Discovering Buddhism - Developing Bodhicitta (31 October 2013)

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1:18 It's going to record my ear. That's Report an error in the passage at 1:18 Highlight the passage at 1:18

1:28 definitely, you can hear the echo. I can do the haunted house. Thank you. I thought I could wear it for a day of the day too. Report an error in the passage at 1:28 Highlight the passage at 1:28

1:40 She's talking about my sock. Report an error in the passage at 1:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40

1:48 So let's see. Steve. Hey Ross, you made it. So I think, who was getting a manual copy of the binder readings? Good, no hands are going up because I think the four people are not here. I think Phil is getting his own and then the other three are not here. Steve is probably coming. But we did get them made. Okay, so we'll start with a little meditation to set our motivation and also allow anybody coming. Report an error in the passage at 1:48 Highlight the passage at 1:48

2:19 I know I got at least five or six emails from people saying they couldn't come because of it being Halloween, which I never think of as a big holiday, but I thought you were one of them, but you're here. Report an error in the passage at 2:19 Highlight the passage at 2:19

2:31 Good. So we'll just start with a little meditation, thinking a little bit about equalizing self and others before we start with step two. Report an error in the passage at 2:31 Highlight the passage at 2:31

2:47 So I just take some nice deep breaths and let go of your day. Whether it's a good day or a bad day, you can let it go. And if you have any tension in your body, this is a good time to kind of stretch it out. Release it. Maybe roll your shoulders a little bit. Stretch your neck from side to side and Report an error in the passage at 2:47 Highlight the passage at 2:47

3:16 extend your spine and flatten your shoulders. If you're sitting in a chair, you've got to move away from the back of the chair so you're not too comfy. Report an error in the passage at 3:16 Highlight the passage at 3:16

3:31 I've got one of those voices that puts people to sleep. And if you've got a cell phone, this would be a good time to put on vibrate. Report an error in the passage at 3:31 Highlight the passage at 3:31

3:46 And then just start with focusing on your breath for a couple of rounds. Rounds of ten. Trying to stay with the breath at whatever place you feel comfortable, in the nostrils or your belly. And just watching whenever the mind wanders off, pull it back. Report an error in the passage at 3:46 Highlight the passage at 3:46

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6:14 Just try Report an error in the passage at 6:14 Highlight the passage at 6:14

6:21 to imagine having this mind, Report an error in the passage at 6:21 Highlight the passage at 6:21

6:26 everyone, everyone you meet in a day, your Report an error in the passage at 6:26 Highlight the passage at 6:26

6:38 baseline understanding that it's equal. Yes, I'm not wanting to suffer. You're exactly like you and you're exactly like each other in that sense. Report an error in the passage at 6:38 Highlight the passage at 6:38

7:02 Having this kind of equal concern doesn't mean that everyone's going to look like your best friend, but you're just trying to develop this caring. Remember Report an error in the passage at 7:02 Highlight the passage at 7:02

7:19 Master Shantideva's verse, we should dispel suffering because it is suffering. We should benefit others because they are sentient beings, just like me. Report an error in the passage at 7:19 Highlight the passage at 7:19

7:42 If we think about everyone and everything being interdependent, whenever one of us hurts, all of us hurt. Report an error in the passage at 7:42 Highlight the passage at 7:42

7:55 Whenever one of us is happy, we can all share that happiness. Report an error in the passage at 7:55 Highlight the passage at 7:55

8:13 Try to imagine being able to always see the best in everyone. Report an error in the passage at 8:13 Highlight the passage at 8:13

8:20 You see what they're capable of. It's like a mother might see in her children. Report an error in the passage at 8:20 Highlight the passage at 8:20

8:32 All of us may feel this sometimes. We might have moments. But imagine feeling this all the time. Report an error in the passage at 8:32 Highlight the passage at 8:32

8:42 Caring for everyone, no matter how they treat you or whether they even notice you. Report an error in the passage at 8:42 Highlight the passage at 8:42

8:54 It's like a parent looking after a really huge family with everyone's best interest at heart. No matter how those kids might be behaving. Report an error in the passage at 8:54 Highlight the passage at 8:54

9:20 It's important to say that becoming a bodhisattva isn't like becoming a doormat. It just means caring deeply about everyone, wanting their ultimate happiness and wanting to release them, to remove their suffering. Report an error in the passage at 9:20 Highlight the passage at 9:20

9:42 And it means being willing to work for that, for each person, not just for your close friends, your family, but for everyone. Report an error in the passage at 9:42 Highlight the passage at 9:42

9:59 And even more, it means becoming wise so we know what to do. We know how to benefit them. We know how to benefit them. We're able to benefit them. Report an error in the passage at 9:59 Highlight the passage at 9:59

10:31 Remember, even wanting to have a mind like this is a really huge step, much less actually developing it. Report an error in the passage at 10:31 Highlight the passage at 10:31

10:43 So even if you want this mind, or you think you might want this mind, as one of my friends says, getting ready to get ready, that's a start. That's a good start. Report an error in the passage at 10:43 Highlight the passage at 10:43

11:13 May whatever seed is planted tonight, whatever understanding, whatever insights, ideas, may it become an imprint that grows and grows and grows into this mind of bodhicitta, good heart. Report an error in the passage at 11:13 Highlight the passage at 11:13

11:36 May it take each one of us, every one of us in this house for Report an error in the passage at 11:36 Highlight the passage at 11:36

11:45 the benefit of every living being. Report an error in the passage at 11:45 Highlight the passage at 11:45

11:57 And then when you're ready, you can end your meditation and say the opening prayer. Report an error in the passage at 11:57 Highlight the passage at 11:57

12:11 Which is in the White Prayer Book, page 8. Report an error in the passage at 12:11 Highlight the passage at 12:11

12:24 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain. Report an error in the passage at 12:24 Highlight the passage at 12:24

12:49 Until then, may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 12:49 Highlight the passage at 12:49

13:02 Okay, before I check in and before I start on tonight's topic, which is going to be going on to the second and third steps of the method, the actual method to develop, one of the actual methods to develop bodhicitta. I don't think I mentioned this last week. I was looking over my notes, so I'm just going to say it again. So if I did say it, then... Report an error in the passage at 13:02 Highlight the passage at 13:02

13:28 You get to hear it twice. There are two kinds of bodhicitta. Did I mention that? I don't remember actually saying the words, but I've had gaps of memory loss, so it could be. But I don't remember saying it. So there are two kinds of bodhicitta, what's called wishing bodhicitta and engaged bodhicitta. So wishing bodhicitta is kind of what I was alluding to in the motivation. Report an error in the passage at 13:28 Highlight the passage at 13:28

13:53 It's having this bodhicitta in the form of an aspiration. Or the form of a wish. That's kind of like making this determination that this sounds good. I want this in the future. I want to go there. It's sort of like planning for a big trip. You do all the studying about the country and you look at the maps and you try to learn some of the language and things like that, kind of like what I was doing, driving. Report an error in the passage at 13:53 Highlight the passage at 13:53

14:24 Palma crazy before I went to Burma because I didn't know anybody that had ever gone to Burma. And so I kind of was, you know, looking up everything and trying to memorize a couple of key phrases that I wore out there, I'm sure, the poor people. Mingalaba. It means hello. So it's like that. It's like you're planning to get it. Report an error in the passage at 14:24 Highlight the passage at 14:24

14:48 So you try to find out all there is to know. Every time there's a talk on bodhicitta, you go. You take notes. When you find books that interest you on bodhicitta, you read them. You try to find out all there is to know about developing that mind so that it karmically plants that seed. It keeps planting that seed. It keeps developing that crop, so to speak, in your mind. But then engage bodhicitta is where you take it to the next step. Report an error in the passage at 14:48 Highlight the passage at 14:48

15:17 You actually go to Burma. You find out you've been mispronouncing. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 15:17 Highlight the passage at 15:17

15:25 So that's where you take it. That's the form of action. That's active bodhicitta. It's called engaged bodhicitta. I like engaged bodhicitta better than active because it feels sort of like, you know when you're driving a stick shift and it engages, the gear engages? That's the way it feels. It's sort of like, well, I mean, not that I've got it, but you know what I mean? I think theoretically, it's like you're moving it into that gear and then you're moving. Report an error in the passage at 15:25 Highlight the passage at 15:25

15:53 You're moving to that next level. Report an error in the passage at 15:53 Highlight the passage at 15:53

15:59 And at that point, it's sort of like every moment of every day, you're looking out on how I can help others. It becomes almost like a game. You know, like how can I help others throughout the day? You're sort of looking out. And it's genuine. It's not just like... Chokyi told us how to look out for others all during the day, and so I'm going to try it. But it's like from your own heart. It's like, wow, what can I do to help others? And whenever there's somebody in front of you with a problem, instead of like a deep sigh, thinking, wow, why did I get this problem? Report an error in the passage at 15:59 Highlight the passage at 15:59

16:36 It's sort of like, oh, great, I get to help a suffering sentient being. I've got one right here. Cool. And it's genuine. It's like you really, really want that. You want to be able to help others. I remember once we were going to a class on the bodhisattva vows and somebody was, well actually Tenzin Chokyi, I think I can say that much. Report an error in the passage at 16:36 Highlight the passage at 16:36

16:55 We had a group full of people who were writing together and Tenzin Chokyi had a suffering sentient being that she was looking out for and it was really a bad problem with this person's daughter and blah, blah, blah. Report an error in the passage at 16:55 Highlight the passage at 16:55

17:09 And so she said, you know, I have to take care of this. And so we're all like sitting in the car quietly. And then venerable GMA said, I wish all these suffering sentient beings would stop suffering so that we could go to our class on how to help suffering sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 17:09 Highlight the passage at 17:09

17:22 I just thought that was so priceless. And we do that all the time, right? I mean, it's sort of like here we are at a center and then somebody comes in and needs help and it's kind of like, gosh, now I can't do whatever it was I was going to do, you know, but here's a suffering sentient being. So when you actually have engaged bodhicitta, you're always on the lookout on how to help suffering sentient beings, whether they're little problems or big problems. And you have more and more capacity to be able to do something, not just, you know, band-aids, but actually be able to help them. Report an error in the passage at 17:22 Highlight the passage at 17:22

17:56 So that's when we get into the activities of a bodhisattva, like the six perfections, taking the bodhisattva vows, blah, blah, like that. And we'll talk about that in the final class, class five. Hey! Report an error in the passage at 17:56 Highlight the passage at 17:56

18:09 The minute I said bodhisattva vows, right? So you just arrived. She's a bodhisattva vows groupie. So we'll talk about that more in the final class. We won't be able to talk about the vows because it's such a short class, but we will talk about the six perfections and kind of how to work with this on a daily basis going forward. Report an error in the passage at 18:09 Highlight the passage at 18:09

18:30 Like what do we do instead of just taking in information and then like walking out after five weeks and throwing it all away. Hopefully. Report an error in the passage at 18:30 Highlight the passage at 18:30

18:40 So last week we talked about the preliminary steps to where you would even begin to do this meditation on developing bodhicitta. So we talked about the seven limb practice and then taking refuge. And then we started with the first step of the actual method, which is equalizing self and others, which is basically beginning to remember. Report an error in the passage at 18:40 Highlight the passage at 18:40

19:06 Well, first of all, beginning, you have to even convince yourself that it's true, right? We don't want to just say, just because Chokyi said it was true, or just because Shantideva said it was true, or even just because the Buddha said it was true. He always said, check up. Don't just do something because I said so. He said, test it like you would gold. Geshe-la says we spend far more time checking out whether a car is any good than we do checking out whether the teachings are any good. Report an error in the passage at 19:06 Highlight the passage at 19:06

19:30 So we have to, any teaching you ever get. in Buddhism we're supposed to check up on. But if we check up and we start thinking about the fact that people are equal to us, that all people are equal to us in that main way of wanting happiness and not wanting pain, whatever that might look like for each of us, which will be different, and that they're equal to each other in that same way. Report an error in the passage at 19:30 Highlight the passage at 19:30

20:01 To me, I might have a best friend and I might have a worst enemy and I might have the guy who gives me coffee. But from their side, they're just people just trying to get through life and be happy and have their dreams come true. I mean, just like regular ordinary people. So first we have to recognize that and convince ourselves of that, if it's true or not. Report an error in the passage at 20:01 Highlight the passage at 20:01

20:25 And then we have to start noticing how we don't necessarily... Act like that and to kind of begin examining that a little bit, you know, whether or not we're the center of the universe all the time. And if so, how might we begin breaking it down? So did anybody have any questions or comments or things that came up doing the meditation this week on equalizing self and others or anything that came up in class last week? Report an error in the passage at 20:25 Highlight the passage at 20:25

21:09 Well, if it comes up again, you can. But don't shout it out. Report an error in the passage at 21:09 Highlight the passage at 21:09

21:17 Anything at all. It could also be a comment if you did it and something came up for you and you're just sharing that. This is the time for that. I usually try to remember to check in at the beginning of the classes because sometimes if people are doing meditation even only once. You might have an experience that's useful and it might help somebody else to hear it or a question or something like that. Do you have that mic? How convenient. Report an error in the passage at 21:17 Highlight the passage at 21:17

21:42 I know. So something that came up for me was how difficult it is for me to even like imagine the stranger because there are all these people. I mean, it's funny because in theory I get that I'm surrounded by these. People that I don't know, like not the friends, not the enemies, but the stranger. But even just sort of trying to pick one or imagine one was really, really challenging and I found that insightful because I think that I just don't, or I mean not insightful, it was like revealing how little attention I pay to how many other people are around me all the time. Report an error in the passage at 21:42 Highlight the passage at 21:42

22:34 know. That are human beings just like me. Like stuck in 280 you just see cars, not human beings. That's right. I like to look into the windows of cars. And I always do when I'm a pedestrian because you've got to make sure you make eye contact before you cross in front of them. But also just to see them as people. And to let them see you as a person. Report an error in the passage at 22:34 Highlight the passage at 22:34

22:59 I know I think our world is moving more and more away from Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 22:59 Highlight the passage at 22:59

23:04 Seeing each other. So it's sort of like we're moving against the stream. But, you know, also it's like every person who's ever been a stranger became something else. I mean, not every person. I should say every friend and every enemy started as a stranger. And that's really important to remember. I like to remember sort of the first time I met people. Report an error in the passage at 23:04 Highlight the passage at 23:04

23:25 And sometimes you can think about that, even with friends, too. I mean, I think people focus on that. with and significant others, but when I just I was telling them I remember the exact moment when I met them both and you know and actually they could remember. The first moment with me too. It wasn't like a drop dead moment, but it was just kind of interesting to think about. At that moment I didn't know them. I just remember seeing them. Report an error in the passage at 23:25 Highlight the passage at 23:25

24:03 And it's interesting because they were strangers. And then they gradually became incredibly important friends. And that happens all the time. Report an error in the passage at 24:03 Highlight the passage at 24:03

24:15 And then it moves back and forth. But then it's also really important to think about when you look at... You go into a coffee shop or something and you look at that person behind the counter and you just think they have their whole life. They have this whole arc. Report an error in the passage at 24:15 Highlight the passage at 24:15

24:31 They're born. They have dreams. They try to make those dreams happen and then they die. It's like this whole person. And to see them that way and to have this sort of a tender concern for them, even though you may never see them again, they may be fired before noon. You know, but It's not saying that we have to grasp onto them. You know, it's simply saying to recognize that and to kind of develop that sweet concern, you know, when you can. Report an error in the passage at 24:31 Highlight the passage at 24:31

24:58 I mean, obviously, in other words, you might be late for work if you're doing that too much with every single person. But to play with it, to play with it a little bit. Yeah. Did anybody play with it a little bit? Did anybody? Steve? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 24:58 Highlight the passage at 24:58

25:18 Well, it's impossible. I mean, it's just so, I mean, it's exasperating sometimes. But, so I've been meditating every day and then I did try to. Report an error in the passage at 25:18 Highlight the passage at 25:18

25:31 I just love how you keep being so honest and you keep showing up even though it is, it's thoroughly insane as Beno Rabinus is, but in a good way. And, you know, it just makes so much sense and then that's just exasperating in itself because you can't. You can't debate it. I'm just a neophyte. But anyway, I've been meditating every day. So I've been really trying to do this. Report an error in the passage at 25:31 Highlight the passage at 25:31

25:55 So one of the things that happens to me is during my meditation, I start to think about some of the things on the handout, and my mind just blanks out. It just blanks out. Report an error in the passage at 25:55 Highlight the passage at 25:55

26:07 But then I have moments during the meditation when I can kind of think about it a little bit. And that just takes time. But then during my day I start thinking about it and stuff comes up. So that's good. And then I just keep thinking about, I read somewhere one of your handouts, you know, I'm here because of the kindness of others and everyone has been kind to me and even the people who... Report an error in the passage at 26:07 Highlight the passage at 26:07

26:35 Aren't so kind to me in this lifetime than they have been in the previous lifetime. And that makes sense. Although that one's aggravating to think about, isn't it, when somebody's irritating me? Yeah, right. And then today was interesting on the bus ride over here. Yeah, I had a really good day and like some good things happened, like material things. Report an error in the passage at 26:35 Highlight the passage at 26:35

26:58 And I went to the dentist and had some fixed. And I was like really... Kind of happy, like really. And then I all of a sudden thought, well, am I ever happy, you know, when I help someone, this happy, like this kind of happy, this kind of elation when I'm helping someone else. And then that was exasperating. But I mean, that's just kind of what I've been thinking. I bet you have. Report an error in the passage at 26:58 Highlight the passage at 26:58

27:27 That's probably one of the things you blanked out on. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 27:27 Highlight the passage at 27:27

27:39 And that just takes a lot of time thinking about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 27:39 Highlight the passage at 27:39

27:47 It's huge. Yeah. No, it's huge. It's huge. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's all we're trying to do right now is look, you know, not judge ourselves for not having it already because if we had it already, then one of you guys could come up here and teach it, you know. Report an error in the passage at 27:47 Highlight the passage at 27:47

28:03 But we're all just sort of stumbling through together and we're just kind of like, I feel like I'm just sort of mouthing. Things that I've been taught, you know, and things that I've tried, that's all. And it's just ideas, you know. And so maybe some of those ideas will help. Maybe some of those ideas will lead to some understanding that'll kind of go, you know, and maybe they won't. But they might also lead to an idea that works for you. Report an error in the passage at 28:03 Highlight the passage at 28:03

28:32 So when you're doing the meditation and you blank out, just sit for a moment. Don't think, oh my god, I have to go on to the next part, you know. We're on a deadline. Just sit for a moment, you know. I think the times that the meditations, any of the meditations for any of these classes become meaningful is when you start thinking of your own examples, you know. Report an error in the passage at 28:32 Highlight the passage at 28:32

28:56 I'm just giving you guidelines. These are basically guidelines. All of the Lama meditations are guidelines. And the ones like if you read Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand and things like that. And Lama Tsongkhapa gave guidelines and he gave examples that were pertinent to monks at that time period and they might not be pertinent to us now. Report an error in the passage at 28:56 Highlight the passage at 28:56

29:20 And that's totally fine. Where it becomes meaningful is when it's your life and your friends and the newspaper article that grabbed you or the... Report an error in the passage at 29:20 Highlight the passage at 29:20

29:33 Any thing that happened on the street yesterday or your boss, you know what I mean? That's when it means something to you. So at this point when we go through the meditations we're kind of trying to get the ideas to form sort of a template and then we start putting in our own things. And sometimes I have experiences with one of my own things will come up and then I'll write it down. And then I'll include that, that'll become part of my template. Report an error in the passage at 29:33 Highlight the passage at 29:33

30:01 For example, if I'm thinking about death and impermanence and I want to have sort of a meaningful experience of it, I might think about the fact that nobody I know who's passed away knew that they were going to pass away that day. Report an error in the passage at 30:01 Highlight the passage at 30:01

30:17 Somehow you always think that you will. You get some sort of warning, right? But even one friend who was in the process of passing away was still making jokes. And his partner said, honey. I think maybe it's not such a joking time, but I mean at least his mind was happy. But you know, I mean, Rinpoche says even up to the very moment we're in denial, you know. Report an error in the passage at 30:17 Highlight the passage at 30:17

30:42 And so that for me kind of grabs my attention. And so it's like that with any of these meditations. If you're doing the meditation and you have sort of a moment where you're like, oh yeah, that one kind of grabs me, then you write it in and it becomes sort of, that's why I think when you're creating a lamrim manual. Report an error in the passage at 30:42 Highlight the passage at 30:42

31:00 It's nice to have it be something you can write in, like a workbook style guide. Any of my meditations that I give you, if you put them in a loose sleeve notebook or something, you can write in them or write on the back or whatever. So then when you're sitting and you go through them, then it becomes more and more and more meaningful. But it takes time. It takes weeks and months and years even. Report an error in the passage at 31:00 Highlight the passage at 31:00

31:24 you know. And sometimes quicker. That's the cool thing about karma. We just don't know where we really are on the path. We have this whole idea of where we are. Karma could blow it right out of the water and you could have a profound experience in a meditation and never see it coming. Just sit down on the cushion and get up and you're a different person because your mind has just shifted in some way. Report an error in the passage at 31:24 Highlight the passage at 31:24

31:52 Do you still have the mic? Wait, make them use the mic. Use the mic, use the mic. Well, I do kind of feel that way sometimes, you know, when I meditate that I'm changing, you know. But I can't figure out like what happens to my, what, because like sometimes it's blank out and I don't, is it denial or is it just because everything's so foreign? Report an error in the passage at 31:52 Highlight the passage at 31:52

32:15 I think it's just a lot of words. I think it's a lot of words and there's no other way kind of to hand it to you. But eventually we kind of get away from the words. Eventually. Like now we're kind of getting used to thinking about it and so we have to kind of look and read and think and peek again and all that. And that's totally fine. Report an error in the passage at 32:15 Highlight the passage at 32:15

32:35 It's sort of like learning a language and then eventually you begin speaking the language and dreaming in the language. And it's like that. So then it becomes yours. But I think right now it's just a lot of words and we just kind of have to learn it in a conceptual way and then eventually it becomes non-conceptual. Report an error in the passage at 32:35 Highlight the passage at 32:35

32:41 you know? Report an error in the passage at 32:41 Highlight the passage at 32:41

32:56 No, but those are good points. Anybody else? Oh, you did remember? Good. Report an error in the passage at 32:56 Highlight the passage at 32:56

33:06 When you sit down and meditate and then the thoughts come into your head, so even if you're just focusing on your breath and the thoughts come into your head and you go, where in the world did that come from? Right. And then you put it away and you go back to your breath and you put it away. Report an error in the passage at 33:06 Highlight the passage at 33:06

33:21 I was riding on the Mumi the other day, actually the other evening, and it wasn't in a great place. It was kind of an unnerving place, and it was full and smelly, and it was an uncomfortable place. And so I started to think for every person that I saw on there, may be safe and protected, may be happy, may not suffer. And then I started to wonder, because it seemed like the end of this ride. Report an error in the passage at 33:21 Highlight the passage at 33:21

33:44 So I kept going through, and I did everybody, and then I did everybody again. And then I wondered, how much of that is, am I just drowning out the fact that I'm nervous on here? You might be, we're not perfect. Yeah. But it's a question to ask too. I mean, you know, every question is a question to ask, right? But it's also a good tool. Report an error in the passage at 33:44 Highlight the passage at 33:44

34:08 You know, it's a sweet tool and it builds, I mean, that's called the meta, you know, that's the meta meditation and it's... You know, wanting people's happiness who you might not have even thought about as a real person before. So, I mean, it's huge. It's huge. And, you know, it might be a way of not just being with their suffering, you know. Report an error in the passage at 34:08 Highlight the passage at 34:08

34:31 But that's okay, you know. We're not perfect. You have more Muni rides ahead. Muni is one of the paths to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 34:31 Highlight the passage at 34:31

34:45 Maybe the Buddha did foresee it, actually. In the future, he'll be number 22. My personal favorite. Yeah, I think sometimes we have to cut ourselves some slack, and I'm speaking for myself, too. Sometimes I think we think we're not perfect enough, but honestly... The Buddha didn't... Report an error in the passage at 34:45 Highlight the passage at 34:45

35:04 You know, we just keep trying and if we keep trying, that's great. You know, but keep asking too. So it's both. Wait, wait, pass me to the mic. You know, think of the alternative, right? You could have been thinking a lot more negative thoughts. And I think just even like you talked about last week, right? Creating the habit. Even if it's not super deep felt at the moment, it's like creating that train of thought habit rather than... Report an error in the passage at 35:04 Highlight the passage at 35:04

35:37 Oh my god, these people get away from me. I don't want to touch that guy. I don't know if he has like, you know, this is where it kind of gets really like me and you and please stay away and I'm afraid. I feel like you should give yourself some credit for that because there's a whole other train of thought that is easy to get on in Muni. So, I mean, I just wanted to add that. Report an error in the passage at 35:37 Highlight the passage at 35:37

35:59 Yeah, no, that's perfect. Because I tend to be a person who's very hard on myself, so I'm trying to sympathize for this. Report an error in the passage at 35:59 Highlight the passage at 35:59

36:07 No, it's really true. Well done. Report an error in the passage at 36:07 Highlight the passage at 36:07

36:12 Okay, so let's start with steps two and three. And I'm going to go through them, and then we'll take a break, and then we'll do the meditation on them. And then that's what you guys will be doing as your homework. And these two are the disadvantages of the self-cherishing mind and the advantages of cherishing others. Report an error in the passage at 36:12 Highlight the passage at 36:12

36:34 So it's sort of like the advertisement. First we did the advantages of developing bodhicitta and now we're talking about the self-cherishing mind. The self-cherishing mind is this term that the Tibetans coined and sometimes I call it self-absorption or selfishness because we're more familiar with those terms. Report an error in the passage at 36:34 Highlight the passage at 36:34

36:57 But I really like the term self-cherishing mind because it's this very tender concern that we focus on me, me, me, me, me, me. Report an error in the passage at 36:57 Highlight the passage at 36:57

37:07 And kind of, sometimes we go, I'm not selfish, you know, or I'm not self-absorbed or whatever, whereas in reality all of us have some form of self-cherishing, unless we are complete Buddhists, actually, not even just people with nirvāṇa. They say there's a subtle level of self-cherishing, of selfishness. So we want to examine this a little bit, not only what it is, but also what it's costing us. Report an error in the passage at 37:07 Highlight the passage at 37:07

37:37 Because it's costing us a lot, according to the Buddha, to just sort of let this mind run rampant. Report an error in the passage at 37:37 Highlight the passage at 37:37

37:48 And it's important to know that Master Shantideva and the Buddha aren't telling us to stop taking care of ourselves. Just stop eating, stop combing your hair, stop putting on your clothes right. So Report an error in the passage at 37:48 Highlight the passage at 37:48

38:04 I actually have had a situation, I do remember in a certain class on bodhicitta, we had a woman who did stop doing that. She took it too far to the nth degree, and we didn't notice what was happening, and she literally was starving herself. She just started, she was caring for everyone and stopped caring for herself, and by the time we noticed what was happening, she had actually been institutionalized, which is huge. Report an error in the passage at 38:04 Highlight the passage at 38:04

38:29 This is not what is being said. The Buddha is not saying don't take care of yourself. The Buddha is saying simply notice how much you take care of yourself and how little you take care of others. It's like be reasonable. Be reasonable. I remember Lama Yeshe also said there's a certain amount of mental health we need in order to follow this path. Report an error in the passage at 38:29 Highlight the passage at 38:29

38:53 And this has come up running a center for many, many years. You do see people who come who... Perhaps don't have that element of mental health. And it's important to know that we can do our best to help them, but it's also important to know that not everybody can take the path in the same way. Report an error in the passage at 38:53 Highlight the passage at 38:53

39:16 So if we examine this thing called the self-cherishing mind, what is it? How does it manifest? The Buddha says it's the source of all of our suffering, which is huge. It is the biggest enemy. Shantideva is talking about the enemy for life after life. It's bigger than any external enemy. If you vanquish all the external enemies and you don't vanquish this one, you'll just get more. Report an error in the passage at 39:16 Highlight the passage at 39:16

39:44 Which even if we're thinking about it in terms of selfishness, you can kind of imagine. And even only in terms of this life. We could keep killing external enemies or punching them if we don't want to be too violent. And we're punching them and locking them out. But if we're still just focused on me, we're not going to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 39:44 Highlight the passage at 39:44

40:01 And according to the Buddha, then we're actually creating karmic seeds which will ripen as our own suffering because we're still focused on me, me, me, me. Report an error in the passage at 40:01 Highlight the passage at 40:01

40:15 In our culture, I think, there is especially this feeling that we sort of have to look out for number one. That I really do need to have some sort of, you know, I need to be totally focused on me because nobody else will. Right? If I don't do it, nobody else will. Report an error in the passage at 40:15 Highlight the passage at 40:15

40:35 And so I think we need to begin with examining that a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 40:35 Highlight the passage at 40:35

40:42 Also, it's interesting to look at self-cherishing mind can manifest in this way that's energetic if there's some perceived benefit to me, like going out to dinner or going to the movies. Report an error in the passage at 40:42 Highlight the passage at 40:42

40:59 And lazy if there's not perceived benefit to me, like cleaning the garage or coming to class. I remember once I was walking with a friend of mine, a nun who used to live at the Center of Chidron, and we were walking really fast in the movies. We were just like so happy, we were going to the movies, and she said, wouldn't it be great if we get this enthusiastic about practice? It was totally true. Report an error in the passage at 40:59 Highlight the passage at 40:59

41:25 I mean, we were walking to the other side of town. I mean, we were walking like miles to get to this movie, and we were just like totally upbeat and happy. And it doesn't mean we shouldn't have fun. I'm just examining, you know, so don't read anything else into it. We're just examining that mind. When you guys are thinking about it, think about the things that make you energetic and happy and the things that make you lazy or make you feel lazy, you know, in terms of doing something. Report an error in the passage at 41:25 Highlight the passage at 41:25

41:52 Do we honestly have the same amount? Sometimes I do, you know, like if you're doing a retreat or something that you've been looking forward to or pilgrimage and you're on your way there, it is really exciting in that same way. Report an error in the passage at 41:52 Highlight the passage at 41:52

42:06 And sometimes you are really enthusiastic about a class or a teacher and you're really excited about doing the class. And that's kind of cool to see. But usually also the self-cherishing mind is really concerned with the body, the body's needs first, rather than the mind's needs. It's like this two-year-old. Report an error in the passage at 42:06 Highlight the passage at 42:06

42:26 And now, I want it now, I want my happiness now. Not thinking later in this life, certainly not thinking lifetimes, as His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, developing this long view that this might take a while to develop. And so we might have to give it a certain amount of time to develop. Report an error in the passage at 42:26 Highlight the passage at 42:26

42:52 And I think this is really important here. We examine this more, of course, in the class on emptiness, but we have to examine that we develop this sort of sense of this self, this I, and then we believe that self exists, and then we coddle that self. We pamper that self. Report an error in the passage at 42:52 Highlight the passage at 42:52

43:12 And we coddle it through attachment. We coddle it with ways that logically don't even make sense in any way. In any way, you know, we cuddle it. We decide that that self needs certain foods like potato chips because you had a hard day, you know. Like even logically speaking, it doesn't make sense. Or that you need a night off, but then that night off stretches to like, you know, a month or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 43:12 Highlight the passage at 43:12

43:44 You never get out of bed. I mean, we take it to the nth degree. And that's self-terishing mind. We're believing that self-cherishing mind, which is basically a conceptual construct. It's not an existent thing. The self isn't an existent thing, and that is something that we'll get into in later classes. Report an error in the passage at 43:44 Highlight the passage at 43:44

44:04 But this self-cherishing mind is just an attitude. It's just an attitude of cherishing myself, you know, and I'm giving it all this control. I actually become a slave to this mind, lifetime after lifetime according to the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 44:04 Highlight the passage at 44:04

44:18 So if we look at what motivates... The things that ripen as our suffering. So if we look at, you know, in the karma class, we talk about the top ten, the ten non-virtues, like killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying. Report an error in the passage at 44:18 Highlight the passage at 44:18

44:39 The results of all those things are suffering. You know, so if we kill, then we have, according to the Buddha, we have early death or we have illness. Report an error in the passage at 44:39 Highlight the passage at 44:39

44:51 And the motivation for that killing is usually aversion, but sometimes attachment in the form of meat or also just in the form of, if I can't have you, no one will, that horrible mind that makes people do these domestic killings. Report an error in the passage at 44:51 Highlight the passage at 44:51

45:11 And that is all motivated by self-cherishing. It's this selfishness. It's not thinking about that other person at all, or the animal for that matter, but just in the case of a killing of a human, it's not thinking about that person. It's thinking about me. That's self-cherishing. The result of stealing is money problems. Stealing is motivated also by self-cherishing. Report an error in the passage at 45:11 Highlight the passage at 45:11

45:36 I mean, you usually would steal from attachment, but that attachment is motivated by self-cherishing. I want it, or I don't want you to have it. Either way, it's still kind of... It's still stealing. It's still selfish. Relationship problems come from sexual misconduct and especially adultery. And selfishness motivates that. Report an error in the passage at 45:36 Highlight the passage at 45:36

46:02 If you think about rape or sexual abuse, that's extreme selfishness. That's where your needs are coming totally first and the victim doesn't matter at all. And that's self-cherishing. That's just an extreme form, but it's just the same mind. Report an error in the passage at 46:02 Highlight the passage at 46:02

46:21 If that's motivating that negative mind that causes us to create the negative actions and then those negative actions are ripening as our suffering, that's why the Buddha is saying this is our biggest enemy. Because it's keeping us suffering. Even if we don't get to any greater or more worthy, you know, how we can benefit others and all that stuff, it's just keeping us suffering. Report an error in the passage at 46:21 Highlight the passage at 46:21

46:46 You know, it's keeping us. We continue to have money problems. We continue to, you know. We continue to get ill, to die early and things like that because we keep giving in to this mind. In the book The Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, Shantideva sort of considers self-cherishing mind and self-grasping mind the same. Report an error in the passage at 46:46 Highlight the passage at 46:46

47:13 He sort of lumps them together. They're actually different. Self-cherishing mind is this mind that... We've been talking about this sort of selfishness, but self-grasping is grasping onto this sense of an I or me or self and then believing it and holding it as true. Report an error in the passage at 47:13 Highlight the passage at 47:13

47:36 According to the Buddha, we create this identity or this self, which is basically our body and our mind and something bigger, like something more concrete. But we create it life after life and then we believe in it and then we cherish it and then that's how we start getting into trouble. And we do that life after life after life. So they're two separate things but they work together really, really, really well. One of them is creating the problem and the other one just becomes the slave. Report an error in the passage at 47:36 Highlight the passage at 47:36

48:16 The self-cherishing mind just kicks in because we... We believe in it so much that then we start coddling and pampering this I that we've created, not realizing that we've created. Report an error in the passage at 48:16 Highlight the passage at 48:16

48:31 So all these things and all these reasons, it causes us to suffer. And we get, you know, we do all these crazy things and we get into debt and, you know, I mean, just from a conventional point of view, just trying to make this I happy. Report an error in the passage at 48:31 Highlight the passage at 48:31

48:49 But actually, you know, we get gadgets, we feed ourselves, you know, we go out all the time, you know, we go to different parties all the time. Report an error in the passage at 48:49 Highlight the passage at 48:49

49:01 And, you know, people are constantly plugged in. We were just talking about this tonight watching the news. Those Google glasses are really weird. It's strange. Especially when you talk, there was one woman on the news, it was just basically she just never takes it off. It just feels so extreme, you know. But... Report an error in the passage at 49:01 Highlight the passage at 49:01

49:20 You know, part of it too is just, I mean the opposite point of view is just like what our mind really needs is just some space. It's just some space to just contemplate, you know, to just think or not to do anything. What a concept, you know, just to let it down at the end of the day. I used to actually enjoy bus riding because I would do more of that. Report an error in the passage at 49:20 Highlight the passage at 49:20

49:47 I'm constantly reading a sūtra or something on the bus or whatever. But it's like, it's just downtime, you know? You just kind of, before you start doing something when you get home or whatever. Not that many people do that anymore. You know, they're constantly sort of ingesting more and more and more into our minds. Report an error in the passage at 49:47 Highlight the passage at 49:47

50:08 But the mind actually does need space. I mean, when we develop a meditation practice, we're trying to give the mind a little spaciousness. That's really what the eye needs, if you want to think of it in those terms. If you want to cherish the eye, let the eye have some space, let the mind have some space. Report an error in the passage at 50:08 Highlight the passage at 50:08

50:29 Even bad meditation is better for the mind than constantly thinking or plugging in or running around being active all the time. Report an error in the passage at 50:29 Highlight the passage at 50:29

50:44 And the other aspect of self-cherishing that I think is really interesting is that it acts like a friend. It's sort of like those commercials where the really warm, lovable doctor comes out and we believe him. We were listening to this ad. I think it was for Apple, actually. One of my co-workers is from Beijing. And he goes, oh, is this accent the Boston accent? Report an error in the passage at 50:44 Highlight the passage at 50:44

51:08 I said, no, it's English accent. I said, Americans love English people's accents and then they'll buy things that English people are selling. We just believe English people more than we believe Americans. Report an error in the passage at 51:08 Highlight the passage at 51:08

51:21 I think it's true. And I think anyone in a white coat also will buy, and anyone who acts like a doctor, even though obviously they're not. And so that's kind of the way self-cherishing mind is. It's like this English-speaking guy in a white coat, and we're going to believe him. It's like, oh, you don't really want to go to college, that movie. Report an error in the passage at 51:21 Highlight the passage at 51:21

51:42 And we believe him. He acts like he's our buddy. And we believe him. And apparently we've been believing him life after life after life. Report an error in the passage at 51:42 Highlight the passage at 51:42

51:52 He ain't our buddy. And so first we have to examine, we have to recognize, because he doesn't pop up with this neon sign, I am self-terishing mind, I am the devil. It's not like that. It's like I am this, it's just a state of mind. But in this case, I'm sort of personalizing him, making him like a personifying. Report an error in the passage at 51:52 Highlight the passage at 51:52

52:17 I'm personifying him. I'm personalizing him too, unfortunately. Because then it's sort of like, that's what, in Shantideva's guide, he's always talking about this, you know, search and destroy missions and all that stuff. He's talking about getting rid of this enemy. In reality, of course, it's just a state of mind, you know, and it's our state of mind, and it's not like anything bigger than that. But it sometimes helps to think of it as the demon. Report an error in the passage at 52:17 Highlight the passage at 52:17

52:40 A lot of times, actually, they talk about it in terms of the demon, and I think it's useful that way, you know. It's sort of like, get thee behind me, Satan. But this is what it's talking about, this selfish mind. And again, I'll just mention it with Tenzin Chokyi, I remember she said in retreat, the only thing that would make her swear is whenever she saw her self-cherishing mind pop up, and then she'd be like, no, I'm not going to do it. Report an error in the passage at 52:40 Highlight the passage at 52:40

53:05 I'm not going to listen to you anymore. You've got me into trouble. You can do this when you're in a cabin by yourself. So I think it's kind of useful sometimes to take it on like an enemy. Even though you have to remember, it doesn't truly exist either, but that's another story. So this is the self-cherishing mind, and this is the disadvantages of the self-cherishing mind. Report an error in the passage at 53:05 Highlight the passage at 53:05

53:31 The benefits of cherishing others, Shantideva said, whatever joy there is in this world, it all comes from cherishing others to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 53:31 Highlight the passage at 53:31

53:44 How is this true? We have to think about how karma works. So it's not just thou shalt. We're not thinking thou shalt not and thou shalt. Again, always have to check up. Always, always, always have to check up. If we're thinking about it in terms of karma, all of our good experiences, so just like we were thinking about all our bad experiences, all our negative experiences come from the self-cherishing mind root cause, then we think about how all of our good experiences come from... Report an error in the passage at 53:44 Highlight the passage at 53:44

53:58 you know. Report an error in the passage at 53:58 Highlight the passage at 53:58

54:16 Positive karma, and that positive karma is motivated root cause by cherishing others. If we're thinking about not killing or protecting life, which is sort of more active, the proactive form of not killing, then it's a concern, you know, for others that's driving that. If we're thinking about not stealing or being generous, there's somebody you have to be generous to, even if it's just handing out candy. Report an error in the passage at 54:16 Highlight the passage at 54:16

54:46 I paid them to do that at that point. If we're thinking about any of the things, if we're thinking about not lying, we're thinking about being honest, who we're being honest to. We need to be thinking about others in order to practice any of the positive virtues, unless we're just thinking about meditation. Report an error in the passage at 54:46 Highlight the passage at 54:46

55:05 But even then, I'm always asking you guys to have some sort of... Bodhicitta motivation, even if it feels a little contrived because it plants the seeds, right? So even just saying it over and over for the benefit of all sentient beings, as much as possible to have some feeling of what that means. But even if it's contrived at first, it helps. It begins to plant those seeds. And Steve said something interesting at the beginning. Report an error in the passage at 55:05 Highlight the passage at 55:05

55:32 Have I ever been that happy when I've helped somebody else? And I think actually if we think about the times that we've really helped somebody, I feel really good. Like I have this really good, good feeling. Even if the situation is hard, you know, like if it's somebody who's, you know, going through a breakup or even very sick and is passing away or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 55:32 Highlight the passage at 55:32

55:56 And you give up your time. Or I used to be a labor coach and I would go and assist in often difficult labors. San Francisco General. And you just do the best you can. You didn't know the woman before. You'd never see her again. But you'd feel really good at the end of the day. You just try. You just do your best. And often you're just trying to make sure that she understands what's happening and that she has a translator if she needs one. Report an error in the passage at 55:56 Highlight the passage at 55:56

56:24 She didn't say she wanted to be cut open. Wait, let's make sure she understands. So I just feel like even if it's just like that and the end may not be, it might not have been your birth, it might not have been your death if you're with somebody who's passing away, but you're just trying to help and you're trying to help the most you can. Report an error in the passage at 56:24 Highlight the passage at 56:24

56:47 I end up feeling good about myself. Or even if you're just thinking about helping somebody move and you get there and they haven't packed. Have you ever done that one? And they haven't even packed a thing. Report an error in the passage at 56:47 Highlight the passage at 56:47

57:01 And so then you just take it on and you're trying to pack and you're trying to just help and pack and get it all in the truck and get them out of there. At the end of the day, you might be a little irritated with that friend, but at least you feel like you did your best to help them. And I always feel really good about that. So for me, helping others does give me that warm feeling, even if it's just conventional stuff like that. Report an error in the passage at 57:01 Highlight the passage at 57:01

57:24 Like it's not even like really huge, like I'm not helping them get enlightened yet. You know, I'm just helping them move. Across town. But even if it's a little thing like on the bus, giving up your seat, that could be a nice thing too and you can take a second to even rejoice about that. Report an error in the passage at 57:24 Highlight the passage at 57:24

57:46 Or if you're able to give, to let somebody else win an argument, Report an error in the passage at 57:46 Highlight the passage at 57:46

57:52 just drop it. Who cares? You know, in the scheme of things, letting them win. That's offering the victory. You get to deal with that, with transforming problems. The transforming problems class. Talk about offering the victory. So the ordinary mind always worries, like, what's going to happen to me if I do this, you know? Report an error in the passage at 57:52 Highlight the passage at 57:52

58:18 If I start offering up the victory, if I start trying to help everybody, you know, what's going to happen to me? I'm not going to, I'm going to, like, have all the ugly friends and all the tiny pieces of chocolate. Report an error in the passage at 58:18 Highlight the passage at 58:18

58:31 If I don't look out for number one, what's going to happen to me? And that's just self-cherishing mind. That's self-cherishing mind again. Poking up its little head and going, wait, you don't want to listen to her. Look at that clothes. Look at her hair. This is scary. Cult, cult, cult, cult. That's self-cherishing mind. Think about it. Report an error in the passage at 58:31 Highlight the passage at 58:31

58:50 mind. Report an error in the passage at 58:50 Highlight the passage at 58:50

58:53 Like really think about it, especially this week when you're doing the meditation on this, think about what it means to you. The way that it pops up for you might look different than the way that I'm saying or the way that your friend is seeing it and so forth. The way that cherishing others looks to you might be different than the way that I'm saying. I'm just trying to give examples of these different things. Report an error in the passage at 58:53 Highlight the passage at 58:53

59:18 The main thing is that cherishing others gets away from this tiny little constricted mind. This mind that's got the goggles going inward. I'm not even thinking of the Google goggles. You know those little blinders on horses? Yeah, that's what it kind of reminds me of. It's like me, me, me, me, me, me. Cherishing others is taking those off. You're able to look around the bus. Report an error in the passage at 59:18 Highlight the passage at 59:18

59:49 You're able to kind of look and think. Care about others, even just a skosh. Even just a skosh. We were talking about that. I guess it's some Australian. I think it's originally an Irish term for just a touch. Just a touch. A touch more. Lamiesha used to call it developing big mind, dear. So you're trying to get away from little mind and develop big mind. And we practice. We have to practice. Practice makes perfect, right? It's totally true in Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 59:49 Highlight the passage at 59:49

1:00:23 So we're just trying to develop this mind that's caring about others and thinking about others effortlessly. So right now when we do it, we either do it in this way that we're doing it because we should, you know, so the quote should or out of duty, I'm a good Buddhist so I'll help you move even though you've clearly not packed, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:23 Highlight the passage at 1:00:23

1:00:50 Or we think we're really wonderful for doing it. Right? Come over and help for the long life, Buddha, and aren't I great? Which is different than rejoicing genuinely in your work, which is we have to learn to do that. That's really good to do. It's great to rejoice. It's great to develop a confidence about our virtuous work and to develop a happiness about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:50 Highlight the passage at 1:00:50

1:01:11 That's fine. That's totally fine. But when you're just like, I was able to do this, this, and this, and this, aren't I wonderful? That's kind of getting away from... The plan. What we're trying to develop is this mind that has this concern about others effortlessly. As effortless as they say, as effortless as if you yourself were hungry and you went into the kitchen to make yourself a snack. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:11 Highlight the passage at 1:01:11

1:01:37 You didn't think, oh, I'm so wonderful. I got myself a snack. I mean, unless you're just like strange or, you know, maybe 13 and you're doing it for the first time or something like that. But, sorry, I guess like six. I'm sure by the time you're 13, you've done it a few times. But a parent doesn't think that they're so wonderful when they get food for their kid. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:37 Highlight the passage at 1:01:37

1:02:00 And that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to get to that point where we're doing it. More and more for others, you know, without any thought, without any effort, it just becomes this natural kind of second nature, this sort of concern for others. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:00 Highlight the passage at 1:02:00

1:02:20 And it takes time to get to that, you know, it takes thinking about it, it takes convincing ourselves, and it takes practice, and it just takes a lot of time. I mean, it just takes a lot, a lot, a lot of time. And I think one of the ways that you convince yourself is thinking about the results of this mind, the mind that cares about us and works for others, even in tiny ways, versus this mind that doesn't, the mind that has the blinders on. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:20 Highlight the passage at 1:02:20

1:02:49 We learn, you know, slowly we learn what it looks like, what it feels like, what each of them feel like, and then we kind of trust a little bit because we aren't clairvoyant. We don't see, at least I don't. My past lives, my future lives. I don't understand karma more than what I have taught. I think I've taught you basically everything I know about karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:49 Highlight the passage at 1:02:49

1:03:13 I trust karma. I have this gut trust of karma. It was one of the first things that I connected to when I met Buddhism. And I trust my teachers who have taught me about karma and about bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:13 Highlight the passage at 1:03:13

1:03:27 But, you know, I have to check up. And I have to play with it a little bit and see. And I do see that when I help others, I do feel good. I do have a happier mind. And that's actually what His Holiness meant when he was talking about being wisely selfish. He's like, oh, well, if we want happiness, you know, oh, by the way, as Rinpoche always says, you know, you do get happy caring for others, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:27 Highlight the passage at 1:03:27

1:03:53 Like it's the opposite of what we think. We go out looking for number one in reality. We're happier in a sort of more expansive way when we help others, when we work for others, even in small ways, you know, caring for others. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:53 Highlight the passage at 1:03:53

1:04:11 Oh, yeah, yeah. Wait, wait, wait. Mic, mic, mic. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:11 Highlight the passage at 1:04:11

1:04:23 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I wasn't holding you up as the poster boy of selfishness or anything like that. I just was making a comment, like piggybacking on to your comment, yeah. Because I think a lot of us, too, think... Yeah, no, it's true. I think a lot of us... I do think, I mean obviously I wouldn't still be here, that thinking about my own happiness is going to be what makes me happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:23 Highlight the passage at 1:04:23

1:04:46 If I take time out and do all these crazy schemes of making my heart bigger and thinking about every single person in the bus, much less every single person in the world, it just feels almost insane. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:46 Highlight the passage at 1:04:46

1:04:58 Well it is, I think for all of us, it is effortful. Yeah, go ahead, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:58 Highlight the passage at 1:04:58

1:05:04 But it is, it is. I mean, but think about the amount of, if you, again, you know, to use some of the examples that, you know, all the various teachers have used, and I especially think of Venerable Rubina, if you wanted to become a concert pianist, it would be a lot of work. If you wanted to become a gold, you know, gold medal winner swimmer, you'd be at that gym every morning and jumping in, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:04 Highlight the passage at 1:05:04

1:05:27 And so, but for some reason, I think we think, and I'm not saying you, I think we all think, That it should be less work because it's spiritual. And that if it is work, there's something wrong with me. And there's nothing wrong with you. That's what my point is, is that we're all in the same boat. And I think, unfortunately, when we do encounter that effort or we find that it's effortful, we stop. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:27 Highlight the passage at 1:05:27

1:05:55 We sometimes stop. And so I'm just trying to say it's better than a gold medal. It's better than a concert at Carnegie Hall, you know. What we're going for is enlightenment, which is huge. And it almost sounds crazy. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:55 Highlight the passage at 1:05:55

1:06:13 But if we could do it, even if we could reach, even if we could just generate the first level of bodhicitta, how amazing. And the Buddha said, absolutely possible for all of us, every one of us in this room, completely possible, as long as we all have mind. And I think we can all qualify with that one, right? So we might think all the reasons why I can't do it, I can't do this, blah, blah, blah, you know. But in reality, we have mind and we wouldn't even be able to make those arguments, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:13 Highlight the passage at 1:06:13

1:06:42 We have to have a mind. So as long as we've got a mind, we can generate bodhicitta. And as long as we can generate bodhicitta, we can become enlightened. And that's a huge goal. And it's going to just take a lot of work, you know. But... The reality is, like I said, we don't know really where we are in the path in terms of where our karma, what our past lives have been, because I don't have any clairvoyance, I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:42 Highlight the passage at 1:06:42

1:07:09 And so we don't know when we're going to have a meditation where we sit down with one state of mind and have some amazing insight and get up with another whole state of mind. We just have no idea what's around the next karma corner. That's an interesting word, karma. maybe that's how korma is, anyway. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:09 Highlight the passage at 1:07:09

1:07:31 So we just don't know where we are. I think in Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, he said the path to bliss is bliss itself. So the path to attain the state of enlightenment is actually enjoyable. It is effortful. We have to keep trying. We will screw up. He didn't say that. That's fine print. I'm translating. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:31 Highlight the passage at 1:07:31

1:08:01 But it can be really enjoyable, too. There will be, even way before we generate any kind of bodhicitta, much less anything genuine and irreversible. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:01 Highlight the passage at 1:08:01

1:08:15 It can be fun. It can actually be fun to change our mind in this way. So this is what we're going to meditate on this week. Are there any questions about these two states of mind, the self-cherishing mind and this mind-cherishing others? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:15 Highlight the passage at 1:08:15

1:08:37 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:37 Highlight the passage at 1:08:37

1:08:43 It's the same two people. Yeah. You guys should sit next to each other. Well, it seems to me that, you know, and I think that it's just... Like I almost get annoyed when people say, oh, like Facebook, right? Like start to blame world's problems on Facebook. But it seems to me like there's something like really deeply rooted in our way of being, at least in my lifetime, of being self-cherishing, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:43 Highlight the passage at 1:08:43

1:09:14 Like you don't post on Facebook about like how you failed at this and how you failed at that. You like talk about the success. And that's all you really want people to see. Or even just like what you're doing. Right. You know, like I put in a garden today. You know, I remember just thinking, this is before, I was on Facebook for literally two months and I got so overwhelmed by it and I just got off. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:14 Highlight the passage at 1:09:14

1:09:39 But I just remember sometimes it would be like that, you know, just sort of like, who cares? Right. I mean, it's not to say that that's not a wonderful thing. That sounds mean. But you know what I mean? It's just that constant, like, look at me, look at what I'm doing, look at, you know. Right, and it's like by the time someone is showing up on your TV screen as a star, an Olympic athlete or a movie star or whatever, they've already achieved. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:39 Highlight the passage at 1:09:39

1:10:10 And you don't ever see the long trail that it took to get to wherever that person was. That's right. And so I think I have this false belief. Like, I mean, I know it's wrong, right? Like, I know intellectually it's wrong, but I think in my, inside of me, I have this, like, false belief that if something takes effort, I'm, like, not good enough. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:10 Highlight the passage at 1:10:10

1:10:34 Right, yeah, yeah. Or I'm, like, not doing it right, or, like, look at those people, you know? And so it's, I don't know, I'm sort of just, I was thinking as you were talking about self-cherishing that it's almost impossible for me to even see it in myself because it's so, Report an error in the passage at 1:10:34 Highlight the passage at 1:10:34

1:10:55 To some degree, but that's why we start looking. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's sort of like we're putting on special goggles that are going to allow you to see it, you know, on the cushion at least. And when we start finding it on the cushion, then we're more likely to find it on the bus or at work or something, you know, and be like, hmm, that's just self-cherishing, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:10:55 Highlight the passage at 1:10:55

1:11:16 You know, just because when you become familiar with this stuff in a deeper way in meditation, Then when it rears its ugly head, you're more likely to see it. You may not see it before it's caused complete havoc in your life, but you'll notice it afterwards when you're kind of like, oh, God, that was really self-cherishing of me. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:16 Highlight the passage at 1:11:16

1:11:39 And not to be flippant, but just to examine the cause of that comment or that action or whatever. Right now it's completely embedded in all of us for lifetimes, but that doesn't mean it can't be removed and that's the cool thing. It's sort of like thinking the pollution in the air and the water can't be removed and of course some scientists might say that it's true, but I think we have to believe that there's at least something we can do. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:39 Highlight the passage at 1:11:39

1:12:11 So it's the same. So we're just trying to remove the pollution in our minds. Just think of it in those ways, yeah. And there's a certain amount of effort involved with that, too. We've got sort of climate change happening in our mind, but that way. And we just start small, you know, with different ways to kind of remove that pollution. And it does net, eventually, a clear mind, and a perfect mind, and that's Buddhahood. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:11 Highlight the passage at 1:12:11

1:12:41 And it's just step by step by step. So right now it is kind of really embedded. And then eventually, you know, it's sort of like when you first look at a huge puzzle and you're like, and it's like a puzzle that everything's the same color or something like that. One of those ridiculous puzzles. I've never been into those. And then you get two pieces of the match and you're like, you know, and there's some amount of hope. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:41 Highlight the passage at 1:12:41

1:13:05 Just like that. So you just start small but keep moving. It's like climbing Everest, you know. Start small but keep moving. Anybody else? Any questions? So we'll just line you four up. We'll keep Jessica there. Just because there's not as many people here, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:05 Highlight the passage at 1:13:05

1:13:33 I always am going back to motivation, too, because we talked about motivation for what you do is really crucial, so you might do a good thing, but your motivation is not so good. I volunteer at a place, and I'm one of many volunteers. Oh, shoot. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:33 Highlight the passage at 1:13:33

1:13:50 The teacher that I volunteer under sometimes gets overwhelmed with volunteers. And there's a man who comes who has some disabilities, and he's really an amazing man. He's a really good man, but he always gets there very early. So I said, what time do you want me tomorrow? And he says, 3 o 'clock. And I said, what time do you want Felix tomorrow? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:50 Highlight the passage at 1:13:50

1:14:10 And Felix comes really early. And he goes, it doesn't matter what time I want Felix. I'm going to get Felix at 11.30. And I said, well, maybe I can do something. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:10 Highlight the passage at 1:14:10

1:14:18 Along those lines because I have other errands to do in Chinatown. So I can ask Felix to go to lunch because he's always wanting to go to lunch. So I'm looking forward to this tomorrow. And I'm thinking I'm looking forward to it because I know it buys my teacher a little bit of space that he needs. And it's also something because Felix doesn't socialize with a lot of people because he has some very serious issues and it makes it more difficult. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:18 Highlight the passage at 1:14:18

1:14:41 But I'm trying to figure out if I'm looking forward to it, does that somehow ruin that whole thing? No, no, no. Yeah, and I think again, I think again, examine without judgment. Yeah, learn to be a little more Margaret Meady, you know. You're just examining the mind, you're examining what you're doing and knowing that you won't be perfect all the time, you know. So it's, our motivation is almost always mixed and our actions therefore are almost always mixed. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:41 Highlight the passage at 1:14:41

1:15:12 And we're moving towards perfection, but we aren't there yet, you know. I think that's fine. I think actually you're trying to help, and I think you're trying to help both parties, and I think that's great. Yeah, I don't think. Sure. That's great. That's great. Yeah, and often when we're helping one or another person, we are excited about it for our own benefit, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:12 Highlight the passage at 1:15:12

1:15:42 I mean, that's fine. I don't think we have to be stoic. In fact, we shouldn't be stoic. Why shouldn't? There's that word again. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:42 Highlight the passage at 1:15:42

1:15:53 Stoicism is some judo-Christian thing. It's not anything to do with Buddhism. I mean, having a good time is okay. Having a good time on the path is actually a really great thing. We should all have good times on the path. we stoic Report an error in the passage at 1:15:53 Highlight the passage at 1:15:53

1:15:59 Buddhism, there's. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:59 Highlight the passage at 1:15:59

1:16:10 And also know that it won't always be a good time. There are some times that it can be hard. And I think, too, that gets, you know, that idea, you know, where we think sort of I met Buddhism and so now it's just going to be clear sailing from here. And then we're sort of surprised when there are difficulties because it is more like this. And there may be some really low times and then some upper times, you know, so it's like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:10 Highlight the passage at 1:16:10

1:16:37 And I used to love it actually when they would do those Olympic things and they would go all into the background of the person and all the things they had to overcome. I loved that because it was showing that, that background of having to get up before dawn and the freezing. You know, Soviet Knights and all that stuff. You know, that person had the mother having to work seven jobs just to, you know, and the kid having to go off to some, you know, live with the coach for ten years or whatever because it was just the best thing for their practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:37 Highlight the passage at 1:16:37

1:17:11 You know, I loved that because you see how much effort went into that performance. And for them it's like this performance that may just be one time. And it may net them the medal, but it may be like basically 20 minutes. And it's just, it's crazy, really. I mean, talk about crazy. We think this is crazy. You know, that's crazy in a way. They usually will then, you know, make millions of dollars in advertising contracts. But there is that, all this effort, and just as likely they could be one of those ones that screws up on the dismount. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:11 Highlight the passage at 1:17:11

1:17:47 You know, it's just so horrible. And they probably have that person's story already because that person was expected to win, you know, and then that gets canned because, you know, that person didn't win the medal. But yeah, we don't see all that effort behind every master of anything that we see in the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:47 Highlight the passage at 1:17:47

1:18:05 You know, the master chefs, the master, you know, tailors, the master, you know, actors, the master... Whatever, politicians even, you know, the amount of effort that it takes to go in and how hard it is and how they just keep on going. The ones who become masters have to just keep on going. They just have to keep putting that effort in and getting up early and, you know, whatever it takes. Just like, you know, that's what Shantideva is asking us to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:05 Highlight the passage at 1:18:05

1:18:37 To get up a little earlier, to do these meditations, to become familiar, to think about them during the day when we're on the bus, when we're at work, when we're at school. At class, you know, to think about them when we're in our families, you know, with our families at Thanksgiving, you know, things like that. And that's really the only way that we're going to change our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:37 Highlight the passage at 1:18:37

1:18:57 That's really the only way to change our minds. So why don't we take a break? How about a ten minute break and then we'll come back and I'll just sort of guide you through the meditation that you're going to do tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:57 Highlight the passage at 1:18:57

1:19:16 Steve, did you want to, you were one of the people that wanted the hard copy of the... I didn't, of course, bring anything to put it in. Oh, it Report an error in the passage at 1:19:16 Highlight the passage at 1:19:16

1:19:27 probably is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you want to check? Yeah. That was the line Sally Field said in Smokey and the Bandit. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:27 Highlight the passage at 1:19:27

1:19:43 All right. So before I go through the meditation, I wanted to give you guys an optional homework experiment. It's not written down. So if you're interested in doing this, you can write it down. Two different experiments, one on one day and one on the other day. So one day this week, carry a little pad of paper with you and jot down every time self-cherishing arises. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:43 Highlight the passage at 1:19:43

1:20:15 Every time you have a thought or you speak or you act based totally on yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:15 Highlight the passage at 1:20:15

1:20:29 Add them up at the end of the day. Like, look at them at the end of the day. Again, with that Margaret Mead kind of an idea. You're just jotting down. It's like you're observing somebody else. You're looking at the mouse in the wheel. You're not the idea of like, oh my god, I'm horrible. Blah, blah, blah. More just like, isn't that interesting what the mind just did? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:29 Highlight the passage at 1:20:29

1:20:49 Going back to Benamurvina's phrase, isn't that interesting what the mind just did? So just looking. Just looking. On a different day, every time that mind arises, try to switch it. So if you're just blah, blah, blaying on the bus complaining about your problems, suddenly stop the conversation and ask the person you're with what's going on in their lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:49 Highlight the passage at 1:20:49

1:21:16 Or give up your seat and let that person who's really tired with the seven kids hanging all over her have a seat. So switch it up. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:16 Highlight the passage at 1:21:16

1:21:26 Obsessing on your problems at work, turn around to your coworker and go get them a cup of coffee for no reason. You know, like do something to switch it up. Just anything. And if you come up with a really good one, bring it to class next week. There's no right answer. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:26 Highlight the passage at 1:21:26

1:21:52 I think by the third day you'll be so exhausted you'll have to take a day off. Maybe you should do it on like a Thursday and a Friday and then sleep. No, but just to look, just to watch and to see the little steps that you can do to switch it up. And that's really all we can do at this point is to switch it up a little bit, to try to break habits. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:52 Highlight the passage at 1:21:52

1:22:15 Okay, so we're going to do this as a meditation. I'm just going to kind of guide you through it. It's basically the same exact stuff I just talked about. So I'm just going to pick parts and we're kind of going to go through it as a meditation. So you want to get comfortable, whatever that means to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:15 Highlight the passage at 1:22:15

1:22:35 And kind of, again, like if you're thinking about things too much and your mind is really full of thoughts, just take some nice deep belly breaths and let go of all that think, think, thinking, thinking mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:35 Highlight the passage at 1:22:35

1:22:56 If you feel tension in your body, you might try breathing into those places where you feel tense, your lower back, knees, shoulders, even the crown of your head. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:56 Highlight the passage at 1:22:56

1:23:17 And the most important aspect of your posture is just to keep your spine extended. We spend so much time kind of hunched over computers and desks and the steering wheel, so just allow your spine to just lift up. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:17 Highlight the passage at 1:23:17

1:23:48 So when you're at home and you're doing these meditations, you want to first start with just a little motivation. So really remembering that you're doing this meditation not just for your own benefit, but so that you can understand the mind of self-cherishing and the mind of cherishing others. Hopefully that it can be of benefit to others, to make you of benefit to others, to help you become of benefit to others. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:48 Highlight the passage at 1:23:48

1:24:19 It doesn't have to be any bigger than that. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:19 Highlight the passage at 1:24:19

1:24:41 So according to the Buddha, this thing called the self-cherishing mind, which is a Tibetan coined term, but it basically just means this obsessiveness with ourselves, our own happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:41 Highlight the passage at 1:24:41

1:24:59 He said that there's no benefit to it at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:59 Highlight the passage at 1:24:59

1:25:06 It's a source of all of our suffering. It's our biggest memory. And it travels with us from life to life to life. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:06 Highlight the passage at 1:25:06

1:25:21 In our culture, there's sort of this fear, if I don't look after myself, who will? If I don't look out for number one, Report an error in the passage at 1:25:21 Highlight the passage at 1:25:21

1:25:31 there's some concern that I actually do need to focus on me, me, me, me, me. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:31 Highlight the passage at 1:25:31

1:25:44 When we start dissecting our self-cherishing, we find out that it can be energetic or it can be lazy. It can manifest as energetic if there's some sort of perceived benefit to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:44 Highlight the passage at 1:25:44

1:26:01 And it can manifest as lazy if there's not. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:01 Highlight the passage at 1:26:01

1:26:13 So if I'm excited about going to the class, or if I'm excited about doing the practice, or if I'm excited about doing the volunteer work at the center, then it can manifest as enthusiasm. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:13 Highlight the passage at 1:26:13

1:26:29 If I'm not convinced, it can manifest as laziness. It can be the one who turns off the alarm clock instead of getting up that extra half hour early to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:29 Highlight the passage at 1:26:29

1:26:50 Once we start looking, we notice the self-cherishing mind tends to focus more on the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:50 Highlight the passage at 1:26:50

1:26:59 What's going to make this body happy? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:59 Highlight the passage at 1:26:59

1:27:07 I can't wait to eat breakfast. I have to rush downstairs really quick and eat my breakfast. I can't meditate first. That's the self-cherishing mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:07 Highlight the passage at 1:27:07

1:27:29 It's not taking this view that this might take a while. It's just accepting that, being okay with that. That everything we do to develop this... Mind-cherishing others and eradicate this mind of self-cherishing is worth it, no matter how long it takes. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:29 Highlight the passage at 1:27:29

1:28:00 Right now we have this idea of a very fixed, real self who needs all these things. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:00 Highlight the passage at 1:28:00

1:28:08 And then we cherish or coddle that self, apparently for lifetimes, according to the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:08 Highlight the passage at 1:28:08

1:28:30 Whatever suffering we're experiencing in our life right now, big and small, comes from negative karma. And we've created that negative karma with minds. Rootedly, rootedly motivated by the self-cherishing mind. You know, it might manifest as attachment, aversion, jealousy, depression, but at the root of it is this selfishness. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:30 Highlight the passage at 1:28:30

1:29:05 If we tend to get sick a lot, that comes from killing karma, according to the Buddha. And we created that killing karma by killing with a mind rooted in self-cherishing. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:05 Highlight the passage at 1:29:05

1:29:22 We may have done it out of attachment or aversion, but we did it with this root motivation of selfishness. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:22 Highlight the passage at 1:29:22

1:29:34 If we struggle to have enough resources, that's a mind that's, you know, we're experiencing the ripening of stealing karma, and that stealing karma was created by a mind of selfishness, a mind not giving, a mind not generous. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:34 Highlight the passage at 1:29:34

1:30:09 So self-cherishing motivates all the different... Behaviors that karmically give rise to the problems that we experience now in this life. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:09 Highlight the passage at 1:30:09

1:30:24 It comes from this mind grasping at an eye, believing at this, you know, creating this eye, this identity based on our body and mind and something bigger, something more concrete and then believing that is true and then doing everything in its power to serve that eye. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:24 Highlight the passage at 1:30:24

1:30:43 That's the self-grasping mind and then the self-cherishing mind serves it. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:43 Highlight the passage at 1:30:43

1:30:51 And the Buddha says they're both just attitudes and they could be eliminated. So even though they've been causing us suffering in all of our lifetimes and in this one, they can be eradicated just through understanding, just through wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:51 Highlight the passage at 1:30:51

1:31:25 We get all these things for the eye. We buy gadgets, we go out, we try to be entertained all the time. And if we think about it, what we really need... It's just space and quiet and time. That's really the healthiest thing for the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:25 Highlight the passage at 1:31:25

1:31:55 And that's the mind that's going to allow us to develop all the virtues and the qualities that we want. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:55 Highlight the passage at 1:31:55

1:32:15 And worst of all, self-cherishing acts like our best friend. And we believe it. It keeps us from doing the really meaningful things. It keeps us weak. And according to the Buddha, it's been keeping us from getting enlightened lifetime after lifetime. We get really close, apparently. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:15 Highlight the passage at 1:32:15

1:32:37 We develop these really great states of mind and then our self-cherishing mind keeps us from getting there. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:37 Highlight the passage at 1:32:37

1:32:49 It even keeps us from just becoming the kind of people we want to become. Kinder, more patient, wiser. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:49 Highlight the passage at 1:32:49

1:33:10 And the Buddha says that this mind that cherishes others is Report an error in the passage at 1:33:10 Highlight the passage at 1:33:10

1:33:18 the root of all of our joy. So how is that true? We have to examine. He says that All of these good experiences that we have, and we've all had a lot of good experiences in this life too, they're all the result of our positive karma, and that comes from positive actions, good actions, virtues. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:18 Highlight the passage at 1:33:18

1:33:43 And those are rooted in cherishing others, whether it's generosity or protecting life, honesty, patience. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:43 Highlight the passage at 1:33:43

1:34:05 We have to examine how we really feel when we put people first. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:05 Highlight the passage at 1:34:05

1:34:12 When we give up our seat on the bus, Report an error in the passage at 1:34:12 Highlight the passage at 1:34:12

1:34:17 when we help that person move, Report an error in the passage at 1:34:17 Highlight the passage at 1:34:17

1:34:24 when we sit with a friend who's having problems, even if we can't solve those problems, and most likely we can't. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:24 Highlight the passage at 1:34:24

1:34:43 Sometimes we worry about what's going to happen to me if I stop looking out for number one, but that's just the self-cherishing mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:43 Highlight the passage at 1:34:43

1:34:59 If we think about the people we would like to be around, those are the people that care about everyone around them. When we care about people, people actually want to be around us. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:59 Highlight the passage at 1:34:59

1:35:14 When we're graspy and needy, they don't. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:14 Highlight the passage at 1:35:14

1:35:25 Lama Yeshe talks about moving away from this tiny little mind, this tight little mind, the mind like the horse with the blinders, and developing big mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:25 Highlight the passage at 1:35:25

1:35:37 And the mind cherishing others is big mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:37 Highlight the passage at 1:35:37

1:35:48 Gradually we're trying to develop this mind that thinks about others without effort, the way a parent thinks about a child in the night when they hear a cry. They don't think they're so wonderful for getting up and helping that child. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:48 Highlight the passage at 1:35:48

1:36:08 They don't even have to think about it so much. They just get up. Or maybe they discuss, it's my turn. It's your turn. I did it last night. But in some ways it becomes effortless. And definitely when we go to feed ourself, that's effortless. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:08 Highlight the passage at 1:36:08

1:36:32 We want to have that same feeling for caring for others. The same delight in making a lunch for somebody else that we spend on making our own lunch. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:32 Highlight the passage at 1:36:32

1:36:59 So how do we do it? We start developing this awareness of how our mind works and then we gradually work with that mind. We recognize what the self-cherishing mind looks like and Report an error in the passage at 1:36:59 Highlight the passage at 1:36:59

1:37:16 we begin to eradicate it with those search and destroy missions. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:16 Highlight the passage at 1:37:16

1:37:23 It takes time to develop those kind of qualities. It takes time to even recognize what self-cherishing looks like. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:23 Highlight the passage at 1:37:23

1:37:35 But ultimately, when we develop a mind that has those kind of qualities that we're looking for, compassion, patience, equanimity, that kind of mind is a calm, centered mind. And by the way, it makes us happy too. When we care about others, we end up being happy too. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:35 Highlight the passage at 1:37:35

1:38:09 So we might intellectually understand this, but it just takes time, repeatedly thinking about it. Yogis spend years contemplating this in different ways from all angles and really getting to know their own minds and being able to spot it the moment it arises and eventually to stare it down. And that's what we have to do. We have to know that this may take a while. So Report an error in the passage at 1:38:09 Highlight the passage at 1:38:09

1:38:52 first we have to recognize what self-cherishing mind looks like because remember he's posing as our best friend and Report an error in the passage at 1:38:52 Highlight the passage at 1:38:52

1:39:03 we have to sort of root him out. We have to know that he's actually our worst enemy. It's like discovering that your best friend has been stealing from you for decades and decades and decades, and you finally have to face him on it, and you have to stop listening to him. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:03 Highlight the passage at 1:39:03

1:39:25 Self-cherishing mind has been stealing our happiness, and we're not going to listen to him anymore. We Report an error in the passage at 1:39:25 Highlight the passage at 1:39:25

1:39:42 want to dedicate the merit of this meditation, of the last couple of hours, thinking about... This amazing mind of bodhicitta and the teachings of Master Shantideva and the Buddha. I dedicate it to each one of us developing the mind of bodhicitta, if not in this life, in our next life. And that mind being able to take us all the way to full enlightenment so that we can perfectly benefit every living being. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:42 Highlight the passage at 1:39:42

1:40:17 Especially all those people running around right now looking for happiness in the streets of San Francisco. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:17 Highlight the passage at 1:40:17

1:40:33 So I made less copies of the homework. I forgot to staple them. But I know some people want electronic, and I'm just not clear. So this time I just made eight copies. If you would like them, please take them. Rich, do you want to hand them out? Just do two pages for each person. And if they would rather have electronic, I sent it out already. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:33 Highlight the passage at 1:40:33

1:41:03 Notes from the class as well, because there's so many people that are in here, I just figured it was easier. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:03 Highlight the passage at 1:41:03

1:41:13 He's not shy. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:13 Highlight the passage at 1:41:13

1:41:21 Oh wait, I've got a homework here too, sorry. Anybody else like a homework? Homework, homework. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:21 Highlight the passage at 1:41:21

1:41:35 Looks like there's extra. There you go, I've got one in the back, one in the back. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:35 Highlight the passage at 1:41:35

1:41:45 You got it? Yeah, so you can keep. We've got two. No, we've got, actually we've got, oh, there's this one. Oh, look, I've got a class two. Angela, I've got a class two. Could you hand her a class two? You know, send it to you. All right, so I've got two copy. Two copy. Come on down. Who wants two copy? Two copy. All right. Whoops. Here we go. You can have this one because this one seems to be... Report an error in the passage at 1:41:45 Highlight the passage at 1:41:45

1:42:15 All right, there's... Oh, here we go. I got two copy. Two copy. Does anybody else need a copy? All right. All right. Here we go. Here we go. One more. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:15 Highlight the passage at 1:42:15

1:42:30 Five dollars, yeah. Free, free, free. Anybody want? All right, if you decide you want it and you're just too shy, just come up at the end and I will offer it to you for free. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:30 Highlight the passage at 1:42:30

1:42:43 I know. All right, have a great week. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:43 Highlight the passage at 1:42:43

1:43:05 Great, it's nice to see you. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:05 Highlight the passage at 1:43:05

1:43:14 We had a lot of traffic come tonight, too. I think maybe Halloween is just crazy. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:14 Highlight the passage at 1:43:14

1:43:28 actually thinking how early are you going to get up? I can wait. You wanted to come get me? Actually, I can just be at work. Oh, you're working with me. Text me. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:28 Highlight the passage at 1:43:28

1:43:40 Yeah, where is it? I didn't actually look at the link. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:40 Highlight the passage at 1:43:40