Discovering Buddhism - The Wisdom of Emptiness (19 May 2011)

· · · silence, 6 minutes

6:22 I do everything. All right, so we'll just start with a little motivation and then Report an error in the passage at 6:22 Highlight the passage at 6:22

6:32 do the opening part. Report an error in the passage at 6:32 Highlight the passage at 6:32

6:37 Just kind of find your posture, let yourself connect with your cushion, your chair, and most importantly, extend your spine. You can really imagine it as a tube of light going right in front of your spinal cord and right through the crown of your head, Report an error in the passage at 6:37 Highlight the passage at 6:37

7:15 settled around that. Report an error in the passage at 7:15 Highlight the passage at 7:15

7:21 If you're tired or you have a lot of stress in your shoulders and neck, you could take a moment to stretch your neck and shoulders a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 7:21 Highlight the passage at 7:21

7:35 I think a good way to start any meditation is to kind of do a quick body scan and see where you're holding some tension. Try to let your body arrive and Report an error in the passage at 7:35 Highlight the passage at 7:35

7:50 then take some nice deep belly breaths and use that breathing process to cleanse your mind of all your distractions from your day. Report an error in the passage at 7:50 Highlight the passage at 7:50

8:00 All the clutter of our mind. Report an error in the passage at 8:00 Highlight the passage at 8:00

8:31 And since we're going to do some breathing meditation at the end of class this time, we're going to just start right now with a motivation for the class. It's our final class. Nine weeks just went like that. Report an error in the passage at 8:31 Highlight the passage at 8:31

8:52 So may whatever you learn tonight or whatever becomes clearer tonight or whatever inspirations form in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 8:52 Highlight the passage at 8:52

9:06 May they become the seeds that lead you directly to your own perception of emptiness, direct perception of emptiness. As Geshe-la talked about last night, there are many forms of having realizations of emptiness, and we need all of them, but the one that we're shooting for is a direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 9:06 Highlight the passage at 9:06

9:26 And then may that then become the stepping stone to gaining enlightenment, so that you have the perfect capacity and the perfect tools and methods to be able to. help every living being exception. Report an error in the passage at 9:26 Highlight the passage at 9:26

9:58 prayer on page 229. With Report an error in the passage at 9:58 Highlight the passage at 9:58

10:13 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 10:13 Highlight the passage at 10:13

10:46 And we'll do the Heart Sūtra on page 76. Report an error in the passage at 10:46 Highlight the passage at 10:46

10:52 I Report an error in the passage at 10:52 Highlight the passage at 10:52

10:57 prostrate to the aria, triple gem. Thus did I hear at one time the Bhagavan was dwelling on Massive Vultures 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. Also at that time, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokadishvara looked upon the very practice of the profound perfection of wisdom and beheld those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature. Report an error in the passage at 10:57 Highlight the passage at 10:57

11:32 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? He said that and the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara said this to the Venerable Sharadvati Putra. Report an error in the passage at 11:32 Highlight the passage at 11:32

11:57 Sharaputra, 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. Form is empty, emptiness is form, emptiness is not other than form, form is also not other than emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 11:57 Highlight the passage at 11:57

12:22 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, deficient and not fulfilled. Sharaputra, therefore, in emptiness there is no form. Report an error in the passage at 12:22 Highlight the passage at 12:22

12:45 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 I element and so on, up to and including no mind element and no mental consciousness element. 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. Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

13:20 Similarly, there is no suffering, origination, cessation and path. There is no exalted wisdom, no attainment and also no non-attainment. Chariputra, therefore, because there is no attainment, bodhisattvas rely on and dwell in the perfection of wisdom, 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. Report an error in the passage at 13:20 Highlight the passage at 13:20

14:00 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. The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is declared. Thayata om gate gate paragate parasam gate bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 14:00 Highlight the passage at 14:00

14:26 Sharaputra, the bodhisattva, mahasattva should train in the profound perfection of wisdom like that. Then the Bhagavan arose from that concentration and commended the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Arya, Avalo, Kiddushvara, 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 14:26 Highlight the passage at 14:26

14:52 The Bhagavan having thus spoken. The Venerable Sarvatiputra, the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Arya Avalokadishvara, and those surrounding in their entirety, along with the world of God's humans, Asuras and Gandharvas, were overjoyed and highly praised that spoken by the Bhagavan. Report an error in the passage at 14:52 Highlight the passage at 14:52

15:18 All right, we're going to leap in because we have quite a bit to cover, but I'll stop in a couple of places and open up for questions. Report an error in the passage at 15:18 Highlight the passage at 15:18

15:30 So one of the things we're going to talk about tonight is... Meditation is calm abiding meditation. And obviously we can only give it so much. It'll be a brief introduction to calm abiding meditation. But hopefully it'll give you some tools if you want to get started now if you're not already. And it is good to study it in more detail. But I think any class on emptiness needs to include the tools to develop it in your meditation practice as well. Report an error in the passage at 15:30 Highlight the passage at 15:30

16:01 But before we do that, I wanted to touch on purification and accumulating merit a little bit. So remember back at the beginning of the class when I said that there was, I gave you guys a list of seven steps that you should take if you really want to directly perceive emptiness in this life. Report an error in the passage at 16:01 Highlight the passage at 16:01

16:21 And it started with the very first thing on the list was to collect. Positive karma or merit, to collect lots of merit and also to purify negative karma. A lot, you know, we have to do it all the time. And so we'll talk about those two things directly tonight a little bit. But then the second step was to find a qualified teacher. Anybody remember that one? Geshe-Laz mentioned that both last week and this week. Report an error in the passage at 16:21 Highlight the passage at 16:21

16:50 Class is doing on Wednesday night, which is on the emptiness chapter of Shantideva's Guide to a Bodhisattva's Way of Life. Finding a truly qualified teacher is essential if you want to directly perceive emptiness. We can get so far in books in terms of our understanding of emptiness, but we're never going to directly perceive emptiness if we don't have a qualified teacher to help us out. Report an error in the passage at 16:50 Highlight the passage at 16:50

17:14 That's one of the things to keep an eye out for. If you are purifying and you are accumulating merit, it will happen. You don't have to put out an ad or anything like that. It will happen. Some people get really freaked. I've had student appointments where people are really freaked and they want to find their teacher. And it's just kind of like if you are preparing in all the other ways, then they will come. Report an error in the passage at 17:14 Highlight the passage at 17:14

17:38 You don't have to worry. You don't have to go anywhere. But if you find them and they happen to live somewhere else, it's probably good to follow. Number three, serve that teacher like crazy. Report an error in the passage at 17:38 Highlight the passage at 17:38

17:52 And serving that teacher like crazy has a lot of meanings, but Geshe-la says that basically serving a teacher means following their advice. So once we put in all that time to find them and they give us instruction on how to have this direct perception of emptiness or how to follow the path or whatever, it's really good to... Report an error in the passage at 17:52 Highlight the passage at 17:52

18:11 Follow their advice as much as we can. And it also is a great source of accumulating merit. Helping or serving a Dharma center or some other Dharma project or monastery is also either with your money or your sweat. Report an error in the passage at 18:11 Highlight the passage at 18:11

18:32 That creates an enormous amount of merit. Helping the Dharma. Helping people, period. So just plain old ordinary good karma. Whether it's your neighbors or your – come on in, Ella. We saved you a seat. That was a bit of a lie, I suppose, but it has your name on it. Report an error in the passage at 18:32 Highlight the passage at 18:32

18:56 Whether it's your neighbors or whether it's in a soup kitchen or some other volunteer work that you do, it doesn't have to be Dharma related. It's just plain old ordinary good karma is good. Study, study, study, study. Studying about emptiness, about dependent arising. As one of my teachers said, you need to put in at least a thousand hours of... Report an error in the passage at 18:56 Highlight the passage at 18:56

19:16 Serious study of emptiness in order to ever have a direct perception of emptiness. Because we arrive at that non-conceptual realization through our conceptual mind. So we have to do that. So that's all of the lineage of the wisdom line. All the big guys. Nagarjuna, Dharmakirti, Chantrakirti, Lama Tsongkhapa and the rest. Report an error in the passage at 19:16 Highlight the passage at 19:16

19:39 Taking real time to study them. And if you want to know a really great course, the Wednesday night class is going to be on fire. So, I mean, he's going 150 miles an hour and we're only on the second stanza. But he's just covering so much. And it just feels like we've finally given Geshe-la a voice. I mean, after 10 years, 11 years, we finally have a translator who can keep up with them, and it's an amazing thing to see. Report an error in the passage at 19:39 Highlight the passage at 19:39

20:10 It is quite advanced. I think all of you guys who have been coming for Liza, I was really happy to see you here last night, but I was like, whoa, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 20:10 Highlight the passage at 20:10

20:19 I mean, I think you guys have had a beginning that a lot of people in that room haven't had by taking this class, but he's definitely, you know, he's not. Beating around the bush, he's going straight for some of the more advanced teachings right at the very beginning. But it's really quite incredible. Report an error in the passage at 20:19 Highlight the passage at 20:19

20:42 Maybe at some point someone will transcribe it and make it into a book. But it's amazing to see. I'm typing at top speed. There's never any down time. I'm just typing, typing, typing every word I can get out of his mouth and I'm still missing some. Report an error in the passage at 20:42 Highlight the passage at 20:42

20:58 And he gave us homework last night, too. And he just kept giving us additional questions, like a number seven. I'm like typing it all down. Everybody's like, can I get those from you later? Five people come up afterwards. I'm like, you guys. Report an error in the passage at 20:58 Highlight the passage at 20:58

21:18 And so remember the three are. Listening, contemplation and meditation. So studying is part of listening, attending classes, downloading teachings like that and then contemplating those teachings and that's the one we always tend to leave out, right? We just listen to them over and over but we don't take it to the next step or we just listen to a new one, right? I heard that one, done with that, you know, ready to move on to the next one and we never do the contemplation step so making time to contemplate this stuff, letting it sink in. Report an error in the passage at 21:18 Highlight the passage at 21:18

21:50 And then obviously meditating on it. So meditating, meditating, meditating. And we have to do both kinds of meditation, the analytical meditations that you've been doing and then also this type of meditation that we're going to talk about tonight, which is calm abiding or shine, which is a really highly developed single point of concentration meditation. Report an error in the passage at 21:50 Highlight the passage at 21:50

22:14 I am more drawn to analytical meditation, karmically speaking. Some people are more drawn to single-pointed concentration. I used to sort of just think, oh, that isn't for me. I would sort of let everybody else in the room listen and think it was for them. um i think All of it is for all of us. And so it doesn't matter which one you're drawn to. We need to practice both because we need both. Report an error in the passage at 22:14 Highlight the passage at 22:14

22:39 And so just making a little bit of time, even if it's not that long every day, to focus on just trying to strengthen your concentration is really, really important because none of the rest of the Lamrim is even going to make a difference if we can't stay focused on the book we're on or the teacher's explanation of something. Report an error in the passage at 22:39 Highlight the passage at 22:39

22:59 We need a basic amount of concentration before we can go anywhere, do anything. So we have to learn to meditate deeply in order to ever expect to have a direct perception of emptiness. Absolutely. As Tenson Chokyi always says, non-negotiable. It's non-negotiable. Whoa, okay. And if you think about it, if you look at this list of seven things, it's also... Report an error in the passage at 22:59 Highlight the passage at 22:59

23:26 It all kind of flows out of collecting merit and purifying negative karma because every single one of them does that. So finding and serving a spiritual teacher is amazing good karma. Of course, you're also purifying to the nth degree. Take it from one who has tried really hard to serve Rinpoche and working at a Dharma center is amazing purification. Report an error in the passage at 23:26 Highlight the passage at 23:26

23:50 Not always comfy. be and Serving a Dharma center in any way, even volunteering, can also bring up purification stuff, but you're also creating great, great merit. So I know when I was talking to Jen when she was moving out, she was saying that sometimes it's just easier to be able to attend the teachings of the Dharma center, right, rather than living here. Report an error in the passage at 23:50 Highlight the passage at 23:50

24:16 And it's like, yeah, but those guys are just burning off all their good karma. When you're working here, you're actually making some too. So it's like we have to remember that when we're attending classes, we're just using up that good karma unless we're remembering to dedicate well. Report an error in the passage at 24:16 Highlight the passage at 24:16

24:33 And anytime we're helping people in any way, we're gaining good karma. And then anytime we're studying, especially emptiness, contemplating emptiness and meditating emptiness, we're purifying a lot. um, Report an error in the passage at 24:33 Highlight the passage at 24:33

24:46 Which is why those are actually ways that the Buddha taught us when we're talking about purification practices. If you remember those lists like from Vajrasapha and the 35 Buddhas, that's actually a way to purify. So if we've done something that we regret, meditating on emptiness is actually really the most powerful way. Because that's what's going to slice the ignorance that got us there in the first place. Report an error in the passage at 24:46 Highlight the passage at 24:46

25:08 So meditating on emptiness is amazing purification. The good news is... Once we generate actual bodhicitta and once we have a direct perception of emptiness, it gets much easier and increases the rate of our purification and our accumulation of merit exponentially, especially once we have generated actual bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 25:08 Highlight the passage at 25:08

25:34 We're just accumulating merit day and night, which is pretty cool. That's one of my favorite things about it. But there are actual traditional practices that are taught to do this too. And so I just wanted to put a little bit out there. Can't spend that much time on it, but water bowl practice. You might notice these attractive little bowls of yellow liquid that are up here. I'm not sure how many of you are already familiar with them, but this practice is an accumulation of merit practice. Report an error in the passage at 25:34 Highlight the passage at 25:34

26:05 It involves visualization, it involves mantras and things like that. It's not just filling the bowls. So that offering is any kind of offering on your altar or the altars here is a merit-making practice. Report an error in the passage at 26:05 Highlight the passage at 26:05

26:23 And especially in this class, light offerings is really big. And the reason is because light always represents wisdom and the clearing away of darkness or ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 26:23 Highlight the passage at 26:23

26:36 At the end of our practice day, we'll do a little light offering practice with some particular purse to end the class. And that's a really important practice to accumulate merit. Any kind of offerings that you make accumulates merit. And in the karma class, I think I mentioned, and any time I teach Vajrasapha or any kind of purification practice like Dorji Kadro and... Report an error in the passage at 26:36 Highlight the passage at 26:36

27:06 Things like that. They compare it to if you're clearing a field and you want to plant, you know, you have to get rid of all the rocks and the roots and things like that. Michelle and Betty just did that. Just put in this enormous organic garden in their backyard in Alameda. And so I've been sort of looking and thinking about that. Report an error in the passage at 27:06 Highlight the passage at 27:06

27:28 But that's what my mind is like. So you got to rip out all the old crap and... And that's the purification, right? So we're getting rid of all that. And then the accumulation of merit is like conditioning the soil, making sure it's watered well, making sure you put it in the right place for the right amount of sun and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 27:28 Highlight the passage at 27:28

27:46 So those kind of conditions, that's accumulating merit. Otherwise, we can read all we want to and we'll never get anywhere. We can attend even brilliant classes and we just want to understand a word, which of course... I've done for years, you know, until you really start purifying like it just you'll go there and the words are just you'll see the people next to you going, this is so great. Report an error in the passage at 27:46 Highlight the passage at 27:46

28:07 And you'll be like, huh, you know, and it's just a matter of time of, you know, of doing doing the homework, basically, you know, just taking the steps to prepare your mind. So the seeds actually take root rather than just bouncing off your head and going, you know, elsewhere. So it's just part of the preparation. Report an error in the passage at 28:07 Highlight the passage at 28:07

28:28 So, when we were talking about the placement of the study of emptiness in the lamrim, we didn't talk about the three higher trainings. The three higher trainings is, especially as they interrelate, they are actually the same as the Noble Eightfold Path, if people are familiar with studying. Report an error in the passage at 28:28 Highlight the passage at 28:28

28:50 Buddhism and other traditions. In the Tibetan tradition, we don't talk so much about the Noble Eightfold Path, but it gets condensed into the three higher trainings. It's ethics, concentration and wisdom. Ethics, concentration and wisdom. And basically, the Buddha said that we needed to have a really firm foundation of ethics in order to develop concentration. Report an error in the passage at 28:50 Highlight the passage at 28:50

29:18 Which we absolutely need a strong foundation of concentration or meditation, synonymous in this usage, in order to have that direct perception of emptiness. That's what I've been sort of stressing a few moments ago. But without the ethics, if we don't spend some time... Kind of cleaning up our lives. Then we're really distracted by all the crap we've done wrong. Like it haunts us. It really does. And as you do more and more retreats, stuff comes up and you just start spending a lot of time thinking about all the stuff you've ever done wrong. Report an error in the passage at 29:18 Highlight the passage at 29:18

29:53 A bunch of stuff retreats are actually great for that. That's the whole purpose of them. But when you start trying to meditate deeply, all this other stuff comes up. So the whole point of sort of cleaning up your life. With a firm foundation of ethics is to allow you to then move on. So it's not to just stay there beating ourselves up by anything. Report an error in the passage at 29:53 Highlight the passage at 29:53

30:16 It's to purify, get rid of it, and then to move on. And the next level is being able to develop a really strong, strong practice of meditation and concentration, which is the only way we're going to have a direct perception of emptiness, which is what's meant by the wisdom of emptiness, the code word for the wisdom of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 30:16 Highlight the passage at 30:16

30:40 Otherwise, we won't have it. And so we're going to talk about the factors or conditions that we need to develop calm abiding and one of them is a really strong foundation of ethics. And we'll talk about what that might mean to us. I mean, obviously, there are different levels of ethics and we've talked about vows and things like that before. It doesn't even have to start with vows. Report an error in the passage at 30:40 Highlight the passage at 30:40

31:00 It just has to start with sort of having a... a regular practice you know like actually deciding i'm going to sit every day at a certain time and trying to be somewhat consistent in the time and so forth that's a form of ethics so having a sort of disciplined approach to your practice is also a form of ethics it doesn't mean everybody has to run out and get ordained The biggest obstacle to developing calm abiding is attachment. Report an error in the passage at 31:00 Highlight the passage at 31:00

31:28 It's some form of attachment, whether it's the attachment to I and me, this false view of a self, or whether it's attachment to money, possessions, sensual objects of the world. Having a lot of desire in our mind acts as a huge, huge obstacle to getting calm abiding, which is, of course, one of the reasons why. Report an error in the passage at 31:28 Highlight the passage at 31:28

31:56 It wasn't just so that we could put on these groovy robes and walk around and cut our hair off and start a new fashion statement, but it was to literally work on the attachment issues. So at the level of really cutting back on all the things that we get attached to in the worldly sense. Report an error in the passage at 31:56 Highlight the passage at 31:56

32:18 Jobs, families, as well as sex, food and everything else. So it's music and things like that. So it wasn't just to be mean, it was to allow us then to work on that first level so that then we can develop deeper and deeper concentration. Running around in a Buddhist center isn't always the most conducive. But in the old days we had monasteries and nunneries, and I think we will again at some point. Report an error in the passage at 32:18 Highlight the passage at 32:18

32:41 And that too is to help us control and discipline and subdue our mind. So that we can get enlightened because it's not just for this life that we're living. Report an error in the passage at 32:41 Highlight the passage at 32:41

32:52 So let's talk about calm abiding a little bit. And at the same time that I'm going to talk to you a little bit about calm abiding and I'm also going to give you some notes that will show you sort of the stages of calm abiding because it's in levels that we develop it. I also know that none of us is currently... Report an error in the passage at 32:52 Highlight the passage at 32:52

33:13 None of us has the conditions at this point to attain calm abiding where we are right now, but we're all potential candidates. Calm abiding would require us to actually go into retreat, which isn't always true for everything in Buddhism, but to develop a really strong concentration, we do have to do it in retreat format. Report an error in the passage at 33:13 Highlight the passage at 33:13

33:36 However, it is possible to get started on it here. So when I'm going through all this stuff, I'm also going to sort of put in some ways that we can get started now, because not all of us are ready to like, okay, great, let's all get on the bus outside and go, you know, do a year retreat. Report an error in the passage at 33:36 Highlight the passage at 33:36

33:53 I would. I know, where's that bus? Where's that Airstream, David? Is it parked outside? Report an error in the passage at 33:53 Highlight the passage at 33:53

34:05 I know, really. I think we have another taker. Daniel can come. So first of all, what is calm abiding? In Sanskrit, it's shamatha, so you may have heard that. In Tibetan, it's shine, which looks like shine, except it's got the little accent on the end. Report an error in the passage at 34:05 Highlight the passage at 34:05

34:24 So calm abiding, shamatha and shine are all synonymous. The definition that I have stuck with, I like this definition a lot. It's got a couple of parts to it, so we'll talk about it. The mind which is imbued, I'll say it a couple of times. The mind which is imbued with the exceptional bliss of pliancy due to deep single-pointed meditation on its object. Report an error in the passage at 34:24 Highlight the passage at 34:24

34:54 The mind which is imbued with the exceptional bliss of pliancy due to deep... Single pointed meditation on its object. Anybody need it one more time? The mind, actually I realized just now that it says that mind, which is imbued with the exceptional bliss of pliancy due to deep single pointed meditation on its object. Report an error in the passage at 34:54 Highlight the passage at 34:54

35:34 So it does include single pointed meditation. But it's way beyond single-pointed meditation. I mean, single-pointed meditation to me just sounds like amazing, right? I think the difference here is the intensity, the clarity and the duration, how long you can do it. It's like the highest form of single-pointed concentration. It is said that it's a single-pointed concentration that you can do on an object. Report an error in the passage at 35:34 Highlight the passage at 35:34

36:09 Without any effort for as long as you want. Okay, so you've reached the point where you can not only hold the object with clarity and intensity, which isn't so easy for those of us that have even tried the breath, for as long as you want without any effort. So you've actually reached the point where you, at first we're going to start with some effort. And it is effortful. Report an error in the passage at 36:09 Highlight the passage at 36:09

36:38 But at this point, by the time you get it without any effort, it's just there for as long as you need it to be. And the interesting thing that comes up, did anybody notice the word bliss? Right? What happens when, so there's a couple of reasons for the bliss. When the mind is placed single-pointedly on the object, all the craziness doesn't arise. Report an error in the passage at 36:38 Highlight the passage at 36:38

37:01 Right? So when the mind is firmly focused. And we'll experience moments of this in our meditation now, little hits of when our mind's not crazy, we're not freaked out, we're not upset, we're not excited, we're just calm. And that's what you get all the time if your mind is able to single-pointedly place itself on an object for as long as you want. But even more exciting, the physical bliss... Report an error in the passage at 37:01 Highlight the passage at 37:01

37:31 Because there's both a physical and a mental bliss that arise from this powerful, powerful tool of concentration. The physical bliss actually comes from the winds being able to move more freely in the channels. So it comes from our subtle most body, according to the Tibetan tradition, which comes from tantra, is made up of winds and channels, they say. Report an error in the passage at 37:31 Highlight the passage at 37:31

37:55 The winds are actually almost more energetic. And they use this term winds, but it's not like we have a bunch of. Blowing through our veins or something. It's a little like chi. It's like in the Chinese medical system. So the channels are very similar to the meridians and the chi is very similar to the winds. Report an error in the passage at 37:55 Highlight the passage at 37:55

38:17 And the way we sit in the traditional posture is... is... Coming from that tradition, so it's allowing the places that we might kink and so forth to actually flow more. I know, what is up, huh? It is the full moon, though, right? Right, of course it is. It is the full moon, though, and that always happens. Report an error in the passage at 38:17 Highlight the passage at 38:17

38:44 It always happens. Report an error in the passage at 38:44 Highlight the passage at 38:44

38:48 That's interesting for here. We don't normally have that. Katia's going out to take care of it. Report an error in the passage at 38:48 Highlight the passage at 38:48

38:56 I think you need this. Right, yeah, yeah. Take out offerings for all of us. So that when the body reaches this point of physical, well, okay, so both the mind and the body reach this point of pliancy. Pliancy is talking about a sort of serviceability. Report an error in the passage at 38:56 Highlight the passage at 38:56

39:19 The more that we do anything, it becomes more serviceable. The more yoga we do, for example, it becomes more serviceable. The more that we sit, it also becomes more serviceable. The more that we meditate, our mind also becomes more serviceable. So the stronger our concentration is, we are able to put our mind on an object and it can stay there without as much effort over time and then eventually with no effort. Report an error in the passage at 39:19 Highlight the passage at 39:19

39:44 That's serviceable. then That craziness can all be happening and I can just be single pointed. It doesn't bother me at all. That's serviceable. Whether I'm working, whether I'm writing, whether I'm editing or whether I'm meditating, it doesn't matter. That's serviceable. Right now my mind is like, what's going on? Oh my God, what are you doing? My mind is all over the place and you guys are very patient with me and usually helping me remember where I was. Report an error in the passage at 39:44 Highlight the passage at 39:44

40:09 That's not very serviceable. It's not a very serviceable mind. And my body is also not very serviceable. Unless I'm practicing very much because I'm not comfortable, I have to stop after a while. Even if my mind is in a good place, I've got to move and stretch and all that stuff. So the serviceability of mind and body is what brings us to that level of bliss which allows us to sit without the problems that we have right now. Report an error in the passage at 40:09 Highlight the passage at 40:09

40:39 So it actually enables us to surmount those problems. So it's amazing. So due to this deep single point of meditation, so that is the cause, and it brings about a mind and a body. It doesn't mention the body, but imbued with this exceptional bliss of pliancy, the serviceability. So those are the aspects of calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 40:39 Highlight the passage at 40:39

41:04 So it's a pretty amazing state of mind, and it takes a lot of diligence. It takes a lot of effort, and it's... But it's not a difficult practice to understand. So it's an advanced practice only in that we have to really stick with it and be focused on it. But that focus on it could be two and a half minutes a day. You know what I mean? We're not starting. Nobody can start at a half an hour or two hours. Report an error in the passage at 41:04 Highlight the passage at 41:04

41:35 Nobody can start there. If you sit for too long at the beginning, you're just dulling out. It's not actually meditation in our tradition. So we want to start with little, little tiny seeds, you know, and do them really bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and then stop. Don't just sit there and force yourself to whatever you think meditation is because it won't be meditation. In order to attain actual calm abiding, they say that it can be done in retreat with a lot of diligence and effort. Report an error in the passage at 41:35 Highlight the passage at 41:35

42:11 And I think with the prerequisites in place where you've already developed a really strong ethical practice and so forth, they don't mention that because usually these teachings were already four months, but they say in six to twelve months. I have known people that have really applied themselves and it's taking longer, so I think that might have been true for the Tibetans. We need to work on it a little bit longer, but it is possible to attain and definitely in a couple of years. Report an error in the passage at 42:11 Highlight the passage at 42:11

42:39 If you throw yourself into it. However, Tenzin Chokyi says, and I think she knows a lot about developing calm abiding too, she thinks it's really possible for us to get at least to the fourth level out of the nine just here at home. And I find that really inspiring because I'm not ready to just like, you know, pull up stakes and go. Report an error in the passage at 42:39 Highlight the passage at 42:39

43:00 do this retreat so it's kind of like what can I do here and now that's what I always want to know what can I do here and now so we're going to take that approach we're going to make that assumption Gesheh always just says no way to meditate here So I'm going to go with the Dens and Chokyi approach on that one. Report an error in the passage at 43:00 Highlight the passage at 43:00

43:20 There are five, or I'm not even going to mention the number, there are some main obstacles that were brought up in teachings by Nargajuna that also enter into our bodhisattva vows for those who did the bodhisattva vow class. See if these ring a bell. And I think that there, these are obstacles that I think all of us will find familiar even if we aren't. Report an error in the passage at 43:20 Highlight the passage at 43:20

43:50 Bodhisattva wannabes, and even if we haven't started working with our meditation. The first one is restless desire, and they usually say the restless desire of missing something or someone. Report an error in the passage at 43:50 Highlight the passage at 43:50

44:03 So this comes up a lot when you're doing retreat. Suddenly you think of old friends, you know, and you think of old times that have gone by, and you haven't thought of these people in 20 years, and there's no reason for you to think of these people. It's like the whole... Bottom line of why I don't want to get involved with Facebook. There's a reason that some friendships die out, you know, and it's natural and it's fine, you know. Report an error in the passage at 44:03 Highlight the passage at 44:03

44:32 It was really okay to say goodbye to that person 30 years ago. Yeah. No need to reconnect. You have to go. Report an error in the passage at 44:32 Highlight the passage at 44:32

44:41 So those are the ones, that kind of crap just comes up in your mind and it just, it's a distraction, ends up being a distraction. So it's just kind of like note it for what it is, you know, and then just try to let it go. Report an error in the passage at 44:41 Highlight the passage at 44:41

44:55 Obviously for things, too. I mean, I suppose it could be for old possessions that you lost or that were broken and that somebody stole from you or something like that. Again, let it go. This thing happened where I went to the farmer's market a couple of weeks ago and I paid for some cherries and walked away. Christine knows because I tried to go back and get it and they weren't there. Report an error in the passage at 44:55 Highlight the passage at 44:55

45:17 I just have to let that $10 go. I just can't seem to get back to the farmer's market and get it. And why not support a small farm? That's okay. Report an error in the passage at 45:17 Highlight the passage at 45:17

45:26 Yeah, that kind of crap, it just stays in your mind, so it's just like, just let it go. Feelings of malice is another one. Malice is one of those words that sounds like I'll never have it, right? Malice is like a word out of the Bible or something. Malice just means really liking it when somebody else screws up. Report an error in the passage at 45:26 Highlight the passage at 45:26

45:46 That's really all it means. It's just kind of like this ugly ill will. That one we can have ten times a day if it's a bad day. So that stuff can also get in the way of developing concentration. You know, you're really stewing in how horrible somebody is and how much you hate them or how much they've gotten it and finally they got what was coming to them and stuff like that. Report an error in the passage at 45:46 Highlight the passage at 45:46

46:09 Drowsiness and dullness are the next pair. Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Drowsiness is really talking about sleepiness, which can come from either you've just had a big meal, you've had a long day, you haven't gotten enough sleep. It can come from a lot of different reasons. Dullness is something different. Dullness has a couple of levels, but dullness... Report an error in the passage at 46:09 Highlight the passage at 46:09

46:33 Actually, at the subtle level can be misconstrued as a form of attainment. Like you can actually, you're still holding on to the object while you have this subtle dullness. So it's not just that. That's like not even meditating yet, you know. It's actually, it actually almost feels good because you're still holding on to the object, but it's just without any intensity or clarity. Report an error in the passage at 46:33 Highlight the passage at 46:33

46:58 And you'll get to this more when you're studying the levels of calm abiding, which we aren't going to get into so much, although you guys are all going to get a handout on it. Report an error in the passage at 46:58 Highlight the passage at 46:58

47:10 So dullness can be misconstrued as that you've reached some high level of attainment and then you just waste a lot of time. but, um, Report an error in the passage at 47:10 Highlight the passage at 47:10

47:17 You waste a lot of time because you think you've attained some high level of calm abiding and actually you haven't. And apparently it just creates the karmic cause to have a God realm rebirth. Or no, what is it? A formless realm, I think. It's a form, a formless realm rebirth. And so you're just going to, basically instead of creating the causes for enlightenment or for even... Report an error in the passage at 47:17 Highlight the passage at 47:17

47:43 Precious Human Rebirth where you can study the Dharma again, you're just creating, you're just wasting some good karma. So you're wasting a bunch of good karma. So drowsiness is one to look out for. I'm sorry, dullness is one to look out for. Attraction to objects of the senses. That can be anything, right? Report an error in the passage at 47:43 Highlight the passage at 47:43

48:02 So food, really nice smells, really nice touch. I get that massage, you know. Really nice music or no sound, right? Also craving that. It's just a distraction. It's just a huge distraction, you know. So we're going to talk about the obstacles and their antidotes in a few moments. But these are just the obstacles that Nargajuna was talking about when he was saying these are the biggest obstacles to meditation of any kind. Report an error in the passage at 48:02 Highlight the passage at 48:02

48:37 Unresolved doubts is the last one. This one isn't talking about, well, I wonder if karma exists or not. It's not talking about that. It's talking about basically not being strong enough in your determination to practice. So it's talking about having a wimpy practice, basically. It's like you're holding yourself back by just kind of, I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 48:37 Highlight the passage at 48:37

49:02 So unresolved doubts is talking about not being strong enough. Pushing yourself to the next level when you know that you're actually there. You're just sort of holding yourself back through your own kind of wimpiness. Report an error in the passage at 49:02 Highlight the passage at 49:02

49:20 Object. So it's said that it's possible to develop calm abiding on any object at all. The object can be anything at all. And they say that Tenzin Palmo attained it using a stone. It was simply a stone that she found. And that's very traditional. in some traditions. Report an error in the passage at 49:20 Highlight the passage at 49:20

49:42 It is taught that a virtuous object is better because we're spending so much time placing our mind on this object over and over that if it's a virtuous object, then every one of those moments becomes virtuous, right? But Geshe Dagba always says, and I know this comes from a scriptural text, A scriptural source, but I don't know what it is. But he says the breath is best for somebody who has a lot of mental excitement and a lot of attachment. So if we choose a neutral object like a stone or the breath, we just have to really remember to motivate and dedicate it well. Report an error in the passage at 49:42 Highlight the passage at 49:42

50:24 So I actually decided to stick with the breath for as long as I can. Because I have a really distractible mind, and so I just really make the effort at the beginning and the end of every meditation to motivate it well. Why? Because I don't want to create the causes of the form and formless realm. And that's what they just say. If you just are focusing on concentration without any other motivation for bodhisattva activities or for enlightenment itself, then it's basically the same as being on the... Report an error in the passage at 50:24 Highlight the passage at 50:24

51:02 Path of individual liberation. There's no difference between the two. It doesn't make it a negative thing. It just is a waste of time. I mean, if we want to get enlightened, if that really is what our goal is, then we need to bring that into our intention when we sit and meditate, even for two and a half minutes. Report an error in the passage at 51:02 Highlight the passage at 51:02

51:19 So don't think anything is too small. We still need to motivate it and dedicate it well. Sometimes when Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches, the motivation and the dedication are two and a half hours and the teaching is 20 minutes. Because from his point of view, much better to spend time to have the really proper motivation, even for an instant, and to dedicate it really, really well. Report an error in the passage at 51:19 Highlight the passage at 51:19

51:43 So we have to sort of take that approach with our practice too. Report an error in the passage at 51:43 Highlight the passage at 51:43

51:49 And it's up to the individual to what object works best. Um. Report an error in the passage at 51:49 Highlight the passage at 51:49

51:55 So they say it's better not to change the object once you've chosen it. Part of that is don't flip-flop around a whole lot, but you have to decide based on some experience, right? So you have to try out a couple of objects first. But Geshe-la gave a really nice analogy last week, or I think it was last week when he was talking about the two sticks, using the two sticks to start a fire. Report an error in the passage at 51:55 Highlight the passage at 51:55

52:20 I just love how they even still do that somewhere. And if you're going to use two sticks to start a fire, you have to be really consistent and you don't stop. So that's a metaphor for meditation. But you also have to keep rubbing the same places, the same two sticks together. And so you have to be really, really steady. If you stop, you have to start over. Report an error in the passage at 52:20 Highlight the passage at 52:20

52:45 And if you keep moving around to a different place, it's never going to... So it's very much like us in our practice. We have to be really steady and consistent and we have to choose an object and then just stay with it because we're going to have enough obstacles no matter what object we choose. So just find an object and stay with it. I have heard different things from different teachers in terms of... Report an error in the passage at 52:45 Highlight the passage at 52:45

53:17 Somebody, and I'm going to have to ask, I'm going to try to ask Venomor Rene when we do the Kamabiding retreat, but somebody thought that he had said that until you attain the fourth level that you could use, like your breath for example, and then once you attain that level then you can move into whatever your final object is going to be, like an image of the Buddha or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 53:17 Highlight the passage at 53:17

53:42 So I want to verify that with him. Geshe-la is basically like, nope, it. You just choose one and stick with it forever. And if you don't, you've ruined it forever. I'm like sitting in the back of class going, oh, God. So I'll find out, and I will send you word after the common fighting retreat. He said that, too? Because I've read that one, yeah. I've read that book a couple of times, so it may be where I've gotten it from, too. One of my teachers actually said it was okay to stick with an object for at least six months before you change. Report an error in the passage at 53:42 Highlight the passage at 53:42

54:14 But Geshe was really, really strict. I don't know. But anyway, that one I don't know. I would say take a little time to decide, you know, practice with different objects. Report an error in the passage at 54:14 Highlight the passage at 54:14

54:27 But then once you choose an object, just stick with it like that. You know, once you know, stick with it. Because otherwise it's just like our minds, it's just like we're doing everything else in saṃsāra, right? Our minds jumping around. Maybe the pink rose, maybe the blue one, you know. We do enough of that. Report an error in the passage at 54:27 Highlight the passage at 54:27

54:42 Better to work with a teacher because obviously a teacher can really help you assess your development and answer specific questions that you have. Finding a teacher who has... Who admits that they have calm abiding meditation is going to be difficult because nobody ever does. But you can kind of study them and see their stability of mind. Report an error in the passage at 54:42 Highlight the passage at 54:42

55:08 I think Geshe Dagba is a really good example of stability of mind. He is just a rock. And that's usually the description of any of us who have ever spent any time with Geshe Dagba over the course of, you know, I've been with him now for 11 years living here. He is just... Stable as they come. Other teachers, obviously, you guys will get a chance to meet Chodron Rinpoche, too. Very, very subdued being. Report an error in the passage at 55:08 Highlight the passage at 55:08

55:39 And you can actually meet with these guys. That's what's so amazing. We're in this incredible, here in the Bay Area, we can have meetings with Geshe-la. We can have meetings with Chodron Rinpoche even. And you don't want to waste their time. But if you have some specific questions, they're there for you. Report an error in the passage at 55:39 Highlight the passage at 55:39

55:57 So that's totally possible. Also at our level, and especially before we start a really strong calm abiding practice, go to a group retreat where there are some basic instructions given. You have some time to make appointments with the teachers, such as the one that's coming up in June. But even if you can't make that one, keep your eyes open for other ones because they are offered. Report an error in the passage at 55:57 Highlight the passage at 55:57

56:20 And some amazing teachers come through. And you can meet with them for, you know, 20, 30 minutes and really get a lot of information for your own practice and kind of cut through the kind of obstacles that come up for us individually that maybe we can't find in a book. But there are some good books. We just mentioned Calming the Mind by Gen LaRimpa, which is, I think, an incredible book. Very, very readable, too. Report an error in the passage at 56:20 Highlight the passage at 56:20

56:44 It's not as dense as his emptiness one. Calming the Mind. Calming the Mind, yeah. Gen Lam Rimpa, like the Lam Rimpa with a B-A at the end. Might be some in the bookstore, yeah. I say that one is just amazing. It's like having a personal instructor sitting there right with you on the cushion. I think it's just incredible. There's a few others that I haven't read, but I've heard really good things about. Report an error in the passage at 56:44 Highlight the passage at 56:44

57:13 The Bridge of, I don't know if it's still called this, The Bridge of Chiescence, I never know how to pronounce that, by Alan Wallace. Actually, there's another one by Alan Wallace that is... A non-Buddhist, he uses non-Buddhist terms, that's called Attention Revolution, which I think is really good, really helpful and really clear, easily accessible and inspiring. Report an error in the passage at 57:13 Highlight the passage at 57:13

57:38 I find that one, I just reread that one like every time, after about six months I need to reread it again. Report an error in the passage at 57:38 Highlight the passage at 57:38

57:50 Walking Through Walls by Geshe Gedan Lodro. Report an error in the passage at 57:50 Highlight the passage at 57:50

57:57 Calm Abiding and Special Insight, also by Geshe Gedun Lodro. Guide to Shamatha Meditation by Dwangu Rinpoche. Anybody need any of those repeated? Yeah? Should I just read them all again? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 57:57 Highlight the passage at 57:57

58:16 Walking Through Walls and Calm Abiding and Special Insight are both by this man, and he is Geshe Gedun Lodro, L-O-D-R-O. I think he is in Australia, but I'm not sure. Guide to Shamatha meditation is Trangu Rinpoche, and so that's T-H-R-A-N-G-U Rinpoche. Report an error in the passage at 58:16 Highlight the passage at 58:16

58:44 And there's probably more. Anybody have any other texts that have been useful to them that people might want to know about that I haven't mentioned? Report an error in the passage at 58:44 Highlight the passage at 58:44

58:58 Any questions that have come up? Oh, and Tsongkhapa. Yeah, Tsongkhapa is, I should have mentioned that, yeah, a calm abiding section of the lamrim tenmo. So any of the lamrim texts will cover calm abiding to some extent. So whether it's Tsongkhapa's lamrim, what do they call that one? Stages? Report an error in the passage at 58:58 Highlight the passage at 58:58

59:25 Treatise and the Great Stages of the Path to Enlightenment or something like that. What are they? Report an error in the passage at 59:25 Highlight the passage at 59:25

59:29 The lamrim chamo basically translated into English, and it would probably be in the third volume of that. And there is a five-volume lamrim commentary by Geshe Soppa Rinpoche, who I believe the last two are not out yet, and this would probably be the final one. I don't know. I don't know if it's – it would be in the emptiness, I bet. Report an error in the passage at 59:29 Highlight the passage at 59:29

59:58 But maybe not. It might be in the third section. And even the liberation in the palm of your hand and liberation in your hands would also have a calm abiding section with some instruction in it. So all of those are also really, really useful. Any questions so far? Report an error in the passage at 59:58 Highlight the passage at 59:58

1:00:20 know. I'm like, ooh. Um. Um. So the factors that we need or the conditions that we need to develop common biting, they give us a list of six. And these are good to note. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:20 Highlight the passage at 1:00:20

1:00:42 But I'm also going to mention some ways that we can think about creating these in little ways now. Because obviously, again, we're not going to run off to a cave. And the very first one is almost that. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:42 Highlight the passage at 1:00:42

1:00:55 So there's five, and I'll give you, I'm sorry, there's six, there's six, I'll give you the six first, but the first one's going to break down even further, as we all know, right? So finding a location, a qualified location is going to be the first one, and that one's going to have some subsets, but I'm just going to give you the six first, and then I'll go into detail. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:55 Highlight the passage at 1:00:55

1:01:17 So finding a qualified location. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:17 Highlight the passage at 1:01:17

1:01:23 Number two is reducing desires. I love how it's just listed like, okay, just do it, yeah, check, exactly. Really, I should do this as a checklist, yeah, got it. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:23 Highlight the passage at 1:01:23

1:01:40 And number three is sort of like that too, foster satisfaction. Contentedness, actually, yeah. Okay, got it. Avoid the distractions of many activities, that's number four. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:40 Highlight the passage at 1:01:40

1:02:01 This one almost makes it impossible for all Westerners to ever develop qualifying. Number five, hopefully this sounds familiar, keep moral discipline. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:01 Highlight the passage at 1:02:01

1:02:15 Keep moral discipline. Ethics. Check. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:15 Highlight the passage at 1:02:15

1:02:23 And number six, of course, it almost becomes necessary, have a mind that has given up on worldly concerns and sense objects. Have a mind that has given up worldly concerns and sense objects. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:23 Highlight the passage at 1:02:23

1:02:40 So we'll talk about each one, so don't worry. I'll repeat it again when I go through. So finding a qualified location has five qualities. It has to be completely quiet. Completely quiet. So not just like by a bubbling stream, right? Tensichoki always talks about that one too. You know, it sounds really great. You can get your little cabin by the stream and then by the third day you're like, shut up! And you're like trying to block it so that it... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:40 Highlight the passage at 1:02:40

1:03:09 It stops making that bubbly sound. If you're trying to single pointedly meditate on something, every sound becomes an obstacle to that. Not just this, but even out in the country. Even they say not even loud birds and stuff. Rajapani definitely has stellar jays, you know. And they're doing it every day, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:09 Highlight the passage at 1:03:09

1:03:30 And the birds and the squirrels and they're all like, like looking in the window. You're like, shut up. So that's why they went into caves. There was a reason that they went into caves. It was like completely, well of course they had caves too in Tibet that were available. But that's partly why. Just so quiet. So at our level, what does this mean for us? Start having more quiet time. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:30 Highlight the passage at 1:03:30

1:04:01 That's where it starts. It starts whether it's a little bit each day doing a little practice, you know, or maybe one day a week or one day a month trying to do a silent day, turning off the electronics, closing the door and just being quiet, you know. Really powerful. If it's possible for you to rent a cabin at Vashapani for a day or a week or something like that, totally empowering thing to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:01 Highlight the passage at 1:04:01

1:04:29 Don't bring your computer. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:29 Highlight the passage at 1:04:29

1:04:34 There is also, actually, Christina and I were talking about it when we passed it. There's a center called the Vendanta Center. If you look it up online, you can find it. You just have to do a little interview with their Swami. And if you get okayed, it's free. You can do a retreat there, but only, I think, four or five days in a row. And you can only book it. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:34 Highlight the passage at 1:04:34

1:04:59 Like on the first of the month for that month, so you can't book it really far out. But if you suddenly find that you have some time and it's the first of the month, you call them and they've got room, it's completely free. You can make an offering, that would be really nice, but they don't ask for it. You can be in silence by just putting a little ribbon. They have a men's and a women's and they're very nice. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:59 Highlight the passage at 1:04:59

1:05:19 I went there one time and did that. Really nice, and it's completely free, which is great. I wish we had something like that. It's called the Vendanta Society. If you can't find it, email me and I'll send you the link. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:19 Highlight the passage at 1:05:19

1:05:33 And the Swami interview, I mean, I think I went down there with Venerable Children and we were totally acting like he was like a Lama because that's what in our tradition, right? The equivalent, we're like, oh, you know, we were like palm to palm and he just like sits down, you know, and then every time he stood up, we're like, you know, standing up and stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:33 Highlight the passage at 1:05:33

1:05:53 We were in like Flandre no time, you know. Everybody else is like, you got a phone call on line three, you know. We're like, oh, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:53 Highlight the passage at 1:05:53

1:06:02 I guess they don't do that in their religion. But it was totally easy. He just wants to make sure you're not thoroughly insane. If he's going to allow you up there, he just wants to make sure you have some idea of what a retreat means and that you're not going to be sitting there on the phone or texting or watching TV or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:02 Highlight the passage at 1:06:02

1:06:21 Right, right. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:21 Highlight the passage at 1:06:21

1:06:28 Yeah, completely. Right? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:28 Highlight the passage at 1:06:28

1:06:30 But start now, you know, start with little bits of time. Even if you just do Sunday morning for two hours, turn off everything and just be silent. It's a really great place to start and free. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:30 Highlight the passage at 1:06:30

1:06:42 The place should also be blessed by holy beings. They say blessed by holy beings. The energy of somebody who has meditated there really gives power to your meditation. It's incredible to be able to go to Nepal and India and to see the holy sites or Tibet if we're lucky enough. But it doesn't have to be. Vajrapani is blessed. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:42 Highlight the passage at 1:06:42

1:07:07 This skampa is blessed. We've had amazing beings in this building. Vajrapani is also blessed. The land of medicine Buddha is blessed. So it doesn't mean that we have to go traipsing off around the world. We have some incredibly blessed people at lands here. Easy for sustenance or retreat support. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:07 Highlight the passage at 1:07:07

1:07:29 So in other words, there's good food, it's safe, there's abundant water supply and so forth. A lot of times people want to go off immediately into a really primitive environment. Find a place that feels comfortable for you. So there's a certain level of comfort that we need because we weren't raised in caves. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:29 Highlight the passage at 1:07:29

1:07:49 and you know in and um and sitting on the dirt or whatever um it may have been easier in some ways to raise like that but for us we might I need to have it be a certain level of warmth I can't I can't handle if it's totally freezing and I can't handle if it's totally hot either I'm like one of those people that's right in the middle and that's okay like don't feel like you're a wimp because of that just find a place like Vajrapani Vajrapani has, and not that I'm doing a sales job for Vajrapani, but I've done a lot of retreat there, and it's close. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:49 Highlight the passage at 1:07:49

1:08:19 They give amazing support. Their cabins have thermostats. You can set it to what you like. They don't have quite enough light in there. I always bring down additional light so I can read what it is I'm trying to read. But they deliver the food to you. They try to do as much as they can, special diets. They bring it basically to your door so you have nothing else to do except meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:19 Highlight the passage at 1:08:19

1:08:39 It's a really, really nice place to do retreat, even just for a weekend. It doesn't have to be a long retreat. It's expensive a little bit, but sorry. Sorry, Fabs. We'll cut that part out. I have had friends here in the city in this community. Actually, Milnam did it too. Lynn did it once. She wanted to do a three-month retreat. She couldn't afford to go elsewhere, so she decided to do it in her apartment. So she set up a group of us, and we just took turns bringing food, and she had this really... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:39 Highlight the passage at 1:08:39

1:09:09 A great system worked out. She had one person who was the coordinator, and then the rest of us, there were four of us who took turns one week at a time bringing her groceries and leaving them in a way. We never saw her. We never spoke with her. She didn't speak with her coordinator. It was all done through notes, and it worked. So she was able to do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09:09

1:09:30 It's totally possible to do. Malam, who used to be a monk here, Did that one time when His Holiness came to Mountain View in 2001 and suddenly we found out that we had to have something like 30,000 Medicine Buddha Satsas. He did an instant Medicine Buddha Satsa retreat. He went into serious retreat and our office manager at the time, Joanna, would just go over and bring food and leave it outside the door. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:30 Highlight the passage at 1:09:30

1:09:59 He just did this retreat for like... I don't remember how many, it was a couple of weeks or three weeks here in the city and just cranked out satsas. And he did it as a retreat format. He was doing the prayers and everything, so it wasn't just producing the satsas. So it's totally possible to do. You just, satsas, see the little golden figurines around the top? Report an error in the passage at 1:09:59 Highlight the passage at 1:09:59

1:10:21 That's Lama Tsongkhapa, that's a satsa. So they're like little images of a Buddha. And they're different Buddhas. And in that case, it was Medicine Buddha Tsatsas to hand out to everyone that came for the Medicine Buddha empowerment that His Holiness gave. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:21 Highlight the passage at 1:10:21

1:10:37 But it's very, very possible to do. You can arrange it for yourself here in the city, too. The place should also be free of dangerous wild animals. Not of all wild animals. Dangerous wild animals. Not too much of a problem here in the city. Bandits. Yeah. Bandits, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:37 Highlight the passage at 1:10:37

1:10:59 Yeah, that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like bandits just sounds like such a, it's so funny because, I mean, bandits, it's just the word sounds funny and sort of dated, but of course you have a lot of bandits in the region near, in Bihar, that region, I'm trying to think of where it is. Yeah, the state of Bihar in India, where Boghaya is. Yeah, where Boghaya is. There's a lot of bandits, so it's still a problem. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:59 Highlight the passage at 1:10:59

1:11:27 But yeah, Vajrapani does have rattlesnakes, but not that many. And only if it's after like a drought time, that's when you have to worry about, you know, because that's when they're trying to come down for some moisture. In the year, I've been going down for 20 years almost. Actually, next year it'll be 20 years. And I have seen maybe two. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:27 Highlight the passage at 1:11:27

1:11:51 One right after Vajra suffered a treat and I felt like it was very related. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:51 Highlight the passage at 1:11:51

1:11:58 So you don't see them very often. If they find them, then they remove them safely and put them somewhere else on the land. The final one is having good Dharma friends around to support you in your practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:58 Highlight the passage at 1:11:58

1:12:14 This can start now with each other. Right? So these classes, one of the best things I think about, especially the Discovering Buddhism classes, is bonding between the students. And it's really important. These Dharma friendships that we start now, if we keep cultivating them, they can kind of keep with us for life. I mean, this is like a really powerful time for us to connect because we're all really excited with it and, you know, it's new for us. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:14 Highlight the passage at 1:12:14

1:12:40 And that's really important. We inspire each other, you know, like when Jessica found the bow project, we were all like, yeah, really excited, you know, and that's really great. And a lot of the friends that I made early on in my Dharma career, I'm still in connection with, and we still support each other, maybe now by email, but we still really support each other, so it's very, very important. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:40 Highlight the passage at 1:12:40

1:13:07 So that was all to do with the qualities of location. Reducing desires and fostering contentment or satisfaction with what you have. Those two are linked, but obviously one is eliminating and the other is developing. Reducing desires, now we can really focus on what it is that our mind is attracted to. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:07 Highlight the passage at 1:13:07

1:13:31 What are we craving all the time? And every time that you're doing retreat, you can kind of see how this comes up. If you're at a place where you have a caretaker, like at Vajrapani, I always say, if you write a note to the caretaker for something, let it sit for 24 hours and see if you still need it. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:31 Highlight the passage at 1:13:31

1:13:55 Most likely you won't. It'll go away. A lot of times we're sort of in that mind of like, oh my God, you know, this just comes, you come out, you stand up from a session and you're just like, I absolutely have to have this book in the library and you know, blah, blah, blah. I absolutely have to have, you know, rice milk or I have to have, you know, like something has come up that's so profound that your entire retreat is at stake if you don't get it. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:55 Highlight the passage at 1:13:55

1:14:22 And then within 24 hours it's passed. It's very interesting the way our minds work. Sometimes I'll rewrite the note three times and then I'll finally just throw it away. That's ridiculous. I don't need that. Fostering satisfaction with what you have. Really thinking about, really rejoicing in your current situation no matter what it is. It's a heck of a lot better than death. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:22 Highlight the passage at 1:14:22

1:14:46 Honestly. you know Report an error in the passage at 1:14:46 Highlight the passage at 1:14:46

1:14:48 And death can come at any second and we just don't know how much time we have left. So let's really, really focus on what we have that's good. In most cases, we have enough right now to get started on a good practice and we don't need anything else. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:48 Highlight the passage at 1:14:48

1:15:04 Four and five, avoiding the distractions of many activities. This is really talking about simplifying our life somewhat. If there is an activity that you're a part of that you do that's not benefiting you or worse, it's harming you in some way or it's harming your practice in some way, get rid of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:04 Highlight the passage at 1:15:04

1:15:23 Or at least reduce it. Like if you can't get rid of it entirely, cut back, you know, give yourself a little bit more space. And give yourself also the permission to say no, you know. It's not actually a bad thing to do. Especially when it means that you might have a little bit more time to work on your mind or to study or to attend a class or something like that. And if you're doing a retreat and you're doing a retreat especially on calm abiding, don't bring down all of your Tibetan homework, sorry to say. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:23 Highlight the passage at 1:15:23

1:15:59 Don't bring down like every Dharma book you've ever wanted to read. Don't try to make that into this. Craziness in the city, now I'm going away, I'm going to be entirely crazy on the mountaintop too. Don't do that. I've done that one before, and the reality is that when you're in retreat, that's by and large all you're going to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:59 Highlight the passage at 1:15:59

1:16:21 I know it seems like a lot of time, but that's the point. You can bring, they usually say it's okay when you go into retreat to bring one sort of commentary on the practice and one sort of lamrim-y type book. And maybe one light reading. So usually the light reading is like a bio of a yogi that's going to inspire you beyond all odds to do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:21 Highlight the passage at 1:16:21

1:16:44 For me, it's Tenzin Palma's book, hands down. I think it's like one of the best, most inspiring books. I read it almost every time I go into retreat, cave in the snow. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:44 Highlight the passage at 1:16:44

1:16:55 But yeah, don't bring any more than that. Just don't. Don't make the same mistake that I have. It's okay to even try, if you want to try memorizing at one prayer, but don't try to memorize the entire prayer. Don't try to memorize the entire heart sūtra in a retreat. It's just not going to happen and it's going to be another distraction. It's just going to be another distraction for your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:55 Highlight the passage at 1:16:55

1:17:22 Keeping moral discipline, as I said, doesn't have to mean... That you have to take a whole bunch of sets of vows before you go into rage. It just means to study karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:22 Highlight the passage at 1:17:22

1:17:38 It just means to kind of keep things regular. And this is especially true. and the Report an error in the passage at 1:17:38 Highlight the passage at 1:17:38

1:17:54 But it can also be really helpful here. And I've been sort of experimenting with this one a little bit too. Trying to eat at the same times within limits. Trying to get up at the same times even on weekends, which doctors tell us is better for us anyway. Trying to have a certain amount of time that you do a certain amount of study. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:54 Highlight the passage at 1:17:54

1:18:15 You know, trying to keep things pretty regular in our lives. It actually allows us to accomplish more than... Jumping around all over the place. And it allows our mind to, it actually allows us to concentrate better if we get up and meditate at the same time rather than one day doing it in the morning, one time doing it at night, one time, you know like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:15 Highlight the passage at 1:18:15

1:18:37 It just, our mind doesn't like it very much. And then the final one, having a mind that has given up worldly concerns and sense objects. This is one that we just kind of have to keep checking in with ourselves if we're living according to our goal. Like first of all, what is our goal? Have we made the leap to really feel like I'm going for liberation and enlightenment? And does my life reflect that? Or am I still living a lot for this life? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:37 Highlight the passage at 1:18:37

1:19:04 Obviously, to some extent, we are all still living for this life, right? If we have jobs, if we have standard commitments, family commitments and things like that. But as you enter the path and commit yourself to the path, kind of continually check in with yourself. So am I living according to gaining enlightenment? And if I am, then why am I still doing this, and why am I still doing this? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:04 Highlight the passage at 1:19:04

1:19:30 It's an important question, and only we can ask it of ourselves. Even your Dharma friends shouldn't really be asking you. So, Jessica, are you really going for it? I guess if it's a really good Dharma friend, for me, that's Tenzo Chokyi. She's always like, what are you doing? And that's good. It's always good to have one friend who can just kind of call you. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:30 Highlight the passage at 1:19:30

1:19:51 I'll call you out on something like that. But most of the Dharma is for us to check up on our own minds. We're trying to develop our own wisdom. We're trying to be able to figure it out for ourselves. And if it's a good friend and they do say it out of a good intention, then you can listen to it. But otherwise, don't just do it to find fault with somebody else. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:51 Highlight the passage at 1:19:51

1:20:17 Any questions on that? Those factors that we need for developing calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:17 Highlight the passage at 1:20:17

1:20:34 The virtuous object. I didn't have one about the virtuous object. I have blessed by holy beings, that one? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:34 Highlight the passage at 1:20:34

1:20:46 Oh, the object of the meditation. Yeah, like what are the possibilities kind of thing. It could be just, I mean actually tankas were originally created. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:46 Highlight the passage at 1:20:46

1:20:59 Well, probably tankas were originally created to capture a moment where somebody had a vision of a holy being. But then later they became practice objects. So if I was going to do a meditation and I was going to use Manjushri as my object, I would probably get an image like this and then I would spend time getting to know the image and then try to conjure up that image when I sat down to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:59 Highlight the passage at 1:20:59

1:21:30 So anytime you're using an object in meditation, it is a mental object, right? So you're not sitting on your meditation cushion in front of the tanka with your eyes open. That's not what we're talking about. But between sessions, you can spend as much time as you'd like getting to know the object, getting to know how he wears his hair, what's he wearing on his head, what is he holding in his hand, what is his body posture, what is the mudrā of his hand, what are his feet doing, how many feet does he have, how many hands does he have, what color is he, and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:30 Highlight the passage at 1:21:30

1:22:05 So I'm getting to know him, getting to know him, and so every time on my break, I'm really getting to know him. And when I'm walking around, I'm thinking about him. But when I sit down, It may not be a very clear image and for those of you who have come to the drop-in meditations when I've talked about visualization meditation, actually that can be a huge obstacle. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:05 Highlight the passage at 1:22:05

1:22:36 To us, ever attaining concentration is if we try too hard for that clarity at first. At first, we're just doing the best we can. We're just setting it up. And then we're focusing with as much concentration as we have. It could be a gold blob. Totally fine. With more and more practice, the details of his face and body and so forth will begin to emerge. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:36 Highlight the passage at 1:22:36

1:23:03 But at first... For us to fight for those details at the expense of holding the object is actually an obstacle. So we just focus for holding the object and allow those details to emerge on their own. So we'll do that. So if you're focusing on another – so that would be an example of a virtuous object. Another virtuous object could be a state of mind of compassion, which I find – I think that would be – Hugely difficult, because every single time you have to generate, it's not just, oh, I'm feeling compassionate for Fred. It's not like that. It's an actual state of mind that comes about based on, you'd have to generate it every time, and it would have to be genuine compassion, and then you'd use that to focus your mind on it. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:03 Highlight the passage at 1:23:03

1:23:55 For me, that would be hugely difficult. I can't quite imagine that one, but it is a possible example of a virtuous object. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:55 Highlight the passage at 1:23:55

1:24:06 Another example of a virtuous object would be, actually comes around in, well, it's sort of similar to using the Buddha, but in Tantra, the method of attaining calm abiding is actually done in your practice on your deity, and so you arise, once you've had the proper empowerment and so forth, you arise as a deity and you focus. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:06 Highlight the passage at 1:24:06

1:24:36 On yourself as the deity, and that's how you develop calm abiding, is yourself as the deity. So it's very similar to this. You still have to get to know all the details because it's not just, you're not just making it up. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:36 Highlight the passage at 1:24:36

1:24:51 For example, if I'm arising as Manjushri, I then have the hair and the sword and I am gold, but then I'm focusing my concentration 100 % on that. So that's an interesting, that's also a virtuous object of calm abiding meditation. If you're focusing on the breath, you are deciding the level of the breath that you're going to focus on. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:51 Highlight the passage at 1:24:51

1:25:17 And that's not considered a virtuous object, but it is a useful object for those of us with easily distractible minds. And then, so often you read about the belly breath and the... Either the sensation on the upper lip or a little patch of skin inside the tip of your nose. And so you figure out which you're going to focus on and you're focusing on that sensation of the air passing over. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:17 Highlight the passage at 1:25:17

1:25:47 And that's all you're focusing on. That one's a lot easier, obviously, because you don't have to get to know what's he wearing, how many arms, what color is he, what are the mudras, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:47 Highlight the passage at 1:25:47

1:25:59 And so for a mind that already does that, it's useful for me to just have one place and not a lot of conceptualizing that comes up. So that's why I think that's such a good object for people who already have minds that are like, it's much easier to just place it right on an object. But basically you can choose any object that you want and it is always a mental object. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:59 Highlight the passage at 1:25:59

1:26:26 So if I was going to use a stone, I can study the stone, but that stone is then going to arise in my mind. It's not going to be the actual stone. So I know in some traditions, I think some Hindu traditions, you put something in front of you and you focus on that. That's not what meditation is in this tradition. Meditation is always a mental process. So we're going to try to bring up that stone or stick. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:26 Highlight the passage at 1:26:26

1:26:55 Or Buddha image or the sensation of my breath. Whatever it is and that's what I'm going to focus on with as much concentration as I can. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:55 Highlight the passage at 1:26:55

1:27:05 Does that help? Wait, talking stick? Talking stick? Report an error in the passage at 1:27:05 Highlight the passage at 1:27:05

1:27:19 Yeah, I'm curious. There are two things I'm picking up on. One is the use of the virtuous object to actually achieve that single-pointed focus. The other is how much of it is the character of the object? Report an error in the passage at 1:27:19 Highlight the passage at 1:27:19

1:27:35 virtue in the object, is it the nature of the object that is also part of the concentration? No. No. What do you mean by nature of the object? You have to keep talking. In Soviet traditions there are objects which have virtues because they represent something in them. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:35 Highlight the passage at 1:27:35

1:28:01 No, it's simply in this case because you're spending so much time placing your attention on it that they say a virtuous object is really good because it just makes your whole activity more virtuous. So that's all. It's just saying, hey, I mean the Buddha is basically saying if you're going to be looking at this day and night for months, it might as well become a virtuous activity because the object itself is virtuous. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:01 Highlight the passage at 1:28:01

1:28:26 us um but the But our ability to attain single point of concentration doesn't differ. All of those objects would be the same. Do you want to pass? I Report an error in the passage at 1:28:26 Highlight the passage at 1:28:26

1:28:42 don't know if this is what you're getting at, Fred, but when you said that, it made me think. So this is something that came up with Emily's calm-abiding class. So, you know, you can meditate, let's say, on Shakyamuni Buddha as the object, and if you have... Visualize him. You just visualize him because he's Shakyamuni Buddha. He's virtuous. We know all the reasons why he's virtuous. He spreads the Dharma, blah, blah, blah. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:42 Highlight the passage at 1:28:42

1:29:05 But when you do this, you only picture the external image of him. You don't do the analysis of why he's virtuous. It sounded like you were asking, do you also think about the reasons why the object is virtuous? From what I understand, is that what you were kind of asking? Yeah, once you choose it, it's simply... Actually, I was talking to Jack on Saturday night. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:05 Highlight the passage at 1:29:05

1:29:31 Jack and Judith have a study group up in Marin. And Jack was talking about the use of the word visualization because it sounds like you're using your eyes. And he really likes the word imagination better because we're imagining then an image of the Buddha. And we're just focusing on that image of the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:31 Highlight the passage at 1:29:31

1:29:48 That's it. That's all we're focusing on, if that is our image, if that's what it is, that that's the object that we've chosen. Yeah, but you're not doing any analysis at all once you're doing single-pointed. And in fact, when you're getting to know the various aspects, that's considered analysis. So at first, say I'm doing Manjushri, I'm going to spend time, my eyes are going to move around, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:48 Highlight the passage at 1:29:48

1:30:12 I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking. When I stop... You know, I try to imagine that he then arises in my mind. I'm just going to then hold. So my mind is not moving around all over the place. It's brought him up with as much detail as I can, and then I'm going to hold. Now, there are a couple different ways, and we're not going to get into it too much more here, but you can also, for example, in Tantra, you will sometimes, as a way of getting to know the deity, you might... Report an error in the passage at 1:30:12 Highlight the passage at 1:30:12

1:30:44 Single-pointedly focus on different parts of him. So you might single-pointedly focus on his hand, or you might single-pointedly focus on the sword, or you might single-pointedly focus on the point between his eyes, or various places like that. All of that is a way of getting to know the overall, because in the end, you're then pulling back out and having as much of the whole as you can hold. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:44 Highlight the passage at 1:30:44

1:31:08 And again, Lorympa and the other instructors go into this in much more detail. But the idea in this case of choosing a virtuous object is simply because it's more beneficial for our mind to place itself on a virtuous object day in and day out. That's really all it is. So it's kind of like if you're going to be doing this so much, you might as well have a virtuous object instead of a stone. But it doesn't matter. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:08 Highlight the passage at 1:31:08

1:31:33 You can attain calm abiding based on anything. As one teacher said, even on a piece of crap. If you want to have that in your mind, Anna Tam. I think I saw another hand go up on this side of the room, did I see? Was it Christine? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:33 Highlight the passage at 1:31:33

1:31:58 I'm not sure, but are we trying, just not from comma biting for a second, but are we trying to break down the dualistic perception of the perceiver and the object perceived? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:58 Highlight the passage at 1:31:58

1:32:10 So if you look at the cup, it's supposed to be, I mean, it's really... can't wait. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:10 Highlight the passage at 1:32:10

1:32:18 karma has created your experience of seeing it as a cup. Right. Yeah, but not for calm abiding, right? That's a completely different process. For calm abiding, we're not doing any analysis. No, this has nothing to do with emptiness at this point. This is simply building a tool with which we can then look at emptiness. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:18 Highlight the passage at 1:32:18

1:32:41 Well, at this point, you're not doing any conceptualizing about that object. We're simply trying to build our ability to hold our mind on an object. That's a good point, though. I'm glad you brought that up. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:41 Highlight the passage at 1:32:41

1:32:52 Everything else up until this class we've been talking about analyzing and analyzing and analyzing. In this class we're simply talking about developing a tool with our mind and our ability to hold it on an object that then we can do with whatever we want. But what we will then do with that is put it on emptiness. But when we're doing single point of concentration we are simply trying to develop. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:52 Highlight the passage at 1:32:52

1:33:19 The strength of our power of concentration for whatever object. I'm trying to hold you in my line of vision. I know David and Eleanor are trying to keep me from it. No, but whatever it is, I'm just simply trying to keep my concentration on that object. Repeatedly until I actually have some concentration and then strengthen that concentration. In the end, I will then take that tool and be able to do with it what I want. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:19 Highlight the passage at 1:33:19

1:33:43 So this is a completely different kind of meditation. So the two types of meditation in this tradition are analytical. Our analytical and concentration and they work together and in this case we are not conceptualizing at all. So that goes back to Fred's question too. We don't necessarily think about the virtue of the object. We're simply choosing a virtuous object to place our mind on over and over and over and over again for a couple of years or however long it takes us to develop it. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:43 Highlight the passage at 1:33:43

1:34:16 If we are choosing an inanimate object like a stone or a cup or something like that, we aren't conceptualizing it at this point either. When we're doing calm abiding, we are only focusing concentration, nothing else. So when the mind gets distracted by conceptualization, you know, noise outside in the hall, pain in the knee, all of that's conceptualization. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:16 Highlight the passage at 1:34:16

1:34:41 We aren't going to feed that with more conceptualization. We're just going to extract the mind and place it back onto the object for this meditation. For analysis, when we're going into the analysis of why something's empty and so forth, that's completely different. That we can also get distracted, right? I can get distracted by anything. But in that case, if I'm trying to understand the lack of inherent existence of something and I'm trying to understand it intellectually, if my mind gets distracted by... Report an error in the passage at 1:34:41 Highlight the passage at 1:34:41

1:35:12 I'm going to go volunteer at the center on Saturday. That's also a distraction, even if it's a virtuous one. And I'm going to extract it and place it back on the emptiness of the thing in front of me. If you're trying to put the attention on something outside of you, are you reinforcing this concept of realism? No. Not in this case, because all we're trying to do is strengthen concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:12 Highlight the passage at 1:35:12

1:35:33 That's it. That's it, yeah. We're not even thinking it inherently exists or anything. We're simply trying to hold our mind on it. So it can be anything, whether it inherently exists or not. We're just trying to place our mind on it and keep it there, which is a long process. But there's no analysis at this point as to its emptiness or so forth. That comes in a different meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:33 Highlight the passage at 1:35:33

1:35:58 So usually what I like to do is a little bit of each each day. So you do a little bit to just start of single point of concentration and then you go into analytical meditation like that. And what you're doing is two different things. One is you're gaining an intellectual understanding of emptiness or whatever it is. It could be impermanence. It could be anything that you're analyzing. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:58 Highlight the passage at 1:35:58

1:36:21 But with that little bit of time that you're putting into concentration meditation, you're building some concentration. Because otherwise, when you're doing analytical meditation, you gain that aha moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:21 Highlight the passage at 1:36:21

1:36:32 You have to sit up here. That's right. Get down. Get down. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:32 Highlight the passage at 1:36:32

1:36:41 Yeah, when you have that aha moment, as lovely demonstrated by my lovely assistant here. I'm going to Report an error in the passage at 1:36:41 Highlight the passage at 1:36:41

1:36:47 You need some concentration to be able to hold on to that moment even for a second, right? And as I've noticed when I'm doing, because all analytical meditation has some element of concentration in it. If we have an aha moment and our concentration sucks. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:47 Highlight the passage at 1:36:47

1:37:03 We can't hold on to that aha moment. We might not even remember it to go and discuss it with our Dharma friends afterwards, right? Or our teacher, you know? We have to have a certain amount of concentration to even gain anything out of an analytical meditation. But when we're only doing concentration for that two and a half minutes or four and a half minutes or ten minutes or whatever, that object... Report an error in the passage at 1:37:03 Highlight the passage at 1:37:03

1:37:26 Be it the breath, be it the Buddha, be it the Vajra, whatever it is that you're single-pointedly concentrating on, that is it. There's no analysis at all. The mind is not moving from that object, hopefully. And when the mind does move, the mind is pulling the mind back onto the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:26 Highlight the passage at 1:37:26

1:37:45 Let's move on really quick because I'm running out of time and then we can take a couple more questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:45 Highlight the passage at 1:37:45

1:37:55 These things are actually in your notes, so you don't have to write them down unless you want to. Tonight's homework is actually just a bunch of these notes. I just thought you might want them for your own. And then this way you can just sort of listen instead of writing down notes. You'll get a chart also. It's a nice chart that Tensichoki put together. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:55 Highlight the passage at 1:37:55

1:38:19 And it's similar to the information that I have more haphazardly in my notes, but you'll see it. There are five main obstacles to cultivating calm abiding. There are eight antidotes to those obstacles. And so I'm just going to go through those obstacles and then the antidotes to each of them. As we are working on our calm abiding, these will come up for you. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:19 Highlight the passage at 1:38:19

1:38:44 And so there are definite ways to counteract them. The most important thing is to remember to actually use the antidote. If we don't use the antidote, then we're just sitting there spacing out and we're not actually meditating. If we're meditating and we get one of these obstacles, the reason that we learn the obstacles and learn the antidotes is so that we actually remember to apply the antidotes. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:44 Highlight the passage at 1:38:44

1:39:07 It makes a huge difference in your practice. The absolute first... The hugest obstacle that we have to overcome is laziness. And laziness has three kinds. I know that I've said this in other classes and some of you guys might know this, but laziness, the very first laziness is lay low, just not feeling like it. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:07 Highlight the passage at 1:39:07

1:39:31 It's a huge obstacle to meditation, huge. The second type of laziness is the laziness of too many activities, also a huge obstacle to meditation practice. The third type of laziness is the laziness of discouragement, also a huge obstacle to meditation practice, right? Concentration meditation is not for me. I'm not a natural meditator. I'll never attain calm abiding. I'm not going to go live in a cave. I can never do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:31 Highlight the passage at 1:39:31

1:40:01 I'll never become a Buddha. And at some point, all of us will have these thoughts. This is just laziness, according to the Tibetan Buddhist belief, which I think is actually very interesting. Laziness is so huge, it has most of the antidotes. So you have eight antidotes. Four of them go with the first of the five obstacles. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:01 Highlight the passage at 1:40:01

1:40:26 The first antidote, I think it should be the last antidote of this series, because we don't... We develop pliancy. When we develop pliancy, it acts as an antidote to laziness, but we don't develop pliancy until we've been practicing meditation. So I find that a somewhat frustrating antidote, but I'm giving it to you in the traditional way. It comes first. Antidote one, develop pliancy. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:26 Highlight the passage at 1:40:26

1:40:52 Antidote two is develop joyful effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:52 Highlight the passage at 1:40:52

1:40:59 Joyful effort is... Sometimes translated as enthusiasm, it's basically a mind that delights in virtue. So a mind that delights in virtue is a mind that wants to meditate. So we have to sometimes, you know, sometimes they'll give you all the qualities of calm abiding before you start studying calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:59 Highlight the passage at 1:40:59

1:41:21 They'll give you all the qualities of bodhicitta before you start studying bodhicitta. And part of what they're trying to do is inspire our minds, you know, with that joyful effort. Three and four are similar. Develop aspiration, so develop the wish to attain calm abiding, Report an error in the passage at 1:41:21 Highlight the passage at 1:41:21

1:41:39 and develop faith, thinking about the benefits of cultivating calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:39 Highlight the passage at 1:41:39

1:41:52 I know, it did sort of sound like he was like, really? He's having some sort of problem over there with that. No aspiration, no faith. Yeah, like if you can really inspire yourself, then it can work when you're lying there in bed and you're like, I don't really like getting up, you know. Then you start sounding like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:52 Highlight the passage at 1:41:52

1:42:15 But we have to develop it. We really have to see that we have to develop it or we won't get up. The second of the five main obstacles is the failure to remember the instructions. Like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:15 Highlight the passage at 1:42:15

1:42:29 And the antidote to this is developing mindfulness. Mindfulness in this case is talking about a state of mind that's able to keep continuity of awareness on the object. So if we're trying to focus on our breath or a stone or an image of Manjusri, what's in the fridge is not the object, right? So we have to remember that's not the object. Sometimes the mind will get so far off the object, We're like, I'm meditating great. I'm going to go do that retreat. And then I'm going to have Jopani. And then by next year, I'm going to have a three-month retreat. And then we're nowhere near the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:29 Highlight the passage at 1:42:29

1:43:09 So something has to trigger us to be like, wait, that's not the object. Then go back. And also not to stay there and go, God, you're so horrible, Chokyi. You're really off the object. You just don't do it well. You never do this. And then that's not the object either, right? So it's not to go into more conceptual. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:09 Highlight the passage at 1:43:09

1:43:27 It's just. Take it off, put it back. Then it goes wandering away. I compare it sometimes to a two-year-old. We don't hate the two-year-old, right, hopefully. We place the two-year-old back in the playpen, you know, and then the two-year-old goes wandering off, we place it back on. No thinking, no staying with the kid as they're running into traffic. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:27 Highlight the passage at 1:43:27

1:43:49 We're just placing it back into the playpen. So we just do that repeatedly as many times in the practice as we need to. That's all. So we have to remember the object. We have to keep our mind on the object. Distraction is an obstacle, one of the five main obstacles. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:49 Highlight the passage at 1:43:49

1:44:10 The antidote to that is developing vigilance. You'll hear these terms translated differently, mindfulness and vigilance. They come up when we're also trying to... We keep our vows. They came up a lot in the Bodhisattva class too. The same two minds. We have to have a mind that remembers that we're on the Bodhisattva path and want to get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:10 Highlight the passage at 1:44:10

1:44:31 We have to have that too. In meditation, we have to have a mind that remembers that we're meditating on my breath. Vigilance is the one that notices when we've gone off and hooks it and sends it back. It's like the guard dog. So the same is true if I'm out in the world and I'm reaching for the bottle of alcohol. I'm like, wait a second, I took those vows. I want to become a bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:31 Highlight the passage at 1:44:31

1:44:58 So it's like sort of remembering that mind that catches it and brings it back. Mindfulness is simply awareness that we've gone off, but it does nothing to bring it back. So we have to remember with vigilance to actually bring it back. You can be distracted either by that. That drowsiness or dull mind or you can be distracted by an agitated, scattered mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:58 Highlight the passage at 1:44:58

1:45:23 And I'm not going to talk more about mindfulness and alertness or vigilance because we just don't have time. But basically you need both and you need both and you're off. Your post-meditative session, which is the other 23 and a half hours of your day, and you need it in your meditation. They're the same two states of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:23 Highlight the passage at 1:45:23

1:45:46 We need to develop those really strongly. And once you are developing a calm abiding practice, this comes up really strongly. You'll see how important those two states of mind are. The fourth major obstacle to developing calm abiding is not applying the antidote when you... Report an error in the passage at 1:45:46 Highlight the passage at 1:45:46

1:46:06 Notice that you've gone off. You actually know all the antidotes and you still do nothing about it when your mind goes to Bali. That's not going to help you ever attain calm abiding. But that's also true in our post-session too. If we have received a lot of teachings and then our mind goes into a klesha attack and we don't do anything about it, that's the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:06 Highlight the passage at 1:46:06

1:46:32 It's the same mind. We aren't actually applying the antidote even when we know what the antidote is. Rinpoche always says that that's actually taking refuge in the Dharma. If we can actually remember a teaching that we received on something and it helps our mind in a given situation, that's taking refuge in the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:32 Highlight the passage at 1:46:32

1:46:57 So there's nothing else more amazing than actually remembering something you learned and applying it to your mind. It sometimes takes forever to do that, but it's amazing. And then the opposite is also a big problem, over-applying the antidote. So we get really used to keeping our mind tight and rigid, and the mind is actually staying on the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:57 Highlight the passage at 1:46:57

1:47:20 And to over-apply the antidote can cause just as many problems as under-applying it once we get to that level. I'm not at that level now, but I can imagine. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:20 Highlight the passage at 1:47:20

1:47:32 Leave it alone, basically. Don't touch it. We can do this off the cushion, too. When we regret something, we just keep beating ourselves up, right? So we've done something that we regret, and we don't just purify it and let it go. We're just like, oh my god, I'm so horrible, I'm so horrible, I never do that, I always do that, I'm really horrible. That's also a way of not leaving it alone. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:32 Highlight the passage at 1:47:32

1:47:58 In our mind, if our mind is staying on the object, leave it alone. Just let it be, let it be on the object. Don't over apply. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:58 Highlight the passage at 1:47:58

1:48:08 Any questions about any of this? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:08 Highlight the passage at 1:48:08

1:48:13 And then I just gave you like a whole bunch of notes to just kind of help if you're using, you know, this kind of object or that kind, ways that can help you sort of help you both on the cushion and off the cushion. Like if you're really trying to develop a meditation practice that includes calm abiding, allow your mind a little bit of space between sessions, you know, like if you're... Report an error in the passage at 1:48:13 Highlight the passage at 1:48:13

1:48:41 Really look at how you're using your time between sessions. Don't try to keep it so reined in that it gets so tight. Sometimes we can do that too. You don't want to just be watching limitless television, but if your mind needs a break, spend some time. We were talking about this actually on Sunday too. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:41 Highlight the passage at 1:48:41

1:49:02 Looking at the sky. Allowing your eyes some time to just look at the sky. I always try to work that into any of my retreats now. It's like, that's my mind. My mind is exactly like this. It's as vast and open as that sky. And that allows my mind to just relax. Because otherwise we can keep it really, really tight and then it just becomes like an anxiety producing exercise. It doesn't help our mind at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:02 Highlight the passage at 1:49:02

1:49:32 If you're doing a calm abiding practice, don't just bull your way through a session if you're having a difficult time. Either you're so disturbed in your mind or your body hurts or something like that. Get up and splash your face with water and then try again. But try to keep the sessions really, really short and sharp. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:32 Highlight the passage at 1:49:32

1:49:56 And then take little breaks between them where you just stretch and just relax your mind a little bit and then do it again so that each of your sessions is like really bright and really sharp. That's what you're aiming for rather than trying for really long sessions where you're just kind of dull, basically. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:56 Highlight the passage at 1:49:56

1:50:17 But that's basically it. I mean, it's not such a difficult practice to explain. There's no way around it except just doing it. You know what I mean? It's not a difficult practice to understand what you're doing. You're just trying to keep your mind on the object. And then the only way to ever attain it is to actually do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:17 Highlight the passage at 1:50:17

1:50:38 So we can read about it all we like. We can talk about it all we like. We can go to retreats. But the only thing that's going to actually allow you to develop it is just to do it. So I think we really should just try doing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:38 Highlight the passage at 1:50:38

1:50:53 Any questions though before we do? We'll just end with a couple of short sessions of calm and biting. Although I have to admit, I think it is taught that you start with really, really short ones. I notice for myself that my mind doesn't even begin to calm down until the first ten minutes. Like I need ten minutes just for the mind to begin to calm down. But we're going to start with just two and a half minute ones. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:53 Highlight the passage at 1:50:53

1:51:16 And then we'll take a one minute break in the middle where we're just silent and just kind of, you know. Do what you need to do in terms of stretching or whatever, but we're just going to focus on an object. And for this case, use the breath. Just use the breath. So either the level of your belly or finding a little patch of skin inside the tip of your nostril and trying to feel the air passing over that. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:16 Highlight the passage at 1:51:16

1:51:45 Sometimes you might note that the air is warm. Going out and cool coming in. In order to find that, it's sometimes hard for people to find that sensation. But once you find it, then try to keep your mind there. And if your mind gets distracted, just notice that it's distracted and place it back on. We'll just do that as many times as you need to. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:45 Highlight the passage at 1:51:45

1:52:07 Sometimes it helps for people to count. It sort of anchors the mind a little bit so you can count, but you don't have to count. This is not that activity. But it sometimes helps. So again, just stretch. Try to bring yourself into posture, Report an error in the passage at 1:52:07 Highlight the passage at 1:52:07

1:52:33 especially extending the spine, leveling the shoulders. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:33 Highlight the passage at 1:52:33

1:52:45 And since this is a neutral object, remembering to motivate to do this meditation so that the tool that we create with our mind can become of benefit to all living beings. Just Report an error in the passage at 1:52:45 Highlight the passage at 1:52:45

· · · silence, 3 minutes

1:55:41 close your eyes and just... Relax your mind for a moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:41 Highlight the passage at 1:55:41

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:58:13 I know that Benarune says that at first it is quite forceful trying to actually hold the mind on the object. We have to really apply some level of force and then eventually that becomes quite blissful. But at first it really does take quite a bit of effort and we have to... He often says, too, to start your session just saying, I will keep my mind on the object in this session. You're sort of psyching yourself up. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:13 Highlight the passage at 1:58:13

1:58:47 It's like, I will do it. Because otherwise you forget, especially after you've been doing it for a while, you forget to set that strong determination. But he says that that's really, really important to do before you sit. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:47 Highlight the passage at 1:58:47

1:59:02 Yeah, any comments about those sessions? it. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:02 Highlight the passage at 1:59:02

1:59:06 Just trying to focus on the object. Any questions about that? Those little moments. We did the second one a little bit shorter. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:06 Highlight the passage at 1:59:06

1:59:18 It's hard, isn't it? Yeah. Practice. I mean, remember how it was the first time that you tried to ride a bike or dance or something like that. It just takes practice. That's all. And so meditating is very much like that where you just... Have to do a little bit every day and then it becomes easier. Even just something that short, we're two and a half with a break in between and two and a half, so that would be six minutes or something like that with a little bit of setting the motivation first and dedicating at the end is all. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:18 Highlight the passage at 1:59:18

1:59:54 And that little bit is definitely going to, you'll see some. some change in your mind after just a few weeks and a few months of doing that, you know. It really helps to try to do it the same time every day and to try to have consistency. Remember those two sticks. If you set them down, you're not going to get the spark. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:54 Highlight the passage at 1:59:54

2:00:16 Did you have your hand filled? Report an error in the passage at 2:00:16 Highlight the passage at 2:00:16

2:00:24 Is single-pointed meditation on the breath seems very similar to Zen meditation? That's why you have to keep coming back to that idea of what we're doing right now is to focus the mind. We're trying to... Report an error in the passage at 2:00:24 Highlight the passage at 2:00:24

2:00:39 So we're not trying to relax the mind. We're not trying to have any kind of analysis or anything else. We're simply keeping the mind on an object. So you're trying to strengthen the concentration of the mind holding that object. That's all you're trying to do in this situation. In the end, then we take that concentrated mind and we apply it to whatever we want to apply it to. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:39 Highlight the passage at 2:00:39

2:01:04 So it's not like you're traveling in and out with the breath. You're focusing on that single point where the breath has touched. So you're trying to keep a really tiny object. And in fact, this gets into a little bit more detail, but in fact they say the tinier the object, the sort of more subdued the mind. So keeping it on a little tiny point helps to control the mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:04 Highlight the passage at 2:01:04

2:01:28 But we're not trying to become one with the breath here. That helps to neutralize the mind. You could do that to start with, you know, before you sit. But for this one, you're just choosing an object and trying to keep the mind on the object. And that's it. There's a little kind of, I mean, it's active, a little more kind of vigilance to it. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:28 Highlight the passage at 2:01:28

2:01:49 Yeah, so you're not relaxing into it. So when people say, you know, I sat and meditated for 45 minutes today, they probably are not holding that tight a rein on that concentration, unless they're, you know, Jin Rinpoche or something. But I beg your pardon, Rinpoche. I don't think, no, but I mean. Right. But you're really trying to keep it on that point. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:49 Highlight the passage at 2:01:49

2:02:14 And that's why it does get exhausting. I mean, if you're doing this in retreat, they actually say to you. They do 18 sessions a day, but keep them really short. So you have lots of little short sessions with breaks in between where you take walks and things like that. So the retreat down at Vajrapani, I'm not sure how they're going to set it up, but I think when Rinpoche is teaching, it's going to change it. But then after he leaves, I think they're going to do a lot more short sessions. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:14 Highlight the passage at 2:02:14

2:02:38 And those short sessions are really, really on. And then... When you're off session, then you can relax or whatever. It's not so blissful right away, I think. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:38 Highlight the passage at 2:02:38

2:02:52 Because the mind is a powerful... It's like that two-year-old. Imagine a two-year-old that's raised itself. So now you're trying to apply a little discipline to that two-year-old. So it's not such a pretty picture at first. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:52 Highlight the passage at 2:02:52

2:03:10 Should you, as far as creating a schedule, say you do want to do this every day for the next year or more? And then is there like a suggested amount of increments like every two weeks increase? Yeah, one of my teachers used to say if you feel that you are doing pretty well at two and a half minutes, you know, start small. Then maybe after, well, you're going to have to decide. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:10 Highlight the passage at 2:03:10

2:03:35 But I've heard after a week, I think that may be quick. So maybe two weeks is better to add a minute. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:35 Highlight the passage at 2:03:35

2:03:46 And if you lose a few sessions, like you don't sit, then you have to back up. Because you don't want to just keep progressing if you aren't really holding the object. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:46 Highlight the passage at 2:03:46

2:03:58 And the more you sit, you really will see some difference. But it just takes a little bit of time. I'm Report an error in the passage at 2:03:58 Highlight the passage at 2:03:58

2:04:16 trying to think if there's any last minute. Oh. It is good to try to sit as much as you can in the eight-point posture, which means at some point if it's possible to try to work ourselves up into half Vajra and then full Vajra, don't do it too quickly. Do it little bits at a time. If you know that you will not in this life be able to get into one of those postures, that's okay too. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:16 Highlight the passage at 2:04:16

2:04:44 Try to find a posture that you can hold or you can even imagine holding. For X amount of time. If it's not the full Vajra posture. And those of you that are younger than me should be still trying to think about getting into the Vajra posture. Don't be nodding your head too quickly that you've given up. Those of us of a certain age, we have to figure out kind of what we're still capable of. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:44 Highlight the passage at 2:04:44

2:05:11 But you want to try to create a stable posture that you might... Even imagine that you're going to be able to hold. Even if right now you're not able to hold it, just imagine that you're able to hold it. And that might mean in a chair, and that's totally fine. A chair or stool could also work, but you want it to be stable so that you can imagine holding it for up to a half hour. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:11 Highlight the passage at 2:05:11

2:05:32 Just try to get to the point where it's something like that. Don't think of the four-hour thing yet. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:32 Highlight the passage at 2:05:32

2:05:42 And also, if you do decide to choose your breath, don't... Do exaggerated breathing. Don't, you know, make it deeper. You just develop lung. Actually, you can develop wind disease that way by breathing really oddly. So don't, like you're just focusing on the breath that is. It's just, again, a tool. You're just picking something that's regular that you can focus on. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:42 Highlight the passage at 2:05:42

2:06:09 And the nice thing about the breath is it's always with you, no matter what. You end up in the hospital, you got your breath. Hopefully. If you don't, it's another problem. So it's like something that's with you all the time. Even in the bank or something like that, if you're on the bus or something, even if you're standing on the bus, you've got your breath and it can be a chance of just... Report an error in the passage at 2:06:09 Highlight the passage at 2:06:09

2:06:33 Focusing, even if you don't do serious meditation standing on the 22, you can focus on the in and out breath and it can be a way of stabilizing your mind. So that's something, that's one of the cool things about the breath. But you don't need to breathe in any different manner than you normally breathe. You will start calming down. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:33 Highlight the passage at 2:06:33

2:06:52 Your breath will start calming down because it's connected with the mind, but you don't need to change it in any way. Fred. Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:52 Highlight the passage at 2:06:52

2:07:06 I thought I'd mention that in here. Maybe I didn't. Maybe I mentioned it in Transforming Problems. There is something that's called wind disease or lung in Tibetan. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:06 Highlight the passage at 2:07:06

2:07:20 It's basically, you know, when we're talking about the subtle body and the winds and the channels, it can get a little bit off. And there's lots of things that cause it. But one of the... Um, it's Report an error in the passage at 2:07:20 Highlight the passage at 2:07:20

2:07:33 Biggest things that causes it is that sort of fierceness of intention of trying to do the right thing. It's like the type A personality. I know. So there are certain of us in this room that I have gotten along in retreat. It doesn't mean that it's the end of your life. It doesn't mean that it's this really horrible thing. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:33 Highlight the passage at 2:07:33

2:07:53 You can figure out ways to deal with it. One of them is learning how to relax your mind, especially between sessions. Staring at the sky is a great thing. Doing physical exercise is a great thing and something that I left out of my first retreat. Now I always do yoga. I always do walks. What you eat also matters. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:53 Highlight the passage at 2:07:53

2:08:12 You don't want to have too much caffeine for the same reason. I will get calm abiding by Thursday. That doesn't help anything. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:12 Highlight the passage at 2:08:12

2:08:22 So cutting out caffeine, cutting out sugar as much as you can, those things also can contribute to it. Sometimes they say if you tend to have a kind of a flighty personality, eating more grounding foods. If you eat meat, eating meat. If you don't eat meat, eating like kind of fatting things like peanut butter, things like that. Like kind of grounding yourself a little bit because otherwise you're like, oh my God, you know, and that's all. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:22 Highlight the passage at 2:08:22

2:08:48 Lung can actually just be kind of. It can begin as just trying too hard and getting anxious about it. What it can become is you can have certain symptoms that were surprising to me because I didn't know anything about lung when I got it. I was doing Vajrasafri retreat and they purposefully didn't tell us because I guess sometimes when they tell Westerners then they begin to mimic the symptoms so they didn't tell us. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:48 Highlight the passage at 2:08:48

2:09:15 I actually thought I was having a reaction to high altitude. I was at Tushita which wasn't even that high. It's like 5,000 feet. but, Report an error in the passage at 2:09:15 Highlight the passage at 2:09:15

2:09:24 And by the time I finally brought it up to somebody, they said, oh my God, this is really serious. And then I ended up doing some Tibetan herbs. Of course, it's Dharamsala India, so there's like the best Tibetan doctor in the world just at the base of the mountain, and he just sent a bunch of stuff up. I also changed. I would always take a walk every day. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:24 Highlight the passage at 2:09:24

2:09:42 I started doing my prostrations. I started, you know, doing yoga. I even had somebody came in and gave me a massage, which was great, you know. So there's just certain ways to just like calm down. So if you can catch it early enough, it's not a problem. I think what happens is that people like me just didn't know what it was, and so then it can get more advanced. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:42 Highlight the passage at 2:09:42

2:10:02 And it can become a problem if you don't catch it. So we try to catch it early. There's actually a great book on that, and I think we actually have a copy of it in there. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:02 Highlight the passage at 2:10:02

2:10:15 I can't remember what the title is, but we can go in right after the class. It's something it mentions about working with wind disease, but I can't remember what it's called. The editor is Ninjay, and she has a good article in there too. But it's great. It's just all these different practitioners and what they've tried. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:15 Highlight the passage at 2:10:15

2:10:37 And some really, really good – she has these different things that she does before she sits to meditate. She's the one that I mentioned before. She's done like two, four-year retreats somewhat back-to-back. So she has a lot of experience with it. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:37 Highlight the passage at 2:10:37

2:10:52 And knows of ways to work with it. It's just one of those things that if you're going to meditate very much, especially in retreat settings, it's a good thing to know about and a good thing to kind of begin working with early in your meditation career so it doesn't get out of hand, that's all. I know a lot of people are like, oh my God, look! And it's like, no, it's just one more thing to kind of deal with so that you know, so that you can do it for the long haul, you know, so that you're willing to do it for the long haul. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:52 Highlight the passage at 2:10:52

2:11:20 So you stay healthy in body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:20 Highlight the passage at 2:11:20

2:11:25 Last but not least, I wanted to mention the retreat day is coming this Saturday and I know some of you are not able to do the retreat day. So we want to have a proper dedication to this class so that it's dedicating the whole class for you guys too. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:25 Highlight the passage at 2:11:25

2:11:45 I did want to mention too, the retreat day is a potluck, so if everybody could just bring something that is vegetarian and they can share, that would be great. You don't have to tell me. I'm just going to hope that there's some... Report an error in the passage at 2:11:45 Highlight the passage at 2:11:45

2:12:01 Some sort of food that works for all of us, but don't worry about it. Some people, I'm sure, will just pick up bread on the way over and then some people will cook something and that's totally fine. Whatever you bring is fine and between the group of us that are coming, I think it'll all work out. It always does. Introduction to Tantra starts on the 16th of June, also on Thursday nights and also another nine-week course with two weeks off in the middle. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:01 Highlight the passage at 2:12:01

2:12:28 And I'll be teaching that. And then also I mentioned Geshe-la's class. And Emily's class is a few classes in, but I think you guys would do all right to join it if you're interested. That's Tuesday night, 6.30 to 8.30, and she's talking about Special Insight, which is the section of the lamrim just past calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:28 Highlight the passage at 2:12:28

2:12:49 Also a couple of other books. I'm actually reading a book called How Do You See Yourself as You Really Are by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I think I sent you guys that quote about meditation from that book. It's really, I'm enjoying it a lot. So that's another good book to get. Really accessible information about emptiness, I thought. Geshitashi has two books, one on the two truths and one on emptiness, also very clear, easily readable. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:49 Highlight the passage at 2:12:49

2:13:17 And then Guy Newland, who came not that long ago, he's actually a professor, he's an academic, he's not... A Buddhist teacher, per se, but he has a book called Appearance and Reality, which is a really good book, especially on the two truths. And that's another place to go. All right. Let's end. You guys can leave. And let's go to... Report an error in the passage at 2:13:17 Highlight the passage at 2:13:17

2:13:47 I Report an error in the passage at 2:13:47 Highlight the passage at 2:13:47

2:13:58 want to do the one on page 246. We're going to end with bodhicitta instead of with emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:58 Highlight the passage at 2:13:58

2:14:13 246. May all beings everywhere, plagued by sufferings of body and mind, obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no living creature suffer, commit evil or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:13 Highlight the passage at 2:14:13

2:14:44 May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drinks. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:44 Highlight the passage at 2:14:44

2:15:10 May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the Thank you Report an error in the passage at 2:15:10 Highlight the passage at 2:15:10

2:15:47 very much, you guys. So 1030 to 4 on Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:47 Highlight the passage at 2:15:47

2:16:13 So the morning on Saturday is going to be in silence. If you guys come late, if anybody does come late, you're welcome to come in. Just be silent and then be seated. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:13 Highlight the passage at 2:16:13

2:16:24 And if anybody is in meditation and somebody comes late, smile at them when they come in. Don't let them feel like they're just totally fine. No, that's cool. Yeah, yeah. Life happens. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:24 Highlight the passage at 2:16:24

2:16:41 Okay, so you can just join us for lunch and then for the afternoon. That's totally fine. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Oh, wait. I think it's out there. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:41 Highlight the passage at 2:16:41