Discovering Buddhism - Death and Rebirth (9 April 2009)

0:07 This is about acceptance. It's not always going to be the death we want. Report an error in the passage at 0:07 Highlight the passage at 0:07

0:15 No, this will be fine. Report an error in the passage at 0:15 Highlight the passage at 0:15

0:20 So let's get Report an error in the passage at 0:20 Highlight the passage at 0:20

0:25 a quick cup of tea. Sorry. Report an error in the passage at 0:25 Highlight the passage at 0:25

0:39 All right, so just take some nice deep breaths and just let go of those horrifying noises we just heard. Report an error in the passage at 0:39 Highlight the passage at 0:39

0:49 Any stress you may have had today, any, you know, all the activities of your day. Just nice deep breaths. Just imagine breathing them out into the night air. Report an error in the passage at 0:49 Highlight the passage at 0:49

1:08 You can also imagine that breath sort of working its way through your body and mind and just dissolving any tension it may find or distraction, sluggishness. Report an error in the passage at 1:08 Highlight the passage at 1:08

1:22 And breathing that out too. Report an error in the passage at 1:22 Highlight the passage at 1:22

1:32 And then just imagine breathing in fresh alertness, awareness, awakeness each time of day. Just Report an error in the passage at 1:32 Highlight the passage at 1:32

1:52 focus your attention on your breath. Just bring it to the level of your belly. Just feel your belly expand and contract with each breath. And then just try to keep your awareness on that breath, entering your body and leaving your body for ten breaths without losing that focus. Just try to pour all of your energy into that, all of your concentration. We're Report an error in the passage at 1:52 Highlight the passage at 1:52

· · · silence, 1 minute

3:17 going to start with this meditation that most of you have been doing this week. The third part of this three-part. Report an error in the passage at 3:17 Highlight the passage at 3:17

3:28 We call it a nine-part meditation on death. Each of the three parts has three supporting parts. Report an error in the passage at 3:28 Highlight the passage at 3:28

3:38 And this section is about what is going to help us at the time of death, especially at the actual moment of our death. Report an error in the passage at 3:38 Highlight the passage at 3:38

3:52 We're just examining the different things that we usually put time into in our lives, Report an error in the passage at 3:52 Highlight the passage at 3:52

4:02 our possessions, our friends, and of course our own body. Just looking, how will these things help me at that moment? Report an error in the passage at 4:02 Highlight the passage at 4:02

4:29 So to begin, just imagine yourself in bed. You've been quite ill for some time. Report an error in the passage at 4:29 Highlight the passage at 4:29

4:43 You've gone through all those stages of denial, fear, anger, and gradually come around to acceptance. Report an error in the passage at 4:43 Highlight the passage at 4:43

5:01 You've taken some time to put things right with all the people in your life, so now you're just preparing to die. Report an error in the passage at 5:01 Highlight the passage at 5:01

5:14 What's going to help you right now to die peacefully? Report an error in the passage at 5:14 Highlight the passage at 5:14

5:27 This is a way for us to begin to think about what we're doing with our lives while we still have a chance to change it. Is there something we could be doing that we're not doing? Report an error in the passage at 5:27 Highlight the passage at 5:27

5:40 Some way to prepare? Report an error in the passage at 5:40 Highlight the passage at 5:40

5:49 No possessions can help us. Report an error in the passage at 5:49 Highlight the passage at 5:49

5:55 Which of all of your possessions can help you at that moment? Think about all the things that you especially treasure, Report an error in the passage at 5:55 Highlight the passage at 5:55

6:08 the things that take up space in your mind, as one of my teachers says. Report an error in the passage at 6:08 Highlight the passage at 6:08

6:16 How can they help you now? Report an error in the passage at 6:16 Highlight the passage at 6:16

6:23 Can they help you now? Report an error in the passage at 6:23 Highlight the passage at 6:23

6:29 Your attachment to them could actually hurt you now, hold you back. This time that you need to be able to let go more and more. Report an error in the passage at 6:29 Highlight the passage at 6:29

6:47 Think about everything that you value, the things that you love, especially things you don't want to share with others or you worry about getting broken or lost or messed up in some way. Report an error in the passage at 6:47 Highlight the passage at 6:47

7:05 In the end, we lose it all. We Report an error in the passage at 7:05 Highlight the passage at 7:05

7:17 come into this life naked and empty-handed. And we have to lead the same way. Report an error in the passage at 7:17 Highlight the passage at 7:17

7:29 None of the things that we grasp onto can help us, Report an error in the passage at 7:29 Highlight the passage at 7:29

7:36 our wealth, any of our belongings. Report an error in the passage at 7:36 Highlight the passage at 7:36

7:44 It doesn't mean we have to give it all away, but we have to begin to let go of it a little bit in this life, even if you just imagine giving it away. Report an error in the passage at 7:44 Highlight the passage at 7:44

7:57 It's more about the mind, allowing the mind to begin to let go. Report an error in the passage at 7:57 Highlight the passage at 7:57

8:12 At the moment of our death, everything is gone instant, uncontrollably. Report an error in the passage at 8:12 Highlight the passage at 8:12

8:21 So we can start now just reducing our attachment a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 8:21 Highlight the passage at 8:21

8:33 Imagine giving it away to somebody you love. Report an error in the passage at 8:33 Highlight the passage at 8:33

8:42 Imagine giving the thing that you really love the most to somebody that you don't even really like. Report an error in the passage at 8:42 Highlight the passage at 8:42

8:58 Or imagine going through your house and gathering up everything, giving it to goodwill. Report an error in the passage at 8:58 Highlight the passage at 8:58

9:15 Or as Venable Rita Rinneker once said, imagine your worst enemy. Going through all of your drawers and belongings, stuffing them all into plastic bags and throwing them off a cliff. This Report an error in the passage at 9:15 Highlight the passage at 9:15

9:44 stuff, and we have to let go of it somehow, so begin working with it in our mind. Report an error in the passage at 9:44 Highlight the passage at 9:44

9:55 You could also start a list. Who gets what when you die? Report an error in the passage at 9:55 Highlight the passage at 9:55

10:08 This is a way of letting go, and Report an error in the passage at 10:08 Highlight the passage at 10:08

10:16 the freer our minds are, the easier it will be to die. Report an error in the passage at 10:16 Highlight the passage at 10:16

10:29 Our loved ones can't help us. Report an error in the passage at 10:29 Highlight the passage at 10:29

10:36 Actually, the people that we love the most can make it harder on us at that time. It might stir up strong emotions in us, strong attachment, especially at that moment when we need a calm and peaceful mind. Report an error in the passage at 10:36 Highlight the passage at 10:36

10:58 We come into this life alone and we have to die alone. It's our journey. Nobody can go with us. No matter how many people we surround ourselves with in life, this is our journey to make. Report an error in the passage at 10:58 Highlight the passage at 10:58

11:22 Even if everyone we love the most is holding on to us, it can't stop us from having to die. Report an error in the passage at 11:22 Highlight the passage at 11:22

11:35 And sometimes their attachment to us causes pain in our hearts, makes it harder. Report an error in the passage at 11:35 Highlight the passage at 11:35

11:48 Sometimes they don't really know what to do. Most of the time they don't really know what to do to help us die peacefully. Report an error in the passage at 11:48 Highlight the passage at 11:48

11:59 Again, it doesn't mean that we can't love people, but we can try to cultivate love in the Buddhist sense of wanting their happiness. Report an error in the passage at 11:59 Highlight the passage at 11:59

12:10 Clinging to them so much. Report an error in the passage at 12:10 Highlight the passage at 12:10

12:23 Ultimately nobody else can share this experience of death with us. It's our journey to make. Report an error in the passage at 12:23 Highlight the passage at 12:23

12:38 Our own body can't help. Report an error in the passage at 12:38 Highlight the passage at 12:38

12:45 This body that we spend so much time and energy on, taking care of, feeding, worrying about, cleaning, keeping it healthy. Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

13:06 We've experienced everything with this body since we began this life. It's been our... Closest companion, closer probably than anyone else in our lives, this body. But actually our attachment to this body can be a huge hindrance at the time of death. Report an error in the passage at 13:06 Highlight the passage at 13:06

13:33 Death is actually defined as that moment when our subtle most mind has to separate from our body. Our Report an error in the passage at 13:33 Highlight the passage at 13:33

13:46 mind and our body can't continue together forever. Our body becomes more and more weak and ultimately it ends, it ceases. And the subtle most mind moves on into the next rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 13:46 Highlight the passage at 13:46

14:07 And ultimately all of us will face this moment. So Report an error in the passage at 14:07 Highlight the passage at 14:07

14:18 you can begin now just examining your relationship with your body, your attachment to it, your dependence upon it, your identification of it as you. You are not your body and you never have been. It's just like a vessel for this mind to be in this time around. Report an error in the passage at 14:18 Highlight the passage at 14:18

14:51 It's important to think about this now while we have some time. Report an error in the passage at 14:51 Highlight the passage at 14:51

15:00 Remember Lama Yeshe's comment to his students as they grasped onto him as he got closer to death. Am I this body? Am Report an error in the passage at 15:00 Highlight the passage at 15:00

15:12 I this body? Report an error in the passage at 15:12 Highlight the passage at 15:12

15:26 If we think we are this body at the time of death, it would be so much more frightening. Report an error in the passage at 15:26 Highlight the passage at 15:26

15:37 Our subtle most mind will go on alone. Report an error in the passage at 15:37 Highlight the passage at 15:37

15:50 They say that as soon as our subtle most mind leaves this body, we no longer even recognize it as me. But while we're in it, we cling to it. Report an error in the passage at 15:50 Highlight the passage at 15:50

16:09 When we die, everything we know and have experienced will end. We'll enter a state we have no memory of. And we can't take this journey with anyone or anything else. Report an error in the passage at 16:09 Highlight the passage at 16:09

16:25 No people, no body, no possessions. Report an error in the passage at 16:25 Highlight the passage at 16:25

16:33 Even our identity dissolves. So Report an error in the passage at 16:33 Highlight the passage at 16:33

16:41 the point is that we have to work on our minds now. The Report an error in the passage at 16:41 Highlight the passage at 16:41

16:47 one thing that can help us. It's a calm, stable mind, a mind familiar with virtuous thoughts, positive thoughts, so that they can arise more easily, more naturally at that time. Report an error in the passage at 16:47 Highlight the passage at 16:47

17:13 So knowing that nothing else can help us, we can devote ourselves to sincere practice. The practice just means working with our minds, developing our own wisdom, developing compassion, understanding karma. This Report an error in the passage at 17:13 Highlight the passage at 17:13

17:39 is really what practice is. Whatever comes to us, day in and day out, doing the best we can to face it, to learn from it and to grow from it. Report an error in the passage at 17:39 Highlight the passage at 17:39

17:55 So let's motivate this class and anything we might gain from it to being able to work with our minds in whatever time we have left so that each one of us has a peaceful, calm and yes, even happy death and a positive rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 17:55 Highlight the passage at 17:55

18:19 Not just for ourselves, but so that we can help more and more and more and more beings. Report an error in the passage at 18:19 Highlight the passage at 18:19

18:36 End your meditation and open your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 18:36 Highlight the passage at 18:36

18:55 Say the opening prayer. I didn't get a book. Report an error in the passage at 18:55 Highlight the passage at 18:55

19:08 So it should be on page 8. A prayer by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Report an error in the passage at 19:08 Highlight the passage at 19:08

19:23 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion. Today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and expel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 19:23 Highlight the passage at 19:23

20:07 So before we start with that new material, does anybody have any comments about the meditation or the reading? or just things that you've been thinking about this week Report an error in the passage at 20:07 Highlight the passage at 20:07

20:27 Rosalie. Report an error in the passage at 20:27 Highlight the passage at 20:27

20:33 keep saying this week, this two days, since the last class. I just want to say that. No, it's working, but it's just turned down. It's okay. I can hear. I couldn't read anything. Report an error in the passage at 20:33 Highlight the passage at 20:33

20:57 I didn't have any time to read, so I don't know. I couldn't read anything. Report an error in the passage at 20:57 Highlight the passage at 20:57

21:00 No, no, that's okay. It's going to kind of be like that. One thing I would like to say is not to put the Dharma books on the floor, if that's possible. If we need more of these little tables, see how Kara has these little tables? Maybe we should have some of those. No, because then you don't have to hold it on your lap. That's okay. Yeah, perfect. Report an error in the passage at 21:00 Highlight the passage at 21:00

21:19 Yeah, you can just pile it up. And the only reason we do that is just because of the power of the Dharma. That it can actually transform our lives. I just respect. It's not like Dharma police. No, don't worry about it. It's really hard to keep up. This is a really short, intense little class, doing it Tuesday, Thursday like this. So I'm sure you are not alone. There are probably other people who have not. Report an error in the passage at 21:19 Highlight the passage at 21:19

21:30 but, um, um, Report an error in the passage at 21:30 Highlight the passage at 21:30

21:44 finish their reading or meditation assignments so don't worry about it yeah just you know keep kind of reading along a little bit each time and um afterwards just give yourself time to catch up and that's fine totally fine The way that I'm doing the classes is I'm allowing us to do the meditation. At the beginning and the new meditation at the end and have time to talk about it because there's not a whole lot of new material. It's the experience of that material that's so important. Report an error in the passage at 21:44 Highlight the passage at 21:44

22:15 And so don't worry about it. But do read His Holiness' book when you can. I mean, really, it's not supposed to start reading it until this weekend or something, but that's fine. It will clarify a lot, for sure. He covers a lot of material in that nice little compact book. Anyone else? Report an error in the passage at 22:15 Highlight the passage at 22:15

22:48 I like the way you always say that. Hi. I've had a really hard week with a lot of this. Report an error in the passage at 22:48 Highlight the passage at 22:48

23:01 It's really helpful to read about and meditate about. Report an error in the passage at 23:01 Highlight the passage at 23:01

23:10 Yeah, yeah. I'm sure it is for others as well. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 23:10 Highlight the passage at 23:10

23:17 Detachment's a hard one. I actually don't like the word detachment because I think it sounds more aloof, but I know what you mean, non-attachment. Report an error in the passage at 23:17 Highlight the passage at 23:17

23:27 But yeah, detachment sounds like I'm not going to love you anymore or I'm not going to love others so I won't be hurt. But I know that's not what you mean, but I'm just saying that that's the problem I have with that English word. Report an error in the passage at 23:27 Highlight the passage at 23:27

23:40 Yeah, because I mean, how do you do that with a kid or a mother or a brother? You know, I don't know how. I haven't figured that one out. But if we think about sort of, that's why I like to use those definitions, you know, the definition of love, meaning I want your happiness. Because that was actually a big one for me with letting go of my mom. And I really did believe she was okay. I really got a strong sense she was okay. Report an error in the passage at 23:40 Highlight the passage at 23:40

24:06 And I had very powerful holy beings, including this one and that one, praying for her. And His Holiness even. She made it on that list. So I knew she was okay. So who were all the tears for? I had to really finally get that it was my missing her. Which I don't think anything is wrong with that. But I had to recognize that. Report an error in the passage at 24:06 Highlight the passage at 24:06

24:25 So I think that's useful is just to examine love and attachment and how they get all entangled, especially in our culture. The two are so combined. But the love is really wanting that other person's happiness. And that is really spacious because that means I can still love people that are not in my life at all. Report an error in the passage at 24:25 Highlight the passage at 24:25

24:48 I can still love them. That doesn't ever have to end. And I really find that quite liberating, actually. Not just people who have even died, when people are just off doing their own thing, but quite happy doing it. I had a really good friend who did a lot of deep retreat. She's now teaching, but she was in retreat for probably a total of six years out of the last, like maybe eight. Report an error in the passage at 24:48 Highlight the passage at 24:48

25:16 And that was, it was hard. It was like a death. She said it was actually like a death, too, going in, you know, because you didn't know how you were going to be if you ever came out. So she had to just let go of everyone. But for me, losing her that way was hard. But then I had to really examine this love and attachment, and I knew she was doing what she was brilliant at and what she really wanted to do. Report an error in the passage at 25:16 Highlight the passage at 25:16

25:38 So then I could just be happy knowing that. But I think that's really true. This whole unexplored or newly explored thing of grief, I think it's just like I almost want to just come up with a class about it because it's just ripe. You know, because it involves love and attachment and courage, you know, building big heart, you know, and, you know, guilt for maybe having too long of grief, you know. Report an error in the passage at 25:38 Highlight the passage at 25:38

26:08 If people, I've definitely been with friends who are trying to grieve in their own time and sort of being told to hurry it up a little bit and what's that all about, you know, which I just find that so interesting. It's like, wow, really? you're the judge yeah so Yeah, but thank you. That's very, very good. I'm glad you're in this class. Report an error in the passage at 26:08 Highlight the passage at 26:08

26:37 Anybody else? And it can be just like that where certain things popped out of the reading and are playing in your mind a little bit this week, or this two days, this month. Report an error in the passage at 26:37 Highlight the passage at 26:37

26:52 More stuff will come up. We're actually going to talk about preparing our minds to die. Report an error in the passage at 26:52 Highlight the passage at 26:52

27:04 And the reason I was late is because I suddenly thought, this would be a useful little handout. So I decided to make one. So you'll get the handout. I'm going to run downstairs when I get your copies and make you get some copies on the break. And then we're going to end with this meditation I was talking to you about. Report an error in the passage at 27:04 Highlight the passage at 27:04

27:24 It's called the Death Dissolution Meditation. So it begins to get in. What does the dying person experience as they are dying? What's happening physically, you know, physically on gross and subtle levels from the Buddhist point of view? We're not getting into the medical at this point. So that's what we're going to end with. And that's the meditation that you'll do over the weekend, basically. Report an error in the passage at 27:24 Highlight the passage at 27:24

27:51 And then we'll start with it next week. And we'll spend more time on it next week, too. I cut a class in order to make this series work. I actually like doing this in eight weeks too, or eight classes too. And so we sort of are cramming things a little bit in, but we'll have more time to talk about it next week too. Report an error in the passage at 27:51 Highlight the passage at 27:51

28:12 So the information at the first part of this class that I'm going to do or talk about or the source for it is... There's a book that was written a number of years ago, probably about 10 years ago, by Christine Longacre. She's going to take out her bed. Report an error in the passage at 28:12 Highlight the passage at 28:12

28:33 Which I actually mentioned in the handout, so you can write it down. That's okay. Her name is Christine Longacre. She's a student of Sogyur Rinpoche, the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. She wrote a book called Facing Death and Finding Hope. I liked it. I think it's a very readable book. And there are so many books out there now. Report an error in the passage at 28:33 Highlight the passage at 28:33

28:52 I found this one quite useful both for somebody, both for yourself, preparing yourself to die, but also if you are preparing yourself to go and be with somebody as they die, which is a useful thing. She's just quite readable. She lost her husband very, very young. I think they were only like in their 20s, early, early 20s. And so that's kind of how she got very interested in death and dying. Report an error in the passage at 28:52 Highlight the passage at 28:52

29:19 And then she's been a many, many year Buddhist, has done a lot of work within Sogyur Rinpoche's organization. So that's that. And then I also incorporated, there's a nun that wrote How to Meditate, Sanghi Kadro. Kathleen McDonald is her non-ordained name. And her ordained name is Sanghi Kadro. And she has taught a lot on death and dying. And so I sort of took some of her stuff and incorporated it into it. Report an error in the passage at 29:19 Highlight the passage at 29:19

29:47 So it's a little... Gives it a little more Tibetan Buddhist slant. Stuck some things in there. But it's really good for us to spend some time thinking about how we can die peacefully. I mean, this last meditation really is quite specific that we examine the things that we put our time and energy into. And the three things that are mentioned, our body. Report an error in the passage at 29:47 Highlight the passage at 29:47

30:19 And our things and the people in our lives are just examples. There could be other things that we put a lot of time in. Maybe it's our work or maybe it's our art. You know what I mean? So there could be other things that we would want to, that would make this meditation more juicy for us. And totally free to do that. Report an error in the passage at 30:19 Highlight the passage at 30:19

30:37 Experiment with that. If there's something else that you put a lot of time and energy into and imagine how that might help you at the time of death. Because that's a useful thing for us to examine. It is also important for us to know that from a Buddhist point of view, first of all, death is simply another beginning. Report an error in the passage at 30:37 Highlight the passage at 30:37

31:03 It's the ending of this particular conglomeration of body, mind, activities, identity, thoughts. But it's a transition that is quite powerful and often very, very high. Practitioners can use it to practice deeply. Like the quote that I read to you guys from Kirti Sencha Rinpoche, where he was like, oh, now I get to really try this practice out. Report an error in the passage at 31:03 Highlight the passage at 31:03

31:34 His Holiness says that too sometimes. He says, you know, sometimes I quite look forward to death, which is so different from our reality. But he'll say, you know, I've been practicing this for 70 years, this one meditation, and I want to see if it's really like this. Report an error in the passage at 31:34 Highlight the passage at 31:34

31:49 It's just so different. There's that sense of curiosity that we don't have. But again, remembering the levels of practitioners. We may not be joyful as we go into death, but at least to reduce the fear and the regret. We can work on those levels for sure. And that comes from thinking about it first and preparing, just like any good journey does. Report an error in the passage at 31:49 Highlight the passage at 31:49

32:15 Right now I'm preparing to go to France, so I'm studying all the guidebooks. So you guys can study some guidebooks too. And there are a lot of them now. I mean, death and dying in America in the last probably 30 years, there's a lot of interesting stuff out there now that's accessible to us that might not have been as accessible even 35 years ago when things started sort of shifting. Report an error in the passage at 32:15 Highlight the passage at 32:15

32:44 And I think I've mentioned once before, This thought that we die the way we live, it's not like we suddenly become more noble. Report an error in the passage at 32:44 Highlight the passage at 32:44

32:56 Once we find out that we're dying, we're not suddenly more able to handle problems. If we don't start now with how we handle problems, and we don't start now with trying to tame our mind a little bit, it's not suddenly going to happen. happen under the circumstances of being in a deathbed despite the best movies we've ever watched and how they do become quite noble and the lighting is always perfect and there's usually really good music happening in the background and people say what that person wants them to say not something else not like I've never forgotten what you said 35 years So we have time now to work on our minds so that We are able to navigate that a little bit easier. That's the point. Because it's not like we're suddenly going to be able to deal with all the problems that will come up. Report an error in the passage at 32:56 Highlight the passage at 32:56

33:55 Because death is an incredibly chaotic time. Not just because our body is basically ending, which is huge, but then there's everyone's different opinions about how you can be helped. Said over you, which of course is going to add. Then there's all the medical intervention that's not always done in a timely or even a nice way. Report an error in the passage at 33:55 Highlight the passage at 33:55

34:20 And so there's lots of things that are happening. So how are we able to handle, for example, unexpected noise in the building or unexpected, I think I was talking to somebody. Who was I talking to about that? It might have been Kent actually after class one time. A friend of mine. Report an error in the passage at 34:20 Highlight the passage at 34:20

34:39 His partner had just died, actually, and I was with him. Is that San Francisco General? I guess I shouldn't have said that. And I was just standing with him. We were just sort of taking it in. And this nurse came in and just started rummaging through a drawer. Was it you, John? Yeah, yeah, yeah. She just started rummaging and rummaging. She was like getting a bedpan or something. And I thought, of all the times for you to be doing this, like maybe 10 minutes from now would be a little bit better. Report an error in the passage at 34:39 Highlight the passage at 34:39

35:11 But then I thought, well, gosh, that could happen to any of us. And if we're in a medical environment, you know, it's just sort of like they just need something in the next room. And they're just thinking, I've got to get something to this next room. So it's like that, especially hospitalized, I think, any kind of hospitalized death. Report an error in the passage at 35:11 Highlight the passage at 35:11

35:28 Any kind of hospitalized anything. So the more that we work with our minds to develop patience, the more we work with our minds to be able to accept, the more that we are able to love even when we are in pain. Report an error in the passage at 35:28 Highlight the passage at 35:28

35:45 And the interesting thing with Tibetan Buddhism is that there are exercises to do this. That's the cool thing that I've always loved about Tibetan Buddhism. It's like a step-by-step process. You can meditate to develop love. You can meditate to develop compassion. Meditate to reduce afflicted states of mind like anger and impatience and jealousy and so forth. But we have to do it now while we have the time. Report an error in the passage at 35:45 Highlight the passage at 35:45

36:14 And the type of rebirth that we take is dependent upon our karma. So the kind of life that we have lived in general is important. But also the mind... That we allow to arise at the moment of our death, which is why I was really thinking about that woman going through the bedpan drawer. Report an error in the passage at 36:14 Highlight the passage at 36:14

36:41 If anger suddenly arises, then our mind could be in a really angry, negative, heavy negative state at the moment of our death. And they said that that will color our experience in the bardo, which is the intermediate state, which we'll spend some time on next week. And it could affect... It could produce a throwing karma that throws us into our next rebirth. So we'll talk about that a little bit more when we talk about that process. But I always felt like, well, that's kind of a bummer. Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

37:11 So you could be a really, really nice person your whole life, but then this anger arises. But of course, the reality is that you don't suddenly have anger arise if you don't have anger close to the surface anyway. So the point is to try to work with subduing our minds and try to work with these different... Report an error in the passage at 37:11 Highlight the passage at 37:11

37:30 Exercises, basically, to reduce these afflicted states. Now, while things are basically fairly calm, we have a little bit of time, even though we don't have the perfect setup that we might think we... Report an error in the passage at 37:30 Highlight the passage at 37:30

37:44 So, Christine Longacre, in her book, Facing Death and Finding Hope, she set out a list of four tasks of living and dying. And then, as I said, I sort of interspersed some additional advice from... Sagi Kadro. Report an error in the passage at 37:44 Highlight the passage at 37:44

38:04 The first of these four tasks that she sort of presents to us is we can work with this set. And this is what I'm going to give you guys a handout. We can work with these questions now, like using them as sort of self-examination tool. Report an error in the passage at 38:04 Highlight the passage at 38:04

38:24 Understanding and transforming suffering is the first task that she gives us. And she's talking about... How do we deal with problems? How do we deal with the problems that we face every day? And actually beginning to examine it, almost taking this on like a practice. Report an error in the passage at 38:24 Highlight the passage at 38:24

38:46 How do I deal with things that go wrong? Not starting with the big stuff. Start with the small stuff. How do I deal with it if I'm supposed to go on a picnic and it's pouring down rain? How do I deal with it? Remember the cup I brought up last week? you know. Report an error in the passage at 38:46 Highlight the passage at 38:46

39:05 Michelle Broker today. And she was so upset. She was running upstairs. I told her I was going to announce it to you guys. I almost saved it and brought it to you. But somehow bringing that up last week, it made it a lot easier. Like I already had sort of on some level let it go. But, you know, it's like how do we deal with stuff like that? It starts with a broken cup because a broken cup is a lot easier than a broken body, right? Report an error in the passage at 39:05 Highlight the passage at 39:05

39:31 So it's a lot easier. And just starting to look at how we deal with the little things that begin to happen. Setting the goal each day to work with them. But then what I liked, what she suggests is at the end of the day, you know, asking yourself, how did I do today with problems? When a problem came, when my cup came to me in a paper bag, how did I respond? Report an error in the passage at 39:31 Highlight the passage at 39:31

39:56 And I was actually, I was like, I was kind of cool. I was all right about it, you know. So that can become part of your nightly practice. Like, how did I do today? If my motivation, which it always is actually, mine is anyway, to be able to use whatever comes to me, whatever problems and pain and things like that might come to me on the path to strengthen my mind, to train my mind. Report an error in the passage at 39:56 Highlight the passage at 39:56

40:20 Well then, checking back in. Well then, how did it go? Well, what about when he said this? Because otherwise it becomes just sort of this holy thought for the day, but you're never really accountable for it. It's useful to be accountable. So starting to try to train our minds to cope with the little stuff, the little pains, the little suffering. Report an error in the passage at 40:20 Highlight the passage at 40:20

40:46 We have, and then it gets bigger and bigger, and then the little losses become bigger losses. We can do it, you know, and we certainly can't do it if we haven't developed those tools. Does somebody need to come in? Oh, oh, we should close it. Oh, no, he's got his key. Whitney, is that unlocked? Could you check and see if it's locked? Thank you. Oh, let's go ahead. Report an error in the passage at 40:46 Highlight the passage at 40:46

41:22 Yeah, let's go ahead. We'll let him in if Phil comes. Yeah, go ahead and lock it. Thank you. It's too easy for somebody to just walk in and grab something. Report an error in the passage at 41:22 Highlight the passage at 41:22

41:33 Anyway, so if we start now and we start practicing, then there's much more of a chance that when things begin getting harder and harder. For example, if we go through aging, you know, we start, there's a little death. We were talking about the little pains in the knees and the bigger pains in the knees. Report an error in the passage at 41:33 Highlight the passage at 41:33

41:54 When I was spending a lot of time with my mom, I mean, I'm sure I did this with other people too, but my mom had a very, very slow decline. Report an error in the passage at 41:54 Highlight the passage at 41:54

42:05 Actually, the slowest of anyone ever in our family. But the interesting thing that I found is she was so graceful. You know, the thing, she had to just slowly give up one by one. Her independence, her ability to walk, her ability to take care of herself. And she just was so filled, she was so graceful about it. Report an error in the passage at 42:05 Highlight the passage at 42:05

42:28 And I just thought, wow, I mean, that's got to be hard, you know. Gradually having to move from, you know, walking very slowly to a cane, to a walker, to a wheelchair, to people having to get her out of bed at night and, you know, changing her and things like that. And all the way to the end. Thank you. She called out. Thank you. Thank you very much. I mean, how many of us can do that? Report an error in the passage at 42:28 Highlight the passage at 42:28

42:57 You know, I mean, and we get chances to practice that one. It's hard for me to ask for help. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but it's hard and to be dependent. So use those chances like practice it. Think, OK. You know, this is a good, this is a good experience for me to practice this now, you know, because this one, usually at these times, it won't last. Report an error in the passage at 42:57 Highlight the passage at 42:57

43:21 We are actually entering that decline, but we get a chance before we enter that decline. Report an error in the passage at 43:21 Highlight the passage at 43:21

43:29 So, Sangi Kadra also suggests thinking about this, well, she, Christine Langeger actually suggests thinking about it, you know, thinking about how I react. Is, are my reactions healthy, you know? Could they be improved? And what are some ways that I might cope a little bit better with whatever's happening? Report an error in the passage at 43:29 Highlight the passage at 43:29

43:57 And I really love the idea of just sitting and at the end of the day and analyzing how I did. How did I do? Because really, I mean, honestly, that's all practice is, is how do I deal with the stuff that comes out of me with everything I know from the Dharma. That's what taking refuge in the Dharma is. Report an error in the passage at 43:57 Highlight the passage at 43:57

44:18 So as we develop a bigger and bigger toolbox, we have more ways of dealing with what comes at us, what life throws us. What life throws us, of course, is created by our karma, but that's another story. The second of her four tasks, so the first is understanding and transforming suffering. The second is making a connection and healing relationships and letting go. So this time she's talking about our relationships with family and friends. Report an error in the passage at 44:18 Highlight the passage at 44:18

44:49 And here she's also talking about learning how to communicate honestly, compassionately and unselfishly. I mean, that sounds so simple, doesn't it? Until that person is messing with your stuff. And to resolve issues that arise, you know, as they arise, rather than stewing about them. Report an error in the passage at 44:49 Highlight the passage at 44:49

45:14 So also, you know, one of the things that this constant awareness of death. That we want to cultivate does is hopefully shows us that we don't have time to let unresolved things stay unresolved. I mean that should be something that you get out of all these meditations. If you've got some old stuff, this is the time. Report an error in the passage at 45:14 Highlight the passage at 45:14

45:39 Because you don't know that you'll have any other time. So go ahead and start trying to figure out a way to resolve it. It may not mean getting together with uncle. Blah, blah. You know, it might just mean in your own mind doing some journaling or doing some practices to somehow let go of this issue within yourself, you know. Report an error in the passage at 45:39 Highlight the passage at 45:39

45:59 It doesn't mean that you have to go and sit face to face with anybody. But just how do I begin to resolve these things, you know, if there's something hanging over you? Report an error in the passage at 45:59 Highlight the passage at 45:59

46:10 Because just think that just allows you to live the second half of your life, you know, so much more liberated. The third of the tasks is finding meaning in life. Report an error in the passage at 46:10 Highlight the passage at 46:10

46:22 And this is a big one for a lot of people. A lot of people sort of sail through life never really clear about their purpose, the purpose of their life. And often this is one of the things that people get if they have this diagnosis of you have 6 to 12 months left. They start looking for some meaning in life. They don't let it go by. So in actuality, it's actually a benefit. Report an error in the passage at 46:22 Highlight the passage at 46:22

46:54 Of having a terminal illness rather than a sudden death. Because a lot of times people, if you die suddenly, you may not have time to find that meaning, you know, or to clarify it in your own mind. And that becomes a problem when you die. It becomes a real problem as you get older if you just think, if you think you've wasted your life. Report an error in the passage at 46:54 Highlight the passage at 46:54

47:18 That's when those feelings of like, what have I done of value begin to arise. And they pull you down. Although, again, and I did mention this, you know, if you are ever with somebody and they can't think of what they've done, help them think of what they've done. Help them think of how they have brought something to this world, you know, how they've helped you personally, how they've helped others or what you've seen of their, you know, their capacity to help others. Report an error in the passage at 47:18 Highlight the passage at 47:18

47:51 Because they need to hear it. I mean, if we've done some work on ourselves and we've had a practice, then we probably won't have to ask those questions. But we might. We might forget. Report an error in the passage at 47:51 Highlight the passage at 47:51

48:06 So explore those questions now. Like, figure out why you're here, what the purpose of your life is, what's important, how to prioritize your time, you know. It's important. It really is important. And then finally, she said, preparing spiritually for death. And she said, every religious tradition emphasizes that to prepare spiritually for death, it is vital that we establish right now a daily spiritual practice, a practice so deeply ingrained that it becomes part of our flesh and bones, our reflexive response to every situation in life, including our experiences of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 48:06 Highlight the passage at 48:06

48:53 So really, really has to be heartfelt, you know, and it has to. It has to come up when you're on the bus. It has to come up when you're walking on Haight Street. It has to come up when the boss screams at you. It has to be, like she says, in your flesh and bones. It has to be something that you really become familiar with. That's why in the other classes, I really try to get us away from the words and more the experience. Report an error in the passage at 48:53 Highlight the passage at 48:53

49:24 If we say prayers or we do practices, That we have some personal experience of them, not just reciting things. You might remember some of that stuff on your deathbed, but most likely what will help you is the experience of something. The experience of non-attachment versus the word non-attachment. The experience of compassion rather than the word. Report an error in the passage at 49:24 Highlight the passage at 49:24

49:55 So Christine actually suggests... Think about yourself at the moment of death. What thoughts and feelings might come up in your mind at that time? And are there any spiritual ideas that you've learned or experienced that would give you comfort or peace at that time? Report an error in the passage at 49:55 Highlight the passage at 49:55

50:19 And then Sagi Kadra suggests certain practices. She suggests one, two, three, four. She suggests four practices that will help if you do this in life. So it's very similar actually to Christine Longacres, but it has to do with this preparing spiritually for death. If you do this in life, then your dying will be easier. Report an error in the passage at 50:19 Highlight the passage at 50:19

50:50 So she starts with living ethically. Report an error in the passage at 50:50 Highlight the passage at 50:50

50:56 And she's talking here about, really about understanding the law of cause and effect, karma. Whatever we do with our body, speech and our mind has a ramification. It affects both us and others, you know. So really understanding karma well, because how we live, according to Buddhism, how we live, what we do, how we think, especially how we think, those cycles we get caught in, those habits of thinking, determines the next life and lives. Report an error in the passage at 50:56 Highlight the passage at 50:56

51:34 So it's like what we're doing, what we're living right now is the film that we created in past lives. What we're creating at the same time is the next life. It's all simultaneously happening. So the more that we can understand how karma works and how we can work with karma, the happier we'll be in this life, but also the better life we'll have, the better rebirth that we'll have. Report an error in the passage at 51:34 Highlight the passage at 51:34

52:04 So when we're talking about living ethically in Buddhist terms, the basic one they usually say when you take refuge, the basic pledge you're making is non-harm, not harming others. But of course getting it that not harming others can be your speech as well as your actions. And even to some degree your thoughts, although at this point it's mostly speech and actions. Report an error in the passage at 52:04 Highlight the passage at 52:04

52:30 So they talk about the ten non-virtues, and we spend much more time of course on... But the ten non-virtues, which are killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, which basically is talking about adultery here or deceit, deceitful activities, lying, harsh speech, divisive speech, idle speech, one of my personal favorites, covetousness, that grasping mind, ill will, or as one of my teachers called it. Report an error in the passage at 52:30 Highlight the passage at 52:30

53:07 Delighting when somebody else screws up and wrong view. So learning what those are and learning how often I do them and learning how to change from doing them if they are habits for you. And we all have different habits. That's what makes us interesting, right? And their opposites because their opposites are actually the positives. Report an error in the passage at 53:07 Highlight the passage at 53:07

53:32 The positive of killing isn't just not killing, it's actually protecting life. You know, and things like that. And we get into this a lot in karma, in the karma class. Because that's like the basic foundation for just living an ethical life from a Buddhist point of view. Report an error in the passage at 53:32 Highlight the passage at 53:32

53:50 So, and then of course learning how to purify. If you've done anything that you regret with that understanding of how karma works, that's what that regret is all about. And it looks like, I don't have a date for it yet, but it looks like Geshe-la is going to lead a Vajrasapha retreat. Report an error in the passage at 53:50 Highlight the passage at 53:50

54:09 He doesn't do that very often. We're trying to do it for like July or something like that. We were originally, what's that? Oh. Report an error in the passage at 54:09 Highlight the passage at 54:09

54:23 Some being is scratching on our door. Report an error in the passage at 54:23 Highlight the passage at 54:23

54:30 And so usually when they talk about the different levels of ethics in Buddhist teachings, you're talking about first learning how to work with your body and your speech. her. Report an error in the passage at 54:30 Highlight the passage at 54:30

54:41 Or as Venom Rubina calls it, zip your lip and keep your hands to yourself. And then we begin to notice how our minds play into those. So our minds actually play into those and cause us to create negative actions. So we get into all those deluded states of mind. So anyway, that's a whole can of worms that we do get into much, much more in the karma class. Report an error in the passage at 54:41 Highlight the passage at 54:41

55:06 So that's living ethically, studying spiritual teachings. This doesn't necessarily mean attending more and more and more teachings, but it does mean to take some time in some methodical way. The Discovering Buddhism classes are great this way, but just understanding, meditating, contemplating, meditating, they say these three, studying, learning, and then taking time to contemplate them, and then taking time to meditate on them. Report an error in the passage at 55:06 Highlight the passage at 55:06

55:39 And doing that sort of methodically so that you have some basis of understanding of the teachings. So it doesn't just mean grasping everything in this sort of unrelated way, which a lot of people do. A lot of people do in the West. It's like this is offered, this is offered, this is offered. Let me just take this and this and this. I used to call it sort of the bag lady approach. Report an error in the passage at 55:39 Highlight the passage at 55:39

56:01 You know, you have a cart and you start throwing this in and this in and this in, you know. And it can actually be harmful at the time of death. Because you don't really have a clear source of refuge. That came up for me with my mom too. For somebody who had really spent so much of her time in spiritual pursuit, she had such a grab bag of things that she didn't really know what she really believed. Report an error in the passage at 56:01 Highlight the passage at 56:01

56:28 I was actually surprised by that. But I'm sure that she's not alone. She was an open-minded thinker and very open to different things. We have to figure out at some point what we really believe. What do I really believe? And that's quite useful and quite important. And have it be deeply experiential, not just book learning, not just academic. Report an error in the passage at 56:28 Highlight the passage at 56:28

56:55 And then cultivating spiritual practice. So she's coming up with this too. And she says, Sanki Kadra says, once we're actually in the active dying process, there's so much happening to us and around us that we've got to have something to ground us, something to anchor us. Our mind has to have some way to navigate what's going on. And a spiritual practice can really, really help us. So she suggests these different points. Report an error in the passage at 56:55 Highlight the passage at 56:55

57:28 She said, keeping in mind an object of faith. It can be really, really useful, whether that object of faith is the Buddha or your teacher or Jesus or whatever, Mary, Report an error in the passage at 57:28 Highlight the passage at 57:28

57:42 being able to accept what's happening and that you can't change it. And that's a big one. And that's why it starts with the flu, right? It starts with the smaller stuff. It doesn't start with the deathbed. Non-attachment to our loved ones and possessions. Which is really what the last meditation is all about. Being able to look over our lives with some sort of a positive view and really feeling that we've accomplished something. Report an error in the passage at 57:42 Highlight the passage at 57:42

58:14 You know, feeling good about our lives in some sense. And there's a practice in Buddhism that's called rejoicing that I think is such a powerful practice. Report an error in the passage at 58:14 Highlight the passage at 58:14

58:25 Simply, and this is a good one to do at the end of your day, if you're going to set up a daily practice and you're going to do anything in the evening, It's really nice to take stock of your day, like we were just talking about. Well, how did I do with the problems that hit me today? And then purifying when you screw up and rejoicing when you did well and trying to balance those. Report an error in the passage at 58:25 Highlight the passage at 58:25

58:45 So if you're like me and you like to just look at what you did wrong, I had one teacher who said, okay, if you pick out three things you did wrong and purify them, and that's great, you have to then pick out equally three things you did right. And you might have to sit there. Report an error in the passage at 58:45 Highlight the passage at 58:45

59:02 You know, it becomes painful. You're like, Oh wait, wait, I did, wait, I did this, you know, it was at 10 o'clock this morning but I did do it, you know. So yeah, just spending, spending some time each day really rejoicing at what you did right or different or that gets you closer to your goals or, you know, noticing it when you are progressing on the path because we just tend to notice when we screw up and that's not so useful. Report an error in the passage at 59:02 Highlight the passage at 59:02

59:33 And then she said also feeling loving kindness and compassion for others. And that we do lots of different ways. There are lots of different ways, of course, to do that. But there's a really powerful technique that we're going to do next week called Tonglen, taking and giving. It's a specific meditation that's basically good for whatever hails you. Report an error in the passage at 59:33 Highlight the passage at 59:33

59:56 It's like the perfect all-purpose meditation in Buddhism. And then she said that it's really, really important for us to become familiar with all of these different things in life. Keeping the mind in an object of faith. What do we have faith in? Learning how to accept the situation. Practicing non-attachment for our belongings, our things and our body, as we just talked about. Looking at life with this positive attitude and developing these strong... Report an error in the passage at 59:56 Highlight the passage at 59:56

1:00:35 She said that there are some practices that we can do to do all of these things. One of them is understanding refuge, this really Buddhist, very uniquely Buddhist practice of figuring out what it is that we are relying on and why. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:35 Highlight the passage at 1:00:35

1:00:56 In the last class we did this one meditation. And on refuge and really thought about the different things that we've taken refuge in over the course of our lives, which I find so fascinating to think, what have I taken refuge in when I'm sad? At the various points, you know, when I was 15, when I was 20, when I was 30, when I was... And it changes over time, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:56 Highlight the passage at 1:00:56

1:01:23 At 15, it was much more likely to be... Calling my best friend and, you know, complaining or crying on the phone or whatever. Friends definitely figured large, but, you know, we rely on lots of things, right? We rely on chocolate, rely on shopping, you know. So it's just interesting checking out what you take refuge in and trying to cultivate some mind of faith that supports you in rough times, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:23 Highlight the passage at 1:01:23

1:01:53 Like what I was saying with my mom. Her refuge wasn't there when she went for it. Maybe it did come around in the end. I think it did come around in the end, actually. But she definitely had to... It was a several-year-long process of trying to reestablish that sense of refuge. So establish it now while we have some time. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:53 Highlight the passage at 1:01:53

1:02:15 Figure out what it is that supports you when you're sad, when you're ill, when you're scared, when you're, you know... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:15 Highlight the passage at 1:02:15

1:02:30 Mindfulness practice. This is really where you are working with whatever is arising in your body or mind without being attached to the good things and being averse to the bad things. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:30 Highlight the passage at 1:02:30

1:02:45 What is unpleasant, whatever is unpleasant. So that's not so often practiced in Tibetan Buddhism, but there are definitely Buddhist traditions that do it more. It's sort of like just... Lying there, and you can practice it of course sitting there, and just being aware of these different things that we label pain or problem, but it's just sensations in the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:45 Highlight the passage at 1:02:45

1:03:11 It could be pain, or it could be just a tightening, a loosening, you know. Pain, like definitely if you've ever spent time examining your pain, our first reaction is always aversion. But there's actually some spaciousness there because pain isn't a solid wall. Anyone who's had a baby will know that there's some space. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:11 Highlight the passage at 1:03:11

1:03:40 It changes. It moves. It's hot. It's cold. It's not a solid thing. And so getting to know our body and our pain allows us to be with it as it intensifies without freaking out. And it's a useful, useful thing. I think I have told this story in other classes where I did a three-month pressure sufferer retreat in India and had this really violent reaction to some Tibetan medicine that I decided to try out. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:40 Highlight the passage at 1:03:40

1:04:18 Why not? Let's add this to the mix to not have migraines. And, of course, the end result is that I had solid migraines. The entire three months. I mean, I probably could count maybe two weeks in the entire three months that I did not have migraines. It was just intense. And then there was a lot going on, too. I mean, Vajrasafra retreat is a total purification retreat anyway. But at one point I was trying very hard to do the whole visualization, like a good girl. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:18 Highlight the passage at 1:04:18

1:04:49 This whole visualization of Vajrasafra, who's right over Rosalie's head. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:49 Highlight the passage at 1:04:49

1:04:57 And this, you know, you're doing, you know, he's like raining all these nectars and light rays down and purifying you of everything that you've ever done, blah, blah, blah. And you're doing this long mantra and learning that and the sadhana, which is this whole thing, blah, blah. And it was just an utter misery. And I finally just thought, we're just going to look at the pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:57 Highlight the passage at 1:04:57

1:05:17 So I switched objects. I was like, just... You're over there for a while. I know you're here, but I just got to do something else. And it was very eye-opening for me to just examine the serious pain in my body and just to watch it and to see my reactions to it and then just to go back to it and what it really is, you know, versus my reactions to it, which is often much, much worse than the pain itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:17 Highlight the passage at 1:05:17

1:05:43 The reactions are like, oh, my God, here it comes again, you know, and it's like it's just these sensations in the body. And that's really all it is. So it's very, very useful. The next time you're sick with anything, just to lie there in bed and do this one. Then you don't ever get off the hook for not doing your meditation every day. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:43 Highlight the passage at 1:05:43

1:06:03 You just lie there in bed and look at the illness in your body. Just becoming mindful of it without any, just trying to develop some sort of equanimity. And it takes practice, just like everything else. So it's not something that's going to be easier when you're dying. Believe me. Loving kindness is another practice and that's just really, really developing these strong feelings of concern and cherishing others. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:03 Highlight the passage at 1:06:03

1:06:34 And again, it takes training the mind because we don't always feel concerned and cherishing for others. We don't always feel kind. Sometimes it takes effort to just be kind. But we have to practice or we won't be able to. You know, when others are trying to help us at the time that we have nothing left and we're really freaked out. So it's like learning to develop this really happy, calm, accepting mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:34 Highlight the passage at 1:06:34

1:07:05 This one also is quite powerful, powerfully handled by Tong Lin, the same meditation, because Tong Lin is about developing love and compassion. So compassion is defined as wanting to remove the suffering or the pain of others. And so the first part of it is working on that. And the second part of it is giving them love, which is love is wanting their happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:05 Highlight the passage at 1:07:05

1:07:29 So it's giving them all the things that might make them happy, both now and like ultimately. So you start with like giving them a new house or whatever it is that they need right now or a house if they're on the streets. And then, you know, it goes all the way up to where they gain enlightenment. They become Buddhas, basically. So we will do that meditation next week. That is very, very, very powerful. They actually say there are many practices in Tibetan Buddhism to do while you're dying, which always, of course, worries me. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:29 Highlight the passage at 1:07:29

1:08:07 I'm like, how am I going to do all this stuff if I'm dying? Well, one of my teachers, actually several of my teachers have said, Tong Lin, for those of us that are not highly realized beings, I love how they always kind of look down at me at that point. This is a really powerful practice to be able to do. If you can be doing this practice as you're dying, for one thing, it's like we were talking last week, it builds that courageous mind, you know, it takes you out of the... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:07 Highlight the passage at 1:08:07

1:08:40 Fear, self-pity. If you have self-pity mind now, imagine what it's going to be like on your deathbed. If you have a pity party now, one can only imagine. So this mind, this is like hugely G.I. Jane. You're trying to develop this mind that wants to give to all beings and wants to take on the pain of all beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:40 Highlight the passage at 1:08:40

1:09:05 At that moment, it's the most powerful thing that we can do. They actually say it's the most powerful. Because then you are dying with this huge concern for others, this huge love for others, which is actually bodhicitta, which is this mind of bodhicitta. And then you're just fine. Then you're fine. But what are we going to do? We're going to suddenly learn it as we're dying? No. We've got to practice it now. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:05 Highlight the passage at 1:09:05

1:09:30 It's quite easy. Once you learn the... The technique is quite easy, but actually remembering to do it when we've got the flu, but that's the best time. When you're really sick with a migraine, when you're really in pain, when you're really, really, really, really sad, Tonglen is so powerful, but remembering to do it is the hugest thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:30 Highlight the passage at 1:09:30

1:09:58 But whenever you can, it's so amazing. And the more times you can, then it becomes second nature, like she's saying. It's like part of your flesh and bones. So then it's not like you have to have notes around. Don't forget Tonglen, Chokyi, as you're lying in bed. Or even Samantha sitting there going, don't forget the ten, you know, which is useful. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:58 Highlight the passage at 1:09:58

1:10:17 That's really, that's the point of having a friend in the room. But the more that we practice it, it just becomes second nature. And then it's, you know, it's like it's there. Remember to do it. It's like it just is there. And then the final thing she mentions in this. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:17 Highlight the passage at 1:10:17

1:10:34 List of practices is the five wishes and we actually are going to talk about the five wishes. So Report an error in the passage at 1:10:34 Highlight the passage at 1:10:34

1:10:42 actually I said the five wishes that should be the five powers. Anyway, you will all get this this sheet and change the word wishes into powers as soon as you do. And then and then she also mentions how important it is that we should become familiar with the stages. So that's we're going to take a break and then. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:42 Highlight the passage at 1:10:42

1:11:02 We are going to spend some time with these stages of the death dissolution, the death process, and we're going to do it as a meditation. I'm going to lead you in it as a meditation, and that'll be your meditation for the weekend, for the next few days. Any questions on any of this stuff? And you will get this all as a handout. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:02 Highlight the passage at 1:11:02

1:11:44 Yeah, yeah, it comes up every class. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:44 Highlight the passage at 1:11:44

1:11:48 It's basically talking about, yeah, I mean, I think ultimately, and I do eat meat again. I have gone for many, many years without eating meat and now because of different health issues. But I think any form of eating meat, and this, I actually have one teacher who has said this too, there's got to be some negative karma involved in it, even if you yourself didn't go out and shoot the deer or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:48 Highlight the passage at 1:11:48

1:12:17 But it becomes sort of a question of how, Whether you actually are doing the killing, that's the stronger karma. And of course with karma too, 95 % of the karma is the motivation in your mind too. So the more intense the afflicted state of mind, for example, anger, hatred, things like that, the heavier the karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:17 Highlight the passage at 1:12:17

1:12:43 But, you know, eating the meat... Is actually not considered killing per se because somebody else has done the killing. However, it does contribute to an industry that kills. And I think in this country especially, the treatment of animals before they're killed is so horrible. But that being said, you know, I myself have, I'm choosing to eat meat right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:43 Highlight the passage at 1:12:43

1:13:14 For most of the things in Buddhism, it's for us as individuals to work on our own minds. And so it's less about... Looking around and seeing what somebody, and this happens a lot in the karma class too, as we talk about karma, it becomes so easy to see what you're doing wrong. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:14 Highlight the passage at 1:13:14

1:13:31 I'm not saying that's what you're doing, but you know what I mean? Really these teachings are meant for us to look at what we're doing. What am I doing with my body and my speech and my mind? How am I living? And knowing that we can't do it all perfectly from the get-go. So we just keep moving towards it. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:31 Highlight the passage at 1:13:31

1:13:50 And then sometimes with certain things you can take it on and then you have to give it up for a while and then you're like that. Just being, you know, just like moving towards a goal and knowing that you can't be perfect at the very beginning. And the same is true for any of them. I mean, if we have a really strong habit of, for example, swearing or something, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:50 Highlight the passage at 1:13:50

1:14:15 Not that there's anyone in the room like that, but. I do too. I mean, it's terrible. It's really terrible as a nun. And I've gone through times that I've gotten very, very good about it. Not so much to be so pure, but just simply because it can affect people's faith, you know, if the nun comes down and yells something in the kitchen. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:15 Highlight the passage at 1:14:15

1:14:36 Which usually doesn't happen so much, but if I'm really, really tired or in pain, those are the two times. Those are the two times. I was so afraid when I was getting this work on my leg in Chinatown. And the woman was, I mean, it was the most intense therapy I've ever had. And she was like doing this really deep, like literally going inside the back of your knee. Oh my God, it wasn't even the point. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:36 Highlight the passage at 1:14:36

1:15:02 She was like going in and releasing the muscles all around. Oh my God, it was so painful. And I was like, don't scream anything, Chokyi, because I just thought. Here are these two women, and like if they hear this nun on the table screaming, it was just, I was screaming, but I was not screaming that. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:02 Highlight the passage at 1:15:02

1:15:19 I managed to protect my, but yeah, so any of these things could be what we ourselves are working on in this life, and that's really what it's about, is like for us to be working on it doesn't mean that, you know what I mean. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:19 Highlight the passage at 1:15:19

1:15:35 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's really, I think each of us have to come to our own conclusions. But I do think, I can't imagine how there isn't some negative karma involved with every piece of meat that you eat. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:35 Highlight the passage at 1:15:35

1:15:48 You know, to some degree, because some animal has been killed for you. And that being said, I do still eat it. But I do have a goal to go back to vegetarianism. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:48 Highlight the passage at 1:15:48

1:16:06 And there are ones that you can keep much more strictly. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:06 Highlight the passage at 1:16:06

1:16:12 I mean, all of them, they all have... They all have gray areas, too. That's what we get into, too. It looks like I'm going to be teaching the karma class, after all. But one of the things I like to do is to give the strict interpretation of the non-virtue. And then they talk about the low-level radiation. So, you know, the strict interpretation of, for example, stealing is, or killing, let's choose killing. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:12 Highlight the passage at 1:16:12

1:16:44 The strict interpretation of killing is actually taking another's life, and that's fairly obvious. But a low-level radiation of killing might be eating meat. So you have less negative karma from it, but it's still some negative karma. The strict interpretation of stealing would be stealing, it depends on the Lama, but Geshe-la says, stealing something that is considered a criminal activity in the country that you're in. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:44 Highlight the passage at 1:16:44

1:17:17 He puts it like that. Isn't that interesting? Low-level radiation would be like taking anything that's not offered, you know, or taking pens or something like that. You're not technically breaking it, but you're creating that habit in your mind of taking things that aren't being offered to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:17 Highlight the passage at 1:17:17

1:17:43 That's what makes karma so interesting. I think it's one of the things that makes it so interesting because there are all these other, you know, it's very, there's so many different factors. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:43 Highlight the passage at 1:17:43

1:17:58 You know, like if all of us are killing us, you know, if walked into the room and you saw Lenny and you saw David and I and we David hates them. inside of our mind there's all these different reasonings, you know. Eleni's trying to protect it because all of its body's been crushed and she's trying to take it out of its misery or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:58 Highlight the passage at 1:17:58

1:18:22 David hates them. And He really just wants to get rid of all that kind of bug in the universe. He can't stand it. And I'm just oblivious. I'm just walking past it, smashing it. It's a completely different karma for all. But we all get some amount of negative karma, even so. It's very interesting. Take a break. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:22 Highlight the passage at 1:18:22

1:18:43 You can ask more questions when you get back. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:43 Highlight the passage at 1:18:43

· · · silence, 4 minutes

1:22:22 Oh, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:22 Highlight the passage at 1:22:22

· · · silence, 9 minutes

1:31:32 We're talking about the offerings for the Madison Buddha. So it's true. I actually intended to offer you guys the apple tarts. But I didn't, so now those of you that would like an apple tart can have one after class. But yeah, we do go ahead and eat whatever's left. And this is just, it's set up, it's actually offered to Medicine Buddha, but there's actually eight medicine, or seven Medicine Buddhas. And this is a practice that one can do. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:32 Highlight the passage at 1:31:32

1:32:02 We actually dedicate it to a lot of different things, including... Lama Zopa Rinpoche asks, or all of the centers definitely asks Seichen Ling to do this practice once a month in order to help the center overcome obstacles to spreading the Dharma, which is an interesting thing. So I think they must do that too, the medicine Buddhas. But it's often done when people are sick or people are, thank you, or people are transitioning from one life to the next. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:02 Highlight the passage at 1:32:02

1:32:34 And so this is one that you get very familiar with. Geshe-la often will do, he's always doing pujas upstairs, and this is a really commonly done one. It's quite beautifully translated. We have a little book, and when my mom passed away, Lama Zopa asked me to do the puja for her every day. So I got very familiar with it, and now I really, really love it. It's actually not that long a puja, especially if you say it in English, and so it only takes about an hour. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:34 Highlight the passage at 1:32:34

1:33:03 And we do it once a month, so it'll come up again. So keep your eyes open. If you're at all interested, keep your eyes open. It's on the schedule, and then you just come, and we just sort of chant it together, and we do the mantra and stuff like that. And there's certain visualizations that you do. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:03 Highlight the passage at 1:33:03

1:33:21 It was great because it was just Yifang and I. Yifang is the one who's helping me get this treatment on my leg, actually. And she's got the same problem with her knee. And so we were like visualizing it going into our knees. And we're also visualizing it then going out to everybody else, you know, who needed. We were thinking of individuals who needed it. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:21 Highlight the passage at 1:33:21

1:33:40 And also just like, you know, it's a great visualization. And just then it goes out because you realize you start out thinking about the people that you know need it. And then you just realize everybody needs it, including the whole planet, you know. So it's quite powerful. But thank you. I'm glad you brought that up, actually. And welcome to the class, by the way. What's your name? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:40 Highlight the passage at 1:33:40

1:34:00 Jamie, I know you're Christine's friend, right? Welcome. Yeah, we were afraid you were going to be really late, actually, so that's good. Your flight must have been early or on time? On time. I was at the airport quite a bit today, actually, because Lama Zopa Rinpoche came in from Japan and is in town for just a few days, and then he's heading back out to France next week. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:00 Highlight the passage at 1:34:00

1:34:22 So there's a whole group of us, including Geshe-la, that went down to the airport to greet. And Geshe-la always... He advises us that it's really quite good for us to offer tea and snacks and stuff. Michelle and I thought of that on our own today. We're so proud of ourselves. So we brought a little tablecloth. It's so fun. It's just really great. Because then he can sit down and just sort of have a chat. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:22 Highlight the passage at 1:34:22

1:34:46 So we're always trying to figure out what they're talking about. But it's nice. It becomes like this whole really sweetness. It was probably about 30 people. That we're just there, other students from other centers and students from our center and we're all just sort of hanging out and watching the gurus have some tea. It was great. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:46 Highlight the passage at 1:34:46

1:35:06 He has a house in Aptos, actually. So this is kind of his base. We're really, really fortunate because he has to come in and out. So when you get the words like, you know, oh, he's coming into the airport, let's go, you know, he goes down there. It doesn't sound like it would be that exciting, but it's actually really, really sweet. Airports. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:06 Highlight the passage at 1:35:06

1:35:25 Yeah, it was great. Yeah, if we find out when he's leaving, then I'll let you guys all know and we can all go tearing off to the airport. Anyway, so a lot of the fear that comes up when we're facing death, either our own or anybody else's, is the fear of the unknown. It's that fear of not knowing what to expect. And so we are fortunate in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition that there are a lot of detailed teachings on the stages of... Report an error in the passage at 1:35:25 Highlight the passage at 1:35:25

1:35:57 And so this next meditation actually comes from the tantric teachings, but I can teach it to you. Most of the tantric teachings are kept secret only because if you don't have enough grounding of understanding, they can be confusing and you don't understand and then they won't work. Then you'll become averse to them and then you'll diss them. There's lots of reasons that tantric teachings are kept secret and most of it is because our mind isn't quite ready for them yet. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:57 Highlight the passage at 1:35:57

1:36:31 But this one is a quite powerful meditation that comes from the tantric teachings and the tantric tradition and it has to do with the dissolution of the body from gross to subtle and the mind from gross to subtle at the time of death. Um... And, um... They say that we go through this process every night, but we just don't notice it when we go to sleep. We just fall into, our mind gets really quite obscured. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:31 Highlight the passage at 1:36:31

1:37:02 They also say that when you have sexual orgasm, you also go through this and you reach the same level. And when you sneeze, which I think is interesting. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:02 Highlight the passage at 1:37:02

1:37:14 So according to the tantric teachings, There is what's called a subtle body, and then within the subtle body are these different channels, and through the channels run these things that they call winds. I think winds is a little confusing, and I can hardly wait until I'm enlightened because then I can really change some of these translations, but it sounds to me more like energy. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:14 Highlight the passage at 1:37:14

1:37:43 It's much more like this meridian system in Chinese medicine, or qi. Prāṇa in Sanskrit moving through and blockages cause problems and opening those blockages causes release, you know, causes movement. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:43 Highlight the passage at 1:37:43

1:38:04 So and a lot of our meditations actually have to do with undoing the blocks and things like that. Chakras are simply blocks, but that's another story. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:04 Highlight the passage at 1:38:04

1:38:17 So the subtle, they say that the mind is, Like a rider and that this energy or chi or prāṇa is like the horse. So it's like the horse and rider. And if the horse is like totally out of control, then the mind will be, if these winds are out of control. And these sort of uncontrolled winds or energy within our body also leads to all these other different physical and mental disturbances too, which is sometimes called lung, wind imbalance. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:17 Highlight the passage at 1:38:17

1:38:52 So there is what's called a central channel. Which I sort of referred to a little bit last week. It actually runs in front of our spine, our spinal column. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:52 Highlight the passage at 1:38:52

1:39:06 And then next it kind of goes from, well you just kind of imagine it right in front of your spinal column and going out the, usually they say out the crown of your head. And then next to it are these two left and right channels. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:06 Highlight the passage at 1:39:06

1:39:22 And at various places, at the bottom actually, they cross over the central channel. The winds don't move in the central channel except at the moment of our death. That's the only time that the energy sort of moves into the central channel. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:22 Highlight the passage at 1:39:22

1:39:45 Unless, this is for ordinary people, unless we actually are doing practices where we want it to go into that. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:45 Highlight the passage at 1:39:45

1:39:57 they actually say, um... Tantra is actually where we are doing certain practices that it's sort of like we're mimicking our own death or we're emulating the experiences because when the mind gets very, very subtle like it does when the winds are in the central channel, they actually call it the clear light mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:57 Highlight the passage at 1:39:57

1:40:24 When the mind gets very, very subtle, We can actually attain very high levels of understanding, especially this direct perception of emptiness that I've mentioned before. This direct experience of the nature of reality can happen when the mind gets very, very subtle. And it can't happen if our mind is really heavily conceptual and obscured, which our gross mind is most of the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:24 Highlight the passage at 1:40:24

1:40:53 these practices within Tantric Buddhism are about... Attaining that very subtle level of mind in meditation, having a subdued mind and meditating with it very, very subtle like that so that we can have this direct perception of emptiness, become familiar with the direct perception of emptiness and actually attain enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:53 Highlight the passage at 1:40:53

1:41:14 That's the whole idea. Tantric Buddhism is about quickening the process so that it can actually happen within one life. That's what Tantric Buddhism is all about. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:14 Highlight the passage at 1:41:14

1:41:29 From the Tibetan point of view, the body is made up of four elements, and this comes up in a lot of ancient traditions as well. And each of those four elements absorbs during this dying process. And so as I'm leading you through this meditation, we don't really have a whole lot of time, but I'm just going to go through it so that you're familiar with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:29 Highlight the passage at 1:41:29

1:41:54 What's happening is your body is going from gross to more and more and more subtle, and then you're actually ending at this clear light meditation. And then in this process, we're going to then go backwards and end up back in our body again. But what would happen in the death process is then you would go into your next life, which would be the bardo state or the intermediate state first. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:54 Highlight the passage at 1:41:54

1:42:19 Even if it was quickly there and then into your next life, there's always some amount of time that you're in the intermediate state. In tantric practices, you then arise as the deity. You take that next step of arising as a Buddha yourself, visualizing yourself doing that, and then eventually actually doing that. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:19 Highlight the passage at 1:42:19

1:42:38 So you're still using the same meditation, but in this case, you're not going to arise as a deity because you haven't been empowered. That's what empowerments are all about. You haven't been empowered to arise as a deity. So here you're just doing it as a way of familiarizing yourself with the Tibetan system. So we're going to do this and we're going to just meditate really quickly on these different steps. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:38 Highlight the passage at 1:42:38

1:43:06 There's eight stages of the death dissolution process. And of course, this is another meditation that's quite powerful to do lying down or as you would be if you were dying. They say no matter how quick your death is or how slow it is, it goes either very, very slowly or very, very quickly. But all eight steps are always done. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:06 Highlight the passage at 1:43:06

1:43:29 But if somebody dies like instantly, it's just done really fast, just like it is when we go to sleep, right? Probably most of us don't take hours to fall asleep. But if we have a very long illness, then some of these will take a lot longer, years sometimes to go through. The dissolution of the body. And we can actually see that, right? That's what aging is. Aging is actually the first dissolution stage. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:29 Highlight the passage at 1:43:29

1:43:59 We begin to see that in ourselves right now. So in this one also, you might want to begin with just imagining yourself lying in bed. Or if you're sitting up, you might even just imagine that you're, you know, you're still, you're very, very close to death. You can imagine that you're in a hospital or in a hospice or in your home. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:59 Highlight the passage at 1:43:59

1:44:24 And again, this is not the meditation where you're facing death. You've been facing it. You've come to terms with it. You've been thinking about it for some time. And now you're just sort of wondering what's next. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:24 Highlight the passage at 1:44:24

1:44:44 So the first dissolution stage is when the earth element dissolves. And as it loses its power, then the body becomes thin and your limbs become loose. And Report an error in the passage at 1:44:44 Highlight the passage at 1:44:44

1:45:03 you begin to feel like your body is sort of sinking, sinking under the earth. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:03 Highlight the passage at 1:45:03

1:45:18 As the aggregate of form absorbs, the limbs become smaller, the body becomes weaker, powerless, your strength diminishes, and the luster of the body is consumed. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:18 Highlight the passage at 1:45:18

1:45:45 As the basic mirror-like wisdom dissolves, your sight becomes unclear and dark, and your ability to perceive many things simultaneously decreases, and Report an error in the passage at 1:45:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45:45

1:46:04 this affects the eye organ. And one can no longer open or close one's eyes. And Report an error in the passage at 1:46:04 Highlight the passage at 1:46:04

1:46:17 you experience an internal sign, the appearance of a mirage, like a shimmery, silvery blue mirage. And Report an error in the passage at 1:46:17 Highlight the passage at 1:46:17

1:46:36 then as the water element dissolves, Report an error in the passage at 1:46:36 Highlight the passage at 1:46:36

1:46:43 your body fluids begin to dry up, like sweat and saliva all begin to dry up. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:43 Highlight the passage at 1:46:43

1:46:59 As the aggregate of feelings absorbs, The touch consciousness can no longer experience these three types of feelings, pleasure, pain and neutral feelings that accompany the sense consciousnesses. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:59 Highlight the passage at 1:46:59

1:47:25 As the basic wisdom of equality dissolves, you're no longer aware of these feelings and Report an error in the passage at 1:47:25 Highlight the passage at 1:47:25

1:47:42 this affects the ear consciousness or the ear sense and you no longer hear either external or internal sounds. It's like a buzzing and then silence. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:42 Highlight the passage at 1:47:42

1:48:07 And you experience an internal sign and that's the appearance of smoke. They say smoke like from a stick of incense or smoke filling a room. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:07 Highlight the passage at 1:48:07

1:48:32 As the fire element dissolves, you can no longer digest food or drink. And Report an error in the passage at 1:48:32 Highlight the passage at 1:48:32

1:48:48 the aggregate of discrimination absorbs and you're no longer aware of the affairs of people close to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:48 Highlight the passage at 1:48:48

1:49:03 The basic wisdom of analysis dissolves. And you can no longer remember their names. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:03 Highlight the passage at 1:49:03

1:49:14 And this affects the nose sense. And your inhalation weakens. And your exhalation becomes strong and lengthy. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:14 Highlight the passage at 1:49:14

1:49:31 And you experience an internal sign. The appearance of fireflies or sparks within dark smoke. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:31 Highlight the passage at 1:49:31

1:49:50 And then the wind element dissolves. And the ten winds move to the heart. The Report an error in the passage at 1:49:50 Highlight the passage at 1:49:50

1:49:59 inhalation and exhalation cease. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:59 Highlight the passage at 1:49:59

1:50:07 When the aggregate of your compositional factors absorbs, you can no longer move or experience any kind of texture. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:07 Highlight the passage at 1:50:07

1:50:20 As the basic wisdom of achieving activities dissolves, you're no longer aware of external worldly activities. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:20 Highlight the passage at 1:50:20

1:50:34 This affects the taste or tongue sense, and your tongue becomes thick and short, and the root becomes blue, and Report an error in the passage at 1:50:34 Highlight the passage at 1:50:34

1:50:51 you experience an internal sign. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:51 Highlight the passage at 1:50:51

1:50:56 The appearance of a dull orangey-red light about to go out like a sputtering of a candle flame. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:56 Highlight the passage at 1:50:56

1:51:11 As the 80 instinctive conceptions dissolve, and Report an error in the passage at 1:51:11 Highlight the passage at 1:51:11

1:51:19 the white vision then appears. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:19 Highlight the passage at 1:51:19

1:51:23 So as the aggregate of consciousness dissolves, these 80 conceptions dissolve. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:23 Highlight the passage at 1:51:23

1:51:34 The winds in the right and left channels above the heart enter the central channel at the top of the head, and you experience an internal sign. A clear vacuity or vast space filled with white light. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:34 Highlight the passage at 1:51:34

1:51:53 And this is the arising of your subtle mind. It's called the white vision. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:53 Highlight the passage at 1:51:53

1:52:09 Winds in the right and left channel below the heart enter the central channel at the base of the spine and you experience an internal sign. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:09 Highlight the passage at 1:52:09

1:52:22 This white vision dissolves and you experience a very clear vacuity or vast space filled with coppery red light. This is called the red vision. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:22 Highlight the passage at 1:52:22

1:52:45 And then the red vision dissolves, and the upper and lower winds gather at the heart, and then the winds enter the indestructible drop at the heart. You experience an internal sign, a very clear vacuity or vast space filled. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:45 Highlight the passage at 1:52:45

1:53:15 So the red vision dissolves. It's filled with red light, and that dissolves into blackness. They say it's like black. Night, as night falls suddenly. Then Report an error in the passage at 1:53:15 Highlight the passage at 1:53:15

1:53:47 you sort of fall into like a swoon, they say. And Report an error in the passage at 1:53:47 Highlight the passage at 1:53:47

1:53:58 then all the winds dissolve into a very subtle, life-bearing wind in the indestructible drop at your heart. And you experience an internal sign, a very clear vacuity or vast space filled with clear light. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:58 Highlight the passage at 1:53:58

1:54:20 This is the mind of clear light, like the sky just before dawn in autumn in the Himalayas. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:20 Highlight the passage at 1:54:20

1:54:34 This is the most subtle and pure level of your own mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:34 Highlight the passage at 1:54:34

1:54:42 Experienced meditators stay in deep meditation on this subtle most level of mind for hours and even days and sometimes weeks. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:42 Highlight the passage at 1:54:42

1:55:05 So we now allow our minds to go back through the stages and into our present body. So going from the clear light into the vision of darkness, into Report an error in the passage at 1:55:05 Highlight the passage at 1:55:05

1:55:22 the red vision, Report an error in the passage at 1:55:22 Highlight the passage at 1:55:22

1:55:27 into the white vision, Report an error in the passage at 1:55:27 Highlight the passage at 1:55:27

1:55:34 into that... Butter lamp vision, the sputtering candle about to go out, Report an error in the passage at 1:55:34 Highlight the passage at 1:55:34

1:55:45 into the vision of fireflies or sparks within smoke, Report an error in the passage at 1:55:45 Highlight the passage at 1:55:45

1:55:55 into the smoke like a stick of an incense, Report an error in the passage at 1:55:55 Highlight the passage at 1:55:55

1:56:02 and into the shimmering silvery blue mirage. And Report an error in the passage at 1:56:02 Highlight the passage at 1:56:02

1:56:12 then as that clears, leave yourself back in your body and the cushion beneath you, the room surrounding you. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:12 Highlight the passage at 1:56:12

1:56:25 Now we'll just take a moment to dedicate. Whatever insights or experiences you've had with this meditation and in this class, Report an error in the passage at 1:56:25 Highlight the passage at 1:56:25

1:56:38 being able to really work with our minds in the time that we have left so that we can benefit. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:38 Highlight the passage at 1:56:38