Discovering Buddhism - The Wisdom of Emptiness (7 April 2011)

0:04 was just talking nonsense. Yeah, to make it sound all. Well, and I think they're not a native English speaker, so that's kind of a little bit. Well, yeah. You know, just because their phraseology is slightly different. That can be frustrating. No. Report an error in the passage at 0:04 Highlight the passage at 0:04

0:35 like you know I find you can get incredible stuff on there Yeah, but really nice stuff that you're not going to find in the stores. Report an error in the passage at 0:35 Highlight the passage at 0:35

0:48 Yeah, this one is Japanese. Report an error in the passage at 0:48 Highlight the passage at 0:48

0:54 there was some really nice Japanese... Report an error in the passage at 0:54 Highlight the passage at 0:54

1:03 should go on eBay because they have them there and some of them are extremely... Yeah, that's where I was looking, but I shouldn't have spent money. Report an error in the passage at 1:03 Highlight the passage at 1:03

1:11 So Report an error in the passage at 1:11 Highlight the passage at 1:11

1:19 if Report an error in the passage at 1:19 Highlight the passage at 1:19

· · · silence, 11 minutes

12:07 I'm winking at you, don't take it personally. Report an error in the passage at 12:07 Highlight the passage at 12:07

· · · silence, 1 minute

12:51 We're going to start with a brief meditation. Report an error in the passage at 12:51 Highlight the passage at 12:51

13:05 And then in the gold book, the prayer that we start with is on page 229. Report an error in the passage at 13:05 Highlight the passage at 13:05

13:16 There we are. Report an error in the passage at 13:16 Highlight the passage at 13:16

13:21 I'm really sorry for starting so late. Report an error in the passage at 13:21 Highlight the passage at 13:21

13:37 Remember to send this around to make sure that we get everybody else's names who didn't sign up on the first week. My robes are falling off. My goodness. Report an error in the passage at 13:37 Highlight the passage at 13:37

13:55 Okay, so let's just watch our breath for a little bit and let Chokyi calm down. So just take a moment to let your mind settle. You might take a couple of deep belly breaths and let go of your day. Report an error in the passage at 13:55 Highlight the passage at 13:55

14:18 Sometimes it helps to actually visualize breathing out all the dark stuff, the yucky states of mind. Report an error in the passage at 14:18 Highlight the passage at 14:18

14:27 Intense problems that you're working on or difficulties at work or with friends or in relationships or whatever. Just imagine breathing it out like black smoke and Report an error in the passage at 14:27 Highlight the passage at 14:27

14:41 imagine breathing in everything that you need. So clarity of mind, presence, awareness, curiosity, all your wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 14:41 Highlight the passage at 14:41

· · · silence, 1 minute

15:24 And then as your mind begins to calm down, then just find your breath either at the level of your belly or the little patch of skin inside the tip of your nostril. And just park your attention right there and try to count ten cycles of in and out without losing the breath. Report an error in the passage at 15:24 Highlight the passage at 15:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

16:36 And then we'll just set our motivation for tonight's class, Report an error in the passage at 16:36 Highlight the passage at 16:36

16:42 remembering that the wisdom of emptiness is really the only thing that allows us to rip out our mental afflictions one by one and all together, Report an error in the passage at 16:42 Highlight the passage at 16:42

17:00 eliminating all those painful, disturbing, harmful states of mind. That keep us suffering from lifetime to lifetime to lifetime. And keep us from ever being able to help anyone else, truly. Report an error in the passage at 17:00 Highlight the passage at 17:00

17:21 Whatever karmic seeds or imprints are planted tonight, through any of our discussion, the experience of meditation, may Report an error in the passage at 17:21 Highlight the passage at 17:21

17:38 it become the cause in each of our minds to have this direct experience of emptiness in this life. To become Arya beings. Report an error in the passage at 17:38 Highlight the passage at 17:38

17:51 So that we can take it all the way to enlightenment and show all other living beings without exception how to do it too. Report an error in the passage at 17:51 Highlight the passage at 17:51

18:12 And then in your own time as you're ready you can end your meditation and we'll start with the opening prayer on page 229 in the gold book. Report an error in the passage at 18:12 Highlight the passage at 18:12

18:31 With the wish to free all beings I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 18:31 Highlight the passage at 18:31

19:02 We're going to also read the Foundation of All Good Qualities like we did last week. So page 137 in the gold book. Report an error in the passage at 19:02 Highlight the passage at 19:02

19:24 The foundation of all good qualities is the kind and perfect pure guru. Correct devotion to him is the root of the path. By clearly seeing this and applying great effort, please bless me to rely upon him with great respect. Understanding that the precious freedom of this rebirth is found only once. is greatly meaningful and is difficult to find again. Report an error in the passage at 19:24 Highlight the passage at 19:24

19:47 Please bless me to regenerate the mind that unceasingly day and night takes its essence. This life is as impermanent as a water bubble. Remember how quickly it decays and death comes. After death, just like a shadow follows the body, the results of black and white karma follow. Finding firm and definite conviction in this, please bless me always to be careful. Report an error in the passage at 19:47 Highlight the passage at 19:47

20:13 To abandon even the slightest negativities and accomplish all virtuous deeds. Seeking samsaric pleasures is the door to all suffering. They are uncertain and cannot be relied upon. Recognizing these shortcomings, please bless me to generate the strong wish for the bliss of liberation. Led by this pure thought, Mindfulness, alertness and great caution arise. The root of the teachings is keeping the Pratimoksha vows. Please bless me to accomplish this essential practice. Report an error in the passage at 20:13 Highlight the passage at 20:13

20:48 Just as I have fallen into the sea of saṃsāra, so of all mother and migratory beings, please bless me to see this trained in supreme bodhicitta and bear the responsibility of freeing migratory beings. Even if I develop only bodhicitta, But I don't practice the three types of morality. I will not achieve enlightenment. With my clear recognition of this, please bless me to practice the bodhisattva vows with great energy. Report an error in the passage at 20:48 Highlight the passage at 20:48

21:19 Once I have pacified distractions to wrong objects and correctly analyzed the meaning of reality, please bless me to generate quickly within my mindstream the unified path of calm abiding and special insight. Having become a pure vessel by training in the general path, please bless me to enter the holy gateway of the fortunate ones, the supreme Vajra vehicle. Report an error in the passage at 21:19 Highlight the passage at 21:19

21:44 At that time, the basis of accomplishing the two attainments is keeping pure vows in Samaya. As I have become firmly convinced of this, please bless me to protect these vows and pledges like my life. Then, having realized the importance of the two stages, the essence of the Vajrayana, by practicing with great energy, never giving up the four sessions, please bless me to realize the teachings of the Holy Guru. Report an error in the passage at 21:44 Highlight the passage at 21:44

22:13 Like that, may the gurus who show the noble path and the spiritual friends who practice it have long lives. Please bless me to pacify completely all outer and inner hindrances. In all my lives, never separated from perfect gurus, may I enjoy the magnificent Dharma. By completing the qualities of the stages and paths, may I quickly attain the state of Ajradhara. Report an error in the passage at 22:13 Highlight the passage at 22:13

22:42 Okay, so why don't we start with a little check-in and see if anybody has any questions about anything that we talked about last week or what you've been working on this week. We're shrinking in size, as always happens. Report an error in the passage at 22:42 Highlight the passage at 22:42

23:04 It wasn't the reaction I expected. Right, that's too much. Okay, Eleanor, where's the blue talking stick? That's why you really got up. Is that bodhisattva in you? So I wasn't sure how much to read in the binder, but I just, you know, was reading and... Only what it said on your homework, actually. Report an error in the passage at 23:04 Highlight the passage at 23:04

23:32 I know. People always do that. All right. Well, then that might be part of the problem. I was just going to comment that I was having problems with the reading, really kind of getting it. And I just wanted to tell you that, teacher. Complain, yeah. No, not to complain. But I'm assuming that as the class goes on, it'll make sense. Report an error in the passage at 23:32 Highlight the passage at 23:32

23:51 We hope. I just wanted to let you know I wasn't getting it. So you could, I don't know. It's dense. Yeah, yeah. But I'm happy to keep on trying. Yeah, and I think with anything to do with emptiness, it's going to take probably more than one go, whether it's meditating on it or talking about it or studying it or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 23:51 Highlight the passage at 23:51

24:17 And this is definitely, you're very new, so it's okay. Just kind of, you know, you might look at it again as the course goes on and then see if it makes any more sense. Report an error in the passage at 24:17 Highlight the passage at 24:17

24:32 know. Or even after the course, come back to it and read it again, see if it makes more sense. Anybody else? Yeah, Alan. I'm going to pass it back to him. ask my question, I just want to let you Report an error in the passage at 24:32 Highlight the passage at 24:32

24:53 Yeah, it depends. The new copy is $153, but they have used one for as low as $14. Yeah, it depends on what's there on the day that you go on. I actually got one that way, and I actually got it from Wisdom. They just happened to have a couple in their office, and I just happened to look right as it went on. Report an error in the passage at 24:53 Highlight the passage at 24:53

25:16 I grabbed it with another nun. So yeah, you can still get it. And it's a useful one to keep. I don't know if they'll republish it, actually. Now, the two readings we had for the homework assignment, I found them very clear and concise. I enjoyed them. But it got me thinking, which may be dangerous for you. I started thinking... It could be dangerous for emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 25:16 Highlight the passage at 25:16

25:39 Well, this has to do with the realm of the relative, where we are. Then I started thinking, well... What is the absolute? Well, we'll find out. That's the whole content of the course. Okay, I'll be patient and wait. Report an error in the passage at 25:39 Highlight the passage at 25:39

25:56 Yeah, so we're starting to get into that a little bit tonight. Anybody else, though, anything about either the meditation or the reading assignment? Report an error in the passage at 25:56 Highlight the passage at 25:56

26:08 Is your hand up or are you scratching your back? Okay. I was like, wow, she looks like she has her hand up, but there's no hand. Okay. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 26:08 Highlight the passage at 26:08

26:16 Phil, did you have your hand? Wait, pass it to him. Where's, where's, okay. Got to go over Daniel's head. Phil. Report an error in the passage at 26:16 Highlight the passage at 26:16

26:27 Careful, Daniel. I just, I found it really interesting. I mean, the two truths is like one double-sided page, but like a few of those paragraphs I had to read like 15 times just over and over. But like right off the bat, he says like, It seems I've already finished my teaching because they're just two words, conventional and ultimate. It feels like that's like the surface. Report an error in the passage at 26:27 Highlight the passage at 26:27

26:57 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, we are going to mention the two truths tonight. And we're going to sort of talk about these terms, conventional and ultimate, and what they refer to. So hopefully some of those questions will begin to get answered. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 26:57 Highlight the passage at 26:57

27:16 The whole study of emptiness is not about me answering your questions, but you figuring out the questions that you even have. Because without even understanding, you know what I mean? Like at this point it's just so unknown that I think you can get hooked on teacher show me the way or answer my questions or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 27:16 Highlight the passage at 27:16

27:38 And I think in reality it's going to be, you're going to plunge into it yourself and you're going to sort of discover what your own... Questions truly are as you work with it. Report an error in the passage at 27:38 Highlight the passage at 27:38

27:54 And I won't be able to answer all of your questions, but I'll do my best. We'll see. But yeah, some of those subjects will get clarified tonight. Come on in, Ann. We're just sort of warming up. We're a little warmer than when we started, but we're still warming. Report an error in the passage at 27:54 Highlight the passage at 27:54

28:15 So one of the things we're going to talk about tonight is a little bit about how karma and emptiness work together because that's very, very key. And do you know if Charles is around? I actually emailed him right as I was coming down here to see if he would make a copy. Do you know if he's back in the back? Could you just pop in and just tell him that sometime before the end of the class I really need him to make that copy that I emailed him? Report an error in the passage at 28:15 Highlight the passage at 28:15

28:44 Thank you. We're going to touch really briefly on the 12 links, and so I thought it would be nice if you guys had them in your... Did he do it? Oh, good. Oh, so, wait, Eleanor? Because that's what actually reminded me, because I saw one that you just stuffed in your... Report an error in the passage at 28:44 Highlight the passage at 28:44

29:11 She's sitting right there, so I was like... I saw it. It looked very much like the 12 links. I was like, hmm, wait a second. Report an error in the passage at 29:11 Highlight the passage at 29:11

29:22 Done. He's a good lad. He's a good lad. Okay, but not yet. It'll be that key. I'll sort of give you a little hint. Just like your pitcher, right? Report an error in the passage at 29:22 Highlight the passage at 29:22

29:42 Anyway, so we're going to talk about karma and emptiness tonight because that's very key. And we'll touch on a few things like the 12 links because that explains saṃsāra. It explains why we suffer the way we suffer. And our whole point is to get out of that suffering so that we can help others get out of it too. Report an error in the passage at 29:42 Highlight the passage at 29:42

30:03 So again, just some really simple ideas about emptiness. Emptiness is a characteristic of every single thing in phenomena, including us, you know, this clock, the pen, table, center, America, the planet, the weather, my tea. Report an error in the passage at 30:03 Highlight the passage at 30:03

30:29 It doesn't exist apart from phenomena, and it... That quality is a mere absence of a false way of existing that we think exists. So it's the mere absence of something. So emptiness isn't some positive phenomena out there somewhere else. It's an absence of existing in the way that we think things exist. Report an error in the passage at 30:29 Highlight the passage at 30:29

30:57 Every single object that exists has its own emptiness, and the nature of that emptiness is the same. Which is why we say that one, you know, the sentence that Rinpoche always says, everything exists in one taste in emptiness. It's not saying that we're all just one big blob. But the nature of our emptiness, the nature of your emptiness and my emptiness and the microphone's emptiness and, you know, the desk's emptiness and the throne and the Kleenex's emptiness, the nature of that is the same. Report an error in the passage at 30:57 Highlight the passage at 30:57

31:28 But every object that holds that emptiness or that has the quality of that emptiness is different. See, so it's sort of like that. You've got to cook it. This is a lot, you've got to cook it. One of my teachers used to say that. Whenever we'd be like, you've got to cook it, you've just got to cook it. Report an error in the passage at 31:28 Highlight the passage at 31:28

31:48 So when that object, any of those objects, and of course I'm including humans as objects too, when all those objects or those phenomena go out of existence, then the emptiness, their emptiness also goes out of existence. So emptiness is also impermanent in that sense. Report an error in the passage at 31:48 Highlight the passage at 31:48

32:10 So what is emptiness referring to? Emptiness is referring to things being empty of that inherent, concrete, unchanging type of existence that we think everything has, that we project onto everything. Report an error in the passage at 32:10 Highlight the passage at 32:10

32:32 Existing out there somehow, separate from me. From their own side, you hear that phrase a lot, from their own side, through their own nature, you hear that one too. So it's the lack of that is what emptiness is referring to. Report an error in the passage at 32:32 Highlight the passage at 32:32

32:51 This is the night for it, I guess. I don't feel quite as bad about me being like... Yeah, no, I felt like it coming home on the bus too. It's just like this whole wacky energy. We must be close to a full moon again. Report an error in the passage at 32:51 Highlight the passage at 32:51

33:05 Um... Okay, so emptiness is also talking about things lacking, how Report an error in the passage at 33:05 Highlight the passage at 33:05

33:21 to phrase, emptiness is also a lack of things being anything other than a dependent arising, which means that things cannot exist independently the way they seem. Report an error in the passage at 33:21 Highlight the passage at 33:21

33:37 Keep with me. I'll say that one again. Emptiness is a lack of things being anything other than a dependent arising, which means that things cannot exist independently, which is how they seem to exist. Report an error in the passage at 33:37 Highlight the passage at 33:37

33:58 Things do not exist out there, separate from my mind, inherently, concretely, unchangingly. when I say, Things are empty, I'm saying that they are empty of that kind of existence, which they never had anyway. We just think they have. Our senses perceive things as existing that way. Report an error in the passage at 33:58 Highlight the passage at 33:58

34:25 And so this is the way the Buddha perceives the nature of reality to be. Our problem is, number one, that we perceive things to exist inherently through our senses. And number two, and Rinpoche always says this is the worst thing, we grasp on to that perceived inherent existence as the way things actually are without even considering any other option. Report an error in the passage at 34:25 Highlight the passage at 34:25

34:55 So number one, we perceive things as existing inherently. You know, all of you, me, myself, this is the hugest problem here. Report an error in the passage at 34:55 Highlight the passage at 34:55

35:05 Usually we don't get in too much trouble over the inherent existence of the microphone or the pen, but they're easier for us to look at in some way, although we'll talk about that in a second too. Report an error in the passage at 35:05 Highlight the passage at 35:05

35:18 So we perceive it that way, but the worst problem isn't so much a perception of that, because even after we've had a direct perception of emptiness, we continue to perceive things as inherently existent, but we no longer believe it. So our worst problem is that we... We grasp onto that inherent existence and we believe that to be the nature of reality without ever questioning it. Nargajuna actually said, just the mere questioning of it, it's like even for a second questioning of it begins to tear a rent in the fabric of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 35:18 Highlight the passage at 35:18

35:54 So even beginning to, even if we're just at the point where none of this makes a... a bit of sense and we're just reading it over and over and over and over, that's totally fine because it's still beginning to seep through that solid rock of our mind. Report an error in the passage at 35:54 Highlight the passage at 35:54

36:14 So what we're trying to do is to have a direct experience of the absence of what we always thought was there. So that's what we're actually trying to do when we have a direct experience. It's not like a direct experience of emptiness is having some experience of a place somewhere or, you know, a color or, you know, some other kind of sensory experience. Report an error in the passage at 36:14 Highlight the passage at 36:14

36:41 It's a direct, non-conceptual experience of the absence of what we always thought was there to the point that we never even doubt it. We never even had any concept or any belief that it might be any different. Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

37:00 But, of course, part of what we're doing when we intellectually study emptiness is to gain some intellectual experience of emptiness before we have that direct experience of emptiness. But it is a kind of interesting catch-22 because we're trying to understand emptiness conceptually and yet the thing that's going to free us... Report an error in the passage at 37:00 Highlight the passage at 37:00

37:23 You know, give us liberation from saṃsāra is a completely non-conceptual experience. But it's just the way our minds work. We have to understand what it is that we are analyzing so we know that we're analyzing the right thing. And then once we have the experience, it's just like everything kind of falls away, literally. Report an error in the passage at 37:23 Highlight the passage at 37:23

37:47 So, I'll do one of Venera Mabinas. Popular examples. From a Buddhist point of view, there is no inherently delightful cake out there, which I can guarantee is the case for me now that I can't have it. Report an error in the passage at 37:47 Highlight the passage at 37:47

38:05 Separate from our minds, from our karma, if we perceive a piece of chocolate cake as a delightful, wonderful, delicious experience, it's because we have created the positive karma to do so. We, you Report an error in the passage at 38:05 Highlight the passage at 38:05

38:21 If we experience it as a nauseating, disgusting, horrifying experience, it's because we've created the negative karma to experience that. So our experiences of reality are based on the karma that we have created. And this is where we're going to discuss this a little bit. Karma can only, of course, function if things are empty of existing from their own side. Report an error in the passage at 38:21 Highlight the passage at 38:21

38:52 If things existed in some solid, absolute, unchanging way, then there would be no way that Marcella sees the chocolate cake as wonderful, delightful, wonderful to taste, delightful to look at, beautiful to smell and try to think of all the different senses, whereas I experience it as just this horrible, nauseating lump, you know. Report an error in the passage at 38:52 Highlight the passage at 38:52

39:15 We have two separate karma. Karmic perceptions. And so our experience are the exact same data. The smell, taste, touch, color, shapes is different. Report an error in the passage at 39:15 Highlight the passage at 39:15

39:31 So this works with people too. You know, if somebody is interesting, delightful, fun to be with, it's because we've created positive karma. That's ripening around that person. If somebody is experiencing somebody as a pain in the butt or difficult or challenging or whatever, it's because we've created that particular karma to experience that person that way. Report an error in the passage at 39:31 Highlight the passage at 39:31

40:00 If somebody hears a song and thinks it's the best thing they've ever heard and plays it for all of their friends, saying it's the best song ever. Like this song that was on. I never even heard it, but I feel bad for that poor girl. The Friday girl. Somebody else hears the same song and just thinks it's horrifying. Report an error in the passage at 40:00 Highlight the passage at 40:00

40:20 How many times has that one happened? Thinks it's just the absolute worst thing they've ever heard. And sometimes in our own minds it can be the same, right? So the same song that we thought was so wonderful when we were 12. Maybe we don't think so now. The same person that we fell in love with Friday, maybe by Monday, has begun to change slightly. Report an error in the passage at 40:20 Highlight the passage at 40:20

40:43 Is it a different person? No. But our karma has shifted. Our karma has shifted. Because karma is definitely changeable, definitely shiftable. Report an error in the passage at 40:43 Highlight the passage at 40:43

40:58 But according to Buddhism, this is how... We create our existence. Karma is the only creator force in Buddhism. There's no creator God at all in Buddhism. There is no God. I remember when my mom discovered, somebody told her at lunch, she was in an assisted living place for the last five years of her life, and I remember one time I came home on a visit and she said, somebody told me that Buddhism says that there's no God. Report an error in the passage at 40:58 Highlight the passage at 40:58

41:26 I said, that's right, Mom. And she goes, And she kind of looked shocked, and I said, but Buddha said we can all become exactly like him, exactly like God. We can become gods. And she was like, oh, that's great. Report an error in the passage at 41:26 Highlight the passage at 41:26

41:40 It's like, yeah. So who knows if she went out and told somebody, whoever that somebody was, I don't know. She also always thought that I cooked for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And I used to correct her, and then I thought, you know. know. Report an error in the passage at 41:40 Highlight the passage at 41:40

41:56 That's great, because that means she's discussing it with all these people, and they're all discussing His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and so why not? All right, that's cool. You know, so it was interesting. Report an error in the passage at 41:56 Highlight the passage at 41:56

42:07 Because I did cook for Rinpoche for a short time, yeah. And she just got the teachers mixed up, yeah. She didn't know who Rinpoche was, so His Holiness was the most famous one, so, you know. And he was on Time, right, you know, on BBC and stuff. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's my daughter's boss, yeah. I know, I know, isn't it? It's really cute. So how do we create the karma for each of those experiences? Report an error in the passage at 42:07 Highlight the passage at 42:07

42:40 Karma is created by every movement of our body, speech and mind. So every thought that we give into, not the thoughts that just randomly arise because those are based on karma in the past and they're also based on having a, An unsubdued mind. But a lot of times what happens is we'll have a thought arise and then we'll just, you know, as one of my friends says, you know, like a dog, chew it to death, you know, gnaw it to death. Report an error in the passage at 42:40 Highlight the passage at 42:40

43:10 So it's not just the thought of like, you know, he repulses me. It's more like, oh, he repulses me. He always does that. You know, we kind of wind it around. Even if we don't say anything, we're still sitting there like smiling and saying hi, you know, but. Our mind is already kind of chewing it to death. So every action like that in our mind, every time we speak and every time we act in any physical way, whether we take something or give something or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 43:10 Highlight the passage at 43:10

43:42 So every action of our body, speech and mind creates a karma, a karmic imprint. And those karmic imprints then ripen when the right causes and conditions come together. As our experiences. So if we have a negative karma that we've created through a negative action that's motivated by a negative mind, then that ripens as pain or suffering or something unpleasant. Report an error in the passage at 43:42 Highlight the passage at 43:42

44:10 If we have a positive karma that is created through positive actions motivated with a positive mind, then that experience is a pleasant experience. Hold on one second. So, um, Did you just miss one part? No, no, it's okay. Oh, you've got to talk into the stick. So you're thinking and a negative thought occurs and then you go thinking and let it go. Report an error in the passage at 44:10 Highlight the passage at 44:10

44:40 Does that negate the karma? Even if you're not meditating but you just notice yourself having a negative thought. So if you don't engage it, don't create a storyline. Yeah, I'm getting to that. I'm getting to that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, that's okay. Yeah, so... Report an error in the passage at 44:40 Highlight the passage at 44:40

44:54 um... What? Okay, so exactly. So you're making a good point. So what does it mean for us? We have to think about, you know, I actually just got an email today from a student who was talking about, who's having a lot of negative stuff in his life and yet he got this one positive result and he knew it was a positive karma ripening and he was thinking, and this is often a view that I think a lot of Westerners have about karma. Report an error in the passage at 44:54 Highlight the passage at 44:54

45:24 I don't want to take this positive karma. And use up all my positive karma, you know, right? So I don't want to take that positive, I don't want to take that parking space right in front of the center because I'm using up all my positive karma by taking that space. No, we can have the experience knowing where it came from. So the way that we can respond with wisdom is knowing where these delightful experiences come from. Report an error in the passage at 45:24 Highlight the passage at 45:24

45:53 Through our positive actions and our positive mind that led to them. As well as the negative experiences that we have and the mixed experiences that we have. That's what I was going to get to. It's not always so neat and clean because you can create a positive experience with... Okay, how was I going to say it? Report an error in the passage at 45:53 Highlight the passage at 45:53

46:15 A lot of times we don't necessarily have a strictly positive state of mind and yet we do a positive action. So maybe I'm giving $1,000 to the center, but I'm really hoping that everybody notices how wonderful I am. So it's not entirely without, or maybe I'm just hoping that one person notices how wonderful I am. Report an error in the passage at 46:15 Highlight the passage at 46:15

46:34 And then we can also do a negative action with a positive state of mind. And last time I talked about how we might kill an animal or something like that out of a compassionate state of mind, wanting that animal not to suffer. Report an error in the passage at 46:34 Highlight the passage at 46:34

46:53 But the one thing that we can do is stop the way that we react. So there are a lot of places that we can kind of nip it in the bud, but that's a big one. So when something's happening, rather than the habitual way that we react with either anger or frustration or whatever our normal negative state of mind is to arise, Report an error in the passage at 46:53 Highlight the passage at 46:53

47:21 To catch it and just go, this is my karma ripening, which is the first mantra to say, this is my karma ripening. Lately I've been doing, this is what I'm here to deal with. This is my latest one I've been doing at work. When something is bugging me and I'm about to get angry, then I am catching myself when I start to get angry and I'm thinking, okay, this is what I'm here to deal with. Report an error in the passage at 47:21 Highlight the passage at 47:21

47:43 This is what's going to help me work on my mind. Because my immediate thought is, this can't be happening. Report an error in the passage at 47:43 Highlight the passage at 47:43

47:52 Stomp, stomp, slam. But to try to see it with as much wisdom, understanding the causes of whatever is happening that's ripening now, understanding that there's some karmic cause. happening, you know. Report an error in the passage at 47:52 Highlight the passage at 47:52

48:07 And knowing I don't want to feed it to have it continue, I don't want to continue the cycle, I want to snap the cycle right here. So that's when, I mean, what you were saying is a shortcut, but it's still, the wisdom's not there yet. So you're stopping it in the, you know, nipping it in the bud. This one co-worker of mine used to say, nipping it in the butt. Report an error in the passage at 48:07 Highlight the passage at 48:07

48:31 She was from Macau and it was so cute. It was like she got the general sound, but it was quite, she also said, I know that like the top of my head. And I'd be like, but Cynthia, you don't know the top of your head. Nobody knows the top of their head. It was very cute. It was like kind of close, but not right. But yeah, so that is a way of stopping it, but then taking another step and be like, okay, this is happening because I've created the causes for that. Report an error in the passage at 48:31 Highlight the passage at 48:31

49:00 So let's keep talking about it a little bit because this karma, the whole idea of karma could be a really new thing for some people here. So I want to make sure that we don't just skirt over it a little bit because I already totally have some trust in karma, but I know that that's not true for everybody. Report an error in the passage at 49:00 Highlight the passage at 49:00

49:22 Okay, so if we're talking about karma. Report an error in the passage at 49:22 Highlight the passage at 49:22

49:29 Every single thing, I do think it's really important to think about this because a lot of times in the West we think about the karma that we've created having an effect on us if it's really big stuff like winning the lottery or maybe meeting the love of our life or something like that. But according to Buddhism, according to Lord Buddha, karma is responsible for every single experience of our life. Report an error in the passage at 49:29 Highlight the passage at 49:29

49:59 Karma, our karma, which we've created, creates this entire tapestry that we call life. So it's everything from who I had in fourth grade, you know, gym class, to whether or not I like the color red, to whether or not, you know, I like green tea today but didn't like it yesterday, to the weather, to who's in this class tonight but won't be next week. Report an error in the passage at 49:59 Highlight the passage at 49:59

50:29 All of these things are created by karma. And karma is constantly changing because, think of it again, if you think about how much karma we created just sitting there in the last, you know, 30 minutes, we've already created a huge amount of karma because our mind is shifting all the time, our body is shifting all the time, what we're doing with our mind and our body is shifting all the time. Report an error in the passage at 50:29 Highlight the passage at 50:29

50:52 So our karma is shifting all the time. Report an error in the passage at 50:52 Highlight the passage at 50:52

50:57 The way that we change the karma that we've created, we can do more positive actions, right? If we want to create more positive karma in our life, we can actually do, this is one thing I was discussing with this student too. Report an error in the passage at 50:57 Highlight the passage at 50:57

51:13 He was, because he was having different health problems, he was wanting to, he had been given a gift of something and he knew it was positive karma ripening and he was thinking maybe he should say no to the gift and try to somehow I'm not exactly sure how this was going, but it was somehow like creating a positive karma that was going to be directly applied to his health. I'm not exactly sure how that was going, but I said, no, you can have it. Report an error in the passage at 51:13 Highlight the passage at 51:13

51:39 You can have this gift. Just see that your karma has created it, right? Use it wisely. Like, don't use it to... To create more negative mind, like get all stingy with it and not let anyone else use it and, you know, like that. So you don't want to, whatever positive things happen, you don't want to get attached to them and develop negative states of mind. Report an error in the passage at 51:39 Highlight the passage at 51:39

52:00 See it with the wisdom. And then if you, then it's a whole different karma to think about the karma that is creating your ill health. And so then you want to protect life, you know, help the sick. Um, um. Avoid killing as much as possible. So you want to be really specific about the karma that has to do with your health. Rejecting the speakers isn't really going to help you in any way, just like giving up the parking space out front isn't going to help you even specifically have parking for the rest of your life. Report an error in the passage at 52:00 Highlight the passage at 52:00

52:36 It's not going to do that like that. You can study karma, though, and be that specific. Where you're thinking, oh, these are the problems, these are the conditions I have in my life that I don't want anymore. So I am going to apply myself specifically to avoiding the negative causes of those and perpetuating the positive causes of what I want going forward. Report an error in the passage at 52:36 Highlight the passage at 52:36

53:01 So you can be that specific about your study of karma and your application of the law of cause and effect. So I'm getting off emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 53:01 Highlight the passage at 53:01

53:13 So if we're thinking about how karma works with emptiness, we can think about the fact that our karma, whatever karma we've created, is forcing us to have a certain experience of basic data and shapes and colors. Report an error in the passage at 53:13 Highlight the passage at 53:13

53:35 And so some of the examples that I often use, like the screaming boss, you can use the screaming boss. So if I walk into work and the boss comes in and starts screaming at me because I'm late, I experience the boss as completely inherently evil, right? So there's no doubt in my mind this person who's screaming is completely inherently evil from his own side. Report an error in the passage at 53:35 Highlight the passage at 53:35

54:08 It has nothing to do with me. Of course, I'm the victim, right? So poor little me. I'm just coming into work. And this, you know, monster is coming at me. Jessica is, you know, has been waiting for me to get it for a long time. So she's actually thrilled. So she's experiencing this whole thing, the screaming boss, my screaming back. She's experiencing it as a really positive thing. Report an error in the passage at 54:08 Highlight the passage at 54:08

54:34 She's like, yes, you know, finally she's getting it, you know. You know, Marcella is basically experiencing it. She's indifferent to the whole thing. Report an error in the passage at 54:34 Highlight the passage at 54:34

54:44 It's decibel sounds coming out of this shape, my shape and his shape, and even Jessica's shapes. But her karma is actually forcing her to see it as a really neutral thing. She hasn't created any negative or positive karma regarding either of these beings. Report an error in the passage at 54:44 Highlight the passage at 54:44

55:06 Is any of those experiences incorrect? No. They're all valid according to the karma of the beings involved. Another example that often is traditionally taught is the three beings and the vessel of liquid. It always sounds like the beginning of a joke. Three beings come into a bar. We've got the vessel in front of three different beings. The human being sees it as a glass of water or perhaps a cup of green tea. Report an error in the passage at 55:06 Highlight the passage at 55:06

55:41 So my karma is allowing me to see it as a glass of nice, clear, pure water. Report an error in the passage at 55:41 Highlight the passage at 55:41

55:51 Deva, or a god, is able to see it as ambrosial nectar. You drink it and you live forever. And the pretta is able to see it as what prettas are able to see liquid as, as pus and blood mixed together. And it can't even drink that. say. Report an error in the passage at 55:51 Highlight the passage at 55:51

56:13 The way its mouth is made and the way its throat is made, it can't even drink that. Are any of these incorrect? No. They're all valid according to the being's karma, who perceives it. There's no one absolute way that the raw data of the liquid and the vessel holding it exists. Report an error in the passage at 56:13 Highlight the passage at 56:13

56:37 And then, of course, there's the pen. This is always one of my favorites. This is one my teacher always used. One of my teachers always used. Okay, so is this inherently a pen? Report an error in the passage at 56:37 Highlight the passage at 56:37

56:51 No. If we look at the raw data, we see a cylinder. That's orange. What's orange? We see a cone or a point. We see a clicker. Report an error in the passage at 56:51 Highlight the passage at 56:51

57:08 We see this little thing. You can put it on your little pocket protector. know? Report an error in the passage at 57:08 Highlight the passage at 57:08

57:12 And we might even see ink. We probably don't see all of those things simultaneously, but we'll get into that when we're talking about parts. Report an error in the passage at 57:12 Highlight the passage at 57:12

57:24 But what we see, we see this, all these things that we have at some point in our lives labeled as a pen. And so now we see it as a pen, and forevermore we see it as a pen, as though it were a pen from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 57:24 Highlight the passage at 57:24

57:40 Right? But if a dog came into the room... The dog wouldn't see a pen. The dog would see a chew stick. And the dog would be perfectly correct to see a chew stick. It would be a really good chew stick, actually, probably. Report an error in the passage at 57:40 Highlight the passage at 57:40

57:57 Yeah, you bring Henry in for that test. If I were a person from some remote, very undeveloped culture, I might see it as a tool, something I could dig with, you know, or build with maybe. Or maybe some, you know, art. Or something like that. Like the gods must be crazy. Anybody ever see that old film from the 80s? The gods must be crazy. The only thing that made that work is that we all watching it think that the Coke bottle existed inherently as a Coke bottle. Report an error in the passage at 57:57 Highlight the passage at 57:57

58:31 And that's what made the whole rest of the movie funny. Because those guys didn't think so. They thought it was a gift from the gods, right? And who was right? It's just their karma. Report an error in the passage at 58:31 Highlight the passage at 58:31

58:43 If it were an ant, the ant might see this as just a huge barrier to getting to the chocolate cake on the other side, you know. So it would go over it. The same when you think about things like holy objects, you know. I can tell you right now that my born-again brother wouldn't think that any of these things were inherently holy. You'd probably think it was a work of demons. Report an error in the passage at 58:43 Highlight the passage at 58:43

59:07 I was really scared when he came to visit. I was like, uh-oh. And would an ant necessarily see these as holy objects? No. And would that be wrong? No. Because the ant's karma forces the ant to see this in a completely different way. Then my karma is forcing me to see it. And has my karma shifted? Yes, of course. When I first saw these tankas, I don't remember what my reaction was. Report an error in the passage at 59:07 Highlight the passage at 59:07

59:37 But I don't think I thought it was as wonderful as I think it is now. And it can shift again. So karma doesn't last forever. Karma is not destiny. And that's another thing I think that gets a little bit confusing in the West. Karma often is seen as some sort of fate or destiny. And that's not. Karma shifts constantly. Remember how our mind is shifting constantly? That's the way our karma is shifting constantly. When the karmic gas tank runs out, karma done. Report an error in the passage at 59:37 Highlight the passage at 59:37

1:00:08 It can happen mid-sentence. Whether it's karma for this life done or whether it's karma for liking green tea. Done or beginning. I remember when I first drank it, I was like, I got to drink that for the rest of my life? I don't think so. Karma for chocolate cake? Done, you know. Maybe for the rest of this life, you know. So then I was a baker. That was a hard one. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:08 Highlight the passage at 1:00:08

1:00:39 So yeah, karma shifts and karma changes. Good karma can increase. Good karma can decrease. Bad karma can increase. um... Report an error in the passage at 1:00:39 Highlight the passage at 1:00:39

1:00:49 Fortunately, bad karma can decrease. So if we want to have an experience that we know that we want, we want to have an experience of, for example, the direct perception of emptiness, we have to create the causes for it. We can't just assume that... Something good will happen to us or something bad won't happen to us if we don't do something to create the causes that we want. That's the way karma works and that's karma working intimately with emptiness because there's just like this sort of vast amount of this raw data out there and how our karma is, what we've done with our body, speech and mind is determining how we experience that. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:49 Highlight the passage at 1:00:49

1:01:38 So why not experience? Reality like that, rather than as the pratta with the pus and blood. If we have a choice, and we have a choice, this is how the Buddha has taught. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:38 Highlight the passage at 1:01:38

1:01:55 So our reaction to what happens, if something arises, is to, whatever the experience is, first of all with negative, because we really want to eliminate all those negative experiences that we have, is to think. Oh, this is my karma ripening. This is due to my karma. I don't want to feed it. Every time that we give in to that old ignorant, those ignorant ways of reacting, we stay in saṃsāra longer, basically. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:55 Highlight the passage at 1:01:55

1:02:32 Our response to how things are happening to us is what's going to shift it. At the point when the dentist begins to drill on our teeth, it's too late for us to change that particular karma. It's sort of like the movie's already been made, you know? But we can shift the next movie, and this movie won't go on forever, even if it feels like it. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:32 Highlight the passage at 1:02:32

1:03:04 Even if it feels like it. So no matter what the negative experience we're going through, Part of it is acceptance. This is happening. You know how I was saying, my first reaction is always, this can't be happening. Because usually something negative is happening and I'm usually in a hurry. Like somehow that makes it okay that I'm not accepting it. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:04 Highlight the passage at 1:03:04

1:03:28 But the big problem is that I'm not accepting it. The good thing is it won't last forever. The important thing is to remember how I caused it to happen and that nobody else is causing it to happen to me. Because the work of the path is beginning Report an error in the passage at 1:03:28 Highlight the passage at 1:03:28

1:03:47 to accumulate the causes and the conditions for the experiences that we want to experience and starting to eliminate all that negative karma and purify it for all the experiences that we don't want to have happening. And this is all a lot of... Report an error in the passage at 1:03:47 Highlight the passage at 1:03:47

1:04:06 It takes a lot of analysis and a lot of time. So what the Buddha is saying here is that all the things around us, all the things that we're experiencing, all the things that we taste, all the things that we see, all the things that we interact with are empty of existing in that inherent, solid, concrete way that we see them. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:06 Highlight the passage at 1:04:06

1:04:29 And yet we see them as existing that way. We believe it 100%. And then based on that misperception, we create all these negative states of mind which result in the karma that causes us to keep experiencing suffering of saṃsāra over and over and over from lifetime to lifetime to lifetime. Because we keep creating karma based on this mistaken view. So this is a big problem. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:29 Highlight the passage at 1:04:29

1:04:59 This is a big problem. So is the Buddha saying that the boss doesn't exist at all? No, we don't know what the boss is thinking when the boss is screaming at me. The boss could be a bodhisattva trying to get me to have a direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:59 Highlight the passage at 1:04:59

1:05:18 I honestly don't know who that boss is. Or the boss could just be perceiving that I'm the monster. You know, the pain in his butt who comes in every damn day late, you know. Or it could be, you know, thinking that Jessica's really cute and wants her like him, you know, so she's screaming at me to get a real giggle out of her. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:18 Highlight the passage at 1:05:18

1:05:41 Who knows what the boss is thinking? So we don't know what the boss is thinking. The boss is having some other experience of that entire situation too. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:41 Highlight the passage at 1:05:41

1:05:52 But... If you are experiencing a suffering reaction or a positive reaction, then the boss does exist. It's just that the boss doesn't exist the way you think the boss exists. So the Buddha never said that the boss doesn't exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:52 Highlight the passage at 1:05:52

1:06:12 That would be nihilism. That would also mean that karma doesn't exist. And that's not at all what the Buddha taught. The Buddha taught that karma existed. And that karma functions within emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:12 Highlight the passage at 1:06:12

1:06:28 So we have to think about this a lot. This is like the stuff of our life's practice, really. I mean, it takes a lot of thinking. It takes a lot of study. It takes a lot of meditation. And then it takes a lot of energy and repeatedly trying to work with it out in the field, so to speak. You know, when the printer breaks. You know, when somebody suddenly screams at you on the street. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:28 Highlight the passage at 1:06:28

1:06:52 When you have the screaming boss. Or in the quiet of your own home, picking up individual objects and thinking about them and thinking about what your eye sees versus what you know to be true from your studies. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:52 Highlight the passage at 1:06:52

1:07:06 I remember once when Venerable Steve came up and was teaching about the three principle paths and he just basically taught the whole time on emptiness. And he would pick up different objects and he would just... Report an error in the passage at 1:07:06 Highlight the passage at 1:07:06

1:07:20 And it was such an interesting teaching. Was anybody here or there at those teachings? They're great. I mean, you should download them, actually. Venable Steve Carlier. But it's just the stuff of, like, 25 years of thinking about this stuff. And it was almost like you were just having a conversation with him, and then you'd be like, oh, yeah, there's other people in the room. But it was very relaxed. And he would just think about it, and he would look at it, and he would just kind of talk off the top of his head. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:20 Highlight the passage at 1:07:20

1:07:45 And I just thought, well, that's what we've got to do for, like, Years and years. We just have to think about this because that's what's going to gain us the insights, the intellectual insights that will help us when we're on the cushion and we're having a direct experience of emptiness, is to really take different objects that we are so used to we don't even look at them anymore, like a pen, which is why I love the idea of a pen because we use pens all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:45 Highlight the passage at 1:07:45

1:08:12 We shouldn't do the computer, actually. Now we use computers more than pens. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:12 Highlight the passage at 1:08:12

1:08:20 So every time that we habitually yell back at the boss or grab the cake, it's creating the causes for angry bosses and cake. to stay in our lives so every time we react out of ignorance we create the cause for more ignorance every time that we react out of anger we create the cause for more anger every time we react out of attachment Report an error in the passage at 1:08:20 Highlight the passage at 1:08:20

1:08:51 Attachments are one of the worst to get rid of. They say it's like oil on fabric. then we create the cause for that much more attachment in our lives, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:51 Highlight the passage at 1:08:51

1:09:04 Any questions so far on any of that? All right, Ellen, just about how karma and emptiness works together. Obviously, karma is the stuff of a whole class, and I'm not going into it in sort of the more traditional ways. I'm talking about the four principal aspects of karma and the four ripening results of karma and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:04 Highlight the passage at 1:09:04

1:09:29 I'm not going into it in those terms and those lists. I'm just trying to talk about how karma and emptiness begin to link. Any questions about any of that, Morgan? So I have a question on the first example where you said the Preda sees the pus in the blood and we see the good stuff. We see water. We don't see the great stuff. We see the okay stuff. One of the things that's not addressed that I constantly am puzzled with is when you use that example, you're just saying it's like the projection, like a movie projector. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:29 Highlight the passage at 1:09:29

1:10:09 We decide it's this, that. No, it's not that we decide anything. We're forced by our karma. Forced by the karma. Yeah, because I mean I can't decide if the dentist drill is in my mouth that that's like a happy experience. I can't make that decision. Can you just turn it off? But you are assembling it through karma and through your perception. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:09 Highlight the passage at 1:10:09

1:10:36 Because we are in this actually existence. There is this point where we see that as a cup. There's an agreed upon karma where we see this. Right. Well, yeah, there is collective karma. Yeah. That's true. There is collective karma. And that's simply the result of a lot of different beings having a shared experience. That's all. I mean, it's not necessarily any more valid perception of reality, according to the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:36 Highlight the passage at 1:10:36

1:11:03 Yeah. Makes sense. And so my question is more about time. Which is also conceptual. Which is also conceptual, but the question is, is if someone's perceiving emptiness, is time also relevant? No, at the moment you're perceiving emptiness, all you're perceiving is the lack of inherent reality of whatever the object is that you're meditating on, which is most likely yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:03 Highlight the passage at 1:11:03

1:11:28 You're not having any other anything. Nothing else exists in your mind at that moment except the emptiness of... The lack of inherent reality of that object. Of the object. That's it. Of that object, yeah. Well, because you think about a lot of things and things constantly re-manifest based off of us having this presence of an eye. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:28 Highlight the passage at 1:11:28

1:11:51 You could see the causes and conditions that caused it to be a cup, the causes and conditions that will cause it to be maybe a brick later on and whatever else it becomes. The real concept when you really start to analyze things is that we grasp them. To want to be stuck at a certain point in time in a way we go, oh, this precious cup is never going to change. Time is very relevant when you look at how we label things. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:51 Highlight the passage at 1:11:51

1:12:18 But if you're saying that time is actually just as irrelevant as the cup, that's another... That's really what my question was. If you perceive emptiness, if time's not relevant. It is. Yeah. You know when they talk about, and I think this is getting ahead. It's getting ahead of us. But you know when they talk about Buddhists of the three times and the ten directions and all that, because time and space are conceptual ideas. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:18 Highlight the passage at 1:12:18

1:12:47 But there's nothing ultimate. So there's nothing ultimate. Yeah. So when did Maitreya Buddha exist? I mean, when you start getting into things like that. That's the problem with that. So the problem would be if that's really not relevant and if there is no Buddhism, there is no Buddhism. No, no, no, no, no. See, I think you're getting ahead of yourself. And that becomes nihilism when you say there is no Buddhism, there is no. Because Buddhism simply was a label that was placed upon the Buddhist teachings after he passed. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:47 Highlight the passage at 1:12:47

1:13:15 But those teachings can get us enlightened, especially when they become realizations within our own minds. But they don't inherently exist from their own side, separate from us. You know what I mean? I do. So you don't want to go so quickly from those things don't exist the way I think they do to those things don't exist at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:15 Highlight the passage at 1:13:15

1:13:35 Because that's what I'm hearing when you're saying it. I'm saying it would mean you would already potentially be a Buddha, technically. No, yeah, we're not Buddhists. I'm sorry that we're not. I mean, that's not what he's saying. But we can become Buddhists. None of the enlightened beings that exist came into the world as Buddhists. They all had to become Buddhists. They all had to get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:35 Highlight the passage at 1:13:35

1:14:01 They were all ordinary beings at one point. And that came about through... The marriage of karma and emptiness. Because they didn't inherently exist in any way. So everything that they did became a cause and condition of what they became. Same with us. Right now we're caught in this linear reality. And we have to operate in that conventional reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:01 Highlight the passage at 1:14:01

1:14:30 But we also have to understand how ultimate reality exists intertwined with it. So let's stay with dependent arising and emptiness a little bit. Let's not get too far ahead. Okay. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:30 Highlight the passage at 1:14:30

1:14:46 Any other questions? Yeah, I have one. Yeah. So if we have to agree upon certain things in this reality that we live in, so for instance, my perception is that cup is there. Is my perception correct in the story I tell about the cup wrong? So if I'm perceiving it as a cup, I'm labeling it as a cup, it functions as a cup, Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:46 Highlight the passage at 1:14:46

1:15:12 On this level, not the ultimate level of reality. We haven't gotten into all the parts of dependent arising yet. So let's not get too far ahead with functioning as a cup and all that stuff because that's getting into a valid base. And we are going to get into that, but not quite yet. But the cup itself doesn't exist the way your mind sees that cup existing. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:12 Highlight the passage at 1:15:12

1:15:34 So it is partly the story, but even the cup itself. But we'll get into it. The story that I'm telling about the cup being permanent and all the other things, that's the problem. But yet some of the stories I tell myself are valid. But it's also the cup itself. Got it. Yeah, but it's also the cup itself. So the perception. So it's everything. Yeah, it's everything. So what's getting us into trouble and what we're starting with is the story. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:34 Highlight the passage at 1:15:34

1:16:05 So we're going to talk about the story first, but then we're going to get down to the next level and how the cup itself also. It doesn't exist. But we'll just take our time to get there. Anybody else? Any questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:05 Highlight the passage at 1:16:05

1:16:24 So when we're talking about dependent arising, when we're studying about the lack of inherent existence, lack of inherent existence of something, or the point of view of what something is not, what they're absent of, that's its emptiness. Whereas dependent arising is looking at things from the point of view of what they are or how they manifest. So there's two different sides of the same story. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:24 Highlight the passage at 1:16:24

1:16:55 So the emptiness of the pen is the pen's lack of inherent existence, whereas the dependent arising of the pen is how this pen arose in terms of its shape, its color, its function. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:55 Highlight the passage at 1:16:55

1:17:11 We're going to spend much more time on dependent arising in later classes, but I'm just going to touch on it tonight so we can get started on it. So that's sort of how things exist, whereas the emptiness, when we're talking about emptiness of inherent existence, is how things don't exist. So it's the same, it's two sides of the same coin. And remember, according to Lama Tsongkhapa, how we understand emptiness is through understanding dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:11 Highlight the passage at 1:17:11

1:17:39 He said if we could understand dependent arising really, really well, then emptiness would come just like that. Emptiness would come like a snap. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:39 Highlight the passage at 1:17:39

1:17:52 So there are three levels of dependent arising. I'm not going to give them to you tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:52 Highlight the passage at 1:17:52

1:18:00 I'm going to give you the first. The first of the levels of dependent arising is that things arise due to causes and conditions. so I see I'm kidding I'm kidding Report an error in the passage at 1:18:00 Highlight the passage at 1:18:00

1:18:11 and of... Causes and conditions of causes, Geshe-la always says the main causes is usually karma. And everything else, and there are limitless conditions, are conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:11 Highlight the passage at 1:18:11

1:18:27 So for example, I was just reading in the news about this actually, and my example was going to be a car accident, but I was reading about that plane accident, a plane crash, where everyone on the plane died except the 13-year-old girl, this 13-year-old girl. Off the coast of Africa, I think it was. Hundred and how many? Hundred and fifty people on this plane. Everyone dies on the plane except this thirteen-year-old girl. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:27 Highlight the passage at 1:18:27

1:18:59 The how is, you know, the conditions at the time of the flight, how old the plane was, whether or not, you know, it had safety checks recently. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:59 Highlight the passage at 1:18:59

1:19:13 Whether, you know, pilot fatigue, whether the pilot had been drinking or whatever, all these different things. Those are all conditions. The karma, the why is the karma. That, you know, 149 people on that plane had the karma to die that night, and the 13-year-old girl did not have that karma to die. She had the karma to live, even from however high up they were all the way down. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:13 Highlight the passage at 1:19:13

1:19:41 Which is why you can have the experience of five people going out to dinner and four people hating it and one person absolutely loving it. Or two people traveling in India and one person loving it and the other person hating it. Or two people having an inexplicable attraction to each other and everyone just sort of sits back and watches and then it just fizzles and explodes and it's gone. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:41 Highlight the passage at 1:19:41

1:20:07 or why you're going to have a sudden, instant repulsion to somebody as It's just karma ripening. It doesn't mean it's fate. It doesn't mean you have to then stay with that person for forever because you have karma. It's simply an explanation of why it's happening this way. But it doesn't mean that you just have to, oh, well, I have karma, so I have to stay with this person for 7,000 years even though I don't particularly like him. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:07 Highlight the passage at 1:20:07

1:20:36 Karma isn't fate. It's almost like a natural, that's why they call it like the law of cause and effect. It's almost like a natural force that ebbs and flows according to the karma that we've collected, that we've created. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:36 Highlight the passage at 1:20:36

1:20:52 So we have three different options. Just to say a little bit more about karma and then to move on. We have three different options about how we can see how things were created. The creator being is the way some. You know, religions teach it that things happen the way they do because this creator God pulls all the strings and has made the world and made me and made everything that I'm doing and all my experiences happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:52 Highlight the passage at 1:20:52

1:21:29 And this is, from a Buddhist point of view, this isn't a very satisfactory approach because there's no explanation as to how the creator being came to be. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:29 Highlight the passage at 1:21:29

1:21:38 they never really taught you know the The God created the earth and all the people in a certain number of days, but there's no explanation of how the God was created. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:38 Highlight the passage at 1:21:38

1:21:50 The God didn't just pop into being. There's no explanation of that. So from a Buddhist point of view, that one doesn't really make sense. Then there's the random. There's the idea that things happen, that there's no order, there's no... Report an error in the passage at 1:21:50 Highlight the passage at 1:21:50

1:22:10 That things are just happening sort of randomly throughout space and time. And actually science believes this to a degree. Science says that all things happen because there has to be a cause except some things happen without a cause. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:10 Highlight the passage at 1:22:10

1:22:28 Which is also not so satisfying for that reason because it doesn't stay consistent. Buddhism actually believes that everything has to happen. Due to causes and conditions that everything has to happen. The number one cause is karma. The beginning of the fourth chapter of the Abhidharma Kosha is the universe and everything in it was created by karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:28 Highlight the passage at 1:22:28

1:22:57 So this is the primary cause of every single thing that we experience. And we are the cause of that karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:57 Highlight the passage at 1:22:57

1:23:09 So there's nobody else to blame anymore. I have to keep reminding myself of that. So the condition, so if we know the cause, the cause is karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:09 Highlight the passage at 1:23:09

1:23:23 If we plant the seeds, that's only part of it. If we're talking about it in physical terms, if we go out and we buy seeds and we plop them in the ground, that's not enough. That's not going to create, you know, whatever seeds are. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23:23

1:23:40 We have to also think about the water, the warmth, the type of soil, whether there's shade or whether there's direct sun, all the different conditions. We have to think about those in terms of creating karmic imprints and karmic seeds as well. Those are the conditions. If we want to have a certain result in this life, then we have to... Report an error in the passage at 1:23:40 Highlight the passage at 1:23:40

1:24:06 And especially if that certain result that we're going for is a direct perception of emptiness, then we have to create the causes for that direct perception of emptiness. So I'm going to just give you a few of the steps that you have to take karmically to create the experience of having this direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:06 Highlight the passage at 1:24:06

1:24:28 First of all, you have to collect a lot of positive karma. A lot of positive karma, which is why generating bodhicitta first is really powerful because you just keep creating more and more and more merit no matter what because your scope is so vast with bodhicitta. And in the same vein, you have to purify all the negative karma that you've already created, not just in this lifetime but in all lifetimes. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:28 Highlight the passage at 1:24:28

1:25:01 So number one is collecting a lot of positive karma or merit and purifying negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:01 Highlight the passage at 1:25:01

1:25:15 Step two is we have to find a truly qualified Lama and that's the same. Last week we talked about the root of the path being a truly qualified Lama and what that means. You cannot directly perceive emptiness without one and you definitely won't attain Buddhahood without one. So you have to know. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:15 Highlight the passage at 1:25:15

1:25:39 You have to enter into that relationship with a truly qualified teacher. Until then, you can study, you can read, you can go to classes like this, but you won't get to the next level of study without a really qualified teacher. Once you find that teacher and determine that that's your Lama, then you serve that Lama like crazy. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:39 Highlight the passage at 1:25:39

1:26:08 You help them. Do their projects, you know, you help them serve others. And as Geshe always says, serving your Lama really means just doing what they say. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:08 Highlight the passage at 1:26:08

1:26:21 And as one of my teachers once said, or one of my friends once said about teachers, it's like if you take the time to really check up on a teacher well, then why the hell not do what he says when he tells you to do something? And it's true. We're supposed to take a long time to find somebody, so once we do, why not? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:21 Highlight the passage at 1:26:21

1:26:41 The fourth one is serve the Dharma in some way. Serve a Dharma center, a monastery. And I'm not just saying that because I live and work in a Dharma center, but that's why I live and work in a Dharma center. That's really why I live and work in a Dharma center. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:41 Highlight the passage at 1:26:41

1:27:04 Number five is help people in any old way. Soup kitchen, the neighbor. Little old lady across the street. That's just sort of general good karma, and you don't want to forget that kind of karma once you get Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:04 Highlight the passage at 1:27:04

1:27:22 I think that the only way that you can get anywhere is to work in a Dharma center. Study, study, study is number six. Thousands of hours of studying with qualified teachers, not just classes like this, not just what you can find online, but all of the lineage and masters like Nargajuna. Dharma Kiriti, Chandra Kiriti. Really, really studying them well and then contemplating what you study, which can mean when you're on the bus, when you're walking, you know, discussing it with your friends, trying to understand it like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:22 Highlight the passage at 1:27:22

1:28:02 Discussing it online. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:02 Highlight the passage at 1:28:02

1:28:06 I do the Foundation for Buddhist Thought too, actually. And I tend to not do the back and forth stuff. I just like, you know, once a week I'll just post. Yeah, okay, that's done. Just so I get credit. Show up sometime. Some of these people just constantly are discussing. You're like, what, don't you have a job? And then they start up new ones and they have the tea room and all this stuff. And you're like, God, you guys. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:06 Highlight the passage at 1:28:06

1:28:35 But that's good. I mean, it's really good. I think probably because I have done that before. Maybe that's it, too. Because I have done that. I think discussing with friends is like a really huge, Dharma friends is like a really huge way of getting it. And that's what I think residential courses are really good for that way, too. But you guys should all go out after class sometime or on a Saturday sometime and just discuss some of this stuff and try to come up with a good question for next week. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:35 Highlight the passage at 1:28:35

1:29:03 And then number seven is, we've discussed it, learning to meditate really deeply and then taking everything, all of those causes and additions onto the cushion. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:03 Highlight the passage at 1:29:03

1:29:17 You're not going to have a direct perception of emptiness doing something else, you know. Like washing the dishes or writing a paper or posting something online. But you might get an intellectual understanding that will then allow you to go deeper in your intellectual understanding and then have this direct experience on top of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:17 Highlight the passage at 1:29:17

1:29:44 But you have to be able to meditate deeply for one to two hours at a time at least. In order to have a direct perception of emptiness. And you just start small. I used to be so, you know, I still am, so thrown by that one to two hours. And then, you know, a number of my teachers have just said, just start small and then just as your mind gets a little more stable, add a minute and then add a minute like that and then add a minute. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:44 Highlight the passage at 1:29:44

1:30:15 So it doesn't have to be you just sit there for two hours and you don't know how to meditate and it's just horrific, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:15 Highlight the passage at 1:30:15

1:30:22 So the two truths really quick. The two truths and then the twelve links really quick. The two truths are called the two truths not because there are two true ways that things exist, but this is the way reality itself is divided into two. This kind of has to do with why once you have a direct perception of emptiness, it's almost like you've crossed a line and you never go back. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:22 Highlight the passage at 1:30:22

1:30:49 Deceptive truth, which is often translated as conventional truth or relative truth. I think relative truth is even more confusing because really emptiness is more about relativity. But conventional truth. I like deceptive truth because it seems true. Is it true? No. It seems true to a mistaken mind. So it's reality the way we see it. It seems true because our mind is mistaken. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:49 Highlight the passage at 1:30:49

1:31:20 But once we have the direct perception of emptiness, then ultimate truth is the actual nature of reality. And that one really is true. Sometimes that one's translated into absolute truth. And that one also gets a little bit confusing to me because I think we think in absolutes when we're in conventional reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:20 Highlight the passage at 1:31:20

1:31:38 righty. And then we see the relativity of all existence when we're in an ultimate reality. So I think it's very confusing, those terms. But the ones you hear most often are ultimate, to do with ultimate reality, ultimate truth, and conventional, meaning sort of the this is a cup, I am who I am, you know, like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:38 Highlight the passage at 1:31:38

1:32:06 So why is all of this important? So we're going to talk about the 12 links. Do you want to hand out those 12 links? and give me one too Report an error in the passage at 1:32:06 Highlight the passage at 1:32:06

1:32:15 Yeah, yeah, another one you staples the homework. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:15 Highlight the passage at 1:32:15

1:32:24 The reason that we have to understand ignorance and the way things actually exist and how karma works and so forth is because the Buddha taught that this is the cause of all of our suffering. From limitless rebirth. So how it all fits together. So we understand how it all fits together going in a clockwise way. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:24 Highlight the passage at 1:32:24

1:33:04 And His Holiness is always talking about how we can unravel it in a counterclockwise way. There are actually lots of ways to begin to unravel it. I'm not going to get into a deep teaching on the 12 links, but I did want to just discuss it because I think how it all fits together. Is key. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:04 Highlight the passage at 1:33:04

1:33:26 How's it going there with that sweatshirt? It's like I got stuck or something. So ignorance is at the very top, about 1 o 'clock. Literally 1 o 'clock, I think. And ignorance is talking about specifically our not understanding how things actually exist or this misperception of reality that we have. mean Report an error in the passage at 1:33:26 Highlight the passage at 1:33:26

1:33:52 Or as Rinpoche always says, our grasping onto things is truly existing. So it's not just perceiving things as truly existing, it's grasping onto them as truly existing. This is the cause of all of our suffering. And then based on that ignorance, we create the karma. And then we continue to carry all these karmic formations, these karmic imprints from all of our past lives and into all of our future lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:52 Highlight the passage at 1:33:52

1:34:21 And then based on this karma, then our consciousness arises in the form of a new being. And this new being takes on name and form. And then the six senses, you know, we have five senses and then mental sense. So it's the five sense powers and then the mental sense power arise. And through those we make contact with our object, with any object. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:21 Highlight the passage at 1:34:21

1:34:48 Through that contact, because of our karma, the mental factor of feeling arises. And then based on feeling, craving arises. Towards the object as truly existent. Usually craving is talking about towards something as truly existent. Grasping arises to that object as being truly existent. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:48 Highlight the passage at 1:34:48

1:35:16 Then based on that, especially on the craving and grasping that arise at the time of our death to having another body existence again, then we take rebirth over and over and over again. So we newly become. We call this becoming here. Then we take rebirth again, and then we're forced to age and die again. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:16 Highlight the passage at 1:35:16

1:35:44 And during each lifetime, we perpetuate this cycle. And over and over, like in the middle of a cycle, we perpetuate another cycle, which is why they're called the 12 links. It's more like chain links. So it's not just like one neat little cycle and we're done and then we get out or something like that. It's more like... Report an error in the passage at 1:35:44 Highlight the passage at 1:35:44

1:36:03 This is starting and then this is starting and this is starting and this is starting. I remember one person said it's like being a prisoner and while you're still in prison you keep creating more crimes that you keep being put in for more. So you never really even get to go before the parole board. You're just in this cell doing more and more and more harm. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:03 Highlight the passage at 1:36:03

1:36:27 And that's what we're doing all the time. And the only thing that's going to cut the root of all of that is cutting the root of ignorance. I mean, there are lots of times, like you were saying, Eliza, about when you can stop it in your mind. And there are times that we can stop the afflictive emotions that are arising, like at feeling, actually not so much feeling, but at craving and grasping. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:27 Highlight the passage at 1:36:27

1:36:55 We can catch the... at the moment that a mental affliction arises in our minds or we can catch something and we can say, oh, yeah, this is my karma, you know. So there are ways that we can kind of snip it a little bit, but the way that we're going to actually cut the... The chain at its root is to cut that ignorance. And the only way that we're going to cut that ignorance, we're going to slice that ignorance is with wisdom, and that's through having a direct experience of the absence of what we always thought was there. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:55 Highlight the passage at 1:36:55

1:37:43 And having that not just through understanding it intellectually, but actually having that direct experience in deep meditation of the absence of what we always thought was there. Without any doubt, all of a sudden it's just gone. And so we're going to keep talking about what that's like, but that's really, that's what does it. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:43 Highlight the passage at 1:37:43

1:38:08 Because then all of a sudden this stuff doesn't have any, it's like the balloon with all the air popped. It's just not there anymore. So then these things don't have anything to hang on. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:08 Highlight the passage at 1:38:08

1:38:20 If you've ever had anybody that's been studying the Dharma for a while, if you've ever had the experience where you've even done that a little bit, Like I was thinking about when you start to go into a klesha attack and then you suddenly realize that you don't have to go into that klesha attack. And I remember once, I think I described this to some people in one of the classes, maybe in the karma class, I was walking down the street in New York actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:20 Highlight the passage at 1:38:20

1:38:47 at teaching somebody's holiness and of course I'm not beyond having I was walking down the street, Broadway, much less, and I was having a Kaleisha attack beginning, and it was just, you know, when it begins and then it begins spiraling out, and so your mind is going through the groove of some many lifetime long. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:47 Highlight the passage at 1:38:47

1:39:10 So I'm having this thing about, I was getting pissed about, I don't even remember now what it was, but something I was getting pissed about. And all of a sudden I just caught myself and I was like, no, I don't have to do this. I don't have to do this. I'm not going to do this anymore. And it was so quick that it was like all the forces had begun to rally. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:10 Highlight the passage at 1:39:10

1:39:29 All the mental afflictive forces had begun going towards the mind. It was like, great, she's going to war again, here we go. So they're all moving up. And I just cut it, and there was no place for them to go. And it was almost like all the wind just went out of the sail. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:29 Highlight the passage at 1:39:29

1:39:48 And I was just kind of like, I had to literally stop. I was walking down the roadway, and I just stopped. And I was like, wow. And then it was almost like my mind was all geared and I had to shift gears. And then it was like all happy, but there was like this absence of everything that I thought was there and was real and believed 100%. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:48 Highlight the passage at 1:39:48

1:40:09 And then I just realized it was just my mind projecting all this crap and that I didn't have to go that way. And that's, I think, what this is getting at is that... We're so used to believing in this way that first we have to undermine it through intelligence, through our conceptual thought. And then once we have this direct experience of emptiness, we get it, like at this gut level, that things don't exist that way. And then even when we come out of that meditation and we have this physical feeling of coming down, they say, you come out of that meditation and you look around you and it's all still... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:09 Highlight the passage at 1:40:09

1:40:49 Seems solid, you don't believe it anymore. Nobody could ever convince you otherwise because you tasted sugar. So that description of sugar that you've been reading about for 500 years and then you finally actually tasted it in your mouth, nobody can take that away from you. Your taste of emptiness, nobody can ever take away from you. So no matter what happens, you go out and scream at the cab driver because of your... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:49 Highlight the passage at 1:40:49

1:41:16 Old karma with cow drivers. And in that moment, you're screaming, you're like, oh yeah, he doesn't exist the way I think he does. And every single thing of your life, they say the path of habituation or meditation is all about that. Taking it into every single aspect of your life. So every single, you realize that there's no air in any of those balloons. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:16 Highlight the passage at 1:41:16

1:41:39 And you just do that. Constantly. And then occasionally you go back into deep meditation and have that experience again. Then you come out and you do it again. So it's that constantly taking the air out of all of those balloons that you've been holding in the air since beginning this time. Yeah. Wait. Talking stick. You Report an error in the passage at 1:41:39 Highlight the passage at 1:41:39

1:42:05 just said that when you cut it, you were all geared up and it had to be transformed. Is that? So today I had a Kaleisha attack, and I sort of stopped it, and I was like, you know, I recognized that it was empty, but I had all this feeling. Yeah, yeah. I had to stay with it for like two hours. Oh, yeah, yeah. It didn't take that long on that one for me, but yeah, it was almost like the body and the mind are kind of... Report an error in the passage at 1:42:05 Highlight the passage at 1:42:05

1:42:38 Let down because they don't get to have this huge clash attack that they're all ready for. It took a while to kind of get it to unclench. So should I have it transformed? I stayed with it and I stayed with it and it gradually unclenched and I could kind of come back. But should I have transformed it or should I? Report an error in the passage at 1:42:38 Highlight the passage at 1:42:38

1:42:59 I mean, I don't know. I think analysis at that point, a little bit of analysis, like, you know, so not just staying with the different feelings, but doing some analysis, yeah. And we might, last class I handed out these charts, I still think these charts are so great. The Klesha charts, I just think they're so useful. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:59 Highlight the passage at 1:42:59

1:43:20 But yeah, I took some Geshitashi, actually, it was Geshitashi's meditations on, what was the last class on the... No, no, no, but I'm in the last foundation for Buddhist thought class. Which one are you on now? That's it. I think it's from, that's the one it's from. They're from the meditations on that, but I just made a chart with them because I found them, once you've done them as meditation, and I don't know how much I really encourage people to actually do them formally as meditations first. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:20 Highlight the passage at 1:43:20

1:43:51 That's more useful because I did talk with one student and she said, this is just too much words for me. I was like, no, no, they really work. They're so great. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:51 Highlight the passage at 1:43:51

1:44:00 But after you've done them as meditations, then I found it useful to just kind of make these little charts so that when you're having a klesh attack, you actually have some reminders on how to analyze the different kleshas that are rising. And a lot of his examples are on anger, and I think it's because anger is so difficult to work with and so dangerous, so harmful when it's let loose. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:00 Highlight the passage at 1:44:00

1:44:25 But, yeah, so I think that... Some of that feeling and all that's still there after you pop the balloon is simply just habit. And some of it is illogical thinking. And that's the thing that intrigues me is that illogical thinking. That's actually where I find that cliche chart so helpful is to point out where I'm thinking illogically. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:25 Highlight the passage at 1:44:25

1:44:50 Because that's what almost always gets me. For example, when I'm doing that like, oh, he said, and it's like, wait a second. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:50 Highlight the passage at 1:44:50

1:44:58 This is happening because I created this karma, first of all. She said it doesn't really have any place here. That's me projecting blame on other people. But it's usually going into some negative thought about myself. A lot of times it is, actually. I'll be thinking, wait a second, you don't exist that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:58 Highlight the passage at 1:44:58

1:45:18 You know, you are a decent human being. You're not a horrible person. He's not a horrible person. You're like blanketing this person with, you know, so it's like usually some sort of illogical thinking process. And then when I can catch that, that can also pinprick. So then it can be a more series of like pinpricking like all those little balloons, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:18 Highlight the passage at 1:45:18

1:45:40 I don't know. I'm kind of going off on it. Yeah. Yeah, but that analyzing can help, I find, with reducing that. Yeah, it's interesting. It's very interesting. I'm seeing lots of people going. I want to make time for people who need to go. Well, we're almost out of time anyway, so sorry, kids. If you've got to go, just go. I think you had a question, and then you have another question. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:40 Highlight the passage at 1:45:40

1:46:04 So wait, Daniel. Can you Report an error in the passage at 1:46:04 Highlight the passage at 1:46:04

1:46:11 also analyze it from... A non-Buddhist perspective, like maybe from a psychological perspective, just to get it from different angles? Some of these, I think, could be psychological. I just don't know that much about what psychology is doing these days, but what are you thinking? Like, for example, what? Report an error in the passage at 1:46:11 Highlight the passage at 1:46:11

1:46:31 Well, like, for instance, I might be reading a book that focuses on a specific psychological issue, and that whereas maybe Buddhism isn't focusing on that particular issue, maybe... Obviously it's all related to the mind and related to suffering, so it must be applicable. Right now I'm reading a book on abandonment right now, which is a very specific psychological issue, which is very deep and very extensive. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:31 Highlight the passage at 1:46:31

1:46:59 I'm curious how I could apply the Tibetan Buddhist or the Dharma to that, or vice versa, just in order to grapple with these things. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:59 Highlight the passage at 1:46:59

1:47:12 Oh, yeah, totally. I think you can always use all these different – I mean, we were talking about that with the Transforming Problems class too, right? When somebody was talking about problems that she was having with her partner, business partner, and people were jumping in with different suggestions, and not all of them were Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:12 Highlight the passage at 1:47:12

1:47:29 On the practice day, I finally said, okay, Buddhist ideas, people. Let's try to think of Buddhist ideas. And so we did start thinking of Buddhist ideas. But I think they can all be useful, especially – So that you can calm down enough to even begin doing the analysis. Because sometimes if our minds are too upset, right, we can't even begin analyzing. We can't. We're just too upset, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:29 Highlight the passage at 1:47:29

1:47:51 And that's often, you know, when people talk to me about taking medications or something like that. If it's going to allow your mind to have some space to work with your mind, then it might be the absolute perfect thing. I don't think there's any absolute, you know. I think. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:51 Highlight the passage at 1:47:51

1:48:06 Whatever is going to allow your mind to calm down enough to do the analysis that will help you take it more than just this moment, you know, to be able to kind of use it to work with your mind in a larger way, then I think it can be really good. But I do think psychological methods are only going to help so far. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:06 Highlight the passage at 1:48:06

1:48:30 And that's really, I think, I mean, that's really what they're thinking, too. I think most... Psychologists are thinking about this life. And so that's a huge difference, of course, that Buddhism is thinking that those abandonment issues could come from several lifetimes or many lifetimes, you know, or could have come from you abandoning someone, you know, which would be different. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:30 Highlight the passage at 1:48:30

1:48:56 And then you had one, yeah. One of the things I wrestle with all the time is, let's say, for instance, I'm having an issue with someone we're constantly fighting. I'm angry. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:56 Highlight the passage at 1:48:56

1:49:11 Yeah, yeah. Is it about emptiness? It's about emptiness, yeah. It's always about emptiness, yeah. I know you're wrong. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:11 Highlight the passage at 1:49:11

1:49:30 So when this fight is going on, I'm realizing that this person is addicted. I'm realizing that it's my karma that's causing me to get angry about whatever it is. do this? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:30 Highlight the passage at 1:49:30

1:49:24 don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:24 Highlight the passage at 1:49:24

1:49:40 You're doing that every time? That's amazing. Well, I intellectually realize that. But still, that's pretty amazing. When do you get to the point where you just say, you know what, I need to step away from that person? No, yeah, I think we did mention that actually at one point. I thought it was last class, but maybe it might have been in the bodhisattva class. Yeah, yeah, because it does happen sometimes that that is the wisest thing to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:40 Highlight the passage at 1:49:40

1:50:07 But you have to remember at that moment that ultimately that's not going to be the best. It's just because my mind, and I actually like to think of that, my mind is not to the level where I can work with this person. It's nothing about that person, right? Because that's what we want to say, right? And usually we try to get a couple friends to agree with us. We all know how difficult Morgan is. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:07 Highlight the passage at 1:50:07

1:50:37 We all can agree with you on that. We usually try to get people to back us up, right? We usually try to get somebody else to back us up on that. But sometimes the wisest thing for us is to move away from the object. So whether that object is the chocolate cake, which I often have to just like sometimes somebody, oh, I think we went into the kitchen because you always come into the kitchen after a class, whether it's your class or somebody else's. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:37 Highlight the passage at 1:50:37

1:51:01 And there's always stuff here. You know, there's always stuff here and I can't eat any of it anymore. I mean, it almost is easier that way. I just can't eat it here. But still, if somebody puts an incredible chocolate cake thing, I think Brooke made it the other day and I came down for breakfast and there it was. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:01 Highlight the passage at 1:51:01

1:51:16 It was like all this chocolatey stuff all over the plate, you know. And I just, let's move it. Move the object into another room. Ultimately, that's the perfect thing for my mind to work on. Once my mind is developed, it's a great practice for my mind. It might be a great right for you to work with Morgan, but we may not be at that place, or it may be temporarily that it's just less harmful for me to not be around the chocolate cake or for you to not be around the fighting person or whatever like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:16 Highlight the passage at 1:51:16

1:51:46 But to always try to remember that it's my mind. It's not that, because we used to have this one resident here who would, she would get angry at the stuff and at the people who would bring the stuff. No, I mean, because some people were doing that stuff. Some people enjoy that arguing person. They call it debate. There's some people who are really up for that and they want to do that all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:46 Highlight the passage at 1:51:46

1:52:12 So it's my mind is not developed to the point where I can deal with this thing right now. So I'm going to step back and give myself some space from that, whatever it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:12 Highlight the passage at 1:52:12

1:52:24 Yeah, okay. That's what I was impressed by. I was like, man, that's good. by the way, when I say it, I realize Report an error in the passage at 1:52:24 Highlight the passage at 1:52:24

1:52:28 yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:28 Highlight the passage at 1:52:28

1:52:31 It is, that's why I think that, you know, there's like a handful of those experiences, but they give you a taste of what can happen. And that's why I find it so exciting. You know, we were going around and we were talking about, last week we were talking about who were in the class because they're excited by emptiness. That's why I think it's exciting. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:31 Highlight the passage at 1:52:31

1:52:51 Because those mental afflictions that drag us down and really drag us through the mud if we understand anything about karma. But even just the now, what they do to our minds, the way they disturb our minds, they don't inherently exist. They don't exist the way we think that they do. So all of that pain and suffering that we put ourselves through doesn't happen the way that we think it does. And that's what I think is exciting. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:51 Highlight the passage at 1:52:51

1:53:17 That's why I think it's really exciting. And they say the more experience with emptiness you've had in past lives. The more used to emptiness your mind is, the more exciting all of this is and the less frightening it is. There is fear that arises throughout the study of emptiness, which is why I'm trying to go somewhat slowly for some people. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:17 Highlight the passage at 1:53:17

1:53:43 And it depends on your mind and your history with emptiness. But it can be incredibly blissful. If we allow it, because it means that all of this is possible and all of the stuff that we constantly are in isn't forever. You know, it can all be removed. And that's why it's so, it's like, wow. And in fact, it doesn't even exist to be removed. And that's another story. But yeah, I mean, that's why I keep using that pinprick of a balloon. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:43 Highlight the passage at 1:53:43

1:54:15 Because it's less about taking off the outer surface of the balloon, right? So the whole, when we first introduced karma, we're all about... You know, shoveling ourselves out of the crap, right? So we have, so we're doing that all the time, right? And we're like beating ourselves up and everybody's coming and kneeling on one knee in front of me and confessing all the horrible, because we're believing an inherently existent horrible me, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:15 Highlight the passage at 1:54:15

1:54:37 That's at the back of that. We're believing that all of this negative karma and positive karma, they're things that... We need more of this and less of this, and we're still caught up in this conventional reality. And once we get it, it's just like everything becomes lighter and spacious and boom. Yeah. But at first, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what am I holding on to? Like they say that that one disciple of Lama Tsongkhapa, when he was meditating on the emptiness of the eye, he grabbed his shirt and was like, what's there? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:37 Highlight the passage at 1:54:37

1:55:12 You know, that's freaky. When you have that experience, it's like you have this moment where you just almost jump out of your skin because you're like, well, what's really there then if I'm not there? So we have to kind of tread slowly so that we can keep those to a minimum. But even with that, and we were having this discussion on the break last time or maybe after class last time. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:12 Highlight the passage at 1:55:12

1:55:40 Lama Zopa Rinpoche says that even when those moments come up, we have to develop a courage, and this is probably also why they really, in this tradition, they really underscore how important it is for us to have a strong bodhicitta motivation before we study emptiness rather than the opposite, which is why they put emptiness kind of at the end. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:40 Highlight the passage at 1:55:40

1:56:03 Where it's not the way it is in the Buddhist teachings all across the board. Because when those moments of fear arise, we are counseled to just push through them. Because Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, you may not again have all these conditions in one life. The conditions to have classes like this. The conditions to have centers like this, the conditions to have teachers like Geshe-la and Rinpoche and His Holiness traveling around the world to come to us. Think about how Atisha had to go for how many months to go see Ser Lingpa on a boat he had never even seen him. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:03 Highlight the passage at 1:56:03

1:56:44 They come to our city. We just kind of walk over there and they have teachings usually after work. You know you like I mean Report an error in the passage at 1:56:44 Highlight the passage at 1:56:44

1:56:53 We don't even have to take the day off, you know. So that's incredible karma. These are incredible conditions that we have. So it's kind of like they may not happen again. So when that moment of fear arises, remember that and just push through. Just push through because you may not have that chance again. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:53 Highlight the passage at 1:56:53

1:57:11 And I have heard stories about people who have done long retreat and they have... Because they haven't done enough hours in the cushion, they haven't done enough hours discussing, they haven't done enough hours of study, when that moment arises, they get freaked out and they may never get another chance to go into retreat, you know, because they get scared. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:11 Highlight the passage at 1:57:11

1:57:31 So it's kind of like we have to do the preparation, we have to create the causes, and then when we finally get to that point, which of course, it's not like a finally, when we have that moment, we don't know that we're going to have that moment. At the moment we sit down, we just go and sit down in the gampa or in our room or in our cushion in the morning. We're all sleepy-eyed and we sit down and all of a sudden we have a direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:31 Highlight the passage at 1:57:31

1:57:57 You know, it can literally happen like that. So we have to do all of the legwork first so that when we have that moment, it's just like blissful. Biggest pop of a balloon ever. And then like just bliss. Just the bliss of... All of the crap that you thought existed truly doesn't exist truly. So we don't exist truly. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:57 Highlight the passage at 1:57:57

1:58:28 So it's nine o 'clock. So tonight, so we're not going to have a chance. I was going to lead you through the homework meditation, which is an introduction to the idea of dependent arising by Venmo Urbina. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:28 Highlight the passage at 1:58:28

1:58:48 That comes from the book Spiritual Friends, which is, yeah, you can. hand them out. And it sounds to me like the way it's written sounds exactly like the way she speaks. So I think someone wrote it down after the fact and stuck it in the book. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:48 Highlight the passage at 1:58:48

1:59:05 She probably edited it because she's great at editing. But yeah, so it's basically all of the ways to think about all the causes and conditions that go into every single thing, you know, whether it's me as a person or my body or... You know, all the different things that went into them. So that, anyway, so we can just start thinking about dependent arising from that sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:05 Highlight the passage at 1:59:05

1:59:29 You know, what makes something arise dependently on other things. That's all dependent arising mean. Any last questions before we dedicate? And I'm sorry that we didn't have a chance to do this. But I will start the next class with this one. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:29 Highlight the passage at 1:59:29

1:59:52 Okay, sorry, I didn't give you guys a break. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:52 Highlight the passage at 1:59:52

1:59:58 But anyway. Phil, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hang on. Wait, talking stick coming. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:58 Highlight the passage at 1:59:58

2:00:07 Sorry. Both of these homeworks said to the preliminaries in Refuge and Bodhicitta and Seventh-day prayer. See previous handout. I don't know if we got a handout, but I've been using the one off the How to Meditate book. Is it pretty universal? Yeah, you could use that. If anybody would like that, I'm going to pass this around really quick. And if you haven't signed it, sign it. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:07 Highlight the passage at 2:00:07

2:00:29 So if you could sign it too. Put a little asterisk. By your name. And then whoever has that asterisk, I'll send you the document that has something about the preliminary practices. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:29 Highlight the passage at 2:00:29

2:00:45 Wait, wait, talking stick. It's a class question. If we put a second asterisk, can you share the Ecclesia chart? Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, actually what I could do is... is, yeah. Gina. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:45 Highlight the passage at 2:00:45

2:01:01 I'll bring you a Klesha chart because I still have some of the little plastic folders and it's kind of nice to have it in a little something you can keep it on you. Well, it's not going to be laminated unless a certain someone agrees to make some more laminated ones. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:01 Highlight the passage at 2:01:01

2:01:18 Who would like a Klesha chart? One, two, three, four, five. One, two, three, four, five. Do six because someone will. You want two? Report an error in the passage at 2:01:18 Highlight the passage at 2:01:18

2:01:35 Thank you. You're welcome. All right, thank you. Okay, so let's dedicate. And then if you have something you can come up and talk to me about. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:35 Highlight the passage at 2:01:35

2:01:49 So I just take a moment to dedicate all the merit that we just created in this two hours of trying to understand how karma and emptiness work together, trying to even understand how karma works, much less how karma and emptiness work together and how things... Actually exist versus the way we think that they exist. This is incredible merit. We've also just used an amazing amount of incredible merit just being in this class. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:49 Highlight the passage at 2:01:49

2:02:24 So we want to dedicate it. That's how one of the ways we keep incredible things happening to us is constantly dedicating good experiences. And I hope it's been a good experience. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:24 Highlight the passage at 2:02:24

2:02:35 Dedicating it to our own enlightenment so that we can become more and more capable of teaching and showing others how to eliminate their own suffering and gain happiness for themselves. Because that's really the basic way that a Buddha acts in the world is as a teacher. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:35 Highlight the passage at 2:02:35

2:03:00 So I dedicate to that. Thank you very much. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:00 Highlight the passage at 2:03:00

2:03:19 What's that? I have a question. Okay. I'm sure you do. I'm so scared whenever you come near me. I'm just like, oh, God, he's going to ask me something. Do you want it? Sure, I'll keep it because I know both Katia's not here and David and Susan are here. Who Report an error in the passage at 2:03:19 Highlight the passage at 2:03:19

2:03:39 was I giving the notes to? Report an error in the passage at 2:03:39 Highlight the passage at 2:03:39

2:03:45 Yeah, but she just took off and she wasn't here last time. It was somebody else. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:45 Highlight the passage at 2:03:45

2:03:53 No, no, no, no, no. It was somebody else because she wasn't here last week, so somebody else took them. Oh well, it's okay. Is it single, darling? Yes. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:53 Highlight the passage at 2:03:53