Discovering Buddhism - The Wisdom of Emptiness (21 April 2011)

0:00 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:41 Totally better. Totally better. It's great. Report an error in the passage at 0:41 Highlight the passage at 0:41

0:48 Thank you. very much. Report an error in the passage at 0:48 Highlight the passage at 0:48

1:05 Thank you. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:05 Highlight the passage at 1:05

1:33 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33

· · · silence, 2 minutes

3:52 Oh, I just brought down some green tea. Is that water? Yeah, that's good. Report an error in the passage at 3:52 Highlight the passage at 3:52

4:21 So we're going to start with meditation. We're going to do the meditation on the eye. And we'll do a similar type of meditation this week. So we're going to end with that meditation so we get to look for our eye a couple of times tonight. night. Report an error in the passage at 4:21 Highlight the passage at 4:21

4:40 Might as well get comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 4:40 Highlight the passage at 4:40

4:49 So just start with taking some nice deep belly breaths. If you need to stretch a little bit in a long day or feeling Report an error in the passage at 4:49 Highlight the passage at 4:49

5:00 tight, then you might start with some stretches, rolling out your shoulders, stretching your neck from side to side, and Report an error in the passage at 5:00 Highlight the passage at 5:00

5:23 then just taking some breaths, imagining it cleansing both your body and your mind of any kind of negative states of being, whether those are negative thoughts or... Holdovers from conversations that you've been having, worries. Report an error in the passage at 5:23 Highlight the passage at 5:23

5:44 Maybe you're just tired tonight, so you can imagine breathing that out like old smoke from a chimney and breathing in whatever you need for this class. So just take a few minutes to do that. And Report an error in the passage at 5:44 Highlight the passage at 5:44

· · · silence, 1 minute

6:34 we'll just set a motivation for this meditation as well as for the class tonight. That Report an error in the passage at 6:34 Highlight the passage at 6:34

6:45 whatever we gain from this meditation, whatever understandings or insights. Report an error in the passage at 6:45 Highlight the passage at 6:45

6:57 Whatever blips of understanding that they plant seeds in our continuum and carries us all the way to enlightenment and creates the causes for everyone in this room to have a direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 6:57 Highlight the passage at 6:57

7:43 So begin with just trying to examine with your mind this I, this thing called I. How Report an error in the passage at 7:43 Highlight the passage at 7:43

8:00 does it feel? How does it seem to you to arise? And again, you might think of an example in your life recently when it's popped into being suddenly. Somebody accusing you of something, somebody criticizing you, or something physical, near accident. So Report an error in the passage at 8:00 Highlight the passage at 8:00

8:30 just take a moment to try to recall what that felt like when that eye loomed very large. Report an error in the passage at 8:30 Highlight the passage at 8:30

9:01 And how does it feel to you to exist? Where does it seem like it exists? Report an error in the passage at 9:01 Highlight the passage at 9:01

9:12 Does it feel like it's a creation? Like you created it somehow? Or does it feel like it's independent? Report an error in the passage at 9:12 Highlight the passage at 9:12

9:37 If you feel like you've got a good feeling for it, like you found that eye, try to locate it. First try to locate it in your body. Report an error in the passage at 9:37 Highlight the passage at 9:37

9:54 Does it feel like it's in your head, where your brain is? Report an error in the passage at 9:54 Highlight the passage at 9:54

10:08 Is it in your eyes? Report an error in the passage at 10:08 Highlight the passage at 10:08

10:20 How about in your heart? Or Report an error in the passage at 10:20 Highlight the passage at 10:20

10:36 maybe your belly? In Report an error in the passage at 10:36 Highlight the passage at 10:36

11:00 your hands or your feet? Report an error in the passage at 11:00 Highlight the passage at 11:00

11:15 Maybe it's deeper than that in your organs, some of your organs, all of your organs. Report an error in the passage at 11:15 Highlight the passage at 11:15

11:30 Maybe it's running throughout your body like your blood, your lymph, Report an error in the passage at 11:30 Highlight the passage at 11:30

11:40 your chi. Report an error in the passage at 11:40 Highlight the passage at 11:40

12:01 And then try again to bring up that I and see if it feels as strong as it was before, as vivid, as real, as independent. Report an error in the passage at 12:01 Highlight the passage at 12:01

12:27 Maybe your mind is the I. Report an error in the passage at 12:27 Highlight the passage at 12:27

12:40 But think about the Buddhist definition of mind, which is basically a continuum, a stream. Of all these different mental experiences, thoughts and perceptions, feelings, memories, constantly Report an error in the passage at 12:40 Highlight the passage at 12:40

13:00 changing. So Report an error in the passage at 13:00 Highlight the passage at 13:00

13:08 which of these experiences is the I? Report an error in the passage at 13:08 Highlight the passage at 13:08

13:21 Does it exist on top of these thoughts? Or is it the space between the thoughts? Report an error in the passage at 13:21 Highlight the passage at 13:21

13:50 Is your I the thinking mind? The dreaming mind? The meditating mind? Report an error in the passage at 13:50 Highlight the passage at 13:50

14:17 Is there any other place you can look for your I? Report an error in the passage at 14:17 Highlight the passage at 14:17

14:27 Could it exist in some other way? Report an error in the passage at 14:27 Highlight the passage at 14:27

14:39 Is it inside of you or outside of you or both? Report an error in the passage at 14:39 Highlight the passage at 14:39

15:02 Take another look at that I. Report an error in the passage at 15:02 Highlight the passage at 15:02

15:08 Do you notice any change? Does Report an error in the passage at 15:08 Highlight the passage at 15:08

15:22 it still feel as solid and real as it did before? Report an error in the passage at 15:22 Highlight the passage at 15:22

15:34 Again, don't make the mistake of thinking, if it doesn't exist in my mind and it doesn't exist in my body, then maybe I don't exist. You do exist, just not the way you think so. Report an error in the passage at 15:34 Highlight the passage at 15:34

15:51 This I or self exists conventionally. Independence on the body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 15:51 Highlight the passage at 15:51

16:02 This combination of body-mind is the basis. Then Report an error in the passage at 16:02 Highlight the passage at 16:02

16:09 our conceptual thinking slaps this label I onto this combination. Report an error in the passage at 16:09 Highlight the passage at 16:09

16:29 Whatever exists necessarily exists in dependence upon causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 16:29 Highlight the passage at 16:29

16:40 This is how things exist conventionally. Report an error in the passage at 16:40 Highlight the passage at 16:40

16:47 This is what's called dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 16:47 Highlight the passage at 16:47

17:02 A thing's ultimate nature is its emptiness, its lack, of having an inherent independent existence. Report an error in the passage at 17:02 Highlight the passage at 17:02

17:15 So think about how your body exists conventionally, independent upon its parts, skin, blood, bones, legs, arms, all of your organs, and Report an error in the passage at 17:15 Highlight the passage at 17:15

17:38 each of these parts exist independent upon their own parts, Report an error in the passage at 17:38 Highlight the passage at 17:38

17:47 blood cells, lymph, all the cells of your skin, the parts of your organs. Report an error in the passage at 17:47 Highlight the passage at 17:47

18:01 The parts of parts of parts of cells and atoms. The tiniest parts. Report an error in the passage at 18:01 Highlight the passage at 18:01

18:16 And think about your mind and how it exists in dependence upon all of its parts. The thoughts, the feelings, perceptions, sensations, memories, and Report an error in the passage at 18:16 Highlight the passage at 18:16

18:39 how each of these exists in dependence upon their parts. Report an error in the passage at 18:39 Highlight the passage at 18:39

18:46 The beginning, middle and end of each of those mental moments. Report an error in the passage at 18:46 Highlight the passage at 18:46

18:54 And how those come into being based upon the ones before and the ones before and the ones before. Report an error in the passage at 18:54 Highlight the passage at 18:54

19:15 So now go back to that feeling of I and how I or the self exists conventionally. Independence upon the mind and the body and the name I. Those are the self's parts. When Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:47 the body feels hungry or cold, you think I'm hungry, I'm cold. Report an error in the passage at 19:47 Highlight the passage at 19:47

19:58 When the mind has an idea, you think, I think. You Report an error in the passage at 19:58 Highlight the passage at 19:58

20:10 introduce yourself to somebody, you say, I am so and so. I am Chokyi. I am David. I am Susan. Report an error in the passage at 20:10 Highlight the passage at 20:10

20:29 But apart from this sense of I that depends upon this ever-flowing, ever-changing stream of body and mind, is there an I that's unchanging and independent? Report an error in the passage at 20:29 Highlight the passage at 20:29

20:55 The mere absence of such an inherently existent I is the emptiness of the self. Report an error in the passage at 20:55 Highlight the passage at 20:55

21:21 Remember that some students Experience some fear and back off. And dependent upon how much merit we have, we may experience bliss. Report an error in the passage at 21:21 Highlight the passage at 21:21

21:35 My Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, if you do experience fear, keep going, push forward. We may not have all the conditions to study emptiness, meditate on emptiness again. So we have to push through the fear. Report an error in the passage at 21:35 Highlight the passage at 21:35

21:55 Eventually we will feel that freedom, that bliss. Report an error in the passage at 21:55 Highlight the passage at 21:55

22:15 So in your own time, as you're ready, you can end. Your meditation and open your eyes and we're going to start with the opening prayer. And Report an error in the passage at 22:15 Highlight the passage at 22:15

22:33 this would probably be a good time if anybody hasn't turned off their cell phone to turn it off. Report an error in the passage at 22:33 Highlight the passage at 22:33

22:47 So we're going to start with, anybody remember where it is? It's 246? No, that's the dedication. 249? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 22:47 Highlight the passage at 22:47

23:04 229. Report an error in the passage at 23:04 Highlight the passage at 23:04

23:08 Oh no, that's not it. Oh yeah. Yeah, it is 229 in the gold book. Report an error in the passage at 23:08 Highlight the passage at 23:08

23:25 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 23:25 Highlight the passage at 23:25

23:59 So go to page 76. We're going to read the Heart Sūtra together. Report an error in the passage at 23:59 Highlight the passage at 23:59

24:14 I prostrate to the aria, triple gem. Thus did I hear at one time the Bhagavan was dwelling on massive vulture's mountain in Rajagriya. Together with a great community of monks and a great community of bodhisattvas. At that time the Bhagavan was absorbed in the concentration on the categories of phenomena called profound perception. Report an error in the passage at 24:14 Highlight the passage at 24:14

24:36 Also at that time the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara looked upon the very practice of the profound perfection of wisdom and beheld those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature. Then through the power of Buddha, The Venerable Shariputra said this to the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokadishvara. How should any son of the lineage train who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom? Report an error in the passage at 24:36 Highlight the passage at 24:36

25:07 He said that, and the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokadishvara said this to the Venerable Sharadvodiputra. Shariputra, any son of the lineage or daughter of the lineage who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perception of wisdom should look upon it like this, correctly and repeatedly beholding those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature. Report an error in the passage at 25:07 Highlight the passage at 25:07

25:31 Form is empty. Emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form. Form is also not other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness are empty. Sharaputra, likewise, all phenomena are emptiness, without characteristic, unproduced, unceased, stainless, not without stain, not deficient and not fulfilled. Report an error in the passage at 25:31 Highlight the passage at 25:31

26:01 Sharaputra, therefore, in emptiness, there is no form, no feeling. no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness, no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no visual form, no sound, no odor, no taste, no object of touch, and no phenomenon. There is no eye element and so on, up to and including no mind element and no mental consciousness element. Report an error in the passage at 26:01 Highlight the passage at 26:01

26:32 There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, and so on, up to and including no aging and death, and no extinction of aging and death. Similarly, there is no suffering, origination, cessation, and path. There is no exalted wisdom, no attainment, and also no non-attainment. Sharaputra, therefore, because there is no attainment, bodhisattvas rely on and dwell in the perfection of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 26:32 Highlight the passage at 26:32

27:01 The mind without obscuration and without fear. Having completely passed beyond error, they reach the end point of nirvāṇa. All the Buddhas who dwell in the three times also manifestly, completely awaken to unsurpassable, perfect, complete enlightenment in reliance on the perfection of wisdom. Therefore, the mantra of the perfection of wisdom, the mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, The mantra equal to the unequaled, the mantra that thoroughly pacifies all suffering, should be known as the truth since it is not false. Report an error in the passage at 27:01 Highlight the passage at 27:01

27:37 The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is declared. Thayata om gate gate paragate parasam gate bodhisattva. Sharaputra, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva, should train at the profound perfection of wisdom like that. Then the Bhagavan arose from that concentration and commended the Bodhisattva Mahasattva, Arya Avalokadishvara, saying, Well said, well said, son of the lineage. Report an error in the passage at 27:37 Highlight the passage at 27:37

28:03 It is like that. It is like that. One should practice the profound perfection of wisdom, just as you have indicated. Even the Tathagatas rejoice. The Bhagavan having thus spoken, the Venerable Asharad Bhatiputra, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva, Arya Avalokadishvara and those surrounding in their entirety along with the world of gods, humans, asuras and gandharvas were overjoyed and highly praised that spoken by the Bhagavan. Report an error in the passage at 28:03 Highlight the passage at 28:03

28:45 How are people doing? Everyone's avoiding the front row. I don't know what's happening except for you guys. We've got mind training on the right. Report an error in the passage at 28:45 Highlight the passage at 28:45

28:56 You guys are right up front. so. Report an error in the passage at 28:56 Highlight the passage at 28:56

29:00 How do people do with looking for the eye, either just now or at home or just any experiences that you want to share? Report an error in the passage at 29:00 Highlight the passage at 29:00

29:12 Yeah, pass it back to Alan. Report an error in the passage at 29:12 Highlight the passage at 29:12

29:17 Thanks, David. Something the other day, I don't know if I found it, but can you lose it? No, have you ever been occupied doing something, some activity, whatever it is, and you completely lose your sense of self and all of a sudden maybe 20 minutes, an hour go by and it seems like three minutes? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Report an error in the passage at 29:17 Highlight the passage at 29:17

29:42 But what we're trying to do in this meditation is to see that this construct of an I doesn't exist the way we think it does, for sure. I have had that experience where I just lose that sense of I, but I think it's just that the mind is distracted by something else. I don't think it's such a, I mean, I don't think it's so profound a realization. Report an error in the passage at 29:42 Highlight the passage at 29:42

30:02 I think what we're trying to do in the meditation on the eye is we're trying to see that this thing that we believe in 100 % actually doesn't exist the way we think it does. And even if we don't have a complete realization of that, just to have a glimpse of it can start breaking it down in our mind. So I think it's more like that. Okay, so with the eye that we think of... Report an error in the passage at 30:02 Highlight the passage at 30:02

30:27 Would that be analogous to the word personality? No. So that's why I keep trying to say when you're doing this meditation, you want to bring up that specific I. So it's not talking about Alan. You're not saying Alan doesn't exist. It's not like that. So you're not trying to talk about... The identity so much. You're trying to talk about this feeling of I that arises really hugely at certain points in our life, especially like when you get accused of something or criticized, like sort of without cause or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 30:27 Highlight the passage at 30:27

30:57 I mean, I'm just thinking of the ones that do it for me. Or fear, like when I get really afraid, that I gets really big. I think anger for me is a big one. But also they say, and I did mention that one experience when I almost got hit by the car, you know, so like when you get really close to death. Report an error in the passage at 30:57 Highlight the passage at 30:57

31:14 Sometimes people talk about when you almost fall off of something, like fall off a building or something, and something catches you or something. So that's the I. So it's not just the identity or the personality or whatever in this lifetime, because conventionally that does exist. But we layer all this extra stuff on it, and that's the I that gets us into trouble, is that sort of, I imagine it kind of huge. Report an error in the passage at 31:14 Highlight the passage at 31:14

31:41 To me it feels like it kind of rises up and becomes really huge when I get... For example, accused of something or afraid or angry or something like that. It almost feels like there's no room in the room for anyone else when that eye gets really big. And that eye gets me into trouble. So that's the eye that then, based on the ignorance about that eye, I do things. Report an error in the passage at 31:41 Highlight the passage at 31:41

32:05 And according to the Buddha, I have been doing things for lifetime after lifetime that causes my suffering. So that's the eye that we're trying to catch. So when they say with the alertness of a spy, Kathleen McDonald is the one who wrote their meditation that you guys did this past week. We are, we're sort of creeping around, we're trying to catch it. Because the minute you start looking for it, then it just lays down and it's just like, it's not doing anything, right? Report an error in the passage at 32:05 Highlight the passage at 32:05

32:32 It's just lying there, you know, it's completely, I'm not doing anything, you know, because it doesn't want to be eliminated. So we just have to keep looking. We just have to keep looking. And you catch it. And you catch it sometimes when you're off the cushion too and you have a moment like that where it rises up and you're like, oh, wow, that's that eye. Report an error in the passage at 32:32 Highlight the passage at 32:32

32:50 And then you pocket that away and save it for when you're meditating and then you can kind of draw on that experience. So even the horrible moments when somebody accuses you of something or something like that, then you go, that's that eye she's talking about. Okay. And then you can next time you're doing that meditation, draw on that experience where that eye is like, oh, I didn't take it. Report an error in the passage at 32:50 Highlight the passage at 32:50

33:10 That I, you know, that gets really like that. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 33:10 Highlight the passage at 33:10

33:22 So I get, it's really helpful when you explain the I that gets accused or angry because then I can really tangibly understand what you mean. But what's the opposite? Like what does the ultimate I feel like? Because... It's very subtle. It's so subtle. Rinpoche says it's almost like it doesn't exist. But it does exist. Report an error in the passage at 33:22 Highlight the passage at 33:22

33:46 He says it exactly like that. It's almost like it doesn't exist. It exists in dependence on this ever-changing body and this ever-changing mind and this label of I. That's all that exists. So it exists, but it's this very ephemeral, constantly changing, fluid thing rather than, well, I exist, you know, me, you know, the way we think it is. Report an error in the passage at 33:46 Highlight the passage at 33:46

34:18 So are you saying that you're constantly changing opinions and emotions? Are you, as long as you realize that they are going to always constantly change? Yeah. Okay, so you can... Yes, we do have distinct personalities. We do. We do. Yeah, and I'm not sure if that's one thing that you were getting at. We do have distinct personalities. When we become Buddhas, we have distinct personalities. Report an error in the passage at 34:18 Highlight the passage at 34:18

34:40 You know, Manjushri is quite different than Medicine Buddha. We don't become one big mind in the sky. And that's definitely a misperception that some people have. So yeah, you get to keep your orange scarf. You are so funny with the orange scarf. Every time I see it, I think of you. Because I can understand the value and feel safe and okay with throwing off that eye that rises up. Report an error in the passage at 34:40 Highlight the passage at 34:40

35:01 Oh, it's not going to feel safe and okay the closer you get to it, for sure. But that's okay. I'm not freaking out, but I'm trying to understand what is there. I'm like, well, don't throw everything away. Yeah, because then that falls into nihilism. Right, which we don't want. Which we don't want, yes, exactly. Report an error in the passage at 35:01 Highlight the passage at 35:01

35:21 So would you say that I would be analogous to the ego? I don't want to get into that because I haven't studied Western psychology so much and I think there are vast differences between Buddhism, the Buddhist perception of mind, body. and personality and all that stuff than there is in the West. And I don't want everyone to be tossing out their ego either because I don't know what that means. Report an error in the passage at 35:21 Highlight the passage at 35:21

35:46 I think the thing with ego, at least the way that I hear it discussed, it begins to seem more solid than my understanding of the I in its ultimate sense is. So the ultimate sense of the I, now the conventional I, Report an error in the passage at 35:46 Highlight the passage at 35:46

36:10 Is, you know, I am a nun. I live here in this specific space in this particular time. And, you know, I, you know, went, you know, across town today and I had a picnic with Michelle. And, you know, like that existed, that conventional I did those things, you know. And so this is not to say that that was all some sort of thing in my imagination. I hope not. But. Report an error in the passage at 36:10 Highlight the passage at 36:10

36:37 That's not the eye that really gets me too much into trouble. It's, again, that sense of an eye that is much more permanent, that exists beyond even this body to some extent. Even though, realistically speaking, I kind of know that when this body dies, I die too, this conventional eye. But there is some sense of me lasting forever. Report an error in the passage at 36:37 Highlight the passage at 36:37

37:00 And there is some sense of me being bigger than this one place in time. And being bigger than this body and mind. So like somehow controlling this body and mind and owning and possessing this body and mind. It's my body, my mind. Who's that my? So that's what I want us to examine a little bit is like just to start kind of investigating who is this I that we are acting like exists but we've never really examined or maybe we have examined a lot but we still can't quite get behind why our belief system is based on this I. Report an error in the passage at 37:00 Highlight the passage at 37:00

37:38 Because it seems to me, just having learned a bit about the ego, that the ego is actually a big contributing factor to that which is trying to sabotage our enlightenment. Oh, but the one thing I do know about Western psychology is that we want a healthy ego, right? And I think within Buddhism we actually... Report an error in the passage at 37:38 Highlight the passage at 37:38

38:02 We don't want the ego. We don't want the ego at all. We want to see that, not that we want to get rid of it, it never existed. But keep it in check. Yeah, in Western psychology, you mean? Yeah, in Buddhism, I'm saying we actually want to look and see that it actually has never existed the way we thought it did to begin with. Report an error in the passage at 38:02 Highlight the passage at 38:02

38:21 And a lot of our problems are coming from this belief in Santa Claus, basically. You know? Sorry. Anyone who might still believe in Santa Claus. But it's like that same idea where we have this whole storyline and we have to begin examining that actually that little guy behind the curtain doesn't exist. Report an error in the passage at 38:21 Highlight the passage at 38:21

38:44 He's making the big Wizard of Oz speak and talk and all that stuff. But we believe it. And so we have to get into that. And it's not going to happen overnight. It may not even happen in this lifetime. And maybe we're all returning to this examination, this analysis, many lifetimes. And that's okay. It just takes a while. Because every time you start looking for it... Report an error in the passage at 38:44 Highlight the passage at 38:44

39:10 It's like mercury. It slinks away. It slips away and sort of lays down and plays dead. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And becomes really innocent and meek. It's not causing any problems, right? Because you're seated on a cushion and it's nice and quiet in there. And then the minute you go out into the world, then it kind of looms up. Report an error in the passage at 39:10 Highlight the passage at 39:10

39:33 David, did you want to say something? Report an error in the passage at 39:33 Highlight the passage at 39:33

39:37 Well, normally when I sit, you know, it's in that kind of nice, quiet space in my room and stuff. And so one of the things that I did this weekend at one point that I was sitting outside and, you know, so it's kind of the sun was coming in and out of the shower, behind the clouds and there was some little wind and stuff like that. Report an error in the passage at 39:37 Highlight the passage at 39:37

39:56 And so when I was first starting to sit, I was having the experience of the environment and looking at that as the... The aggregates, you know, the smell and the wind and how it felt and all that. And that part of experience is part of the construct that's that conventional lie that pops around during the day. Report an error in the passage at 39:56 Highlight the passage at 39:56

40:19 This hurts, this smells good, this is what I'm doing, I'm experiencing these things. But then as that kept going on, rather than being a distractor and working on taking a step back, there was a hit a point where then Report an error in the passage at 40:19 Highlight the passage at 40:19

40:34 physically while I was having those experiences. Those experiences and there was that part, step one back, that was just observing that stuff that was going on and there was no longer a distraction like, oh it's hot and then it's cold, now the wind's blowing and now it's not. And realizing that sort of those experiences of the inputs of the aggregates are part of like what my, you know, like the conventional personality stuff because it's all part of those inputs. Report an error in the passage at 40:34 Highlight the passage at 40:34

41:05 And then at the point when I kind of like felt that separation, then it was like, OK, now what's now who's where is this that's kind of just aware of it that's much less verbal and kind of more of a presence. And then as I kind of get back and have that sense of the presence, which I think, at least for me, you know, is is the part that when we kind of look at our lives and we think that there's. Report an error in the passage at 41:05 Highlight the passage at 41:05

41:28 There's a part of our consciousness that there's a continuity as opposed to like there's a point I'm happy and then I was sad and I was little and now I'm older and I have all these experiences but there's something that's common within that. Report an error in the passage at 41:28 Highlight the passage at 41:28

41:41 And that sort of presence but that's also the thing that comes up and gets us in trouble that's like when something happens it's like I'm upset. It's not like my aggregates. It's like this thing. But it's the same thing that actually can be really happy too. But when I kind of swept away some of that other stuff around and then just sort of had that sense of presence, then I started pulling up the moments where it was like really offended or upset, you know. Report an error in the passage at 41:41 Highlight the passage at 41:41

42:12 So purposely kind of bringing up those things to really feel that it's like, oh, when my button gets really pushed. So it's not letting it hide, you know. Report an error in the passage at 42:12 Highlight the passage at 42:12

42:27 Anyway, so it was just kind of starting to work on that and even realizing that even that part, that thing that we think has this great continuity of this observer, even that observer is impermanent in the sense that that observer can be happy, it can be upset, it can have anger and it is not an immutable, unchanging force. Report an error in the passage at 42:27 Highlight the passage at 42:27

42:50 It changes just as much as you can have a sunburn and have it hurt and go away. That observer that those big things rise up, it's deep. It's more like if you look at the earth and you think about what happens when the shape of the earth changes with tides. But we don't really experience that. We just see it when leaves fall or something like that. So it's a much more profound, deeper, subtle change. Report an error in the passage at 42:50 Highlight the passage at 42:50

43:20 But to try and get back there and really piss it off. You know, bring it up so you can sort of work with it. The observer isn't so much of a problem, but there is a belief sometimes that that observer is some sort of benevolent, godlike thing of watching your whole life or something unfold, and it's actually just consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 43:20 Highlight the passage at 43:20

43:44 It's just moments of consciousness arising and changing and falling like the ocean kind of. But yeah, we do sometimes ascribe. Something more to that too. But that's usually not so much one that gets us into trouble. So it's good to keep poking at it and making it kind of rare up. Like remembering how that felt, you know. Report an error in the passage at 43:44 Highlight the passage at 43:44

44:03 Yeah. Because whatever it is that's looking, that's still not it. Yeah. You keep going back and back and back. Yeah. And every time, you know, you kind of feel like, oh, I'm watching this. And it's like, and this thing goes, you know, hold on to the thing that kind of jumped up. Right. Yeah. And you just keep kind of going back. Yeah. I know that one of the first times that I did this meditation, I realized that it did feel like to me that it wasn't the body and it was some sort of something of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 44:03 Highlight the passage at 44:03

44:29 And then it felt like it was something kind of beyond body and mind. Like it kind of was able to pass through the body and was somehow bigger than the body. But, you know, so that's kind of how it felt to me. I could kind of picture it like that. And I realized that there was some belief that that was how this I existed somehow. Report an error in the passage at 44:29 Highlight the passage at 44:29

44:49 Like, you know, like at first I remember as a little kid, like I mentioned, that it felt like I was peering through these two holes, you know, and seeing through life, you know, and this is the I. Like somehow this isn't the I, right? So that was interesting, not really identifying so much with this body, although I think we do so strongly. Report an error in the passage at 44:49 Highlight the passage at 44:49

45:07 But something, I was like the controller inside the crane, looking out of the crane windows. And I've heard other people say that too, that they had that same feeling. And so I don't know where that comes from. But I think we begin to examine even what we've believed because at the time that we felt it, we just didn't know any other way, right? Report an error in the passage at 45:07 Highlight the passage at 45:07

45:29 We didn't know that that was an unusual feeling or that that was, we have to examine what we even believe. And so it does take a while to get it. And so I keep kind of doing these meditations because at first you're just like, no, it's in the body, no, not in the mind, no, okay. And then you just get up. And I know I did that one for years and I didn't quite get how deeply we really need to spend. And in the class time, we can't take it so deeply. Report an error in the passage at 45:29 Highlight the passage at 45:29

45:58 When you're doing it on your own, you could do a whole session for a month just on is the eye in the body. And actually Rinpoche has a really great meditation in Virtue and Reality where you're doing a walking meditation and you're looking for the eye. Has anybody done that one? Oh, it's just great. I mean, it's really simple. And once I did it once, he actually asked us all to do it one time at Kopan when I was there, I think. Report an error in the passage at 45:58 Highlight the passage at 45:58

46:27 This is the second time I was at Copan and we all went out and we did this, he calls it a walking meditation. So of course all these people were doing like a mindfulness walking meditation so these people were kind of exaggerating their walk and all this stuff. That wasn't the kind of walking meditation that he wanted us to do. He wanted us to actually just begin to look for the eye while we were moving because there's something about moving while you're looking that can be quite, for me it was quite profound, looking at where is the eye. Report an error in the passage at 46:27 Highlight the passage at 46:27

46:54 Is the eye moving because the body's moving? You know, and so you're just examining things. Is the eye this memory that I just had? You know, like, so you're just kind of examining it all in the same way, but a little more free form than you are in the cushion. And things happen, like the wind on your skin. Is that, is the eye feeling that wind? You know, like, is the eye the skin? You know, so then you're just examining little things that happen to you while you're moving. Report an error in the passage at 46:54 Highlight the passage at 46:54

47:18 There's some sound, is the eye. The mind hearing that sound and all that stuff. But it's something quite profound about moving while you're doing it. So now every time I do retreat, I always take time every day to do an emptiness walk. And it can just be, it doesn't even have to go outside, but it helps to move and to contemplate it in a way that you just can't quite get the same on the cushion. Report an error in the passage at 47:18 Highlight the passage at 47:18

47:46 It's actually quite... It's quite profound. So try that one. I mean, try that one out for size this week. You know, best to be in a quiet place. Maybe not so great to be walking down, you know, the street in the city. If anybody has access or even just go to a park, just try walking in the park. You just, you know, avoid eye contact. People will stay away from you. Report an error in the passage at 47:46 Highlight the passage at 47:46

48:09 They won't know what's wrong with that guy walking back and forth. It's okay. But just to try, just, you know, looking for the eye while you're... While you're just walking and then turn around and walk back again and turn around and walk back. It's quite interesting. Yeah, and we just have to do it over and over and over. Report an error in the passage at 48:09 Highlight the passage at 48:09

48:26 But it's good to keep trying to clarify what is the I that we're seeking. We're seeking the I that doesn't exist. We're seeking the I that is an independently existent, inherently existent I. That's what we're seeking. We're not seeking the I that does exist, which is, you know, the sort of... You know, conventionally existent I, this, you know, this nun called Chokyi who does this, went here, you know, was born at this point like that. Report an error in the passage at 48:26 Highlight the passage at 48:26

48:55 That's not the I that we're looking for. We're looking for this independently existent, inherently existent, solid, concrete, you know, I. That's the I we're seeking. So you have to keep poking it. So it rears its little ugly head and you're like, oh yeah, that's how it feels. And then see how that feels when that I arises like that. Report an error in the passage at 48:55 Highlight the passage at 48:55

49:14 You know, how does that? How does it feel in your body? How does it seem to exist? So actually those moments that we all hate are quite useful for remembering how that eye feels. Report an error in the passage at 49:14 Highlight the passage at 49:14

49:28 So tuck them away. So tonight we read the Heart Sūtra, which can be just a lot of gibberish. The first few times you read it, there's lots of there's no this, no that, no nothing, and you're just kind of like, what the heck does that mean? Report an error in the passage at 49:28 Highlight the passage at 49:28

49:44 So we're going to get into it a little bit using the fourfold analysis and then that is going to be your meditation tonight or this week and tonight before we leave. We're going to try to do it together. It's very similar in a way to what we're doing but a little more pointed because we're going to look for all four points that are mentioned in the Heart Sūtra, all four of the points of that analysis. Report an error in the passage at 49:44 Highlight the passage at 49:44

50:14 And you can do it once you learn this type of analysis. Then you can use this analysis on everything. You can use it on a cup. You can use it on the body. You can use it on the mind. And then, of course, you can use it on the self, the one that gets us into trouble. Report an error in the passage at 50:14 Highlight the passage at 50:14

50:34 So in the Heart Sūtra, when we say... um... Form is emptiness, emptiness is form, emptiness is not other than form, form two is not other than emptiness. These four points are the fourfold analysis. Report an error in the passage at 50:34 Highlight the passage at 50:34

50:59 When we're saying that form is empty, we're saying it's empty in nature, so that its nature is empty, not that it doesn't exist. I have to keep underscoring that because, of course, I don't want anyone in here to freak out and go. Nealistic on me. But it's the same as if we said this, which this cup isn't empty, but it will be in a minute. Report an error in the passage at 50:59 Highlight the passage at 50:59

51:27 Well, it's not really empty because there's a tea bag in there. But it's empty of liquid. It's empty of liquid. And so I say this cup is empty. It doesn't mean the cup doesn't exist. If this room is empty or like the bookstore right now is empty, it's empty of people. It doesn't mean it doesn't exist. So, you know, we have to be... Report an error in the passage at 51:27 Highlight the passage at 51:27

51:50 Careful of how this word empty is used or emptiness is used. So an object is empty of inherent existence. It just means it doesn't have inherent existence. Okay, so that term emptiness. It does exist independence upon other things and that is its interdependence or Report an error in the passage at 51:50 Highlight the passage at 51:50

52:18 Dependent origination or dependent arising. All three of those things are synonymous. I like dependent arising because of when you're talking about the way things exist to the mind in Buddhism, they talk about how something arises to the mind. Like, for example, let's see, the minute I emptied it, some little sentient being decided to make a home there. It is no longer an empty cup. Report an error in the passage at 52:18 Highlight the passage at 52:18

52:44 So In Buddhism they talk about like for example when your eye consciousness sees a cup or a mug it arises to your mind. They use that term arises and I kind of like that because that makes sense to me the way I see things. But dependent origination is talking about how things originate for the mind too. Report an error in the passage at 52:44 Highlight the passage at 52:44

53:08 So that makes sense too but I've never liked it as much. It's used a lot by... some people. So just so you know that that's what it means. And interdependent. Interdependence also I really like and that kind of gets into that whole idea of the meditation that we were doing on Venable Rubina when she was talking about all the different myriad things that go into this thing called my body that we believe in 100% is me, my body and actually it begins, the source of this body begins With the substances from both parents. But collectively, everything they ever ate or took or did before they became our parents and everything their parents did before they became their parents and everything their parents did before they became their parents all contribute to this thing called my body. Report an error in the passage at 53:08 Highlight the passage at 53:08

54:01 So why are we saying my body? Why do we feel such ownership of it and possessiveness about it and pampering of it and so forth? Report an error in the passage at 54:01 Highlight the passage at 54:01

54:09 And so that form of interdependence sort of makes sense too because everything is sort of interconnected in how things arise. Report an error in the passage at 54:09 Highlight the passage at 54:09

54:22 So it also begins to describe how things don't just arise out of nowhere. You know, things arise in dependence upon all these different things. And one interesting example of that, and Rinpoche uses this a lot when he talks about... Dependent arising is this concept of time. For example, a year. Report an error in the passage at 54:22 Highlight the passage at 54:22

54:45 A year is dependent or rises in dependence upon the months within it, and each of the months within it arises in dependence upon the weeks within that, and each of the weeks within that arises in dependence upon the days and the hours and the minutes and the seconds like that, and then whatever the tinier things are called, nanoseconds and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 54:45 Highlight the passage at 54:45

55:07 That's how each year arises. So it's not so mysterious if we think about it in those terms, but then we tend to see the year as something truly existent, right? The year that just passed, you know, we especially do that in the West, right? At the end of the year, 2010, you know, and they do this whole celebration and we do this whole thing. Report an error in the passage at 55:07 Highlight the passage at 55:07

55:27 It's not to say that it's a bad thing that we should, you know, celebrate the end of a year and celebrate the beginning of a year or whatever, but we see them as kind of this inherently existent thing. Report an error in the passage at 55:27 Highlight the passage at 55:27

55:37 It's just these moments of existence. Someone just arbitrarily decided it began in January and ended in December. Of course, what is January and what is December? When you get into time, it all becomes really kind of woo-woo. But you can think about it in terms of this house, too, or a house. Houses only arise in dependence upon all of the wood or nails or stone. Report an error in the passage at 55:37 Highlight the passage at 55:37

56:07 The walls and roof and plaster and wallpaper, in this case, and ornate weird little beady things that hang from the sky and all this stuff, all of these and all the people that took part in the building of this house and the land underneath the house and the roof on the top, you know, and all of that is required for this house to exist. Report an error in the passage at 56:07 Highlight the passage at 56:07

56:34 The same with our bodies, the same with anything, you know, the clock, the cup, so forth. Report an error in the passage at 56:34 Highlight the passage at 56:34

56:42 And if we look around us and we think about things like that in this way, there's nothing that we are seeing that doesn't arise like that, that doesn't arise to our senses in that way or to our minds in that way. Everything arises in that way. Nothing is just suddenly there. Report an error in the passage at 56:42 Highlight the passage at 56:42

57:02 Even though it may seem like that when we first come into a room or when we first encounter a neti pot or something like that. It seems like it just suddenly arose because my mind has no concept of it and we will get into mental images and so forth like that. But it doesn't. It arises in this sort of myriad of causes and it is impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 57:02 Highlight the passage at 57:02

57:33 Due to that, due to the fact that it's arising due to these many causes, it will stop existing in some form when those causes no longer come together. Report an error in the passage at 57:33 Highlight the passage at 57:33

57:48 So this just means that there is no... Okay, so these are two sides of the same object, that objects exist only in dependence upon... Causes and conditions and parts and we will get into the different points, the labels and so forth. And the flip of that is that every object has this absence of inherent existence. Report an error in the passage at 57:48 Highlight the passage at 57:48

58:17 So they aren't contradictions of each other. They're simply two sides of the same description. Could you wait? Is that okay? Yeah, thanks. So there's no phenomena. That is not empty of true existence. There's a double negative. Nothing is not empty of true existence, which means everything is empty of true existence. Report an error in the passage at 58:17 Highlight the passage at 58:17

58:47 You have that double negative. Report an error in the passage at 58:47 Highlight the passage at 58:47

58:56 And we talked about last week how we're... This middle way concept is finding this middle way between thinking that if everything is empty of true existence, then nothing exists at all, that's nihilism, or thinking that everything exists exactly as I perceive it to exist, which is eternalism. Or materialism, which is what we basically have been moving through existence from lifetime to lifetime to lifetime, believing that things exist exactly as my senses tell me they exist. Report an error in the passage at 58:56 Highlight the passage at 58:56

59:33 I exist exactly as my senses tell me I exist. Lama Tsongkhapa was saying, no, no, there's a middle way between these two, and this is this concept of emptiness, of inherent existence, but not emptiness. Completely, you know, not emptiness of entire existence. So they say that dependent arising actually acts as a valid reason for something's emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 59:33 Highlight the passage at 59:33

1:00:09 So something is not self-existent because it is a dependent arising. They actually call that the king of reasonings. Something is not self-existent because it is a dependent arising. This is why Jason Kapa says that if we can get to understand dependent arising and how things actually exist dependently upon other things, then we can get to emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:09 Highlight the passage at 1:00:09

1:00:39 It's sort of like the back way into emptiness, which isn't actually always the case. Not all schools believe this. And when I'm saying school in this case, Lama Tsongkhapa is the founder of the Galupa lineage of the four schools of Tibet. He actually believed that this was the way for us to understand emptiness, was to understand how things are dependent or risen. But not all the schools believe that. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:39 Highlight the passage at 1:00:39

1:01:10 Some of them believe that we should just begin immediately trying to understand the emptiness of the self. Like just going straight for emptiness. So maybe you're in the wrong school. Maybe it's the Kagi school. So in the Heart Sūtra, we're talking about the five aggregates. And maybe you've heard that we've mentioned that some of the people asking questions and so forth in the class have been talking about the five aggregates. So let's talk about the five aggregates. Five aggregates is basically talking about our body and our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:10 Highlight the passage at 1:01:10

1:01:45 So that's really all it's talking about. In Buddhism, we're talking about our body and our mind. We have one for body and four for mind. It's a lot more emphasis on the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:45 Highlight the passage at 1:01:45

1:01:56 Form is talking about the body, but it's also talking about any kind of form. So it's talking about, now there are many little fruit flies. It's also talking about anything like a table, you know, the microphone, the book, the clock, you know, the cup. So it's talking about any kind of solid form. Not so solid, but any kind of physical stuff. Feelings is talking about something really specific here. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:56 Highlight the passage at 1:01:56

1:02:22 It's not talking about emotions in general. It's talking about the mental factor of feelings. So it's talking about pleasant, unpleasant or neutral feelings, specifically like that. There are a number of mental factors that are described in the teachings on the mind in Buddhism, 51 to be exact, 50 or 51 depending, to be exact. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:22 Highlight the passage at 1:02:22

1:02:49 Two of them get to be aggregates. So the first one is feeling. We'll talk about those in a second. Why are these two in there? Feelings is talking about specifically... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:49 Highlight the passage at 1:02:49

1:03:04 When mind comes into contact with objects, with form, it has this pleasant, unpleasant and neutral feeling that arises. Something pops up. It's karmically caused but we're not going to get into that right now. So we have some reaction to everything that our mind comes into contact with. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:04 Highlight the passage at 1:03:04

1:03:27 Discernment or discrimination is the third of the five aggregates. It's a mental factor also, but it's the ability of the mind to differentiate between things or objects of perception. So it's just the ability of the mind to this and that, that's red, that's blue, he's male, she's female. It's just the ability of the mind to sort of differentiate between different things. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:27 Highlight the passage at 1:03:27

1:03:53 It's also a mental factor. The Buddha included these two in aggregates. specifically Specifically, because they are the ones that get us into trouble the most. When these two mental factors cause us to do sort of all the stupid things that we do that causes our suffering. So we have a negative reaction to something and then we, you know, immediately discriminate, you know, don't like that, push away, you know, love that, want it, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:53 Highlight the passage at 1:03:53

1:04:33 So we have a feeling and then we have some sort of a reaction to that feeling where we discriminate between different things. Compositional factors is the fourth of the aggregates and that's basically all the remaining mental factors. So the 49 others, compositional factors, compositional factors. But it basically contains all the other mental factors along with some other things. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:33 Highlight the passage at 1:04:33

1:05:04 Consciousness is the fifth, and that's talking about mental consciousness. In Buddhism, we talk about six consciousnesses, so there are five sense consciousnesses, and the sixth is the mental consciousness. The mental consciousness is what's talked about when you're talking about consciousness. So the five aggregates, again, are form, Report an error in the passage at 1:05:04 Highlight the passage at 1:05:04

1:05:26 feelings, Report an error in the passage at 1:05:26 Highlight the passage at 1:05:26

1:05:31 discrimination or discernment. Oh, how did she get out? I'm glad the door closed. Oh well, sorry. I'll put her away on the break. Compositional factors. Thanks, Kara. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:31 Highlight the passage at 1:05:31

1:05:53 Compositional factors and consciousness. So when we're doing the four-fold analysis, it's like we're having this debate with ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:53 Highlight the passage at 1:05:53

1:06:07 We figure out what it is that we're looking for and where it would have to be and then we try to prove to ourselves that it's unfindable in any of those places. So it's kind of like what we were doing last time but we're getting into it a little more deeply. First we have to determine the object to be refuted. So this term object to be refuted in Tibetan is called the gacha, which I love. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:07 Highlight the passage at 1:06:07

1:06:30 I love that term. Gacha. It's like gacha. Gacha. But you have to understand. So that's why we have to spend so much time trying to understand what is the gacha. The gacha is the self-existent person, in this case, or the self-existent cup, or the self-existent table. What doesn't exist? That's what we're looking for. It doesn't exist. We sort of know that logically. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:30 Highlight the passage at 1:06:30

1:06:54 Because the Buddha said so. But we have to find it out for ourselves. Because the Buddha was really big on saying, don't just believe everything I tell you because you like me or because you like the way it sounds or because you believe in me or you believe in enlightenment or whatever. We have to try it all out ourselves. We have to actually experience it ourselves. And we don't want to get into trouble by looking for the wrong Gakcha. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:54 Highlight the passage at 1:06:54

1:07:24 Those people that we hear about who have done long retreat, basically examining the wrong thing. They've just spent years and years and years examining the wrong thing. So we want to get really clear on what that is. Then we determine that this truly existent self has to be either one with the aggregates, body and mind, just think body and mind, if aggregates is too much, or separate from them. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:24 Highlight the passage at 1:07:24

1:07:50 It has to be one or the other. One with the body and mind or separate from them. We have to kind of believe that there is no other choice. You know, it's got to be one or the other. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:50 Highlight the passage at 1:07:50

1:08:06 How did she get off? Oh, she must have, she must have like somehow, I must have not closed it all the way or something. I think she was the prisoner in her last night. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:06 Highlight the passage at 1:08:06

1:08:19 Houdini, I know, Houdini gets back as it can. Okay, so we have to... Oh, dear. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:19 Highlight the passage at 1:08:19

1:08:27 To determine that this truly existent person or thing or object, decide whatever it is that you're meditating on, is either one with the body and mind or separate from them and that there's no third choice. Then we have to see for ourselves that it cannot be one with the body and mind. That's the third step. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:27 Highlight the passage at 1:08:27

1:08:48 And then we have to, and I'll read these again, then we have to determine that it cannot be separate from the body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:48 Highlight the passage at 1:08:48

1:08:55 So those are the four steps. So the first step is determining the object to be refuted, the Gakcha, Report an error in the passage at 1:08:55 Highlight the passage at 1:08:55

1:09:07 then determining that this truly existent object, in this case we'll say the body, or this truly existent self, if that's what we're going to do. This truly existent self cannot be one with the body, that it has to be either one with the body in mind or it has to be... Separate from the body and mind. It can't be something else. There's nothing else that exists. It has to be either one with the body and mind or separate from the body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:07 Highlight the passage at 1:09:07

1:09:40 And then we determine that it cannot be one with the body and mind by examining that very carefully. And then we determine that it cannot be separate from the body and mind. So we have to go through those four steps. So for example. When we're looking at the Heart Sūtra, when we're contemplating the Heart Sūtra. And the Heart Sūtra is an incredibly profound piece of work. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:40 Highlight the passage at 1:09:40

1:10:07 You could basically just spend the rest of your life meditating on the Heart Sūtra in tiny bits. The way that Rinpoche actually tells us to meditate on it, and I think I'm going to discuss this in one of the later classes, but he actually says to go through it and stop when he gets to that section where he starts going through things one by one. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:07 Highlight the passage at 1:10:07

1:10:27 Stop at each one and to meditate on it until you have some moment of insight. And then, you know, when the mind gets distracted or when the mind has some sort of an insight, then you continue reading it. And then you come back around until you come to the second word. So basically you just kind of do this cyclical thing, taking as long as you need to take to do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:27 Highlight the passage at 1:10:27

1:10:52 Okay, so in the Heart Sūtra. When we say form is emptiness, we're saying that the nature of that form is empty, not self-existent, because it is a dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:52 Highlight the passage at 1:10:52

1:11:11 So you can kind of go back and forth. So when you're thinking about the emptiness of the self or the emptiness of the body, you can think about it in terms of it being both its dependent arising, whatever that means to you by now, or in terms of its lack of inherent existence. So you're just kind of going back and forth with that object, whatever that object is. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:11 Highlight the passage at 1:11:11

1:11:39 And sometimes that's why I think if we just keep saying form, it doesn't mean a whole lot to us. So maybe replace it with something that does. So my body is emptiness. Emptiness is my body. You know, like maybe say something like that that has a little more juice to it to you. Or this cup is emptiness. Emptiness is this cup. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:39 Highlight the passage at 1:11:39

1:11:58 Emptiness is form. So the second. So form is emptiness is the first one. And basically emptiness is form is... Is getting at this idea that emptiness exists on the basis of this form. It is a quality of all form, all phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:58 Highlight the passage at 1:11:58

1:12:18 Getting back to that idea, every object has its emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:18 Highlight the passage at 1:12:18

1:12:26 Emptiness is form, is the second point that he makes. And he's actually, you know when it talks about the Buddha empowering Sharaputra, he just sort of goes off into this mental state and then empowers Sharaputra. do this whole thing and he's like oh well said well said you know at the end he kind of pops up he does that in a number of the sutras so it still gets to be counted as a sūtra I know I wonder like what are other teachers do that you know you think these people asking questions in the back of the class are like the Shariputras you know you're like how did he say that you know how get that great idea even the person's probably walking home and going, why do I that? Report an error in the passage at 1:12:26 Highlight the passage at 1:12:26

1:13:10 Emptiness is form. On the basis of that emptiness, form can arise. So sometimes you hear this description of form arising out of emptiness. Rinpoche actually talks about that sometimes, that things arise out of emptiness. And it's because of emptiness that things can arise in a form, like form. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:10 Highlight the passage at 1:13:10

1:13:40 Okay, yeah. I have to stop. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:40 Highlight the passage at 1:13:40

1:13:47 And again, this too can be applied to all phenomena. The emptiness of the cup is its non-inherent existence from its own side, its lack of self-existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:47 Highlight the passage at 1:13:47

1:14:05 So these two are talking about sort of, you know, so the second one is actually sort of talking about dependent arising. Out of emptiness things can arise as dependent arisings. The first one is saying that things have this, all things have this quality of emptiness. They have this quality of an absence of this inherent existence that we think exists on everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:05 Highlight the passage at 1:14:05

1:14:28 So the first one is talking about the emptiness, the second one is talking about the dependent arising. The final nature of every single thing is both of those two things, simultaneously. Remember who we were talking about, the two truths? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:28 Highlight the passage at 1:14:28

1:14:44 Both of them are the nature of every object. This clock exists as a dependent arising, but it also... it also absent It also has an absence of any kind of inherent existence. So it has both. It's not like one takes the place of the other. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:44 Highlight the passage at 1:14:44

1:15:16 I'm sort of skipping. I'm trying to stay on. Keep it on track. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:16 Highlight the passage at 1:15:16

1:15:27 Emptiness is not other than form. It means that the nature of that form and its emptiness is the same. track Report an error in the passage at 1:15:27 Highlight the passage at 1:15:27

1:15:40 So the nature of that form and its emptiness is the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:40 Highlight the passage at 1:15:40

1:15:50 Remember, emptiness just means a lack of self-existence, and this emptiness affirms dependent arising. So the emptiness of the cup Report an error in the passage at 1:15:50 Highlight the passage at 1:15:50

1:16:10 is the nature of that form, and a form can't be separated from its very nature. You can't separate. Something from its emptiness. Emptiness is a quality of that thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:10 Highlight the passage at 1:16:10

1:16:28 So on the basis of all phenomena we have these two truths. The two truths are one in nature but they aren't talking about the same thing. And each object has its two truths. A cup has its emptiness or ultimate reality and it also has its conventional reality simultaneously. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:28 Highlight the passage at 1:16:28

1:16:58 And its emptiness is the same. The emptiness, all of everything's emptiness is the same. You know, like the clock's emptiness, the cup's emptiness, the Chokyi's emptiness, the table's emptiness, Sechenling's emptiness. All of the emptiness of those things are the same, but those things aren't all the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:58 Highlight the passage at 1:16:58

1:17:22 So the object is different. But they are one taste in emptiness, as Rinpoche always says. So, um... So they often talk about being... Okay, I'm not going to say that. So when we talk about a form and its emptiness, its final mode of existence, its nature exists together with the cup. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:22 Highlight the passage at 1:17:22

1:17:56 It's just like a characteristic of the cup. Its emptiness is like a characteristic of the cup. Then the final point is form is not other than emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:56 Highlight the passage at 1:17:56

1:18:09 So form two is not other than emptiness. This is actually sort of talking about the emptiness of the emptiness. That emptiness itself doesn't truly exist in some way out there, like that thing called emptiness out there. The emptiness of that form, whether that cup or that person or that identity, that body, Report an error in the passage at 1:18:09 Highlight the passage at 1:18:09

1:18:37 Is the nature of that form. And because of that we can say form two is not other than emptiness. So emptiness itself is the form. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:37 Highlight the passage at 1:18:37

1:18:53 I know we need questions here. And actually that's the only way that form can exist is because form could not exist if emptiness didn't exist. If things were not empty then they could not arise, independent arising. So they have to say sitting here, David is just like nodding all the time. So I'm feeling like I'm making sense and I know I'm not making sense. He's like, you know, I'm like, I know it's not like that, David. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:53 Highlight the passage at 1:18:53

1:19:26 I'm glad it's making sense to you in some way, but I know it's not. So why don't we take it? Why don't we have some questions here? And Susan, you get to go first because you had a question a long time ago. And also it could be just a repetition of something, too. I'm not even sure if I can. Yeah, I know. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:26 Highlight the passage at 1:19:26

1:19:43 Believe me. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:43 Highlight the passage at 1:19:43

1:19:47 I guess it's this idea that it's like you talked about time. It's just somewhat arbitrarily a sign that we call this January and we call this a minute. Is Report an error in the passage at 1:19:47 Highlight the passage at 1:19:47

1:20:05 that the same for everything? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:05 Highlight the passage at 1:20:05

1:20:13 We will get into labels more. And so we will talk about that more. Yeah, yeah. And I think that kind of comes into more labels. Like what is a conventional basis for something to be labeled year versus month? And what's a conventional label for, you know, why can this be called a cup versus a clock? And if I want this to be a clock, can I make it a clock? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:13 Highlight the passage at 1:20:13

1:20:36 You know, no. We'll get into it. What makes something a valid basis, yeah. Okay, because I just wanted to know if that's the same when you talk about that as things like gender or age, that we're all talking, that all of those things are the same in how they're labeled. Say that one again. It slipped away. Yeah, maybe we'll wait. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Somebody else. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:36 Highlight the passage at 1:20:36

1:21:04 Yeah, Marcella. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:04 Highlight the passage at 1:21:04

1:21:08 Before I get more lost. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:08 Highlight the passage at 1:21:08

1:21:13 That means all the experiences that we have, means all the experiences that we're having arise, you know, through emptiness because we, it's related, means it has a relationship with the karma that we have. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:13 Highlight the passage at 1:21:13

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:21:40 And things arise because, you know, it's going to depend. If we use that situation or experience that arise, if we see in a different way, it's like a Marcela before thought that, you know, knew about karma, but I was seeing things in a different way that... Trying to see now means the relationship between the karma and emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:40 Highlight the passage at 1:21:40

1:22:19 Right. So whenever you hear the term causes and conditions, I think a lot of times we think of the conventional causes and conditions. The paint, the clay, the veneer, whatever this is on top of this, the wood, the... Flesh and all that stuff. Always think for that first cause, think karma. Because Geshe always says of all the causes, that's the primary cause. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:19 Highlight the passage at 1:22:19

1:22:46 And one of the teachers who first taught me about emptiness would always stress, everything that we see that dependently arises, dependently arises to us in a certain way due to our karma. We create the causes to perceive something in a certain way due to our karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:46 Highlight the passage at 1:22:46

1:23:06 If things were not empty of inherent existence, that couldn't work. So when you're perceiving, and as your understanding of karma increases, and we're going to get into this a little bit in some of the later classes, as your merit increases and as you purify, so there are two things that really... Help us to understand emptiness better or to study Buddhism at all. Then our karma begins to shift. So it's like our karma shifts because we've created more positive karma and we've purified negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:06 Highlight the passage at 1:23:06

1:23:49 That's what causes our karma to shift. And also our reaction, of course. We have talked about that too when certain experiences arise. Our reaction to them instead of falling into the same old rut. This is the free will thing. you know we are we are deciding not to get pissed off this time this one time I will not get pissed off you know That's the only way we shift it. We just keep trying. That's the marriage of karma and emptiness because things arise in a certain way. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:49 Highlight the passage at 1:23:49

1:24:22 We perceive them in a certain way because of our karma, but that karma shifts. How we perceive And so, but yeah, that's. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:22 Highlight the passage at 1:24:22

1:24:29 so Report an error in the passage at 1:24:29 Highlight the passage at 1:24:29

1:24:33 This particular object is based on our karma because this object has an absence of any kind of inherent or true reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:33 Highlight the passage at 1:24:33

1:24:47 The karma can shift, but at the same time we have to purify and we have to go through things. To realize different things, to develop. Karma shifts, and sometimes quickly, but sometimes not quickly at all. The more that we purify, it's better for us, of course, if we see in a different way. Because sometimes we want to purify, but please don't. Right, right, right. Yeah, like Mary always says, I want to purify, I want to purify, but not if it hurts. I know, we forget that. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:47 Highlight the passage at 1:24:47

1:25:27 We always talk about purify, let's purify. And then when we experience, usually, I don't know how much we've talked about in this class, but when we purify old bad karma, it's sort of like you're short-circuiting it. You can't ever just get rid of... I mean, Report an error in the passage at 1:25:27 Highlight the passage at 1:25:27

1:26:04 so it can... you know, cancer, you know, I mean, It arises in some form, and then you're done with it in that form, rather than lifetimes of suffering and other realms. This is the teaching on karma, at least, they say. So we purify, but then things begin to happen, and that's part of what happens. It's like, oh yeah, I've been purifying a lot. This is what's happening, and I'm getting rid of it, but I have to see that I'm getting rid of it in this lifetime in some other form. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:04 Highlight the passage at 1:26:04

1:26:34 So maybe that's why. I fell in front of the Zen Center. Maybe that's why, you know, I did fall in front of the Zen Center. Like that, you know, yeah. Everything is necessary. Whatever we have to go through is necessary to develop. Otherwise, you can make it necessary. There's actually, I mean, that's the whole point of the Lojong teachings, which the last class was about, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:34 Highlight the passage at 1:26:34

1:26:59 Transforming whatever we experience into the path. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:59 Highlight the passage at 1:26:59

1:27:06 Is it necessary from its own side? No, not necessarily, because is there any purpose for suffering? No, not really. We can find a purpose in our suffering because we have to suffer. So we might as well find some way to use that on the path so that we can get enlightened faster. That's kind of the whole reason behind the Lojang teachings. It's sort of like, if I end up being thrown in prison, I will have to use that on the path. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:06 Highlight the passage at 1:27:06

1:27:35 But I really would rather not go to prison, you know, if there's an option. So if I can get enlightened without having to suffer, then I would. But unfortunately, I've created enough causes for suffering that I have to experience those. So now I just, whatever then arises, then I am trying to create it as, you know, see it as the path, you know, take it onto the path. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:35 Highlight the passage at 1:27:35

1:28:00 That's the thing. I mean, that's all we can do, I think. But yeah. But the first step is that acceptance. This is happening. This is what's happening. And then remembering, my karma created this. This is why this is happening. But it is empty of inherent existence. So it doesn't... It feels enormous when the doctor calls. It feels gigantic because it feels inherently existent. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:00 Highlight the passage at 1:28:00

1:28:30 That's what inherently existent feels like. That could be your object in a meditation like this because any kind of physical pain or suffering, especially big stuff, it feels like this wall. It doesn't exist that way. It's like sensations, it's like cells, it's like, you know what I mean? It's like, it's much more ephemeral and changing and stuff like that. Yeah, so emptiness, contemplating emptiness of something like that can actually be quite profound. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:30 Highlight the passage at 1:28:30

1:28:57 And it's okay sometimes. I'm sorry that I'm keeping too much. It's okay sometimes. There's a lot of negative feeling about you right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:57 Highlight the passage at 1:28:57

1:29:08 It's okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:08 Highlight the passage at 1:29:08

1:29:12 It's okay sometimes to feel afraid about your own thoughts. Means that when you catch you and say, oh, because taking the... we're not. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:12 Highlight the passage at 1:29:12

1:29:09 Okay, guys, calm down. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:09 Highlight the passage at 1:29:09

1:29:24 The resolution or the, you decided, okay, I'm not, I'm going to try not to think in that way or catch it. Oh yeah, but then you still do it. I still do it. Of course. And you feel, you know, you feel. You're not perfect yet? Come on, Marcella, how many classes have you taken? What? No, but I feel afraid means. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:24 Highlight the passage at 1:29:24

1:29:46 I feel afraid more than guilty or like that. Like, oh my gosh. I know, yeah, yeah. You're annoying yourself. I just did earlier today. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, all we can do... Last night, Geshe-la was talking about subduing the mind and the importance of subduing the mind, which has just been big on my mind since Rinpoche mentioned how important. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:46 Highlight the passage at 1:29:46

1:30:07 He was like, you know, we have to subdue our mind. It's more important than anything else. It's more important than helping others, he said. And I just keep coming back to that. And I just keep feeling like I'm a mess because my mind is still so unsubdued. And I get really afraid. Yeah, the same. We have to just keep. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:07 Highlight the passage at 1:30:07

1:30:24 I mean, Geshe-la kept talking about that last night. We just have to keep. We just have to keep making the commitment to try. This is age old, you know, not just this life habits, but many, many lifetime habits, you know. And remember one of the, and we didn't talk about so much karma in this class, but one of the yucky things about karma is it creates the tendency or habit to do it again. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:24 Highlight the passage at 1:30:24

1:30:50 So if we kill, it creates the tendency to kill again. If we see things as inherently existent, we keep creating more and more of those little ugly seeds every time we see something as inherently existent. But the good news is every time that we begin to break that down and see something in terms of its dependent arising or its lack of inherent existence, even for an instant, it creates that tendency to see it again. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:50 Highlight the passage at 1:30:50

1:31:19 Every time we receive a teaching on emptiness, it creates the ability to do it again. Every time we even are in the presence of somebody like Geshe-la or Lama Zopa Rinpoche or His Holiness, we are creating mental seeds to do it again. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:19 Highlight the passage at 1:31:19

1:31:34 That's what Tenzin Chokyi always says. Keep your eyes open. When they're teaching, keep collecting more and more seeds. Everyone's spacing out around you. It doesn't matter. Keep your eyes open. I remember I was really thinking about that when Rinpoche was teaching until... I want to keep creating the causes to see this holy being life after life. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:34 Highlight the passage at 1:31:34

1:32:02 It works to the positive, too. These are age-old habits. That fear is good. That's an urgency. You can use that as an urgency. Don't just freak out. Yeah, you know, I've got to try again, I've got to try harder, you know. I mean, if you were having a hard time quitting smoking, you'd have the option, right? One, you could just go, oh, forget it, I'm just going to give up. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:02 Highlight the passage at 1:32:02

1:32:24 And then the other is like, no, I've determined I'm going to quit. It may take me 50 years, I'm going to quit. And so this is the same. I'm going to quit seeing things that's inherently existent and believing in them. But I'm going to screw up. And that's okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:24 Highlight the passage at 1:32:24

1:32:42 Somebody else who's not in this quadrant. It's okay, all composite phenomena are independable. You can just put it out there. Right, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:42 Highlight the passage at 1:32:42

1:32:58 Any other questions? I know there's more questions. Yeah, Katia. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:58 Highlight the passage at 1:32:58

1:33:05 Kind of a random question, but actually I have two questions. One is, I think you said today that dependent arising and emptiness are two sides of the same coin. And I think I've heard in another teaching, or maybe even in something you said, that dependent arising can be a step. Understanding emptiness, so is dependent arising kind of like one tier below or is it two sides of the thing? It's a little more understandable I think is the thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:05 Highlight the passage at 1:33:05

1:33:32 I think we get really thrown off by emptiness and so Lama Tsongkhapa is saying why don't you start with trying to realize dependent arising because it's a little more understandable. We can kind of get it in that sense and then once we get it in that sense we can realize that Because something is a dependent arising, it can't have true existence. It kind of, you know what I mean? So it kind of like it helps us get to that understanding. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:32 Highlight the passage at 1:33:32

1:33:57 And so I think it must have worked for him. And so I think he was realizing that, hey, this is a great way to teach everybody else. It's like dependent arising plus impermanence. Right. Equals emptiness. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It is. I'm always trying to do that with various steps on the path, actually. With renunciation, I do that, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:57 Highlight the passage at 1:33:57

1:34:18 It's like, you know, renunciation equals this plus this plus this, you know. Okay, now I got some idea what renunciation is. Yeah, yeah. But another question is, is there any relationship between teachings on emptiness and on reincarnation? And if one is... I mean, Report an error in the passage at 1:34:18 Highlight the passage at 1:34:18

1:34:52 I actually feel like understanding something's emptiness doesn't depend so much on believing in reincarnation. You could still just think about it for the terms of this life. reincarnation then really would an understanding of emptiness do or be or is it worthwhile do you know what I mean well it you know well Report an error in the passage at 1:34:52 Highlight the passage at 1:34:52

1:35:07 Think about it in terms of this life. I think one thing that an understanding of or any kind of belief in reincarnation, whether it's a strong belief or like I was talking about the kinds of doubt, you know, where you're doubting leading towards, you know, which is I guess kind of where I am. I have a pretty strong belief in karma and reincarnation, but obviously. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:07 Highlight the passage at 1:35:07

1:35:33 But I don't know. Obviously, but. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:33 Highlight the passage at 1:35:33

1:35:37 But, you know, I mean, I'm just a student on the path, too, you know, so it's like I haven't gained any genuine realizations. I just kind of keep plugging at it, you know. So this is just a method. It's not an end. But I think you can have an understanding of emptiness just in terms of the objects, including... Report an error in the passage at 1:35:37 Highlight the passage at 1:35:37

1:36:07 Your own body in this life alone. I just don't think it's probably as powerful because actually an understanding of reincarnation kind of helps you break down this sense of this truly existent I. You know, the idea that the subtle most, well actually, we're actually about to talk about that although I'm running out of time, but we're actually going to talk about the ways the four different schools see this I and one of the ways that Report an error in the passage at 1:36:07 Highlight the passage at 1:36:07

1:36:39 You know, so it's just talking about the different what goes from life to life, you know. And when you're examining that, it sort of gets you away from this idea that this life is all there is and that this I, you know, this one I identify as I, you know, this mind-body combination and the label slapped on it is all there is. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:39 Highlight the passage at 1:36:39

1:36:58 And so if I'm sort of thinking about the fact in the impermanence and death class we do this meditation where the mind and the body get subtler and subtler and then the subtle most mind is what then moves into the next body based upon the karma. And the fact that I have done that many times actually for me is quite liberating. I find that actually a better way to introduce death to people than... Report an error in the passage at 1:36:58 Highlight the passage at 1:36:58

1:37:26 Just thinking about the impermanence of all things, which has a sort of sadness about it, you know. So there's kind of, I think it gets closer to that idea of emptiness. I don't know. I mean, I would just keep examining it. I think that there is, I mean, if it can keep you from grasping onto something as truly existent, whether it's a relationship or a person or your sense of yourself and your inability to change or your ability to change, then... Report an error in the passage at 1:37:26 Highlight the passage at 1:37:26

1:37:54 I think that there could be great value in just this lifetime, even without going to the next life. But I think I'll see you in other lives. I think we've had other existences together. What's that? Ask me that again next lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:54 Highlight the passage at 1:37:54

1:38:16 What is the connection, if any, between present moment awareness, mindfulness and realizing emptiness? Can you use present moment awareness? Report an error in the passage at 1:38:16 Highlight the passage at 1:38:16

1:38:32 That's kind of like that awareness that David was talking about, I think. But you were also sort of talking about sort of the witness, I think, the observer. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:32 Highlight the passage at 1:38:32

1:38:43 I'm Report an error in the passage at 1:38:43 Highlight the passage at 1:38:43

1:38:48 not sure. Let me think about that one a little bit. I mean, I think obviously a lot of what we create as reality is getting way beyond this moment that we're in, right? So worrying about the... Future, crying about the past, neither of which exist anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:48 Highlight the passage at 1:38:48

1:39:15 A lot of our mental illness, you know, and it all is just a question of degree, is based on all these conceptual things about the past and future and stuff. So staying in the moment can definitely be profound in realizing that. But I think they're two different things. I mean, I think... The emptiness of objects and of things that we use and of things, identity and things like that, that's completely different than that present awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:15 Highlight the passage at 1:39:15

1:39:53 I have experienced as an athlete being so in the present moment that there was this connection with the people I was playing with. And there's no I. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:53 Highlight the passage at 1:39:53

1:40:15 But that's not what you want in that meditation on the eye. You want to have that really roaring, ugly Alonzo that just chops up. Yeah. A nasty one. You want that nasty one. Okay. We have 11 minutes. Let me just touch on a little bit what the four schools think of as the eye, as the eye that actually does exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:15 Highlight the passage at 1:40:15

1:40:45 What goes from life to life, I should say. I'm going to touch on that really quick. So this false, okay, so we're talking about the actually existent I, how to say it? Report an error in the passage at 1:40:45 Highlight the passage at 1:40:45

1:41:02 Yeah, tenant systems, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:02 Highlight the passage at 1:41:02

1:41:07 Okay, so the false I... Um. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:07 Highlight the passage at 1:41:07

1:41:10 Is this thing that seems to be running and possessing the body, right? You know, the little crane operator. Sometimes called the man inside the machine, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:10 Highlight the passage at 1:41:10

1:41:24 The mere eye, Report an error in the passage at 1:41:24 Highlight the passage at 1:41:24

1:41:28 okay. The mere eye is what we're going to talk about the four different schools of philosophy. What they mean by the mere eye. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:28 Highlight the passage at 1:41:28

1:41:42 Mere, M-E-R-E, yeah. The false eye is basically these aggregates and this mere eye and this label. That's the false eye. So we make it, we elaborate. Rinpoche was using that a lot. Elaboration, elaboration, elaboration. We would elaborate. And actually he would say decorate. We decorate the mere eye with this other stuff, you know. And Lama Yeshe always uses the terms hallucinate. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:42 Highlight the passage at 1:41:42

1:42:19 We hallucinate other things. So it's interesting just to hear the way, because I think they've had this direct perception of emptiness. So when I listen to teachings from somebody who I think has actually experienced it, I like to listen to the words that they use, because I think we might understand it conceptually, but since we haven't realized it directly, we're dependent upon how somebody else describes it. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:19 Highlight the passage at 1:42:19

1:42:41 So I don't know that I would have used those terms until I heard them use it. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:41 Highlight the passage at 1:42:41

1:42:49 And the label. Yeah, the label. This is for the person. Okay, so the different, there are four different schools of philosophy, not to be confused with the four lineages that came out of Tibet, the main four lineages that came out of Tibet when Tibet fell. The four schools of philosophy, and there are a myriad of schools of philosophy. These are sort of the main four that they talk about. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:49 Highlight the passage at 1:42:49

1:43:21 The Saltranticas. And I used to just, my eyes used to just roll back in my head when people would talk about these schools. And I just thought it has nothing to do with my reality. And I finally began, actually I think it was at UNI, Gina, we were talking. It finally dawned on me that the reason that they teach these schools is that at some point all of us are holding on to one of these beliefs still. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:21 Highlight the passage at 1:43:21

1:43:45 And we're operating based on one of these beliefs. So they still teach these lower schools and the higher school because we want to get to the higher school, but it's much more subtle than most of us are at. You know, there's this thought, why don't we just teach the higher school, skip all the lower ones since they're not right anyway. So there's the Saltranticas, and the Saltranticas actually say that the mere I, or the one that goes through all the experiences, And moves on into another life. They say that it's just the aggregate of consciousness. That makes sense to me. I think I definitely, to some degree, have that belief still. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:45 Highlight the passage at 1:43:45

1:44:27 The Vyabashikas say it's all the aggregates. I mean, I don't quite get that one. I think it's because they have this subtle body that somehow must be able to go forward. Because how could it form? I could get it with all the aspects of the mind. But somehow the body must become so subtle that it's able to move forward as well. The chitta mantras or the mind only say that it's this thing called the primordial mind or the fundamental mind or the mind basis of all. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:27 Highlight the passage at 1:44:27

1:45:02 If that sounds familiar to anybody who's studied this, the mind basis of all. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:02 Highlight the passage at 1:45:02

1:45:08 And the high school, the Prazan Gika Mindyamikas. PMs, if you just want shorted. Because there's an SM too. We aren't going to get to them. Say that it's the subtle, subtle form of consciousness. So they aren't so far off from the Saltronticas actually, they're just saying it's the most subtle form. So it's not all of the minds. It's not all of our thoughts and memories and mental experiences and what we've learned in this life and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:08 Highlight the passage at 1:45:08

1:45:39 It's a very, very subtle aspect of mind. That when we die and our body, the form, you know, form aggregate, dissolves gradually. As we experience death, all of these aggregates, including all of our sense consciousnesses, cease. They all go from gross to more and more subtle. And then that subtle most mind, which is... Report an error in the passage at 1:45:39 Highlight the passage at 1:45:39

1:46:13 Is sort of released at that moment. And that based upon our karma, the karma that we've created, that subtle most mind moves into its next existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:13 Highlight the passage at 1:46:13

1:46:28 Or so we are taught. Whether we believe it at this point or not, this is just a teaching that we're examining. And that continuum, it's just this incredibly subtle mental continuum. That's changing from moment to moment to moment. So it's not something physical, you know, it's not Casper the Friendly Ghost, right? So it's not something, you know, something that pops out of us. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:28 Highlight the passage at 1:46:28

1:46:58 But it's this very, very subtle, almost energetic, almost just experience that moves into the next reincarnation. It does carry in some manner, because karma is a working of the mind, it does carry karmic imprints, but not like seeds. So it's not things that it's carrying from life to life in a little pouch. Because I had that image too for a while. There was some image, because everybody would always talk about seeds, and Geshe-la is quite... Report an error in the passage at 1:46:58 Highlight the passage at 1:46:58

1:47:33 Firm about that when he's because he now knows enough English to correct the translator. And if the translator says seeds, he always has no imprints. And I think it's because we can get that idea in our mind that that these seeds are somehow physical, like little apple seeds. That's the way they look for me. Right. Little kind of the kind of golden apple seeds. They get carried from life to life. So gradually, it's like all of our mental, all of our sense consciousnesses. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:33 Highlight the passage at 1:47:33

1:48:04 Decrease or become more and more subtle and our mental consciousness also dissolves and then it's this little very, very subtle mind that is then released and that moves into the intermediate state and then based upon our karma it takes rebirth in whatever form we've created the karma to have. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:04 Highlight the passage at 1:48:04

1:48:28 And so it's just this sort of continuum. It's like this continuum of mental experiences. We have the same continuum from life to life, but of course we're not the same. So we're not Eleanor. We're not, you know, Alonzo. We're not David in the same life. We're not me in that life. It's the same subtle, very, very subtle continuum that's moving from life to life to life. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:28 Highlight the passage at 1:48:28

1:48:56 So who is it that creates the karmic causes and carries it? That's this mere I. You know, that's the subtle, according to the high school, that's the subtle continuum of the mental consciousness. The false I, the one that doesn't exist, is this mere I on top of the aggregates, on top of the label or concepts that we plaster on top, that we hallucinate or that we elaborate or that we decorate on top of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:56 Highlight the passage at 1:48:56

1:49:23 But it's this mere I. The subtle, subtle consciousness and the aggregates and then we layer it with all these other things that we think I am. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:23 Highlight the passage at 1:49:23

1:49:37 In the Heart Sūtra, the Heart Sūtra as a whole carries the whole path in it. And so in that section where every time he says Sharaputra's name, he's actually bumping us to another level on the path. And it contains... All the instructions for that path to meditate on emptiness. So the first, when he talks about the emptiness of the five aggregates, you know, emptiness, there's no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:37 Highlight the passage at 1:49:37

1:50:10 That's the instruction for meditation on emptiness on the path of accumulation. Just the five aggregates. That could keep us busy for a while. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:10 Highlight the passage at 1:50:10

1:50:22 Then... Then the next level is the self, and so then we're talking about what we call the self is just this concept laid on the basis of the aggregates, and that's the level of meditation on emptiness for the path of preparation. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:22 Highlight the passage at 1:50:22

1:50:39 Then when we have a direct perception of emptiness, it's actually on the emptiness of the self, me, I. It's not on the emptiness of the cup or on the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:39 Highlight the passage at 1:50:39

1:50:53 That's the path of seeing. So when we have that direct perception of emptiness, at least in the Galupa tradition, it's the emptiness of the self. That's what's going to get it. That's what's going to cut, like Manjushri's sword, that's what's going to cut our ignorance about how things actually exist, is the emptiness of the self. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:53 Highlight the passage at 1:50:53

1:51:12 We have to realize, of course, that everything is empty of existence. But what's going to do it for us? What's going to get us into the path of seeing is the realization of the emptiness of the self. Then you keep meditating on the emptiness of everything. You can then apply, once you've had the direct experience of the emptiness of the self of inherent existence, that's the key word that's missing, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:12 Highlight the passage at 1:51:12

1:51:38 In emptiness there is no form, there's no inherently existent form, there's no inherently existent feeling and so forth. We have to keep meditating on it over and over and over and that's the path of meditation. That's the fourth path. And then ultimately we've gone beyond. We've reached the path of no more learning or enlightenment and that's when we recite the mantra. So it's carrying you in that one section. You're going through all the five paths and then when you hit the mantra that's when you are hitting enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:38 Highlight the passage at 1:51:38

1:52:12 So when we're meditating on all of those Things in detail, we should remember where they are sort of on the path too. And go in order, you know, don't just skip. If you look at the Heart Sūtra and it's more intriguing to you to meditate on, you know, there's no eye or ear, you know, don't do that. Like start with form, you know, because the Buddha put them in that order for a reason. He spoke them in that order for a reason. So when we're meditating on them. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:12 Highlight the passage at 1:52:12

1:52:47 To go in order, because there's a reason that they're put in order. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:47 Highlight the passage at 1:52:47

1:52:54 I also wanted to just toss out there, I went to see Zongsar Kenshi Rinpoche. I don't know if people are familiar with him. He's this sort of wild Lama. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:54 Highlight the passage at 1:52:54

1:53:07 He's actually from the Rimei tradition, Kagyu, Nigma tradition sort of blended. But I went to a talk of his on emptiness, and he said, Lama the Report an error in the passage at 1:53:07 Highlight the passage at 1:53:07

1:53:19 I thought it was very interesting. He actually said two things. One I'll use as our dedication tonight. But one he said about the two biggest challenges. It was based on a question somebody asked him. The two biggest challenges on the Buddhist path, especially studying emptiness. He said the philosophy of reality is difficult to comprehend. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:19 Highlight the passage at 1:53:19

1:53:38 So you have to study, read and ask questions. And then he said actual reality is so simple, too simple. It's so difficult to trust. This one is more difficult. You can't read books to get it. The more questions you ask, the more confused you become. The solution to this is merit. With enough merit, even the sound of a baby crying will cause you to think, ah, that's how it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:38 Highlight the passage at 1:53:38

1:54:06 The whole world will think you're an idiot, but who cares? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:06 Highlight the passage at 1:54:06

1:54:14 So your meditation this week is going to be on doing this four-point analysis, you know, the best way you can. I wanted to lead you guys through it, but we just kind of ran out of time. So I just want to dedicate, so that people can leave on time, I'm going to dedicate the way he dedicated that night, based on saying that. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:14 Highlight the passage at 1:54:14

1:54:35 He said, I pray that you have the merit to have the right curiosity at the right time on your path to directly realizing emptiness. And I pray that you have the merit so that all your questions will not be answered because many times once you get one answer, you will not keep seeking. Let's dedicate tonight's class to continuing to seek. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:35 Highlight the passage at 1:54:35

1:55:01 May any merit that we've just created in this two hours of discussing and analyzing and trying to understand emptiness become the cause of each of us. Understanding emptiness a little more, a little more. A little more until we are able to directly perceive emptiness, to have that experience so that we can get enlightened for the benefit of all living beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:01 Highlight the passage at 1:55:01

1:55:30 And as Rinpoche always says, by the way, get really, really happy ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:30 Highlight the passage at 1:55:30

1:55:39 Okay, thanks. If people have questions, that's okay. You can stay. I just wanted to make it possible for people to leave on time. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:39 Highlight the passage at 1:55:39

1:55:51 Did you have a question? Yeah, it's okay. I mean, I can't say that I can answer it. Oh, there is. Thanks. Plant in the back. Just one front and back. Oh, thank you. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. Exactly. There's exactly enough. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:51 Highlight the passage at 1:55:51

1:56:22 David? So when you're talking about in the tenant schools and you're putting that in the context of the conventional versus ultimate reality, So you're framing that in terms of reincarnation and continuity of mind or what's peeling or dissolving. So in the Vabashaka school, when they're looking at, you know, in terms of conventional reality, you know, and the cup, and we're labeling it as such, there's some point when beyond the labeling, there's still a posit of an inherent aspect of cup itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:22 Highlight the passage at 1:56:22

1:57:02 They never really address emptiness. Per se, you know, the inherent emptiness of the components that create the cup itself. So when you're saying, like, they're talking about just the aggregates, in terms of, like, that continuity of consciousness or an ultimate reality, they're positing that beyond in the aggregates, there's the part that's, there is continuity, that that's a level of consciousness that... Report an error in the passage at 1:57:02 Highlight the passage at 1:57:02

1:57:36 itself not Report an error in the passage at 1:57:36 Highlight the passage at 1:57:36

1:57:42 when you look at this Santranika, you're talking about it's just the aggregates of consciousness versus the aggregates themselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:42 Highlight the passage at 1:57:42

1:57:53 Because the Foshbitions never really talk about... It's almost like they get a little bit nihilistic actually because then they think There's no concept of if something doesn't exist inherently. There is always a level in the lower school thinking that there is something that exists inherently. And that's true for all three of the lower schools actually. It's just a question of what. But there's always something that exists inherently. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:53 Highlight the passage at 1:57:53

1:58:30 I mean, it's only the higher school that's just like, no, absolutely, there's not even, there's nothing that exists inherently. And then when they debate, it's like they get kind of flipped out, because it's just like, well, wait a second, if there's nothing, which is us, right? I mean, there's a reason that we study that, because to some degree, somebody is still holding on to something that exists inherently. It's almost like in physics, you know, when you're looking at a certain level of conventional... Report an error in the passage at 1:58:30 Highlight the passage at 1:58:30

1:58:58 physics, you know, that we're dealing with. Well, we have these electrons and we have these, you know, Right. Right. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:58 Highlight the passage at 1:58:58

1:59:17 Right. Right. but at some point then those are Report an error in the passage at 1:59:17 Highlight the passage at 1:59:17

1:59:10 If you're going to, at the point with the Madumikas, you're looking at, you start getting into locality. that's a potentiality, it's not a particle itself. that's inherently dependent on its relationship with something else. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:10 Highlight the passage at 1:59:10

1:59:26 Right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:26 Highlight the passage at 1:59:26

1:59:33 Yeah, yeah. I don't know. Are we still recording? Why not? Report an error in the passage at 1:59:33 Highlight the passage at 1:59:33

1:59:41 So my question is more about, you said there's two ways to, on how things, how phenomenon exists in the eye. There's a little bit of a separation. Right. And we talk a lot about causes and conditions, thus saying karma. I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. You know, if you look at kind of this rug. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:41 Highlight the passage at 1:59:41

2:00:00 Right. A lot of beings were involved in this rug. Everything from the colors, the dyes, the shipping, kind of your meditation. Yeah. So technically, there's two aspects that I'm curious about. One is I have the karma to label this as a rug, see that, you know, hey, it just shows up here. It's not tied to the Turkish person who made it. Right, right. But at the same point. Or village or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:00 Highlight the passage at 2:00:00

2:00:27 in this collective karma way Their causes and conditions created the rug in a way. They were involved in the causes and conditions that created this rug. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:27 Highlight the passage at 2:00:27

2:00:41 Does that make sense? Are the two not tied? You mean the people that were created? Right. Because if you say the object has no karma, but there's causes and conditions, which is why. There are causes and conditions that cause me, my mind, to perceive it in a certain way. Right. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:41 Highlight the passage at 2:00:41

2:01:03 The rug doesn't have its own, that's what I meant when I said, we're sort of referring to an email, when I said that the rug doesn't have karma. But due to my karma, my perception is affected on how I perceive that rug. Whether I perceive its interdependence, or its dependent arising, or whether I just perceive it as a rug that exists for me to walk on and isn't it pretty, is also my karma. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:03 Highlight the passage at 2:01:03

2:01:33 is the collective So like you seeing it as a rug and me seeing it as a rug and Katya seeing it as a rug like that? Report an error in the passage at 2:01:33 Highlight the passage at 2:01:33

2:01:46 But are we ever attending the same rug? Yeah. To some degree we are. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That's when we're going to get into that with the labels and like what makes a valid base. Yeah. And I mean to some degree there is collective karma. And so we have to talk about collective karma, but then in some degree there is like what makes something a valid base for this concept or label cup or rug or man or woman, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:46 Highlight the passage at 2:01:46

2:02:21 And of course that can be played with as well in our culture. Like suddenly someone will invent something that's... A new cup and it doesn't look like a cup to us and things like that. There's some cultural aspect of it and then there's also some collective karma aspect of it. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:21 Highlight the passage at 2:02:21

2:02:41 We should watch that on our final retreat day. I haven't watched it in years. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:41 Highlight the passage at 2:02:41

2:02:55 Correct, yes. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:55 Highlight the passage at 2:02:55

2:03:05 right, right. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:05 Highlight the passage at 2:03:05

2:03:28 Right, right. Those two seem Yeah. And then if you Report an error in the passage at 2:03:28 Highlight the passage at 2:03:28

2:03:47 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:47 Highlight the passage at 2:03:47

2:03:53 No, actually there's more. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:53 Highlight the passage at 2:03:53

2:03:58 Yeah, I mean, I think partly it is the karma of, I mean, it was obviously his karma that that Coke bottle fell out of the sky in front of him. Right. Because, I mean, I can't believe in the history of Coke that more than one hasn't fallen in front of somebody, but perhaps they didn't have the karma to even. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:58 Highlight the passage at 2:03:58

2:04:20 see it as anything maybe they were just like oh my god you know I'm scared you know things are falling from the sky and so they didn't have this whole experience of like wow you know this is beautiful or this is useful or you know whatever so there's karma involved in all the way around Karma plays a Report an error in the passage at 2:04:20 Highlight the passage at 2:04:20

2:04:47 role in that too. Because karma isn't destiny. He has created a certain amount of karma. That karma could suddenly shift and he suddenly has a different relationship with that bottle. Just like our karma for seeing this as a glass of water could suddenly shift. Literally from the time you come in with your cup of tea, you sit down, you meditate on emptiness, you have a direct perception of emptiness. Remember it can take as little as 20 minutes if you put everything into it. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:47 Highlight the passage at 2:04:47

2:05:21 And then you get up again and you look at this and it's completely different. Doesn't mean it's turned into nectar, but it's changed. Your perception of that liquid has changed in 20 minutes. Of course the same thing can happen if I die, right? I can sit down with my cup of tea and then keel over, and if I have a sudden rebirth as an insect, maybe I don't have the greatest of karma, then... Report an error in the passage at 2:05:21 Highlight the passage at 2:05:21

2:05:51 It can be the exact same cup of tea that I sat down in front of me before I sat down to meditate and then I had a heart attack and then I had really negative karma and so I just suddenly reincarnated as a roach. I guess I'd be a little egg for a little bit. It could be somewhat sudden that that same cup of tea could have a different perception to me. And they say it's not like... Report an error in the passage at 2:05:51 Highlight the passage at 2:05:51

2:06:16 Me being a dog, being in a dog's body is just the karma. My karma shifts for what these limbs look like to me. My perception of them. It's not like I enter a dog's body. It's not like the inherently existent I enters this dog's body. I suddenly perceive of my body as a dog's body and that's all that happens when we die. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:16 Highlight the passage at 2:06:16

2:06:41 It is interesting. David's still, he's insisting on that. That mic. That's it, folks. We're closing out. This is the roadie. Hired to be the roadie. When you look at karma and the experience of object, it's just as we perceive ourselves and there's that process of naming and labeling. I think a lot of that, if it rolls down all of a sudden... Report an error in the passage at 2:06:41 Highlight the passage at 2:06:41

2:07:10 And experiencing, we do that with all phenomenon, not just something physical that either becomes, it's a vessel for water or a weapon or a hammer or something like that. And it's the same way that we perceive things as inherently good or bad or whatnot. So part of the process of experiencing the emptiness of something is understanding that it's our process of labeling something to give it Some point of reference for us, how we label it, to put it into our reference of phenomenon around us, like all these composite phenomenon. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:10 Highlight the passage at 2:07:10

2:07:52 Just piggybacking on to that, it's kind of like what Marcella was saying, which I think she may have already laughed. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:52 Highlight the passage at 2:07:52

2:08:05 She was talking about when bad things happen, basically. that's Report an error in the passage at 2:08:05 Highlight the passage at 2:08:05

2:08:01 So. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:01 Highlight the passage at 2:08:01

2:08:08 The reason that Lojong works is because experiences are also empty of inherent existence. So that's when we do have the capacity or the ability to reframe things. So we can decide, this is happening anyway. I'm going to try to take what I can from this experience and use it on the path. The fact that we can do that is because if it had an inherent existence, it would always be bad. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:08 Highlight the passage at 2:08:08

2:08:42 It would always be bad, which of course is the way we were many lifetimes, but it doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to be. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:42 Highlight the passage at 2:08:42

2:08:56 There's lots of room for, even before we get enlightened, there's lots of room. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:56 Highlight the passage at 2:08:56

2:09:03 Can we will ourselves to see that as nectar? No, we don't have the karma. And that's where I keep coming back to karma, because we have to create the karma to actually perceive it as nectar. We can pretend, but that's not the same thing. We can pretend that that drill is... You know, the dentist is something delightful and wonderful, but we can't make it, we can't force ourselves to experience it like that unless we have crazy. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:03 Highlight the passage at 2:09:03

2:09:53 things where someone else would just be Report an error in the passage at 2:09:53 Highlight the passage at 2:09:53