Discovering Buddhism - Developing Bodhicitta (14 November 2013)

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:35 I'll just start with a little meditation, very short one because we have a lot to cover tonight. But just something to kind of let us let go of the day and come into the room and let the last people circle and find a partner. Report an error in the passage at 1:35 Highlight the passage at 1:35

1:54 So just take some nice deep belly breaths and let go of your day a little bit. Maybe follow your breath for a few minutes and Report an error in the passage at 1:54 Highlight the passage at 1:54

· · · silence, 1 minute

3:03 just try to set a motivation for tonight's class. You might understand a little better any ideas that you have, any understandings that come out of the teachings tonight, that they plant the seeds for each one of us to generate this mind of bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 3:03 Highlight the passage at 3:03

3:28 May it take us all day long, full enlightenment for the benefit of all living beings. Report an error in the passage at 3:28 Highlight the passage at 3:28

3:43 Start with that opening prayer that I'm going to copy of. Report an error in the passage at 3:43 Highlight the passage at 3:43

3:59 It used to happen all the time. Yeah, I know, right? I probably would if somebody else was leading it, but it's that added pressure. It's different when you're reading it, when you're reading along. Report an error in the passage at 3:59 Highlight the passage at 3:59

4:15 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment, inspired by wisdom and compassion. Today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 4:15 Highlight the passage at 4:15

4:56 So I'm going to check in in a minute. Hold your checking in vibe. Because I'm going to just finish. The last two steps are actually. Report an error in the passage at 4:56 Highlight the passage at 4:56

5:08 Somewhat quick, considering the build-up. And then we're also going to cover, don't worry, it's not like you're going to get out early, ha ha. Report an error in the passage at 5:08 Highlight the passage at 5:08

5:21 But we're going to cover the activities of a bodhisattva tonight, and then we're also going to cover sort of a, well, we're going to cover how to take this, where to go from here. ha, ha. Report an error in the passage at 5:21 Highlight the passage at 5:21

5:37 And specifically in the form of the five powers. Report an error in the passage at 5:37 Highlight the passage at 5:37

5:44 Are you Report an error in the passage at 5:44 Highlight the passage at 5:44

5:49 going to be comfortable a little bit? You want to be on the floor? Okay, you're okay. Report an error in the passage at 5:49 Highlight the passage at 5:49

5:59 All right, so I wanted to review where we are so far of this method of generating bodhicitta, starting with equalizing self and others. So that's where we're thinking about how we are equal. To all living beings, but also that they are equal to each other despite the fact that we might label them friend, enemy, stranger, depending on what they might do for us or how we might perceive some sort of benefit from them or harm from them. Report an error in the passage at 5:59 Highlight the passage at 5:59

6:36 So it's good to think of it from both aspects, both aspects from the side of them being the same as us in this. A very simple way of just wanting happiness, as demonstrated, just wanting happiness and to avoid suffering, which is true for all living beings. And then also how they are equal to each other, no matter how we tend to separate out people based on whatever. Report an error in the passage at 6:36 Highlight the passage at 6:36

7:11 So that's the first step, is equalizing self and others. And especially remembering, I mean, there are many ways, we could think of other ways that we are the same as others. You know, we all have this potential for Buddhahood, Buddha nature. We all have afflicted states of mind and so forth. But this is the one that's generally taught in this particular teaching, is wanting happiness and wanting to avoid suffering. Report an error in the passage at 7:11 Highlight the passage at 7:11

7:38 They might not be so skillful in what they're doing to get it, but we are the same in that way. So that's the first step. The second step is two parts, thinking about the self-cherishing, the mind of self-cherishing, our self-absorption, and how it's caused us suffering. So we aren't even getting to the other people yet. We're just thinking about how it's causing us suffering. Report an error in the passage at 7:38 Highlight the passage at 7:38

8:07 This mind of cherishing others. So we're looking at the disadvantages of the self-cherishing mind and the advantages of developing this mind that cares about others. Report an error in the passage at 8:07 Highlight the passage at 8:07

8:19 And so when we're thinking about the disadvantages of the self-cherishing mind, we're first of all recognizing what it is and then secondly seeing how it causes us to suffer in that it is the root cause of all these afflicted states of mind like anger and jealousy. Depression and obsessive attachment and things like that. And then those minds cause us to act and then when we act we create karma and then that karma ripens and that ripens as our suffering. Report an error in the passage at 8:19 Highlight the passage at 8:19

8:52 So that's how it continually keeps us in psychic existence. And worse, once we even meet the Dharma, it keeps us from practicing well. Report an error in the passage at 8:52 Highlight the passage at 8:52

9:05 Wanting to get up and meditate, it keeps us from coming to class. It keeps us from doing retreat, making time to do retreat. It keeps us from, you know, practicing, basically. And according to the Buddha, it's been doing this for lifetime after lifetime. So it's not just in this life that we've heard about this. According to the great teachers, we have run into this before and we haven't. Report an error in the passage at 9:05 Highlight the passage at 9:05

9:33 And we... And we haven't been able to move forward. And what gets in our way is the self-cherishing mind. So then the mind cherishing others is the opposite. And it's sort of like when we develop this mind of cherishing others, it's almost like the opposite happens than what we think. We think if we're going to look out for number one, if we're going to take care of ourselves, that's what's going to make us happy. But then this mind that cherishes others... Report an error in the passage at 9:33 Highlight the passage at 9:33

10:04 When we start caring about others and we start doing for others and we especially start doing for others what we would want, then what ends up happening is we get energy. You know, we get happiness. We get happiness. It pushes through when we get stuck, especially in our spiritual practice. Report an error in the passage at 10:04 Highlight the passage at 10:04

10:27 If we get discouraged, if we get afraid. say, um, Report an error in the passage at 10:27 Highlight the passage at 10:27

10:32 Any way that we get blocked, the mind that cherishes others, if we do it for others, we're able to sort of push through. So in the end, it actually makes us happy. It's like the opposite of what we would think. So then step three, you know, so step one was equalizing self and others. Step two is contemplating the disadvantages of self-cherishing and the advantages of mind-cherishing others. And step three... Report an error in the passage at 10:32 Highlight the passage at 10:32

11:05 It has three parts. We do this actual exchange. They call it doing the actual exchange or making the actual exchange. And what we're exchanging is this mind of self-cherishing for the mind cherishing others, which, of course, we can't do instantaneously like that. It's sort of like it's part of the method to imagine that we can. And so I like to think we make this resolve to do it. Report an error in the passage at 11:05 Highlight the passage at 11:05

11:30 So, you know, because... When we're sitting there on the cushion doing this, you're just trying to sort of like fake it till you make it. You're trying to generate this mind where you get it logically that it hasn't helped you and now you're ready to get rid of it. And even if you can't instantaneously wipe it out, then at least you're instantaneously resolving. Logically resolving. Report an error in the passage at 11:30 Highlight the passage at 11:30

11:59 starving, because to... To develop this mind, mind-cherishing others. And then you go into Tonglen, and you're doing this method of Tonglen that we did last week has a specific purpose. We're trying to generate love, which is basically defined as wanting the other to be happy. And in our case, we're trying to generate big love, great love, which is wanting. Report an error in the passage at 11:59 Highlight the passage at 11:59

12:34 All beings to be happy. And we are trying to generate compassion, and in our case, great compassion, which is wanting all beings to be free of suffering. So when we do this imagining or visualization that we do with a meditation called Tung Lin, we're doing it for that specific reason. And I think it's really important to remember because I think sometimes we just get into the meditation or We don't do the meditation, or we try to do the meditation and give up on it. But there is a logical reason for all of these steps, and that's why I keep sort of repeating where we are so far and how it generates the next mind, because they are sequential, and they are logic-based, even though you might have an emotional reaction to any of those steps. Report an error in the passage at 12:34 Highlight the passage at 12:34

13:30 I was having a conversation with Palma. I realized there was some step that might be a little bit... Still unclear. When we are trying to generate a mind of bodhicitta, it's not a gushy state of mind. It's not a, as you know, it's not a, her words, it's not a, it's not a warm and fuzzy state of mind, to be honest. Report an error in the passage at 13:30 Highlight the passage at 13:30

13:54 It's actually a strong and a brave state of mind. And that's what we're trying to generate. As I said at the very beginning, I feel like the word that most describes this mind is courage. I don't think it's so warm and squishy, to be honest. And so in order to kind of get over the self-cherishing mind that's fearful of having such a big mind and a big heart, Report an error in the passage at 13:54 Highlight the passage at 13:54

14:23 We sort of have to logically approach it. And so that's why I'm stressing the logical steps. You're never going to attain the mind of bodhicitta if you don't know the logic behind it. So that's why I'm kind of trying to point out how it all connects. It is really all connected. Report an error in the passage at 14:23 Highlight the passage at 14:23

14:42 It's quite helpful when you meditate on it, although you can just skip to the punch and just do the Tonglen, and it's quite powerful to just do the Tonglen at times. There are times in your life that it's quite powerful to just do that. But if it interests you to generate the mind of bodhicitta, then it really helps to do the whole process, the whole steps. Report an error in the passage at 14:42 Highlight the passage at 14:42

15:07 And in this case, there's... Although a couple of them are multi-parted. There are only five steps. So it's not quite as long as the way I normally teach it. Report an error in the passage at 15:07 Highlight the passage at 15:07

15:19 So when we're doing the practice of Tonglen, what we're trying to do is to generate this mind that wants to give whatever this person in front of us needs that would make them happy. And just imagining if you had the capacity to just pour it into that person. Report an error in the passage at 15:19 Highlight the passage at 15:19

15:38 And imagining what that would be like. And then imagine removing all of their suffering and imagine what that would feel like if you had that capacity. And imagine then using that to melt your own self-cherishing. So that you are able to develop this huge, vast mind. So that you're able to sort of dissolve the roadblocks. Report an error in the passage at 15:38 Highlight the passage at 15:38

16:07 That keep you from being able to become a Buddha, which is what we're trying to become. Even if you haven't gotten there yet. I know. Report an error in the passage at 16:07 Highlight the passage at 16:07

16:19 So then when you get to this point of the meditation, imagine that you've just done the Tonglen meditation that we did last week and hopefully you guys have been doing all week. Report an error in the passage at 16:19 Highlight the passage at 16:19

16:30 And so you just spend a moment really, really rejoicing that you've been able to help. You've really been able to do it. And then you have to sort of... Catch yourself and remember that you've just been imagining this, that this has just been a visualization. And this sort of urgency arises because you get the importance of it now, but you know you're not there. Report an error in the passage at 16:30 Highlight the passage at 16:30

16:55 And so this is step number four, which is called a lot of things. It's called extraordinary intention sometimes, extraordinary attitude, sometimes people call it. His Holiness the Dalai Lama usually calls it the universal responsibility, which I like, unless you don't like responsibility. Report an error in the passage at 16:55 Highlight the passage at 16:55

17:18 But it really does. What I like about it, I mean, there are a lot of attitudes, right? But this one specifically is getting it that this, I want to help. Report an error in the passage at 17:18 Highlight the passage at 17:18

17:34 I myself want to help. I want to do this. I want to take this on. It's not enough for me to visualize being able to help these sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 17:34 Highlight the passage at 17:34

17:46 I really want to generate this mind of bodhicitta. I want to generate the mind of bodhicitta. And what we're trying to do is basically from, we're trying to, Report an error in the passage at 17:46 Highlight the passage at 17:46

18:05 Develop this thought of, you know, it's my responsibility to help them in the way that a good child helps their parents when their parents are suffering. Or that a good mother would help her child if her child was in the burning house or something like that. You wouldn't wait. And kind of look around for somebody else, you know. Or to jump into a river or something like that, you know. You would just jump in, you know. Report an error in the passage at 18:05 Highlight the passage at 18:05

18:37 Or if your dog or your cat or something like that was in a burning fire, you would try to help that living being. And you would own that responsibility. You would know that it was your responsibility. Report an error in the passage at 18:37 Highlight the passage at 18:37

18:53 The crazy thing is, is that this meditation is trying to get us to feel that for all living beings. And that's where Venerable Venus says it's almost insane. But in a good way. And that's where we have to grow into it. Report an error in the passage at 18:53 Highlight the passage at 18:53

19:15 And that's why His Holiness calls it universal responsibility. We're trying to grow this mind that is seeing that. It's completely unbearable for sentient beings to be suffering the way they suffer in all levels of that suffering, whether it's the way that people get angry at each other in traffic, all the way up to all the pain of illness or war or floods or so forth. Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:48 All that suffering is suffering, and it's all valid suffering. It's all experienced as suffering, even if there are different grades. And so we're trying to get to this point where it's unbearable for us. We're looking at them almost like a mother or father looking at our kids and going, you know how it's just painful when they're suffering and you want to take away that suffering. Report an error in the passage at 19:48 Highlight the passage at 19:48

20:14 But at this step, which is the next to last step, it's not bodhicitta yet. We're getting it that they're suffering. We're recognizing that it's our responsibility, that we want to help them, that we want to remove that suffering. But we also know that we don't have that capacity yet. So it's sort of like you see the person, can't breathe, but you don't know CPR. Report an error in the passage at 20:14 Highlight the passage at 20:14

20:22 we're getting at that, or we're... Report an error in the passage at 20:22 Highlight the passage at 20:22

20:45 Or the person's in a burning house and you can't actually get in there because you don't know, you don't have the tools and you don't know how to do it. So bodhicitta is what happens once you've attained this mind. It's sort of like the spark for bodhicitta, this mind called universal responsibility. Report an error in the passage at 20:45 Highlight the passage at 20:45

21:10 It's sort of like enlightenment becomes the method for us. To be able to enact or implement this mind of compassion. It becomes the most logical way to help all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 21:10 Highlight the passage at 21:10

21:27 Because then we get to this point where we're just like, well wait, I'm still in saṃsāra. I can't really help. I can't even end my own suffering most days. Report an error in the passage at 21:27 Highlight the passage at 21:27

21:39 So you sort of start looking around and you start thinking, well who can? Who has this kind of capacity? Who has the kind of power that I want? Who has the kind of compassion and love and so forth? And the only enlightened beings have the capacity to help, especially on the level that we're talking about where we're talking about all living beings without exception. Report an error in the passage at 21:39 Highlight the passage at 21:39

22:02 We're talking about this huge, huge, huge level. We might be able to help one or two people at any given time, you know, or one or two creatures at any given time. But to have... The capacity to help all living beings all the time and actually simultaneously we have to become a Buddha. And so we reach this really strong determination that I will become a Buddha no matter what it takes, no matter how hard it is, no matter how long. Report an error in the passage at 22:02 Highlight the passage at 22:02

22:39 You know it takes and no matter what I have to do to become that, you're basically just sort of psyching yourself up on the final step because that's when you get it that you will become enlightened. And remember again that the definition of bodhicitta is this resolve or determination to get enlightened in order to benefit all sentient beings. And that's how you get there. Report an error in the passage at 22:39 Highlight the passage at 22:39

23:01 That's the methodology that we use to get there. And that is the mind of bodhicitta. So that's what we're trying to attain by following these various steps in order and repeatedly. Report an error in the passage at 23:01 Highlight the passage at 23:01

23:19 So any questions on the whole method put together, but then also especially any questions on Tonglen this week if anybody practiced it or anybody had any experiences that they wanted to share. Report an error in the passage at 23:19 Highlight the passage at 23:19

23:42 Oh no, no, it's over here. I'm like, what? Report an error in the passage at 23:42 Highlight the passage at 23:42

23:49 It's a mini one. Report an error in the passage at 23:49 Highlight the passage at 23:49

23:53 Anybody have any questions? I mean, there'll be more time to ask questions, but this is also a good time. Report an error in the passage at 23:53 Highlight the passage at 23:53

24:04 I haven't heard from you and Report an error in the passage at 24:04 Highlight the passage at 24:04

24:12 may still not. Report an error in the passage at 24:12 Highlight the passage at 24:12

24:21 Is it working? Report an error in the passage at 24:21 Highlight the passage at 24:21

24:32 I can repeat it. Report an error in the passage at 24:32 Highlight the passage at 24:32

24:47 There it goes. you very much. Report an error in the passage at 24:47 Highlight the passage at 24:47

· · · silence, 1 minute

24:52 about the Tonglen, especially the of it. Report an error in the passage at 24:52 Highlight the passage at 24:52

25:12 I didn't actually say Tari this time, so that was brought in by you from a previous time. I purposefully made it light and wispy because people get scared. It's the self-cherishing mind that gets scared. You're not taking on anything. It's simply a visualization. So it's interesting to watch that mind that gets afraid. Report an error in the passage at 25:12 Highlight the passage at 25:12

25:39 Light. You could just use light. I mean, because what you're trying to do is build your courage. So it's sort of like, is there any way to get into the deep section of the swimming pool? You start in the shallower and move up. I mean, so it's kind of like that. You do the same with this. You just are trying to build your heart muscles, you know. Report an error in the passage at 25:39 Highlight the passage at 25:39

26:04 Can you really take on their suffering at this point? No. So you don't have to worry. You're not. But can you develop the wish to want to? Yeah. And that's what we're focusing on, is wanting to develop that wish to take away their suffering, if you could. And eventually you will. But first you have to start in a three-foot section. Report an error in the passage at 26:04 Highlight the passage at 26:04

26:31 And then you move to three and a half to four. So yeah, so choose an image that works for you. Every time, like I said, every time I teach it, I change the imagery around, you know. Report an error in the passage at 26:31 Highlight the passage at 26:31

26:43 But you know yourself. You can just play with it. Report an error in the passage at 26:43 Highlight the passage at 26:43

26:50 Make a Japanese incense instead of Japan. Report an error in the passage at 26:50 Highlight the passage at 26:50

26:56 That works more for me. Report an error in the passage at 26:56 Highlight the passage at 26:56

27:01 Anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 27:01 Highlight the passage at 27:01

27:08 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 27:08 Highlight the passage at 27:08

27:17 That's fine. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 27:17 Highlight the passage at 27:17

27:24 I think it was working. -ha-ha-ha! Report an error in the passage at 27:24 Highlight the passage at 27:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

27:36 You might have a battery that needs changing. Can you hear me? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, just be like the lounge singer. I'll keep it right there. Report an error in the passage at 27:36 Highlight the passage at 27:36

27:47 So I just do it myself, and it kind of surprised me that I do it myself, Report an error in the passage at 27:47 Highlight the passage at 27:47

28:00 but I do feel kind of different. I kind of felt like I was doing therapy on myself. It is a little like therapy. I've definitely done it on myself a number of times. I think once you learn it, it becomes a tool. If you're having a really hard time, you know, like if you're facing stuff that's hard, then you can take that away from yourself. And it's good practice. Report an error in the passage at 28:00 Highlight the passage at 28:00

28:26 So, I mean, that's often the way it's taught is to start with yourself. So it may feel funny to start that way. And it gets confusing sometimes, you know, with the instructions. So you just have to close your eyes and just do the best you can rather than read the instructions because it's too much like he and then she and then, you know, it's me. Report an error in the passage at 28:26 Highlight the passage at 28:26

28:47 But I think it's very powerful. It can be very powerful to do it for yourself. And if you're having just like a really, really hard time, it can be a really sweet gift to yourself to take that away. Report an error in the passage at 28:47 Highlight the passage at 28:47

29:20 Yeah, I don't know. I actually haven't read it. Report an error in the passage at 29:20 Highlight the passage at 29:20

29:30 Is it Rinpoche? Is it Rinpoche? No. Oh, I guess you can't. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 29:30 Highlight the passage at 29:30

29:44 And you are a decent person, Steve. This is beyond decent. This is like I said, when Rubina says it's nearly insane. You know what I mean? It's really huge. We're just trying to take it. It's It's... Report an error in the passage at 29:44 Highlight the passage at 29:44

29:59 In the baby end of the pool so that we can kind of plant seeds and then gradually every time grow into it. But it doesn't mean that you're a bad person because you're struggling with it. At least you're here and you showed up and you came to every class. That's huge. That's great. And this is your second time doing it too, I think. So, I mean, that's enormous. Report an error in the passage at 29:59 Highlight the passage at 29:59

30:24 So, you know, it's just... Report an error in the passage at 30:24 Highlight the passage at 30:24

30:36 Yeah, that's great. It must have been all that majusapha. Purification. Yeah. Yeah, no, that's fair enough. That's fair enough. Report an error in the passage at 30:36 Highlight the passage at 30:36

30:55 Phil, yeah. Tap it first. Yeah, good. It's still on. Chick. Chick, you. Yeah, just a quick comment. Like last week when we did it here, I for some reason felt like doing it myself too, but I did like basically a cast-off version of it. All the parts that I felt were lacking in dharma and selfishness and everything else. So it felt like really kind of therapeutic after that. Report an error in the passage at 30:55 Highlight the passage at 30:55

31:26 And sort of you can kind of scan and see what parts of yourself you need to work on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's cool. That's cool. Yeah, I, you know, I wouldn't even attempt to teach this if I hadn't had. I have good experiences with it and I am a long way from bodhicitta. But I have found it to be quite useful in a practical sense. Report an error in the passage at 31:26 Highlight the passage at 31:26

31:59 In my life getting through hard stuff and also being with other people that are going through hard stuff. Report an error in the passage at 31:59 Highlight the passage at 31:59

32:08 So we just keep trying. And the more that you practice it, I guarantee you the more powerful it becomes because it's sort of like... The piano playing, right? You know, the first few times it feels clunky. You might not be able to finger span. I remember I studied piano when I was a little kid. And it was hard sometimes to reach the different notes, and it sounded funny, and then they'd keep correcting you and correcting you. Report an error in the passage at 32:08 Highlight the passage at 32:08

32:39 And it eventually all sort of came together in this piece, and it's sort of like... Wow, I never saw that coming. I mean, the teacher might have. And this is much the same. Report an error in the passage at 32:39 Highlight the passage at 32:39

32:54 You're sort of studying it to get the logic and the framework, and then the more you do it, the more you're putting in aspects of your own life or your own things that mean something to you, and then it lights up. Report an error in the passage at 32:54 Highlight the passage at 32:54

33:12 You're plugging it in, so then you have some sort of personal experience with it, rather than just doing it because Chokyi asked you to do it this week, which is not always the most powerful meditations. But from practicing it, practice only makes perfect, you know, and that's really true in Buddhism. That's why they call it practice. Report an error in the passage at 33:12 Highlight the passage at 33:12

33:34 That's all it is, really. Anyway, so... We just keep working with it, and the more that we work with it, whether it's part of the whole series or whether it's just Tong Lin, and I would say if you are only going to do one of these steps, make it be Tong Lin and just practice it in little bits whenever you get a chance. Report an error in the passage at 33:34 Highlight the passage at 33:34

33:58 It's quite a powerful yet simple meditation once you get down the imagery and play with the imagery until it feels right. Report an error in the passage at 33:58 Highlight the passage at 33:58

34:09 Those of you who have taken other classes with me know that I normally have the self-cherishing explode. And some continue with that. This time I kept it more melting and dissolving. Report an error in the passage at 34:09 Highlight the passage at 34:09

34:26 So yeah, you can just play with it. And then you might also read in other books and find imagery that works, you know, like other teachers, Pema Chodron, Yangtze Rinpoche or something like that. Somebody who is practicing right now that might have an image that works for your mind. And so keep playing with it. Report an error in the passage at 34:26 Highlight the passage at 34:26

34:50 So when you develop the mind of actual bodhicitta for the first time, you're called a bodhisattva. So even if you lose it instantaneously or it reverses back out, you're still called a bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 34:50 Highlight the passage at 34:50

35:05 It's actually quite long of a path at that point because the whole point, at that point, it's not like with the direct perception of emptiness. Once you have the direct perception of emptiness, it is irreversible and it doesn't go away. You are a completely different person when you get back up again from your meditation. You're an ordinary being. But with bodhicitta, it's different. Report an error in the passage at 35:05 Highlight the passage at 35:05

35:32 We sort of do it in increments. And so we generate... Bodhicitta, and then we get it stronger and stronger and stronger, and we try to work on it to get it stronger and stronger and stronger. And they say that there are these ten levels, called Bhumis in Sanskrit, and it can take lifetimes to get to genuine, irreversible bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 35:32 Highlight the passage at 35:32

35:56 And there are stories, you know, of, I think it was Ananda, one of the main disciples of the... The Buddha who had generated bodhicitta, was genuine bodhicitta, but must have been below the eighth level, because I think the eighth level is where it's irreversible. And he met someone on the path when he was walking, and that person asked him for his eyes. Asked him for an eye, I think. Report an error in the passage at 35:56 Highlight the passage at 35:56

36:27 Asked him for an eye, which for bodhisattva isn't a big deal. So he reached in and plucked out his eye. And handed it to the guy. And the guy said, oh my gosh, I can't take that. You did it with your left hand. And he lost his bodhicitta. He was so angry. He thought, oh, I can't help sentient beings. They're all so horrible and petty and blah, blah, blah. And then he just lost it. Report an error in the passage at 36:27 Highlight the passage at 36:27

36:53 He lost his bodhicitta and he had to rebuild it from the ground up. Um, so, um, It takes a while. I find that such a discouraging story, but that's one of the stories that they always tell. And actually, there is a bodhisattva vow, which I'll get to in a second. There's a bodhisattva vow that says, you know, losing your bodhicitta, not to lose your bodhicitta. And Geshe-la says that basically if we stay angry at somebody for 24 hours, that one's all right. Report an error in the passage at 36:53 Highlight the passage at 36:53

37:31 And you have to remember that if you've taken those vows, you're like, oh wait, I have to get over this. Report an error in the passage at 37:31 Highlight the passage at 37:31

37:39 Actually there's another one, just following anger, which could of course lead to the same place. So yeah, it's quite easy I think to lose the mind of bodhicitta unless we're really, really actively working on it. So at first... You know, um, um. Report an error in the passage at 37:39 Highlight the passage at 37:39

37:54 When we generate bodhicitta, like even in these classes or even after these classes, if you keep practicing this and go on meditation retreats and so forth, it's still contrived bodhicitta, but we just keep building it. We just keep putting effort into it and kind of keeping it going. And eventually it does become spontaneous and eventually it does become, they say, as effortless as the thought of getting food if we're hungry. Report an error in the passage at 37:54 Highlight the passage at 37:54

38:22 Which I love that, you know, I mean, there's no effort involved, right, if I have to go in the kitchen and get something to eat. And they say that this is the same. It's completely effortless and spontaneous, the way it arises in our mind, to help others, to care for others, to be concerned about others. And it's just as real as our own concern for ourselves is now, without any practice. Report an error in the passage at 38:22 Highlight the passage at 38:22

38:45 Although, actually, in reality, we've been practicing for years. So they say that there's this pseudo-bodhicitta that can arise, and they call it sugarcane bodhicitta, that arises if we've had some profound experience, like a passing of somebody that we love very much, or a parent, or some profound experience that we go through when we're... Report an error in the passage at 38:45 Highlight the passage at 38:45

39:17 Maybe more the squishy kind. So it feels really real. We feel like we're going to change forever, and it just doesn't last. And so they call it sugar cane. It's hollow. Sweet, but hollow in the end. It's not strong enough. It doesn't last. What we're aiming for is the genuine kind, and it can't be reversed. Report an error in the passage at 39:17 Highlight the passage at 39:17

39:38 Even if our life conditions change. For the better or for the worse, because sometimes actually when they change for the better, it's just as bad for our practice. We get a really great job, but then we're not able to go to classes at all or have any kind of practice. Or we meet the someone of our dreams and then we don't have any time for practice or whatever. So sometimes changing for the good can be just as detrimental as changing for the worse. Report an error in the passage at 39:38 Highlight the passage at 39:38

40:07 Boat. So we're trying to generate the mind of bodhicitta that can't be reversed no matter what. And so there are two levels of bodhicitta which we talked about before, this wishing bodhicitta where we just have this aspiration to develop this wish to get enlightened. It's sort of like thinking about going on the trip, but not really. Report an error in the passage at 40:07 Highlight the passage at 40:07

40:31 You're not getting the visa for sure. Sounds like it might be cool to go to Tibet, but you're not going to go out and buy boots yet, you know. But engaging bodhicitta is where you're moving past just, it sounds like a good idea, and you're actually taking steps to accomplish it. And one of those steps is to take bodhisattva vows, which of course you can take at both levels too. You can take them at the wishing level and at the engaging level. Report an error in the passage at 40:31 Highlight the passage at 40:31

41:01 But you're basically doing whatever it takes to get enlightened. And so that means engaging in what are called the activities of a bodhisattva. Probably the most famous and also in some ways most practical activities of bodhisattva are the six perfections. So we're going to talk about those tonight. Report an error in the passage at 41:01 Highlight the passage at 41:01

41:25 In a slightly different way than maybe you've heard before, except if you've done my classes before, in which case it might be the same way, and then you'll just get to hear it again. And taking the vows is also an activity of a bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 41:25 Highlight the passage at 41:25

41:40 So at our level, you know, normally the six perfections, if we were taking it and we were already a bodhisattva, it would be strengthening our bodhicitta. At our level, it's helping us generate bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 41:40 Highlight the passage at 41:40

41:56 If we haven't already attained bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 41:56 Highlight the passage at 41:56

42:03 And these six perfections are perfections of mind. We're not necessarily trying to change the world, which I think is important to say. Report an error in the passage at 42:03 Highlight the passage at 42:03

42:16 That's actually true for all of Buddhism. To some degree, once we get into emptiness and karma, there is a way to change our reality, our experience of reality, both. Report an error in the passage at 42:16 Highlight the passage at 42:16

42:27 But what we're really trying to do is to change our mind because then, of course, our experience of reality also changes. So, for example, if we are practicing generosity or giving, you know, we're giving because we understand sort of the karmic result of giving. We're sort of giving with an intelligent, the mind of an intelligent Buddha, understanding karma. Report an error in the passage at 42:27 Highlight the passage at 42:27

43:01 But we give to perfect this mind of giving, in other words. So it won't necessarily mean that there won't be any more poor people around if we practice. If we have perfected our mind of giving, it doesn't mean that all the poor people disappear. We're moral because we understand the benefits of being moral, and it doesn't mean that there won't be immoral people around us. Report an error in the passage at 43:01 Highlight the passage at 43:01

43:27 We're patient to eliminate anger in our own mind, but it doesn't mean that people won't continue to get angry quite a bit. Report an error in the passage at 43:27 Highlight the passage at 43:27

43:38 We cultivate a delight in virtue, which is a joyful effort, for its own sake, which ends up affecting our whole practice. Report an error in the passage at 43:38 Highlight the passage at 43:38

43:51 And we develop concentration because we know we can use it as a tool on the path. It's simply a tool on the path. we'll continue to get angry. Report an error in the passage at 43:51 Highlight the passage at 43:51

43:59 Not in and of itself a wonderful thing. As Geshe-la says, you know, it's not such a big deal to develop clairvoyance, which I always love it when he says that, because it's like, actually, they were kind of cool. Report an error in the passage at 43:59 Highlight the passage at 43:59

44:12 And it must have been somewhat common in Tibet to say that. But in the Tibetan tradition, in the Mahāyāna tradition, it's basically a means to the final end. It's not such a big deal. And we... We try to have a direct perception of emptiness basically to get enlightened, to be able to change our experience of how we interact with the world and to become a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 44:12 Highlight the passage at 44:12

44:44 So that's what we're doing with these six perfections. We study them in order. They're taught in that same order, giving morality, joyful effort. I'm sorry, I skipped one. Patience. Probably the one I need the most. Giving morality or ethics, patience, joyful effort, concentration and wisdom. They're taught in that order because they build on each other and when we practice them in order then it's sort of easier, it sort of makes sense. Report an error in the passage at 44:44 Highlight the passage at 44:44

45:24 As you develop... Giving, you sort of naturally become less attached to things. You know, your attachment decreases, which actually develops your morality because you're less likely to harm others for things if you have less attachment. Report an error in the passage at 45:24 Highlight the passage at 45:24

45:42 And if you're developing morality, then you're restraining yourself from negative actions. In the case of Buddhism, morality usually means non-harm. That's usually what's meant by morality. I know we sometimes put a lot of baggage on it in our culture. So when we're practicing patience, we're restraining ourselves from not getting angry when we could, and that falls right into practicing morality of not harming others. Report an error in the passage at 45:42 Highlight the passage at 45:42

46:18 Joyful effort is basically coming from the discipline that we've developed with practicing patience. Because it's developing this happiness to do good, basically, this delight in doing good. And when we're developing concentration single pointedly on one thing, Report an error in the passage at 46:18 Highlight the passage at 46:18

46:42 it's basically developing the same, it comes from the same minds that keep our, you know, when we're developing a discipline or an ethical life. We have to remember to keep our mind on the path and not straying, not window shopping basically with everything else that's happening, but kind of keeping our focus and that leads naturally to concentration. Report an error in the passage at 46:42 Highlight the passage at 46:42

47:08 And we absolutely have to develop a deep concentration or meditation practice in order to have a direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 47:08 Highlight the passage at 47:08

47:21 Directly perceive the nature of reality. We cannot do it in any other state except in a deep meditative state. So that's why we have to study them in order. So the first one is giving. And it's just defined as this state of mind wanting to give. Basically, we can give money, we can give things, we can give energy, we can give time, we can give whatever. Report an error in the passage at 47:21 Highlight the passage at 47:21

47:49 And actually bodhisattvas at some point, as depicted in the story, can even give their bodies or parts of their bodies, although Shantideva cautions not to do that until you're absolutely ready. Report an error in the passage at 47:49 Highlight the passage at 47:49

48:05 And Shantideva says to start first with things like vegetables. Something that you're not too attached to. So practice with carrots and potatoes first before you do your arm or your eye. I guess maybe when he was teaching it, more people were running out and doing it. So he was like, no, no. It was popular. He was like, no, no. You've got to build up to it. Report an error in the passage at 48:05 Highlight the passage at 48:05

48:34 But eventually they say it's no different. I remember when Geshe was teaching Shantideva's guide, he says it's no different than a leaf falling off a tree. Report an error in the passage at 48:34 Highlight the passage at 48:34

48:45 Handing over a part of your body is no different than a leaf. So there's no attachment. You have no attachment to this body. Obviously it requires a huge amount of work in terms of understanding reincarnation and really having some faith in that, which I think a lot of Westerners don't yet. Report an error in the passage at 48:45 Highlight the passage at 48:45

49:05 And also getting it that the karmic result of such a gift, you know, giving of your body and so forth is huge. If it's, and that's the other qualification, it has to be for the right reason. And the reason has to be of more benefit than the life that you're living now. So if the bodhisattva is running around helping people, then it wouldn't necessarily be more beneficial. Report an error in the passage at 49:05 Highlight the passage at 49:05

49:32 To save one person unless it really was. And that's why clairvoyance comes in handy. So the state of mind wanting to give. Report an error in the passage at 49:32 Highlight the passage at 49:32

49:43 The motivation should be a bodhicitta motivation as much as possible. And then it doesn't matter what you give or even how tiny the gift is, if you're giving with this mind of doing it for the benefit of all sentient beings, whatever that means to you, they say even feeding a bird in the park becomes a bodhisattva activity with this really strong motivation. Report an error in the passage at 49:43 Highlight the passage at 49:43

50:08 And there are three different kinds of giving. So I have a lot of lists tonight, so bear with me. I didn't do it so much for the whole class. I just did it for Christine because I knew she'd be here. No, I'm kidding. Report an error in the passage at 50:08 Highlight the passage at 50:08

50:20 I almost wrote them down and then I was like, no, I'm just going to read them out loud. So if people miss things and just go, what was number three? I was like, that's fine. Report an error in the passage at 50:20 Highlight the passage at 50:20

50:30 So giving material things is the first thing. It can be money, food, medicine, you know, something else. You can, I mean, the possibilities are endless. Report an error in the passage at 50:30 Highlight the passage at 50:30

50:41 That also is like when you're giving offerings to teachers. teachers, Seichenling just did to me. And on altars, you know, sometimes at the end of the day we would find at Webster Street, often this would happen, people would just sneak little offerings anonymously onto altars. Report an error in the passage at 50:41 Highlight the passage at 50:41

51:03 The karmic result of that is wealth, is having enough, is having... Enough things, you know. If you're giving medicine, then probably the karmic result is that you will have enough medicine. But the karmic result is basically having enough. The second is giving Dharma. Blah, blah, blah. Now it doesn't necessarily mean teaching. It could be you're with a friend and she's a Dharma student and she might be open to something that you might suggest. Report an error in the passage at 51:03 Highlight the passage at 51:03

51:32 Not in a... Blah, blah, blah, you know, teaching, teaching, teaching sort of way. But you might, you know, if you know that person well enough. That's one thing I really appreciate about Dharma friends is when they can kind of, you know, catch me if I'm thinking in a way that's not such a helpful way and kind of help me get on the straight and narrow. Report an error in the passage at 51:32 Highlight the passage at 51:32

51:51 Or have you read blah, blah? You know, that's really, you know, like, you know, bring up a certain book or a certain Dharma film or something like that. That's actually giving the Dharma. So that's better. These are kind of growing. Actually, I don't know that these are growing. I'm going to say that it's better. Report an error in the passage at 51:51 Highlight the passage at 51:51

52:13 But you could also lend a DVD or something like that or give. It still counts as giving the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 52:13 Highlight the passage at 52:13

52:27 Sometimes if you're just acting in a way that's an example of the Dharma, that's also giving the Dharma. So that can be... Useful, you know, like not screaming at the other driver as you're driving through town or something like that. But not in a way that you're trying to be all like, you know, holier than thou. Report an error in the passage at 52:27 Highlight the passage at 52:27

52:46 That's not so useful. The karmic result of this, oh yeah, so this one's actually the best. I know because I said so on my notes. The karmic result of this is gaining realizations. So that's pretty cool. We want to gain realizations. Report an error in the passage at 52:46 Highlight the passage at 52:46

53:01 In my mind, realizations are defined as basically when your mind shifts and doesn't shift back. So not just an understanding or an insight, not just an aha, but basically when it really shifts your mind for the better. That's a realization. So that's what we're trying to gain on the path. There's a third one called giving protection or fearlessness. Report an error in the passage at 53:01 Highlight the passage at 53:01

53:28 Giving fearlessness. And that basically is when we save the life of another being. But, you know, basically if you have a job where you're doing this all the time, like nurses or doctors and so forth, or bringing medicine into countries where they need it and so forth, that's still a form of giving. Report an error in the passage at 53:28 Highlight the passage at 53:28

53:51 The karmic result of that is having a long and healthy life, which makes sense. In tantra they add a fourth. And I think it's interesting that it's in Tantra. I've always been a little bit puzzled by that, but it's basically called giving love, which is nice. Report an error in the passage at 53:51 Highlight the passage at 53:51

54:08 Being kind and friendly to people, you know. I think it's interesting that it doesn't come up until Tantra, but there you go. The karmic result of that is actually happiness. So if you want happiness, then give love. But also you have the ability to make others happy. So you have that. That karmically arises in you from giving love. So it's kind of a continual circle. Report an error in the passage at 54:08 Highlight the passage at 54:08

54:40 Also it's good to think about how we give. So that's why Shantideva says not to start with something that you're too attached to because you don't want to regret it. You don't want to give something and then kind of wish you hadn't and then every time that person wears that shirt you're like, hmm. Report an error in the passage at 54:40 Highlight the passage at 54:40

55:01 That's really bad, like you actually just lose, you not only lose the good karma, but you create bad karma, so it's like not so great. There's all these stories about people that are so overwhelmed with devotion when they first meet a teacher or something that they give something huge, like their house or their car or something, and then they regret it. Report an error in the passage at 55:01 Highlight the passage at 55:01

55:19 So most good teachers, if somebody does that, they're just like, no, no, yeah. Let's just check you out for a little while. If you still want to give it in 10 years, that's one thing. And I've known people that have been in that situation, and it's just kind of like, no, no, no. You don't want that person to harm their mind by regretting that. They say always to give respectfully, no matter what. Report an error in the passage at 55:19 Highlight the passage at 55:19

55:47 You're giving a dollar to the guy in the street, or you're giving $4 billion to the center. Always do it with respect, with this genuine concern. For the other person, giving with your own hands is better than having somebody else give, just like, well, no, never mind, I won't even go to the negative. Report an error in the passage at 55:47 Highlight the passage at 55:47

56:06 Giving with your own hands is better than sending somebody else. In India, sometimes people will sponsor somebody to go out and just sort of throw rupees, because it gets kind of crazy and people are like dashing for them. But it's actually better for you to be the one who walks into the crowd and hands out the rupees. Report an error in the passage at 56:06 Highlight the passage at 56:06

56:25 Don't give things that are inappropriate, like guns or something. We're supposed to really use our wisdom. If you know somebody is suicidal, don't give them anything that they could use to hurt themselves. Report an error in the passage at 56:25 Highlight the passage at 56:25

56:39 Don't give alcohol. Report an error in the passage at 56:39 Highlight the passage at 56:39

56:44 And there are things that make... All karma more powerful, but the teaching on it is done for giving, so I'll use that as the example. You can use it for all the six perfections, and in fact it's always true for all positive karma and all negative karma too. But doing it in a stream, they say, basically doing it over and over and over. And that's of course why idol gossip. Report an error in the passage at 56:44 Highlight the passage at 56:44

57:13 Is one of the ten non-virtues, not because idle gossip is such a horrible thing, but just because people can do it over and over and over and over and it's much more negative when it's done over and over and over. It's not as bad as killing. And this is the same. If you give a lot, it makes it more powerful, right? Report an error in the passage at 57:13 Highlight the passage at 57:13

57:34 That makes sense. Even if you only give a little bit all the time, it adds up. Always adding quarters to people's meters, although now everybody does it on their card. But you could just walk around with your card and add to everybody's meter. Report an error in the passage at 57:34 Highlight the passage at 57:34

57:47 Doing it with really strong feelings or really strong motivation, like intense caring or intense compassion and intensely wanting to help, wanting that person to get enlightened, wanting yourself to get enlightened, remembering that, of course, why we want to get enlightened is for the benefit of all beings, not to have really cool, you know. Report an error in the passage at 57:47 Highlight the passage at 57:47

58:10 Implements and be able to send out radiant lights and things like that. Always keeping it for the benefit of others. Doing it as an antidote to the three poisonous states of mind. The three poisons are aversion, attachment and ignorance. So if you're doing it, basically if you're giving away stuff to keep from being attached to it, then that counts as something like that. Report an error in the passage at 58:10 Highlight the passage at 58:10

58:36 If you're giving praise to somebody you're jealous of, that's also like that. But you have to kind of mean it. You can't just be doing it, you know, and underneath growling, you know. Giving to a powerful object. Report an error in the passage at 58:36 Highlight the passage at 58:36

58:53 In this case, there's a number of powerful objects, but I think the most powerful objects would be what they call the three jewels, the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha, or your teacher, your Buddhist teacher in this case, your spiritual teacher. That's meant as a powerful karmic object for you. Do they need it? No. They don't need whatever it is you're giving, you know, this little crystal whatever or whatever, you know, flowers or, you know, little, even the $21 at the airport, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 58:53 Highlight the passage at 58:53

59:24 They don't need it, but from your side, if your motivation is as pure as possible and you remember to dedicate it, it can get you enlightened, even that $21 at the airport. I know that's really, but anyway. Report an error in the passage at 59:24 Highlight the passage at 59:24

59:40 It doesn't matter. I remember actually Tencent Chokyi once saying to me, if you don't have any money, then always give in like an auspicious number. So if you don't have any money, then give like three, like for three jewels or seven, you know, or 21 or something like that. So anyway, that's just a Tencent Chokyi little asterisk. Report an error in the passage at 59:40 Highlight the passage at 59:40

1:00:04 Give to people who have helped you. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:04 Highlight the passage at 1:00:04

1:00:09 And in this case, they give the example of somebody like your parents that you got a human body from. But it can be anybody who's helped you. And giving to someone who's really suffering and really needs it is also a way to make it karmically more powerful. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:09 Highlight the passage at 1:00:09

1:00:27 Obviously, if you're going to give a meal to somebody, give it to somebody at St. Anthony's rather than buying it. Well, I guess it might be good to buy it for your boss if that boss has helped you. But giving it to some... Um. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:27 Highlight the passage at 1:00:27

1:00:39 Some really rich Wall Street broker or something. The highest form of generosity is a completely contented mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:39 Highlight the passage at 1:00:39

1:00:55 Ethics is defined as the virtuous thought to abandon harming others and even the thought of harming others. So you're abandoning harming and even the thought of harming. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:55 Highlight the passage at 1:00:55

1:01:12 And the advantage of ethics is that we create merit. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:12 Highlight the passage at 1:01:12

1:01:20 And it causes our own happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:20 Highlight the passage at 1:01:20

1:01:25 It sort of helps us progress on the path and so forth. If we're just recklessly following our crazy states of mind, then it's going to obviously create barriers on the path or obstacles on the path. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:25 Highlight the passage at 1:01:25

1:01:43 It's also good to be close to people who are keeping ethics. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:43 Highlight the passage at 1:01:43

1:01:49 And they say that when we keep ethics, it's sort of like we're creating a... you know, it gives us, um, Report an error in the passage at 1:01:49 Highlight the passage at 1:01:49

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:01:54 A sort of a safety, like a circle of safety around us. Because, of course, we're not just not punching humans or shooting people. We're also not like slamming the mosquitoes, you know. So they're a little more calm around us than if we're just, you know, we're killing everything in our sight. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:54 Highlight the passage at 1:01:54

1:02:17 And you can kind of feel if somebody's keeping ethics, too. I mean, there is a safety around them. When you're checking up, looking for a teacher. That's one to look for, is are they keeping ethics? And again, the strongest way to define that is not harming. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:17 Highlight the passage at 1:02:17

1:02:36 There are, of course, three types. The morality of restraint. You know, that makes sense. Not punching when we could punch. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:36 Highlight the passage at 1:02:36

1:02:49 Refraining from doing any non-virtuous action, anything negative, especially the ten non-virtues, which I'm not going to get into here. Although it comes up. The morality of practicing virtue. So the first one is restraining from non. The second one is actually doing positive. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:49 Highlight the passage at 1:02:49

1:03:08 Doing virtuous actions. Anything virtuous, but especially the ten virtues. And the morality of working to benefit others. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:08 Highlight the passage at 1:03:08

1:03:20 So even just working to benefit sentient beings is considered a form of realm. So the bodhisattva activities are basically... All included in working to benefit others. That's part of ethics. And the highest form of morality is the mind not wanting to harm in any way. So having a peaceful mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:20 Highlight the passage at 1:03:20

1:03:46 Patience. I had one teacher define patience as the art of not getting angry when there's good cause, which I love. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:46 Highlight the passage at 1:03:46

1:03:58 I think some of these, you know, anyone that was raised in the Judeo-Christian... background have have heard different things like that but they might not be defined in the same way so it's always good to hear what the definition is Report an error in the passage at 1:03:58 Highlight the passage at 1:03:58

1:04:16 Patience is considered a calm, virtuous mind that can bear hardship or harm without getting upset. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:16 Highlight the passage at 1:04:16

1:04:29 This is also the cause of good things coming to us. virtuous mind that can bear hardship or harm without getting upset. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:29 Highlight the passage at 1:04:29

1:04:41 Again, safety surrounds you. I had a really angry father, very angry father, and I'm also a very nice man and very loving man to us, but suddenly turn on a dime, and suddenly it was no longer safe. And I remember that feeling of like, is he home? Oh, he's not home. And then he'd come home and we all just fly, which must have been horrible. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:41 Highlight the passage at 1:04:41

1:05:11 It wasn't safe around him, and we knew it wasn't safe around him. I mean, my mom was one of the ones running too, you know, sort of like. So it was, when I first started studying this, I was like, yeah, it didn't feel safe. That safety circle wasn't there. Apparently, the karmic result of having patients is beauty, which I think is interesting, an attractive personality, peace of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:11 Highlight the passage at 1:05:11

1:05:43 And you'll be close to holy beings and will get enlightened. And of course we aren't necessarily trying to be beautiful or have an attractive personality so that we can become celebrities or something, but rather that we can attract people to the Dharma. So if you think of somebody like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, I think he has a real beauty and a really beautiful voice, which is a different thing altogether. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:43 Highlight the passage at 1:05:43

1:06:13 Obviously a really attractive personality too and a very attractive laugh and all that. And it just sort of draws people in. It just sort of pulls people in. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:13 Highlight the passage at 1:06:13

1:06:22 And so that's what practicing patience brings us. If we don't, then we just get angry and we keep getting angry and we keep causing the people around us to suffer. And they actually say that... Anger is like fire, and it's the most destructive of all the afflictive states of mind. So that's why it kind of gets its own. Of all the afflictive states of mind, it sort of gets its own in the six perfections. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:22 Highlight the passage at 1:06:22

1:06:59 And part of the reason of that, I mean, it's like if you have a positive state of mind, like love, it'll pervade the mind if it's strong enough. And then anything you do is coming from that state of mind. The same is true for anger. So if you have anger, especially if you have a really angry personality, it's not sort of like flying off the hook, you know, once in a while, but basically if it just is constantly, you know, in your mind and you're just kind of always walking around like angry and so forth, it rules the mind and it just sort of makes it impossible to sort of think clearly and to, you know, obviously to practice these other aspects. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:59 Highlight the passage at 1:06:59

1:07:42 So all these other, it's sort of like an army. It's like when I was talking about that situation where I was walking down Broadway in New York and I could feel the sort of swirling of all the other, the armies of backing up anger in my mind and sort of flowing into the mind. And then when I took away the anger, all those little armies had nowhere to go and they just sort of had to dissipate. It was quite interesting to watch. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:42 Highlight the passage at 1:07:42

1:08:12 Step back and watch and to see that happening. And that happens, of course, all the time with anger. So there are three kinds of patience. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:12 Highlight the passage at 1:08:12

1:08:21 Learning not to get angry when we could, when we have reason to. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:21 Highlight the passage at 1:08:21

1:08:29 And basically, we do that by understanding how karma works and by understanding that karma, you know. So understanding what, you know. I think probably Palmo, for those of you that took the class that Palmo taught on the suffering of psychophysicians, or saṃsāra nirvāṇa, she probably talked about different afflictive states of mind, and that's sort of how we work with these kind of afflictive states of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:29 Highlight the passage at 1:08:29

1:08:58 But meditating and then trying to apply that meditation in the field, that's kind of how we work with it. And then doing it again and again and again. And then when you screw up, not getting too angry at yourself for getting angry, which just compounds it all. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:58 Highlight the passage at 1:08:58

1:09:15 And just practicing it again and again. But that's the patience of learning not to get angry when we could. Which, of course, is usually what we think of with patience, right? But no, then they have patience of accepting difficulties or hardship. Now this is, of course, really useful. When you're practicing the Dharma and you have to study or you have to practice in a cave or something like that. There's a lot of us in the West that would never even go to that step. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:15 Highlight the passage at 1:09:15

1:09:45 So basically, but basically it can also just in regular life, you know, the acceptance of illness, any kind of difficulty, loss, you know, unemployment, you know, any kind of difficulty that we have in our lives, learning to accept. That difficulty with some sort of a stable mind. That's the patience that number two was talking about. And if we have any understanding of the Dharma, then we can also say, wow, it's really great that this is happening because now I get to work with this stuff and see where my practice is. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:45 Highlight the passage at 1:09:45

1:10:24 And actually that will be the subject of the class that Poma will be teaching in January on Lojong, which is... Taking what's already coming to you because of your bad karma and learning how to work with it with a different twist, thinking about it in a new way. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:24 Highlight the passage at 1:10:24

1:10:43 And trying to be genuine when you say, wow, isn't that great? That that just fell on my toe. The third kind of patience is patience of a firm conviction in the Dharma. And that's basically using all the Dharma that we know. To deal with whatever arises. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:43 Highlight the passage at 1:10:43

1:11:08 And the highest form of patience is humility because it reduces the ego. The ego is usually what gets angry, right? It's usually the ego that's getting defensive or angry or afraid for that matter. And remember too that patience isn't just repressing anger. And I think a lot of times people hear it that way despite... Report an error in the passage at 1:11:08 Highlight the passage at 1:11:08

1:11:36 However it's being described in Buddhism, it's never repressing anger in Buddhism. There's always this quality of analysis, trying to, as Veneravina calls it, unpack whatever is happening. We're basically dissecting what's going on, and we're always analyzing and analyzing and analyzing. It's kind of like what I always call being Margaret Meadie around. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:36 Highlight the passage at 1:11:36

1:12:04 Taking out your little book and just looking at the mind. Hmm, isn't that interesting what's happening? And I'll do one more and then we'll take a break. The fourth one, which is of course my favorite, but often the absolute hardest, is joyful effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:04 Highlight the passage at 1:12:04

1:12:21 It's sometimes defined, or sometimes translated as joyful effort, sometimes it's called enthusiasm, sometimes joyous effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:21 Highlight the passage at 1:12:21

1:12:31 Basically defined as taking delight in doing virtue. And you can really see the people who have it because the minute Geshe-la or Rinpoche say, let's do a thousand light offerings, I go, okay, I'll go get the table. And the rest of us are like, great. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:31 Highlight the passage at 1:12:31

1:12:56 And it's genuine. There's this joy. Wait, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:56 Highlight the passage at 1:12:56

1:13:01 You're not getting bored. You're not getting fed up. You're not going, oh, it's 3 in the morning, Rinpoche. Really? We're going to do light offerings now? We're going to get up and do frustrations? Oh, great. But there's this genuine, like, okay, great, you know, because you understand the meaning behind it all. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:01 Highlight the passage at 1:13:01

1:13:19 Again, there's always some logic there. If it's Tibetan Buddhism, there's always logic somehow. Interestingly, if we develop this mind, then it gives us energy. It actually gives us more energy to do. And they say, so, you know, it's right in the middle of the six perfections. We need joyful effort to accomplish giving ethics and patience, and we need it to accomplish concentration and wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:19 Highlight the passage at 1:13:19

1:13:46 I don't know why we don't have it first, but we don't. There are four kinds, of course. This one actually has three different lists involved. I'm giving it to you right before the break. Four kinds of joyful effort. Armor-like joyful effort, which is this really kind of courageous attitude. Armor. Yeah. Like we're in a war. And this is sort of like thinking, I don't care how long it takes or how hard it is, I'll do whatever is going to be required of me to help all beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:46 Highlight the passage at 1:13:46

1:14:29 Then there's the joyful effort in gathering virtue. So that's, you know, they say the two collections. Accumulating merit, basically. There's joyful effort in that. And there's joyful effort in purifying, too. We've talked a little bit about purifying in here. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:29 Highlight the passage at 1:14:29

1:14:52 Really excited to do that Vajra Safra practice. I do feel like that now, and that, of course, has taken 15 years. But, you know, when you know you've messed up, it's so great to know there's something in there that you can just clean the mind with. There's a product that you can clean the mind with, and you've got it handy at all times. It's always in your pocket as long as you have it memorized. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:52 Highlight the passage at 1:14:52

1:15:14 And that's so great because, you know, we do that. It does happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:14 Highlight the passage at 1:15:14

1:15:22 But it's compared to a king gathering his troops for a big battle. So we gather virtue and we do it. The joyful effort of mindfulness and introspection. Those are those two minds I was trying to think of earlier. The same two minds that we need mindfulness and introspection or vigilance in order to develop concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:22 Highlight the passage at 1:15:22

1:15:46 That's the same two minds that we use to develop deep meditation practice, but we actually have to develop those two minds all the time. We need it for developing the kind of discipline that we need for all of these six perfections, actually. So the joyful effort of mindfulness and introspection. And the joyful effort of pliancy of body and mind. So through practice, our body and mind become more serviceable. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:46 Highlight the passage at 1:15:46

1:16:16 We're more willing to leap up at 3 a.m. and do light offerings. Just like when we meditate, and this is very similar, they say in the teachings on calm abiding or single pointed meditation, they say that once we start progressing in the levels of this deep meditation, we do develop this pliancy and bliss. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:16 Highlight the passage at 1:16:16

1:16:36 First of our body, which is hard to believe, because it usually hurts, right? Our knees, everything hurt. But eventually, it's almost like we'd be... Our body, we just sort of plop down into position and we can stay there for hours and hours and hours. And it actually becomes blissful. And that's just through serviceability. And then the same thing happens with our mind. Our mind also becomes more pliant, more serviceable. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:36 Highlight the passage at 1:16:36

1:17:05 And we're able to place it on whatever the object is for as long as we want. It's a pliancy of body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:05 Highlight the passage at 1:17:05

1:17:14 The main obstacle to joyful effort is laziness. And there are three kinds of laziness. I'm really good at all of them, actually. I've mastered laziness. The laziness of just not feeling like it. That's the way one of my teachers defined it. Lay low is the Tibetan which I love because it sounds like one of those big chairs. The antidote to lay low, just not feeling like it. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:14 Highlight the passage at 1:17:14

1:17:38 Um. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:38 Highlight the passage at 1:17:38

1:17:44 Hoping somebody else gets out the table and the candles when Rinpoche says let's do light offerings, is meditating on death. Because nothing is going to wake you up faster from lay low than meditating on death. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:44 Highlight the passage at 1:17:44

1:17:57 The second is the laziness to being attracted to meaningless or negative activities. That's considered a form of laziness. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:57 Highlight the passage at 1:17:57

1:18:08 And actually, it can be meaningful activities too, I think. We can use that as a form of laziness. Of laziness too, believe me. I ran a center for a long time and it was quite easy to not do other forms of practice. The antidote to that is also meditation on death, but also studying karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:08 Highlight the passage at 1:18:08

1:18:29 Meditating on death and studying karma. And the final one is the laziness of discouragement. I will never be able to get enlightened. That's a form of laziness, according to the Tibetan tradition. It's too hard, I'm too stupid. The rest of you guys can get enlightened, but I can't do it. You go on and run along. I'll just stay in the back and sweep or something. The antidote to that is studying Buddha nature, the fact that we all have the capacity to get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:29 Highlight the passage at 1:18:29

1:19:01 We all have that no matter what we've ever done or in any life. We can get enlightened. And meditating on precious human rebirth. So meditating on all of the conditions that we have right now. That all of us in this room have right now, no matter what your situation is. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:01 Highlight the passage at 1:19:01

1:19:23 So those are antidotes to those three particular kinds of lazinesses. And they say that there are four powers that we can generate to develop and strengthen joyful effort. The first is aspiration. You know, knowing what it is and wanting it. That works for everything. Steadfastness. So that's... You know, plugging, keeping on, keeping on, as one of my friends always says. Just keep moving towards it. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:23 Highlight the passage at 1:19:23

1:19:56 One foot in front of the other. Joy is the third one. And they say, you know, it's sort of like when a little kid is so involved in their game that they don't hear you when you're calling them. I used to drive my poor mom crazy. The minute my dad would yell, we all run. Mom, poor, she'd just yell. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:56 Highlight the passage at 1:19:56

1:20:18 But we are supposed to develop that same enthralled sense with the Dharma, you know, that same sense of real joy, never satiated, and that's joyful effort. I remember having that too. I used to do photography, the old-fashioned kind, and having that when you were in the darkroom. I would forget to eat, which is just unheard of. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:18 Highlight the passage at 1:20:18

1:20:44 You'd just be so enthralled with it. You could just spend hours and hours and hours and hours. And that's the same joy. And rest. And this one I always like to mention. Rest is really, really important and it's actually part of the teachings on being a bodhisattva that we have to know when it's really important to rest and rest. And then leap back up again and get back to work. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:44 Highlight the passage at 1:20:44

1:21:10 But it's important not to kill ourselves. It's important not to be a martyr. That's another tradition. That's not this one. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:10 Highlight the passage at 1:21:10

1:21:20 So with that being said, then we can take a break. Oh, the highest effort is abandoning attachment to the activities of this life. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:20 Highlight the passage at 1:21:20

1:21:34 With that being said, go get a cup of tea. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:34 Highlight the passage at 1:21:34

1:21:42 Oh, did anybody need a, like you missed one or something? I forgot to ask. I'll ask it after the break. I'll give it to you after the break. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:42 Highlight the passage at 1:21:42

1:22:13 Recording my ear. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:13 Highlight the passage at 1:22:13

1:22:17 Okay, so only two more. Concentration, wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:17 Highlight the passage at 1:22:17

1:22:23 So concentration is when our mind is able to effortlessly stay single-pointedly on an object. But concentration is also sometimes defined as meditation. So when we're thinking about generating or developing concentration, we're talking about single-pointed concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:23 Highlight the passage at 1:22:23

1:22:47 And sometimes if we are able to develop single-pointed concentration, the experience of it can be blissful. And it's blissful. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:47 Highlight the passage at 1:22:47

1:22:58 um, Mostly because the afflicted states of mind will temporarily cease. But then the minute you get off the cushion, they will arise again if you have the right object. So they aren't eliminated yet. But you get a break and it feels good, right? Because usually our mind is so crazy. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:58 Highlight the passage at 1:22:58

1:23:18 But in our tradition, concentration is considered a powerful tool to get to understanding reality as it is. So that's really all it's for in our tradition. We aren't supposed to get too excited by all the little side effects like clairvoyance and bliss of body and mind. We're supposed to just keep going with that concentration and then apply it to the object of emptiness or the nature of reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:18 Highlight the passage at 1:23:18

1:23:51 And this is not the class to learn how to do it, but basically what you're doing... To develop concentration is just repeatedly placing the mind on an object for ever-increasing amounts of time for many, many years. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:51 Highlight the passage at 1:23:51

1:24:10 And the end result, as Fenerbina also always says, we wouldn't be surprised if we became a good piano player if we practiced the piano and the same is true with meditation. Our mind does become more concentrated if we develop. Longer and longer periods of trying to concentrate. There are all sorts of ways to do it and all sorts of objects. You can use something as simple as a stick or a rock. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:10 Highlight the passage at 1:24:10

1:24:42 And actually in the Kagyu tradition they often will choose something very simple like a pebble or something like that. In our tradition they say it's good to choose a virtuous object like the Buddha. They say that Tenzin Palmo Report an error in the passage at 1:24:42 Highlight the passage at 1:24:42

1:24:53 Because you're placing your mind there. It's just practical. You're placing your mind there all the time. So it's a good imprint on the mind, even if you never attain concentration. At least you've been putting your mind in a virtuous place for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes a day for years. But not to get distracted by all the different attainments along the way. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:53 Highlight the passage at 1:24:53

1:25:13 Just to remember that we're trying to create a concentrated mind that then is a tool that we will use towards something else. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:13 Highlight the passage at 1:25:13

1:25:24 The ultimate concentration is calm abiding or shamatha in Tibetan. And basically this is where you can place your mind on an object of your choosing for as long as you want without effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:24 Highlight the passage at 1:25:24

1:25:46 And you have generated this blissfulness of body and mind that I was just speaking about. And they say minimum amount is four hours. You can keep it without any distraction whatsoever, which is just amazing to think about. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:46 Highlight the passage at 1:25:46

1:26:09 But I believe it does exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:09 Highlight the passage at 1:26:09

1:26:16 Wisdom is number six. And in this case, wisdom is specifically speaking about the wisdom realizing emptiness or the way that... Things actually exist according to the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:16 Highlight the passage at 1:26:16

1:26:35 Why do we want this one? The Buddha says that basically our misunderstanding of reality is what's causing all of our problems. And so we need to have a direct perception of emptiness. As Tencent Chokyi always says, this one's non-negotiable. We absolutely have to have a direct perception of emptiness in order to get out of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:35 Highlight the passage at 1:26:35

1:27:01 We can't eliminate our delusions really until we do. I mean, we can begin working with them, you know, on a daily basis, starting with our grossest and working down to our subtlest. We can see headway. We definitely can see headway over the years that way. But we'll never eliminate them completely until we have a direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:01 Highlight the passage at 1:27:01

1:27:25 And we begin by studying it to try to figure out what emptiness is so we don't go into this whole nihilistic thought and think that the Buddha said nothing exists. That's not what the Buddha said. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:25 Highlight the passage at 1:27:25

1:27:35 So I'm just saying it really quickly to put a cap on these teachings. But you really need to study it very, very well. And we will have a Discovering Buddhism class on emptiness after the Lojong teaching. So it will be the one right after that. And there's quite a bit of detail in that class. And that, of course, is still the baby class in terms of what you will get. You just really need to study it for a very long time and you need to meditate on it for a very long time in order to ever have this experience where you, a completely non-conceptual experience, which is what a direct experience, Geshe'll always call it a naked experience of emptiness, as it really is. And, of course, you can never have that experience if you don't have common biting. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:35 Highlight the passage at 1:27:35

1:28:24 If you don't have that level of meditation, that very, very deep single-pointed meditation, even though the direct perception of emptiness may last as little as 20 minutes, you still have to have the ability to stay on an object. You don't know how long yours will be. Everybody else's might be 20 minutes and yours might be two hours, so you need to be able to stay there, not be distracted. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:24 Highlight the passage at 1:28:24

1:28:48 The ultimate wisdom, obviously, is the direct perception of emptiness. So then... Okay, before I go on to the final thing, which is just sort of how to work with this in a daily life, do people miss anything in any set that they need me to repeat, you know, the second or third of this particular list? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:48 Highlight the passage at 1:28:48

1:29:12 I should have asked after each one, but I didn't. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:12 Highlight the passage at 1:29:12

1:29:18 Anybody miss anything? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:18 Highlight the passage at 1:29:18

1:29:24 Yeah, yeah, you've been doing it. I saw that. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:24 Highlight the passage at 1:29:24

1:29:38 Three types of laziness. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:38 Highlight the passage at 1:29:38

1:29:44 We want to have obstacles to laziness. But laziness are the obstacles to joyful effort. Yeah, yeah. So there's the laziness of just not feeling like it. There's the laziness of being attracted to meaningless or negative activities. And then there's the laziness of discouragement. Feeling like I'm stupid or it's too hard or I'm not good enough. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:44 Highlight the passage at 1:29:44

1:30:09 These teachings don't pertain to me because fill in the blank. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:09 Highlight the passage at 1:30:09

1:30:19 Which I find very fascinating that that's called laziness. I found that very interesting because I'm so good at it. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:19 Highlight the passage at 1:30:19

1:30:30 Okay, so, you know, there are a lot of ways to be able to take these teachings into the rest of your life, but I thought to teach it just in terms of the five powers because we can practice the five powers as a... Sort of as a mini daily practice, and it can be profound or it can be simple depending on the person. And they say that if you practice it on a regular basis in your life, then it's also the way to practice at the time of death. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:30 Highlight the passage at 1:30:30

1:31:05 And so I'm going to just tell you both of those ways. I mean basically the way to deal with... Bodhicitta on a daily basis is just to take some little idea and do it, you know, just some little idea. So maybe it's just being nice to people or thinking about the way you see things or, you know, make some tiny, small, positive actions in your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:05 Highlight the passage at 1:31:05

1:31:39 That's it. I mean, it's true for anything, right? It's true for losing weight. It's true for starting at the gym. It's true for generating bodhicitta. I mean, it's just the same. We just pick little ways and we go for it rather than all or nothing. Rather than thinking, well, if I can't meditate on all five with all the subsets every single day, then forget it. It's not like that. We can pick little ways to begin shifting our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:39 Highlight the passage at 1:31:39

1:32:07 So one way, you know, you could also... Keep that notebook on you that we talked about before, you know, of watching that self-cherishing mind and noting it whenever you see it coming up. You could try that. Rinpoche actually suggested that on an ongoing basis to, I think that was to Emily's class during the master's program at Institute Lama Tsongkhapa. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:07 Highlight the passage at 1:32:07

1:32:31 Everybody keep a notebook and note the self-cherishing mind. So that's an easy way. But anyway, here are the five powers. And see if this might also help. The first of the five powers is determination. And that's basically waking up in the morning and setting a really good motivation for the day. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:31 Highlight the passage at 1:32:31

1:32:54 And actually, if that's all you did, that would be a good start. So maybe if everything else is too much, then just think, I'm going to wake up. And before I even get out of bed, just set a really good motivation for the day. And if you can, obviously. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:54 Highlight the passage at 1:32:54

1:33:13 The bigger that motivation is, the better, like in terms of that it's for others as well as yourself. But basically just starting with a really good motivation is great. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:13 Highlight the passage at 1:33:13

1:33:27 Ven. Roger, who has been Lama Tsongkhapa Rinpoche's attendant for many, many, many years now, he says that so much of his practice just falls, it becomes how he lives, because Rinpoche's... Life is so intense and so ongoing and so around the clock. But he says that the one practice that he does try to do is set a really, really good motivation every day. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:27 Highlight the passage at 1:33:27

1:33:52 And that's pretty much all he has time for. And I found that quite useful, actually, to hear that. So I do try to set, you know, take some time. And maybe over the years with classes you might find quotes and things like that that help you set that motivation. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:52 Highlight the passage at 1:33:52

1:34:10 That's what I do. I sort of use certain quotes and certain things that inspire my mind, excerpts, you know, verses from Shantideva and so forth to kind of help me set that motivation. But basically just setting a good motivation for the day. The second is familiarity. So basically practicing all the time with whatever comes up, with whatever happens to you, with whatever is going on with traffic, with the bus, with work, with your body. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:10 Highlight the passage at 1:34:10

1:34:42 Travel with, you know, the dog. Whatever it is, using everything to practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:42 Highlight the passage at 1:34:42

1:34:59 The third is the white seed. It's a funny name, but basically this is about just doing good deeds and purifying bad deeds. We call it the white seed, power of the white seed, Report an error in the passage at 1:34:59 Highlight the passage at 1:34:59

1:35:14 a jaunty little tune. And the fourth is repudiation. One of my teachers calls it the power of ripping it out. What do you think this might have to do with? Search and destroy. Search and destroy. Just making this determination to look for it whenever it comes up, to notice it, to rip it out by the roots. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:14 Highlight the passage at 1:35:14

1:35:47 Get rid of it. Don't be a pushover for your self-cherishing mind anymore. It becomes like weeding your garden, ripping it out. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:47 Highlight the passage at 1:35:47

1:36:00 And the final is prayer. And in this case, it doesn't just mean I need help. It could mean that. It basically means dedication in this case. It means dedicating whatever happened during the day. So reviewing whatever happened. You know, you started out well, right? You started out with your motivation. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:00 Highlight the passage at 1:36:00

1:36:18 Did you keep it? Don't beat yourself up if you didn't. I've mentioned this a couple times, thinking about maybe the three best things you did. And by that I mean... The three things that got you closest to where you want to go, like are you getting closer to bodhicitta or are you getting closer to enlightenment? And it might just be was patient when somebody was talking and didn't leave even though I was in a hurry or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:18 Highlight the passage at 1:36:18

1:36:44 Or what Marcel was talking about when she was in line at the grocery store and she offered the place to somebody who seemed like maybe they didn't feel so well. So they're tiny. We have to think tiny, tiny. There's a great book called The Kaizen Way. Which a friend of mine recommended that I read for a different purpose altogether. And I just find it so useful because it's basically the tiniest, tiniest, tiniest positive steps will still get you there. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:44 Highlight the passage at 1:36:44

1:37:13 You know, and it's illuminating that all or nothing mentality that I think Americans especially have. So rejoicing at your three best deeds and purifying your three worst. And if that's too much, rejoicing at your best deed and purifying your worst. Keep it at one. It doesn't have to be three. Maybe three is too much. So go tiny. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:13 Highlight the passage at 1:37:13

1:37:40 So determination, familiarity, the white seed, repudiation, or you might say search and destroy, and prayer. At death, these become slightly different, but if you've been practicing them your whole life, then they are easier than if you try to learn it at the last minute, which makes sense, but we do still think it's one of those lazinesses, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:37:40 Highlight the passage at 1:37:40

1:38:10 That it won't happen to us. So determination in this case is talking about this determination not to separate from bodhicitta. No matter what, no matter what happens during the death process or the bardo or intermediate stage or your next life, you know, to keep on, stay with bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:10 Highlight the passage at 1:38:10

1:38:34 And I think just making your mind have that resolution is sort of what causes that to happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:34 Highlight the passage at 1:38:34

1:38:44 Familiarity, in this case, means meditating on bodhicitta so often that becomes second nature, because otherwise it's not going to come up in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:44 Highlight the passage at 1:38:44

1:38:55 As you're dying and this is of course assuming that you're going to have some space around your death and so forth. They say that if we are able to practice Tonglen at the time of our death it is the most powerful practice that we can do and we will only be able to practice Tonglen if we've practiced it. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:55 Highlight the passage at 1:38:55

1:39:16 It will not even enter our mind otherwise. But that's why, especially in our tradition, in the Tibetan tradition, or I think actually in all Buddhist tradition, that's why it's nice to have spiritual friends with you when you die. And part of their job is to remind you. Remember Mary Ellen? Remember bodhicitta? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:16 Highlight the passage at 1:39:16

1:39:41 Because obviously there's a lot going on. And you can forget. You know, um, um, Report an error in the passage at 1:39:41 Highlight the passage at 1:39:41

1:39:47 The white seed in this situation is talking about giving away everything so you don't have any attachment because that attachment, whether it's to your, you know, your room or your house or your dog or whatever, can be what makes your dying process difficult. And so in this situation, they aren't saying, you know, give away your dog. They're just saying basically in your mind to give away everything so that it's not holding your mind back. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:47 Highlight the passage at 1:39:47

1:40:15 So you can practice it before the actual time. I remember when my mom was just aging. She wasn't actually actively dying at that point. She just began walking around and putting little notes. Who gets what? Report an error in the passage at 1:40:15 Highlight the passage at 1:40:15

1:40:30 And then we were all kind of like, Ma, what are you doing? But it was like in her mind, then she didn't have to discuss it. And it actually made sense. I was quite impressed. It was very practical. So in that case, it's basically giving away whatever. which is. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:30 Highlight the passage at 1:40:30

1:40:46 And practice giving it away if you don't actually give it away. And actually, Veneral Rita used to say, go one more and give it to your worst enemy in your mind. And imagine them throwing it over the cliff or something. And one of my teachers also used to say, feel real happy just imagining everybody enjoying your bank account and your computer. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:46 Highlight the passage at 1:40:46

1:41:11 Like whatever the things that you're most possessive about. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:11 Highlight the passage at 1:41:11

1:41:18 Imagine them dancing through your house after your vow. Repudiation in this case is purifying everything. You know, if you have vows, purifying your vows. If it's possible to retake them, retake them at the time of death. If not, just purify your life, you know, whatever it is. That's one of the things, you know, deathbed confessions are good. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:18 Highlight the passage at 1:41:18

1:41:38 From the Buddhist point of view as well because it gets it off your chest. It gets it out of your mind. You don't have to worry about it anymore. It's not something that's plaguing you or angsting. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:38 Highlight the passage at 1:41:38

1:41:50 In this case, prayer is making these strong prayers to generate bodhicitta and praying that the suffering of all beings will ripen on me right now. I'm already dying. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:50 Highlight the passage at 1:41:50

1:42:08 It's not like I'm making myself die by having this wish. I'm taking my moment of death and using it for this mind, developing this huge mind of bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:08 Highlight the passage at 1:42:08

1:42:18 Again, this will never happen if you don't practice it when you have quiet conditions and normal everyday life happening. You think it's hard to practice now. They say it's really hard at the time of death. This is taking the same five powers. If we use them as a daily practice, we can use them at the time of death as well. And remember at the very beginning I said one of my favorite quotes from Riba Rinpoche, who I call Mr. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:18 Highlight the passage at 1:42:18

1:42:48 Bodhicitta, who those of you that are coming to the practice day will see him in Discovering Buddhism video that we'll show. He said, don't let the fire of bodhicitta ever go out. And that's, you know, if we get a taste of bodhicitta in our meditations, what we're trying to do is to keep stoking it. Keep it burning, keep it burning, keep it burning. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:48 Highlight the passage at 1:42:48

1:43:11 Because it's basically, it's like we're salmon going the wrong direction. In this culture, this is thoroughly insane. Nothing out there supports this. We have to, we have to stoke it on our own. We have to keep that fire burning. And we have to keep growing our hearts and our minds stronger and stronger and stronger and this is how we do it. And then we start small and we just keep growing. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:11 Highlight the passage at 1:43:11

1:43:39 We just keep building. So anyway, so that's how we make our life meaningful otherwise. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:39 Highlight the passage at 1:43:39

1:43:52 Any questions about the five powers, either in life or at the time of death? Or any questions about anything and then we'll dedicate. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:52 Highlight the passage at 1:43:52

1:44:09 In the practice for life, it's considered self-cherishing, but at the time of death, it's focused more on... Oh, actually, at the time of death, it's actually focused on purifying all your negative actions. So the one that's focused on attachment is the white seed at the time of death. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:09 Highlight the passage at 1:44:09

1:44:34 But I think it's a good thing. I think it's good to cut our attachment all the time. And, you know, I mean, there are a number of practices to do that, and we're not really getting into them so much, but, you know, a mandala practice can be like that. I mean, it's basically a way of accumulating merit, but when we offer mandalas, imagining everything that you're attached to, you know, sort of dancing on the top and offering them, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:34 Highlight the passage at 1:44:34

1:44:58 I did that a lot right before I got ordained. I was just sort of giving up everything, or I thought I was. I didn't realize I'd stay in San Francisco for 15 years. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:58 Highlight the passage at 1:44:58

1:45:09 I thought I'd go off to some community somewhere. I'd stay at some community somewhere. But yeah, just as a mind shifter to visualize giving those things away can be a really meaningful practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:09 Highlight the passage at 1:45:09

1:45:27 Anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 1:45:27 Highlight the passage at 1:45:27

1:45:39 Really quick, I just want to mention, so the practice day will be not this Saturday, but next Saturday, the 23rd. I'm going to try to be here by 9.30. Are you going to be here? Sure, not that day. Okay, yeah. 8.30? Good Lord Almighty. All right. So no problem, you can come early. Again, it is a potluck, so at least bring something to eat and keep it vegetarian if possible. And I'm going to guide you through all the steps of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:39 Highlight the passage at 1:45:39

1:46:13 I do have a couple of printed homeworks. My printer is still out, and so I use Palma, so I promised her I'd only do two. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:13 Highlight the passage at 1:46:13

1:46:22 So in your email inbox you will have both the homework and the notes from the class in case you missed something. But I do have two copies of the homework here. So I'd like to dedicate with Shantideva's prayer, and I think on Saturday we'll read something from Lama. Actually, let's do it. I'm just going to do a spontaneous move here. Rich, can you get the Lama Chopa books? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:22 Highlight the passage at 1:46:22

1:47:04 And so in your goal book, it'll be on page 246. We'll do that last. We're going to start with the Lama Chopa books. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:04 Highlight the passage at 1:47:04

1:47:18 When we do Soak... For those of you that have attended what's called a sok, it's a group practice. It's a group puja. And there are some verses on the lamrim at the end that we often do in Tibetan, but they're quite beautiful in English. And there are a chunk of them that are dedicated specifically to exchange itself and others. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:18 Highlight the passage at 1:47:18

1:47:47 That's right. I want to make sure Rich gets his exercise. So we're going with verse... Verse 90, which is on my book, it's on page 82. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:47 Highlight the passage at 1:47:47

1:48:04 Is that the same for everybody? Verse 90. We're going to do verse 90 until verse 100. But we're not doing all the stuff in between. And it should mean something to you now. And we're not going to do it in Tibetan, we're going to do it in English. Oh, sorry, 83, because we're doing it in English. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:04 Highlight the passage at 1:48:04

1:48:33 Page 83, verse 90. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:33 Highlight the passage at 1:48:33

1:48:43 You got it? Everybody get a book? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:43 Highlight the passage at 1:48:43

1:48:51 There is no difference between, we can all read it together, there is no difference between myself and others. None of us wishes even the slightest of sufferings or is ever content with the happiness we have. Realizing this, I seek your blessings that I may enhance the bliss and joy of others. This chronic disease of cherishing myself is the cause giving rise to my unsought suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:51 Highlight the passage at 1:48:51

1:49:15 Perceiving this, I seek your blessings to blame, begrudge and destroy the monstrous demon of selfishness. The mind that cherishes all mother beings and would secure them in bliss is the gateway leading to infinite virtue. Seeing this, I seek your blessings to cherish these beings more than my life, even should they rise up as my enemies. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:15 Highlight the passage at 1:49:15

1:49:39 In brief, infantile beings labor only for their own ends, while Buddhas work solely for the welfare of others. With a mind understanding the distinctions between the failings of one and the advantages of the other, I seek your blessings to enable me to equalize and exchange myself with others. Since cherishing myself is the doorway to all torment, while cherishing my mothers is the foundation of all that is good, I seek your blessings to make my core practice the yoga of exchanging self for others. So we're going to skip all the way to 89, verse 95. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:39 Highlight the passage at 1:49:39

1:50:18 We'll just read it once. And thus, perfect, pure, compassionate gurus, I seek your blessings that all karmic debts, obstacles and sufferings of mother beings may without exception ripen upon me right now. And that I may give my happiness and virtue to others and thereby invest all beings in bliss. Should even my environment and the beings therein be filled with the fruits of their negative actions and unwished for sufferings pour down on me like rain, I seek your blessings to take these miserable conditions as a path by seeing them as causes to exalt the results of my negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:18 Highlight the passage at 1:50:18

1:50:59 In short, no matter what appearances arise, Be they good or bad, I seek your blessings to transform them into the path ever enhancing the two bodhicittas through the practice of the five forces, the quintessence of the entire Dharma, and thus to enjoy solely a blissful mind. Whatever I occasion to meet... Report an error in the passage at 1:50:59 Highlight the passage at 1:50:59

1:51:21 I seek your blessings that I may adapt it to my meditation by the skillful means of the four applications. May I render this life of liberties and endowments infinitely meaningful by practicing the advice and commitments of thought training. In order to rescue all beings from the vast seas of existence, I seek your blessings to become adept in bodhicitta through a pure selfless wish. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:21 Highlight the passage at 1:51:21

1:51:47 As well as by love and compassion conjoined with the visual technique of mounting, giving and taking upon the breath. I seek your blessings that I may eagerly endeavor to put into practice the three Mahāyāna moral codes and to restrain my mind stream with pure bodhisattva bells, the single path journeyed by all victorious ones of the three times. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:47 Highlight the passage at 1:51:47

1:52:12 So it's beautiful. I mean, and then it goes into the six perfections and so forth. It's a beautiful, beautiful prayer, just aspiring to develop this mind and asking for blessings to do it. And then we'll dedicate with this prayer, which is an excerpt from Master Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:12 Highlight the passage at 1:52:12

1:52:34 This is in his final chapter on dedication, on page 246 in the Gold Book. May all beings everywhere play by sufferings of body and mind. Obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no living creature suffer, commit evil or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:34 Highlight the passage at 1:52:34

1:53:04 May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drinks. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments, whatever diseases there are in the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:04 Highlight the passage at 1:53:04

1:53:41 may they never occur again the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other as long as space remains for as long as sentient beings remain until Thank you so Report an error in the passage at 1:53:41 Highlight the passage at 1:53:41

1:54:09 much. And for those of you who can't make it to the practice day. Keep your ears open for when the next Discovering Buddhism class is going to be offered sometime in January. Yeah, probably. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:09 Highlight the passage at 1:54:09

1:54:25 Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. So maybe mid to late. Yeah. I think it's going to be an eight-week class. Yeah. It's a lot to cover. Got to transform a lot of problems. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:25 Highlight the passage at 1:54:25

1:54:39 And then I think after that is wisdom. And then after that is tantra. So it's an exciting... Exciting year ahead. Who would like a hard copy of the homework? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:39 Highlight the passage at 1:54:39

1:54:55 Come on down, Steve. Oh, Report an error in the passage at 1:54:55 Highlight the passage at 1:54:55

1:55:04 no, yeah, keep it, yeah. Oh, we have another one? Okay, good, good. Okay, so we have another one. Okay, yeah. Nobody, no other hands are up. Yeah, okay. Do you want any notes? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:04 Highlight the passage at 1:55:04

1:55:23 All right, well, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:23 Highlight the passage at 1:55:23

1:55:34 Class is done. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:34 Highlight the passage at 1:55:34