Transforming Problems into the Path - How Problems Help (24 February 2011)

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0:34 is part of where basically of myself. just my turn. Report an error in the passage at 0:34 Highlight the passage at 0:34

0:54 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 0:54 Highlight the passage at 0:54

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1:45 you. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45

1:59 we had heard that. Report an error in the passage at 1:59 Highlight the passage at 1:59

2:04 Of course. Report an error in the passage at 2:04 Highlight the passage at 2:04

2:08 Thank you. Thank Report an error in the passage at 2:08 Highlight the passage at 2:08

2:17 you. Report an error in the passage at 2:17 Highlight the passage at 2:17

2:44 feel you actually appreciate it. Oh, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:44 Highlight the passage at 2:44

3:06 I will emanate as much as I can. Report an error in the passage at 3:06 Highlight the passage at 3:06

3:29 was doing that. No, no, she dropped this out. I don't know if you were going to do it. So, if you would get out of I would to do it. Report an error in the passage at 3:29 Highlight the passage at 3:29

3:40 It's always a new one. It's a new one. That's a new one. Report an error in the passage at 3:40 Highlight the passage at 3:40

3:48 I'm trying to pick it up and open it up and Carl Jung's psychological commentary in the first half of the book. The first time I said it was both defensively and it worked out as well. Report an error in the passage at 3:48 Highlight the passage at 3:48

4:03 never that. Report an error in the passage at 4:03 Highlight the passage at 4:03

4:08 It was a lot of ground. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 4:08 Highlight the passage at 4:08

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4:55 yeah. Report an error in the passage at 4:55 Highlight the passage at 4:55

5:16 trying to think that you guys are going to Report an error in the passage at 5:16 Highlight the passage at 5:16

5:29 Yeah, so the reason we do is to move on this stuff, how do they do it, how do they call it, it, how do they call it, how do they call it. Report an error in the passage at 5:29 Highlight the passage at 5:29

5:44 Hi, how are you? Report an error in the passage at 5:44 Highlight the passage at 5:44

5:48 I'm wonderful. I'm here. Report an error in the passage at 5:48 Highlight the passage at 5:48

5:57 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 5:57 Highlight the passage at 5:57

6:02 Just a little. Just a little. Report an error in the passage at 6:02 Highlight the passage at 6:02

6:25 I hope you get to sleep. sleep. Report an error in the passage at 6:25 Highlight the passage at 6:25

6:33 How are ya? Good. Nice to see you. I was in here last week. Just a crazy week. Layden is actually true. It's just sometimes. It's all different. It's actually wonderful. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. How It did it go? Oh, was wait. Oh, great. wait. Oh, wait. Yeah, it was funny because he ended and he's all... Report an error in the passage at 6:33 Highlight the passage at 6:33

7:03 Good luck with the rest of the interview process. I don't know what's up with that. Does that mean what? What does that mean? I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 7:03 Highlight the passage at 7:03

7:16 At this point, I'm just like, whatever. Today, I didn't even think about it. I had to do some codings to share a document. Report an error in the passage at 7:16 Highlight the passage at 7:16

7:28 It's like writing code in the Word doc. I remember 1975, but it's no... What do you mean by Report an error in the passage at 7:28 Highlight the passage at 7:28

7:30 can you play? It doesn't come out of that. You can play. There's no, you know, command space and sort of like the cable, you know, I can't remember all the MPIs in my computer. Report an error in the passage at 7:30 Highlight the passage at 7:30

7:49 I'm not working on Chrome, Chrome OS, and I guess it's all done. Yeah, because I was in the OS and then I was just doing the hash on the browser. How about yesterday? So this group, they do like anything from the client libraries, sample codes, that's kind of what you're sure. Report an error in the passage at 7:49 Highlight the passage at 7:49

8:21 We'll see how it goes. At this point, it's just like, I just want to be happy with it. It's my current job. Get another job. She's going to put it out there. There's so many opportunities. Report an error in the passage at 8:21 Highlight the passage at 8:21

8:37 It's not going to snow it. Let's just go right through it. I'm going to say it's going to make fun. Is that an extender? Yeah. That's always possible. We're not going to have so much fun. We're not going to have so much fun. Report an error in the passage at 8:37 Highlight the passage at 8:37

8:55 How about yourself? I do a lot of music. It's all I get. I'm writing a song. You're cute. Yeah, I'm writing it. Recording it. Wow, ambitious. is a little bit behind. Report an error in the passage at 8:55 Highlight the passage at 8:55

9:23 You have to have 20. Report an error in the passage at 9:23 Highlight the passage at 9:23

9:40 It's always good. Yeah, you get that creative. Report an error in the passage at 9:40 Highlight the passage at 9:40

9:58 I'm pretty happy. Are you going this week? can't make it to a Oh, yeah. Lama Zopa is going to be here on March 12th and 13th. Report an error in the passage at 9:58 Highlight the passage at 9:58

10:48 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 10:48 Highlight the passage at 10:48

11:18 I'm not sure what this is. Report an error in the passage at 11:18 Highlight the passage at 11:18

11:28 you go. that back. Report an error in the passage at 11:28 Highlight the passage at 11:28

11:37 can have it. I give it to you. Report an error in the passage at 11:37 Highlight the passage at 11:37

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12:55 Oh, you must be blocking the neighbors. Report an error in the passage at 12:55 Highlight the passage at 12:55

13:00 We don't have our own garage. We share with the neighbors. Report an error in the passage at 13:00 Highlight the passage at 13:00

13:15 This time I came prepared. I know. Actually, I left it from this morning when I meditated down here. Report an error in the passage at 13:15 Highlight the passage at 13:15

13:33 No sounds. David, could you? Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 13:33 Highlight the passage at 13:33

13:47 You have to give it just a second. It takes a second to warm up. Report an error in the passage at 13:47 Highlight the passage at 13:47

13:57 The talk, yeah, the speaker's not on. Report an error in the passage at 13:57 Highlight the passage at 13:57

14:12 It takes a second for it to go up, so if you turn it back off again, then did you just turn it on and off? at Yeah. There was crazy Report an error in the passage at 14:12 Highlight the passage at 14:12

14:23 That's right, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 14:23 Highlight the passage at 14:23

14:32 No, it was like this weird sound single came in and I heard it in my room, it was just like, and it was like so odd and I thought it was just in my room and I'm like, is it aliens landing or what's going on? I had no idea it was speaker, you know, I just, because I was just in my room, I was like, huh. Report an error in the passage at 14:32 Highlight the passage at 14:32

14:54 it definitely flipped the right that's what's in it. Is the power cable actually plugged into the amp? Is it something that calls for none? It calls for you. That's awesome. Put yourself and plug it in all the way. Sometimes it could be sticky. Oh, like you can pull it out. There it is. There it is. Nice. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 14:54 Highlight the passage at 14:54

15:32 now I can't hear anything. Report an error in the passage at 15:32 Highlight the passage at 15:32

15:44 I'm sorry. Some sorrow. Report an error in the passage at 15:44 Highlight the passage at 15:44

15:52 I know. Actually, it's kind of hard to go into a meditation after that. Report an error in the passage at 15:52 Highlight the passage at 15:52

16:02 I can't hear anything. It's so loud in my ears right now. Let's Report an error in the passage at 16:02 Highlight the passage at 16:02

16:11 start meditating on the breath. We'll try that. So we're going to start with a little meditation and then we're going to do the meditation on the sixth verse that you guys were doing this week. Report an error in the passage at 16:11 Highlight the passage at 16:11

16:27 We'll just start with a meditation on the breath. We'll just start with just taking some nice deep belly breaths and Report an error in the passage at 16:27 Highlight the passage at 16:27

16:38 washing away your day, kind of the way that rain is doing, cleaning the streets outside. Report an error in the passage at 16:38 Highlight the passage at 16:38

16:49 And washing away any tiredness or sluggishness or distractedness. Or Report an error in the passage at 16:49 Highlight the passage at 16:49

17:09 if it helps, you can imagine breathing in white light and breathing in, breathing out black smoke. As your Report an error in the passage at 17:09 Highlight the passage at 17:09

17:36 mind calms down a little bit, you can just start focusing on your breath for a few breaths. Breathing in and breathing out and noticing where it comes into contact with a little patch of skin inside the tip of your nostril. Report an error in the passage at 17:36 Highlight the passage at 17:36

18:00 Counting an in-breath and an out-breath as one. Try to count to ten without losing that object. Report an error in the passage at 18:00 Highlight the passage at 18:00

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19:11 In 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. Report an error in the passage at 19:11 Highlight the passage at 19:11

19:26 So try to remember an incident in your life, maybe recently, maybe long ago, when somebody you loved and trusted or helped in some way, repaid your kindness with ingratitude or anger. Report an error in the passage at 19:26 Highlight the passage at 19:26

20:02 How might you look at this differently? Report an error in the passage at 20:02 Highlight the passage at 20:02

20:09 What might that person have been showing you or teaching you about your own mind? Report an error in the passage at 20:09 Highlight the passage at 20:09

20:20 Even if that was never their intention. Report an error in the passage at 20:20 Highlight the passage at 20:20

20:34 What does a teacher do for us other than showing us our own mind and subduing our ego? Report an error in the passage at 20:34 Highlight the passage at 20:34

20:54 Sometimes I like to imagine that this person in front of me acting this way is my teacher, just manifesting in a different form. Report an error in the passage at 20:54 Highlight the passage at 20:54

21:14 What if those annoying people or problems that we're experiencing are actually private teachings for us to work with and get enlightened? Report an error in the passage at 21:14 Highlight the passage at 21:14

21:27 We have a choice in how we see them. Report an error in the passage at 21:27 Highlight the passage at 21:27

21:36 Someone acting in a really negative way can bring something really good to you. Report an error in the passage at 21:36 Highlight the passage at 21:36

21:44 If nothing else, we can use it to remember karma. I created the karma for this to be happening. And they don't exist in some absolute solid way, even though it seems like that to my mind. Report an error in the passage at 21:44 Highlight the passage at 21:44

22:00 Out there, separate from me. Separate from my perception. Report an error in the passage at 22:00 Highlight the passage at 22:00

22:11 And yes, we can work to change conditions, but we have to remember karma. Report an error in the passage at 22:11 Highlight the passage at 22:11

22:20 We have to figure out where all the bad things in our lives come from, including this person who might be criticizing me unjustly. Report an error in the passage at 22:20 Highlight the passage at 22:20

22:33 This is a form of wisdom, understanding how cause and effect work and applying that understanding. Report an error in the passage at 22:33 Highlight the passage at 22:33

22:48 We have to think about the difference between how someone is doing something bad to me versus where they're coming from in the first place. Report an error in the passage at 22:48 Highlight the passage at 22:48

23:00 We'll never get enlightened until we reach the point where this becomes second nature to remember this. Report an error in the passage at 23:00 Highlight the passage at 23:00

23:10 Figuring out why bad things happen to us. Report an error in the passage at 23:10 Highlight the passage at 23:10

23:17 This is the real goal of Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 23:17 Highlight the passage at 23:17

23:28 If we don't like people treating us badly and we can figure this out, then we won't have to. We don't have to see these people anymore. We won't keep creating them. We have to change the way we treat people and the way we react to people treating us. Report an error in the passage at 23:28 Highlight the passage at 23:28

23:52 This is what ultimately changes our world. Report an error in the passage at 23:52 Highlight the passage at 23:52

24:09 Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, problems are just another form of teaching. This problem is a teaching for me. It's teaching me that if I don't like this problem, I have to abandon its cause, which is my own non-virtue. Report an error in the passage at 24:09 Highlight the passage at 24:09

24:36 So in this way, anything that happens to us, any problems at all, can become a teaching about karma and how we experience what we create. If we want to experience good, we have to do good, we have to create good. Report an error in the passage at 24:36 Highlight the passage at 24:36

25:01 Also, once we find our teacher, whoever our teachers are, then we have to start looking for their teachings all around us anyway. Everything that we pick up and read, including a newspaper or see online or see on the news or that somebody says at work, can become an instruction, a personal, private instruction for us. Report an error in the passage at 25:01 Highlight the passage at 25:01

25:27 If we become alert to that. Report an error in the passage at 25:27 Highlight the passage at 25:27

25:39 So what does it mean to see somebody who's hurt us or betrayed us as our teacher? Report an error in the passage at 25:39 Highlight the passage at 25:39

25:48 If the biggest thing our Lama does is show us our mind, this person's showing us our mind and showing us where our practice is weak, where we need work. Report an error in the passage at 25:48 Highlight the passage at 25:48

26:03 And also in the same way that we serve our teacher, we can serve this suffering sentient being right now. Report an error in the passage at 26:03 Highlight the passage at 26:03

26:13 We can learn enormously from people that cause us pain. Not that we seek it out. But it does pop up and it's another way to learn. Report an error in the passage at 26:13 Highlight the passage at 26:13

26:30 It can show us where our heart constricts and where it opens. Report an error in the passage at 26:30 Highlight the passage at 26:30

26:43 So let's motivate this class and Report an error in the passage at 26:43 Highlight the passage at 26:43

26:50 anything that comes out of this class to use whatever arises, even the yucky stuff, to open our hearts, to get stronger and braver so that we can really, truly benefit all living beings without exception. And Report an error in the passage at 26:50 Highlight the passage at 26:50

27:22 then as you're ready, you can end your meditation. And we'll start with an opening prayer, which is on page 8 of the White Prayer Book. Report an error in the passage at 27:22 Highlight the passage at 27:22

27:52 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 27:52 Highlight the passage at 27:52

28:29 Okay, so any questions about what we covered in class last week or the meditation that we just did that maybe you worked on this week, hopefully, or anything that you've been reading or thinking about? It doesn't have to be a question either, it could also just be something that you want to share. Report an error in the passage at 28:29 Highlight the passage at 28:29

29:00 Yeah? Report an error in the passage at 29:00 Highlight the passage at 29:00

29:09 This week I had a couple little experiences, but very interesting, that I catch me. you know, my And two different times, different reactions with somebody else, that it wasn't the proper way, that pushed my bottom. Report an error in the passage at 29:09 Highlight the passage at 29:09

29:40 But it wasn't before, it was after that I recognized that. And it was like, oh. You know, I react that way. That's not the right way to do it. That's why I got so much mixed up, you know. But, yeah, hopefully, you know, I can next time or in a while. I don't know how long it's going to take me, but I'm ready to do it. Report an error in the passage at 29:40 Highlight the passage at 29:40

30:14 I can't react or prevent not to react in that way. Now it's like... You know what to do, what's the way to do it, but of course it doesn't come naturally yet, but I'm trying. What's interesting to see right away is, oops, no, that's not the way. No, no, that's not the way a bodhisattva has to think. Yes, that's good, that's good. I want to share that with all of us. Report an error in the passage at 30:14 Highlight the passage at 30:14

30:52 Thank you. That's great. David. Thanks, Shane. Report an error in the passage at 30:52 Highlight the passage at 30:52

31:00 Well, there are two things. One is, this verse, it seems like everything always comes back to this self-cherasing mind and sense of self. Because the idea of, like, you know, I've done all these things for you, and you've betrayed me, and so I'm so upset. And as we were sitting just now, and I was kind of remembered, I can't remember who it was, John Carroll or someone who was a, The columnist here, we had a whole thing about like around Christmas time, he would just say, take a $20 bill and just give it to a street person. If they're going to get drunk with it, who cares? You know, and it was like, you know, yes, I'll give you some money, but you have to not only get food, but you have to get vegetables. Report an error in the passage at 31:00 Highlight the passage at 31:00

31:38 You can't get a hamburger. You have to be organic, right? Yeah, yeah. That we have, you know, all these, so we really have this sense of expectation and kind of control we attach on. Every level, you know, on every level. But so it was just that was kind of flashing out. But the other thing that was very kind of this morning, there was a little break in the rain and I took my dogs down to the park to walk them. Report an error in the passage at 31:38 Highlight the passage at 31:38

32:05 And there was a guy that had about a four month old shepherd or something like that. And he's thrown sticks for his dog. And my puppy is 18 months old, you know, kind of want to jump up and play around a little bit. And we walked. And as we came back, he ran up again to play with this dog. But since he was little. Report an error in the passage at 32:05 Highlight the passage at 32:05

32:22 Jack kind of does his play bow and the dog falls over and he's like, woo, you know, like puppies will do. And then the guy, the owner, started like running at the dogs and yelling at my dog saying, you know, boy, you think you're messing with the wrong guy. And I'm like, you're running, yelling at dogs, you know. I said, wait, wait, stop, that's not appropriate. And he started screaming at me. He's like, control your dog. And it's like, they're puppies, they're playing. Report an error in the passage at 32:22 Highlight the passage at 32:22

32:42 And he was like screaming at me. And, you know, and I just kept looking at him and saying, you know, this is not appropriate, you know, it's like, don't threaten violence, you know, and he was like, just completely lost it. But then I sort of... But the idea that someone would come up and attack your dog, I remember there's an old quote, I think it was Teddy Roosevelt that said, you can insult me, you can insult my country, but you insult my dog, just watch out. Report an error in the passage at 32:42 Highlight the passage at 32:42

33:11 And I was thinking, for all the years that I worked on the streets and dealt with people, guns pulled on us, knives, assaulted, crazy stuff happening. It's like, you know, I can deal with that, but it's like someone's screaming and running at my dog. It's like, whoa, whoa. You know, what's the limit that I can to like protect my animal? It's like, you know, I can deal with it, but they're just, you know, so it really was a, you know, tripping on it all day long. Report an error in the passage at 33:11 Highlight the passage at 33:11

33:41 You know, it was really very intense because you're kind of like, well, you want to protect the animal. And prevent the person from doing something bad. Yeah, and learn to tell the difference between the two. I mean, I think you can look at a lot of things with that experience. One is how that sense of I expanded to that other being, which is not a bad thing. We actually want to do that. But you, of course, also want to include the guy who's yelling. Report an error in the passage at 33:41 Highlight the passage at 33:41

34:05 And that's going to take some training, too. But wait, wait, wait. So you want to use that experience to look at that self-cherishing mind. Because that did flare up, right? It just... The sense of I, right? And that's not appropriate out there, that happening. So you could analyze some of that and the karma of that. Report an error in the passage at 34:05 Highlight the passage at 34:05

34:23 That is your karma. You know, he's part of your karma. He's a karmic agent, you know. So you could analyze all of that, too. But obviously, if the guy was going to do anything harmful, I mean, yelling doesn't hurt the animals in any way. So if he's just having a delusion attack or a kletia attack, you could have compassion for him. But if he's doing more than that, then you can remove the animals from harm. Report an error in the passage at 34:23 Highlight the passage at 34:23

34:49 So there's a difference. I mean, if he's just going off about your dog, most likely your dog's going to be totally fine. It's just your sense of eye that's been triggered. What are your buttons? The buttons were pushed? It's very funny because you were saying, get your dog in control. I was like, well, I would if you'd stop. Report an error in the passage at 34:49 Highlight the passage at 34:49

35:07 Chasing him. Yeah, it was a great moment. You get through this whole thing of trying not to scream back and saying, well, that's not appropriate. Because in myself, I'm saying it's not appropriate for me to get angry. So kind of expressing that. Yeah, but probably he's not going to be so open at that moment to being told what's appropriate and what's not appropriate. Report an error in the passage at 35:07 Highlight the passage at 35:07

35:29 That's actually something that we've noticed. We've been sort of working with different speech. There are patterns here as we're working together on this event. Often, unless you're just one-on-one with the person and you have that kind of relationship with them, the other person doesn't want to be told what's appropriate or what they're doing. Report an error in the passage at 35:29 Highlight the passage at 35:29

35:48 Not your concern because it's their klesha. Nobody really wants to hear that. If you and I are like, we have that relationship and we're talking about a situation usually after the fact of somebody's klesha attack, either yours or mine, then we might. Like you and Susan maybe might later. But the guy in the park, probably not. So actually that could end up pushing his buttons by you saying that's not appropriate because then he thinks... Report an error in the passage at 35:48 Highlight the passage at 35:48

36:17 You're telling him where he's doing something else wrong, you know, and so he's like, he's gonna get back to your dog was in the wrong, and then it's just, you know, it's just kind of the back and forth, and it's not really gonna... Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, I mean, it definitely, any of those kind of situations, I think parents of kids in playgrounds can also have the same, can have the same, and that's when that sense of eye grows really big, too, you know. Report an error in the passage at 36:17 Highlight the passage at 36:17

36:42 But it is interesting to see that. And it almost feels, to me, it literally almost feels like an animated creature comes out of me and gets big when that sense of eye gets really, really strong, you know. When you get angry, that sense of eye gets really strong. Or when you get defensive, that sense of eye gets really strong. Almost feels like it fills the room. There's no room for any of the rest of you guys, even in the room, when that sense of eye gets really big. Report an error in the passage at 36:42 Highlight the passage at 36:42

37:04 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like a proper fish. Exactly. The visuals, I have to have the visuals. I'm a visual person. Good story. Anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 37:04 Highlight the passage at 37:04

37:19 Any little senses of eyes popping up this week? Report an error in the passage at 37:19 Highlight the passage at 37:19

37:27 Well, most of you, those of you that were at the volunteer orientation probably noticed that I had a sense of eye that arose. It's a very interesting moment. Report an error in the passage at 37:27 Highlight the passage at 37:27

37:39 When I was presenting the entire, what I thought was going to be the entire agenda, and it was changed at the last moment by someone who shall remain nameless in a certain way, and I was like, I didn't even know kind of how to go forward. I didn't know how to shift in my thinking. I'm not very good at changing directions in the moment anyway, but this was in front of a group of people. It was really awkward, many of them my students. Report an error in the passage at 37:39 Highlight the passage at 37:39

38:08 And it But it was very cool for me to look at because, of course, this is what we're teaching, this is what we're going through. And so I wasn't, you know, because we had to go into the second part where we broke into teams and all that stuff. There's my hero in the background, Charles. Charles stepped in and suggested a way to proceed. That really was quite helpful. But afterwards I sat down. Report an error in the passage at 38:08 Highlight the passage at 38:08

38:32 Actually, no, I think it was... That night, but then that next morning when I'm thinking about the day and I'm sort of setting my motivation for the day, I'm starting to use Lama Zopa Rinpoche's How to Be Happy little booklet, but I did it your way. I started doing it your way where we were talking after class one day and I was just kind of going in order because I'm kind of a linear gal and I was like, you know, just whatever, like a day book, whatever comes, whatever is on the next page would be what I get. Report an error in the passage at 38:32 Highlight the passage at 38:32

38:59 But then Jessica was like, no, I kind of just, wherever it falls open. That's what I use. So I did it a couple times like that this week and it's been kind of cool. And this time it said something like problems, what does it say? Something like, I wanted to find that quote before I came down, but something about how problems are transforming, the best way to transform a problem is to open your heart. Report an error in the passage at 38:59 Highlight the passage at 38:59

39:23 And I was just like, okay, okay. And that's why I really feel like that constricting of the heart and that opening of the heart, those are like visuals I can really relate to because when that eye comes up, the heart's way constricted. There's no place for that guy or for any of those people that push our buttons. There's no way for me to open to them and to have any concern about them and any tenderness toward them. Report an error in the passage at 39:23 Highlight the passage at 39:23

39:48 Forget it. You know, it's like, who are you? It's almost like an armor. There's like an armor that sort of just arises, you know. Talk about an animated visual for that. It's like, you know. Report an error in the passage at 39:48 Highlight the passage at 39:48

40:03 So that one, that felt like such an inappropriate lesson. That was really cool. But now, of course, that's the problem with not knowing where it is and I can't find it again. I'm like, oh, was that in the mind part? I think it might have been in the mind. But, yeah, I felt like, I thought that was really useful. Anybody else, anything else come up this week that you need to check in about? Report an error in the passage at 40:03 Highlight the passage at 40:03

40:24 Okay, you'll have time. You can always do it again. So tonight we're going to get into verse 7. We're just plodding along here. We're almost at the end of these eight verses. Next week is the last class and then next Saturday is the practice day. So we'll talk about the practice day a little bit at the end of the class and what that day is like and try to get a head count as much as we can. Report an error in the passage at 40:24 Highlight the passage at 40:24

40:48 But we're not done yet. Tonight's class is going to get into a practice that's called Tonglen. So for those of you who are familiar with this practice, this will be sort of a review. And for David, it'll be more talking about the self-cherishing mind and the mind-cherishing others. And for those of you that it's new, then you'll learn how to do it. Because I'll go through it and what it is, and then we'll do it together. Report an error in the passage at 40:48 Highlight the passage at 40:48

41:21 We'll end the class doing Tonglen. Report an error in the passage at 41:21 Highlight the passage at 41:21

41:25 So verse 7. Oh, we didn't read the whole verses. I'm sorry. I just sort of merrily went along. Nobody stop me. Stop, stop. All right, let's open up the prayer book to the numberless pages. After page 8, do two more, but don't look. And it should open up to the eight verses of thought transformation. So go back to His Holiness' picture on page 8. Did you guys, did everybody find it? Okay. Did you find it, Jane? Report an error in the passage at 41:25 Highlight the passage at 41:25

42:05 Exactly, exactly. Well done. I want to introduce Jane, by the way. Jane used to be a student and a volunteer here. When did you leave? One and a half years ago. Yeah, so 07 or 08? No, 08. Yeah. Right after happiness, wasn't it? No, before. Before happiness. Oh, okay. I was thinking that you were there for happiness. She didn't... She left right before Tonglin, apparently. Report an error in the passage at 42:05 Highlight the passage at 42:05

42:36 That was pretty interesting. Was it transforming problems at that point, too, that class? Yeah. Oh, that's so funny. So she literally left before this class. I was teaching this class. Yeah, and then so you didn't get to... Yeah, so here you go. You've come back. She's actually just come back for this weekend for Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Will happiness come back? Report an error in the passage at 42:36 Highlight the passage at 42:36

43:02 No, we've had happiness and that's it. All of you have missed happiness, actually. We had a huge conference that was called Happiness and Its Causes. Pia was there for that. That's how I actually connected with Pia. Pia's in the back there. Pia's actually going to be doing our flowers for the event this weekend, too. So this is kind of a happiness gathering. Report an error in the passage at 43:02 Highlight the passage at 43:02

43:21 Shathering here. But. But it was this enormous conference that we did at the Westin. It was one of the Westins, but I can't remember. Was it the Westin St. Francis? I think, no, it was the Westin, but it was downtown like at Third Street. Yeah, Third Street, yeah, yeah. Anyway, it was pretty enormous. We had like 500 people there or something like that. It was just kind of crazy. Report an error in the passage at 43:21 Highlight the passage at 43:21

43:52 So there was a lot of happiness and unhappiness, actually. Report an error in the passage at 43:52 Highlight the passage at 43:52

44:01 And afterwards there was even more unhappiness. No, we lost a lot of money on it. It was right, it was exactly right when the economy fell and collapsed. That was kind of our lack of happiness. But anyway, so welcome back you guys. It's nice to have you in class tonight. So let's read together and then notice especially verse 7. 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. Report an error in the passage at 44:01 Highlight the passage at 44:01

44:35 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. 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 44:35 Highlight the passage at 44:35

44:58 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. When others out of jealousy mistreat me with abuse, slander and so on, I will practice accepting defeat and offer the victory to them. Report an error in the passage at 44:58 Highlight the passage at 44:58

45:22 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. I will practice in secret taking upon myself all their harmful actions and sufferings. Report an error in the passage at 45:22 Highlight the passage at 45:22

45:49 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 45:49 Highlight the passage at 45:49

46:09 So, in short, I will offer directly and indirectly every benefit and happiness to all beings my mothers. I will practice in secret, taking upon myself all their harmful actions and sufferings. So that's the verse that we're going to talk about tonight. Report an error in the passage at 46:09 Highlight the passage at 46:09

46:32 So this practice of taking and giving, which is demonstrated or implemented by this technique called Tonglen, It's really the main bodhisattva activity in some sense, you know. And it's a way when we see others suffering, it's a way that we can practice taking on their suffering and practice giving them happiness, which is really what we want to get to the point where we can really do it. Report an error in the passage at 46:32 Highlight the passage at 46:32

47:09 And this is just like a practice to develop the mind of even wanting to do it. Even wanting to do it actually takes work. And this is one of the steps on the path to bodhicitta that we talked about in the last class. There are a couple of techniques that we use or can use to develop bodhicitta that have been passed down through the ages. Report an error in the passage at 47:09 Highlight the passage at 47:09

47:35 And this one comes from one that's called equalizing and exchanging self with others. Report an error in the passage at 47:35 Highlight the passage at 47:35

47:45 There are two main methods or techniques to develop bodhicitta. One of them is called the seven point cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 47:45 Highlight the passage at 47:45

47:57 If anybody was here on Sunday, I did a little class preparing for Rinpoche and I was showing some examples of his teaching style and one of the Discovering Buddhism videos has him talking about the seven point cause and effect. So he was talking about bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 47:57 Highlight the passage at 47:57

48:17 But it's basically seven or six causes and then the effect is bodhicitta. So that's why they call it seven point cause and effect. And this one refers to that one too because this line, my mothers, is referring to that, calling all beings my mothers. But it also, more essentially, it's referring to this stage of exchanging self with others that ends with this Tonglen. Report an error in the passage at 48:17 Highlight the passage at 48:17

48:48 This is how we develop great compassion and great love or loving kindness. So in short, the way it begins, in short actually means the conclusion of all the other verses. You know, we've gone through the first six verses and the conclusion on how to practice or the most essential practice is, you know, and then it's sort of leading into, I will offer directly and indirectly every benefit and happiness to all beings my mothers. Report an error in the passage at 48:48 Highlight the passage at 48:48

49:20 I will offer directly is talking about in this life and indirectly is talking about in future lives. So I will offer directly also sort of means the more obvious ways that I can help and indirectly is talking about sort of the less obvious ways and also the sort of secret ways, the sacred ways, you know, the practice ways that we do. Report an error in the passage at 49:20 Highlight the passage at 49:20

49:48 When you're doing Tonglen, nobody has to ever know that you're doing Tonglen. You know, you can either be doing it on your cushion at night or you can be doing it when you watch the news or you can do it on the street and you can do it on the bus, you can do it at work, you can do it in meetings. Report an error in the passage at 49:48 Highlight the passage at 49:48

50:10 So, if you can remember, that's the part that takes, that's what takes practice. just, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 50:10 Highlight the passage at 50:10

50:20 So this, when we talk about directly and indirectly, also it's a sort of secret code for Tonglin. Every benefit and happiness is referring to both temporal and immediate, as well as ultimate and long-term benefit and happiness. So, you know, and we'll do that in the Tonglin, too. We're going to focus on... Report an error in the passage at 50:20 Highlight the passage at 50:20

50:47 If somebody just needs a roof over their head or something to eat to cause them happiness, then we give them that too. But we also give them complete cessation of all of their kleshas and all of the causes for them to develop wisdom and compassion and enlightenment themselves. So we start with the little stuff and we just grow to everything. Because it's a visualization, right? So we can give them anything. Report an error in the passage at 50:47 Highlight the passage at 50:47

51:16 But we start with giving them, you know, getting them out of the rain and giving them a nice meal first, if we're doing, you know, somebody like that. We're going to start with somebody that we know very well, so you know they're suffering very well, so you know what would make them happy in the short term, and that's fine. Report an error in the passage at 51:16 Highlight the passage at 51:16

51:32 We're going to start with giving them that. So if they want, like, a really good dinner or boyfriend or whatever, then we give them that first. And then, you know, it's kind of like skillful means. It's like... You know, we make them happy in the short term just so that we can, you know, get their attention and they have some space in their heart and their mind to actually be able to receive the teachings. Report an error in the passage at 51:32 Highlight the passage at 51:32

51:56 Otherwise, you know, if somebody is like bleeding or, you know, ill or whatever, and then you start trying to teach them, they're not going to be able to receive the teachings. Report an error in the passage at 51:56 Highlight the passage at 51:56

52:09 Sorry, they're doing some serious cleaning upstairs. Report an error in the passage at 52:09 Highlight the passage at 52:09

52:18 To all beings is obviously referring to all beings, but it's the fact that they put in that word all, they're talking about without bias, without discrimination, and without attachment to the results, which is a big one that we often have. Report an error in the passage at 52:18 Highlight the passage at 52:18

52:40 And it's the same as if we do something for ourselves, right? So if we take away our own suffering by giving ourselves a nice hot bath and a dinner, we don't expect a pat on the back. Report an error in the passage at 52:40 Highlight the passage at 52:40

52:52 So it's the same. When Shantideva teaches about this practice of exchange of self and others, he says, you know, we wouldn't expect gratitude and... You know, attention and honor and a good reputation for taking the thorn out of our own foot. You know, so why should it be any different if we do it for somebody else? Report an error in the passage at 52:52 Highlight the passage at 52:52

53:14 We actually want to get to the point where we just, when we look at others, we think of them as part of ourselves. That's part of what this whole idea of exchanging self and others is all about. Report an error in the passage at 53:14 Highlight the passage at 53:14

53:26 And when we use the term my mothers at the end of that second line, Every benefit and happiness to all beings, my mothers. That's referring to the first of the two main methods to developing bodhicitta, and that's the seven-point cause and effect, because that begins with recognizing that if our mind is beginningless and endless, then we've had many, many births, and most of those births, they don't say all, because sometimes if we're born as a spirit. Report an error in the passage at 53:26 Highlight the passage at 53:26

54:00 We don't actually have a mother. And actually hell beings don't. Apparently you just pop into the hells already as an adult. But in all other births we've had some form of mother. And so it's just a term for all beings because it's possible that any being that you see has had this role for you, has been your mother or has been your... Report an error in the passage at 54:00 Highlight the passage at 54:00

54:28 Grandmother or your sister or your best friend or somebody who's cared for you very, very much. And so when you look at all living beings, it's like a method of developing that really sweet affection for them based on this understanding or logic of the mind being beginningness and endless and having had so many rebirths. Report an error in the passage at 54:28 Highlight the passage at 54:28

54:54 One of the first teachers that I had at the lamrim, He was a monk who taught the November Kopan course when I went the first time in 1996. Report an error in the passage at 54:54 Highlight the passage at 54:54

55:08 We were on this part and he was talking about all the different mothers that you could have had and all the different forms as an animal and all this stuff. And he was like, and where are all of those mothers now? They're just every being you meet. And it was kind of interesting. It was the first time I had really thought about it. And then I just kind of go out and look around, you know. And that's not just every human, you know. Report an error in the passage at 55:08 Highlight the passage at 55:08

55:32 So it's like that ant who's trying to get across the table or the, you know, the guy on the street or the, you know, the bird flying over or the plane full of people flying over. And all of them are, you know. So it really can change the way you perceive all the beings surrounding you. Report an error in the passage at 55:32 Highlight the passage at 55:32

55:55 And like the mother of this life, each of those mothers have done something to keep you alive, even if it's just carrying you in their bodies for some amount of time and laying you like an egg. Report an error in the passage at 55:55 Highlight the passage at 55:55

56:13 Sometimes in huge quantities on the beach. Report an error in the passage at 56:13 Highlight the passage at 56:13

56:19 But they've done something to keep you alive, you know. Um, um, Report an error in the passage at 56:19 Highlight the passage at 56:19

56:22 And they've done something, sometimes at the cost of their own lives, they've done something. So it develops this sort of thought, this connection with all living beings and this sense of gratitude, but also just this sort of affectionate love, what's sometimes translated as affectionate love, you know, where you look at a... Report an error in the passage at 56:22 Highlight the passage at 56:22

56:47 If there's somebody in your life that you love and you've loved maybe over many, many years, like I know when I would look at my mom and all the changes she had been through, and even when she got old and her memory wasn't so great and maybe she wasn't as clear as she used to be and parts of her weren't at all the same, I would just have this, I just thought she was beautiful. Report an error in the passage at 56:47 Highlight the passage at 56:47

57:08 And so we want to get to the point where we can actually see each other that way. You know, no matter what, even the guy yelling at the dog, you know, just to see him with that affectionate love in some way, even if maybe not in that moment because we aren't quite that skilled yet, but later on the cushion, you know, and for me to be able to see the person who cut me off in the meeting with that affectionate love, you know, just like, just to be able to see them as a suffering sentient being that wants to be happy and wants to... Report an error in the passage at 57:08 Highlight the passage at 57:08

57:40 To not have suffering, even if the way they're going about it may not be, you know, the most skillful. Report an error in the passage at 57:40 Highlight the passage at 57:40

57:50 So then the next line is, or the next two lines is, I will practice in secret taking upon myself all their harmful actions and sufferings. Report an error in the passage at 57:50 Highlight the passage at 57:50

58:01 And so this is this practice that we're going to do together and that'll be your homework this week. It comes from this particular technique that's called equalizing and exchanging self with others. It's sometimes shortened to exchange of self and others. Report an error in the passage at 58:01 Highlight the passage at 58:01

58:19 The equalizing part usually just begins with us thinking about how all living beings are equal to us, but we forget it all the time, right? We're much more focused on ourselves, and we forget that everyone else is just the same in wanting that happiness and not wanting to suffer. Report an error in the passage at 58:19 Highlight the passage at 58:19

58:39 And so the first part of the meditation is spent just thinking about, as I was talking about in one of the classes, His Holiness' meditation for this is to have you think about how many others would it really take to equal you. Would it just be one or would it be a hundred or would it be a thousand or would it be a million to really, really equal you, to really be just as important as you are with your... Report an error in the passage at 58:39 Highlight the passage at 58:39

59:06 Your needs and your wants and all that stuff. And then after we do that, then we exchange self and others. And exchanging self and others is really talking about exchanging this attitude of self-cherishing with this mind cherishing others. Report an error in the passage at 59:06 Highlight the passage at 59:06

59:24 So it's exchanging attitudes. It's exchanging the focus, the huge focus of our entire being with another one. Because we sort of spend time on this meditation, we sort of spend time thinking about how this focusing constantly on ourselves and this self-absorption and selfishness holds us back. Report an error in the passage at 59:24 Highlight the passage at 59:24

59:55 So you have to really spend some time thinking about that because otherwise you won't want to get rid of the self-cherishing mind. It feels kind of like the buddy that's been protecting us for a while. But when you start dissecting it and analyzing it a little bit, you actually realize that not only is it not a buddy, it's actually holding you back from being as strong and loving and compassionate as you would like to be. Report an error in the passage at 59:55 Highlight the passage at 59:55

1:00:23 It keeps us from actually doing what we want to do in life. It keeps us from practicing the way we want to practice. It keeps us from being able to even just connect with each other we would want to. Even if we don't want to become a Buddha yet, we're not sold on that path all the way. It seems kind So, just keeps us from being able to truly about one another as we can because we're so constantly focused on our own needs and our own wants and getting those met and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:23 Highlight the passage at 1:00:23

1:00:57 So, um... So we spend some time analyzing that and considering the faults of self-cherishing and the advantages of caring for others at least as much as we care for ourselves. And ultimately we may get to the point where we care about them more than we care about ourselves. But at least as much is a good goal. Then we don't have to give up caring for ourselves quite yet. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:57 Highlight the passage at 1:00:57

1:01:26 We can at least keep it all equal. And that's a long way to go actually because most of us care about ourselves quite a bit more. And I would advise if some of you, I mean this was the point of the whole last class on bodhicitta which was a nine week course and so I can't go into this in the amount of detail that I did then. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:26 Highlight the passage at 1:01:26

1:01:48 But I would again advise that if you haven't studied bodhicitta or if you missed that class and there are books on bodhicitta and one of them, And one of them is called Awakening Mind by Geshe Tashi. And it's the transcripts of the classes that he taught in London that go with the Foundation for Buddhist Thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:48 Highlight the passage at 1:01:48

1:02:11 And it covers quite a bit of detail about bodhicitta in both of these techniques in detail and so forth. And we do have some copies, I think, in the bookstore. I would highly recommend it if you miss those classes. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:11 Highlight the passage at 1:02:11

1:02:30 Technique or in the meditation of Tonglen, we start with somebody, we imagine somebody that we really, really care about. And there's a lot of different ways we can use this meditation. We can meditate on ourselves first, and it's often instructed for us to do that, to think about ourselves, especially if we know that we're going to go through, if we have gone through a really hard time. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:30 Highlight the passage at 1:02:30

1:02:56 You know, maybe in our past or just right now, we're going through a hard time. I've done this one before and it's quite powerful. I think in some ways it's harder, certainly it is for me, it's harder to focus on removing my own suffering and giving myself lasting happiness than it is to focus on somebody I really love. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:56 Highlight the passage at 1:02:56

1:03:20 So I actually think in some ways it's easier to start. With somebody you really, really love so you don't have to cultivate anything. It just arises naturally. Then you can just get to the visualization, kind of get used to the visualization. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:20 Highlight the passage at 1:03:20

1:03:37 And then try it on yourself. But you guys might be different. People are all different. Sometimes people don't have any problem wishing themselves happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:37 Highlight the passage at 1:03:37

1:03:47 I want to be one of those people at some point. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:47 Highlight the passage at 1:03:47

1:03:52 But yeah, you can do it on yourself. You can obviously do it with somebody that you love. You can also do it with people that you know pretty well but you may not love yet, maybe like a co-worker or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:52 Highlight the passage at 1:03:52

1:04:07 You can do it when you're watching the news and you hear about, for example, all the people in New Zealand and you see all the destruction and how fast that destruction happened. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:07 Highlight the passage at 1:04:07

1:04:18 You can do it in times where you don't know what else to do. So if somebody's come to you with a problem and is just overwhelmed by suffering with their sadness or their loss or their confusion on what to do or whatever, and there's no answer. You can't fix it. They're just in pain. So instead of just getting upset or not knowing what to do or wanting to fix it, which isn't really what anybody wants you to do at that moment, I think that person mostly just wants to fix it. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:18 Highlight the passage at 1:04:18

1:04:49 Somebody not to leave, somebody to stay. This practice allows you to stay with suffering when it's sometimes hard to stay with suffering. It's also a really, really powerful practice to do when somebody's dying. It's a really good practice to do even if somebody's telling you that they're dying, which is a hard, hard time for everybody. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:49 Highlight the passage at 1:04:49

1:05:16 And nobody has to know that you're doing it. That's why they use the word. In secret. It's not like anybody has to notice that you're breathing funny. You can just use this. It's like this sort of sneaky way to bring more compassion into the world, you know. So, yeah, like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:16 Highlight the passage at 1:05:16

1:05:39 And it's simple in a sense because it's simple visualization. It's not like you have to... You know, visualize the merit field or anything like that. You can just focus on, you know, there's a fairly simple visualization that I'll guide you through. and um when i guide This meditation, I sort of break it up into steps, but when you're doing it, it can flow much more easily. So I'll sort of do it in steps and allow time in between so people can have time to visualize. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:39 Highlight the passage at 1:05:39

1:06:12 But when you're doing it on your own, you'll develop sort of more of a flow. And actually, they say that when bodhisattvas really master this practice, they then... We're going to apply it to the breath, we're going to put it on the breath, and I'll show you how to use the breath as you're doing it. But they get to the point where with every breath, they're doing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:12 Highlight the passage at 1:06:12

1:06:38 So with every breath, they're breathing in the suffering, and every breath, they're giving happiness and everything good and wonderful to all beings. So that every breath is never wasted. Whatever situation they're in, they're... Every breath is a Tonglen experience. So like that. But we're going to do it sort of a little bit more broken up into steps so that you can develop the capacity first to do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:38 Highlight the passage at 1:06:38

1:07:11 And I find it really, really powerful both ways to do this practice on the cushion when it's really quiet and you have some time. It's really, really beautiful and powerful. And it's really, really beautiful and powerful to just suddenly remember to do it at a moment when you're out in the field, so to speak, and some powerful form of suffering arises, you know, and you don't know what else to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:11 Highlight the passage at 1:07:11

1:07:36 And then it's like, oh, wait, I could pull out that tool. I have that tool in my back pocket. Let me try that one, you know. Yeah. But the whole point of Tonglen is to destroy the self-cherishing mind. So again, if we aren't really convinced that we need to get rid of self-cherishing, that it's the polar opposite of bodhicitta and that the two can't exist together, so if we want to be bodhisattvas, if we want to get enlightened, we have to get rid of self-cherishing. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:36 Highlight the passage at 1:07:36

1:08:12 It's like, it's the big block. And so we have to sort of spend a little bit of time convincing ourselves of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:12 Highlight the passage at 1:08:12

1:08:22 But the main point of this meditation is to use the suffering that we see in another to destroy the self-cherishing mind and to create this sort of big-heartedness, this very strong, brave compassion and love. So that's kind of the whole point of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:22 Highlight the passage at 1:08:22

1:08:46 If we just do the visualization but we forget about destroying the self-cherishing mind, we sort of, as Ben Arbuner would say, we've missed the plot. And we'll talk about it in a moment how, for some people, that feels scary. And so we'll talk about that. But the visualization is sort of when you... So. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:46 Highlight the passage at 1:08:46

1:09:09 When you are able to destroy your self-cherishing mind, then you're able to free your compassion and love and baby bodhicitta. So it's like you use that, you bring it in, all the yucky crap that's at your heart that's holding your back is released. You have this huge feeling of release and it should make you feel kind of powerful and strong and happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09:09

1:09:38 By the end, you know, so because you're sort of feeling more courageous and strong and powerful at the end. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:38 Highlight the passage at 1:09:38

1:09:51 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:51 Highlight the passage at 1:09:51

1:09:57 Sorry. I'm a bit sleep deprived at the moment. Trying to just plot on here. I'm also trying to decide sort of how much of exchange in self and others to go into. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:57 Highlight the passage at 1:09:57

1:10:12 A little bit about exchange itself with others. When you're doing that particular meditation, we actually sort of play with this idea of exchanging or cherishing another person. So I'll cherish Jane with exactly the same amount of energy and obsessiveness that I normally. Shower on myself, you know. And so we just sort of, you can do that in various ways. You can actually visualize that you have somehow physically expanded to contain Jane or your dog or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:12 Highlight the passage at 1:10:12

1:10:57 Or you can just imagine shifting the attitude, you know, so shifting the attitude away from the focus in to... Focus out and including first one person and then many people. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:57 Highlight the passage at 1:10:57

1:11:15 It doesn't mean that we get to the point where we completely forget about ourselves or that we forget to get dressed or something. We forget to eat. I mean, honestly, I have to say this because I think I did mention that I had this experience and I have heard of it happening before where people just really don't understand the whole idea of caring for others. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:15 Highlight the passage at 1:11:15

1:11:37 Doesn't mean negating the self and that it's not like a permission to basically do unhealthy practices. I actually had a friend, she was a friend at one point, who just sort of slipped into completely ignoring her own needs and just stopped eating and everything, thinking this was some sort of a bodhisattva activity. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:37 Highlight the passage at 1:11:37

1:11:48 which is. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:48 Highlight the passage at 1:11:48

1:12:06 And in the end, she ended up giving up her refuge and everything. So it was pretty extreme. And I think it was just she just sort of jumped in a little too, well, a lot too deeply, too quickly, without enough foundation of understanding that it's about building love and compassion for each other, not forgetting yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:06 Highlight the passage at 1:12:06

1:12:28 We're sentient beings too. We get to take care of ourselves also because we're all sentient beings. And whenever we say we're working for all sentient beings, we get to include ourselves. This isn't like some sort of martyrdom thing. That's a different religion. But we do want to get to this point where we can begin to think about others in this way that we can kind of almost, what's the word? Report an error in the passage at 1:12:28 Highlight the passage at 1:12:28

1:12:54 We can think of what they need almost before they think of what they need. You can play with this with people that you work with or live with or something. An example of that, one teacher of mine was talking about this attendant of his guru, his main Lama, Jampa is his name, which is the Tibetan for this affectionate love, actually, that I was just talking about. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:54 Highlight the passage at 1:12:54

1:13:22 And he just got to this point where he would... He would just sort of be sitting quietly and almost as soon as you would have the thought, well I could use a cup of tea. Like he'd be right there with it, you know. Or you just have this thought of like... Hmm, getting a little peckish, I gotta use something to eat. All of a sudden he would just like serve you like some cheese and crackers or something. And so they began kind of watching him and they're like, who is this guy? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:22 Highlight the passage at 1:13:22

1:13:47 You know, he just looks like this lowly little monk, but he would be kind of like, you know, tuning in to everybody in the room and he would just kind of show up. So he became sort of the poster boy of this kind of mind of exchange of self and others, you know. Because if we suddenly feel a little hungry or a little thirsty, we don't think anything of just getting up and go getting ourselves something, right? So we want to get to the point where we're sort of thinking of that for somebody else to that same degree. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:47 Highlight the passage at 1:13:47

1:14:17 It's kind of a fun thing to do, even just for one day, to just try to do that, to just try to get your... You know, look away from your navel for a moment and actually think about what somebody else in the room might want before they do. And to see the reactions that people give you when you do that kind of thing too, it's kind of interesting. You know, she looks like maybe she could use a cup of coffee or, you know, and just kind of pull a jumper, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:17 Highlight the passage at 1:14:17

1:14:49 And it's, I mean, basically it's sort of taking... Those old adages in the West, we say putting yourself in somebody else's shoes or even practicing the golden rule. It's like the ultimate form of these. It's almost like kind of turning yourself inside out in a way. It's like you're starting to just be so aware of others and their needs and their hearts and their wants and so much less obsessing about our own needs and our wants and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:49 Highlight the passage at 1:14:49

1:15:25 And it's a habit. I mean, it's just another way of developing a habit of caring for others in the way that we care for ourselves. We don't have to learn that one anymore. We've gotten that one down. So now it's just changing the object. So sometimes when they say, for exchanging self and others, you imagine this whole, or one of the ways that I learned it, you sort of imagine extending yourself so that you begin to contain all other beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:25 Highlight the passage at 1:15:25

1:15:51 It's almost like a Monty Python. animation, you know. And then the thought is there that you don't really have to give up your own selfishness because now when you're selfish, you contain all other beings. So it's kind of like this sneaky little trick of allowing you to hold on to your selfishness because now you contain all other beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:51 Highlight the passage at 1:15:51

1:16:19 So it's sort of like this... The stretching of your heart and your body and your mind to contain all other living beings. That's kind of interesting. It's an interesting thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:19 Highlight the passage at 1:16:19

1:16:35 But we start, we just start with this practice. This practice can be taught at a very beginning level, but it's really not a beginning practice. It's really quite advanced. And we teach it, you know, in the drop-in meditations and so forth. But it's really... It's really, you're almost to the point of developing bodhicitta when you do this meditation at its sort of deepest level. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:35 Highlight the passage at 1:16:35

1:17:03 And so it's not such a beginning practice. It's actually quite huge and brave and wonderful. Even though it's simple to understand, what it's doing to your heart is huge and brave and wonderful, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:03 Highlight the passage at 1:17:03

1:17:20 So, yeah. Any questions about any of this? I mean, I don't know. I think most of you have actually studied Tonglen before and practiced Tonglen before, but I wonder if you have any questions about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:20 Highlight the passage at 1:17:20

1:17:42 Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:42 Highlight the passage at 1:17:42

1:17:50 To practice Tonglen, I heard somebody that I know is not, but I couldn't tell the person the right... Because she told me, she practiced too, Tonglen, and she said, but I stopped to do it because I'm afraid. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:50 Highlight the passage at 1:17:50

1:18:14 I'm afraid that I'm going to get the suffering of others in myself, like a sickness or so. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:14 Highlight the passage at 1:18:14

1:18:25 But the way that I think is the way to practice is that We are trying to develop or practice more love and compassion. It's not that we're going to, of course, we're wishing the person happiness and maybe lower in some way their suffering. That's why we take responsibility of the suffering of the other person. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:25 Highlight the passage at 1:18:25

1:19:00 right we transform that in a good It's like we are transforming that suffering of the person in a good way for the person, correct? Well, this is why this is a more advanced practice. It's not a beginner's practice. And one of the things you have to know is for us to get sick or to have negative things happen to us, we have had to create the cause, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:00 Highlight the passage at 1:19:00

1:19:28 And we can't take another person's karma away from them. So you have to have a basic understanding of karma. And I think most of the time when people learn Tonglen, they don't have a basic understanding of karma. But then secondly, the whole idea isn't to absorb someone's suffering and leave it there. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:28 Highlight the passage at 1:19:28

1:19:48 The whole idea is to take that suffering, we visualize it as black smoke and we breathe it in. We use it to destroy that rock hardness around our heart that's keeping us tiny mind and self-absorbed. And then it frees all of our compassion. If we don't do that step and we just stop with breathing it in and then get out of the car or whatever, then it's like half done. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:48 Highlight the passage at 1:19:48

1:20:11 You haven't really, you haven't then taken it to the point where you've used it to destroy this little selfish mind of ours. So it has to have that step of being willing to take on their suffering, but using that suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:11 Highlight the passage at 1:20:11

1:20:31 To develop this really brave, big mind of love and compassion for others. So the thing that gets scared is the self-cherishing mind. Self-cherishing mind doesn't want to get destroyed. It's been having a great go of it for lifetime after lifetime. And so it really likes controlling us. Now, does the self-cherishing mind exist the way it seems to? No. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:31 Highlight the passage at 1:20:31

1:21:00 Self-terracing mind is just attitudes. It's like a collection of attitudes, basically. Wrong view, but a collection of attitudes all the same. It's just thought. It's conception, you know. But it feels like it's got our best interest at heart, right? Looking out for number one, taking care of me, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:00 Highlight the passage at 1:21:00

1:21:22 And we don't need it anymore. So there's all these different steps before you even get to the point of doing Tonglen where you have to really recognize the situation that we're in in saṃsāra, how that's been caused by our karma, how, you know, I want to develop love and compassion because I want to actually break out of. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:22 Highlight the passage at 1:21:22

1:21:44 I want to develop renunciation, for example, and break out of saṃsāra and get liberated and enlightened. I want to do that for them, all these suffering people, including this one in front of me. And so I want to use this technique to get bigger and braver and stronger. So it's not simply a visualization of breathing in their crap and leaving it at that. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:44 Highlight the passage at 1:21:44

1:22:10 And I think sometimes people simplify it to that. And it's an incorrect view. Yeah, you have to do that step of transforming it. You take it in out of compassion, because compassion, again, remember, is just wanting to remove the suffering of another. That's all it is in Buddhism. That's what it's defined as. And then we want to get to the point where we give them happiness, giving them whatever they need to bring them happiness, and that's love. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:10 Highlight the passage at 1:22:10

1:22:43 And so we develop those big minds of compassion and love through this technique of visualizing and all that stuff. But really it's almost like scales. It's like doing warm-up exercises to becoming a bodhisattva. Or it's like going to the gym. It's like going to the bodhisattva gym. The bodhisattva gym for heart and mind. So it makes our mind stronger and broader and our hearts more open. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:43 Highlight the passage at 1:22:43

1:23:13 And that's the goal of it, you know. Does it help the person in front of you? This question always comes up. Maybe, if you get really, really good at it, there are stories of really attained masters, you know, who were able to take on the suffering of another being and others could, it was proved to others because they actually were able to take on the wounds of another. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:13 Highlight the passage at 1:23:13

1:23:37 You know, like there's the story of this one. Kadampa Geshe when he was teaching and suddenly he cried out in pain and everybody turned around and saw that this dog had been hit and they were sort of like, well he didn't even get hurt that badly and they looked under his robe and he had like the same marks on his body that the dog would have gotten and he took it on for the dog so the dog didn't get it. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:37 Highlight the passage at 1:23:37

1:24:02 But those are examples of really attained masters. And they. They say that you have to have really strong karmic connection with that other being for it to work. So if I just am, for example, watching the news about the earthquake in New Zealand or something and I don't really have a strong connection with that person, I can use it to strengthen my mind so that I can get enlightened, so that I can benefit all of them eventually, but I can't necessarily, I can't at my level take away their actual suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:02 Highlight the passage at 1:24:02

1:24:34 Does that make it a useless practice? Not at all. If it opens my heart, even for a second, it's a great practice. So it's just we have to realize what it is and what it's for. It's not a feel-good meditation. It's actually sometimes uncomfortable to look at another person's suffering and to sit with that suffering and to not run away. Or to distract or whatever it is that we normally do when they're suffering in front of us. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:34 Highlight the passage at 1:24:34

1:25:02 So part of this meditation, I think, too, is just us getting used to being able to... Be with somebody who's suffering and to not distract and to not run away and be okay with that. Constant training. Everything that is around us is a constant training. Oh, there's so many times that we can use this. Yeah, yeah. Constantly, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:02 Highlight the passage at 1:25:02

1:25:25 Our own suffering too. Oh, totally. Sometimes when you're in pain, you know, it's... It's a good opportunity to transform that. Okay, I'm in pain, but maybe I can use this. Physical pain and mental pain. Yeah, for the benefit of others. Physical pain and mental, yeah. I can have the pain, but mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:25 Highlight the passage at 1:25:25

1:25:52 For a reason, not, oh, I'm in pain, I'm in pain, I'm just complaining about the pain. Yeah, when we get sick or when we have an injury or we're laid up or we have surgery or something like that, it's a really, really powerful time to practice Tonglen. We can practice it on ourselves and we can also practice it on anybody else that has the same thing or anything like that thing that we have, whether it's a big disease. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:52 Highlight the passage at 1:25:52

1:26:18 Or whether it's a really tiny disease, you know, whether it's a migraine headache, you know, or whether it's, you know, a broken finger or whatever, you know. Again, it gets us out of, I mean, when do we have the biggest self-pity mind? I know, when I'm sick, you know. Everybody's, you know, just climbing and we're just like all depressed and all, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:18 Highlight the passage at 1:26:18

1:26:37 And actually it's this incredibly fertile time to do practice. And it prepares us for the time that we're dying. You know, because you get used to the practice when you don't feel good, right? When you're dying, you're not going to feel good. I can almost guarantee you. So if you aren't used to practicing when you don't feel good and when you're, you know, sort of flat out and maybe don't have any energy, then how are you going to do it when you're dying? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:37 Highlight the passage at 1:26:37

1:27:07 You're not going to be able to do it. We have to be able to practice when we are sick and don't feel so great. And this is a good one to do. So before we run out of time, oh did you ever, David, do you ever? Report an error in the passage at 1:27:07 Highlight the passage at 1:27:07

1:27:23 It seems like when you're undertaking this practice that such a core component of this is that understanding that our sense of self or the other person and what we're exchanging is that idea that it's... Inherently emptier phenomenon that has that you go through this whole process of dependent arising so that we don't understand this idea of suffering being this hot potato that I'm being handed, which is existing on its own side, but is in fact, you know, it doesn't exist either. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:23 Highlight the passage at 1:27:23

1:27:59 Yeah, that is this phenomenon that's dependent on, you know. Components so that the process of transformation is sort of like getting into the cracks in between, which is why it's possible to transform it. Why we change, why there's so many moments in the stamp of your finger. There's so many steps along this whole technique of Tonglen, that understanding emptiness in some way, which... Report an error in the passage at 1:27:59 Highlight the passage at 1:27:59

1:28:25 I think probably not everyone in the room even knows exactly what it is and the whole next Discovering Buddhism class is on emptiness. But there are so many times along this path, even if all you do is just sort of remember that person in front of me isn't necessarily who I think he or she is, you know, the suffering that they're experiencing isn't solid and heavy the way it feels right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:25 Highlight the passage at 1:28:25

1:28:50 Especially suffering, I think suffering can feel so heavy, whether it's your own or somebody else's. And whether it's physical or whether it's mental or whether it's emotional or spiritual or whatever, it feels like somebody just dropped a big, heavy, wet curtain on us. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:50 Highlight the passage at 1:28:50

1:29:07 It doesn't exist that way. It's just... Feeling and thoughts and constantly changing atoms and you know it's just this whole energetic exchange and we have no idea what could happen next. So even if we just understand it in that sense from like the standpoint of impermanence and things not existing the way we totally think that they do. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:07 Highlight the passage at 1:29:07

1:29:35 So even if you just sort of think of it in those terms there are so many steps along the path of The person, you yourself, not existing that way, as solid and whatever. And then this whole process of... Breathing on and visualizing breathing on their suffering and visualizing giving them back all this happiness, that's also empty of existing from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:35 Highlight the passage at 1:29:35

1:30:04 The self-cherishing mind is empty of existing from its own side. It's not something hard and solid. We visualize it as hard and solid at our hearts, but it's just a bunch of collections of thoughts that tend to focus on me, me, me, me, me. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:04 Highlight the passage at 1:30:04

1:30:19 But it's not this thing, you know. So we sort of use the visualization, but then we also dissolve the visualization into emptiness, you know. And that just frees the mind a lot, too. But, I mean, with a beginning, and it sounds like your friend was sort of more of a beginning practitioner, or maybe not even Buddhist at all, then those things can get lost, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:19 Highlight the passage at 1:30:19

1:30:41 But, yeah. I think if any of us, and I'll remind you at that point too, if you want to at any point remember emptiness, it's really quite helpful. I think more than anything else, I think the Buddha agreed with this too. My understanding, as we were talking about last night, my understanding of if there's anything of the Buddha's teachings that can relax our minds and Report an error in the passage at 1:30:41 Highlight the passage at 1:30:41

1:31:14 End our suffering in any way. It's the teachings on emptiness. I mean, I think it just, it dissolves all the hard stuff. A lot. A lot. Because we solidify it and that's what makes it so hard. Whether it's pain in the knee or whether it's, you know, grief and loss. It doesn't matter what it is, what kind of suffering we're going through, we take it and we solidify it and we feel like it's going to last forever. The same way that a little kid feels like it's going to last forever when they hurt their knee. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:14 Highlight the passage at 1:31:14

1:31:53 It's just as solid and real to that. Five-year-old as our suffering is to us. And as adults, we look at that and we're like, oh, isn't that sweet? And that's what I think the llamas do when they look at us. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:53 Highlight the passage at 1:31:53

1:32:07 It's the same suffering, it's just the object's different and the ignorance is still the same. We still have the same amount of ignorance, unfortunately. I hate to be the one to break it. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:07 Highlight the passage at 1:32:07

1:32:17 Anyway, so these are all good points. So I'll point out the points when it's useful to think about emptiness. you know Report an error in the passage at 1:32:17 Highlight the passage at 1:32:17

1:32:25 If I think of it. Anybody else really quick and then we're going to take a break. Christine. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:25 Highlight the passage at 1:32:25

1:32:40 It seems like there's two different ways to do it and I don't know if they're two different types or if they're just another progression. Like you can visualize somebody and take it on all their suffering and transform it. Or then there's a way to dedicate where you say whatever this is may no one else have to experience that. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:40 Highlight the passage at 1:32:40

1:32:57 And then in some of the readings, it seems like the second one is also considered tanglan. You know, like people, and there was, I think it was a DB video where someone was like, oh, in childbirth, I dedicated that no one else. Right, yeah, Brandy, yeah, yeah, yeah. Is that, and I think she called it tanglan, so is that also considered tanglan? Yeah, I think in that case, because she was the one suffering, it was sort of like she was both positions, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:57 Highlight the passage at 1:32:57

1:33:26 She was experiencing her suffering with the thought that if she could experience the suffering, I don't think it is like a total Tonglen, if she was experiencing that suffering, and Rinpoche actually could even teach about this this weekend because he teaches about this one quite a bit. She was trying to, you're already experiencing the suffering, you know, so we're not, again, we're not, it's more of a lojong in a way. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:26 Highlight the passage at 1:33:26

1:33:54 You're already experiencing suffering because you have the karmic experience of suffering, whether it's the migraine headache or the childbirth. And so you decide, instead of fighting it, to just say, okay, then I'm going to just experience this suffering for all beings so that nobody else has to have this suffering again. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:54 Highlight the passage at 1:33:54

1:34:18 And it's sort of a way of building that courage and that strength of conviction. That responsibility for all beings. Does it take away all the pain of all the women in childbirth? Boy, I hope so. Probably not at my level, but you never know. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:18 Highlight the passage at 1:34:18

1:34:38 Rinpoche tells this story of one of his students, I think he was in Asia and I think it was Taiwan who had AIDS and he did you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:38 Highlight the passage at 1:34:38

1:34:35 You know, you never know. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:35 Highlight the passage at 1:34:35

1:34:49 Really, really powerful practices of Tong Lin. And then they tested him and they couldn't find any signs. It was like one of those kind of stories. And he was brand new. But he just believed it and he just did it with all his heart and soul. Which maybe I would too if I had been told that I was dying. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:49 Highlight the passage at 1:34:49

1:35:09 So I don't think it's necessarily impossible for us at our level to take away. To have a successful meditation like this. But I think the main idea in that is you're already having the suffering, so why not just use it? But it's not something you would incorporate into the regular tongue line. It would just be if you were experiencing... I think it's more if you're experiencing some sort of pain or suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:09 Highlight the passage at 1:35:09

1:35:35 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:35 Highlight the passage at 1:35:35

1:35:39 Yeah, and I used to actually, I remember when I was really, really, I grieved my mom a lot when she died. And even though I knew she was going to die, there's only so much you can do to prepare yourself, even though you know somebody's going to die. You keep trying to prepare yourself and stuff. And then that person is gone. And I remember for me that, you know, I was really kind of, really worked with it for a number of years. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:39 Highlight the passage at 1:35:39

1:36:04 I mean, you know, like 15 or something, but it was like a year and a half, I should say. I just felt really kind of bowled over by it. It was like a stronger grief than I had ever experienced, and I've experienced quite a few griefs in my life. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:04 Highlight the passage at 1:36:04

1:36:18 But I remember the thing that really shifted it for me was doing Tonglen and it was a little bit of each of those two. So I guess you can combine them in a way because I remember thinking there are so many people in the world that have lost their moms in really, really tragic ways and then I started just imagining doing Tonglen for them. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:18 Highlight the passage at 1:36:18

1:36:37 And so I thought, you know, if I can experience this grief so that others don't have to, then bring it on. And that's scary. It's very scary to do that because, of course, you're already at your worst, right? It's already hurting more than anything else you've ever had. And then you're actually saying, okay, bring it on then. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:37 Highlight the passage at 1:36:37

1:36:57 If this can help me get enlightened, okay, you know, that's kind of a sense of getting braver and stronger from it. But I remember doing actual Tonglen and like sort of visualizing like all the people that have lost their moms, you know, today or last week or something like that. And like all the ways that they did, you know, like where the moms were young and healthy or, you know, hit by a car or something like that. And where it really was tragic, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:57 Highlight the passage at 1:36:57

1:37:24 And for me and my mom, my mom was quite old and had a good life. And, you know, it wasn't a tragedy, actually, in that sense, except for the fact that all of Saṃsāra is tragedy. You know, it was just her time to go and my attachment to her kind of thing, you know, and my love for her. But in my heart, I knew she was okay, so it was really more my attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:24 Highlight the passage at 1:37:24

1:37:48 And I had to look at that too. But yeah, I mean, I think you can use both. But I don't think, I don't know. Let me think about that some more. And let me think about that this week, actually. I'll probably be doing a lot of tonglan on myself this week. man. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:48 Highlight the passage at 1:37:48

1:38:05 Because I actually do think it is a form of Tonglen, and I'm not, I just, I don't know quite, let me think about it more. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, let's take a break. Let's take a break. How about just like seven minutes? Six and a half. Four. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:05 Highlight the passage at 1:38:05

1:38:26 Six and a quarter. Two or three quarters. Okay, done. Yeah. No. Could I get somebody to bring me some water? Actually, my throat's like, eh. Hot water would be great, but I think somebody... Oh, you guys are... Yeah. Are you going to get it in? Thank you. There you go. Wait, wait, wait, wait. It's your toy. I was actually thinking we should bring this to the event. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:26 Highlight the passage at 1:38:26

1:38:57 You know, to get people in. You guys, I have some great news. I have two pieces of great news. Uh-oh. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:57 Highlight the passage at 1:38:57

1:39:13 Wait a second. Wait, I'm going to have to deal with this. You might have to transform it. No, it's fine. You know, it's more inconvenient. Talking about getting those carbon. Oh, we don't need them. Oh, we don't? Yeah. Sweet, because I went to OfficeMax and they were like, you get this question all the time and no retail store. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:13 Highlight the passage at 1:39:13

1:39:39 I was like, really? And then I was thinking, well, there's no way we can order them and get them here in time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No. second. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:39 Highlight the passage at 1:39:39

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:39:49 No, well, the good news is, sorry for people at home listening to this, maybe we should, yeah, yeah. But now they're all going to be dying, they're leaning forward. What's the good news? It's the best thing ever. And that's how you get it. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:49 Highlight the passage at 1:39:49

1:40:17 What's happening? Report an error in the passage at 1:40:17 Highlight the passage at 1:40:17

1:40:21 We're going to do it. We're going to do it right now. Yeah, exactly. I know, yeah, you probably are, but that's okay. No, I'm kidding. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:21 Highlight the passage at 1:40:21

1:40:31 I'm sure there's somebody else in here that doesn't know that. And sometimes people who have studied Tonglin, they've studied it from other teachers and everybody does it a little bit different too. So I'm going to make you do it my way. But then after you get used to it, you can play with it too. Okay, let's go ahead and do it because we only have now about 13 or 14 minutes to do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:31 Highlight the passage at 1:40:31

1:40:56 So like I said, I'm going to do this in steps with sort of a little bit of time to breathe in between just so that you can get used to what the actual steps are. But when you're doing it, as you get more used to it, it'll become more fluid and relaxed. So normally if you were doing this at home, you would take a little time to prepare your mind, you know, meditating on your breath the way we did at the beginning of the class, setting a motivation and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:56 Highlight the passage at 1:40:56

1:41:28 But we're just going to start right in. So you can just start with picturing somebody in front of you and pick somebody that you already love a whole lot. So you don't have to pretend, you don't have to imagine, you don't have to cultivate any love. Make it somebody that you're really close to. Maybe it's a best friend or your partner or child, parent. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:28 Highlight the passage at 1:41:28

1:42:00 And it doesn't have to be a person, it can be an animal too. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:00 Highlight the passage at 1:42:00

1:42:07 Someone that you love very much and you know a lot about them and you know the things that cause them pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:07 Highlight the passage at 1:42:07

1:42:22 And just imagine this person sitting in front of you and Report an error in the passage at 1:42:22 Highlight the passage at 1:42:22

1:42:31 start imagining in detail some of their sources of unhappiness and suffering. Whether it's physical pain or illness, depression. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:31 Highlight the passage at 1:42:31

1:43:06 And for a moment just feel really strongly that you'd like to remove their suffering. You want to take the suffering from this person. You want to end their suffering. This is compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:06 Highlight the passage at 1:43:06

1:43:34 And then imagine their suffering taking the form of black smoke in their body, their mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:34 Highlight the passage at 1:43:34

1:43:44 And imagine as you breathe that you're sort of pulling that black smoke, that suffering from all the parts of their body and mind into their heart and pulling it from their limbs and their eyes and wherever they have pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:44 Highlight the passage at 1:43:44

1:44:07 And just pulling it into a little ball at their heart. And Report an error in the passage at 1:44:07 Highlight the passage at 1:44:07

1:44:30 make sure that you get it all. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:30 Highlight the passage at 1:44:30

1:44:46 And then make a decision to take on this pain and suffering and afflicted states of mind in order to destroy your self-cherishing mind. So you might have to remind yourself of the problems of that self-absorption. How it prevents us from ever attaining bodhicitta. It helps us, it keeps us from opening our hearts and minds to others, keeps us from connecting with others, caring about others. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:46 Highlight the passage at 1:44:46

1:45:22 It keeps us little instead of allowing us to be big like bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:22 Highlight the passage at 1:45:22

1:45:48 And then begin slowly to breathe this black smoke out of the person in front of you, up from their heart, through their nostrils and into the air between you. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:48 Highlight the passage at 1:45:48

1:46:04 Taking your time to breathe this out. Letting it come, kind of like a puff of smoke in the air between you. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:04 Highlight the passage at 1:46:04

1:46:23 Imagine when you pull the last of it out, the look of relief in their eyes. Then Report an error in the passage at 1:46:23 Highlight the passage at 1:46:23

1:46:42 look at your own heart and Report an error in the passage at 1:46:42 Highlight the passage at 1:46:42

1:46:47 imagine something really specific and selfish that you've done in the last few days. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:47 Highlight the passage at 1:46:47

1:46:57 Something really self-centered that can be little. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:57 Highlight the passage at 1:46:57

1:47:19 And imagine this little form of selfishness sort of representing your self-terishing mind at your heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:19 Highlight the passage at 1:47:19

1:47:31 Feeling like a cold, rock-hard substance around your heart, keeping it contained, Report an error in the passage at 1:47:31 Highlight the passage at 1:47:31

1:47:42 confining all your goodness. And Report an error in the passage at 1:47:42 Highlight the passage at 1:47:42

1:47:55 now slowly breathing in that black smoke through your nostrils. Imagine breathing it in so that it begins to encircle your heart, Report an error in the passage at 1:47:55 Highlight the passage at 1:47:55

1:48:15 softening that hardness. And Report an error in the passage at 1:48:15 Highlight the passage at 1:48:15

1:48:23 then in one instant, imagine it destroying that rock hardness at your heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:23 Highlight the passage at 1:48:23

1:48:33 Almost like lightning striking. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:33 Highlight the passage at 1:48:33

1:48:39 And imagine that you can breathe easier. And Report an error in the passage at 1:48:39 Highlight the passage at 1:48:39

1:48:46 imagine that you can feel relief, your own relief. Out Report an error in the passage at 1:48:46 Highlight the passage at 1:48:46

1:49:06 of the darkness, become aware that there's this beautiful white light glowing at your heart. And that light is getting stronger and stronger. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:06 Highlight the passage at 1:49:06

1:49:23 This is all your baby bodhicitta. Your love and compassion is getting stronger and braver and bigger. And it's been freed at your heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:23 Highlight the passage at 1:49:23

1:49:44 So take a moment to feel really happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:44 Highlight the passage at 1:49:44

1:49:54 But also take a moment, if you have any understanding of emptiness and how things exist, to remember that none of this exists the way we think it does. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:54 Highlight the passage at 1:49:54

1:50:07 The suffering isn't solid and real. My self-cherishing mind itself is not solid and real and concrete. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:07 Highlight the passage at 1:50:07

1:50:18 Neither that person in front of me or myself exist the way I think that they do. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:18 Highlight the passage at 1:50:18

1:50:27 Everything is empty of that kind of solid, concrete existence. And that's what makes everything possible. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:27 Highlight the passage at 1:50:27

1:50:48 And now imagine that you want to give this person everything that makes them happy. This is love. This is what love is defined as. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:48 Highlight the passage at 1:50:48

1:51:05 So we'll start with making them happy in a really mundane, worldly sense. And then we'll go all the way up to their enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:05 Highlight the passage at 1:51:05

1:51:19 So begin with breathing out. This beautiful glowing white light at your heart. You can almost imagine it like a cloud of light. Imagine breathing it up from your heart and out through your nostrils. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:19 Highlight the passage at 1:51:19

1:51:38 And imagine that it contains everything that this person needs to be happy. So maybe you know what they like to eat or what they're missing in their life. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:38 Highlight the passage at 1:51:38

1:51:54 Maybe it's a job or a partner or a new car. Or peace of mind, enough money in the bank. You can also imagine that this cloud of white light contains all of your best qualities or any quality that you have that you want to give to them that might help them. Maybe your wisdom, maybe your happiness, maybe your peace of mind, maybe whatever understanding you have of the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:54 Highlight the passage at 1:51:54

1:52:39 So you just slowly imagine breathing this beautiful sparkling light cloud filled with all good things and you breathe it right to their nostrils and then for a moment the two of you share this sparkling white cloud of light and they breathe it in and you breathe it out and Report an error in the passage at 1:52:39 Highlight the passage at 1:52:39

1:53:09 all at once they breathe it in and fill themselves with this incredibly beautiful white light. Like a bliss cloud. And Report an error in the passage at 1:53:09 Highlight the passage at 1:53:09

1:53:23 it completely fills them up with everything they need in this life, everything they need in future lives, all the teachings of the Buddha, Report an error in the passage at 1:53:23 Highlight the passage at 1:53:23

1:53:33 all the levels of attainment, you know, being able to meditate deeply, to study, to have perfect teachers, becoming a bodhisattva, gaining liberation, all the way up to full enlightenment, becoming a being made of light themselves, a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:33 Highlight the passage at 1:53:33

1:54:00 And imagine their happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:00 Highlight the passage at 1:54:00

1:54:11 And feel how happy you feel that they're so happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:11 Highlight the passage at 1:54:11

1:54:40 And so we dedicate this meditation and this class discussing Tonglen, this incredibly powerful but simple practice of growing a bodhisattva heart and mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:40 Highlight the passage at 1:54:40

1:55:00 And dedicate it to each one of us actually being able to do that in this life. Generate bodhicitta. Genuine bodhicitta and strengthen it and use it as the path to getting enlightened for Report an error in the passage at 1:55:00 Highlight the passage at 1:55:00

1:55:20 the benefit of every living being without exception. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:20 Highlight the passage at 1:55:20

1:55:36 So any questions, especially for those of you that maybe have never done Tonglen before or did it in a different way or something, is there any questions about that meditation? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:36 Highlight the passage at 1:55:36

1:56:00 Everybody still on their bliss cloud? All right, a couple of announcements before I let you go. Actually, maybe if two of you could hand out, there's homework and then there's also, and I didn't staple it, I'm sorry, but actually sometimes it's easier not to be stable. I'll pretend like I meant to. So this, let's see, there should be two pages for the homework. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:00 Highlight the passage at 1:56:00

1:56:36 So everybody gets two pages out of that. And then Marcella will be handing out presentation ideas for the practice day. So we're going to talk about the practice day. The practice day is coming up on the 5th of March, which is the Saturday after the events. We, of course, didn't know that the events were happening when we first planned that. The schedule goes from about... Report an error in the passage at 1:56:36 Highlight the passage at 1:56:36

1:57:02 10.30 in the morning to, depending on how many people come, somewhere between 3.30 and 4, unless we have a ton of people. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:02 Highlight the passage at 1:57:02

1:57:12 The morning we just go through the meditations. I'll just guide you through all the meditations that we've done and give you little chances to take breaks and stretch, but we just sort of spend the morning in meditation. And then we end it with a little discussion and then we have a potluck lunch and we all... Report an error in the passage at 1:57:12 Highlight the passage at 1:57:12

1:57:31 Blah, blah, blah. And eat together, which is really sweet. And then in the afternoon we watch a little film. We watch a little film about Lojong. A little short one. Less than a half hour. And then everybody gets to do a little presentation. Thanks. Everybody gets to do a little presentation. And that word scares people. And I never know. They actually call it. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:31 Highlight the passage at 1:57:31

1:57:59 FPMT calls it. What do they call it? Something really frightening. Not even oral exam, but something even worse. Something like that. It's just frightening. It sounds horrible. It makes me want to drop out and it's my class. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:59 Highlight the passage at 1:57:59

1:58:13 I sort of like presentation. It doesn't have to be that big. We just sort of sit in a circle and people take turns and some people just do it off the top of their head and some people have planned it out in great detail and have, you know... Posters and props and gifts for everyone. But it doesn't have to be like that at all. It can just be spontaneous or you can think about it or you can just read. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:13 Highlight the passage at 1:58:13

1:58:39 I've also seen people do that too. They'll just read the whole thing. That's okay too. Basically it's something that kind of hit you in the class and that kind of did something to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:39 Highlight the passage at 1:58:39

1:58:51 I'm giving you ideas. But you can also just choose something or a meditation even. You can lead a meditation, any of the meditations. And that's always nice. We don't get a chance. I don't get a chance to be led that often, so that's kind of nice for me. And I think it's great for people to practice. Or you can even make up a meditation. I had a couple people do that. I thought that was pretty cool. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:51 Highlight the passage at 1:58:51

1:59:14 So anyway, I know that a lot of you can't come because people have different schedules on Saturdays, but it's a really great experience and it's a really nice way to end the class. So I really encourage those of you who can come to come, even if you can only come to one part of it, like the morning or the afternoon or something like that. Could I get a hand count for people that know already that they can come, that they are planning to come? Report an error in the passage at 1:59:14 Highlight the passage at 1:59:14

1:59:40 Look at that. That's pretty cool. Hmm. no. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:40 Highlight the passage at 1:59:40

1:59:50 Right, Report an error in the passage at 1:59:50 Highlight the passage at 1:59:50

1:59:55 exactly. So regarding what to bring, I would just say keep it vegetarian. And otherwise, I think it usually just turns out you don't have to tell me what you're bringing. In fact, it's almost better than you can just decide as your week progresses. And it's totally fine if you just pick up something. And it's also really fun if you want to cook something. That's always nice, too. So I would just say if at least one person could bring real food, you know, like don't everyone stop and get bread and cheese on the way? Report an error in the passage at 1:59:55 Highlight the passage at 1:59:55

2:00:26 Like somebody, somebody just go for it and make like an entree. But otherwise, I'll leave it up to you who that person is. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:26 Highlight the passage at 2:00:26

2:00:36 Regarding this weekend, we could still use some help tomorrow, anytime after 2, and if you can help before 5, then come here and after 6, go to the venue, which is 170 Valencia. We are going to try to set it up mostly tomorrow night. And on Monday we also still need a lot of help and I'm sure that everyone's going to be really exhausted. So if you are not doing the event and you can help Monday, that's even better because it's like all new blood and that would be great. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:36 Highlight the passage at 2:00:36

2:01:10 Because we're all just going to be like... What's that? No, it never is fun. But it's usually so much faster than set up. There is that. And we do have a Yahoo, a U-Haul. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:10 Highlight the passage at 2:01:10

2:01:28 And this is Thursday. And it's a fairly big one, so all of that loading and stuff like that should be a lot easier. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:28 Highlight the passage at 2:01:28

2:01:40 Our next Discovering Buddhism class is going to be the Wisdom class, and that starts two weeks after this class ends on the 24th. And that will be nine weeks, also on Thursday nights, 79. Y 'all. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:40 Highlight the passage at 2:01:40

2:01:31 Um, Report an error in the passage at 2:01:31 Highlight the passage at 2:01:31

2:01:51 And I'm going to be teaching that. And then I'm also going to teach a class on the bodhisattva vows. It'll be a six-week class on Fridays beginning the next day, which I didn't plan, but there you go, the 25th of March, I think it is. And even if you are not, it's really intended for those who have just taken bodhisattva vows or are intending to take them at some point in this life. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:51 Highlight the passage at 2:01:51

2:02:16 As long as you have an aspiration, it's fine. This is one set of vows that you can study. without Before you take them, which isn't always the case in Buddhism. So they're just a set of vows that are really created to help us. They're sort of like training wheels to let our minds grow bigger and stronger and more compassionate. So that class begins on the 25th and that's six weeks. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:16 Highlight the passage at 2:02:16

2:02:47 And I think that's it. Thank you very much. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:47 Highlight the passage at 2:02:47

2:02:54 Thank you, thank you, thank you. No, no, no, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:54 Highlight the passage at 2:02:54