Discovering Buddhism - Death and Rebirth (11 December 2007)

0:03 Thank you for everyone else's schedules. Report an error in the passage at 0:03 Highlight the passage at 0:03

0:08 This Report an error in the passage at 0:08 Highlight the passage at 0:08

0:16 is our last class, which is somehow shocking. Report an error in the passage at 0:16 Highlight the passage at 0:16

0:28 Oh, there you go. Planning ahead. Report an error in the passage at 0:28 Highlight the passage at 0:28

0:36 Is there any? Well, I guess I'll ask about that later, if you do get it. So Report an error in the passage at 0:36 Highlight the passage at 0:36

0:46 we're going to start. I'm going to leave you guys in Tung Len. Report an error in the passage at 0:46 Highlight the passage at 0:46

0:54 Tung Len, you're so familiar with, and you've been doing this repeatedly every day, three or four hours. course. Report an error in the passage at 0:54 Highlight the passage at 0:54

1:08 It is a really good one to know for that moment. And it's one that we can practice all the time. You can actually do it. The more familiar you come with it, the more easily you can do it when somebody's upset in front of you and you don't have any real way to help them. Or somebody's sick and you're just sitting with them. Report an error in the passage at 1:08 Highlight the passage at 1:08

1:34 you're watching the news and the stories are so heartbreaking. Report an error in the passage at 1:34 Highlight the passage at 1:34

1:40 just a way to immediately put this practice. I Report an error in the passage at 1:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40

1:50 forgot to put this on. Did you hit? Okay, good. You were smarter than me. Report an error in the passage at 1:50 Highlight the passage at 1:50

1:58 So I just start with taking some nice deep breaths and letting go of your day. And Report an error in the passage at 1:58 Highlight the passage at 1:58

2:18 imagine each breath dissolving all the things that might be blocking you or distracting you. Report an error in the passage at 2:18 Highlight the passage at 2:18

2:32 All the other things you might be thinking about in your life. All the other plans and so forth. And just let them dissolve. Imagining them just dissolving. Your body and your mind becoming more and more clear, more and more present, more and more aware. Report an error in the passage at 2:32 Highlight the passage at 2:32

3:04 We'll just start with a short meditation on the breath. So again, remembering to keep your spine extended, shoulders back, head slightly tucked. Report an error in the passage at 3:04 Highlight the passage at 3:04

3:21 Hands either in your lap or on your knees. Report an error in the passage at 3:21 Highlight the passage at 3:21

3:29 Eyes either open and unfocused or gently closed. Tongue on the roof of your mouth and breathing relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 3:29 Highlight the passage at 3:29

3:47 And just focus on your breath for a few moments to bring your mind to neutral. Report an error in the passage at 3:47 Highlight the passage at 3:47

· · · silence, 2 minutes

6:16 So just begin with picturing somebody in front of you and choose somebody that you love very much, that Report an error in the passage at 6:16 Highlight the passage at 6:16

6:31 you know very well, you know in detail the kind of problems that they face. Mental, physical, spiritual. And Report an error in the passage at 6:31 Highlight the passage at 6:31

6:46 then picture this person sitting in front of you and start imagining all of the different problems that they have. Report an error in the passage at 6:46 Highlight the passage at 6:46

6:59 Whether it's depression or loss or illness, pain, physical pain, mental pain, Report an error in the passage at 6:59 Highlight the passage at 6:59

7:10 anxiety. Take some time to visualize that. Report an error in the passage at 7:10 Highlight the passage at 7:10

· · · silence, 1 minute

8:12 And now feel really strongly that you want to remove this suffering from this person. This is compassion. The wish to remove another suffering, to take it away completely. Report an error in the passage at 8:12 Highlight the passage at 8:12

8:41 And then imagine all of their pain and suffering taking the form of black smoke in their body and in their mind. And imagine that you can see that black smoke and then on your breath begin to pull that black smoke from all the parts of their body and mind into a little black ball like a marble at their heart. Report an error in the passage at 8:41 Highlight the passage at 8:41

· · · silence, 1 minute

9:52 And make sure you don't leave any behind and Report an error in the passage at 9:52 Highlight the passage at 9:52

9:58 that it's all contained in this little black ball at their heart. And Report an error in the passage at 9:58 Highlight the passage at 9:58

10:14 now make a decision to breathe all of this pain and suffering, all of their afflicted mind, into your own selfish mind so that you can use it to destroy your own selfish mind, your self-cherishing mind. Report an error in the passage at 10:14 Highlight the passage at 10:14

10:36 This mind is the cause of all your suffering because it causes you. To do negative acts, this mind is your true enemy. Report an error in the passage at 10:36 Highlight the passage at 10:36

10:54 Use this meditation to destroy this enemy and release our love, compassion, bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 10:54 Highlight the passage at 10:54

11:07 So begin slowly to breathe this black smoke out of the person in front of you. So imagine that the little hard ball becomes smoke and rises up and out of their nostrils and into the air in front of you. Report an error in the passage at 11:07 Highlight the passage at 11:07

11:29 Now with each breath, You're able to pull more and more of it out and it hangs in the air between you. Report an error in the passage at 11:29 Highlight the passage at 11:29

11:59 Look in your own heart for a moment and imagine something really specific you've done, maybe today, maybe in the past couple of days that's very, very selfish. Report an error in the passage at 11:59 Highlight the passage at 11:59

12:18 It doesn't have to be anything gigantic. It can be some time that you got defensive, angry, irritable. Report an error in the passage at 12:18 Highlight the passage at 12:18

12:30 And demanded attention, whatever it was. Imagine that selfish mind taking the form of a hard black rock at your own heart. And Report an error in the passage at 12:30 Highlight the passage at 12:30

13:08 now slowly breathe that black smoke in through your nostrils. With each breath, let it come in slowly and descend to your heart where it encircles that hard, cold black rock. That casing that allows us to block all the good feelings. Report an error in the passage at 13:08 Highlight the passage at 13:08

13:44 And then with one final breath, imagine that black rock exploding, Report an error in the passage at 13:44 Highlight the passage at 13:44

13:52 followed by a puff of smoke, followed by blackness. And Report an error in the passage at 13:52 Highlight the passage at 13:52

14:04 out of that darkness, become aware that there's a white glowing in your heart that's getting stronger and stronger. And this is your compassion and love that's been freed by destroying both the suffering of the person in front of you and your own selfish mind. Now Report an error in the passage at 14:04 Highlight the passage at 14:04

14:34 see the relief in the eyes of the person in front of you. For having all their suffering removed completely without a trace. Report an error in the passage at 14:34 Highlight the passage at 14:34

14:51 And feel really happy that you've taken away that suffering completely. Report an error in the passage at 14:51 Highlight the passage at 14:51

14:59 Feel really happy about the baby bodhicitta glowing in your heart. Report an error in the passage at 14:59 Highlight the passage at 14:59

15:17 And just rest in that stillness, the vastness of your own pure, clear, loving mind. Report an error in the passage at 15:17 Highlight the passage at 15:17

15:42 And now generate a feeling that you want to give that person happiness. This is the Buddhist definition of love. Report an error in the passage at 15:42 Highlight the passage at 15:42

16:03 So you begin with imagining that white glowing light at your heart and start trying to breathe it out almost like a cloud up from your heart through your own nostrils until it hangs in the air between you. Report an error in the passage at 16:03 Highlight the passage at 16:03

16:23 And imagine that white cloud containing all your own best qualities, everything that that person might need to be happy, Report an error in the passage at 16:23 Highlight the passage at 16:23

16:38 whether it's happy in one moment right now or whether it's... Ultimately, eternally happy. Report an error in the passage at 16:38 Highlight the passage at 16:38

16:48 Maybe it's good health, peace of mind, Report an error in the passage at 16:48 Highlight the passage at 16:48

17:01 enough money, a new home, a new job and Report an error in the passage at 17:01 Highlight the passage at 17:01

17:13 just start breathing it into them. Report an error in the passage at 17:13 Highlight the passage at 17:13

17:19 First it stays connected to your own heart and as you breathe and they breathe it in, you share that breath. Report an error in the passage at 17:19 Highlight the passage at 17:19

17:50 Imagine finally that the person breathes it in and it leaves your heart, this white light filled. With joy and peace and happiness and Report an error in the passage at 17:50 Highlight the passage at 17:50

18:08 see that they're filled up with this white light and that they're totally happy and that they're deeply at peace. Report an error in the passage at 18:08 Highlight the passage at 18:08

18:28 And imagine that now that they have everything they need to be happy in a worldly sense, you can also fill them with the teachings and Report an error in the passage at 18:28 Highlight the passage at 18:28

18:43 that they're able to transform into a body of light, Report an error in the passage at 18:43 Highlight the passage at 18:43

18:50 a fully enlightened Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 18:50 Highlight the passage at 18:50

18:58 Really try to feel how happy you'd be to be able to give this to somebody. Report an error in the passage at 18:58 Highlight the passage at 18:58

19:32 We motivate this class to each one of us being able to develop this enormously courageous, vast mind of bodhicitta so that we can truly be a benefit, Report an error in the passage at 19:32 Highlight the passage at 19:32

19:51 not just to all the beings around us, not just to those we already love, but ultimately to all beings and that we use whatever time we have left of this precious life to generate this mind. When Report an error in the passage at 19:51 Highlight the passage at 19:51

20:22 you're ready, we'll say the opening prayer. Report an error in the passage at 20:22 Highlight the passage at 20:22

20:46 With Report an error in the passage at 20:46 Highlight the passage at 20:46

20:54 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. With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 20:54 Highlight the passage at 20:54

21:36 Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains. As long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 21:36 Highlight the passage at 21:36

22:09 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. Oh, Report an error in the passage at 22:09 Highlight the passage at 22:09

22:42 I'm missing Paul, the other Paul. We only get one Paul at a time, I guess. They're never in the same room at the same time. Report an error in the passage at 22:42 Highlight the passage at 22:42

22:56 No, it's not Paul. Report an error in the passage at 22:56 Highlight the passage at 22:56

23:00 this, um, Between this class and the practice day, try this meditation with different people. Experiment with different people. Don't just stick with people that you already totally love. Start experimenting with maybe somebody who you don't know as well or a co-worker or a friend that you maybe aren't as close to. Report an error in the passage at 23:00 Highlight the passage at 23:00

23:32 And then try some strangers. You know, if you see somebody suffering and you kind of notice it on your way to work, maybe a homeless person or even maybe just, you know sometimes you just see people just sobbing on the subway. You have no idea what their story is and they clearly just don't even care. Like they're so sad. Who knows what's going on? So do it for one of those people. Report an error in the passage at 23:32 Highlight the passage at 23:32

23:53 You can just make up the reasons. It doesn't matter. You just know that there's pain going on. Or you can also try it. One of the most profound times that I ever did it, I... I just was reading about political prisoners in Tibet and just decided to do it on political prisoners. So just try it with total strangers, people that most likely you won't ever meet in this life, but you know enough about their situation to want to remove that suffering, like experiment with that. Report an error in the passage at 23:53 Highlight the passage at 23:53

24:22 And then the hardest one is an enemy, somebody who's pissed you off. And so it would be great if at least once in the next month. Report an error in the passage at 24:22 Highlight the passage at 24:22

24:34 It doesn't have to be like Hitler. Just like try it with just somebody who, you know, an annoying co-worker or family member or somebody that just kind of gets on your nerves. Try it with that person first. It can be quite profound for healing stuff with larger enemies, but don't try that right away. Like don't try it too soon. Report an error in the passage at 24:34 Highlight the passage at 24:34

25:01 But yeah, just experiment with it. You can really... I mean, your experience, it can be profound no matter who you're doing it with. But we start with somebody that we're really close to because it's easy to want to take away their pain. But ultimately, I think you'll see that you'd like to take away everybody's pain if you could. It's not like we really want somebody to be suffering. Report an error in the passage at 25:01 Highlight the passage at 25:01

25:29 So, yeah. Does anybody have any questions about this meditation in particular or any? Anything that we talked about last week or anything that came up for you during the class this week? Report an error in the passage at 25:29 Highlight the passage at 25:29

25:47 Angela's giving you the meaningful eye. If you'd like to share, you could. Report an error in the passage at 25:47 Highlight the passage at 25:47

25:58 Angela was our key speaker last week, I think. Wasn't it last week that you were sharing your... Yeah, I mean, did you let them know why I had missed class? Report an error in the passage at 25:58 Highlight the passage at 25:58

26:11 I know I did with Angela, but I don't know if I did with everybody. My grandfather passed away, actually, on the night of the class, actually, that I missed. I remember I was like, oh, yeah, well, I could be in the death and rebirth class, but I'm actually hanging out with my grandpa who's dying right now, which is probably a good class in and of itself. Report an error in the passage at 26:11 Highlight the passage at 26:11

26:29 But, yeah, I don't know. I mean, there's so much to say about it. It was such a, you know, completely... Just a very heavy experience and a very profound experience. But I was fortunate enough to kind of, I kind of had a feeling that he was going to die the night that he died, and so I was able to stay in the room with him when he passed. Report an error in the passage at 26:29 Highlight the passage at 26:29

26:50 And I was reading some of the readings that we have in our workbook just in the hours before he died to kind of keep my mind on teachings. I just really found that... The way that everything is so clearly laid out in this tradition provides such a wonderful compass to follow in such a difficult situation. Report an error in the passage at 26:50 Highlight the passage at 26:50

27:15 I felt like I was very fortunate to be alone with him because I think that if there were a lot of other people around, it would have been really distracting. Report an error in the passage at 27:15 Highlight the passage at 27:15

27:26 He was sleeping. He died in his sleep and it was very peaceful, but I could just really keep my mind on positive things. Report an error in the passage at 27:26 Highlight the passage at 27:26

27:35 I didn't know that he was dying before I signed up for this class. I found out about a week or so afterwards. It was just such a remarkable coincidence. I can't tell you how much it helped to have these teachings. A lot of the sentiments I already possessed, but just dwelling on it week after week so much. Report an error in the passage at 27:35 Highlight the passage at 27:35

27:55 God, it helped a lot. So it was really cool. And my family was very happy that I seemed to be so interested in being there and helping that they actually, apparently they thought I was just an emotional rock, so they asked me to write the eulogy. I was like, all right, yeah, let's do it. So then last week, that's why I missed class, because I was at the service. Report an error in the passage at 27:55 Highlight the passage at 27:55

28:17 So anyways, that was what happened to me in the past few weeks. Overall, I think it was a really good experience. He passed away in his own home, and he was with his family. He was 87, and I think, all things considered, it was a very good way to die. Report an error in the passage at 28:17 Highlight the passage at 28:17

28:38 Well, he died, you mean immediately after? He passed away at 2 o 'clock in the morning, and I woke up my grandmother, and that was the coolest thing, to be able to... Give her the news instead of having her find him having died because she was so worried that that was going to happen. So that was a really, really incredibly bonding experience for me and my grandmother. Report an error in the passage at 28:38 Highlight the passage at 28:38

29:00 I mean, I feel like we're so much closer having experienced this. So he passed away at 2 in the morning and I told my grandmother and my aunt came over. Report an error in the passage at 29:00 Highlight the passage at 29:00

29:14 The funeral home people came at about five or so after I had gotten my mom and given her the opportunity to be in the room with him before they took him. I wanted to give her that opportunity. I wanted to give everybody that opportunity, but they felt like some of their siblings wouldn't be as interested in seeing him after he had died. Report an error in the passage at 29:14 Highlight the passage at 29:14

29:35 But I felt like that was one of the most profound experiences. Because he died so slowly, his breath just got... Less and less strong for like over the course of like five hours or something. So once he had already passed, it was like for me, it was really in line with the teachings. It was really hard to say that that was the moment that he died. It was like, OK, he's dead. I mean, there's not really much of a difference here as five minutes ago, you know, and and and I felt this way. Report an error in the passage at 29:35 Highlight the passage at 29:35

30:06 But my mom in particular, when she came in the room, just said that she really had no expectations for what. It would feel like upon entering the room, and she just felt like the room was filled with such a tremendous sense of love and like a presence about it, you know, rather than the absence of a person, some kind of a subtle but profound sense of a person, you know, so I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 30:06 Highlight the passage at 30:06

30:29 I had never been with somebody when they died before. It was a pretty life-changing experience. Report an error in the passage at 30:29 Highlight the passage at 30:29

30:38 I remember you had said also in one of your emails, you said that you had been meditating in the days before and you thought that maybe that was why you had this instinct that this was the day and not to go home because you were thinking about going home and taking a break. I think that's useful to hear too, that just that, you know, to keep your mind kind of more present or something. Right, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 30:38 Highlight the passage at 30:38

31:03 I mean, I think that it's so easy to, To assume that tonight's not the night that he's going to die and there's so much happening and oh I don't want to go or I don't think to go sit with him and really pay attention to exactly what's happening in his body at the time. But you know I was just hanging out with my mom and with her sister and with my grandmother and we were about to leave and I was like okay I'm going to go sit with him for a little while and I sat in there and I had every intention of going home. Report an error in the passage at 31:03 Highlight the passage at 31:03

31:31 But then after about 10 minutes or so of meditating and just kind of like being with him, it just occurred to me, I was like, wait a second, he's dying right now. Why would I leave? That's ridiculous. I just remember the reason I wanted you to mention that is because I just remember the same thing happening with my mom. Report an error in the passage at 31:31 Highlight the passage at 31:31

31:49 You can get really pulled into like everybody else's energy, which is really not to necessarily sit with a dying person. It's often not supporting the living. I think Lenny also said that so much, or maybe Tenzin Chokyi at that workshop, so saying so much of our energy is around supporting the survivors. Report an error in the passage at 31:49 Highlight the passage at 31:49

32:08 And then when you just pull away from that group and you're kind of like, why on earth would I leave right now? This is what's happening. This is like the whole reason I'm here. And then all of a sudden you get it that you're a qualified expert in this situation too. That was like a real realization for me. Report an error in the passage at 32:08 Highlight the passage at 32:08

32:26 I'm sort of relying on everybody else and I finally got it that actually in this particular situation. I kind of got what was going on probably more than anybody else. It's a very interesting kind of empowering moment. Sure, sure. Yeah, it was definitely empowering because I felt like my family in some ways kind of deferred to me and that they just recognized that I wanted to take on this responsibility. Report an error in the passage at 32:26 Highlight the passage at 32:26

32:47 And it is so easy to just be hanging out in the kitchen drinking coffee with them rather than, you know, and obviously you're not going to spend every waking moment with the person necessarily, especially if they're sleeping. Report an error in the passage at 32:47 Highlight the passage at 32:47

33:01 You know, at some point it's kind of like the signs are there that the person is passing. Yeah, yeah. But also there was a 24-hour nurse that had just started staying with them that was kind of like... I really didn't want to be the one that told my grandmother. So that was part of it too. It was his first night there and I was like, oh man, I don't know about this guy. Report an error in the passage at 33:01 Highlight the passage at 33:01

33:24 I think I should be here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's okay too. I mean, that's a good enough reason to get you in there. Well, that's great. Thanks for sharing that. I always think it's very interesting in the course of this course. What kind of impermanence and death comes up for the individual people in there and the different experiences. Because I remember at the beginning it was sort of like you and Ed were the ones who, well actually no, Chad was one who hadn't really experienced all so much. Report an error in the passage at 33:24 Highlight the passage at 33:24

34:00 But yeah, so time changes, yeah, changes stuff. And it's always different like that. So anyway, thanks for sharing that. And if anything else comes up that you're like, oh wait, I wanted to say, that's okay. There'll be another chance. Does anybody else have any other questions there about anything? Do people look over the presentation topics? And do they have any questions about that? Do people need a list of the presentation topics? Report an error in the passage at 34:00 Highlight the passage at 34:00

34:33 Did I send it to you? Okay, because I can't remember what I've sent anybody at this point. I just feel like I'm just sending out things and I can't, I don't know. So if anybody's missing something. Tell me. I do have a couple of extra hard copies if people need. Do you want one to look at right now just so you can formulate a question? You don't need to do it right now. Report an error in the passage at 34:33 Highlight the passage at 34:33

34:54 I'm not saying that. Yeah, get up and do your presentation. No, it's just, I just thought, this is for the practice day on January 12th. Report an error in the passage at 34:54 Highlight the passage at 34:54

35:07 You guys are, did I give you the right one? What did I give you? I think I, No, I didn't. I'm like, wait a second, something's missed. Report an error in the passage at 35:07 Highlight the passage at 35:07

35:23 So on that day, which is a Saturday, I'll just kind of go over what the schedule is, but in the afternoon you guys can all give a 10-15 minute presentation. And kind of the idea is basically to just get to know at least one aspect. Report an error in the passage at 35:23 Highlight the passage at 35:23

35:42 So you can choose one that's like explaining, you know, something about the class. In some way, you know, it's not like you have to do PowerPoint or something, but just to explain it, we usually just kind of sit around in a circle, so it's not even like you have to stand up unless you want to, like that. Report an error in the passage at 35:42 Highlight the passage at 35:42

36:17 But the way that that day will go, the morning we'll spend in meditation and in silence as much as we can, and then we'll have a little bit of a discussion, and then we'll have lunch together. And then in the afternoon we'll do, right after lunch, we'll have a pretty short lunch. Just so we can kind of keep the day moving. No dilly-dally. We'll come back in here and we'll watch this little short Discovering Buddhism film on death and rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 36:17 Highlight the passage at 36:17

36:47 And then we'll watch that together. It's only like 25 minutes. And then you guys can do your presentations. And then basically... Those people who need to go can go, but what I wanted to find out is if we had enough interest to show. There's a film from Tibetan Book of the Dead on the bardo. It's actually two short films that take less than 90 minutes, and I was going to show it at the end if there's interest, and interest means at least two people. Report an error in the passage at 36:47 Highlight the passage at 36:47

37:21 Yeah. Yeah. Have you seen it before? Yeah, me too, but I'm up for seeing it again. Does anybody know now that they would be interested in seeing that? Okay. Okay, good. So we'll go ahead and plan to do that, and then, you know, if anybody in the last hour needs to go, then just know that you can go. We'll dedicate or something as you're leaving the room or something, just so that we can all end together. I'll also run the whole schedule by Paul to make sure that he's coming. Report an error in the passage at 37:21 Highlight the passage at 37:21

37:53 Is there anybody else who's missing tonight who's come all along? It probably is, and I better not say their names because I've probably forgotten it. Anyway, but does anybody have any other questions about the presentations now that you've looked at them? Should we Report an error in the passage at 37:53 Highlight the passage at 37:53

38:14 be letting you know which topics we choose so there's no overlap? You know, it's fine. It's fine. I so far haven't ever had overlap, oddly. I don't plan it, and it just hasn't happened. i have this feeling that if two of you did even the same basic topic that you'd do it so differently that it would be all right so If you'd like to let me know, you can. And then I'll scream if Chad contacts me after Angela's already contacted me about something. Report an error in the passage at 38:14 Highlight the passage at 38:14

38:45 But I'm totally fine with just allowing. Because sometimes people are planning to do one and then suddenly they change their mind at the last minute. And that allows a little bit more freedom, too, on your side, that you might be preparing one, and then you're like, oh, wait a second, this is actually more interesting. I'm going to do this. Or I'm too tired to do this one. Report an error in the passage at 38:45 Highlight the passage at 38:45

39:02 I'm going to do this one. So it's fine to just keep it loose like that and see how your holidays go and see if you want to do the one that you're thinking of now. And can you really present what is the meaning of life in 15 minutes? I think you can. Report an error in the passage at 39:02 Highlight the passage at 39:02

39:23 Let's give you a hint, it involves all sentient beings. I remember somebody saying that once, it was at my birthday party like 10 years ago. It was in India and I was blowing out a candle and it was Amy Miller actually who came this past summer and taught and she leaned forward and she said, did it involve all sentient beings? Report an error in the passage at 39:23 Highlight the passage at 39:23

39:44 I said, kind of they all do now, don't they? You can't just do those old birthday wishes anymore. Report an error in the passage at 39:44 Highlight the passage at 39:44

39:52 And is everybody planning at this point to come? Wow, this could be the first time that we have 100 % turnout. The other class is now doing their own on Sunday. We aren't going to combine anymore, so we'll see. So we'll see. Oh, you know who isn't here is Whitney. He comes late, so we'll see. He comes at 8, so we'll see if he's able to come. He'll give us 100%, because I'm pretty sure Paul is planning to come. So I found this great quote. Report an error in the passage at 39:52 Highlight the passage at 39:52

40:23 from Sogyu Rinpoche. It's been funny, actually, the quotes. Do any of you guys get the tricycle quotes or the daily Dharma thing from Snow Lion? There's like email quotes that they send you, Dharma quotes, and you can sign up for them. And I used to use them a lot with the e-news, but I don't do the e-news anymore. But I still get them. And most of the time, to be honest, I don't even open them because I just want to clear out my inbox. Like it just feels like too much. Report an error in the passage at 40:23 Highlight the passage at 40:23

40:46 But lately I've been opening them, and they're all about karma and death. It's just very funny because it's like both classes, especially the karma has been really, really coming on strong. I don't know if they're just on a karma theme. But this one came from Sogyo Rinpoche from the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Report an error in the passage at 40:46 Highlight the passage at 40:46

41:04 And it's called Death is the Beginning. And it says, according to the wisdom of the Buddha, we can actually use our lives to prepare for death. We do not have to wait for the painful death of someone close to us or the shock of terminal illness to force us into looking at our lives. Nor are we condemned to go out empty-handed at death to meet the unknown. We can begin here and now to find meaning in our lives. We can make every moment an opportunity to change and to prepare wholeheartedly, precisely and with peace of mind for death and eternity. Report an error in the passage at 41:04 Highlight the passage at 41:04

41:33 In the Buddhist approach, life and death are seen as one whole, where death is the beginning of another chapter of life. Death is a mirror in which the entire meaning of life is reflected. Report an error in the passage at 41:33 Highlight the passage at 41:33

41:45 Isn't that great? I was like, wow, that's cool. You guys got to hear it. So tonight we're going to talk about rebirth, because remembering, you know, that part of our class title is Death and Rebirth. The first time I taught this class, I think I called it, I may have even called it Death and Dying, up until the point where I was reading some of the materials sent from FAMT, and I was like, oh, there's this really different approach, because the focus is, yeah, we are talking about death and dying, we are talking about what happens through the death process, but then we're focusing on, it goes on, you know, the mind goes on, and what determines that. Report an error in the passage at 41:45 Highlight the passage at 41:45

42:30 It's our karma, which is caused by our actions in this life. So part of the emphasis of this class is to think about how we live this life with that in mind, with that awareness in mind of where our mind goes afterwards, which is a really different view than just focusing on the death and dying process, I think. Report an error in the passage at 42:30 Highlight the passage at 42:30

42:50 So that's our main focus for tonight's classes. So part of this is going to be a review for Sandy and Chad. Chad, were you here on Thursday? No, you don't. Come to Thursday night class. Cedric, you were here on Thursday night. So you guys can just relax. We're going to go through the realms of existence. Report an error in the passage at 42:50 Highlight the passage at 42:50

43:09 But I think you've heard this before too, Chad. The realms of existence according to what the Buddha observed. And it's sort of... This is sort of the idea of Buddhist, the Buddhist idea of the universe in a way. But this is the realms of what's called samsaric mind. So it's still considered to be suffering because our minds are still forced to go to these different rebirths by our karma and delusions. Report an error in the passage at 43:09 Highlight the passage at 43:09

43:41 So we don't have control yet. It's just a matter of degree. Of how much suffering is in each. And Geshe Sopa, actually, I was just reading, of course, the part of the lamrim that I'm on right now is death also. Report an error in the passage at 43:41 Highlight the passage at 43:41

44:00 And I'm reading Geshe Sopa's lamrim, which is, he's produced three volumes, and I think ultimately it would be a five-volume set. It's just, I can't tell you what a great lamrim it is, lamrim commentary. But he said basically, yeah, it's true that the Buddha sort of divided this up into three and into six for our purpose of study, but actually it's infinite variations. Report an error in the passage at 44:00 Highlight the passage at 44:00

44:26 Within those because it's based on the various karma and conditions for each being. So just like in the, for example, in the human realm, you can have all variations of a human lifetime. Yeah, we all have a human body, but that's about where it ends, you know. And the same is true in all the other realms as well. So when you talk about the three realms of samsaric mind, it's the desire realm. Report an error in the passage at 44:26 Highlight the passage at 44:26

44:57 The form realm and the formless realm. And the desire realm is basically where we are now. This is the realm that's permeated by desire, and it's considered gross desire. It's desire mostly in food and sex, they say, but really all forms of desire. And this realm is made up of the six realms that we'll talk about in a few minutes. Report an error in the passage at 44:57 Highlight the passage at 44:57

45:25 So sometimes you hear the six realms of existence and sometimes you hear the three realms and that's where that, the six realms are actually sub realms of the desire realm. Report an error in the passage at 45:25 Highlight the passage at 45:25

45:35 The form and formless realm actually have similar causes for what would get you born there and it's basically various levels of intense concentration meditation without a bodhicitta motivation. So it's just... Spending hours and hours and hours of your time going deeply into what they call content-less meditation. Report an error in the passage at 45:35 Highlight the passage at 45:35

46:07 The form realm, you still have a form body, but it's subtler than the body that we have right now. And there's very little obvious suffering. But the mind still has karma and delusions, so there's still ignorance. There's still delusion, and karma and kleshas or karma and delusion still determine your next rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 46:07 Highlight the passage at 46:07

46:38 So it doesn't last. It might be a somewhat blissful experience, and they actually say that it is, but you're basically just using up good karma. Report an error in the passage at 46:38 Highlight the passage at 46:38

46:53 So when you stay in these really deep states of meditation for hours and hours at a time, and sometimes really when you think about it days and days at a time, It creates what's called a deep meditation vow. And it's not that you're actually taking a vow. It's just that because you're in deep meditation, you're not screaming at somebody. You're not punching somebody. You're not doing negative acts. You're in this deep state of meditation, so you're actually not creating that much negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 46:53 Highlight the passage at 46:53

47:30 So you create the karma to be born in this state of sort of blissful hanging out for eons. Report an error in the passage at 47:30 Highlight the passage at 47:30

47:42 But, you know, and then it ends and then you've basically just used up all the best karma and so then you have to take a lower realm rebirth because there's nothing left in your karmic stores. Report an error in the passage at 47:42 Highlight the passage at 47:42

47:53 The formless realm is even subtler and even more refined than this. And there's no, formless is referring to the fact that there's no physical body at all. It's just mind. But that mind still has afflictions in it. It still has karma, karmic stores. You haven't eliminated the causes for saṃsāra. So again, it just acts as another waste of good karma. Report an error in the passage at 47:53 Highlight the passage at 47:53

48:23 The problem, especially with the formless realm, is that a lot of beings feel like They've attained nirvāṇa, the liberation itself. And then of course it just ends when the karma is done and they fall to a lower realm rebirth and so they actually have a loss of faith as well. Report an error in the passage at 48:23 Highlight the passage at 48:23

48:49 So then if we go more deeply into the desire realm, that one's made up of six sub-realms. And there is a tanka in the front hallway right outside on the other side of this wall. Report an error in the passage at 48:49 Highlight the passage at 48:49

49:04 One of the few paintings that the Buddha is said to have either commissioned or done himself. And it shows the six realms of the desire realm. Report an error in the passage at 49:04 Highlight the passage at 49:04

49:18 And in the center of it, it shows the cause of those six realms. And that is ignorance, aversion and attachment in the form of, let's see if I can remember. Ignorance is the... Pig attachment is either the rooster or the pigeon, depending on which school it is. And a version is a snake. Report an error in the passage at 49:18 Highlight the passage at 49:18

49:44 And they should all have their tails in each other's mouth, because they're all kind of so interrelated that they're basically chasing each other. Sometimes it'll show attachment with the other two tails. But the way it was originally... They should be just going in a circle. And the Buddha is depicted outside of the whole saṃsāra, because he's completely outside of, he's no longer in saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 49:44 Highlight the passage at 49:44

50:15 But what should be there and is not there, he is there, I think, with his finger, but I think last time I was incorrect. I said he wasn't there at all. He is there, but the moon's not there, and the moon is nirvāṇa. So he's supposed to be pointing the way out. Nirvāṇa is the way out of psychic existence or saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 50:15 Highlight the passage at 50:15

50:37 He said that all monasteries and temples should have a picture of this on the front door, hopefully, and if not, then inside so that everyone could see that and be reminded of how it all worked through our mental afflictions and our karma and how to get out, that there was a way out. You'll see in all the different realms. Report an error in the passage at 50:37 Highlight the passage at 50:37

50:59 If you look at it very carefully, you'll see different beings depicted in the different realms. And actually there's one more realm. Let's see if you notice which one's missing. I forgot to bring this up on, but for this class I think I can bring it up. I don't know if the karma class would have thought of it. Let's see if you guys think of it. Report an error in the passage at 50:59 Highlight the passage at 50:59

51:20 So the first one is humans. I'll give you the list first. Is that easier or should I give you fill in first? Maybe I'll give you a fill in at the time, okay? Because you won't know how much fill in I'm going to give you. I'm not going to give you very much on each one. The first one is humans, and that's, I think where all of us are. Report an error in the passage at 51:20 Highlight the passage at 51:20

51:40 And they say that this is actually the best realm to be born into. And the reason is because we have a good fair share of suffering as well as happiness. So we don't get, we aren't so happy that we can't remember to practice Dharma. Um. Report an error in the passage at 51:40 Highlight the passage at 51:40

51:57 And we aren't so suffering, for the most part, that we won't remember to practice Dharma or we won't be led to. And one of the reasons, of course, that most people are drawn to spiritual practice is some sort of recognition of suffering. Either you've experienced a fair enough amount in your own life or you've seen it or something. Report an error in the passage at 51:57 Highlight the passage at 51:57

52:21 Tips you off at an early age that life maybe isn't all it's cracked up to be and that something is a little like, you know, there must be something more. And so the human realm existence is said to be the best for spiritual practice. Report an error in the passage at 52:21 Highlight the passage at 52:21

52:40 But again, remember that there are within the human realm infinite variations. more Report an error in the passage at 52:40 Highlight the passage at 52:40

52:46 Not every human existence is considered what's called a precious human rebirth, which is the type of human rebirth which is the best for spiritual practice. And within that type of human rebirth, you absolutely need to have a spaciousness. You need some amount of freedom from gross suffering and survival and a fair amount of open-mindedness and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 52:46 Highlight the passage at 52:46

53:16 Who happens to have a human body has a precious human rebirth. And I think we can all think of examples, not just the homeless or the beggars on the street in Bombay or something, but there are also people who just don't have any inclination at all. They might have just a mind that just really is unable to even think about any kind of spiritual pursuit or see any purpose for it or anything like that. Report an error in the passage at 53:16 Highlight the passage at 53:16

53:45 And that's actually a form of wrong view, which acts as a big obstacle. It doesn't last necessarily forever. Something could happen in those people's lives that could suddenly shift that. So you end up with somebody who's like president of a major organization or something, president of the U.S., who experiences some tragedy or something. Report an error in the passage at 53:45 Highlight the passage at 53:45

54:12 I think a good example is Al Gore's story about when his son was hit by the car and he realized that he had to do something sort of bigger than what he was doing at that moment. It took him a while to get there, but I think that's a perfect example. Or Bobby Kennedy, for those who remember him, who went through different tragedies and got to a place of wanting to make his life more meaningful despite the... Report an error in the passage at 54:12 Highlight the passage at 54:12

54:40 The so-called returns or whatever, or the risks for that matter. So any situation that we have in any realm doesn't last forever. So just because we happen to have the good set up now, it doesn't mean it's going to last forever. Even if it ends before this life is over, it can, or it can begin before this life is over. Report an error in the passage at 54:40 Highlight the passage at 54:40

55:08 But they say that the human rebirth, the causes for human rebirth, like with anything, all of these things have causes. So we talked about the causes for a form and formless realm rebirth. A cause for human rebirth is actually morality and prayer. It doesn't mean that the person in this life is doing either. It just means that they did in some life practice morality and prayer. Report an error in the passage at 55:08 Highlight the passage at 55:08

55:39 And they say, I think one of them also specifically is patience. Now, does that necessarily mean that they're patient in this life? Well, I can certainly say that I'm not necessarily always patient in this life, so I still got a human body. It just means that we were at some point. The prayer actually is a useful thing to realize because These causes are really useful because we can put them into effect if we want to create the causes of another human rebirth. And that's one that often will come up and just think about what do I want next time having certain conditions in place. Report an error in the passage at 55:39 Highlight the passage at 55:39

56:19 Why not be as specific as possible when I make those prayers that I want this and this and this into place. The second two are interrelated. The second two realms are interrelated. They are what's called the... Asuras, A-S-U-R-A-S, or demigods, and the gods. The gods are also called the Asuras, S-U-R-A-S. Report an error in the passage at 56:19 Highlight the passage at 56:19

56:45 So Asuras and Asuras are gods and demigods. And they have similar states of existence. Basically, the cause for both of these realms, and they're also sometimes called pleasure beings. It's doing good but without any kind of bodhicitta motivation. So helping, you know, your neighbors or, you know, when we're doing rejoicing meditation and we're thinking about all those people who run into burning buildings. Report an error in the passage at 56:45 Highlight the passage at 56:45

57:16 But they aren't necessarily with any kind of bodhicitta motivation. They're just doing good acts and doing kind acts for others. So you'll get a really nice rebirth. And so the difference between the two, they both of them are blissfully happy. You know, they have, they're both physically gorgeous. They both basically have everything that they desire. But the difference is that the demigods also have this amazing jealousy for the gods. Report an error in the passage at 57:16 Highlight the passage at 57:16

57:46 And so they're always jealous of the gods and they always want what the gods have. And because it's not quite as good of a rebirth, they always lose out in the end. So they'll battle the gods and the gods always win. So they sort of waste a lot of this incredible rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 57:46 Highlight the passage at 57:46

58:07 Being jealous, which of course we can also see in certain humans that we might know. But I'll bring that up in a minute. Different ways that you can look at these teachings within one realm is one possibility. Again, this is because it's karmic. It's a karmic result. It doesn't last forever. So with the gods and the demigods, when that karma runs out, Report an error in the passage at 58:07 Highlight the passage at 58:07

58:37 The life ends. And they actually say when the gods and the demigods are dying, it's like such profound suffering because they realize what they've had and what they've lost. And they also have a vision of where they're going. So even though it's in our terms, it's not that long of their life, it's like this huge regret and suffering as they see where they're going. Report an error in the passage at 58:37 Highlight the passage at 58:37

59:01 Because they've just basically used up all their good karma, you know, partying. And having these really beautiful bodies and beautiful lands and landscaping and all this stuff. And those three, humans, gods and demigods, or humans, demigods and gods, depending on how you put them, are considered a higher rebirth within the desire realm. Report an error in the passage at 59:01 Highlight the passage at 59:01

59:28 The next three are considered a lower rebirth, meaning that the suffering is more gross and more intensive. more severe. All of these, of course, are caused by karma. So the fourth realm is the animal realm. And the Buddha observed that animal mind is exactly like ours. It's just more obscured. It just has more karmic obscurations. But it has the same desire for happiness and the same wish to avoid suffering. Report an error in the passage at 59:28 Highlight the passage at 59:28

1:00:03 It still has Buddha potential. You know, it still has the ability to think and know and feel. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:03 Highlight the passage at 1:00:03

1:00:13 It's still clear and knowing. Here's Whitney. Hey. It's just more obscured. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:13 Highlight the passage at 1:00:13

1:00:24 So the cause of having an animal realm rebirth is profound ignorance. And it's sort of the pervading mental factor or mind in that realm as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:24 Highlight the passage at 1:00:24

1:00:45 The next is the spirit realm, sometimes called pretta or hungry ghost. It actually includes all forms of spirits. So pretas, nagas, ghosts. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:45 Highlight the passage at 1:00:45

1:01:08 And hungry ghosts, or pretas, which are the same, synonyms, have this mind of constant craving. But the problem in this particular rebirth is that that craving is never satisfied. So it's just this desire for food and drink or safety or... Rest or whatever it is that they're craving and they can never get it. So there's a lot of experience of like mirages and seeing like a big body of water and then going to that body of water over days and days and then having it not be there or having it end up being like some sort of polluted water that they can't drink or something like that or some disgusting thing like... Report an error in the passage at 1:01:08 Highlight the passage at 1:01:08

1:01:59 It's made of pus or something like that, something that they can't eat. And sometimes their bodies are actually manifest in a form that they can't actually take in the food or drink that they find, dependent upon karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:59 Highlight the passage at 1:01:59

1:02:19 So there's just a lot of sort of desire arising and then that desire being frustrated. So it's that kind of suffering. But the mind is totally dominated by this desire and craving. And the cause of this rebirth is desire and craving. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:19 Highlight the passage at 1:02:19

1:02:47 And the final of the six realms is the hell realms. And this is this mind. I mean, just imagine this mind of sort of pure, undistracted hatred or anger, which just creates. You can't escape from this mind. This is the cause of this realm or this rebirth. And it's also just the pervading mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:47 Highlight the passage at 1:02:47

1:03:17 It's just the cause of the hell realm and the pervading mind is pure, undistracted anger, hatred, aversion. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:17 Highlight the passage at 1:03:17

1:03:31 I've also heard actually in the animal realm that it's fear, and I forgot to mention that, that there's a pervading mind of fear based on ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:31 Highlight the passage at 1:03:31

1:03:44 They say fear stems from ignorance, lack of wisdom, misperceiving reality. I always think about that one because I have a lot of fear. So I'm like, hmm, what am I misperceiving? But yeah, so that one's bigger in the animal realm. In the hell realm, it's more like, it's not like you even have the moment. It's not like you're so, I mean, the way they describe the hells and there are specific tortures and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:44 Highlight the passage at 1:03:44

1:04:12 It's all created, it's all karmic agents. You know, so they'll talk about sort of these, you know. Lords of Death and things like that. Those aren't sentient beings. They're manifestations of your own mind and karma. But the experience is suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:12 Highlight the passage at 1:04:12

1:04:39 And they say that because your mind is filled with anger and hatred, that that's how you respond to the suffering rather than... know, so, um... Report an error in the passage at 1:04:39 Highlight the passage at 1:04:39

1:04:49 You know, more fear. It's like, you know, you slice back or whatever rather than trying to run away, although they do talk about trying to run away. So a lot of Westerners, I should say non-Tibetans, have problems. I definitely have had problems studying the Six Realms, although the more that I know and trust my teachers, the more I gain. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:49 Highlight the passage at 1:04:49

1:05:21 Understanding on how these realms might exist in a way. But when I first started reading about them in the lamrim teachings and in liberation in the palm of your hand, it all just seemed so Blakean. It was just very, or Dante or something, it was very difficult to stomach from anyone who had spent any time at all in sort of the Christian church. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:21 Highlight the passage at 1:05:21

1:05:48 And so... So yes, there's a way that you can approach these teachings as though these are literal places, and that's the way it's traditionally taught, that these are actual places, and that this is actual experiences of the beings who are born there, and then when that karma ends, then they go to a different realm. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:48 Highlight the passage at 1:05:48

1:06:12 Although remembering that actually with the preta realms and with the animal realms and with the human realms, we all exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:12 Highlight the passage at 1:06:12

1:06:21 It's not like a separate place. The pretas, they say, are all around us. Animals, of course, we see in our realms. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:21 Highlight the passage at 1:06:21

1:06:32 The second way to think about it, and I actually found this a little easier to relate to, and that's thinking about all of them within the human realm. Because within the human realm alone, you see examples of... I mean, there are definitely people who are living hellish existences right now. I mean, we could think at the moment that we're sitting here in class, somebody's being tortured and killed. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:32 Highlight the passage at 1:06:32

1:07:00 I mean, it's horrifying to think about, but it's happening whether we can imagine it or not. And I would probably say that there are probably hundreds of thousands of people going through that right now. And it could not necessarily be any kind of organized torture. It could be just a domestic violence situation that's happening. People are living in hells right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:00 Highlight the passage at 1:07:00

1:07:19 People also live like animals right now. People also live like pleasure beings right now. While we're having this class, somebody is partying it up, probably pretty close to here. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:19 Highlight the passage at 1:07:19

1:07:33 And the whole idea of like the gods and the demigods, totally. I mean, whenever you think of just celebrities, you know, the A list and the B list, you know, the people that are stuck being character actors their entire life because nobody ever sees them as the leading man. So they actually have an amazing career, but they spend the entire time being jealous of, you know, whoever it is that they're jealous of, Brad Pitt or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:33 Highlight the passage at 1:07:33

1:07:58 don't know. So you can kind of see examples of all of these and that craving mind, the hungry ghost mind. I've had friends who are like that where while they're telling you about something that they just got, they're immediately... Looking for the next thing. This mind that's never, never satisfied. That sort of hungry ghost mind. And actually then, the third way of seeing it is just within your own mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:58 Highlight the passage at 1:07:58

1:08:26 Within even a single day, you can go through all the realms. Where the distraction or the saturation of pain or pleasure or stupidity or craving can just... Permeate and just from moment to moment change dependent upon your karma ripening and how sort of carried away you are by each experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:26 Highlight the passage at 1:08:26

1:08:56 I had a day like that yesterday. So you can look at it in different ways and whatever way works for you and it won't always be the same. Sometimes you can experiment thinking about them. What if they are actual places like that? And then you can think about them just within the human realm. Because that's hard enough sometimes to even just imagine the kind of suffering that people have within this realm. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:56 Highlight the passage at 1:08:56

1:09:24 And then you can think about it just within either your own life or your own day yesterday or whatever. So the basic idea of learning about these is that the kind of karma that we create Report an error in the passage at 1:09:24 Highlight the passage at 1:09:24

1:09:42 It determines what our next life is going to be. And so the kind of actions that we're doing now, the kind of mind that we are cultivating now or not, the kind of thoughts that we're having now. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:42 Highlight the passage at 1:09:42

1:09:55 They say, you know, if you look at the life that you have now, you can see what kind of being you were in the past. But if you want to know where you're going, you look at the kind of person you are now and you look at your mind now. And so... How many times that we engage in negative actions or thoughts or just sort of let our minds go wild and just kind of blindly follow our minds, then that gives us an idea of the kind of rebirth that we'll have. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:55 Highlight the passage at 1:09:55

1:10:27 And it's not permanent. The good news is we can actually work with it and we can purify it, we can change, and it's slow. The change is slow going. This much I know. I don't have much experience, but this much I know. The going is slow, but it does change, and you do begin to see changes in your life and how you deal with stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:27 Highlight the passage at 1:10:27

1:10:51 At least how quickly you realize when you're doing something that's just going to hurt you, you realize it a little quicker than the five or ten days that it used to take. Or you don't stew about stuff for as long, you at least apologize a lot quicker. So it just takes time to undo those kind of old mental habits. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:51 Highlight the passage at 1:10:51

1:11:19 But the importance of this is just when we die, it's not like our, you know, the consciousness just goes out like a puff of smoke. It just gets more subtle and then it is reborn into another form and then it becomes more gross again. And so if we aren't looking at the kind of life that we're living or the meaning of life, as that presentation topic is all about, it's basically how to live our lives in the way to create the kind of life that we want. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:19 Highlight the passage at 1:11:19

1:11:54 Next time around to have the kind of conditions in place that allow us to continue on a spiritual path. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:54 Highlight the passage at 1:11:54

1:12:03 So one of the realities that we may recognize is that we just have absolutely no control over our minds. And so that's when we begin to realize that. Then we have to think about, you know, how can we change this outcome? How do we change the situation? What are the methods that the Buddha taught for how we can work with our minds? And not just sitting in formal meditation, but also actively working with the mental afflictions when they arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:03 Highlight the passage at 1:12:03

1:12:40 One quote, actually, I don't have the exact quote in front of me, but I was thinking about it this morning. I was reading Geshe Sopa's book, and he was saying, Report an error in the passage at 1:12:40 Highlight the passage at 1:12:40

1:12:49 Has anybody here read Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life? Oh my God, it's like the best book ever. And he's talking about how Shantideva's always arguing with himself. He's always talking to himself. He's always arguing with himself. And he is. He's always arguing with himself. And he said, this is a form of meditation. And I actually really liked that. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:49 Highlight the passage at 1:12:49

1:13:10 He said, this is how you begin to... break down sort of the ideas that you have that are harmful or that maybe you have just been following on It's like setting up an inner debate with yourself. It's a little schizophrenic, but it's schizophrenic in a good way. Most of the time we live schizophrenically in a bad way, so seeing things dualistically. And this is a way of actually questioning our sort of rote behavior. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:10 Highlight the passage at 1:13:10

1:13:45 The good news is that, and we're going to take a break and then we're going to come back and we're going to talk a little bit about how you would, once you realize that by and large you've been creating a lot of negative actions and you don't want to die tonight because you suddenly realized that, we want to purify. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:45 Highlight the passage at 1:13:45

1:14:03 So we've been talking about this the whole class, how we purify negative acts that we've done. And that negative act can be anything from, you know. A lifetime of negativity to screaming at somebody in the kitchen. So it can be little things and it can be big things. With the big things, it may take more than one session. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:03 Highlight the passage at 1:14:03

1:14:28 So don't just feel like you can kind of recite your 21 Vajrasaphas after killing your entire class and think it's going to be all right. The sincerity of the approach or the sincerity of this practice totally depends upon how earnestly you regret the action that you've done and how you want to... Turn it around and have this strong feeling of never doing it again. Even if you may not be able to never do something again, to have this feeling that you will never do it again at least, even if you have to limit that amount of time to a smaller thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:28 Highlight the passage at 1:14:28

1:15:09 And we'll talk about what that means. But does anyone have any questions on the realms or anything else I've said thus far? And then we'll just take a quick break and then I'll go through the four opponent powers and kind of how you would do a simple... Purification. It's Report an error in the passage at 1:15:09 Highlight the passage at 1:15:09

1:15:31 a quiet group tonight. Contemplative. All right, so take a break and Report an error in the passage at 1:15:31 Highlight the passage at 1:15:31

1:15:41 somehow have at least one negative thing that you're going to want to purify. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:41 Highlight the passage at 1:15:41

1:16:00 So we're going to talk about what's called the four opponent powers. And, um, I think you'll also hear it like the four powers. I only ever hear the four opponent powers. I think in some traditions they're called, oh, four forces. You might hear four forces like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:00 Highlight the passage at 1:16:00

1:16:29 And you'll hear different descriptions of each of the four powers. Like sometimes they're differently described. What I like about this set of four is that it's four R's. So it's easier to remember what they are. um the Report an error in the passage at 1:16:29 Highlight the passage at 1:16:29

1:16:47 And you'll also hear different orders. But this is in the order that you would actually do it in your mind. Because if you've done something negative, the first thing that's going to trigger this, right, is regret. So the regret rising in your mind is what's going to make you think, oh, I've got to purify. So I'm doing it in that order. The order that you actually might do it in a practice, like Vajrasattva, which I don't think we're going to get to in this class, but we're going to do for the Karma class. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:47 Highlight the passage at 1:16:47

1:17:15 You actually do them in a slightly different order because you start with the reliance, the power of reliance. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:15 Highlight the passage at 1:17:15

1:17:27 Oh, stoppers. Hello. Okay, so the first is regret, sometimes called the power of putting the blame. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:27 Highlight the passage at 1:17:27

1:17:43 And this, the strength of your regret is going to determine the strength of everything else. And remember that regret is not guilt. This is really, really important for Westerners to get because we do guilt so well in the West. This has nothing to do with guilt. This has to do with intelligent regret, understanding that whatever negative actions we do create negative karma, that negative karma ripens and I suffer. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:43 Highlight the passage at 1:17:43

1:18:14 That's as far as you've gotten in this step. It's like you just realized, they say it's very much like you've just swallowed poison. So it's like, oh my God, how do I get rid of this? It's not like, oh, I'm so horrible. It's not like you dwell on beating yourself up at that moment. You just try to get rid of it, right? So it's very much action-oriented. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:14 Highlight the passage at 1:18:14

1:18:35 Regret is you want to do something to change the situation, whereas guilt can sometimes just be paralyzing. You just get stuck being like, oh, I'm horrible, I'm always horrible, I've always been horrible, I've always been horrible. You just get stuck in that kind of energy of just not being able to fix the situation. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:35 Highlight the passage at 1:18:35

1:18:57 So putting the blame is you're putting the blame for all of your problems on the negative karma. You're seeing that the blame is an internal thing rather than, you know. Your true enemy is this negative karma, or actually even more so the kleshas or the negative states of mind that caused you to do the negative acts in the first place. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:57 Highlight the passage at 1:18:57

1:19:28 And the second of the four powers is reliance. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:28 Highlight the passage at 1:19:28

1:19:36 And this one has two parts. I don't know how... Well, I actually said this. No, I didn't say this so well on this one. Sorry about that. I gave you the shortcut. It suddenly just dawned on me to give this to you so that you could think about it a little bit in case you do any negativities over the holidays. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:36 Highlight the passage at 1:19:36

1:19:56 I didn't want any like last minute phone calls, you know, on Christmas Eve or something like, oh my God. So I wanted to give you a cheat sheet really quick, but I didn't spell it out as well as perhaps I could have. Reliance has two parts. Taking refuge and generating bodhicitta. But it is true, it is very accurate to say that almost everything we've done is in relation to the two. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:56 Highlight the passage at 1:19:56

1:20:22 I said relations, so get rid of that S. Relation to the two. It's either it's done in relation to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. That's what the triple gem is. Or it's done more likely in relationship to other sentient beings. Either we've... Said something that's harmed somebody else or we've hurt somebody physically or stolen something that belonged to somebody or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:22 Highlight the passage at 1:20:22

1:20:53 So we take refuge and we generate bodhicitta. So in a more formal four opponent powers practice like Vajrasapha, you have that built into the practice so that you remember to actually take refuge and generate bodhicitta. I have to remember that when I'm out... You know, out and about, and I'm trying to do like a quick four opponent powers. This is the one that unfortunately I forget. So it's really good to make sure that you, like, did I forget one of them? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:53 Highlight the passage at 1:20:53

1:21:20 Because this might be the one that you forget if you're anything like me. It's just remembering to rely upon taking refuge. And taking refuge, think about it in the way, if you all have been working with... Those preliminary practices for the meditation. I think, Chad, you've been doing enough classes. It's less about reading a certain prayer than it is about generating this mind of like... Report an error in the passage at 1:21:20 Highlight the passage at 1:21:20

1:21:49 Recognizing the situation that I'm in, that I create my reality based on my actions and my karma, that karma ripens and I have a certain result, either positive or negative. At this point it's more negative than it is positive because of the way my mind runs all the time. And so I'm relying on the Buddha and his teachings, the Dharma, and those that practice it, the Saṅgha. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:49 Highlight the passage at 1:21:49

1:22:14 Because they can get me out of this mess, basically. So it's that kind of mind. It's not so holy and, you know, like, I take refuge. It's not like that. I mean, it's honestly, like, it's sort of getting the situation and, like, you know, understanding that there are those who have figured out how to get out. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:14 Highlight the passage at 1:22:14

1:22:34 And so, like, you would any kind of, if you found yourself in a scary country and you didn't know how to get out, you'd try to find somebody who had gotten out before, right? And you'd hire that person to be your guide and it's very much like that. It's kind of more practical than anything else. Refuge is pretty practical. Bodhicitta, which we were just talking about, this mind at the beginning of the class when we did Tonglen, has to do with realizing that everybody else is in the same boat. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:34 Highlight the passage at 1:22:34

1:23:00 Every other being is in the same boat. And worse, they don't understand. So they just create more and more and more suffering for themselves. And so it's making this determination that you will try to... You know, help all beings to get out of this mess. And that's generating bodhicitta. So you're doing this practice of purification not just to clean up your own mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:00 Highlight the passage at 1:23:00

1:23:23 So you have a clean mind. It's to have this kind of larger goal of being able to help others. Remedy is the actual act, like whatever it is that you're doing that's going to purify your mind. Because remember that... I put that little quote by Lama Yeshe up at the top, or it's not a quote, but it's more, it's Rubina's version of what he said. That purification process is basically a psychological process, which I really like this a lot. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23:23

1:23:53 As Lama Yeshe says, it is our mind that creates the negativity and it's our mind that transforms it by creating positive energy. Although we rely on the Buddha's methods, it's not as though the Buddha is purifying us or forgiving us. It's really important because we have, in some of the practices, I keep looking where Vajra Safa usually is, it's forearmed and raised right now, but we may have a practice where we bring to mind a certain Buddha or, you know, we might firm up our practice by imagining our teacher or the Buddha, but they aren't purifying our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:53 Highlight the passage at 1:23:53

1:24:30 This act is what's purifying our mind. And so that's really important to know because it's kind of like that's what gives the act its power. We're doing our own cleanup work here. So the Buddha taught about purification in a couple of sutras and some of these actions were specifically given and there are more and probably just about any virtuous action that you do with the mind that I'm doing this specifically to purify X. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:30 Highlight the passage at 1:24:30

1:25:02 You could do as long as it was a virtuous action. But these are particularly considered powerful ones. One is reciting the names of the Buddhas. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:02 Highlight the passage at 1:25:02

1:25:14 There's a practice that you do called the Confession of Downfalls, Prostrations to the 35 Buddhas. But you can also recite which is what that tank is all about. That's the 35 Buddhas. Right there. And underneath the 35 Buddhas there's the seven medicine Buddhas and we also recite their names when we do that practice in the morning. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:14 Highlight the passage at 1:25:14

1:25:39 And it's actually the reciting of the names that's purifying rather than the prostrations. The prostration is a really powerful act in and of itself if you remember sort of what it is that you're doing. But they say in this case that it's the actual recitation of the names. So if you're in a group of people that are... Report an error in the passage at 1:25:39 Highlight the passage at 1:25:39

1:25:59 Are doing this practice, try to remember to like chant along because otherwise you're kind of missing out. Like do you remember when Chad and we were doing in that class, no it's in that, what's that? Yeah, you do get out of breath. And people are doing it at different rates and stuff like that. Yeah, it's kind of confusing. Like if you're ever doing it, there's been a Rubina. She's going at like 150 miles an hour. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:59 Highlight the passage at 1:25:59

1:26:23 You just have to kind of single pointedly like say your own. Of course, it helps to have memorized. But it is definitely a test. If Rinpoche is doing it, he's doing it at 150 miles an hour in Tibetan. And then you've got other people doing it slower in Tibetan, and then you've got other people doing different variations, like different translations. It's just like this madhouse. It's kind of like Tower of Babel, except prostrating. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:23 Highlight the passage at 1:26:23

1:26:48 The second one is reciting powerful mantras. And for this, this is where Vajrasapha practice would come in. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:48 Highlight the passage at 1:26:48

1:26:59 Reciting sutras. Diamond Cutter Sūtra is said to be the most powerful. Of all of the sutras in terms of purification. So be careful with that one actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:59 Highlight the passage at 1:26:59

1:27:16 Most powerful in terms of purification also can mean that, remember that when we're praying for something to be purified, when we're trying to purify our minds, it doesn't go away. It manifests in a lesser form, which could mean a migraine. It could mean a broken foot rather than a broken hip. Or hell realm rebirth. So it's like a lesser form of a suffering. So you still will have some result. So if you're doing a lot of purification, don't be alarmed if you have different things happening in your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:16 Highlight the passage at 1:27:16

1:27:53 It's a good sign rather than a bad sign. So just to be prepared for that. But you could also do Heart Sūtra, like this weekend, the teachings on the Heart Sūtra. That's also a really short one, if you're looking for a really short one. Meditating on emptiness. They actually say meditating on emptiness is the most profound purification that you could do. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:53 Highlight the passage at 1:27:53

1:28:16 Now clearly you have to kind of understand emptiness. It's not really going to do much if you don't. So the more that you understand it, the better. Studying it, reading about it can also be helpful. And remembering that each time that you're, whatever it is, like you might just say, you know, to... Make up for screaming at Billy in the kitchen, I'm going to sit here for 20 minutes and read about emptiness to the best of my ability, you know, and stop every couple of minutes and try to figure out what it is that Rinpoche is saying or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:16 Highlight the passage at 1:28:16

1:28:46 So you're doing it with the entire intention is to purify this act that I did. Making offerings to holy objects. And your mind is going to be the judge's whether or not you're doing this with a sincere... Motivation to purify or whether you're just trying to buy off. Remember, your mind is the judge here. It's not anything external. Making objects that represent the Buddha's body, speech and mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:46 Highlight the passage at 1:28:46

1:29:19 So examples of that would be statues or satsas would be representative of the Buddha's body. Speech could be copying texts. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:19 Highlight the passage at 1:29:19

1:29:36 I guess actually tankas would also be the body and stupas would represent the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:36 Highlight the passage at 1:29:36

1:29:46 And there are more, but these are sort of the top ones that are given. And the final power is sort of what gives, if you don't do the final power, it won't be a complete purification practice. And it also is sort of the power that keeps it from being sort of like a morning after pill. So it's not like you can just go ahead and do the negative act and think, well, I can just purify it tomorrow. Because there's always this promise of not repeating it again for as long as you feel like you can promise it. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:46 Highlight the passage at 1:29:46

1:30:27 So you don't want to say, I will never, ever get angry at Billy again. If you know darn well, you're going to get angry at Billy the next day because he just kind of irritates you or whatever your karmic relationship. So you don't want to make a promise that you can't keep. That just kind of compounds it. But you do want to set a goal for the amount of time that you're going to try so that you can promise with your whole heart that you wish you could do it forever, but realistically you're going to say, at least in the morning, I don't care what Billy does, I am not going to get angry. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:27 Highlight the passage at 1:30:27

1:30:59 You know, until 12 noon, you know, and then just do your best. And each time you do your best to kind of extend that a little bit. It's sort of like, you know, you're creating the impression upon your mind or the imprint of your mind of not doing that act and you're extending that period of not doing that act, whatever that act is. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:59 Highlight the passage at 1:30:59

1:31:25 And without the power of restraint, Vena Rubina said, and this is a quote from her actually, I should have given her credit on your cheat sheet, but she said we're like a sick person who takes the medicine and then goes back to the old habits and gets sick again. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:25 Highlight the passage at 1:31:25

1:31:41 So I'm going to just give you an example going through the four powers and so you can just think about your own, whatever your own. action is and just kind of like an example of how you would take those four powers yourself i'm not going to do it as a meditation so much but oh if you want to you can get you can get a position I'm just going to kind of go through it and then you can ask a question. So for example, I've just done something. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:41 Highlight the passage at 1:31:41

1:32:12 We just had a great Dharma class and then I immediately go into the kitchen and get angry at Billy, just making up this poor person. So I immediately just think, oh God, I just did it again. I know so well and this will happen a lot. So I'm telling you from my own personal experience that we are not perfect now. We are not Buddhas yet, at least I am not. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:12 Highlight the passage at 1:32:12

1:32:32 And so you're going to keep screwing up and actually having an understanding of how it all works. It's almost like shining a spotlight on how many times you're screwing up. Before you would just mindlessly screw up. It's sort of like when you first start meditating, how crazy your mind is and you're just convinced that it's from sitting down to meditate that actually caused your mind to be crazy. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:32 Highlight the passage at 1:32:32

1:32:53 But it's actually just looking at your mind being crazy that's allowing you to see it, that's all. So seeing yourself screw up. Once you understand what that means to you and why it increases your own suffering, isn't causing you to screw up more often. It's simply allowing you to see the fact that we aren't perfect yet. And we have to see that in order to purify it. So it's actually a cause for rejoicing, even though at the time you're just like, oh, I'm so stupid, I can't believe I did it again, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:53 Highlight the passage at 1:32:53

1:33:30 So you just kind of, you have this moment of kind of, I mean, it really should almost feel more like, ugh, I did it again. Okay, I'm going to purify. I'm going to stop everything right now and purify. I'm going to go into the bathroom and purify. Actually, Lama Zopa Rinpoche says the bathroom is the perfect place to do bodhisattva practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:30 Highlight the passage at 1:33:30

1:33:48 You can just imagine all the negativities going down and then flush the toilet. He said you don't even have to visualize that much. It's really true, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:48 Highlight the passage at 1:33:48

1:34:00 We have to memorize the mantra. You can't bring it in there. So it's more like I just did the stupid act. And that's where you can really see that ignorance and stupidity are often kind of the same because we just ignorantly followed our mind. It's just like, oh, I just did this. I just want this poison off my mind stream and get rid of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:00 Highlight the passage at 1:34:00

1:34:26 And so then the next two steps were reliance. Then I take refuge, understanding my situation, you know, however I understand refuge to be. So the way I just described it where I recognize my situation that I am in saṃsāra because of my mental afflictions and the karma that I create, you know, based on them. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:26 Highlight the passage at 1:34:26

1:34:52 And that karma ripens and then I suffer. and so, um, I rely on the Buddha and his teachings, especially his teachings, especially once his teachings are realizations. That, they say, is the true Dharma. It's those realizations in the minds of the masters and eventually in our own minds. That's what we're really taking refuge in because that's what's really going to turn our lives around, 180 degrees. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:52 Highlight the passage at 1:34:52

1:35:22 At this point we're sort of taking a lot of it on faith based on watching our teachers and really admiring them and wanting to become like the Dalai Lama or whatever. But what makes them so different from us are these realizations in their mind of the Buddhist teachings. And that's the true Dharma. That's the true refuge. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:22 Highlight the passage at 1:35:22

1:35:43 But you can also take refuge in your own future realizations or your own future Buddhahood. They call that actually resultant refuge. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:43 Highlight the passage at 1:35:43

1:35:56 Or if it's just one aspect of the Buddhist teachings, sometimes with beginning students I start with that, with just like, I just have an understanding of, you know, karma or the fact that I have, that everybody has Buddha nature. So there might be just some aspect of the Buddhist teachings that you can really relate to and that inspires you and you can take refuge in that. So you can think about it in whatever way makes sense to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:56 Highlight the passage at 1:35:56

1:36:26 And the next class is refuge. So if anybody would like to take refuge, learn what taking refuge is all about, we're going to talk about it more in the class that begins in January. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:26 Highlight the passage at 1:36:26

1:36:38 And then I generate bodhicitta because I stop and I think, you know, yeah, I want to get out of this suffering existence. I want to stop this cycle of acting, you know, on my crazy mind and creating negative karma and then having that karma ripen and then... You know, being forced to take another negative rebirth or have negative conditions in my life that come about. I keep creating this circle over and over and over again and cycle, and I don't want to do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:38 Highlight the passage at 1:36:38

1:37:08 And so when I look around me and I realize that all other beings are in the same situation, then I generate this mind that's like, I can't just get out of this for myself. I have to use my energy. And my time and my mind and my life to do whatever I can to help others also recognize this situation and get out of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:08 Highlight the passage at 1:37:08

1:37:34 And so this mind of bodhicitta is specifically, bodhicitta is generating a mind that wants to get enlightened so that you can more perfectly benefit from sentient beings. And sentient beings are simply beings with mind wherever they are. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:34 Highlight the passage at 1:37:34

1:37:52 So generating bodhicitta, you can do it in whatever way, whatever level you can imagine it, but it might be just the way we started with Tonglen tonight, where it's just even one being that you want to remove their suffering and bring them happiness. And then we just begin sort of extrapolating that out to all beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:52 Highlight the passage at 1:37:52

1:38:14 That's how we begin generating this mind of bodhicitta. Or you can just simply imagine, you know, once you have realized that I want to take refuge, you look around at all other beings and you're just like, well, wait, I can't leave them all behind. I have to use my life for them. It's this really courageous mind. They say a bodhisattva is like a warrior of the heart, you know, willing to do whatever it takes to help all beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:14 Highlight the passage at 1:38:14

1:38:40 So then based on these two, this intelligent regret, And then this mind of reliance, I do whatever remedy I'm choosing. So if it's a really big thing, like I'm always screaming at Billy in the kitchen, or I suddenly say I'm new to Buddhism and I realize that, wow, I worked in a butcher's business. 15 years, I have a lot of cleaning up to do. Or something, you know, I could realize that I've done something. Like when you're on doing the Measures to Suffer Retreat, you definitely, believe me, you think of everything you've ever done wrong. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:40 Highlight the passage at 1:38:40

1:39:22 Before you knew it was wrong, you know. I mean, like half the stuff, we just had no idea. We're just ignorant. And so sometimes you have to do a practice for a while. So you might want to work on that practice, purifying that practice, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:22 Highlight the passage at 1:39:22

1:39:38 On the same for the same thing, the same act for as many times as you feel. But then each time you still end with feeling like you're purified. You still have to develop that feeling of really feeling like this. Having some faith in the practice and letting it just purify your mind and really imagining at least for that one moment at the end of the practice that your mind really is as Lama, as she says, clean, clear, like crystal. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:38 Highlight the passage at 1:39:38

1:40:11 He says to really imagine your mind completely clean, like imagine the most pure water you can imagine and just imagine that your mind has been purified. Because he said that there's so much power in just even for that one moment seeing your mind. Completely cleansed of this negativity. So, you know, it might be something somewhat short like reading the Heart Sūtra or it might be, you know, doing, you know, say you're at work and you just have time for like some short mantras in the bathroom or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:11 Highlight the passage at 1:40:11

1:40:43 But whatever it is, try to do it with the completeness of the practice as much as you can. If it's something really, really big, you might want to do satsas. You know, you might want to learn how to do that practice and like do it for a couple of months. You know, it might be worthwhile to do that. Or do a three-month fudge yourself a retreat. Like that. Or you could dedicate tonight's class to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:43 Highlight the passage at 1:40:43

1:41:09 Something like that. Or you could just, you know, like you know in advance that, you know, you're going to take whatever the next class is and you're going to dedicate that whole course to cleaning up something that, you know, and then every time before the class and every time after the class you're going to remember that and dedicate it. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:09 Highlight the passage at 1:41:09

1:41:25 You can be creative. And then the final one is this determination to restrain yourself from doing the act again for however long you can. And it's wonderful if you can say for the rest of your life, you know, something like, I will not ever work in a butcher shop again. I think that is one that I can say. I never worked in a butcher shop. But, I mean, taking like a lay vow or taking an ordination vow of... Report an error in the passage at 1:41:25 Highlight the passage at 1:41:25

1:41:58 Not intentionally killing again. It doesn't mean that we don't kill because we unintentionally kill all the time without realizing it, but I can honestly say that I will not intentionally kill again and then do my best to uphold that. And that is something that I can say. And they say that there's a power to that, to actually just making that declaration that you won't. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:58 Highlight the passage at 1:41:58

1:42:26 And sometimes with something that's really hard, you can kind of almost set up a little scene where you're on a bended knee telling Vajrasattva or your guru are one and the same. They really are one and the same. Just imagining, you know, making this promise of whatever to the Buddha or to Vajrasattva or to your guru. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:26 Highlight the passage at 1:42:26

1:42:49 That you won't do this again, whatever this thing is. But if it's something that you happen to have a real problem with, like impatience or negative speech, which is like a big one, don't say, I will never ever, even if you have the strongest of intention, don't say, I will never ever do this again. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:49 Highlight the passage at 1:42:49

1:43:16 You can say, I really want the strong aspiration to never do this again, but don't make the promise that it's impossible to keep. Keep it practical. Be realistic and say, I will set whatever your amount of time is that you really honestly feel like you can do, even if it's 10 minutes. Be real and then keep it and have it be really sweet and pure and you've done it. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:16 Highlight the passage at 1:43:16

1:43:42 And then do it again the next night. If you have an ongoing problem with this person or with this particular act, say you're trying to really wipe out meaningless speech or something like that, you might have to keep working with it for a while. And you keep setting that amount of time and try to extend that amount of time. I will make it through the morning without babbling on. I will make it through. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:42 Highlight the passage at 1:43:42

1:44:03 Three quarters of a day without babbling on. I will make it through the first ten minutes of the day without babbling on. You know, whatever it is that you have a problem with. But be honest as much as you can. It makes it more powerful to keep that. And definitely... To do this at the end of the day is really, really, really important to do. Rinpoche says that not doing it is just completely stupid. I think he says something like it's insane not to do it once you understand how it all works. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:03 Highlight the passage at 1:44:03

1:44:39 And doing it with as much as you can, with as much sincerity or as much earnestness as you can bring to it is really, really important. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:39 Highlight the passage at 1:44:39

1:44:53 But even if you don't do it perfectly, to do it in some respect is still better than not doing it at all. It also allows you a way to kind of look at your life and look at the day and look at how you've done and it kind of gives you a tool to do something with it. The other really important aspect to balance it is the rejoicing meditation that we just learned in the karma class and that just sort of balances out. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:53 Highlight the passage at 1:44:53

1:45:21 The weight of always looking at the negative and just to spend a little bit of time looking at maybe the three best things you did that day as well. So you're not only focusing on all the ways you screwed up because otherwise it can be a little heavy handed. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:21 Highlight the passage at 1:45:21

1:45:35 So the final thing I just wanted to leave you guys with is just reminding ourselves that Buddhism isn't really about like, you know, How to have a calm mind as we continue to suffer and die. It's really about getting past, transcending suffering and death altogether. It's really about achieving a deathless state. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:35 Highlight the passage at 1:45:35

1:46:01 You say chime, deathless. And the way that we do that, of course, is attaining nirvāṇa and then ultimately full enlightenment. So clearly this takes a lot of time. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:01 Highlight the passage at 1:46:01

1:46:15 And there are faster methods and there are slower methods, but it's important to know that that's what we're shooting for once we actually get onto this path, because it's not just about having a calm mind and putting up with saṃsāra. It's actually transcending the whole shebang. And that's what really enlightenment's all about. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:15 Highlight the passage at 1:46:15

1:46:38 Enlightenment is imagine a mind that's completely free of every negativity that there is. So it's completely free of everything that's negative, everything that's harmful and anything that might disturb the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:38 Highlight the passage at 1:46:38

1:46:57 And it's perfected everything positive so that you can't possibly perfect it anymore. So it's not just like... This mind has compassion. This mind has the most perfect compassion. This mind has the most perfect wisdom. This mind has the most perfect forms of every single quality that there is. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:57 Highlight the passage at 1:46:57

1:47:24 Love, you know, patience. This mind can't be perfected anymore. It's almost beyond our concept. And these positive states of mind are there all the time without break, no matter what they're doing. And they're able, because they've attained this perfection of mind, because really enlightenment is just perfected mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:24 Highlight the passage at 1:47:24

1:47:49 That's really all it really means. They have powers that enable them to benefit others, because that's the whole intention of becoming a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:49 Highlight the passage at 1:47:49

1:48:01 That allow them to effortlessly benefit others without any concept. Enlightened mind isn't a conceptual mind. So it's not like I have to think about how I can help Chad today and how I can help Cedric today and how maybe I can help Whitney a little bit with that patience. I don't have to sit there in the morning and think that. I just karmically manifest in whatever form might help Angela that day or Whitney that day or Sandy that day. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:01 Highlight the passage at 1:48:01

1:48:30 As many times during the day as necessary because I can manifest simultaneously, infinitely, effortlessly. So I can manifest different bodies everywhere according to karma. So it's incredible actually to think about what enlightened mind, what it is that we're shooting for. It's almost beyond our concept, what our concept can create. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:30 Highlight the passage at 1:48:30

1:48:57 But in a way we kind of have to use. Our concept to look at it, to try to think about it. So it's interesting that way. So the real goal is to be able to help others and enlightenment is just our means or our tool to be able to do that. So this is the real meaning of life. This is the real purpose of what our spiritual path is getting us to. Looking at the way that how our life affects our death and how our dying can be eased and how our rebirth can be improved are simply methods to get us there. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:57 Highlight the passage at 1:48:57

1:49:38 It's sort of those are the steps along our path, but our ultimate goal is to perfect our mind so that... We can manifest in these different forms for our beings however they need us and however most benefits their mind in that moment, in that day. So that's our real purpose for reading about and studying about and meditating on death and impermanence and rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:38 Highlight the passage at 1:49:38

1:50:07 That key word. I think it was death and impermanence, I think is what I called it before, rather than rebirth. So are there any questions and otherwise? We can dedicate. And it's weird. We don't meet again now for a month. And it's a busy month. All sorts of opportunities to practice, though. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:07 Highlight the passage at 1:50:07

1:50:30 Yeah, Whitney? I think it's caught under the leg of your little table. I was just wondering if you could say a little bit more about, like, you mentioned one something, but, like, purification can involve something happening that's not as bad as the other thing that might have happened, had you not purified. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:30 Highlight the passage at 1:50:30

1:50:50 Right. It can manifest in... Like sickness or something like that's a good example. Yeah, it can manifest and look like sickness or it can manifest and look like depression. It can manifest and look like, you know, like a sprained ankle. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:50 Highlight the passage at 1:50:50

1:51:10 So sometimes it's sort of like, especially as you first start studying the Dharma and as you start purifying, little things are happening all the time and you're kind of like, wow. Why is this all happening to me? And actually, what Vinrovina is always saying, whenever any of us are complaining, the dirt has to come out, the dirt has to come out, the dirt has to come out. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:10 Highlight the passage at 1:51:10

1:51:36 It becomes like a mantra, the dirt has to come out, you know. And it's true. And I mean, when you're working for the Dharma, which all of us are, who live here, the dirt's coming out all the time. I mean, this is all purification. We're all serving, you know, Rinpoche, we're serving Rubina, serving sentient beings. So the dirt's coming out, the dirt's coming out, the dirt's coming out. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:36 Highlight the passage at 1:51:36

1:52:02 And sometimes you might think, like, I have an easier time seeing, for example, migraines, which I have quite a bit, as purification than I do depression or something like that. And she's just like, that's just your own dualistic thought. Why is mental purification any different than physical purification? Report an error in the passage at 1:52:02 Highlight the passage at 1:52:02

1:52:28 It's just we have hang-ups about mental. Oh, I shouldn't have this. I shouldn't be thinking this. I shouldn't feel sad or whatever. But actually they say that purification does manifest. That's particularly one. I got an email from somebody. I was talking, somebody was asking about how Report an error in the passage at 1:52:28 Highlight the passage at 1:52:28

1:52:49 Somebody who's not here. Why, after he's been meditating for a while, sometimes he has these feelings of depression or darkness. And I say that very well could be purification. And Rinpoche actually said once in Ultimate Healing, I think, his book on healing, that if you wake up and you have a depression for no real reason, like you don't... Report an error in the passage at 1:52:49 Highlight the passage at 1:52:49

1:53:13 Like you're not grieving somebody or something like that and you haven't just lost your job or something like some obvious reason. That it's often either purification or exhaustion of ripening of sexual misconduct karma because you've caused suffering in somebody else's mind by taking their partner. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:13 Highlight the passage at 1:53:13

1:53:35 So it's ripening now in your own mind, feeling sadness for no apparent reason. So I think that's interesting. It was funny because when I found that I was in retreat and this depression had come up and I thought, this is really odd. And I just was looking through ultimate healing and I found that. And actually it was I think the only time I can think of where I could be simultaneously happy and depressed at the same time. It sort of gave it a reason. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:35 Highlight the passage at 1:53:35

1:54:03 It gave me an understanding of it, and I could divorce myself from it a little bit more. Because depression, I think, is a hard one because we identify too much with our feelings more than we do for a hurt knee or something. You know, you don't take it so personally if you have an earache, you know, or if you twist your ankle or something like that. The reason I mention the twisted ankle, Jan Willis, who was one of Lama Yeshe's first students, who's a professor at Wesleyan University now. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:03 Highlight the passage at 1:54:03

1:54:33 Was teaching once at Vajrapani and she fell and really badly sprained her ankle coming out of the Geshe house where she was staying. And her first thought was, she said, wow, imagine how much worse it would be if I wasn't here. And I just thought, oh, that's great. She just had this sort of thought of like, this is okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:33 Highlight the passage at 1:54:33

1:54:53 This is like a lesser form of how it could have been, you know. And she just immediately saw it as some sort of purification. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:53 Highlight the passage at 1:54:53

1:55:03 Some of it is attitude, but you can either think of it, I mean it's hard to tell what part of it's purification and what part of it is just your karma ripening, your normal karma ripening, but either way it's worth rejoicing over. You're still done with that karma. So in a way you can actually see it all as purification, and especially if you're putting effort into your purification practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:03 Highlight the passage at 1:55:03

1:55:29 With Diamond Cutter Sūtra it actually says point blank, Anyone who especially studies that sūtra to expect a lot of physical and mental purification because you are getting rid of what could later ripen as a hell realm rebirth or an animal realm rebirth or like that. And sometimes in, and that actually happened for me, the first time I studied the Dhamma Keter Sūtra, I threw my back out. It was the worst pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:29 Highlight the passage at 1:55:29

1:56:00 I mean, I had to sit in like this. I was like, I mean, I literally had somebody had to turn me over. I was that in that much pain. My friend at that time, who's now Tenzin Chokyi, at that time she was Petra. I fell on the floor and she literally couldn't tell because I couldn't even say what was happening. She just knew I was in pain. She thought I was having a heart attack or something. Like she just didn't know what was happening. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:00 Highlight the passage at 1:56:00

1:56:23 The pain was just so severe. So coincidence? I don't know. It was so intense. I mean, it was like I literally, like I had to just walk. I was just in so much pain. I had to like walk like this the whole time, the whole weekend. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:23 Highlight the passage at 1:56:23

1:56:40 But I started to say something else there. Just that whole experience of purifying and having that purification come out or manifest in these different forms or whatever. I forgot. So I can't remember. Something about, was it about Diamond Cutter? Anyway, I don't remember. That was probably worth forgetting. But it is important to remember that a lot of people are kind of freaked out by that, but do you really want to have the hell realm rebirth? Report an error in the passage at 1:56:40 Highlight the passage at 1:56:40

1:57:13 I mean, I'd rather get rid of it, actually. I'd rather purify it and get rid of it in this life as much as I can, because I have the conditions where I can experience it, you know, and I have the support of other... practitioners and my teachers and things like that to understand it. So I'd rather just get rid of it. But that implies a certain amount of faith in the whole process, You want to pass that to Paul? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:13 Highlight the passage at 1:57:13

1:57:38 Oh, yeah, sure. Would physical sickness be likely purification of killing? I think so. Not always, but yeah, I always think so. I mean, I have a lot of it, so I always am like, you know, God, I must have been really horrible. But I think also you're thinking so many lifetimes. I'm always thinking last life, like it's only last life. And I'm thinking, well, God, if I have this much physical purification. But I think the reality is more likely that it's so many lifetimes. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:38 Highlight the passage at 1:57:38

1:58:08 Of negative habits. And remember that karma expands too. So even just if I was like a farmer and I was constantly spraying pesticide, think about that, karma. Or as a fisher person. See my little feminist leanings there. But I was like, you know, just killing fish, you know, mindlessly. Doesn't, you know, each one of those lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:08 Highlight the passage at 1:58:08

1:58:36 It's going to manifest in some form, like I'm going to have to suffer in some form for that. So you don't necessarily have to be a former SS guy, which is what I'm always saying that I must have been because of the amount of physical karma. But I think it's just, considering the amount of, I mean, I really haven't been in the Dharma that long. So in like the last 11, 12 years. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:36 Highlight the passage at 1:58:36

1:58:59 It's almost imagining then lifetimes and lifetimes of ignorance and negativity purifying. It's actually pretty, you know, it's, you know what I mean? It's sort of like it's funneling into this pretty small amount of time. Yeah. Paul. I've just noticed that when I'm practicing a lot that I tend to have... Report an error in the passage at 1:58:59 Highlight the passage at 1:58:59

1:59:26 Suddenly a lot of nightmares. And I'm wondering if you've ever heard of any kind of correspondence between somebody's dreams and their practice. No, I totally would think that there would be. I haven't had that experience. But I think Stephen told me that Geshe-la, Stephen Butler was telling me that Geshe-la was saying that it was a form of purification. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:26 Highlight the passage at 1:59:26

1:59:50 He had experienced it. And I'm like revealing some confidence, but I don't think so. I think he's already highly attained being like just posing as this ordinary guy anyway. And I do mean that, Stephen. No, but I think I remember this coming up and him saying that it was a form of purification, but I don't remember for what. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:50 Highlight the passage at 1:59:50

2:00:14 But I can try to find out what that was. Yeah, I'm really curious because it keeps coming up every time and I haven't been practicing that long. Is it the same? Same kind of dreams. Not the same dream, but they tend to be kind of violent dreams. And I don't tend to have nightmares in my life that much, but I haven't been practicing for all that long. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:14 Highlight the passage at 2:00:14

2:00:33 But in the various times in the past couple of years when I have been meditating more, just bam, I start having a lot more of these violent dreams. Interesting, yeah. That sounds kind of like that one, that email that I was telling you about where the guy was saying that he was meditating and at first it used to be like this blissful thing and now he's kind of coming off the cushion and having all this kind of depression and dark mind and he's trying to figure out what's happening. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:33 Highlight the passage at 2:00:33

2:00:58 I think that sounds very much like purification. It's probably purification of mind, I would think. So it's probably mental states that you have had in past lives that are now purifying. You know, so it's a little less gross than all my migraines. But it's still purification. Sure, sure. But, you know, sometimes purification, too, isn't in a form. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:58 Highlight the passage at 2:00:58

2:01:22 Like, you know, a lot of times it is something like a physical or physical. But sometimes it's like this really kind of, like, the connection is really hard to follow. And that's why they say karma. The subtlest workings of karma are so difficult to understand. And so sometimes asking somebody who is more highly evolved or very highly evolved, like Rinpoche or Geshe-la or something, because sometimes it's like you can't quite get the connection, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:22 Highlight the passage at 2:01:22

2:01:54 You're like, really? You know, because it's like some weird thing. And they're like, oh, well, clearly that's, you know. And you're like, huh, really? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:54 Highlight the passage at 2:01:54

2:02:05 Yeah, I don't know, but to me it sounds like purification of some sort of mental state. Yeah, and I know that there's some practices around dreams in Buddhism. Yeah, and have you had the experience ever in one of these dreams where, for example, you are about to do something negative and you stop yourself? Report an error in the passage at 2:02:05 Highlight the passage at 2:02:05

2:02:28 Because of some new understanding that you have of karma? No, they've been more about either watching violence done to somebody else or having it done to me. Not so much me actually doing the thing. Because I had that one happen once at Copan, actually, the first time I was at Copan. I had a dream where somebody was having us go and steal and I said, I just took it. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:28 Highlight the passage at 2:02:28

2:02:54 It was very funny when I woke up, because I hardly remember my dreams, and I just remember thinking, I said, no, we were taking precepts and I can't steal. And the thing that was funny is that the guy in the dream was my friend, who I was actually over there with, Mark Grugieri, one of the people that, there's a group of us from California that were there, and he was sort of like the Fagan guy. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:54 Highlight the passage at 2:02:54

2:03:14 He was like trying to get us all to steal. And so afterwards when I told him the dream, I really wasn't very happy with that. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:14 Highlight the passage at 2:03:14

2:03:22 But it was kind of exciting. I have had that feeling before where you're like, no, wait, I can't do this. I can't because I've taken this vow or made this pledge during the purification process where you make that restraint and you're like, no. It's very interesting because I think they say that's such a good sign because it's sort of like when you start dreaming in another language. It's like you're starting to dream in Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:22 Highlight the passage at 2:03:22

2:03:43 You're starting to really absorb it in your heart and you're like... Even in your dream, you're starting to stop your negative acts, so that's a good sign. So maybe you've got to go through witnessing a few murders before you get there. I don't know. I haven't heard that before, but that's what I would think it was. Are you disturbed, or do you kind of feel like that might be what it is? Report an error in the passage at 2:03:43 Highlight the passage at 2:03:43

2:04:09 Am I disturbed in dreams? No, now talking about it. That's why it seems like it is this kind of purification thing. It's like this counterintuitive thing where it's like, oh, I feel really good. I'm meditating a lot. I'm having really violent, weird dreams. Why is that happening? Because it seems like it's just the way you're saying it. It seems like you're having some sort of intuition. And I always trust that. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:09 Highlight the passage at 2:04:09

2:04:32 I know that my mom used to always say that when I would say, you know, I had this dream, blah, blah, blah. And she'd be like, well, how does that make you feel? And they often say that's... That's the real test. Because sometimes you'd be like telling somebody else to dream and they're kind of like horrified. But that wasn't your feeling at all. Like you were like, well, no, I know he had seven heads and blah, blah, blah. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:32 Highlight the passage at 2:04:32

2:04:51 But it was all right, you know. I think a lot of it is your own mind. But in this case, I would totally see it as mental purification. Yeah, I mean, that's what it seems like. That's why I brought it to mind. If it continues, though, let's bring it to Geshe-la and see what he says. Because maybe he would even have a practice that might help. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:51 Highlight the passage at 2:04:51

2:05:08 Yeah, that would be awesome. I couldn't help but thinking that because we're doing this death class, especially in the beginning of the class, meditating so much on the reality of our own death happening, that dreaming about death would make sense. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 2:05:08 Highlight the passage at 2:05:08

2:05:30 interesting. Anybody else? Either about purification or death? Lama Tsongkhapa Rinpoche. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:30 Highlight the passage at 2:05:30

2:05:42 Yeah, I hope we have it. We'll see if we have it. We can ask her to order it anyway. I did want to mention, I think all of you guys who are already going to get it have noticed that Mind of Clear Light has come in and I tried to let you guys all know. I think I'll let you guys all know. Anyway, so if anybody wants it or if anybody knows of anybody else who might be interested, she has an abundance of it. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:42 Highlight the passage at 2:05:42

2:06:09 I'm trying to convince her that it's actually not a bad thing to have an abundance of. All right, so let's dedicate this class, this course, up until the practice day, of course. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:09 Highlight the passage at 2:06:09

2:06:32 So think back to that feeling right when you were doing the Tonglen. And Whitney, we started the class during the Tonglen, doing Tonglen meditation. So think about that feeling when you were able to remove the suffering of this other being that you imagined, this other person, somebody that you love very much, and bringing them. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:32 Highlight the passage at 2:06:32

2:06:51 Lasting happiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:51 Highlight the passage at 2:06:51

2:06:56 And then imagine the incredible bliss of being able to do this for every living being without exception. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:56 Highlight the passage at 2:06:56

2:07:11 Now imagine having the capacity to manifest in whatever form would most help any person or do whatever would most enable them to be able to help themselves, to teach, exemplify, push their buttons, Report an error in the passage at 2:07:11 Highlight the passage at 2:07:11

2:07:33 inspire them to help somebody else. Whatever is needed. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:33 Highlight the passage at 2:07:33

2:07:43 And may this class become the cause of each one of us generating this mind of bodhicitta and being able to progress along the path all the way to true enlightenment. And Report an error in the passage at 2:07:43 Highlight the passage at 2:07:43

2:08:03 may this class become the cause of each of us becoming Buddhas, fully awakened beings, so that we can benefit every other being without exception. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:03 Highlight the passage at 2:08:03

2:08:30 Thank you. Again, we're late. Sorry. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:30 Highlight the passage at 2:08:30

2:08:39 So, Whitney, did you get the presentation topics? There you go. And did you get last week's meditation for the meditation for Tonglen? Report an error in the passage at 2:08:39 Highlight the passage at 2:08:39

2:08:55 Okay, why didn't I give you Tonglen? Did you get Class 5 meditation, the dissolution? Okay, you got that one. Did anybody not get the death dissolution meditation? I've got some extra copies of that. Okay. So here's the Tonglen. And you guys might have, those of you who have been doing Tonglen might have noticed that I had a slightly different visualization. Did you notice instead of the red flame, I did the hard rock? Report an error in the passage at 2:08:55 Highlight the passage at 2:08:55

2:09:21 I play with that one. So play with it and see which one you like. Now I think I'm on the hard rock phase. Sometimes I like the red flame. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:21 Highlight the passage at 2:09:21

2:09:34 I think selfishness feels more like a cold, hard rock. Yeah, so I go back and forth. It does kind of burn up crap though too. So they would have much less lawsuits on their hand if they adopted this. No mention of God. This is great. Yeah, it is. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:34 Highlight the passage at 2:09:34