Discovering Buddhism - Death and Rebirth (16 April 2009)

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0:39 We were sitting, we always, Liberation Prison Project and Seycheling do organizational prayers together. Just Kate and I were sitting there and I'm sitting with, you know, in this chair with this thing and she was trying to say I look like an invalid and she said I looked like, she said you look like an invalid. Report an error in the passage at 0:39 Highlight the passage at 0:39

0:59 I was like, I guess I'm a little invalid right now. You know what, probably not because there's nothing else. Maybe halfway. Yeah. Are we missing anyone? But Cara gets to come in. Tell Report an error in the passage at 0:59 Highlight the passage at 0:59

1:24 her we're sorry we miss her. Report an error in the passage at 1:24 Highlight the passage at 1:24

1:29 It's locked. You locked it? Okay, cool. Thank you, Cara. Okay, so why don't you just find your posture? Report an error in the passage at 1:29 Highlight the passage at 1:29

1:39 And if you're like me and you've been on the computer a lot, you might want to roll your shoulders a little bit backwards and forwards. Maybe stretch your neck a little bit from side to side. Report an error in the passage at 1:39 Highlight the passage at 1:39

1:56 And then just take some nice deep cleansing breaths and just imagine them literally washing away your day and any tensions in your body and mind, any anxiety, any worries or plans. And Report an error in the passage at 1:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56

2:42 we're going to do a shorter version. It's the same meditation you've been working on this week, hopefully, in the last couple of days. Dong Lin. And I'm just going to walk you through the stages a little bit abbreviated. With the same gist. Report an error in the passage at 2:42 Highlight the passage at 2:42

3:07 So you can do this meditation for anyone actually and sometimes it is quite powerful to do it for yourself, to develop compassion for yourself. Report an error in the passage at 3:07 Highlight the passage at 3:07

3:18 Sometimes it's also very powerful to do it for somebody that you have difficulties with, if you're, you know, arguing with somebody, if you have a really challenging relationship with somebody. Report an error in the passage at 3:18 Highlight the passage at 3:18

3:33 But tonight we're going to just again do it with somebody that we really care about. Then you get the experience of building your compassion, but you don't have to develop it from scratch. So Report an error in the passage at 3:33 Highlight the passage at 3:33

3:52 starting with somebody that you already love, somebody that you would be willing to take away their pain if you could, is a little easier from that standpoint because you already care about them. Report an error in the passage at 3:52 Highlight the passage at 3:52

4:06 You don't have to imagine that part. You don't have to develop that part. So imagine somebody like that. And maybe try somebody different. Don't choose the same person each time. Report an error in the passage at 4:06 Highlight the passage at 4:06

4:25 So it can be a relative. It doesn't have to be. It can be a good friend. Report an error in the passage at 4:25 Highlight the passage at 4:25

4:37 Somebody that you care very, very much about. Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

4:47 Start and imagine their suffering. Whatever kinds of suffering that they have. Maybe they have bodily pain that you know about, chronic pain, disease, injury, Report an error in the passage at 4:47 Highlight the passage at 4:47

5:11 anxiety, depression. Addiction. Maybe they've lost their job. And Report an error in the passage at 5:11 Highlight the passage at 5:11

5:31 feel very strongly for a moment that you want to take that suffering away from them. You want to take it away completely. Report an error in the passage at 5:31 Highlight the passage at 5:31

5:44 This is the Buddhist definition of compassion. Wanting to take away the pain of another. Report an error in the passage at 5:44 Highlight the passage at 5:44

6:01 So imagine that suffering instantaneously dissolving into black smoke. Report an error in the passage at 6:01 Highlight the passage at 6:01

6:11 And just imagine on the breath being able to start removing that smoke from them. From all parts of them, their body and mind. And just take a few breaths to just imagine pulling it from them and into the air between you. Report an error in the passage at 6:11 Highlight the passage at 6:11

6:36 Imagine it coming up and exiting their body through their nostrils and just hanging in the air between you like a little cloud of smoke. Report an error in the passage at 6:36 Highlight the passage at 6:36

7:17 And when you've gotten it all, Report an error in the passage at 7:17 Highlight the passage at 7:17

7:22 just take a moment to examine your own heart and imagine there, Your own self-cherishing mind, that self-absorbed part of our mind. It's not who we are, it's just a state of mind. Report an error in the passage at 7:22 Highlight the passage at 7:22

7:40 And you can imagine something really specific. Some part of you that didn't listen to somebody when they just needed to be listened to. Report an error in the passage at 7:40 Highlight the passage at 7:40

7:52 Some part of you that finished up something in the kitchen without getting anything to replace it. Somebody that left a mess for somebody else. Just something. Little. It's a little tiny selfish part of ourselves that keeps us from becoming everything we can be. Report an error in the passage at 7:52 Highlight the passage at 7:52

8:20 And for this meditation, imagine that self-cherishing mind taking the form of a rock-like substance around your heart, Report an error in the passage at 8:20 Highlight the passage at 8:20

8:33 cold and hard. And Report an error in the passage at 8:33 Highlight the passage at 8:33

8:42 then just breathe that smoke in and allow it to encircle and soften that hard rock-like substance around your heart. And then take a few breaths to do this, Report an error in the passage at 8:42 Highlight the passage at 8:42

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9:34 instant imagining that rock just exploding, completely gone. Report an error in the passage at 9:34 Highlight the passage at 9:34

9:46 And in its place begins glowing this white light that's released. And that white light is your compassion, your love and your bodhicitta, your baby bodhicitta. And Report an error in the passage at 9:46 Highlight the passage at 9:46

10:09 it just begins flowing out of you, out of your heart. Report an error in the passage at 10:09 Highlight the passage at 10:09

10:26 And then look into the eyes of the person that you love and see the relief there and feel really happy that you're able to take away their suffering. Report an error in the passage at 10:26 Highlight the passage at 10:26

10:38 And then make a decision in your mind that you want to give them everything they need to be happy. And this is the Buddhist definition of love. Report an error in the passage at 10:38 Highlight the passage at 10:38

10:56 And then begin blowing, just breathing out this glowing cloud of white light. One of my teachers said it's kind of like silly putty. It doesn't ever really leave your heart. You just, with each breath, it moves closer and closer to that person in front of you. But it stays connected to your heart for a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 10:56 Highlight the passage at 10:56

11:29 And then finally they begin to breathe it in. And for a little bit you share this glowing white light of love and compassion between you. Report an error in the passage at 11:29 Highlight the passage at 11:29

11:56 And then imagine it just filling them up and releasing from you. Report an error in the passage at 11:56 Highlight the passage at 11:56

12:06 And I imagine that it fills them up with joy and happiness and everything they need, beginning on a mundane level with whatever they need in this life at this moment to be happy, whether that's a job or a new partner or money, a roof over their head. And Report an error in the passage at 12:06 Highlight the passage at 12:06

12:36 then gradually that you give them the source of all that happiness, all your own virtues, your own goodness, your own qualities. Report an error in the passage at 12:36 Highlight the passage at 12:36

12:51 All the teachings that give us these qualities and Report an error in the passage at 12:51 Highlight the passage at 12:51

12:59 imagine with each breath that they're breathing in and you're breathing out that they also begin glowing with this pure white light and Report an error in the passage at 12:59 Highlight the passage at 12:59

13:15 feel how happy they are as they transform more and more into a being of light, a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 13:15 Highlight the passage at 13:15

13:29 And really try to feel happy that you've been able to do this for them. Really Report an error in the passage at 13:29 Highlight the passage at 13:29

13:51 try to believe that this is your true potential. For each and every living being. Report an error in the passage at 13:51 Highlight the passage at 13:51

14:05 So whatever seeds are planted tonight with this class and this course, may it help each one of us reach this true potential so that we can unleash the love and compassion that we each have inside of us and take away the pain. Report an error in the passage at 14:05 Highlight the passage at 14:05

14:43 And then in your own time, as you're ready, you can end your meditation and open your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 14:43 Highlight the passage at 14:43

14:55 And we'll start with the opening prayer. Report an error in the passage at 14:55 Highlight the passage at 14:55

15:10 On page 8, Report an error in the passage at 15:10 Highlight the passage at 15:10

15:18 David's missing too. Report an error in the passage at 15:18 Highlight the passage at 15:18

15:23 I realized that during the meditation. 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. Report an error in the passage at 15:23 Highlight the passage at 15:23

15:45 As long as space remains. As long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 15:45 Highlight the passage at 15:45

16:08 So does anybody have any comments or questions about this meditation? We did a little bit quicker than I had when I laid it out for you. You can actually do it as simply as if you're with somebody that's suffering. It's almost like... The times that you don't know what else to do, it's a good one to have in your pocket to allow you to just be able to breathe. Report an error in the passage at 16:08 Highlight the passage at 16:08

16:36 Oh, there's David. To just breathe with them and be present with them and not run away like we kind of want to do when somebody's suffering in front of us. Report an error in the passage at 16:36 Highlight the passage at 16:36

16:48 Does it actually take away their suffering? Probably not at our level. They actually say at a certain level. With certain practitioners, it is possible to take away their suffering. What it's mostly doing is allowing us to develop the wish to take away their suffering, the desire to stay with them in their suffering, and the courage to destroy our own selfishness so that we want to take away suffering. Report an error in the passage at 16:48 Highlight the passage at 16:48

17:21 So that's really what it is. It's like our exercise program to get a bigger heart. I mean, that's really what it is. So it's more, actually it's more about us, but it allows us then to stay with them, you know, at a time that sometimes it's really hard to stay with somebody. It's a very, very practical, I'm very, very practical, well just practical. It's a very, very beautiful practice to do, like I said, to do it for yourself, like if you're really going through a really hard time. Report an error in the passage at 17:21 Highlight the passage at 17:21

17:53 You know, to stop and do Tonglen on yourself. We feel funny about that because as a culture, we're not supposed to take care of ourselves. There's like this idea that we're supposed to be martyrs. Report an error in the passage at 17:53 Highlight the passage at 17:53

18:06 There you go. She's got you covered. There's this idea that somehow we're supposed to be martyrs, but there's nothing like that. There's nothing spelled out that way in Buddhism. That's more of a Christian thought. In Buddhism, we are sentient beings also. Um, Report an error in the passage at 18:06 Highlight the passage at 18:06

18:23 So we have to have compassion and love ourselves too. You know, if we're going to love all sentient beings, we can't forget this one. So actually doing it for yourself can be very, very powerful if you're going through a really, really hard time. Or you know you will. You know, like you know you're going to have a conversation with the landlord tonight or something. You know you're going to have a conversation with your ex-husband or something. Report an error in the passage at 18:23 Highlight the passage at 18:23

18:45 And you know it's going to be really difficult. Or you know you're going to have like a medical procedure. That's scary. So you can do that then. Just kind of strengthen your own mind and your own courage. And it's also very, very powerful to do with somebody as they're dying. What else can we do? There's nothing at that point that we can do. It's like, I think I said at one point, I don't remember if it was in here, but when my mom actually went into active dying, there's this part of me, especially because it's my mom, it's like... Report an error in the passage at 18:45 Highlight the passage at 18:45

19:21 Oh my God, I should go get somebody, you know? And then I'm like, oh, actually, this is what we're expecting. It's okay, Chokyi, this is what we're expecting. It's actually good nobody's in here. Then we need to just be silent and we just, it's okay, you know? And so what else are you going to do? It actually gives you something to do that allows you to just be with her and talk about watching the breath. Report an error in the passage at 19:21 Highlight the passage at 19:21

19:42 Watching her breath, I had far more attention than I ever have for watching my own breath. And I've used that at times when I'm meditating and my mind gets distracted. It's like, no, remember that. Remember how that was. Remember watching each breath as though it were going to be the last. Then it's like your whole attention is there. Report an error in the passage at 19:42 Highlight the passage at 19:42

20:02 And I was talking to a friend of mine, actually, Sangmo, who I was just talking about. Her mom also passed away really recently, like in the last four months. She was talking about just everything else. She had like 10 brothers and sisters and so the room was kind of chaotic and she just narrowed in on that breath and just stayed with it. Report an error in the passage at 20:02 Highlight the passage at 20:02

20:22 So Tong Lin is a way to allow us to do that. Just on the breath, imagining, taking away. And they actually say the more skilled you are at doing this practice, like we start with doing it, taking away the suffering. Sending back the happiness. But you can actually do it on one breath. It's harder. It's definitely harder. But you can get to the point where you do it. Report an error in the passage at 20:22 Highlight the passage at 20:22

20:47 And they actually say that this is like a bodhisattva practice where you literally, that's what you're doing in your breath all the time. That's what they're doing all the time, you know. Just breathing it in and breathing it out like that. So even the breath is used for others. It's like the one thing that we have the most of at all times, and we don't even have to be fit. We always have the breath until we don't have the breath. Report an error in the passage at 20:47 Highlight the passage at 20:47

21:12 So it's a very, very powerful practice. And you can play with it all the time. You can play with it if situations get weird on the bus, in traffic, at the bank, somebody's getting angry, just taking away that suffering without being biased. It's just kind of like just wanting to take away suffering and bring happiness like that. Report an error in the passage at 21:12 Highlight the passage at 21:12

21:33 You can use it in lots of ways. And like I said too at the beginning, it's very, very powerful to use if you're having a hard time with somebody. It can be heartbreaking, literally allow you to just open up your heart for this person that you are so irritated by or annoyed by or they've wronged you in some way. Report an error in the passage at 21:33 Highlight the passage at 21:33

21:52 And of course it gets harder to do that. It's harder to do it for somebody like that. So start with somebody easy and then build. Don't start with Hitler right away. Report an error in the passage at 21:52 Highlight the passage at 21:52

22:04 Anyway, so any questions, any comments about this, about Tonglen? Oh, that's okay, that's okay. Report an error in the passage at 22:04 Highlight the passage at 22:04

22:18 Can you hold it up because I can hear you better? Can you hear it? Yeah, okay. So if you're moving around... You're like, okay. You still have to hold it next to you, yeah, sorry. Is this okay? Yeah. So if you're at the speed of thought and you're thinking about things in the past, where do you go? Well, that's a very good question, actually. Time, and this is something that Phil brought up. You brought it up like the first class, I think, or one of the first classes. Report an error in the passage at 22:18 Highlight the passage at 22:18

22:44 This concept of time not being... We have this whole concept of what time is. And these are teachings. I don't know a whole lot about this, so I'll just step out a little bit on a limb. But there is this concept within Buddhism that... Time exists sort of evenly across space and time. It's not necessarily something that happened and is now done, you know, and something that will happen and is in the future. Report an error in the passage at 22:44 Highlight the passage at 22:44

23:20 That past and present and future are sort of a little more fluid than that. There are specific teachings that come out of, I think I mentioned the Kali Chakra lineage of Tantra on time. Report an error in the passage at 23:20 Highlight the passage at 23:20

23:37 Time the way we imagine it is a conceptual thing. And conceptual thinking, according to the Buddha and the emptiness teachings, conceptual thinking is in itself inaccurate. Like we already take it once removed from how it actually exists. So I think you would just go there. But I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I would think you would just go there. But, you know. Report an error in the passage at 23:37 Highlight the passage at 23:37

24:06 Any incident in our lifetime is also always filtered through our and the conditions of that particular situation. And, you know, the way we remember, for example, our room looking when we were three, you know, it would exist that way in a mental image in our mind, but did it ever even exist that way? Report an error in the passage at 24:06 Highlight the passage at 24:06

24:28 And then, you know, who's to say? It all gets very murky. So I think you would go back. In that way, but then of course you'd probably be distracted and go somewhere else. Yeah, you know, I guess we'll know, right, soon enough. I'll be like, remember? Report an error in the passage at 24:28 Highlight the passage at 24:28

24:47 Remember when you asked that one, Christy? Report an error in the passage at 24:47 Highlight the passage at 24:47

24:51 Good question, though. I think I, the Bardo, I'd love to receive some teachings on the Bardo estate. I've never really received any teachings on the Bardo estate, so maybe we can request Geshe-la to give us some teaching. Report an error in the passage at 24:51 Highlight the passage at 24:51

25:08 Anyone else? Report an error in the passage at 25:08 Highlight the passage at 25:08

25:13 Chokyi, what would you say about... The young dying early infants or really young adolescents as far as them being taken so soon in their life and not having an opportunity to work towards enlightenment. It's a karma thing. It's a karma thing. How old we get has to do everything about our lives, all the conditions of our life, whether we are born in Somalia or born in the U.S., whether we're born in a ghetto in the U.S. Report an error in the passage at 25:13 Highlight the passage at 25:13

25:45 You know, Pacific Heights, whether we have, in Pacific Heights, whether our parents stay together or divorce and fight over us, you know, like all the conditions of our lives, you know, the housing, who's in our family, all the situations that we go through are all determined by our karma. So somebody dying young, that's the result of a killing karma. Just like a lot of illness, they often will say, you can't say it across the board because sometimes it's a purification of negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 25:45 Highlight the passage at 25:45

26:16 If you're doing a lot of purification work, but most diseases and even injuries sometimes are exhaustion of, well I mean look at me, I'm like the migraine queen of the world and endometriosis and ripped meniscus and everything else. Report an error in the passage at 26:16 Highlight the passage at 26:16

26:38 I mean we've all done everything. That's the thing. Actually, that helps you build more compassion for everybody. We've all done, they say that we've all done everything. We have done the most heinous things and the most incredible things. We've been princes and we've been murderers. Report an error in the passage at 26:38 Highlight the passage at 26:38

26:55 So, um, The point is, of course, now to try to do something about that. So somebody dying young, as we'll learn about in the karma class, that's a specific result. Having a shortened life is a result of creating the karma, of shortening another's life. Living in a place where, for example, the soil doesn't support life. Report an error in the passage at 26:55 Highlight the passage at 26:55

27:25 Incredibly poor countries where you can put all the manure you want on there, like in India for example, and it just doesn't grow. Like the soil doesn't grow or there's no nutrient in the food when you eat the food. Those are all karmic results, killing karma. And then there's others, but yeah, we'll talk about that more in the karma class. So there's no thought that everyone who's born should have a long life. Report an error in the passage at 27:25 Highlight the passage at 27:25

27:55 It's totally dependent on karma. We have this idea that everyone should have a long life. And of course, as we understand karma more and we want to work with it, we want to have a long life because we want to be able to use that for enlightenment. But we have to create the causes of that. It won't just happen. So we have to get our mind around this idea that cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 27:55 Highlight the passage at 27:55

28:17 We create the causes and we'll have the effect. We won't just have the effect by wanting it. You know, so it's not just prayers aren't enough. Prayers set the intention, but we have to actually create the seeds that ripen as that result if we want that result. So that's why karma is such an empowering subject because that's what allows us to take control of our world. Not just this world, but the next life, you know. Report an error in the passage at 28:17 Highlight the passage at 28:17

28:42 Yeah, that was the point I was going to get to. They don't have a chance to work towards the next life in that case. No, but they've exhausted that karma. So now the next life could be quite long. Same with a bug. Like a lot of times Janet's often pointing out, you know, like an animal dying or something, you know, like we'll feel really sad and she'll be like, well, actually, maybe it's just exhausting this life, this animal rebirth, and we can feel happy for it because maybe now its next life is going to be human, which is completely 180 from the way we normally think, you know. Report an error in the passage at 28:42 Highlight the passage at 28:42

29:13 So, yeah, so it might be just possible that that... That karma is done, as Judith said at that time. This karma is finished. It could actually be a positive thing. Our problem is that we can't tell because we don't have that clairvoyance. But Lama's often do. I find it scary to ask them, where is she now? Report an error in the passage at 29:13 Highlight the passage at 29:13

29:39 Because I don't know that I necessarily want to hear. So I find that kind of a scary question to ask. But I've been with people when they've asked Geshe-la. They can often do a check. They can divine where that person has gone. And Lama Zopa has with students. He searched for them until he found them, which I find quite comforting. It's like, oh, good. He's going to find me somewhere, Ukraine or something. Report an error in the passage at 29:39 Highlight the passage at 29:39

30:10 Some little dog running along the field. He did. I mean, he found this one. This one friend of mine actually found a street dog. And I can't remember what the situation was, how it ended up at Rinpoche's house. Report an error in the passage at 30:10 Highlight the passage at 30:10

30:28 And there were stories that he had said, you know, this was an old student of his. And it was a funny relationship that she had with him. She definitely treated him completely different. She actually bit people. She actually bit Sokyo Rinpoche. I know, he came to the house and he was like circumambulating the house. And she's like, I know. Report an error in the passage at 30:28 Highlight the passage at 30:28

30:46 know. I know. So she had a funny relationship with a lot of people, but for him, totally. She would just curl up next to him. He would take her around. He had a stupa actually literally built for her so that she could create so much positive karma. He had Mani Pei Mahung playing from her collar. Her name was Omani Pei Mahung. We used to call her Mani. He would say, no, no, you have to say the whole thing. Report an error in the passage at 30:46 Highlight the passage at 30:46

31:11 You have to say it because it's a great imprint for her and for all of us. Yelling Omani Pima Hoong all the time. She just recently passed away. When she passed away, there was the sadness that she passed away, but the way she passed away was so powerful. They all did prayers with her until they literally saw that sign, the blood coming from the nostril. Report an error in the passage at 31:11 Highlight the passage at 31:11

31:40 And then he had them take, once she was too weak and as she was dying, actually he had her continue to take them, you know, in a wheelbarrow. I love this. They take her around the stupa, you know, and then after she passed away, they did all the practices for her. They even had, after she was cremated, they had, you know, put some of her ashes into satsas and things. Report an error in the passage at 31:40 Highlight the passage at 31:40

32:01 This is exactly what you do with humans. So, I mean, I think she's probably fine, you know. She burned off that dog karma. Report an error in the passage at 32:01 Highlight the passage at 32:01

32:10 Yeah, except maybe Sagi Rinpoche. I know, it's very interesting. It was him, too. Anyway, anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 32:10 Highlight the passage at 32:10

32:31 Tonglen meditation, I was familiar with that from the bodhicitta class that I did with venerable Sanji Kadro. And when she first did it, I had trouble with it because I couldn't. Imagine taking on someone else's pain when I had my own. But this time it's been easier. Yeah. I try to make it the way I phrase it is a little differently because it's sort of like you have to get it that actually I think in the homework I had that quote from Venerable Rita about If the eye gets upset, that's actually a good sign, you know, because that's who's freaking out. It's like, oh, I don't want to take this on. I don't want to take this on. Report an error in the passage at 32:31 Highlight the passage at 32:31

33:13 I've got enough trouble on my own. But in reality, what you're doing is you're building all that other stuff gets freed. We block ourselves. We limit ourselves. And I find that so interesting. And so saying it that way, then it makes much more sense to me. It's like the whole point is just to subdue that. Report an error in the passage at 33:13 Highlight the passage at 33:13

33:33 that selfish... That's not you. You have the potential to be this. This could be your face here. We keep ourselves little because it's scary and you don't want to. That's what we're trying to fight against. This is a really great meditation for that. It makes you strong. It's great when you're sad too. It's perfect when you're grieving. Report an error in the passage at 33:33 Highlight the passage at 33:33

33:44 You know, you know. Report an error in the passage at 33:44 Highlight the passage at 33:44

34:05 You know, if you're grieving, this is a great one for your mom, actually. I'm sad she's missed the last two classes. Yeah, tell her that we miss her and we love her. Report an error in the passage at 34:05 Highlight the passage at 34:05

34:16 Okay, good. Yeah, this is a great one for that because it gets you out of your own stuff. It's precisely because of that because you're focusing on that person's suffering and that's what does it. You know, it's like that old adage, if we're really, really, if we're sad or depressed to go out and volunteer somewhere. Report an error in the passage at 34:16 Highlight the passage at 34:16

34:36 It's very much like that. I mean, that's all of Tibetan Buddhism. That's it in a nutshell. Now you know what it is. It's just getting us out of our own kind of neurotic little selfish mind. And then we realize that's not us anyway. We just believe it's us. So it's really powerful. Yeah, definitely. I think especially when you do it for someone that you're having issues with. Report an error in the passage at 34:36 Highlight the passage at 34:36

34:57 Yeah, yeah. Because I think it can actually get rid of some of that tension. Oh, totally. Yeah, I can just bust it right open. It might come back. Because we have the habit of seeing that person in that way. But it breaks it down for sure. And it breaks down the view you have of yourself too. So it's like it's really powerful for that. And you know with this class I think I have less questions coming up about death. But I think I have a lot of questions about karma now. Report an error in the passage at 34:57 Highlight the passage at 34:57

35:28 There's always something. yeah. Report an error in the passage at 35:28 Highlight the passage at 35:28

35:33 How convenient, isn't it, that we're moving right into it? Anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 35:33 Highlight the passage at 35:33

35:47 So, okay, a question, I guess, as far as Tonglin. I guess it's kind of a quick question. So say, for instance, you have an abusive landlord or employer, somebody who's obviously broken the rules and abused other people, and you and others decide enough is enough, it's time to blow the whistle and turn this person in. Report an error in the passage at 35:47 Highlight the passage at 35:47

36:12 And you know in the long run, hopefully it's going to be good for this person, but you are directly causing them suffering because the whole system is going to come down. There's a couple of things with that one. One is first of all realizing that the only way that you would be experiencing suffering in that situation is if you created it. Report an error in the passage at 36:12 Highlight the passage at 36:12

36:31 You created the karma to be in that situation. That doesn't mean that you don't try to write it. We created the karma to be in a world that's facing... Report an error in the passage at 36:31 Highlight the passage at 36:31

36:41 The greenhouse effect, basically. But it doesn't mean we don't do anything about it. We don't just go, okay, it's our karma. It's not like that. But first step, that's the first step. See that you also co-created the situation. Because that's very powerful. Then it's less me versus that person. Then, however you might change that situation is coming from a compassionate place, too. Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

37:11 Then as you're doing it, anything you do, I mean to be perfectly honest, you can't cause that person to suffer if you understand karma. That person will experience suffering if they created the causes to experience suffering. So although you may be trying to right a wrong situation as you perceive it, you could be completely wrong. Report an error in the passage at 37:11 Highlight the passage at 37:11

37:36 That could be a Buddha. Who's simply trying to help you understand karma and compassion and then they'll just move on when you get it. So just be aware of that too. That you're doing the best you can with the wisdom that you have and with the compassion that you have and try to right that situation from that standpoint. Report an error in the passage at 37:36 Highlight the passage at 37:36

37:56 So it's not so much like this person is totally evil, everything they've done is totally evil. Like that, you know, so less duality. And as long as you can kind of do it that way, just be aware you can't take that person's karma away from them, but also ultimately you can't cause them to suffer. You know, their suffering is coming from actions that they've done in the past and that are now ripening as their suffering. Are you a contributing factor? Report an error in the passage at 37:56 Highlight the passage at 37:56

38:24 Yes. But, you know, that's where you just have to keep checking your motivation all the time. And we're going to screw up, you know, we aren't always pure. There's that word again. It's hard. There's Tatiana. Where is she? The one pure person I've ever met. But most of us have mixed motivations and mixed karma. Report an error in the passage at 38:24 Highlight the passage at 38:24

38:46 It's all kind of muddied up. It's not like we have 100. The most we can do is keep checking. You know, and trying to remember that even though I see this person as evil and even though I see this person as having done wrong, I can't really know the whole story because I can't, I don't know their mind. Report an error in the passage at 38:46 Highlight the passage at 38:46

39:02 That's one thing that the Buddha said, like, I, you know, until you are like me, meaning fully enlightened, you cannot judge another's mind, you know. Even high-level bodhisattvas still screw up because they can't read. You know, Buddhists can read not just minds, but your karma going all the way back, your karma going forward, what you have the potential to do. That's why we want to become Buddhists. Report an error in the passage at 39:02 Highlight the passage at 39:02

39:28 You know, that's like one of the reasons to, because, I mean, think how much more I can help you if I have that. Even if I can read your mind, that's a heck of a lot better. Right now, I can't even do that. I know nothing. It looks like this guy is doing all this stuff, but I just don't know. So the one thing I can read is my own mind, or at least I can attempt. Report an error in the passage at 39:28 Highlight the passage at 39:28

39:47 So definitely just keep trying to do it with as much wisdom as you can, as much compassion. And then, you know, you know, maybe do some Tonglen for him. Report an error in the passage at 39:47 Highlight the passage at 39:47

39:59 Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, you have to act. We have to act. We have to try to change situations that we see. I mean, the same is true for like a mugging on the street. If there's some way that we can help with that situation without actually endangering ourselves, you know, then we have to act. Report an error in the passage at 39:59 Highlight the passage at 39:59

40:17 But we also have to know that we might not even be seeing that person accurately. Makes the world a lot more interesting. Report an error in the passage at 40:17 Highlight the passage at 40:17

40:29 Anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 40:29 Highlight the passage at 40:29

40:33 Actually, I am going to start with a quote by Sogye Rinpoche, just because we just mentioned him. But I did want to mention about the practice day before we do. I have totally wrong information here from last time. It was back in the good old days. We could buy a lunch in the cafe, but we aren't going to do it that way because we don't have that. Who is coming on Saturday? Report an error in the passage at 40:33 Highlight the passage at 40:33

40:58 We're doing a potluck. Report an error in the passage at 40:58 Highlight the passage at 40:58

41:04 I know. Where's Tony? Tony usually has some face like this whenever I announce, we're having a potluck. And then he brings the most wonderful food. Why are you Report an error in the passage at 41:04 Highlight the passage at 41:04

41:14 um so Think about what you want to bring. Somebody be brave and like bring like a main thing, like at least a hearty salad or a hearty something just so that because otherwise it'll be like four pieces of bread and, you know, some cookies. But it doesn't have to be major. It's lunch. You know, we can always have something later. Like don't feel like we have somebody has to make it. And it should all be vegetarian. Report an error in the passage at 41:14 Highlight the passage at 41:14

41:42 It doesn't have to be vegan, but it should be vegetarian. I do want to mention that. Do we have anybody who has a special diet? Sorry, I have to take care of these logistics. I have a total weirdo diet. What is that? I don't do dairy and I don't do wheat, but I'm not expecting everyone to cater to that. Is that wheat flour? Report an error in the passage at 41:42 Highlight the passage at 41:42

42:10 That one's going to be hard. Report an error in the passage at 42:10 Highlight the passage at 42:10

42:15 Yeah, yeah. So salad is always safe because I think, especially if you don't throw in the cheese. So if you decide to bring cheese, just put it on the side. Yeah, yeah, it makes it easier because I can always do all right with salads too. And don't feel like you have to cater to Lenny's and my weirdo diets. We'll find something, but just to be aware of that. Report an error in the passage at 42:15 Highlight the passage at 42:15

42:37 So definitely I think with, yeah, somebody, anyway, you guys will be all right. We'll be alright. We always are. It's amazing what comes in, but I did want to toss that out. The other thing about Saturday, when I originally thought to do that, and we did it this last time with the Death and Rebirth class, there is a film that's basically... Report an error in the passage at 42:37 Highlight the passage at 42:37

43:03 And dramatizing the Tibetan Book of the Dead. We have a choice, and I actually had this idea after class last time, so I thought I'd toss it out. One choice is the practice day lasts from about 10.30 to 3.30, give or take. One option is if there's interest, we can show the film optionally for whoever wants to after that. Report an error in the passage at 43:03 Highlight the passage at 43:03

43:27 I think that makes it a really long day, personally speaking. And I won't be able to stay for it all because I'm leading a study group at 4.30. Another option is to show it when I get back. Report an error in the passage at 43:27 Highlight the passage at 43:27

43:43 May 21st, which is a Thursday night, because there's not a class happening that night and it's an option. And then we just come and watch it together, or whoever can watch it, watches it together. So I guess vote. Who wants to show the film on the practice day? All right, that would be unanimous. Who wants to show it on Thursday, the 21st of May? Almost unanimous. Report an error in the passage at 43:43 Highlight the passage at 43:43

44:11 Pretty good. Okay, good. It's definitely easier for me, and then that way I get to watch it with you guys, so that'd be cool. Okay, and so that's it, I think. Report an error in the passage at 44:11 Highlight the passage at 44:11

44:22 Any questions about the practice day? Okay. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 44:22 Highlight the passage at 44:22

44:32 Wait. Report an error in the passage at 44:32 Highlight the passage at 44:32

44:36 We're presenting something? Yeah. But you don't have to discuss it with me unless you want to. It's okay. I mean, unless you have a question about it, then you can. I just want to know, is everybody else prepared? Report an error in the passage at 44:36 Highlight the passage at 44:36

44:51 Okay. It's totally all about you, actually. You're going to sit right in the middle, and we'll all circle you, and then... I'm going to cry. You'll cry, yeah. I'm going to panic attack. It's kind of like appropriation for your death, actually. prepared? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 44:51 Highlight the passage at 44:51

45:07 No, nobody's ever prepared and everybody's always nervous and it's always just fine. We just sit in a circle. Nobody has to stand up. You can just literally read your notes. It doesn't have to be formal. It doesn't have to be a big deal. Sometimes people make it a big deal and then most people don't. Report an error in the passage at 45:07 Highlight the passage at 45:07

45:27 Most people, it's something like they just pull out their notes and read it and then they stop. If you choose something that's not on the list, then I want you to talk to me. To make sure that it's okay, that it kind of pertains to the class. I just kind of want it to be somewhat. People don't always do that either. But it somehow always works out. Report an error in the passage at 45:27 Highlight the passage at 45:27

45:44 We have had like two people do the same topic, but they're so different that it's really all right. Report an error in the passage at 45:44 Highlight the passage at 45:44

45:51 Just hope that you're the second one who does it. And then copy all of their ideas. All right. Here's another great quote. This one's from Sogyur Rinpoche. Bless his heart. Report an error in the passage at 45:51 Highlight the passage at 45:51

46:06 Who is an amazing being in his own right. According to the wisdom, this is from his book, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. According to the wisdom of the Buddha, we can actually use our lives to prepare for death. We do not have to wait for the painful death of someone close to us or the shock of terminal illness to force us into looking at our lives. Report an error in the passage at 46:06 Highlight the passage at 46:06

46:28 Nor are we condemned to go out empty-handed at death to meet the unknown. We can begin here and now to find meaning in our lives. We can make of every moment an opportunity to change and to prepare wholeheartedly, precisely and with peace of mind for death and eternity. Interesting, eternity. In the Buddhist approach, life and death are seen as one whole where death is the beginning of another chapter of life. Report an error in the passage at 46:28 Highlight the passage at 46:28

46:57 Death is a mirror in which the entire meaning of life is reflected. It's very powerful. Very powerful. So this is opening up the final chapter, I guess, of this class, which is rebirth. How do we take body? How do we get a new body and a new life? So this is where we're going to talk a little bit about these different realms of existence that Christine brought up. Report an error in the passage at 46:57 Highlight the passage at 46:57

47:23 The different possibilities that await us. And like I said, we have all been everywhere. We've experienced all of these before. We just have no memory of them. Personally, I have no memory of them. Some people do have some memory of past lives. I think we were talking about at the end of class, weren't we? Report an error in the passage at 47:23 Highlight the passage at 47:23

47:44 Yeah, at the end of the last class, you and Samantha and I. Just some interesting stories that I've been reading in this book about this study on reincarnation, the types of memories that people do have of past lives. I don't have any, but some of you guys might. Some people I have known have had experience, have memories or have dreams and describe them once they started studying Buddhism and they really jibe with these experiences of these different realms. Report an error in the passage at 47:44 Highlight the passage at 47:44

48:20 So they have some past life memory in a different form, not necessarily human form. So I think it's kind of interesting. So, yeah, sometimes they are a little bit much when you're studying about them. And then I just sort of think, but for me, living in a bomb shelter in, you know, Bosnia is also a bit much. Report an error in the passage at 48:20 Highlight the passage at 48:20

48:43 Like, I can't quite imagine that either. But does that mean it doesn't exist? You know, no, necessarily, just because I can't get my mind around it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. So I think just... Just be open. We are going to talk about these different realms and then I'm going to talk about some ways that you can think about them that aren't necessarily literal. They're taught literally, but then there are other ways to think about them. Report an error in the passage at 48:43 Highlight the passage at 48:43

49:10 And also know that you may come out of this class with even more questions than you have going in. The one thing, of course, that determines where we're born and all the conditions of our rebirth is the karma that we've created. And it isn't necessarily the karma we've created in this life. Our mind is this mind stream. It goes back, according to the Buddha, our mind is beginningless and endless. Report an error in the passage at 49:10 Highlight the passage at 49:10

49:37 It goes in both directions limitlessly, just like a number line, you know. So we've been creating karma for a long time. So if we don't have a memory of creating negative karma, That doesn't necessarily mean we haven't created it. It just means it could have happened several lifetimes ago, which is why purification practices are useful, especially on a regular basis. Report an error in the passage at 49:37 Highlight the passage at 49:37

50:05 Again, just because I don't remember what I did last week doesn't mean I didn't do it. That's what I definitely know. And I'm really sorry if I promised somebody here something. um um It's almost become obsessive. I'm just going to have to start carrying a small notebook around and writing everything down. Even that doesn't work. I did that once before and I just filled a notebook and I still didn't get it all done. Report an error in the passage at 50:05 Highlight the passage at 50:05

50:32 So the Buddha observed that there are three main realms of existence of saṃsāra, samsaric mind. And again, these are created by karma. This law of cause and effect of action and reaction. And what's called delusions or kleshas in Sanskrit. These disturbing states of mind are these states of mind that disturb our mind that cause us to create the karma in the first place. Report an error in the passage at 50:32 Highlight the passage at 50:32

51:09 They actually say of the two, the real root cause of our suffering is the delusions. Because that's what causes us to act and create the karma. So the three realms are the desire realm, which is where we are, the form realm and the formless realm. Report an error in the passage at 51:09 Highlight the passage at 51:09

51:30 We're going to spend the most time in the desire realm. The desire realm is where we are now. We are in the desire realm, which shouldn't surprise any of us. It's permeated by desire, gross desire, actually, usually in the form of food and sex. This is like the overriding energy of this realm. It's made up of six sub-realms, and don't worry, don't panic. We will spend some time on those six. Report an error in the passage at 51:30 Highlight the passage at 51:30

51:56 I'm going to get to those in a minute. And this is the basis. I mean, we're really going to talk about those the most. Then the form realm and the formless realm are somewhat similar, except for the fact that the type of body that you have in each. the form round You actually still have a body with form, although it's more subtle. There's very little obvious suffering. The mind still has some ignorance, and karma still determines the next rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 51:56 Highlight the passage at 51:56

52:30 And because karma created this rebirth, it doesn't last. It doesn't last forever. Like everything else, it is impermanent. And there is still some desire. But it's much more subtle. It's no longer for food or for sex. It's for better and better meditation experiences. It's like that kind of desire or aspiration. Report an error in the passage at 52:30 Highlight the passage at 52:30

52:58 So your mind is subtler. Your body is subtler. Your experiences are much more subtle. And the causes of being born in this experience are... Practicing deeper and deeper states of meditation without any motivation to help others. It's just getting into deeper and deeper states of meditation for your own enjoyment. Report an error in the passage at 52:58 Highlight the passage at 52:58

53:24 That's basically what it's about. So the fact that you are in these deeper and deeper states of meditation, you're sort of unable to create negative karma. If you're sitting meditating for hours and hours and hours, you're not out there beating up people or screaming at people or stealing things or killing anyone. Report an error in the passage at 53:24 Highlight the passage at 53:24

53:47 but you, um, you're. What you're just doing, you're creating the causes for this rebirth, and this rebirth is a blissful experience in this deep meditative state. But then it ends. The karma ends, just like the karma for a short life also ends. The karma for a negative life also ends. Karma ends. It's like sort of the fuel in your gas tank. Report an error in the passage at 53:47 Highlight the passage at 53:47

54:07 When that's gone, then that's what we call death. So in this particular situation, the karma for this experience of sort of being blissed out in this deep meditative state with this subtle body and subtle mind ends. Now, you haven't created much negative karma in this rebirth either, which is good, but you just sort of have used up a lot of good karma, basically. Report an error in the passage at 54:07 Highlight the passage at 54:07

54:32 So it's more like it's sort of a waste of time. It's not getting you any closer to getting enlightened. You're just being blissed out for eons. It's not a bad way to spend eons, but it's not very productive or constructive. Because you're kind of just burning off your good karma, and then it ends, and then what's left is your negative karma. So then you end up taking a lower rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 54:32 Highlight the passage at 54:32

54:58 The Formless Rama is very, very similar, except it's even finer. It's even more subtle. It's even more refined. It's just mind. That's why they call it formless. It's just mind. There's no physical body. But that mind is still controlled by afflictions and karma. Report an error in the passage at 54:58 Highlight the passage at 54:58

55:16 And again, it doesn't last because it's created by karma. And again, when it ends, even though it's incredibly blissful. You have nothing left in your gas tank except the low octane. So you have nothing left except the sort of negative karma that you had stored up. You haven't used that up, so then it's time for those planes to take off. Report an error in the passage at 55:16 Highlight the passage at 55:16

55:49 The unfortunate part with the formless realm rebirth is that they say that often people will think that they've attained nirvāṇa. And that's where it can be very damaging because they'll actually think they've sort of made it. It's like, oh great, I'm out of saṃsāra altogether. They aren't. They still have subtle negative states of mind. They still have... Report an error in the passage at 55:49 Highlight the passage at 55:49

56:14 They definitely still have self-grasping or they wouldn't be thinking, I've attained nirvāṇa. And then when they, of course, pass away and end that life and fall to a lower rebirth, then their faith is damaged. They don't believe in it. They don't think that nirvāṇa exists. So it can be damaging from that sense. Report an error in the passage at 56:14 Highlight the passage at 56:14

56:40 Desire Realm is made up of six, these six sub So sometimes you'll just hear the six realms of saṃsāra. Most people talk about the six realms of saṃsāra, and they're talking really about the realms within the desire realm. In the hallway on the break, in this foyer, I love that word, there's the Wheel of Life. Report an error in the passage at 56:40 Highlight the passage at 56:40

57:07 Which is a tanka and it shows sort of in the mouth the jaws of the Lord of Death. Yama is holding her because we're at the mercy of death, right? This little wheel of life and it actually shows the six realms depicted as pictures. There are, and Nirvāṇa is outside of that, you know, because Nirvāṇa is beyond saṃsāra totally. Report an error in the passage at 57:07 Highlight the passage at 57:07

57:32 You have to kind of lift up the puff thing at the top. There should be a picture of the Buddha pointing at the moon. The Buddha is outside of saṃsāra, right? He's beyond it. He's transcended saṃsāra. And he's pointing the way to nirvāṇa. We didn't get a moon, but it's there. It's supposed to be there. It's a boo-boo. Report an error in the passage at 57:32 Highlight the passage at 57:32

57:51 But he's supposed to be pointing. So we're short of saṃsāra. We're sans saṃsāra. He's pointing the way to nirvāṇa because nirvāṇa is out. It's outside of this samsaric existence that we have. So look at it on the break. Report an error in the passage at 57:51 Highlight the passage at 57:51

58:10 And of these six, the first three that I'll name are considered the more fortunate, or they say the higher realms, and the second three are considered the lower realms, when they refer to the lower realms, more suffering. It's based on which ones are more suffering. And we create them all. We have been to them all. Report an error in the passage at 58:10 Highlight the passage at 58:10

58:07 Um, the... Report an error in the passage at 58:07 Highlight the passage at 58:07

58:29 All of the beings in these realms have the capacities to be Buddhists. So that's important to remember too. Just like that spider that we saw on the table in the dining room, that spider has the capacity to become a Buddha and may get there before us. Report an error in the passage at 58:29 Highlight the passage at 58:29

58:47 He might be just burning off the last of his insect karma and then he may totally surpass us. I almost guarantee he'll surpass me. Report an error in the passage at 58:47 Highlight the passage at 58:47

58:57 There's no sense that anyone in these realms is lower than us. That doesn't, you know, it's not like we have, you know, in Christianity there's that sense that humans have stewardship over animals and can make that kind of, that doesn't exist here. There is a sense that it's certainly more productive to have certain lives than other lives. It's more productive to be able to be a human simply because we have the capacity to both suffer and have pleasure. Report an error in the passage at 58:57 Highlight the passage at 58:57

59:24 So we understand karma more. We have the capacity to understand. We have the capacity to study. We have the capacity to do tantra. We have to have a human body to do tantra, they say. We actually need a certain system of the winds, the nadis, the channels and so forth to do tantra. So it's actually said to be a good rebirth to be a human, but that doesn't mean that humans are more important than any of these other beings. Report an error in the passage at 59:24 Highlight the passage at 59:24

59:51 And I say that because I think sometimes people hear it incorrectly, and so I think it's really important to say. For example, think about trying to teach Bodhi, the center cat, how to do anything, really. I mean, honestly, if she doesn't want to do it, she's not going to do it, you know. I mean, it's not even like with a dog, you can kind of train them. Well, actually, I did train her to come when I shake her treat box, but that's about it, you know. Report an error in the passage at 59:51 Highlight the passage at 59:51

1:00:18 So, I mean, for her to be able, she can't study, she can't meditate. She doesn't even have an aspiration to. She doesn't even have an interest to. And that's just a karmic obscuration in this life. She still has the potential to become a Buddha. And like I said, she could get there before all of us. She could be just burning off the last of something or other. And then next life she could become our teacher. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:18 Highlight the passage at 1:00:18

1:00:42 We're creating the causes by shaking that little treat can. So the six realms. Humans is the first one. And like I said, because of the fact that we experience both suffering and pleasure, it's considered a good rebirth for practicing Dharma because Dharma actually makes sense to us. If we have too much pleasure, just think about it. When you're having too good a time on a holiday, it's really hard to remember to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:42 Highlight the passage at 1:00:42

1:01:17 Hopefully not in Paris. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:17 Highlight the passage at 1:01:17

1:01:22 You know, like I said, I think at one point in the class I said, sometimes we see people when their life is going bad. That's when they come to the center. And then their life gets better and then we don't see them for sometimes two years, three years, five years. Sometimes then people will come back. Same things, of course, if it's too difficult. If life is too difficult. If all you can do is, you know, get food. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:22 Highlight the passage at 1:01:22

1:01:47 You're not going to have time to go to a Dharma center and study. You just won't physically have the energy. Clearly, there's a broad range of human existence. There are some people that are literally on the streets in Calcutta or the streets of San Francisco. Some people are living in West Hollywood. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:47 Highlight the passage at 1:01:47

1:02:08 Then there's people in between. Actually, the people in between, it's better. Because we don't have too much money that we're spending it all on coke and we don't have too little money and so we don't have any energy and we aren't malnourished and all those other. So it's actually better to be somewhere in the middle. It's actually a little better, they say, according to the teachings. They also say a human rebirth is really, really difficult. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:08 Highlight the passage at 1:02:08

1:02:33 Because of this, it's really, really difficult to get. There are specific causes. We don't just assume in Buddhism that we will become a human. It's not just a given. We have to create the causes to have a human rebirth, too. They actually say that one of the causes for rebirth as a human is practicing morality. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:33 Highlight the passage at 1:02:33

1:02:56 Do we know immoral humans? Yeah, of course. We have strong habits from lifetimes and lifetimes, and it may not be our most previous life. But somewhere in that previous life, we did practice some form of morality. Morality in Buddhism usually means non-harm in some way, having a sense of non-harm. And prayer, actually prayer meaning just setting an aspiration, making prayers to have a human life. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:56 Highlight the passage at 1:02:56

1:03:25 So actually when I talk about when the plane hits the, you know, runway and it's getting ready to take off or hits turbulence and I do like a little prayer, one of my prayers is, you know, may I have another rebirth where I can practice and study. And continue on my path, you know. May I find you again, Rinpoche, you know. Sooner, hopefully, next life. So like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:25 Highlight the passage at 1:03:25

1:03:50 It creates, we can't just assume that we will get one. We actually have to create the causes. The second of the realms is what's called the Demigods or the Asuras. A-S-U-R-A-S. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:50 Highlight the passage at 1:03:50

1:04:13 And then the third is the gods or the shuras, S-U-R-A-S, so the asuras and shuras. And I mention them both together because they're sort of interrelated. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:13 Highlight the passage at 1:04:13

1:04:25 The demigods have this incredibly wonderful rebirth where they basically have a lot of pleasure, a lot more of the pleasure than we have. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:25 Highlight the passage at 1:04:25

1:04:35 But they're constantly jealous of the gods. So they waste a lot of their incredible... Potential for pleasure, fighting with the gods and wanting everything that they have and never being happy with what they have. I mean, we're going to get to it in a minute, but definitely we can find examples of all of these realms in the human realm, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:04:35 Highlight the passage at 1:04:35

1:05:01 You know, these are the grade B movie stars. The ones who can never carry a picture, no matter how many years they're in the business, you know. There's always that jealousy, you know. This is like, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:01 Highlight the passage at 1:05:01

1:05:13 What do you call them? The character actors. Unless they want to be a character actor. Again, because they have so much pleasure, because they definitely have a very pleasurable life. They live a lot longer than us. They don't have the diseases. They don't have a lot of the problems that humans have. It's also harder to study the Dharma because they don't feel like it. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:13 Highlight the passage at 1:05:13

1:05:36 They're having a good time. They're living up their lives. Or they're so obsessed by their jealousy and by fighting with the gods that they're just distracted. It's not impossible. You know, it's not impossible. And sometimes Buddhas will take rebirth in these different realms to try to help those students, those, you know, like if, for example, if Rinpoche did find me and I was in the Asura realm to try to teach me, you know, here's some Dharma, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:36 Highlight the passage at 1:05:36

1:06:08 And every once in a while, some of them will pay attention, but mostly they're just too distracted by other pleasure. The gods in Buddhism, these are desire realm gods. We just create the causes for this. They aren't outside of saṃsāra. So gods is the third level, or actually the top level in some ways that you can look at it. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:08 Highlight the passage at 1:06:08

1:06:32 Very blissful experience. Very much like the form and formless realm. Created... The God realm they say is created, that experience is created by doing a lot of virtue but not with this bodhicitta motivation. They've just done nice things. So maybe like these millionaires who are giving money away. They aren't necessarily doing it to get enlightened for the benefit of all beings. They still fight with their wife and cheat on her. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:32 Highlight the passage at 1:06:32

1:06:57 They still do negative things. But they do big, big good things too. Or maybe they're just little Joe Schmo. Who walks the neighbor's dog and brings soup to the grandma down the block? You know, so just generally nice people. So then due to that, that accumulation of positive karma, they create this very, very happy rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:57 Highlight the passage at 1:06:57

1:07:20 It doesn't go anywhere, though. They just use up all their positive karma. It's the same as with the form and formless realm. And with the gods or the devas, sometimes they're called, one of my teachers calls them the pleasure beings, too. Because that's what their life is about. They're just totally, it's like they're the grade A movie stars, you know. They've got beauty. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:20 Highlight the passage at 1:07:20

1:07:43 They've got pleasure all the time. They're partying all the time, you know. They're gorgeous. They, you know, they have it all. They say actually when it's time for that, when that karma ends for that life, that's the most extreme suffering because they get it in those final couple of days. That they've just wasted eons of negative karma and they have a vision of the next life and it's always lower because they've used up all that positive karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:43 Highlight the passage at 1:07:43

1:08:15 So they actually say that that's an enormous amount of suffering and it's all packed into their final couple of days. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:15 Highlight the passage at 1:08:15

1:08:25 And then the three lower realms are starting with the animal realm, which, like I said, is only considered a lower realm because there's not... First of all, there is a lot of suffering. Most animals suffer quite a bit. I mean, we think of often, we'll think of like the house cats, you know, but actually even they have quite a bit of suffering because they can't decide when and where they're going to eat or what they're going to eat, you know, or when they can get out of the room. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:25 Highlight the passage at 1:08:25

1:08:53 Did I close the door? I closed the door so you might see one of them. They don't have the choice of when I go away. They totally depend upon one human and then that human is suddenly gone. The reason we got these is because their mom died. So they still suffer. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:53 Highlight the passage at 1:08:53

1:09:12 But think about most animals. Think about animals in the wild and that fear. If you've ever watched a wild animal eat, that total terror that some other animal is going to come and eat them or take away their food. They just live in so much fear, sometimes running. Day in and day out, you know, deer constantly running. And when you're at Vajrapani, you see all these, the way that the deer live there, and that's a protected land, but still there's that fear of other animals. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:12 Highlight the passage at 1:09:12

1:09:42 And then you think about all the animals that are under human control, or hunted by humans, or raised by humans under really horrifying conditions, or, you know, beaten by humans in order to plow their land, or, you know, like all the chickens in the... I mean, there's just nightmarish lifetimes as an animal. But are they any different than us in terms of their ability to become Buddhas? Report an error in the passage at 1:09:42 Highlight the passage at 1:09:42

1:10:11 No. They're just living a lifetime that's created by a certain amount of negative karma that ends. And then that mind, that subtle most mind, just like ours, goes into another body created by karma. And it could be anything. They could be a devanext, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:11 Highlight the passage at 1:10:11

1:10:29 They feel, they think, you know, they suffer, and they have mind. And their mind is still clear and knowing, just like our mind. It's just obscured by certain karma in this life. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:29 Highlight the passage at 1:10:29

1:10:41 And the cause of an animal realm rebirth, they say, is the pervading cause is ignorance. Is ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:41 Highlight the passage at 1:10:41

1:10:56 The next one is what's called the, I think somebody brought up the hungry ghosts, right? Did you bring up the hungry ghosts? Report an error in the passage at 1:10:56 Highlight the passage at 1:10:56

1:11:04 Predas, I think is the Sanskrit term. Hungry ghosts are one type. Sometimes they call the whole realm hungry ghost realm, and then sometimes it's just called spirit realm. So you can actually, your mind stream could go into a spirit existence, according to what the Buddha observed. And there are different kinds of spirits. It could be a ghost, what we think of as a ghost. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:04 Highlight the passage at 1:11:04

1:11:35 And it could be these things called pretas or hungry ghosts where they say that they have this constant craving, this mind of constant craving, which is the cause, the karmic cause of this particular realm. Like a huge obsessive attachment. That's the cause of this one. And they constantly are seeking food, drink. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:35 Highlight the passage at 1:11:35

1:11:58 You know, they actually have families. They have, you know, children. And they're trying to feed these children. So they're constantly seeking that, but because of the particular karma they've created, they'll travel a great distance and it'll turn out like this huge body of wadi water will actually be a mirage. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:58 Highlight the passage at 1:11:58

1:12:16 It won't be there. And so then they'll travel again and try to find it and it won't be there. So it's just constantly seeking and never being able to satisfy that desire. And it's an entire lifetime, long lifetime of not being able to. Or they'll get there and it'll be like... Poison, a poison lake or something like that. So, you know, there's anyway. So, so that's that existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:16 Highlight the passage at 1:12:16

1:12:42 And that one, again, is that mind is dominated by craving, constant craving, constant craving. And the last one is what's called the hell realms. And I know a lot of people get freaked out that there are such things as the hells in Buddhism. But again, remembering that just like everything else. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:42 Highlight the passage at 1:12:42

1:13:03 It's created by karma and when that karma finishes, that mind goes into another existence. So nothing is eternal, even the hells or the heavens as far as that goes. We just go between all of these different realms. Our minds have gone between all of these different realms and we've been reborn in everything. So in this one, this one is the hell realms and there's all these different kinds of hell realms. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:03 Highlight the passage at 1:13:03

1:13:32 The dominating mind is hatred and anger. So it's just this pure, unadulterated hatred and anger. Again, how are you going to study Dharma in that? You know, that's like being in the worst war zone, you know, where the mind is just, or even in gang areas, where the mind is just so heavily focused on hatred and revenge. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:32 Highlight the passage at 1:13:32

1:13:56 There's no place for like, well, I think I'll go to a teaching and then contemplate love on the bus on the way home. There's just no space for it, you know. There's no space. There's not even a desire for it in your mind. Like your mind's just permeated with that. It's the first thought that you have when you take rebirth there. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:56 Highlight the passage at 1:13:56

1:14:12 It's just like, you know, just fighting back hatred. And it's just huge, huge, huge suffering. So there are three ways that we can look at these different realms. One of them is this literal teaching. You know, that's the way it's taught traditionally, that these are actual places that exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:12 Highlight the passage at 1:14:12

1:14:31 And that they, you know, these beings exist in these actual places. And that's definitely the way, I mean the human realm, it feels real to us like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:31 Highlight the passage at 1:14:31

1:14:43 But then another idea is that the human realm contains all of them. You know, the human realm contains, you know, the hell realms when you're talking about the gang areas and then the, you know, the devas or the pleasure beings or the movie stars and the, you know, the celebrities and then you've got the, you know, those starlets who never quite make it and you've got the, I mean, haven't we known of some humans that live in a very animalistic way, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:43 Highlight the passage at 1:14:43

1:15:16 And that craving mind, you know, like the pretas, you know, that grasping, never go to the mall, you see that. And then a third way of thinking about it is that all of them exist in our own mind. I can tell you today, I've gone through all of them. You know, so our own mind constantly goes through these minds of... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:16 Highlight the passage at 1:15:16

1:15:40 Constantly seeking out and steeping ourselves in pleasurable existence, but also being forced to undergo hells. Think about a situation where somebody is trapped in a burning house or something like that. That's a hell. That is a hell. Think about a domestic violence situation. Think about that woman that was kept underground by her father. That's a hell. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:40 Highlight the passage at 1:15:40

1:16:05 That's a hell right here. Entire people were living all around them. This complete hell was happening for her. For her it was a hell. So there's lots of ways for us to look at these teachings. And for me it's actually easier for me to think of it all six within my own mind and to see them in my own mind. And also to see them all in human, the human world. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:05 Highlight the passage at 1:16:05

1:16:30 Because I can just read the newspaper and you can find all of them. But the Buddha actually said that they did exist. You know, as they do exist, we just don't necessarily see these beings, but they are everywhere. You know, so it's not so much like, you know, the hells are only down below us or something like that. When Lama Zopa Rinpoche actually walks around, sometimes he'll literally go like this. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:30 Highlight the passage at 1:16:30

1:16:58 And when somebody will say, what are you doing, Rinpoche? And he'll say, I'm moving the spirits out. I go, wait, so I don't harm them. He says so often we just smash through, you know, and we harm them. It's like, well, who am I to say? Just because I don't see them again. I mean, I'm probably smashing insects all the time, too. So the important thing to remember in terms of this class is simply we create the causes of, we created the causes of this life. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:58 Highlight the passage at 1:16:58

1:17:29 Not we meaning, you know, Lenny or Samantha. Our mind had a different life before this life, in a different body, in different situations, and we created causes in that life and in the lives prior to. So in this life, we are now creating the causes for our next life. So if we want to have a positive next life, what do we do? How do we do that? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:29 Highlight the passage at 1:17:29

1:17:54 Our consciousness doesn't just like... turn off the minute we die you know our conscious that the most subtle consciousness just like we did in that meditation where we were going through the dissolution it gets to that very very very subtle one that rises like a clear light and then that leaves you know that moves into the next and it's always created by our own karma We're forced to, they actually use that word, we're forced to go into our next life by created by the karma we've created. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:54 Highlight the passage at 1:17:54

1:18:25 If we've created really, really powerful, good karma, we are forced to have a pleasurable life. We can't even choose to not have a pleasurable life. So we want to create that. We want to create the causes of a positive life. There's actually this story of this bodhisattva who was dying, he was a lama, and he was praying over and over and over again to be born in the hells, to care for the hell beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:25 Highlight the passage at 1:18:25

1:18:51 He wanted to help the hell beings. And then he started crying and his students said, why are you crying? And he said, I want to go to the hell beings, but I keep seeing the pure lands. He created the karma to have a different rebirth. Even though he was making this strong prayer to go to the hell realms, he just had so much positive karma that he was going to the pure lands. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:51 Highlight the passage at 1:18:51

1:19:19 So at this point, at our level, we don't have any control. Like we can just say, you know, sure, it'd be great for me to be born in Montana. I have absolutely not a wit of control over that. I don't have any control over where my mind's going to shoot off. I don't have any control over picking my parents. And that's really different. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:19 Highlight the passage at 1:19:19

1:19:39 Teachings out there from other traditions and even within the New Age traditions within this country. That's not true for Tibetan Buddhism at this point. There are beings who do. If you've attained a certain level of siddhi or attainment in this life and you have a very controlled mind and you have a very, very powerful bodhicitta, that very, very powerful mind of wanting to benefit others, then you can decide where you're going to be reborn. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:39 Highlight the passage at 1:19:39

1:20:07 And so actually they say that's true for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And he'll often threaten. He'll say that if, you know, to the monks, he'll say, if you don't start behaving, you know, because he'll, you know, he'll come down quite fierce with them, actually, then I won't come back, he'll say. Or I won't be reborn in Tibet, or I won't be reborn in India, or something, you know, he'll make some. And I think he has the ability to do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:07 Highlight the passage at 1:20:07

1:20:35 But for the rest of us, What allows us to have any control is creating the causes, creating the causes, creating the causes. It's like if I want to go to grad school, I've got to create the causes to go to grad school. I can't just show up at Harvard and just be like, I thought this would be really great to go. I mean, they just kind of laugh at me. So it's the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:35 Highlight the passage at 1:20:35

1:20:56 If I want to have all the conditions, then I've got to create the karma. So we are going to end the class talking about purification. How do we purify any kind of negative actions that we've done? And all the negative actions that we don't even know that we've done. And that's going to be with these four opponent powers. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:56 Highlight the passage at 1:20:56

1:21:20 So we're going to give you guys a break and then we're going to go through the four opponent powers. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:20 Highlight the passage at 1:21:20

1:21:28 Yeah, and then I'll just end with a little thing on enlightenment. Which is like, you know, the goal. Let's do that. Okay, let's get in line. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:28 Highlight the passage at 1:21:28

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:22:08 Oh, you're welcome. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:08 Highlight the passage at 1:22:08

1:22:14 Sometimes I'm able to. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:14 Highlight the passage at 1:22:14

1:22:22 I'm also just trying to like get Report an error in the passage at 1:22:22 Highlight the passage at 1:22:22

1:22:34 Friday, Saturday, Report an error in the passage at 1:22:34 Highlight the passage at 1:22:34

1:22:38 I leave. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:38 Highlight the passage at 1:22:38

1:22:47 Oh, it's chilly, isn't it? It's to keep us alert. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:47 Highlight the passage at 1:22:47

1:23:15 Actually, I Report an error in the passage at 1:23:15 Highlight the passage at 1:23:15

1:23:28 don't so much. Every Buddha has a pure land and that omniscient mind, that Dharmakaya, the main... Purified just abides in this and sends out emanations Report an error in the passage at 1:23:28 Highlight the passage at 1:23:28

1:23:53 all over the place in whatever form. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:53 Highlight the passage at 1:23:53

1:24:00 Practitioners can finish their path really quickly because all the conditions are so perfect for studying the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:00 Highlight the passage at 1:24:00

1:24:12 And there are certain pure lands that are, Report an error in the passage at 1:24:12 Highlight the passage at 1:24:12

1:24:23 he sort of advertises it as like, all you have to do is ask. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:23 Highlight the passage at 1:24:23

1:24:32 No, you're still a samsaric being there because saṃsāra is really the state of our mind. Nirvāṇa, so there could be, People in this room that look like samsaric beings to us, but actually they've already attained nirvāṇa and they're just kind of posing as a student. Actually, everybody in the class could be just trying to help you get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:32 Highlight the passage at 1:24:32

1:24:54 Or me, for that matter, you could all be enlightened or have nirvāṇa. So, yeah, it's less about, it's more like as long as our minds are samsaric, no matter where we are, even if we're right next to the Buddha and like hanging out in his pure land. We still are. And the same is true if a Buddha or not Report an error in the passage at 1:24:54 Highlight the passage at 1:24:54

1:25:20 with us, their mind is nirvanic. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:20 Highlight the passage at 1:25:20

1:25:28 So they are in nirvāṇa no matter. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:28 Highlight the passage at 1:25:28

1:25:37 Probably. You know, that's a good point. Yeah, I mean, probably it could be the most incredible experience and we'd be like, dang it, you know, where's the tetli? You know, how come they didn't do the tetli today? You know, I mean, that's kind of what we do, isn't it? But and also because we're still being, Report an error in the passage at 1:25:37 Highlight the passage at 1:25:37

1:26:02 they are pure. They say actually even if it Report an error in the passage at 1:26:02 Highlight the passage at 1:26:02

1:26:13 won't last forever. So we still have to kind of work. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:13 Highlight the passage at 1:26:13

1:26:26 Because our whole purpose is, if our whole purpose is to get enlightened, this is Report an error in the passage at 1:26:26 Highlight the passage at 1:26:26

1:26:35 your going, being with Amitabha or whoever the Buddha is, study, you can Report an error in the passage at 1:26:35 Highlight the passage at 1:26:35

1:26:47 also do that with tantra. And you can do that here with tantra. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:47 Highlight the passage at 1:26:47

1:26:55 There are different pure lands and different tantra, but Report an error in the passage at 1:26:55 Highlight the passage at 1:26:55

1:27:12 Amitabha is one that's open to everybody. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:12 Highlight the passage at 1:27:12

1:27:19 You Report an error in the passage at 1:27:19 Highlight the passage at 1:27:19

1:27:29 know, we don't talk so much about pure lands in this tradition. There's actually a whole pure land tradition. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:29 Highlight the passage at 1:27:29

1:27:39 But it was interesting, this good friend of ours who used to be the operations manager at LPP, at Liberation Prison Project, he passed away suddenly of a heart attack. He actually had moved from this area and moved up to Portland. And he walked out of work one day. It was one of those definite, definite wake-up calls for everybody. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:39 Highlight the passage at 1:27:39

1:28:04 Five o 'clock, left the building, dropped dead on the sidewalk outside. Boom, just like that. And of course we're all like, oh my God, we're all crying and weeping and all that stuff. And then all of a sudden Rinpoche comes out and he's like, oh no, it's okay, he's in a pure land. You know, the karma just ended for that life. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:04 Highlight the passage at 1:28:04

1:28:18 And we're all just like, whoa, go Kim, you know. It was pretty cool because it was just like, here's this guy who just seemed like, you know, very funny, dry humor, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:18 Highlight the passage at 1:28:18

1:28:31 So it was actually, I found it very interesting and kind of inspiring, you know. And it reminded me again that Just because somebody has died or something has died, some animals, we just don't know where they've gone next. And it could be much better. There's no reason for deers anymore. You're kind of like, oh. You're all prepared to go into a big gulping sob. And then you're like, well, who am I crying for here? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:31 Highlight the passage at 1:28:31

1:28:58 It's not for him anymore. That whole way that we view death is really open for inspection in Buddhism. But I don't know so much about the pure lands. I just grasp the little teachings whenever I hear people talk about them. You do hear about the pure lands of each of the tantric deities when you're studying those practices. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:58 Highlight the passage at 1:28:58

1:29:27 So whenever I have somebody in the class who is from that tradition, I like to ask them a question. Because we have a kind of nice relationship. There's a few of our students who actually go to a pure land tradition church in Japantown. these, the other, like the Amitabha Carolina Report an error in the passage at 1:29:27 Highlight the passage at 1:29:27

1:29:41 And whenever they're in the class, I'm always like, can you tell us what you guys know? Because it's just a different tradition. It's all the Buddhist teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:41 Highlight the passage at 1:29:41

1:29:53 Oh, for sure. You have to definitely create. It's easier to get into, yeah. Anyway, they say you just have to really make strong prayers. I'm sure your aspiration, again, can't be just because you think it's a cool place to go. It has to be because you've got some strong compassion going on and you've created the virtue and all that stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:53 Highlight the passage at 1:29:53

1:30:16 It always depends on karma, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:16 Highlight the passage at 1:30:16

1:30:21 Okay, now you have to, now the class is back on, so. Come on, you two, come on, come on. Well, I mean, as far as pure lands and, Report an error in the passage at 1:30:21 Highlight the passage at 1:30:21

1:30:34 like, so there's, I don't know, billions and billions of planets, you know, in the universe, and, I mean, are these pure lands, like, physic, are they, I don't know, like, is there a form of Buddhism that attempts to communicate with... If you want to call it extraterrestrial life, you want to call it other planets, other whatever. Yeah, I mean, there's no, when we talk about desire realm, we aren't just talking about Earth. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:34 Highlight the passage at 1:30:34

1:31:00 When we talk about human realm, we aren't just talking about Earth. They actually say that there's like many, many human realms in all different places in the universe, you know. So that, and the same with the Deva realms and the animal realms and things like that. So it's not just necessarily this planet. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:00 Highlight the passage at 1:31:00

1:31:19 It's not limited to this planet. It's all over. So those other beings are actually all part of saṃsāra, you know, like that, or Pure Land. Pure Lands, because Pure Lands are basically where the Buddha, the enlightened mind resides, you know, and from that enlightened mind, all these emanation bodies are manifesting as needed. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:19 Highlight the passage at 1:31:19

1:31:46 It can be anywhere. It can be here. Like I was saying, all of you guys could be emanation bodies for some Buddha, and you're just posing as students to try to help Christina and I get enlightened, which is really kind of you. And I have no idea who's an emanation body, and I have no idea who's a bodhisattva. So it's like that. It doesn't have to be a separate place. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:46 Highlight the passage at 1:31:46

1:32:11 There could be a pure land right here amongst us, and we just... I just don't have the karma to be enjoying it as a pure land. I definitely see it as samsaric, unfortunately. Because my mind is still samsaric. And that's the basic thing. If my mind is samsaric, created by causes, by karma and delusions, it's impossible for me to see things as pure and perfect. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:11 Highlight the passage at 1:32:11

1:32:38 Because my mind isn't pure and perfect. If my mind is nirvanic or enlightened, then... It's impossible for me to ever see faults. It's impossible for me to ever see... They actually say with enlightened mind you can see both. You see what sentient beings see at the same time as you see things ultimately, your ultimate nature. And it's all perfect and pure. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:38 Highlight the passage at 1:32:38

1:33:03 Because you've created the karma to only see, to only experience bliss at all times. So a Buddha would pick this up, see it as this amazingly crystal... Or diamond nectar of ambrosia of life giving. You know, like they would experience this and they would drink it and experience great bliss. I see it as an algae in a bottle with some water in it, you know. But, you know, a hungry ghost might see it as something filled with pus or something, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:03 Highlight the passage at 1:33:03

1:33:34 I mean, just like that would just be their karma and my karma and his karma, you know. So it's like it's coexisting. It's like the thing with time. Time and space are not as solid as we think that they are. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:34 Highlight the passage at 1:33:34

1:33:55 Speaking of time and space, so let's quickly go through the four opponent powers. So you guys have some tools to purify. These four powers are the same no matter what practice you do to purify. And then what changes is in the third of the powers, the remedy, there's lots of different remedies. But these four you will always do. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:55 Highlight the passage at 1:33:55

1:34:19 The first one is regret. So you are out of understanding how karma works, and as much as you can understand how emptiness works, you are regretting a negative action because simply you see that it sows the seeds for your own suffering. That's it. It's not, I hate myself because I screamed at her again. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:19 Highlight the passage at 1:34:19

1:34:47 I'm a horrible person. Oh, I did it again. I'm like really, you know, it's not like that. It's not guilt. It's not beating ourselves up. Regret is simply clear-eyed, wise, you know, they actually say intelligent regret, you know, based on understanding of karma. They say it's almost like you realize you've swallowed poison. You yourself will suffer. That's why you want to purify. You know, it's not even anything larger than that. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:47 Highlight the passage at 1:34:47

1:35:15 It's not like, oh, I didn't mean to hurt. You know, car's feelings. It's not like that. It's simply, oh my god, I just, knowing, I already know how karma works and I just yelled at car again. I can't believe I did that. So let me go purify really quick. You know, because I don't want this poison in my mind stream. That's what it is. It's much more like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:15 Highlight the passage at 1:35:15

1:35:35 We've got to get out of this idea of thinking, if I do something wrong, I am a horrible person. No, I'm a sentient being and I've got... I have delusions and I have negative karma and all those things are working together. I can change it and it's going to be a slow process. And so I just got to get to work. It's kind of like, isn't that interesting what my mind just did? Report an error in the passage at 1:35:35 Highlight the passage at 1:35:35

1:35:53 That's what it's more like, you know. It's much more like Margaret Mead. Get out your little notebook. Put on the science glasses, you know. This is looking at my mind. I'm going to clean this up. It's like if we see dirt on the window, we don't take it so personally. This is very much like dirt on the window. We just clean it. You know, it's just like that. I mean, I'm saying it as much so that I can hear it too. Okay, the second is reliance. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:53 Highlight the passage at 1:35:53

1:36:24 There are lots of ways these are translated. I think this way of making them all ours is easier because then you can remember them. Especially if you're at work and you've just done something and you want to purify it really quick in the bathroom. Bathroom's a great place for purification practice. So is the end of the day, actually. So reliance is... Report an error in the passage at 1:36:24 Highlight the passage at 1:36:24

1:36:42 Since all of our negative actions are created in relationship to either the holy beings or sentient beings, we take a minute to rely upon refuge and generate bodhicitta. So taking refuge is basically this idea of understanding our condition and deciding I'm going to use this particular method to get out of this situation. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:42 Highlight the passage at 1:36:42

1:37:11 That's basically what a state of refuge is about. It's like understanding that recognition that my suffering is caused by karma and delusion and that the Buddha had a mind exactly like mine and through a precise and methodical method transcended this suffering. And I can do it too. And I'm taking refuge in that. So refuge is very, very practical like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:11 Highlight the passage at 1:37:11

1:37:39 Bodhicitta is getting it that the rest of us are all suffering too. Everyone out there is suffering. That spider on the table is suffering. Cats upstairs are suffering. Probably Bodhi's throwing herself against the door. And doing it for them too. So it's like expanding your motivation for all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:39 Highlight the passage at 1:37:39

1:37:59 Remedy. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:59 Highlight the passage at 1:37:59

1:38:03 Remedy is doing an action to... Specifically to purify the negative action that you just did. So the Buddha gave us a bunch of different ideas. There are a number of sutras that have to do with purification practices. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:03 Highlight the passage at 1:38:03

1:38:21 Some of his suggestions are reciting the names of various Buddhas, and that's why we do the practice of reciting the 35 Buddhas when we do the prostrations, actually saying their names. Even the Medicine Buddha, when we're doing Medicine Buddha practice, there's these different Medicine Buddhas, and we recite their names. That recitation of their names, they say, purifies. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:21 Highlight the passage at 1:38:21

1:38:40 Those are especially good, I think, for speech. The prostrations doing the recitation of the 35 Buddhists, this tanka is depicting the 35 Buddhists, they actually say that each of the Buddhists purifies different things. And so that's good to know what it is that you're purifying. Saying really, really powerful mantras and specific Vajrasattva, it's right above Rosalie's head, this Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:40 Highlight the passage at 1:38:40

1:39:12 This Buddha who is specifically, all these Buddhas, these are different Buddhas, they all just embody certain enlightened energy. His particular energy is purification. Chenrezig is compassion, Medicine Buddhas is healing, Tara is action, Manjushu is wisdom, like that. So they're just different energies that they embody. Vajrasapha is all about purification. So reciting his name, and so his practice is really, really powerful. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:12 Highlight the passage at 1:39:12

1:39:41 For example, so if you do the Discovering Buddhism program for the certificate, then one of the assignments is actually to do 100,000 of the Vajrasapha mantra in practice. So either doing it in a three-month retreat or doing it as a daily practice, which takes a while. It's a daily practice. He just got that one. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:41 Highlight the passage at 1:39:41

1:40:05 We can talk about it after class. Yeah, sometimes I've told you guys stories about when I did the three-month retreat in India. The very first retreat that I did, I decided, of course, to go and do three months in India. You know, this is me. Purification. Very, very, very powerful. During the middle of it is when I decided to get retained, so you can be careful with these retreats. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:05 Highlight the passage at 1:40:05

1:40:25 But very, very powerful. Then I came out and I went to Lama Zopa Rinpoche to get my list of sort of my lifetime practices, my preliminary practices, and he gave me another $40,000. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:25 Highlight the passage at 1:40:25

1:40:37 was just that, but so. Anyway, that was another story. So there's all different ones. They say actually the most powerful of all the remedies that we could ever do is studying and meditating on emptiness. Because what's going to cut the ignorance that causes us to do misdeeds or to think incorrectly about people? It's our ignorant minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:37 Highlight the passage at 1:40:37

1:40:57 It's our minds that continually see things as inherently existent. When they are not, you know, and we haven't gotten that much into emptiness in this class, but specifically that type of ignorance. We want to cut and cutting. That's the root of our suffering and saṃsāra. That's why we steal things. That's why we punch people. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:57 Highlight the passage at 1:40:57

1:41:21 That's why we lie. That's why we, you know, betray people. That's why, you know, that's why we. hurt ourselves that's why we commit suicide that's why we do everything because we have this view of ourselves as being inherently existent and unconnected to every other living being you so we don't get it how much we create our own So the only way to really cut that ignorance is to understand the nature of reality that the Buddha... Report an error in the passage at 1:41:21 Highlight the passage at 1:41:21

1:41:55 Which is the study of emptiness. So studying emptiness, reading about emptiness, meditating on emptiness. Anything that you can do in that area is a huge remedy for any act you've ever done. And of course clearly if you don't understand emptiness it's not going to help you very much. So you have to make an effort to study it. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:55 Highlight the passage at 1:41:55

1:42:18 They also just say doing things like making objects that represent the Buddha's body, speech and mind. For example, like the workshop that we had with Andy Weber where people were painting Tara, learning how to draw Tara, a holy image or an enlightened image. Learning how to make satsas. These little things around the top of the room are called satsas. They're little tiny images of the Buddha. Often when people die, their ashes are put into these. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:18 Highlight the passage at 1:42:18

1:42:46 This is also a very holy practice. Making statues. People make statues. People make tankas, you know, like that. Making these holy images, they say, is also a very strong purification practice. And so forth. There's lots more. And the fourth is... In some ways, the most powerful. I mean, in some ways, regret is the most powerful because if you don't regret an action, you know, then you're lost. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:46 Highlight the passage at 1:42:46

1:43:13 You'll never want to change. But the fourth one is restraint or you could say resolve. It's this decision to not do the action again for however long I personally can do that. So it might be two and a half minutes. It literally might be two and a half minutes. If I have a real problem, the guy next to me at work, we share a cubicle, he drives me insane. I'm not going to say, I'll never get mad at Harvey again. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:13 Highlight the passage at 1:43:13

1:43:41 You know, because that just would be lying on top of everything else. So I want to say some amount of time that I know I can keep. So keeping it small is actually better, even though you feel kind of like a wimp. You know, it's like, I won't get mad at him no matter what he does for ten minutes. If that's what you can do and keep it purely and sweetly, then great. Then do it for 10 minutes. But don't say I won't ever get mad at anyone in traffic ever again. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:41 Highlight the passage at 1:43:41

1:44:13 If you know darn well that's a weakness for you and you're going to get mad at somebody today when you go home, try to keep it small so that you can do it and prove to yourself that at least for that amount of time you were able to not repeat that action. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:13 Highlight the passage at 1:44:13

1:44:31 Any questions about that? I mean, the way the practice usually goes is, for example, you know, you can do it really fast. I'll just do it as the fast version. You can also do it as a very formal thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:31 Highlight the passage at 1:44:31

1:44:42 But the way it would go is, for example, I come into work. Phil screams at me. I scream back. And I'm like, oh, wait a second. This is exactly what we were talking about in class last night. I go into the bathroom. The bathroom is a great place. I go into the bathroom. I think, wait. I didn't mean to scream back at him because now I've just created the causes to have people scream at me. Because one of the ways that karma works is creating the same thing coming at me in all of my lifetimes to come, as well as the habit of doing it again, screaming back. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:42 Highlight the passage at 1:44:42

1:45:16 So I'm like, oh, I'm going to regret that. I regret that because I don't want that suffering. So my first act is looking at it the way we were talking about with... Phil's problem with the person that he was going to try to do something to change the situation. The very first thing is me remembering karma and getting it that I just created seeds for my own suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:16 Highlight the passage at 1:45:16

1:45:38 That's how I'm going to have regret. So it's intelligent regret. It's not like, oh man, you did it again. You're so stupid, Chokyi. It's not that. We don't want to go down that road because that's like a whole Western thing that we bring into it. The Tibetans don't even have a word for guilt. They don't get this guilt thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:38 Highlight the passage at 1:45:38

1:45:59 Lama Zopa Rinpoche, or His Holiness the Dalai Lama actually calls it a form of mental illness. Lama Zopa actually says very, very negative mind, very negative mind, guilt. We're almost trained to be guilty. It's like a good thing as far as our culture goes. So it's not guilt. Regret and guilt are two different things. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:59 Highlight the passage at 1:45:59

1:46:22 And then after I regret it, then I... I go ahead and I take refuge with that understanding and I generate bodhicitta. And that's an internal thing and I can do it in a couple minutes. I just have to remember how karma works, how I do this over and over again and that's how I create suffering. And then I remember all of you guys are suffering too and then I want to change so that I can help all of you. And then I think, oh, that's true for the whole city, that's true for the whole world, that's true for all the universe, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:22 Highlight the passage at 1:46:22

1:46:49 That's generating bodhicitta. It doesn't have to be getting out my little prayer, but I could have my little prayer in my pocket. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:49 Highlight the passage at 1:46:49

1:46:56 Then I do a remedy. So I might just do, you know, the mantra, you know, and spend five minutes in the bathroom. Or I could do a really, really short mantra. There's a really, really short mantra that'll get you out of it if you get into it at work and you don't have time to do a really serious practice. And that's Om Vajrasattva Hum. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:56 Highlight the passage at 1:46:56

1:47:18 Om Vajrasattva Hum. And you can just do 28 of those. And they say if you do it with this... Full focus and full intention, you know, you can just get rid of it before it expands on your way home from work because you're waiting until you have perfect conditions at home, right? Just get rid of it, you know. If you notice it, just get rid of it. Om Vaishya Satva Ho. It's the purifying mantra, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:18 Highlight the passage at 1:47:18

1:47:44 Yeah, that's his name. There's a hundred-syllable mantra that's more powerful, and that's the one that the practice usually has, but a hundred thousand times, of course. But it's got a great rhythm. It's got a great rhythm to it. HUM, yeah. H-U-M or H-U-N-G. Yeah, they pronounce it different ways. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:44 Highlight the passage at 1:47:44

1:48:10 You can do any of those ones that I just mentioned. I'm just mentioning the short one because I know everybody's pressed for time, both now and in life. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:10 Highlight the passage at 1:48:10

1:48:20 Vajra, V-A-G-R-A, Sattva, which means warrior, actually. W, I mean. Sattva, S-A-T-T-V-A, V as in Victor, Vajrasattva, like Bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:20 Highlight the passage at 1:48:20

1:48:43 Bodhi is enlightenment, so an enlightenment warrior is a Bodhisattva, which I think is so cool because we just think Bodhisattva is like, you know, like somebody who's just like sweet, sweet, kind all the time. No, man, they are so cool. Bodhisattvas are really strong. Vajrasattva. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:43 Highlight the passage at 1:48:43

1:49:01 And then you would make this determination, okay, I know Phil just came in and screamed at me, okay, I'm going to set this rule because he's really pissing me off. I'm going to set this mind that I am not going to compound this at all. I'm going to go back out there and I'm going to try to listen to what's going on with him and I'm going to try to keep my mind from getting angry for eight and a half minutes because that's all I can do. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:01 Highlight the passage at 1:49:01

1:49:28 You know, I know that he's going to say things that are going to upset me, so I'm not going to set some unrealistic goal. Maybe I'm feeling really strong that day, you know, and I'm just like, no, I'm tired of this kind of anger. I'm going to go out there and until lunchtime, no matter what he says, no matter what he does, I am not going to get angry. And I'm just going to, and then I just sort of set my mind really strong and then I go back out there. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:28 Highlight the passage at 1:49:28

1:49:53 So you kind of do it like that. That's how you do a purification practice. And so it can be, it literally can take you just three minutes in the bathroom, you know. And the bathroom's actually really good because then you just, you know, flush that toilet and then it's all gone, you know, all that negativity. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:53 Highlight the passage at 1:49:53

1:50:07 Because there's a great visualization with Vajrasapha where you're literally imagining Vajrasapha, this white purifying Buddha on your head, like shooting down these nectars and light rays and just washing your mind and your body clean, you know. So just imagine him on there while you're going to the bathroom. It's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:07 Highlight the passage at 1:50:07

1:50:28 So, again, I think at the beginning of the class, I mentioned that the actual reason that the Buddha taught what he knew when he got enlightened is to get us enlightened. And the reason that he taught it, everything he chose to teach us, he didn't teach us everything he knew. He taught us only the things that he knew would get us enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:28 Highlight the passage at 1:50:28

1:50:52 And the reason that we want to get enlightened is to become enlightened. Basically the source of happiness for all living beings. And we want to get out of death and rebirth forever. Like this cycle hasn't gotten us anywhere. We've been doing this for lifetime after lifetime after lifetime. We've gone through all the realms over and over and over. We haven't gotten anywhere. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:52 Highlight the passage at 1:50:52

1:51:14 So the whole point of the Dharma is actually to get beyond birth and death forever. I mean it's incredibly radical. It's not just to be really calm. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:14 Highlight the passage at 1:51:14

1:51:27 It's not just to be nice. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:27 Highlight the passage at 1:51:27

1:51:33 It's literally to change reality. Our reality, beginning with us first, our own reality, because of course our reality, everything that we experience actually filters through our own minds. So we've got to start with our own minds. That's where we have to start. you know it's like Report an error in the passage at 1:51:33 Highlight the passage at 1:51:33

1:51:49 So, um... So I did want to mention a little bit about enlightenment. Since the end goal is getting enlightened, what is enlightenment? Really quickly, bodhicitta is this mind that wants to get enlightened. So we have to understand what enlightenment is. They say bodhicitta is the single most powerful mind possible in saṃsāra, you know, in a samsaric mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:49 Highlight the passage at 1:51:49

1:52:17 It's this virtuous thought that wants to become a Buddha, that wants to fully awaken, to fully perfect our mind in order to have the tools to be able to benefit all living beings. That's like becoming the Buddha is the tool. The motivation is compassion. The motivation is love. The motivation is this strong... Report an error in the passage at 1:52:17 Highlight the passage at 1:52:17

1:52:43 What they call great compassion, wanting not just to take away the suffering of that one person in front of us, but all living beings without exception. So even the annoying person that screams at you, even the person that kept his daughter captive, like wanting to work for his benefit too, wanting him to get it, that he can become a Buddha too. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:43 Highlight the passage at 1:52:43

1:53:05 So it's this huge, vast mind, bodhicitta. So we have to understand that the reason we want to become a Buddha is because enlightenment is basically perfect mind. Mind that has completely eliminated all the suffering states, all the negative states, all the harmful states, all the states of mind that disturb mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:05 Highlight the passage at 1:53:05

1:53:29 Jealousy, anger, depression, grief, grasping attachment, neurotic obsession. You know, hatred, aversion, greed, you know, I think of all of them. Pride, you know, there's all these great, you know, horrible states of mind that cause us to suffer. And they cause us to act over and over again in ways that not just harm others, but harm ourselves, that keep us locked into this cycle and keep creating this. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:29 Highlight the passage at 1:53:29

1:54:04 So Buddhahood had... We're completely free of those states of mind. We've removed them so that they can't ever rise again no matter what happens. You can come in and scream at me and a Buddha would be like, I would experience it as bliss, literally as a Buddha. Not that he's suffering, because clearly if you're screaming at me, you're suffering too. Anyone that harms another is suffering. They're operating out of a suffering place. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:04 Highlight the passage at 1:54:04

1:54:33 But I experience it because I no longer have... We experience it, you know, and our normal reaction is to scream back because our ego gets offended or we get, you know, that's what it's all about. For Buddha, they don't have that. So they just immediately, they love you and they have compassion for you, but they have only created the seeds to be blissful. So they hear it as mantra. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:33 Highlight the passage at 1:54:33

1:54:55 They see you as a deity. They're totally jazzed, you know. Their life is like, their life is completely perfect like that because they don't have the seeds to suffer the way we do constantly. And it's the mind that is completely perfected to the point where it cannot be developed any further. So all of those qualities that we love and we want, compassion, love, patience, wisdom, you know, I can't even think of any good ones. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:55 Highlight the passage at 1:54:55

1:55:29 Give me some good states of mind. What are all the good states of mind that we want? Courage. You know, that's a good one. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:29 Highlight the passage at 1:55:29

1:55:36 All those great states of mind are perfected so that they cannot be perfected any further. Like they're so perfect that they cannot be developed any further. So these states of mind are there all the time without break. So it's not like they go up and down, you know, the way we do. Some days we're really, really kind. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:36 Highlight the passage at 1:55:36

1:56:03 And then the next day we'll scream at somebody who actually is really nice. You know, like, you know, like it doesn't matter. It's just because our minds all over the place. Buddhas just have this positive all the time for everyone, no matter who comes into contact with them. They don't have to generate it. They don't have to think about, you know, maybe this person has been my mom, so I should be really nice to them. You know, they just love. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:03 Highlight the passage at 1:56:03

1:56:27 They just have this incredibly powerful, strong mind all the time without distinction between everyone. So if you're mean to me, I can hate you. It's not like that. She's mean to me, I can just love. She's nice to me, I can just love. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:27 Highlight the passage at 1:56:27

1:56:45 And the Buddha said that this is completely possible for all of us. know Report an error in the passage at 1:56:45 Highlight the passage at 1:56:45

1:56:49 Like it's completely possible for all of us because we have Buddha nature and because we have this potential to be able to transform this crazy wacky mind of ours into Buddha mind. And that's all of his methods. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:49 Highlight the passage at 1:56:49

1:57:05 Are to train us to do that. All of his teachings are to get us to do that. It's like, again, he's just like, come on kids, you're settling. You don't have to settle. You don't have to stay in this realm. You don't have to suffer like this. You have the tools. And you're the only one that can do it. He said that basically, I can give you these teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:05 Highlight the passage at 1:57:05

1:57:25 I can tell you the way. And what you do with it is up to you. You know? So, that's... That's where I'm ending. This is the real meaning of our lives. This is what gives purpose to our lives because if we could get these tools, we can help anybody do anything. But we have to know, we have to do it ourselves. And we are the ones that have to do the work ourselves. If the Buddhas could take away our suffering, they would because they have infinite compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:25 Highlight the passage at 1:57:25

1:57:58 They would go into our minds and fix them if they could. But they can't. They aren't omnipotent in the way that a god, you know, in Christianity is omnipotent. They are omniscient. They know all because mind knows all and perfected mind knows all. But they can only help us do what we have to do. We are the ones that actually have to do the work. So, that's it. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:58 Highlight the passage at 1:57:58

1:58:27 That's the point. That's why we want to have positive rebirth. That's why we need to have a positive death. And that's why we need to understand that life and death isn't as solid as we think it is. It's just simply this is the nature of reality. And we've been moving through this cycle over and over and over again in all of our lifetimes, in the past, present and the future. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:27 Highlight the passage at 1:58:27

1:58:49 And there's a way to change it. And we can change it. And we can totally become like this. We have the tools. And then it just falls on us. We just have to do the work. And this is how we can help all beings. So any questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:49 Highlight the passage at 1:58:49

1:59:11 I would be alarmed if you didn't have any questions. You mentioned the 35 Buddhas. So there are exactly 35. No. Actually, say there's a thousand in this eon, this particular eon. We go through eons. It's like His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, yeah, Big Bang Theory is fine, but why just one? you know we just these These epochs or these eons, it's sort of like they expand. We have all this stuff that happens and then literally planets, places disappear and then new ones are born. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:11 Highlight the passage at 1:59:11

1:59:43 And our minds just go into beings that exist somewhere in that universe. So the 35 Buddhas are just particular practice where these 35 Buddhas are mentioned. But there are many, many, many Buddhas. Some of them teach and some of them don't. You know? Um... Report an error in the passage at 1:59:43 Highlight the passage at 1:59:43

2:00:01 Not all of them teach. And then of those that teach, some of them teach, most of them do not teach tantra. And they say it's actually very, very rare to be at a time where there are Buddhas that actually teach the tantras. Shakyamuni Buddha taught both sūtra and tantra. But he's just one Buddha. He's the historical Buddha. He's the one we named the ism after. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:01 Highlight the passage at 2:00:01

2:00:25 But he's only one Buddha. Buddhas are everywhere, they say. Because it's totally possible for all living beings to become Buddhists, so there's got to be a lot of them. And there are many, many highly realized beings that are on the path, like high-level bodhisattvas. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:25 Highlight the passage at 2:00:25

2:00:44 They say actually once you hit, I think it's once you hit the eighth level, there's ten levels of bodhisattvas, once you hit the eighth level, I think you can spontaneously emanate something like a hundred bodies or something like that. Once you hit the... You know, ninth level, it's more. Once you hit the tenth level, it's more. And once you hit the Buddhahood, it's like limitless. Whatever form is needed anywhere in the world by any being at any time simultaneously. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:44 Highlight the passage at 2:00:44

2:01:13 So I could emanate as a dog that would help you. I can emanate as the bridge that would help you. And I can emanate as the car or something. You know, it doesn't even have to be a human. I can just suddenly... And we've all had that experience, right? Where you get up in the middle of the night and something happens and then you go back and look for it and you're like, where is that glass? Report an error in the passage at 2:01:13 Highlight the passage at 2:01:13

2:01:34 Or you kick something and then you're like, well, you know. Then I'm starting to think, well, maybe it was just a Buddha emanating as that thing. So, I mean, my friend Tenzin Chokyi, who's also my teacher, she says to develop this thing called pro-noia. You know, instead of thinking that everyone's against you, why not believe that they're all for you? Why not believe that they're all trying to help you get enlightened? All it is is just a mind change and the same situations are going to happen, but you're going to look at them totally differently. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:34 Highlight the passage at 2:01:34

2:02:12 Let's see. So as far as the higher levels, it just feels like, you know, you say you can emanate as different things. It just seems like the closer you get, the less of... personal will it is to do something like how much of that is really you As you become a Buddha. Yeah, because you don't have to think about it. They actually say without thought, without concept, without effort. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:12 Highlight the passage at 2:02:12

2:02:43 It's just simply, yeah, no, you're definitely existing. But who are you? But that ego is definitely, yeah, you don't have to, because so much of our ego is just concept. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:43 Highlight the passage at 2:02:43

2:02:57 Who do I think I am? And that changes year by year, right? It changes day by day, actually. Who do I think I am? Why I do things, you know? That changes all the time, too, right? So I might be nice to you and it might not always be for the right reasons. Maybe I want you to like me or maybe I want you to give me chocolate brownies or maybe, you know, like that, you know? Report an error in the passage at 2:02:57 Highlight the passage at 2:02:57

2:03:18 Buddhists don't have that at all. They are simply the manifestation of this enormous love and compassion. And so they have the ability to just communicate with people without words, without concept, without effort. Giving, because they've made these strong prayers, they just want to give happiness and to take away suffering. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:18 Highlight the passage at 2:03:18

2:03:39 So why not manifest in some form that's going to help her without any thought? It's just like my body can become what she needs. But yeah, I'm not sitting there thinking, what am I going to do today? It's not like that at all. There's not that conceptual thought. And in a way, it's like that just gets in our way of really helping people, really helping people. Because then I'm trying to figure it out, and then my craft is coming into it, and I'm trying to do it to look good in front of her, and I'm hoping that he notices how great I did that. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:39 Highlight the passage at 2:03:39

2:04:11 And that's because it's still messed up with the conceptual mind and the afflicted states of mind. But Buddhists don't have that. They're just like, it's really cool, actually. That's like my favorite thing that they do, is shooting out these emanation bodies all the time. It's non-conceptual, that's why. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:11 Highlight the passage at 2:04:11

2:04:35 We're such conceptual beings. The more that you study it and the more that you meditate on emptiness, it's like we're trying to understand non-conceptual subjects conceptually. But it's the first step. We kind of have to. When we study emptiness, we start out understanding... Emptiness conceptually and it's completely non-conceptual. And ultimately that's what that direct experience of emptiness is. That's us having a non-conceptual experience of the nature of reality as it is. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:35 Highlight the passage at 2:04:35

2:05:08 But right now it's like, what the heck is she talking about? But it's, again, it's like me describing sugar. You know, I can tell you how it is, how it tastes. As you taste it, your experience of it is your experience of it. And nobody can ever take that away from you again. Because you've had a direct experience of it. It's the same. But we have to get closer and closer to it with conceptual thought because that's just the kind of creatures we are, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:08 Highlight the passage at 2:05:08

2:05:37 One last question. Just one? Just one? Yeah. And then you're going to get enlightened. Yay. I just recall reading something about it's the problem, I guess, if you want to quote that, is it's too simple. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:37 Highlight the passage at 2:05:37

2:05:57 I know, that's what Tenzin Palmo says, yeah. She says that the reality is that it's so simple and it's so close, but we miss it because our minds, we overcomplicate everything. But that's part of the practice too, I think. They say actually when you meditate, for example, on emptiness, because that's the one I think we overconceptualize so much. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:57 Highlight the passage at 2:05:57

2:06:24 You have to understand it though in order not to waste time meditating on the wrong thing. So there is a certain amount of understanding that you need in order to let go of it. You know, it's like that. So it's like we have to kind of understand it in order to just let it go. And I think the meditations, because I haven't had a direct perception of emptiness, I think it's like the meditations is a lot about letting go. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:24 Highlight the passage at 2:06:24

2:06:51 A lot about letting go of everything that we've... Thought was real because those are all actually concepts and inaccurate ones at that. I know it's actually it's actually the more that you study Buddhism, the more you realize is out there that you didn't ever really understand. But try to think of it as blissful rather than overwhelming. You know what I mean? Like it's just like it's lightening us. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:51 Highlight the passage at 2:06:51

2:07:23 It's letting us lighten. I mean enlightenment in that sense is that. It's like letting go, letting go, letting go. And ultimately it's freeing, it's liberating. That's what I think liberation must feel like. And the interesting thing is that we're the ones that are imprisoning ourselves. Just from our own conceptual way of thinking. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:23 Highlight the passage at 2:07:23

2:07:49 So let's dedicate. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:49 Highlight the passage at 2:07:49

2:07:59 So let's go back to that state of mind that you had at the beginning of the class when we did the Tonglen. And you had that moment where you realized that you had taken away that suffering of that being. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:59 Highlight the passage at 2:07:59

2:08:14 You had taken away their suffering and brought them happiness and that bliss of being able to do that. And imagine having that bliss of being able to do that with every single living being without exception. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:14 Highlight the passage at 2:08:14

2:08:34 Imagine having this capacity that we were just talking about of being able to manifest in whatever form would help. Any person, any animal, any god, demigod, hell-being, whatever would enable them to help themselves, to teach them. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:34 Highlight the passage at 2:08:34