Discovering Buddhism - The Wisdom of Emptiness (5 May 2011)

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:22 I have Report an error in the passage at 1:22 Highlight the passage at 1:22

1:27 a ton of them to make sure I don't start coughing, but I don't think I will. I think my cold's a lot better. So Report an error in the passage at 1:27 Highlight the passage at 1:27

1:40 welcome back for another round. Report an error in the passage at 1:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40

2:08 Yeah, let's do it. Report an error in the passage at 2:08 Highlight the passage at 2:08

2:23 Yeah, because you even thought about changing the name. Geshe Loish just sits there and goes, until it's turned on. You're trying to find it really fast. I know. Then he's like, yeah, okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:23 Highlight the passage at 2:23

2:43 It is very loud. Is it too loud? I'll do that really horrible. You Report an error in the passage at 2:43 Highlight the passage at 2:43

2:54 can tell I feel better, huh? I don't know, I haven't said anything. People still hear me? Okay, Report an error in the passage at 2:54 Highlight the passage at 2:54

3:09 so we're going to start with a meditation. Report an error in the passage at 3:09 Highlight the passage at 3:09

3:13 I just led the drop-in meditation for the first time in almost a year, which is kind of fun. So I'm all warmed up. So I'm going to get you guys all warmed up. Report an error in the passage at 3:13 Highlight the passage at 3:13

3:30 I'm going to shake some nice deep belly breaths. Report an error in the passage at 3:30 Highlight the passage at 3:30

3:35 Let go of your day, let go of your week, almost at the end of the week, and Report an error in the passage at 3:35 Highlight the passage at 3:35

3:54 then try Report an error in the passage at 3:54 Highlight the passage at 3:54

3:58 to think about what your motivation is for tonight's class. Starting Report an error in the passage at 3:58 Highlight the passage at 3:58

4:11 with first-year-old and individual motivation, maybe to be happier, to be able to help, and then trying to expand that out to as many other living beings as possible. Report an error in the passage at 4:11 Highlight the passage at 4:11

4:30 Ultimately the broadest motivation is the Mahāyāna motivation to do whatever it is we're doing, whether it's... Doing this meditation or doing the class or cleaning the house, whatever it is, doing it with this mind, that it somehow helps me transform my mind so that I can get enlightened, so that I have the skills and capacity and methods to be able to help others perfectly. Report an error in the passage at 4:30 Highlight the passage at 4:30

5:21 Let me start with thinking about a neutral object, like Report an error in the passage at 5:21 Highlight the passage at 5:21

5:28 a spoon. Report an error in the passage at 5:28 Highlight the passage at 5:28

5:36 Visualize a spoon, any spoon at all. And Report an error in the passage at 5:36 Highlight the passage at 5:36

5:49 start investigating where in that object spoon abides, or the spoon-ness of that object. Report an error in the passage at 5:49 Highlight the passage at 5:49

6:06 So think about the form, the silver form, sort of a cylinder that we use for a handle, and Report an error in the passage at 6:06 Highlight the passage at 6:06

6:18 this sort of wide curved end that holds things. So Report an error in the passage at 6:18 Highlight the passage at 6:18

6:28 where is spoon in that shape, in that form? Report an error in the passage at 6:28 Highlight the passage at 6:28

6:46 If you're honest, you have to admit that even your mind's eye can only see parts. Report an error in the passage at 6:46 Highlight the passage at 6:46

6:58 We can see the shape, we can see the length of the handle, we can see some point of view of the curved end, but then our mind makes up the parts we can't see, the back of the handle, the bottom of the curve. Report an error in the passage at 6:58 Highlight the passage at 6:58

7:23 Where in this thing is spoon? Report an error in the passage at 7:23 Highlight the passage at 7:23

7:35 Is an inherently existent spoon? Would anyone think it was a spoon? Imagine Report an error in the passage at 7:35 Highlight the passage at 7:35

7:47 a dog or an insect or somebody who comes from a culture that has no spoons looking at it. Would they see it plainly as a spoon, the way we do? Report an error in the passage at 7:47 Highlight the passage at 7:47

8:18 Imagine it blasting apart in all of its tiniest parts, the shape, the handle, the curved end and all the parts inside that make it, all the atomic particles. Report an error in the passage at 8:18 Highlight the passage at 8:18

8:32 All coming in front of you in a little pile. Nothing missing. All of its parts are there. Is it still a spoon? Report an error in the passage at 8:32 Highlight the passage at 8:32

9:05 Think again about this thing we call body. We Report an error in the passage at 9:05 Highlight the passage at 9:05

9:14 have such ideas about our own body, my body. We Report an error in the passage at 9:14 Highlight the passage at 9:14

9:26 either run it into the ground or we pamper it to death. Report an error in the passage at 9:26 Highlight the passage at 9:26

9:32 But where is this thing called body? Report an error in the passage at 9:32 Highlight the passage at 9:32

9:39 Where is bodiness residing in this thing called body? Report an error in the passage at 9:39 Highlight the passage at 9:39

9:54 Is it in the head, the Report an error in the passage at 9:54 Highlight the passage at 9:54

9:59 torso, the heart, the Report an error in the passage at 9:59 Highlight the passage at 9:59

10:08 limbs? Report an error in the passage at 10:08 Highlight the passage at 10:08

10:15 And to what do we hang this concept body? Report an error in the passage at 10:15 Highlight the passage at 10:15

10:25 And if I lose my legs and arms, is it still a body? If Report an error in the passage at 10:25 Highlight the passage at 10:25

10:41 I lose any part, is it still a body? Report an error in the passage at 10:41 Highlight the passage at 10:41

11:03 So imagine all of the parts of your body dissolving and coming to rest in just a little pile in front of you, nothing missing, all the parts there. Is Report an error in the passage at 11:03 Highlight the passage at 11:03

11:23 it still a body? Report an error in the passage at 11:23 Highlight the passage at 11:23

11:28 Where is the body? From Report an error in the passage at 11:28 Highlight the passage at 11:28

11:49 a Buddhist point of view, not only our cells are recycled, but our bodies are recycled. The Report an error in the passage at 11:49 Highlight the passage at 11:49

12:00 entire identity is recycled. When Report an error in the passage at 12:00 Highlight the passage at 12:00

12:09 you die, you're reborn. This life you might be male, next life female. This Report an error in the passage at 12:09 Highlight the passage at 12:09

12:19 life black, next life white. Report an error in the passage at 12:19 Highlight the passage at 12:19

12:24 This life dog, next life cat. The Report an error in the passage at 12:24 Highlight the passage at 12:24

12:33 subtle most mind simply manifests. manifests into another form and environment based on whatever karma we've managed to collect. Report an error in the passage at 12:33 Highlight the passage at 12:33

12:45 So think about Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

12:56 something you really strongly identify with, whether Report an error in the passage at 12:56 Highlight the passage at 12:56

13:04 it's being male or female, whatever Report an error in the passage at 13:04 Highlight the passage at 13:04

13:09 race you are, whatever ethnicity you are, whatever languages you speak, whatever knowledge you have. Report an error in the passage at 13:09 Highlight the passage at 13:09

13:21 Next life, it could be all completely different. Report an error in the passage at 13:21 Highlight the passage at 13:21

13:27 So what do we hold so strongly to? Report an error in the passage at 13:27 Highlight the passage at 13:27

13:48 So visualize all those things that we've been examining, the spoon, the pen, the book, the flower that we dissected last week, your cup, your body, even your identity. Imagine Report an error in the passage at 13:48 Highlight the passage at 13:48

14:15 them all just breaking up into tiny particles and dissolving out into space and just let go. Just Report an error in the passage at 14:15 Highlight the passage at 14:15

14:44 for a moment, feel the bliss of letting go of everything we hold onto so tightly. Report an error in the passage at 14:44 Highlight the passage at 14:44

15:02 from the center of that space. Report an error in the passage at 15:02 Highlight the passage at 15:02

15:07 your body again. Report an error in the passage at 15:07 Highlight the passage at 15:07

15:15 mind filled with all your thoughts and beliefs. Report an error in the passage at 15:15 Highlight the passage at 15:15

15:21 your pen and books in front of you. Report an error in the passage at 15:21 Highlight the passage at 15:21

15:36 As you're ready, you can end your meditation. we'll start with Holiness's opening prayer. then the heart sūtra. Report an error in the passage at 15:36 Highlight the passage at 15:36

15:51 I need a copy of the gold. Report an error in the passage at 15:51 Highlight the passage at 15:51

16:03 229. 229 is the prayer to generate bodhicitta. With Report an error in the passage at 16:03 Highlight the passage at 16:03

16:19 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 16:19 Highlight the passage at 16:19

16:53 And then on page 76, I think, is that right? Report an error in the passage at 16:53 Highlight the passage at 16:53

17:07 Under the Heart Sūtra. Report an error in the passage at 17:07 Highlight the passage at 17:07

17:11 I prostrate to the Arya Triple Gem. Thus did I hear at one time the Bhagavan was dwelling on Massa Vulture's mountain in Rajgiriya. 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 17:11 Highlight the passage at 17:11

17:34 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 Sharaputra said this to the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara, 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 17:34 Highlight the passage at 17:34

18:05 He said that, and the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara said this to the Venerable Sharaputra. Shariputra, any son of the lineage or daughter of the lineage who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection 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 18:05 Highlight the passage at 18:05

18:30 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, not fulfilled. Report an error in the passage at 18:30 Highlight the passage at 18:30

19:00 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 phenomena. There is no I element and so on up to and including no mind element and no mental consciousness element. Report an error in the passage at 19:00 Highlight the passage at 19:00

19:30 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 19:30 Highlight the passage at 19:30

19:59 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. Report an error in the passage at 19:59 Highlight the passage at 19:59

20:26 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. The mantra of perfection of wisdom is declared. Report an error in the passage at 20:26 Highlight the passage at 20:26

20:46 Sariputra, the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva should train in the profound perfection of wisdom like that. Declared. Report an error in the passage at 20:46 Highlight the passage at 20:46

20:52 Then the Bhagavan arose from that concentration and commended the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara saying, Well said, well said, son of the lineage. 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. Report an error in the passage at 20:52 Highlight the passage at 20:52

21:13 The Bhagavan having thus spoken, the Venerable Sharad Bhattiputra, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara. 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. The Report an error in the passage at 21:13 Highlight the passage at 21:13

21:36 cool sūtra. It's all there. We only have to study it now for the next seven lifetimes. Report an error in the passage at 21:36 Highlight the passage at 21:36

21:49 What's happening? I was going to say that actually. So why don't you guys pull cushions up. When you miss a class, For my Discovering Buddhism classes anyway, I don't know that all teachers are like this. Definitely I wouldn't try Geshe-la on this one. But ask me and I will send you the notes that I use to teach the class. Report an error in the passage at 21:49 Highlight the passage at 21:49

22:31 So if you miss a class, then I can send you the notes that I teach, which are actually more inclusive than what I ever get spoken, and the homework for the class that you miss. So that at least if you miss, then that kind of keeps you on the same page and you know what we intended to talk about. Report an error in the passage at 22:31 Highlight the passage at 22:31