Transforming Problems into the Path - How Problems Help (13 January 2011)

0:07 So I always start every class with some frustrations. If anybody is familiar with that and would like to join me, they can, but you don't have to. It's just a way of respecting and honoring the teachings and the teachers who have brought this lineage to us all the way back to the Buddha. And then there's this element of wanting to attain their qualities and their wisdom and understanding. Report an error in the passage at 0:07 Highlight the passage at 0:07

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1:16 Hey John, could you poke that middle light switch? Ah, Report an error in the passage at 1:16 Highlight the passage at 1:16

1:24 we're here. Report an error in the passage at 1:24 Highlight the passage at 1:24

1:29 Hey, stranger, you snuck in here. Nice to see you. Thank you, Marcela. Report an error in the passage at 1:29 Highlight the passage at 1:29

1:41 Yeah, I usually put it on the floor, but thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:41 Highlight the passage at 1:41

1:50 Hey, it's welcome. Is there anybody that's chilly? Does anybody need the heat or anything like that? So I've got a blankie on my lap, so. Report an error in the passage at 1:50 Highlight the passage at 1:50

2:04 What's that? I know, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:04 Highlight the passage at 2:04

2:10 All right, so we're going to start with a little meditation just on our breath. Report an error in the passage at 2:10 Highlight the passage at 2:10

2:18 Let go of our day. Just take some nice deep belly breaths and breathe them out. You could either just watch your breath if you're familiar with that or you can practice breathing in white light. Report an error in the passage at 2:18 Highlight the passage at 2:18

2:33 Imagine bringing all the qualities that you need or you want tonight and breathing out black smoke, letting go of any negative thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 2:33 Highlight the passage at 2:33

2:44 Sluggishness or distractedness and then breathing in again. Clarity, curiosity, presence. Just try that for a few moments. Report an error in the passage at 2:44 Highlight the passage at 2:44

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3:38 When the mind begins to calm down we just focus on cultivating a motivation for tonight's class and this whole series of classes. Report an error in the passage at 3:38 Highlight the passage at 3:38

4:00 I don't think it's too difficult to look around us. Or in our own lives and find evidence of suffering, which is of course the first of the Four Noble Truths that the Buddha taught. It's the easiest one to get. Report an error in the passage at 4:00 Highlight the passage at 4:00

4:20 But he also taught that it's possible to end that suffering. Report an error in the passage at 4:20 Highlight the passage at 4:20

4:29 And wanting to end that suffering is really deeply rooted in compassion. We want to remove our own suffering and we want to remove the suffering of everyone around us. Report an error in the passage at 4:29 Highlight the passage at 4:29

4:47 And developing the mind that wants to become a Buddha for the ability, for the method, for the tools to be able to benefit others, that's the mind of bodhicitta. And that's what this class is rooted in, the teachings on bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 4:47 Highlight the passage at 4:47

5:07 So may whatever seeds are planted tonight and in the subsequent classes, may they deeply take root in our own minds, each one of us, and Report an error in the passage at 5:07 Highlight the passage at 5:07

5:25 help us each to attain this powerful mind. This mind of bodhicitta in this lifetime. It is possible. Report an error in the passage at 5:25 Highlight the passage at 5:25

5:36 It's not a fairy story. It can happen. May Report an error in the passage at 5:36 Highlight the passage at 5:36

5:46 it begin right here in this class tonight for the benefit of every living being, beginning with ourselves. You Report an error in the passage at 5:46 Highlight the passage at 5:46

6:09 ready? You can end your meditation and we'll start with an opening prayer which should be on page... Eight in the white booklet in front of you. Report an error in the passage at 6:09 Highlight the passage at 6:09

6:28 It's on the same page. There should be a picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Report an error in the passage at 6:28 Highlight the passage at 6:28

6:44 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightening. 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 6:44 Highlight the passage at 6:44

7:25 So welcome everybody. My name is Chokyi for those who don't know me and I'll tell you a little something about me later and we'll also each be able to tell a little something about ourselves. We'll go around briefly before. Report an error in the passage at 7:25 Highlight the passage at 7:25

7:43 Too far, too much longer. Because I always find that useful to find out who people are and why you're here. And it doesn't have to be a profound answer either. It can just be like, you know, I was walking by. It was open finally. So some of you might have heard this classroom referred to as Lojang, the Lojang teachings. Report an error in the passage at 7:43 Highlight the passage at 7:43

8:11 Lojang is Tibetan for, well, lo is mind. So you have a lo rig. Sometimes people, there's another class or genre of teachings called lo rig, which is about how the mind functions, actually. This one's not about how the mind functions so much. It's more about, jang is more about training or transforming. So it sometimes gets... Report an error in the passage at 8:11 Highlight the passage at 8:11

8:37 Translated as thought transformation or mind transformation or mind training. I like mind training because I think it sounds more methodical. And it is very methodical, the kind of training that we do with our mind. But you often hear thought transformation. And in fact, I think Rinpoche uses, Lama Zopa Rinpoche uses thought transformation a lot. Report an error in the passage at 8:37 Highlight the passage at 8:37

9:01 To me, that sounds more like attitude change. And it is an attitude change of sorts. It's not quite as simple as that. It's actually a little bit complex. They're easier to understand than some teachings, but just like all the teachings, more difficult to put into practice. Report an error in the passage at 9:01 Highlight the passage at 9:01

9:23 So actually what it is, I think actually what Lojong is or what thought transformation or mind training is, is this sort of 180 radical. that. Report an error in the passage at 9:23 Highlight the passage at 9:23

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9:38 It's a method of training the heart and training the mind, using whatever comes up, especially the tough stuff. And it changes how we relate to each other. It changes how we see the world in a lot of ways. And so for that very reason, it's actually one of my favorite genres of teachings or groups of teachings. Report an error in the passage at 9:38 Highlight the passage at 9:38

10:01 So there are many Lojongs. You might hear this term, you know, Lojong. And we'll work with one as the bottom or the root text for this class, the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation, which is a very famous Lojong. But there are many other Lojongs. And Geshe-la was talking about this a little bit last night in his final class of Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, that that's also considered a Lojong text, and it's probably the most famous Lojong text. Report an error in the passage at 10:01 Highlight the passage at 10:01

10:33 The entire text isn't on Lojong, but it gets deeply into Lojong, especially in Chapter 8, which is the one he's working on now. But you have to wait three months now to get more teaching. And your advertisement for April, because he's going off to India. So we have to transform that. But yeah, it's like a radical behavior modification technique, this Lojong thing. Report an error in the passage at 10:33 Highlight the passage at 10:33

11:03 It doesn't mean that we go out seeking problems, you know. We don't have to. We already have them. And why do we have problems? We're going to talk about some of the basic things about Buddhism because I don't know yet, since I'm just meeting some of you, what kind of classes you studied in before. And one of the basic things about Buddhism, one of its basic tenets, is karma. Report an error in the passage at 11:03 Highlight the passage at 11:03

11:32 How karma works, karma and emptiness. My three favorite groups of teachings are karma, emptiness and Lojang precisely because of this 180 with how we see reality. It's a completely, they're all three really different ways to view the same old reality. The same old reality doesn't stay the same old very long with any of these teachings. Report an error in the passage at 11:32 Highlight the passage at 11:32

12:00 And of course, Karma and emptiness come into every single class. So we'll talk about those more in some of the subsequent classes. We are going to talk a little bit tonight about the mind, and I'm going to try to make sure that everybody in the class knows a little bit about the lamrim as we go, so that if you haven't taken other classes before, you don't have to sit there thinking, God, everybody else understands what she's saying, and I don't have a clue. Report an error in the passage at 12:00 Highlight the passage at 12:00

12:24 So don't worry about that. And I will get to a little bit. Later in the class, the context of these teachings and how they fit into the whole stages of the path to enlightenment, which is all lamrim means. Report an error in the passage at 12:24 Highlight the passage at 12:24

12:40 So Lojang is how we use what arises for us that arises because of our own karma. So we have created our reality, just to give you a little gist of karma. Through the actions that we've done, those actions that we do are motivated by states of mind that are often negative, unfortunately, that are almost always diluted. Report an error in the passage at 12:40 Highlight the passage at 12:40

13:13 And we're learning to work with our mind so that we start motivating in ways that aren't diluted. But every time that we... Report an error in the passage at 13:13 Highlight the passage at 13:13

13:24 Act on a negative state of mind and do a negative action, then that creates a negative karma. And then we carry that karma in our mind stream, life after life, and then eventually conditions come together and it ripens. And that ripening is our experience of suffering. So all of us have sort of these limitless seeds in our continuum right now. Report an error in the passage at 13:24 Highlight the passage at 13:24

13:50 We don't really know what's there yet. But the more we study, the more we realize that actually we probably have quite a few negative seeds in our garden that we would like to rip out. Report an error in the passage at 13:50 Highlight the passage at 13:50

14:05 Venable Rubina, who has taught here on numerous occasions, used to use the analogy of a garden, and I think that's a really apt analogy for the mind, because if we want to have roses, if we want to have beautiful lilies, then we have to plant them. If we really don't like those weeds, then we have to get them out. And sometimes that means getting dirty and getting down on our hands and knees and ripping them out. And so that's very much like what we want to do with our minds, because in the end we want to have a garden that we like, that we don't have any surprises in. Report an error in the passage at 14:05 Highlight the passage at 14:05

14:43 Something popping up, like when you first move into a house and you look at their garden and you're like... Whoa, what's that? We want to know what we've put in and we want it to be what we want, the kind of garden that we want. So we don't have to go seeking problems. We already have problems. Problems come to us because of our karma and most of us, I think, in this room have experienced problems of all sorts. Report an error in the passage at 14:43 Highlight the passage at 14:43

15:12 But this class and these teachings are just a way to take those problems and use that as grist for the mill. Learn how to look at them differently. Learn how to use them to make our minds stronger rather than just complaining about them and making our minds weaker, which is kind of what we tend to do, especially as a culture. Report an error in the passage at 15:12 Highlight the passage at 15:12

15:38 Is this easy? No, it's not. And understanding it intellectually, just like all the teachings, doesn't mean that we have realized it and that we'll be able to do it perfectly. I wish I could tell you that you would, but I have been studying this for 14 years and I'm still hacking away at it. Report an error in the passage at 15:38 Highlight the passage at 15:38

16:02 However, you see little lights of improvement in that. That's huge satisfaction. So don't expect perfection, but keep working towards it. It is possible. And we're going to get to that perfection tonight. Perfection is really enlightenment. And it is possible. And like I said in the motivation, it's not a fairy story. Report an error in the passage at 16:02 Highlight the passage at 16:02

16:28 It can happen. It's definite that it can happen. It has happened. And we have to begin believing that it has. Because I think then we'll start really working on it. I think that's why a lot of the Tibetan masters start classes like this with what are the benefits of bodhicitta and they try to sort of give you the whole advertisement as to why you want to attain bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 16:28 Highlight the passage at 16:28

16:52 Because they want us to do it. They really want to encourage us to do it. And they don't want us to think. I can never do that. Maybe Geshe-la can do it, but I can never do that because we hold ourselves back that way. So try to believe that it's possible. Report an error in the passage at 16:52 Highlight the passage at 16:52

17:10 So one thing that's also really interesting to know about these teachings, the Lojang teachings, is that they used to be secret. They used to be secret teachings. They were taught, they were part of a series of teachings called the Ear Whispered Teachings. They were only spoken from one master into one or two disciples' ears. Report an error in the passage at 17:10 Highlight the passage at 17:10

17:29 And usually they would just pick the one or two disciples that they thought could handle it because they're so radical. They really are quite radical teachings. Report an error in the passage at 17:29 Highlight the passage at 17:29

17:41 I'm trying to remember how Rubina used to say it. She would say, it's almost insane. It's almost insane what these teachings tell us, but not. you know Report an error in the passage at 17:41 Highlight the passage at 17:41

17:54 So the great masters would pick one or two students and maybe no students if they felt like they didn't have any students who could really get it. And then they would just teach those students. And often it would be sort of late in that student's spiritual life. Report an error in the passage at 17:54 Highlight the passage at 17:54

18:15 Which indicates that they are pretty advanced. And they are. They come as part of the bodhicitta teachings. and the bodhicitta teachings come quite A ways down the path, you know, to enlightenment. But you see them often offered to beginners. And you see, often you'll see, and even in this class, because it's a Discovering Buddhism class, some, and His Holiness, you know, will often, the Dalai Lama will often teach. Report an error in the passage at 18:15 Highlight the passage at 18:15

18:50 The Lojong teachings as a beginning subject. And they can be modified that way. It is possible. Because we all have problems and we all can learn how to work with them. But if you really get into the nitty gritty of the text, they're quite advanced, you know. They're really quite advanced, the way that we would really shift our mind. Report an error in the passage at 18:50 Highlight the passage at 18:50

19:15 Because we really need to rock the boat. And not all of us are quite ready for that. So I'm going to try to give you a taste of that nitty-gritty. And it may be difficult. As Gesell said last night after he did one completely difficult to practice verse, he said, It's not easy to be a bodhisattva. So I may try that too at some point. I might say, after I say something that just seems too radical, I may just say, you know, it's not easy to be a bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:48 We're just learning about it now and we have to learn about it intellectually. But the realization comes after repeated application. We try, we screw up. We try, we screw up. We try it works a little bit and we screw up, you know, and it's just, that's the only way. I mean, it's like learning a language in a way. It's like learning Spanish, right? Report an error in the passage at 19:48 Highlight the passage at 19:48

20:13 So we screw up. You didn't screw up. I screw up when I'm learning Spanish or French or Tibetan. We try, we screw up. And then every once in a while you pronounce it just right and you're like, oh, how did I do that last time? Oh, and then, you know, then you just have to go back and study again. So this is very much the same. Report an error in the passage at 20:13 Highlight the passage at 20:13

20:34 And I think somehow we think with spiritual life that it should be more natural. It's very much like learning a skill of any kind, like learning a language or like learning the piano or like learning an art form or something like that. We have to practice, which is why it's called practice, and we have to just keep putting effort into it. Report an error in the passage at 20:34 Highlight the passage at 20:34

21:00 You know, it's not going to naturally arise in us unless we're really, really fortunate and have really deep seeds from, you know, the last life. And even then, His Holiness had great seeds and he had to make a lot of effort in. And he actually studies, or says he studies, the eight verses of thought transformation every morning, which I feel like is like... Report an error in the passage at 21:00 Highlight the passage at 21:00

21:25 That's the best advertisement. And I have for many years too. I put them aside and I started again, I guess about a year ago. And they're so profound. And that's going to be what we spend most of these classes on, is going through those verses. The first couple of classes tonight and next week, we're going to try to bring everybody... Report an error in the passage at 21:25 Highlight the passage at 21:25

21:49 Onto the same page in terms of what we know. And then the remaining classes will be taking a verse or two and looking at them and meditating on them and thinking about it and like, what the heck did he mean by this one? So it'll be like that. But I wanted you to know that little tidbit about them being part of the secret teachings because they are so radical and so that you don't think that it is going to be super simple. Report an error in the passage at 21:49 Highlight the passage at 21:49

22:19 You know, I think it's actually useful to know that because otherwise you might just think you're the stupid one. Or it's your problem, you know, and it's not your problem. They are difficult to put into practice and all the more reason to try to put them into practice, I think. The goal or the result, the fruition of these teachings is so amazing. Report an error in the passage at 22:19 Highlight the passage at 22:19

22:48 We want to keep reminding ourselves of that, that it is worthwhile after all this. So quite a number of years ago, I was part of a three-month Vajrasattva retreat at Tushita, Dharamsala. Report an error in the passage at 22:48 Highlight the passage at 22:48

23:11 I said that loudly for Mary who's sitting on the sofa back there falling asleep, so I knew that would wake her up because she's going to Tushita in two weeks. Report an error in the passage at 23:11 Highlight the passage at 23:11

23:22 At the end of that retreat, which actually was horribly difficult, and I'm sure I'll refer to it at some other point, transforming problems, because that one was a big one to transform. Report an error in the passage at 23:22 Highlight the passage at 23:22

23:33 But at the end, Venable Antonio Sata, who is now gaining quite a bit of cred in the organization, going around teaching. Report an error in the passage at 23:33 Highlight the passage at 23:33

23:43 Vipassanā retreats. And people are saying they're life-changing retreats. He's coming again to Vajrapani this summer, I think, to do another 10-day course. Report an error in the passage at 23:43 Highlight the passage at 23:43

23:52 But he came and he talked to us. And I think he thought, you know, a lot of times people think when you do a retreat that it's going to be a blissful experience. There's that idea. Well, a Vajrasapha retreat, if anyone's ever heard that term, is a purification practice. Report an error in the passage at 23:52 Highlight the passage at 23:52

24:12 And if you've, especially if you've never done retreat, it can be, you're purifying all the time. You're asking to purify. You're repeatedly saying, please purify me. And then, of course, when you begin purifying, you're like, wait, what's happening? You know, it's like, but wait a second, I asked for this. Okay, I wanted to purify. Report an error in the passage at 24:12 Highlight the passage at 24:12

24:31 So at the end, I think he thought we were so blissed out that he had to kind of teach us methods to... To be able to be in the world again. But in reality, I think all of us had really struggled. But he said something, and I thought at that time it was like the most profound thing. And I wrote it down, and of course I didn't hear a recording of it, so it is my rendition of it. I don't know if it's exactly right. But I've since put it up on walls during my subsequent retreats. Report an error in the passage at 24:31 Highlight the passage at 24:31

25:02 I read it a lot to just kind of... But I think what he said is so much a great definition in a nice way. Imagine an Italian accent when I read this. But it's just such a beautiful quote of how Lojong works. So I'm going to read that to you. He said, happiness is not synonymous with having no problems. Report an error in the passage at 25:02 Highlight the passage at 25:02

25:34 Right? Well, don't we always think happiness is having no problems? Happiness, he said, comes from within. The problems themselves do not cause happiness or unhappiness. It's how we see them. We must change our attitude towards them. We must first see the benefits of problems. Don't try to write this down. I can send it to you later. I'll stick it on the homework next time so that you can have it. Report an error in the passage at 25:34 Highlight the passage at 25:34

26:05 So you too can put it on your wall. The problems themselves do not cause happiness or unhappiness. It's how we see them. We must change our attitude toward them. We must first see the benefits of problems. We need problems to learn. We learn by experience. The more problems, suffering, sickness and so on, we learn to put up with pain. We learn the patience of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 26:05 Highlight the passage at 26:05

26:33 You must view problems as friends so there is no more fear. You experience them with welcome, with happiness. Report an error in the passage at 26:33 Highlight the passage at 26:33

26:45 And we were all just kind of like... And that was the only teaching I had from him. That really, it's still, I've never had, I've never taken the, I invited him here when he came last time, but I left before he got here. But that was so profound, I've lived with that for a long time. Can we do this right away? No. You know, it takes, it's really, really hard stuff. But when you remember and you apply and it helps, it's so profound. Report an error in the passage at 26:45 Highlight the passage at 26:45

27:19 And you get all excited and you want to call your best Dharma friend and tell them all about it. Because it really can shift. And it gives you that power or that empowerment that you can control your mind. You can control how you're dealing with whatever comes at you. Can you control what comes at you? Report an error in the passage at 27:19 Highlight the passage at 27:19

27:43 Eventually. Eventually. That's actually how Tantra works. But for now, we can't, and things are coming at us. So how do we deal with them? How do we shift them? Report an error in the passage at 27:43 Highlight the passage at 27:43

27:59 As Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, everything that disturbs, eventually we need to see that everything that disturbs us is essential for achieving our own happiness. Report an error in the passage at 27:59 Highlight the passage at 27:59

28:10 I mean, that's something, right? And he has a great quote that I'm going to read, and it's a long one, and it's quite profound, so hold on there. You're going to have to stay really focused. That's why I'm doing these quotes at the beginning of the class. So that when you start spacing out, then you won't miss it. Report an error in the passage at 28:10 Highlight the passage at 28:10

28:33 And does this make us masochistic? No, it doesn't. Again, we're not seeking problems. We're not even trying to enjoy having pain. That's not what he's saying. But they are saying that it's possible for us to transform how we see problems. We don't necessarily have to label them as problems. We do have to accept that we're having this problem or whatever, this experience. So we're not going to try to label it something else. Report an error in the passage at 28:33 Highlight the passage at 28:33

29:05 But we can see it as something else. We can experience it in a way that's beneficial for our mind. So we'll keep talking about this. And one of the problems that comes when we only see problems, we only see difficulties. Report an error in the passage at 29:05 Highlight the passage at 29:05

29:32 And this is what Venmo Rubino used to always say, you know, you're only seeing the obstacle, you're only seeing the obstacle. And it's true, you can get in a habit of only seeing the problems. Actually what it ends up doing... Difficulties, know. Report an error in the passage at 29:32 Highlight the passage at 29:32

29:44 It weakens our mind. It weakens us. It makes us less courageous because it strengthens the self-cherishing mind. So when we're really just focusing on all the problems we have, whether it's, you know, this cushion isn't very comfortable, it's a little bit cold in here, why don't you shut up and let us have a break, you know? Report an error in the passage at 29:44 Highlight the passage at 29:44

30:05 Whatever it is, it gets into that mind of just... Always seeing problems. And then it builds, like karma does, it builds that tendency to always see problems. So if we, for example, if we have a tendency to get angry, then we create more tendency to get angry. If we have a tendency to be kind. Then we create the tendency to be kind. So in this case, if we have a tendency to only see difficulty and only see problems, we're also creating that tendency in ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 30:05 Highlight the passage at 30:05

30:40 So that's how karma, that's one of the ways karma works. And then the tiniest little things become problems. So they aren't even real problems. I mean, if you ever have, you know, been, well, actually that happens to me today. I was walking, I was walking down the street. And I was just thinking, I saw this woman, this blind woman walking on the sidewalk and I just thought, life could just be so much harder. Report an error in the passage at 30:40 Highlight the passage at 30:40

31:08 It could just be so much harder, you know. If you had any kind of disability or whatever and she's just trying to get to the store or whatever, you know. So if you look around you, the little things that were sort of obsessing you two minutes before, you can really see, you know. How much worse it really could be. So what happens if we just are focusing on problems and only seeing the problems and that self-cherishing mind is getting stronger and stronger, we tend to exaggerate the little problems too. Report an error in the passage at 31:08 Highlight the passage at 31:08

31:41 So the tiny problems become huger and huger and huger and really then they seem like they're insurmountable even if it's just somebody sitting in my seat tonight, you know? Which suddenly becomes a huge issue because you had single-point only thought that that seat was going to be open because it was your seat because you sat in it last week. Report an error in the passage at 31:41 Highlight the passage at 31:41

32:01 And our minds do that kind of thing. It's very funny. And that's self-cherishing mind. That's just self-cherishing mind. And we're going to talk a lot about self-cherishing. So if you've never heard that phrase before, it's a Tibetan coinage of a phrase. And I think it's a great phrase. But you could also think self-absorption. It's the same thing, really. Report an error in the passage at 32:01 Highlight the passage at 32:01

32:23 And it's important in this class because self-cherishing mind or self-absorption is the direct opposite, the lethal enemy of bodhicitta. So whenever we say, oh I really want to have bodhicitta, I want to develop bodhicitta, I want to generate bodhicitta, and we're still letting our self-cherishing run rampant, then we have to kind of catch ourselves at that. Report an error in the passage at 32:23 Highlight the passage at 32:23

32:47 We have to be real with ourselves because that self-cherishing mind is preventing. The bodhicitta did grow, you know? It's one of those weeds that has really, like, you know, what's a, does anybody, I don't know gardening enough, what's a weed that like totally destroys the roots of a really wonderful plant that you really want to keep? Report an error in the passage at 32:47 Highlight the passage at 32:47

33:11 Does anybody know? Yeah, kudzu! That's great! Self-cherishing is the kudzu of our garden. That's great. Yeah, that's like a southern one. It's all over the place in the south. That's right. Yeah, self-cherishing. That's kudzu. Just imagine. Report an error in the passage at 33:11 Highlight the passage at 33:11

33:33 And Shantideva builds his whole, his whole book is all about, you know, how that's the real, only the... It's like, ah. Report an error in the passage at 33:33 Highlight the passage at 33:33

33:40 Really the only enemy that we have is self-cherishing mind. We think it's, you know, that guy because he cut me off or, you know, my boss because blah, blah, blah, you know, but it's really self-cherishing mind. That's really the only one. And the stronger it is, the less likely that we're ever going to develop bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 33:40 Highlight the passage at 33:40

34:00 So we want to weaken it and we want to strengthen the bodhicitta. So Lama Zopa Rinpoche, has anyone here read a book called Transforming Problems into Happiness? Report an error in the passage at 34:00 Highlight the passage at 34:00

34:13 That was a good look. I would guess that's a no. Report an error in the passage at 34:13 Highlight the passage at 34:13

34:21 I believe it's the required reading for this class, so hopefully you'll get a chance to read it. Anyway, in that book he says, The practice of thought transformation is not intended to eliminate problems, but rather to enable you to use the problems you experience to train your mind to move step by step along the path to enlightenment and ultimate happiness. Report an error in the passage at 34:21 Highlight the passage at 34:21

34:17 know, um... Report an error in the passage at 34:17 Highlight the passage at 34:17

34:44 It's not that you will no longer receive harm from other people or from circumstances or from disease or from old age. I like how he puts that in there, like we're going to think we're going to get some sort of contract that's going to get us off the hook for disease and old age. Report an error in the passage at 34:44 Highlight the passage at 34:44

34:59 You said you will simply not be disturbed by anything that happens. Now he's talking about once we've perfected this practice, so I'm not letting you think that you're going to already have perfected that. You will simply not be disturbed by anything that happens. Imagine that. The events that the untrained mind perceive as problems cannot in and of themselves disturb your practice of Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 34:59 Highlight the passage at 34:59

35:29 They cannot prevent your attainment of the realizations of the path to enlightenment. In fact, When you practice thought transformation, not only do problems not disturb you, they actually help you to develop your mind and continue your Dharma practice. Report an error in the passage at 35:29 Highlight the passage at 35:29

35:47 When we habitually identify everything as a problem, even something so small as being given food that is a little cold, causes great discomfort in our mind. If we hear a noise during the night that wakes us up, we become incredibly angry. It is the nature of mind to become addicted to certain ways of seeing things. By habitually seeing as a problem every tiny thing that does not accord exactly with our self-cherishing wishes, we exaggerate small things into huge problems. Report an error in the passage at 35:47 Highlight the passage at 35:47

36:25 Everything appears threatening. Everything we hear, see, taste, smell or touch makes us unhappy. Our life is filled with irritation, depression, paranoia. This state is known in the Buddhist teachings as all appearances arising as the enemy. Obviously we don't want to get to that place. For skillful meditators with well-trained minds, instead of all appearances arising as the enemy, they actually appear as the opposite, as a friend or a teacher. Report an error in the passage at 36:25 Highlight the passage at 36:25

36:58 Instead of disturbing us, everything appears as beneficial and supportive. To skilled meditators, everything appears as bliss. Report an error in the passage at 36:58 Highlight the passage at 36:58

37:11 Tenzin Chokyi calls that pro-noya. It's like starting to see, instead of thinking that everyone's against you, starting to see everyone is working for you in some secret way that you just haven't figured out yet. So even that guy who won't let you in, this happened to me today, I actually had a car, and I never drive, but I'm shocked at how... Report an error in the passage at 37:11 Highlight the passage at 37:11

37:36 How rude people are and how they won't let you in. It becomes like, and they just kind of, either they look away or they look at you like really meanly. And I have to learn to see even that as something that's helping me work in my mind. And so in the pro-noya idea, then those beings could be bodhisattvas trying to help me, you know, work with my mind. Report an error in the passage at 37:36 Highlight the passage at 37:36

38:01 So that's what she calls pro-noya. I like that. I like that idea. Again, can we do this right away? No. It takes time. It takes training. It takes repetition. It takes supporting each other. It takes screwing up, you know, quite a few times. So what is bodhicitta? Bodhicitta is a Sanskrit word that means the mind of enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 38:01 Highlight the passage at 38:01

38:31 Chitta is mind in Sanskrit. Maitreya, Buddha Maitreya, calls it the mind that aspires or that wishes to become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 38:31 Highlight the passage at 38:31

38:46 They say that it is the single most powerful mind possible. It's completely this 180 from the way our minds normally are. Constantly thinking about others and caring about others and acting on that caring. Report an error in the passage at 38:46 Highlight the passage at 38:46

39:07 And they say that it's a leap beyond ordinary compassion, but we have to understand ordinary compassion because that's the root of it. That's how it actually comes to being. It's one of the steps that we have to understand is compassion. But it goes way beyond regular compassion because the object of your bodhicitta is all living beings without exception. Report an error in the passage at 39:07 Highlight the passage at 39:07

39:31 So it's not even just all human beings. It's certainly not just your best friends or your family. It's all living beings without exception. Report an error in the passage at 39:31 Highlight the passage at 39:31

39:44 And if you have never studied about bodhicitta and you want to do this class, I have a suggestion that I can make so we can talk on the break. But if there are people in here that have never studied about bodhicitta, Geshe Tashi has a really great book. That's on bodhicitta. That's out of the Foundation for Buddhist Thought program. Report an error in the passage at 39:44 Highlight the passage at 39:44

40:09 I think we have some copies of it here and we can definitely order some. It's just a basic book that has the methods to attain it. This is the class we just did in Discovering Buddhism. So if you didn't do that class, and even if you did, you might want to read that book. And I encourage you to read that book. Report an error in the passage at 40:09 Highlight the passage at 40:09

40:31 But that's what bodhicitta is. So bodhicitta is talking about this mind. It's sometimes called the mind of enlightenment. It's actually the mind wanting to get enlightened. So it's not already the enlightened mind. It's the mind that wants to get enlightened. In Tibetan, it's actually called Jangshub Semki. Report an error in the passage at 40:31 Highlight the passage at 40:31

40:51 It's usually shortened to just Jangshub. And again, it's the same. Jangshub is free of mistakes and complete in all. Qualities are complete in all knowledge. So that's talking about enlightenment. And then Semki is mind training, mind developing. So it's developing the mind of enlightenment. So what's enlightenment? And I touched on that earlier. Enlightenment is basically perfected mind. Report an error in the passage at 40:51 Highlight the passage at 40:51

41:20 I mean, you could say that shortly. It's the mind free of everything that's negative and that has developed or perfected everything that's positive. So we just think those two sides. Free of all the negatives, talking about free of all those disturbing emotions. We talk about them in all sorts of ways. Report an error in the passage at 41:20 Highlight the passage at 41:20

41:40 Disturbing emotions, harmful emotions, afflicted states of mind, harmful states of mind like anger, obsessive attachment, depression, hatred, things like that. So it's completely free of that. Report an error in the passage at 41:40 Highlight the passage at 41:40

42:01 And, at the same time, it's perfected so that they can't be perfected anymore, all the qualities that are positive, like love and patience and wisdom and kindness and all those positive states of mind, compassion. So they're minds, and they're just, those positive states of mind are just all the time, they're happening all the time, so they don't go like this the way we do. Report an error in the passage at 42:01 Highlight the passage at 42:01

42:29 Some of us have a really great day and then all of a sudden something really horrible happens, that guy won't let me in. And then the mind goes down and the mind goes up and the mind goes down. What we want to do is get to this point where the mind is just stable. It doesn't matter what's happening around us. It doesn't need to bring us down. Report an error in the passage at 42:29 Highlight the passage at 42:29

42:50 So bodhicitta then is wanting to get to this state of mind, perfected, totally perfected mind, because it's the best tool to get. You know to be able to help all beings. So there's no other real reason for us to want to get enlightened except for the fact that we can do some amazing things as an enlightened being that allows us then to help everybody else. Report an error in the passage at 42:50 Highlight the passage at 42:50

43:14 That's really the only reason. So it's not to have a really cool body and have really cool superpowers and, you know, be able to like emanate and turn gold and have a body of light and all that stuff. That's not it. I mean, that would be really cool. Ultimately, we want everybody to have that ability. And that's part of why we want to get enlightened too. Report an error in the passage at 43:14 Highlight the passage at 43:14

43:36 So when you're learning the techniques to... Become enlightened, in other words to develop bodhicitta, which is the direct cause of enlightenment. You learn about all the qualities of enlightened beings, and again it's like an advertisement for wanting those qualities, but we want those qualities simply because they are the toolbox to help us help all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 43:36 Highlight the passage at 43:36

44:05 The basic root reason is compassion, is wanting to take away the suffering of all suffering sentient beings. But first, we start with understanding that suffering in terms of ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 44:05 Highlight the passage at 44:05

44:19 So we have to understand that we're suffering and want to get out of suffering, and then we turn around and we see that all living beings are suffering. It kind of works like that. We can't start with everybody else and ignore ourselves. This isn't a martyr religion. If you wanted a martyr religion, you're in the wrong place. So bodhicitta isn't a really overly emotional or sentimental mind. Report an error in the passage at 44:19 Highlight the passage at 44:19

44:47 It's actually very calm and centered and courageous and it's developed over a long period of time just methodically going through the steps. Report an error in the passage at 44:47 Highlight the passage at 44:47

45:00 And it goes completely against the grain of our culture as you're and it's Therefore your own brain as you're studying it, it is difficult from that standpoint because we're often taught to look out for number one and bodhicitta is all about reversing that thought and looking out for everyone else. It's not about It is to some extent in the methodology about ignoring ourselves, but only in that aspect. It's not ultimately about ignoring ourselves because we are sentient beings too. Report an error in the passage at 45:00 Highlight the passage at 45:00

45:42 So we are included in all sentient beings. If we want to work for the benefit of all sentient beings, we're one too. But in some of the methodology, you do have to put yourself in the background for a moment and think about others. With that same amount of focus that we currently reserve for ourselves. And that's just a way of strengthening it. The way that bodhicitta works is different than the experience of the direct perception of the nature of reality, which can literally shift in a moment your entire reality, your entire experience of reality. Report an error in the passage at 45:42 Highlight the passage at 45:42

46:18 Bodhicitta is like you develop it slowly over time and it's reversible at first. So when we develop it, we might have this incredible meditation or this incredible experience and actually generate genuine bodhicitta, we might do, and then get off the cushion and go yell at your brother or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 46:18 Highlight the passage at 46:18

46:39 We lose it again. And they say that it actually takes quite a bit of time and effort before... That mind is strengthened and solidified in a sense. If you can say a mind is solidified, but it's strengthened and enhanced and you reach what's like a really high level of bodhicitta. They say the eighth level, for those who are familiar with the bhumis or the levels or stages of bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 46:39 Highlight the passage at 46:39

47:11 Once you get to that eighth level, then it's irreversible. And so then you can just strengthen it, but you don't have to worry about losing it. Up until that point, it is possible to lose it. And then you hear these stories of these great bodhisattvas who, you know, did these amazing acts and then got pissed off or lost, you know, became discouraged. Report an error in the passage at 47:11 Highlight the passage at 47:11

47:33 That happens a lot, too, where, you know, sentient beings, we are not always the most... lot, sentient beings, and I count myself in that, and what has happened is that people lose their bodhicitta thinking, oh, I can't possibly work for sentient beings, they're too complaining, they're too, you know, difficult, they, So one of my teachers one time said, don't let the fire of bodhicitta ever go out. Report an error in the passage at 47:33 Highlight the passage at 47:33

48:12 Once you develop even a little taste, and we will, just in the study of it, develop even a little taste, do everything you can to keep that alive, like a little fire. Don't let that little fire go out through getting irritated with people. In fact, bodhisattva vows won't let us go to bed angry at someone. Report an error in the passage at 48:12 Highlight the passage at 48:12

48:34 They actually become... We have to kind of keep an eye on things like that, like holding on to anger against somebody is a direct weapon against our bodhicitta. Because, of course, if we lose our love for one being, then it's no longer all sentient beings. And it's much harder. It's easy to say, I want to take care of all sentient beings and we forget the one that's right in front of us or the one that we live with or the guy that we share an office with. Report an error in the passage at 48:34 Highlight the passage at 48:34

49:09 And those are sentient beings too. Those are our sentient beings. Those are the ones that we really have to work with. So I'm going to take a moment and just hear from you guys and hear who you are. And why you're in this class. And just a little bit about your experience with Buddhism, especially if you've never met me. Report an error in the passage at 49:09 Highlight the passage at 49:09

49:34 Try to keep it to, you know, just a few minutes. Try to give your entire life story. But just to kind of give a little bit about it. And I'll talk about me later. So we'll start with... Wait, wait, we have to talk. And partly, it's not so much for, it's just for amplification so people can hear it. Hello. Report an error in the passage at 49:34 Highlight the passage at 49:34

50:02 My name is Anne Yoshinaga and I'm relatively new to the center and in many ways to Tibetan Buddhism and to everyone here. I just started coming in August. I was raised with Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism. I'm just going to try. Report an error in the passage at 50:02 Highlight the passage at 50:02

50:24 And got very interested when I was like 12, 13 and started going to retreats then. And I'm here. I spoke with Venerable Steve at Land of Medicine Buddha and he recommended the book. And I was super psyched to see this class. So I'm very happy to be here with all of you. So thank you. By the book you mean The Awakening Mind, the one by Geshe Tashi? No, The Transforming. Oh, very good. Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Excellent. Report an error in the passage at 50:24 Highlight the passage at 50:24

51:02 Great. Welcome. Thank you. Hello, everybody. My name is Marcela. I know most of you. I'm very blessed to be here. I'm here to learn how can I transform. Day by day, all the problems and situations. I feel very exciting about this class. I feel in my heart that it's going to be very beneficial for all of us. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 51:02 Highlight the passage at 51:02

51:39 Yeah, we'll go there. Report an error in the passage at 51:39 Highlight the passage at 51:39

51:43 Hi everybody, I'm Jessica. I have been studying... Tibetan Buddhism for, I don't know how long, I've lost track of the number of years actually, I'm not sure, but I've been coming to the center for about two years and I volunteer here on some nights, so I know some of you from that. So I am here because my practice of Buddhism has really helped me so far. Report an error in the passage at 51:43 Highlight the passage at 51:43

52:13 In transforming some of the problems that I had earlier, but I know I have a lot more, so I'm here to keep working on it. And I'm excited about it, because Chokyi's classes are always great. Report an error in the passage at 52:13 Highlight the passage at 52:13

52:28 My name's Joel. Hi, Joel. Oh, hey. We traded emails, so. I guess I started, I got started, I think when I got injured at work and someone, some doctor or something recommended just some secular meditation. And then during the recovery and then somehow I ended up just learning about Tibetan Buddhism and it seems to fit me really good. Report an error in the passage at 52:28 Highlight the passage at 52:28

53:00 So I'm also, I mean, I'd say I'm a beginner. I took one of the Discovering Buddhism classes online and this is the first one I've taken in person. Report an error in the passage at 53:00 Highlight the passage at 53:00

53:22 Start transforming now, David. Report an error in the passage at 53:22 Highlight the passage at 53:22

53:26 Come on. Report an error in the passage at 53:26 Highlight the passage at 53:26

53:31 I'm John. Hi. Hi, John. And I'm here because, well, I live 30 feet away. I'd knock on his door. Yeah, exactly. And because I really enjoy your classes and have found them very beneficial and very helpful. Report an error in the passage at 53:31 Highlight the passage at 53:31

53:56 And because I want to learn more. I don't know very much. I want to learn more and put it into practice, which is the most important thing. So, yeah, that's a little bit about me. Report an error in the passage at 53:56 Highlight the passage at 53:56

54:11 Hello. I'm Eric. Hi, Eric. I've come to a couple of Discovering Buddhism classes and I found them to be transformative. later! Report an error in the passage at 54:11 Highlight the passage at 54:11

54:24 transformative but it's you I also want to learn more and really start practicing and not just intellectualizing. So you have to show up to actually start doing that more. So that's why I'm here and I'm excited for the class. Thanks. Report an error in the passage at 54:24 Highlight the passage at 54:24

54:46 Hi, I'm Fred. I took your class a few months ago and really enjoyed it and I'm back for more. Waiting for enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 54:46 Highlight the passage at 54:46

54:56 Well done. Hi, my name is Gabriela. I'm Marcela's friend. I know her for many, many years. And I saw the transformation. Then I asked her, what can I do? And I'm here to learn my first class, my first everything. Excellent. Welcome, Gabriela. Report an error in the passage at 54:56 Highlight the passage at 54:56

55:21 That's fine. My name's Susan. Hi, Susan. I finally get to meet you. I'm here at the behest of my husband, David, who's up in the front. And actually kind of nice to be here. I had a discussion today about rewiring with somebody. I didn't realize that's what we were going to do tonight, but how to look at problems in a different way and kind of rewire how we respond and react. Report an error in the passage at 55:21 Highlight the passage at 55:21

55:49 And so I'm just thrilled that I'm here. Excellent. That's a nice way to put it, rewiring. My name is Barry, and I studied Buddhism both in school and here for the last couple of years, but I moved away in July, and I now live in Virginia, so I'm back here visiting for a week. Report an error in the passage at 55:49 Highlight the passage at 55:49

56:19 But it's been interesting when I saw the topic. For this class, I really wanted to come tonight. You're transforming Fairfax. Report an error in the passage at 56:19 Highlight the passage at 56:19

56:28 We're from the same hometown. Report an error in the passage at 56:28 Highlight the passage at 56:28

56:34 That's how far away I stayed. One of the reasons why I left is my mom had a stroke a couple years ago and then she developed breast cancer this last year. So I went back to help her with some things. It's been very interesting. I've ended up also helping my grandparents do doctor's appointments and stuff like that. And it's been interesting in the process of helping them and being a caregiver, just realizing how much is giving them the space to make the changes that they need and not kind of push them. Report an error in the passage at 56:34 Highlight the passage at 56:34

57:12 So seeing kind of their problems and seeing kind of trying to fix their problems, but not having the... They'll want to fix their problems, but then also having to step back and let them take the pace that they need is extremely difficult sometimes. So these are still uploaded, right? Yeah, as long as they're actually recorded correctly. This has been a problem. Report an error in the passage at 57:12 Highlight the passage at 57:12

57:40 So I hope to continue this class. So they will be online. So we'll say hi to you each time. Report an error in the passage at 57:40 Highlight the passage at 57:40

57:52 Go for it, Christine. Hi, my name is Christine. Careful, Katya. I started coming here a little bit over two years ago when the Discovering Buddhism program started the last time, and I've been taking each class, so this is the next class. And I'm looking forward to it. So you haven't taken this one yet before, right? No, I've just been going. Report an error in the passage at 57:52 Highlight the passage at 57:52

58:16 I'm Katya. I've been coming to the center, I guess, for about a year and a half. And I've taken, I think, two Discovering Buddhism classes and just done a couple mini retreats at LMB. And they have the eight verses of thought transformation on their pilgrimage trail. That's right. Yeah, and so I always kind of walk by them and sort of... We should do a field trip at the end. That might be fun. But it was always an intriguing idea. Report an error in the passage at 58:16 Highlight the passage at 58:16

58:51 So I look forward to it. Excellent, yeah. Yeah, it's almost like the, I mean, I wasn't raised Catholic, but it's almost like the Stations of the Cross. They've got like a different verse, like, you know, throughout, like this really nice nature walk all the way around. So it's kind of nice, yeah. Hi, my name's David, and gee, I've been a practitioner for quite lifetimes now, and I still can't get it right, so I'm back again. Report an error in the passage at 58:51 Highlight the passage at 58:51

59:18 I, I don't know. One of these days I will be here. You'll know I did it right. You're assuming we'll still be here, though, right? Someone please, you know. Thanks, David. Bring me along. Just bring me along. I'll be good. Just remember us when you move on. Don't leave us. I guess I got that wrong. In that case, then I will be back. Report an error in the passage at 59:18 Highlight the passage at 59:18

59:46 Okay, before we take a break, I want to give you a little bit about the format of these classes. button right there. Right. Report an error in the passage at 59:46 Highlight the passage at 59:46

59:53 Those of you that have done Discovering Buddhism, this will be old hat, but I like to say it each time, so bear with me. This class is eight classes in total. This course has eight classes. The last class is March 3rd, I think. And the practice day is that following Saturday, which is March 5th. think. Report an error in the passage at 59:53 Highlight the passage at 59:53

1:00:19 And so if you forget this, it'll be in your syllabus, which you'll get tonight. Well, some of you will get tonight. No. We can make copies. I actually, I never know how many people are going to show up. So I was going to do eight copies of everything. And Charles encouraged me to do ten to be more positive. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:19 Highlight the passage at 1:00:19

1:00:39 And I think now we have, what, twelve or something? Yeah, so. So we aren't doing the binders tonight because of that very reason. So Charles at the end will come in and just do a head count as to who wants a physical binder. We also have the option if people would prefer PDFs. I can just email that to you. Oh shoot, I forgot to do a roster. So maybe on the break we'll just get a piece of paper and we'll just... Report an error in the passage at 1:00:39 Highlight the passage at 1:00:39

1:01:05 Everybody can write their name and their email address and a phone number. And the reason is just in case anything suddenly comes up that either I want to send you, like, you know, Dalai Lama's talk is available and you can, you know, hook it in, or something happens and I get sick or something like that and then I can't come to class or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:05 Highlight the passage at 1:01:05

1:01:28 That doesn't happen often, but things do happen like that, that we have to reach the class really fast. So I want to do a roster. Before this one's over. And some of you may only be here for this class and just note that on the roster. So all the classes are seven to nine. Try to start as promptly as I can and try to end as promptly as I can. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:28 Highlight the passage at 1:01:28

1:01:50 The retreat day is part of the class. It's a Saturday, Saturday the 5th of March. It usually goes from about 10.30 to 4, depending on how many people actually come. I really like to encourage people to come. I think it's a great way to just spend the day immersing yourself in what we've been studying for the past two months. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:50 Highlight the passage at 1:01:50

1:02:13 So it's a really nice, and plus just bonding with your... Fellow students eating together, talking, meditating. It's a really nice way to end a class. It's a very short class. I do give homework. I'm going to warn you. Sometimes people are surprised by that. I think I do it because it was what worked for me. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:13 Highlight the passage at 1:02:13

1:02:37 I had a teacher at the beginning when I was first studying Buddhism who gave us homework because he realized that was kind of how Westerners Report an error in the passage at 1:02:37 Highlight the passage at 1:02:37

1:02:47 Do the best because otherwise, and I see this in a lot of Geshe-la's classes, people just come and space out, you know, and you don't do anything with it. And Geshe-la was getting kind of firm last night. I thought that was actually really good. He said, it's really nice that you come and listen to these teachings, but if you don't apply them. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:47 Highlight the passage at 1:02:47

1:03:06 And he's, of course, been working with us for about 11 years now, so he knows from experience who's been applying them and who hasn't been. She hangs her head. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:06 Highlight the passage at 1:03:06

1:03:17 So I give homework, and it's mostly reading and meditation. So it's not so much some of the homework that I have gotten in the past that has helped me. Is more quizzing kind of things. We're not going to do that approach in here because the Discovering Buddhism program is really focused on experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:17 Highlight the passage at 1:03:17

1:03:38 That's how we differ from the basic program. We have two main programs within the FPMT that we offer at this center. And the Discovering Buddhism program is really focused on giving you a good taste. And assuming that you haven't studied that much. So don't feel bad if you haven't studied that much or at all. But then even so, giving you a good taste and tools that you can then go on. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:38 Highlight the passage at 1:03:38

1:04:11 And if you do the whole Discovering Buddhism program, you will have a really good feel for the Lamrim. And you'll have the tools to have a daily practice and to be able to move on after that program ends. However, that being said, we only have eight weeks, and so if you want to get the most out of this course that you can, I would say, as Eric said, show up. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:11 Highlight the passage at 1:04:11

1:04:42 That was you, right? Show up if you can at all, even if you haven't done the homework, even if you haven't, if you're behind in the reading. I've definitely been in your shoes before for that one. Just come because you'll get a lot from everyone else who's done the reading and the homework. It's amazing that you will. You'll hear their questions and it'll kind of whet your appetite for making this space for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:42 Highlight the passage at 1:04:42

1:05:06 But if you want to get the most out of it, Then obviously do the homework as well as you can and read and ask questions and share and talk to the other students on the break and before the class and after the class because we have this incredibly precious little container and it's called an eight-week course and we get to just dive in and I really would love for you guys to have a taste for Lojang by the time this ends. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:06 Highlight the passage at 1:05:06

1:05:37 So that's the way to get the most. If you just don't have time, if you have a really busy life, if you have kids, if you're sick, if something happens, just come. And if you know now or you know during the course that you can't come to a class, you have to travel for business, something's come up, you catch the flu, email me and my email address will be on the syllabus and then I can send you the notes that I use for the course, for what I teach and then also the homework. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:37 Highlight the passage at 1:05:37

1:06:10 And then that way by the time the next class comes then you'll be right up on top of it again. And I am available for email. I'm not so good as I used to be on email, so sometimes you have to nudge me, but I am available. This is class 11, or module 11, I think that's right, out of 14 modules for Discovering Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:10 Highlight the passage at 1:06:10

1:06:33 So you can kind of tell that it's in the upper. They do build on each other if you're fortunate enough to start when they start and just follow them to completion. And you started with the very first one, is that right? I love it. You're probably going to be the first in the history of Seychelles. Most people come to the ones they can or they... Report an error in the passage at 1:06:33 Highlight the passage at 1:06:33

1:06:56 Lewis started with wisdom. I have had people who started with tantra, which is the very last one, and then circle around, and then there was this one student who just kept coming to death. No, he started with Report an error in the passage at 1:06:56 Highlight the passage at 1:06:56

1:07:08 She came to death like three times. She just loved the death class, you know. So that happens too. I mean, you know, you can just keep coming to karma or you can keep coming to Lojong or whatever, you know. And life happens that way too. You come and then you're like, great, I'm going to just come all the time and then you get really busy and then you don't come back for two years and then all of a sudden you show up again. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:08 Highlight the passage at 1:07:08

1:07:31 That's totally impossible to do too. Obviously, if you go in order, You will have sort of, because there are common tenets to Buddhism and they come up in all the classes. Your understanding of karma will grow. Your understanding of bodhicitta will grow. Your understanding of emptiness will grow. But you don't have to. So know that people come to the classes that they have the karma to come to the classes for and you will gain a lot no matter what. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:31 Highlight the passage at 1:07:31

1:08:02 So don't worry about it. If I say something that doesn't make a bit of sense to you, don't feel like, oh my god, everybody else understands it because they're all laughing. Some of them may be laughing out of nervousness because they don't understand what I'm saying. So please, if you're too embarrassed to speak up during the class, come up on the break or after the class and say, you know that thing you said about the blah blah? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:02 Highlight the passage at 1:08:02

1:08:26 I don't get that. That's okay. Or send me an email. Because that's kind of easier, right? You don't have to be embarrassed. Please don't be embarrassed. I may have just been rambling. There's that term. Maybe nobody understood and everyone was laughing nervously. So that's okay. Just somebody speak up and tell me that it didn't make any sense. That's okay. At this center, this is the third time through the Discovery of Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:26 Highlight the passage at 1:08:26

1:08:54 program in its entirety we used to just sort of the teachers would offer whichever class they felt like teaching or they felt qualified to teach that happened for a number of years and then when I started ended up having to take over for somebody who couldn't So I started with bodhicitta, but then I went through it. I've gone through the whole thing twice after that. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:54 Highlight the passage at 1:08:54

1:09:24 And I feel like it is really important, whether the teacher is qualified or not, and I sit before you humbled by this, I do think it's good to do them in order. And we just do our best to teach you, instruct you, and then, you know, that way you do have the steps to enlightenment as the Buddha taught them, or rather as they were organized by the great Tibetan masters and Indian masters, starting with Atisha. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:24 Highlight the passage at 1:09:24

1:09:55 So it usually takes a couple of years to go through the whole 14 modules. And if people are interested, I can talk more in later classes about the DB program as a whole. You can take the whole program and do it for a certificate. So I call that doing it for credit. We do have a couple of people doing that right now in the system. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:55 Highlight the passage at 1:09:55

1:10:19 And there's like this whole little, I still have your completion cards. Okay, there's completion cards that need to be signed off for each class that you do. There's additional reading if you're doing it for credit that I don't necessarily assign to people who are just taking the class. And there's definitely additional extracurricular activities, so to speak, which we discussed in the last little module that we did in December. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:19 Highlight the passage at 1:10:19

1:10:52 With some experiential practices, and we can talk about that more if people are interested. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:52 Highlight the passage at 1:10:52

1:11:00 The lineage, these teachings all come from the Buddha, the historical Buddha, the one we think of as the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha. These were all his observations upon gaining enlightenment. He didn't set out to start a religion. He didn't sit down with a spreadsheet and come up with this thing. And he also didn't teach every single thing that he knew because he was omniscient. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:00 Highlight the passage at 1:11:00

1:11:24 That's one of the things that happens. It's one of those great tools when you get enlightened is omniscience. So he just taught what he felt get us enlightened. In that same spirit, I will try to teach you what I think is... useful and pertains to the subject. If If the discussion sort of gets off, or of course obviously if I get too far off, then kind of rope me back on. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:24 Highlight the passage at 1:11:24

1:11:55 If I try to pull people back on the subject, that's kind of where I'm coming from. I'm trying to keep us on subject. When people get into Buddhism, at first it can all be so exciting and you want to talk about everything and how it all relates to whatever and sometimes it doesn't really pertain to Lojong and so we're just going to try to aim you right back to what it is that we're talking about. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:55 Highlight the passage at 1:11:55

1:12:19 So that's kind of where I'm coming from if I do try to rein you in a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:19 Highlight the passage at 1:12:19

1:12:27 And I usually say this thing, I am not trying to create Dharma monsters. Dharma monsters are people that know a lot of Dharma knowledge and they collect knowledge thinking it's a practice. But if we're not applying it, if we're not actually doing that step, which John mentioned very well, I mean the whole point of Buddhism is for us to get happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:27 Highlight the passage at 1:12:27

1:12:52 That's a really huge part of Buddhism for us to get enlightened. And we won't do that if we just keep reading more and more books. So the good thing about a class is that it's part of that whole living lineage. I have learned from teachers and they learn from teachers and they learn from teachers and now you're getting all of this. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:52 Highlight the passage at 1:12:52

1:13:16 And the point of that is not just to know more things. And not, you know, but to actually apply it to really change your life, really change your mind. So, yeah, so that's the point of these classes. My own background a little bit, I've been studying about 14 years. I actually, my very first Buddhist class was at Seichen Ling in one of its earlier incarnations in Noe Valley in 1995. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:16 Highlight the passage at 1:13:16

1:13:47 1995. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:47 Highlight the passage at 1:13:47

1:13:50 Tibetan Buddhism from the ground up, that's what it was called. It was taught by John Landau, who now is doing the Discovering Buddhism program, Atlanta Medicine Buddha. And it was, I think, an eight-week course, eight to ten-week course. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:50 Highlight the passage at 1:13:50

1:14:05 Those early years, I really focused on lamrim. And actually, if I think about it, every teaching I've ever taken has been on the lamrim somehow. Even if you go to high-level tantric empowerments, it always comes back to the lamrim. They just kind of pull out the bells and whistles to get us all in there, but then it all ends up being on karma or something, or suffering, if Rinpoche is involved. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:05 Highlight the passage at 1:14:05

1:14:31 My main teacher is Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who's in this picture over the doorway here, who is also the spiritual director of this center and all the FPMT centers. And of course, that's who I have studied with the most. But some of my other teachers of lamrim, especially of Lojong specifically, have been Geshe Michael Roach. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:31 Highlight the passage at 1:14:31

1:14:59 And Riba Rinpoche, very strongly Riba Rinpoche. But I've also studied lamrim with His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Chodron Rinpoche, Riba Rinpoche, so on. Venerable Bina, Korten and so on. I took the lamrim course, the one month lamrim course at Kopan twice. And I would gladly go back again. I highly recommend it. We have a... Report an error in the passage at 1:14:59 Highlight the passage at 1:14:59

1:15:27 A woman in our community, Jen, who just got back from doing a one-month course there, and they go through the entire lamrim in a month. It's an incredible opportunity to just immerse yourself in the lamrim teachings. And they really do it nicely in terms of giving you time to discuss. You bond with people. You have a little discussion group every day. You have meditation in the morning. You have a practice, bodhicitta, supper practice at night. It's just a beautiful experience, and I did that. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:27 Highlight the passage at 1:15:27

1:15:56 Twice in the late 90s. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:56 Highlight the passage at 1:15:56

1:16:01 Yeah, so that's a little bit about me. What attracted me to Tibetan Buddhism compared to some of the other things that I was also attracted to and also the religion that I grew up with, which was Christianity, is that not only did you learn about qualities like compassion and love and so forth, but they had methodical methods. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:01 Highlight the passage at 1:16:01

1:16:26 To get there. So we can learn about the Buddha and about different Buddhas and their qualities, but it doesn't stop there. We can become that too. Because the Buddha was exactly like us. He didn't come out looking like that. This is actually Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:26 Highlight the passage at 1:16:26

1:16:49 The Buddha didn't pop out fully enlightened. He worked at it. He had a messed up mind too, which I find great comfort in. He had a mind just as messed up as mine. And the teachings of Buddhism, especially for me, Tibetan Buddhism, which is really the only school that I've ever been in of Buddhism, has these really methodical ways of approaching everything, wisdom as well as compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:49 Highlight the passage at 1:16:49

1:17:20 And we do it a lot through meditation, through different kinds of meditation and through retreats and through study. So we'll talk about all of those methods throughout this course, but that for me is what clicked and that's why I'm still here. And I find it... I remember actually the first... No, I think it might have been the second. I think this... Report an error in the passage at 1:17:20 Highlight the passage at 1:17:20

1:17:47 The second, yeah it was, because I was a discussion leader for the second time I went, Venerable Neal, who was leading the lamrim course that time, said, oh look at you all, you're all still in that early phase of being, you know, the honeymoon period. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:47 Highlight the passage at 1:17:47

1:18:04 And he said, you haven't really faced anything difficult with this, and I thought, what's wrong with him? I was really at the new honeymoon period. I have since gone through quite a bit of difficulties, I can say, and I'm still here. And I find so much benefit in the teachings. I can't imagine facing anything that I have faced in the last 14 years without Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:04 Highlight the passage at 1:18:04

1:18:31 And so I hope that I can convey some of this to you. And I hope that I can be the conduit from my holy, precious teachers. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:31 Highlight the passage at 1:18:31

1:18:43 to you and that this is able to help you transform your mind in some way even if you have to come back for me. Please David, when you go and get enlightened, please come back for me. Please don't forget me. Any questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:43 Highlight the passage at 1:18:43

1:19:03 Any questions about anything I've said and then we're going to take a break. Jessica has one. Oh, you don't. You have that look like you're just trying to be polite, but you're... Not yet. Not yet. Anybody else? Any questions? Okay. I think Charles... Did Charles make those cookies? Who made those cookies? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:03 Highlight the passage at 1:19:03

1:19:27 Did Betty? Betty came and made them? Yes. Oh, all right. Well, there's some freshly made, just today, chocolate chip cookies out there that the champ herself made, Michelle's mom. So please go out there. Take a break. How about, um, how about ten minutes? Yeah. I never give you guys ten minutes, so get used to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:27 Highlight the passage at 1:19:27

1:19:55 Yeah. So Report an error in the passage at 1:19:55 Highlight the passage at 1:19:55

1:20:06 when do you go back? Stranger? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:06 Highlight the passage at 1:20:06

1:20:16 I'm glad you made it, though. Do you have free time? I can make free time. Well, you know Geshe-la's, we're doing like this long life offering thing. On Saturday morning, yeah, so. But I have definitely time on Sunday, and I have time on Monday. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:16 Highlight the passage at 1:20:16

1:20:39 And I have a couple of evenings, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:39 Highlight the passage at 1:20:39

1:20:46 Yeah. Well, the one thing to, I have to leave at 2 on Monday, so come for an early lunch. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:46 Highlight the passage at 1:20:46

1:20:58 As I read. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:58 Highlight the passage at 1:20:58

1:21:02 Older lady, yeah, we're still doing millerate, but I finally decided that actually she... I should probably not even talk. But I kind of pushed past. We were stuck in this one place for like a year. Just kept reading this thing. And so finally I was like, you know, I think it might be time for us to just move on. And there was a little, actually I could tell that there was a little resistance, but she's actually into it now. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:02 Highlight the passage at 1:21:02

1:21:28 Yeah. But he still hasn't separated from Marpa yet. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:28 Highlight the passage at 1:21:28

1:21:35 Yeah, that'd be good. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:35 Highlight the passage at 1:21:35

1:21:31 I'm not there yet. That would be good. Yeah, that sounds good. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:31 Highlight the passage at 1:21:31

1:21:49 Pretty much vegetarian. sounds good. Yeah, that sounds good. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:49 Highlight the passage at 1:21:49

1:21:51 So if I stopped at Chinese restaurant and just have veggies, is there anything you can't Or do you want me to get something fresh and you can make it? Yeah, let's make it. No, but those cruciferous vegetables, those are the ones you're supposed to have all the time, like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, yeah, I'm supposed to have all the time, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:51 Highlight the passage at 1:21:51

1:22:19 And nightshades can have. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:19 Highlight the passage at 1:22:19

1:22:23 Yeah, but you For one time it's not such a big deal. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:23 Highlight the passage at 1:22:23

1:22:30 Did you have a chance to check on her? That was pretty weird. I think she just must have gotten a mouthful of it. you know, too, so don't be too, like, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:30 Highlight the passage at 1:22:30

1:22:36 love it? Oh good, yeah. She was like doing this major drool thing, and I was like, oh God. But anyway, yeah, that'd be good. That'd be fun, just to catch up. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:36 Highlight the passage at 1:22:36

1:22:53 Cool. You look great. What? I know, I wish you could stay. Oh, thank you. Not that I thought you were going to go back. I know. Thank you, yeah, yeah. It has been a hell of a year. But it's turned a new corner. We had a happy new year. Now we're heading in a new direction. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:53 Highlight the passage at 1:22:53

1:23:23 Missed you though. Yeah, but it sounds like you're doing good stuff there and that it's necessary. Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23:23

1:23:40 But I mean, you know, and also be gentle with yourself. Yeah, it's been a totally good practice. That's it, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:40 Highlight the passage at 1:23:40

1:23:51 Oh my God, I have to tell, before the class starts, I have to tell my story of, speaking of the little class is going to start again alarm. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:51 Highlight the passage at 1:23:51

1:24:07 I went to Citibank today to open up a joint account with Mary so that she could have access to it when she's traveling in India and I could help her at this end if she needed me to pay for something like her return ticket. So we put money in the meter and I said, why don't I set the alarm on my cell phone? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:07 Highlight the passage at 1:24:07

1:24:32 One is that the alarm on my cell phone so we don't like come back to a ticket, you know, because I'm sure we're going to get involved. And of course we did. We became best friends with the woman at the bank and she loves us now, even after this incident. So then somewhere during the final like five minutes, I started hearing this alarm and I was like, why doesn't she turn this thing off? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:32 Highlight the passage at 1:24:32

1:24:55 And we're all just sort of sitting there and dealing with this alarm. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:55 Highlight the passage at 1:24:55

1:25:01 She even said, God, that's annoying. And she said, I thought it was your phone. And I was like, no, it's, oh my God. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:01 Highlight the passage at 1:25:01

1:25:15 I'm sure she was like, okay, first day on the planet. Then we called her back though and she was like, she loved us. It was all right. At least she faked it that she loved us. Anyway, so I wanted to tell where, did I just hear Bodhi? I thought I just heard Bodhi. Anyway. Um, anyway. They're, um... Their bodhicitta, speaking of bodhi, bodhicitta comes very near the end if you could think of the path to enlightenment as a linear path. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:15 Highlight the passage at 1:25:15

1:25:53 I don't like to think of it that way in the teachings of the Lama. I actually think I like to think of it more like a spiral because we kind of keep going through them and keep going through them and keep going through them and every time that we have different life experiences, Report an error in the passage at 1:25:53 Highlight the passage at 1:25:53

1:26:10 Different things out of each time we hear the teachings. So, for example, with the woman who kept taking the death and impermanence class, whenever something happens in your life, then those teachings get deeper, whether you just have some deeper understanding of death or whether you just have some deeper understanding of impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:10 Highlight the passage at 1:26:10

1:26:32 And we can gain those experiences in all different ways. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:32 Highlight the passage at 1:26:32

1:26:38 If we look at it more linearly, and there's no kind of commonality as to how many topics there are in the lamrim. I think you can sort of mainly say, generally say that there are, I come up with nine if I count them. I think you can probably, when I'm meditating on them, I think it was something more like 23. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:38 Highlight the passage at 1:26:38

1:27:00 So it depends on how you break them out so that you can go into them more deeply. And I'll give you those topics the way I'm seeing them, beginning with relying on a spiritual teacher. And they do start with that one, even though it doesn't mean that it's really the beginning or that you can't start until you have a teacher, which often is some confusion. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:00 Highlight the passage at 1:27:00

1:27:21 It really means that it's the root of the path. So once you have a teacher, then everything else kind of... It goes through that filter, you know. But it doesn't mean that we can't study the lamrim and prepare for having a teacher if we don't have a teacher. But it ends up being the very first thing that's taught. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:21 Highlight the passage at 1:27:21

1:27:41 I think in the Discovering Buddhism it's fourth, because we didn't want to freak out the Western students. And some people won't even teach it, actually, because it is, it's definitely like a kind of a big thing. But we'll get into that as it arises. The nature of mind. Is also a topic in the Lamrim. Traditionally it wasn't. Because traditionally, you know, in India when Buddhism first arose and then in Tibet, Everyone had this common view of what the mind was. And it's not what we think the mind is. It's really different. And so in the West, we do teach about the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:41 Highlight the passage at 1:27:41

1:28:21 And we have a module on the Discovering Buddhism program about the mind. And I'm actually going to talk a little bit about the mind tonight because it's kind of big if you don't really understand how the Buddha saw mind, which is really different than the brain. Dependent upon the brain, yes, but not the brain. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:21 Highlight the passage at 1:28:21

1:28:41 Precious human rebirth is the next one. And that's not just, it's talking about in these topics, you go really deeply into these topics, but precious human rebirth isn't just talking about having a human rebirth, which they say is really difficult to get. We shouldn't assume we all are going to get one. It's not like showing up to church on Sunday is going to guarantee a spot in heaven. It doesn't work that way in Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:41 Highlight the passage at 1:28:41

1:29:06 Precious human rebirth is a specific type of human rebirth which is even rarer and has all these different opportunities. And I can say now that almost all of us in this room have a precious human rebirth which is pretty amazing. But we can lose that precious human rebirth at any time. It doesn't have to be a death. Conditions change and we're no longer near our Dharma center, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:06 Highlight the passage at 1:29:06

1:29:30 Barry, that's one that we come up against. Our health might change. We might not be able to study. We've both gone through that one recently. So things can happen within our precious human rebirth that suddenly it can go away in an instant. Or we could just lose interest. I've definitely had very close friends who were very, very into the Dharma 100 % and then just completely over it. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:30 Highlight the passage at 1:29:30

1:29:54 Started giving away all their books. Karma shifts and karma can change. So precious human rebirth can also change. So we remind ourselves of this in this topic. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:54 Highlight the passage at 1:29:54

1:30:05 Impermanence and death, another way that we could lose our precious human rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:05 Highlight the passage at 1:30:05

1:30:14 Understanding the suffering in saṃsāra. And the reason we want to understand that saṃsāra is suffering, or the cyclic existence is suffering, is to develop this wish for liberation, for nirvāṇa to get out of saṃsāra. What we often do instead is we make ourselves really cozy in saṃsāra. We try to pretend like maybe it's not so bad. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:14 Highlight the passage at 1:30:14

1:30:38 Even as the tree is falling outside, we're like, no, it's just a little noisy, but it's okay. And we do that a lot. We try to make saṃsāra really okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:38 Highlight the passage at 1:30:38

1:30:49 The teaching from the Buddha is it's not. It is suffering. It's in the nature of suffering. And it will end. This body will end. This life will end. And so we have a limited amount of time. Let's go to it. I mean, that's kind of what the idea of it is. Karma, the law of cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:49 Highlight the passage at 1:30:49

1:31:07 And I spoke a little bit about that earlier. And we'll talk a little bit more about that. Which is the closest thing that we have to a creator God. There is no creator god in Buddhism. Our reality and our experience of reality and everything in our experience of reality, everything in our experience, sometimes I have to remind myself of that one, comes from karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:07 Highlight the passage at 1:31:07

1:31:34 And karma is created by us. We create our reality. So we can purify, if we're not liking it, and we can... We can aim to create. We can try to restrain from harming and try to do virtue. And it is try, right? Try and fail sometimes. We can't always succeed. But that's the only way to start shifting our karma so that we start having the reality that we want. Causes of suffering and the cessation of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:34 Highlight the passage at 1:31:34

1:32:09 Remember how I started with the first noble truth of suffering? There is suffering. The very next two are there is a cause of suffering. Which is mostly karma and delusions, these crazy states of mind. And thank goodness there is a cessation of suffering. It stops. I don't know why they use that word cessation. Suffering stops. It is stoppable. It is possible, according to Buddhism, to stop even the suffering of old age and death. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:09 Highlight the passage at 1:32:09

1:32:39 Which is really radical. After all of that comes bodhicitta. So there's this assumption that we understand, you know, something about the spiritual teacher, something about how the mind works, something about this precious human rebirth and how difficult it is, something about impermanence and death, something about suffering, something about karma, something about the causes of suffering and the cessation of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:39 Highlight the passage at 1:32:39

1:33:14 And then comes bodhicitta. And lojang is part of the bodhicitta teachings. Lojang is really how we enhance and strengthen bodhicitta. So it's part of the bodhicitta teachings. And then wisdom. Wisdom realizing emptiness. But wisdom realizing emptiness doesn't... Just like with bodhicitta, what you'll notice in Tibetan teachings is that we actually infuse them all with... Report an error in the passage at 1:33:14 Highlight the passage at 1:33:14

1:33:43 The wisdom of emptiness and with bodhicitta. Because we don't perfect them for some time and so there's this thought that if we begin every class motivating and we end every class dedicating with some sort of understanding of at least bodhicitta, then we won't get on to the wrong path. We won't start doing it all for ourselves. So we start really, really early on the path bringing bodhicitta into the teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:43 Highlight the passage at 1:33:43

1:34:11 So when I tell you that this is sort of the stages of the path to enlightenment, they aren't linear. We're definitely going to touch on all of them in the course of this course. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:11 Highlight the passage at 1:34:11

1:34:25 But I wanted to just talk about the mind a little bit in the final few moments of this class, just so we're all on the same page with how the Buddha saw the mind or how he understood the mind to be, especially once he got enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:25 Highlight the passage at 1:34:25

1:34:41 And next week I'm going to talk a little bit more about precious human rebirth, death, suffering and karma. Because those four specifically are considered the preliminary reflections to study Lojong. So we want to go into those in a little more depth. So the definition of mind in Buddhism is clear and knowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:41 Highlight the passage at 1:34:41

1:35:05 They say clear and knowing. You could just meditate on that phrase. Actually, there's a lot there. Clear in knowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:05 Highlight the passage at 1:35:05

1:35:18 Clear in that it's completely non-physical. It's formless. It's colorless. It's something other than body. It doesn't arise from physical causes. The nature of mind is such that it differs from physical causes. As Venerabhina used to always say, the body came from egg and sperm, no problem. You know, no problem. But the mind is something else. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:18 Highlight the passage at 1:35:18

1:35:52 According to Buddhism, the mind comes from the previous moment of mind, which came from the previous moment of mind, which came from the previous moment of mind, which came from the previous moment of mind. So it's just this continual stream of mental experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:52 Highlight the passage at 1:35:52

1:36:12 So they often say that mind is like a string of pearls without the string and without the pearls, which is like a koan, I suppose. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:12 Highlight the passage at 1:36:12

1:36:23 And you can kind of think, I mean, one of the meditations that we do in the class on the mind and then some of the drop-in meditations when we talk about mind is thinking back, you know, just in this day, the way each... Each moment of mind was preceded by a moment of mind, which was preceded by a moment of mind. And you can just sit and think about, for example, coming to this class and what was your state of mind at that point? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:23 Highlight the passage at 1:36:23

1:36:49 And then what was your state of mind at work? And what was your state of mind at lunchtime? And you can see all the states of mind and you can see how they connect, but you can also see how divergent they are and how completely different. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:49 Highlight the passage at 1:36:49

1:37:02 And then you actually, in that one meditation, you travel back. Decades and decades and these little moments and you try to imagine what it was like to even be a baby in the womb and then you try to imagine what it was like to whatever that moment of mind was before you were even conceived. And yes it is all imagination but it's just a way of following this limitless mind back and realizing Did it start at that moment of conception? And if it didn't, what preceded it? And what if it was the final moment of another life? Report an error in the passage at 1:37:02 Highlight the passage at 1:37:02

1:37:47 What if it was the deathbed of whoever you once were? It's an interesting thought, especially for those of us in the West, because we aren't so familiar with reincarnation. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:47 Highlight the passage at 1:37:47

1:37:59 We aren't so familiar with reincarnation as it is strictly taught in Buddhism. We might have funny ideas like I did. My parents were into all sorts of, they would go to come as you were parties and decide that they were Cleopatra and an Indian chief or something. It was always somebody who had power. It was never, you know, the guy that loaded the dock or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:59 Highlight the passage at 1:37:59

1:38:25 Right, it was always some famous person, you know. Or some queen or something, you know. But according to the Buddha, it's almost like the number line. The mind stretches out limitlessly in both directions, you know, going back into all of our many, many lifetimes and also going forward. And even once we become enlightened, we still have a mind and we still have a separate mind. We still have a unique mind. It's not like we become one big mind when we get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:25 Highlight the passage at 1:38:25

1:38:56 So one of my teachers calls it sort of like one big spaghetti noodle. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:56 Highlight the passage at 1:38:56

1:39:04 It's like stretching limitlessly out behind us and in front of us, beginningless and endless. We do have this concept about God, those of us who are raised in Judeo-Christian backgrounds. God has a limitless mind, right? There's that idea of... But thinking that we have a limitless mind is something very different. In this tradition, enlightenment or becoming God is for all of us. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:04 Highlight the passage at 1:39:04

1:39:35 It's possible for all of us. And so this limitless mind is the basis of that. If mind wasn't limitless like this, it wouldn't be possible. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:35 Highlight the passage at 1:39:35

1:39:47 And it's constantly changing too. That's another aspect of mind that I think is also really important. We kind of know that if we spent any time looking at our mind. Sometimes in a bad way and sometimes in a good way. I mean, the worst possible mood shifts. And sometimes not through anything that we've done. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:47 Highlight the passage at 1:39:47

1:40:05 It's just we get distracted. We get distracted by food or a friend or, you know, the newspaper showing up or something. And then you forget to be cranky for a few minutes and you're like, oh, okay. You know. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:05 Highlight the passage at 1:40:05

1:40:18 Because mind shifts. Mind constantly changes. Constantly changes. And that also is the good news. That's also how we can become enlightened. Because mind changes all the time. So you can go back and you kind of can think about all the different yous there have been just in this life. The you of your current... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:18 Highlight the passage at 1:40:18

1:40:43 Decade, whatever that might be, and it's different for all of us and we don't need to share. The years of your twenties, the years of your teens, all the different people you've already been. When you were a little kid, what was so important to you? When you were a toddler, what was so important to you? And those of us who have really good memories can remember the things that were interested in us as a kid and they probably aren't the same thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:43 Highlight the passage at 1:40:43

1:41:08 Except maybe for John. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:08 Highlight the passage at 1:41:08

1:41:14 He doesn't run out for the ice cream man, but I remember that one being really important to me when I was a kid. And so it's not such a huge leap to imagine that we might have been other beings and other bodies with other interests and other people in our lives. And the Buddha said this is actually exactly the case. So it's... Report an error in the passage at 1:41:14 Highlight the passage at 1:41:14

1:41:37 This is important for us to understand, and we will touch on it as the class goes on, but I just wanted to make sure that we understood it because the Buddha also taught that the causes for happiness and the causes for removing suffering all lies in our minds. There's a lot of power in this mind, and just like, you know, they say, even Western science, I think, says we only use this little tiny bit of our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:37 Highlight the passage at 1:41:37

1:42:03 We don't use all of our minds, and Buddhism would underscore and bold that. We limit ourselves by how little of our minds we know, and we can develop our minds limitlessly, and that's what enlightenment is, is limitlessly developed mind, perfected mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:03 Highlight the passage at 1:42:03

1:42:27 So the causes for suffering, according to Buddhism, are these mental states, That are called afflictions or harmful emotions like anger, jealousy, depression, hatred and so forth. And those minds arise. Mostly we give in to them through habit, you know, just the habit of getting angry or the habit of being attached to or the habit of being jealous or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:27 Highlight the passage at 1:42:27

1:42:58 But that's not the mind. It's thoughts arising in the mind and those thoughts can be changed and in fact they can be removed. It's like they compare it sometimes to pollution and water. It's not the nature of water to be polluted, just like it's not the nature of our mind to be polluted. The thing is about those afflicted states of mind is when they arise, then we act on them. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:58 Highlight the passage at 1:42:58

1:43:22 If our mind isn't at all subdued, we act on them and then we create negative karma. Based on those actions. But in the same way that pollution can be removed from water, those afflicted states of mind can be removed from our mind. And our mind is by nature clear and pure, they say. So this is very different. In Buddhism, we aren't by nature sinful beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:22 Highlight the passage at 1:43:22

1:43:52 In Buddhism, we are by nature... Our mind is by nature clear and pure, and it can become so. It's just gotten messed up through habits, really, and that's all they are, is just harmful habits. Harmful habits towards ourselves as well as harmful habits towards other people. And we can remove them. We can permanently remove them. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:52 Highlight the passage at 1:43:52

1:44:20 Completely remove them. And we just begin by applying antidotes that we learn. So the antidotes to anger, the antidotes to hatred, the antidotes to jealousy, the antidotes to that critical mind towards ourselves or to others and so forth. And we just do it repeatedly. We just do it repeatedly. And that's... Report an error in the passage at 1:44:20 Highlight the passage at 1:44:20

1:44:44 That's what we do until basically we're able to have that direct perception of emptiness. Once we have a direct perception of emptiness, that acts like His sword just to slice through all of our ignorance, which is really what His sword represents there. It's that wisdom that slices through. Once that happens, then we are able to, with again repeated application of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:44 Highlight the passage at 1:44:44

1:45:11 That wisdom, that direct perception of understanding of how things actually exist, which is really different than the way we think they do. Then we're able to remove all those negative states of mind and then we're able to achieve what's called liberation or nirvāṇa. It's still not enlightenment, right? Because we haven't attained this omniscient mind. We haven't completely removed the obstacles to that mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:11 Highlight the passage at 1:45:11

1:45:38 It takes a little bit more and only a Buddha has actually removed all the delusions and all the imprints of those delusions and attained omniscience. You know, this mind that knows all can directly connect with all living beings. So for this class, that's a little bit about the nature of mind and I think it's important. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:38 Highlight the passage at 1:45:38

1:46:03 To understand that. And there is a Discovering Buddhism module on the mind that will come up again as we cycle through. But I just wanted to put that in there. In this class, the root text will be the eight verses of thought transformation. You'll all get a copy of that. I'll have Charles help me figure out how to copy it. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:03 Highlight the passage at 1:46:03

1:46:27 But it's a very short little text. It's eight very short little stanzas, but it's pithy. You know, it's like, you know, you can read it all in a half a second, but like I said, His Holiness the Dalai Lama still reads it every morning, which I think says something. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:27 Highlight the passage at 1:46:27

1:46:44 We are going to, like I said, next week we'll talk about the preliminary reflections before learning Lojong. We'll also talk about the context of the teachers within who have taught Lojong, especially Geshe Langri Tangpa, who is the author of that text, the eight verses. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:44 Highlight the passage at 1:46:44

1:47:07 and, um... We'll talk a little bit about meditation because I'm not sure if anybody here has a meditation practice and so we'll talk a little bit about that and how to get one started if you don't and also the sort of preliminary steps for meditating. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:07 Highlight the passage at 1:47:07

1:47:24 I personally... Have had the experience recently of trying to meditate without doing those steps and then remembering and going, oh yeah, you always are teaching this to everybody else. Do the preliminary steps. And it's just amazing the difference. It's amazing the difference. So we'll talk a little bit about that too. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:24 Highlight the passage at 1:47:24

1:47:45 The same with Lojong. Doing the preliminary before learning Lojong kind of makes it a little bit juicier once you get to the Lojong teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:45 Highlight the passage at 1:47:45

1:47:55 And just again, I just want to underscore if I ever say anything that you don't understand or even something that upsets you and remember that Buddhism isn't really about making you comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:55 Highlight the passage at 1:47:55

1:48:10 I hate to say it, but it really is actually, the Buddha really wanted to shake us up, you know, because only then will we... I mean, we have to kind of see the need to change before we're going to change. So I may say something that's upsetting. Please feel free to contact me either if it feels safer to contact me by email and we can set up a time to talk or have a cup of tea and talk about stuff or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:10 Highlight the passage at 1:48:10

1:48:43 And it also may be a misunderstanding of something that I said that you then... You know, mull over for weeks at a time and don't come to class. So please don't let that happen. Of course, it may turn out in the course of this class that you realize that Buddhism isn't for you, too, and that's totally fine. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:43 Highlight the passage at 1:48:43

1:49:00 But I do give me a chance. So, you know, contact me if something doesn't rub you right and you're upset or you need more explanation. I'm totally happy to meet with you and try to clarify that. Any questions about anything that I just said? And then we'll dedicate tonight's class. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:00 Highlight the passage at 1:49:00

1:49:19 Anything else? Okay. We'll dedicate, and then I have your homework. And then I also have a syllabus. And then I think, so I think, so where's the roster? There's the roster. Great. And then I think, too, Charles was asking you guys. Oh, he didn't get it? Okay. Yeah, she did it on purpose, I think. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:19 Highlight the passage at 1:49:19

1:49:52 Transform that, Katya. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:52 Highlight the passage at 1:49:52

1:49:59 I think Charles was asking you guys about who wanted binders. If not, he'll do it when he comes in to make announcements. Okay, good. Well, I put it on there, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:59 Highlight the passage at 1:49:59

1:50:10 Okay, so just take a moment. Just like we started the class with a motivation, we're going to end with a dedication. They're kind of considered the two bookends. dear. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:10 Highlight the passage at 1:50:10

1:50:19 Um. And they help us remember that this class isn't just again for us to gain our own knowledge so that we're really cool and can impress our friends. This class is for us to gain the tools to work on our own minds and to begin working on our own minds. And so may anything that we got from this discussion or from beginning to look at this subject even just a little bit and coming together in this... Report an error in the passage at 1:50:19 Highlight the passage at 1:50:19

1:50:49 Incredible container that we have for the next two months to get to know this subject and to get to know each other. May any seeds that were planted in our minds take root and grow and develop into this vast, amazing, courageous mind of bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:49 Highlight the passage at 1:50:49

1:51:11 And through that mind may we be able to benefit all living beings beginning with ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:11 Highlight the passage at 1:51:11

1:51:24 Whoa, thank you. That got your attention? Spot on 9 o 'clock. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:24 Highlight the passage at 1:51:24

1:51:34 All right. Charles, did you have an announcement? Yeah. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:34 Highlight the passage at 1:51:34

1:51:43 Well, somebody at home might hear it and then they get all inspired. That's true. There you go. So who needs, we can provide you with an electronic copy of the readings? We put that on the, we put it on the, I put it on the roster. So we had some electronic. Do you want to bring it to me? Did everyone see that? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:43 Highlight the passage at 1:51:43

1:52:01 So everyone's, Who knows about that? Yeah, so one, two, three, four, and a few for both. So four binders, I mean four non-binders. Non-non-binders. Four electronics. Four electronics. Yeah, who wants an electronic one? Only. One, two, three. Because some people want both. An email, yeah. A paper list. One, two, three, four. Four, right? Yeah, that's what I have, yeah. Okay, and paper. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:01 Highlight the passage at 1:52:01

1:52:47 Is that which? Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Nine, ten, nine, twelve. And so, yeah, this, if any of you guys know, our not-so-resident teacher Geshing Nawangdapa, we're having a 16 Arhat Puja for his own life before he goes to India. And so on this Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon, we're going to have a big puja for him or an offering celebration. And also this Sunday, you guys might be interested in the movie that we're showing. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:47 Highlight the passage at 1:52:47

1:53:14 It's Brilliant Moon. It's the life of Dogo Kensei Rinpoche. And he was definitely a person that did a lot of lojong throughout his life. He's also one of Geshe-la's gurus. And so we'll watch that at 10.30 a.m. and then we can follow it by discussion. And while Geshe-la is gone in India, he normally teaches Shantideva, the guide to the bodhisattva's way of life. On Wednesdays from 7 until 9, he's going to be gone for three months. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:14 Highlight the passage at 1:53:14

1:53:40 So while he's gone, we're going to start a discussion group of that text. And so it's going to be just people come together informally to discuss this text. And it's one of the greatest mind training texts. A lot of mind training is based on this text. And it's really beautiful. And it won't be so kind of... Report an error in the passage at 1:53:40 Highlight the passage at 1:53:40

1:53:58 Forbearing. You don't have to be in Gushla's class quite yet. You know, you can check out the study group. Are we on Wednesdays still? But we're going to start at Wednesday the 26th. So not this coming up Wednesday, but the Wednesday after that. What time on Sunday? Say 10 or 10.30. And then what is needed on Saturday? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:58 Highlight the passage at 1:53:58

1:54:22 Are there things needed? Yeah, if you guys are coming to the puja, we have pretty much all the offerings, but if you bring anything... It could be like nice candies or something like that. We already have fruit and flowers that's taken care of. But if you bring something that's like, you know, like I would say candies or chocolate or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:22 Highlight the passage at 1:54:22

1:54:40 He can have them though. Sugarless candies. Oh, it's like offerings. If you want to bring something for Geshe-la, yeah, I guess. I don't know what he needs. I can't think of anything Geshe-la actually needs, but he likes avocados. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:40 Highlight the passage at 1:54:40

1:55:00 How many can you take on the plane? If you give him an offering, too, like if it's money, then he'll just use it for his trip or something, so that's also an option. Or, you know, like Karen used to always give really practical gifts, like socks, you know? People forget to give them things like socks, so it's actually kind of nice, yeah. Or slippers or something, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:00 Highlight the passage at 1:55:00

1:55:22 Did you mention Emily's class? No, but we have a class on Tuesday. It's on shamatha meditation or calm abiding, and it's an advanced class, but anyone's welcome to come and check it out. The first class started, so there's some catching up to do, but if you're interested, it's on Tuesday from 6.30 until 8.30. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:22 Highlight the passage at 1:55:22

1:55:42 And Emily, she was a graduate of the basic program, the master's program in Pumaya, Italy, and so she studied intensively for seven years, and she's a lay teacher. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:42 Highlight the passage at 1:55:42

1:55:53 And she travels from San Jose up here, and she teaches. Santa Cruz, actually, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:53 Highlight the passage at 1:55:53

1:56:03 Cool, thank you. And this is Charles. He's the program coordinator of Tsai Tsai Tsai. And next week I'll actually... Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:03 Highlight the passage at 1:56:03

1:56:16 Next week I'll talk a little bit about volunteering at the center because it looks like I'm starting to take back on volunteer coordination at Station Lake. So we'll talk a little bit. Yeah, Janet and I have been talking about it. So we need a volunteer for this class. Yeah, if anybody is doing, either would just like to do it because they're coming anyway or they're already doing work study, then that's a good thing to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:16 Highlight the passage at 1:56:16

1:56:43 You want to share the love, though. You guys, you're already here Wednesday and she's already here Tuesday, so if anybody else would like to do that. That just involves coming to Seijinling about 30 minutes, hopefully an hour before the class starts. Well, you'll be trained, yeah. It's not much, but it's really helpful for the center to have that, you know, put the dishes away. And be a friendly face when people walk in the door. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:43 Highlight the passage at 1:56:43

1:57:06 It's easy and nice to do. I mean, I'm not here. You can do like announcements and things like that. And people get all scared when you say that. Or you just hand the list to me and I read it. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:06 Highlight the passage at 1:57:06

1:57:20 Anyway, thanks you guys. See you next week. Thank you. you. Were you gonna hand out them? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:20 Highlight the passage at 1:57:20