Transforming Problems into the Path - How Problems Help (3 March 2011)

0:16 I have Report an error in the passage at 0:16 Highlight the passage at 0:16

0:22 a special dedication tonight, so I'm going to hand out the gold prayer book. Report an error in the passage at 0:22 Highlight the passage at 0:22

0:39 First class, last class, that's the way to do it. You've got it down. Actually, I don't know how many people, and people usually come in, give one to them, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 0:39 Highlight the passage at 0:39

0:55 Is it cold? Report an error in the passage at 0:55 Highlight the passage at 0:55

1:08 It's a little bit chilly, but not like as usual. Turn on just for a little bit? Yeah, maybe just for a little bit. In here? Yeah. I'm not cold yet. Are you guys really cold? Report an error in the passage at 1:08 Highlight the passage at 1:08

1:15 And then if you don't hear any noise, it means we've all fallen asleep. As my Report an error in the passage at 1:15 Highlight the passage at 1:15

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:07 mother would say, we're all under strain. Report an error in the passage at 2:07 Highlight the passage at 2:07

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:41 Hello, here we all are again. Report an error in the passage at 2:41 Highlight the passage at 2:41

2:47 Alright, feels like a long time since last week. Lots been going on. All right, let's start. We're going to start with that meditation on Tonglen that I know you guys have perfected. Report an error in the passage at 2:47 Highlight the passage at 2:47

3:07 So just start with some nice deep belly breaths. Report an error in the passage at 3:07 Highlight the passage at 3:07

3:17 We've all been having conversations today and different things have come up and changes have happened and maybe our mind's gone up and down. So just use your breath to kind of allow these things to just evaporate, dissolve and Report an error in the passage at 3:17 Highlight the passage at 3:17

3:39 breathe yourself onto your cushion into this room. Report an error in the passage at 3:39 Highlight the passage at 3:39

3:57 And we'll just start with one round of ten, watching your breath, trying to stick with your breath no matter what. Focusing on one in-breath and one out-breath is one, and trying to count to ten. Report an error in the passage at 3:57 Highlight the passage at 3:57

· · · silence, 1 minute

5:12 Start this class with a meditation on tonglen. So bring to your mind a person, Report an error in the passage at 5:12 Highlight the passage at 5:12

5:25 somebody that you feel quite close to, that you love very, very much. So Report an error in the passage at 5:25 Highlight the passage at 5:25

5:36 you can be a child, a parent, Report an error in the passage at 5:36 Highlight the passage at 5:36

5:42 partner, sibling, friend. Report an error in the passage at 5:42 Highlight the passage at 5:42

5:54 Somebody that you already know very, very well and you love very, very much. You don't have to cultivate anything unusual for this person. You don't have to push very hard. Your heart's already open to them. Report an error in the passage at 5:54 Highlight the passage at 5:54

6:24 Imagine this person sitting in front of you and start imagining in detail some of the pain and suffering that they have right now or maybe that they've experienced in their life that still has ramifications for them. Report an error in the passage at 6:24 Highlight the passage at 6:24

6:44 So it can be physical. Suffering, it can be mental suffering, Report an error in the passage at 6:44 Highlight the passage at 6:44

6:53 worry, anxiety, fear, anger. Whatever kind of pain and suffering you know this person experiences, start imagining it. Report an error in the passage at 6:53 Highlight the passage at 6:53

· · · silence, 1 minute

7:36 And then take a moment to generate a feeling of compassion for this person. The way it's defined in Buddhism, feeling strongly that you want to remove the suffering from this person. You want to take it away completely. Report an error in the passage at 7:36 Highlight the passage at 7:36

8:11 And then imagine all the pain and suffering that this person has and has experienced taking the form of black smoke in their body. You can see it in their limbs, in their head, in their body, like it's physical. Imagine being able to see it. Report an error in the passage at 8:11 Highlight the passage at 8:11

8:34 And then on the breath, imagine moving all of this smoke-like substance out of all the parts of their body and into their heart. In the form of a small ball or sphere of smoke. Just take some time to do this, Report an error in the passage at 8:34 Highlight the passage at 8:34

8:56 not leaving anything out. Report an error in the passage at 8:56 Highlight the passage at 8:56

· · · silence, 1 minute

9:55 And then make the decision to take all of this pain and suffering and afflicted states of mind and use it to destroy your own self-cherishing mind, your own selfishness. Report an error in the passage at 9:55 Highlight the passage at 9:55

10:09 That thing that causes you all your problems in this life and the Buddha says in all of our lives. Report an error in the passage at 10:09 Highlight the passage at 10:09

10:35 Then slowly begin to breathe that black smoke from their heart completely out of them. You can imagine it coming up and then out of their nostrils into the air between you, not leaving anything behind. Report an error in the passage at 10:35 Highlight the passage at 10:35

· · · silence, 1 minute

11:26 And notice the relief in their eyes as the last of it leaves. And Report an error in the passage at 11:26 Highlight the passage at 11:26

11:53 then take a look at your own heart and try to imagine or remember something really specific that you've done in the last few days. That's really self-centered or self-absorbed. Report an error in the passage at 11:53 Highlight the passage at 11:53

12:24 And imagine that mind taking the form at your heart of sort of a hard black rock, encasing your heart, holding all your goodness in. Now Report an error in the passage at 12:24 Highlight the passage at 12:24

12:52 I take some time to breathe in that black smoke and imagine it coming in through your nostrils and coming down to that cold, hard black rock around your heart and circling it. Report an error in the passage at 12:52 Highlight the passage at 12:52

13:10 Beginning to dissolve it, beginning to soften it. Report an error in the passage at 13:10 Highlight the passage at 13:10

13:23 And then when you're ready, just take one nice deep breath and imagine that it completely destroys that rock. Almost like lightning hitting it. Explodes into a billion particles and your heart is completely freed and you can breathe again and feel your own relief. In Report an error in the passage at 13:23 Highlight the passage at 13:23

14:07 that darkness, start becoming aware of a glowing white light at your heart. Report an error in the passage at 14:07 Highlight the passage at 14:07

14:16 Getting stronger and stronger. Report an error in the passage at 14:16 Highlight the passage at 14:16

14:22 This is your compassion and love, your baby bodhicitta that's been freed. Report an error in the passage at 14:22 Highlight the passage at 14:22

14:34 I feel really happy. Report an error in the passage at 14:34 Highlight the passage at 14:34

14:50 And if you have any understanding of emptiness, this is the time to remember that things don't exist the way we think that they do. And do a quick meditation. Even this selfish mind that we talk about like this doesn't exist the way we think it does. It's not solid and real and inherently existent either. Report an error in the passage at 14:50 Highlight the passage at 14:50

15:15 It's not who I am. Report an error in the passage at 15:15 Highlight the passage at 15:15

15:21 If we have any solid views of ourselves as unchangeable, imagine those two dissolving into space. And Report an error in the passage at 15:21 Highlight the passage at 15:21

15:43 allow yourself some relief in all that spaciousness. Report an error in the passage at 15:43 Highlight the passage at 15:43

16:02 And from all the vastness of your own pure, clear, loving mind, decide that you want to give that person in front of you love. Report an error in the passage at 16:02 Highlight the passage at 16:02

16:15 You want to give them happiness. Report an error in the passage at 16:15 Highlight the passage at 16:15

16:20 This is all love is in Buddhism. Wanting to give another happiness. Report an error in the passage at 16:20 Highlight the passage at 16:20

16:35 So start imagining at your own heart sort of a white, light-filled cloud beginning to manifest that contains all of your goodness, all of your qualities, everything that person in front of you needs from the most basic, worldly level, a Report an error in the passage at 16:35 Highlight the passage at 16:35

17:01 friend, a job, money, food, all the way up to Full enlightenment. And it all begins in this sort of light-filled cloud at your heart. And Report an error in the passage at 17:01 Highlight the passage at 17:01

17:26 again, using your breath, imagine breathing it out towards that person in front of you. Very slowly, breathing it up and out your own nostrils, Report an error in the passage at 17:26 Highlight the passage at 17:26

17:45 imagining again that it contains everything that you have to offer to this person. And Report an error in the passage at 17:45 Highlight the passage at 17:45

17:57 at first, when you're breathing it out, imagine that it stays connected to your heart in some way. But it gets closer and closer to them. Report an error in the passage at 17:57 Highlight the passage at 17:57

18:18 Do begin to breathe it in for a while. You share this bliss-filled, light cloud filled with goodness. Report an error in the passage at 18:18 Highlight the passage at 18:18

18:44 And then finally with one breath, you let it go from your heart and they breathe it in completely. Report an error in the passage at 18:44 Highlight the passage at 18:44

19:01 And imagine that when they do, they're completely filled with bliss and light, peace of mind and all the things that they need or want. To make them happy. And Report an error in the passage at 19:01 Highlight the passage at 19:01

19:24 imagine that you're also able to give them all of the teachings, one by one and all together. And that they are able to transform first into a bodhisattva and then into a fully enlightened being, completely made of light, solely existing for the benefit of others. And Report an error in the passage at 19:24 Highlight the passage at 19:24

20:00 imagine that they're completely filled with joy. Report an error in the passage at 20:00 Highlight the passage at 20:00

20:18 And for a moment feel really happy that you've been able to do this for them. To take away their pain and to give them every happiness. Report an error in the passage at 20:18 Highlight the passage at 20:18

20:40 And then we remember that what we're doing here is just strengthening our mind. It's like a strengthening exercise for our heart and mind. Report an error in the passage at 20:40 Highlight the passage at 20:40

20:52 It's our limited mind that keeps us back and it's kept us back for lifetimes. So we do this to get brave enough to want to take away their pain and to want to give them happiness. Report an error in the passage at 20:52 Highlight the passage at 20:52

21:11 So may this final class in this series Become the direct karmic cause for each one of us to generate genuine and lasting bodhicitta so that we're able to truly benefit every living being without exception, beginning with ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 21:11 Highlight the passage at 21:11

21:49 In your own time, as you're ready, you can end your meditation and we'll start with the opening prayer, which Report an error in the passage at 21:49 Highlight the passage at 21:49

22:15 is on page 8 in the white book. Report an error in the passage at 22:15 Highlight the passage at 22:15

22:32 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. Report an error in the passage at 22:32 Highlight the passage at 22:32

23:01 And dispel the miseries of the world. And if we could also go two pages past that and we'll do the eight verses together. Report an error in the passage at 23:01 Highlight the passage at 23:01

23:13 With the thought of attaining enlightenment for the welfare of all beings who are more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel, I will constantly practice holding them dear. Whenever I am with others, I will practice seeing myself as the lowest of all. And from the very depth of my heart, I will respectfully hold others as supreme. 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 23:13 Highlight the passage at 23:13

23:47 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 23:47 Highlight the passage at 23:47

24:11 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 24:11 Highlight the passage at 24:11

24:37 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 24:37 Highlight the passage at 24:37

25:01 No, it's okay. There's a lot going on. I know, there's a lot going on. Keeps you on your toes. So why don't we check in? I actually have something kind of big I want to talk about. Before we do... Report an error in the passage at 25:01 Highlight the passage at 25:01

25:23 Change, change, change. Right before the class started, we got word that Lama Zopa Rinpoche has a whole day planned down at Land of Medicine Buddha for Losar on Saturday beginning at 5 a.m. And he would like very much for us to come. Report an error in the passage at 25:23 Highlight the passage at 25:23

25:45 And I said, no. We're having our practice day. I said that to Dream A. I didn't say it to her. Report an error in the passage at 25:45 Highlight the passage at 25:45

25:57 Actually, someone said, tell them. I said, no, I'm asking them. So I feel kind of crappy about this, but I would like to ask if it might be possible for us to do the practice day on Sunday and how people would feel about that and if that's possible. saying. Um. Report an error in the passage at 25:57 Highlight the passage at 25:57

26:14 And if not, then, you know, my first allegiance is to you guys, because this is really, I feel like this is really, really important. And, you know, I'm not going to just dump you because Lama Zopa's come to town. Report an error in the passage at 26:14 Highlight the passage at 26:14

26:26 But just wanted to toss it out there. I guess we could take a vote and just see if people would be able to come on Sunday. Report an error in the passage at 26:26 Highlight the passage at 26:26

26:38 Could people just raise their hand? If you're able to come on Sunday. That's another alternative, but let me just see if people, because the problem is the next two weekends he's teaching at Gowa Genzo, which is really difficult. So it would postpone it to the end of the month, and I know from experience that when that happens, it's like the momentum is lost. Report an error in the passage at 26:38 Highlight the passage at 26:38

27:02 So who could come if it was on Sunday? Report an error in the passage at 27:02 Highlight the passage at 27:02

27:13 Yeah, we could start at any time. Yeah, we could start at any time really because we don't have the Saturday meditation on Sunday. But I do see Christine's hand's not up. People who are planning to come on Saturday and can't come on Sunday, could you raise your hands? You were planning, yeah. So that's a drag. I can be there on Sunday. I don't know how much time I have in the morning. Report an error in the passage at 27:13 Highlight the passage at 27:13

27:39 Right. I'm not sure when I'll end. Report an error in the passage at 27:39 Highlight the passage at 27:39

27:43 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 27:43 Highlight the passage at 27:43

27:46 But I do feel bad. I feel bad about even one person who was planning to come because I asked you guys to keep it open for the whole time and then to have this shift at the end. Yeah, no, because you missed the last one too, so I feel bad about that. Is it the whole day or is it one part of the day that's just you've already got a plan for the whole day? Report an error in the passage at 27:46 Highlight the passage at 27:46

28:16 Did you have a presentation already or were you going to do one? Report an error in the passage at 28:16 Highlight the passage at 28:16

28:23 Yeah, yeah, but maybe we could get together and we could do a... A personal one. Would you be okay with that? Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 28:23 Highlight the passage at 28:23

28:37 That would be really nice of you. I do feel really bad. My first reaction was like, no. And then I'm just like, you know, how rare this is to be able to spend low-sire with Rinpoche. It's kind of... Anyway. Okay. Well, if people are okay, then I'm going to send it out. I guess there probably are people who aren't here. Report an error in the passage at 28:37 Highlight the passage at 28:37

28:57 I've lost touch with how many people are actually in here anymore, but... If they aren't in the class, I'll just let them know. Originally at one point we were talking about having a volunteer thank you event on Sunday. And I was actually going to send out an email to all the volunteers who helped with Rinpoche's event and asked to move that to a Thursday night. Report an error in the passage at 28:57 Highlight the passage at 28:57

29:18 You know, because we have two free ones in between. Because Teresa's father is very ill and she's gone down to Southern California to be with him. And she has little gifts that she's... Designing for all you guys. And that hasn't happened yet, believe me. There's just been a lot happening. So anyway, so that's no longer a conflict on Sunday. Report an error in the passage at 29:18 Highlight the passage at 29:18

29:40 So I guess let's do it then. Let's go ahead and make it Sunday the 6th, I think it is. And we will meet. And do the time still work, 10.30 to 3.30-ish for people? Here, here, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 29:40 Highlight the passage at 29:40

30:03 At 10? Report an error in the passage at 30:03 Highlight the passage at 30:03

30:08 Could people make it at 10, if we did it at 10? I'm not seeing all the... No, that's harder for you. You have a longer distance to come. Okay. It is kind of hard for people that are coming a greater distance, I think. Let's just do 1030. Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you, you guys. I really appreciate it, and I don't take it lightly to shift things like this. I apologize. The description of the day, again, is that... Report an error in the passage at 30:08 Highlight the passage at 30:08

30:40 We'll have morning a couple of hours probably in the morning to just go through some of the meditations that we've been doing but as a group I can just guide you and what I usually do is give you guys no more than like 20 minutes and then I allow you to just take a little stretch break. So that you can move, so you're not sitting still for two hours, but you can actually stretch. And then I'll go into another one, and then we stretch, and then go into another one. Report an error in the passage at 30:40 Highlight the passage at 30:40

31:08 So that you actually can sit for quite a few of them without being in too much pain. And then at the end, we'll dedicate and then open it up, and if people have input or things that... experiences that they want to share or questions or something like that that comes up then we can speak but normally in the first part we just try to stay in silence as much as we can until that So it's a little bitty retreat is the idea. And then we'll have lunch together, which is a really nice thing. Report an error in the passage at 31:08 Highlight the passage at 31:08

31:40 It's kind of like a bonding thing. It's a potluck though, so everybody has to bring food. And then in the afternoon after that, we watch a short Discovering Buddhism video, which is on Lojong. And then we sort of gather in a group, and then whoever has a presentation that they'd like to share, I handed out the list of suggestions last week. Report an error in the passage at 31:40 Highlight the passage at 31:40

32:08 Five or ten minutes, and it can be as simple as just reading something or as elaborate as, well, it can't be any more elaborate than five or ten minutes because otherwise it will never end. Report an error in the passage at 32:08 Highlight the passage at 32:08

32:19 But just keep it simple. But the idea is just some aspect of the course that kind of grabbed your heart in some way or shifted something or something that you had an experience with to talk about that. So keep it. as experiential as you can. You can, however, lead a meditation if you'd like, and that's always nice. I don't think we ever get too much practice with meditating on things. Report an error in the passage at 32:19 Highlight the passage at 32:19

32:47 And you don't have to tell me in advance what it is. We have a couple times had two people do the same thing, and it's really okay, because it's always... If you want to do something that's not on the list, then you need to contact me because sometimes people want to do something that's completely... Report an error in the passage at 32:47 Highlight the passage at 32:47

33:05 It has nothing to do with class. I would really like it to have something to do with the class. Yeah. Only if you use sparklers, David. Only with sparklers. Paramedic tricks. Right. Well, paramedic tricks could have something to do with transforming the mind. That's true. Anyway. And then we end. We'll dedicate. Report an error in the passage at 33:05 Highlight the passage at 33:05

33:32 The other thing I want to announce as part of these announcements, since I have your attention, is that the wisdom course, which is the next Discovering Buddhism course, will happen on Thursday night in two weeks. So not next week or the week after, but the one after that, which should be the 24th. And it lasts for nine weeks, I believe. Report an error in the passage at 33:32 Highlight the passage at 33:32

33:57 So it's also two months on emptiness. Okay, now. Questions, check-in, anything. It could be about the meditation that we just did together or it can be just about your experiences this week or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 33:57 Highlight the passage at 33:57

34:14 Yeah, Katia. Report an error in the passage at 34:14 Highlight the passage at 34:14

34:19 I really don't know where to start because I feel like everything or a lot of the verses just came together for me this week in terms of noticing things in my life and just like what transformative power they really do. Just an inkling of that. Just one example was last Thursday I had to go back to work, back to the office after class, which I had to do the previous Thursday too. Report an error in the passage at 34:19 Highlight the passage at 34:19

34:45 So I left at 12.30am and I took a cab and the driver started chatting with me and I wasn't really in the mood to talk because I was incredibly tired. But I was polite and then he kind of got my attention by talking about... Something I really love, which is books. So we talked the whole time and then he started telling me the story of the necklace. I don't know, but Guy de Maupassant short story, which is basically like a little myth about or like a fable about attachment. Report an error in the passage at 34:45 Highlight the passage at 34:45

35:16 Or that's the way I understood it now. I read it in high school, but I haven't read it in a long time. And so it was the part about seeing teachers in unexpected places. Report an error in the passage at 35:16 Highlight the passage at 35:16

35:28 Like it was just like so obvious. It was like just proof right there. Normally I would have just like rushed out of a cab, you know, paid my fare. But he was he really felt like talking. And so I sat there for 20 minutes just listening to him. I didn't say a single word and he just kept saying things like as if he was just giving me a teaching. Report an error in the passage at 35:28 Highlight the passage at 35:28

35:48 Wow. Because everything he said was very, very wise. Wow. So those kind of options. Cabbies That's just one example. Even the bad ones. Sometimes they're scary teachers, but they are teachers. No, but I've had similar experiences with cab drivers. And it could be just like a write-off, and then all of a sudden this amazing thing happens. Yeah. There was tons of other stuff, but I don't want to talk the whole time. Report an error in the passage at 35:48 Highlight the passage at 35:48

36:14 Yeah, that's cool. Anybody else this week? Report an error in the passage at 36:14 Highlight the passage at 36:14

36:28 Yeah, I don't know how to quite explain it. We have a friend that's in the hospital who's really quite ill, and so part of it is when I was at home and sitting and was at the hospital sitting with him at one point, and then I was going, doing, well, basically like Lobsang and then thinking about his, the illness, the physical suffering that he's having with that, and then the emotional and mental one about, you know, are you going to... Report an error in the passage at 36:28 Highlight the passage at 36:28

36:55 It's going to happen with your family and whatnot. Report an error in the passage at 36:55 Highlight the passage at 36:55

37:02 We can't purify other people's karma per se. He is going through whatever it has been accumulating and manifesting at this time. But two things happen. One is when you just have, it felt like just by having the willingness to take in like part of the kind of Report an error in the passage at 37:02 Highlight the passage at 37:02

37:23 That illness, that worry, that suffering and to bring it in and to realize that all events, all phenomenon are merely labeled energy, good or bad. We've all grown the most from adverse circumstances at different times. So to kind of look at that like being willing to bring that in because it's not a scary thing individually because then as you... Report an error in the passage at 37:23 Highlight the passage at 37:23

37:55 When you bring that in, you realize that we're all composite phenomenon and kind of empty in our own nature. You can take that in and just convert it because it doesn't become you. Everything just sort of cycles. So being open to that suffering is being open to it even within yourself. That's sort of that dissolving of compassion or using compassion to dissolve that sense of self. Report an error in the passage at 37:55 Highlight the passage at 37:55

38:18 But then the other part in terms of just sort of is... Kind of like that karmic cycle and that stuff coming to fruition was really wanting to dedicate then, you can't purify what's manifesting, but to dedicate what's going forward so that in the sense that hoping that they don't have any continuing imprints from that, that it can sort of clear out because since karmic and phenomenon, yeah, it's sort of like a domino in a way. Report an error in the passage at 38:18 Highlight the passage at 38:18

38:53 Our understanding and reaction or non-reaction to a particular phenomenon or moment, you can kind of direct it whether we get angry back or not. You can sort of direct where you end up going and sort of just try and dedicate that where it goes is a positive place. You can't prevent it. Right. But so it was, you know, it was... Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 38:53 Highlight the passage at 38:53

39:18 know, it was, anyway. It was. Yeah, it was. That was my practice this week. And will continue to be. Again, as Tenzin Chokyi says, life is big sometimes. Yeah, yeah, it's very big. And it was actually very fortuitous to have the medicine Buddha Jainang. I got a satsa from the satsa studio and I had it sitting there. Report an error in the passage at 39:18 Highlight the passage at 39:18

39:45 So then I brought it to him at the hospital and explained to him what it was. And he was actually really, he's not Buddhist, but we've talked about it before. So he's open. Yeah, so he's kind of very open to that. So it was good. Cool. Very cool. Report an error in the passage at 39:45 Highlight the passage at 39:45

40:05 Anybody else? Anything at all? You have something? I feel Report an error in the passage at 40:05 Highlight the passage at 40:05

40:17 like in some ways the events themselves were... Or sort of boot camp. Boot camp before the course was over for transforming problems. Report an error in the passage at 40:17 Highlight the passage at 40:17

40:30 And it was just kind of one after another. You just kind of had to just keep moving forward, you know. So I was really appreciative of all of you guys helping me transform stuff as it arose. I was really... Report an error in the passage at 40:30 Highlight the passage at 40:30

40:45 Even just my experience with the meditation at the beginning of this class, I had just had an interaction with somebody that was a little, you know how email can be a little bit snarky and unresolved. And then it was sort of like, I have to just focus on this. But then when we started doing the meditation, I decided to do it for this person. And so it was just amazing how your heart kind of closes in and you... Report an error in the passage at 40:45 Highlight the passage at 40:45

41:11 And it just felt kind of like something stuck in your throat, you know, that feeling when you have some sort of interaction with somebody. And so I was just like, why not? It's a little hard when I'm guiding, but I could still try, you know, so I didn't do it like a complete full on the way I would if I was just by myself. Report an error in the passage at 41:11 Highlight the passage at 41:11

41:26 But it really helped. Like my heart just opened and I actually started crying at one point. I'm like leading you guys and I'm like, oh God, you know. But it was just, it's just, it is, it's just so powerful and effective, I think. When you just remember, oh yeah, I'm supposed to be working for all sending beings, even the ones who are snarky in emails at me. Or especially the ones who are snarky in emails. Report an error in the passage at 41:26 Highlight the passage at 41:26

41:52 This is for all snarky living beings wherever they are. Yeah, so that was a really profound experience and it was just a simple one. It wasn't even full on. So I think Tong Lin also is just such a powerful meditation. But anyway. Thank you. Thank you, guys. So we're going to do the final verse tonight, which is, of course, a really nice lead-in for the Wisdom of Emptiness class, because it starts to get into that. Report an error in the passage at 41:52 Highlight the passage at 41:52

42:25 And it also mentions a couple of things that we've talked about in other classes, but not necessarily in here. So we're going to spend some time with that. Report an error in the passage at 42:25 Highlight the passage at 42:25

42:35 So I'm going to read it again to you. 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 42:35 Highlight the passage at 42:35

42:58 So the very first line mentions one of these lists. Without these practices being defiled by the stains of the eight worldly concerns. And we have mentioned this in other classes before but not in here. So these eight are things that sort of eat up our lives basically. But it's not like just knowing what these eight are means that we can just eliminate them like instantly overnight. It's not like that. It just brings awareness to these eight. Report an error in the passage at 42:58 Highlight the passage at 42:58

43:30 And all of us have them in different shapes and forms and degrees. And they are ways of sort of checking up on our practice, you know, like how is our practice working? So the eight world of concerns, they basically boil down to, I'll read the list and then I'll go into them in a little bit more detail. Report an error in the passage at 43:30 Highlight the passage at 43:30

43:52 Gain and loss, they're sort of two pairs, each one, four sets of pairs. Gain and loss, pleasure and pain, Report an error in the passage at 43:52 Highlight the passage at 43:52

44:06 fame or a good reputation. And being unknown or having a bad reputation and praise and blame. See, they kind of work really well except that one. Report an error in the passage at 44:06 Highlight the passage at 44:06

44:21 They're almost all single words except for that one. Anyway, so gain basically is just being happy if you get something, right? Being happy if you get that date that you wanted or you get that job that you wanted or if you get that car that you wanted or you get that meal that you wanted or you get that class that you wanted or something. Report an error in the passage at 44:21 Highlight the passage at 44:21

44:42 It basically means generating an unreasonable amount of happiness over something that won't last. That's basically what it means in this case. It's not really worth getting super excited about, but we do this all the time. It doesn't mean when we get something or something nice happens to us that we shouldn't feel happy. Report an error in the passage at 44:42 Highlight the passage at 44:42

45:02 That's not what the point is. Or feel guilty. Sometimes people, once they learn about karma, they think when something good happens, they've somehow misused positive karma. And it's like, no, you just understand where it came from. So we have to use a little wisdom. So if something good happens, His Holiness smiles when something good happens. Report an error in the passage at 45:02 Highlight the passage at 45:02

45:26 It's not like you can't be happy when something good happens. But He has the wisdom of seeing that it's good karma ripening. So this came about because my good karma ripened. And that way we stop relying so much on external events to bring us happiness. That's a big part of this. And loss is the same way. It's basically being unhappy if we don't get something, or if we lose something, or if we misplace something, or if we have to leave something. Report an error in the passage at 45:26 Highlight the passage at 45:26

46:00 Again, this is just due to... Negative karma, ripening. And that can happen really fast, that things can suddenly shift. So Lama Yeshe used to always talk about how our minds right now, without wisdom, our minds are like yo-yos. You know, something good happens, we were leaping all around the house. Something bad happens, we're totally depressed and unable to communicate and, you know. Report an error in the passage at 46:00 Highlight the passage at 46:00

46:28 Pity party, basically. He used to always talk about self-pity mind, which I enjoy that one, actually. I'm quite good at that one. So one of my other teachers said, no, we have to just, you know, watch our minds, our minds go up and down. But he was a surfer at one point. So he would talk about how we learn to watch the ups and downs of our minds and we try to ride it like a wave, you know. Report an error in the passage at 46:28 Highlight the passage at 46:28

46:55 So it's not like we can eliminate the ups and downs and we probably wouldn't want to eliminate the ups and downs. That part is life. That's what life is filled with because we've created both kinds of karma. And so it ripens with both the good and the bad. But the point is not to let it influence us so much so that it completely takes us up and down. Report an error in the passage at 46:55 Highlight the passage at 46:55

47:17 Pleasure and pain are kind of the same thing. Pleasure is basically feeling happy if you feel good. Report an error in the passage at 47:17 Highlight the passage at 47:17

47:26 know and Pain is being unhappy if you don't feel good. These are the short answers. You can get into it in a lot more detail. Usually they talk about pleasure in relationship to physical things. That's what the meaning is here. Report an error in the passage at 47:26 Highlight the passage at 47:26

47:46 Our goal is, even if we're having pain or we feel sick or something, to try to keep our minds happy. That's kind of the goal. but um so pleasure Report an error in the passage at 47:46 Highlight the passage at 47:46

47:54 We aren't quite there yet, but that's okay. That's kind of the goal. I remember actually going into some detail with this. At times I've had really, really horrific migraines over the last 30 years. Fortunately, they're getting less and less. But I've done a lot of analysis on sort of physical pain in the mind and trying to understand the difference between the two. Report an error in the passage at 47:54 Highlight the passage at 47:54

48:22 So often if our body feels bad, then our mind also gets sad, and so I would always try to just sort of separate, yes, I am really sick with this, whatever, but my mind's okay. I still have the same mind. The mind actually hasn't been affected by the headache. The mind doesn't have a headache. The mind's not sick at its stomach. The mind doesn't even have a stomach. Report an error in the passage at 48:22 Highlight the passage at 48:22

48:43 And it's interesting. It's interesting just to sort of separate the two. The same is true, of course, when we have the flu. Or, you know, we stub our toe. Or, you know, like anything happens physically to us, the mind doesn't have to be so up and down about it all. Report an error in the passage at 48:43 Highlight the passage at 48:43

49:03 It's all, again, just due to karma. And then fame or good reputation, bad reputation. I actually like that better, I think. Fame and what's the opposite of fame? Report an error in the passage at 49:03 Highlight the passage at 49:03

49:18 Infamy. Infamy sounds like, yeah. I think it's more being unknown. But do we have like a term for that in English, being unknown? I always have trouble saying that. Anonymity. Anonymity. Obscurity. Yeah, obscurity is kind of good. That always reminds me of Jude the Obscure. Obscurity is what they... Report an error in the passage at 49:18 Highlight the passage at 49:18

49:48 Oh, okay, yeah. Obscurity is good, yeah. I think in our culture, good reputation and bad reputation kind of works similarly, but not entirely. But anyway, disrepute, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, I've heard that's kind of like what she was saying, ill repute. Report an error in the passage at 49:48 Highlight the passage at 49:48

50:12 So being happy if you get noticed or if you have a good reputation and sort of over the top, you know, say your boss comes in and says, you know, you've done a really good job today. I don't know why I made my boss a man just now. But anyway, you've done a really good job. Report an error in the passage at 50:12 Highlight the passage at 50:12

50:30 Exactly. Thanks. Or getting totally freaked out if we get the opposite, you know, you really screwed up, there's a return. I do taxes kind of on the side too. So, I mean, basically we should be trying to do a good job no matter what without really thinking so much about what others think about us and certainly not getting too attached to having our entire reputation or any kind of... Report an error in the passage at 50:30 Highlight the passage at 50:30

51:00 It's not that we want to just live completely lawlessly either. So what people think of us can actually be a beneficial thing because in the Dharma terms, especially if I'm thinking about it in terms of if somebody's thinking of you as a Buddhist and you're acting like a Buddhist, whatever that means in people's minds, because believe me, you definitely hear it if you're not, then it can actually... Report an error in the passage at 51:00 Highlight the passage at 51:00

51:27 Cause their mind some sort of happiness or interest or curiosity. Oh, she seems calmer dealing with this problem or whatever. Obviously they're not watching me. But that shouldn't be the main reason that we're doing it. Like it shouldn't be like, oh, you know, I want people to think I'm a really good Buddhist or oh, I want people to think I'm a really good nun. In fact, actually we have vows that sort of prohibit that. Report an error in the passage at 51:27 Highlight the passage at 51:27

51:53 If we're thinking so strongly about what other people think of us, that's not really the reason we should do something. We should do something because our heart tells us it's the right thing to do, or our studies tell us it's the right thing to do, or a teacher tells us it's the right thing to do. Whatever it is, it makes sense to us from our heart level and that we're doing it based on our integrity and our sense of ourselves and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 51:53 Highlight the passage at 51:53

52:20 And the same... So then the last two, praise and blame. And I actually like criticism too. Blame and criticism I think are sort of the two final dwarfs who don't get mentioned very often. But praise and blame, if we get really excited when we get praise, which is similar to developing an infamy around us or a reputation around us. Report an error in the passage at 52:20 Highlight the passage at 52:20

52:49 Praise is sort of, I think these kind of things happen every day. So it doesn't have to be sort of a larger sense of who we are in the world. It's just sort of like, wow, you're really good at that. And we all get all excited and our head gets all swelled. And then we start thinking that's who we are, right? We start solidifying that too. Report an error in the passage at 52:49 Highlight the passage at 52:49

53:09 And then the next day we, you know. You're really not very good at that, you know, like somebody else says the same thing, then you're like, oh, you know, and you're all like wounded and stuff. Criticism, I think, is a big one. Report an error in the passage at 53:09 Highlight the passage at 53:09

53:24 When criticism comes, it's really hard to just like not get defensive, but to kind of soften a little bit and to let it in and to actually look at it because maybe there's something useful there for me to hear, so not just discarding it. Report an error in the passage at 53:24 Highlight the passage at 53:24

53:42 That one's a really hard one for me, I think. Anyway, these eight, these eight worldly concerns, they call them, or eight worldly dharmas, are basically just eight big old habits, you know. And we become aware of them, but they don't really pop up with like sort of footnotes or neon signs that tell us what they are. Report an error in the passage at 53:42 Highlight the passage at 53:42

54:05 We just kind of get used to noticing them when they pop up. And they do tell us where we still need work. But this verse is saying, don't let your Lojong practice get polluted by these eight. That's basically what it's saying. So our Lojong practice, actually, originally these teachings, remember in the first class I was talking about how they used to be quite secret and quite sacred and quite... Report an error in the passage at 54:05 Highlight the passage at 54:05

54:35 You know, you just work on them very secretly on your own. Like your teacher would, if you were fortunate enough to be the one that he or she thought was the most capable, then you would receive these teachings very quietly in this ear whispered tradition and you would just work on them quietly without anybody knowing that you were, you know, had learned them and were practicing them. Report an error in the passage at 54:35 Highlight the passage at 54:35

54:57 They were just a way of working on your mind. So there was no thought of doing them. To please others or to make a big show of them. And that's definitely what should be the case now too. Like we shouldn't be kind of using them to puff ourselves up, you know, the way they always talk about pride. Puffing ourselves up, making a big show of looking like a great Dharma practitioner and so forth. We should be actually willing, if we're good Dharma practitioners, this is another one that's difficult for me, but we should be willing to take the blame for sure. Report an error in the passage at 54:57 Highlight the passage at 54:57

55:30 But also look like a fool if we have to. it. Report an error in the passage at 55:30 Highlight the passage at 55:30

55:33 And I mentioned that one friend of mine who was always willing to do that, and I was always so impressed by him that he was so willing to be the one who looked like a goofball and didn't do this right or whatever. He'd lead the laughter at himself. And I think if we're really practicing this, then that's kind of what we have to get to, because it subdues our ego, and our ego is our biggest block. Report an error in the passage at 55:33 Highlight the passage at 55:33

55:59 By perceiving all phenomena as illusory. So here we are getting into emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 55:59 Highlight the passage at 55:59

56:07 So there's another version of these eight that are called the deeper eight, sometimes called the eight extremes, or literally the eight cliffs that you can fall off of. Report an error in the passage at 56:07 Highlight the passage at 56:07

56:22 And this is, you might have heard the terms conventional bodhicitta and ultimate bodhicitta. They talk about the two bodhicittas. Conventional bodhicitta is what we've been talking about all the way up to this point. So the first seven verses are talking about conventional bodhicitta. That is this really strong wish to become enlightened so that I can benefit all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 56:22 Highlight the passage at 56:22

56:47 That's conventional bodhicitta. We need to generate this mind in order to get enlightened. We can't get enlightened without this mind. the eighth birth verse birth the eighth verse that's hard to say um It's talking about ultimate bodhicitta. And ultimate bodhicitta is really just a code word for emptiness. It's talking about the nature of reality. So when they talk about the two bodhicittas, they're really talking about method and wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 56:47 Highlight the passage at 56:47

57:13 They're talking about bodhicitta and emptiness. So these eight actually come from a text called the Heart Sūtra, which I think... Probably many of you are at least familiar with, we read it most of the time when Geshe-la teaches, we read the Heart Sūtra together. There's lots of, there is no this, no that, no this, no that, no this, no that. Report an error in the passage at 57:13 Highlight the passage at 57:13

57:39 And kind of the key word that's missing is there is no inherent this or that or this or that or this or that. So when you have time, we actually will talk a little bit about the Heart Sūtra in the Wisdom class. Report an error in the passage at 57:39 Highlight the passage at 57:39

57:55 It's a profound key. All of the Prajna, Paramita Sutras and the Heart Sūtra is just a nice sort of concise one. Our codes are keys to unlocking this nature of reality the way the Buddha experienced it, emptiness. And we have to spend a lot of time studying it and meditating on it. But the sort of short and sweet version is that... Report an error in the passage at 57:55 Highlight the passage at 57:55

58:22 Shunyata means, Shunyata is a Sanskrit word for emptiness, sometimes translated into voidness, which I can't stand, but I can understand where it came from. It basically means that things don't exist the way they appear to exist to our senses. So things don't exist out there, separate from me and my mind, absolutely, inherently, concretely, permanently. Report an error in the passage at 58:22 Highlight the passage at 58:22

58:52 The way they seem to exist. So things are empty of that inherent existence. That's what emptiness is referring to. This is what the Buddha observed the nature of reality to be. And our misperception of reality, including the reality of ourselves and probably starting with the reality of ourselves, is that... Report an error in the passage at 58:52 Highlight the passage at 58:52

59:23 Our misperception makes things appear to be fixed and solid and concrete and unchanging, but nothing really exists this way. And this misapprehension or misperception, and then as Rinpoche always says, and then believing it, taking that extra step. So it's not the misapprehension itself, it's the believing it to be true and then acting on that belief. Report an error in the passage at 59:23 Highlight the passage at 59:23

59:49 That's what causes saṃsāra. That's what causes us to cycle through all the realms of existence repeatedly, creating negative karma, suffering from that negative karma and so forth. That's really all saṃsāra is. It's not some place that we're at now and then we get out of it and we go someplace else. That's nirvāṇa. It's what happens in our mind, basically. Report an error in the passage at 59:49 Highlight the passage at 59:49

1:00:14 Saṃsāra is our mind. Nirvāṇa is our mind. Um, So, I was going to say something, I just like hit and then went, but anyway, hopefully it'll come back. Okay, so let me tell you the deeper eight. Things, I'm going to tell you the eight, and then I'll go back to sort of going through them in a little more detail. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:14 Highlight the passage at 1:00:14

1:00:42 Things don't start from their own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:42 Highlight the passage at 1:00:42

1:00:53 Things don't stop from their own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:53 Highlight the passage at 1:00:53

1:01:05 Nothing is unchangeable. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:05 Highlight the passage at 1:01:05

1:01:14 I should have done the... the board, sorry. If nothing existed, then nothing would matter. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:14 Highlight the passage at 1:01:14

1:01:33 There is no going. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:33 Highlight the passage at 1:01:33

1:01:41 There is no coming. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:41 Highlight the passage at 1:01:41

1:01:49 Nothing is one thing from its own side. Nothing is one thing from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:49 Highlight the passage at 1:01:49

1:02:02 And nothing is many from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:02 Highlight the passage at 1:02:02

1:02:10 Nothing is many from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:10 Highlight the passage at 1:02:10

1:02:17 So things don't start from their own side. An example of this is Number four, if nothing existed, then nothing would matter. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:17 Highlight the passage at 1:02:17

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:02:22 Getting into a car and turning a key and the car starts. Or doesn't start. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:22 Highlight the passage at 1:02:22

1:02:33 Which happened over the weekend. It looks like our turning the key is what makes it start. That's how it starts. We get back to how and why. Conventionally that's how it starts but not why. It's a condition for it starting. But the why has to do with karma and emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:33 Highlight the passage at 1:02:33

1:02:54 If it were really why, then every time we turn the key, it would start, but it doesn't. It starts because we've created the karma, or I've created the karma to have a working car, and it doesn't start because I've created the karma to not have a working car. When that karma wears out, then it stops working. Another example is, it looks like because I'm working really hard, that I'm getting money, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:54 Highlight the passage at 1:02:54

1:03:26 But it's totally due to karma. This is according to the Buddha. According to the Buddha, my getting a lot of money is not because I'm working hard. That's a conventional condition. It's because I was generous in a past life. Because a lot of people work a hell of a lot harder than me and don't make any money. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:26 Highlight the passage at 1:03:26

1:03:46 A lot of people don't work at all and have a hell of a lot more money. So if working hard was the root cause, it would always be the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:46 Highlight the passage at 1:03:46

1:03:57 This is the quandary. But it's not. So what the Buddha is saying is that we have to start studying karma and looking around us and thinking in a different way. This is forcing us to think in a different way. Things don't stop from their own side is number two. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:57 Highlight the passage at 1:03:57

1:04:19 For example, if I have a headache, it could be caused... I mean, the stopping of my headache could be... Because I took an aspirin. But again, that would be the how, not the why. According to Buddhism, the reason that my headache stopped and I got some relief is because I took away someone's pain in a past life in some way. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:19 Highlight the passage at 1:04:19

1:04:48 Maybe caring for them, maybe protecting a life. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:48 Highlight the passage at 1:04:48

1:04:55 Otherwise, every time I took a pain reliever, my headache would go away. And I think all of us have experienced that not working. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:55 Highlight the passage at 1:04:55

1:05:06 Another example, I'm alive in this body because I've created amazing good karma, and Rinpoche talked about this at length, to be a human. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:06 Highlight the passage at 1:05:06

1:05:19 But when that karma wears out, this body stops working for me. We call that death. It happens in an instant. Death is just, according to Buddhist terms, death is just my karma for this body and life wearing out. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:19 Highlight the passage at 1:05:19

1:05:39 Death is just my karma. Whoa. Did everybody see that? This leaf just fell. That's pretty cool. Thanks. Thanks for everything. I didn't think about the special effect. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:39 Highlight the passage at 1:05:39

1:05:54 Death is just my karma for this body and life wearing out. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:54 Highlight the passage at 1:05:54

1:06:06 So think about the anger that arises in our minds if somebody is yelling at us. According to Buddhist teachings, our karma... Is simply ripening and what's happening are shapes and colors and sounds. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:06 Highlight the passage at 1:06:06

1:06:25 And our mind is organizing it due to karma into something that we're perceiving as an experience. Probably usually as an unhappy experience, but it could also be a funny experience if you don't speak the language. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:25 Highlight the passage at 1:06:25

1:06:41 Right? If you're traveling and you're like, what's wrong with him? You know, you don't take it that seriously. If you don't understand it or it just seems funny. If you just have a light-hearted heart, then you also might not take it so seriously and you might just laugh and then talk to the person about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:41 Highlight the passage at 1:06:41

1:06:57 If somebody's screaming at David, then I might not be so upset. My karma isn't making those shapes and sounds and colors into a negative thing. It's just kind of like, cool, he's finally getting it. He deserves it. It's been messing up a long time. I'm glad he's finally getting noticed. It could be a positive thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:57 Highlight the passage at 1:06:57

1:07:17 How do we stop that if it's me getting yelled at? I have to work on me being an angry person. According to the Buddha, this is how we change our karma. How do I respond to it? How do I react is how I stop it. And always as much as possible, even if you can't at the time, remembering karma and emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:17 Highlight the passage at 1:07:17

1:07:41 It's hard, I mean, as we remember from this weekend. Nothing is unchangeable. That's the third one. Nothing is unchangeable. Nothing is permanent. The reality is that everything is changing all the time. Nothing is fixed. Our mind is changing moment by moment. Our body is changing moment by moment. Our relationships are changing moment by moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:41 Highlight the passage at 1:07:41

1:08:06 The whole world around us is changing moment by moment. Our karma. It's changing moment by moment by moment by moment by moment. So our karma also isn't fixed, isn't solid. We're creating more all the time, hopefully more positive. We're purifying all the crap as much as we can all the time. So it's constantly changing. And this is what allows us to get enlightened, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:06 Highlight the passage at 1:08:06

1:08:33 If things were self-existent, nothing could change. We couldn't ever become a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:33 Highlight the passage at 1:08:33

1:08:42 And that's actually a good one to remember when something shifts, like either in your understanding or like when I was describing my experience in the meditation and the heart which just habitually wants to close down when it gets hurt, right? That's just the ego. So when the heart opens and expands and we realize it's possible, this is a sign that nothing is permanent. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:42 Highlight the passage at 1:08:42

1:09:09 And thinking... I exist in a certain way is what holds us back to. If nothing existed, then nothing would matter. That's number four. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09:09

1:09:21 This is referring to nihilism because a lot of times people get kind of freaked out by teachings on emptiness because then there's this idea that, well, it's all empty anyway. And I hear this a lot even in Buddhist centers, people misunderstanding emptiness. It's because of emptiness and karma that everything matters. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:21 Highlight the passage at 1:09:21

1:09:43 What we do becomes of ultimate importance, becomes completely important. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:43 Highlight the passage at 1:09:43

1:09:54 Things are empty of inherent existence, but it doesn't mean they are completely non-existent. And that's a huge, huge difference. I'll say it again. Things are empty of inherent existence. I am empty of inherent existence. The center is empty of inherent existence. Charles is empty of inherent existence, which is allowing him to become a monk. But it doesn't mean that they don't exist at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:54 Highlight the passage at 1:09:54

1:10:23 They just don't exist the way we thought that they did, the way we have thought that they have existed. As Rinpoche would say, since beginning this rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:23 Highlight the passage at 1:10:23

1:10:37 And because things are empty of inherent existence, then behaving ethically, kindly, does matter. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:37 Highlight the passage at 1:10:37

1:10:48 It's because of emptiness and karma that working with our mind does matter. It is important. In fact, in reality, it's all that matters. That's what creates our reality. There is no going. He says that one, since beginning this rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:48 Highlight the passage at 1:10:48

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:11:05 As number five, there is no going. And some of these are direct lines from the sūtra, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:05 Highlight the passage at 1:11:05

1:11:15 This is referring to thinking that things arise or grow or develop without any cause, sort of randomly out there. This is a discussion that we've gotten into in the Foundation for Buddhist Thought discussion room recently. I think it's a big one in our culture. I think it's actually big in science, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:15 Highlight the passage at 1:11:15

1:11:39 Most things in science actually believe that, I'll check with scientists in the room, that things have a cause, that usually there has to be a cause to things happening. But there is this whole idea that there are things that happen randomly as well. The Buddha taught that nothing can happen randomly, that nothing happens randomly, that everything has to have a cause, and that that cause is karmic. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:39 Highlight the passage at 1:11:39

1:12:07 So it comes from an action of our mind or words or body. So if we look at a plant, we know that the plant came from a seed, even though the seed's not around anymore. We can kind of infer that it came from a seed. And the Buddha is saying that all these actions create seeds and those seeds then... Ripen into our different experiences in that same way. So we don't see those seeds, but those potencies are carried in our mind stream. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:07 Highlight the passage at 1:12:07

1:12:52 It's more like energy in a way. So it's not like the seed analogy only works so far, but it's more like a potency or an energy in our mind stream that then ripens. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:52 Highlight the passage at 1:12:52

1:13:02 There is no coming. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:02 Highlight the passage at 1:13:02

1:13:07 Again, it's almost like a shift in energy that things don't come to an end. Really, inherently. So when this life ends, our subtle mind just continues into a different form, depending on our karma. So there's really not an inherent coming to an end. It's just movement. It's just change, you know. Every, you know, in this plant, if we think about going back to the plant analogy, it's the destruction of the seed that causes the sprout and the destruction of the sprout that causes the... Report an error in the passage at 1:13:07 Highlight the passage at 1:13:07

1:13:44 plant and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:44 Highlight the passage at 1:13:44

1:13:50 And the destruction of the baby that causes the toddler and the destruction of the toddler that causes the child and the destruction of the child that causes the teenager and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:50 Highlight the passage at 1:13:50

1:14:02 But we're just thinking about that sort of metaphorically. It doesn't mean we have to actually destroy anything. It's just it's all changing energy. It's like energy shifting kind of in this almost like minute way. So things are actually far more fluid and spacious than we think. We get so stuck in thinking that things are solid and inherently existent and real and permanent that change scares us, but actually change is the only certainty. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:02 Highlight the passage at 1:14:02

1:14:37 Nothing is one thing from its own side. These next two are two that are part of, well actually all of these, these last four. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:37 Highlight the passage at 1:14:37

1:14:45 And especially our part of the analysis of emptiness, and we will get into this in the next class, really trying to apply these. Nothing is one thing from its own side and nothing is many from its own side. So when we think of nothing as one thing from its own side, everything is made up of parts. So sometimes they call this unitary, you know, when you're talking about the different debates of the different schools. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:45 Highlight the passage at 1:14:45

1:15:10 Things seem like they're just all one, you know, like I'm me, right? But then if I break myself down, if I break down my body into all of its different parts, I break down my mind into its different parts, everything is like that. So it seems like this is just a table, right? But then we get into this kind of weird veneer thing on top and all the front part and it bends and then we get down to those particles that made it up and stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:10 Highlight the passage at 1:15:10

1:15:36 So nothing is unitary. You know, it looks like a unitary center, right? The center. It's made up of, basically it's just the people and then some really pretty things. That's really all it is. It's not like the center exists in any real, permanent, concrete, solid way. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:36 Highlight the passage at 1:15:36

1:15:54 Because we created a different ephemeral center over the weekend that doesn't exist anymore except in our memories and a couple of pictures. Nothing is many from its own side, so even these parts can be further broken down ad infinitum. It's almost like peeling back the layers of an onion repeatedly. You just keep going down deeper into the atoms that make up your body and the moments of mental awareness that make up your mind or the atoms that make up the table and then the parts that make up those atoms and so forth until you really can't find anything at all and then you freak out. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:54 Highlight the passage at 1:15:54

1:16:36 And the point is, again, that it's I mean, this is actually all in agreement with what. Western science, at least this part, you know, the Buddha adds, every time I see you, it's like I'm thinking, who's that monk? What's he doing? Who let him into the house? I think this came up, the reason I mentioned Charles, because I think this happened when Tenzil Lama, most of you probably don't even know Tenzil Lama anymore, but Tenzil Lama was... Report an error in the passage at 1:16:36 Highlight the passage at 1:16:36

1:17:09 He was Geshe-la's attendant when he first came, and then he was one of our translators over time. He was a monk for 25 years, and he disrobed. And a lot of people just completely freaked out, and Venom Rubina said it's because they're seeing him as an inherently existent monk. He's not an inherently existent monk. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:09 Highlight the passage at 1:17:09

1:17:29 He was changing moment by moment. We just didn't see what was happening in his mind and in his heart. And so it was, you know... Kind of freaky. In the same way, Charles was not an inherently existent layperson. He was changing moment by moment. We just weren't aware of it. And so then this change is just the manifestation of all those different conditions. And that's really all that all of reality is. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:29 Highlight the passage at 1:17:29

1:17:55 We get freaked out when the cup breaks, you know, but it's just from the moment of its creation, it's been breaking, you know. It was ripe for breakage. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:55 Highlight the passage at 1:17:55

1:18:06 Don't break. so you know you Rinpoche was talking about a lot of things not coming from their own side out there. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:06 Highlight the passage at 1:18:06

1:18:23 That's just the way it appears to us. It's like it's out there, existent, completely unrelated to me and my karmic perception and my projections and so forth. um and And according to the Buddha, our karma is the filter or the glasses that allows us to see things in a certain way. You know, if we're having a certain experience, like I might have a certain attachment or whatever to this cup, Bodhi, my cat, wouldn't have at all the same karmic projection on this cup. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:23 Highlight the passage at 1:18:23

1:19:01 In fact, she couldn't get her head into it, so it would seem sort of useless probably, even if it had milk in it. Well, maybe she could get her milk in it. She might force her little head into it. But, you know, if an ant saw it, especially with water in it, it would be completely off its little radar. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:01 Highlight the passage at 1:19:01

1:19:17 It just wouldn't have the karma to perceive it as anything of interest, unless it had maybe some honey in the bottom or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:17 Highlight the passage at 1:19:17

1:19:27 But the fact that karma and emptiness work this way is what allows everything to happen. It's what allows, you know, all the... Stages on the path. It allows us to realize the Buddha's teachings in our own minds. It allows us to get enlightened ourselves. If we did inherently exist in this way that we tend to solidify ourselves, we wouldn't be able to do anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:27 Highlight the passage at 1:19:27

1:19:55 We wouldn't be able to change. There wouldn't even be regular change, much less other positive, amazing change that the Buddha is talking about here. And this leads to the two extremes. Which again we'll talk more about in the wisdom class. There are two extremes of thought. One is the one that we believe in now. Which is kind of, they sometimes call it eternalism or materialism. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:55 Highlight the passage at 1:19:55

1:20:24 Which is basically that things exist exactly the way they appear. You know, you are you, I am I. You are exactly the way I see you. There's no room for any differences of opinion. I am exactly the way I see me. Believe me, there could be some huge differences with that. You know, it looks like things exist out there independent of any of us in our minds in the way that we perceive reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:24 Highlight the passage at 1:20:24

1:20:54 It seems like there are really great people in here and really crappy people on the street, you know. But it's all based on our mind. So if we had the karma, we would see everyone in this class as a completely pure being, but we'd also see everyone on the street as a completely pure being. We'd see all of reality as pure. And that's what we're kind of shooting for. Buddhas actually have that. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:54 Highlight the passage at 1:20:54

1:21:23 And the other extreme is nihilism, believing that nothing exists at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:23 Highlight the passage at 1:21:23

1:21:31 And we don't want to fall off of that cliff either. So that's when they talk about the middle way. They're talking about finding the way between these two extremes, the extreme of materialism or eternalism, which is where we are right now, and the extreme of nihilism, believing that nothing matters, nothing exists, which is a hugely wrong view. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:31 Highlight the passage at 1:21:31

1:21:54 So why don't we ask some questions, because I know this is a lot. I just realized I don't even have a clock. This is so dangerous. Wait. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:54 Highlight the passage at 1:21:54

1:22:14 So questions? I know you guys have some questions. Katia's going to go for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:14 Highlight the passage at 1:22:14

1:22:23 So I'm getting or starting to get the way that karma and emptiness would define how you perceive reality, which is, you know, now in my mind I'm thinking that's a lot, you know, almost all of reality, but how does it like actually get you, you know, like the example you started with, like if you work, it's not because you're working hard that you're getting more money. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:23 Highlight the passage at 1:22:23

1:22:45 Right, yeah. But how does that, you know, how does it lead to that actual fact? Yeah. Of getting more money rather than just feeling satisfied. That's getting into dependent arising. So we spent time talking, which we're not going to get into so much here, but we will in the emptiness class. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:45 Highlight the passage at 1:22:45

1:23:01 Emptiness is talking about how things don't exist. Dependent arising is talking about how things do exist. And things do exist in dependence upon a number of things, including causes and conditions and karma, but not entirely based on that. So I think I won't get into that so much, but it does, yeah, so it gets from our perception of reality to reality itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:01 Highlight the passage at 1:23:01

1:23:28 And yeah, it's a big leap. It is a big leap. Yeah, but I think I won't get into it too much here. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:23:28 Highlight the passage at 1:23:28

1:23:39 Susan has one. I saw her eyes. Yeah, I'm sure. So let's see. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:39 Highlight the passage at 1:23:39

1:23:52 So when you say we aren't, and I so think this is so wonderful that we're not inherently anything which makes change, you know, possible. Right. But why is it people have such difficulty with change and being changed, even though this is our constant process? Because of our concept of true existence. It's our concept that things aren't changing all the time. We're so blocked into thinking that things and stuck by that into thinking that things are just permanent, much less empty of inherent nature. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:52 Highlight the passage at 1:23:52

1:24:33 We're just getting into permanence and impermanence. That understanding, even though we understand it on a, I think most of us understand it on a logical or an intellectual basis, it's still so deeply ingrained and held. that it makes it, you know. Actually, not everyone has this problem. I definitely know of people who, when change happens, they just go with it really easily. I'm not one of those people necessarily. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:33 Highlight the passage at 1:24:33

1:25:01 Or I can go with it immediately and then I have problems down the road. But it's usually just because of this really deeply ingrained habit. It's like a habit of thinking that things are more solid than they are. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:01 Highlight the passage at 1:25:01

1:25:20 Teachings on emptiness and impermanence, they actually begin with impermanence, ask us to not just understand these things intellectually but then to ponder them and to ponder them and to ponder them and to ponder them. And sometimes it's like walking down the road and just thinking about the fact that this road wasn't always there and thinking about its impermanence and that people actually created it and that those people are now gone. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:20 Highlight the passage at 1:25:20

1:25:48 You know, just like that. So you're just constantly trying to... Change that really long-held belief from limitless lifetimes. We just keep believing this despite the reality, right? I mean, many of us in this room have lost people in various ways, you know, relationships and through death and so forth. And still it shocks the hell out of us when it happens again. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:48 Highlight the passage at 1:25:48

1:26:12 You know, it shocks the hell out of us when the cup breaks, much less when we lose a person. it's just that deep, deep Wrong view, basically. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:12 Highlight the passage at 1:26:12

1:26:28 When we show sympathy for someone's condition, so someone has a bad diagnosis, for instance, and nothing is inherently in this changing state, and that would be part of the changing, but comfort, that's not comforting. No, it probably wouldn't be, unless they studied emptiness before. And even then, I think you have to first just show compassion. I think a lot of times, even with Buddhists, you know, it can often not be quite helpful if you're just told, oh, well, it's all empty and, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:28 Highlight the passage at 1:26:28

1:27:12 It's still like the only life you know, unless you're much more realized than you appear to be, you know. So it's actually, it can help us in dealing with it. And it may help us if we're the ones with the bad diagnosis, right? That could actually be quite useful. But it's not necessarily useful, especially at the moment you receive the bad diagnosis, if somebody isn't first just willing to say, wow, Susan, this is big. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:12 Highlight the passage at 1:27:12

1:27:36 This is big. We'll get through this. You know, we'll get through this. That can be quite helpful. But if somebody's just trying to tell you it's all empty, it doesn't inherently exist and all that stuff, it could actually create a version in your mind, I would think. You could actually get angry at the person or whatever. Or at least just feel unheard. Maybe the opposite of that also would be to tell somebody that, oh, this doesn't really exist or this can't be happening. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:36 Highlight the passage at 1:27:36

1:28:06 Right, that denial. That often happens, actually. You're fixed. We'll make you stay fixed. Right. Right, yeah, yeah, sure. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:06 Highlight the passage at 1:28:06

1:28:22 Do you have a question? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:22 Highlight the passage at 1:28:22

1:28:27 Once again, our friend that's in the hospital right now that was diagnosed with cancer and had a couple of surgeries now, you know, kind of waiting to see how things are going. And I was visiting with him the other day and we're taking a little stroll around the hallways and talking. And he was saying how, and he's like 10 years younger than I am. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:27 Highlight the passage at 1:28:27

1:28:47 and in I was kind of very sort of focused in Norwegian, you know, kind of like work hard, discarded as sort of like hardcore Lutheran parent and stuff. Careful. I was raised a Lutheran. Are you Norwegian? German. Okay, all right. I got a little Norwegian gene pool, but I wasn't. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:47 Highlight the passage at 1:28:47

1:29:12 But it was very interesting for him because as we were talking, he was saying he was working so hard and his whole focus was kind of like being stressful. And it's actually been a very positive, transformative experience for him very quickly because he was saying to me, you know, my whole value system has completely changed, you know, and each day that he has. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:12 Highlight the passage at 1:29:12

1:29:32 And so we actually had a very, kind of a very nice, interesting conversation about what you do with your, what happens with your values. How you embrace your life, what you realize is really important and what's not. And so, and I mean, once again, he's not Buddhist. I am. We've actually had a few times just had various discussions on a more philosophical realm, but it was very interesting because as he was bringing up, and so it was kind of like a little mini, not an option. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:32 Highlight the passage at 1:29:32

1:30:03 Dharma talk, but it was just as he was just kind of being open to what he was expressing. That's it. And I think this comes up a lot. I think when people realize their own impermanence and their own emptiness in a sense, by realizing that, then they can be open. And we just, if you're with somebody. Who is dying? That can be a time of profound change because we have to suddenly give up all these things of I am this, I work at this job, all those things are gone suddenly. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:03 Highlight the passage at 1:30:03

1:30:33 So you either freak out or you are able to surf it. And some people, as they're surfing it, amazing things happen. Amazing things happen. We can't guide that. We just have to try to read it. So if you're with somebody who's dying, you just have to be able to see what they're willing to talk about or open to talk about. They may not be. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:33 Highlight the passage at 1:30:33

1:30:55 They may close the doors even more or one day different than another day. So you just kind of wing it. At least for me, it was very interesting. I felt very... Grateful that I was there at the time because when you're faced with that, you could really go either way. It's like, oh, you know, this really sucks. But, you know, as he was saying that, he was kind of like, wow, I look at life really differently. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:55 Highlight the passage at 1:30:55

1:31:18 And as I was sitting with him, it was like, yeah, it's great, isn't it? And he was like, yeah, it really is. And so we kind of went through that. So it just took that all things being... Composite phenomenon that can be labeled this or that, you know, it's a very grim moment and difficult, was actually fraught with possibility. But it's also a release in a way. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:18 Highlight the passage at 1:31:18

1:31:39 Yeah, yeah. So it was really nice. And the idea that there is no truly existent ending is also quite freeing in a way. This I that I thought was all there was. That's when we freak out. If that's coming to an end, then oh my God. But if it's just energy and that my mind will continue in some other form, there's actually quite, I find quite a bit of comfort in that. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:39 Highlight the passage at 1:31:39

1:32:04 You know what I mean? So there can be freedom in that too. But again, you just have to be careful, like trying to voice this onto somebody. You have to be careful where they're coming from and how open they are. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:04 Highlight the passage at 1:32:04

1:32:17 It's not like we're all running out to work with the dying, but I'm just mentioning that because sometimes, especially as New Buddhists, we get kind of excited and we want to help everybody, and we just have to be skillful. We haven't got the wisdom to back up these new ideas quite yet, and so we have to be really skillful on how we share them with other people. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:17 Highlight the passage at 1:32:17

1:32:43 Anything else? Any other questions? Yeah. Pass him the mic. I kind of had a major Kaleisha today. I'm kind of going through a breakup right now. And I'm suspecting that the person that I'm in this relationship with is interested in somebody else. And so it brought up a whole other level of thoughts and fears and things like this. And so I was, of course, imagining the worst. But going so deeply into that feeling, I was trying to go deep enough into it where I can actually see myself or see them. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:43 Highlight the passage at 1:32:43

1:33:21 together and be okay with that and then imagining all of the positive things that could come out of that friendship and working together and i mean just like beyond what the ego would normally accept as normal right and there were these moments of release like you said where Very cool. Very cool. Because in that, just by allowing that to be allowed that. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:21 Highlight the passage at 1:33:21

1:33:46 And their happiness, I mean, I'm just, again, this is just projection. Yeah, it doesn't matter. But still, it's like even projecting into that and just being with that possibility seems to be, there's a lot of work in that. Right, for sure. I just had to share that because that was so, seemed pertinent. Yeah, no, it really does. It really is. And so much better to have done the work in your quiet on your own than to suddenly. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:46 Highlight the passage at 1:33:46

1:34:14 Bump into them coming out of the movies or something. And not having thought about it at all is a possibility. And then we just read about it in the news later. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:14 Highlight the passage at 1:34:14

1:34:28 We don't want that to happen. We definitely don't want that to happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:28 Highlight the passage at 1:34:28

1:34:34 So I think we're getting a little late. I was going to lead you guys into meditation and all of this, but I have a little bit more content. So I think what I'm going to do is give you a five-minute break. Then we're just going to finish with a little bit more material. We'll just end with a simple meditation and then you'll have to come to the practice day. We'll try recording. Normally I don't like to record on the practice day, but we'll record the practice day so that we can have some of these meditations to practice with later. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:34 Highlight the passage at 1:34:34

1:35:08 So everybody take a break. It's a lot, especially if you guys have never even studied emptiness before. It's a lot. I don't know where the ding-ding is. Okay, good. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:08 Highlight the passage at 1:35:08

1:35:25 Christy. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:25 Highlight the passage at 1:35:25

1:35:34 Yeah, you can leave that in there, but just add hot. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:34 Highlight the passage at 1:35:34

1:35:40 From the little tea thing in the... Oh, yeah, no, I'm just more thinking about it was the 49th day, but you're going to be... I'm sorry, it was the 49th, but it's at 5 a.m., right? So it's okay. I can do it all at home anyway, because I was going to do another one at home, so I can just get all the stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:40 Highlight the passage at 1:35:40

1:36:12 Don't worry. There'll be other practice days and stuff. What happened to Charles? Did he take vows? He didn't actually take vows. He was at the first level, so he had permission to wear the robe. here we are. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:12 Highlight the passage at 1:36:12

1:36:29 And so his name is still Charles. Sort of still Charles, he also asked what his refuge name was. So his refuge name was Namang, Geshe-la and Sultrim, which is morality. So some of us have started to call him Sultrim. But if he takes Get-Sult, which is like novice, then he'll get another name. So we're getting too attached to Sultrim at this point. Unless he gets it again. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:29 Highlight the passage at 1:36:29

1:36:56 Yeah, it just happened Monday afternoon. He met with Lama Tsongkhapa apparently at 2 or 3 in the morning. And he asked like four questions and that was one of them. Oh, so I said yes. How about three o 'clock tomorrow? So the thing that amazed me is he didn't even tell any of us until we all went off to Golden Gate Bridge and did this whole like ceremony spontaneously, blessing on the water and everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:56 Highlight the passage at 1:36:56

1:37:19 It was like so insane. And then on the way back, like we went across the bridge and then stopped again coming back. And on the way back to the cars, he started telling us. And I'm like, I can't believe he didn't tell us at breakfast. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:19 Highlight the passage at 1:37:19

1:37:31 And then we came back, and then Yanktcher left, and then we all went into this room, and that's where it happened. Yeah, that's really Report an error in the passage at 1:37:31 Highlight the passage at 1:37:31

1:37:41 This other guy that just moved into the house downstairs, I've known for many years, but he hasn't come for a long time. He also just took rubbed up, apparently yesterday, I haven't seen him yet. He's in her rooms too. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:41 Highlight the passage at 1:37:41

1:37:59 They're like, I've been praying for more saṅgha. Just make some of our own. Oh shoot, I feel terrible. Twilight, I really want to know. I was thinking it was going to be really hard to come on Friday night and then instead of me again. So it's sort of a lot of work. I'll do my own thing at home. I've got the books done. Are you sure? Report an error in the passage at 1:37:59 Highlight the passage at 1:37:59

1:38:27 it's seeming like we'll probably go down on Friday night Report an error in the passage at 1:38:27 Highlight the passage at 1:38:27

1:38:33 but if we don't for some reason then maybe I can come over on Friday night and we can do one I better go home and clean it I was in my room recently Report an error in the passage at 1:38:33 Highlight the passage at 1:38:33

1:38:48 piles of pictures scary things growing Where are we? Cat Oh, thank you. Well, it sounds like a great opportunity to do that. Yeah. I know, yeah. My first thought was just like, oh, you know. Dreamy actually tried to Skype me when I was trying to prepare for class and I just ignored her. And then she called and talked to Charles and he kept running in and said it. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:48 Highlight the passage at 1:38:48

1:39:19 And, you know, she was like... Just asking, because she had looked at the website and seen that this was on the schedule. They really would like, he wants to take all the song out of lunch and things like that, you know. So, yeah, anyway, my first thought was absolutely not, and then I'm like, well, just ask and see. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:19 Highlight the passage at 1:39:19

1:39:44 I mean, if it was like... half and half and then I don't know where to go to the bathroom I'm just kidding But we'll meet, we'll meet, and if you had something from your other class that you also wanted to present, then I'm happy to listen. eventually I have all those sheets I've been hazardly filling them out if you have this space I have to be in that group too because I can do it on a Sunday Oh, you can't do it on Sunday. Oh, it's the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:44 Highlight the passage at 1:39:44

1:40:34 David, Report an error in the passage at 1:40:34 Highlight the passage at 1:40:34

1:40:38 your chime is going. There we are going, what is that? I know! Report an error in the passage at 1:40:38 Highlight the passage at 1:40:38

1:40:38 you're We didn't know what was happening. It must be time. It's time. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:38 Highlight the passage at 1:40:38

1:41:03 All right. So let's try to finish this last chance. Okay, so then the next line, by perceiving all phenomena as illusory. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:03 Highlight the passage at 1:41:03

1:41:17 What does it mean by illusory? This comes up a lot, you know, and a lot of Buddhist teachings is talking about like seeing things like a dream, seeing things like an illusion and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:17 Highlight the passage at 1:41:17

1:41:28 Again, it doesn't mean that things don't exist and that things are a dream and things are an illusion. It means that they are like an illusion or like a dream. When we're having a dream, it seems really real, right? We're in it. It feels really real. It even feels like solid things are happening around us. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:28 Highlight the passage at 1:41:28

1:41:49 But it doesn't mean that things don't exist. When we wake up, we know it wasn't real. Sometimes it takes us all day to shake the dream because it's that real. But it doesn't mean that things don't exist at all. And again, just intellectually understanding this isn't enough. We have to actually study it. We have to begin contemplating it. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:49 Highlight the passage at 1:41:49

1:42:14 We have to actually apply it in real situations. And we have to meditate, meditate, meditate, meditate, meditate on it. I mean, we can't just intellectually get it and say, okay, I've got emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:14 Highlight the passage at 1:42:14

1:42:27 Especially in the meditations, I think it begins to break it down when we're applying it or when we have some experience with it, some taste of it. But when we're in a deeper state of meditation, things can shift in a really profound way. And so we just really have to give ourselves time. as Rinpoche says, some taste of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:27 Highlight the passage at 1:42:27

1:42:49 To get used to the ideas intellectually than to discuss the ideas maybe with each other to get clarity, to study a little bit with better teachers. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:49 Highlight the passage at 1:42:49

1:43:00 Teachers who have realized emptiness can explain it really amazingly. I just have to use their words. But Lama Yeshe always just used to say, oh my gosh, I forgot to put the mic next to myself. Sorry. I hope you got that. Listening at home. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:00 Highlight the passage at 1:43:00

1:43:18 This is why they... They're probably like, what's going on? Basically, you can't just intellectually get this stuff. But we start with sort of looking around us and we start sort of breaking down that solid way that we see things. And just even if all you do is just remind yourself this isn't happening the way it feels like it's happening, which I started doing upstairs when the whole situation happened. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:18 Highlight the passage at 1:43:18

1:43:45 It was like... This isn't happening. This person doesn't exist the way it feels like they do. I don't. This whole situation doesn't. It's just this sort of fluid manifestation of karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:45 Highlight the passage at 1:43:45

1:43:58 But Lama Eshi used to say, don't believe what your senses tell you. Don't believe what your senses tell you. And this is what he's talking about. We believe 100 % in what our senses tell us. Even if... Conventionally speaking, we know that our senses sometimes are wrong. I might see two people in a dark room and assume they're having an affair and actually it's just a mother comforting a daughter or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:58 Highlight the passage at 1:43:58

1:44:20 Our eyes are sometimes wrong, much less our understanding of a situation. And on a deeper level, don't believe what your senses tell you also. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:20 Highlight the passage at 1:44:20

1:44:36 Then we get into this. One of the first analysis that we'll do in the wisdom classes is starting to go deeply into this thing that I call me, I, the inherently existent I that seems to exist, that's bigger than just this identity of Chokyi and this body and mind combination. That exists. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:36 Highlight the passage at 1:44:36

1:45:05 This label placed upon this body-mind combination that was born at a certain time, will die at a certain time, is sitting here right now attempting to talk about emptiness and not doing a wonderful job of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:05 Highlight the passage at 1:45:05

1:45:20 But when I begin to analyze this thing that I call I or me, that I serve 100%, that I follow the whims of 100%, that... Feels like it exists in some solid unitary way that controls the body and the mind and basically possesses the body and mind but is bigger than the body and the mind. That I doesn't exist. And if we start looking for it in the body and in the mind, in analysis, in meditation, we can't find it. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:20 Highlight the passage at 1:45:20

1:45:53 It's not there, but it feels like and it has felt like ever since I was a little kid I had this feeling and they say even in the womb you begin having this feeling of this I. It feels like this I sort of is like owning this body and mind and controlling this body and mind and the body and mind sort of are servants of this I, this soul in a way. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:53 Highlight the passage at 1:45:53

1:46:17 It's like this inherently existent soul that sort of is bigger than the body and the mind. But if we look deeper, Deeper than that, we realize that actually I don't exist in this way. I exist in this much more spacious and fluid, energetic way than I think I exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:17 Highlight the passage at 1:46:17

1:46:36 But as Rinpoche says, we believe that it exists and then it's just basically this concept or a label that we place upon this body-mind combination, this life and then again next life. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:36 Highlight the passage at 1:46:36

1:46:51 And then we believe so strongly in it and then we just serve this body-mind. We follow it. We believe in it 100%. We never even question it. And the Buddha is just saying, just to begin to question it, what does he say, rips a hole in our view of saṃsāra, in our view of ourselves. It begins to sort of fracture. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:51 Highlight the passage at 1:46:51

1:47:17 This view of solidity and permanence that we think totally, truly exists. So even just being open to, even if we can't 100 % believe in it yet, or we can't practice it perfectly yet, it just begins to sort of rip a hole, put a crack in our circling and saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:17 Highlight the passage at 1:47:17

1:47:45 And until we do, we'll never actually end our own suffering, much less anybody else's. We can't, you know, because it's that misunderstanding of our reality that causes that suffering. So until we start dissecting that misunderstanding, we can't truly end our own suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:45 Highlight the passage at 1:47:45

1:48:05 So this meditation that you guys are going to do is basically a meditation reflecting on the eight worldly concerns. concerns and then With this idea, if you took notes, I didn't also, I was going to throw in the other eight, the deeper eight, but just think a little bit about emptiness as well. And I did put that in just to think about. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:05 Highlight the passage at 1:48:05

1:48:33 How often these eight worldly concerns come up, but then also thinking about emptiness in any of the ways that we discussed it tonight, even if it's a completely new idea and you don't have it 100%, believe you me. Most of us don't. It takes thousands of hours of study and thousands of hours of meditation. But things begin shifting even with little tiny blips like this, especially if you've had karma in your last life, and who of us knows? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:33 Highlight the passage at 1:48:33

1:49:02 What we've studied in our last life and what's going to suddenly shift in our understanding. So just try thinking about it. Try even once bringing it in if your mind gets solid and hard about something, whether it's about yourself or another person or a situation. Try bringing it in and seeing if it helps sort of dissolve a little bit what's happening or your experience of what's happening. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:02 Highlight the passage at 1:49:02

1:49:33 This is where we end and begin. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:33 Highlight the passage at 1:49:33

1:49:40 And those of you that can come on Sunday, again, I really, really appreciate the change and I owe you one. So those of us who can meet on Sunday, we will explore some of this again in meditation. If you can't come on Sunday, tell me and what I might try to do is set up another time and try for those people who can't come but would like to have some sort of a closure that maybe we can just get together and have a sort of our own little practice day. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:40 Highlight the passage at 1:49:40

1:50:14 I'm totally up for that and I'm willing to do that. I just don't figure out when. But we can figure out when. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:14 Highlight the passage at 1:50:14

1:50:23 Any final questions before we end? Report an error in the passage at 1:50:23 Highlight the passage at 1:50:23

1:50:33 There's a special dedication that I would like to do. It's in the Gold Prayer Book. And it's page 246 from Master Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. I love it. Yeah. Because we have to remember that all of this, you know, it's sort of like... Um... Report an error in the passage at 1:50:33 Highlight the passage at 1:50:33

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:50:57 What does all of this have to do with transforming problems, right? Haven't we gotten way off tangent? No. Obviously, if we can really bring in all of these teachings, especially the ones on emptiness, that's really the, if we can understand emptiness and eventually have a direct perception of emptiness, which they say can happen in just a few moments, 20 minutes, if we've done all the other legwork, so to speak, if we've studied, if we've... Report an error in the passage at 1:50:57 Highlight the passage at 1:50:57

1:51:25 We've tried to apply it in our lives, we've tried to contemplate it, we've tried to meditate on it repeatedly, and also of course, oh by the way, develop calm abiding and special insight, then we can actually have this experience directly with reality as it is that permanently changes us. you know Report an error in the passage at 1:51:25 Highlight the passage at 1:51:25

1:51:51 From an ordinary being, they say, into what's called a superior being or an aria being. And we never go back. You know, you have this amazing, almost earthquake kind of experience in your meditation. And you have to constantly apply it. It's not like you're shifted permanently out of saṃsāra. You don't immediately gain nirvāṇa at that moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51:51

1:52:12 But your view of reality in deep meditation is always of reality as it is. When you come out, you have a bit of a problem because you still see things as inherently existent and all that, but you don't believe it anymore. The one mental affliction it wipes out permanently is doubt. You never have any more doubt. With full certainty, you realize that things don't exist this way. I unfortunately still see things this way because of my karma, but I get it and I don't believe it at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:12 Highlight the passage at 1:52:12

1:52:45 So that's the only way we're ever going to transform our problems ultimately. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:45 Highlight the passage at 1:52:45

1:52:51 Until then, we try to transform them conventionally using all the methods of these seven verses up until the eighth verse. So, yeah. So let's dedicate all the merit that we've created in these two months of trying to wade our way through these teachings, these incredibly profound, beautiful, holy... Incredible teachings and trying to make them our own, trying to apply them in our own lives and don't let them stop here. Keep working with them. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:51 Highlight the passage at 1:52:51

1:53:32 And we dedicate it so that we can remove the suffering of every living being, maybe beginning with that being that we were thinking about at the beginning of class. Remove the suffering forever. Show them how to transform their own minds so that they can get enlightened. And then help all other living beings become enlightened too. May all beings everywhere plagued by sufferings of body and mind obtain a notion of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:32 Highlight the passage at 1:53:32

1:54:05 May no living creature suffer, commit evil or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drinks. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:05 Highlight the passage at 1:54:05

1:54:37 May the Florin find hope. constant happiness, and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvest. May all medicines be effective and wholesome bears bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:37 Highlight the passage at 1:54:37

1:55:00 May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power. And may people think of benefiting each other for as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:00 Highlight the passage at 1:55:00

1:55:26 And if we could also dedicate to a couple of beings. I'm going to dedicate it to Twilight, Christine's cat, whose 49th day is Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:26 Highlight the passage at 1:55:26

1:55:41 I want to also dedicate it to a student who I just learned committed suicide on Monday. A student from, he did come here sometimes, but Moore and the South Bay Centers. A very young guy and I feel really, really sad. His name is Rian and I want to dedicate all this merit to him right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:41 Highlight the passage at 1:55:41

1:56:09 Thank you, you guys. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:09 Highlight the passage at 1:56:09

1:56:16 Oh, homework. Sorry, you don't get off the hook. I know it's a short week, but I think, I don't know if I did enough. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Oh, you guys can share. Well, I did twelve, so now you get your own. So, there you go. I was like, it doesn't seem like it's fourteen anymore. I think we've lost a few people, so. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:16 Highlight the passage at 1:56:16

1:57:05 with another, actually, maybe. Marcela and we have another, so maybe we could thinking about a day that we could meet. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:05 Highlight the passage at 1:57:05

1:57:27 I don't know. I have no idea. But we could do a Thursday night. That's true. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:27 Highlight the passage at 1:57:27

1:57:55 Let's go for it. I think we're thinking, so we have two, but I know that we were just thinking about one as being the volunteer evening, the volunteer appreciation. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:55 Highlight the passage at 1:57:55

1:58:11 What day is it today? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:11 Highlight the passage at 1:58:11

1:58:15 Yeah, so next week is the 10th and the 17th. And I think we're thinking of the 17th, so then that would be next. Thursday could do. But let me check first just to make sure. Could you guys do next Thursday? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:15 Highlight the passage at 1:58:15

1:58:34 Christine, could you do next Thursday? If you don't know, so you check. seems kind of sudden somehow, but you could check. Yes. Yeah, she could check, yeah. Otherwise, bye. Are you able to come on Sunday? No? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:34 Highlight the passage at 1:58:34

1:58:53 I think people are now, it's all coming out. I don't know. Were you, you were able to come on Saturday or no? You had already changed on that. Yeah. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:53 Highlight the passage at 1:58:53

1:59:04 Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:04 Highlight the passage at 1:59:04

1:59:12 So if you, what time? I was doing the same time. Oh, I did too. I had a great time. I didn't get to properly say, are you? I mean, don't do it around my schedule. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:12 Highlight the passage at 1:59:12

1:59:30 Yeah, it feels like a little munch to do that. I mean, it just seems pretty soon to try to do it. I think let me just... Yeah, I could do the 17th, which is what you're thinking about the quality of appreciation. Yeah. And then, otherwise, you said a weekend. Yeah, like the next two weekends, it's a final weekend. Nice job. You know, they're not brand new. I just put these on for the first time. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:30 Highlight the passage at 1:59:30

2:00:02 It's nice. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:02 Highlight the passage at 2:00:02

2:00:06 It's kind of a sense of them all the time. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:06 Highlight the passage at 2:00:06

2:00:13 Thank you. I'll send us a new email. Then let me know. Christine. It didn't work for her anyway, so check your schedule for Saturday the 26th. And just see, because maybe that would be more relaxed, I think. Do you need to have it in the daytime? Probably for you too, because I think you're pretty exhausted on weeknights. Even if we don't take nearly as long, we could just take a morning and that would be nice. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:13 Highlight the passage at 2:00:13

2:00:45 Is Marcella still here? Report an error in the passage at 2:00:45 Highlight the passage at 2:00:45

2:00:50 I think, yeah. I have to check for sure, but I'm pretty sure that one's open because I did think about it for the practice day. If people aren't able to come on Sunday, we're going to do sort of a makeup practice day, a shortened version of it on Saturday the 26th, we're thinking. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:50 Highlight the passage at 2:00:50

2:01:07 Can you do that, Marcella? Saturday the 26th? Instead of the Sunday? No, no, no. The Sunday is happening. It's happening. But I'm just saying there's a few people who can't come and so we're trying to do a, we're thinking of rescheduling to Saturday the 26th. What could you do now? I need to hang out on Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:07 Highlight the passage at 2:01:07

2:01:35 Well, no, no, no. Yes, exactly. And I can confirm it to you guys. I'm just trying to set it up with them. And so I thought, well, if that works, some other people may not have told me. So I'll send out an email. Why don't I just do that? I'll send out an email to everybody in the class and say we're going to meet on Sunday instead of Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:35 Highlight the passage at 2:01:35

2:02:00 And if you can't come, we'll have a makeup one on Saturday the 26th. And you could come to both. What? 10.30 to 3.30 or so on Sunday. That's coming up. Yeah, it's a day long. But, you know, obviously we have less people, less presentations, so we may end earlier too. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:00 Highlight the passage at 2:02:00