Discovering Buddhism - Death and Rebirth (20 November 2007)

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6:40 Thank Report an error in the passage at 6:40 Highlight the passage at 6:40

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10:18 you. things, you can massage their perspective. Report an error in the passage at 10:18 Highlight the passage at 10:18

8:41 maybe you could buy a session for me. I was seriously thinking about whether I had a massage. Would you ever turn down a massage? Good. Report an error in the passage at 8:41 Highlight the passage at 8:41

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10:07 done that. Report an error in the passage at 10:07 Highlight the passage at 10:07

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14:41 ways to break Report an error in the passage at 14:41 Highlight the passage at 14:41

15:03 light up there. Report an error in the passage at 15:03 Highlight the passage at 15:03

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15:41 catalogs, they give them on a nice stand so it's like Thank Report an error in the passage at 15:41 Highlight the passage at 15:41

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17:14 you. Sometimes they get along, but sometimes the older one will Report an error in the passage at 17:14 Highlight the passage at 17:14

17:50 Well, he's probably not going to like each other. Report an error in the passage at 17:50 Highlight the passage at 17:50

17:56 tried to introduce Report an error in the passage at 17:56 Highlight the passage at 17:56

18:08 cat, I had to come and she would stop it, and she would spend the whole day, I mean, cats can wait for hours when they're hunting, and he'd try to slink, and make himself invisible, and eventually we'd have her lucky, and she'd go wacky, was the end of that, it was just, you know. It's probably similar to the kind of things we do, but we don't see them from outside. Report an error in the passage at 18:08 Highlight the passage at 18:08

18:36 Yeah, our short cat has a to come over Report an error in the passage at 18:36 Highlight the passage at 18:36

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19:21 like idiots, you know, rolling and tumbling and stashing their heads. They're just so fun. Report an error in the passage at 19:21 Highlight the passage at 19:21

19:33 and then I won't be able to stop to it anymore. Report an error in the passage at 19:33 Highlight the passage at 19:33

19:43 that's true. Report an error in the passage at 19:43 Highlight the passage at 19:43

19:56 Thank Report an error in the passage at 19:56 Highlight the passage at 19:56

20:11 you. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 20:11 Highlight the passage at 20:11

20:34 that would help. She doesn't like it. Report an error in the passage at 20:34 Highlight the passage at 20:34

21:03 like I was telling you Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 21:03 Highlight the passage at 21:03

21:09 They so annoyed that it's kind of... Report an error in the passage at 21:09 Highlight the passage at 21:09

21:16 I know, I have a certificate here, and I have Report an error in the passage at 21:16 Highlight the passage at 21:16

21:21 Oh, I hate that. Report an error in the passage at 21:21 Highlight the passage at 21:21

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24:21 Yeah, I was going to say you lack it better. doesn't have a cruziness. Report an error in the passage at 24:21 Highlight the passage at 24:21

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26:43 I'm up, but I'm Report an error in the passage at 26:43 Highlight the passage at 26:43

27:06 Last week I got two glasses. Report an error in the passage at 27:06 Highlight the passage at 27:06

27:19 Nice and crisp. Believe me, it's only for the Indians. I've had it where they'll change the money over here and then they won't accept. We're like, no, no, the money's still good. I guess they're used to suddenly no money being any good anymore. So, you know, when we started changing the bills over here. Report an error in the passage at 27:19 Highlight the passage at 27:19

27:44 No, well, I'm sure. But, I mean, ultimately they're worried that it's not going to be good anymore because the entire system of money has changed so many times there. So, you know, when we started making the bills larger, not the bills themselves, but the images on them larger and the different colors, they stopped accepting the old ones. Report an error in the passage at 27:44 Highlight the passage at 27:44

28:03 We're like, no, they're still good. So it's just always best to go with the newest. The latest and greatest. The latest and greatest. It's much more trustworthy. Report an error in the passage at 28:03 Highlight the passage at 28:03

28:18 So I thought we could start with going through the part of meditation that you guys have been working on this week. Report an error in the passage at 28:18 Highlight the passage at 28:18

28:34 Thank you, dear. Report an error in the passage at 28:34 Highlight the passage at 28:34

28:40 I know. I actually found that same sign on the office, and I took it off, and now it's found its way to the kitchen. Yeah, I think it's going to end up being on every room of the house. Report an error in the passage at 28:40 Highlight the passage at 28:40

28:53 So Report an error in the passage at 28:53 Highlight the passage at 28:53

28:59 let's just start with some... I know. Report an error in the passage at 28:59 Highlight the passage at 28:59

29:01 Belly breaths and just let go of your day and let go of anything that might keep you from being really present. Report an error in the passage at 29:01 Highlight the passage at 29:01

29:18 So could I ask you to close the back doors? I won't do it again to you Chad. If people want to come in they can come in but it just sort of keeps the space a little nicer. Report an error in the passage at 29:18 Highlight the passage at 29:18

29:31 So you can go you know do what you need to do to get comfortable on your cushion. You might roll your shoulders or stretch your neck from side to side. Report an error in the passage at 29:31 Highlight the passage at 29:31

29:43 Try to imagine your vertebrae are like a string of pearls, one on top of the other, with the cord going right out the crown of your head. Report an error in the passage at 29:43 Highlight the passage at 29:43

29:59 Have your shoulders back and level, your hands either in your lap or on your knees. Your Report an error in the passage at 29:59 Highlight the passage at 29:59

30:09 eyes can be unfocused and open, or if you prefer, they can be lightly closed. On Report an error in the passage at 30:09 Highlight the passage at 30:09

30:23 the roof of your mouth, behind your front teeth. Report an error in the passage at 30:23 Highlight the passage at 30:23

30:29 And your legs are basically in any position that feels stable and comfortable for you. And Report an error in the passage at 30:29 Highlight the passage at 30:29

30:40 then the final point is just your breathing itself, just to be relaxed and natural and unforced. Report an error in the passage at 30:40 Highlight the passage at 30:40

31:00 We'll just focus with a few rounds of watching our breath, Report an error in the passage at 31:00 Highlight the passage at 31:00

31:13 just bringing your attention to whatever level works best for you, abdomen, chest, or nostril. And just focusing on the sensation of the air moving out and coming back in. Report an error in the passage at 31:13 Highlight the passage at 31:13

31:33 And just repeatedly replacing your focus if it gets lost or wanders away. Just like if you were training a puppy, you would just bring it back to the mat or to the newspaper. So no judgment, no anger. Just repeatedly applying it back to the object. Report an error in the passage at 31:33 Highlight the passage at 31:33

· · · silence, 2 minutes

34:14 As your mind begins to calm down, Report an error in the passage at 34:14 Highlight the passage at 34:14

34:21 think about what would really help us at the time of death. Report an error in the passage at 34:21 Highlight the passage at 34:21

34:30 The Buddha taught that the only thing that would go with us is our subtle most mind and that includes the workings of karma. Report an error in the passage at 34:30 Highlight the passage at 34:30

34:46 But nothing else that we put so much attention to in this life can actually go with us. Report an error in the passage at 34:46 Highlight the passage at 34:46

35:03 So actually the only thing that can help you at that moment is... Knowing how to keep your mind calm and virtuous. Being familiar with virtuous states of mind. Report an error in the passage at 35:03 Highlight the passage at 35:03

35:18 And of course any good karma you've accumulated. So Report an error in the passage at 35:18 Highlight the passage at 35:18

35:26 we can think about what we're doing with our lives and our minds moment by moment right now. Report an error in the passage at 35:26 Highlight the passage at 35:26

35:35 And are there things that we could be doing? Report an error in the passage at 35:35 Highlight the passage at 35:35

35:45 So we can begin this meditation by thinking about that Report an error in the passage at 35:45 Highlight the passage at 35:45

35:54 moment of our death. You can imagine a situation where you're on your deathbed. Report an error in the passage at 35:54 Highlight the passage at 35:54

36:03 And you've already had the process of hearing the news and going through the stages of denial and anger and so forth. And you've already been working with it for a while. You've reached some point of acceptance. Report an error in the passage at 36:03 Highlight the passage at 36:03

36:33 Imagine that you've already taken that time needed to put things right, whether it's with people or with your affairs. So Report an error in the passage at 36:33 Highlight the passage at 36:33

36:47 now as you're getting closer, what would help you? Have a peaceful death. What would allow you to let go of this life with less drama, with less fear, less high emotion? Report an error in the passage at 36:47 Highlight the passage at 36:47

37:12 So this meditation is just a way to get clear about that so that we can use our life to prepare. Report an error in the passage at 37:12 Highlight the passage at 37:12

37:25 So it's good to think about the fact that none of our possessions can help us at that time. Report an error in the passage at 37:25 Highlight the passage at 37:25

37:35 So think about the things that you treasure. Report an error in the passage at 37:35 Highlight the passage at 37:35

37:42 The things that you really, especially the things you don't like to share even with anyone, Report an error in the passage at 37:42 Highlight the passage at 37:42

37:50 the things that you worry about, Report an error in the passage at 37:50 Highlight the passage at 37:50

37:57 can they help you at that moment? Do they have any power to help you at that moment? Report an error in the passage at 37:57 Highlight the passage at 37:57

38:20 Your attachment to them can actually hurt you at that moment. Report an error in the passage at 38:20 Highlight the passage at 38:20

38:35 In the end, we lose it all anyway. Report an error in the passage at 38:35 Highlight the passage at 38:35

38:45 We come into this life naked and empty-handed and we have to leave the same way. Report an error in the passage at 38:45 Highlight the passage at 38:45

38:54 None of our possessions or objects of attachment can help us. Just like none of us. Our memories or plans can help us. None of our wealth can help us. Report an error in the passage at 38:54 Highlight the passage at 38:54

39:12 So this doesn't mean that we have to run out and give everything we own away and become beggars or become yogis in caves. Report an error in the passage at 39:12 Highlight the passage at 39:12

39:24 It's more about our mind letting go. Actually, if our minds have let go, we can own anything. Report an error in the passage at 39:24 Highlight the passage at 39:24

39:38 So it's like cultivating a mind that doesn't have this attachment and this clinging. We Report an error in the passage at 39:38 Highlight the passage at 39:38

39:50 waste so much of our time and our things thinking about them. Getting them, worrying about them, protecting them. Report an error in the passage at 39:50 Highlight the passage at 39:50

40:05 And can any of this actually help you at the moment of your death? In that moment, it will all be gone in an instant. Report an error in the passage at 40:05 Highlight the passage at 40:05

40:21 So we can start right now by just letting go of our attachment to them. We can practice this. Report an error in the passage at 40:21 Highlight the passage at 40:21

40:34 You can do it by the ways we discussed. Imagining, giving them away. Report an error in the passage at 40:34 Highlight the passage at 40:34

40:45 You can do what Lenny... Or what my mother did, just begin right now actually marking the things that you want to give to people or start a list. Report an error in the passage at 40:45 Highlight the passage at 40:45

40:58 Even that begins to separate your mind from those things. Report an error in the passage at 40:58 Highlight the passage at 40:58

41:10 Or you can imagine, as Venable Rina suggested, your worst enemy throwing everything you've ever owned and treasured and cared for into a large plastic bag and tossing it off the cliff. Report an error in the passage at 41:10 Highlight the passage at 41:10

41:33 We can imagine giving things away to shelters or schools, churches, thrift stores. Report an error in the passage at 41:33 Highlight the passage at 41:33

41:49 Whatever way that you do it, you can start letting go of the stuff in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 41:49 Highlight the passage at 41:49

41:58 Because even during our lifetime, it takes up a lot of space. Report an error in the passage at 41:58 Highlight the passage at 41:58

42:11 Our loved ones can't help us. Report an error in the passage at 42:11 Highlight the passage at 42:11

42:18 And actually, the people we love may make it harder for us to die peacefully by clinging to us. Or they may... Stir up strong emotions in us at a time when we need to have a calm, stable mind. We Report an error in the passage at 42:18 Highlight the passage at 42:18

42:41 come into this life alone and we must die alone. Report an error in the passage at 42:41 Highlight the passage at 42:41

42:47 And even if other people are holding on to us, we have to continue our journey alone. Report an error in the passage at 42:47 Highlight the passage at 42:47

42:58 Actually, this is the way it always has been. Report an error in the passage at 42:58 Highlight the passage at 42:58

43:09 And their attachment to us can cause us to give rise to attachment of our own. And that causes pain, Report an error in the passage at 43:09 Highlight the passage at 43:09

43:18 even though they may love us very much. They can't prevent us from dying when it's our time to go. Report an error in the passage at 43:18 Highlight the passage at 43:18

43:27 And most of the time they don't know what to do or say to give us a peaceful mind or a peaceful death. Report an error in the passage at 43:27 Highlight the passage at 43:27

43:42 This doesn't mean we have to stop loving people in the same way that the first step didn't mean we had to give up everything. Report an error in the passage at 43:42 Highlight the passage at 43:42

43:53 But we can try to make our love more according to the Buddha's definition of love. Simply wanting another's happiness. Report an error in the passage at 43:53 Highlight the passage at 43:53

44:11 So we can take time now trying to reduce attachment for those we love. To learn to love them without grasping or clinging to them. And to really want their happiness even if it doesn't always include us. Report an error in the passage at 44:11 Highlight the passage at 44:11

44:35 Ultimately no one can share our experience of death with us. Even if there are Dharma friends or teacher trying to help us. Report an error in the passage at 44:35 Highlight the passage at 44:35

44:46 Ultimately we need to make this journey alone. Our Report an error in the passage at 44:46 Highlight the passage at 44:46

45:00 own body can't help us. And actually our attachment to this body. It can be an enormous obstacle at the time of death. Report an error in the passage at 45:00 Highlight the passage at 45:00

45:16 Your body has been your constant companion in this life and you know it more intimately than anything or anyone else. You've cared for it, protected it, worried about it, kept it comfortable and healthy, fed it, cleaned it, experienced all kinds of pleasure and pain with it, and it's been your most treasured possession. Report an error in the passage at 45:16 Highlight the passage at 45:16

45:50 But as you're dying, you have to prepare to separate from it. Report an error in the passage at 45:50 Highlight the passage at 45:50

45:56 Your mind and body won't continue together much longer. Your body will become weak and useless while your mind will become more and more subtle. Report an error in the passage at 45:56 Highlight the passage at 45:56

46:13 And finally your subtlest mind will separate and your body will be buried or burned. Report an error in the passage at 46:13 Highlight the passage at 46:13

46:25 This old body can't help you at all right now. And ultimately all of us will face this moment so Report an error in the passage at 46:25 Highlight the passage at 46:25

46:38 we can begin to reduce our attachment to independence on this body. Now. Report an error in the passage at 46:38 Highlight the passage at 46:38

46:49 We can begin with analyzing what we think of as me. Report an error in the passage at 46:49 Highlight the passage at 46:49

46:58 You are not your body and you never have been. Your body is simply a vessel for this mind this time around. Report an error in the passage at 46:58 Highlight the passage at 46:58

47:15 It's really important to look at this now while you have some space and time to contemplate it. And it's important to give yourself the space and time. Report an error in the passage at 47:15 Highlight the passage at 47:15

47:29 Think about Lama Yeshe as he spoke to his students who were clinging to him. Am I this body? Report an error in the passage at 47:29 Highlight the passage at 47:29

47:45 This is a question we have to begin to ask ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 47:45 Highlight the passage at 47:45

47:51 We care for this body so much and yet at the time of death it begins to disintegrate. Report an error in the passage at 47:51 Highlight the passage at 47:51

48:01 If we think that we are our bodies, just think how much harder that moment will be. Report an error in the passage at 48:01 Highlight the passage at 48:01

48:13 If we haven't thought about that, it's scary enough to go through this without also feeling that we ourselves are disappearing. Our Report an error in the passage at 48:13 Highlight the passage at 48:13

48:31 very subtle mind eventually leaves this body and goes on alone. We might remember things of this life, but most of us won't. Report an error in the passage at 48:31 Highlight the passage at 48:31

48:47 They say that even as soon as your mind leaves this cherished body, this body that we pour so much love into, we stop realizing or recognizing it as me. Report an error in the passage at 48:47 Highlight the passage at 48:47

49:01 But as long as we're in it, even as we're leaving it, we cling to it so desperately. Report an error in the passage at 49:01 Highlight the passage at 49:01

49:23 When we die, everything we know and have experienced will end. And we enter a state we have no memory of. Report an error in the passage at 49:23 Highlight the passage at 49:23

49:38 And we can't bring anyone or anything with us. Even our very identity of this life dissolves. Report an error in the passage at 49:38 Highlight the passage at 49:38

49:51 So the point is that we must start working on our minds now while we have the chance, while we have some time, some clarity, some opportunity. Report an error in the passage at 49:51 Highlight the passage at 49:51

50:05 If we begin now familiarizing ourselves with these positive states of mind, they can more easily arise in our minds at that time. Report an error in the passage at 50:05 Highlight the passage at 50:05

50:19 And if we have some level of stability or concentration, we have a chance to have a calmer, more stable mind. Report an error in the passage at 50:19 Highlight the passage at 50:19

50:35 It's sort of a byproduct, but these are the very things that can help us while we're living. Report an error in the passage at 50:35 Highlight the passage at 50:35

50:45 Having a calmer, clearer, more stable mind, a mind that's able to bear disappointment and pain and fear and loss, actually makes our life that much more peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 50:45 Highlight the passage at 50:45

51:03 We don't have to keep going up and down according to whatever life throws us. Report an error in the passage at 51:03 Highlight the passage at 51:03

51:16 So we can resolve, knowing that nothing else can help us at that moment, that we can devote ourselves wholeheartedly to sincere practice. Report an error in the passage at 51:16 Highlight the passage at 51:16

51:31 Since it's only these strong mental qualities and our karma that go with us into our next life, we have to cultivate these minds now while we're alive. Report an error in the passage at 51:31 Highlight the passage at 51:31

51:45 And that's day by day, moment by moment. Report an error in the passage at 51:45 Highlight the passage at 51:45

51:52 This is really what practice is, Report an error in the passage at 51:52 Highlight the passage at 51:52

51:58 just working with the mind in every moment of every day, becoming more and more mindful, trying to eliminate the negative and trying to develop the positive so Report an error in the passage at 51:58 Highlight the passage at 51:58

52:19 we can motivate this class to each one of us being able to use our life for this very reason, Report an error in the passage at 52:19 Highlight the passage at 52:19

52:32 to be able to cultivate a mind that is positive and virtuous and can accept whatever lies ahead. Report an error in the passage at 52:32 Highlight the passage at 52:32

52:46 So that we can actually benefit all beings. When Report an error in the passage at 52:46 Highlight the passage at 52:46

53:03 you're ready, you can end your meditation in your own time. And we'll start with opening prayer. Report an error in the passage at 53:03 Highlight the passage at 53:03

53:39 I think we'll just do it once, because I was late, but with feeling. Report an error in the passage at 53:39 Highlight the passage at 53:39

53:47 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 53:47 Highlight the passage at 53:47

54:31 So does anybody have any check-in questions or experience or anything that they want to share? Meditation this week or the reading or life or death itself. Yeah. Just a second. I took a note and now. No, you can't find it. It had to do with a fear of death and in the meditations. Report an error in the passage at 54:31 Highlight the passage at 54:31

55:10 It sounded almost like we should have a fear coming up within the meditations, like that will spark something else. I think it sparks. Report an error in the passage at 55:10 Highlight the passage at 55:10

55:21 It's less a fear, like a kind of fear, than it is an urgency. Like really getting it that our time is finite. So it's more that recognition than it is free-floating anxiety. Yeah, because in the meditation I don't really feel a fear. And then I was reading this and I was like... Is it from the readings? Yeah, it was from the readings. Report an error in the passage at 55:21 Highlight the passage at 55:21

55:49 I think it's more just to push you a little bit. It says you need to keep practicing this meditation until such signs appear. So that kind of threw me for a little bit. Yeah, I think it's less fear in terms of panic than it is, it's like a sense of urgency, which I think is different. I actually had this experience where this one woman in a group retreat, we would rotate doing. Report an error in the passage at 55:49 Highlight the passage at 55:49

56:19 motivations before each session and she got into this total panic about the death i don't know what maybe she was doing that it wasn't even that that it was a raja safra retreat actually but um something about it really and so she would just like lead these motivations that were just like you know everyone would be kind of quietly sitting here It was just sheer panic. Report an error in the passage at 56:19 Highlight the passage at 56:19

56:46 Coming through. And we're all kind of like three months of this. And that was, I think, exactly the wrong kind of fear. It was almost like the, you know, like the sort of holy roller kind of fear of God or something like that. It was kind of like taking it to this really degree where actually you can just get paralyzed. Report an error in the passage at 56:46 Highlight the passage at 56:46

57:07 I mean, honestly, if you reach that state, then it's almost just like, what's the point? Like, you just kind of, let's just curl up in fetal position and start rocking. I mean, it's not really like you're going to be able to do anything. So it's actually, you want to be able to have just this sense of, like, get to it, kind of like, yeah, you know, urgency, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 57:07 Highlight the passage at 57:07

57:28 This is my take on it. Because I've done both kinds of fear. One is obviously more constructive than the other, so, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 57:28 Highlight the passage at 57:28

57:40 Anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 57:40 Highlight the passage at 57:40

57:47 Yeah, I've told Chokyi about this via email, but this last Friday I had an experience where I fainted and had convulsions and I was alone. And it turns out I'm okay, but the point of it is that during this experience I realized that I had so much unfinished business that I have still... Lots of my father's things and my mother's things and now my husband's things and all of my things. And I wouldn't want to burden anybody with that. Report an error in the passage at 57:47 Highlight the passage at 57:47

58:30 And I also realized that, as I have with other near accidents, that I really need to ingrain these teachings into my mind so that I can go to them automatically. In the struggle for trying to survive or get through an experience, I think that would probably be foremost in my mind. And if I was unable to, I would hope I could then move into thinking about, meditating about this transition. Report an error in the passage at 58:30 Highlight the passage at 58:30

59:09 In my fantasies, my death would be... Known ahead of time and that someone could help guide me when my consciousness is floating or fearful or whatever and could guide me into the death and dying practices. But there's a really good chance we could die alone and quickly. And that really drives home the point that I need to have this stored and accessible in my mind. Report an error in the passage at 59:09 Highlight the passage at 59:09

59:43 I wasn't sure if you wanted to share it, but I was trying to give you an opening if you did. Because I think what Angela experienced firsthand, and Report an error in the passage at 59:43 Highlight the passage at 59:43

59:55 it's a scary experience, but it's also really, I mean, it's great that you immediately, like within 24 hours at least, whenever you sent me that email, got that lesson from it of like, wow, you know, there was so much that came up that showed me that I wasn't ready for this, which is great. I mean, that's, it's... Report an error in the passage at 59:55 Highlight the passage at 59:55

1:00:15 It's actually an incredible gift to get that while we still have a chance to do something about it. But it also drives home the point that, yeah, if we aren't working with this stuff now, there's a lot of people feel like they could suddenly do the POA practice. There's a lot of discussion of the POA practice. We do a simple version in the Dying Well workshop, but the actual POA practice is quite complex and you need like a... Report an error in the passage at 1:00:15 Highlight the passage at 1:00:15

1:00:45 Empowerment and retreat training and things like that. And so there's a lot of sort of discussion of that as sort of this last ditch effort. And one of my teachers is like, look, if you've been practicing this for 30 years, your chances of being able to pull it off on your deathbed when so many other things are happening and your mind is going all these different places. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:45 Highlight the passage at 1:00:45

1:01:06 Or pretty nil. He's like, just focus on the stuff that you can work on now. I mean, unless you get to the point where you're able to have this empowerment and have a Lama that you're working with and learning the practice, work with Tong Lin. Work with learning how to put your mind in a peaceful place and keep it there no matter what else is happening, no matter what loud vehicles are going by or what other crazy thoughts are coming up in your mind that distract you. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:06 Highlight the passage at 1:01:06

1:01:31 That's where you start. That's where we can start. And all of us can start with that. All of us can start with transforming painful, both physically and mental, physical and mental experiences into the path right now. I mean, we can all start with that because we all have some pain, both physical and mental, that we have to, like, work with. So learning how to bear the suffering that we get doesn't mean we're going to bring more suffering on. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:31 Highlight the passage at 1:01:31

1:01:58 It simply means we'll just learn how to deal with it. And then when that suffering increases, our capacity can also increase. But if we don't start now, we won't be able to deal with an increased capacity. And that moment will be a huge capacity, most likely. It's all dependent upon karma. You know, you don't know what the circumstances are, but your point is well taken with what if we're alone. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:58 Highlight the passage at 1:01:58

1:02:23 Yeah, we'd all like to think of our closest Dharma friends being with us. And sometimes it happens. And that's our goal here, actually, at the Center. We're trying to create a team so that people who are trained can be available. We haven't announced it yet because we're kind of lagging on our meetings. But we are working towards it, and I think actually definitely within the next year, if not the next six months, we'll be ready for that. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:23 Highlight the passage at 1:02:23

1:02:50 But whether you'll have the karma for us to be all available. All that stuff remains to be seen. So you can work on purifying your negative karma and creating the merit and then also figuring out how am I going to get through it. Another thing is any little thing that happens, use it as a way to prepare. Sometimes with every takeoff and landing of a plane, I just think, well, because they say most planes crash on takeoff or landing, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:50 Highlight the passage at 1:02:50

1:03:23 So it's like, okay, if this is it. May my mind stay calm. May I be able to help the people around me. And may I have a great rebirth so I can continue this path. Just really let go if you need to. And then most likely you won't. But if you have to, you've already set a great motivation. And it's kind of putting your mind in that place. Or any time you get turbulence on a plane. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:23 Highlight the passage at 1:03:23

1:03:49 Or even a scary moment in a car. But planes, there's something about it because you're completely passive. You're just sitting there waiting to hear the news. Like, you know, in a car you still somehow feel like you might be able to fix something unless, of course, you're in the backseat or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:49 Highlight the passage at 1:03:49

1:04:04 But, yeah, so using those little moments, like wake-ups, little wake-ups, because one of them could be your last. And at least if you've prepared, then it's like your mind will go almost automatically to that place. So it's a great opportunity. Thanks for sharing that. Are you okay now? Report an error in the passage at 1:04:04 Highlight the passage at 1:04:04

1:04:28 I've been trained as a nurse, and all I could think of was, what do I do, what do I do after it was over? Report an error in the passage at 1:04:28 Highlight the passage at 1:04:28

1:04:37 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so you went into nursing mode for yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:37 Highlight the passage at 1:04:37

1:04:53 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:04:53 Highlight the passage at 1:04:53

1:04:57 yeah. So it's just like, they say it's sort of like you want your practice to arise in your mind as much as like if you're hungry, the thought of food does. Like we don't have to work at that, you know. Like we don't have to work at some of the things that we think of just automatically. And so... Familiarity with this is the same. It's just, it'll help it arise just naturally, you know, because it'll be so common to us in our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:57 Highlight the passage at 1:04:57

1:05:23 But that takes work. That's what practice is. That's just like working with it every day. Anybody else? So we're going to talk about a couple of things tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:23 Highlight the passage at 1:05:23

1:05:37 One of them is... Sort of talking about how we can prepare, which is some of the things that we were just talking about actually. Preparing for the death and the process of dying while we're alive. And for that I'm actually turning to Christine Longacre wrote a book. It's called Facing Death and Finding Hope. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:37 Highlight the passage at 1:05:37

1:06:01 Is anyone familiar with it? Yeah, I think it's a great book actually. I actually put that in my personal death kit for... One, I was sort of preparing my mind for my mom's death, for preparing my mind as I flew across country, assuming that I get some call at some point, and to sort of prepare my mind for things to be thinking about and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:01 Highlight the passage at 1:06:01

1:06:26 And I actually had it with me, but unfortunately the news came too quickly while I was there for me to reread it. But I did reread it on the plane back, and it was quite useful because she also has things about grieving and things which are quite useful. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:26 Highlight the passage at 1:06:26

1:06:39 She is an American Buddhist, and she spent more than 25 years working with the dying based on her own experience at a very, very early age with her husband dying, and both of them were in their 20s when her husband died. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:39 Highlight the passage at 1:06:39

1:06:56 So we're going to look at that, and she actually came up with this list of four tasks of living and dying. She's a student of Solgya Rinpoche, who's the one who, the Lama who wrote the Tibetan book of living and dying. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:56 Highlight the passage at 1:06:56

1:07:09 And then Sanghi Kadro, who is the one who wrote How to Meditate under the name Kathleen McDonald, she kind of added some additional advice to Christine McDonald. So we're going to look at that. And then we're also going to look at the process of the dissolution, the dissolution of the body at the time of death. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:09 Highlight the passage at 1:07:09

1:07:34 So some of you might be familiar with that. We did that in the Introduction to Tantra class, right? So you're familiar with that and you're familiar with it from the Dying Well weekend. But we'll go through the process that it's said that our body, our mind goes through as our body is dissolving as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:34 Highlight the passage at 1:07:34

1:07:52 Our body is actually dissolving at first and as the body dissolves, the elements in the body dissolve, the mind becomes more and more subtle. And so we're going to talk about what that feels like because that's what our meditation assignment will be this week. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:52 Highlight the passage at 1:07:52

1:08:07 And I actually found this, like in some ways when you think about that particular meditation, it seems almost like it will be harder than the ones we've just done. But what I've found experientially is that it's actually easier in some ways because you realize that while you are dying, you're actually going more and more inward. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:07 Highlight the passage at 1:08:07

1:08:29 So you're actually sort of naturally withdrawing from this life. So it's not like so much that you have to think about withdrawing from this life. You're already doing it. So actually that experience made me have less fear because I thought, oh, well, that's useful. But I don't have to be so, you know, clinging because actually your senses begin to withdraw and things like that. So you're just sort of naturally going on your own journey. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:29 Highlight the passage at 1:08:29

1:08:56 And it's useful also. Of course it's useful, and in this class especially we're thinking about it in terms of ourselves, but of course it's useful to know what somebody else is going through if you are with somebody who is dying. So you know what to look for and certain things that you can look for as you're helping them. In this class we're looking at it in terms of ourselves to prepare ourselves for our own death, but of course it's the same process for anyone else that you're with. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:56 Highlight the passage at 1:08:56

1:09:24 So in some ways... Our whole spiritual practice and definitely our whole meditation practice is the preparation for our death. And it's said that a really good practitioner can use the moment of his or her death to gain really high realizations such as the direct perception of emptiness. Even nirvāṇa and enlightenment is possible. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:24 Highlight the passage at 1:09:24

1:09:52 And the rest of us can try really hard to have a peaceful death so that we can have a good rebirth. And that's really great too so that we can continue on our path. If we have this idea that if we're trying now to gain the mind and the skills that we can benefit others in this life, then we can continue that work in our next life if we sort of set the stage karmically. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:52 Highlight the passage at 1:09:52

1:10:21 At the very least, we can aim for not having huge regrets and huge fear and huge emotions arising at the time of our death. Because that in itself will help create the conditions for a better rebirth, just to have a peaceful mind at that moment. And it's not even a Buddhist thought, but we do die the way we live. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:21 Highlight the passage at 1:10:21

1:10:47 So, you know, if we spend our lives... Trying to develop the ability to deal with whatever life throws us, we'll definitely be more likely to be able to deal with it at that moment. If we spend time trying to develop patience, we spend some time trying to develop a mind that can find contentment or even joy, even when we're experiencing suffering, which sounds almost insane. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:47 Highlight the passage at 1:10:47

1:11:19 But it actually is possible. And we're not going to suddenly learn it at that moment. Well, I don't know. Actually, I can't say that. You might. The chances are less likely. It's sort of like... Suddenly sitting down at a concert piano and being able to play a concerto without having given a moment's thought to practicing for 30 years and just walking on stage at Carnegie Hall. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:19 Highlight the passage at 1:11:19

1:11:44 It's very much the same thing and yet we somehow think it's going to be different with spiritual practice. It's exactly the same. So if we have conditions now that... Compared to our deathbed are really great. So no matter what your home situation is like, no matter what your apartment situation is like, no matter how many loud roommates you have or annoying cats or any of those things, it's definitely better than it will be at the moment of your death. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:44 Highlight the passage at 1:11:44

1:12:16 I can guarantee you that. This much I know. I may not know much, but this much I know. So it's really good to use this time to prepare. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:16 Highlight the passage at 1:12:16

1:12:26 and It's also really, really important to remember that death isn't the end. It's simply a transition into a different life. And that this body and identity and life, the way we know it and the way we're perceiving it right now, it's like the Tibetans have this sort of way of looking at it that it's sort of like we're staying in a hotel. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:26 Highlight the passage at 1:12:26

1:12:54 It's like we're a traveler staying in a hotel. This body and this identity is like we don't get so attached to it because we know we're going to be moving on. So we don't think of it as our permanent home, but we think of it as more like a temporary home. And it's that idea of, you know, you don't get super, you know, you don't throw yourself on the ground when it's time to check out of the Ramada Inn, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:54 Highlight the passage at 1:12:54

1:13:18 It's like you know that that's going to happen when you enter it. You might have a good time. It might be a great place, you know. Probably not the Ramada, but, you know. A really nice bed and breakfast, let's say that. Although my body's a little bit more like the Ramada Inn. But you're not going to be so upset when it's time to go because you knew that coming in. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:18 Highlight the passage at 1:13:18

1:13:38 So it's just kind of like reminding yourself of that. This isn't forever. This is just this particular karmic manifestation. And now I'm going to move into the next one. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:38 Highlight the passage at 1:13:38

1:13:49 And that reduces attachment. I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:49 Highlight the passage at 1:13:49

1:13:52 And There are a couple forms of karma that come into what our next life is. Clearly how we've lived our whole lives or as much as of our whole lives, you know, sort of general disposition. I know I've had Lamas ask, you know, like... Well, you know, what was she like generally or what was he like generally? And it's like, oh, he was a good guy, Geshe-la. You know, like he was a good guy, Geshe-la, or like with my mom. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:52 Highlight the passage at 1:13:52

1:14:20 And she was, you know, she was really good. She was kind. She tried to help people, you know. Sometimes she lost her temper, but not so much, not compared to my dad. And then he'd be like, well, she's fine then, you know. I mean, so there's this general thought, you know. It's just kind of like there's, of course, how you live your life in general is definitely going to be the strongest. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:20 Highlight the passage at 1:14:20

1:14:40 Thing that's going to determine your rebirth, your actions, the way you speak towards others, the way you think about others and so forth. But also what's called your throwing karma happens at the moment of your death. And that's why this moment of death is always said to be so important. You know, if we have basically a really good life, but then... Report an error in the passage at 1:14:40 Highlight the passage at 1:14:40

1:15:05 We still haven't controlled our minds and we still tend to fly off the handle. Then we could die with a mind of anger. And so what we're trying to do now is if we can work with our minds so that we can learn to deal with the anger that arises and any kind of uncontrolled emotion like fear or despair or attachment and clinging and so forth, then... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:05 Highlight the passage at 1:15:05

1:15:32 Then our throwing karma is more likely to be coming from a stable, virtuous state of mind that we familiarized ourselves with in life. Otherwise, it is possible to have this kind of negative mind arise and then be thrown into more negative rebirth. Although you might have, if you've been a really great person, you might have really positive completion karma, which would mean basically all the things around you could be very positive. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:32 Highlight the passage at 1:15:32

1:16:02 Throwing karma, which is throwing you into a certain realm of existence, and we'll talk more about this in the final class, would be negative. So it's possible to have a positive and a negative variation of those things, or of course two positives, or of course two negatives, depending on what your life is like. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:02 Highlight the passage at 1:16:02

1:16:23 So, for example, actually, just really quick, one example, we were talking in the karma class about this exact thing. And Shanti came in of all, and Shanti's never come into a class. Shanti is the Dharmasana kitty who lives mostly in my room. She hardly ever comes downstairs. And she came in and I said, so this is a good example of a negative throwing karma, because she's a cat, but a positive completion karma, because she has it made. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:23 Highlight the passage at 1:16:23

1:16:52 I mean, she's well taken care of here. She's got great... Conditions for future rebirths. She's getting mantras all the time and teachings all the time. She's surrounded by nuns and monks and things. She's been blessed by many holy teachers. Hers is a good example of having negative throwing karma but positive completion karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:52 Highlight the passage at 1:16:52

1:17:18 You could also say the same with somebody who ends up with a human body. But ends up on the streets of the city or Bombay or someplace where they had enough positive throwing karma to have human rebirth. But then their completion karma was really crappy. So they have their environment, their outside environment, their physical environment and often their mental environment is not so good. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:18 Highlight the passage at 1:17:18

1:17:49 So it's really important at that time. At the time of death, that's something we have some control over if we're working on it in our minds right now, to try to make that time peaceful, both for ourselves and anyone we're with. So Christine Longacre came up with this list, and we can kind of use it as a series of exercises or some questions that you can pose to yourself right now and work with. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:49 Highlight the passage at 1:17:49

1:18:19 And you could probably work with them. Periodically throughout your life actually because it probably would change. And the first is, so these are four tasks. The first is understanding and transforming suffering and this is what we just were talking about. So this basically is just referring to having an acceptance of whatever problems or difficulties or pain or suffering comes your way inevitably through the course of your life and learning how to cope with them. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:19 Highlight the passage at 1:18:19

1:18:51 In whatever way that means. So clearly if you can start with the little stuff, then you're able and capable and have more capacity to handle the bigger stuff. And even though this sounds really simple, it actually can be a really powerful practice. So just using whatever little disappointments and whatever little bits of pain that you do experience, you end up getting... Report an error in the passage at 1:18:51 Highlight the passage at 1:18:51

1:19:19 A bad cold or you end up with migraine or you end up with, you know, somebody you were planning to get together with somebody and they kind of ditch you at the last minute. I mean, it can be anything, anything like that. You have, you know, you have the choice. You can decide, oh, wow, you know, at the moment of my death, actually I'll lose everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:19 Highlight the passage at 1:19:19

1:19:39 So not only just will I not get to go to dinner that night, you know, but I'm going to lose everything. So it's like it totally changes your perspective. For one thing, on these little things that happen. But it also just sort of allows you to learn to accept. And sometimes acceptance, for me, I know this has been a huge life lesson. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:39 Highlight the passage at 1:19:39

1:20:02 Various, you know, not so much serious diseases or anything like that, but just chronic things. You can really, really use them to work with your mind and just accepting, you know, hey, this is what is. You know, I'm going to have to just stop. I just have to go lay down now, you know. And clearly if I can't do that now, then what am I going to do when I get cancer or something? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:02 Highlight the passage at 1:20:02

1:20:26 You know, I mean, this is just, this is a great stepping stone. So, and asking for help and all those things that we'll have to do when we're very sick. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:26 Highlight the passage at 1:20:26

1:20:36 So ask yourself, you can ask yourself now, how do I react when problems happen to me? You know, whether those problems are physical or mental. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:36 Highlight the passage at 1:20:36

1:20:51 And is my way of reacting healthy or can it be improved? And Report an error in the passage at 1:20:51 Highlight the passage at 1:20:51

1:21:05 what are some ways I can learn to cope better with problems? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:05 Highlight the passage at 1:21:05

1:21:14 So you could also, I mean, I just thought of this while I was preparing for the class, but this could be something that you do on a nightly basis. Kind of like, what problems came up today and how did I deal with them? Just as simple as just taking time to look and think. Not with judgment, you know, like, man, you really screwed that one up, Chad. You know, like that at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:14 Highlight the passage at 1:21:14

1:21:35 Just like... What came at me that I wasn't expecting today and how did I handle it? Very much like a scientist almost. You're just looking at raw data. You're not having any opinion about it. You're just kind of like, could I have improved on that? Especially if you threw a hissy fit. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:35 Highlight the passage at 1:21:35

1:22:01 So the second one is making a connection. And healing relationships and letting go. Three parts. Making a connection, healing relationships and letting go. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:01 Highlight the passage at 1:22:01

1:22:18 So this task refers to our relationship with others, especially our family and close friends and loved ones. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:18 Highlight the passage at 1:22:18

1:22:31 So this is looking at how we communicate with others and how we resolve differences if there are any problems or whether we resolve differences. Or whether we have a sort of tendency of letting them go or getting resentful about them, carrying them with them unresolved. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:31 Highlight the passage at 1:22:31

1:22:59 So the question you can ask yourself is just to think about all your relationships with the people that you're close to, including the people that you might work with. So it's not just friends and family and loved ones, but also you could think about roommates. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:59 Highlight the passage at 1:22:59

1:23:13 Roommates or workmates, co-workers. And just think, are there unresolved problems? Are there problems with communication? And it's not to say that there won't be and that there's anything wrong with you if there is, but just sort of to start looking at how I'm living and interacting with people now because there will be a time that you would want as many of these things sort of resolved as you could. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:13 Highlight the passage at 1:23:13

1:23:40 So if we're doing it all along as we're living, then it's, you know, it's less of a... Mad dash to race around and try to find everyone. It was interesting, Paul always sits there, so Paul Williams and I were talking about during the Dying Well meditation, the same meditation that Lenny was leading us on, imagining our own death. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:40 Highlight the passage at 1:23:40

1:24:07 And we were in the kitchen working on the lunch and we were talking about, I was talking about how it sort of changed for me as I've done that meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:07 Highlight the passage at 1:24:07

1:24:17 And one of them was that there was very, very few people that I had any unresolved stuff with, you know, when she had brought that up. Is there anybody out there that you have something unresolved with and how would you change that now while you still have time? And then, you know, I mean, I could think of like a couple of old friends from high school or something, but there wasn't so, you know, and even then I thought, well, I wonder if I should contact. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:17 Highlight the passage at 1:24:17

1:24:41 So I probably will in a couple of years before I do the meditation. you know So it is interesting to kind of revisit these questions and see what's changed. And it does give you more peace of mind too. It's less distraction. So now we're doing them in the context of preparing for our death, but it also is less of a hindrance. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:41 Highlight the passage at 1:24:41

1:25:03 All of these things are less of a hindrance in your meditation, your ability to concentrate. Because if you've got this stuff out there, I have a friend who just entered a six-month retreat about a month ago. And one of the things that she did actually is send out an apology. So something, you know, clear up something, resolve something before she's set to work. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:03 Highlight the passage at 1:25:03

1:25:26 Because there are what's called the three higher trainings, which is really the way that you attain nirvāṇa. And the basis of everything is ethics. And the reason that that's the basis of everything is that... The next one is concentration. You can't have concentration if your ethics aren't cleaned up. And you can't attain a direct perception of emptiness if you don't have a concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:26 Highlight the passage at 1:25:26

1:25:51 So it's like without learning how to resolve stuff, without learning how to forgive people, without learning how to accept and let go and things like that, then we can't develop concentration either. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:51 Highlight the passage at 1:25:51

1:26:14 So yeah, so you're thinking about your relationships and you're thinking, you know, are there any unresolved problems? And what could I do to start working to resolve some of these problems, if there are, if you find that there are? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:14 Highlight the passage at 1:26:14

1:26:28 Or is it useful? And sometimes it's one-sided. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to contact people. Sometimes it just means that you and your mind have to do some mental work to forgive that person or let go of that, you know, conflict. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:28 Highlight the passage at 1:26:28

1:26:43 I actually found doing bodhicitta a practice. And Tong Lan, both of them are very, very powerful for really just forgiving people. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:43 Highlight the passage at 1:26:43

1:26:57 Finding meaning in life. Now when she wrote this book called Facing Death and Finding Hope, it wasn't necessarily, this list wasn't necessarily written for Buddhists. It was written by a Buddhist about, you know, the spiritual aspects of... You know, as you face death or face death with somebody and how to use that meaningfully. But all of this is stuff that we can use. So finding meaning in life is basically, I mean, a lot of people do go through life without ever really thinking about the purpose of it unless something like this happens. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:57 Highlight the passage at 1:26:57

1:27:36 They're just sort of, you know, following. whatever it is that they think is the right thing to do, which could be raising a family or it could be working a job for 70 hours a week. And so sometimes as we get closer to death, whether we're older or not, as we get closer to death, then this can become a problem because we aren't really sure what was the whole point of all of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:36 Highlight the passage at 1:27:36

1:28:02 So, um... If we think it was all about us working, you know, if the whole meaning of my life is about me providing for my family and working 70 hours a week, what happens when I can't? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:02 Highlight the passage at 1:28:02

1:28:15 And this happens a lot. It happens a lot for people even just as they retire. So here's your question. What is the purpose of my life? You know, why am I here? What is important and what's not important? And, of course, clearly you have to ask yourself this all the time because it's going to change. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:15 Highlight the passage at 1:28:15

1:28:48 Preparing spiritually for death. So she wrote, every religious tradition emphasizes that to prepare spiritually for death, it's vital that we establish right now a daily spiritual practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:48 Highlight the passage at 1:28:48

1:29:04 Angela's words, almost exactly. A practice so deeply ingrained that it becomes part of our flesh and bones, our reflexive response to every situation in life, including our experience of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:04 Highlight the passage at 1:29:04

1:29:18 So the task is to think about yourself at the moment of death, which is, of course, what we've been doing. The kind of thoughts and feelings that would come up in your mind and to think about whatever you've learned, if there's anything you've learned that would give you comfort or peace at that time. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:18 Highlight the passage at 1:29:18

1:29:42 So the suggested practices for this one, she gives five. And one of them, the first one is living ethically. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:42 Highlight the passage at 1:29:42

1:29:55 And this has to do with remembering that... That our death is just a transition and that what determines our next life is how we live, how we act, how we interact with others, what happens with our body, speech and mind. Because our actions of body, speech and mind result in karma, but then ripens. This is according to the Buddhist teachings anyway. So the more that we can understand how karma works and apply that understanding... Report an error in the passage at 1:29:55 Highlight the passage at 1:29:55

1:30:26 That's basically what ethics is. Ethics in Buddhism has to do with non-harm as much as we can. So non-harm for ourself and non-harm for others. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:26 Highlight the passage at 1:30:26

1:30:42 So one way that you can look at, we just talked about this on Thursday night in the karma class, but the ten non-virtues and their opposites, the ten virtues. So the ten non-virtues are three of body, four of speech and three of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:42 Highlight the passage at 1:30:42

1:31:05 Killing, and I'm just really briefly, I'm not going to, in the karma class I spent the entire class on it, but it's interesting to look at because it's, you're looking at the definition of it from the Buddhist point of view which isn't always the same as what we might think. For example, stealing is taking what hasn't been offered. So it's slightly different, you know, that would then of course be, you know, taking a pen from the bank or something like that, you know, unless of course they're. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:05 Highlight the passage at 1:31:05

1:31:33 They're offered as a marketing ploy. It makes you think about every time you use something whether or not it's really been offered or not. You know, if you're staying at somebody's house and you use the shampoo in the shower and you're like, hmm, you know. So you notice that a lot of Buddhists, if you stay with them, they're like, so just help yourself to everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:33 Highlight the passage at 1:31:33

1:31:54 Whatever's mine is yours. It's all because it comes down to this. But here I'll just say them briefly. Killing, stealing. And sexual misconduct, which usually is referring to adultery, in like the loosest meaning of that, if you're in a committed relationship, whether you're married or not. So you don't get off the hook if you haven't gotten married. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:54 Highlight the passage at 1:31:54

1:32:18 And then the four of speech are lying, harsh speech, which is like anything. It could be like screaming at somebody meanly, you know, but it also could be like being really, really snide. you know, or being like You know, that kind of caustic kind of wit that really isn't very funny, especially if you're on the receiving end. Or it could be swearing, but not always. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:18 Highlight the passage at 1:32:18

1:32:48 None of these are inherently, I mean, you know, I could say really have a nice day, but be really, really, you know. Or I could be like, I could swear, but you could know that I was totally like being funny or something, and so you wouldn't be offended. So it has so much to do with my motivation. That's in my heart. Also skillful means, clearly if I was working with street kids it might be better to swear. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:48 Highlight the passage at 1:32:48

1:33:14 So lying, harsh speech and divisive speech, which is speech that divides people. And idle speech, which is basically meaningless speech, which is like most of what we do in West, I think. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:14 Highlight the passage at 1:33:14

1:33:33 I mean, that's everything from gossip to... You know, just blah, blah, blah, which is a lot just habit of, you know, feeling like we have to verbally process everything that happens to us on the planet. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33:33

1:33:51 And again, is that inherently wrong? No. If you're visiting Great Aunt Maggie and you want to make her feel comfortable and she's in the hospital, it could be a really skillful thing to do. And llamas do that one all the time with us when we're all nervous and we can't think of why it is we came to see them and they're like, oh, how are your parents? You know, and stuff like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:51 Highlight the passage at 1:33:51

1:34:10 They use that kind of speech skillfully. The three of mind are covetousness, which is basically the same, just that mind of really strong, desirous attachment of I want. It doesn't necessarily mean I don't want you to have it, but most likely it does. It's more like I'm getting obsessed by wanting this thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:10 Highlight the passage at 1:34:10

1:34:33 So it doesn't necessarily mean I want your thing. But it probably means I want something like a new car or something so that I just can't even think about anything else. It just absorbs my mind to the point where I'm willing to do something negative to get it. So it's not just simple desire. It's really taking it to that next degree. Maliciousness or ill will is the same for aversion. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:33 Highlight the passage at 1:34:33

1:35:01 So it's not just being... You know, annoyed by Chad. It's like this kind of like really wanting him to screw up and like wanting, you know, like working to make that happen, rejoicing when that happens. You know, it's like that really kind of yucky negative mind that we can get close to, but hopefully not that many of us spend our days in it. And then the final one is wrong view, which is, you know, in this case, it's not just. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:01 Highlight the passage at 1:35:01

1:35:30 Not believing in something because we're still at the point where we're checking up, right? And the Buddha actually said it's really good to check up. But it's having this really strong negative mind towards the teachings on karma so that you're not only not believing them, but you're basically telling everybody else around you that they aren't true. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:30 Highlight the passage at 1:35:30

1:35:50 And your mind is so averse that you can't even let them in to consider them anymore. So those last three of mine are very strong minds. So this is just a list because it's like a way to kind of check up. It's like a way to check up on our lives. It's sort of like how we speak, how we act with our bodies, and how we think with our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:50 Highlight the passage at 1:35:50

1:36:17 It's like a way to kind of check up on a regular basis. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:17 Highlight the passage at 1:36:17

1:36:26 And actually, so these are acts, but what led to these acts are... Negative states of mind or delusions like anger, greed and pride. So you can also look at how many times those rise in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:26 Highlight the passage at 1:36:26

1:36:44 Lama Zopa Rinpoche actually has some self-evaluation methods where you're on a daily level, and especially if you have really strong particular ones that you want to work on, like say you're working on jealousy this week. Anger is a big one that he really, really tries to encourage. His students, and especially those who are teaching the Dharma or who are studying to teach the Dharma like those in the master's course in Italy, to really look at the number of times that anger arises and why it's arising and are we remembering to apply the antidotes? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:44 Highlight the passage at 1:36:44

1:37:15 Because as you learn the teachings, you learn that there actually are antidotes to these deluded states of mind or these afflicted states of mind. So these are other ways that you can live ethically. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:15 Highlight the passage at 1:37:15

1:37:31 And actually studying emptiness is like the best antidote for everything. So any understanding at all that you have of how the Buddha saw the nature of reality in any way, if you can apply that towards whatever, it actually acts as the major antidote because that's what's going to cut our ignorance, which is at the base of all of our misdeeds, you know, from blabbing on at the mouth to killing somebody. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:31 Highlight the passage at 1:37:31

1:37:57 It's always this completely... This complete misapprehension of reality that's causing it. It's seeing things as existing in a way contrary to how they actually exist. Otherwise we wouldn't be doing it. So as long as we have that ignorance, we're going to keep doing it. So studying emptiness is actually a really, really good antidote to everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:57 Highlight the passage at 1:37:57

1:38:22 So that leads right into the second one, which is study. So the first one is living ethically. The second one is study spiritual teachings, which doesn't necessarily mean to get more and more teachings. It just means to spend time contemplating them. So it's both. It's like receiving teachings, but then spending time contemplating and meditating on them. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:22 Highlight the passage at 1:38:22

1:38:46 And also to experiment with them, you know, in your daily life, sort of trying them out. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:46 Highlight the passage at 1:38:46

1:38:58 Because it shouldn't, it should be, I mean the Buddha taught to give us personal instructions on how to change our minds and our lives. It's not like academics. And unfortunately in the West it's gotten a little bit academic at times and people read a lot of books. But they forget that these are actually hard instructions. And so actually taking them, this class I think is probably the least likely to become like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:58 Highlight the passage at 1:38:58

1:39:23 Because we're... We're looking at our own death, for God's sakes. So it's almost harder to keep it in that place. But a lot of the other classes, it's easy for us to sort of put it on the shelf and just kind of collect information. So studying spiritual teachings means to, in a sort of methodical way, understand and apply and contemplate and think about so that it still stays juicy and lively and applicable to your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:23 Highlight the passage at 1:39:23

1:39:56 Cultivate a spiritual practice, which is different than studying, right? It's important to know that. Cultivating a spiritual practice basically has to do with working with our mind. Venerbah Bina actually says, practice is changing your mind, that's all. I think I'm going to have her teach something to that effect next year. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:56 Highlight the passage at 1:39:56

1:40:24 Which, of course, that's all. That's the hardest part. But once we're in the dying process itself, there's going to be so much happening around us and within us physically as well as mentally. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:24 Highlight the passage at 1:40:24

1:40:41 And so it's going to be hard enough just dealing with everything that's happening. If we haven't trained our mind already, that's not going to be the moment that it can happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:41 Highlight the passage at 1:40:41

1:40:51 So, again, Again, what practice really means is learning to cultivate positive minds and learning to not follow negative states of mind because it's so much habit the way that we live. So some of the suggestions that she gives are keeping in mind an object of faith, and that might be a teacher. It might be a Buddha or the Buddha, the historical Buddha. It might be some other... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:51 Highlight the passage at 1:40:51

1:41:22 Figure of faith for you, like Mary or Jesus or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:22 Highlight the passage at 1:41:22

1:41:34 Yeah, so I think those are pretty much the biggest ones, but it could sometimes be some sort of inanimate, like just source of love and compassion in the world or something, you know, that could give you some comfort at that time. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:34 Highlight the passage at 1:41:34

1:41:48 And again, you experiment with this at times that you're afraid or times that you're sick. Like what helps you through those times? And then practice with it. And if it's not helping you, then you have a chance to do something about it. So it's great. I mean, life is great for giving you lots of chances to practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:48 Highlight the passage at 1:41:48

1:42:17 Again, remembering that whatever problems come to us are due to karma. So the more that we understand karma, it actually helps us with our level of acceptance for what's happening. Karma doesn't mean destiny or fate. It is changeable. But there is an element that once we're experiencing the ripening of it, there's not a lot we can do at that moment with that particular karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:17 Highlight the passage at 1:42:17

1:42:42 So there is an element of like, okay, this is what's happening now. So how do I deal with this? Report an error in the passage at 1:42:42 Highlight the passage at 1:42:42

1:42:54 Working on non-attachment to our loved ones and possessions, which we've talked about in the last meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:54 Highlight the passage at 1:42:54

1:43:05 Practicing regular rejoicing, looking at what's good about our life and what's good about what we've done. And that's really, really important. It gets very important to be able to do that. I think it's important all the time, but it's especially important at the time of death if you are going into the dying process to feel like there are some things you accomplished in life and that you do feel like you try. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:05 Highlight the passage at 1:43:05

1:43:33 Instead of always looking at... How you screwed up, which I think it's easy for us all to do. And especially as you learn anything about karma and you do things like purification practices, it's really good to balance them with rejoicing. So actually on Sunday I'm going to teach on rejoicing. I'm the, what do you call it, the featured teacher. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:33 Highlight the passage at 1:43:33

1:43:58 I chose the ones near holidays because I figured they'd be the hardest to fill. Yeah, so we're going to talk about, I'm going to talk about, you know, the practice of rejoicing and do that meditation, lead that meditation. It's a nice meditation, and we don't do it often enough. I personally don't do it often enough. I think it's a great one to do. And then, of course, the practice of Tonglen, which we're going to do in the next two classes. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:58 Highlight the passage at 1:43:58

1:44:27 Actually, we're going to spend some time doing Tonglen, but developing this feeling of compassion and love for others. Which actually pulls you out of your, as Lama used to call it, self-pity mind. This mind that's, you know, kind of like just focused on your own problems, your own situation. You're able to then expand out and actually think about others. Again, that won't happen unless you've practiced it. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:27 Highlight the passage at 1:44:27

1:44:57 So, some suggested practices. This is again, I think this is from Sanghi Kadro. Are taking refuge, which is basically a mind, a state of mind, it's not the words. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:57 Highlight the passage at 1:44:57

1:45:16 And whether you're, usually your feeling of refuge has to do with understanding what your current situation is and why you would rely on anything in that situation. So it's sort of like getting how we've created this situation with karma and our kleshas or afflicted states of mind. then we We can take refuge in our teachers or in the Buddhas because they've been able to overcome the situation of karma and kleshas or karma and afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:16 Highlight the passage at 1:45:16

1:45:53 But you can also take refuge in your own future attainments or your own future enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:53 Highlight the passage at 1:45:53

1:46:06 Mindfulness is a good practice. and that's not so much... Mindfulness really has to do with being able to accept whatever is happening in the mind and the body right now. So in meditation, whether it's walking meditation or sitting meditation, there's a quality that's called mindfulness that really makes sure that you are still with the object of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:06 Highlight the passage at 1:46:06

1:46:41 And that's actually very, very similar to a mindfulness in daily life where you're actually making sure that you are still accepting basically whatever is. So if you're in a situation where you have a lot of pain and discomfort, you know how there's that feeling of wanting to bolt? I actually had this recently. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:41 Highlight the passage at 1:46:41

1:47:03 It gave me a lot of extra compassion. I was a labor coach for many years because I was studying to be a midwife. And there is a time when women, it's like the eyes get really wide and they just, they would leave the room in any way possible if they didn't have to have that kid. And then you just have to kind of be with them and you have to kind of say, look, there's really no other way that you can leave this hospital or wherever it is or your bedroom until this baby comes out. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:03 Highlight the passage at 1:47:03

1:47:33 And you can kind of, it's like you just want to escape the pain and you can't. And so you have to figure out a way. To be with the pain and ride the pain. And actually you begin to realize that the pain isn't a solid wall of pain, that it just ebbs and flows. And part of that is mindfulness. It's just being able to be with what is at that moment. And not having attachment to it or aversion to it and just accepting it is what is. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:33 Highlight the passage at 1:47:33

1:47:59 And it's hard. It's a hard practice. I think mindfulness gets a bum rap in our... Culture, especially in California, it's sort of like this idea that we have to walk slowly or do things slowly or something like that. Those are just techniques of helping you really be in the moment, but the practice is being able to accept whatever is. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:59 Highlight the passage at 1:47:59

1:48:21 And it's not easy, but it's a really useful thing once you are in a situation where you have to deal with pain like that or upsetting emotions like a lot of fear rising. How do we deal with a lot of... Emotion arising in us, you know, without just wanting to shut it off, without just wanting to distract, you know. These are things to look at in ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:21 Highlight the passage at 1:48:21

1:48:47 Loving kindness practice, which is basically starting to think about others at a time that we more normally think about ourselves. I mean, all the time we naturally think about ourselves more than others. So beginning to... To cultivate a mind that's able to think about others actually diminishes the mental suffering, surprisingly, because it gets us out of ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:47 Highlight the passage at 1:48:47

1:49:15 And they say at the time of death, if we are able to have even the tiniest... Mind motivated by this mind of bodhicitta, our compassion, our love for others. That's the most powerful mind that, you know, without having these higher attainments and being able to attain liberation, this is like the highest mind that those of us ordinary beings could die with. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:15 Highlight the passage at 1:49:15

1:49:40 And it's such a powerful mind to have at the time of death. So this is the one I'm shooting for. This is the one I'm shooting for because I can sort of imagine that one. And so now it's like, can you do that when you're, you know, physical or mental? Even just remembering to try is huge. Actually, I talked about this with Rinpoche, surprisingly. Now I know why. When I was in New York, I got a chance to see him and I was describing to him this pain that I've been having, that this kind of chronic thing has come back for me. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:40 Highlight the passage at 1:49:40

1:50:17 And I told him that every day I would try to, at the times when the pain, which is thankfully not very much, but it's great practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:17 Highlight the passage at 1:50:17

1:50:27 I said I would try every time to take it on for all beings. I would try and then I would have to end every night doing bodhicitta for practice. And he said that your trying is very good. Very, very good. So I thought, okay. So that to me, it's almost like, It doesn't matter if you screw up. If you're trying, that's the only way you're going to get there. So you just have to keep starting over again. And even though you think, okay, I can't quite do it, you know, because you're just at that moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:27 Highlight the passage at 1:50:27

1:51:00 It's so hard. But you just keep trying. And at some point you actually can, I think. So anyway, but we practice it. That mind turns outward. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:00 Highlight the passage at 1:51:00

1:51:12 It develops these feelings of love and compassion for other beings, and Tonglen is a great way to do that. And then it becomes spontaneous, where it does arise in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:12 Highlight the passage at 1:51:12

1:51:26 And the fourth of her suggestions for practices is using the five wishes, and we're going to talk about this in the next class. I'm sorry, the five powers as a daily practice, the five wishes. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:26 Highlight the passage at 1:51:26

1:51:39 There is a five wishes document. The five powers as a daily practice and then as a time of death. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:39 Highlight the passage at 1:51:39

1:51:50 And then the final of Christine's suggestions is to become familiar with the stages of the death process. And we're going to take a quick break and then I'm going to lead you through this. This is going to be your meditation this week. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:50 Highlight the passage at 1:51:50

1:52:09 But this is a really powerful and interesting meditation, I think, because in Western culture we don't get a lot of teachings on what happens to the body at the time of death. It's interesting that within the Tibetan tradition, this actually comes from the tantric tradition, although this part can be openly taught. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:09 Highlight the passage at 1:52:09

1:52:38 There have been enough recorded experiences of this. Because people work very hard on keeping their minds very calm, they work on levels of concentration that we just aren't even that familiar with, much less have attained with the concentration meditation, such as calm abiding, that they can actually have memories of this dying process and are able to then teach their students from life to life. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:38 Highlight the passage at 1:52:38

1:53:06 That's where these come from, actually, is from the experience of the lamas who taught them and from the teachings of the Buddha, from the tantras, which are oral teachings that he gave. And they say that, according to these teachings, they say that we actually go through these stages when we go to sleep every night, but we just lose mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:06 Highlight the passage at 1:53:06

1:53:35 Conk out, which is why there are certain practices like in dream yoga where you try to maintain that awareness. We like to actually lose our awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:35 Highlight the passage at 1:53:35

1:53:49 We like to just conk out. In fact, we take special drugs to make us conk out. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:49 Highlight the passage at 1:53:49

1:53:56 But they also say that we experience these same stages of dissolution when we sneeze. you know, um, um. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:56 Highlight the passage at 1:53:56

1:54:04 And when we experience sexual orgasm. And then we go through the reverse at the end of each of those stages. But we just don't have any memory of them at that time. Only because our level of concentration isn't so great. Not that it's not happening. And this all is based also on this system of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:04 Highlight the passage at 1:54:04

1:54:29 Being dependent upon the subtle aspect of the body. So there's a subtle aspect of the body as well as a subtle aspect of the mind. And the subtle aspect of the body is what's called wind or prāṇa or lung. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:29 Highlight the passage at 1:54:29

1:54:47 And it's translated often as wind, but it's really more like energy or movement. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:47 Highlight the passage at 1:54:47

1:54:56 So the mind, they describe, the mind is like a rider and the winds are like a horse. And the mind rides the horse. So the horse at this point, the horse gets a little uncontrollable and it's just pulling the mind along with it. But if we train the mind, then it's no longer uncontrollable. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:56 Highlight the passage at 1:54:56

1:55:19 And there are channels in our body that the winds are contained in. And of these, each of the winds is associated with different functions in the body. And uncontrolled winds lead to... Different mental and physical imbalances, which confusingly are also called lung. But that's why. It's really referring to wind imbalance. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:19 Highlight the passage at 1:55:19

1:55:56 So quickly, there's what's called a central channel that goes down. It's actually sort of in front of the spine. It's from the tip of our crown. Through all the way down to the tip of our sexual organ. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:56 Highlight the passage at 1:55:56

1:56:19 And on either side of it run channels that wrap around the central channel at various places. And those places where it wraps are called chakras. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:19 Highlight the passage at 1:56:19

1:56:31 And that much is true for Hinduism as well as Buddhism. But the view of those chakras is different in each. In Buddhism, these knots are actually what we're trying to eliminate. We're trying to loosen them. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:31 Highlight the passage at 1:56:31

1:56:49 And for ordinary people, our winds don't move in our central channel until the moment of death. There's actually these two channels that run next to the central channel, and that's where our winds run. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:49 Highlight the passage at 1:56:49

1:57:09 But in Tantra, we actually are trying to control the winds so that we can actually bring them into the central channel and use... A similar experience to the time of death in meditation. And we're actually able to cultivate using these minds. As we go through this dissolution process, you'll see how your mind gets more and more subtle. And you actually use that in tantra to attain the mind of clear light, which actually can aid you in having a direct perception of emptiness, which is the nature of reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:09 Highlight the passage at 1:57:09

1:57:49 That's the Buddhist thought. So Tantra is using what happens to all of us normally in meditations that are based on what happens to all of us. And we can't go into those any more than that. But it is interesting to note that when the four elements dissolve, death still hasn't occurred, even though the Western view, once the breath and heart stop, is that the person has died. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:49 Highlight the passage at 1:57:49

1:58:19 From the Tibetan point of view, That's not true. And so, of course we're running out of time. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:19 Highlight the passage at 1:58:19

1:58:33 Anyway, it's taught that this process happens with every death, even death like a really sudden, like a gunshot death, for example, or a car accident death. It just happens really quickly. But when we do this meditation, we'll sort of imagine that we have the luxury of having... Report an error in the passage at 1:58:33 Highlight the passage at 1:58:33

1:58:53 A very spacious, relaxed death so that we have time to notice everything. And of course this is all, to help us meditate on it, it's all quite orderly and it may not happen that way in your particular death. It could happen, certain stages could happen more quickly than others. And they actually say the first stage, the earth element dissolving, can actually happen over many years. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:53 Highlight the passage at 1:58:53

1:59:21 years, you know, with this, this. Actually aging is a sign of the earth element dissolving. Getting wrinkles and sunken cheeks and things like that that happen to people as they get older. Or very, very sick people as they get closer to death. And I think we've seen that, right? Whether if somebody's even young, but their face becomes more sunken. I remember noticing that with my mom, even though she was older, but suddenly her face really changed. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:21 Highlight the passage at 1:59:21

1:59:48 And my sister actually pointed it out. And I was thinking it. I was just like, yeah, the earth element's dissolving. It was very interesting to see that shift, that change. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:48 Highlight the passage at 1:59:48

2:00:00 So, if we're really able to, you know, as this is happening, and if it's our death, and if we're really able to keep our mind calm and we're familiar with these stages, we can actually follow them. You hear lamas actually say, oh, the earth element's already dissolved, I'm having the water element's dissolving now. They can actually say where they are in the death process. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:00 Highlight the passage at 2:00:00

2:00:22 I heard this story, I think it was Geshe Lama Kunchuk, who said to his attendant, You know, this is where I basically am in the death process. You should go and, you know, do this and this and this to prepare. This is happening and this will be happening tonight, basically. So they're that calm about it, you know, because they know. It's sort of like, you know, we've passed Philadelphia. New York is coming. So we better prepare for getting off of New York. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:22 Highlight the passage at 2:00:22

2:00:48 I mean, they say it like that. And if we had calm enough minds, we would too. But even if you weren't, if you yourself at least would be like, huh. This is the earth element. You at least are somewhat aware that it's somewhat like what you've been meditating on. So it's not completely what the heck is happening here, which is probably the way most of us have gone through it in our other deaths in life. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:48 Highlight the passage at 2:00:48

2:01:13 So, and then for this particular, which is also another reason why when somebody's dying, it's really good to keep the room calm. I mean, if it's a non-practitioner or a baby practitioner, it's also just to keep their mind happy. But if they really are a practitioner and they're using these steps, then we want to keep the room as calm as we possibly can so that they can use these steps. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:13 Highlight the passage at 2:01:13

2:01:37 Or so that somebody can whisper in Angela's ear what to say, what to think, what to focus on. I mean, because that gets important. And if there's a lot of people talking and things like that or emotion or whatever happening, then the dying person can pick up on it. So why don't you guys just take a... Report an error in the passage at 2:01:37 Highlight the passage at 2:01:37

2:01:57 Two-minute break. Sorry, it's not longer. And then I'm just going to guide you through this. And normally it's okay, and next week you can do it where you can actually lie down and focus on this. But I think probably since I can only go through it quickly, then it's okay to sit up. And then you can ask me questions afterwards. You don't need to turn it off either. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:57 Highlight the passage at 2:01:57

2:02:24 It'll be short. It's basically a potty break and a stretch break. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:24 Highlight the passage at 2:02:24

2:02:45 You're getting over a cold. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:45 Highlight the passage at 2:02:45

2:02:51 Oh, oh, oh. Right before Thanksgiving. I guess the good thing is you should probably get some time off, right? Yeah, that's probably why. Yeah, it's like, hey, I've got an idea. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:51 Highlight the passage at 2:02:51

2:03:09 Well, that's perfect. You can use this time to practice. And they report back on Tuesday. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:09 Highlight the passage at 2:03:09

2:03:33 That's so great. It's so tiny. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:33 Highlight the passage at 2:03:33

2:04:07 What does it do? A couple of days. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:07 Highlight the passage at 2:04:07

2:04:15 Everything is miniaturized, so if you get used to typing on this keyboard, then your muscles change. Right, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:15 Highlight the passage at 2:04:15

2:04:27 It's like a regular laptop. So you can do everything that you can do on a laptop. Yeah, it's a real computer. It's got a wireless card in it. You sticker on the back. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:27 Highlight the passage at 2:04:27

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:04:24 so like a little yeah Report an error in the passage at 2:04:24 Highlight the passage at 2:04:24

2:04:36 The hard drive is solid state, there's no moving parts, and of course there's no CD drive, so that's a problem. It's a little too compact. It's kind of cool for travel though, I would bet. What would be neat is if you could use it with a rollout keyboard or an expandable keyboard. Yeah, I find it easier, like the little mouse pad is in it, and so I found it really helpful last night when I was working with it was a mouse that's wireless. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:36 Highlight the passage at 2:04:36

2:05:10 Yeah, yeah. This isn't so bad, actually. Yeah, but probably an external mouse would be good. Yeah, this would be, you have to have like little tiny fingers. I know, I know. cell phones these days, you practically need... You know, I've gotten so used to my mouse pad that I love that we have all of this on the break. We're like all talking about non-attachment too. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:10 Highlight the passage at 2:05:10

2:05:42 So Chad, you might want to work on your attachment to that. We're all getting into it though. All right, everybody getting ready to die? Report an error in the passage at 2:05:42 Highlight the passage at 2:05:42

2:05:57 Not too many people showed up for the actual death. No, I know that Sandy and Paul both have trips for Thanksgiving. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:57 Highlight the passage at 2:05:57

2:06:15 About the bardo? Yeah. When Geshele gets back? Well, that's what I would like to do, when Geshele gets back. Yeah, I mean, so he gets back on the 18th of January, so we'd have to just figure out, get an appointment with Lama and then just all those who could come. And those, even if you couldn't come, you could be part of, like, we could have your name in the letter or something so that you feel included and then just go through the process of doing a formal request. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:15 Highlight the passage at 2:06:15

2:06:44 Yeah, I'd like to do that, too. Yeah. Yeah. And then, of course, after we do all that, he'll be like, no need. No, it's good. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:44 Highlight the passage at 2:06:44

2:06:55 All right. So we're going to go through the eight stages of the dissolution of the death process. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:55 Highlight the passage at 2:06:55

2:07:05 Oh, we're still missing one. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:05 Highlight the passage at 2:07:05

2:07:18 When you're doing this one at home, this is actually one that you can do lying down. I have this tape. It's kind of nice to either record somebody doing it or record your own voice doing it. I don't know how that would feel. I have one that I have an Australian monk, Veneral Pende, doing it, and he was leading us in this meditation. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:18 Highlight the passage at 2:07:18

2:07:42 At Tushita in Dharamsala in India. So it's kind of interesting because you can hear the monkeys running across the tin roofs. Like as you're trying to die. And they're making all this noise and the dogs are running in a pack outside and stuff. You know, it's kind of interesting. But I like that tape and I always take it with me into retreat, every retreat I ever do. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:42 Highlight the passage at 2:07:42

2:08:03 Because if there's ever a point where I'm really sick or I get a really bad migraine or something comes up and I... This is one that's perfect for that time. If you're totally sick, it couldn't be any better. You just put it on. That's the tape, so maybe I can make a CD out of it. But yeah, you just play it and you just lay flat out on the floor and you can practice going through the steps. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:03 Highlight the passage at 2:08:03

2:08:27 So it's one meditation that you can do no matter how you're feeling. I always like to bring it along on retreats. Or like when I would go visit my mom, I could... Put it on after she had gone to sleep. I'd just lie there in bed and do that one, you know. It didn't bother her. I didn't need any lights. Okay, so just take a moment to just kind of calm your mind again and just let whatever we've talked about just sort of settle. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:27 Highlight the passage at 2:08:27

2:08:56 You can kind of imagine like sediment settling in a glass of clear water. You're back to still. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:56 Highlight the passage at 2:08:56

2:09:10 You can just imagine yourself again lying in bed and wondering what's next. You've come face to face with death. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:10 Highlight the passage at 2:09:10

2:09:31 So these eight stages correspond to the gradual dissolution of the various factors, such as the four elements of earth, water, fire and air. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:31 Highlight the passage at 2:09:31

2:09:42 And as you pass through these stages, there are different internal and external signs. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:42 Highlight the passage at 2:09:42

2:09:52 And internally, you'll have a certain vision, sort of an internal experience. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:52 Highlight the passage at 2:09:52

2:10:06 So the first is when the earth element dissolves. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:06 Highlight the passage at 2:10:06

2:10:13 And when the earth element loses its power, the body becomes thinner, the limbs become more loose, and sometimes it feels as though the body is sinking under the earth. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:13 Highlight the passage at 2:10:13

2:10:33 I say that it feels like a mountain is on our chest, which can be very scary if one isn't prepared. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:33 Highlight the passage at 2:10:33

2:10:49 When the aggregate of form absorbs, the limbs become smaller, the body becomes weak and powerless. The luster of the body diminishes and all of your strength is consumed. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:49 Highlight the passage at 2:10:49

2:11:18 When the basic mirror-like wisdom dissolves, that's the ordinary consciousness that can perceive many thoughts at once. Our sight becomes unclear and dark and our ability to perceive many things simultaneously decreases. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:18 Highlight the passage at 2:11:18

2:11:46 This affects the eye sense and we can't open or close our eyes. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:46 Highlight the passage at 2:11:46

2:12:01 The internal sign is the appearance of a mirage, like a shimmery, silvery blue mirage. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:01 Highlight the passage at 2:12:01

2:12:22 As the water element dissolves and loses its power, all of our body fluids begin to dry up. So our saliva, sweat, urine, mucous membranes, blood, lymph and so on begin to dry up. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:22 Highlight the passage at 2:12:22

2:13:00 Begin to feel like they're going underwater, like it feels like they're being pulled underwater. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:00 Highlight the passage at 2:13:00

2:13:17 When the aggregate of feelings absorbs, Report an error in the passage at 2:13:17 Highlight the passage at 2:13:17

2:13:23 the body consciousness or touch consciousness can no longer experience the three types of feelings that accompany sense consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:23 Highlight the passage at 2:13:23

2:13:43 When the basic wisdom of equality dissolves, this is our ordinary consciousness that's aware of pleasure, pain and neutral feelings. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:43 Highlight the passage at 2:13:43

2:13:57 We're no longer aware of the feelings accompanying the mental consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:57 Highlight the passage at 2:13:57

2:14:05 So we no longer have any experience of pleasure, pain and neutral. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:05 Highlight the passage at 2:14:05

2:14:19 This affects the ear sense and one no longer hears external or internal sounds. It's like a buzzing and then silence. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:19 Highlight the passage at 2:14:19

2:14:40 The internal sign is an appearance of smoke. They say like a stick of incense. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:40 Highlight the passage at 2:14:40

2:14:59 As the fire element dissolves, one can no longer digest food or drink. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:59 Highlight the passage at 2:14:59

2:15:11 The aggregate of discrimination absorbs, which is the ability to discriminate between the people and situations around you. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:11 Highlight the passage at 2:15:11

2:15:22 You're no longer aware of the affairs of people close to you. As Report an error in the passage at 2:15:22 Highlight the passage at 2:15:22

2:15:36 the basic wisdom of analysis dissolves, you can no longer remember the names of the people closest to you or the things about this life. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:36 Highlight the passage at 2:15:36

2:15:52 This affects the nose sense. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:52 Highlight the passage at 2:15:52

2:15:58 One sense of smell is gone, Report an error in the passage at 2:15:58 Highlight the passage at 2:15:58

2:16:03 your inhalation weakens and your exhalation is strong and lengthy. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:03 Highlight the passage at 2:16:03

2:16:20 The internal sign is an appearance of fireflies or sparks within dark smoke, like throwing dry grass into a fire. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:20 Highlight the passage at 2:16:20

2:16:39 The wind element dissolves and Report an error in the passage at 2:16:39 Highlight the passage at 2:16:39

2:16:46 as the wind element loses its power, the ten winds move into the heart. And inhalation and exhalation cease. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:46 Highlight the passage at 2:16:46

2:17:02 As the aggregate of compositional factors absorbs, you can no longer move or experience different textures. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:02 Highlight the passage at 2:17:02

2:17:17 As the basic wisdom of achieving activities dissolves, you're no longer aware of external worldly activities or purposes. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:17 Highlight the passage at 2:17:17

2:17:31 This affects the tongue sense, and the tongue becomes thick and short, and the root of the tongue becomes blue. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:31 Highlight the passage at 2:17:31

2:17:48 You experience an internal sign, the appearance of a dull orangey red light about to go out, like a sputtering candle flame or butter lamp about to go out. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:48 Highlight the passage at 2:17:48

2:18:15 So from the western point of view, it would now be clinically dead. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:15 Highlight the passage at 2:18:15

2:18:24 But from a Tibetan point of view, only the gross mind and the four physical elements have dissolved. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:24 Highlight the passage at 2:18:24

2:18:38 As the 80 instinctive conceptions dissolve, The white vision appears. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:38 Highlight the passage at 2:18:38

2:18:48 So when the aggregate of consciousness dissolves, the 80 conceptions dissolve, Report an error in the passage at 2:18:48 Highlight the passage at 2:18:48

2:18:57 the winds in the right and left channels above the heart enter the central channel at the top of the head, and you experience an internal sign of a clear vacuity or vast space filled with white light. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:57 Highlight the passage at 2:18:57

2:19:17 I say it's like moonlight without the moon and a clear sky. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:17 Highlight the passage at 2:19:17

2:19:26 This is called the white vision and this is the arising of the subtle mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:26 Highlight the passage at 2:19:26

2:19:39 As the white vision dissolves, the wind in the right and left channel below the heart enter the central channel at the base of the spine. You Report an error in the passage at 2:19:39 Highlight the passage at 2:19:39

2:19:54 experience the internal sign of the white vision dissolving and now a very clear vacuity or vast space filled with a coppery red light. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:54 Highlight the passage at 2:19:54

2:20:11 This is called the red vision. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:11 Highlight the passage at 2:20:11

2:20:17 They say it's like the red of a sunset without the sun. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:17 Highlight the passage at 2:20:17

2:20:30 The red vision dissolves and the upper and lower winds gather at the heart and then surround what's called the indestructible drop at the heart and absorb into it. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:30 Highlight the passage at 2:20:30

2:20:50 And the internal sign is a very clear vacuity filled with darkness. And Report an error in the passage at 2:20:50 Highlight the passage at 2:20:50

2:21:03 then as if swooning, you fall into unconsciousness. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:03 Highlight the passage at 2:21:03

2:21:17 And then the dark vision dissolves. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:17 Highlight the passage at 2:21:17

2:21:22 All the winds dissolve into the very subtle life-bearing wind and the indestructible drop at the heart. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:22 Highlight the passage at 2:21:22

2:21:33 And the internal sign is a very clear vacuity or vast space filled with clear light. This is the mind of clear light. And they say it's like the sky just before dawn in autumn in the Himalayas. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:33 Highlight the passage at 2:21:33

2:22:00 This is the most subtle and pure level of your mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:00 Highlight the passage at 2:22:00

2:22:15 It's mind, not light, but it's very subtle, and so it's compared to this clear, empty sky at dawn. So Report an error in the passage at 2:22:15 Highlight the passage at 2:22:15

2:22:27 you focus on this light for as long as you can. And Report an error in the passage at 2:22:27 Highlight the passage at 2:22:27

2:22:39 when the clear light of death ceases, the consciousness passes back through the stages of dissolution in reverse order, from clear light into dark near attainment, into red vision, into white vision, into the flickering light of a candle, into sparks. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:39 Highlight the passage at 2:22:39

2:23:05 Into smoke, Report an error in the passage at 2:23:05 Highlight the passage at 2:23:05

2:23:10 into a shimmery blue mirage. And Report an error in the passage at 2:23:10 Highlight the passage at 2:23:10

2:23:17 as soon as this process ends, you would be born into an intermediate state or bardo. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:17 Highlight the passage at 2:23:17

2:23:36 So they say it's very good to practice this meditation as you're going to sleep at night to familiarize yourself, at least with the internal experiences at each stage. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:36 Highlight the passage at 2:23:36

2:23:58 But for us at this moment, then we will dedicate this class and this meditation. To each of us being able to use this understanding and any experience we gain at all to be able not only to prepare for our own peaceful death, but a very positive rebirth to follow it. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:58 Highlight the passage at 2:23:58

2:24:30 And that each of us is able to allow this life to become the cause of our own happiness and the happiness of others. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:30 Highlight the passage at 2:24:30

2:24:51 Ready? You can end your meditation. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:51 Highlight the passage at 2:24:51

2:25:01 And if anybody has any questions, you can ask them. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:01 Highlight the passage at 2:25:01

2:25:20 I saw one formulating. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:20 Highlight the passage at 2:25:20

2:25:28 Going from the very personal sort of, you know, going so deep far inside and then making the connection with all other beings sort of seems like a big leap. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:28 Highlight the passage at 2:25:28

2:25:43 I don't know if that's a question. Your personal experience, yeah. You mean at the time of the dedication? We write the clear light, the mind of clear light, and then all of a sudden thinking about other beings again. Yeah, and actually this is called what we have in our ordinary death situation. Sometimes you see it described as mother clear light and son clear light. And it's mother clear light is the actual mind of clear light. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:43 Highlight the passage at 2:25:43

2:26:24 Clear light is basically trying to create a similar experience in meditation that allows us to directly perceive emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:24 Highlight the passage at 2:26:24

2:26:36 But, yeah, I think it's just familiarizing yourself with the mind of bodhicitta, you know, because if that mind is there and you're really familiarizing yourself no matter what your experience is, then that mind follows you through that experience. So that mind is permeated with bodhicitta. So it's not so much of a leap because it's already there. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:36 Highlight the passage at 2:26:36

2:27:05 But you can play with it and see when you're doing this meditation if you're able to sort of keep that little mind of bodhicitta. Because this is the process as our body is dissolving and all these things are happening. And they actually say that... The dissolution of the body, especially the various elements of the body, can actually cause hallucinations to happen. So it's very hard to keep a calm, controlled mind during this stage. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:05 Highlight the passage at 2:27:05

2:27:35 And so it's even harder, of course, to keep the mind of bodhicitta. That's probably why we motivate and dedicate everything with it, to try to just keep it in our mind all the time. And you'll hear these stories of Lama's yelling in the person's ears as they're dying, you know, remember bodhicitta, you know. And of course if you have no personal experience of what that means, then it's just a word, you know, just like remember Report an error in the passage at 2:27:35 Highlight the passage at 2:27:35

2:28:03 compassion. But the more you have like a taste of it, the more that it means something to you, you know. Could it also be realizing that, you know, where you're going is also the center of everyone else? The mind of clear light is also sort of the center most basic element of everyone else. Yeah, I mean, especially... Yeah, well, yeah, everybody at their innermost nature has this incredibly pure, subtle mind of clear light. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:03 Highlight the passage at 2:28:03

2:28:36 So, yeah, that's another way to look at it, that no matter what they are manifesting as in this lifetime, it's like we all are at the very root. There's this tiny little subtle nature of mind. Of course, with all of our seeds of karma and things like that that we've collected. But yeah, it sort of purifies how we view other people. Because we're just manifesting in all these different forms based on karma. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:36 Highlight the passage at 2:28:36

2:29:10 Sometimes Lama Zopa Rinpoche will look at a really oddly shaped... You know, you know, Report an error in the passage at 2:29:10 Highlight the passage at 2:29:10

2:29:14 And he'll just look at it and he'll just have this whole compassion. He'll say, nobody wants a body like that. It's just formed by its karma, you know. And it's so different because we're kind of used to it like with a praying mantis or something would be like, you know, I wouldn't even think about that that way. But the way he looks at it, it's just like, you wouldn't want a body like this. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:14 Highlight the passage at 2:29:14

2:29:33 It's just formed from your karma, you know. And we're the same. Anyway, I don't know if you had any more. Anybody else? Did you have anything? Report an error in the passage at 2:29:33 Highlight the passage at 2:29:33

2:29:45 Questions even, because we didn't have so much time to discuss each one. So what it's talking about, it's talking about the elements dissolving, but then it's going into these things. Aggregates are basically body and mind. In the Heart Sūtra, they're talking about the five aggregates. Four of them are mental, from a Tibetan point of view, or from the Buddhist point of view. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:45 Highlight the passage at 2:29:45

2:30:05 Four of them are mental, and one of them is physical. The physical aggregate is called form. And then there's the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of discrimination, the aggregate of compositional factors, which is basically the aggregate of everything else. And then there's the aggregate of consciousness. So that word might be unfamiliar to people. And then it also goes through the five wisdoms also dissolve. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:05 Highlight the passage at 2:30:05

2:30:33 And so it talked about the basic mirror-like wisdom, the wisdom of equality, the wisdom of analysis. And the wisdom of achieving activities. So those different wisdoms dissolve also. These are just ways that we sort of analyze the different parts of what make us body and mind. And then at the time of death they all begin to dissolve. And that process of dissolving creates a different inner experience in us. And so that's sort of like as these things. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:33 Highlight the passage at 2:30:33

2:31:08 We would just think of it like. My flesh begins to dissolve or something like that. We think of it more like kind of grosser. They're thinking about it like the actual parts of our mind that allow us to discriminate between this and this are called something because they've analyzed the mind in this way. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:08 Highlight the passage at 2:31:08

2:31:25 And as that dissolves, that naturally means that you can no longer discriminate those things. It kind of then breaks it down and it makes more sense to me when I do this. It's like, oh, well, that makes sense. Then I wouldn't be as interested. You know, Molly and Billy in the room, you know, because I wouldn't even, I just kind of had withdrawn into my own process at that point, which I actually found somewhat comforting. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:25 Highlight the passage at 2:31:25

2:31:51 Anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 2:31:51 Highlight the passage at 2:31:51

2:32:01 Cedric's still going through his experience. All right. Well, then I will let you guys go. Yes, of course, this one. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:01 Highlight the passage at 2:32:01

2:32:19 Give this attention Chokyi tomorrow. Thank you. Did you send an email yet to Malam with JPEG? No. Okay. Let me know if you need any help with that or if you don't get a response or something. He's usually pretty good, actually. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:19 Highlight the passage at 2:32:19

2:32:39 I think the oral transmission ended, but now I think he's been forced to do, or happily encouraged to do, a retreat with the monks of Sarah. Yeah, we all got this little, like, you want me to send, I should send you his email. update, I guess I thought it was a good idea, so, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:39 Highlight the passage at 2:32:39

2:33:12 I've heard this handled in different ways. It depends on the level of the practitioner. Somebody like Lama Yeshe, who would probably stay in meditation for quite some time after the point that we would think he was legally dead. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:12 Highlight the passage at 2:33:12

2:33:31 So we wouldn't want to disturb his body at all. And they actually say it's good not to, and I didn't get to that because we didn't have much time, but it is good not to disturb the body as long as it's still going through this process. And it's hard to do that in a hospital situation. It's hard enough in a hospice situation in this country, but I have heard of it. But part of the reasoning is because we don't know where they are in the process, and especially are they using this process to do this deep meditation on emptiness, for example. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:31 Highlight the passage at 2:33:31

2:33:58 So we don't want to rip their organs out, right? But I have heard actually some Lama say, I think His Holiness is one of them, that if your motivation to give your organs is to benefit another and you're somebody like me who's not at that level, then it might be actually a really beneficial thing and that would outweigh any disturbance, especially if they could do it in a way that was as, you know... Report an error in the passage at 2:33:58 Highlight the passage at 2:33:58

2:34:26 The least amount of disruption to you during this process of your subtle mind leaving the body. So I have heard that it just depends on the person. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:26 Highlight the passage at 2:34:26

2:34:39 That just didn't come up in the Buddhist time, but it is an incredibly giving mind that would want to do that. Leave Report an error in the passage at 2:34:39 Highlight the passage at 2:34:39

2:34:55 the tables up and we'll stack the cushions. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:55 Highlight the passage at 2:34:55

2:35:01 But I have to kind of rearrange And I know you're like, you guys are like, you guys have Report an error in the passage at 2:35:01 Highlight the passage at 2:35:01

2:35:12 that with your... It's Report an error in the passage at 2:35:12 Highlight the passage at 2:35:12

2:35:22 actually in there, but it's... Yeah, we do group prayers. Section Ling and Liberation Prison Project do prayers together once a week for the center. better? Is that um? Report an error in the passage at 2:35:22 Highlight the passage at 2:35:22