Discovering Buddhism - Developing Bodhicitta (24 October 2013)

0:08 are several layers. Report an error in the passage at 0:08 Highlight the passage at 0:08

· · · silence, 3 minutes

2:41 Okay, well we're going to actually end with a meditation today, so we're just going to start with a kind of a quiet little calming the mind thing, just to allow a couple more people to show up and also to just get our minds in the room. Some of our bodies are here, but maybe our minds haven't fully arrived. Report an error in the passage at 2:41 Highlight the passage at 2:41

3:09 Okay, so we'll just take some nice deep breaths and get comfortable in your seat. Report an error in the passage at 3:09 Highlight the passage at 3:09

3:25 If it helps, you can check in your body for any place that you might be holding tension, tightness in your shoulders, Report an error in the passage at 3:25 Highlight the passage at 3:25

3:39 your hips, focus attention there. Report an error in the passage at 3:39 Highlight the passage at 3:39

3:56 And then focus on your breath for a few breaths, either at the level of your belly or the level of your nostril, or wherever you might focus at home if you're used to doing meditation. Report an error in the passage at 3:56 Highlight the passage at 3:56

4:14 And if you've never done it before, then just focus. The in-breath and the out-breath being one and just try to count to five without losing the object. And if you lose the object, just bring it back to the breath. Report an error in the passage at 4:14 Highlight the passage at 4:14

· · · silence, 1 minute

5:13 Motivation for tennis class. Report an error in the passage at 5:13 Highlight the passage at 5:13

5:24 Seeds are planted in this class tonight. Whatever understandings or ideas, thoughts, insights come to you. The Report an error in the passage at 5:24 Highlight the passage at 5:24

5:38 seed that grows into bodhicitta, this mind of awakening. This Report an error in the passage at 5:38 Highlight the passage at 5:38

5:48 is how karma works. Report an error in the passage at 5:48 Highlight the passage at 5:48

5:55 seeds and they ripen this up. Report an error in the passage at 5:55 Highlight the passage at 5:55

6:26 start with the opening prayer. Report an error in the passage at 6:26 Highlight the passage at 6:26

6:32 is on the page. Report an error in the passage at 6:32 Highlight the passage at 6:32

6:40 the front doesn't always work from the back. Report an error in the passage at 6:40 Highlight the passage at 6:40

6:45 With Report an error in the passage at 6:45 Highlight the passage at 6:45

6:51 the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 6:51 Highlight the passage at 6:51

7:26 That was good timing. Report an error in the passage at 7:26 Highlight the passage at 7:26

7:32 Alright, so... I wanted to just start tonight's class with a little advertisement for meditation. How many people are already doing some sort of meditation practice? Report an error in the passage at 7:32 Highlight the passage at 7:32

7:48 And you don't have to tell me how good it is. Then I don't have to tell you how good it is. Yeah, right? Thank goodness, right? Report an error in the passage at 7:48 Highlight the passage at 7:48

7:59 Um... I think sometimes, I like to mention meditation right at the beginning, first of all, because it comes up in the homework, right? So I ask for you to try to make a little time in each, if you don't do it each day, then at least in each week, to do a little meditation. But I think also we have differing ideas on what meditation is, and some of them are... Report an error in the passage at 7:59 Highlight the passage at 7:59

8:27 Holier than others. And so I think it's useful to kind of have an idea that what we're doing when we just sit and contemplate this can be a form of meditation. And that's all that I'm asking. Like you don't have to have single-pointed concentration. You don't have to go into deep samādhi on this yet. Report an error in the passage at 8:27 Highlight the passage at 8:27

8:50 You know, maybe. Maybe later this life if we're lucky. Maybe next life if not. But just to sit, just to make time to sit a few times a week for like 15 minutes and kind of look at the meditation, you know, in the homework. Think about it. And then when you're off the cushion, also think about it. When you're walking to work or in your car or on the bus or whatever, also think about it. Report an error in the passage at 8:50 Highlight the passage at 8:50

9:18 But to do it in that kind of quiet, controlled way is a form of meditation. It's actually called analytical meditation and in our tradition that counts as meditation, which I didn't know for years that what I was doing was actually meditation. There is a slight difference between thinking and analytical meditation and that is when you have an insight you're supposed to stop the analysis or the thinking and hold your mind there. Report an error in the passage at 9:18 Highlight the passage at 9:18

9:46 So it helps to also be trying to develop some form of concentration practice too, because otherwise when we stop to hold the insight to sort of set it, our mind is so distractible and distracted that it quickly flies off the object so it doesn't do much good. It does do some good, however. So for where we are now, just contemplating it and then stopping occasionally, Report an error in the passage at 9:46 Highlight the passage at 9:46

10:16 An aha moment. In order to have an aha moment, it probably won't come the first time, I would say. Probably won't even come the second or third time. It might take more than that. Traditionally, yogis would meditate on this stuff for years, you know, before they had real insights and before they had realizations. Report an error in the passage at 10:16 Highlight the passage at 10:16

10:37 And what I think of as a realization is more, insights I think of as aha moments. Realizations I think of is almost like a shift in your mind. It doesn't have to be permanent necessarily, but something pretty big. Something that actually translates to your life, not just when you're on the cushion. So I think of those as realizations. I think some realizations are irreversible. Report an error in the passage at 10:37 Highlight the passage at 10:37

11:06 And that's the kind of course you're going for. But it starts small. um... And it's also, I think it's useful to know that in Tibetan the word for meditation means to familiarize. So at first we're just familiarizing our minds with this stuff, right? We didn't grow up with it. You know, we're not Tibetan. We're not even Indian. Last life maybe, but now we're not. Report an error in the passage at 11:06 Highlight the passage at 11:06

11:34 And so we have to first get familiar with it. And I think it's useful to kind of cut ourselves a little slack. So first we familiarize ourselves with it, then we go deeper, and that's what analytical meditation does. So when we sit and meditate, first of all, it helps us get to know our own mind. No matter what kind of meditation you're doing, you can see. Report an error in the passage at 11:34 Highlight the passage at 11:34

12:01 How important it is to meditate. As I often quote, Tenzin Palma one time said in a talk I heard down in Santa Cruz, if we had loudspeakers attached to our minds, everybody would want to learn to meditate because a lot of times people feel like they're too distracted to meditate, but that's the very point. Report an error in the passage at 12:01 Highlight the passage at 12:01

12:24 When we see how distracted and distractible we are, that's the real reason that we show up and meditate. Even if that's all, we don't see a whole lot of progress all the time. You know, like Lisa was saying, some days are good, some days are better. Maybe some days are not so great. But we just show up. And those of us that have developed a meditation practice, meaning we have some sort of commitment to it, and we just have to keep showing up year after year after year. Report an error in the passage at 12:24 Highlight the passage at 12:24

12:52 And there is some improvement, and we do see some translation to when we're off the cushion. But first we have to actually. Commit to it. So I mention that because I think now, except for Christine, I think everybody here, oh and you too, sorry about that. I think you've done other Discovering Buddhism classes with me and I've sent out a little document that I created about starting a meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 12:52 Highlight the passage at 12:52

13:18 But what I'll just do is I'll send it out to the whole group and then if... If you want it, you can have it. If you don't, you can delete it and I'll never know. But it just might give you some information. It might be helpful. It might not. It's just a little way. Because there's not really enough time in this course to go into it in any greater detail. But it is such a useful thing forever. So it's sort of like I want to speak on it. Report an error in the passage at 13:18 Highlight the passage at 13:18

13:43 Likewise, I'm going to do a little bit of that with speaking about... Especially tonight about karmas and kleshas, two juicy things. It's not really the scope of the class, but it is important. So we can't not talk about karma, especially, but also about kleshas. So I have to sort of just stick it in there and talk a little bit about it before we get into the body of the actual practice. Report an error in the passage at 13:43 Highlight the passage at 13:43

14:09 So I just wanted to toss that out. But I think that's the easiest way. I actually sent out a group email. This afternoon regarding the binder readings, and I put in your email wrong, Christina, so I'll send you one tonight. It came back and somebody said, I think you sent this to the wrong person. I was like, ooh. So somebody else has joined our class. So the gist of that email was, oops, I forgot to ask who wanted an electronic... Report an error in the passage at 14:09 Highlight the passage at 14:09

14:33 But Report an error in the passage at 14:33 Highlight the passage at 14:33

14:41 version of the binder readings and who wants a hard copy so a few of you have already responded and I'll make binder readings copies of those binder readings for might have them by this weekend so if people are coming to the long life for Jeff So I'll just make sure that all of you got that. If you didn't get it, that means you should email me. Report an error in the passage at 14:41 Highlight the passage at 14:41

15:09 So look at the syllabus you got. And write to me and say, I'm not getting your email, something's wrong. So that's question number one and people should just respond. It's easier actually to respond to be my email because then I can kind of sort you guys out and make those copies. The second thing that I tossed out into that email is that we are having a long life puja. Report an error in the passage at 15:09 Highlight the passage at 15:09

15:34 For Geshe-la, our resident teacher on Sunday morning from 10 to 12. And Venerable Carol and I have been talking about volunteers and so forth and I said I'd put out a casting call tonight because I don't go that much to other classes so I figured I'd just hit my people. It always seems to work. Report an error in the passage at 15:34 Highlight the passage at 15:34

15:58 If you've never been to a Long Life Puja, this is going to be a modified, a sort of briefer version. Some of you may have gone down to the one that, actually I think it was the board, FMT board this time, but often all the area centers put on one for Lama Zopa Rinpoche when he's around or Chodron Rinpoche when he's around. Report an error in the passage at 15:58 Highlight the passage at 15:58

16:20 And it's quite an elaborate ceremony. The main gist of it is requesting the teacher to stay, not just to teach, definitely to teach, but literally to stay with us, to not pass into para-nirvāṇa, to not go to other realms and teach them, but to stay with us. Not out of graspiness, hopefully, but so that we can get enlightened as quickly as possible so that we can benefit all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 16:20 Highlight the passage at 16:20

16:50 So as much as we can have of that bodhicitta motivation, that's why we're doing it. And in the end, it ends up being of benefit for us. He doesn't really get anything out of it, except he sees how hard we're trying. But we're the ones actually who create the merit by doing this. So anyone that helps in any way, you actually gain the merit and the connection, of course. Report an error in the passage at 16:50 Highlight the passage at 16:50

17:21 A teacher, period, and with the center. So it's all good. It's all good, karmically speaking. So if anybody is interested in volunteering, just come up to me on the break and I'll just write down names and contact information and then I can give that information to Carol when I talk to her, either tonight or tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 17:21 Highlight the passage at 17:21

17:41 But I think at this point we're going to get together on Saturday at some point and do some setup and then also we will need help the day of Sunday. Oh, hey, does it? He finally made it to the center, the new center, which isn't so new anymore. Yeah, there you go. Report an error in the passage at 17:41 Highlight the passage at 17:41

18:04 Okay, so those things I just wanted to toss out. Those I did send out to you in the email, but it would probably be useful for me to have names when I talk to her. Report an error in the passage at 18:04 Highlight the passage at 18:04

18:16 Okay, so jumping right into it, Maitreya's definition of bodhicitta. Which is, of course, what this class is all about, is that it's this determination to reach full enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Bodhi means enlightenment. Chitta means, and this is in Sanskrit, Chitta means mind. So it's basically enlightenment mind, mind of enlightenment. But it's not an enlightened mind. Report an error in the passage at 18:16 Highlight the passage at 18:16

18:43 It's a mind wanting to get enlightened. lightened. So, um, I think that's important to know. It's literally this mind that really has developed over a long time that wants to get enlightened and is determined to get enlightened. Like I said, it's really a courageous, strong, strong, strong mind. It's not just wishing. And I think sometimes it's defined as wishing. And I just think it sounds like, yeah, no skin on my nose, sure. Report an error in the passage at 18:43 Highlight the passage at 18:43

19:13 They can get enlightened, that's great. But there's this aspect of I myself. Will help them get enlightened, no matter what it takes. So once you develop bodhicitta, you become what's called a bodhisattva, which is translated as an enlightenment warrior, basically. Again, sattva is warrior, bodhi is enlightenment. You could think of it as like a spiritual warrior. And what are we fighting? We're not fighting external enemies. Report an error in the passage at 19:13 Highlight the passage at 19:13

19:44 We do enough of that in this life. We're fighting... The things in our mind that have held us back for lifetimes, and those things are called kleshas. Actually, if you read The Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life by Master Shantideva, there are a lot of sort of warrior-type terms in there, and it sort of surprises people that think it's going to be all soft and warm and fuzzy and huggy and, you know. Report an error in the passage at 19:44 Highlight the passage at 19:44

20:12 Because it's about love and compassion, right? It's about bodhisattvas and about bodhicitta. Well, actually, these dudes are really, really rough. Report an error in the passage at 20:12 Highlight the passage at 20:12

20:22 And what they are tough at and what the courage is about is the courage to face our own crap, our own enemies from within. So kleshas are these things like... Anything that disturbs the mind, we're actually going to get into it in a little more detail, but it's basically defined as anything that disturbs the mind. So it's anger, depression, grasping attachment, loneliness, boredom. Report an error in the passage at 20:22 Highlight the passage at 20:22

20:56 So it's not just the big ones, it's all the little things that disturb our mind. And then we act on those and we create negative karma and that negative karma then forms imprints in our mind that ripen with the proper causes and conditions into our suffering. There are also kleshas that aren't necessarily negative. Report an error in the passage at 20:56 Highlight the passage at 20:56

21:20 But they are negative in that they have negative results. Remember last time I talked about how what makes a karma positive or negative is basically the mind we had when creating it, so our motivation, our intention, and the result of the action itself. So if we have suffering, it becomes a negative action. If we have happiness, it becomes a positive action. And a lot of times it's mixed. Report an error in the passage at 21:20 Highlight the passage at 21:20

21:48 You know, that's what makes karma so interesting but also difficult. And they say it's actually the most complex of all the Buddhist teachings. It's more complex than emptiness. And a lot of people are surprised by that. But what complicates it, and of course, again, even though I love to just go on and on about karma because it's one of my favorite topics, we have a whole Discovering Buddhism class on karma and I can't do it justice here. Report an error in the passage at 21:48 Highlight the passage at 21:48

22:12 But I am going to talk about it a little bit tonight from the aspect of purifying it. Which is really, really important to do and to know that can be done. So that we don't just get stuck when we do negative actions. And we do them all the time, right? So what makes it interesting is we can have a positive motivation and do a negative action. Or we can have a negative motivation and do a positive action. Report an error in the passage at 22:12 Highlight the passage at 22:12

22:39 So an example of each of those would be a negative motivation and a positive action could be the wish for fame and giving. $200 to your favorite charity. Report an error in the passage at 22:39 Highlight the passage at 22:39

22:56 So you want to get your name in the paper. You want to be seen. So the motivation maybe isn't so kind, isn't so generous. You can have a positive motivation and do a negative result like you see a bug that's struggling. You're not going to get much fame with that. $200,000 to your favorite charity. Report an error in the passage at 22:56 Highlight the passage at 22:56

23:12 It raises a whole can of worms about euthanasia. But you see a bug struggling with a little broken leg and you smoosh it to put it out of its misery. Now your motivation might be compassion, right? But that little bug might have just got zapped to another realm. We don't have the clairvoyance to know where that little bug is going to go. We don't have the wisdom to back up the action. Report an error in the passage at 23:12 Highlight the passage at 23:12

23:36 You can have a positive motivation and do a positive action, which I think is fairly obvious. And you can, of course, have a negative motivation and do a negative action. And all the areas in between. So there's lots of gray areas. And every seed, or rather imprint, Geshe likes the term imprint better, bakchak in Tibetan. Report an error in the passage at 23:36 Highlight the passage at 23:36

24:02 It's an imprint that, it's not a physical thing. We can talk about karma in terms of it being a seed because I think we can understand it more as a seed because we have seeds in the physical world, but this is not a physical seed, this is a mental imprint. That imprint then is on our minds and our minds from lifetime to lifetime to lifetime and then ripens if the proper conditions come together. Report an error in the passage at 24:02 Highlight the passage at 24:02

24:29 And we're forming, we're creating karma all the time, like all the time. Good, bad and indifferent karma, you know, just all the time creating it with our mind, our speech and our body. And so it's important to understand how it works or else we can't change anything. Once we understand how it works, we can get enlightened. It really works like that. Once we understand sort of the terms. So I also mentioned last time that Report an error in the passage at 24:29 Highlight the passage at 24:29

25:08 The bodhicitta teachings are rather advanced in that they are pretty far along on the path. It doesn't mean we can't learn them now. In fact, it's really good to have these imprints put into our mind. I think for a while that's all it is, and that's okay. And it's good to remind ourselves of that when you attend a teaching like by His Holiness, I think especially His Holiness, who teaches at an incredibly advanced level a lot of times if he's not just doing a public talk. Report an error in the passage at 25:08 Highlight the passage at 25:08

25:38 But I'll often compare three or four different texts and bounce from text to text and you'll just be like, what the heck? And I'm just writing down everything because I figure at some way, in some point, it is going into my mind and at some point it'll make sense. And it does. I mean... I'm not saying that I'm going to understand everything that His Holiness teaches, but I do understand more than I did 10 years ago, and I do understand more than I did 15 years ago, where my eyes would just kind of roll back in my head. Report an error in the passage at 25:38 Highlight the passage at 25:38

26:07 And so it does go in, and they actually say that on the 8th level, the 8th Bhumi of the Bodhisattva path, you have this realization where you actually remember every Dharma teaching you ever have heard, even if you were distracted. Or falling asleep or didn't understand it at the time or whatever. Like it is all going in there. I love that. I'm just like, that is so cool. Report an error in the passage at 26:07 Highlight the passage at 26:07

26:35 Anyway, I'm getting off track. But I love that one so I had to throw it in there. And I think it's useful to know if you're attending a teaching where Geshe-la is going a little more advanced than where you are or if you... I attended teaching by Chodin Rinpoche, for example, where it's going a little bit high. It's just making imprints, so that's okay. Just kind of chill and just let it in. It's kind of like osmosis, let it go in. Report an error in the passage at 26:35 Highlight the passage at 26:35

26:59 But anyway, so it is a little bit advanced for all of us, I would say, unless you guys are different than you appear. So even in the Discovering Buddhism series, which mirrors the lamrim, you appear. Report an error in the passage at 26:59 Highlight the passage at 26:59

27:15 It's sort of like we have to first understand how our mind works. You know, that actually wasn't originally part of the lamrim, but we had to add it because in the West, our idea of the mind is really different than it is in the East, all of the East, but definitely in Tibet and in India, this idea of beginningless and endless mind. Report an error in the passage at 27:15 Highlight the passage at 27:15

27:36 Karma, which is considered a working of the mind and so forth. So we have to understand that. We have to understand how karma works. We have to understand how we can create our reality, both saṃsāra, this cyclic existence, repeated cyclic existence that we've been going through, according to the Buddha, limitlessly. Report an error in the passage at 27:36 Highlight the passage at 27:36

27:58 Like we've done everything already. We've been everything already. We've lived in every possible way already. And we can create nirvāṇa with the same mind. Report an error in the passage at 27:58 Highlight the passage at 27:58

28:12 And we have to understand death and impermanence and how everything is impermanent. And we have to, including us, probably mostly importantly us. And we have to understand how suffering exists and how there's a cause of that suffering. know Report an error in the passage at 28:12 Highlight the passage at 28:12

28:31 These are the Four Noble Truths and how there is a way to eliminate that suffering and there is a path, thank goodness, to help us eliminate that suffering. Report an error in the passage at 28:31 Highlight the passage at 28:31

28:44 And we have to develop this burning desire to be free of this cycling of suffering. That's called renunciation. So when we recognize the... The cesspool, basically, that we're in, as Rinpoche calls it, it's like used toilet paper. When we develop that kind of distaste or disgust, really, with it, that's called renunciation. Report an error in the passage at 28:44 Highlight the passage at 28:44

29:11 When we look around and go, oh yeah, you guys are suffering too, that's actually compassion, that's bodhicitta. So it's the same mind, but a different object. We start with ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 29:11 Highlight the passage at 29:11

29:25 We start with ourselves because that's who we know the best, right? We have to develop compassion for ourselves and want ourselves to stop suffering. I think a lot of times people want to jump first to helping others, and that's great, that's admirable, but again, we can do it without wisdom, so we have to start with ourselves and develop renunciation to get ourselves out of suffering and then... Report an error in the passage at 29:25 Highlight the passage at 29:25

29:51 We develop this thing called bodhicitta once we realize that, oh yeah, everybody else is suffering too. It's not just me. So that's kind of where we are on the whole path. And you sort of do have to develop slowly those understandings of those various things or else you'll leap in and you won't be able to stick with it long enough to actually develop genuine bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 29:51 Highlight the passage at 29:51

30:15 It's called a path. You know, sometimes we think of it. It's called a path not just because it's this journey to get to enlightenment, but... What they actually meant by the term path is these changes within the mind. So that's actually what they're talking about. It's these gradual awakenings in the mind that feed the next awakening that feed the next awakening until we get enlightened like that. Report an error in the passage at 30:15 Highlight the passage at 30:15

30:38 So it's actually these paths within the mind. So there are obstacles that block us from reaching bodhicitta. And so tonight we're going to talk about... Sort of the preliminary steps that we should do in order to be able to develop that mind. And then we'll start with the first step of the actual method. This method actually has five steps, so it's much shorter than the other method, although each one is really juicy. Report an error in the passage at 30:38 Highlight the passage at 30:38

31:12 You can say them, but then it's sort of like reading the verses of the text. Each one has quite a lot in it. So I'm just going to go through some of these preliminary practices and you'll recognize them, some of you will recognize them as stuff that we sort of incorporate in the daily classes, but they also are practices in and of themselves. Report an error in the passage at 31:12 Highlight the passage at 31:12

31:36 There are actually, a number of them are actually neutral practices, preliminary practices in the larger sense that we do before we move on to the higher teachings. The first one is prostrating, which is what I was mentioning as I was getting ready to prostrate. I think a lot of times when people come to, especially Tibetan centers, although I think most Buddhist practices have some form of prostration, we sort of go all out, especially the full-length prostrations, which is a bit much for a lot of Westerners. Report an error in the passage at 31:36 Highlight the passage at 31:36

32:08 But I had a teacher once who said, if we actually had the karma to see... The Buddhas that are everywhere around us, we would fall on the ground, like just out of awe, you know? So it's not just a Tibetan trip. There's an element of this awe, of really getting it, that even with these statues and tankas and so forth, if they are consecrated, which they all are here, that means that the Buddha is in them. Report an error in the passage at 32:08 Highlight the passage at 32:08

32:42 So the Buddhas are everywhere around us. So even just trying to remind yourself of that when you do a prostration. But there's also this aspect of I want what you have. Chakselo means I want what you have. In Tibetan that means prostrate. So it's basically when I prostrate I usually try to remind ourselves may I attain the body, speech and mind of a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 32:42 Highlight the passage at 32:42

33:07 And I try to think that every time I prostrate. But this is a prostration too, so if it's like too much to even do that, or if you hurt your knee or something, which is going to happen to all of us in the scheme of life, this counts as a prostration too. And Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche says that when you just enter a space like this that has so many Buddhas, or the Asian Art Museum, which has tons of Buddhas, or just even like now that it's sort of cool to have Buddhas on everything, sometimes when I go into a shop. Report an error in the passage at 33:07 Highlight the passage at 33:07

33:41 You see Buddhas everywhere. Sometimes I'm walking down the street and there's like Buddhas in the window and you're just kind of like, ooh, ooh, you know. It's just, you know, that's a form of prostrating. Again, thinking not just as a rote thing, but thinking I want what you have, you know. I want those same qualities. So before we do a teaching, we, you know, prostrate to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Report an error in the passage at 33:41 Highlight the passage at 33:41

34:05 And really quickly what that just means, the three jewels, when you hear them talked about. The main Dharma jewel is actually the Dharmakaya, which is sort of the emptiness of the Buddha's mind, which is a little hard to get your mind around. So the nominal Buddha is the actual Buddha, Shakyamuni, who it's really important to remember did not pop into the world fully formed. Report an error in the passage at 34:05 Highlight the passage at 34:05

34:33 He was messed up too. He was just as messed up as the worst of us at the worst of times. So that's important to remember because he gradually became a Buddha and we can too. And if we can remember that he was very human and very messed up, it's useful when we're thinking, I can't do it. Remember that was a form of laziness, which is also important to remember. The Dharma jewel is actually the experience. Report an error in the passage at 34:33 Highlight the passage at 34:33

35:04 of the direct perception of the nature of reality, emptiness, which I can't help myself but mention sometimes too, even though that's not the scope of this class. Which means having that experience in our mind, which allows us to cease all of our suffering. That's what a cessation is. It's a fancy word for stopping our suffering. And we want that. We want to stop our suffering. We want to be able to stop everybody's suffering. Report an error in the passage at 35:04 Highlight the passage at 35:04

35:35 So the Dharma jewel is that actual experience. The nominal Dharma is the books or the teachings or the CDs or the DVDs or the whatever like that. Because it's, again, easier for us to get our minds around. The Saṅgha jewel is anyone who's... We have that direct perception of emptiness. How do we know? We don't. But when we have that actual experience of the direct perception of the nature of reality, we actually become two of the jewels instantaneously, which is kind of cool. Report an error in the passage at 35:35 Highlight the passage at 35:35

36:14 Until that moment, the nominal saṅgha is the people wearing these red uniforms. It does not mean that we have had a direct perception of emptiness or even a taste of emptiness. It just means that we've given our life to the Dharma, basically. And so even if you don't like the particular monk or nun, then you have respect for them for trying and for staying as long as they can stay in the bow. Report an error in the passage at 36:14 Highlight the passage at 36:14

36:43 So that's the nominal jewel. So that's what we're talking about is the three jewels. again, they're There's a lot of this information in various of the Discovering Buddhism classes, but especially I think the refuge class has a lot of information on who the Buddha is, what the Dharma is and what the Saṅgha is. Report an error in the passage at 36:43 Highlight the passage at 36:43

37:05 I like to include in the Saṅgha any serious practitioner. So basically that's anybody who has been practicing for a long time really, really dedicatedly. Anyone who's doing long retreat counts as that. So I like to think about people I know who are currently doing long retreat, and they count as Saṅgha to me. Report an error in the passage at 37:05 Highlight the passage at 37:05

37:29 I recently went down for a retreat at Land of Medicine Buddha, and we had out of about 30 people that did the retreat with Dagri Rinpoche, about half were Saṅgha, which was kind of cool to be with that many Saṅgha. I would say about half of those were long-time Saṅgha members, and I found it really inspiring to see how many of those were still really excited about Dharma practice. Report an error in the passage at 37:29 Highlight the passage at 37:29

37:58 I found that really, really inspiring. So sometimes when I'm thinking about the Three Jewels, I spend a lot of time thinking about those individuals and how they inspire me with their practice and so forth. That makes it more real. I think otherwise we're just like, take refuge in the Three Jewels, and it's just something like that. Report an error in the passage at 37:58 Highlight the passage at 37:58

38:16 So the second of these preliminary practices is taking refuge. Report an error in the passage at 38:16 Highlight the passage at 38:16

38:23 The Tibetans actually don't have a concept of becoming a Buddhist. The whole idea of Buddhism and Buddhist all came from Western speaking, Western speak. The Tibetans call it becoming an inner being when you take refuge. And I think it's important for us to know that because I think when you talk about taking refuge, it sounds like you're doing it in something out there. Report an error in the passage at 38:23 Highlight the passage at 38:23

38:21 Um. Report an error in the passage at 38:21 Highlight the passage at 38:21

38:46 And you're sitting in front of an altar. And I think a lot of I forget this, too, until I'm showing pictures to people who come from other traditions, more like Christianity, and they see a picture of somebody like making a prayer to an altar where there's a picture and they're like, oh, you're praying to the statue. Report an error in the passage at 38:46 Highlight the passage at 38:46

39:05 It's like, no, I am making prayers. And that statue is embodying what I know of enlightened mind for me. You know, it's sort of just. It's inviting what the Buddha was and became through these teachings, blah, blah. So when I become an inner being, I am actually relying on something deep inside myself. Report an error in the passage at 39:05 Highlight the passage at 39:05

39:28 And ultimately, we're taking refuge in our own wisdom. But we have to develop it first. And we have to recognize it first. And we have to access it first. And that's all time. And that's more discussed in the refuge class. Gatula says that when we take refuge, it's like we're relying on something with all of our heart. Report an error in the passage at 39:28 Highlight the passage at 39:28

39:48 And we're deciding that our path, once we take it formally, and there is a ceremony for taking refuge and becoming an inner being or a Buddhist, that we're deciding that this path is the one I'm going to rely on through thick and thin. This is the one, I'm making that decision. It doesn't mean that we can't go to other traditions or read other books or attend other talks or anything like that. Report an error in the passage at 39:48 Highlight the passage at 39:48

40:20 It just means that this is the one, as Geshla says, that I'm relying on from the bottom of my heart. And it becomes important at some point for you to make that decision, whether or not you're just listening out of some sort of interest or whether or not you're actually taking this on as a path. Report an error in the passage at 40:20 Highlight the passage at 40:20

40:38 And I think Geshe has been teaching on Sundays for a couple of times about refuge, and I don't know how often those get uploaded, but I think pretty soon they should get uploaded to archive.org if anyone wants to download them and listen to some really detailed teachings on refuge. Those will be coming soon. The third one is making offerings. And again, when we make offerings, it's not to benefit the Buddha in any way. Report an error in the passage at 40:38 Highlight the passage at 40:38

41:05 The Buddha doesn't get anything from our offerings. Already are perceiving everything as bliss anyway. So our little like water bowls or, you know, I currently have some decaffeinated black tea on my altar. You know, they're happy that we're doing it, but it's not really going to, they don't need it. You know, they've already got wisdom bliss all the time. So it's for us. Report an error in the passage at 41:05 Highlight the passage at 41:05

41:28 It allows us to open our hearts and our minds in this really sweet way. Basically, it can be the offerings that we do on our altar. It can be as we're walking or as we're driving. Like today, when we were driving over, we saw a beautiful sunset and just remembering to offer it up to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Anything, anything at all that's beautiful or that maybe you did a good job at something. Report an error in the passage at 41:28 Highlight the passage at 41:28

41:57 You know, you did your practice really well for once, or you had a good meditation, or you had a bad one but showed up anyway and didn't get up. You can offer that up. They actually say that there are three types of offerings. You can offer the ones that nobody, things that nobody owns, and that's like sunsets or oceans or just like a beautiful experience or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 41:57 Highlight the passage at 41:57

42:28 Actual things that you would put on your altar or maybe your groceries. I mean, I've known people who are, and I've done this before, you just, every time you get your groceries, you just kind of stick them on the altar and then you take them back off again. Report an error in the passage at 42:28 Highlight the passage at 42:28

42:43 Or it could be like maybe the honey that you made or the lunch that you made or something like that. So something that actually you created. Report an error in the passage at 42:43 Highlight the passage at 42:43

42:53 Or it can be imagined things. You can imagine skies and skies of jewels or skies and skies of flowers or something like that. Rinpoche is sort of the king of that where he's talking about just imagining whatever you're imagining. You've got your little imagine thing and then he just wants us to multiply it limitlessly and imagine skies and skies and skies and skies of offerings. Report an error in the passage at 42:53 Highlight the passage at 42:53

43:20 And that is to expand our minds and our hearts. So that we can do other practices. Bodhicitta especially demands us to expand our hearts and our minds. Report an error in the passage at 43:20 Highlight the passage at 43:20

43:33 So making offerings is a big step towards bodhicitta. So those three, those first three, actually are ways that we accumulate merit. Report an error in the passage at 43:33 Highlight the passage at 43:33

43:43 Most of these, many of these are ways to accumulate merit. But the fourth step... Actually allows us to purify and that is confession or confessing and purifying. I think it's really important to know that there is absolutely nothing that we could have ever done no matter how heinous that can't be purified. Report an error in the passage at 43:43 Highlight the passage at 43:43

44:05 That doesn't mean that there's an easy out. It just means that the methods are there and if our sincerity is there and we actually practice really hard. Things can be purified. It doesn't mean that we won't still experience some form of that negative karma. It diffuses it. It doesn't completely eliminate it, no matter how it's written in some of the texts. So you're just like, yay, home free. And then, of course, you slip and break your leg. Report an error in the passage at 44:05 Highlight the passage at 44:05

44:38 And then it's important to remember, oh, yeah, this is purification. I prayed for this. I used to have a, I still have a friend, she used to live with us, Mary, who is now Tenzin Pelze, living in Tushita. She used to always say, help me purify, help me purify, help me purify, but not if it hurts. Which is kind of the way we think, you know, we're constantly praying to purify and then of course when things... Report an error in the passage at 44:38 Highlight the passage at 44:38

45:06 Manifests that are very likely purification of old negative karma. We forget that we've prayed for it repeatedly and with great effort. But basically, we go back to the understanding of karma that we were just talking about. We've created all these actions of body, speech and mind. A lot of them are negative and we're carrying them around with us as sort of this karmic bundle. Report an error in the passage at 45:06 Highlight the passage at 45:06

45:32 Not physical, but still within our mind stream from life to life to life to life. Everything that happens to us is the result of this karma ripening. So the good stuff happens, and we don't ask about the good stuff, right? If we win the lottery or get to go to Burma, all expenses paid, we don't ask why this is happening to me, unless we're good Buddhists and then we're trying to think about why maybe it happened. Report an error in the passage at 45:32 Highlight the passage at 45:32

45:59 But the bad stuff too. And it's ranging from the tiniest thing of like having somebody cut in front of you and taking that parking space that you knew was yours. You knew it was yours. And then that person like snuck in. To getting hit by a bus. To losing your job. To getting a headache. You know, so it's like little things, big things, medium sized things. And it's all the result of actions that we did with our body, speech and mind. Report an error in the passage at 45:59 Highlight the passage at 45:59

46:27 This is all according to the Buddha. But karma isn't fate. And I think sometimes this idea is out there that karma is fate or destiny or something like that. It's not fixed because it's a working of the mind. And that's one thing we know if we sat down and try to meditate, our mind does not stay still. Report an error in the passage at 46:27 Highlight the passage at 46:27

46:49 It is constantly moving all the time. And our karma is constantly changing all the time. So it isn't stuck. It isn't fixed. We could get enlightened in this life. We totally could, depending on our karma. And we have to create that karma. And we have to keep creating that karma. And we have to create huge amounts of good karma. And we have to purify negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 46:49 Highlight the passage at 46:49

47:17 And we don't know necessarily what we've even created. So we just have to keep purifying and purifying and purifying, trying to diffuse and wipe out and root out. All the negative seeds. And then, as I'm going to mention, when you get to the method of how you purify, the step that makes it not a morning after pill is restraint. Report an error in the passage at 47:17 Highlight the passage at 47:17

47:42 Like you actually have to try to restrain from doing the action again as much as you can. So we purify with something that's called the four opponent powers or four opponent forces. and there and any Any of the methods that are taught for purification use these four powers. It's important to learn them and to try to memorize them because if you're out in the field, so to speak, and you screw up, you can do instant purification. Report an error in the passage at 47:42 Highlight the passage at 47:42

48:15 I do this one all the time. If it's too crazy at work, go into the bathroom. Another teacher told me that one. It was like, no one's going to follow you into the bathroom. You can at least get a little space in the bathroom and then purify and then go back out and do whatever at your job. But it gives you a little space to purify and then move on. Report an error in the passage at 48:15 Highlight the passage at 48:15

48:34 Once you start understanding how karma works, you don't want these negativities in our mind any more than... So it's like a stain on fabric. Worse, right? Because this fabric goes with us from life to life to life. So if you've ever had like a white sofa and spilled red, I guess wine is probably the worst. Report an error in the passage at 48:34 Highlight the passage at 48:34

48:58 I don't have either, but. But you can imagine, I know with me and robes, because I don't have very many of them, if you spill something on it that's going to cause a permanent stain, you're just like, oh my gosh, I've got to get this off immediately. And it's like that with our mind. Or we want to get to the point where it's like that with our mind. So these four opponent powers begin with regret, obviously. Report an error in the passage at 48:58 Highlight the passage at 48:58

49:21 We were talking about this last week a little bit, the difference between guilt and regret. And how important it is to understand the difference between guilt and regret because guilt just paralyzes us. And we actually get stuck just sort of beating ourselves up. I'm imitating flogging ourselves, but that's probably old school. But basically just beating yourself up and so you can't move forward. Report an error in the passage at 49:21 Highlight the passage at 49:21

49:44 Regret is understanding how karma works even in this tiny way and thinking I don't want this on my mind stream. To develop into my own suffering. You know, even it's not so much, we haven't moved on to square two where we're thinking about anyone else yet. We're just thinking about the fact that this stain is going to be on my mind and it's going to turn into something really, really big if I don't get rid of it. Report an error in the passage at 49:44 Highlight the passage at 49:44

50:10 So I want to get rid of it right away. They say it's sort of like realizing you just swallowed poison. And it's from that aspect. It's like, oh my gosh. You're not stopping to go, gosh, that was really stupid, Chokyi. Why did you do it? You're not doing that. You're just going straight for the antidote. Report an error in the passage at 50:10 Highlight the passage at 50:10

50:24 So I'm not going to just beat myself up. You wouldn't do that if you just found out you swallowed some sort of poison that was going to kill you. You would just try to get the antidote really fast. You could beat yourself up later, but you would just want that antidote and you want to take it really fast. So regret. Refuge in bodhicitta is the second step. Report an error in the passage at 50:24 Highlight the passage at 50:24

50:45 Sometimes it's called the foundation step. So it's basically what you rely on in order to turn it around. So first we have regret, then we have refuge and bodhicitta, and we just talked about refuge a little bit, so I'm not going to say more. Remedy, or the antidote, what you take when you found out you swallowed the poison, is basically something that's going to neutralize or diffuse that negative karma before it grows into something like the bus hitting you or falling down the stairs or something like that, or negative rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 50:45 Highlight the passage at 50:45

51:24 And the Buddha taught a lot of different techniques. Sort of the most commonly taught are studying any of the scriptures that teach on emptiness. Sometimes Diamond Cutter Sūtra is one, which Rinpoche has me currently reading every day. And I stop at different places and go, you know, try to get it. Report an error in the passage at 51:24 Highlight the passage at 51:24

51:48 Meditating on emptiness, once you understand what emptiness means, otherwise it's just a waste of time and you're just like, why? Not really getting it. It helps to study it and study it and study it and then try to meditate on it. Reciting the names of certain mantras. I mean, reciting certain mantras like the Vajrasapha mantra. And that's often, that's the one that Geshe-la says is the most powerful one is the Vajrasapha practice. Report an error in the passage at 51:48 Highlight the passage at 51:48

52:13 Reciting names of the Buddhas like we do when we do the practice of confession to the 35 Buddhas. That's a form of... Purification. And there's more. There's different ones. You're creating satsas and images of the Buddha and things like that. The fourth step is the power of restraint or resolve. Report an error in the passage at 52:13 Highlight the passage at 52:13

52:36 I like resolve better because, again, it's in your mind. It's like saying that instead of wishing to get enlightened, you are determined to get enlightened. Well, this is like that. You're determined not to do it again. But not unrealistically saying, I will never again get angry at anyone ever. You know, that doesn't work. It just makes it wimpy and then it doesn't work. Report an error in the passage at 52:36 Highlight the passage at 52:36

52:58 You have to actually do something for as ever long as you can do it. So it might just be, you know, if I always get mad at Jage, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, you know. The first five minutes that I get to work tomorrow, no matter what he says, I'm not going to get angry. And then extend it. Maybe make it ten minutes. Report an error in the passage at 52:58 Highlight the passage at 52:58

53:24 Or if you're feeling really brave, make it the first half a day or something like that. But then you have to actually remember. And you don't want to compound it by lying. So you just pick an amount of time, and then you sort of are proving to yourself that you can do it, even if you're only doing it for two minutes or one minute or five minutes or ten minutes or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 53:24 Highlight the passage at 53:24

53:45 So it's part of the whole step. I think regret is probably the most powerful of the four because if you don't have regret, you're not going to do it anyway. But resolve is what's going to shift your whole relationship with that klesha or that action. It's going to be what determines it. Report an error in the passage at 53:45 Highlight the passage at 53:45

54:07 And it's good to do that every night because we mess up all the time. But as I said, it's also good to memorize a short version of it. At least, and to do it whenever you screw up because then you don't carry it with you until the end of the day and go, oh yeah, I should have probably purified that at 10 a.m. Report an error in the passage at 54:07 Highlight the passage at 54:07

54:25 Anyway, the fifth of these steps is called rejoicing. And this one's not considered a nundro practice or a preliminary practice in the larger scheme of things. But what it basically is is just like it sounds. You're actually just being deeply happy about something good. You know, some virtuous activity that you did, some virtuous activity that one of your classmates did that you find out about, some virtuous activity that maybe your teachers did to become your teachers, some virtuous activity that the Dalai Lama did or something, you read about it in the news or something. Report an error in the passage at 54:25 Highlight the passage at 54:25

55:04 All you're doing is you're reading about it or you're hearing about it and you're just stopping for a minute and just feeling really happy. And I think... This one is hard for people in the West. I actually try to do this on a daily basis to try to think of like three things that I did that day that I screwed up and then purify them. Report an error in the passage at 55:04 Highlight the passage at 55:04

55:27 And then three things that I did that were good. And they might be, you know, really simple things, but then to really actually have the experience of feeling happy. So not just going, those are good, but actually going. You know, like really just trying to really feel happiness that I did something that is shifting me towards Buddhahood. You know, because otherwise it doesn't go in so much. Report an error in the passage at 55:27 Highlight the passage at 55:27

55:51 It still stays really intellectual. And it's part of our training to actually feel good. We actually get merit from rejoicing. We get merit from rejoicing in each other's virtues, which I think is really great. We get merit from rejoicing in His holinesses. I mean, talk about, there are so many, we get, like, thinking about, like, what these Buddhas did to become Buddhas. So, Lama Yeshe used to say, it's like the best practice for Westerners. Report an error in the passage at 55:51 Highlight the passage at 55:51

56:20 If we're too tired to meditate, we just lie down on the couch with a cup of coffee and rejoice. You know, it's like, it's perfect. You can do it anywhere. If you're sitting in traffic, if you're on the bus, you can just sit there and rejoice. People think you're strange, but that's okay. It's also a great counter to if you get... Report an error in the passage at 56:20 Highlight the passage at 56:20

56:37 Heavily into, I've got to purify everything I've ever done since beginningless time, which certain of us will do at times. Rejoicing is great to counter that because otherwise you're just thinking about all the horrible things you've ever done. And we need to balance that with thinking about some great things that we're doing too. And if you have to dig, you dig. And if you have to ask other people, what are some good things that I've done? Report an error in the passage at 56:37 Highlight the passage at 56:37

57:03 Ask them. But ask nice people. Don't ask mean people. But it is really, really good. It's a great antidote to any kind of negative state of mind that we can have. I mean, really. And it's an easy one. We don't even have to have any real training at it. If we're depressed, if we're jealous, you know, feeling really happy about that other person's race. Report an error in the passage at 57:03 Highlight the passage at 57:03

57:27 And not just faking it, like really trying to cultivate real happiness in that person's race. And so on. And low self-esteem. It's also a great antidote to that. The sixth one is asking the holy beings to teach the Dharma. And the seventh one is requesting the teachers to stay. So asking the holy beings to teach the Dharma. In Tibetan Buddhism, it's traditional to have to request a teaching three times. Report an error in the passage at 57:27 Highlight the passage at 57:27

58:00 Usually the first time you ask a teacher to teach something, they won't do it. And what they're trying to assess is your sincerity. So when we request Geshe-la or Lama Zopa Rinpoche or Trudan Rinpoche or so forth, sometimes they will. Sometimes they will say, yes, I think we can do that. But usually the first few times that you ask something, they won't. They'll just say, we'll see, or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 58:00 Highlight the passage at 58:00

58:30 And then sometimes we try to short circuit that and go, please come again, please come again, please come again. And that's not really it. It might be more useful if we had three people singing it together. But basically what they're trying to see is the sincerity of the request. Are you just asking for it because it would look right on the agenda or in the calendar? Report an error in the passage at 58:30 Highlight the passage at 58:30

58:56 Are the students really practicing what you've already been teaching them? So that's what they're trying to assess when we request. But we have to request them or they can't teach. It's not like we can just kind of go, oh, it would be great to teach. You know, even Geshe-la won't. He has to be asked. And he might have ideas when we say, you know, what can you fit into two hours one Sunday morning? Report an error in the passage at 58:56 Highlight the passage at 58:56

59:20 He might be, how about this? Do you know how about this? But... We have to first come to him and ask, you know. And requesting the teachers to stay is what I was just talking about. Asking them to remain creates the karma for them to remain and for them to stay with us. And so that's what we're doing on Sunday for Geshe-la, is asking him to stay with us until saṃsāra ends. Report an error in the passage at 59:20 Highlight the passage at 59:20

59:47 If our karma for Geshe-la runs out, that's when Geshe-la leaves. That's what that is, you know. So we have to keep creating the karma for Geshe-la to be here. We have to create the karma to stay connected with a teacher in order for that teacher to stay. Report an error in the passage at 59:47 Highlight the passage at 59:47

1:00:05 The eighth is dedication. And that's kind of like putting all your good karma into the bank, specifically for enlightenment. So whenever we say dedicating the merit, merit is basically positive karma that we've created that we want to... Go towards our enlightenment, specifically. Not wasting it on just really good experiences in saṃsāra. So not just wasting it on a great car, wonderful job, making a couple hundred thousand, like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:05 Highlight the passage at 1:00:05

1:00:39 We want to bypass that and go straight to enlightenment with that same merit. By the way, we might also get happiness in this life, but that's what dedicating our merit is about. If we don't dedicate... And I think people forget to dedicate. I know I forget to dedicate. And I know even ordinary virtues can be dedicated with a bodhisattva mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:39 Highlight the passage at 1:00:39

1:01:02 In other words, if you give to somebody on the street, you can still dedicate it to the center having enough money, which is the thing I always do. Having been both the bookkeeper and the director. Even if it's $2, right? Let's make it go for something. You know, the center always having enough money. Rinpoche always having enough money for his projects. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:02 Highlight the passage at 1:01:02

1:01:20 Me always having enough so that I can do retreat and practice and things like that. Even ordinary actions can become bigger with the dedication. I often will remind people, don't forget to dedicate, don't forget to dedicate. It's really, really important, and I think it's one thing that gets forgotten. I know it is for me. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:20 Highlight the passage at 1:01:20

1:01:38 I'm trying to get better at that. Even when you sit down and you're doing your practice, you just get up and get dressed. You just forget, and it's like, dedicate it. Because you can actually lose the merits that you've created if you get angry at a bodhisattva. We don't know who bodhisattvas are. All of you could be bodhisattvas. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:38 Highlight the passage at 1:01:38

1:01:59 You don't change from the outside when you become a bodhisattva. So it's really better to, first of all, not to get angry. But until then, to dedicate everything as well as we can in case we get angry. So tonight, when we leave, we'll dedicate before you go out on the streets again. You might get angry at somebody in another car. Does anyone recognize what these eight steps are? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:59 Highlight the passage at 1:01:59

1:02:23 Anybody recognize them? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:23 Highlight the passage at 1:02:23

1:02:30 Did you? And? But there's eight. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:30 Highlight the passage at 1:02:30

1:02:36 And refuge. And refuge, yeah, yeah, but that's good, yeah. Refuge and the seven limb prayer. And most of the time, any practice that we do, when we sit down and meditate, when we come into a class, when we do a sadhana more likely, sadhana meaning just like a sort of a guidebook for a deity practice or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:36 Highlight the passage at 1:02:36

1:02:59 We start with taking refuge and then doing seven-month prayer. And it's because it includes these ways to purify and these ways to accumulate merit without us even having to think about it. It's all there for us. So that's why I wanted to make sure that we brought it up tonight. Because you don't just sit down one day and develop bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:59 Highlight the passage at 1:02:59

1:03:21 It just doesn't work that way. Unless you did in your last life and now you're just simply... Reviving the bodhicitta that you already developed. For the rest of us, we have to grow into it. So we grow into it by means of these practices that sort of are preparing the field for this huge mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:21 Highlight the passage at 1:03:21

1:03:40 So according to the Buddha, there are two main causes of our suffering in saṃsāra. When I say saṃsāra, it just means cyclic existence. instance, the, um, um, Report an error in the passage at 1:03:40 Highlight the passage at 1:03:40

1:03:56 Exactly what the right word is for it. But it's being forced by our karma and afflictions to take on these bodies, these aggregates, repeatedly over time. That's basically what psychic existence is. And the Sanskrit name for it is saṃsāra, which is interesting. They created a perfume called saṃsāra. Yeah, it's pretty strange. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:56 Highlight the passage at 1:03:56

1:04:23 That's strange. That's very Yes, smell like pain. Exactly. Exactly. What's that? Yeah. And we are in the desire realm. But basically, there are two root causes of our suffering, according to the Buddha, and one is karma, which we were just talking about, and one is kleshas, or afflictions. And the worst of these is actually kleshas, these afflicted states of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:23 Highlight the passage at 1:04:23

1:04:53 Because they cause us to create the karma that then causes our suffering. So they are the root cause. So like I was saying, the definition of a mental affliction or a klesha is anything that disturbs the mind. Klish in Sanskrit actually means to bother, bug, or disturb, or distress, or harass. Klish. It sounds like it. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:53 Highlight the passage at 1:04:53

1:05:19 So it's anything that disturbs the mind or anything that ruins the state of mind. So basically it's anything that is bugging us or harassing us from the mental point of view. Their function is to actually ruin your day. I mean, that's what they end up doing. They ruin your day. And they cause you to be unhappy at some level, some more than others. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:19 Highlight the passage at 1:05:19

1:05:45 And worse... Then they lead us to create the negative karma that causes us to suffer in a lot of big ways. And of course they... Probably don't make the people around you very happy either if you're like stomping around and having a miserable day. So anything that disturbs our mind in that, like I said, is anything like, you know, any kind of anger or aggression or irritation or frustration. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:45 Highlight the passage at 1:05:45

1:06:10 I remember being on the pilgrimage recently kept saying irritation, frustration, annoyance, they're all fancy words for anger. And it's true. We try to pretend like they aren't anger, but, you know, they're just anger. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:10 Highlight the passage at 1:06:10

1:06:25 When we talk about them in detail, we get into the three root, the three poisons, the three poison states of mind. Then there are the top ten, the ten non-virtues. But the Buddha said there was as many as 84,000 kalashas. And we know that, right? Just in today, we probably had a hundred. Master Shantideva's battle cry were basically, these are the cause of all the suffering of myself since beginningless time. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:25 Highlight the passage at 1:06:25

1:06:54 They are the tormentors of all humanity. They are my worst, my most mortal enemy, and I will slay them. He's always talking about slay them, you know. And anyone who's ever read the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, that's the battle cry in there too. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:54 Highlight the passage at 1:06:54

1:07:13 They're worse than an external enemy because they have caused us to suffer for eons, basically. Lifetimes and lifetimes and lifetimes. So as a bodhisattva or even a bodhisattva wannabe, we are learning to make war on this particular enemy. And especially of all of these self-cherishing, and we're going to talk in detail about the self-cherishing mind, which is basically a mind of selfishness, which is counter to ever-developing bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:13 Highlight the passage at 1:07:13

1:07:46 If we cannot slay this particular... Then we can never develop bodhicitta. So it's like we keep meditating on the causes for bodhicitta, but we aren't really working on our minds. We won't get anywhere. And so that's why it's important to mention this. As one of my teachers used to say, don't be a pushover for your mental afflictions. Which I try to remember that every day. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:46 Highlight the passage at 1:07:46

1:08:09 And of course you screw up and you still get angry or you still get irritated or something happens. You get jealous or you get possessive about something. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:09 Highlight the passage at 1:08:09

1:08:19 First step is just to get to know what they are and to understand what they look like when they arise in your mind, which sounds simple, but that's half the battle. I mean, I think actually recognizing them as what they are is huge. Some people go through their whole lives and never even really begin to analyze their mind and what these things are and why they might cause my unhappiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:19 Highlight the passage at 1:08:19

1:08:45 So that's huge. That's already huge. But then we make war on them. So basically search and destroy missions every day. And then you remember the next day you start over. Search and destroy. And you try to see it the minute it comes up. And you do see funny things happening with baby Buddhists where you're having a Klesha attack and you catch yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:45 Highlight the passage at 1:08:45

1:09:11 And you know you don't want to take it any farther because you know it's going to cause suffering. But you've still got the habit from lifetimes. Of doing this, having the hissy fit about something or other or whatever. One of my favorites is when something happens and the printer doesn't work. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:11 Highlight the passage at 1:09:11

1:09:28 That's the one I usually go for. But any kind of electronic or technical thing can get me going. That's the one. I'd be less likely to scream at a person than I am to scream at my computer or some program that should have been created better. you know. But basically, that's the whole battle cry of Master Shantideva in the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:28 Highlight the passage at 1:09:28

1:09:56 Once we've developed even this wish to have this mind, the wishing level of bodhicitta, we're supposed to be doing sort of that search and destroy mission every morning, every noon and every night, basically all the time. And there are... Beautiful verses written on it, but it gets to that basic idea of we cannot let them grow and accumulate armies behind them the way we've let them go since the beginning of this time. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:56 Highlight the passage at 1:09:56

1:10:31 Actually, they say sort of the definition of a Dharma practitioner is somebody who gets this level of karma that we've just talked about, even the basic level of karma, and tries to act on it in this way. Because otherwise, we're not really practicing the Dharma, you know, if we're not really working on our minds. It doesn't mean we're perfect, but we're trying. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:31 Highlight the passage at 1:10:31

1:10:53 And that's all anybody can ask, is that we're trying, you know. We're trying, and we're trying to change our mind, even if it takes a long time. And it does take a long time, because it's a habit, right? So if we've tried to change a habit, a sort of worldly habit or a habit of our body or our speech... Report an error in the passage at 1:10:53 Highlight the passage at 1:10:53

1:11:10 It's taken a long time, right? If we've tried to develop, if we've tried to lose weight, if we've tried to go to a gym, if we've tried to lose, you know, stop smoking or something, it's taken a long time. It's been hard for anybody who's gotten off drugs or something. It's taken a long, long time, and this is even harder than that, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:11:10 Highlight the passage at 1:11:10

1:11:30 So we've got to, it has to be ongoing, and we've got to cut ourselves slack. It's got to be both. Do a little bit of rejoicing all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:30 Highlight the passage at 1:11:30

1:11:40 So before we take a break, I wanted to just step into the actual method. So we're doing, or actually I just want to talk a little bit about the lineage for the actual method and then we're going to take a break and then step into the actual method and then we'll end with a meditation, the same meditation that you guys will do this week. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:40 Highlight the passage at 1:11:40

1:11:59 Any questions on what I just talked about, those preliminary steps, karma, anything that I talked about? And where's the mic? Ha ha. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:59 Highlight the passage at 1:11:59

1:12:20 Yeah, sorry, I never really explained, but we do record all the classes, including the questions. So it's useful if you miss a class or if you're just at home or even in another part of the country, which people do write occasionally, saying that they listen to hear the question. So it helps people in the back row, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:20 Highlight the passage at 1:12:20

1:12:38 But it also, the people who are at home listening, it's useful for them to actually hear the question instead of somebody saying something and then everybody laughing or crying or having some reaction to it and they never hear what the question is. So that's why. It doesn't have to be a profound question. It just needs to be audible. Sure. So going through the list, Okay. Sure. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:38 Highlight the passage at 1:12:38

1:12:58 Number four, or the fourth thing you listed, I think, was confession. Confession and purification. And purification. And so I wrote down a bunch of things around purification, but I was just wondering if you could say a little bit more about confession. Yeah. Confession is basically owning a negative action. So, for example, if I'm going to purify something, first I have to own, then I did it. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:58 Highlight the passage at 1:12:58

1:13:23 And you're just doing it for yourself. It's not like you're... Going to confession in the Catholic Church or something like that. We don't have any intermediary, whatever it's called. But we don't have that. We're just owning that we did something that will result in my own suffering. So it's a negative action in that it will result in my own suffering. Maybe it was yelling at the printer. Maybe it was worse than that. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:23 Highlight the passage at 1:13:23

1:13:49 Maybe it was less than that. But whatever it is, I'm seeing it through the eyes of karma and understanding karma. I'm having some regret, and so I'm owning it, and that's really what confession is. When you're doing the seven limb practice that Jessica mentioned, I actually, you know, it's just, we'll do it next week. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:49 Highlight the passage at 1:13:49

1:14:08 We can do it at the beginning of the class next week, but I basically have people try to think of one thing that they have done that they wish they hadn't done today, you know, and it could be just as simple as some negative state of mind that you had or something like that, but just owning it. And that ownership of it is how you then apply the other forces. So it's like that. Steve, did you also have that? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:08 Highlight the passage at 1:14:08

1:14:39 Well, what about like family karma? And I feel like I have like karma for my family, not necessarily something that I learned per se from my parents directly or, but I feel like relatives before me, like I'm carrying a karma, like a certain, like a certain. think about me that There is karma that you would be born in a particular family. So there is karma with that. And then of course there is DNA. It does exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:39 Highlight the passage at 1:14:39

1:15:11 So that, I mean, you know what I mean? Like the teachings on karma don't completely nullify the teachings or the understandings of Western science. But I think a couple things. There is such a thing as collective karma. That is talked about and taught, at least in the Galukpa tradition. And that would be, for example, if a whole bunch of us marched off to war and, you know, did things as a group, as soldiers or something, then we might have something happen to us like a bomb dropped on our community, you know, something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:11 Highlight the passage at 1:15:11

1:15:49 We collectively created that, that karma. The same is that we have shown up for this class. So we have some collective karma, positively speaking, and we are creating more by attending this particular Dharma center and Dharma class, blah, blah. That's different than what you're talking about. And I'm not entirely sure what kind of family karma you mean, but I know that when we are born, it's not like we... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:49 Highlight the passage at 1:15:49

1:16:22 We intellectually or even consciously in any way say, oh, that family is, for me, it's as bizarre as it can be. I'm going to jump right in there and become the youngest child. Okay, you know, it's not like that. And I think in a lot of new age thinking, that is, we do somehow say we choose our, you know, families. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:22 Highlight the passage at 1:16:22

1:16:42 And that's, according to the Tibetan tradition, at least that's not the case. But we karmically choose it. We karmically create. The connection with that particular set of parents and with the particular people who are our siblings, whether we'll be close to them or whether we won't be close to them or whether they'll horribly abuse us or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:42 Highlight the passage at 1:16:42

1:17:01 It's not like we consciously entered into that and voluntarily entered into that, but we karmically created a connection with those particular people. And that might be more of what you're talking about. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:01 Highlight the passage at 1:17:01

1:17:17 Yeah, yeah. And it is very complicated. And it behooves us to actually receive as many teachings on karma as we can. And the next time it's offered, I highly recommend it. One of the things I always thought would be great is if we just offered the karma class of Discovering Buddhism all the time. Because I just, at least a couple times a year, because I think it so influences everything else that's taught, that the more we can know about it, the better, you know, rather than just teaching it once in a two and a half or three year period, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:17 Highlight the passage at 1:17:17

1:17:49 But yeah. And the fact that it's so changeable. Even the family karma, you know, can be changed. Even the thing, how we look at the things that have happened to us can change, at least that much can change. We can't necessarily undo what's happened to us, but we can change how we look at them and how we work with them. Yes, Steve. I have this cliche going on for like the last two days into this morning. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:49 Highlight the passage at 1:17:49

1:18:20 You know, I've been doing my Vajrasattva thing every day. That's great. Meditating every day. And I just could not believe how much this was bugging me. And I didn't want it to bug me. And it was just, it was exactly like what you're talking about. And then, so then I did my, I meditated this morning and did the Vajrasattva stuff and the stuff that I usually do. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:20 Highlight the passage at 1:18:20

1:18:43 Then it's gone. All of a sudden today it's just gone for no reason. I'm even trying to bring it back. It's weird. I don't know. I'm just trying to think of certain events that happened. Maybe that's why it changed my brain chemistry. Right. Something you ate. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:43 Highlight the passage at 1:18:43

1:19:06 No, sometimes it works that way, and also sometimes analysis, simple analysis will work. And I've told this story before, and I think some of you have heard this story, but when I was having a clash attack building, I was attending, of course, His Holiness' teachings in New York. It doesn't matter where you are. I was walking down Broadway, and I could feel the storm brewing. I don't even remember what it was about now. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:06 Highlight the passage at 1:19:06

1:19:31 It's so funny. Yeah, in my head, yeah. And I forgot now what it was about, but it was that he said, she said whatever thing, and I was like, and I remember it, I caught myself, and I remember, you know, some of the lines, the descriptions in the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, where it's sort of like, your classes are like armies, and they call in other armies, and they call in other armies, and all the troops were coming on in, you know, and they're like ready to take on whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:31 Highlight the passage at 1:19:31

1:19:56 And I caught myself, and I was like, I don't have to go here. And it just... And the whole reason for the war suddenly was gone. But the soldiers sort of kept coming. They were like, wait, what's going on? Something's going on out there. But it was interesting to see how it just went whoosh. And then all of a sudden it was replaced by happiness, by bliss, that I didn't have to go there. But it was funny, that transition, it was like the soldiers kept marching and then all of a sudden they kind of weren't needed anymore, so they were dismissed. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:56 Highlight the passage at 1:19:56

1:20:29 Yeah. And that's what they're like. And that's what they're like. And they're well-trained. We've given them a lot of reason to be very well-trained over lifetimes, not even just this lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:29 Highlight the passage at 1:20:29

1:20:44 So anyway. Okay, so I went back to... Okay, really quick. Lineage of these teachings. This is important just from the standpoint of how it changed. So I won't mention all the names. Basically, this particular method, which is most beautifully taught by Master Shantideva in the eighth chapter of the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, was like an ear-whispered teaching. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:44 Highlight the passage at 1:20:44

1:21:18 It was traditionally taught from basically one master to whichever of his or her disciples they thought could do it, because it's pretty advanced stuff. And that's the way it came down over the centuries. And so it would just be like, they would have, and these were very, very, they had many students, and they would just choose one or two sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:18 Highlight the passage at 1:21:18

1:21:47 And that would be the only ones who had had it. And then those masters might teach the other method, but they would wait. And this one they would only teach to one or two students sometimes. And sometimes I suppose it's possible they didn't teach it to anybody and then it died with them. So long story short, Master Atisha basically learned the whole bodhisattva teachings from Master Serlingpa in Indonesia. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:47 Highlight the passage at 1:21:47

1:22:17 He spent 13 months traveling to this renowned teacher. And he learned the whole bodhisattva teachings and he stayed with that teacher until he gained realization. Master Atisha is important to us because he's the one who brought, the second time around, he brought the teachings of the Buddha to Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:17 Highlight the passage at 1:22:17

1:22:38 So he is our direct lineage Lama in those teachings. Then when he... Was ready to pass away. He taught only one of his disciples, who is called the great Dram, Dram Tompa. He only gave it to one of his, who is named Geshe Potowa. And he also only gave it to two, L 'angri Tompa, who people might recognize the name. He's the one who wrote the eight verses of thought transformation. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:38 Highlight the passage at 1:22:38

1:23:11 And Geshe Sherawa. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:11 Highlight the passage at 1:23:11

1:23:17 Geshe Chekawa came along and heard these eight verses. So the eight verses is the first time that they were written about in print. He heard a particular verse, the fifth verse of the eight verses of Thought Transformation, which says, When others out of jealousy mistreat me with abuse, slander and so on, I will practice accepting defeat and offer the victory to them. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:17 Highlight the passage at 1:23:17

1:23:42 So he thought that was pretty wild. And he was like dying to know who wrote this and what did it mean, you know. So he went searching for Langri Thampa who had passed away. He was able to find Geshe Sharawa and Geshe Sharawa gave him the whole method of exchanging oneself and others. And he thought it was, he had the full realization of it and he thought it was so great he taught it to lepers who began healing themselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:42 Highlight the passage at 1:23:42

1:24:11 And he thought, well, this can't be kept secret. What if it dies out? So he began, he's the one who began teaching it publicly. And that's the way we do it now. And I think a lot of it isn't so much that we're necessarily... Report an error in the passage at 1:24:11 Highlight the passage at 1:24:11

1:24:27 It's sort of like with His Holiness in Tantra, and His Holiness specifically in Kali Chakra. When His Holiness gives the Kali Chakra empowerment and hundreds of thousands of people come, especially when they're in India or Tibet or Nepal, it's basically to give us the imprint so it doesn't get lost. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:27 Highlight the passage at 1:24:27

1:24:48 It also blesses the site and there's other things that happen and so forth. But that's basically what's happening now is that it's being taught in a huge public way and not all of us are necessarily capable of practicing it. But again, like I said, just know that the seed is planted. So that's it. So we'll start. So go ahead and take a break. If you don't mind just taking a six-minute break. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:48 Highlight the passage at 1:24:48

1:25:13 We'll come back at 8.30 and we'll start with equalizing self and others. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:13 Highlight the passage at 1:25:13

1:25:28 I just want to jump in because I prattled on about too many things and I just want to at least start tonight with equalizing self and others. Sometimes this method is called equalizing and exchanging self with others. You might see it written that way and this is the first step where we first have to remember that everybody is both equal to us and equal to each other. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:28 Highlight the passage at 1:25:28

1:25:52 In one really, really, really big way, and you can also think of other ways, but in this one really big way, the fact that people all want happiness and they don't want suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:52 Highlight the passage at 1:25:52

1:26:07 Not even just people, but we're going to deal with people first. It gets too big too quickly if you jump to insects and animals too, not to mention spirits. So we're just going to think about people at first. So from our side, if any of you have ever done the meditation on equanimity, we start looking at how from our side we label people based on some sort of perceived benefit to us. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:07 Highlight the passage at 1:26:07

1:26:34 We're not doing that so much here, but you can drag out that meditation if you still have it because it's useful. But basically that meditation is where we sort of label people friend, enemy, stranger based on something they've done for us. If they give us $100, they're a friend, even if they were horrible to us for the week preceding that. And we forget that we labeled them that from our side. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:34 Highlight the passage at 1:26:34

1:26:59 It becomes like it's coming out of them, like they're an inherently existent friend or enemy or stranger. Forgetting again how quickly people change. All of our friends were once strangers. And might become enemies. And all of our enemies are once strangers and everybody can become that again. It's just constantly a fluid thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:59 Highlight the passage at 1:26:59

1:27:21 So that's sort of from our perspective. But then from their side, they're the same in that they just want to be happy and want not to have suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:21 Highlight the passage at 1:27:21

1:27:37 We might think there's this huge difference between our boss and our best friend. This guy that drives our bus. But if we were to sit with them next to us on stage and the rest of us were going to guess who was who, we wouldn't be able to tell the difference, right? That's just from our mental reaction to them based on our own perceived benefit or our own opinions or our own judgments or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:37 Highlight the passage at 1:27:37

1:28:08 But from their side, they just want to have a happy life. They're just trying to get through life however they can. And they have some sort of connection with us in either a big way or a small way or a barely passing by way. The bus driver might not even see us anymore, especially if we get on and off in the back. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:08 Highlight the passage at 1:28:08

1:28:28 So when Shantideva taught about this method, he spends a whole lot of verses on... He's countering all the objections we have as to why they aren't all equal. And why should I care about them? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:28 Highlight the passage at 1:28:28

1:28:46 He's sort of playing the devil's advocate, basically. And all these different things come up with, well, of course my problems are more important to me than your problems are. And it's sort of like... In some ways it's important for us to know that intellectually we can understand that yes everyone around us is equal to us and everyone around us is equal to each other but what we're not getting at the intellectual level and why we need to meditate on it is we might get it intellectually but it's sort of like death. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:46 Highlight the passage at 1:28:46

1:29:23 Until we meditate on it deeply or experience it we don't get how This lack of insight is changing the way we deal with each other. Basically, we're acting all the time like we're the center of the universe. And this is what Shantideva is trying to cut. So the fact that we consider all of the problems that we have as the most important, like even the most important just with friends and family. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:23 Highlight the passage at 1:29:23

1:29:54 Like what I went through today is far more important than whatever you went through, you know. And we do that all the time and we don't mean to and we try to change and to have a relationship with anyone that lasts more than a minute, you have to sort of overcome that. But there's still this sort of baseline understanding or lack of understanding that whatever I go through is the most special of all, you know, whatever problem I have. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:54 Highlight the passage at 1:29:54

1:30:23 Shantideva is the most horrible of all. Whatever headache I have, whatever happened to me today, whatever happened to me in this life is the biggest, is the most important, because I'm the center of the universe, right? I'm the center of my own universe. So Shantideva's point is there is nothing about... Report an error in the passage at 1:30:23 Highlight the passage at 1:30:23

1:30:48 Your headache that makes it so special. There's nothing about your losing your job that made it so special. It doesn't mean that it's not important. It means it's not so important that it blocks out your being able to care for other people. And that's what his point is. So we don't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater and think basically, Nothing that happens to me is important. That's not what Shantideva meant. He's just basically trying to get us to see how this point of view of seeing ourselves as so separate from everyone else and so much more special is causing us problems, much less everyone around us. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:48 Highlight the passage at 1:30:48

1:31:33 First of all, to see that we're even doing it, and secondly, to see how it causes us problems. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:33 Highlight the passage at 1:31:33

1:31:40 To see that if we can shift that, that's the first step to being able to generate this mind that can care so much about others that we actually become enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:40 Highlight the passage at 1:31:40

1:31:51 So it takes a while to recognize that in ourselves and recognize without judgment, just looking, just analyzing, just thinking. And actually we can recognize it... Oh, here's your... I'm sorry. I kept... I kept your pen. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:51 Highlight the passage at 1:31:51

1:32:13 We can beat ourselves up about it, too, and that doesn't help. So, again, we want to just recognize it, but then we also can recognize it in each other, and it's useful, again, not to do it with judgment, but just to think, oh, that's that mind that thinks I'm the center of the universe, and that's what it looks like from where I'm sitting. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:13 Highlight the passage at 1:32:13

1:32:34 And so that's kind of useful too, without again, without thinking, wow, she's so high and mighty, what makes her the center of the universe? But again, with just this idea of Shantideva's teachings and the bodhicitta teachings, thinking, oh, that's what it looks like, you know, when I do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:34 Highlight the passage at 1:32:34

1:32:53 So usually our point of view is to see that I am the most special one. know um Report an error in the passage at 1:32:53 Highlight the passage at 1:32:53

1:32:59 In some way, we're still doing this. We did this when we were two and we didn't go too much beyond that. No matter where we are or who we're with or whatever, we're just ultra aware of this I that's somehow more interesting and sees things more clearly and whose experiences matter more than anyone else's. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:59 Highlight the passage at 1:32:59

1:33:22 It blocks us being able to have this concern develop for others with a really equal sense. So first we have to recognize that we even have it and that just takes thinking about it and then secondly we have to think about how other beings are equal to us and how other beings are equal to each other. So there's those two aspects of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:22 Highlight the passage at 1:33:22

1:33:49 Also to think about, you know, this sort of idea of me and mine. So we might recognize that we ourselves do it, but we can also see that we create sort of these little, I might have concern for others if they're mine, right? So if they're my partner or my sister or my friend or my team or my school or my country, sometimes we extend it bigger, then I might be concerned. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:49 Highlight the passage at 1:33:49

1:34:17 But I'm not going to be so concerned about the ones outside of that circle. So just beginning to recognize ways that we do that or ways that we might see that others do that with that eye of analysis, of thinking. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:17 Highlight the passage at 1:34:17

1:34:32 For example, if the country goes to war, which we seem to do quite a bit. There is this idea of us and them that forms at that point. Well, when the bombings happened in Boston, there was definitely a sense of us and them. In that case, it was the whole city that took on this feeling of us against whatever this perceived threat was. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:32 Highlight the passage at 1:34:32

1:34:57 And, of course, it happened in New York with 9-1-1, too. It happened in London during... The bombings, you know, in World War II. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but just to see how it happens and how it arises, and then it begins to fall away, too, necessarily. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:57 Highlight the passage at 1:34:57

1:35:18 But if we're thinking, so deep down, if we're thinking that everybody is exactly like me in this way, that they want to be happy and they don't want any pain, they don't want any suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:18 Highlight the passage at 1:35:18

1:35:32 You can start with thinking about first yourself, but then also thinking about the people that you know, how this sort of primal urge or energy is driving people 24 hours a day. They don't want to suffer. They do anything to stop suffering in big ways and small. And they want to be happy. They just want to be happy. Every single thing that has ever been done in the history of humankind has been done. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:32 Highlight the passage at 1:35:32

1:36:02 For this reason, which hasn't worked. But it's based on this reason of wanting to be happy and not wanting to suffer. The reason it hasn't worked, of course, is that it's based on ignorance. There's no understanding of karma yet. But people will do the craziest things to be happy, right? People kill people to be happy. People kill themselves to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:02 Highlight the passage at 1:36:02

1:36:33 Go dancing to be happy and stop dancing to be happy. They go shopping to be happy and they cut up their card to be happy. They eat to be happy. They fast to be happy. They come to a Buddhist class to be happy. They avoid the center for two years to be happy. They work really, really, really hard to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:33 Highlight the passage at 1:36:33

1:36:52 They give up all their work and go, I don't know what, play to be happy. And all of it is just to be happy. you know and And the same, I mean, anytime we have any kind of pain whatsoever, we usually reach for something to make it go away, you know, whether it's something in a bottle, either kind of bottle. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:52 Highlight the passage at 1:36:52

1:37:14 Actually, I was thinking about a pill bottle, but yeah, it could be in any kind of bottle. Anything to make that pain stop, you know, from deadening it to just trying to make it, to eliminate it. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:14 Highlight the passage at 1:37:14

1:37:29 And insects do it too. Animals do it too. Everybody is trying to get away from suffering and to have some sort of happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:29 Highlight the passage at 1:37:29

1:37:42 It's also important to know that any kind of pain that we have isn't unique. Other people have it. Sometimes it's useful, actually, if it's a useful way to kind of reduce your pain if you remember that. There are people who have this exact same pain and usually worse, a lot of times worse, especially whether it's mental or physical pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:42 Highlight the passage at 1:37:42

1:38:07 But if you're thinking about physical pain, a lot of times they happen to live in places where they can't get any medication to take it away. Or whatever pain, whatever condition that you have, they might have just a worse version of that condition. If it's mental suffering, If you're really upset or depressed about something, somebody's jumping off a bridge somewhere. So they've got it far worse than you. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:07 Highlight the passage at 1:38:07

1:38:34 And that's sometimes really useful to remember that what makes it unique is just simply that it's mine. That's what makes it so special. It's not really all that special. It's just the way mine works in saṃsāra. We make it special because it's ours. It's that label. That we give to my particular pain, my particular problem, my particular suffering. So according to Shantideva in one of my favorite verses of this chapter, in verse 94, he said we should dispel suffering because it is suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:34 Highlight the passage at 1:38:34

1:39:15 We should benefit others because they are sentient beings just like me. And that's it. It's not like there has to be any other bigger reason. We should dispel suffering because it is suffering. We should benefit others because they are sentient beings, just like me. And that's it. It's not like logically we have to come up with any other reason to help somebody than that that person is a suffering sentient being. Venerable Vena used to always call it... Report an error in the passage at 1:39:15 Highlight the passage at 1:39:15

1:39:47 The suffering sentient being right in front of yours is your suffering sentient being. That's kind of what I feel about Bodhi. Bodhi became my suffering sentient being. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:47 Highlight the passage at 1:39:47

1:39:57 She is one of the cats from the center who came with me when the center ended and is a suffering sentient being, of course. But yes, sometimes you have your own particular karma with a particular sentient being and they become your suffering sentient being. You need to help that person or that animal or that insect or whatever. But basically there's no other reason to help somebody than that they are suffering and that they are just like me. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:57 Highlight the passage at 1:39:57

1:40:31 They are exactly like me in those ways. He talks about also, to begin countering sort of the reasons why we might not help. That guy on the street. He jumps in and he says that basically seeing me is this completely fabricated, arbitrary thing. Then why does it have to end with the skin? Why can't we just extend who I am out to more beings? Report an error in the passage at 1:40:31 Highlight the passage at 1:40:31

1:41:00 And actually people do that when they have kids, right? So you start out just being me and then you have kids, whether you have them or adopt them or whatever. Or they become your suffering sentient being. You take them in. And then you become like two people. And you're really happy. You're sort of moving around through life. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:00 Highlight the passage at 1:41:00

1:41:18 And you're now this sort of two-person being. And you might have more than one. And so then you might become like three people. And you're sort of just navigating life as this three-person tribe. But you're seeing that as me because you've got to care for that. You've got to raise that little being. You've got to give them food and things like that. People do that for other reasons too. Even when we talk about what happens in schools and a particular team, you begin to think of this is me. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:18 Highlight the passage at 1:41:18

1:41:49 This team is going to win and I'm on the winning team. You're identifying so fully with that team. Sometimes people... You become like a little tribe of roommates, for example, or in a group house or something like that. Your view of me extends out to a few people. So what he's asking is not unheard of in our society. Lamas in Tibet used to take on students very, very cautiously because traditionally the teacher cared for the student basically for the rest of their life. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:49 Highlight the passage at 1:41:49

1:42:23 And so they would take on just a few and then they would become me. So then it might be three, or it might be or it might be 20, or it might be 400. But that was me. And they still do that. I mean, Geshe-la is often raising money for projects at the monastery, or for his students back there, or whatever. He still has this concern for those beings, and he's not going to forget them, because he still comes from that So that idea of extending out what I think of as me is not unheard of. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:23 Highlight the passage at 1:42:23

1:42:57 this world. So he's a Shantideva says, if part of your body is in pain, of course some other part is going to, if you stub your toe or if you get a thorn in your foot, your hand is going to go down automatically and try to ease that pain. And it's the same. If somebody is suffering, then you should just automatically... Report an error in the passage at 1:42:57 Highlight the passage at 1:42:57

1:43:24 Because they are a suffering sentient being, that's enough. It doesn't have to be anything bigger than that. You just automatically, they are part of, we are all interdependent and they are part of all sentient beings. And so you're reaching to help them just as quickly as you would your own toe if you hurt yourself. And His Holiness says to do a little interesting exercise too. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:24 Highlight the passage at 1:43:24

1:43:47 He says basically how many beings are worth you anyway? If you had to imagine, you know, A set of scales and you saw yourself on one side, how many other sentient beings would it take to actually equal you? Would it just be one or would it actually be a lot more than one? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:47 Highlight the passage at 1:43:47

1:44:07 It's basically just a bad habit. It's just a bad mental habit that we've gotten into over lifetimes. But there's no real logic behind it. It's just sort of we've gotten into this habit of thinking me and my problems are more horrible than anybody else's. Take on life is so much more witty and erudite or whatever it is, but there's no real logic behind it, it's just habit. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:07 Highlight the passage at 1:44:07

1:44:35 So it's just a habit that in this case keeps us from developing equal concern for every other being. And if you watch certain teachers, and I think actually all great teachers, including Geshe-la, if you watch... Them coming into a teaching or talking to a group of people. There is this equal respect for everyone. And some questions, I remember, we would often get really zany questions from various people. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:35 Highlight the passage at 1:44:35

1:45:06 And you might get attitude from the translator, but you never would get attitude from Geshe-Love. You know, he can giggle, but he'll always answer the question with total respect. And it's a form of this... Equanimity, basically, that He sees us all, because He sees the Buddha nature in all of us, which is another way that you can put this. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:06 Highlight the passage at 1:45:06

1:45:30 The capacity that each of us has, no matter how wacky, no matter how obscured each of us is right now, we all have the ability to become enlightened. And so that's another way that we're all the same if this first method doesn't work for you. But I think it's... Even if you look at a non-human, so if you watch like an ant moving across the floor or something, if you put your hand down in front of them, they don't want suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:30 Highlight the passage at 1:45:30

1:45:58 They definitely don't want suffering. So they're going to run the other way where they think they're not going to get suffering. If you put down honey, then they'll move towards the honey because they want happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:58 Highlight the passage at 1:45:58

1:46:10 So you can see it in insects as well as you can see it in other people. So the first... So we don't have time to do the meditation on it, but basically it's just reviewing these different points and thinking about them. That's really all it is, is basically thinking how everyone is equal to me in not wanting to suffer and to have happiness and how they're all the same as each other. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:10 Highlight the passage at 1:46:10

1:46:35 Their methods for getting it might be all over the place. That's not to say, you know, I mean, like I said, people kill people to be happy. We don't necessarily want to condone methods or follow those methods, but we can see how that led people to do certain things. Even when you're just reading the newspaper, you can think about this. That person just wanted to be happy, and boy, did they mess that up. Or the really horrible ones where people were involved with people, the person loved the person, and then the person kills both them and the kids and the neighbor and the mother-in-law. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:35 Highlight the passage at 1:46:35

1:47:13 It was some form of not just wanting that person to suffer, which of course is there too, but of wanting to be happy. And somehow thinking it was going to lead to some form of happiness, which sure didn't happen, but it was led by it. This is a much quieter center, but I used to, when I was leading the meditations at Webster Street, and it was so noisy. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:13 Highlight the passage at 1:47:13

1:47:36 We used to have so much driving, people driving by and boom boxes and all the people on the street and so forth. I used to say, all those people out there just want to be happy and they just want to avoid suffering. So sometimes you can think about it when you're driving along. Everybody that's out tonight just wants to be happy. They just want to get away from suffering and they just want to be happy. And sometimes it's quite profound to think about that. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:36 Highlight the passage at 1:47:36

1:48:05 So it's the beginning of a change. Any questions about that before we end? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:05 Highlight the passage at 1:48:05

1:48:16 Oh, yeah. What is happiness? It's not the jumping around energizer bunny thing that I think we think of in the West as happiness. I think happiness is more like a well-being. It's like a sense of well-being. A contentment, actually, that some people have developed and I think less of us have developed than would like it. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:16 Highlight the passage at 1:48:16

1:48:48 But yeah, I think a lot of times we're craving that sort of excitement and hyperness of happiness. I like it. You know, that kind of like something just happened and you got it right and you're jumping around or you know you're just going to go on this and you just found out. But that wears off and it's not as deep or lasting as I think that sense of well-being or contentment is. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:48 Highlight the passage at 1:48:48

1:49:16 And that, I think, comes more from working on our minds long term. And that's the kind of happiness. But when we're talking about happiness on the path, we're talking about finding the seeds for that happiness as well so that it kind of keeps going. Because a lot of our happiness now is basically a little gap between sufferings. It's like when one suffering is relieved, we call that happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:16 Highlight the passage at 1:49:16

1:49:46 And the Buddhas are kind of trying to say, hey kids, there's something that really is much bigger than that and much longer lasting than that and it's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:46 Highlight the passage at 1:49:46

1:50:01 And so, yeah, that's my understanding of happiness. That's what I think we're going for is that longer lasting happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:01 Highlight the passage at 1:50:01

1:50:13 I mean, they say there are levels of bliss that come from like the deep... Deep levels of meditation that are beyond our wildest imaginings and beyond anything we've ever experienced with the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:13 Highlight the passage at 1:50:13

1:50:28 Both physical and mental levels of bliss. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:28 Highlight the passage at 1:50:28

1:50:34 And, you know, who knows? I don't know. I haven't gotten there yet. I'm just showing up right now. But I believe the people who have told me, because they haven't lied to me about other things. And so I figure, you know, I'll just keep showing up and see. You do find a little bit more contentment, I think, over time. And so it gives you some hope that it grows. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:34 Highlight the passage at 1:50:34

1:51:09 Just so you can leave on time, why don't we dedicate. And I'd like to dedicate, actually, with... I was actually going to read the King of Prayers tonight because we got a... A request, there's a nun who's, I don't know, but she's passing away right now as we're speaking in Australia. And anyway, so the request went out for people to do the King of Prayers, but I don't think we have time. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:09 Highlight the passage at 1:51:09

1:51:37 So we can do, at the end, there is a dedication by Shantideva that I just think is a really beautiful one. And it's on page 246 and it just sort of gives us again the taste of this mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:37 Highlight the passage at 1:51:37

1:51:58 May all beings everywhere plagued by sufferings of body and mind obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no living creature suffer, commit evil or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:58 Highlight the passage at 1:51:58

1:52:27 May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food, may the thirsty find water and delicious drinks. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. May the filoren find hope, constant happiness and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvest. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:27 Highlight the passage at 1:52:27

1:52:53 May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:53 Highlight the passage at 1:52:53

1:53:28 Homework. So, I don't know if I did enough. I did 12 this time, so whoever would like it in hard copy, please take. No. What I sent out was actually the readings, but I can also send this out. work. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:28 Highlight the passage at 1:53:28

1:53:51 as an electronic copy. Let's see, one, two, three, four, Report an error in the passage at 1:53:51 Highlight the passage at 1:53:51

1:54:02 I don't know that Jessica necessarily, yeah, yeah. I'm sure you do. You're from the 8th class, yeah. Who would like a hard copy? Who hasn't emailed me? Who would like a hard copy of the readings? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:02 Highlight the passage at 1:54:02

1:54:24 The course readings? And you haven't written me, right, Steve? Yeah, no, that's okay. me. Who would like a hard copy of the readings? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:24 Highlight the passage at 1:54:24

1:54:29 So I know Marcella was one, and you contacted me, Karma. We have a few extras. Going, going, gone. Did you want one? Whoops. Did you want one? Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:54:29 Highlight the passage at 1:54:29

1:54:49 that's fine. I still have got two more. Oh, come on, take it. It's different. It's different. Yeah, no, that's all right. Yeah, last time we went through that. Anybody else who wants, okay, so I know, so Steve, Marcella, let's see. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:49 Highlight the passage at 1:54:49