Transforming Problems into the Path - How Problems Help (10 February 2011)

· · · silence, 1 minute

0:58 My head is sending a billion emails and organizing all these things. Just focus on the class now. Report an error in the passage at 0:58 Highlight the passage at 0:58

1:13 But the good news is it's really coming along great. If you haven't heard back from me, it means that we actually have enough, at this point, enough. Full-time volunteers, in other words, people that are here for both days, so it's kind of easier in some ways to only have the same person doing the same thing all weekend. But we are having a cleaning day on the 19th of February, so Saturday after this. Report an error in the passage at 1:13 Highlight the passage at 1:13

1:43 If anyone wants to help, they can just come. They don't even have to tell me. They can just wake up and get inspired and come over. Report an error in the passage at 1:43 Highlight the passage at 1:43

1:51 But we're definitely going to be cleaning this place from top to bottom. So if you'd like to join that, you're more than welcome to come. And so now that you're thinking about it too, we can meditate a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51

2:06 You're like, what could I clean? Report an error in the passage at 2:06 Highlight the passage at 2:06

2:13 That's right. Report an error in the passage at 2:13 Highlight the passage at 2:13

2:17 All right, so just take some nice deep belly breaths and let it wash away. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:17 Highlight the passage at 2:17

2:24 Your day, whether you had a good day or a bad day, whether you've had good conversations this evening already or not, even virtuous thoughts can be distractions. Report an error in the passage at 2:24 Highlight the passage at 2:24

2:42 So you can either imagine the breath clearing you out or breathe in what you need and breathe out what you don't need. Breathe in white light, breathe out black smoke, whatever works for you to kind of prepare your body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:42 Highlight the passage at 2:42

3:22 I'm going to just briefly look at the... Third verse that we talked about last week. Think about it a little bit to warm up our minds and also to set our motivation for tonight's class. Report an error in the passage at 3:22 Highlight the passage at 3:22

3:43 So I'll read it and just think about it. In all actions I will examine my mind and the moment a disturbing attitude arises endangering myself and others I will firmly confront and avert it. Report an error in the passage at 3:43 Highlight the passage at 3:43

4:08 So think about how you might be able to Implement this one. What it's going to take for you to catch those deluded thoughts when they arise. Report an error in the passage at 4:08 Highlight the passage at 4:08

4:23 How long do we have between that moment when we first go off balance and we have a full explosion? We only have a second, maybe even a couple of seconds, but we don't have long. Report an error in the passage at 4:23 Highlight the passage at 4:23

4:49 And for most of us, we aren't going to catch it before. We explode or before we slip into jealousy or whatever our particular delusion of choice is, we'll realize it after the fact. And we'll realize that once again we've let our delusions win. But just observe without judgment. Don't be hard on yourself. Don't beat yourself up. Just recognize how strong and how deeply rooted these things are. Report an error in the passage at 4:49 Highlight the passage at 4:49

5:36 So first we just look. It's like we take our little Margaret Mead notebook out and we just watch our mind. We notice what triggers, what conditions, and Report an error in the passage at 5:36 Highlight the passage at 5:36

5:54 then we analyze it after the fact. Report an error in the passage at 5:54 Highlight the passage at 5:54

5:59 And then we start catching it closer and closer to the explosion. Report an error in the passage at 5:59 Highlight the passage at 5:59

6:07 Maybe a few hours later, then maybe one hour later, then maybe as we're walking down the hall. And Report an error in the passage at 6:07 Highlight the passage at 6:07

6:19 finally you catch it before you yell back. And that's what makes it all worth it. At least once you catch it. And you decide based on these teachings not to yell back. And that's really all this verse is about. Report an error in the passage at 6:19 Highlight the passage at 6:19

6:43 It's nothing more holy or mysterious than that. It's Report an error in the passage at 6:43 Highlight the passage at 6:43

6:52 just getting familiar with our own mind and deciding, resolving not to keep following these deluded states of mind. Report an error in the passage at 6:52 Highlight the passage at 6:52

7:14 So let's motivate tonight's class to each of us being able to put these verses into effect in our lives. Report an error in the passage at 7:14 Highlight the passage at 7:14

7:24 In our interactions with everyone else, in our work, in our practice, and definitely on the path to enlightenment so Report an error in the passage at 7:24 Highlight the passage at 7:24

7:39 that we can become Buddhists for the benefit of others. Report an error in the passage at 7:39 Highlight the passage at 7:39

7:52 And then in your own time as you're ready you can end your meditation and open your eyes and we'll start with the opening prayer. Report an error in the passage at 7:52 Highlight the passage at 7:52

8:16 Hey, you know what I noticed? At least some of the white books actually have the eight verses in there. Because I forgot mine. Report an error in the passage at 8:16 Highlight the passage at 8:16

8:25 Yeah, they aren't numbered, of course, the pages. That would be too logical for us. So we'll read the one by His Holiness on page 8, and then if you go like maybe one, two, three pages, something like that, then there's the eight verses, if you're lucky, maybe. Report an error in the passage at 8:25 Highlight the passage at 8:25

8:48 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge. To Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 8:48 Highlight the passage at 8:48

9:23 I just realized this might be helpful to have this closer to my mouth. It's like recording all of Anne's comments and Marcella's comments. So we're going to read the eight verses. If you don't have it, look on your neighbors. Report an error in the passage at 9:23 Highlight the passage at 9:23

9:39 With the thought of attaining enlightenment for the welfare of all beings who are more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel, I will constantly practice holding them dear. Whenever I am with others, I will practice seeing myself as the lowest of all, and from the very depth of my heart, I will respectfully hold others as supreme. Report an error in the passage at 9:39 Highlight the passage at 9:39

10:01 In all actions, I will examine my mind, and the moment a disturbing attitude arises, endangering myself and others, I will firmly confront and avert it. Whenever I meet a person of bad nature, Who is overwhelmed by negative energy and intense suffering, I will hold such a rare one dear as if I had found a precious treasure. Report an error in the passage at 10:01 Highlight the passage at 10:01

10:26 When others, out of jealousy, mistreat me with abuse, slander and so on, I will practice accepting defeat and offer the victory to them. When someone I have benefited and in whom I have placed great trust hurts me very badly, I will practice seeing that person as my supreme teacher. In short, I will offer directly and indirectly every benefit and happiness to all beings my mothers. Report an error in the passage at 10:26 Highlight the passage at 10:26

10:54 I will practice in secret taking upon myself all their harmful actions and sufferings. Without these practices being defiled by the stains of the eight worldly concerns, by perceiving all phenomena as illusory, I will practice without grasping to release all beings from the bondage of the disturbing, unsubdued mind and karma. Report an error in the passage at 10:54 Highlight the passage at 10:54

11:25 Okay, so a few announcements and then we can check in, see how people are doing. So I mentioned the cleaning party. We always insist on calling in a cleaning party, even though of course it's just cleaning, but there will be food. Charles and I will feed you. Report an error in the passage at 11:25 Highlight the passage at 11:25

11:45 We'll try to have fun food. If anybody has a place to put up flyers or can think of a place near them or school, maybe they attend school. Eric's not here, unfortunately, but I shot him an email. He said he wasn't able to come tonight. Or cafes or, you know, just someplace. We have flyers. We can also make more flyers, and also we could send you a PDF if you were able to copy. So I guess talk to me on the break. Report an error in the passage at 11:45 Highlight the passage at 11:45

12:14 If that's the case for you. The next Discovering Buddhism class after this is on emptiness. This is just wetting your appetite a little bit for it. And that starts two weeks after this one ends. We get a little break. It's like spring break, right? The 24th, I think it starts. And it's nine weeks, and I'll be teaching that one too. So if you haven't taken the class on emptiness yet, you've got to take it. Report an error in the passage at 12:14 Highlight the passage at 12:14

12:29 mean, um, Report an error in the passage at 12:29 Highlight the passage at 12:29

12:41 Also, I want to remind people that we do have a Our final practice day, we are at the halfway point for this class tonight. This is class five out of eight. So we're just past the halfway point. We're passing it right now. It's on the 5th, March 5th. So just to mark your calendars, we do have a final retreat day as part of the class. Report an error in the passage at 12:41 Highlight the passage at 12:41

13:05 If you can come, I know it's hard. Some people have different schedules on the weekends. But if you can come, it's really good to do. And we'll talk more about it later, but I just, in all the excitement, I don't want it to get forgotten. So mark your calendars. Any comments or insights or questions or anything coming up for people, the meditation or the reading or anything? Report an error in the passage at 13:05 Highlight the passage at 13:05

13:39 By the end of the class, you guys all have tons of comments. The first one, you're like... Report an error in the passage at 13:39 Highlight the passage at 13:39

13:49 Yeah, yeah, yeah. The line about converting, not converting, averting, converting, confronting and averting. Converting and affronting. Okay, now I'm thoroughly confused. The averting part is a little confusing to me. Oh, right. Because actually I used to have a guru who used to say don't avoid anything. Report an error in the passage at 13:49 Highlight the passage at 13:49

14:16 So like that part, the part of waking up is like actually allowing yourself to, or the confronting part, that's why that part makes sense. It's the averting, it's like that's aversion. No, actually we would prefer that you don't blow off and scream back at the person. So that's what we're averting is that kind of damage that we do when our mental affections go crazy. Report an error in the passage at 14:16 Highlight the passage at 14:16

14:38 There is, we were just talking about this last night because there's, for anybody who's interested, we are having a, Discussion group on Wednesday nights. I don't think it's been fully advertised, but based on the Shantideva book. And we're just focusing on patience, joyful effort and concentration because Geshehla mentioned those chapters. Report an error in the passage at 14:38 Highlight the passage at 14:38

14:59 So we're just sort of focusing on those until he gets back. So we were spending, we spent the whole night talking about patience. It was really, not the whole night. We spent the whole session talking about patience. Once we got everybody in there and I stopped being impatient at them. Report an error in the passage at 14:59 Highlight the passage at 14:59

15:12 But we were talking about how, you know, I mean, and this comes up over and over again, in the West there is this idea that it is good to allow your anger to arise or, you know, like that. This teaching isn't talking about repressing your anger. What it's talking about is analyzing it. Which is really different. So if we look at all the conditions that allow our anger or anything, you know, anger I'm just mentioning because it's kind of the most powerful and probably the most dangerous of all the afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 15:12 Highlight the passage at 15:12

15:48 But if you are actually working with it and thinking about all the things that trigger it and all the conditions that are needed for it to arise, which is an unusual way to go about it. But when we start doing that, you realize that there's really nothing. There's not a leg to stand on, in other words. And so then the anger can just dissolve on its own. So it's not like you're going, oh, no, I can't get angry. Report an error in the passage at 15:48 Highlight the passage at 15:48

16:14 I can't get angry. I'm a nun. No, no, no, no, no. You know, you wouldn't be saying that, but I would. It's not like that. It's more like I'm going to spend time analyzing it when I'm not in the situation. So when I'm in the situation, it's a little hard. We just do the best we can with the tools we can. Report an error in the passage at 16:14 Highlight the passage at 16:14

16:33 But then afterwards, either right afterwards or that night or something, really spending some time in analysis. And that's the only way that we are able to eliminate our mental afflictions. But they are eliminated. It's almost like you've ripped out the roots and the plant can't grow. So it's not like you even have to stop. Report an error in the passage at 16:33 Highlight the passage at 16:33

16:54 I will stop all anger. It's not like that. It's more just like there's nothing. For them to rely on, so they can't be, they stop being. And, you know, this takes a long time, a lot of analysis. But the little chart that you guys will all get, thanks to my little copying buddy over there, we actually, I handed it out a day early with the study group, because since we were talking about patients, it's just... Report an error in the passage at 16:54 Highlight the passage at 16:54

17:24 It's useful to have a bunch of different little tools to try because the same analysis doesn't always work. For people that are brand new, and there are a number of you in here, I thought, well, I could hand them out and we won't talk about them so much except to say that they're just a bunch of tools all in one place, which is what I liked about it, which is why I sort of created it based on other meditations. Report an error in the passage at 17:24 Highlight the passage at 17:24

17:50 But if you've never studied those other meditations, It might not work as well for you. So what I thought we could do is, if people were interested, we could have a little chart session at some point after the class is over, or at least after Rinpoche leaves, to just sit and talk about it a little bit more, which I think could be useful for people who haven't had the ability to study. Report an error in the passage at 17:50 Highlight the passage at 17:50

18:15 If you have studied for a little bit, you'll probably recognize. Most of the things. It won't so much be new information. What I like about it is it's just you have them all there for the moment, either right after or hours after you've had a Klesha attack. Then it's like bringing it out in order to analyze and dissolve. That's basically what we're kind of working on. What will eliminate our mental afflictions completely is a direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 18:15 Highlight the passage at 18:15

18:48 That shifts the mind stream completely. You become a different being. You actually have a completely different name. You become an Arya being, a superior being. But for those of us still plodding along, then it helps to have tools and to try to do some weeding. know, in In essence, do some waiting. Yeah. So does that help? So it's not like we're pushing it down or resisting it in that way. We're averting it with our own logic, basically, our logic and analysis. Report an error in the passage at 18:48 Highlight the passage at 18:48

19:21 So yeah. Yeah. Good point. Thank you for bringing that up. Anybody else? Eleanor? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 19:21 Highlight the passage at 19:21

19:32 Just in reading the reading. Report an error in the passage at 19:32 Highlight the passage at 19:32

19:39 I'm not big into specifics tonight. Something that I was kind of having a problem with was the reading on if you're attached to something. Report an error in the passage at 19:39 Highlight the passage at 19:39

19:52 Or somebody, imagine them looking really ugly or doing something really gross. And imagine their bones and their viscera. And when you love somebody a lot, even their snotty boogers aren't so gross, right? Because you're just so into them. And so I was like, well, no, that kind of doesn't work that much. Report an error in the passage at 19:52 Highlight the passage at 19:52

20:14 And then, um, you know, I'm a, I was a health practitioner, and so I think bones and viscera are really beautiful. I was like, do I need to imagine maggots to get over this attachment, or how far do I have to go? That part didn't really respond or connect to me. This comes up a lot. I think that might have been useful for the monks at some point, and I think that's where that teaching has come from, honestly. Report an error in the passage at 20:14 Highlight the passage at 20:14

20:40 It was specifically for the monks who were attracted to beautiful laywomen, and so they were trying to get them to really see that they were temporarily beautiful, and that as they age, they might not be so beautiful, and as they were dead, they definitely wouldn't be beautiful. So they were kind of really gross, meaning not subtle teachings. But this comes up a lot. Report an error in the passage at 20:40 Highlight the passage at 20:40

21:02 A lot of Westerners just don't relate to them. I think it is useful. I think you can think of, if you think of... Why those teachings are like that. So you can think about the impermanence is true. This person, first of all, this person isn't inherently beautiful. If I showed this person to, you know, my best friend, she or he may not think that that person was beautiful. Report an error in the passage at 21:02 Highlight the passage at 21:02

21:24 That happens all the time, right? You know, it's like, oh, look, you know, everybody else is like, you know. Or this is my favorite song, right? And everybody's like, God, I hate that. Great. Because that's emptiness, actually. We will get into that more even tonight if we have time. And definitely by the final verse. So you can think about that a little bit. You can also think that this person, even though you're really into them at this point, that's just karma arising. Report an error in the passage at 21:24 Highlight the passage at 21:24

21:56 It's karma ripening. That karma can shift really quickly. You can also just think, you know, I mean, I'm trying to think of, I don't know, I don't know if other people have had, have tried different approaches for not being so attached to a person. Yeah, you want to try answering that one? Have you? I don't know. You've tried? Has it worked? Yeah, I think it's done. Report an error in the passage at 21:56 Highlight the passage at 21:56

22:23 Because I'm a scientist, Eleanor, so I get you with the organs being awesome. But not when the person's dead. Actually, they're less awesome. No, that's kind of gross. But I don't know. I found that, so I've never used that, but what I've used before is just thinking about other things or other situations in which they aren't the version of the person that I'm so super attached to, right? Report an error in the passage at 22:23 Highlight the passage at 22:23

22:47 I mean, no matter how much you love somebody. There's something they do that annoys you. Think about that, about those situations where you've been angry with them. It's kind of like that friend-enemy-stranger meditation where you think about how that person, you can love them so much in one minute, but you can also be really, really angry at them, probably angrier than you are at anybody else because of the attachment and then how at one point you didn't know them. Report an error in the passage at 22:47 Highlight the passage at 22:47

23:20 You know, all these things, I kind of... I don't know if that... Yeah, no, no, yeah. That's what I have used, because I had the same kind of... worked on the same issues, so... Yeah, Yeah, and I think we all have, right? Because even if it's not why you're involved with the person, if that person breaks up with you and you're trying not to be so attached, especially if they happen to be going out with your best friend or something, you're trying to play it cool, then you've got to remember those times or you've got to just somehow really focus on... Report an error in the passage at 23:20 Highlight the passage at 23:20

23:52 Why that person wasn't such a good man. And actually when you think about it, you could also focus on the definition in Buddhism, the definition of love is wanting that person to be happy. And if that person's happiness doesn't rely on you, that's usually when we decide not to love them, right? But if we really want that person's happiness, then that person's happiness might be with our best friend. Report an error in the passage at 23:52 Highlight the passage at 23:52

24:16 Right, like analyzing, I've done that too, analyzing what... Makes me feel love for them and trying to deconstruct that. Yeah. Because if then I recognize that I only feel, I feel more love when they do something great for me, then that's obviously not real. True love, yeah. Right? So I don't know. I don't know if that helps. Yeah, yeah. No, I think it's all different tools again. Yeah. Yeah. But it's, yeah, it is, it's a hard one. Report an error in the passage at 24:16 Highlight the passage at 24:16

24:44 You could just focus on the... Substances one, like you mentioned. The substances that their body does emit, which may not be so attractive. If you're more into the organs and the bones, then maybe focus more on the substances. Yeah, do you want to pass that? Katya, can you pass back the mic? Another thought that comes to mind is compassion. Report an error in the passage at 24:44 Highlight the passage at 24:44

25:05 So it's one thing to force yourself to be disgusted by the image of them, but having compassion for the fact that they're going to die. That they're going to see it that way. Yeah, but then if you're really attached to them, you might just claw to them even more and be like, oh my God, they're going to die. Report an error in the passage at 25:05 Highlight the passage at 25:05

25:24 But I'll go further and try to lump them in with the rest of humanity and the fact that we're all going to die. I guess, would you call that emptiness? Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

25:34 Well, what I'm thinking about in that situation where you're really attached, I don't know if that's going to cut your attachment. It might make more attachment arise. That's what my point is. I think the reason that you're thinking about their bones and their, you know, it's not the fact that they have bones, it's more, it's kind of getting past the superficial beauty of that person in this moment, whatever it is that's physically, you know. Report an error in the passage at 25:34 Highlight the passage at 25:34

26:01 naked see the person do Yeah, talking stick, talking stick. To see the person that, the way that they really are, don't follow the, you know, the way that they show. Right. You know, sometimes like we show that to be very nice and we all know that we are in saṃsāra and of course we are suffering. Yeah. It's just... Report an error in the passage at 26:01 Highlight the passage at 26:01

26:31 We look a lot for appearance, appearance of the person. That's why... I believe it's more to see the person in a different way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Although not naked, because that one wouldn't work here. No, I know, I'm teasing you. Report an error in the passage at 26:31 Highlight the passage at 26:31

26:54 That might increase the attachment, depending on the person. Or maybe not, actually, depending on the person. It's like the person is not the person. Wait, talking stick! know that I make it, I know that I make Report an error in the passage at 26:54 Highlight the passage at 26:54

27:03 The person that you are attached to is not the person that they really are, right? Well, that's a good point. That's really a good point. You're really attached to this version of that person in your mind, but that is not who the person really is. That actually I think is the most... That's huge because one of the ways that attachment hurts us is that we exaggerate the qualities. So yes, the person may have qualities, but our mind goes haywire. Report an error in the passage at 27:03 Highlight the passage at 27:03

27:31 And then aversion does the opposite. Aversion, if you're having a lot of hatred for somebody or dislike for somebody, aversion exaggerates their negative qualities. Yeah, they may have some negative qualities, but aversion just like... Focuses on it. And so attachment does the same thing. And then when karma shifts, you could have the same feelings. You could have aversion for the same person, you know, same feelings that you had. Report an error in the passage at 27:31 Highlight the passage at 27:31

27:55 Anyway, I can't say it, but you know what I mean. It could shift. It could go from this exaggerated attachment to this exaggerated aversion for the very same person in the very same day, really. Report an error in the passage at 27:55 Highlight the passage at 27:55

28:05 But yeah. So that one's actually quite a useful one. And that's one, because you had asked me for stuff about attachment. That's a big one. Report an error in the passage at 28:05 Highlight the passage at 28:05

28:13 Is deconstructing your attachment for whatever the thing is, whether it's a person or a thing or food or whatever. And seeing how the mind exaggerates, like really under analysis in meditation, really trying to think about what is my mind exaggerating about this thing. If I'm attached to this thing, what is my mind exaggerating? And that one I think is quite useful. Yeah, so I knew if we talked about it for a while. Yeah, anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 28:13 Highlight the passage at 28:13

28:41 Yeah, do you want to pass that back to her? Report an error in the passage at 28:41 Highlight the passage at 28:41

28:50 You know, and just trying to make a mental shift this whole week has been kind of tough. I mean, I've been really good at being able to analyze, but sometimes, I mean, just lots of negativity coming up. And also participating with other people, you know, in negative talk and realizing that that's not what I want to do. I guess my question is, is not trying to put anybody else in the space that I'm trying to move towards. Report an error in the passage at 28:50 Highlight the passage at 28:50

29:19 I mean, or... What would you say to the people that you've been participating in this kind of activity with? How do you deal with it? Yeah, you don't want to be like a little Miss Goody Two Shoes. No, no, exactly. And it's kind of like, you know, I'm kind of at a loss, so I would just not say too much. And I think that may be the most skillful thing. Report an error in the passage at 29:19 Highlight the passage at 29:19

29:41 Yeah, yeah. Just kind of trying to extract yourself from a situation. Or if... If it repeatedly comes up, then excusing yourself from the situation. Without saying something like, I don't want to be a part of this anymore, anything dramatic. If the people are Buddhist, which they probably go to the bathroom yet again. Report an error in the passage at 29:41 Highlight the passage at 29:41

30:03 That bathroom comes in really handy. If the people are Buddhist, I have found that it's quite useful to say, I'm really trying to work on my speech right now, you know, and can you guys help me work on my speech? Because what it ends up doing is it sort of helps them work on their speech, but they don't realize that's what you're doing. Of course, Jen does now. If I use that on her, she'll know. But if they're not Buddhist, I think just be as skillful as you can and still continue to talk, but try to maybe change the subject. Report an error in the passage at 30:03 Highlight the passage at 30:03

30:35 I had this situation once where I had a boss who was quite gossipy. She would gossip about people and often diss. It would turn into diss. And I would just change the subject. I just kept changing the subject. And it was awkward because it was a small office, but I just changed the subject. Yeah, yeah. And sometimes, you know, they say that there are times where that kind of small talk is quite... Report an error in the passage at 30:35 Highlight the passage at 30:35

31:02 Is quite useful, you know, like it doesn't, if it's small talk without being negative, that's okay. You know, I mean, often we're trying to avoid a lot of idle speech, too. But in those kind of social situations, it's almost all idle speech. And it's useful. And llamas do this a lot, where they'll just check in. Report an error in the passage at 31:02 Highlight the passage at 31:02

31:22 How are you? Where are you staying? And it's... For us, it would be idle speech, but for them, what they're trying to do is put us at ease so that then we can actually ask whatever it was that we're coming to ask. So it's the same. It can be quite skillful. Yeah, good luck. But actually, it's exciting because you're at a really transformational point, and I can feel that. Report an error in the passage at 31:22 Highlight the passage at 31:22

31:46 And so what happens when we're doing that is we're looking around and we're seeing what parts of our life we aren't really... you know so Report an error in the passage at 31:46 Highlight the passage at 31:46

31:54 Liking the way they are and so we're starting to change them. So actually it's really exciting. So I really applaud you for starting to look around and making those changes. Yeah, that's really cool. And it's only like the third class? Second class? Yeah, you're doing great. Actually I just had a quick suggestion for you when you're involved in those negative conversations. Report an error in the passage at 31:54 Highlight the passage at 31:54

32:17 I like to go along with it and just be in the conversation with that person. I'll Report an error in the passage at 32:17 Highlight the passage at 32:17

32:23 Whoever we're talking about and acknowledge how they feel about that person. And then I say something like, yeah, but try to contextualize it for that person. Well, actually, I think her motivation in behaving like that is such and such. And then because you didn't challenge the person in chattering or gossiping. Report an error in the passage at 32:23 Highlight the passage at 32:23

32:50 And took part in it with them. I think that they're more open to hearing that. And I've noticed that. And then you can end it with something positive about that person. And a lot of times it's really well received, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, there you go. Well, cool. Let's get on because we're actually going to try to cover two verses tonight and we'll see how that gets. We'll at least get through one and then we might just begin the other and finish it next week. Report an error in the passage at 32:50 Highlight the passage at 32:50

33:18 And of course, all of these verses are pithy. Report an error in the passage at 33:18 Highlight the passage at 33:18

33:23 The fourth verse, we had some personal experience with this, and I'm going to tell the story without naming any names, but ways that you might handle it. Whenever I meet a person of bad nature who is overwhelmed by negative energy and intense suffering, I will hold such a rare one dear as if I had found a precious treasure. Report an error in the passage at 33:23 Highlight the passage at 33:23

33:20 stuff. Report an error in the passage at 33:20 Highlight the passage at 33:20

33:49 So who are they talking about in this situation? You know, a person of bad nature. A person of bad nature who is overwhelmed by negative energy and intense suffering. That's just basically somebody who is almost perpetually having a khalisha attack. I mean, you could think of it that way. It's somebody who's just, they haven't really ever thought about maybe controlling their mind or maybe they don't know how to or maybe they have learned but they haven't really yet applied the teachings because that happens too. Report an error in the passage at 33:49 Highlight the passage at 33:49

34:16 It doesn't have to be a non-Buddhist who's exploding all the time. But it's somebody whose mind is basically a little out of control. Whether it's out of control with anger or obsessive attachment or resentment or jealousy or whatever, this person is just sort of always perpetually bound up by these delusions. Report an error in the passage at 34:16 Highlight the passage at 34:16

34:43 And as a result, they're creating more and more and more negative karma. Sort of like Pigpen, except with mental energy. You know, this kind of cloud around this person, just of the suffering they are living in and the suffering that they are creating. And I think most of us have met people like this. Report an error in the passage at 34:43 Highlight the passage at 34:43

35:03 Maybe we've been that person sometimes. But this is really talking about, when they say of bad nature, they aren't talking about... Deep within bad nature, they're just saying that this person is sort of this perpetual cloud of negativity. And you can think about examples in your own life. We spent some time talking about two of us in the group last night had fathers who were like this. My dad was a really, really good-hearted man. Report an error in the passage at 35:03 Highlight the passage at 35:03

35:33 Really, really filled with intense anger that would just flare up without any warning and just completely destroy the peace of the household. We were just sitting there having a meal and somebody would spill the milk, literally. And the whole thing would just explode. There would be all this anger. There would sometimes be broken things. We would all just kind of scatter in this complete... Report an error in the passage at 35:33 Highlight the passage at 35:33

35:48 Um. Report an error in the passage at 35:48 Highlight the passage at 35:48

35:59 Um, um, Fear of this uncontrolled mind. It was just the way it felt. And it's so sad when I think about it in retrospect because here was this really good-hearted man and this would sort of surround him. Whatever environment he was in, especially at home, as it turned out when he died, everyone just thought of him as really a great guy. I mean, he saved it for those he loved, unfortunately. Report an error in the passage at 35:59 Highlight the passage at 35:59

36:28 But here was this really good-hearted man and he would come home and we'd all run. You know, I mean, how that must have made him feel. And this is what anger does, especially uncontrolled anger and uncontrolled temper. And I still notice that I have this reaction when I notice that people are like that. And I have come into contact with people who are like that either through living with them or usually through living with them because that's when they let their hair down, right? Report an error in the passage at 36:28 Highlight the passage at 36:28

36:53 When you realize that someone's got this sort of uncontrolled, especially temper, I just do the same thing. Suddenly I'm the six-year-old and I'm dashing to my room and slamming the door, you know. Report an error in the passage at 36:53 Highlight the passage at 36:53

37:04 And isn't that sort of the normal reaction, right? We all kind of put up our guard, whether we do it actually or whether we just, in our minds, run to our room and slam the door. We close down and this verse is actually saying to do the opposite. It's saying, actually, now these are the ones who are even more precious than the regular people in our lives. Report an error in the passage at 37:04 Highlight the passage at 37:04

37:30 This is what makes these teachings so radical. It's like, instead of running to our rooms and slamming the door, now we're being asked to step up to this person and love them even more. Do we love what they're doing? No. We're not loving what we're doing. We're not condoning what they're doing. But we can love them even more because we see with compassion what they're doing to themselves. That's what actually allowed me to love and forgive and have compassion for my dad is Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 37:30 Highlight the passage at 37:30

38:04 Up until that point, it was really hard. I could begin to analyze what made him different from his anger and so forth. But I didn't have tools. Buddhism gave me tools because it's like... You realize that this good-hearted person just created an entire lifetime of negativity by continually acting out his anger every single day of the year. Report an error in the passage at 38:04 Highlight the passage at 38:04

38:29 You're wrecking vacations, wrecking family dinners and so forth. and how that, then, that there The ramifications of that followed all of us into our adult lives, and then those who had kids in the family were all really afraid of bringing the same thing into their family lives and so forth. It just keeps going and going, except that we all decided that we'd stop it with this generation, you know, even those of us without kids, which we talked about last night too, yeah, because the other person in the group was also saying that she had decided. Report an error in the passage at 38:29 Highlight the passage at 38:29

39:03 To stop it in this generation too, so that's cool. But how do we, you know, Langrithampa is actually saying we never avoid or neglect these beings. You know, these are actually the ones that will allow us to, you know, what do they use that metaphor of using the difficult situations of life and the difficult people like sandpaper to make us even smoother and more beautiful, you know. Report an error in the passage at 39:03 Highlight the passage at 39:03

39:33 And it's not necessarily what we'd like, but it's really easy to cherish and love people that are loving and sweet and kind to us. It's not so easy when they're being a pain in the butt. But that's exactly how we develop stronger compassion, actually. And compassion is very wise, right? So compassion... Report an error in the passage at 39:33 Highlight the passage at 39:33

39:57 And bodhicitta are not asking us to become doormats. And I say this every time I bring them up because I think people hear these teachings and they imagine that basically if we see somebody who's abusing a dog or something, we just smile and beam at them. That's not what it's asking us to do. So the situation that arose recently, we had somebody who showed up at the center who... Report an error in the passage at 39:57 Highlight the passage at 39:57

40:24 Was in a really bad state, and this is somebody who's had a lot of problems. This is after hours on a Sunday. And somebody who has connections with some people at the center. So we've seen him before, but he's not a member of the center. I'm trying to avoid saying any names. Report an error in the passage at 40:24 Highlight the passage at 40:24

40:45 But this person has a very violent history, and this person has a very violent temper, and this person has abuse problems. right? Report an error in the passage at 40:45 Highlight the passage at 40:45

40:52 And so there was some discussion on how to handle the situation. And I said, out of complete compassion and as much wisdom as I could muster, we should call 911. You know, there's a point where we have the skills and then there's a point that we do not have the skills. Thankfully, somebody outside the center called, somebody who was connected with the person, so we didn't have to. Report an error in the passage at 40:52 Highlight the passage at 40:52

41:13 But there was some discussion and some discussion was, you know, we should just be kind, we should give this person, you know, some space and all this stuff. And I was just like, No, this isn't a safe thing to do. This is beyond what we can handle. And I really believe that that is a more compassionate approach. Report an error in the passage at 41:13 Highlight the passage at 41:13

41:31 And I think it ended much more compassionately. Thankfully, the person is still under arrest, which is allowing him to dry up a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 41:31 Highlight the passage at 41:31

41:43 And think about things, too. It gives him a little chance to think about things. And gives his family a little chance to connect with him and communicate with him. These teachings do not mean that we sit back and allow violence to happen. And in fact, when we take the bodhisattva vows... If there is a way, without harming ourselves and other people, that we can stop a situation, we are bound to stop a situation. We should step forward and stop a situation. Report an error in the passage at 41:43 Highlight the passage at 41:43

42:13 If we can't, then at least we can call 911, right? That's what cell phones are for. But it doesn't mean that we have... We can still do that with a compassionate motivation. That's the difference. So when we wanted this situation to end, we could still have compassion for this poor person who... He has just created so much chaos and negative karma in his life and continues to and seems unable to stop it. Report an error in the passage at 42:13 Highlight the passage at 42:13

42:41 He's definitely a pig pen sort of a character. It's so, and again, another really good heart, really good heart, but just obscured in this life, obscured by negative karma, obscured by... Self-cherishing mind obscured by really strong you know addiction and you know just obscured by a number of afflictions in this life. Report an error in the passage at 42:41 Highlight the passage at 42:41

43:07 So I wanted to mention that because I think it's a really good example of having a strong compassionate reaction to a difficult person. Without just lying down and going, okay, why don't you kill us all and burn down the center? Because that's not compassion. That's not compassion. And I think we have to remember that even though we may not be totally wise yet, we're building our baby wisdom and some baby wisdom might be, wait, there might be a different approach to this. Report an error in the passage at 43:07 Highlight the passage at 43:07

43:39 Let me think about this. And we do always have a half a second to think what to do in that situation. Report an error in the passage at 43:39 Highlight the passage at 43:39

43:49 Precious treasure, you know, I was talking about hold such a rare one dear as if I had found a precious treasure. Sometimes we might be in a situation where we can't do anything for that person. Maybe you've been in a situation where you've been on the street or something and you see or you're just passing. Report an error in the passage at 43:49 Highlight the passage at 43:49

44:10 Maybe I'm in a bus and I see a woman, you know, being just really rough with her dog or really rough with her baby or something. And I'm like, oh, and it's just the instant. I can at least pray for that person. I can even dedicate to that person. If I have a chance, I could call 911 if I have some information about where they are. Report an error in the passage at 44:10 Highlight the passage at 44:10

44:31 But you can at least do some sort of purification practices for them. You know, there are things you could do that don't even involve you ever communicating with the person. Like maybe you're just seeing it on the news, you know, that this happened. And you can still, again, from a compassionate motivation, not from a, oh, he's so horrible, you know. Report an error in the passage at 44:31 Highlight the passage at 44:31

44:51 It's not like that. It's more from the standpoint of like, if this person is doing such... damage or such causing such pain that person themselves is going to suffer too know so So this verse is asking us to sort of, it's not just to have compassion for the abused, but to have compassion for the abuser. So it's going a step farther. Report an error in the passage at 44:51 Highlight the passage at 44:51

45:14 You notice that these verses are sort of getting heavier and heavier as they go on, like more complex in what they're asking us to do. And as Buddhists, that actually becomes what we have to do. We have to have compassion for those that are causing this kind of suffering. Because if we understand anything about karma, then we can see that that person is just causing more and more suffering for themselves, not just in this life, but for many lives, for many, many lives. Report an error in the passage at 45:14 Highlight the passage at 45:14

45:46 Yeah, so it's just, we have to just think about a different way. This is actually getting back to, I want to get back to... Katia had asked the question about wanting to take on the suffering of others and why would we want to do that if we really want to be happy. So I thought about that a little bit too and I think that really it fits in with this. And when you think about it sort of conventionally speaking, why on earth would we want to take on the suffering of others if we could just... Report an error in the passage at 45:46 Highlight the passage at 45:46

46:14 Sit and watch a movie with our friends, you know, and eat popcorn or something. I mean, that would sound much more fun in the short view. But what this is asking us to try to do is to try to develop this longer view or this larger view than just right now. And if we're thinking about wanting to take away the suffering of others, which is what is compassion, that's what... Report an error in the passage at 46:14 Highlight the passage at 46:14

46:41 Compassion is, you know, we were talking at the beginning of the class that love is wanting another's happiness. That's just the definition, love wanting someone's happiness. Report an error in the passage at 46:41 Highlight the passage at 46:41

46:51 Compassion is wanting their suffering, wanting to take away their suffering, wanting to end their suffering, but not yet wanting to take on their suffering, right? Wanting to end their suffering. As a bodhisattva, or when we develop bodhisattva, Then we actually, we ourselves personally want to end their suffering. So that's when we start sort of experimenting with taking on that suffering. You know, what would that feel like? Report an error in the passage at 46:51 Highlight the passage at 46:51

47:20 Can we actually take away somebody's suffering? You know, is it possible? It's not possible. We can't. If we could, then the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas would have already done it because they have infinite compassion for us. Report an error in the passage at 47:20 Highlight the passage at 47:20

47:35 But if anybody in here has ever experienced really wanting to deeply for just one other person, which I know I have experienced before with my mom when my mom was dying. Report an error in the passage at 47:35 Highlight the passage at 47:35

47:49 Or some of us maybe with kids, you know, our partner or something when they're really, really sick or a pet. And you really, really would take away that suffering if you could somehow just. Report an error in the passage at 47:49 Highlight the passage at 47:49

48:02 Suck it out of that person and take it on yourself. You would. And that's this huge kind of brave mind. And we ourselves can actually have that for one other person. And Lama Yeshe would say, then that's proof that we can actually have it for all other beings. It just takes training. But it begins to, it's almost like when a child is really sick and a parent would do anything to take away that baby's. Report an error in the passage at 48:02 Highlight the passage at 48:02

48:31 Suffering or that, you know, child suffering with fever or something or a broken limb or something like that. This is asking us to take on that sort of more parental mind, you know, for all living beings to be willing to just want to take it on. Whether we really can or not won't happen right away, you know. And ultimately we'll have to teach them how to remove their own suffering. Report an error in the passage at 48:31 Highlight the passage at 48:31

48:55 But wanting to. It's huge because wanting to is when we get into that parental mind of having a responsibility for all beings and wanting to personally to take that away. And so that's this huge sort of step towards becoming a bodhisattva, you know. Report an error in the passage at 48:55 Highlight the passage at 48:55

49:17 So, and once we develop bodhicitta, then this mind of wanting to work for all living beings and wanting to take on their suffering, It actually brings us bliss. So it actually becomes more enjoyable than the movie with the popcorn and the ice cream. Report an error in the passage at 49:17 Highlight the passage at 49:17

49:38 We get off on that virtue. It's so exciting to us to just give our time, much less even eventually, they say, our body parts, if necessary, if there's benefit. Do we start there? No. Don't anybody go out tonight and chop off a body part and give it to somebody else. We have to build up to that too. But it's this sort of brave, selfless, compassionate mind that we are sort of moving towards. Report an error in the passage at 49:38 Highlight the passage at 49:38

50:14 That is basically sort of becoming like a big mom to all sentient beings. You know, you sort of think of it that way. It's like we're growing up, we're moving away. You know, a lot of times they talk about, they'll refer to bodhisattvas and buddhas, they'll compare regular ordinary sentient beings as like the childish ones. Report an error in the passage at 50:14 Highlight the passage at 50:14

50:33 They'll call us the childish ones because we are rather childish. And this is one of those examples where... We're developing big mind, like Lama Yeshe calls it, big mind versus little mind. We've been living in little mind for lifetimes and now we're blooming this big mind. And it's very different from the mind that we've been dwelling in. So I wanted to just touch on that because I thought it was really appropriate. Report an error in the passage at 50:33 Highlight the passage at 50:33

51:02 So a little bit about karma and emptiness and then we're going to take a break. For those of you who have heard... my spiel on karma this will be review but i think it's useful to talk about karma is really really really important emptiness is too we'll spend more time on emptiness for the final verse but karma karma comes in sometimes when we talk about wisdom teachings mostly So, the law of cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 51:02 Highlight the passage at 51:02

51:34 And that's beginning to use our wisdom. From that standpoint, I have a friend who once said about karma, if you want something, make sure that others get it first. If you don't want something to happen to you, don't do it to someone else. That's golden rule, right? But it works. If you have something in your life you want to keep, then give it away. Report an error in the passage at 51:34 Highlight the passage at 51:34

52:01 So I'll read that again. If you want something, make sure that others get it first. If you don't want something to happen to you, Don't do it to someone else. And if you have something in your life you want to keep, then give it away. Or at least share it, he said. Report an error in the passage at 52:01 Highlight the passage at 52:01

52:20 In other words, the way that we view reality is completely 180 to how it actually exists, according to the teachings on karma. So I'm going to give you the four principles of karma. Again, this is a review for some of you, but it always bears repeating. Karma is definite in that. If you do something positive, you'll experience a positive result. If you do something negative, you'll experience a negative result. Report an error in the passage at 52:20 Highlight the passage at 52:20

52:49 There is no positive action that will net you a negative experience. There is no negative action that will net you a positive experience, despite how it might feel. So the problem is, of course, There's that lag time. This is one of the problems with karma. There's lag time, sometimes lifetimes, between the action and the experience of the action. Report an error in the passage at 52:49 Highlight the passage at 52:49

53:15 So we might think, great, I broke the window of the store and I stole the Slurpee. Do people still drink Slurpees? Who knows where the Slurpee came from? And I'm enjoying the Slurpee. My action netted me this really great experience of the cherry Slurpee. Report an error in the passage at 53:15 Highlight the passage at 53:15

53:37 But what the Buddha would say is, no, you're slamming your hand through the glass and stealing the Slurpee will yield you a result at some later time. Your enjoyment of the Slurpee right now is coming from a past cause. Yes, it's true that every cause has a result. Every result has a cause, both of them. But it may not always be what you're thinking. Report an error in the passage at 53:37 Highlight the passage at 53:37

54:05 It may not always be the action that you just did. The one I always like to use, too, is lying on your income taxes, which is especially apropos. Right now, it's tax season, and people are often... Report an error in the passage at 54:05 Highlight the passage at 54:05

54:22 They often consider lying on their taxes, thinking if I lie on my taxes, I'll get an extra $500, right? And I could use that extra $500 and then I get the extra $500 and I'm really happy. Yay, yay, yay. The lying on my taxes didn't net me that. My action or my doing generous, you know, giving away things actually netted me a result of, according to the Buddha, netted me the result of getting all that money. Report an error in the passage at 54:22 Highlight the passage at 54:22

54:49 But my lying is going to net a different result at a future time. And that hasn't come yet. And so that's what the Buddha would say. So the two, there's proximity, as Tenzin Chokyi always says, we get fooled by proximity. The two things are happening close together, so we assume that there's a cause and effect relationship between them. But actually, one cause we didn't see was in a prior life that gave us the money. Report an error in the passage at 54:49 Highlight the passage at 54:49

55:12 The future result we haven't seen yet. But we know it's coming because karma is definite. Yeah, karma is definite. The same thing is true for physical things. If we want a lemon seed, I mean a lemon tree, we have to plant. We can't plant apple seeds. So it's like that. It's very much like that. The second of the four principles is that karma increases. Report an error in the passage at 55:12 Highlight the passage at 55:12

55:42 The results are always bigger than the cause. So they're always bigger than the cause. Negative as well as positive. And it's always good to remember this in terms of positive because we focus a lot on negative. And I've had people, and I'm not even kidding, but I've had people as soon as I teach anything on karma, they come to my room and get down on their knees and ask for forgiveness. Report an error in the passage at 55:42 Highlight the passage at 55:42

56:02 And it's like, no, it's not about that. The cool thing about understanding how karma works is that we can work with it. It's infinitely mutable. That's the cool thing about karma. Karma is not fate. It's not definite in that sense. Karma can change. It can be changed. But karma increases. So there are ways to increase it if it's positive, and there are ways that we can eliminate it, which we'll talk about later, or rather diffuse it if it's negative. Report an error in the passage at 56:02 Highlight the passage at 56:02

56:31 But this is talking about just in general if we don't do anything. If we plant a seed and we leave it for lifetime after lifetime, by the time it ripens, it will be bigger than it was when it was created. So if I yell at Jessica and I don't do anything about that and it just sits in my mind stream for a couple of lifetimes, it may come back out as somebody who yells at me every day, like maybe a partner who yells at me every day. Report an error in the passage at 56:31 Highlight the passage at 56:31

56:59 So it's much bigger than just one little flare-up, but that happens with everything. I remember I was talking once about my migraines because I've had migraines for almost 30 years, although they're getting bitter. And I was talking about it with somebody and I said, wow, I must have just been like so horrible to people. Report an error in the passage at 56:59 Highlight the passage at 56:59

57:20 I must have been like an SS guy or something. And the person said, no, you could have just kicked the dog once. And that really stuck with me. I was like, wow, it's true. It could have just been one little act of violence that then just... Permeated after many lifetimes just sitting there, which I didn't try to purify it or anything. And it came up as something much bigger. Report an error in the passage at 57:20 Highlight the passage at 57:20

57:47 If you didn't create the karma, this is the third one, you won't experience the result. This is a funny double negative, so think about it. Report an error in the passage at 57:47 Highlight the passage at 57:47

57:56 Nobody else can cause your suffering for you. You can't cause somebody else's suffering or happiness for that matter. Which anybody who's ever been in a relationship has figured that one out, right? If you're suffering, then you created the cause somewhere in some lifetime. Probably not this one. You could think about it in a different way. Don't expect enlightenment unless you've created the causes. Report an error in the passage at 57:56 Highlight the passage at 57:56

58:26 So if I want a result, if I want a certain result, then I have to create the karma. There's that way of putting it back into a double positive. Report an error in the passage at 58:26 Highlight the passage at 58:26

58:39 We can't even expect another precious human rebirth unless we create the causes. Report an error in the passage at 58:39 Highlight the passage at 58:39

58:47 And the final one is karma is never lost. And it can't just disappear even if nobody saw you cheating on your income taxes. Every tiny act even done in the privacy of your own room and nobody else saw you. Because how is karma? So, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 58:47 Highlight the passage at 58:47

59:04 Our mind is collected. It's not like some big guy with a beard is writing it down, you know, and it's going to come back to haunt you that way. Our mind records it. So as long as our mind is present, then that's how the karma is collected. Yeah, really. No, it's true. If our mind is diluted or obstructed by substances, then it's still present. Report an error in the passage at 59:04 Highlight the passage at 59:04

59:28 And ignorance doesn't count for much. It's not like the law in that sense. Ignorance is how all of us have been. We've been bathed in ignorance for generations and generations and generations. So we don't get out of it that easily. So anybody want me to read those four again? Karma is definite. Karma increases. Report an error in the passage at 59:28 Highlight the passage at 59:28

59:49 If you didn't create the karma, you won't experience the result. And karma is never lost. We can diffuse it or diminish it. With purification practices, which is what we try to do when we do Vajrasattva. We moved it once like years ago. It used to be there and my eyes always go there. That's actually forearm chanrasic. There's Vajrasattva on the back wall. There are practices like the Vajrasattva practice, like the Dorji Kadro Fire Puja practice. Report an error in the passage at 59:49 Highlight the passage at 59:49

1:00:23 Prostrations are also hugely purifying. But it doesn't go away. We just have it in some more manageable form, like a hurt ankle or something like that. Something we can manage more in this life rather than eons in hell or something like that. And just like everybody else is talking about at first, First, you know, when... Report an error in the passage at 1:00:23 Highlight the passage at 1:00:23

1:00:47 You know when you first start meditating and you realize how bad your mind is? One of the things that does happen when you are first beginning to use these practices is that you do see some purification happening. So things do happen. Things get a little worse before they get a little better. I always kind of like, I don't want to scare you off, but it does happen that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:47 Highlight the passage at 1:00:47

1:01:11 And so we just try to really rejoice when those things happen. Karma is the creator of our entire experience of every life, this life and every life. So it's not just the big stuff. It's not just when we win the lottery. That's not just, you know, it's not just, that's not karma. That is karma, but it's not only karma. Lama Yeshe says, you are karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:11 Highlight the passage at 1:01:11

1:01:37 You cannot separate yourself from karma. Your body, speech and mind are karma. You are karma. You cannot separate yourself from karma. Your body, speech and mind are karma. Every single thing about our existence is created by karma. And then we create the karma. So if we like it, if we're happy with how things are going, then we want to keep it up. We were talking about that last night too. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:37 Highlight the passage at 1:01:37

1:02:03 Actually, one of the members of the group was saying, Everything is really, really good in my life. I'm kind of nervous. I was like, no, that's great. That's fine. But you have to keep dedicating. You have to keep, you know, creating more merit. You know, don't take it. All you're doing is burning off Joe's, you know, your past life. He must have been a great person, but that's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:03 Highlight the passage at 1:02:03

1:02:25 You can thank Joe and now it's up to you. You've got to start creating your own positive karma so that you can keep it up, so you keep having a good life, you know. Many of us aren't quite blessed in this life. And that's great, but it could wear off at any time. Karma can shift at any time, unless we create the seats for the karma that we want. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:25 Highlight the passage at 1:02:25

1:02:45 And this gets a little bit into emptiness, and we don't have time to get into it much, and we will spend more time, like I said, in the final class on emptiness. But I just want to say a couple of things about emptiness. When I say the words emptiness, I'm talking about that things are empty of existing in the... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:45 Highlight the passage at 1:02:45

1:03:03 That sort of solid, absolute, unchangeable way that they seem to exist. So I'm not saying that you exist as a figment of my imagination. I'm saying that my karma forces me to perceive you in a certain way. The data and all that is there, and my mind assembles it in a certain way, and I perceive you in a certain way. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:03 Highlight the passage at 1:03:03

1:03:25 And that can change, because karma is infinitely changeable, just like our minds are infinitely changeable. But we forget that. Right. So if you scream back, you scream at me, then no matter how kind you are, it takes me a really long time to get over it because my mind is solidly fixed on this guy's annoying and he's always yelling and everybody else is like, no, he's not. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:25 Highlight the passage at 1:03:25

1:03:48 He's really nice. And I can't see that because I've solidified you. And I do that, of course, with myself. Right. That's a whole other story, but that's a lot of what our difficulties in practice are about, is that we solidify and concretize ourselves, and we think that we can't change. We can't become that because I am what I am, right? That's just wrong view. The Buddha said, totally we can become this. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:48 Highlight the passage at 1:03:48

1:04:17 I became this. I was just like you. you know, um, so. Emptiness is what makes everything possible. And karma is what helps karma and emptiness work together. They are married in a sense, you know. They are completely joined. Because things are empty, our karma allows us to perceive them in various ways. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:17 Highlight the passage at 1:04:17

1:04:42 Negative, if our karma is negative, and positive, if our karma is positive. So if, for example, I have a problem with somebody and that... That person is screaming at me. He's not inherently a monster. So these teachings show that this person is a myriad of things, and my karma is forcing me to see him as a monster, but his wife's karma is to see him as a really nice guy, and his neighbor maybe is completely neutral, doesn't have any opinion about him one way or another. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:42 Highlight the passage at 1:04:42

1:05:18 For me, he is the creation of my negative karma ripening. He's like a karmic agent, basically, that my mind is forcing me to see in a certain way. Can we stop ourselves by will from experiencing what our karma is throwing at us? No, at that moment it's too late. We can purify, but we can stop ourselves from that age-old habit of how we react to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:18 Highlight the passage at 1:05:18

1:05:48 That's what the practice allows us to do differently. And that's what this fine little chart is going to help us do if we really use it. So it's not that we can, because at that moment, I mean, one of my teachers used to always use the example of the dentist drilling your teeth. Could you, at the moment the drill is going into the tooth, go, this is a really blissful experience and I'm going to only say it as a really blissful. No, you can't at that point. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:48 Highlight the passage at 1:05:48

1:06:16 If your karma is really good, you will experience it as a blissful thing without trying, you know? I mean, like, you know, the Dalai Lama may have a really blissful experience when he goes to the dentist, I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:16 Highlight the passage at 1:06:16

1:06:28 But we can keep ourselves from perpetuating the negative cycle of the karma. So if we go into work and the boss screams... We want to get to the point where we remember karma and emptiness, we remember whatever tools are going to help us from perpetuating it. And just like we were talking about in the group last night, it stops with me. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:28 Highlight the passage at 1:06:28

1:06:48 I'm not going to perpetuate this into another generation and, you know, cause havoc with my anger. So we stop it as much as we can, or at least we analyze after the fact until we get to the point where we can stop it the moment the mouth opens. You know, and you see this a lot with Buddhists as we're trying, and there's kind of this weird thing where we're trying to stop ourselves, you know, and the people around you at work are like, you know, but that's the best we can do at first, and that's okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:48 Highlight the passage at 1:06:48

1:07:22 That's really okay because we're still stopping ourselves, you know, and the same happens when you're in the group, right, and somebody's like, yeah, God, look at her. She always is dressed like that, and you're like, yeah, God. And you're like, you started to say it, but you didn't quite, and you're just, then you just cough, you know, you get, you know, and just stop yourself. And then go to the bathroom. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:22 Highlight the passage at 1:07:22

1:07:42 Then go to the bathroom, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:42 Highlight the passage at 1:07:42

1:07:47 And they say, karmically speaking, the best way to get rid of those people that are difficult. right. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:47 Highlight the passage at 1:07:47

1:07:52 Like the ones in this verse is to clean up our karma. And when our karma is cleaned up, we have less and less really, really difficult people in our lives. And it's interesting to see when that starts happening. And that's when you're doing the friend, enemy, stranger meditation and there's nobody really to put in and me anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:52 Highlight the passage at 1:07:52

1:08:12 Then you just pick out one person whose shirt kind of bugged you because you just can't think of anyone else. know or Yeah, well, yeah, that's when you start picking it. She said Mal, by the way. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:12 Highlight the passage at 1:08:12

1:08:30 Why don't we take a break, actually, and then come back with your questions if you have any questions, and then we'll do the fifth verse, at least begin the fifth verse. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:30 Highlight the passage at 1:08:30

1:08:42 How about an eight-minute break? And David, I'm going to give this to you, and you're going to watch the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:42 Highlight the passage at 1:08:42

1:08:51 Synchronize your watches. He's taking it seriously. I'm glad you're doing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:51 Highlight the passage at 1:08:51

1:08:59 What happens with me is people come up and start talking and I'm just like, ah, and then like 15 minutes later it's like, dun, da-da-da. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:59 Highlight the passage at 1:08:59

1:09:10 Wait, that's not right. I have this. What's that? No, no, I put it on eight minutes and that was the countdown. It wasn't the time. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right. I was like, wait, 8.58? That's not right. 7.30. We should have done something karmically. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:10 Highlight the passage at 1:09:10

1:09:40 Yeah, we're going to at least do it this next week. Oh, we're doing Shantideva's, we're just discussing Shantideva's guide, but really... Me too. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:40 Highlight the passage at 1:09:40

1:09:54 Loosely because Geshe-la spent all year teaching it last year. And so now we're just kind of bringing up the main subjects that were in those chapters. And so the main subject of Chapter 6 is patience and the importance of developing patience. And the main subject of Chapter 7 is joyful effort. Overcoming laziness. No, we're going to do, I think we're going to do patience again next week. We'll do a couple of weeks on patience and then we're taking a break the week of the teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:54 Highlight the passage at 1:09:54

1:10:24 And then we'll do a couple of weeks on joyful effort and laziness. And then we'll do a couple of weeks on concentration. And that's probably all we have time before. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:24 Highlight the passage at 1:10:24

1:10:40 You can't do three nights a week. I know, I know. It was really good. It was actually really, it's so useful. Yeah. I know, really. It's a problem that we'd all like to have. I mean, you know, I kind of feel like whenever it's like three different Dharma activities at the same time, I'm like, well, this could be a much worse problem. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:40 Highlight the passage at 1:10:40

1:11:08 yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:08 Highlight the passage at 1:11:08

1:11:16 I can give you these at the end of every class if you want. Really? Yeah, yeah, because I just print them out and I kind of underline things and I write things in and then but I have it on my computer so I don't really need it so I'm totally happy to. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:16 Highlight the passage at 1:11:16

1:11:31 there's some things that Report an error in the passage at 1:11:31 Highlight the passage at 1:11:31

1:11:35 concept of emptiness, I guess because I've not had any former, I don't know what you Yeah. Yeah. So it's basically saying that the person or place or thing is empty of existing in that way that we think of them as existing. Yeah. So it doesn't mean they don't exist. It means they don't exist in the way I think they do. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:35 Highlight the passage at 1:11:35

1:11:55 So, and really that's taking away all judgment and all to just, more than taking away all judgment. I mean, just not Oh, it's even bigger. It's even bigger. But at first it's taking away judgment. At first it's like, at first just think of it in terms of how my mind is making the situation much worse and that person exists. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:55 Highlight the passage at 1:11:55

1:12:20 Completely free of all that. So first try that. But it really does get down to the level of physics, you know, it really does get down to the level that nothing exists in this. I mean, think about it even in terms of impermanence. This thing is made up of a ton of moving and, you know, particles and it seems really solid. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:20 Highlight the passage at 1:12:20

1:12:40 And then I'm shocked when it breaks, you know, I'm like, you know, and we do that kind of thing all the time and that's beginning to get at emptiness that things don't exist. But I like to think of it first in terms of human relationships because that's where we have the most trouble. I might get upset when the little table breaks, but I just get a new one or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:40 Highlight the passage at 1:12:40

1:12:59 But if I concretize you and I keep you from being who you are because I've made you bad or good or whatever, then it totally is going to affect our relationship. And when I do it with myself, I think that's how we really cause the most damage. damage. I think I'm... You know, really, really good or really, really bad or, you know, we identify really strongly with a certain delusion and, you know, then we just go crazy with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:59 Highlight the passage at 1:12:59

1:13:28 I am an angry person. I am a jealous person or whatever. No, jealousy arises in my mind. And that's why I try to say... I can rejoice. Rejoice. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:28 Highlight the passage at 1:13:28

1:13:50 What does that mean when you're dedicating something? Dedicating is like at the end of class when we take all the merit that we just created, all the positive energy or the positive karma that we've just created in a session, and then we are dedicating it for something. So it's sort of like they say it's different, like a prayer is almost like an aspiration, but dedication is taking something that we've already done. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:50 Highlight the passage at 1:13:50

1:14:14 So it's actually a little stronger and it's applying it towards something. So usually we're trying to apply it towards our own enlightenment, but you could also just apply it for the happiness of all beings. You could apply it for, you know, it can be something like that. So it's like you're taking that positive karma and you're putting it in the bank. It's kind of like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14:14

1:14:36 So it doesn't just become the cause of, you know, a Slurpee. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:36 Highlight the passage at 1:14:36

1:14:43 So, as an example, at the end of the year, you were dedicated, you decided to dedicate Yeah. All dedicated to all of us being able to realize these verses and generate bodhicitta and becoming buddhas. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:43 Highlight the passage at 1:14:43

1:15:01 Yeah, it kind of takes even ordinary acts. You know, at the end of the day, I'll dedicate my day. At the end of a session, if I'm doing like prayers or anything, I'll dedicate. So I just try to always dedicate. And that's a habit too. Just like I always try to motivate. So I actually try to take one moment to remember that I'm doing this so that it can transform my mind so that I can become enlightened to help others or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:01 Highlight the passage at 1:15:01

1:15:27 It sort of is... Keeping those goals and aspirations alive in the mind, you know, so it doesn't just become rote or, you know, like that. Yeah. Yeah. I know. This is a lot. It's a lot. Not at all. No, no, no. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:27 Highlight the passage at 1:15:27

1:15:48 No. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. There's a lot. There's a lot of terms, but don't worry about it at all. Yeah. Yeah. It's like trying to learn all of Christianity in a single night. It's 2,500 years old. It's been around a long time. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:48 Highlight the passage at 1:15:48

1:16:06 Sure. How are you? You look a little tired, although you look a little better right now than you did when you first came in. It's always that kind of adjustment, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:06 Highlight the passage at 1:16:06

1:16:29 Oh, that would be great. Yeah. you know, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:29 Highlight the passage at 1:16:29

1:16:32 There was some back right by the couch near that, you know, in that tea area. If not, we can just, yeah, I don't know if we can get them that fast. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:32 Highlight the passage at 1:16:32

1:16:46 Or I could just send you the PDF, and if there's a copy place, then you could just have some color copies made. Yeah, see if there's any left. Yeah, I handed one out. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:46 Highlight the passage at 1:16:46

1:17:09 Transforming problems? That's a good question. I'm sorry. I should know the answer to that. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:09 Highlight the passage at 1:17:09

1:17:19 Well, I know His Holiness one is out of print. Yeah. Yeah. So I think it's just transforming problems. If you look, I don't know. It's a good question, and I haven't heard. Usually she lets me know, but it's possible she's just distracted by the events. Lovely Belle. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:19 Highlight the passage at 1:17:19

1:17:40 Could you hand me her pen? I promise I'll give it back. I just need to write check on books. Check on books for this class. Yeah, because it's even mentioned in the homework. It's like start reading Lama Zopa's book. Oh, they're out there. They are? Yeah. Oh, good. They're out there. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:40 Highlight the passage at 1:17:40

1:18:07 Thank you, David. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:07 Highlight the passage at 1:18:07

1:18:26 And the third one? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:26 Highlight the passage at 1:18:26

1:18:30 If you have something in your life you want to keep, give it away. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:30 Highlight the passage at 1:18:30

1:18:36 If you want something, make sure that others get it first. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:36 Highlight the passage at 1:18:36

1:18:47 If you don't want something to happen to you, don't do it to someone else. If you have something in your life you want to keep, then give it away. Yeah, it's great, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:47 Highlight the passage at 1:18:47

1:19:01 Oh, did I not send it to you? I'm sorry. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:01 Highlight the passage at 1:19:01

1:19:08 Oh, I do. I probably still do from last week, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:08 Highlight the passage at 1:19:08

1:19:15 Okay, because I might actually even have an extra one upstairs. I just didn't bring it down. So if you don't mind waiting right after class, I'll just run up and get it. I don't mind waiting so bad. Bodhi would be thrilled if I weren't running up the stairs. I want to see what it looks like when you run it. Yeah, well, actually if you saw Vena, she was running all the time. It's funnier when I run maybe than her. What's that? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:15 Highlight the passage at 1:19:15

1:19:39 Oh, well done. Yeah, like she like ages ago, like six months ago, it's like she came, found a computer. Well, she's been in India. She probably just found a computer. It was like 400 people all at once. Wow. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:39 Highlight the passage at 1:19:39

1:20:06 Maybe it's because Mary just got there or something. Mary's there all night, you know, adding everything. Yeah, I think she and Sue Ann are actually at Tushida like this week. I don't know, I don't Report an error in the passage at 1:20:06 Highlight the passage at 1:20:06

1:20:21 Yeah, but I mean they haven't, they've been up in Dharamsala and they, but they I think I just literally arrived at Tushita like just now. So it's probably what happened. Because Mary was working on IMI stuff too, I was getting all these emails, shooting all these emails. I'm like, oh, I could just imagine her sitting in some little wireless cafe in Dharamsala. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:21 Highlight the passage at 1:20:21

1:20:46 Okay, so the fifth verse. Yeah. Um... Report an error in the passage at 1:20:46 Highlight the passage at 1:20:46

1:20:48 Oh, we should talk. Sorry. Questions. Katya has one. She was looking at me pointedly when I opened my eyes. I have a question about two of the things that you said about karma and purification. And one, as you mentioned, if you see someone when you're driving by on a bus and you can't actually do anything, then you purify. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:48 Highlight the passage at 1:20:48

1:21:11 And I remember doing Vajrasattva practice for her. And yeah, is there any benefit to that? There is in my mind for sure, because it makes my mind bigger and I'm thinking about her for 49 days and this really loving and wanting to remove that, whatever that negative karma caused, you know, this to happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:11 Highlight the passage at 1:21:11

1:21:53 They say if you have really strong karma with somebody that it actually can help. But whether it helped or not in that way, I think it helped. me become a bigger person because I wasn't so much like oh I want to keep her with me all the time it It's kind of like doing Tonglen in a way, I think. Which we'll talk about in the seventh verse. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:53 Highlight the passage at 1:21:53

1:22:32 And also if, I guess has to do with karma and emptiness. So if, you know, for example, like the chocolate cake example that always comes up, you know, it's not inherently delicious and delightful. But why, you know, there are some things that like, you know, 98 % of people would say are awesome, you know, really, you know, so it makes it seem like there is something. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:32 Highlight the passage at 1:22:32

1:22:56 Shared karma. No, they have shared karma. Yeah, give an example because actually I would think that it might be, well, and that might just be true for our culture. You know, it wouldn't necessarily be true in another. Okay, like isn't it true that we haven't even had cocoa before? That anger is bad, you know, like it is from its own side bad. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:56 Highlight the passage at 1:22:56

1:23:19 Oh, well, I think that there are shared virtues for sure. Yeah, that is one. But I do think, I think there are a lot of people even in the West that would say that anger isn't bad necessarily and that we should just, you know, scream and, you know, let it out. If it's there, just let it out, you know. So actually there would be some disagreement on that. But yeah, I would think that probably most people would say killing is wrong, whether that killing would extend to a flea. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:19 Highlight the passage at 1:23:19

1:23:46 It's probably more extreme in Buddhism, but I think that there are shared values like that in terms of the whole world. But then there's all these exceptions, right? You know, killing is bad, but I will kill all of you because you disagree with my religion, you know, so there are all these exceptions with killing even so. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:46 Highlight the passage at 1:23:46

1:24:09 But I think we can have shared... Karmic perception of things to a degree and that just comes from doing things in groups and in larger groups. So for example, if there's a war effort or a war happening and we all join the war effort, then we all collect a certain karma for being a part of that war. So it doesn't necessarily mean I've gone out and shot anyone on the battlefront. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:09 Highlight the passage at 1:24:09

1:24:29 But maybe I've just run the USO club or whatever, if they still exist. I think you're with those old movies from World War II. And yes, you still collect negative karma because you're still thinking of the war as a really good thing and I'm supporting it with my mind and with my money possibly and definitely with my time. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:29 Highlight the passage at 1:24:29

1:24:47 And I'm collecting negative karma in that case. Not as much as the guy in the front line or even worse, the guy, the president or whoever who started the war, he gets the worst. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:47 Highlight the passage at 1:24:47

1:24:59 But we all are creating this karma. And when things happen like plane crashes, that's what's happening. There's a certain shared karma to be on this plane that's going down, but maybe one baby survives who didn't have the karma to actually die, but he had this karma to be in this crash and to lose his parents or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:59 Highlight the passage at 1:24:59

1:25:18 Yeah. Yeah. So it's very... Karma is so complex, you know, it's so complex and they consider it one of the hidden phenomena and it's really difficult for us to get our minds around completely. But the more we study it, I think the more exciting it is because you just have to plunge into it and just keep studying it and keep sort of testing it out and talking about it like you're doing and asking questions and thinking about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:18 Highlight the passage at 1:25:18

1:25:43 And then it becomes something that we can work with rather than just something that... Sits in a book on a shelf or something like that. Because it's really juicy and alive and constantly changing and that's what creates everything, you know. But yeah, you have to just keep asking these kind of questions. So you're on the right track. Anything else? This is a lot, I know, and especially for the newer students. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:43 Highlight the passage at 1:25:43

1:26:08 So don't feel, you know, like, oh my God, I didn't get it all. She's never going to talk about karma again. That won't happen. I'll definitely keep bringing up all this stuff. Karma and emptiness come up all the time. And in fact, I want to create like just a little module that we just, you know, once a month or once every couple of months or something, we just have a little karma and emptiness class so that newer students can get a little hit of karma and emptiness before they do any class or if they're doing a class or whatever like that, just because it's so vital to understand it. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:08 Highlight the passage at 1:26:08

1:26:40 I mean, you can have some little working tools in an hour and a half class, and that would be a way that people can kind of catch up and get on the same page. Did you have a question? Or you just have a puzzled look? Oh, okay, there you go. You were logistics. So when you were talking about cheating on taxes, that really resonated with me. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:40 Highlight the passage at 1:26:40

1:27:03 So I told you the confessions were coming, right? Oh, it resonated. To me, a friend I know. Right, Gladys, and so tell us more. Yes, my friend Claire. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:03 Highlight the passage at 1:27:03

1:27:19 You're saying, well, don't break these rules, but then what if it's based on an institution or a structure that you don't agree on or support? And, um, Report an error in the passage at 1:27:19 Highlight the passage at 1:27:19

1:27:15 and um but Report an error in the passage at 1:27:15 Highlight the passage at 1:27:15

1:27:27 I think there are ways, well then you're getting into my own personal opinions, but I think there are ways to make a statement that are not necessarily doing something unethical. That's kind of what I would say, and I've definitely known people that have protested against paying taxes and they've written a letter saying I'm not going to send, or even with their taxes, I'm deliberately I owe. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:27 Highlight the passage at 1:27:27

1:27:48 this much and I'm deliberately not paying it because I disagree with all that then you have to be of course willing to go to jail for it but if you really do feel strongly then I feel like there are ways to kind of make a statement that aren't just kind of like well I don't want Pam because you know it didn't just kind of become the little curmudgeon But that's my opinion and I feel like there are ways to make a statement without relying on unethical practices and I would just say that that is. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:48 Highlight the passage at 1:27:48

1:28:18 An ethical practice. Right. But like, I mean, aside from paying taxes, I mean, who is the true judge of if a system is ethical or not? You know, who's the true judge? And then when you know whatever that answer is, how do you choose to act? I think and we're all we all have to use our own wisdom. We have to develop our own wisdom. And so. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:18 Highlight the passage at 1:28:18

1:28:41 I think what I'm just saying is that there is no true judge on whether a system is unethical and whether even taxation is unethical, but I think there are ways to make a better statement so that it's not just the person who's collecting taxes and going, oh, this person forgot to put their check in, you know, because that's not necessarily making a huge statement. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:41 Highlight the passage at 1:28:41

1:29:01 It's just not paying your taxes. I feel like if you want to make a statement, then... Try to fight taxation, try to change the government, try to work over all over your whole life, trying to change the system and not in just this one little way, especially if this one little way kind of also benefits you. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:01 Highlight the passage at 1:29:01

1:29:22 I think you have to be really clear on your intentions and your motivations. And if your motivations are really good and really strong, I don't see any reason with you making this. If you sort of checked it all up and it feels like the wisest course of action, that's not a problem. But I think we often will come back and say, I wanted that extra $500 and now I'm going to pretend like it was because I don't agree with the government. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:22 Highlight the passage at 1:29:22

1:29:48 So if you really don't agree with how the government is spending, then try to fight that spending. That's just my own. Maybe I'll reform the DMV. There you go. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:48 Highlight the passage at 1:29:48

1:30:02 Anybody else? Anything else? Okay. When others out of jealousy mistreat me with abuse, slander and so on, I will practice accepting defeat and offer the victory to them. This is a really hard one. I love it too, but it's so hard. It's a really hard one. This one, you could say, Report an error in the passage at 1:30:02 Highlight the passage at 1:30:02

1:30:30 This one is a lot about letting go of the need to always be right. This one's a lot about attacking that ego of ours, that need to always be right. And it's really, really hard. And when you can actually do it once, it feels really good, but some part of your mind is like, wait a second. And there's still, because we just want to be right, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:30 Highlight the passage at 1:30:30

1:30:57 But this is basically saying, That it's better to offer the person the victory and to suffer some defeat right here because the goals are so much bigger than this one little stupid incident. You know, I mean, that's there's a short commentary on this because often they are really stupid little incidents and they are incidents that won't necessarily ever come back to us, much less on our deathbed. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:57 Highlight the passage at 1:30:57

1:31:22 You know, gosh, I should have really, you know, it probably won't be one of these life changing incidents. It's probably more likely to be a disagreement with one other person in your life and you just won't let it go until you win. And that's kind of the way our minds work. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:22 Highlight the passage at 1:31:22

1:31:43 So we're just going to take it a little bit and we can continue it next time because we're in the final 20 minutes of the class. But when others out of jealousy mistreat me with abuse, slander and so on, this includes people criticizing me. Rinpoche is always really big on this one. Blaming me, complaining about me. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:43 Highlight the passage at 1:31:43

1:32:06 So it doesn't, again, have to be this really huge thing where you have to stand up against the Chinese and you're in Tibet or something like that. It could just be people talking about you behind your back, people pointing out your faults at work, a boss who's criticizing you, a roommate who's always complaining about something that you do. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:06 Highlight the passage at 1:32:06

1:32:30 This also isn't saying that if there is some way, and this is also a bodhisattva vow, if there is some way that we can explain a situation to try to shed some light on something, that's okay to try to do. But if that doesn't change that, it's really okay sometimes to just go, oh, okay, thanks. You're right, okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:30 Highlight the passage at 1:32:30

1:32:52 Just sometimes, one time. Practice with just walking away from it, like just letting it end, you know. And it's kind of amazing when that does, when you are able to do it. And I have a hard time with this one too, so I'm not saying that I've practiced it so well. But the times that I've had success when I've allowed myself, like I've just thought, oh, this is like verse five, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:52 Highlight the passage at 1:32:52

1:33:18 Okay, I'm just going to give it up. And there's this part of me that's like, no, don't tell her this, tell her that, you know, and it's just like, no, I want to destroy my ego. My ego is actually, and again, I'm not talking about my identity. I'm talking about the self-cherishing mind. I want to destroy my delusions and my ego. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:18 Highlight the passage at 1:33:18

1:33:35 So if this is a way that I can cut that a little bit, you know, more power to it, you know. Sometimes that... It's that grasping that I is afraid when we do that. I is like, wait a second, she's going to think I, or he's going to think I, you know, and it's like, no, they already think that. That's why they're criticizing you and pointing out your faults, you know. This person standing in front of you, you could remember the karma of the situation, and we have to remember the karma of the situation. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:35 Highlight the passage at 1:33:35

1:34:10 I created the causes for this situation to be arising. This is me figuring out how reality exists. And it's hard and it takes practice. But we have to get to the point where we are thinking, there's the how and the why. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:10 Highlight the passage at 1:34:10

1:34:32 We have to get to the point where we're remembering why. If I was in a car accident, there is the... The how is that it was a dark night and wet surface of the road and the driver was tired and so forth. Those are the hows, but the why is my karma. If I didn't have the karma to be in that car, then this wouldn't have happened. I created the karma to be in that car. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:32 Highlight the passage at 1:34:32

1:35:05 Cancer is caused by cells dividing uncontrollably. The how or the why for me to get cancer is karma. Short and sweet karma. So when bad things happen to us, we have to keep coming back to karma. It doesn't mean that we have to say this is my fault. It means we have to think this was created, this is the result, and I can create other results by my actions right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:05 Highlight the passage at 1:35:05

1:35:38 How I respond to this. Is going to create different results. But we always have to come back to remembering where all the bad things come from in our lives, you know. So this person, out of jealousy, mistreating me with abuse, slander and so on, or complaints, criticism and dissing, however you want to think about it, that is a karmic agent that I have created. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:38 Highlight the passage at 1:35:38

1:36:01 And that's a really important one to cut it. You can explain all you want to that is a karmic agent. But it's not going to change that situation. What will change the situation is not reacting in that same old way of pointing out somebody else's fault, which is always a favorite. Well, I might not have cleaned that up, but somebody, I saw him leave this too. And I'm always the little sister that way. I'm like, let's try to get everybody else in trouble too. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:01 Highlight the passage at 1:36:01

1:36:30 you know? And it hasn't helped us from lifetime to lifetime. We've been trying this stuff and it hasn't helped us. And so now Langry Tamper is trying to say, look, there's a different way. You can just offer it up and just stop it right there and just offer it up. It is hard. It's not easy. But change your response. This is basically what it's saying. Change your response, you know. Oh, okay, you're right. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:30 Highlight the passage at 1:36:30

1:37:01 Great, thanks. It's totally, it's like the self-cherishing mind is caught off guard, much less the other person. Self-cherishing mind is like, whoa, wait a second, what just happened? It's almost like so fast that it doesn't have time to kind of build an argument and argue for three or four hours or hold resentment or whatever, all the things that it likes to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:01 Highlight the passage at 1:37:01

1:37:24 You've caught it off guard and you've just gone, you know, the wisdom, right? Manjushri's sword, you know, just... Cutting that thing right at its root before it ever even had a chance to grow. And we do that by remembering where things come from, remembering what our bigger goal is. Our bigger goal is not to win this puny little match at work or in the house or whatever. The bigger goal, we have to see the bigger goal all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:24 Highlight the passage at 1:37:24

1:37:57 We have to remind ourselves of the bigger goal all the time. And we don't win that bigger goal by constantly struggling with everybody around us, you know. First of all, it doesn't make any... We're trying to make all beings happy, right? This isn't making that being very happy if we're just struggling with them. We could explain. It's sometimes useful to explain and to say, oh, actually, you know, I didn't leave that there or something like that, you know, if somebody's accusing you of something that you didn't do. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:57 Highlight the passage at 1:37:57

1:38:27 But after a point, I think you just have to decide. Okay, it's just going to end. You know, that's cool. I'll take it. I'll take the bullet. You know, that's what I was talking about in that story a few classes ago when you just decide to go, great, I can take this on. This person's obviously having a cliche attack. I can just take this on and just end it here. And then it did end, you know, and that person's mind was happier, you know. And I didn't care. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:27 Highlight the passage at 1:38:27

1:38:49 That wouldn't be anything I'd remember on my deathbed, you know, that I held somebody up waiting somewhere and it upset their mind, you know. So, yeah. Just taking the loss on yourself and giving the advantage to the other. It's an interesting practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:49 Highlight the passage at 1:38:49

1:39:09 Lama Zopa Rinpoche said, if you're constantly praised and conditions are too desirable, You're in danger of losing the Dharma, which I think we were talking about a little last night too. Whereas if you're constantly criticized, you have this great opportunity to practice and deflate the self-cherishing eye so it's cause to rejoice. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:09 Highlight the passage at 1:39:09

1:39:31 And in fact, he often talks about this when people become center directors. Center directors are the focus of criticism. All the time. The whole time you're in the position. The minute you step down, it ends. And it's very interesting because I've been the center director. You are the object. And that time that you are the object, he says it's like doing three-year Vajra Safra retreat. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:31 Highlight the passage at 1:39:31

1:39:56 And I think it's probably for every year that you're the director. And it's because you're criticized so much and you just have to be able to not hold that against people. You have to be able to just hear the criticism and offer the victory. Hear the criticism, offer the victory. Because you have to do the best job you can and you have to be able to hear. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:56 Highlight the passage at 1:39:56

1:40:18 You know, people, and you have to not hide from them when they come in. But you also, I mean, why are we okay with that criticism? That criticism is chopping my ego. So, you know, Rinpoche also says things like, you know, criticism is like... Criticism complaints are like earrings for the ears, you know. So don't be averse to them, like really use them to just decorate your ears. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:18 Highlight the passage at 1:40:18

1:40:45 That's what our ears are for, he said, you know, it's okay, you know. And he also said problems are just another form of teaching. This problem is a teaching for me. It is teaching me that if I don't like this problem, I must abandon its causes, my own non-virtue, which is another way that we can look at this. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:45 Highlight the passage at 1:40:45

1:41:05 And then the first Changya Rinpoche said in his commentary on the eight verses that we have to have these two attitudes when we take the loss onto ourself. First, we have to enjoy it and have a good time and realize that this act is what's going to get me to Buddhahood. Secondly, we don't ever have any regrets for having done it because the minute we ever regret about virtue, we lose all the good karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:05 Highlight the passage at 1:41:05

1:41:33 So if you ever give your money to somebody or help somebody and then later you regret it because you lost the time or something like that, then you just lose the virtue. So enjoy it. And remember, this is how karma works. This is what's going to get me enlightened. So we enjoy that with that larger view. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:33 Highlight the passage at 1:41:33

1:41:55 And then we try not to ever have any regrets for some positive action that we've done. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:55 Highlight the passage at 1:41:55

1:42:07 So, yeah, I mean, one of the other things that you can think about is trying to keep that person in front of you who is complaining or is pointing out the faults or is bringing out something or is having a kletia attack. Again, verse 4 also is thinking about that person too. But remembering that if I'm working for all sentient beings and this person needs to be happy, I need to make this person happy right now. How can I make this person happy right now? Well, I can end this really quickly and then they don't have any fuel for their Klesha attack, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:07 Highlight the passage at 1:42:07

1:42:42 Obviously, I can't make another person not have a Klesha attack because that's coming from their mind and their karma, but I can definitely not feed it by going, wait a second, you know. Rearing up and causing, you know, bringing all this stuff into it, you know, which is sometimes our reactions to stuff. We get really defensive and then we fight and then they come up with more argument and then what started as simply, you know, you didn't do this and this and this becomes this huge thing and it goes on between you for months and you leave the job and all that stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:42 Highlight the passage at 1:42:42

1:43:18 Make that one sentient being in front of you happy in some way right now. We have this opportunity right then to just make that sentient being in front of us happy. So it's not like all sentient beings in that romantic, mystical way. It's like, Marcella's right in front of me. She's having a khaletia attack. How can I help? How can I help? That's like instant bodhisattva practice that we're being called upon here to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:18 Highlight the passage at 1:43:18

1:43:41 Questions really quick before we try to end. That's a lot, but... You've been practicing this one, though. You said you really like this one. Do you have, like, some comment about... Well, I had a direct experience of this. Good. Perfect. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:41 Highlight the passage at 1:43:41

1:43:58 So I... Yeah, and it still brings me happiness to think about actually because I feel like it's a step in the direction with my relationship with this one person, one of my best friends in the world. And she's just a very opinionated, very dominant person. And she has a very different opinion about something going on in my life right now and was like attacking me over text, you know, and I got like 10 texts in a row. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:58 Highlight the passage at 1:43:58

1:44:24 And I'm just like all of these really negative, like really, really. Really hurtful things. And I was like, my first, at first I tried to respond and sort of calmly say, I think this is, you know, this is my perspective on this. So, you know, tried to like sort of diffuse it, but she clearly kept, you know, like you said, the ammunition. There was this, it just opened this can of worms. And this is somebody that I love dearly, but we definitely get into these like. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:24 Highlight the passage at 1:44:24

1:44:55 Battles kind of, you know, because each of us has to have our perspective. And this time I just like I saw the last thing and I was so mad and I was so hurt, but I just like walked away from it. And actually what it reminds me of is like when the Dalai Lama says, be wisely selfish, because by not engaging in it, I actually was much happier myself because I like just let it go and let her. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:55 Highlight the passage at 1:44:55

1:45:22 You know, be okay. There was nothing I could say. I realized there's nothing I can say that is going to end this. It is going to keep going on for the next like 30 minutes and I'm going to be stuck on my phone. I'm going to be miserable and she's not going to be any happier. And it just was going to cause even more of a problem with our friendship. And we'll always be friends and I love her dearly, but it was just so much better for me. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:22 Highlight the passage at 1:45:22

1:45:45 To walk away. Yeah. And like, I just felt so much better and empowered by that. Yeah. Yeah. So it was a, you know, it was really so I've anyway, I just I had that experience. Yeah. It's kind of when I've been reading through the the these verses over the last couple weeks, I keep thinking about that. And it's actually empowered me to. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45:45

1:46:06 Sort of be more mindful of even other opportunities where I can do that. Yeah, yeah. And it's hard. It's sometimes hard. It's almost like you're resisting this superhuman strength in you that's just like wanting to pick up the phone and respond to that last text. Because she's one of those people that, you know, like my mom or somebody that really has that really deep trigger. So for me to be able to stop it. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:06 Highlight the passage at 1:46:06

1:46:27 I felt like I was like, yes. Later that day, I was like, that was so, I felt so good. And as a compassionate thing, it like keeps her from creating more and more because it just stops it. Right, yeah. And sometimes when it stops it, and I know in my experience when I just sort of was like, Totally. You're right. You know, and I, you know, it won't happen again. And the person was caught off guard for sure and kind of made a couple of little final comments, but it was gone. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:27 Highlight the passage at 1:46:27

1:46:55 And then her mind was happier. And, you know, so I, so from my standpoint of wanting to make all Siddhi beings happy, then she could just stop creating the negative karma of being angry and stomping around. And, you know, right. So it's, you get this added bonus. So it's, it's, it's actually. It really is cool. It really is an exciting practice. It's the opposite of what you would think. You'd think it would be annoying. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:55 Highlight the passage at 1:46:55

1:47:17 You know what I mean? You'd think it would be difficult and annoying and hard not to be the victor. But actually, it's the opposite response. And Susan finally has a question. A new person. It's always the same people. So how does that give that person the victory? Report an error in the passage at 1:47:17 Highlight the passage at 1:47:17

1:47:39 Because she didn't respond anymore, I think. You know, I'm not so sure that's always the case. Sometimes not responding anymore is actually, you know, throws, I don't know, not in your case, but throws gasoline on the fire. It could, yeah, yeah, it could be. It wasn't like I was trying to purposefully not respond. You know, like if she was going to get in touch with me, I would have picked up the phone. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:39 Highlight the passage at 1:47:39

1:48:08 Yeah, yeah. I just stopped. It ended at a certain point where I could disengage from that and just kind of be like, I'll talk to you later, you know, I love you, and I just got to run. And then, you know, so it wasn't like I was a boy, because that's also not good is to like, to not pick up the phone if someone's upset with you or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:08 Highlight the passage at 1:48:08

1:48:28 Yeah, yeah, which is also what he's talking about. So how about conflicts and relationships where that is the case? So give more information, yeah, say more. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:28 Highlight the passage at 1:48:28

1:48:41 Where it would throw fuel in the fire. So tell me more about that. It's that concept of giving the victory. And that just kind of closing down doesn't do that. So I guess it's a deep question. How is that accomplished? And I need a little bit more information. That's what I'm not understanding. So give me a little bit more. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:41 Highlight the passage at 1:48:41

1:49:07 so you're thinking of specifically a situation where if If you were to offer up the victory, then the person might... So I have a situation with a friend that is a little bit abusive. Just that's her nature. She's been a bully all her life. And so I just stopped the relationship without an explanation. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:07 Highlight the passage at 1:49:07

1:49:31 So I get cards and letters sometimes and just don't respond. And that's not... No, it's not finished. And it is, we did talk about that one too last week. Sometimes that is the best thing to do in a situation where you just need to make space from the object, you know, and that's what I think that's more. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:31 Highlight the passage at 1:49:31

1:49:49 So you have it, it's not like, yeah, yeah. And I think sometimes if it's an abusive relationship too, whatever level that abuse is, this might not be the practice for that relationship, you know. I mean, unless you're a bodhicitta already and you're just, you know, somehow, you know, using like an incredibly difficult situation to develop more love and compassion for difficult beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:49 Highlight the passage at 1:49:49

1:50:14 But for most of us, I think in that situation where if it is an abusive situation, then we need to get out for their sake as well. And in that sense, I think. It is helping that person because she's no longer creating that negative karma. Whether or not we have changed her mind permanently, no, of course not. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:14 Highlight the passage at 1:50:14

1:50:33 We haven't necessarily. But we have ended that particular relationship which is not working for either of us in that sense. So I feel like maybe in that case this particular practice doesn't work so well. But I think, and I think... Separating yourself from the object is an okay response, especially as a beginner practitioner. I think it is a response. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:33 Highlight the passage at 1:50:33

1:51:00 And I mean beginner practitioner up to 25 years. I don't mean it's necessarily one or two years. I think sometimes we have an object that we can't necessarily go any deeper in the relationship because of those kind of issues. And I think that's okay. But ultimately, we do get to the point where we can handle any. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:00 Highlight the passage at 1:51:00

1:51:20 Kind of relationship. And I think, for example, Lama Zopa and His Holiness are examples of that. And if they were in a situation where somebody was abusing them, they could love them completely. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:20 Highlight the passage at 1:51:20

1:51:37 and, you know, still sort of... Try to help them understand their minds because they'd have the wisdom, they'd have the clairvoyance to understand what was going on. We just know what's coming at us and we have our own reaction to that and that's what we're usually responding to in an argument, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:37 Highlight the passage at 1:51:37

1:51:53 We don't really know what's going on in that person's mind and we definitely don't know what kind of karma that person's come into this life with and what kind of things might work, what exactly the right words are, whereas they have that. I fully believe that they have that ability to more deeply benefit that person in a way that I can't. I just have to make sure that I don't hit back right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:53 Highlight the passage at 1:51:53

1:52:18 And then secondly, that I don't yell back. And then finally, that I don't hold on to resentment because those are like the three areas of body, speech and mind that I'm trying to work with in this life until I become a bodhisattva. Yeah, it's still in your mind. Yeah, instead of holding on to resentment, I think that's probably the piece. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:18 Highlight the passage at 1:52:18

1:52:37 Very well said. Yeah, yeah. And you can do practices about that without ever having to communicate with her. So it's not like you have to go back to her and forgive her or anything. You can just do purification to try to, you know, purification practice and analysis and so forth to help you work with that particular mental state because that's just another mental state that's causing you suffering, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:52:37 Highlight the passage at 1:52:37

1:52:59 So that makes it an affliction. So it's the same as any other. And so you can just work with that the same way in meditation. meditation. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:59 Highlight the passage at 1:52:59

1:53:11 Would you say that forgiveness is a way of accruing good karma? You know what? This comes up a number of times. Forgiveness actually isn't part of the whole purification thing. And I think it's something, it's a Western, it's more of a Western concept than a Buddhist concept. It's a Christian concept, I think, for sure. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:11 Highlight the passage at 1:53:11

1:53:33 But we don't really do forgiveness so much. What we're doing is we're realizing just from the karmic standpoint that this negative mind is poisoning my mind, you know, and their negative mind is poisoning their mind and I have compassion. That's what we're trying to get to. But really the forgiveness thing is a whole different. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:33 Highlight the passage at 1:53:33

1:53:56 That isn't really a part of these practices. If you want to ask the person's forgiveness, there's certainly no harm in that. And sometimes from our standpoint, especially from a Judeo-Christian society, it's sometimes useful. And also it may be part of owning it. Sometimes I will go and apologize to the person because I feel like it's part of me owning the negative action or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:56 Highlight the passage at 1:53:56

1:54:22 But it's not. Technically part of any of the purification practices is regret and then there's, you know, I can't remember them all. Okay, refuge or reliance actually because it's refuge in bodhicitta and regret and then remedy. So you're doing an action that is purifying and then you're setting a resolve or determination to not, you know, do the action again. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:22 Highlight the passage at 1:54:22

1:54:48 But there's nothing about forgiveness in any of that. And the regret is definitely coming from a standpoint of understanding how karma works. So me regretting screaming at David is not even to the point where I feel bad about hurting David's feelings. It's from the standpoint of me being under the control of a deluded mind that's causing my mind and this being that will be me in the future to suffer. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:48 Highlight the passage at 1:54:48

1:55:16 It's strictly from that standpoint that compassion comes when we remember bodhicitta, when we do reliance. So I'm doing this purification for him as well. But if I want to then go and apologize, that's totally fine. But that's not really technically part of it. So it's interesting. It's really a lot based on examining our own mind and understanding karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:16 Highlight the passage at 1:55:16

1:55:39 I think that was just a little bit related to what we were talking about earlier. Lost my train of thought. For forgiveness. Forgiveness related to... Sorry, I lost my train of thought. Okay. If you suddenly get it, just scream it out. But maybe not if we're dedicating. What's that? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:39 Highlight the passage at 1:55:39

1:56:00 Bullies. Bullies, yeah. No. It'll come to me, I'm sure. Okay. Wait, you have something? What if you need another person... By asking the other person's forgiveness, you know that's going to make them happy. Like, that's what they need. bullies. I said bullies. Bullies. Bullies. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:00 Highlight the passage at 1:56:00

1:56:17 Do you know what I mean? Oh, yeah. Some people really function that way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's like they're going to hold on to it until you say you're sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, so then. And it's an easy thing to do. And it's more of a. Yeah. That's more of a. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's what I mean when I said, thanks, you're right. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:17 Highlight the passage at 1:56:17

1:56:34 You know. Right. You know. Yeah, exactly like that. I remember actually one really good friend. He's still a really good friend of mine. We traveled in Nepal together. One of the things I really love watching about him is the way he just lets things. Right off his back. It just doesn't bother him. Things don't bother him. If he screws up, he's totally easy to laugh at himself. And I've never been easy to laugh at myself. If I screw up or I make a fool of myself, I just sit and kind of sulk about it or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:34 Highlight the passage at 1:56:34

1:57:00 And I just think that's what I want to be. I want to be like that. If I trip or something, he just leads the laughter. And I just think that's such a great quality to just, sure, if that person, if it makes their mind happy for you to say you're sorry, That's totally fine to just make their mind happy. It's such a little thing, unless it's not a little thing. And we have to, gradually we'll be able to tell the difference. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:00 Highlight the passage at 1:57:00

1:57:29 And I think at some level we already can tell the difference. So we're going to end, so we're going to dedicate, and then we can still discuss, but that allows everyone to leave, especially if they get up early in the morning. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:29 Highlight the passage at 1:57:29

1:57:43 So we're going to dedicate. I got the question on the break to talk a little bit about dedication. So basically we're just taking all the good karma that we just created by thinking about this, thinking about karma, thinking about these verses, thinking about our minds, thinking about how we can apply this to our lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:43 Highlight the passage at 1:57:43

1:58:01 We're taking that karma and we're applying it to this aspiration that we are starting to have that we want to become enlightened for the benefit of all living beings. So we're sort of putting it in the bank by applying it to that. But I also want to especially ask us to dedicate tonight to John, who is not here because he had to leave suddenly to go back east last night because his grandpa's dying. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:01 Highlight the passage at 1:58:01

1:58:31 And I don't know where he is in that process, but we just dedicate it to his grandpa for that transition and to John so his mind's really calm and steady while he helps him. And I also want to dedicate to my niece who's having lots of mental anguish right now. So I want to dedicate it to her too. So you can dedicate it to individuals like that or you can also dedicate it to this huge goal of ours to get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:31 Highlight the passage at 1:58:31

1:58:56 You can just dedicate it to making all beings happy everywhere. You know, it can be like that. Okay, thank you. But what we didn't do is let me hand this out. So we have got the homework. And then you guys each get this great little laminated chart. Lamination. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:56 Highlight the passage at 1:58:56

1:59:19 So everybody gets, and then just kind of play with it and bring your questions next week. There you go. And everybody gets one of these. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:19 Highlight the passage at 1:59:19

1:59:34 Yeah. Isn't that great? So now it's like all hard and you can carry it with you at all times in case of Klesha attack. And of course I found those, and I found those sleeves like as soon as I went upstairs. I almost sent you guys out an email and I was like... Report an error in the passage at 1:59:34 Highlight the passage at 1:59:34