Establishing a Daily Practice - Discovering Buddhism (12 February 2008)

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1:49 Can always stand to drink more water. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:49 Highlight the passage at 1:49

2:06 Patience. There's a couple people that wanted to learn the self-evaluation technique that we talked about. I think somebody forgot. Somebody else didn't come, so anyway. Report an error in the passage at 2:06 Highlight the passage at 2:06

2:24 We're going to start with Vajrasapha practice. Hopefully you guys have something that you want to purify. Report an error in the passage at 2:24 Highlight the passage at 2:24

2:44 Yeah. What do you want to do so that it's open just like a foot in the middle in case somebody comes in right? Report an error in the passage at 2:44 Highlight the passage at 2:44

2:53 Stare. Yeah. If you ever come in late, the one on the right side as you're facing the back is the quiet one, as my lovely assistant is now demonstrating. This one right here, that's the quiet one. You can always enter. That is louder than, ah, get out. It's like the wood itself has expanded and it's demonstrated. Report an error in the passage at 2:53 Highlight the passage at 2:53

3:17 Keep going. Now it will do it. It will, it will. There. There, okay. There. It's like literally rubs the wood, yeah. Like a cat. Report an error in the passage at 3:17 Highlight the passage at 3:17

3:30 Or if you're trying to have symptoms and you're the doctor and you just take Report an error in the passage at 3:30 Highlight the passage at 3:30

3:42 some nice deep breaths. Well, some of us shouldn't breathe as deeply as others. Report an error in the passage at 3:42 Highlight the passage at 3:42

3:56 Imagine all the things that might distract you just without breathing. Here Report an error in the passage at 3:56 Highlight the passage at 3:56

4:09 are all the things that might keep you from being here. Sluttishness, tiredness, monkey mind. You Report an error in the passage at 4:09 Highlight the passage at 4:09

4:21 can imagine it just... Calming down, water with sand shaken up in it, because that sand settles to the bottom of the water, it's just like, you know, it's still. If Report an error in the passage at 4:21 Highlight the passage at 4:21

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13:58 you have a teacher, Report an error in the passage at 13:58 Highlight the passage at 13:58

14:02 you can imagine that Guru Vajrasatha is simply your teacher manifesting. Report an error in the passage at 14:02 Highlight the passage at 14:02

14:11 If you don't have a teacher, you can imagine that that is your future teacher. Maybe you haven't met him or her yet, Report an error in the passage at 14:11 Highlight the passage at 14:11

14:21 but they may know who you are. Report an error in the passage at 14:21 Highlight the passage at 14:21

14:31 He's made a radiant, blissful white light, and he's sitting cross-legged on a white lid. Report an error in the passage at 14:31 Highlight the passage at 14:31

14:42 His face is radiant and beautiful. And his eyes are peaceful and full of love and compassion. His Report an error in the passage at 14:42 Highlight the passage at 14:42

14:53 hair is black and held up in a top knot. His Report an error in the passage at 14:53 Highlight the passage at 14:53

14:58 arms are crossed in his heart, left underneath the right. And the left is holding a bell, which represents wisdom, Report an error in the passage at 14:58 Highlight the passage at 14:58

15:09 which represents the indestructible. The Report an error in the passage at 15:09 Highlight the passage at 15:09

15:19 fact that his arms are crossed represents the union of method and wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 15:19 Highlight the passage at 15:19

15:40 Remember again that he's made completely of this pure white, with all you can imagine as just this white energy. energy, purification energy above the effects As Report an error in the passage at 15:40 Highlight the passage at 15:40

16:05 we have completed the power of the Guru, deeply, sincerely, and then the power of reliance, imagine that Guru Gajisakha is great, please. Report an error in the passage at 16:05 Highlight the passage at 16:05

16:28 Imagine that pure white light goes out of his heart to all the ten directions, hooking the energy of the body, speech and mind of all the enlightened beings of the universe. Report an error in the passage at 16:28 Highlight the passage at 16:28

16:38 And that this light comes back and dissolves into his heart, Report an error in the passage at 16:38 Highlight the passage at 16:38

16:45 now embodies all of their energy. After doing this he becomes even more blissful and radiant. Do Report an error in the passage at 16:45 Highlight the passage at 16:45

17:01 the third of the powers, which is the power of remedy. In Report an error in the passage at 17:01 Highlight the passage at 17:01

17:08 this case is the practice, visualization and recitation of the mantra. Report an error in the passage at 17:08 Highlight the passage at 17:08

17:26 So as we do the recitation of the mantra, and some of you may not have memorized it, I just suddenly realized that. So if you know it, you can chant along. If you don't know it, try to really focus on your visualization. Report an error in the passage at 17:26 Highlight the passage at 17:26

17:46 As we do the first... Recitation. It's for the purification of your body. Report an error in the passage at 17:46 Highlight the passage at 17:46

17:57 Can you imagine that Gurdwaja Sattva sends down a powerful white nectar like water coming out of the hoes. Report an error in the passage at 17:57 Highlight the passage at 17:57

18:07 It comes from his heart and enters your crown and pours through your entire body, filling you up completely. And it forces all the negativities that you've ever done with your body out of you. Can you imagine they're coming out of you kind of formed like an inky black liquid or black smoke. Report an error in the passage at 18:07 Highlight the passage at 18:07

18:32 The core is out of you, and it disappears into space. Report an error in the passage at 18:32 Highlight the passage at 18:32

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19:31 I Report an error in the passage at 19:31 Highlight the passage at 19:31

19:39 try to feel really happy about following the activities of your body. But it's Report an error in the passage at 19:39 Highlight the passage at 19:39

19:52 just not possible that your body could do anything about it. There's no way it could run. And Report an error in the passage at 19:52 Highlight the passage at 19:52

20:10 then we'll do the purification of speech. So during the second stage of the visualization, imagine Kuruvazhya Sattva sending powerful nectar from his heart chakra again, and then it fills your entire body, forcing all the negativities of your speech, which is actually the easiest one for us to do. All of the negativity of speech, all the gossip, malicious speech, useless speech, lying, harsh speech, all of it's purified but it's powerful nectar. Report an error in the passage at 20:10 Highlight the passage at 20:10

20:50 And that it leaves your body through the top orifices in the form again of angry with the blood or black smoke, just completely disappearing into outer space. Report an error in the passage at 20:50 Highlight the passage at 20:50

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21:53 Again, feel so happy that your speech is not completely careful and that there's no way to do anything but say, Something beneficial or useful or appropriate or kind to others or Report an error in the passage at 21:53 Highlight the passage at 21:53

22:09 to yourself. And Report an error in the passage at 22:09 Highlight the passage at 22:09

22:17 the third stage is Purification of Mind. And this time Guru Vajrasava very professionally sends white light from his heart chakra, entering your crown chakra and filling your entire being just like when you turn on light in the dark room and it instantly dispels the darkness. Report an error in the passage at 22:17 Highlight the passage at 22:17

22:40 It's like the moment this light hits your heart chakra, the darkness and negativity of your mind, all the anger, depression, resentment, jealousy, bitterness, it's completely dispelled, not one out of one. Report an error in the passage at 22:40 Highlight the passage at 22:40

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23:39 Again, we're really happy that intuition, which is the whole cause of something. The full root cause of all of our suffering from the uncountability. The cause of all the harm that we do with our body and speech. Imagine it completely purified. Finished. And that there's no way that there's any space in your heart now for anything but love and kindness and forgiveness and wisdom and bliss and compassion. Report an error in the passage at 23:39 Highlight the passage at 23:39

24:11 And Report an error in the passage at 24:11 Highlight the passage at 24:11

24:21 then finally, we'll do the purification of even the inference of any of this negativity of body, speech and mind. So this time imagine that Guru Bajma Tsongkhapa sends light again, and it fills you completely and eradicates even the subtlest imprint, the negative energy from your mind. Report an error in the passage at 24:21 Highlight the passage at 24:21

24:42 They say it's like once you remove the garlic from a jar, you still need to remove the smell. So this is like when we reveal the smell. Report an error in the passage at 24:42 Highlight the passage at 24:42

24:51 Om Vajisapha Samaya, Manipalaya, Vajisapha Dimukadita. Jidho me bhava, Sutta kayo me bhava, Sutta kayo me bhava, Anurata me bhava, Sarva siddhi me bhayaça, Sarva karma sutthame, Chita shiram kuluho, Ha ha ha ha ha, O Badawa, Sarva tata gata, Bhajjom manhenuta, Vajvabhava, Maha samaya sata, And when you Report an error in the passage at 24:51 Highlight the passage at 24:51

25:39 really feel that you're completely terrified, you can take a moment to really feel happy. And Report an error in the passage at 25:39 Highlight the passage at 25:39

25:51 imagine that everybody's self is very happy too. Report an error in the passage at 25:51 Highlight the passage at 25:51

26:00 And the fourth of the four pointed powers is the power of resolve. This Report an error in the passage at 26:00 Highlight the passage at 26:00

26:09 is the determination not to do the harm again. Report an error in the passage at 26:09 Highlight the passage at 26:09

26:15 Without this we just keep going our same idea. We just keep up all the same patterns. Just Report an error in the passage at 26:15 Highlight the passage at 26:15

26:24 setting this determination not to do the harm again. It's like a beacon that guides our body, speech and mind in another direction. But again, be realistic. Whatever it is that you're trying to change takes time. So set a really doable goal, whether it's one day, half day, one hour, ten minutes, even a minute. Report an error in the passage at 26:24 Highlight the passage at 26:24

26:59 But whatever you do, make it realistic. And then keep this determination that at some point it will be forever. At some point, you completely do away with whatever this negative mind, or this negative speech, or this negative act is. And Report an error in the passage at 26:59 Highlight the passage at 26:59

27:38 then, very happily, Virajya Sattva melts into white light and absorbs into you through your crown chakra. Report an error in the passage at 27:38 Highlight the passage at 27:38

27:49 And this energy of pure white light comes to your heart chakra and merges with your own very subtle consciousness, becoming oneness with you, Report an error in the passage at 27:49 Highlight the passage at 27:49

28:00 your bodies with your mind, your bodies with your mind, your self-disgrace with your mind, your completely mind. No separation, like water into earth, Report an error in the passage at 28:00 Highlight the passage at 28:00

28:30 this glass, however we look at them, any insights and understandings or ideas, to actually work with them, to work with our mind, to ignite our daily practice, Report an error in the passage at 28:30 Highlight the passage at 28:30

28:50 whatever time we have left in this life, painful, Report an error in the passage at 28:50 Highlight the passage at 28:50

29:00 and able to help them, including ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 29:00 Highlight the passage at 29:00

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29:48 Always go for ref, to Buddha, Dharma, Unreachable, Enlightened, Inspired by Wisdom and Compassion, Today in the Word of God. I can 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 mysteries of the Report an error in the passage at 29:48 Highlight the passage at 29:48

30:18 Lord. Sorry, normally I would do three because we did such a long meditation. I know, I cut down the number of... totally threw you off on you every time I was going to do but then I remembered suddenly that all of you probably didn't have the Report an error in the passage at 30:18 Highlight the passage at 30:18

30:38 I mean Report an error in the passage at 30:38 Highlight the passage at 30:38

30:43 this Report an error in the passage at 30:43 Highlight the passage at 30:43

31:04 isn't really involved in, this isn't really a question about that. wasn't sure how meaningful it would be just visualizing that Report an error in the passage at 31:04 Highlight the passage at 31:04

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31:18 So Vajrasattva was like a person, like a historical figure, and why is it that we use him particularly instead of another enlightened being to do this practice? Vajrasattva is actually an embodiment of the enlightened mind. It's like Avalokhi Deshvara, who is a Buddha of compassion, Manjur Sri. Some of them were actual beings and some of them are just simply representations for our minds. Report an error in the passage at 31:18 Highlight the passage at 31:18

31:47 It's just enlightened mind in the form of, and the strongest energy is purification. So that's why it's just a visual way to imagine ourselves being purified. The power is actually in the mantra itself. And some traditions just call it the hundred syllable mantra and they don't do the whole visualization. Report an error in the passage at 31:47 Highlight the passage at 31:47

32:09 They just call it the hundred syllable mantra. It comes out of tantra to do the visualization the way we did it. We sort of, especially in this tradition, Lama actually really into having, especially Western students, use a lot of these tantric techniques to get a sort of taste of that absorption at the end is very much of a tantra. Report an error in the passage at 32:09 Highlight the passage at 32:09

32:33 Kind of visualizing the nectar going through is very much of a tantra. Feeling one at the end with the grooves. Body, speech and mind, and the Buddha's body, speech and mind, and your body, speech and mind, all being one. That's very tantric. It's just a way of getting out of our ordinary thing. Report an error in the passage at 32:33 Highlight the passage at 32:33

32:52 But in terms of these different Buddhas, they're all basically embodiments of enlightened energy in different forms that we can relate to. They just are in these forms because we can relate to them. That's the only reason. Yeah. Does that make for sense? Yep. Yeah. So he's just about purification. So the whole fact of him being white, pure white, is all about that. They all have, like, all the colors of something, you know, to do with purification. Report an error in the passage at 32:52 Highlight the passage at 32:52

33:25 I actually heard recently that his being white is also about emptiness. But I had never heard of that one before. Also, if you know any of the other Buddhas, Vajradhara looks very similar to Vajrasapta, except for the color. Vajradhara is blue and Vajrasapta is white, but otherwise they're very similar. Report an error in the passage at 33:25 Highlight the passage at 33:25

33:52 She pointed that out and I had never noticed that one before. Vajradhara is the high sugar tantric version. I'm going to just stop that sorry, sorry. Report an error in the passage at 33:52 Highlight the passage at 33:52

34:04 facts in the meantime. Report an error in the passage at 34:04 Highlight the passage at 34:04

34:13 I noticed during the meditation you said don't focus on the harm you may have done to others today or your, you know what, maybe you said something bad about somebody else today and instead to focus on just the overall bad karma? Report an error in the passage at 34:13 Highlight the passage at 34:13

34:38 No, actually, I mean, I almost always prefer that you focus on just something that you've done today. Yeah. If I said that, I didn't mean to say that. It's not that you said that. There was something important you said, and I'm trying to grasp it. At the very beginning? Yeah. I didn't always stick to the script, either. I rarely do. You said not to focus on the second. Report an error in the passage at 34:38 Highlight the passage at 34:38

35:09 Oh, right. then we may try so much to realize that. Yeah. Yeah. At that point, you're just thinking about, yeah. So if you yelled at Kimatha today, you're not so much at that point thinking of, oh, I shouldn't have heard Kimatha. Or, which is another one that we think of, Alonzo's going to think I'm really crappy because I yelled at Kimatha. Sometimes our reasons are a little faulty for wanting to purify something. Report an error in the passage at 35:09 Highlight the passage at 35:09

35:32 It's not so much getting it that I just drank poison. My getting angry and acting on it. It's creating my own suffering. And at that point, that first step, you're just thinking about how karma works for you. You're not thinking about the fact that Kimatha may be reeling from you or screaming at her or Alonzo may be thinking you're a double bee, you know. Report an error in the passage at 35:32 Highlight the passage at 35:32

35:57 At that point, you're just thinking of how karma works. You'll get to them later, you know. But at that point, that's the harm that you're thinking. It's the harm you've just done to yourself. It really should feel more like, oh, I just... I just created so much more suffering for myself. I don't want to do that anymore. So it's not guilt. Right. That's what I think it is. And it's not, yeah, and it's not, oh, I don't want to hurt everyone around me or, you know, I shouldn't have stolen that. Report an error in the passage at 35:57 Highlight the passage at 35:57

36:24 You know, it's not should. It's not about that. It's, I've just created more suffering for myself. And that's how all of this, that's the root of all of this. I don't want to do this anymore. It's more like that. You know, that's a good question. Report an error in the passage at 36:24 Highlight the passage at 36:24

36:41 And that wasn't in this room. I blathered on when it came out. I think because we were just doing the self-evaluation techniques right before. That's something I've always gotten wrong. Yeah, I know. That's why you have to repeat all this stuff over and over and over again. You know, when Rubina always says she says the same things every time, and every time I hear something different, because every time something like that finally goes in, you know, you've cleared something out of the way. Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

37:13 Anybody else? Or also, does anyone remember that there are other techniques we can use with the four quantum powers? So you don't have to do bodhicitta every time. You could do bodhicitta. I've done bodhicitta on buses. I've done bodhicitta walking across 8th Street. You can do bodhicitta in the bathroom. Great place to do bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 37:13 Highlight the passage at 37:13

37:33 But if you don't want to do bodhicitta for whatever reason, does anyone remember any of the other remedies? Report an error in the passage at 37:33 Highlight the passage at 37:33

37:45 Disguise your voice. Report an error in the passage at 37:45 Highlight the passage at 37:45

37:53 One of the ten virtues? Couldn't go wrong. No, I haven't heard that one before, actually. Report an error in the passage at 37:53 Highlight the passage at 37:53

38:12 You could do... could do, um... If you say you've done something, yeah, exactly, any kind of virtuous thing you could do and dedicate the merit. An actual, I was thinking about this a couple days after our last class, if you've done something like stolen, to do sort of the opposite would be a really good thing. Report an error in the passage at 38:12 Highlight the passage at 38:12

38:40 So if you've stolen, then to create generosity in some way, and it doesn't have to be money, it could be giving you time. Summon is a free way to give. Or giving the Dharma, if they're interested, like you're not pushing it on. But you could also, you know, say you realize that you are divisive speech. Report an error in the passage at 38:40 Highlight the passage at 38:40

39:03 So you've done negativity with your speech, then you would go out of your way to do, maybe tutor somebody, do something really positive with your speech. So just think about some way to kind of relate it to. The negativity that you've done. I mean you could do any kind of virtue. But there were some specific ones that the Buddha taught. Report an error in the passage at 39:03 Highlight the passage at 39:03

39:27 Does anyone hear them? Report an error in the passage at 39:27 Highlight the passage at 39:27

39:34 Could one be the prostration practice to the 35 Confession Buddhas? 35 Buddhas, yeah. And what about that is the most purifying? Report an error in the passage at 39:34 Highlight the passage at 39:34

39:45 Dhan Dhan Dhan. Is it the prostration? Okay, but that's good. You guys are just going to trade it. Say it again. Thank you. Yes, it's reciting the names. Oh, okay. It should be open. Some. Um. Meditating on emptiness, if you know anything about emptiness, otherwise it's just a waste of time, but whatever you know of emptiness, so even if it's just getting it that Report an error in the passage at 39:45 Highlight the passage at 39:45

40:23 bunch of months and months. Even if it's whatever little amount of emptiness that you understand. So if you understand just that things don't appear the way I think that they appear and you're just focusing on that for five minutes and you're thinking about the day the way it went or whatever upset you the way it went and you're just thinking, what if this isn't what it looks like to me? Report an error in the passage at 40:23 Highlight the passage at 40:23

40:48 What if it's not? So even if you're just, as the Buddha says, even if you're just putting a crack in, oh, honey, I am, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey contemplating that things might not exist the way we think that they do. Report an error in the passage at 40:48 Highlight the passage at 40:48

41:18 Even that much can put a crack into psychopresistance, the way we're just enough to keep us from thinking that things are solid and concrete and also the way they seem like they are. Report an error in the passage at 41:18 Highlight the passage at 41:18

41:32 Especially with me, that I am solid and concrete and unchangeable and unchanging, but I think I am. So anything that you can do to break that down. Report an error in the passage at 41:32 Highlight the passage at 41:32

41:43 Yeah, so like that, reading the sutras is a good one. So reading, if you know any of the sutures, you have access to any of the sutures, like the Heart Suture is a short one. Trying to understand it, but not killing yourself on it, because it actually is quite profound, despite the fact that it's really short. Report an error in the passage at 41:43 Highlight the passage at 41:43

42:04 And studying emptiness in any way. So really quick, I wanted to make a couple of quick announcements. This is the last of this class. This is the last meeting of this class, and the next two Tuesdays will be going to be now. Report an error in the passage at 42:04 Highlight the passage at 42:04

42:20 She's going to do, next Tuesday will be Becoming Your Own Therapist, so learning to work with your own mind and these kleshas, delusions, mental afflictions, whatever you want to call them. I usually change by the week what I like to call it most, but I like kleshas the best. And then the second one on the 26th that she'll be teaching is Why Me? Report an error in the passage at 42:20 Highlight the passage at 42:20

42:43 And that's all about karma. Which we always forget, and they always ask, why me? Why is this happening to me? So she will cover a lot of base in her class time, I'm sure. And she always leaves lots of time for questions. So if you have a burning question about karma, bring it. Think about what it is and bring it. I've never seen her stumped. Report an error in the passage at 42:43 Highlight the passage at 42:43

43:07 The next couple of Friday night talks in one of the classes on, we're doing the Friday night series on working with negative states of mind. Report an error in the passage at 43:07 Highlight the passage at 43:07

43:20 are we calling it? Working with... There are difficult emotions. Dang, there's so many words. This week will be Attachment in honor of Valentine's Day. I didn't actually plan that at all. I was so amazed last week and I realized it. And Pride, I think, is the one that's coming up after that. And then also Venable Ninja who's doing the one on Attachment the next morning after that, so the Saturday morning. Report an error in the passage at 43:20 Highlight the passage at 43:20

43:46 Just the morning. She's going to give a little talk about, she led the LBP Pilgrimage to Tibet last year and she said it was really powerful and so she's going to just do a morning talk on that and have some slides. So that should be fun too. Report an error in the passage at 43:46 Highlight the passage at 43:46

44:03 So our practice day is the 1st of March and it's a day long. And it usually starts out, for those of you who haven't ever done a practice day before, it really is part of the class. It's a way of integrating everything that we've done in the class. And so we spend the morning in meditation. And then we watch a couple videos, actually, because we're going to combine with the rest of each class, because there are at least some people who are in both classes. Report an error in the passage at 44:03 Highlight the passage at 44:03

44:37 And then, so we'll watch a couple of videos. We'll watch the one on refuge and we'll watch the one on daily practice. And then you guys can do your presentation on something from the class. And I'm going to hand up presentation ideas tonight. This class, I think, has sort of the most fun ideas on it because it's all sort of like how do you take this stuff out into the field, you know, how do you work with it, as well as how do you work with it on the cushion. Report an error in the passage at 44:37 Highlight the passage at 44:37

45:06 How do I formally set up a meditation? So how do I read a meditation too? So you can decide to lead a meditation or you can decide to just talk about something from your class that kind of stuck with you or something that you've tried out. Report an error in the passage at 45:06 Highlight the passage at 45:06

45:20 Or choose one of the ideas. And I'll give you those on a break. Any questions about any of that? Yeah, Alonzo? You had that look in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 45:20 Highlight the passage at 45:20

45:36 You and early March are starting at lessons. I'm sorry. I'll just let you know. Report an error in the passage at 45:36 Highlight the passage at 45:36

45:39 right. Mm-hmm. Exactly. Yeah, that one starts the 6th of March. I'm going to do saṃsāra. Do you want to go ahead and close that? The right-hand side. Report an error in the passage at 45:39 Highlight the passage at 45:39

46:00 Seems to be a lot of months and months wandering about. The first week in March... it. Okay. Cool. Report an error in the passage at 46:00 Highlight the passage at 46:00

45:57 that right, we'll get back in a minute? Report an error in the passage at 45:57 Highlight the passage at 45:57

46:09 There will be a new DB class starting on Tuesday and then one one will teach it and that one will be on developing bodhicitta. And so how to develop this vast, incredible mind that we've talked a little bit about and try to get a taste for. It's actually, there are some definite methods that you use when you meditate on them. I think that will be, I can't remember if it's a seven or eight week class, that will do. Report an error in the passage at 46:09 Highlight the passage at 46:09

46:35 And then on the Thursday of that week, I'll be doing some sara nirvāṇa. And the way, it actually finally came to me when I was gone this weekend, I went down to Bajakana for a couple of days this weekend. And during the course of my own reading, I realized how I was going to teach them, because this is the last one I haven't ever taught before. Report an error in the passage at 46:35 Highlight the passage at 46:35

46:52 So I'm sorry, Nirvāṇa. Last time I think that Sanyupada taught it, actually. So I haven't taught it before, and I haven't been sure I was going to do it, but I decided to do, since the main cause of... Psychic existence are these delusions, these pesky delusions that we have so many of. I decided to, I'm going to actually use the 12 links to go through the 12 links of different origination. Report an error in the passage at 46:52 Highlight the passage at 46:52

47:20 Nothing like setting myself up for failure. And then in the middle of that, take three classes and just go through the main delusions and the antidotes for the main delusions because that's so practical. If I'm suffering from depression, how do I work with it? If I'm suffering from anger, how do I work with it? You know, like really practical stuff. So, I'm going to take three classes in the middle and do that, and the rest of the time go through this wheel of life, so to speak. Report an error in the passage at 47:20 Highlight the passage at 47:20

47:51 The 12 links of depended originations that, horrifyingly, we put into motion with every single part that we create. Which I just got this weekend. And I know I've read it over and over, but it finally went into me how many times we are sending out these links over and over and over again. So that's the way I'm going to teach that one. So it'll have some very practical stuff in there. One thing I wanted to include last week, and I didn't, we sort of ran out of time, was that there are these things that are called preliminary practices. Report an error in the passage at 47:51 Highlight the passage at 47:51

48:28 I think all of the traditions within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition have them, but they differ slightly. Ours, it's a Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 48:28 Highlight the passage at 48:28

48:43 But they differ slightly from tradition to tradition. The Galutas have nine. We have nine different ones. And you hear people sometimes talking about doing 100,000 of this and 100,000 of that. So in our tradition, At this center, we have nine. Normally, you do 100,000 of each. Report an error in the passage at 48:43 Highlight the passage at 48:43

49:08 And so, prostrations is one. Somebody's writing this down here. Prostrations, Vajrasapha, 100,000 of the long mantra of that. Usually takes about three months, I'm actually. Report an error in the passage at 49:08 Highlight the passage at 49:08

49:26 Refuge, Report an error in the passage at 49:26 Highlight the passage at 49:26

49:30 there's a specific practice of refuge that you do. You actually repeat. The refuge, prayer. You could do Nama Gurya and Gururya like that, or you could do Tibetan, or you could do Aka for Refuge. But you do a certain visualization while you're doing that. Report an error in the passage at 49:30 Highlight the passage at 49:30

49:51 Guru Yoga Mantra, Report an error in the passage at 49:51 Highlight the passage at 49:51

49:58 mandala. Report an error in the passage at 49:58 Highlight the passage at 49:58

50:04 Are you building up different mandalas? Water bowls, 100,000 mandalas. I had a friend who tried to do that out loud. The water bowls were freezing before she... Before she'd finish her set. Tzatzas. Tzatzas are those little Buddha images that are usually made of, traditionally they were made of clay. You put them into like a mold and pop them out. Now, Venerable Lama started the Tzatzas studio so then they'd be able to do bright colors and last forever. Report an error in the passage at 50:04 Highlight the passage at 50:04

50:21 I like the breeze. Sup. Report an error in the passage at 50:21 Highlight the passage at 50:21

50:44 They actually became sort of more like works of art. But traditionally you would actually just take mud and stick them into the mold and break them out. And they would actually disintegrate over time, which was also part of the lesson of them, is that they would disintegrate just like we do when they're permanent. Report an error in the passage at 50:44 Highlight the passage at 50:44

51:02 Dorji Kadro, which were any of you? No, none of you guys were here. New Year's Day we did Dorji Kadro at the beach. We did it on the practice day for karma. Yeah, that's true. We did it on the front porch. And we did it last karma class out there too. On New Year's Day we actually went to the beach and that was really fun too, to just do it in a real fire circle together. Report an error in the passage at 51:02 Highlight the passage at 51:02

51:34 And what's called Samaya Vajra or Damsik Dorje in Tibetan Samaya Vajra, that usually is purifying negativities specifically towards your future. in your dharma practice that you can take in balance. Report an error in the passage at 51:34 Highlight the passage at 51:34

51:51 did that one every morning, actually. So the reason why these are called preliminary practices or nindro in Tibetan, nindro if you hear it, is that they are purifying negative, negativities and accumulating merit so that we can then understand the higher teachings and do the higher practices of tantra. Report an error in the passage at 51:51 Highlight the passage at 51:51

52:15 So they're preliminary. the Tantra, as you see what I thought. So usually before you get into doing the higher tantric retreats you're supposed to do, you're familiar practices first. It doesn't always happen, at least not in the Galupa tradition. I think in some lineages they have more of a way of doing it together, like all the students are doing prostrations together. Report an error in the passage at 52:15 Highlight the passage at 52:15

52:41 In our particular, in the FD &T, all of us have sort of different amounts. That's the reason I laughed. When I said, traditionally, you do 100,000 of each, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, if that's who your teacher is, and you ask him to give him your preliminary practices, he will give you what he feels will benefit you. Report an error in the passage at 52:41 Highlight the passage at 52:41

52:59 So, for example, for refuge, I only had 8,000, not 100,000, not 800,000, but 8,000. But then for prostrations, I got 200,000. So there's no set number. Vajra Safa had 140,000. I mean, kind of interesting amounts come out. Some of them water bowls I didn't even get. So just dependent upon your particular karma. Report an error in the passage at 52:59 Highlight the passage at 52:59

53:27 I actually heard of somebody who had, for prostrations, 1.2 million. And he thought he had written it down wrong, you know. So he took it out and he showed it to Venerable Roger, where he showed the tendon. And he said, is this, you know, am I reading this thing? And he said, oh. Report an error in the passage at 53:27 Highlight the passage at 53:27

53:48 No, no, you're reading it right. And this guy, I mean, I don't know, the last I heard of him, he'd tip up every winter and he would go to Bogaya and work on frustrations for a couple of months. It's totally changed his life. He just goes there, I mean, he's very fit. He goes there every winter and just works on them, just does what he can in a couple of months and in return. Report an error in the passage at 53:48 Highlight the passage at 53:48

54:10 So that's how he's getting his one point too. But basically they say that if we try to enter Tantra too quickly, without having done this, we don't become proper vessels for the Tantric practices or for the Tantric teachings to take root. And worse, sometimes then we lose our faith. So we try them, it doesn't seem like they work, so we actually dismiss them and say that they're useless, rather than seeing that it might be us that's not doing them right or that doesn't have the merit yet. Report an error in the passage at 54:10 Highlight the passage at 54:10

54:42 Because we haven't prepared our minds first. And sometimes if you're doing them, like Vajra Safa retreat, I'm used to Vajra Safa being there, Vajra Safa retreat, I actually realize at the end of it, in some ways it's sort of like, it doesn't make any sense. Like you go, I actually went to India to do it, you could do it anywhere. It takes about three months to do 100,000. You do set number of sessions per day, usually four sessions per day is traditional. Report an error in the passage at 54:42 Highlight the passage at 54:42

55:12 You have a certain sadhana that you set up, you have a certain visualization that you try to maintain, you do a certain number of mantras each time, you're counting mantras and all that. And I remember thinking at the end how skillful that was, because if I wasn't doing all those things, I never would have sat for 12 hours a day for three months. I mean, it's kind of like for the doers of the world. Report an error in the passage at 55:12 Highlight the passage at 55:12

55:34 It's perfect, because you're visualizing Vajrasapha, you're saying the mantra, you're memorizing the mantra, you're... Counting the mantras up, you're doing this, this and this and this. It's very do-oriented in a way. But in reality what's happening is your mind is being transformed because you're actually sitting, doing this practice over and over and over again for like 12 hours a day. Report an error in the passage at 55:34 Highlight the passage at 55:34

56:01 And you don't even realize that's happening. You're just like, you're going to do this and adding up the mantras. You're kind of going through and you don't realize that just sitting and visualizing and saying a mantra is purifying. And it's very interesting. I thought afterwards what skillful means they use because if Lama Tsongkhapa had said, I think it would be good for you to do 12 hours a day meditation for three months, I would have been like, you know. Report an error in the passage at 56:01 Highlight the passage at 56:01

56:28 But this I could sign up for. I was like, oh, okay, cool. Yeah, that sounds all right. So, I don't know, I don't quite get how they all work, but they all are about transforming your mind. So, making satsas isn't an art project, you know, it's all about transforming your mind. And actually, Karen could probably tell you a little bit about working with satsas. Water bowls seems like it's an external project, but you are working on your mind. Report an error in the passage at 56:28 Highlight the passage at 56:28

56:55 How closely you have them together, how full you have them, and how... Neatly you pour them, how mindfully you do it. It's all about your mind. It looks like you're doing something external to you, but it's all about working with your mind. And so all of these are readying your mind for higher teachings. It's a very interesting one of those. So what I thought I would do with the class tonight is just go through what we've learned and how it might look in a whole day. Report an error in the passage at 56:55 Highlight the passage at 56:55

57:25 Applying it from the moment that you go to bed at night. And then how you get up and how you go to work and how you kind of live your day doing all these different things. Report an error in the passage at 57:25 Highlight the passage at 57:25

57:38 So, I mean, hopefully what you're getting out of this class is that daily practice isn't just sitting on a cushion in full meditation posture and formally sitting. It's really basically everything you do throughout the day and how you're working with your mind. And you change it. You have to spice it up a little bit, right? Because sometimes techniques will work for a while and then they don't anymore. So then you have to notice that when it doesn't work. Report an error in the passage at 57:38 Highlight the passage at 57:38

58:04 And add new ones and change it up. Change those quotes on the walls periodically, you know. Change the meditations you're doing. Change whatever prayers you're doing. You know, like really spice up. Change your altar. And so on. So basically, it's whatever happens to us due to our karma. Because according to the Buddha, everything that happens to us is doing our karma. This gives us a way to navigate it and figure it all out. So our daily practice is sort of like how we wind our way through everything that happens to us according to our karma. Report an error in the passage at 58:04 Highlight the passage at 58:04

58:39 Because that's the only way we're going to change how we're going to create a more positive karma. Report an error in the passage at 58:39 Highlight the passage at 58:39

58:48 So when we go to sleep at night... You remember some of the techniques that we talked about, where we try to lie on the right side, if we can, in the position that the Buddha lay in when he actually passed away. Remembering, you could actually think about, you know, he had his hand under his head. Or you could imagine yourself lying with your head in the lap of your teacher or any of the Buddhas that you relate to. Report an error in the passage at 58:48 Highlight the passage at 58:48

59:19 Chenresa, the Avalu, the Shvara, or the Vajrasapa. Report an error in the passage at 59:19 Highlight the passage at 59:19

59:28 I just thought it would have been an appropriate comment, but I'll tell you later. So you go to bed with that in your mind, you might even think about this is the way that the Buddha actually passed from this life. And that he actually used his dying moments to teach us. Yes. Keri Sancho Rinpoche did the same. Rupi Rinpoche did the same. Rupi Rinpoche did the same. Lama Yeshe did the same. Report an error in the passage at 59:28 Highlight the passage at 59:28

59:51 Using their dying moments to continue to teach your students, it's actually pretty powerful when you think about it. So the Buddha did this, he chose to use his dying moments to show his students that nothing was permanent, nothing lasted for them. And so actually at the end of your day you could think, well that day is, this day is done, this day is gone. And Vena Ravina often will actually say that with deep feelings, she will say, oh this day is gone, this day is gone forever. Report an error in the passage at 59:51 Highlight the passage at 59:51

1:00:25 I can't get it back even if I want to. Because I think she really has. It feels Report an error in the passage at 1:00:25 Highlight the passage at 1:00:25

1:00:32 like another day closer to death. So you can think about that. And then, you know, when you wake up in the morning to think about why is it that we get up? Why is it that we're getting out of bed in the morning? The first thing usually that we're thinking about is something for me, right? I've got to get a cup of tea or a cup of coffee or some food or get a shower or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:32 Highlight the passage at 1:00:32

1:01:00 usually you just kind of mindlessly cry. Crawling out of bed and into the bathroom, hopefully walking out of bed, sometimes crawling. So instead, maybe taking a moment, I mean, Lama Zopa Rinpoche actually had this really long thing, so I cut it down a little bit, but he said, actually think, you know, you could have died last night. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:00 Highlight the passage at 1:01:00

1:01:25 There were a lot of people that actually did, a lot of people didn't make it through. I was actually just reading this book while I was gone. on grieving and And this woman was talking about how her daughter was 25 and she had heart attack and died. And I mean, that wasn't even the point of the story. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:25 Highlight the passage at 1:01:25

1:01:44 The point was it was her own grieving. I was like really stuck on that one. I was like, wow. Well, we just keep thinking that we have forever. So just to think when you wake up in the morning, wow, how amazing. I mean, Lama Tsongkhapa Rinpoche says actually, How extremely, all caps, how extremely lucky I am not to have died yet. And to really, really try to feel that, honestly, that so many people did. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:44 Highlight the passage at 1:01:44

1:02:09 So many people won't make it through tonight. And they don't even know it. It's not like people that are in the hospital or something. It's just simply people who are just going to bed and not waking up. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:09 Highlight the passage at 1:02:09

1:02:20 So really to try to think. That today I am so lucky because everything's still in place. You know, you wake up, still got the human body. Okay, cool. You know, wait, I'm still in the same room. Everything's still the same. I have these great conditions. I have this precious human rebirth. I still have this amazing opportunity to put this stuff into practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:20 Highlight the passage at 1:02:20

1:02:44 You know, just to kind of rev yourself up a little bit that, you know, wow, I have... I have this amazing day out of me, I can put all this stuff into practice. And to give yourself a couple moments to think about why it is that you're leaping out of bed, and to literally leap out of bed with that kind of thought in mind, like to kind of give yourself the juice to do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:44 Highlight the passage at 1:02:44

1:03:07 Because they say that this going to sleep and then waking up, it's very similar to the process that we go through, the dying process, the dying, bardo and rebirth process. And in fact, our mind does the same thing in terms of getting more subtle and then getting grosser. And so to remember that, to remember that we've just gone through that, even though we weren't aware of it, even though we weren't able to stay quite alert to it, to really just try to remember, to train our mind that we have this day to try to remember all the good things that we have that we can do to kind of rise up with that fresh opportunity in our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:07 Highlight the passage at 1:03:07

1:03:52 And then... So then there's the yoga of work, you know, then we get up and we, well actually I suppose we should actually do the yoga of practice. Do the yoga of practice first when we're sitting down in our altar and we, you know, arranging our altar, doing those six preliminary practices that we talked about, preparing the place, preparing the mind, preparing, you know, sitting in as much of the posture as we can, doing the... Report an error in the passage at 1:03:52 Highlight the passage at 1:03:52

1:04:22 Prayers that will remind us of the situation that we're in and also that kind of ripen our mind for the practices that we're doing. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:22 Highlight the passage at 1:04:22

1:04:32 And so we start with this, you know, preliminary motivation while we're still on the bed, but then when we're setting up the altar, we do, you know, if we want to do frustrations at that point, we can do other frustrations. At least do three. At least try to do three. At least do this. Depending on how tired you are. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:32 Highlight the passage at 1:04:32

1:04:53 Remembering that this counts as a prostration. You can do any of the meditations that we've done in here. You can do the Shakyamuni Buddha practice that we did in here. You can add a little concentration meditation either at the beginning when you're just concentrating on your breath or at the end when Shakyamuni Buddha absorbs into you. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:53 Highlight the passage at 1:04:53

1:05:19 You just take that little extra moment to just... Meditate on that union, like we did at the end of the Vajrasattva tonight, where we just held it for a moment, just really trying to feel that union between the holy bodhicitta mind of the Buddha and our own. They say that's really, really important to try to hold. And that can be a great object for concentration meditation, even if it's for 30 seconds. It doesn't have to be a really long amount of time. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:19 Highlight the passage at 1:05:19

1:05:46 To do it every day for 30 seconds is better than... Once a week sitting and trying for 10 minutes, if you haven't done it any other time. Of course it's better to do it 10 minutes every day. I'm trying to make it doable. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:46 Highlight the passage at 1:05:46

1:06:03 So to hold anything that you would like to include for your concentration and meditation, but this is just an idea of your breath or that union, or maybe just holding the image of the Buddha himself for one minute, two minutes, five minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:03 Highlight the passage at 1:06:03

1:06:22 And again, when you're doing the preliminary practices or the preparatory practices to try to remember what those words all mean. So if you're thinking about refuge, thinking about how you're getting to that thought, like the way we're thinking about tonight, that I go for refuge understanding the situation that I'm in, that my delusions, my deluded mind, my crazy deluded mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:22 Highlight the passage at 1:06:22

1:06:49 It gets me into trouble time and time again, and yet I just follow it without even attempting. Even me, I'm like studying that stuff, I'm teaching you guys, and I catch myself, you know, like I was telling Ev, I catch myself, you can see your mind, you know, which is the good stuff, I suppose. You see your mind going into this crazy direction, and you know, a couple times you can catch it, but not all the time. And that's how we've stayed in saṃsāra for a lifetime, after a lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:49 Highlight the passage at 1:06:49

1:07:14 It's just going. Crazy, following that crazy mind and acting on it and saying things that we regret later. Hopefully, you know, hitting somebody, stealing something, deciding to act on greed, acting out with our body, speech and mind just based on these negative states of harmful mind that we just keep churning out and then following and then believing. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:14 Highlight the passage at 1:07:14

1:07:38 Time after time again. So really getting at that that's the true cause of this situation. That is the true cause of my own suffering. Karma simply comes from it. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:38 Highlight the passage at 1:07:38

1:07:50 And the reason we go for refuge is getting that and realizing that there's something better. That the Buddha's figured out a way to get out and they have the methods. They can't do the work for us, but they can show us the method. So really trying to remember that when you sit down and go for refuge. So that it doesn't just become... Report an error in the passage at 1:07:50 Highlight the passage at 1:07:50

1:08:13 Next. Really trying to liven it up. Because if it becomes real for you, it'll spur you on to do more than just those empty words. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:13 Highlight the passage at 1:08:13

1:08:27 Again, thinking about bodhicitta then. So if we take refuge in the Buddha, understanding all that. Generating bodhicitta is getting it that all other sentient beings, not just people, not just animals, not just insects, but spirit beings, beings we can't see as well, that there are literally trillions of beings suffering right now in the world, often the ways we can't even imagine. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:27 Highlight the passage at 1:08:27

1:09:01 So if that just feels like too big, just imagine a few that you know about, people that you know who are in pain right now. People that you just saw on TV, people that you know about in the news. And the worst of it is that they don't have this information about karma and emptiness. They don't get how that works. So if I get frustrated with myself for not acting on this information, they don't even have the information. They don't even have any kind of method. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:01 Highlight the passage at 1:09:01

1:09:30 They don't even know that there's a way out. Sometimes that suffering is just from the moment of birth until death. And never break. I mean, I can't even imagine that kind of suffering in humans. It's not even like you have to go outside of our own species, you know. Babies are born starving and are starving their entire life without any understanding of that suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:30 Highlight the passage at 1:09:30

1:09:51 No understanding. So to really then try to generate this mind of bodhicitta is really feeling like that's unbearable. I have to do something with this life. I have to do something with my mind. I have this amazing opportunity. I can make a difference. Trusting that you can. Which is hard, because it doesn't feel like you can, especially if you're a lousy meditator, which is something I hope it gets a lot. But they say that even attempting to have this mind of bodhicitta is enormous. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:51 Highlight the passage at 1:09:51

1:10:20 I mean, it's huge to even aspire to have this mind of bodhicitta. And we can't ever attain the mind of bodhicitta without having this aspiration to have the mind of bodhicitta. So it just, slowly, slowly, you know. And you begin to do it with how you sit down and how you think about your prayers. And it really is like that. That's how you begin. The person who wrote the text for the Vashya Sattva technique method that we did at the beginning of the class was going to be in it. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:20 Highlight the passage at 1:10:20

1:10:49 And I feel like her voice comes through it very strongly. But when she says really clearly that in order to turn it around, you absolutely have to do this power of resolve. And it says really clearly, Report an error in the passage at 1:10:49 Highlight the passage at 1:10:49

1:11:06 You have to, you know, vow, you know, as strongly as you can. This determination not to do it again is what gives us the strength to turn ourselves around. This is really, it really is within our own mind, deciding, I'm not going to follow this old habit that I've been doing for a lifetime after a lifetime, even just in this lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:06 Highlight the passage at 1:11:06

1:11:26 I'm not going to follow this stuff anymore. And if I catch myself doing it, I'm not going to, I'm just going to do relentless, search and destroy. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:26 Highlight the passage at 1:11:26

1:11:34 Get rid of them! You tell I've had a couple days, okay? So, I mean, it should be pretty juicy. Your morning practice should be pretty lively in terms of that. Like, if you're trying to cultivate these minds of refuge and bodhicitta, bodhicitta should make you feel courageous. It should make you feel pretty brave, because that's what you're deciding that's not enough to take on your own delusion. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:34 Highlight the passage at 1:11:34

1:12:03 Now you want to help all beings. I mean, it's almost insane. But it's insane in a better way than we've been insane our whole life. So the Buddha is saying, well, try out this insanity for a while. Because this other way didn't really help you very much, so try this way. And Lama Tsongkhapa is always saying, I will do it by myself alone. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:03 Highlight the passage at 1:12:03

1:12:27 It doesn't matter who else, if all my Dharma friends drop out. Dharma Center closes or I will still do this and I will do it. I'll take it. As long as it takes, I'll still do it. Really kind of develop that strong mind. And then as you do all of your prayers, really thinking again about what the words mean. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:27 Highlight the passage at 1:12:27

1:12:45 If you do the seven limb prayer, it's better if you can memorize it so you can just do it in your head. You don't need the words, you know. But sometimes it helps to memorize a version of it first so that you can bring it to mind, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:45 Highlight the passage at 1:12:45

1:13:00 But really bringing to mind what the images are, you know, if I'm bowing down, what am I bowing down to? What's a prostration? Prostration means, like I always say at the beginning of the class, I'm aspiring for that quality, I'm admiring that quality, I'm respecting that quality, that's both of those things. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:00 Highlight the passage at 1:13:00

1:13:20 So whatever, so I've got to think of a quality first, right? If I'm bowing down, what am I bowing down to? So I imagine my teacher there, Hora Buddha, And I bow down to some quality that they have. Maybe the fact that their speech is never meaningless. We were talking about meaningless speech earlier, which is the hardest one, I think. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:20 Highlight the passage at 1:13:20

1:13:43 Maybe think about the fact that their speech only benefits. Like, only benefits. Everything out of their mouth benefits. It's kind of an amazing thought. Maybe you're bowing down to that because that's the quality that you want to have. Or maybe it's just the infinite patience that they have with us. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:43 Highlight the passage at 1:13:43

1:14:01 When they see it's trying and then failing and then trying and then getting discouraged and then giving up for a while and then trying again. And they just never get discouraged. So maybe that's it. It could be whatever it is. Maybe it's their infinite wisdom. Then bowing down to that but with that thought, I want what you have. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:01 Highlight the passage at 1:14:01

1:14:21 And then the second one, what would I give for that? Because that's how you're going to decide what your offerings are. Because if it's something like infinite compassion... How can you just give them a ho-ho, you know? I mean, it's got to be skies full of something to even match limitless compassion or limitless wisdom or limitless patience, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:21 Highlight the passage at 1:14:21

1:14:42 It's got to be like clouds filled with light offerings or, you know, imagining, you know, just the most incredible things that you can imagine. So clouds filled with flowers of all varieties or, you know, skies filled with light or, you know, whatever. I like to imagine fireworks sometimes, just because they're so huge and constant and changing. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:42 Highlight the passage at 1:14:42

1:15:07 But, so you're thinking, like, what would I give to have that quality? So it has to be just as fast. And it also helps your mind and heart kind of open up. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:07 Highlight the passage at 1:15:07

1:15:19 And so then you confess something small, doing just that thought of regret, understanding how it works. That's confession. And then rejoice. this stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:19 Highlight the passage at 1:15:19

1:15:29 And I think it's really important to always include, we do a lot of purification and you don't want to forget your rejoicing. You want to start your day with rejoicing and you want to end your day with rejoicing. So we were just talking with the self-evaluation techniques. We do a lot of thought of kind of how did I, how many times did I screw up today? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:29 Highlight the passage at 1:15:29

1:15:49 Which is great. We've got to look at how we screw it up. We won't know how to change it. But if we just do that all the time, it's just kind of like me a couple, me a couple. So I might as well just start whipping ourselves. So we've got to balance it with rejoicing, you know. Hey, I sat down, I tried to meditate, I went to class, I was tired, I was sick, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:49 Highlight the passage at 1:15:49

1:16:09 Karen's got one. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:09 Highlight the passage at 1:16:09

1:16:13 You know, I tried not to yell when I got angry at work. I went to the bathroom, calmed down. I knocked over the coffee. I tried Chokyi's technique of knocking over the coffee when I got really upset. It drew attention and dissipated that feeling in the room. So whatever it is, it can just be something tiny or it could be something big. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:13 Highlight the passage at 1:16:13

1:16:34 Maybe you did something really huge. Maybe you just put aside all of your own plans and sat with somebody who was really upset. That could be something you could rejoice in. Really to allow yourself some space to rejoice over the changes that you're making in your life. Because you're doing a lot, especially the harder, that Arbina is always saying, the harder something is. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:34 Highlight the passage at 1:16:34

1:16:54 That's the more, that's much more merit. You know, so for people that's really easy to leap out of bed at, you know, 4.30 and meditate for seven, it's not as much merit for them as it is for the rest of us. That's the good news. So, really to rejoice that you did it anyway. You got it at whatever time and you sat for whatever amount of time and you did it even though you knew you had to go to work and you just did it anyway. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:54 Highlight the passage at 1:16:54

1:17:19 You did it. You kind of made yourself do it. They say that the harder it is, the more merit you gain. So then be really happy about that. You get even more merit just rejoicing. It's actually kind of cool. And then asking the Buddha or your teacher to stay. And this one, it helps if it's your teacher because you have sort of a more personal relationship. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:19 Highlight the passage at 1:17:19

1:17:45 Although some of us do. With certain other leaders as well. But sometimes you can just think about somebody like His Holiness. Maybe you haven't been fortunate enough to receive a lot of teachings, but we have to know that His time with us is limited. I mean, He's 72. He'll be 73 this year. He won't last forever. And every time I remember that, I just burst into tears. I hope I don't do that here. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:45 Highlight the passage at 1:17:45

1:18:06 But just to realize everything He does is for others. From the moment He gets up in the morning. until the moment he goes to bed at night and he gets up at 3.30, wherever he is on the planet, and does like four hours of practice. This is like somebody who probably needs it less than anybody else. So just thinking about somebody like that and then just in your heart wishing and asking them to stay, requesting them to stay. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:06 Highlight the passage at 1:18:06

1:18:40 Because they really say that's really what allows them to stay. We need to request. They don't just do it on their own. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:40 Highlight the passage at 1:18:40

1:18:50 And then asking them for teachings. And so, again, those teachings can come in any form. So really remembering that it doesn't have to be, you know, teachings on a high throne and you're sitting, you know, in a formal chair or something like that. It can be a guy who gets the promotion. It can be a guy on the bus who's going out of control. It can be somebody you meet at the cafe. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:50 Highlight the passage at 1:18:50

1:19:16 Like a teaching can come in any form. And so open your heart up to the fact that it can come in any form just to stay open to, you know, that it can show up in any form. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:16 Highlight the passage at 1:19:16

1:19:30 So it's really, really important to try to make these words mean something to us. So I know I went through that really fast, but hopefully I've done it a few times in here. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:30 Highlight the passage at 1:19:30

1:19:42 That you'll know what I mean. So it's like you look at the words in the paper and then you try to breathe life into them. What does that mean to me? You know, when we do the heartfelt request, and we talked about that, what does that mean to you? You know, to be praying, to not have these obstacles in your mind any longer, to not have any, you know, whatever your personal obstacle is, whether it's laziness or whether it's... Report an error in the passage at 1:19:42 Highlight the passage at 1:19:42

1:20:08 it's doubt, or whether it's fear, or whether, you know, whatever it is that's blocking you at this moment, which could be different tomorrow, right? Could be different by lunchtime. imagine yourself really, a heartfelt request means really from the depth of your heart asking to remove these obstacles and help you. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:08 Highlight the passage at 1:20:08

1:20:29 I mean heartfelt request is really as... As I said, imagine yourself at their feet, begging them. It's really quite dramatic. And then, I mean, that's all the setup for your Lama meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:29 Highlight the passage at 1:20:29

1:20:51 You haven't even gotten there. I can usually do that part. I timed myself. I can usually do this in like seven minutes. I mean, it doesn't have to be long. I'm explaining it in what you're thinking, but you can do it all really quickly. I mean, it's like five or seven minutes. You know? Um. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:51 Highlight the passage at 1:20:51

1:21:06 To just go through Refuge bodhicitta, the seven-month prayer, the four immeasurables, which I didn't even add in there, and the heartfelt request. I can do all of that in my life. So, and it still means something to me. Like I really am imagining myself, you know, I do imagine myself on the feet, you know, at their feet, at Ricochet's feet, you know, begging them. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:06 Highlight the passage at 1:21:06

1:21:31 But I just do it quickly. I'm like up again really quickly. So then you get to the lamrim meditation, or you might start with something on the breath to calm your mind a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:31 Highlight the passage at 1:21:31

1:21:47 But the lamrim meditation, I think at this point in our practice is what's really going to change our minds. So there are quite a few, I mean the whole of discovering Buddhism is lamrim. Every class is talking about a different, different topic in the whole graduated path to enlightenment. And so there are many, many, many Lama Meditations to do. And you could just start at the beginning and go, you know, the way we did it with using the foundation of all good qualities, you stop at a verse and you meditate using as much information as you have. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:47 Highlight the passage at 1:21:47

1:22:26 The longer that you're doing this, the more information you have to feed into it. Or you could just say, you know, I only have ten minutes this morning, and so I'm just going to meditate on some aspect of precious human nature, or death and affirmative. But you want to do, remembering that with long rimmed meditation and lytical meditation, you're taking, you're going into a subject, and when you get that moment of, aha, oh my God, I am going to die, whatever it is, then you stop. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:26 Highlight the passage at 1:22:26

1:22:59 And that's where you apply your concentration meditation. And you try to hold that. So any kind of moment of, wow, I have these amazing conditions to practice, or whatever it is. Like anything that just kind of grabs you. Don't just keep going, you know. Don't just keep reading your notes or, you know, get out another book or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:59 Highlight the passage at 1:22:59

1:23:20 Like stop and let your mind just sit. It might be just ten seconds before your mind has already gone off. But hold it for that ten seconds. Because the longer you hold it, the more likely that's going to seep into your mind. And that's how we, those are insights, and we gain realizations based on those insights. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:20 Highlight the passage at 1:23:20

1:23:40 So they may not last forever, like you may forget it again by lunchtime. But that, when you get off the cushion, you'll be like, wow, that was great. And then, you know, you go out and scream at the cab driver. But the reality is the more of those you have, the more that your mind begins to change. It really does subtly cut through sort of the crap that was going on in there. And you can read for more. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:40 Highlight the passage at 1:23:40

1:24:07 I mean, I'm happy to talk with you if you want to have more ideas on how to do the different Lama meditations. All of the Discovering Buddhism classes that you do, you'll get more and more meditations. And so if you've done several other classes, any of the homework assignments really would count as a Lama meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:07 Highlight the passage at 1:24:07

1:24:25 You can also read Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand or Liberation in Your Hands. And they actually do give, there is a section on that one, How to Meditate on the Long Room. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:25 Highlight the passage at 1:24:25

1:24:39 And it's, I can't remember which day it is. I think it actually is the one that we did for this class, whatever day it is, is it 10 through 12 or something like that? Anyway. He actually gives really detailed instructions on how to meditate on the different topics. But I think the more that you read and think and listen, you know, go to different classes, talk to other students, see articles by people, like something will come to you that you'll think, oh, this would be actually really great for me to think about when I'm thinking about definite permits, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:39 Highlight the passage at 1:24:39

1:25:19 Something will hit you while you're watching the news. It sounds odd, but it's sort of like just things that happen to you in your day time, in your regular, you know, your other life, your time off the cushion, will hit you and that's the kind of stuff that's going to make much more sense to you than some detailed instruction from me. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:19 Highlight the passage at 1:25:19

1:25:42 You know what I mean? Like, some thinking about the people, for me, For example, when I was working with Deaf and Impermanence, Lama Zopa Rinpoche told me to work with Deaf and Impermanence. Every day, he said, during my first solar retreat, and that wasn't the point of my retreat, it was a daily retreat. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:42 Highlight the passage at 1:25:42

1:26:04 And I just started really thinking about, especially the second point of the three points in this really standard meditation that you do, where you're thinking about the fact that... That death is certain, but the time of death is uncertain. That time of death being uncertain is what I decided to really focus on. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:04 Highlight the passage at 1:26:04

1:26:27 So I just thought about all the people, and I actually know quite a few people who love death. I started thinking about how all of those people that I personally knew, didn't know they were going to die on the day that they died. And that's really common. And it sort of began to extrapolate out. That means much more to me than reading something like an awkward ship. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:27 Highlight the passage at 1:26:27

1:26:47 Thinking about what was in my dad's mind the day that he died is going to make much more of an impact on my mind than something that some guy said in 1921 in Tibet. I mean, I'm sure what he said was really great and really profound and might help feed into this understanding, but it's going to make much more sense to me to think about my friend dying in a car accident, you know, than... Report an error in the passage at 1:26:47 Highlight the passage at 1:26:47

1:27:18 The instructions from some Lama who lived a billion years ago. So that's how you're going to make it come alive, is really thinking about how does this mean something to me? How am I going to think about this so that it's going to have some profound effect on me? So really trying to personalize everything. So even when you're reading one of the meditations that I gave you, really think of examples from your own life, because that's what's going to happen with that. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:18 Highlight the passage at 1:27:18

1:27:50 And so, and actually what His Holiness was saying, I was just reading, I'm reading Healing Anger right now, which after I told everyone to read Healing Anger, I thought I should really get everyone to reading it myself. He says, His Holiness says that when you're doing analytical meditation, you could take the role of like debating something, so that you're like two sides of something. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:50 Highlight the passage at 1:27:50

1:28:13 So you can actually use your own doubt, if you have like some doubt about how karma works or something. Then use that to probe deeper. You could be the devil's advocate. And then try to understand something by using your own doubt to kind of debate something out with yourself, using it to work something out. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:13 Highlight the passage at 1:28:13

1:28:37 They say that some of the best practitioners actually began as doubters. Gezel Jay, who I believe, I think he's the one of the... the right, our right as we face it up, the guy with the crazy eyes. Lama Tsongkhapa's lineage holder, actually a chief disciple, when he first went, he was really rebellious, he actually wore a hat the whole time, which you're never supposed to do in the teaching. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:37 Highlight the passage at 1:28:37

1:29:04 He didn't think Lama Tsongkhapa was so amazing. And he sat on a seat higher than Lama Tsongkhapa as he taught. And then by the end he got off the seat and got down lower and took off the hat and began to cross their knees and then asked him if he could become his disciple. So he came with a lot of doubt and then he convinced himself for a reason. So it's really fine to have doubt as long as you work with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:04 Highlight the passage at 1:29:04

1:29:32 Don't just slam the door, just try to work with your doubt. They actually say it's really better to test the teachings like we would. Like the way we test a computer, you know. We test things before we buy them, right? So it's the same with these teachings. So, then, okay, so we have the, we've done all of our preliminary practices, we've done some form of concentration meditation, we've done long-rim meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:32 Highlight the passage at 1:29:32

1:30:02 Then Lama Zopa Rinpoche says to meditate on emptiness, even if it's, again, for 30 seconds, to just remember at the end that, Report an error in the passage at 1:30:02 Highlight the passage at 1:30:02

1:30:13 None of this exists the way I think it does. And the most important one is, where is this I who I think exists the way it appears to exist? Who is this I who is meditating so hard? Who is this I who is so worried this morning? This I doesn't exist in this way at all. And just to hold that for 10 seconds is huge. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:13 Highlight the passage at 1:30:13

1:30:41 You know, it just begins to break down, saṃsāra. And then you just dedicate. And then you leap up and you put on your long-room glasses and you try to go through the day, you know, doing your work yoga, going through the day as it appears, you know, getting to work, being at work and watching your mind throughout that using the same... Report an error in the passage at 1:30:41 Highlight the passage at 1:30:41

1:31:10 So try to remember karma whenever we can, which may not be very often, but maybe it will be once. That's huge. That's better than never. So then to be kind to yourself, not to get really upset by it. If things happen to you and you actually can remember that it's due to your karma that these things are happening, that's enormous. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:10 Highlight the passage at 1:31:10

1:31:33 That's enormous. Or even if you're able to see yourself getting angry but you're not able to stop yourself, that's still enormous. That's still amazing because for lifetimes we've just gotten angry and created feuds and wars and everything else and we haven't been able to ever stop it. So just beginning to at least watch how your mind is working and understanding the mechanics of it is enormous. So trying to bring that into your work yoga and thinking about that. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:33 Highlight the passage at 1:31:33

1:32:01 And you can also, as you go into your job, really try to set your motivation to be able to benefit others. To think I'm going into this job, no matter what the job is, to benefit others. Whether it's through really working with my mind today, or whether it's through benefiting people in the short term. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:01 Highlight the passage at 1:32:01

1:32:23 Maybe I'm a waitress and I'm making them happy today. That's still benefiting though. Whether it's through me being able to... Make enough money so that I can go and do retreat. You know, it could be in any number of ways, but it could still be a really valid thing that I'm using whatever is happening today to benefit others. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:23 Highlight the passage at 1:32:23

1:32:49 And also remember Lama Zopa Rinpoche's advice to try to see everything as an appearance and not giving it all that weight, that concreteness that we always do to try to see it almost as You know, like I saw a dream, you know, or it's an illusion. To actually try to do that for even one tiny part of the day. And maybe if you can't do that at work, imagine doing it as you're driving to work. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:49 Highlight the passage at 1:32:49

1:33:16 We can still get angry on our way to work, right? We can still see things as really solid and concrete and that I'm the victim, even before we've gotten to work. You know, we've just gotten in the car and we've become the victim. Also imagining that everything that is happening is a reflection of my own mind is another way to turn things into a practice. They say that if we don't have the seeds of something in our mind that we wouldn't even see it. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:16 Highlight the passage at 1:33:16

1:33:42 So we wouldn't even see the criticizing, we wouldn't have the experience of the criticizing co-worker or we wouldn't have the experience of the gossiping co-worker or the angry co-worker if we didn't have seeds of that in our own mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:42 Highlight the passage at 1:33:42

1:33:58 Doing it for lunch during the yoga of eating, you know, remembering to transform what you're eating into something that's not ordinary, that's nectar, that's pure and vast and offering it to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas and imagining it being blessed as you eat it, like blessing going in and filling your body. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:58 Highlight the passage at 1:33:58

1:34:17 That can take one second. One of my teachers used to be, was a businessman actually, and he would say, he would have these business lunches and he would... He would have a fork full of food and he would just, while, you know, somebody would be talking and he would just, in his mind, he'd be offering it and he'd be sending it out to other Buddhas and they'd come back and then just stick it in stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:17 Highlight the passage at 1:34:17

1:34:38 And they never knew. It wasn't like he did this whole holy thing where he, like, you know, was doing this whole, he did the whole thing with his eyes open and he was just like, you know, like, but in his mind he was sending it out and bringing it back and it was blessed and then he ate it and he was like totally blissed and they never had an idea of what was happening. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:38 Highlight the passage at 1:34:38

1:34:57 So you can do all of this very secretly. Nobody has to know what you're doing. And then you come home and you do some sort of evening thought of how your day has gone, how close you've been to trying to attain the minds that you wanted to attain that morning, how close you came to the morning motivations, how far away and then purifying them. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:57 Highlight the passage at 1:34:57

1:35:21 Understanding that you can purify anything, setting your intention, just deciding what are the three... What are the best things I did today? What are the three worst things I did today? Remembering to rejoice and remembering to purify. And then again, just going to sleep and either having your head in the lap of the Buddha or maybe doing some mantras or reading something that's kind of positive, putting your mind in a really positive state with that thought that you can leap up again the next morning. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:21 Highlight the passage at 1:35:21

1:35:56 If you should be so fortunate and not die during that time. A lot of times people get freaked out when they talk about death in the Buddhist tradition. And the reason is, of course, that people do die. And often in the West, especially, we don't even think about the fact that we could die. So we're really shocked by it. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:56 Highlight the passage at 1:35:56

1:36:13 So sometimes we talk about it a little too much. And even the non-Buddhist co-workers here are always kind of freaked out. I'm like, well... You know, I've trained two people how to do the sound in case one should die every weekend. It's just like, you've got to be ready for it. So I apologize if it freaks people out. Anyway, the point is, is that you may be starting to get it, but daily practice actually never ends. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:13 Highlight the passage at 1:36:13

1:36:41 It just keeps going. And you do better at it on some days than others. And the whole point is to just keep coming up with ways that work for you, like trying to have your sitting practice support your daily life and your daily life support your sitting practice so that they're just, they're integrated. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:41 Highlight the passage at 1:36:41

1:37:01 So it's not something really separate, you know, that your sitting practice isn't some holy time that has absolutely nothing to do with your waking reality and your time at work is completely divorced from your time on the cushion. The two should be really working. And it's all about, I mean, if you think about what the real meaning of practice is, it really is all about changing your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:01 Highlight the passage at 1:37:01

1:37:29 So any way that you can do that is, it's incredible. Whether it's, you know, some new practice or some new visualization or simply just sitting down and thinking about, how did my day go? I didn't really like the way this thing happened. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:29 Highlight the passage at 1:37:29

1:37:47 Why? So it's not like I'm a horrible person. It's more like my mind did this. I, you know, did this in just following it blindly, you know, which is often what we do. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:47 Highlight the passage at 1:37:47

1:38:00 And analyzing it, breaking it down, seeing it as simply components that this human mind did and this human body followed. And like, you know, therefore having compassion for yourself and all beings. Everyone's doing the same thing. You're no different, you know. You're just simply looking at it for the first time. And that might be your daily practice. To do that in the morning and to do that at night is totally fine. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:00 Highlight the passage at 1:38:00

1:38:25 And that's a daily practice. And you can do everything in between, you know, differing amounts, and also depending upon time. One of the reasons I think that, I mean, as somebody said once, once you meet Tibetan Buddhism, you're never bored again. I think part of the reasoning is, Is that we waste so much of our time just spacing out or, you know, distracting. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:25 Highlight the passage at 1:38:25

1:38:56 And so the Lamas and all of their kindness have come up with all of these ways to help us use our mind more effectively, even as we're living ordinary lives and going to work, going to school, having relationships, you know, living in apartments, you know, like none of us have to. Go off and do a long-term retreat for any of this stuff to work. We can use every single moment of every day to transform our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:56 Highlight the passage at 1:38:56

1:39:25 It doesn't have to be huge, weird retreats. That being said, I did want to mention how important it is to do retreat. Retreat just means pulling out of your regular ordinary life and spending more time doing A little more of the formal practice. That's really all retreat means. Whether it's just deciding that Sunday I'm going to lock the door, turn off the phones and turn off the computer and just, you know, read and study a little bit more while I'm going to do a little bit more meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:25 Highlight the passage at 1:39:25

1:40:04 That can be a retreat. Or going down, you know, Vajjapani and L &B do some short retreats as well. They do like two, three, four day retreats too. It's not all three week retreats. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:04 Highlight the passage at 1:40:04

1:40:17 Just to get a taste of what formal retreat is like. I think it is nice at first, especially to go and be led, you know, where you don't have to think about how it all works. You just show up. And somebody... Guides you and they'll help you with how to set things up and you really figure out how retreat is done. I think I am one of those people that doesn't think that retreat is solely a blissful experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:17 Highlight the passage at 1:40:17

1:40:49 It's difficult. It's hard work. You're cutting out all the distractions and you're forcing yourself to really just look at your mind and that can be really hard work and it can also be kind of yucky. If you don't like what's there. I always said retreat would be really easy if you could just leave your mind at the door, but unfortunately you do have to bring it along. But I have never found anything that, except maybe working in a Dharma center, that can take you to the same level of practice as quickly as retreat. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:49 Highlight the passage at 1:40:49

1:41:27 It's like you take away all of the ways that we normally keep ourselves from doing any kind of serious work. And it's hard, but then you really see, you see the results, you know, just in that amount of time. So even if you're just doing it for a day or a weekend, and then gradually extending it and trying longer retreats, and then trying a week with Better More Than A, try... Report an error in the passage at 1:41:27 Highlight the passage at 1:41:27

1:41:54 Even setting up your own, after you've done a shorter retreat with another teacher, set up your own retreat for three days, four days. I can help you do that. I can help you figure out what would be good to meditate on and how to set that up. It's really, really, really powerful to do and I highly recommend it. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:54 Highlight the passage at 1:41:54

1:42:13 It's wonderful to say that our daily practices, all of our waking hours and our... Our job and our relationships and our housemates and living in the city, and it is, but there are times that we really need to go deeper, and for that we need the formal structure of retreat, and I highly recommend it. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:13 Highlight the passage at 1:42:13

1:42:34 I mean, we'll never ever regret it, even if at the time you don't believe me and curse my name. But, you know, it can be very full-on, but it is amazing work. And there's nothing more satisfying than working on your own mind. Really, I mean, it's just incredible. The other thing is to think about that there are other ways that you can strengthen your practice, and that might be doing yoga, which might allow you to sit for longer, or might allow you... Report an error in the passage at 1:42:34 Highlight the passage at 1:42:34

1:43:12 They actually say that yoga was actually designed to help people meditate. And that's why it was created. Meditation is actually part of it. It's kind of gotten separated in our culture. But you're actually working with a subtle body as much as you like a physical, gross body. So it can help energize you and it can also help you sit for longer periods if you need to, especially in retreat. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:12 Highlight the passage at 1:43:12

1:43:39 I can't do retreat anymore if I do any other. But if you find that doing additional... Exercise also helps support your practice, and that's great. I mean, definitely watch. I remember for a long time I would track if I was meditating, also if I changed my diet in any way, if that affected the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:39 Highlight the passage at 1:43:39

1:44:03 And that's really good to notice, too, because it really does, actually, how, if we're meditating, especially if we're getting into the concentration meditation, you might not notice it so much with the long-term meditations, but... Your ability to concentrate may not work as well if you're starting out with a big cafe latte. So you might think about the amount of caffeine that you're ingesting or the amount of sugar that you're having. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:03 Highlight the passage at 1:44:03

1:44:32 The kinds of foods that you're having. Just think about your diet as well. Because actually all of that supports your practice. It's not just the kinds of practices that you do once you sit down. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:32 Highlight the passage at 1:44:32

1:44:48 I think that's it, actually. Does anybody have any questions about any of that amazing amount of bladder that I just gave you? Report an error in the passage at 1:44:48 Highlight the passage at 1:44:48

1:45:00 I definitely didn't follow the script on this one, so I don't know exactly what it is. Hopefully it's something about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:00 Highlight the passage at 1:45:00

1:45:14 About the six preliminary, I'm sorry, I got the wrong nine preliminary factors. Those are for, I think you may have answered this question in the course of... Report an error in the passage at 1:45:14 Highlight the passage at 1:45:14

1:45:27 So those are for advanced students of Tantra? No, they are to get us ready. They're for now. Yeah, they're for now. Because I didn't know what the equivalent would be if you feel that you're just starting your meditation practice, so would that be the heartfelt request? Would that be one way if you're seeking to remove obstacles? Or do you have to wait until you're assigned? Report an error in the passage at 1:45:27 Highlight the passage at 1:45:27

1:45:52 No, no, and actually I have known people to just get started. I mean, traditionally I think people do start with the prostrations, and I'm not really sure why that is. I think traditionally you do too, but it seems to come first. I know I started with that because I thought, you know, at some point my body wouldn't be able to do them, and I was right. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:52 Highlight the passage at 1:45:52

1:46:12 So sometimes people just start, and they just start doing, you know, 35 prostrations every day, and they just keep track of them. Sometimes people do it formally. They pick a day that's supposed to be an auspicious day and then they start keeping track of it. Sometimes you go and see a Lama like Geshe-la and you say, you know, thinking about starting constrations, is that a good one? Report an error in the passage at 1:46:12 Highlight the passage at 1:46:12

1:46:33 I just want to warn you that Geshe-la is very, very strict. So if you go to Geshe-la for your preliminary practices, he has, I know Stephen did them through Geshe-la and he said that you have to always be done in the same place. You have to do the same amount. I think it's traditional to do the same amount, but he had them do a hundred every day. He actually did do his preliminary practices this way. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:33 Highlight the passage at 1:46:33

1:47:00 So if he would have traveled, he could do them, but they wouldn't count. Where's the number? If he moved, I'm not sure what would happen. I'm kind of like, oh. Lama Zopa's like, however you need to do them. If you move 79 times, that's fine. You know, he's much more easygoing in that sense. He's just kind of like... Report an error in the passage at 1:47:00 Highlight the passage at 1:47:00

1:47:20 I think Geshe'll still go from the fact that you enter the monastery at 10 and you're there for 25 years. And so I think that's kind of where he's going from. But I know his disciples that have done them have completed them. I know Stephen did complete his hundred thousand dollars. But just a bit of a warning if you go there that he might do that very traditional way. Sorry? Report an error in the passage at 1:47:20 Highlight the passage at 1:47:20

1:47:47 He wouldn't give you credit for anything. For any risk. Yeah. I'm sure, yeah. Yeah, so I mean, but sometimes you just decide too who it is that I'm going to ask. You know, some people would ask Geshe-la, but then some people might ask Lama Zopa, even though they've never met him. I've certainly known people like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:47 Highlight the passage at 1:47:47

1:48:08 Some people might ask Shantideva, Shantideva, even though he only comes like once a year or something. Just kind of who you have a feeling for, you might ask for your preliminary practices. is from and Rubina, and I just have a stronger feeling for her. And so they've set up an appointment and say, I'm thinking about story frustrations. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:08 Highlight the passage at 1:48:08

1:48:31 But yeah, you don't need to wait to be given them, you can just start, make a dent in them before you even tell anyone. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:31 Highlight the passage at 1:48:31

1:48:43 Yeah, that's true. You know, but I thought of that because I actually did, I started doing mandalas. That's what I'm Report an error in the passage at 1:48:43 Highlight the passage at 1:48:43

1:48:52 I guess this is really, really good, and I have heard this before, to only do one at a time, finish it, and then go to the next one. And I didn't. I started prostrations, and then I also started mandala, and then when I became the director of the Senate, it was just too much, and I had to let go of the mandala, and I'd already done, I don't know, three or four thousand, which isn't that much, but still, I had to just let them go, because I couldn't do any. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:52 Highlight the passage at 1:48:52

1:49:19 It was just too much. I had to just let it go. And I knew I would lose them, and I thought, you know, there's no way I lost anything. Because I still, still having done the mandala those many times, I felt the effect of it in my mind. And so I didn't lose anything, you know. I lost the numbers, but I didn't lose the transformation. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:19 Highlight the passage at 1:49:19

1:49:44 Yeah, that's a good question. Or if there's one that you're just really drawn to. There might be some reason that you're just really drawn to it. Anybody Report an error in the passage at 1:49:44 Highlight the passage at 1:49:44

1:49:59 else? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:59 Highlight the passage at 1:49:59

1:50:05 Yeah, I have, I actually have heard that some, I know a friend of mine was really terrified she was going to get satsas because she just felt like she couldn't do it. She had to show block and she didn't get it though. I thought that was surprising actually. She didn't get satsas. Yeah, I Report an error in the passage at 1:50:05 Highlight the passage at 1:50:05

1:50:29 Well, I guess now in light of what you just said, the more difficult things are, the more that they're worth. This question is kind of maybe a little silly, but I remember reading, I think it was in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, that doing prostrations incorrectly or in like a weird manner, too slow, too fast, can be bad. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:29 Highlight the passage at 1:50:29

1:50:52 I know. I think some of that is just like, it's just too much of a good thing. I think it's all about trying to make you mindful, but I think you can kind of take it to the other extreme too. If you've ever seen Tibetans do it, sometimes they can do it really too fast and never even stand up, and they say that that's not so good. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:52 Highlight the passage at 1:50:52

1:51:15 Although I've done it myself, if you're trying to do them really fast and then help get you off the throne or something, you know what I mean? Like if you're doing it and you're trying to serve, but I think sometimes... I remember... Report an error in the passage at 1:51:15 Highlight the passage at 1:51:15

1:51:26 People just get into a sloppy way, and I think that's what those teachings are about, is so that you're mindful. Again, because it's about working your mind, even though it's a physical act, it's all about working your mind. So the more beautiful you can make them without being self-conscious, but just simply to make it an offering that's beautiful, that's better. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:26 Highlight the passage at 1:51:26

1:51:46 But all these things about like if you, I do catch myself sometimes if I like in my hand like this and I'm like, no, I don't want to like create the clove and foot they say or something, you know, they have all these different things. It's just like, I can only do so much, you know. I take it a little bit with a grain of salt, but you know, there'll be that special place in my own rooms for those of us who did our questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:46 Highlight the passage at 1:51:46

1:52:08 I mean, I'll probably see you there. Oh no, I remember you. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:08 Highlight the passage at 1:52:08

1:52:21 No, it's true. I think they make those rules and stuff so that we'll think about what we're doing, especially when we're first starting. I guess the other part of that question is, you know, I've seen just myself, the first time I sat down and tried to do any kind of concentrated meditation, I was completely unsuccessful, like not even, you know, 10 seconds. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:21 Highlight the passage at 1:52:21

1:52:43 And then through like... Preparatory practices from the standpoint of this class, even through things like yoga or even just practicing, focusing your mind on one thing, even just staring at an object, you can kind of get a little bit ahead on it. But in times when you're just really completely unsuccessful, I know it's said that becoming really upset or becoming angry at your guru is such a terrible act. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:43 Highlight the passage at 1:52:43

1:53:09 Is it sometimes better to just cut your losses? if like if you woke up if you say like well yeah I'll wake up at four in the morning so I can do it before I go to work but then you wake up at four in the morning and you know you don't really wake up is there ever a time when wake up at four and well I'm just saying like say okay so you say I'm gonna get up at four and then what are you saying that happens you get up and I have to trust the method that just sitting, doing the preliminary practices, Preparing my mind as much as I can, purifying whenever I can, that all that's going to have a difference and I'm just going to sit without no expectation. And just my showing up is going to do something and I have to just trust that. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:09 Highlight the passage at 1:53:09

1:53:55 I have to just trust that. There's some point where just showing up on a regular basis is going to make a difference. And actually, and then at some point, you do notice some days that actually you're much better, and then some days, then again the next day, you're just as bad. And you just have to, you can't have any, this is bad, this is good. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:55 Highlight the passage at 1:53:55

1:54:14 You just, it's like, I'm just showing up, and I'm going to do this for however long I've decided I'm going to do this, six months a year, and then evaluate. They say that, I mean, you might have actually had better... Report an error in the passage at 1:54:14 Highlight the passage at 1:54:14

1:54:29 Some people have really good experiences early on because of past life. And then some of us, we've just got to create the imprint of this life. And that's what I'm doing. And that's fine. That's what I'm doing. And I have to just do it without being frustrated. Definitely without being angry with my girl. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:29 Highlight the passage at 1:54:29

1:54:55 I guess kind of an observation. I think I have found that with my bad meditations... tend to learn the most. I almost look forward to them because I'm finding out the things that distract me, it's the same old stuff. And once I, instead of fighting it, once I just started listening to what that stuff was, I've gotten close to a point now where I say, oh, it's just you. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:55 Highlight the passage at 1:54:55

1:55:18 I came to this point this weekend actually where I was thinking since it's not an option for me to Give up my meditation. Because my biggest thing is just being exhausted. I just never get enough sleep at night. So, I mean, the whole first day that I was down there, I was just sleeping. It's amazing how much sleep that the body gave you. And so I'm getting up and I'm just like trying really hard to stay awake. So I've just decided, since it's not an option for me to give it up, what am I going to do to support that? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:18 Highlight the passage at 1:55:18

1:55:54 I can work at the end of... How to get to bed earlier, if there's any way possible to gain even a half hour more sleep, I'm going to do that. I'm trying to figure out, like actually this morning I did this thing where I just did like ten minutes, five minutes of just sun salutations, just to like get the body going a little bit, you know, which is hard at five o 'clock in the morning. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:54 Highlight the passage at 1:55:54

1:56:17 But just, you know, trying to figure out some way to support it. Because I made, it's not an option for me to give it up. And so that actually makes it easier in a way, because then you can just open up your mind and just like, okay, how am I going to deal with this particular issue? It's not like I'm not going to do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:17 Highlight the passage at 1:56:17

1:56:34 You know, it's more like, how am I going to support it in some other way? So I may change something on my diet, I may change. And the biggest one is to get more sleep, so how am I going to figure that one out? And I'm just like, well, I do the waterfalls at night, and I'm going to be able to do part of it during the day, so it doesn't all wait until the end of it. You know, like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:34 Highlight the passage at 1:56:34

1:56:50 So get the class to help me manage the bowls at the end. That's part of the daily practice class. Just, you know, so it's kind of like, then you look at a different way of just looking at the same old problem. I think it's a lot what you were saying. Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:50 Highlight the passage at 1:56:50

1:57:24 All right, well why don't I before we close, why don't I hand out Two things, so your homework is just to keep working with bodhicitta, so you don't have to learn anything new. These are the presentation topics, so why don't you, I did way too many, twice as much, I never have any idea how many people are going to show up. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:24 Highlight the passage at 1:57:24

1:57:43 I also did, this is a transcript of a teaching that Venabo Rinne Lissi did, 2004 he did a Milena Copan West retreat, and he talked about establishing a daily practice. And this is the transcription of that. So it's kind of a long, but just to give it to you to read it. It's just optional to read, but I thought you might be interested in reading it. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:43 Highlight the passage at 1:57:43

1:58:07 I think it's one of those. So if anybody has any questions about any other presentation topics, this would be a good time to ask as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:07 Highlight the passage at 1:58:07

1:58:34 Anybody have any questions about these? I think they're pretty straightforward. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:34 Highlight the passage at 1:58:34

1:58:49 So I will, judging by four people who are supposed to do the... Some evaluation techniques last week and two of them forgot. So assuming that half the class at least will forget when the practice day is, I will send out emails. Do I have an email? Do you have your phone on there? Yeah, I have my phone. Okay. So as long as I have some way to reach you, I can just do reminders so that you guys remember what day it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:49 Highlight the passage at 1:58:49

1:59:21 I'll try to do it like a week before, maybe less. Four days before. Just long enough so you don't forget and so that you still have time to do your presentation topic. If you haven't ever done one of these before, keep this light and easy. It's not stressful. It doesn't have to be PowerPoint. You don't have to do something formal. You don't have to wear a suit or anything like that. It's just to just pretend like the rest of us don't know anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:21 Highlight the passage at 1:59:21

1:59:48 And actually there might be some people in the class who don't know anything. Sometimes people do. Don't know any of these. Sometimes people do just come, get this offered and they just want to come. Maybe they've come to the morning meditation and they decide to stay. Or they just can only do things on the weekends. Or maybe it's somebody from the refuge class who didn't attend this class. So if you're explaining this, just pretend like everybody doesn't understand anything and you're just kind of explaining it. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:48 Highlight the passage at 1:59:48

2:00:16 Like, how would you explain it to your brother Bill, you know, who wasn't in the class? So that's kind of a good way to look at it, is that you're explaining like that. Okay. Are we just super in food? No, we aren't doing the potluck thing anymore now. We just always eat in the cafe. Or you can bring your own if you don't want to eat in the cafe. The cafe provides a lunch, or I think they do a sandwich and either soup or sandwich and salad or sandwich and chips or something like that, and a drink for seven bucks. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:16 Highlight the passage at 2:00:16

2:00:51 So people can buy that, or you can just bring your own. It doesn't matter. I think we're moving away from the whole potluck thing. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:51 Highlight the passage at 2:00:51

2:01:02 I remember being like, this is too hippie enough. I see. Yeah. So, anyway, so, yeah. So we'll do that. I mean, it's actually kind of nice in a lot of ways, because we don't have to coordinate that whole thing. Although it always worked out amazingly well. We never had the problem of having three salads and, you know, one dessert or something. Sometimes that's okay. Alright, so let's dedicate. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:02 Highlight the passage at 2:01:02

2:01:35 I'm going to dedicate this class. Not just the class tonight, but the five classes preceding it. Hopefully something came through and how practice is really about just working with your mind. In whatever form that takes. And hopefully you got some new methods and some tools, either formal or informal, that you can take into your life and make some differences. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:35 Highlight the passage at 2:01:35

2:02:08 And any of those ideas or thoughts or insights we can dedicate to us, each of us being able to transform our minds as much as we can in this life. Use this life as much as we can. Make this life as meaningful as we can. and benefit as many people as we can. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:08 Highlight the passage at 2:02:08

2:02:35 to them, bringing more happiness to this world, to ourselves and to all those in our lives. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:35 Highlight the passage at 2:02:35

2:02:51 5 a.m. when I'm doing my five-minute sense augmentation. They're good though, they get you going. They do, yeah. No, I was definitely, but I can't tell how much of it today was just because I'd actually slept all the day before. It's hard to tell. Maybe just getting so much. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:51 Highlight the passage at 2:02:51

2:03:14 I found the past two days it's been warm. It doesn't even take as many, you know? Yeah. Well, down there, too, I wasn't, you know, because the showers are like in that, you know, shower building. Like, far away, it was really cold. I didn't do the shower first thing. So that was different, too. Here, I always just do a shower as part of my wake-up. So I just play with that. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:14 Highlight the passage at 2:03:14

2:03:38 Seems like if it came down to it, the sun's lodations might be more important. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:38 Highlight the passage at 2:03:38

2:03:54 What should happen with all the... you so much. I'll come along. come along. So it should be, you can double them up. So this on top of this, basically this way. Pick up all the prayer books first. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:54 Highlight the passage at 2:03:54

2:04:13 I did lots of words that I need to know. But, you know, there's lots of words I do know. Well, hopefully. Which is the good part. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:13 Highlight the passage at 2:04:13

2:04:23 And probably, actually, if you want to pick up... Some of the tray tables, the whole back row of the tray tables. You can put away the sitting cushions. the way up with the Well, you can Report an error in the passage at 2:04:23 Highlight the passage at 2:04:23

2:05:03 rest of them can all go. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:03 Highlight the passage at 2:05:03

2:05:10 will send you an email reminder. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:10 Highlight the passage at 2:05:10