting on the list of the ten directions. Okay. North, south, east, west, northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest, up, down. Basically it's everywhere. I was trying to blast the two of them. Who did I send that to? Somebody else else? Okay, there you go. Somebody else. Report an error in the passage at 22:51 Highlight the passage at 22:51

23:13 Yeah. Anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 23:13 Highlight the passage at 23:13

23:23 In the reading that we did online. Okay, Report an error in the passage at 23:23 Highlight the passage at 23:23

23:24 life while making water. Making life meaningful. Lama Zopa said something about being sentient and non-sentient beings in the water. What it brought up for me is, well, what is the definition of sentient? Something with mind. Yeah, but how do we know? That I don't know. Like, how do I know what of something that's microscopic has in mind and what doesn't? Report an error in the passage at 23:24 Highlight the passage at 23:24

23:48 That I don't know. But I'm assuming that he does. But yeah, sentient just means something with mind. Sem means mind in Tibetan, and I think it's, I can't remember what the Tibetan term is, but I know it includes Sem. So it just means something with mind, something that goes from life to life the same as we do. In other words, we have the capacity to be born in that form as well, and have been, apparently many, many times, which is a sobering thought. Report an error in the passage at 23:48 Highlight the passage at 23:48

24:21 Yeah. And that mind has the capacity to become enlightened. So all beings with mind have the same potential to be enlightened. It's just a difference of karmic observations this particular time around. But in terms of the basic essence of mind, it's the same. And how do I know whether this germ doesn't have a mind and this amoeba does? Report an error in the passage at 24:21 Highlight the passage at 24:21

24:49 I don't know. That I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 24:49 Highlight the passage at 24:49

24:56 We could ask Geshe-la that one too. The good thing is that Geshe-la never hesitates, he just goes right. Actually, I have heard him say that he had to look something up before, but very rarely. He usually just has those answers all in there. Anybody else? Okay, so at the end of the last class, one thing I didn't cover was something that we covered a little bit in the Karma class, and I think not nearly enough. Report an error in the passage at 24:56 Highlight the passage at 24:56

25:27 I think... From now on, in both the Karma class and in this class, I'm going to just, if anyone's interested, then I'll do it outside of class, because I think I'm, when I do it really quickly, people don't understand the practice, and so it ends up getting a short shift. So I'm just going to say a little bit about it here, and if there is any interest, then I'm happy to set up an outside, take an hour or something with people. But it's just a self-evaluation practice. Report an error in the passage at 25:27 Highlight the passage at 25:27

25:54 You were in the... Yeah, so we talked a little bit about it there, but then on the practice day I got the sense from Sandy that it was almost too overwhelming for her to actually put into practice. So then I thought, I think I just kind of went over it too quickly. Self-evaluation practice, there's a couple of different methods that you can do to just basically check your mind throughout the day. Report an error in the passage at 25:54 Highlight the passage at 25:54

26:16 I mean, that's really all it is. You can go from just... You know, doing it incredibly loosely or informally to being incredibly Margaret Meadie, you know, like having grids and things and writing it all down, which actually works for me, but clearly doesn't always work for people. So I don't want to overwhelm. But the main idea of it is to create something that allows you to see how you are. Report an error in the passage at 26:16 Highlight the passage at 26:16

26:46 I mean, ultimately, it's really great to see how you're doing every couple of hours. If that's too overwhelming, do at least do that at the end of the day. To at least look at how you did it at the end of the day. Think about how close I came to being the kind of person I want to be. How many times did I get angry? How many times did I get impatient? How many times did I get jealous? Especially if you're working on a particular delusion of the flavor of the month. Report an error in the passage at 26:46 Highlight the passage at 26:46

27:16 And you want to really track that, it's really useful to do it in a journal format. Report an error in the passage at 27:16 Highlight the passage at 27:16

27:24 This method that I currently use sort of came from two of my teachers. One, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, devised what he called, I think this is actually the whole term self-evaluation method came from him. And he, when he was looking at the master's program students at Lama Tsongkhapa Institute in Italy, he decided they were getting too academic and they weren't watching their minds enough. Report an error in the passage at 27:24 Highlight the passage at 27:24

27:48 So he decided that it was really important for them to track how many times, especially anger, he mentioned that one, especially every time. And he actually initially described anger as the slightest agitation in the mind. And you're actually supposed to note how many times per day. And the intensity, the duration, whether or not you remember to apply an antidote, and the reason, which was last, purposefully, because it really doesn't matter, I think. Report an error in the passage at 27:48 Highlight the passage at 27:48

28:23 So he had this whole little chart thing, which actually is quite interesting to do because you do sort of get divorced a little bit from it when you're doing that. It's like anger arose in the subject's mind. Even though you're the subject, you sort of become scientific about it. And I think that's the point. So he made it a requirement, which actually there was a lot of anger that arose in the student's mind because they hadn't really signed on for that. Report an error in the passage at 28:23 Highlight the passage at 28:23

28:49 But in the end, it ended up being fine. He also wanted them to track how well they were able to keep the lay bells, even if they didn't hold the lay bells. And the lay bells are killing, stealing, sexual misconduct in this case, adultery, lying and intoxicants. So how often, how close you came to keeping that and how close you came to breaking that throughout the day. Report an error in the passage at 28:49 Highlight the passage at 28:49

29:21 And also the arisal of positive, so he wanted them to track the arisal of negative states of mind, but also the arisal of positive states of mind, like how often do they think about others more than themselves? How often do, you know, positive states of mind like kindness and helpfulness and courage and compassion and things like that arise? Report an error in the passage at 29:21 Highlight the passage at 29:21

29:43 That sort of came from him. And then one of my other teachers, especially Michael, created what he called the six-time book. And that one he had us track. And this practice I've been doing probably for almost ten years, only a couple of breaks. Although right now I think I'm down to the once-a-day thing. Report an error in the passage at 29:43 Highlight the passage at 29:43

30:03 And I think it can go like that. Sometimes you can do it really, really strongly and then sometimes it becomes a little less. But if you maintain something of it, it can continue. Report an error in the passage at 30:03 Highlight the passage at 30:03

30:13 That one, I'm tracking it more like every few hours, how close I came to keeping or breaking a certain vow that I keep, because I'm holding quite a bit of vows actually, when you think about it, with my ordination vows, tantric vows, bodhisattva vows, lave, I'm not doing lave, I don't have to give a day, but... Report an error in the passage at 30:13 Highlight the passage at 30:13

30:33 There are thought transformation precepts, there's refuge precepts, you know, all those things. And so if I just put them on the shelf, I'm not using them to work with my mind. But if I actually look at them each day and try to, not all of them at once, but just six of them, and I think about how close I came to keeping it and how close I came to breaking it, for one thing, I at least get to know my vows, if nothing else. Report an error in the passage at 30:33 Highlight the passage at 30:33

30:57 And I know of a lot of Western students who don't. I don't know their vows. I don't know what something actually is about. I've taken it. So that's kind of serious. So that practice is an incredibly powerful practice and it's actually a very sweet practice and it doesn't take a lot of intelligence to do, you know what I mean? Report an error in the passage at 30:57 Highlight the passage at 30:57

31:17 It's not like you have to study for years to do it. Of course it helps to know your vows. It helps to have commentary on them, you know. But you don't have to be like a total whiz in order to do this one. You don't have to be a highly realized being. And you can actually see amazing changes in your mind just through developing this kind of mindfulness. And that's really all it is. Report an error in the passage at 31:17 Highlight the passage at 31:17

31:39 This is just a practice to develop mindfulness on what your mind is doing during the day. And if you can think of another way to do it, go for it. So there might be another way that works for you. For me and for most of the students that I've talked to, having a little journal like this that you carry with you kind of works easily. Report an error in the passage at 31:39 Highlight the passage at 31:39

31:59 And it can be a tiny little journal. I've done it where the journal is really, really tiny. I've also done it where the journal is larger. You want it to be easy to carry, so you don't want it to be really large and hardback and heavy, you know, like that. And again, if all of that seems like far more than you want to deal with, then just have one that you keep with your evening session stuff and just think about, how did I do today? Report an error in the passage at 31:59 Highlight the passage at 31:59

32:26 You know, what are the three best things I did today and the three worst things? And then purify the worst and rejoice at the positive. And then you go to bed with kind of a clean slate. So if nothing else, then at least that much is a really useful thing to do. Alonzo, can I pass something to David? Report an error in the passage at 32:26 Highlight the passage at 32:26

32:55 In reading the Dalai Lama's book Healing Anger, unless I misunderstood, he seems to be making a differentiation between anger. Could you explain that more to me? You know what, Report an error in the passage at 32:55 Highlight the passage at 32:55

33:13 I'm not all that familiar with that. I'm just starting to kind of see that I think it's sort of like with all the different words for mind in Tibetan, it's sort of like that. I think there are probably different words for anger and it's been translated often as anger when it's really hatred. I do think that anger, I mean we can justify a lot of our anger that can be incredibly harmful. Report an error in the passage at 33:13 Highlight the passage at 33:13

33:37 So that part I definitely want to say that anger also can be incredibly harmful. Hatred, of course. I think we can all agree that hatred is always 100 % really harmful. So I think it's some of the problems with translation, with desire, attachment, they're the same, where they can't quite decide which it is, so they often say desire, attachment. Report an error in the passage at 33:37 Highlight the passage at 33:37

34:01 Because in the West, desire tends to be really sexual in nature. And it's not necessarily in this context, it's actually just talking about this, you know, embellishing the qualities of an object so that we begin to obsess, you know, whether it reaches the point of craving or whether it's just simply liking it and then all the things that come out of that liking it, liking it ignorantly, I should say. Report an error in the passage at 34:01 Highlight the passage at 34:01

34:27 So I think anger might be the same. So they often will say anger slash hatred, but I don't know that... necessarily all teachers do that and I'm starting to do that now I just do anger slash I mean, Report an error in the passage at 34:27 Highlight the passage at 34:27

34:56 for instance, I think he was almost implying, unless I misunderstood it, that in some cases if... And I think it's just these sort of nuances of Tibetan word that probably means both things. But for us, we have two different words for it or something, you know. Report an error in the passage at 34:56 Highlight the passage at 34:56

35:02 someone is doing something really wrong, something harmful, and you out in anger at that person, that's almost a... Yeah, see and I think that gets really dangerous because I think you can manifest a wrathful approach to somebody doing that without having any anger at all in your mind. Like a mom trying to keep a kid from running in the road. Report an error in the passage at 35:02 Highlight the passage at 35:02

35:21 You could actually not have any anger in your mind, which even that would be, of course, rare because actually you are pissed off with a kid. But you're doing it out of love for that being. You're doing it out of love for the kid, trying to save them from the oncoming traffic. And I think you can stop people with manifesting some sort of wrath, looking like you're angry, without actually letting it damage your own mind. Report an error in the passage at 35:21 Highlight the passage at 35:21

35:48 And the problem with anger is that I think it clouds the way you think. It keeps you from being able to think very clearly. It keeps you from being open, you know, because you just, it's just, it's like a fire inside and it's just, yeah. So I'd have to read that one section and see. But Shantideva, who that's based on, actually, the patience chapter of Shantideva, doesn't say that. Report an error in the passage at 35:48 Highlight the passage at 35:48

36:14 He says there's no space for anger, period. So... Yeah, I have to read that section. I'll get back to you. Actually, I'm going to read that book next weekend. I'm going to go away for a couple of days. That's one of the ones I'm going to bring. I've only read parts of it. I've read Shantideva. I actually have like three or four different versions of that chapter that I wanted to just read. Report an error in the passage at 36:14 Highlight the passage at 36:14

36:41 You know, Pema Chodron's version and Geshe Ashi Topten's version. So I just wanted to see kind of the difference of our approach, so we'll see what the consensus is on that as well. I think I'm from a collective background, too. Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

36:59 Thank you. I also had read Prima Chokyi's version, and I walked away with the understanding that anger and hatred was really a secondary notion. Report an error in the passage at 36:59 Highlight the passage at 36:59

37:18 In order to back it up and to deal with the reality of what we're really looking at, it's usually fear or pain before it gets there. So if we can back ourselves up and really deal with the reality of what's going on. See, and I actually have heard fear is that it all comes from this state called aversion. Report an error in the passage at 37:18 Highlight the passage at 37:18

37:39 Now we don't use that word very much, but I'm actually starting to use it more because it's basically any kind of like food. You know, so it's whether I'm fearful or whether it's like, you know, I'm just starting to not like that or that person or whatever. Whatever that aversion is, you're averse to it, then begins to manifest as either irritation, frustration, anger, fear, because fear also comes from that. Report an error in the passage at 37:39 Highlight the passage at 37:39

38:07 So that's kind of where I'm starting to get to on it when I'm thinking about it more. Just examining this stuff, you think about... Again, it really helps with that whole Margaret Mead approach because you're trying to think, where does it come from? We act like there's no way to see it coming. When you get angry, it feels like it comes on with no warning. But Shantideva actually says, no, there's a direct cause. And it's that little moment of upset right before you get angry. Report an error in the passage at 38:07 Highlight the passage at 38:07

38:38 If you can catch that moment of upset, which you can only do if you begin watching your mind from moment to moment. Because otherwise you're going to miss it. But that little moment of upset is what then turns into anger or hatred or aversion or fear. Report an error in the passage at 38:38 Highlight the passage at 38:38

38:54 And so, yeah, so often it's just that sort of that idea of just sort of breaking it apart, dissecting your delusion. And the only way you're going to do that is just by looking at them and looking at them day in and day out. And you start getting deeper and deeper into it. Especially if it's something that you have problems with and you're thinking about it a lot, you can kind of see what gives rise to it in a given situation. Report an error in the passage at 38:54 Highlight the passage at 38:54

39:22 My big thing is I get really frustrated with computer stuff, printer stuff, internet down, trying to transfer Yahoo Calendar to Sunbird, for example. Report an error in the passage at 39:22 Highlight the passage at 39:22

39:40 So I think it's very interesting to just like watch the mind. And there's all this other stuff that comes into it too. It's this thought, I don't understand this. I feel stupid. So there's this ego thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think it's, I mean, it's fascinating how our mind works, you know. Then you don't even want to tell anyone because then they're going to laugh at you because you messed it up. Report an error in the passage at 39:40 Highlight the passage at 39:40

40:00 You know, there's all that other stuff involved. You never get worried about what you enter. It's true. But, um... Anyway, if anybody's interested in learning more details on how to do a self-evaluation practice of their very own, I'm happy to set up either I could just meet with you one-on-one or if there's enough interest, then I'm happy to just set up like a, you know, an hour and we could just have several of us put together. Report an error in the passage at 40:00 Highlight the passage at 40:00

40:27 I guess I should say, is there anybody interested? Three, okay, four, okay, great, great, actually. I didn't want to push it, so I'm trying to stay back, be casual. Report an error in the passage at 40:27 Highlight the passage at 40:27

40:42 So maybe what we could do, let's talk on the break. Okay. Why don't we just see, because maybe it'll just be like an hour before class next week or something like that. Next week's the last class. The other possibility is to try to, well, let's talk on the break. I mean, we can also do it any other time. That's okay. It's not such a big deal, but it'd be nice to do it before we all forget and lose the initiative. Report an error in the passage at 40:42 Highlight the passage at 40:42

41:06 Quickly, I wanted to just remember to tell you guys that, speaking of anger, John Lando is talking about it Friday night. That was a nice segue. John Lando is a long-time student of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche and also wrote Buddhism for Dummies and the Art of Enlightenment. And he's going to be teaching on Friday night as part of working with... Report an error in the passage at 41:06 Highlight the passage at 41:06

41:36 Disturbing Emotions series, which is another reason why this is on my mind. Corona was here last week. And the week after is Venable Ninja talking about attachment. That one should be much fun as well. Probably in a completely different way. I mean, they couldn't be any more different, the two speakers, so it'll be interesting. Report an error in the passage at 41:36 Highlight the passage at 41:36

41:59 She's a long-time meditator. She's done two four-year retreats. Report an error in the passage at 41:59 Highlight the passage at 41:59

42:06 Yeah, so I mean, it's just, it'll be interesting, it'll be interesting to see how they approach it. Also, just to remind you that Rubina is teaching on the Fort Noble Truth this Saturday, which is the night, I think. Report an error in the passage at 42:06 Highlight the passage at 42:06

42:22 So, that's a day long. And coming up, speaking of attachment, we're going to do a day long on the 23rd about addiction, which is basically... attachment gone bad. I mean, it's, Penelopean is always saying we're all addicts. It's just a matter of degree. You know, and it's true. I mean, we've all got, if we haven't, if it hasn't met its object yet, stay tuned. You know, it's just a matter of degree. Report an error in the passage at 42:22 Highlight the passage at 42:22

42:49 That's all. So whatever is brought up on that day is something that we can all work with. doesn't have to be substance abuse. So tonight actually we're going to talk about... Report an error in the passage at 42:49 Highlight the passage at 42:49

43:02 Some of the things, if we run into obstacles in our practice, like it feels like our practice isn't going so well, some of the things that we can do to... Is this something that you guys have been discussing? Not at all. That was a great look, a shared look. Report an error in the passage at 43:02 Highlight the passage at 43:02

43:28 So there are times when those obstacles break through. Actually, it's true. There are times when your practice is going really, really well and every teaching you go to feels like it was directly for you. I love that when that happens. It's so cool. And it's also interesting when it's also happening for a friend and you go to a teaching and both of you are sure that the teaching was actually meant for you. Report an error in the passage at 43:28 Highlight the passage at 43:28

43:52 It's like, no, it was actually meant for me. No, no, it was meant for me. But it's interesting. It's usually different parts of the teaching. know. Report an error in the passage at 43:52 Highlight the passage at 43:52

44:01 So, again, if we think about what the point of our Buddhist practice is, it's actually quite huge. It's not necessarily just to make us calmer and more peaceful. But it's actually to overcome all suffering. It's actually to overcome all suffering and death and to get us out of suffering forever, which is huge when you think about it. Report an error in the passage at 44:01 Highlight the passage at 44:01

44:29 our tradition And the Lamrim lineage comes through a group of lamas called the Gaddafa masters who were direct disciples of Lama Atisha in Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 44:29 Highlight the passage at 44:29

44:43 Ka means words of the Buddha and Dam means holy. So they actually were known for taking all of the Buddha's instructions as personal instruction. It's like that teaching was meant for me. Report an error in the passage at 44:43 Highlight the passage at 44:43

44:57 And And they would integrate it directly into their lives and act on it immediately. So they had this incredibly sincere and pure way of viewing the Buddhist teachings. Report an error in the passage at 44:57 Highlight the passage at 44:57

45:09 And Lama Tsongkhapa's tradition, the galupas, comes from the Kadampa lineage. And so when we're learning all these ways to make the teachings tasty, it's coming from this tradition of like... He didn't waste air. You know, the Buddha wasn't just blah, blah, blahing. Everything he said was to get us enlightened. And in fact, he didn't tell us all the things he knew. Report an error in the passage at 45:09 Highlight the passage at 45:09

45:35 He only told us what he felt would get us closer to enlightenment. And so we can take that approach, too, of seeing everything as direct instruction. Report an error in the passage at 45:35 Highlight the passage at 45:35

45:47 And so actually the fourth... The 14th module of the Discovering Buddhism program was developed with that in mind, taking all these integration practices that, and we'll talk a little bit about that tonight, that take practice to a different level, like the prostrations, doing prostrations as a daily practice, or doing Vajrasattva, which we'll learn tonight, as a daily practice. Report an error in the passage at 45:47 Highlight the passage at 45:47

46:18 Which is different than the other stuff that we've talked about. So it's taking, it's sort of a more of an integrative practice. A little bit more of the woo-woo stuff, I always call it. It's not so much sitting in silent meditation, it's not analyzing things, it's not sitting on the bus thinking about things. It's really doing these practices that have been done for centuries by some of the great masters in Tibetan Buddhism and trying to use them, To work on your mind. Because there was one really good moment last Friday night when Karuṇā was giving his talk and he was talking about all the different images around the room. Report an error in the passage at 46:18 Highlight the passage at 46:18

47:00 He was talking about the tankas, he was talking about the water bowls, he was talking about the statue and the throne and like kind of all the... Weirdo Tibetan Buddhist things. And he said, I could argue that every single one of these was really a method of working on your mind. And it's totally true. We look at them as somehow separate, but actually they're all just additional methods, tools to work on our minds. Report an error in the passage at 47:00 Highlight the passage at 47:00

47:29 And so that whole 14th module of the Discovering Buddhism program is with that in mind. And actually if you're doing the certificate you're supposed to do, Not just the 13 courses, you know, showing up, doing your homework, doing your reading, kind of the normal stuff. They actually want you to do 100,000 prostrations and 100,000 bodhisattvas. Report an error in the passage at 47:29 Highlight the passage at 47:29

47:53 Because the whole idea is to get some taste of practice and so that you can actually integrate this stuff into your life. So it wasn't to have another kind of academic study program. In the centers, it really was to give a strong taste to students. So if we feel like our practice is getting stuck, some of these practices might help us actually push through. Report an error in the passage at 47:53 Highlight the passage at 47:53

48:25 One of the practices that you... Can think about adding to your daily practice, especially right before you do a meditation or visualization, something like that, is what's called making a heartfelt request. Report an error in the passage at 48:25 Highlight the passage at 48:25

48:41 And there are heartfelt requests that are written. I think, I can't remember actually if I put it, if I put it in your preliminary practices, often there is a heartfelt request. Right before, like the very last one, we're basically asking to remove obstacles. But I think if you do it from your own heart, rather than just reading a prayer, it means more. Report an error in the passage at 48:41 Highlight the passage at 48:41

49:09 So it might be that you're praying for something that's really specific to you, like you're really struggling with your own laziness, or you're really struggling with not understanding some point that you're trying to understand in your studies. Report an error in the passage at 49:09 Highlight the passage at 49:09

49:26 You're really seeking a teacher. You know, whatever the thing is that's personal to you that is acting as an obstacle, that's what you want to pray to have removed. So if you know what your obstacles are, by all means, don't just, you know, please remove all obstacles and please bring realizations. Then it doesn't really mean anything. Like if you really know that you're working with... Report an error in the passage at 49:26 Highlight the passage at 49:26

49:51 Getting angry at the printer, then that's what you want to pray to remove, you know, so to make that a really real thing. And who are you praying to? Normally, these heartfelt requests are written, are done to our gurus, to our teachers. But you can also think of our lineage lamas, it doesn't have to be, if you don't have a guru right now. Report an error in the passage at 49:51 Highlight the passage at 49:51

50:18 It can be the lineage Lamas for whatever it is that you're studying. It could be, you know, for example, of course, Lamas, you know, Shakyamuni Buddha, of course, is the main lineage Lama, but also could be Lama Tsongkhapa, especially if it's something like where you're, you know, studying emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 50:18 Highlight the passage at 50:18

50:35 It could be Nagarjuna or Shantikirti or some of the great masters of that particular lineage, Shantideva, if it's, you know, if it's... On the bodhisattva path. Or you can have somebody like His Holiness, who may embody all those things, both wisdom and compassion. Actually, he's a really good example of someone who embodies both of that, because he has this incredibly keen mind for teaching the emptiness teachings, but he's sort of known for his compassion. Report an error in the passage at 50:35 Highlight the passage at 50:35

51:06 In fact, he's supposed to be the manifestation of Jen Rezi. So, um, Report an error in the passage at 51:06 Highlight the passage at 51:06

51:17 Definitely to take that moment, you know, after you've done your preliminary practices and before you take off on your meditation to just speak from your heart, you know, about what I see my blocks are and what I really need. Whether you're like spot on or not, I mean, you're speaking from your heart, it has to count for something. And maybe, you know, you may think that your biggest obstacle is one thing and then in the course of, you know. Report an error in the passage at 51:17 Highlight the passage at 51:17

51:45 Doing that on a daily basis, you may actually realize it's somebody else. But making that heartfelt request is a way of sort of plugging into that kind of energy and also finding out what it is that seems to be blocking your path. Report an error in the passage at 51:45 Highlight the passage at 51:45

52:05 And it's also really important to not get caught up thinking, especially if you're looking, if you're seeking a teacher, to think that all teachers... Look the same. In other words, that all teachers have robes in the name Rinpoche or, you know, look in a certain way. They're all over 75 or something like that because teachers can show up in a lot of different ways and to be really open to those different ways that they might show up. Report an error in the passage at 52:05 Highlight the passage at 52:05

52:35 And when they do show up and you do recognize them, because that's a huge thing. A lot of people don't recognize their teachers. That's a karmic block as well. They could actually even be studying with somebody, but because they're waiting for somebody else, then they don't recognize that. And so that's a huge thing. And then I had this one teacher who said that once you realize that somebody is your teacher, just make that teacher a huge priority. Report an error in the passage at 52:35 Highlight the passage at 52:35

53:05 In other words, he basically said, drop everything and go follow them. But whether you're able to do that or not, Physically do it with your heart. Find out how you can serve them, which basically means following your advice. Report an error in the passage at 53:05 Highlight the passage at 53:05

53:23 So Guru Yoga, which is a practice that is done on a regular basis and actually it's advised to do every day. Yoga just means union and Guru or Lama doesn't... It does mean teacher. I think a lot of times it gets translated as just teacher. But it really translates as heavy, meaning heavy with qualities. Report an error in the passage at 53:23 Highlight the passage at 53:23

53:48 So it's a specific type of teacher. It's not just any teacher. It's a teacher who is a fully qualified, what's called a fully qualified teacher. So somebody who has all these aspects that are described in the teachings of spiritual teachers. Report an error in the passage at 53:48 Highlight the passage at 53:48

54:08 You know, the ability to never get discouraged with you, the ability to only be working from compassion, you know, clearly having the realizations of each of the three principles of the path, which would be renunciation, bodhicitta and emptiness. Actually having a direct perception of emptiness is like, I think, the fifth one, which gets watered down sometimes. No, actually, it says. Report an error in the passage at 54:08 Highlight the passage at 54:08

54:35 That's it. Thanks for having me. Um. So there's like this long list of qualities that they're supposed to have if it's somebody who's actually called a Guru or Lama, which is the Tibetan translation of Guru in Sanskrit. Report an error in the passage at 54:35 Highlight the passage at 54:35

54:50 So when you're doing Guru Yoga, you're basically imagining that you are becoming one with that holy being's enlightened mind. So it's this, as Lama Yeshe always says, it's like this taste, one taste. With that enlightened mind. And that union, it's putting you in the same direction as becoming a Buddha, basically. Report an error in the passage at 54:50 Highlight the passage at 54:50

55:18 And so you're not just doing it with any teacher. You're actually trying to choose somebody who's incredibly qualified for that position. It doesn't mean... That you're going to go home and try it with me. But it would definitely be somebody, you know, somebody who has, you've checked up for a long time and this person has these qualities. Report an error in the passage at 55:18 Highlight the passage at 55:18

55:44 And they're all qualities that you also want. So they're also qualities that you want, which is why I always think about that when we go to prostrate, you know, before class starts, is these qualities of enlightened body, speech and mind are all qualities that we want. Stop it. Um. Report an error in the passage at 55:44 Highlight the passage at 55:44

56:00 And properly qualified gurus and teachers actually embody them for us. Which is the cool thing about a living lineage like Buddhism. That's one of the, I think, the hugest function of a teacher, and besides of course all the advice I give you, is that they inspire you. Because you see what it looks like to have joyful effort. You see what it's like to have patience. You see what that looks like in somebody. Report an error in the passage at 56:00 Highlight the passage at 56:00

56:27 Otherwise it's just kind of, we're just reading about it and it's all kind of dry and it's not nice and then we go home. But they take it out of that and show you what it's possible to be. And it may not look like what you thought it would be possible if you read for a while and then you came back to it and you're like, wow, you know, 30 Centra Rinpoche, for example, Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Report an error in the passage at 56:27 Highlight the passage at 56:27

56:49 You know, just watching them and how they are with students and how they are. You know, in the world, how they are with animals, how they eat, you know, I mean, it's just like the ways that they, hello, the traveling monk. Report an error in the passage at 56:49 Highlight the passage at 56:49

57:15 But our mom's doing a big meeting of all the monks and nuns from around the world and the members of the International Mahāyāna Institute, which is the FPMTs. MIT's Saṅgha organization. So when we see them and we see what it looks like to be like that, it totally inspires us to realize that we can become like that. Report an error in the passage at 57:15 Highlight the passage at 57:15

57:51 It's interesting, it's very... It's sort of like when people see His Holiness and you see that it's possible to live through the kind of life that He's lived and still have so much joy. Report an error in the passage at 57:51 Highlight the passage at 57:51

58:06 You really realize what could be possible. know, that the way that... My mind is in the way that I am right now. It doesn't have to be the end of it all. There's something better. You can see it in the way that they are in the world. I often say that it's not so much what Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches, but it's how he is that makes him my main teacher. Just watching the way he is is mind-blowing. Report an error in the passage at 58:06 Highlight the passage at 58:06

58:36 Never sleeps. Never, ever sleeps. It's amazing. Report an error in the passage at 58:36 Highlight the passage at 58:36

58:43 I mean, that tirelessness is an inequality, you know, that I've just never seen anything like that before. And never in a hurry, even when Roger would like him to be. Report an error in the passage at 58:43 Highlight the passage at 58:43

58:57 We've got a plane, we've got a plane to catch. Okay, okay. Let me go talk to this dog, you know. Let me go blow on this, you know, ant or something. So, um... But anyway, so I got off a little bit, but these heartfelt requests basically are wanting to achieve this union with this enlightened state of mind that does nothing but help others, you know, this bodhicitta mind. Report an error in the passage at 58:57 Highlight the passage at 58:57

59:31 And we experience that kind of mind, they say, as bliss. You know, that's the kind of... There's a lot of bliss with that kind of a mind. Which of course, when you see teachers like Lama Zopa and His Holiness and Kirti Satchim Rinpoche and Ruber Rinpoche, certainly seems to be a lot of bliss going on. Report an error in the passage at 59:31 Highlight the passage at 59:31

59:50 So when we make these heartfelt requests, we're basically saying, I want what you have. I mean, Tuxello is basically, I want what you have. And then we also have to really remember that it's not really separate from our own mind. So, Report an error in the passage at 59:50 Highlight the passage at 59:50

1:00:05 It's not really something that they're giving us, they're simply allowing us to awaken what's already there. That's a really important thing. They're sort of acting as a bridge to our own inner wisdom. So that's why it almost doesn't even matter who it is that you're imagining when you're doing these heartfelt requests, because they all really are one. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:05 Highlight the passage at 1:00:05

1:00:27 So if you choose an image of the Buddha, or you choose the Soliness, or you choose a teacher that you maybe have met and made a connection with, it doesn't. It doesn't matter so much, especially if you see them all as one. And ultimately, that's what we're doing. And we're also seeing that they're simply pointing the way for us to find our own inner wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:27 Highlight the passage at 1:00:27

1:00:50 And the energy, I mean the energy, they're actually quite passionate, these requests sometimes when you're thinking about it. When there's a text that we do, we do a puja every morning here that's called Lama Tsopa, which is a particular... Report an error in the passage at 1:00:50 Highlight the passage at 1:00:50

1:01:07 There's a group practice that we also do as a soak twice a month, which is a certain tantric practice, but we don't do the soak part in the morning. There's a verse in it that reads, You are my gurus, you are my yidams, you are the bikinis and dharma protectors. From now until enlightenment I shall seek no other refuge than you. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:07 Highlight the passage at 1:01:07

1:01:28 And Riva Rinpoche said, when he was giving commentary on this, that basically you should imagine yourself face down on the ground. And reaching out to the hem of their robes or their feet and begging them. It's actually quite dramatic what you're imagining when you're saying this verse. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:28 Highlight the passage at 1:01:28

1:01:49 And this poem or prayer or small text that we've been using as part of our homework assignment, The Foundation of All Good Qualities, is actually just a heartfelt request. Lama Tsongkhapa wrote this heartfelt request. At the end of each stanza, he says, please bless me, please bless me. He's begging his guru, who was actually Manjushri himself, to bless his mind, and he did, ultimately. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:49 Highlight the passage at 1:01:49

1:02:21 They say that Manjushri himself came to Lama Tsongkhapa just exactly the way I'm talking to you now. No space between them, no different. He gave him everything. And it came through heartfelt requests like this. When we read it, we're like, you know, the foundation of other qualities. When he wrote it, he was just like, you know, much more dramatic and passionate about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:21 Highlight the passage at 1:02:21

1:02:46 So, you know, just play with that one a little bit. And I think it's not like you have to be like super dramatic or anything like that, but it's just make it your own. Like think about what it is that you really feel like you need in your practice and what it is you feel like. Is blocking you from succeeding in your practice and ask for it. Ask for it. Put it out there. So another thing that can, especially if it feels like our practice is sort of running out of steam a little bit or running out of energy a little bit, is that we might need to make merit. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:46 Highlight the passage at 1:02:46

1:03:20 So there are two main things that we're going to spend the rest of the class, I think, really talking about. And one is accumulating merit and the other is purifying negative karma. So accumulating merit, merit is simply positive karma that's kind of earmarked for your own enlightenment. So it's like, it's good karma that you actually have dedicated to becoming a Buddha so that you can benefit every living being. So it's kind of like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:20 Highlight the passage at 1:03:20

1:03:50 There's also good karma that's just regular good karma, like, you know. I decide to give you 20 bucks or something, but I don't really dedicate it with you. You're getting my own pencil or something like that, but we don't really dedicate it with any kind of larger view. We're just helping the old lady across the road or something like that. So that would just be good karma, but merit is helping the old lady across the road and then dedicating it for all beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:50 Highlight the passage at 1:03:50

1:04:17 Giving you 20 bucks and dedicating it for all beings. May this help my... I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:17 Highlight the passage at 1:04:17

1:04:22 Generosity increase so that I can actually benefit all things. So we can do really ordinary things and we can then make it bigger. So if it feels like you need kind of an infusion of energy, then accumulating merit is sometimes a good prescription. Sorry, I just made that one up. But it's basically a way to inject a little energy into your practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:22 Highlight the passage at 1:04:22

1:04:52 And so some ways that you could actually accumulate merit are doing any of those six perfections that Kimletha brought up. So practicing generosity could be one. Whether it's generosity of money or whether it's generosity of time, you know, taking time to help somebody. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:52 Highlight the passage at 1:04:52

1:05:13 Doing a practice of generosity, like the water bowls. If you want to help me with the water bowls, I'll definitely let you do that. There's also the mandala practice that we were just talking about is actually a practice to increase your abundance, increase your generosity of heart, of spirit. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:13 Highlight the passage at 1:05:13

1:05:33 So, you know, making offerings to a project of when, you know, say your teacher's His Holiness, looking into what his projects are and what's needed by them and making a donation to those and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:33 Highlight the passage at 1:05:33

1:05:49 I mean, Merit, it's incredible, like the work that we do here, there's this incredible buzz working in a Dharma center and sometimes it's just too much, like sometimes you're just going all the time. But there is this kind of positive energy because the work itself is so good. You know, there's so much good being done, even when we haven't been able to finish it all and we all have to-do lists a mile long. You know, I like to start a new one every once in a while because I can't bear playing with the other one. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:49 Highlight the passage at 1:05:49

1:06:18 I just start over on another one. The latest one I started is called Another To-Do List. But, and even if your motivation is not totally pure, you know, and you mess up and all that stuff, there's just, it's pretty incredible to be... And at a place where we're really making the Dharma available to so many people in as many ways as we have been able to think up and we're always trying to think of new ways. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:18 Highlight the passage at 1:06:18

1:06:45 And to support the teacher, you know, just be able to support Geshe-la and be able to bring amazing masters like Lama Tsongkhapa and Jinnipashe here and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:45 Highlight the passage at 1:06:45

1:06:56 And I really do think that one of the things that keeps you going is just all that merit. I know that... Interestingly, I remember Venmo Rubina actually said one of the reasons that Liberation Prison Project faces so many obstacles is because their membership basically is all people without any merit of their own. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:56 Highlight the passage at 1:06:56

1:07:15 It's all these guys in prison. And so it's like they have to work twice as hard trying to benefit these guys, mostly guys actually, because they don't have any merit of their own. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:15 Highlight the passage at 1:07:15

1:07:31 They really, once they meet Buddhism, man, they move so much faster than we do. Because they get that first noble truth. They get it that life is suffering a lot faster than we do. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:31 Highlight the passage at 1:07:31

1:07:43 But anyway, that's just an aside. The other one is purification. And sometimes it feels like we're trying really, really hard, but we have a lot of heavy blocks. our, um, like our... Our study is blocked, we don't understand things, like we're trying to understand things, and it's just we keep reading the same paragraph over and over. Or you go to a teaching and not a word makes sense, you know, if you've ever read that experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:43 Highlight the passage at 1:07:43

1:08:13 Or it just sounds like sort of, you know, mindless philosophy that doesn't really have any bearing on your life or something like that. That's usually like a sign of some sort of obstacle or some sort of obscuration, like a... Like you could sort of imagine like a veil in the mind. Or if you're trying to do an analytical meditation and your mind just can't go deeply into it, then purification could be really helpful. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:13 Highlight the passage at 1:08:13

1:08:40 I'm sure this sounds like me. I think I need some purification. I'm like, hmm, analytical meditation. Okay. um, so. So, you can take a moment to try to figure out what needs to be purified. I mean, purification is something that we need to do on a daily basis, actually, once we learn how to do it. And you guys now will learn how to do it if you haven't already learned how to do it. It's something that really is good to do at the end of your day, just to sit down and purify the whole day, like whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:40 Highlight the passage at 1:08:40

1:09:16 you find. Whatever you're aware of that went wrong and also even if you're not aware of it, but if something felt like, say something came up between you and somebody else and you can't quite put your finger on it, still you can just purify any part of it. So even if you aren't even entirely sure what happened there, you can still try to purify it. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:16 Highlight the passage at 1:09:16

1:09:35 And usually we can come up with loads of things to purify at the end of the day. That usually isn't a major problem. Sometimes people say they can't think of what to purify, which I'm kind of like, really? Report an error in the passage at 1:09:35 Highlight the passage at 1:09:35

1:09:50 But then, if that should ever happen to you, you could think about what it is that you're experiencing that is the karmic result of a negative action. So if I'm experiencing not having enough money, it means, according to the law, that I wasn't generous in a past life. I didn't give things or money or whatever it is I'm short of now very freely. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:50 Highlight the passage at 1:09:50

1:10:18 If I'm experiencing things being taken from me or borrowed and never returned, which is something that happens with Dharma, where people borrow things and they don't give them back. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:18 Highlight the passage at 1:10:18

1:10:32 To actually out and out steal things from you, then that's a result of you stealing. They're fairly obvious ones like that. And you can look into this, but this is another way the karma class goes into this in some detail. You look at what you're experiencing now and that shows you what you did in the past. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:32 Highlight the passage at 1:10:32

1:10:54 And then you can purify it that way. So you can purify it. Either based on knowing darn well what you did, which I always think is the best way to start. You know darn well that you yelled at somebody today or whatever, so you actually remember how it felt doing it. In fact, you're quite embarrassed by it. But you force yourself to remember it so that you can do the purification practice with total awareness and total regret. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:54 Highlight the passage at 1:10:54

1:11:22 And sincere regret because you understand the whole situation and how that just is going to cause you more suffering. And I think that's the better way to start doing purification practice because you have this strong taste in your mouth, in your mind of having done the action and you're totally aware of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:22 Highlight the passage at 1:11:22

1:11:43 But I'm just bringing up this other way because if you ever have a day that you did pretty well and you didn't screw up too many ways, you can still look at... Do you have major issues in your life and think, huh, how can I purify the causes of these problems that I'm experiencing now? You can do that the same way. You can still do a purification practice based on that. And sometimes it's nice to do in retreat, really take stock of your life and think, you know, what are the biggest issues that I'm experiencing now at work? Report an error in the passage at 1:11:43 Highlight the passage at 1:11:43

1:12:15 What are the biggest issues that I'm experiencing now in my relationships? If it's speech, you can really look at speech issues. Even if you don't do that much lying in this life, they say that if you are not believed, even when you're telling the truth, that it's a karmic result of lying. So just to have some trust in that, to purify that like that. If people don't listen to you, that's the result of meaningless speech. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:15 Highlight the passage at 1:12:15

1:12:44 For not using your speech in any meaningful way, you know, blah blah blah, gossip, just joking all the time, like whatever, like that, so that it's not speech that actually benefits. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:44 Highlight the passage at 1:12:44

1:12:59 It was a very meaningful look that you were having worked with. So I think that that's also really interesting, especially if you have some time to kind of take stock of your life, either on a weekend or just some time away. Well, there's some big things that are coming up. Or New Year's, you know, when you're like your birthday or something like that, when you're just like, what's going on and what can I work on karmically to change things? Report an error in the passage at 1:12:59 Highlight the passage at 1:12:59

1:13:24 Because the cool thing about karma is that it's not destiny. The stuff we've set in motion, we set in motion every moment. We're setting new chains or new links of the chain in motion every time we... We open our mouth and every time we think and every time we act. So it's not like anything is set in stone. It's all constantly changing. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:24 Highlight the passage at 1:13:24

1:13:49 And the good news is that we can actually purify it. So Vajrasattva practice, which is the practice that you're going to get this week as your homework assignment, they say it's actually the, I mean it's taught to be the fastest, strongest method of purification available. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:49 Highlight the passage at 1:13:49

1:14:14 Part of it is the power of the mantra itself and part of it is just the blessings of the practice. This practice has gone back, it actually originated as Tantra and I think Lama Yeshe actually sort of pulled it out and made it more widely available. He was really big on that. He actually often had his students kind of start doing Tantric practices a little earlier than most. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14:14

1:14:41 Of us probably should have, but I think his reasoning is that it was a way for us to get a taste of some of these higher practices and start using them immediately in a really practical way. And Rajya Safa is a really strong example of that. He really requested his students to do a three-month Rajya Safa retreat. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:41 Highlight the passage at 1:14:41

1:15:04 And actually, Lama Zopa Rinpoche does the same thing. It's done really early on. It's really, it's suggested and encouraged to do a longer retreat and doing better soccer practice and really just kind of give a scrub brush to your whole, your whole. chakra system It's like doing a thorough clean of your house and then it's just maintenance work from then on. You really have time over the course of that three months to basically think of everything you've ever done wrong in your entire life and get rid of it all. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:04 Highlight the passage at 1:15:04

1:15:42 So remembering, of course, that when we talk about regret, which is one of the four powers, that there's nothing about blame or guilt in this whole... system of purification. Purification is simply talking about, it's more like weeding your garden. It's just like, I know what kinds of qualities I want to have there in my mind and I know that I've got some yucky stuff in there too and I just want to yank it out. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:42 Highlight the passage at 1:15:42

1:16:10 So it's much more like that. It's just like, oh, there's some, you know. ragweed in the garden, I got to pull it It's not like, oh my god, I'm a horrible person, which is what we usually do with our delusions or negative acts. It's like, if I lose my temperature at Sarah, then I agonize about it, rather than just purifying it and just letting it go, which is the Buddhist approach, is not to think I'm a horrible person, it's simply to be like, oh, there was anger in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:10 Highlight the passage at 1:16:10

1:16:42 What was the duration? What was the intensity? It's basically like that. It's just like something arises. We often act on that, which is the unfortunate bit. And then we create negative karma. And that karma then lifens and then we suffer. And it's just like that. So the Buddha is simply pointing out, look, you've got some yucky stuff going on in there. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:42 Highlight the passage at 1:16:42

1:17:04 You might want to yank it. So it's not at all. We really spend a lot of time. Agonizing and feeling guilty. I was just speaking to a student, actually, who has just been basically gnawing and gnawing and gnawing on something that she never even intended to do, that she felt harmed somebody. But we just do that. We just gnaw it and gnaw it and gnaw it. And with these practices, at the end, you always take a moment to really, really visualize that you are completely free of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:04 Highlight the passage at 1:17:04

1:17:38 Whatever that negative thing is that you're purifying, to really visualize that there is, it's no trace of it left in your mind stream at all. To really feel like, I mean, Lama, yes, she always says, clean, clear, light, crystal, which I think is a beautiful image. Is it all completely out of your mind? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:38 Highlight the passage at 1:17:38

1:17:57 We have to have some faith in the process of it. We have to have some faith that... That this particular method works. And there's some element where you just have to believe, okay, I'm done. Sometimes you feel like you're not. Sometimes you feel like, okay, I've done a lot of, you know, negative acts of this one particular kind and I want to work on this for this week or I want to work on this for this month. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:57 Highlight the passage at 1:17:57

1:18:22 But then you've got to let it go. Because you can't just keep beating yourself up. That's not the point of this stuff. This stuff is to, you're simply weeding your garden, that's all. It's sort of like if you come home and your house has dirty windows, you just clean them and you move on. You don't get into really obsessively and you certainly don't identify and think you're a horrible person. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:22 Highlight the passage at 1:18:22

1:18:47 Well, I do sometimes with dirty windows, but that's not the point. It's simply to realize if we had clean windows that our whole view could change and then that's it. And to clean the windows and get on the light, it's really like that. I think we can beat ourselves up a lot for this stuff. So, I think we should actually take a break. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:47 Highlight the passage at 1:18:47

1:19:17 I'm going to let you guys take a quick break, actually. And then we're going to end with a few, a little bit more on purification and then I'm going to actually... And with one final thing, which just sort of reminds you about balancing your practice. In other words, there are times that you push and times that you rest. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:17 Highlight the passage at 1:19:17

1:19:39 So I wanted to mention that one too. When we're talking about all the ways you can practice, one of the ways is not practicing. So it's a good time to take a break. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:39 Highlight the passage at 1:19:39

1:19:51 And we'll just leave that on. what's the next Booze and Pond? Um, the... The 4th of March, General Munlum is actually going to teach developing bodhicitta, and he's going to do it on Tuesday nights for 8 weeks. And then, is that right? I'm sorry, he's going to do the Thursday nights on the 6th, and I'm going to do the Tuesday night, and that one's going to be saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:51 Highlight the passage at 1:19:51

1:20:21 And actually the way I'm going to... Teach that one is going to have a lot to do with looking at the different delusions and antidotes for them. So it'll be a little bit on what's called the 12 links of dependent origination. And then so it'll talk about sort of how we create our own suffering. A part of that will be looking at delusions, the main delusions, and how they manifest and how we can treat them. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:21 Highlight the passage at 1:20:21

1:20:48 So there'll be a little bit more from that approach, I think. I've never taught that one before, so it's kind of exciting. That's the last one of the DB that I haven't taught. So that one starts on the 4th. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:48 Highlight the passage at 1:20:48

1:21:03 On the 4th or the 12th? The 4th. On Tuesday. On Tuesday, yeah, that'll be Tuesday night. And I think 7 weeks maybe. I think that one's 7 weeks. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:03 Highlight the passage at 1:21:03

1:21:37 Yeah, was it you guys? Check you out, y 'all. Just stay. nice day. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:37 Highlight the passage at 1:21:37

1:21:44 Should we try? I can't remember. Would before class next week work? Maybe we could go. If we're sitting here, then everyone's going to come in and talk. So maybe we meet in here at 6 and then we go to the dining room or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:44 Highlight the passage at 1:21:44

1:22:03 Okay. Okay, good. Let's try that. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:03 Highlight the passage at 1:22:03

1:22:10 And since I'm not looking at my calendar, I reserve the right to say it's not going to work at all. What's it next week? Is it 12? Yeah. Today's the fifth. I can't think of anything that's happening. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:10 Highlight the passage at 1:22:10

1:22:33 I'm going to assume that that's true. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:33 Highlight the passage at 1:22:33

1:22:38 Nirvāṇa is on Tuesday starting on the 4th of March. It's going to have a couple of two classes in the middle that we're not going to have. Your next questions, I'm sorry. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:38 Highlight the passage at 1:22:38

1:22:50 Because I'm going to go to Ricochet's Retreat in Mexico. I know. Kind of this wild thing that has come up and I'm really excited. And where about is that? Yeah, I know. San Juan and I are going to go down. It's going to be so weird. Yeah, yeah. It's actually held on either Franciscan or Jesuit. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:50 Highlight the passage at 1:22:50

1:23:19 Monastery, and so each person has their own cell. Which is kind of cool. I've never been to Mexico. I've never been to South America. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:19 Highlight the passage at 1:23:19

1:23:40 Yes, you can have five of them. There's Report an error in the passage at 1:23:40 Highlight the passage at 1:23:40

1:23:54 a lot of action in that non-action. That is hard to do. yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:54 Highlight the passage at 1:23:54

1:23:31 I hope that opens up for you. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:31 Highlight the passage at 1:23:31

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:24:08 Especially if you're feeling excited and motivated and you work so hard. Or if you just are used to acting. It's like you today making your decision. Right, to sit still. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:08 Highlight the passage at 1:24:08

1:24:39 They're going to retreat. Oh, this weekend? No, to Guadalajara. Oh, Guadalajara. Yeah, he's going to lead a long-run retreat and it's 10 days, I think. So we're going to go down. And he's going to give a public talk right before. So we're going to get it done basically one day early. And then do that and then have one day afterwards. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:39 Highlight the passage at 1:24:39

1:25:01 Because he basically goes around the clock. So once it starts, it'll just be a full-on. But it'll be wonderful too. For a large community? Yeah, you can just talk about it. Thank you. You know, I think it's a new-ish center, like in the last, there's a lot of Dharma happening now in Mexico, interesting, and there's about three centers that I'm aware of are centers of study groups. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:01 Highlight the passage at 1:25:01

1:25:31 He's also going to go visit, there's a center in Brazil, and he's also going to visit Colombia for the first time, I think. on that trip, the whole, we haven't been following them, but yeah. I'm still a lawyer. Yeah, I know. It's so amazing for Columbia that he's coming. Mexico, pretty cinch-up Rinpoche actually visited. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:31 Highlight the passage at 1:25:31

1:26:01 A number of years ago at the Security Center for Shantide. I'm like, this has been gone. People call me like Sherry. At least a year, if not a year and a half or something like that. But when he went down there, there was just this amazing connection that happened. Thank you. It's all right. But I was impressed. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:01 Highlight the passage at 1:26:01

1:26:20 So that was kind of fun. like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:20 Highlight the passage at 1:26:20

1:26:25 It's the trying part of the baby. The trying part of the baby. And I'm like, what is that part of I'm not a night person, but I'm not happy. Are you a bapa? Yes. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:25 Highlight the passage at 1:26:25

1:26:54 spent time in Santiago from San Francisco, and I was never able to connect with him. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:54 Highlight the passage at 1:26:54

1:27:04 messages and then I guess 60 kilometers south of where I was, and whenever I had the opportunity to go to that area, I would stop into the local store, one store. He had to go to the store, right? There's only one. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:04 Highlight the passage at 1:27:04

1:27:21 It's interesting, yeah. Yeah. I heard there's one of our members actually who, he and his wife decided to retire in New Mexico. And he just left about a little less than a year ago. And I heard that he's going to try to come to this retreat. It would be nice to see you again. Because I think he's feeling really, you know, I think he's missing everybody. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:21 Highlight the passage at 1:27:21

1:27:49 But they just, he just didn't have any money to retire in this country. I understand that it was in Sicily, it was just so hard to practice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think there was some group that was near him that he was going to try to connect with. Yes, that would be great, yeah. We're close, we're like less than 40. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:49 Highlight the passage at 1:27:49

1:28:08 Give me a hand proudly to mommy. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:08 Highlight the passage at 1:28:08

1:28:16 Try doing it at 150 miles an hour. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:16 Highlight the passage at 1:28:16

1:28:31 Karina has been amazing. I think she's done 14 recitations on her own. Much more impressive than me. So impressive. And then Brian Lee has done 12 recitations on his own. Good for them. I know. would have never been. Well, I remember like kinesthesiology. I figured I'd just keep trying and then two of the words would just come right out and maybe with meaning. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:31 Highlight the passage at 1:28:31

1:28:26 You know, it's like, oh. I still owe one. There's another word that I don't recognize, but let me do Report an error in the passage at 1:28:26 Highlight the passage at 1:28:26

1:28:43 Maybe they've been practicing the thick hard words longer than me. I actually really love this sūtra, I have to admit, but yeah, it's a lot. The first few times that you read it, yeah. Well, you know, I'm willing to curse it. Thank you. Oh, sure. Yeah, it's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:43 Highlight the passage at 1:28:43

1:29:10 March 1st. Yeah. Oh, he's like, who said that? It's the secretive. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:10 Highlight the passage at 1:29:10

1:29:21 Yeah, actually both classes will do it together. The Refuge class. Oh, cool. Casting characters is pretty close to being the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:21 Highlight the passage at 1:29:21

1:29:34 But those of you that are doing both classes will have two presentations here. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:34 Highlight the passage at 1:29:34

1:29:44 Or just try to really work something. You can probably work something. Actually, because daily practice, right? Just read anything can be daily practice if you really phrase it right. So you can probably work out. Something that's both. Peter does that really well. Yeah, you have to think about it. Probably about yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:44 Highlight the passage at 1:29:44

1:30:06 Are we all back? Report an error in the passage at 1:30:06 Highlight the passage at 1:30:06

1:30:22 Oh, good. I'm like seeing additional people in the bookstore. Oh, who's missing? Report an error in the passage at 1:30:22 Highlight the passage at 1:30:22

1:30:35 I have a quick question either way. Why do they say reading the Heart Sūtra is the same in terms of purification as bodhicitta practice? Actually, any form of meditating or studying emptiness is the most powerful of all the remedies. So we do the four opponent powers, which are in your... Actually, I can go ahead and pass these out. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:35 Highlight the passage at 1:30:35

1:31:06 The four opponent powers are listed in here so you know what to do. And the power of remedy is the third one, which is the actual practice of Lama Tsongkhapa for this one. But there's lots of things you could do. And one of the other things you could do is to study or meditate on emptiness if you have any understanding of it. If you don't and you're just like, it's not going to do anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:06 Highlight the passage at 1:31:06

1:31:28 But if you have any understanding of it at all, and actually I'll start with a little bit about that. Then that can be a really, really powerful method of purifying something. So you could choose to, for example, and also reading a sūtra, period, can be. So you could kill two birds and speak. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:28 Highlight the passage at 1:31:28

1:31:52 Purify two ways, one sūtra. Same with Diamond Cutter Sūtra, and it's also on MTS. So you could do that with the direct idea of, or the direct purpose of purifying a negative act that we did. We did that as a remedy. They also say making images of the Buddha's enlightened body, speech and mind. So painting a tanka, you know, making a statue, copying the sutras, you know, like that, painting a statue, painting a satsa, something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:52 Highlight the passage at 1:31:52

1:32:32 I'm trying to remember all the different remedies. Frustrations to the 35 Buddhas is supposed to be a big one because you're actually reciting the names of all the Buddhas. And something about reciting their names is supposed to be quite powerful for purifying. So when you're doing the practice of this Tanka here of the 35 Buddhas, when you're doing that practice, the strongest purification is actually reciting their names. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:32 Highlight the passage at 1:32:32

1:32:58 It's not the frustrations. A lot of times people think it's the prostrations. Of course that's great to do. That especially purifies pride, but it's actually reciting your names that purifies. So that's another remedy. So there's a bunch of different remedies that you can do. So it never gets boring. So you can think of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:58 Highlight the passage at 1:32:58

1:33:19 So the sideways one is your homework, and then the one in the back is the eight verses, if you want it. into the next one. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:19 Highlight the passage at 1:33:19

1:33:26 And that was just optional if you wanted that particular text. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:26 Highlight the passage at 1:33:26

1:33:35 So I don't know if you've heard of the three poisonous minds, the three poisons, which is basically attachment, aversion, which could be hatred or anger, and ignorance. I guess I should say desire, attachment, aversion, hatred, and anger, and ignorance. And also, you could also describe these as liking something ignorantly, disliking something ignorantly and plain ignorance. And the kind of ignorance that we're talking about here is an ignorance about how things actually exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:35 Highlight the passage at 1:33:35

1:34:12 So, and where things, the things that we are experiencing come from, where everything comes from. And the basic answer to that one is karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:12 Highlight the passage at 1:34:12

1:34:23 What really is causing the things that we don't like in our world is we often will blame somebody outside of us or people outside of us or situations outside of us or someone out there. We don't think about the fact that it's something that I did in the past. And so the Buddha is actually saying... Let's begin to think that way a little more. And so before we do any kind of purification practice, we actually take some time to think about the connection between what I'm experiencing now and what I might have done or what I definitely did do if I remember doing it, which is another reason why I think it's more practical to start with something I actually remember doing. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:23 Highlight the passage at 1:34:23

1:35:06 That we're all in agreement is a harmful act. If you have to educate yourself first that it was even harmful, then it's a little harder. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't do that, but if it's more subtle and you're not quite agreeing that it's a harmful act, then don't start with that one. Start with killing or something that's really clear in your mind that it's harmful. So they say that once you understand karma and how it works, every time we forget, we create more causes for ignorance to arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:06 Highlight the passage at 1:35:06

1:35:42 So I know Venable Renee often says, every time you give in to anger and attachment, or ignorance for that matter, you stay in saṃsāra that much longer. Every time you resist it, you are that much closer to your liberation. And I've often had that one come to me in the middle of the night. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:42 Highlight the passage at 1:35:42

1:36:03 You're reaching for... name it food whatever I'm you know reaching out for that is giving into attachment or if you're just going to scream at somebody or at your computer or whatever and you stop yourself and it's like wait a second I don't want to do this anymore I'm going to stop this cycle Report an error in the passage at 1:36:03 Highlight the passage at 1:36:03

1:36:22 The other aspect of karma that is so heavy to remember, karma has four main characteristics to it. The hugest characteristics here is that it increases. So the longer that we leave it in our mind stream, it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. It's like a seed that way. It's like an acorn for an oak tree. It gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And so often we'll experience something that feels like, God, I must have been a horrible person in my last life. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:22 Highlight the passage at 1:36:22

1:36:57 And all it is is just some tiny thing you did that just got big. You know, so it's like another reason why we want to get rid of this stuff. It acts like a poison in our mind stream and we just want to get rid of it. We want to neutralize it because even a tiny act of, you know, borrowing something and then not returning it to you or something like that can get really, really huge, especially if I start thinking about this mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:57 Highlight the passage at 1:36:57

1:37:23 So, and of course, remembering that we could die at any time. Like these things are still on our mind stream so we want to get rid of them before they become a cause for another rebirth and the environment of another rebirth. This is all teachings on karma that we're not going into a lot here and that we do in the karma class and I totally encourage you to take that class the next time it's offered if you haven't already because they're... Report an error in the passage at 1:37:23 Highlight the passage at 1:37:23

1:37:59 Karma is such a complex thing, but it's fairly clearly laid out, and at least, even though you may not get it at its most subtle levels, it's fairly easy to begin working with it, even before we get it at those levels, because it's the method of understanding it. I think, anyway, I think working with karma is a really... Report an error in the passage at 1:37:59 Highlight the passage at 1:37:59

1:38:26 It's a juicy practice to start being able to work with. You don't have to understand that it's at a list level in order to actually start practically ripping out those weeds right away and creating what you do want, you know, starting to create what you do want. It's sort of like if you do Vosha Sofa every night, you can kind of imagine it like this, taking a shower before bed. It's like a chakra. It's like an internal chakra shower before bedtime. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:26 Highlight the passage at 1:38:26

1:38:53 time so So, the purification, let's see, what else? I just mentioned the other types, the other forms of purification. Prostrations to the 35 Buddhas we had mentioned, and I am going to try to get an actual class on that, which is, there's a lot of detail to these practices, but I can't do them justice, but I'm just mentioning them. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:53 Highlight the passage at 1:38:53

1:39:25 Studying emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:25 Highlight the passage at 1:39:25

1:39:29 And basically any positive, we do like any virtuous act, you know, so if you decide you want to give a dollar to the guy in the corner, you know, do it thinking, you know, may this purify this thing that I just did. Now when you learn these four opponent powers, it's good to do all four of them sincerely each time you do a purification practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:29 Highlight the passage at 1:39:29

1:39:55 But there's nothing wrong with doing what would be normally seen as an ordinary virtuous deed and applying that towards purifying this, especially if it's somewhat related to it. If it's a stealing karma, you're trying to increase your generosity. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:55 Highlight the passage at 1:39:55

1:40:15 So, before we get to the Vajrasattva... And I don't have time to do the actual meditation, but I can at least touch on the four opponent powers. I wanted to mention balance in practice, which is basically understanding when it's really good to relax and when it's really good to push, which is a difficult balance to try to strike. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:15 Highlight the passage at 1:40:15

1:40:42 But it's a balance that you also have to, of course, strike in meditation, right? You know, not too loose, not too tight. And it's that way for your entire practice. It's sometimes really good to push. Sometimes it's a really useful thing to push, especially if you have a tendency towards inertia, which, you know, I can do. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:42 Highlight the passage at 1:40:42

1:41:04 So actually, retreat is really a good time to push like that. But, I mean, sometimes you might decide that you really want to... You know, have longer, you know, longer morning practice, so you really have to push to get up early, like we've been talking about. You really have to push through that kind of resistance and the, you know, the everyday life that doesn't allow you to get to bed as early as you would in retreat and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:04 Highlight the passage at 1:41:04

1:41:31 And sometimes that push is really, really useful to do. And then sometimes you have to know when you're just becoming really obsessive. Like, when have you gone over the line where it's no longer a healthy thing to push? And it's really... It's up to you, although of course clearly if all your friends are telling you that maybe you've gone too far, you could start listening to them. But it's really good for us to know our own minds and to be able to kind of see when it's good for us to relax a little bit and when it's good to continue on to push. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:31 Highlight the passage at 1:41:31

1:42:06 There is what's called Lung, it's an imbalance of energies in the subtle body and mind. That is taught about in Tibetan Buddhism as well as in Tibetan medicine. And it often can come up if people push too hard in retreat. And a lot of times teachers don't teach about it because there's this thought, I think, that Westerners are neurotic and that we're all going to think we have it when we don't. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:06 Highlight the passage at 1:42:06

1:42:35 That actually happened to me in a Vajra Saka retreat. I got limb really bad and I had no idea what it was. And nobody even talked about it because they had decided at the beginning not to talk about it because they thought Westerners were all going to think that they had it. So they didn't mention it. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:35 Highlight the passage at 1:42:35

1:42:50 I tend to think of it as just simply something that's out there and it's really useful to know what to do when you get it. You know, it's kind of like the flu. Like if you know, kind of like if you start having, you know, the sniffles, you might increase the C and zinc. It's kind of like that. It's, I don't... Report an error in the passage at 1:42:50 Highlight the passage at 1:42:50

1:43:07 See this huge frightening thing. It's just simply like, oh, this is something that can happen. So what do I do when I start seeing signs of it? Exactly like that. Yeah, so it's just practical. So I like to mention it just because I have had personal experience of it. Not just in retreat, but also working in the Dharma Center. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:07 Highlight the passage at 1:43:07

1:43:27 You know, push, push, push. The same, you can do the same thing can happen. All it simply is, it manifests in ways that sort of look a little bit like stress, like shortness of breath, sleeplessness, sometimes giddiness. Like lots of giggling. The Bodhisattva retreat actually had a lot of that. Sometimes fierce anger, and unfortunately it wasn't the same people. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:27 Highlight the passage at 1:43:27

1:44:05 The gigglers were on one side and the really angry people were on another. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:05 Highlight the passage at 1:44:05

1:44:14 But it can get quite serious and you can actually have heart palpitations. You can actually have chest pain. Which is actually where Maya had gotten it before somebody in the group brought it up to the director of the center. And I just had no idea. I thought maybe it was like high altitude. I mean, even though Dharamsal is only like, you know, 6,000 feet, I was like, you know, I don't know. Because I had never heard of it before and nobody was talking about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:14 Highlight the passage at 1:44:14

1:44:41 But dang straight, I was definitely pushing really hard. I mean, I was dredging up every wrong thing I had ever done. Since I was born, you know, I mean, I was really pushing hard, I was really trying to, like, visualize to the nth degree, you know, like bodhicitta right there, you know, and I found out later, of course, that you could just relax a little bit more about it, you know, you didn't have to do it quite that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:41 Highlight the passage at 1:44:41

1:45:06 I was trying to make it happen, you know, the way that Westerners do, we were kind of a, you know, it's just push, push, push like that. So... The Tibetan system of the subtle body is really similar to the Chinese system where you have all these different channels. And what they call winds, it's really like just energies within those channels that move in those channels or get blocked in those channels. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:06 Highlight the passage at 1:45:06

1:45:32 And so, or get moved too quickly through those channels, which is what happens with lung too. And so it's simply about rebalancing them. So it's not like... It's this horrible thing unless you let it go on for too long. The best thing to do if you experience any of these things is to lighten up on whatever practice you're doing. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:32 Highlight the passage at 1:45:32

1:45:59 So rather than doing seven sessions of Asha Zopa a day, kind of cool out a little bit, maybe do shorter sessions. I think the absolute best thing, and I've heard this from other people who have experienced one, there's actually a great book out on it now. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:59 Highlight the passage at 1:45:59

1:46:15 It's exercise. Exercise is really, really good. Walking, especially, is really, really good. Looking at open skies, you know, relaxing your mind, looking at open skies. So I just build those into any retreat I do now. I just always have a walk every day. I always try to do frustrations every day. Always do yoga a couple times a day. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:15 Highlight the passage at 1:46:15

1:46:35 Like, really think of ways to just have that be part of it. Always have a time that I just go stare at the sky. I build it in. Okay, it's time to go start the sky. And it really makes a difference. Fatty foods are supposed to be quite useful. If you don't eat meat, then like peanut butter and butter or margarine or something like that. It's more grounding because you're all up in your head and you're... Report an error in the passage at 1:46:35 Highlight the passage at 1:46:35

1:47:00 So it's like that cutting back on caffeine or sugar, things that kind of feed that energy. Those are all really useful things. But knowing when to kind of pull back and take a break. Even cutting. I mean, some kinds of retreat you can't cut a whole session. But sometimes you can do an incredibly short one and then just take a really long break. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:00 Highlight the passage at 1:47:00

1:47:30 So take a five hour break rather than an hour and a half break or whatever like that. So that you just take a really huge hike. Sleeping more if you need to. So even if it means that you have to start your morning session a little later or something like that, just getting a little bit more sleep can be really helpful. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:30 Highlight the passage at 1:47:30

1:47:51 And Lama Yeshe said, if one of the signs is if you get really sick to your stomach when you look at your meditation cushion, maybe you should kind of cut back a little bit. Maybe something you're doing is wrong. Maybe you should just relax, he said. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:51 Highlight the passage at 1:47:51

1:48:07 Take a vacation, you know, take a break. But always with this idea, Shantideva actually has a whole section in the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Point of Life that we were just talking about, about when to know when to take a break. That that's part of the Bodhisattva's path is to know when to take a break with this idea of just like being willing to leap back up again. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:07 Highlight the passage at 1:48:07

1:48:31 You know, so you're not taking a break for the rest of your life that you're... Taking a break so that you can rest so that you're ready to get back on the horse again. So he actually puts it that way. But anyway, I just mentioned that because nobody really talked to me about it at all. And then I experienced it and I think I wasted a lot of time not really knowing what the heck was wrong. I think massage also, they say massage is also useful. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:31 Highlight the passage at 1:48:31

1:48:58 So anyway, it's a great... It's a great thing to know about before you encounter it so that you're not freaked out and you just go, oh, okay, what do I do? Get out my little medicine kit of peanut butter and yoga mat and then you're fine. Then you know. Does anybody have any questions? Do we have enough of the homework? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:58 Highlight the passage at 1:48:58

1:49:26 We have the perfect homework. Really? Except I don't have one. Can you guys share just for right now? Touch on the main points of this one, since you're going to just do it on your own. That's great, so we have ten. I never know with this class, because there's so many more people signed up for it than whoever show up, except for that first night that everyone came, and then ever since, we've been out a few and up a few. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:26 Highlight the passage at 1:49:26

1:49:55 So the four powers, how many of you are not at all familiar with any purification practice? You've never done any? Okay. Just a couple. And the rest of you have done one and then just it might be some difference in wording is all. But it's basically the four powers are the power of regret, which is not guilt, which is not I'm a horrible person, which is not beating yourself up. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:55 Highlight the passage at 1:49:55

1:50:25 It's simply understanding, oh, you know, because I did this act or said these words or... Thought is thought or whatever it is. I created negative karma. It's like a poison in my mind stream. It's just going to ripen in the future as my own suffering, so I want to rip it out. That's two analogies. It makes metaphors, but you understand what I'm saying. It's like simply seeing it along the lines of how karma works, how it ripens as my suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:25 Highlight the passage at 1:50:25

1:50:53 I haven't even gotten beyond. I haven't gotten to any other being yet. It's not that you're thinking, oh, I shouldn't have yelled at Sarah because now Sarah's hurt. You're thinking, I don't want to get angry anymore because I'm just creating the cause, first of all, to see to get angry again. And secondly, it'll come back as my own suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:53 Highlight the passage at 1:50:53

1:51:12 Someone's going to scream at me. I don't want that anymore. I'm done with it. So that's regret. It's just really getting how karma works and knowing that it's not part of you. It's not part of your mind. You can actually remove it. From your mind stream and that you want to remove it because you don't want to have that ripen into your own suffering. So that's just that first step. Reliance is the second step. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:12 Highlight the passage at 1:51:12

1:51:44 This is done in the order and this practice actually put them in this order. Sometimes practices actually start with reliance. You see it mixed a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:44 Highlight the passage at 1:51:44

1:51:53 Reliance is actually reliance in the Buddha and his methods, which this is one. So we often will start with a prayer of refuge, which is why that one often comes first. You often, at the beginning of any practice, you start with a little prayer of refuge. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:53 Highlight the passage at 1:51:53

1:52:12 Just remembering why, you know, okay, if this is how this all works, that my following my deluded states of mind into the creation of karma that then ripens as my own suffering, I want to turn to somebody who has transcended this whole cycle and can get me out. So I go for refuge. That's kind of that thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:12 Highlight the passage at 1:52:12

1:52:30 So the power of reliance has that you're relying on the doctor, that kind of idea. Like, you know, I recognize that I'm sick. I'm sick with saṃsāra. I have this disease of karma and delusion. And I'm turning to the doctor, and the doctor is the Buddha and his methods. It's not like we're saying the Buddha is going to do this for me. I'm not turning to the Buddha and saying, save me, save me. You know? Report an error in the passage at 1:52:30 Highlight the passage at 1:52:30

1:52:59 Like in the mystery, the old PBS mystery with that little woman on the top who can... It's not like that. The Buddha can't swoop in and cleanse your mind for you. But you can use his methods. All of his teachings pointed to how to do this. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:59 Highlight the passage at 1:52:59

1:53:18 And the second aspect is doing it with this mind to be able to benefit all beings. So that you can ultimately... So first we're focusing on... Me, get me clean so that I can, you know, also become a Buddha. Or that I can transcend this suffering. And then I kind of widen it. So it's like we always do in class. We think, first of all, why am I here? And then, oh yeah, there's all these other beings that are suffering and I want to do this for them too. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:18 Highlight the passage at 1:53:18

1:53:48 So I'm doing this practice for all beings as well as for myself. So that's the power of reliance is those two. And then the power of remedy, and that's what we were just talking about, which is like the actual antidote to that poison in your mind, which in this case is the Vajrasapha practice. It could also be studying emptiness. It could also be creating sacred art that represents the enlightened qualities. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:48 Highlight the passage at 1:53:48

1:54:19 So power of remedy. In this case, the Vajrasapha practice, Vajrasapha, He's right above my lovely assistant, Catherine, who's being purified throughout this class. So that's what Vajrasapa looks like. I actually tried to stick a picture in and it went to three pages and so I took it back out again. If you're really... Report an error in the passage at 1:54:19 Highlight the passage at 1:54:19

1:54:44 If you want me to, I can send you a picture, or you can just Google Vajrasapa, and then you can have it really large on your screen while you're chewing it. And made of light, too, actually, so that might be even better, because it really wasn't coming out very good, and it just ended up going to too many pages. But basically, he looks like that, and basically, he's just imagined a lot of pure white light. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:44 Highlight the passage at 1:54:44

1:55:09 It's that kind of energy. So if that's all you can see, that's great. And then there's three different, four different things to visualize while you're doing it. And, you know, of course, like at first you're just trying to remember the mantra and you're trying to fight your way through it and stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:09 Highlight the passage at 1:55:09

1:55:28 And that's fine. As you're fighting your way through the mantra, maybe don't even try to do any of these visualizations the first time. Just imagine almost like a white shower, just cleansing it. Cleansing it out of your mind's room. That's fine. That's good enough. But that's why it's actually really nice to do in the rain. If you can hear the rain outside, it's like, great, that's all being cleansed too. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:28 Highlight the passage at 1:55:28

1:55:52 Let's just cleanse the whole world. But then the images that are described here, the purification of the body, it's like this... Powerful white nectar goes through your body and actually shoots all the negativities out the lower orifices. You can kind of imagine it going out the lower orifices. And they say that that's really good if you've stolen something. Say you took a friend's coat and then began thinking of it as your own or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:52 Highlight the passage at 1:55:52

1:56:27 Or something bigger if you're purifying, killing karma. Ants or roaches or something like that. So purifying that, that's the physical. That's purifying the physical while you're doing the mantra. And then the other one for speech, it's kind of like you're filling a bucket, you know, when you're filling a big bucket, how it begins to fill up and all the crap kind of rises to the top. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:27 Highlight the passage at 1:56:27

1:56:53 And they say it comes out of the upper orifices, but when I'm thinking of speech, I always have it coming out of the mouth. I mean, it just seems to make more sense. That's where I've done the crap. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:53 Highlight the passage at 1:56:53

1:57:02 So I just want to cleanse all that stuff out. So I really imagine it coming out of the mouth. It doesn't make much sense for it to come out of my ears. Purification of the mind. I love this one too because we all have stuff in our mind that we need to verify. You sort of imagine it like at your heart, which is where mind is. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:02 Highlight the passage at 1:57:02

1:57:22 This is in Buddhism. They always say me. This is me. I don't know, that one, I don't care. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:22 Highlight the passage at 1:57:22

1:57:27 So you imagine it's like you're turning on the light and the whole thing turns like white light. It's like when you come in this room and we turn on the light, all the darkness is just gone in an instant. It's not like it slowly, gradually seeps out of the room. It's just gone. So it's very electrical, the way they describe it, even before electricity. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:27 Highlight the passage at 1:57:27

1:57:49 came. And so you can just imagine that, that there's just nothing left of it. It's just gone. Whatever negative mind that you have that you're trying to purify, you just imagine it gone in an instant. And then they imagine, they say at the very end to imagine one last time of just the shower going through you again and getting rid of all of the imprints of the action. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:49 Highlight the passage at 1:57:49

1:58:14 So they say it's like the smell of garlic in a jar, you know, so it's not, so you've washed the, You've gotten rid of all the garlic and there's still some taint. You can't use it for anything else. It's like that. We still have this potential to do it again. Let's just get rid of all that too. So you just kind of imagine one last good shower going through like that. That's remedy. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:14 Highlight the passage at 1:58:14

1:58:37 And then the last one in some ways is the most powerful because this is how you actually shift your mind in the direction of doing. Changing your life, basically. And that's the power of resolve, and that's where you make the resolve to not repeat the action again for however long you think you can actually do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:37 Highlight the passage at 1:58:37

1:59:00 So if you feel like you can at least say for tomorrow, I won't, you know. Scream at Millie or whatever it is. Then do that. Then say, you know, then do it. And then really do that. Then try really hard. But if you know Millie's going to push your buttons, you know darn well that she's going to meet you at the breakfast table and she's going to start pushing and turning it in. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:00 Highlight the passage at 1:59:00

1:59:23 Don't say something that you can't keep. Try to keep. So just say, I'm going to make it through breakfast. And no matter what Millie does or says, no matter what, you know. Then I will not get angry. And I absolutely will not. I remember actually working with this friend of mine who was a Dharma student when His Holiness was at Mountain View Shoreline. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:23 Highlight the passage at 1:59:23

1:59:44 And we were helping. And she was doing the vow book. She was doing the six-time book. And I knew she had done this thing of no matter what happened, I will not get angry. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:44 Highlight the passage at 1:59:44

1:59:55 And actually it was my mom. So my mom was telling it. So we had just unloaded. Boxes and boxes of t-shirts. Were you helping with them? Oh my god, we had so many boxes of these t-shirts. So we just moved them all over and we were going to take a break. He goes, no, I can't go there. I have to go over there. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:55 Highlight the passage at 1:59:55

2:00:14 She just goes, okay. Okay. And I knew, I mean, I still always visualize that, is that that view of like, I will not get angry. I will just stay. So she was just trying so hard to be joyful. She actually did it. She made it through the whole day. We just picked up everything and started again, moving them over. So like that, you just have this really strong determination that whatever it is that you've done, you won't repeat it in X amount of doable time. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:14 Highlight the passage at 2:00:14

2:00:44 Could be ten minutes, could be five seconds, if you know darn well that you swear all the time or something and you know that you can't say any longer than that. Whatever it is, just try to make it doable. But then with this aspiration of, you know, may this be the beginning of me being able to eliminate it completely. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:44 Highlight the passage at 2:00:44

2:01:05 So maybe you can't say, I won't get mad at Millie beyond breakfast. But just at breakfast, if I can keep that really purely and I won't get mad at her no matter what, may it become the seed of me never getting mad again at anyone like that. So really include that kind of larger aspiration of making it a larger thing, even if right now you can't keep it. And then after that you imagine how yourself absorbing into you and becoming one with you, and that's sometimes the hardest bit. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:05 Highlight the passage at 2:01:05

2:01:35 It's actually, I'm going really fast through the practice, but that part of absorbing, His enlightened body, speech and mind into your body, speech and mind is huge. So don't skip by that one. Like really feel that union and really kind of rest in that union for a minute and then end it, then dedicate. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:35 Highlight the passage at 2:01:35

2:01:55 Alonso? Report an error in the passage at 2:01:55 Highlight the passage at 2:01:55

2:01:59 Just a little bit of confusion on the third one. If the thing you want to purify, let's say during the day, you need to purify some... Are you still going through all of these speeches? You can do it pretty fast, actually. You can get really fast. Well, first of all, you can do a really short version of the mantra. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:59 Highlight the passage at 2:01:59

2:02:18 Here, I'm going to give you back a few years. If you, you know, if you like scream, if Millie's your co-worker, and you scream, and you want to go to the bathroom. Actually, the bathroom's a really good place to do. That's just not fun. Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, this is perfect, you don't even have to visualize that mantra, everything's already coming out of your lower earth. So you can do a short mantra and that's Om Bajra Safa Hung. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:18 Highlight the passage at 2:02:18

2:02:44 Om, the name, Bajra Safa, and then Hum or Hung, however you pronounce it. And you can do that 28 times and they say that it purifies exactly the same as the long mantra. It's Report an error in the passage at 2:02:44 Highlight the passage at 2:02:44

2:03:00 exactly the same, but it's certainly good in a pinch. this is possible. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:00 Highlight the passage at 2:03:00

2:03:03 How many times? 28 times for that one, yeah. And this is out loud? Well, don't be like, oh my God. Especially if you're in a public toilet. You might want to just be like, how about that? Yeah, you could just be like whispering. Yeah, that's okay. Again, not really dramatically. Or maybe wait until the bathroom clears. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:03 Highlight the passage at 2:03:03

2:03:32 But yeah, I mean, I'm always doing mantras on the streets. I'm always doing mantras on the boats. I mean, granted, people are already, I already am a religious weirdo, but I was doing it way before I got ordained. Yeah, I mean, you just, why not? Especially if you know you've just done something or even thought something negative about somebody. Just get rid of it. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:32 Highlight the passage at 2:03:32

2:03:51 Why have it in your mindstream any longer than necessary? They say Atisha, Lama Atisha, used to like just stop wherever he was and like purify. Whatever negative thought he said or his words or whatever, he would just stop everything, pull out this little stupa, do circumambulations around the stupa. Maybe not the best to do at your office, but he would stop the whole caravan and all the servants would have to just wait. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:51 Highlight the passage at 2:03:51

2:04:18 I'm sure they were kind of like, but he did it. I think it was probably just to show us all how important it was to purify on the spot. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:18 Highlight the passage at 2:04:18

2:04:30 Did that help? So once you have the four powers and it's basically regret, oh man, I do regret that. I don't want to suffer. I don't want to suffer in the future at all. Reliance is taking refuge with that understanding of refuge and also bodhicitta for all beings. Remedy, doing whatever you decide to do. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:30 Highlight the passage at 2:04:30

2:04:54 There's probably 28 Rajasaphas, right, if you're at work, the short one. And then resolve. So I'm going to go back in there and no matter what Millie says to me, I'm not going to get mad at her at least until 2 o 'clock, you know, whatever. And it's at 1.45, you know, whatever it is. Yeah. And again, you're doing all of these visualizations? No. No. Just pick one. Yeah. I mean, if it's speech, if you just yell at her, just purify that if you're doing the fast version. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:54 Highlight the passage at 2:04:54

2:05:24 Yeah. If you punched her. And yell, then you might want to do more. Spend some extra time in there. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:24 Highlight the passage at 2:05:24

2:05:35 Really. I can see it, yeah. But that's why we have tools, right Alonzo? That's okay. You're welcome here. And I know Millie, she's like that. I hope for it's a three win. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:35 Highlight the passage at 2:05:35

2:05:56 Anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 2:05:56 Highlight the passage at 2:05:56

2:05:59 How about you guys that are just learning it for the first time? You can email me if you have any questions. What does it sound like? Okay. Does anybody want to help me sing? Because I don't even have any fun in this, so hopefully I'll screw up. Do you want to invite me? No. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:59 Highlight the passage at 2:05:59

2:06:32 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:32 Highlight the passage at 2:06:32

2:06:54 So it's like, kind of like, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. It was kind of like that. But you don't, I mean, once you can do it fast, like when I'm on the streets, I don't sing it, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:54 Highlight the passage at 2:06:54

2:07:06 Actually, there was one woman in our retreat who thought she was supposed to sing it the whole three months. So she was probably the calmest of anybody. Actually, she was just sitting there, you know, doing it. And it was about two and a half months into it that she realized. at this time, like, oh, she's like, sorry, but I feel like that, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:06 Highlight the passage at 2:07:06

2:07:22 That we were just supposed to be doing it as fast as we could do it. And she was like, and she actually finished with everybody else. I think probably because she was probably so much calmer, the rest of us were all loomed out because we were like, you know, and she's just like, like every day, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:22 Highlight the passage at 2:07:22

2:07:40 So I don't know, I think there's actually a lesson to be learned there. But yeah, once you know it, you don't have to do the little song bit. I think it just helps you learn it. I think that's probably why it was created, just to hire. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:40 Highlight the passage at 2:07:40

2:07:54 Is that enough or do you want to hear it again, Stephanie and David? Report an error in the passage at 2:07:54 Highlight the passage at 2:07:54

2:08:02 That it's online? Yeah, maybe Tipton Children might have it. She has a great little, like, thing of her prostrating. That's so great. I think it's so great. I mean, we should have stuff like that on our website. The mood draw, we could have, like, the whole, this is how you make a mood draw. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:02 Highlight the passage at 2:08:02

2:08:22 I downloaded that by mistake once of two children. I thought, oh, that's interesting. She has how to do a full prostration on her website. And it took a while, so I forgot about it. I think other people have heard the story. And then I got, you know, you're like kind of serving the net. And I'm like, somehow I ended up in some entertainment thing. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:22 Highlight the passage at 2:08:22

2:08:40 And I'm like reading. Stupid, you know, gossipy stuff about, you know, celebrities or something. And all of a sudden, stupid children, like, pushes their way through and she's, like, doing this. It was so hysterical. It's like, she's busted. It was very funny. So, yeah, anyway, I bet you could find it. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:40 Highlight the passage at 2:08:40

2:09:03 Oh, my. All right. So let's dedicate. it is. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:03 Highlight the passage at 2:09:03

2:09:15 Dedicate anything that we might have learned, or any ideas, or any ways that any of our obstacles might have been lifted. We might have gotten some insights. We can dedicate that to being able to use that as personal instructions like the Kadampa Masters, so that we can work on our minds, we can transform our minds, so that we can actually benefit others and ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:15 Highlight the passage at 2:09:15

2:09:57 So let me use your principles. My pleasure. Do you want to leave the room set up? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:57 Highlight the passage at 2:09:57

2:10:09 Yes. Yes. Prayer books go away. And the rest I'll do with, I think. Just easier. It's true. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:09 Highlight the passage at 2:10:09

2:10:28 I know, but, you know, I'll be in there. Karen actually ended up in the hospital. Yeah, and she has, like, this viral infection. Karen needs an asthma, yeah. Oh, so that's what I'm trying to do. She has Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:28 Highlight the passage at 2:10:28

2:10:46 Don't let her believe it. My doctor told me I haven't met, so I changed my diet. Yeah. I was like, oh, there's another way. I know. It's like when I was younger and they tried to tell me I was allergic to cats. My whole family, we all just laughed and then we just heard it. They told me that too. Were you really allergic to cats? I don't know. I've never noticed it again. I don't know. She doesn't seem to think, you know, she doesn't seem to be too hot that much. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:46 Highlight the passage at 2:10:46

2:11:11 She's laughing. That's too bad though. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure it was scary if she was making a line of it. She said she was... recording all of this and so then is it for you We love you Karen, just in case you listened to this. We missed you. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:11 Highlight the passage at 2:11:11