Discovering Buddhism - Death and Rebirth (30 October 2007)

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:35 oh money pay me Report an error in the passage at 1:35 Highlight the passage at 1:35

1:43 This is actually the setup that we do for Medicine Buddha Pujas. Report an error in the passage at 1:43 Highlight the passage at 1:43

1:50 First of all, I thought it was really pretty, so I lifted up. And then secondly, I was really tired, so I lifted up. and I thought Report an error in the passage at 1:50 Highlight the passage at 1:50

2:01 But I thought somehow it was appropriate for this class in particular because this is the puja setup that we do when somebody is really ill. This is Medicine Buddha here. There are actually seven Medicine Buddhas, eight if you count Guru Shakyamuni, who made promises when they were getting enlightened that if we were to make prayers to them at this particular time of history, which is called the Degenerate Age, that those prayers would be answered. Report an error in the passage at 2:01 Highlight the passage at 2:01

2:31 And they are particularly strong for healing of body, mind, spirit stuff. So when somebody's really sick, we do it. When somebody's dying, we do it. And after somebody has died, we do it. So I thought it was particularly apt for this class for you guys to see it if you hadn't already seen it. And I thought this was a particularly nice setup. So we've been doing a lot of Medicine Buddhas for this member of our community, Noong Chodok, who has... Report an error in the passage at 2:31 Highlight the passage at 2:31

2:59 He has a head injury and he's in San Francisco General. So this was the final one of our series, until of course we get more orders, marching orders from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. So anyway, that's what that's all about. It's also just really pretty. So let's start with a motivation and a meditation. Report an error in the passage at 2:59 Highlight the passage at 2:59

3:25 And then I have a handout for you guys. Report an error in the passage at 3:25 Highlight the passage at 3:25

3:31 Sorry? You were going to ask if I forgot, which is always good. Report an error in the passage at 3:31 Highlight the passage at 3:31

3:40 So let's just do it short. Actually, what I was going to do is to start with the meditation that you guys have already been doing this week. So if you've been doing it, it'll be really familiar. If you haven't, it'll give you a chance to do it. So it's good either way. Report an error in the passage at 3:40 Highlight the passage at 3:40

4:04 So just start taking some nice deep cleansing breaths. Report an error in the passage at 4:04 Highlight the passage at 4:04

4:16 And just imagine each breath really washing over you. Report an error in the passage at 4:16 Highlight the passage at 4:16

4:22 Just washing away everything that might keep you from being present. Report an error in the passage at 4:22 Highlight the passage at 4:22

4:29 Any conversations you've just been having or whatever kind of day you've just had. If you have stuff that you need to do after class, all those things that kind of occupy our mind. Just imagine each breath just washing them away like a waterfall down the mountain. Report an error in the passage at 4:29 Highlight the passage at 4:29

4:56 And you can also imagine that with each breath we come more and more into our bodies, into this room, Report an error in the passage at 4:56 Highlight the passage at 4:56

5:06 so that we're able to really be here. Report an error in the passage at 5:06 Highlight the passage at 5:06

5:21 And we'll just start with a short meditation on the breath. So just first reviewing your posture, making sure that your legs are in a position that feels comfortable for you. Report an error in the passage at 5:21 Highlight the passage at 5:21

5:36 Your spine is extended. You can imagine a stack of coins or a cord going up your spine and out your crown. Report an error in the passage at 5:36 Highlight the passage at 5:36

5:50 Your chin is just a little tucked under, which opens the back of your neck. Report an error in the passage at 5:50 Highlight the passage at 5:50

5:59 Shoulders are level and back a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 5:59 Highlight the passage at 5:59

6:11 Eyes either. Unfocused and open, gazing off the end of your nose, or you can have them lightly closed. Report an error in the passage at 6:11 Highlight the passage at 6:11

6:30 Tongue is on the roof of your mouth behind your front teeth, Report an error in the passage at 6:30 Highlight the passage at 6:30

6:37 and your hands usually are on your knees or more traditionally in your lap, right over left, thumbs touching lightly. Report an error in the passage at 6:37 Highlight the passage at 6:37

6:52 Usually if you're sitting in full Vajra, then they are at the level of your navel, just a little below your navel. But if you're not, then you just can relax them in your lap. Report an error in the passage at 6:52 Highlight the passage at 6:52

7:09 And then you just park your attention at either the level of your belly or the level of your chest or the level of your nostrils. And just observe the air, not with your eyes, of course, but with the way that it feels, the sensation in your body. Report an error in the passage at 7:09 Highlight the passage at 7:09

7:27 As the air enters and then exits, each one is completely unique. Report an error in the passage at 7:27 Highlight the passage at 7:27

7:35 And try to count to ten cycles without losing the object. And then just start over again. Report an error in the passage at 7:35 Highlight the passage at 7:35

· · · silence, 2 minutes

9:39 Now become aware of your own body and Report an error in the passage at 9:39 Highlight the passage at 9:39

9:45 think about the different parts of your body, your arms and legs and feet and hands, your skin, muscles, nerves, veins, organs. Report an error in the passage at 9:45 Highlight the passage at 9:45

10:07 Think about them one by one. Think about their texture and substance and form. And Report an error in the passage at 10:07 Highlight the passage at 10:07

10:23 then become aware of how alive they all are, Report an error in the passage at 10:23 Highlight the passage at 10:23

10:29 how much they are changing moment by moment. Report an error in the passage at 10:29 Highlight the passage at 10:29

10:38 How unsolid we are. Report an error in the passage at 10:38 Highlight the passage at 10:38

10:48 Become aware of the workings of your body. How the organs communicate with your brain and your brain with all the organs. Report an error in the passage at 10:48 Highlight the passage at 10:48

11:03 How your senses work. How your blood moves through your veins. Your lungs expand. Report an error in the passage at 11:03 Highlight the passage at 11:03

11:18 Your stomach digests any food. Your liver, your other organs are working. Report an error in the passage at 11:18 Highlight the passage at 11:18

11:37 And go down another level and become aware of your body at the cellular level. How all the cells of your skin, Report an error in the passage at 11:37 Highlight the passage at 11:37

11:48 Organs, muscles, tendons, how they come into being and abide and then disintegrate with Report an error in the passage at 11:48 Highlight the passage at 11:48

12:09 cellular level of all the fluids in your body, Report an error in the passage at 12:09 Highlight the passage at 12:09

12:19 all the change that's happening right now inside you, just to keep you alive. Report an error in the passage at 12:19 Highlight the passage at 12:19

12:43 And then turn your attention to your own mind, which is also made up of parts, changing all the time, Report an error in the passage at 12:43 Highlight the passage at 12:43

12:56 thoughts, perceptions, ideas. Memories, Report an error in the passage at 12:56 Highlight the passage at 12:56

13:08 all the different mental factors popping up in your mind, abiding and disintegrating. It's like a waterfall or a river. Report an error in the passage at 13:08 Highlight the passage at 13:08

13:34 And then remember that that's also made up of parts, the beginnings, middle and ends of each of those mental experiences. So your beginning of awareness of a certain sound, your awareness of that sound and then the ending of that. Beginning of a memory, abidance, an ending of that. Beginning of a thought or an idea, middle, an ending. Report an error in the passage at 13:34 Highlight the passage at 13:34

14:03 And this is happening all the time, every day. Report an error in the passage at 14:03 Highlight the passage at 14:03

14:19 And then allow your awareness to expand out to this room, becoming aware of the cushion that you're sitting on, the floor, the walls, the ceiling, all the objects in this room, the people in this room. Report an error in the passage at 14:19 Highlight the passage at 14:19

14:37 There's probably insects in this room as well, or maybe a few mice. And each one of these things is also impermanent, changing moment by moment. Report an error in the passage at 14:37 Highlight the passage at 14:37

14:50 Even the things that seem really solid and stable, like this house, Report an error in the passage at 14:50 Highlight the passage at 14:50

15:01 on at least one level, it's completely changing moment by moment. And by the end of the class, it'll be completely different than it was when we came in. Report an error in the passage at 15:01 Highlight the passage at 15:01

15:32 And then allow your awareness to expand out to include the street, all the cars that are going by, each person in the cars, the people and animals walking by, the plants outside, the street and buildings around us, the whole city around us. Report an error in the passage at 15:32 Highlight the passage at 15:32

15:59 Even though so much of it seems solid and permanent, it's also changing moment by moment by moment. Report an error in the passage at 15:59 Highlight the passage at 15:59

16:13 So much more fluid and spacious than we think. Report an error in the passage at 16:13 Highlight the passage at 16:13

16:30 And finally expand your awareness out as far as you can imagine, taking in the whole state, the whole Bay Area, the whole state, oceans and mountains, billions of people, imagining the whole country, Report an error in the passage at 16:30 Highlight the passage at 16:30

16:52 imagining the whole hemisphere and then the whole planet, Report an error in the passage at 16:52 Highlight the passage at 16:52

17:02 ultimately made up of these tiny, tiny particles coming Report an error in the passage at 17:02 Highlight the passage at 17:02

17:09 into abiding and going out of being. Constantly changing. Report an error in the passage at 17:09 Highlight the passage at 17:09

17:39 And then as you might lose your focus, just bring it back into this room, into your own body again, into your own cushion. Report an error in the passage at 17:39 Highlight the passage at 17:39

17:58 And just think about the fact that everything that we even can imagine is changing moment by moment. There's nothing outside of this. Nothing escapes change. Report an error in the passage at 17:58 Highlight the passage at 17:58

18:18 So clinging to even our own ideas, our own values. Much less ourselves, the people that we love, the people that we hate, our country, our city, even our notebook. Report an error in the passage at 18:18 Highlight the passage at 18:18

18:39 Clinging to anything just causes suffering because it can't last. Report an error in the passage at 18:39 Highlight the passage at 18:39

18:52 Nothing stays the same. So Report an error in the passage at 18:52 Highlight the passage at 18:52

19:08 all the emotions that arise based on thinking that things are solid and permanent and unchanging are just pointless. Report an error in the passage at 19:08 Highlight the passage at 19:08

19:20 There's no reason to get upset. There's no reason to reject. There's no reason to cling. It's like trying to hold on to water. Report an error in the passage at 19:20 Highlight the passage at 19:20

19:49 So we motivate this class and anything that we may gain from this class to each one of us being able to realize impermanence and death so that we can use our lives with so much more meaning, so much more purpose and we can truly benefit others and ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 19:49 Highlight the passage at 19:49

20:24 And then in your own time when you're ready you can open your eyes. And we'll do the opening prayers. So Report an error in the passage at 20:24 Highlight the passage at 20:24

20:44 it's on page 8 in your white prayer book. And we'll do it three times to kind of help us set our motivation. Report an error in the passage at 20:44 Highlight the passage at 20:44

20:58 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 20:58 Highlight the passage at 20:58

21:30 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 21:30 Highlight the passage at 21:30

22:02 With a wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world with the wish to free all beings. Report an error in the passage at 22:02 Highlight the passage at 22:02

22:37 Did we already do three times? Oh, well let's just keep going. You know, I always was afraid that was going to happen. I thought, God, at some point I could just keep going. And nobody would know what to do. They'd all just keep chanting along with me. We do that all the time in the morning puja. It'll be like, did we do three? Three? Three? And then we'll get consensus and then we'll stop. Report an error in the passage at 22:37 Highlight the passage at 22:37

22:58 Otherwise we'll just keep going. So after a conversation with at least one of you, I was thinking that it would be really useful to talk a little bit about... What I mean by meditation, so that we all are on the same page, just in case we aren't. And also, if you don't already have the preliminaries, which in this tradition are certain steps that you do to prepare the mind before you meditate. Report an error in the passage at 22:58 Highlight the passage at 22:58

23:25 I did a little sheet for you. So I think those of you that have done even one other class already have this, but I did it anyway. So anyway, you can... Pass it around, and if you want to take it again, if you don't know what you did with your preliminary sheet, then that's cool. Otherwise, just pass them back in. Report an error in the passage at 23:25 Highlight the passage at 23:25

23:51 So with that in mind, do people have questions about their assignment this week, either the reading or the meditation? Report an error in the passage at 23:51 Highlight the passage at 23:51

24:13 Yeah, did you look at the page? Maybe hand back in your binder and we'll get you a new one. Have you made major notes or anything? Report an error in the passage at 24:13 Highlight the passage at 24:13

24:27 We'll do that on the break because I have a bunch. I made far more copies than necessary for this class. So I know we have a volunteer that is a homeschool, high school student that is coming on Tuesdays. And so he was helping me last week and I think we were all a bit overwhelmed. So it surprises me that nobody else has encountered this. Report an error in the passage at 24:27 Highlight the passage at 24:27

24:50 But, yeah, you guys should probably take some time and just make sure that your numbers kind of look like they're going in order. Or if something is gravely weird between two pages, like it might not be you. It might be the coffee job. Report an error in the passage at 24:50 Highlight the passage at 24:50

25:09 Yeah. He divided it up to send it through, and so it's very possible that you got two batch ones or two batch twos or something rather than a batch one, two, and a three. So we'll take care of that on the break. Report an error in the passage at 25:09 Highlight the passage at 25:09

25:23 How about the reading itself or the meditation itself? Report an error in the passage at 25:23 Highlight the passage at 25:23

25:30 Paul, could you pass that to Chad? This is why I really move you guys forward, so that you can help me monitor the mic. Report an error in the passage at 25:30 Highlight the passage at 25:30

25:43 And the mic doesn't have to go as far. It's a double good. This is more of a statement or an observation than a question, but I found it interesting. We always focus on, at the time of death, to keep the person in sort of a good... To keep the relaxation and to keep them, you know, so that the throwing karma isn't a bad one. But in the reading, the first reading, the one by His Holiness, it also mentions a person of sort of general evil intent. Report an error in the passage at 25:43 Highlight the passage at 25:43

26:14 I know, he's a sinful nature or something. Yeah, I know. And then having a good throwing karma at the very end just by chance and having a good rebirth after. Report an error in the passage at 26:14 Highlight the passage at 26:14

26:23 A good throwing karma. So it could be thrown into a human body with a lot of problems, which is what happens. Yeah, you don't lose the karma. It's not like an easy out. Report an error in the passage at 26:23 Highlight the passage at 26:23

26:34 In the karma section, we'll talk about, in the karma class, we talk about you could have good environmental or good... Completion karma and really lousy throwing karma. So you could be thrown into a dog's life, but then have really good completion karma and be like Lama Yeshi's dog. Report an error in the passage at 26:34 Highlight the passage at 26:34

26:54 Or the opposite, where you could have really good throwing karma and be human and even be born into a good family, but then have really lousy completion karma so suddenly your mother goes insane or something. You know what I mean? So it's like... Yeah, karma is very complicated, so it's not like you get thrown to the house and you're like, cool, made it out of that life with killing all those 17 people, you know, and it's not like that. Report an error in the passage at 26:54 Highlight the passage at 26:54

27:17 Right. You never lose it. The first thing that came into my mind, of course, with my Christian background was, oh, if I accept Jesus right before I die. Right, right, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 27:17 Highlight the passage at 27:17

27:29 Yeah, no, it still goes with you. Yeah, nothing is permanent. No rebirth is permanent, so you don't have any eternal hells either. We do have hells in this one. We have actually more heavens than hells, but people are always shocked that we have hells. But they don't last forever. The karma finishes and you go to the next rebirth. It's the same as with any other existence. No existence is forever. Report an error in the passage at 27:29 Highlight the passage at 27:29

27:59 Even enlightened mind is not forever, but what? What happens is because you're so constantly creating positive karma, you can't help but stay there. You're just creating the causes every second to continue to stay there because you're benefiting people and all that stuff. You're doing so much positive all the time and you're no longer doing any negative because you don't have any afflictions anymore. But even that's like movement all the time. Report an error in the passage at 27:59 Highlight the passage at 27:59

28:20 So. Report an error in the passage at 28:20 Highlight the passage at 28:20

28:30 So this concept of impermanence, I was a little confused because it talks about how everything is impermanent, but then you talk about lasting happiness. Lasting happiness has to be impermanent also. It is impermanent in that it changes. So how can happiness be lasting? Like in the case of a Buddha, where the Buddha is only creating positive karma and not creating any negative. Report an error in the passage at 28:30 Highlight the passage at 28:30

28:59 He's totally in bliss. Even if he didn't want to be, he's only creating the causes for bliss. Now that bliss is constantly changing. His mind still works. He can still think. But it's not like a solid wall of happiness or something like that. But it's lasting in that it doesn't cut off at some point. Report an error in the passage at 28:59 Highlight the passage at 28:59

29:23 Okay, so then if that's the case, then... Can you enjoy the moment of happiness, even though it's caused by things that you know you're going to end up suffering? And you should, actually. Because it's every moment of happiness or every moment of pleasure that you have in this life is the result of having done something positive. Report an error in the passage at 29:23 Highlight the passage at 29:23

29:48 So looking at it like that, you can actually rejoice. When you get the parking space, when you win $10, you win whatever, you can still rejoice. It's just not grasping to it as the source of all your happiness or doing negative to get it. So if you get the parking space, that's great, right in front of the center right before class. Report an error in the passage at 29:48 Highlight the passage at 29:48

30:12 How rare is that? That's wonderful. That's good parking karma. Literally. It's the karma. You're not making it. You're not making that positive thing. It's just karma coming back to you. It's just karma coming back to you. Yeah, you've just created positive. So rejoicing in it is great. And actually at that moment, dedicate it, if you can think of it, dedicate it to the happiness of all beings so that you're actually making it then into something bigger than just you getting a good parking space. Report an error in the passage at 30:12 Highlight the passage at 30:12

30:37 How do you dedicate that? So then just like, you know. um, may. May my getting this good parking space be actually beneficial for all beings in some way. If you say you're going into the class, then it's easy. If you're going into a store, then it's like whatever I purchase here, may I be able to use it for the benefit of all beings. It could be like your groceries. Report an error in the passage at 30:37 Highlight the passage at 30:37

31:01 That still could be used for the benefit of all beings because it's keeping you alive while you study and practice. It's not so far-fetched. Report an error in the passage at 31:01 Highlight the passage at 31:01

31:10 Even that vase that you're buying for somebody, it still could be for the benefit of all beings because you're doing a generous act. I mean, anything really could be for that if you let it be for that. It's like training our minds in bodhicitta really is all that is. Good question, though. Anybody else? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 31:10 Highlight the passage at 31:10

31:33 Excuse me. I had some questions about the intermediate state. Well, that'll come. So, yeah, let's go in order here a little bit. Let's die first. We haven't died yet. Before we take rebirth, let's stay where we are. Report an error in the passage at 31:33 Highlight the passage at 31:33

31:51 Yeah, and I probably have far more questions about the intermediate state than you do. It's not something that I've spent much time studying, but I do have a little something to share. So when we get to that class, we'll see what kind of questions we still have. I actually would love to have Geshe-la do a teaching, like as much of a detailed teaching on the intermediate state. And at this point he hasn't done that, so I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 31:51 Highlight the passage at 31:51

32:15 It's something we could think about. Maybe at the end we could approach him and request a teaching on the bardo state. Maybe he would do it. Maybe he would just go, oh, no matter, no need or something, but who knows. I think he might if we requested. And I think it's also nice practice for us to do a formal request as a class. Report an error in the passage at 32:15 Highlight the passage at 32:15

32:36 We get that experience of making a formal request to a teacher for a teaching, so that might be a good thing to do. But of course he doesn't get back until January, so we can hold that thought. But that's okay. Anyway, so meditation. So the reason that we meditate, that we try to develop meditation skills, basically concentration skills, is basically actually to... Report an error in the passage at 32:36 Highlight the passage at 32:36

33:08 To transform our mind. So there's a purpose to it beyond what it seems like we're doing. So even if we're watching our breath or we're contemplating impermanence, it's all for this larger goal of transforming our mind. And it's actually a proven method for finding happiness because it's the single most effective way for us to transform our minds. Report an error in the passage at 33:08 Highlight the passage at 33:08

33:38 Lama Yeshe used to say that meditation is like a laboratory. It's like creating a laboratory of your mind. And so you just gradually are eliminating more and more and more of the distractions. You're not turning off the fountain or getting stronger windows so you don't hear the cars outside, but you're going in deeper and deeper and so that the sensory things are not bothering you. Report an error in the passage at 33:38 Highlight the passage at 33:38

34:06 So that's how you're eliminating more and more of the distractions. You're not giving them as much power to distract you, which they don't have anyway, but we give them that power. Report an error in the passage at 34:06 Highlight the passage at 34:06

34:18 And it's really important, I think, to add that the Buddha didn't teach meditation as a relaxation exercise, which is unfortunately what it's sort of becoming in the West. You see it. Actually, somebody, when I recently joined the gym... And I was trying to, I was talking to them again about the discount. This is something that John was trying to do for Amy and I when we joined this gym, John Shaw. Report an error in the passage at 34:18 Highlight the passage at 34:18

34:48 Anyway, he was trying to get us a discount and he tried everything and then I came and I tried. I thought, well, I'd just ask. And she said, well, you could come and teach meditation as a relaxation thing. And I thought, no. Report an error in the passage at 34:48 Highlight the passage at 34:48

35:04 I don't think I get it. No, I actually didn't say no. I said, you know, that might happen. But I would feel funny teaching it for that reason. It's one thing to teach it for that reason here and then people make an imprint and then they might come back for another class. I would feel funny in a gym teaching it. It seemed odd. But anyway. Report an error in the passage at 35:04 Highlight the passage at 35:04

35:22 But that I think is indicative of the way the West is starting to view meditation, which of course is true for I think yoga too. Yoga has also been really separated from its spiritual roots. And we do things like power yoga, right? So we can do yoga really fast and lift really strong things and then we can get stronger and then go to work. Report an error in the passage at 35:22 Highlight the passage at 35:22

35:43 The Buddha actually taught meditation so that we could perceive the nature of reality. It's the whole main thing. And because of that, then we could then eliminate... Hey, Whitney, come on in. We could eliminate the causes of our suffering, which is when we perceive the nature of reality, that's actually becoming what's called an Arya being. Report an error in the passage at 35:43 Highlight the passage at 35:43

36:08 That's having a direct perception of emptiness. And that's the only way that we can ever get closer and closer to... That's when we're able to eliminate the afflictions one by one. He didn't want us to just relax while we continue to suffer and die. That wasn't his point. It wasn't just learn how to breathe while you get old and die. His whole thing was actually that happiness is possible. Report an error in the passage at 36:08 Highlight the passage at 36:08

36:39 Buddhahood is possible. It is possible for us to transform our minds, and the causes of happiness are in our minds, and if we don't look there, then we'll never find them. So this is why we meditate. We're talking now about why you meditate, so that we'll all know at least why we meditate. Whether we can meditate is another story. Report an error in the passage at 36:39 Highlight the passage at 36:39

37:01 So he left. These methods of looking into our minds and looking into the nature of reality, much like what we just did, this meditation on impermanence, so that we can get closer and closer to seeing reality as it is because it's this misperception of reality, he said, that is causing our suffering. And we can see that even to the tiny degree that we started working with impermanence because... Report an error in the passage at 37:01 Highlight the passage at 37:01

37:30 We certainly don't think about impermanence, except this week maybe you did, but on a regular basis we don't think about impermanence of every single thing that we make use of. I don't think about the impermanence of that mic, for example, or as I'm walking down the front steps, the impermanence of the front steps or the house itself or the street or whatever, and yet every single thing is impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 37:30 Highlight the passage at 37:30

37:52 You could go out tomorrow and the street's gone. Those of us who have been here during the big quake in 89, Just literally the ground turned to fluid. I mean, you don't need a stronger lesson on permanence, and none of us remember that. I mean, you know, we don't want to remember that. The people who have recently bought houses in the marinas definitely don't want to remember that, and they're all praying it never happens again. Report an error in the passage at 37:52 Highlight the passage at 37:52

38:21 He wanted us to be able to use these methods and to transform our minds and to go deeper and deeper within our minds in order to do that. And so he taught the methods of meditation. Gom, which is gompa. Gom means to habituate or become familiar with something. So gom is Tibetan for meditation. And what we're becoming familiar with is basically our own... Report an error in the passage at 38:21 Highlight the passage at 38:21

38:49 Natural wisdom. And our own mind. We're actually seeing what is in our mind and what isn't in our mind and what can be removed. It's called adventitious. Our afflictions, we have to see them first, but they actually aren't part of our mind. They can be removed from our mind. So our anger and our impatience and our fear and our jealousy. Report an error in the passage at 38:49 Highlight the passage at 38:49

39:17 Things that arise in our mind, but they can be removed from our mind. But until we start really looking at them, like in Lama Yeshi's laboratory, then we think they are. I know it's really easy for me to think that I am my afflictions. I am fearful. I am angry. I am whatever. And we grow up sort of thinking that. And that it's permanent, too, of course. Report an error in the passage at 39:17 Highlight the passage at 39:17

39:42 And so when you start meditating and you start looking at your mind and you start looking at these things like impermanence, the impermanence of your mind, the impermanence of your body, and you do it more than just a week of it, you do it month after month, you really do start interacting with yourself and the world differently. Report an error in the passage at 39:42 Highlight the passage at 39:42

40:00 And that's how you begin transforming your mind. So actually... When you're doing regular meditation, it actually should begin to undermine those negative views of yourself, those kind of unskillful ways of looking or harmful ways of looking or working or interacting with the world. It should actually affect the rest of your life. You should start seeing some changes in your life or something isn't working. So meditation in this tradition is not just emptying your head of all thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 40:00 Highlight the passage at 40:00

40:36 And it's important to say that because I think in some traditions it might be. But the goal is to just stop chasing those thoughts, which is what we do 24 hours a day basically, even at night. We just stop giving those thoughts all that energy and power over us that they always have. We begin to realize that thoughts are basically... Report an error in the passage at 40:36 Highlight the passage at 40:36

41:03 You know, they just arise, they abide, and they pass away, just like everything else, just like all the cells and the atoms that we were just thinking about in the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 41:03 Highlight the passage at 41:03

41:13 We don't have to get so excited by a new idea or so distracted by a sound. Like, all it is is just sensation and just let it go. But you learn that. It's like you begin to learn that by working with your mind. It's sort of like working with a wild horse. You have to work with it for a while. Before you can kind of let it, let go of the bridle a little bit and let it just do what it needs to do. And we do that partly by not giving energy to the thoughts themselves and partly by strengthening the concentration on whatever it is that we're using as our object. Report an error in the passage at 41:13 Highlight the passage at 41:13

41:52 So if we were concentrating on our breath, we forcefully have to place it there at first and then gradually it begins to stay there. first, we have to Continually place it in the steps of meditation. It's actually called continual placement. First it's forceful placement and then you're just replacing it repeatedly. Report an error in the passage at 41:52 Highlight the passage at 41:52

42:16 Then it'll stay a little tiny bit and then of course it's off because you get distracted. It's kind of bored. Then you replace it again. The periods then of the amount of time you can keep it on the object extend. And the amount of time it's being distracted decrease and then gradually more and more. So it begins staying on the object longer and then all of a sudden you'll get distracted like a few times during your session. Report an error in the passage at 42:16 Highlight the passage at 42:16

42:44 Whereas at the beginning it was all the time. So you go through this whole experience of building the concentration. So that's to give strength to your mind itself. Report an error in the passage at 42:44 Highlight the passage at 42:44

43:00 So we'll start, there are two kinds of meditation and we'll mostly in this class be doing what's called analytical meditation. So there's two kinds, concentration and analytical and concentration is what we were doing when we were watching our mind. You could do anything. You could meditate on... A lot of times they say if you're trying to build calm abiding, it's good to have a holy image, like a virtuous image, since you're spending so much time memorizing it and you're spending so much time meditating on it, it's really good to have a virtuous image. Report an error in the passage at 43:00 Highlight the passage at 43:00

43:33 So a lot of times people will choose an image of one of the Buddhas or something like a Vajra or something like that. But you can also just do Tenzin Palmo, who's a great Western nun, meditator, used a stone. It doesn't have to be something holy. You can use your breath. And, of course, the breath has been for centuries what people have used. There's something different about using the breath. And I know that I personally have had better success with the breath than I have, which somehow feels like a failure. Report an error in the passage at 43:33 Highlight the passage at 43:33

44:12 But it's easier, somehow easier. You don't have any attachment. To your breath. You have it with you all the time. So you can basically practice at any time. And, yeah, you don't have any preconceived notions. You don't have any projections or anything like that. So it's really, you can just strengthen that concentration without any of the stuff that we add to, like, trying to memorize what my jewelry looks like or whatever like that. Report an error in the passage at 44:12 Highlight the passage at 44:12

44:39 So, yeah, you can use anything for concentration meditation. But it's basically where you place your mind on an object and then you try to keep it there. Or you replace it repeatedly as many times as you need to. And the highest form of concentration meditation is this thing called calm abiding, which is also in Tibetan. Report an error in the passage at 44:39 Highlight the passage at 44:39

45:01 It's called sine. And in Sanskrit it's shamatha. But it's this really specific form, the highest, highest peak. And the way that you know if you've attained it is if there are like nine stages of meditation, and you still haven't attained it by the time you get to the ninth stage. But the ninth stage is when you can place your mind without any effort on an object for four hours or more, which is just so amazing to me. Report an error in the passage at 45:01 Highlight the passage at 45:01

45:35 But you're still not at comma biting. What makes it calm abiding is that you have attained what's called the bliss of pliancy, so the bliss of body and of mind that arises when you've actually attained calm abiding. So it's not only that you can place your mind on an object for as long as you want without any effort, but that you also have bliss in your mind and bliss in your body, which is pretty amazing to think of. Report an error in the passage at 45:35 Highlight the passage at 45:35

46:10 And so that mind is incredibly alert, right? So it's not just like you're spaced out. So that's really important to know too. You can actually get, you can actually encounter these, I won't spend too much longer on this, but people can get to this point where they are concentrating on something and there are two... Report an error in the passage at 46:10 Highlight the passage at 46:10

46:33 There are two main obstacles to it and one is laxity, what's called laxity. There's gross and subtle but there's a subtle form of laxity that's like a dullness of mind but you're able to hold the object so you're not being distracted. Your mind's staying on the object. It's actually fairly advanced. It's not like our sleepiness. It's not like that kind of dullness. Report an error in the passage at 46:33 Highlight the passage at 46:33

46:56 It's kind of like you still get a little buzz and people mistake it for a really high level of attainment and that's really dangerous. So in this tradition we teach it quite early so that you don't get distracted by it and think, wow, I've attained this great thing and actually all you're doing is slipping into this kind of dull buzz. Report an error in the passage at 46:56 Highlight the passage at 46:56

47:20 So there's this level of constant alertness that has to stay there when you're doing concentration meditation. And the second form of meditation is what's called analytical. And that's something that's unique to Tibetan Buddhism. And basically it's where your mind analyzes an object. So your mind's moving in this form. Your mind is analyzing an object like we were doing this week with impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 47:20 Highlight the passage at 47:20

47:51 And then when you have like an aha moment. Like you get some real sense that the entire, not just you, your entire body and mind are alive and changing constantly, but like the entire planet. It's just like, you know, and suddenly it feels like everything is just like alive, like lightning is just kind of going through everything. At that moment, you then apply your concentration meditation to that experience. Report an error in the passage at 47:51 Highlight the passage at 47:51

48:17 So in analytical meditation, you bring in concentration meditation. So you still have to develop it to some extent. And even if you just hold it for 10 seconds, because what you're trying to do, that's an insight, and you're trying to extend those insights to the point where you have a lasting insight, which is really called a realization. Report an error in the passage at 48:17 Highlight the passage at 48:17

48:41 So that's where you, hi, come on in. Hey, come on in. So what we're trying to do with these topics that we meditate on with analytical meditation is to gain lasting realizations. And so we can only get that through analytical. So analytical meditation is a little bit like thinking until you get to that moment. But it's controlled and it's sort of more formalized. You're still sitting in meditation posture if possible. Report an error in the passage at 48:41 Highlight the passage at 48:41

49:10 You're still trying to, you know, you've done hopefully your preliminaries. You've set up. The room, you've prepared your mind, you've prepared your body, you're contemplating and then you are thinking basically about this thing in a controlled way and then when you hit these little aha insights you apply as much concentration as you can muster at that moment for as long as you can and then when it fades and you start waking up for breakfast or whatever then you just finish the meditation and end it. Report an error in the passage at 49:10 Highlight the passage at 49:10

49:45 You might have several of those during a meditation, and that's great. So in this classroom, mostly we're working with the analytical meditation, but just learning to do the breath meditation at the beginning of each class and the beginning of each session of meditation is like a little bit of concentration meditation. Report an error in the passage at 49:45 Highlight the passage at 49:45

50:03 And one of my teachers, Venerable Renee Fusi, who's down at Vajrapani, feels like even if we don't have the conditions, like whenever I've talked to Geshe-la about, Feeling the need to work on calm abiding here, he always like laughs and points at the street and says it's really hard, you know, it's really hard here. It's so loud and all that stuff. Report an error in the passage at 50:03 Highlight the passage at 50:03

50:26 And it's true, but Venom or Renee feels like if we don't start, then we probably never will. Because again, we're sort of waiting until we have that proper. So he's like, just do a little bit each day, you know. And I actually think that's really good. So even if that little bit of... Breathing meditation is all you do. It's strengthening your concentration to some degree. So you're not just putting it all off 10 years down the line when you have the perfect little hut in the mountain and all that stuff. Report an error in the passage at 50:26 Highlight the passage at 50:26

50:55 So I'll keep just reviewing the meditation posture before we do. Any meditation in class? Because it's good to do when you first sit down and you just kind of review, am I sitting? Because if you don't, it's really easy to just forget something and just kind of be like, you know, especially if you're tired or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 50:55 Highlight the passage at 50:55

51:17 And the Buddha taught this particular posture, and many, many yogis have used it because in the system of winds and channels within the body, which is the Report an error in the passage at 51:17 Highlight the passage at 51:17

51:34 What do you call it? The anatomy of the body, the inner, the subtle body. There is a system of winds and channels that more easily flows in a certain position and that having those winds move more easily through the channels actually is what allows you to concentrate. So there's a reason like having your hands in a certain position, having your legs in a certain position all allows that to happen. So it's not just... Report an error in the passage at 51:34 Highlight the passage at 51:34

52:04 You know, it's not just sitting up straight will do it, but there's like this element of like when you slide into position. What I notice is that it really all begins to go the minute the back goes. So the minute the back starts going, everything else goes. So if you do nothing else, just keep one tiny aspect of your mind on the fact that your spine needs to be straight, which makes sense the more you learn. Report an error in the passage at 52:04 Highlight the passage at 52:04

52:30 And we'll learn a little bit about the channels and things like that in this class, just because there's a certain meditation that we do on how the body dissolves. At the time of death and what that experience will be like for us and what it's like for somebody who's dying that we're with. And so I just lost my train of thought. Report an error in the passage at 52:30 Highlight the passage at 52:30

52:53 But anyway, that the way that the sitting posture is designed is to keep that central channel, which is going right in front of your spine, keeps that really extended. Report an error in the passage at 52:53 Highlight the passage at 52:53

53:11 See the difference? You actually can really feel a difference. So if you are becoming a meditator, even if you don't think of yourself as a meditator, but if you're deciding to make a commitment to meditation, which is really what becoming a meditator is. It's worth it to experiment with different kinds of cushions to see how you can more easily and more comfortably find a position where you can keep this sort of really straight alignment in your back. Report an error in the passage at 53:11 Highlight the passage at 53:11

53:40 For me, I totally prefer the buckwheat hull cushions because no matter what's happening with your body or how many accidents you can get in, and I have several that I've gotten in, you can make it work for you. It always will fit around your hips and your body and stuff like that. You might experiment too with putting things underneath your knees when you first start meditating because the ligaments need to relax a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 53:40 Highlight the passage at 53:40

54:08 And so at first it really is more comfortable to have a little something underneath. And it may just be a folded shawl or sweater or something. It doesn't necessarily have to be a cushion. I know that when I did the first three-month retreat that I did, I never meditated really. I mean, you know, very, very little. I'd done some, you know, short meditations for classes like this. But the whole back row, who I became very good friends with, we were the fidgeters. Report an error in the passage at 54:08 Highlight the passage at 54:08

54:39 And so we all just had these enormous things under our cushions, under our knees and, you know, extra things and all these like, you know, I mean, it was like this spread. And then by the end of the three months, you didn't need all that. But it took that long for your knees to relax and your hips to relax. Even this summer, those of you that if anybody took the classes in the spring and then I went away, I used to have to have something under my knee. Report an error in the passage at 54:39 Highlight the passage at 54:39

55:04 It had actually gotten to that point again where it was tight and everything. Then over the summer, I did a one-month retreat at Vajrapani and just sitting every day for however many tend to... 12 hours a day, your body just relaxes into it, just like your mind relaxes into it. Your body's relaxing is actually a symptom of your mind relaxing. Report an error in the passage at 55:04 Highlight the passage at 55:04

55:30 It's not the reverse. So thinking that your body has to be comfortable is just your mind. And usually feeding that discomfort and that fidgetiness and all is just giving in your mind again. So really trying really hard to... To just get comfortable and stay there is really the only way you're going to get comfortable and stay there. It's sort of like you have to do what your body wants. Report an error in the passage at 55:30 Highlight the passage at 55:30

55:57 Your mind is just trying to distract you by pointing out problems in your body. Your body is going to be fine, really, if you just leave it alone for 15 or 20 minutes or a half hour, whatever it is that you're sitting. Report an error in the passage at 55:57 Highlight the passage at 55:57

56:08 And it is good, just a couple of basics, it is really good to have a place that you meditate. So it is really good to set up an altar. Report an error in the passage at 56:08 Highlight the passage at 56:08

56:17 It feels so inclined. It also really is good to meditate at the same time every day if you can. And they really teach in the morning because your mind is pretty clear, as clear as it's going to get, and not as distracted by the day yet or by things that you've done. But I know of people that do better meditating in the evening or do better at night even. I have one friend. Report an error in the passage at 56:17 Highlight the passage at 56:17

56:42 Amy Miller, who was just here, she's a really amazing meditator and she's a real night person. For her, meditating at night is just the way she does it. I think it's good for you to experiment. I found in retreat that meditating in the late afternoon was actually the best time. I was surprised by that because it's not the best time during a work day for me. Report an error in the passage at 56:42 Highlight the passage at 56:42

57:08 But I was actually amazed that my mind was really alert at that time. So it's good to experiment. The other aspect is just make a decision to, you know, decide, say, once you decide, I'm just going to meditate for six months, 15 or 20 minutes a day. And just make a commitment. You know, it's sort of like deciding I'm going to go to the gym. Report an error in the passage at 57:08 Highlight the passage at 57:08

57:32 Or I'm going to do this diet for three months and see what happens, see how I feel. It's the same thing. You're just making this commitment to your mind. It's like, let's just try it out and just see. And then assess after six months and see. Because otherwise, you'll have this decision to make every day. And it's almost harder. Report an error in the passage at 57:32 Highlight the passage at 57:32

57:50 To have a decision because say you have to run out of the house and you haven't meditated and then you're coming home and then you're like, it's like the whiny little voice will win out. So just don't even give it a chance. Just be like, okay, no, I'm just going to do it. I mean, it may be crappy and that's okay. I'm going to sit. I'm just going to meditate every day. Report an error in the passage at 57:50 Highlight the passage at 57:50

58:09 Do you want to sit here? I see you're bending all the way over. This place is available. Please, please. Yeah. Be more comfy. Report an error in the passage at 58:09 Highlight the passage at 58:09

58:20 Okay. be. Report an error in the passage at 58:20 Highlight the passage at 58:20

58:21 All right. Well, you're welcome to if you'd like to come down. And the final aspect is just not to have any expectations, thinking that, you know, I'm going to become this great meditator and that, you know, or even if you have like one really great meditation, you just cling to it and think, you know, I have to do everything to make that happen again. Report an error in the passage at 58:21 Highlight the passage at 58:21

58:42 It's like, no, it's just you're just working with your mind. Right now you're doing sort of the scales and you got to do the scales. But you don't have to get so excited if the scales sound good one day, you know, or if they sound really crappy the next. You don't have to judge it. It just is. It's like you're sitting and you're doing the scales, basically. So just be, you know, patient with yourself and gentle, but just do it. There's an earthquake, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 58:42 Highlight the passage at 58:42

59:09 That's kind of cool. We're talking about meditation, and there's an earthquake. Whoa. That's a big one. Whoa. Yeah. This is like a class on impermanence. Isn't that wild? Yeah. It's still happening, it's long, yeah, it's still doing it. It is actually, it's survived too. Third time's a charm. Report an error in the passage at 59:09 Highlight the passage at 59:09

59:37 Wow, that's pretty interesting. That happened once during a teaching on death and impermanence by Riba Rinpoche, who's one of my gurus. This earthquake happened and everybody was like, yeah, we're talking about impermanence. Isn't that amazing? Yeah. arm. Report an error in the passage at 59:37 Highlight the passage at 59:37

59:56 No, I was just saying that Rinpoche, once when he was teaching on death, there was a big jolt earthquake, and he was completely unfazed. And everyone was like, and he's just like, and so then the next step, he's like completely like, yes, of course, you idiots, that's what I'm saying. Report an error in the passage at 59:56 Highlight the passage at 59:56

1:00:16 Anyway, keep the mind calm. So any questions about meditation before we get into the real? Point? Okay. You'll have time. So a quote by Lama Atisha, if one doesn't meditate on death and impermanence in the morning, the whole day is wasted. If not in the afternoon, the evening is wasted. If not in the evening, the whole night is wasted. So he's basically saying, if you don't meditate on death and impermanence, you'll just end up wasting the day, which is, of course, one of the whole points of this class. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:16 Highlight the passage at 1:00:16

1:01:00 I would say probably the whole point of this class, the whole reason that we meditate on death and impermanence is to gain meaning out of our life. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:00 Highlight the passage at 1:01:00

1:01:12 And again, like we said last time, this isn't a subject that's difficult to grasp theoretically or intellectually. I think all of us know that we're going to die to some degree. We have some understanding of that. I would say that most of us have lost somebody, some of us many. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:12 Highlight the passage at 1:01:12

1:01:32 But we haven't internalized it in the way that we treat other people or even ourselves or the amount of time that we put into really meaningful things. We still waste a lot of time. We still get pissed off at people. Somebody cuts us off. We still spend a lot of time doing really goofy things. It's not to say that we can't relax and watch a movie or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:32 Highlight the passage at 1:01:32

1:01:58 I think most of us do more than that. So the whole point of meditating on death and impermanence is to get it to a degree that we actually begin living according to this understanding. So that's the difference. It's getting it that I have this amazing opportunity. I have this life. I've met. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:58 Highlight the passage at 1:01:58

1:02:23 Buddhist teachings or any spiritual path that makes sense to you. And I have just a finite amount of time to actually try to understand or realize these teachings so that I can use them in some way. In this class, of course, we're assuming that you would want to use them in a way to become a Buddha yourself, which is a huge assumption. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:23 Highlight the passage at 1:02:23

1:02:44 Many of you haven't reached that point, but these teachings come from the point of view that you at least would want to use your life in a way to help others or to be kind to others or to be compassionate to others or hopefully to do even more, you know, to make your life worthwhile. And I think most of us would want our lives to be worthwhile by the time we go. I mean, that's sort of how we define worthwhile is up for grabs, but... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:44 Highlight the passage at 1:02:44

1:03:15 But I think that's something that we all want. So the point of this class isn't to talk about death and the inevitability of death so that we all get depressed and go home. That's not the point. The point is to realize that since everything is impermanent and we're no different. We're also a phenomena, an impermanent phenomena, that just understanding that, beginning to understand that, which takes a lot. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:15 Highlight the passage at 1:03:15

1:03:47 You know, we can say it all we want, but meditating on it is what's really going to bring it into your heart. And it's meditating over and over and over on it. And that chipping away at this really strong, ignorant mind that's like, okay, maybe I am going to die, but not today. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:47 Highlight the passage at 1:03:47

1:04:07 We're just constantly in denial about it. And sometimes people who are actually in the process of dying stay in denial about it all the way up to the moment because it's so strong. We want to live forever and we want to believe that we can live forever. So even when all evidence is to the contrary, it's so often that people... Report an error in the passage at 1:04:07 Highlight the passage at 1:04:07

1:04:34 Will go to their death still thinking that it's something that can be done. This won't be my day. At least this won't be my day. I mean, now we can kind of pretend at least it's like 15 years in advance down the road. But when you're in the hospital and you're tied up to all the tubes and everything, then at least it won't be today. Because I'm too clear-headed. We use really invalid logic, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:34 Highlight the passage at 1:04:34

1:04:58 I'm healthy. And then, of course, you get hit by a car. Your moment of death has nothing to do with that kind of faulty logic. It's just when your karma for this life is done. We call that death. That's death. So it doesn't matter how healthy you are, how old you are, or what your history is. You know, all the things that we might take into account in the West on your medical thing. So many times people have gotten a really wonderful, clean bill of health, and then... Report an error in the passage at 1:04:58 Highlight the passage at 1:04:58

1:05:28 Had a heart attack the next day. Because even the medical establishment can't figure out exactly when somebody's going to die. From a karmic point of view, it's simply that your karma for this life has ended. And it can end in a moment. And we don't know what that moment is yet because we're not clairvoyant. We don't have those levels of attainment. I'm really banking on my teacher knowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:28 Highlight the passage at 1:05:28

1:05:51 I've actually... Heard stories where suddenly Lama Zopa Rinpoche will contact students and tell them to start doing these practices and you're like, okay. So Geshe-la says that with this one older student of his who used to take care of him when he first arrived. She was the one on the Lama Care Committee, Loris. I don't know if you know Loris. Anyway, she's been around for a while. And so we keep asking her, we're like, Loris, has Geshe-la told you what? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:51 Highlight the passage at 1:05:51

1:06:19 you should do at the moment of death. And she's like, no, he keeps saying, I have time, I have time. And I'm like, Lawrence, what are you going to do when you get the call? It's almost like I would rather he just teach me rather than waiting for the moment where he tells you, okay, you got to know this weekend. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:19 Highlight the passage at 1:06:19

1:06:36 But most of us aren't going to get that kind of notice. It's just it'll suddenly, you know, happen. It's very good for us to contemplate over and over and over again that there's no being who takes on a life, a body like ours, created from karma and delusion, which is how we've attained this body, versus how the Buddhas attained their bodies, which are created by all their incredible merit and accumulations of merit and wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:36 Highlight the passage at 1:06:36

1:07:12 Ours is created from karma and delusions, unfortunately, so it's limited, and as soon as that karma for it ends, it ends. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:12 Highlight the passage at 1:07:12

1:07:22 But there's nobody who has a body like this who is exempt. Death happens. One of the things we're going to do in tonight's meditation, which will be your meditation for this week, is really thinking about how... That much we know, death is certain. You know, death itself is inevitable. The next phase will be that the time is uncertain. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:22 Highlight the passage at 1:07:22

1:07:49 When it happens, we don't know. But this much we know. It's the one thing in life that is certain, is death. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:49 Highlight the passage at 1:07:49

1:08:00 So first, you know, as they always do, the traditional Tibetan approach is to tell you the advantages and the disadvantages of why you would want to meditate on death and impermanence, which is what we've just sort of been talking about. But I'll just run through them because, of course, it's a list. The galupas are really into lists. So we'll start with your list. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:00 Highlight the passage at 1:08:00

1:08:23 And it all has to do with your Dharma practice or a spiritual practice, which I think is interesting. The first is the list of disadvantages if you don't remember to meditate on death and impermanence. The first is that you won't remember your Dharma or you won't practice it. You'll get absorbed into just thinking about all the mundane concerns about this life, like where you're going to live and what you're going to wear and what you're going to eat. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:23 Highlight the passage at 1:08:23

1:08:53 I mean, think how much of our life is already absorbed into that. Probably just since the class started, we thought about one of those things. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:53 Highlight the passage at 1:08:53

1:09:03 But it's really easy to do. Even when you're in retreat, you know, it's easy to think about, well, at least they'll bring the little lunch thing up. I wonder what's going to be in the lunch pail today. It's actually probably easier, I think, in some ways to cook for yourself because you just keep it all the same and you don't get excited. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:03 Highlight the passage at 1:09:03

1:09:24 The second is even if you do remember it, you'll procrastinate it. Gosh, don't we do that one. You know. We'll postpone the really long retreats. We might do the class. We might do a weekend retreat. We might even do a week retreat. But really doing a three-month retreat or say, well, there's never a good time for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:24 Highlight the passage at 1:09:24

1:09:46 You just have to stop everything else you're doing. There's never a good time. Not in our kind of jobs. So it's always easy to just say, I don't really have time for that yet, but I will. Even if we're committed to doing it, it'll be like, well, I'll do it next year or the year after, I'll do it. But there's always this thought that you'll always have a year after or a year after, that there'll always be time out there to do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:46 Highlight the passage at 1:09:46

1:10:12 So you just procrastinate. Or you think, you know, I'll start a meditation practice, but I'll wait until I move to that really nice place in the Oakland Hills or something. Or I'll wait until I move to Santa Cruz and it's quieter or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:12 Highlight the passage at 1:10:12

1:10:27 Always we come up with reasons not to do our practice or not to go deeper into our study or meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:27 Highlight the passage at 1:10:27

1:10:40 The third is if you try to practice, your practice won't be pure. So you will practice, but then you do it for the wrong reasons, like your reputation or your ego or that it looks really cool if you'd be meditating and your roommate sees you or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:40 Highlight the passage at 1:10:40

1:11:00 Or you'll meditate or practice as long as it's easy, but then you'll hit a snag and you won't push through it. You'll just be like, as long as it's kind of understandable or as long as you don't have to really challenge any of the difficult stuff in your own mind or something like that, then it's fine. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:00 Highlight the passage at 1:11:00

1:11:18 But if you do, then it's just like you toss it out. The fourth is that you'll lose your determination to practice and you'll eventually drop it altogether. Or you'll just do it mindlessly, like on autopilot. And then almost the worst part of that is that there's some part of you that'll think it just doesn't work at all, which is actually really one of the worst things, is thinking that the Dharma doesn't work just because you haven't really applied yourself with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:18 Highlight the passage at 1:11:18

1:11:53 Because there's this aspect that you can actually then tell other people, so then you can affect their faith. So not only are you wasting your time, but you're, you know... Kind of spreading the word that it doesn't work. This practice of really meditating on death and impermanence should actually make you practice harder. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:53 Highlight the passage at 1:11:53

1:12:14 It should make you want to go for it. Which is actually, I think, those of us who have lost people, we notice the difference in our practice. I know this has been true for me. You do just sort of go for it in ways that you wouldn't have before because you get it. You know, and then you lose it again. But for that little bit where you get it, you can really use it to practice harder and to kind of take leaps or to, you know, like when I was in the class last week when I was talking about how when I came back from Copan and my friend died in the car accident and I just was like, this is all I need to hear. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:14 Highlight the passage at 1:12:14

1:12:55 You know, I just like cut everything and went to India and Nepal for a year and I wouldn't have done that. I kind of needed that. Huge nudge to make that kind of a leap. And I never will regret making that kind of leap. So sometimes you need to go for it. Sometimes going for it is actually really good. The fifth one is you'll continue creating negative actions and won't attain liberation. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:55 Highlight the passage at 1:12:55

1:13:26 So you just get deeper and deeper into attachment and into this life. And you get pulled away from having this sort of vaster vision or purpose. And then the final one is at the time of your own death, you'll feel this intense regret for having wasted the time that you had. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:26 Highlight the passage at 1:13:26

1:13:50 Does anybody need me to repeat any of this? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:50 Highlight the passage at 1:13:50

1:13:57 The advantages are sort of the flip, but not quite. The first is that your Dharma practice becomes very pure. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:57 Highlight the passage at 1:13:57

1:14:08 Your practice gets better because you spend more time doing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:08 Highlight the passage at 1:14:08

1:14:17 And you go deeper in it. I mean, that makes sense, just logically. If you're giving it more time and you're more serious about it, of course you're going to gain more results from it. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:17 Highlight the passage at 1:14:17

1:14:31 I'm sorry, I think that's the second one. The first one is your Dharma practice becomes very pure. The second one is your Dharma actions become powerful and effective. That's because you're throwing yourself into it. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:31 Highlight the passage at 1:14:31

1:14:47 And as you do that, it's possible, you know, that you're going to turn away from the goals of sort of mainstream society. And that's okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:47 Highlight the passage at 1:14:47

1:14:58 And that's important. I mean, clearly, clearly I have. And I'm not saying that everybody needs to do that, but there are times that you probably will have to make decisions about your spiritual practice that aren't necessarily sanctioned by the larger society. And there are times that you'll have to just decide. You know, it's sort of like some good friends might be saying, well... Report an error in the passage at 1:14:58 Highlight the passage at 1:14:58

1:15:23 You have two weeks. Why don't you go to Jamaica and just hang out on the beach or something? And then your Dharma friend is like, well, come on, Paul, you've got two weeks. You could actually go and do that retreat with Venom and Renee. And so it's kind of like good cop, bad cop. So at some point you'll have to decide what's really more beneficial. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:23 Highlight the passage at 1:15:23

1:15:44 It's actually kind of interesting because sometimes pushing yourself is energizing, and you wouldn't think so. It's like it seems like it's the opposite. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:44 Highlight the passage at 1:15:44

1:15:55 The third, fourth and fifth are related. The third is that it's beneficial at the beginning of your practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:55 Highlight the passage at 1:15:55

1:16:05 It sort of inspires you with a sense of urgency and that definitely is what I was describing with me with the death of my friend Laurel. It sort of gave me this sort of sense like, oh my gosh, like I could go at any time. I better go. I better just do it. Just jump. So you prioritize life a little differently. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:05 Highlight the passage at 1:16:05

1:16:32 And it's beneficial, number four, is it's beneficial in the middle of your Dharma practice, especially as you're starting to get a little tired, you know, a little losing interest in kind of pushing so hard or whatever. And it's really natural for Dharma practices to go either up and down or up with little dips. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:32 Highlight the passage at 1:16:32

1:16:56 Because life happens, you know, we go through various things and our practice gets a little more of a struggle here and there. And we get pulled, we still get pulled into what's called the eight worldly concerns. Does anybody remember? Does anybody, actually I guess there's only a couple of you that might have, has anybody heard the eight worldly concerns and does anybody remember what they are? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:56 Highlight the passage at 1:16:56

1:17:24 Okay, say two. Whoops, you got to use the mic though. I'll make you say two, and then Cedric can say two, and then Chad can say two. We'll see. We'll only have two left. Praise and blame? Yep. And like Report an error in the passage at 1:17:24 Highlight the passage at 1:17:24

1:17:45 fame and anonymity? Yeah, good rep, bad rep. Yeah. Do you want to do two more, Cedric? Do you remember? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:45 Highlight the passage at 1:17:45

1:17:57 Gain and loss, yep. Do you want to try the last two, or do you want to hand it off to Chad? I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:57 Highlight the passage at 1:17:57

1:18:09 It's one we go through all the time. Feeling good and not feeling good or happiness and unhappiness. So these are groups of twosomes, basically, that we are constantly, we just sort of let rule our lives. They're called the eight world of concerns because they sort of keep us distracted from doing anything more meaningful with our lives. And we do it constantly. I mean, just the amount of time that we've fidgeted since we walked through the door is... Report an error in the passage at 1:18:09 Highlight the passage at 1:18:09

1:18:38 Trying to get away from pain, trying to get comfort. You know, it's that little tiny bits of constantly shifting around that's really distracting us from anything more meaningful, like what the teachers say. Or, you know, thinking about what might be for dinner after class, you know, which is gain. Or thinking about, dang, I can't believe I lost that jacket. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:38 Highlight the passage at 1:18:38

1:19:04 So it's like just absorbing your mind at a time that... You could be actually focusing on the teachings or something like that. So it's not necessarily these huge neon signs, but these eight worldly concerns can distract the beginning of our practice, definitely. And I would say one of the biggest problems is in the middle of our practice. We can get sort of sucked back into the mundane concerns of life again. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:04 Highlight the passage at 1:19:04

1:19:29 You know, what do people think about me as a teacher? Why didn't he like me? You know, all those things. You know, why did this person criticize me? And caring about it so much that you drop the ball, basically, and you don't take advantage of this incredible opportunity that you have. So these are the eight worldly concerns. And they can be really distracting in the beginning, middle and end of your practice as well. So contemplating... Report an error in the passage at 1:19:29 Highlight the passage at 1:19:29

1:19:58 Death and impermanence are ways to cut through those eight worldly concerns. If somebody's criticized you or if you're really grasping after the job that you want or something like that, just to remember, wait a second, I could die tomorrow. It is or it isn't. It'll be all right. Whatever's going to happen is going to happen. It kind of just cuts through the craziness that our minds go through, whether it's some little gain or whether it's some enormous gain. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:58 Highlight the passage at 1:19:58

1:20:29 Puts it in perspective a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:29 Highlight the passage at 1:20:29

1:20:34 So yeah, it's beneficial in the middle of your practice to help you cut through the eight worldly concerns, but also pushing you a little bit when you get a little lazy. We get tired, right? We get older. We don't really feel like pushing. We don't feel like going to India and doing three-month retreat. It's like one of the hugest obstacles is... Report an error in the passage at 1:20:34 Highlight the passage at 1:20:34

1:20:58 It's called a form of laziness. It's actually laylo in Tibetan, which I love. I think that's one of my favorite Tibetan words. It sounds like lazy boy. Laylo. And what it means really literally is just not feeling like it, which is, I think, the most basic form of laziness, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:58 Highlight the passage at 1:20:58

1:21:18 You set it all up, you're going to get up early, and then you just don't feel like it. So remembering death and impermanence is like, wow, this could be my last day alive. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:18 Highlight the passage at 1:21:18

1:21:30 You know, I better get up and do something. I've got to remember this one tomorrow. And then the fifth one is it's good at the end of your practice. And I had one teacher say it's sort of like... It's like you've been working really hard in retreat and you actually are doing really well and you're almost done and then the Lalo sets in. You start getting really tired. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:30 Highlight the passage at 1:21:30

1:21:52 You don't feel like pushing. So it's like getting that extra push at the end when it's really normal for us. We're older. We've done this for now 30 years, say, or 40 years. It's like keeping up that intensity of your practice. And this one teacher said it's like taking antibiotics after the obvious signs of the disease are gone. So you've done well. You've been practicing well. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:52 Highlight the passage at 1:21:52

1:22:17 It's like don't give up now. Keep it on. And the way that you kind of keep it on is remembering death and impermanence. And then the final is in the hour of your death, you'll go with some satisfaction that you've spent your life in a meaningful way. And especially if you had those times, those moments where you have had to go against... Report an error in the passage at 1:22:17 Highlight the passage at 1:22:17

1:22:38 cultural norm and it was a hard decision to make you'll feel you realize that you did the right thing actually at that time you'll be like oh yeah cool You're not going to think about all those things that distract us from our practice, but in the end, on our deathbed, it's not something that you're going to be thinking about the dinner that you could have had in 2007. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:38 Highlight the passage at 1:22:38

1:23:02 You know what I mean? The little things that come up into our mind and distract us from practice. Those won't be what will come to mind at that moment. You'll have this overview of your whole life and whether it was spent well. And they say that a really good Dharma student can die happily, actually joyfully, which is an interesting thought to most of us in the West. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:02 Highlight the passage at 1:23:02

1:23:23 This woman, Lenny, who's one of the co-runners of this workshop this weekend on dying well, Lenny Kronish. She said actually Rinpoche wanted them to say in the material for Tarahome that people would die happily. And she said actually they all have. But she said it sounds insane. To put it on any of the written material, because just saying dying peacefully is enough of a thought that's possible in our culture. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23:23

1:23:52 To actually say that somebody could die happily, it almost sounds bizarre in our culture. But the Buddhist teachings are saying, no, it is very possible. If your mind is very comfortable with the life that you've lived and the decisions that you've made and where you're going, why not? So they say that a good Dharma student is able to die happily. A middling student goes without fear, which is also great. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:52 Highlight the passage at 1:23:52

1:24:19 Hey, we all like that one, right? And at the very least, they say we can die without regret. So we can aim for the top and be happy with at least being able to die without regret. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:19 Highlight the passage at 1:24:19

1:24:32 So why don't we see if there's any questions on that, and then you guys take a short break. And then I'm going to go over this meditation that you guys are going to do. Is there any questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:32 Highlight the passage at 1:24:32

1:24:46 Dying well? Yeah. Okay, okay. Yeah. So this weekend is a workshop intensive called Dying Well, and it's going to be led by Venerable Tenzin Chokyi, who's different than Chookie, and Lenny Kronish, who is a longtime nurse, a hospice nurse, and the founder of Tar Home. And that will be 1030 to 5 on Saturday. It's a long day. I'm sorry. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:46 Highlight the passage at 1:24:46

1:25:17 Nine to five, nine to five. It's the last one we promised that we'll do, nine o 'clock. Nine to five on Saturday and nine to three on Sunday. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:17 Highlight the passage at 1:25:17

1:25:28 And it's going to go through some of the same stuff that we are studying in here. And then it's also going to talk more specifically. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:28 Highlight the passage at 1:25:28

1:25:58 Isn't that interesting? I think that's so interesting when it does that. It's like that one time that Karen was taping and like that final class of the entire series didn't get. It makes sense to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:58 Highlight the passage at 1:25:58

1:26:09 So we couldn't put up the series. Anyway, that's not for you, Karen. Don't worry. We still love you. So there's this meditation that we're just beginning in this class. We'll spend the next three classes on called the Nine Point Death Meditation. It's from Lama Tsongkhapa's Lamrim. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:09 Highlight the passage at 1:26:09

1:26:30 We'll spend time tonight. Really quickly, I'll just go over the first of the... So there's three sections and each section has three supporting points. So that's how you get nine. It's really, really powerful meditation. It's one that you can actually do in some form every day for the rest of your life. Just to remind yourself about death and impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:30 Highlight the passage at 1:26:30

1:26:58 And when I was doing... Lama Zopa Rinpoche asked me to meditate on death and impermanence every day. This is the meditation on death that I was doing every morning. So there are three main points, and we'll start with the first one, and it's death is certain is the first one. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:58 Highlight the passage at 1:26:58

1:27:20 The second one is the time of death is uncertain. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:20 Highlight the passage at 1:27:20

1:27:27 And the third one is the only thing that will help you at the time of your death is your practice. And Report an error in the passage at 1:27:27 Highlight the passage at 1:27:27

1:27:36 we'll get to what each one means a little bit more. Really, if you want realizations in this, you have to spend months meditating on it. I mean, it takes a while because our ignorance is so thick. It's like this little hard rock, and we're trying to chip away at it, basically. So we're just sort of like giving more and more reasons to this kind of... Report an error in the passage at 1:27:36 Highlight the passage at 1:27:36

1:28:03 Ignorant little hard mind until it chips through, chips through, chips through and you get like and that's what you're looking for is one of those aha kind of moments. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:03 Highlight the passage at 1:28:03

1:28:14 So the first point is that death is certain and the first supporting sort of argument I guess sounds like court case. The first supporting argument or supporting point is that no power in the universe can stop death. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:14 Highlight the passage at 1:28:14

1:28:33 So here you just spend time thinking about how nobody, no matter who they are, no matter how rich they are, how powerful they are, has the ability to change the fact when it's time, when their karma has arrived, that it's time for them to die. There's no way that they can change it. And you can think about examples, because that's how you start making this stuff real for you, is like thinking about people like, I think we've all heard about Howard Hughes, you know, when he... Report an error in the passage at 1:28:33 Highlight the passage at 1:28:33

1:29:01 Got closer and closer to his death. And a lot of powerful people do this where they hire the best doctors. They're basically trying to outwit death. And actually, to some extent, it's possible for a wealthy person to have the best medical care and have the best medicine and have the best treatment and nurses and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:01 Highlight the passage at 1:29:01

1:29:27 Ultimately, that's no guarantee that they're going to die any better because actually it's our mind, right? It's our mind now whether or not we're happy. Whether we have any money or not is not necessarily it. We definitely know lots of people who have money who aren't happy. So the same is true when they're dying. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:27 Highlight the passage at 1:29:27

1:29:46 You basically die the way you live. So if you're not happy in your life, you're probably not going to die very happy either. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:46 Highlight the passage at 1:29:46

1:29:53 But we can think about it. So if you know any stories from the news or any stories of people that you know who maybe tried and failed to stop death or tried to buy their way out of death, or rulers, kings, all the powerful people, presidents and things like that, all of them have died. The biggest, the most powerful people in the universe have actually had to die. We can even think of spiritual power, those people, you know, the Buddha himself manifested death. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:53 Highlight the passage at 1:29:53

1:30:32 All the great yogis, Milarepa and things like that. Lama Yeshe, you know, you think about all these amazing beings, people who have done like really incredible work in the world to help others like Martin Luther King and things like that. They've all had to die. So who you are and whatever power you have is not going to mean that you can evade death. Like ultimately we all have to die. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:32 Highlight the passage at 1:30:32

1:30:59 And so the point of this is just really thinking, you know, there's no other, you know, once you're born, once you take on this body, there's no other way out of it except to die. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:59 Highlight the passage at 1:30:59

1:31:14 And our mind is always trying to look for Loopholes for me, right? So the more stories you can think of and the more people you can think of, you can think about all the great saints if you were raised in the Catholic Church. I know there were saints, even though I wasn't raised Catholic, there were saints that really inspired me like St. Francis or even, you know, people, modern day people like Mother Teresa and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:14 Highlight the passage at 1:31:14

1:31:45 And definitely people who did, Really powerful social change work and things like that and think about how they all have had to face death, whether they were killed like Martin Luther King or whether they just died when they got old. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:45 Highlight the passage at 1:31:45

1:32:00 Even Christ, of course. And then one thing that I noticed early on when I was doing these meditations is there was this part of me that sort of thought if I practiced really well and if I was a good Buddhist that I wouldn't have to die. you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:00 Highlight the passage at 1:32:00

1:32:15 I found that part. It was like in there. And so then I started thinking, well, actually people die in retreat, too. And there's a couple of interesting stories about, well, the first Western student of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche was named Lina. She was this sort of Russian princess, and she had been kind of raised in Hollywood, and she had a lot of money, and she was this really eccentric kind of character. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:15 Highlight the passage at 1:32:15

1:32:38 This was like in the 60s and 70s, so she had taken off like everybody else to India. And eventually she actually became a nun, and she actually was doing retreat, and she passed away in retreat. But right before she died, and it's still a little unclear as to why, you know, like what medically happened, because she wasn't that old. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:38 Highlight the passage at 1:32:38

1:32:59 I think she was maybe in her 40s by that time. She had a daughter. But Lama Yeshi suddenly dropped everything at Kofan and said, I have to go to Alina. And he like went to her. And gave her some teachings and then left again. And then she died right after. Which is, of course, what we all would hope for. But she got it. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:59 Highlight the passage at 1:32:59

1:33:23 But, you know, she was doing retreat. So she was practicing well. Another example of somebody that I know, this nun named Dechen, who was this sort of, she just had this amazing radiance and glow. She was this Chinese nun. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:23 Highlight the passage at 1:33:23

1:33:38 She came out of long retreat. She was at Shinailand down near Big Sur. She came out suddenly and went back to, I think she was from Taiwan or Singapore, and she went back and saw her family and then came back and then just died. And she hadn't come out of retreat for a while. She stayed with us at the nun's house. And then they say that that day, you know, and I always think of this one too, she actually left the kettle on low. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:38 Highlight the passage at 1:33:38

1:34:07 And she died with the kettle on. And it didn't set the cabin on fire, which is interesting either. But they had placed a note under her door and gotten a response. And so that's why they went to check and she had just died. And she also wasn't very old. She was in her 40s or something. So this sort of thought that I'm somehow different to remember all the great beings and also the beings that, like these two students, who were good students, who were... Report an error in the passage at 1:34:07 Highlight the passage at 1:34:07

1:34:33 Good girls were doing all that their teachers had advised and everything. When that karma ended, you know, still death happened. And so they still had to face death. There's stories about Daishin that, you know, that she actually attained, had some level of attainment and that she passed in that way, that she knew it was coming. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:33 Highlight the passage at 1:34:33

1:34:56 Could be true for Lina too, I don't know. But all the same, from what we see, they still had to face death. So that's the first point and I think the more examples that you have of people who maybe tried to outrun death or people who maybe do crazy things at the time of death. I knew this one guy who as he got closer and closer to death he was dying of AIDS and he also I think had some dementia involved too but there's just sort of frantically just running up charges. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:56 Highlight the passage at 1:34:56

1:35:29 Which, of course, all had to be dealt with after he died. Nobody knew it was happening. But just frantically, going from place to place, that kind of just like, you know, that just kind of scared behavior where you're just doing everything you can, except, of course, looking at your mind and preparing for death. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:29 Highlight the passage at 1:35:29

1:35:48 But you're running, basically, from death. Or even think about, you know... The number of times that people think, well, I can't die because I'm sort of doing this project or I'm doing, you know, I'm going on this trip or whatever like that. People die all the time traveling, you know. So there's no place that you can go on this planet that takes you away from your own karma is the point. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:48 Highlight the passage at 1:35:48

1:36:13 And the more individual experiences you can think of, the more real this becomes. So it's not just, you know. The people I'm talking about, it's people that mean something to you. So the second point that supports it is that one can't add time to life, that you get closer and closer to death every minute. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:13 Highlight the passage at 1:36:13

1:36:35 So here you just think about how every moment of our life actually is moving towards death. And we can't really get them back once they're gone. So even just the amount of time that we've been here, that amount of time is now gone, irreversibly. This day is now gone. I think I told you that when Benima Rubina goes to bed, she's like, another day gone. I've lost it. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:35 Highlight the passage at 1:36:35

1:37:00 It's wasted. She's totally aware of it, which I think is, I think she's actually realized death, actually. I think she's one that has because of the way that she lives, full tilt. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:00 Highlight the passage at 1:37:00

1:37:11 Every, I mean, it's rare to go by her door and not see the light on, you know, any hour of the day and night. She's just desperately trying to. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:11 Highlight the passage at 1:37:11

1:37:20 To get the most out of every life, every moment of life. I was just thinking, yesterday, Michelle, a couple people from the center and Michelle was driving, had a car accident. And it was, you know, it really shook people up. And Michelle actually hurt herself a little bit. Michelle, I think, just got a little banged knee. So she emailed Rubina and she said, I haven't gotten this done because, you know, I had this accident. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:20 Highlight the passage at 1:37:20

1:37:45 And Rubina's answer was, fine, period. So, what are you going to do? It's like, basically, okay, that's your excuse. Let's get on with the work you need to do. And then that's kind of the way she is, sort of like, you know, it's like with the earthquake, right? She's like, okay, let's just keep going, you know? It's just a completely different view of reality because we'll basically, we're so easily waylaid by anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:45 Highlight the passage at 1:37:45

1:38:08 We're just easily distracted. So, in this one, you just think how every single thing that you do... Every action that you do, at some point there will be a last time. So for Chad, he could think, this could be my last cup of tea. And you drink it with a little bit more appreciation. And you can think about people who have had a last cup of something, who have had a last meal, who have had a last time that they went to work. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:08 Highlight the passage at 1:38:08

1:38:39 A last shower. I mean, really mundane things that you can bring more awareness to because, you know, like the last time I put on my clothes. Usually we don't know that when that's that time. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:39 Highlight the passage at 1:38:39

1:38:51 But I can think, you know, that friend of mine who died in the car accident, I thought she actually got to a stopping place. She was actually driving to El Paso. I think I mentioned she was a midwife. She was studying to be a midwife, which is what I was studying to be before I met the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:51 Highlight the passage at 1:38:51

1:39:08 She was going to this really intensive internship in El Paso and she got most of the way there and then she decided I could just go all the way. I could go. So she actually got to a hotel, checked in and then called them and they were like, oh, we're only like another hour away. So she like had another cup of coffee, her last cup of coffee as it turns out, got on the freeway and was killed the minute she hit the exit ramp. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:08 Highlight the passage at 1:39:08

1:39:34 Somebody slammed her from the rear, a drunk driver. So I think about that sometimes. She actually could have stopped, and she just didn't know. How could she know? We don't know. She's 27. She didn't know. So she was actually just going for it. She was excited. She was going to get there. Actually, we talked about it afterwards, all of the friends and her family. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:34 Highlight the passage at 1:39:34

1:39:57 We were like, she's probably at the peak of her happiness at that moment. Because she had gotten there and it was like sunset and she had hit El Paso and she was going to do this exciting thing that she had decided to do. And within a second it was gone. So just thinking about that, like, you know, bringing that awareness to your meal. Like, this could be my last meal. How would I know? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:57 Highlight the passage at 1:39:57

1:40:21 I don't know. It's not like we, it's not like in the movies where the music's in the background's going to change, you know, in our last day and I'll have some extra poignancy. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:21 Highlight the passage at 1:40:21

1:40:33 The Kadampa Gacheses, who I talked about, the direct lineage lamas for Lama Tsongkhapa, would do all these kind of really radical things. Like when they would go to bed at night, they'd wash everything and arrange everything so that if they did die, someone found it, it would be in good shape, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:33 Highlight the passage at 1:40:33

1:40:52 They would turn their bowls upside down and all that stuff, you know, not like my room, you know. And I actually thought about that with Laurel too because Laurel had gone away to this internship and she had given up her room. So she had boxed everything and sorted everything and dumped everything and like all that stuff so nobody had to do that after her, which was very interesting to all of us actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:52 Highlight the passage at 1:40:52

1:41:18 But yeah, so just thinking about... um, Report an error in the passage at 1:41:18 Highlight the passage at 1:41:18

1:41:21 With the Kadampa Geshe too, when they get up in the morning, they make their beds so that, again, in case they die during the day, that everything is with that awareness that this could be the last time and that somebody else could come and find my meditation hut. And so they're leaving it very neat. So thinking about it with everything, thinking about it when you're listening to a song. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:21 Highlight the passage at 1:41:21

1:41:52 Driving or riding your bike or walking or whatever, like every aspect of our day that, you know, a lot of times, like I drank a cup of tea really quick before I came down. Did I notice any bit of it? You know, it's just like, so taking time with that. Not that you have to do it in like a Thich Nhat Hanh kind of a way where every second is stopped or anything, but just that awareness of like at some point this could be my last one. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:52 Highlight the passage at 1:41:52

1:42:18 You know, so just trying to remember that. These are things you can actually do, not on the cushion, just contemplating. And then also they say to think about the fact that everyone in this room in 50, 60 years will be gone. I mean, they always say 100 years, but I think for many of us, unfortunately, it'll be sooner. I mean, I know personally speaking, I can probably say honestly that my generation, my school friends, will all be gone in like 40 years, if not sooner. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:18 Highlight the passage at 1:42:18

1:42:49 I mean, many, of course, are already gone. And that's a trip. I mean, that's a total eye-opener, you know. And my family, especially my siblings, because they're all older than me, will probably be much sooner. The baby boomers, who always seem so young, are like getting all old now, you know. And that's sort of, I mean, I'm like the younger ledge of the baby boomers, but still, all those old hippies are all going, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:49 Highlight the passage at 1:42:49

1:43:15 So why do I think I'm so different, you know? Why do I think I'm somehow not going to die? That's what we're asking ourselves. We're again trying to chip away. And Lama Zopa Rinpoche says it's like we spend our entire lives, like the moment we're born, it's like we're running towards this cliff. He said not even walking, but running towards this cliff. And that cliff, of course, is death. And it's like we're this waterfall. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:15 Highlight the passage at 1:43:15

1:43:41 Have you ever seen those movies where people are kayaking or canoeing or something and they just happen to get pulled out of the way in time and all of a sudden the next scene you realize that the water is heading over a waterfall or something. That's what it is. Except nobody is pulling our canoe out. It's headed that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:41 Highlight the passage at 1:43:41

1:44:01 So this quote from the sūtra. The Sūtra of Cosmic Play, actually, which could be an odd translation. But anyway, the three realms are impermanent like a cloud in the autumn sky. Watching as people are born and die is the same as theater. And it's the same because we take on different personalities. It's almost like putting on different costumes, different parts in a play. The passing of a person's life is a single flash of lightning. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:01 Highlight the passage at 1:44:01

1:44:28 We rush on our way to the end with speed like a mountain waterfall. There's not a single time when our life isn't slipping away. Even when we're like watching TV or waiting at the bank or, you know, distracted, blobbing out. I call it blobbing out, you know, just kind of, you know, reading the Sunday paper. Like all those little ways that we just kind of not really very present. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:28 Highlight the passage at 1:44:28

1:45:01 Our life is still going. And injecting a little of that awareness into those moments and like, you know, this is my life too. You know, so just to be aware. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:01 Highlight the passage at 1:45:01

1:45:17 So again, this isn't to depress you. I remember when I did it in the last class, Peter at this point said, this is really depressing. And the point isn't, it's just because we have to really chip constantly at this ignorance that just solidifies and thinks, Somehow I'm different. Somehow there's a loophole for Chokyi. If I'm really good, I don't have to die. If I follow every bit of my guru's advice, I don't have to die. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:17 Highlight the passage at 1:45:17

1:45:48 It's just ignorant mind. We have to let our self-cherishing mind let go of this ignorance. That's why you just chip, chip, chip. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:48 Highlight the passage at 1:45:48

1:46:01 The final point is while we're still alive, our time for spiritual practice. In this case, practice of the Dharma is extremely limited. And this is where you just start thinking about really how little time we make time for practice now. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:01 Highlight the passage at 1:46:01

1:46:20 You know, how when we do sit down for practice, we might rush it because we want to watch something on TV or, you know, read the paper or go and talk to somebody or go make brunch or, you know, like there's, we're sort of... As Rubenia would say, we're missing the plot half the time. Or think about, and this isn't to have guilt, it's just simply bringing awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:20 Highlight the passage at 1:46:20

1:46:44 Think about how little retreat we do. I mean, I'm guilty of all these things too. Think about how little retreat we do, even if we have the opportunity. Think about if we, assuming that, you know, actually I am old, assuming that I have 30 years left. And assuming that I don't get terminally ill and assuming that I don't get hit by a bus out front, which are all huge assumptions because I have no idea I could be hit by a bus tomorrow. I'm staying out of the way. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:44 Highlight the passage at 1:46:44

1:47:14 So assuming that, assuming that I somehow do have 30 years and assuming that in the final years I'm probably going to be like those people that Sandy was just talking about where, you know. I'm not going to have the strongest body, especially considering how not strong my body is now. Due to physical or mental ailments, I'm probably not going to be able to practice that great. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:14 Highlight the passage at 1:47:14

1:47:39 So assume that I have maybe half of that time, maybe 15 years. And then assume of that, how much time is spent sleeping and watching a movie or eating or processing with people or meeting people for... Dinner or going to a gallery or reading the newspaper or having a fight and then apologizing. All of this is taking time away from practice. It's all stuff that we do most of the time and probably think of as life, basically. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:39 Highlight the passage at 1:47:39

1:48:12 But in this context, it's time less. We have to subtract out that time. And then of that, I mean, even when you think about in the time that I know I just did retreat this summer, and there's enormous amounts of time still that you're preparing your food, you're thinking about the food, you're, you know, Report an error in the passage at 1:48:12 Highlight the passage at 1:48:12

1:48:33 taking showers, you're sleeping, you're, you know, there's all these still mundane concerns that you do, even in retreat, writing notes to the caretaker, tearing it up and writing another note to the caretaker doesn't sound quite as desperate. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:33 Highlight the passage at 1:48:33

1:48:50 Like all those things that we waste our lives basically on that takes away from the time that we could be really more seriously practicing. So the point of this section is really getting that we have this really tiny window. Bye, thank you. We have this really tiny window of opportunity and how are we going to use it? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:50 Highlight the passage at 1:48:50

1:49:12 It's really precious and it's really small and it's really finite. I can't delude myself and think I have forever. I can't keep procrastinating. It doesn't do me or anybody else any good to just live in denial. So it's like I've got to wake up and I've got to see this and I've got to sort of push through the lay low, push through that feeling of like I just don't feel like it. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:12 Highlight the passage at 1:49:12

1:49:37 So Lama Tsongkhapa said, and so all good things of this life are like the happiness of one night's dream. You wake and then it's nothing more than a memory. The time comes to die and every good you have ever done lives only in a dim remembrance. So you end this session, you know, you're looking at all three of these points and this main thought of that death is certain with this resolution that knowing that I have to die, then I must resolve to begin my practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:37 Highlight the passage at 1:49:37

1:50:10 I have to look at what I'm doing with my life and how I'm going to change that and what I'm going to do that's more meaningful. And that's going to be true for each of the three sessions is that you're going to take time contemplating all this stuff and then you're going to try to come to some resolution by the end of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:10 Highlight the passage at 1:50:10

1:50:31 Sort of like a little New Year's resolution. It's like this thought of like, okay, I get it. My death is certain. So. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:31 Highlight the passage at 1:50:31

1:50:39 I'm going to use this life for something. How can I use this little tiny window of opportunity? So does anybody have a question on any of the stuff that I just said? And I wanted to lead you, but I won't. So this is just going to be your meditation homework. Here you go, Paul. If you want to just hand that out. This will be your meditation homework. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:39 Highlight the passage at 1:50:39

1:51:00 Again, I really, really encourage you to try to use... Oh, you guys should actually take one of the preliminary ones, too. So if you could give this to Whitney. You keep one and give one to Whitney. I knew there was a reason I made that many. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:00 Highlight the passage at 1:51:00

1:51:17 So I really encourage you to use as many experiences or people that you've heard about or people that you've read about so that it means something more to you than just these ideas so that you're actually using experiences as much as you can from your life because then it's going to feel... It'll become more meaningful to you. Those little aha moments will happen more readily if you have personal experience with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:17 Highlight the passage at 1:51:17

1:51:49 Does anybody have a question about anything that I've just said? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:49 Highlight the passage at 1:51:49

1:51:57 Just extra? Okay. Okay, good. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:57 Highlight the passage at 1:51:57

1:52:03 No? Okay. Good. I was going to say happy meditating, but maybe not. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:03 Highlight the passage at 1:52:03

1:52:13 So your reading is just continuing to read in your binder. So if you guys decide that you want to join the class, I can give you binders tonight. Okay. And I'll check them first because we had a couple boo-boos on some of the binders. You guys also check your binders this week if you haven't already and just make sure that you don't, I can just exchange it for a new binder. The next two readings, Lama yesterday wrote this poem that you should just take a little time with. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:13 Highlight the passage at 1:52:13

1:52:37 You know, try reading it through, but read it slowly. Don't just like... The way I drank my tea. Take it with meaning. And then try this first part and see how you do with it at least a few times this week, if not daily. Daily is best. Okay, so let's just take a moment to dedicate if we don't have any more questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:37 Highlight the passage at 1:52:37

1:53:01 So all these different ideas, probably to some extent none of them really new to us yet, but still expanding our awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:01 Highlight the passage at 1:53:01

1:53:17 Strengthening our awareness of our own impermanence. So we just dedicate any positive energy or positive karma that we have created just by taking the time, focusing our attention in this way, that we may be able to use these teachings really to transform our minds so that we can become more beneficial to ourselves and also to everyone around us. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:17 Highlight the passage at 1:53:17

1:53:45 Really be able to put them into practice in this short life. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:45 Highlight the passage at 1:53:45

1:53:55 And I'm sorry that, again, we went over. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:55 Highlight the passage at 1:53:55

1:54:10 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:10 Highlight the passage at 1:54:10