Discovering Buddhism - How to Meditate (25 February 2009)

0:00 Testing. Hi. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:09 How are you? I think I might owe you some notes. Yeah, yeah, well, it's two weeks. But I didn't email you either, so, yeah. You know how that goes. Yeah, take your life into your own hands. Report an error in the passage at 0:09 Highlight the passage at 0:09

0:28 All right, let's start. This is our last class, except for the practice day. We want to ask, I know that Samantha... I'm pretty sure Samantha isn't here tonight and I know she's also not coming to the practice day. Do you guys know yet whether or not you're able to come on the practice day? Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 0:28 Highlight the passage at 0:28

0:53 What time late? It starts at 10.30. I could be here at 10.30 but I would be sandy and sweaty. We could save a seat for you really far away. We could have more 11-ish. Just come straight in. So... Report an error in the passage at 0:53 Highlight the passage at 0:53

1:13 Like don't wait for a moment because there probably won't be one. So just like, just remember if you guys ever come in late, you know this story. With those two doors downstairs, we'll probably be downstairs. Report an error in the passage at 1:13 Highlight the passage at 1:13

1:24 The one as you're facing the doors that's to your left is the quiet one. And the other one makes a racket like you wouldn't believe. So it's like your two choices. Yeah, yeah. So you gotta be, always choose left. Always go to the left. But yeah, just let yourself in. Just come in. And we'll just be meditating. I don't think I'll make sure we don't do the emptiness one. Report an error in the passage at 1:24 Highlight the passage at 1:24

1:51 Because I am going to sneak that in. You don't have to. No, no, that's okay. I have so many issues really. Why focus on emptiness? No, no, the emptiness one works for all issues. There you go. So it's a perfect antidote. So I do want to just give you a little something. Report an error in the passage at 1:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51

2:10 Who else knows that they will not be coming to the practice day? I guess I should just say. So you can't come. Report an error in the passage at 2:10 Highlight the passage at 2:10

2:21 It's just a day long. It sort of depends on how many people are there as to when we finish, but I'm assuming 3.30. Report an error in the passage at 2:21 Highlight the passage at 2:21

2:35 Just do what she does. Yeah, the two of you can come in together with comfort. Report an error in the passage at 2:35 Highlight the passage at 2:35

2:41 It's that drop-in meditators thing. You know, you guys stick together. How about you guys? When is it? It's this Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 2:41 Highlight the passage at 2:41

2:53 It did sneak up. It snuck up on me, too. too bad. 10 10.30? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:53 Highlight the passage at 2:53

2:39 I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. Report an error in the passage at 2:39 Highlight the passage at 2:39

2:57 While you're deciding it, I'll go to front row. Are you guys able to come? I'll be there. Yeah, you'll be there? Okay, good. And if you guys come on the late side, I was just saying that as you face the doors, before we'd be downstairs, as you face the doors, the left-hand door is the quiet one. So just let yourself in, but just to know that the right-hand one makes a terrible racket. So if you choose incorrectly, just so you know that. Report an error in the passage at 2:57 Highlight the passage at 2:57

3:27 We've learned a lot, huh? And then we'll work on that for the entire remaining practice day. Sandy and sweaty. Actually, I'm telling you the wrong door. It is the left-hand door as you face it. So I'm going to give you presentation topic ideas, so don't freak out. It's just already the furrowed brow. Report an error in the passage at 3:27 Highlight the passage at 3:27

3:57 These are ideas for things that you can talk about. And in the afternoon, the way that the day usually works is in the morning, we meditate a lot. We just do a lot of meditations. I just sort of take you through a bunch of different meditations that we've done in the class. So hopefully they're somewhat familiar. And if not, you can learn them. Report an error in the passage at 3:57 Highlight the passage at 3:57

4:16 And then we all eat together. And then we come back in and there's like a small film. Discovery Buddhism film that's like short, less than a half hour. And then we do some topics. Now, when I say topics, it doesn't mean PowerPoint, it doesn't mean standing up, it doesn't mean anything big like that. It's just like something from the class that meant something to you that you want to talk about. I mean, honestly, 10 minutes max is fine. Some people go 15. Report an error in the passage at 4:16 Highlight the passage at 4:16

4:46 So, I just sort of chose some ideas of some of the things that I knew we had talked about. And then of course the easiest ones are lead any of the meditations that you did, because then we all have to close our eyes, right? So then you immediately can just read your notes. It's totally fine to read your notes, that's okay. So don't feel like you have to memorize something and you have to practice it in front of the mirror and stuff like that. This is not a stressful thing, or I'm trying not to make it one, because I absolutely hate oral presentations. Report an error in the passage at 4:46 Highlight the passage at 4:46

5:16 But it is useful and then also it's a useful way of sort of ending a class and seeing what you got out of it and seeing what you might still have questions about. And it's also a great way for us to interact and hear kind of what other people are thinking and doing and stuff. Because people end up asking questions and thinking, you know, it sort of starts a little bit of this question. If you don't see something that you want on the list, Report an error in the passage at 5:16 Highlight the passage at 5:16

5:43 And then I put the very final thing on the list is choose something else. But just tell me first so that I can okay it because sometimes it's just completely off the topic. Believe me, this has come up. And so I just kind of want that final okay just to make sure that it's somehow related to meditation or Tibetan Buddhism or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 5:43 Highlight the passage at 5:43

6:07 Anyway, so I'll hand those out. And we can actually... Look them over and talk about them tonight in case you have any questions about them. But don't think of it like a test. I actually should have handed it out to you last week and I meant to and I didn't. And that would have given you time to think about it and stuff and come back. So literally, actually I've made your life easier because there's no way that you can do a fantastic job. Because I'm giving it to you on Wednesday and we're going to do it on Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 6:07 Highlight the passage at 6:07

6:32 So just... Grab something that seems interesting to you. You can even copy something out of how to meditate. I mean, it's basically just to kind of prove to yourself that you understand something about meditation and why on earth you would do it. Report an error in the passage at 6:32 Highlight the passage at 6:32

6:50 Also, I'm confused. I don't remember which class it was. Was it this class that you had asked if we would do Vajrasattva? Did we already do Vajrasattva? Does anyone want to do Vajrasattva? I had asked you in the first class. Um... Report an error in the passage at 6:50 Highlight the passage at 6:50

7:06 I will add that to the end of our day, on the practice day. And we'll just do like the total easy baby version. And you guys can have a handout and you can take it home and do it every time you screw up. Report an error in the passage at 7:06 Highlight the passage at 7:06

7:22 It was you. Oh, okay. Okay. Well, I guess we'll see. Yeah, I think it is nice to do it in person. And we probably all will make mistakes on Saturday too, so then we can purify them. So then we go home like completely pure. And we can always do, if we don't have any time, we can do the total short version and then also just do a few of them. Report an error in the passage at 7:22 Highlight the passage at 7:22

7:49 Okay, good. So I had made a note to myself, I think after you asked in the class, at the top of the very first part of the practice day notes. And so then I was like, did that even happen? When did that happen? Because you had asked it for another class. So then I'm like, okay. So we will include Lama Tsongkhapa. And then that way too, if nobody else wants to do it, then I'll just show it to you. Like everybody else is. Report an error in the passage at 7:49 Highlight the passage at 7:49

8:26 totally yeah yeah and are taking being able to just enunciate it in some form right you know do you want to bring like a I mean I'll be all yeah do you want to bring out just a night river or something Report an error in the passage at 8:26 Highlight the passage at 8:26

8:43 When you download from archive, can you save it? No. Report an error in the passage at 8:43 Highlight the passage at 8:43

8:59 That's what I had heard before, so it just streams. Report an error in the passage at 8:59 Highlight the passage at 8:59

9:10 That's a question on the floor. We'll leave that undiscussed and unresolved. No, I can try to find out if I can remember. Report an error in the passage at 9:10 Highlight the passage at 9:10

9:20 So maybe when you email me for the notes that you're missing, you can include the streaming download question and I'll ask Chad, who's our volunteer who works on that. It seems like it should be able to be downloadable. Now, were you downloading, like, Report an error in the passage at 9:20 Highlight the passage at 9:20

9:38 past archived things or, yeah, you were. Report an error in the passage at 9:38 Highlight the passage at 9:38

9:44 it's been a while ago, but I think it was just right click, save target ask. Report an error in the passage at 9:44 Highlight the passage at 9:44

9:58 All right, did you get that? Great. And then the last thing, and this is really really important, we have to do a potluck on Saturday because we don't have any food in a cafe right now. I should edit this part out. So, would anybody be willing to do something a little main course-y? I'll do a salad and then everybody else can do crazy stuff. And I won't talk amongst yourselves. Just like a stir fry or soup or something that's sort of main course-y and then... Report an error in the passage at 9:58 Highlight the passage at 9:58

10:31 Okay, he's going to do bread. Okay, then... Crackers. Report an error in the passage at 10:31 Highlight the passage at 10:31

10:43 I would, yes, but main coursey to me. I know, and then we'd all be like, yeah, totally. Because clearly we all are really closest, aren't we? Report an error in the passage at 10:43 Highlight the passage at 10:43

10:57 That's main coursey enough for lunch, I think. Doesn't everybody agree? Soup's totally fine. Do something sweet. Excellent. So we have something sweet, we have some soup, I'll do a salad, it'll be totally simple salad, so don't fit your hopes up. You're going to do bread. Sure. And you? Report an error in the passage at 10:57 Highlight the passage at 10:57

11:14 Oh, I'm surprised. And then if you come, yeah, then we have another, we have another wild card, okay. Is anyone vegetarian? Should it be a vegetable soup? It should be vegetable, I think, just because it's Buddhist center, yeah. And then we'll all sneak out afterwards again. We'll just be all holy and kicked in and watch us. Report an error in the passage at 11:14 Highlight the passage at 11:14

11:36 No, but we do tend to, for anything public, we always make sure that it's all vegetarian, even though it isn't Tibetan Buddhism. kidding. Report an error in the passage at 11:36 Highlight the passage at 11:36

11:47 Let's see, anything else? Report an error in the passage at 11:47 Highlight the passage at 11:47

11:52 No, I think those are the main things and I wanted to just start with them. I probably should have done our little opening meditation. Well, let's just do a really quick motivation and then I'll just open it up in case you guys have any questions just from the week. Report an error in the passage at 11:52 Highlight the passage at 11:52

12:09 So let's just, we're going to actually do a little bit of meditation at the end on our breath. So we won't do such a long meditation right now. Report an error in the passage at 12:09 Highlight the passage at 12:09

12:20 But I just want to take some nice deep breaths. Let go of any fears and anxiety around the presentation topic. No, just let go of your day and just let yourself arrive. Report an error in the passage at 12:20 Highlight the passage at 12:20

12:41 Think about our motivation for being here tonight. If we're doing this whole class, you know, why do we want to know how to meditate? How Report an error in the passage at 12:41 Highlight the passage at 12:41

12:54 will it help us? Report an error in the passage at 12:54 Highlight the passage at 12:54

12:58 This is the final class, but it isn't the end, hopefully. Hopefully, this is something that you're going to want to do for a while, if not for life. it, man. Report an error in the passage at 12:58 Highlight the passage at 12:58

· · · silence, 1 minute

13:11 Like a companion. Report an error in the passage at 13:11 Highlight the passage at 13:11

13:19 And even if we just think about the simplest reasons that we might want to meditate is to stabilize our mind more. Especially when things get really chaotic. Report an error in the passage at 13:19 Highlight the passage at 13:19

13:38 Be able to focus better. Again, especially when things get chaotic. Report an error in the passage at 13:38 Highlight the passage at 13:38

13:51 Be able to not give in to those afflictive thoughts when they arise. Even the ones we have really strong habits with. Even if it's only once. All of this comes from meditation. Because again, meditating is just familiarizing the mind, and often familiarizing the mind with positive Report an error in the passage at 13:51 Highlight the passage at 13:51

14:16 states of mind, with methods for subduing the mind, Report an error in the passage at 14:16 Highlight the passage at 14:16

14:28 familiarizing the mind with how it would feel to be calm, and then this spills over. Report an error in the passage at 14:28 Highlight the passage at 14:28

14:42 And even if it doesn't happen instantly, this takes practice, it's in it. It does. Eventually spill over. It does have an effect. And not just on our mind and not just on our meditation, but actually on our whole life. Report an error in the passage at 14:42 Highlight the passage at 14:42

15:04 So may whatever we gain from this class, all the classes that have gone before, and this one in particular, may it take root tonight and grow into a calm, steady, stable, concentrated mind with which we can help all living beings. Report an error in the passage at 15:04 Highlight the passage at 15:04

15:28 ourselves. maybe even beginning with ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 15:28 Highlight the passage at 15:28

15:45 then when you're ready, end your meditation and walk. Report an error in the passage at 15:45 Highlight the passage at 15:45

16:05 With Report an error in the passage at 16:05 Highlight the passage at 16:05

16:09 the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha, until I reach full enlightenment, inspired by wisdom and compassion. Today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 16:09 Highlight the passage at 16:09

16:42 I Report an error in the passage at 16:42 Highlight the passage at 16:42

16:54 have any questions about, we did the Chenrezig meditation during the last week. Report an error in the passage at 16:54 Highlight the passage at 16:54

17:03 Okay, then. I guess I'd be a no. Report an error in the passage at 17:03 Highlight the passage at 17:03

17:10 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 17:10 Highlight the passage at 17:10

17:16 Actually, I don't know in that particular... Oh, you know, that might be Vajrapani. It looks a little bit like Vajrapani. There are some wrathful Buddhas and wrathful protectors, and usually they are wrathful in the same way that, say, a mom would be if a little kid was sticking their hand in flames. Report an error in the passage at 17:16 Highlight the passage at 17:16

17:06 didn't know. Report an error in the passage at 17:06 Highlight the passage at 17:06

17:34 So they love us, they have great compassion, but they manifest sometimes in a wrathful way so that they can get a rejection. Because sometimes it is something that would be more skillful to use wrath in that way than it would be to be the guy in the middle where he's all peaceful and calm. Very much in the same way that parents choose sometimes or just have to manifest wrath. Report an error in the passage at 17:34 Highlight the passage at 17:34

18:03 And it's a fine line because, you know, sometimes the mom really is mad, right? But usually with a good parent, there's like, there's a moment that you have to sort of fake it that you're mad in order so that the kid knows that it's not okay to run out into the road or, you know, that you really mean it this time, that it's really not okay. Report an error in the passage at 18:03 Highlight the passage at 18:03

18:26 And that's really the kind of wrath. So it's not anger, it's just manifesting anger. So that's what they look like. There's a whole room of them. There's a whole room of them downstairs in the office. In fact, Geshe-la calls it the protector room. And they are all one, all these different beings where they're like, and that's really what it's all about. Report an error in the passage at 18:26 Highlight the passage at 18:26

18:48 Some of the highest yoga tantra deities look more wrathful too, like who transforms anger and so forth. They just have a more wrathful countenance. And in fact, actually, of the 21 taras, there's green taras we talk about, and then there's 21 taras. Whereas some of them are wrathful as well, and it's for that same reason. That's a good question. I'm glad I knew something. Report an error in the passage at 18:48 Highlight the passage at 18:48

19:22 Yeah. So I guess he must be associated with Wormt. Report an error in the passage at 19:22 Highlight the passage at 19:22

19:34 Because I don't know. I know Vajrapani, because there's a center called Vajrapani, which is our sister center in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which is a great, great place. Report an error in the passage at 19:34 Highlight the passage at 19:34

19:49 So they're named after Vajrapani. And I think Vajrapani is associated with enlightened power. And I think they have something about him. Report an error in the passage at 19:49 Highlight the passage at 19:49

20:05 If you're interested, you could just look and see. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 20:05 Highlight the passage at 20:05

20:12 sure. About Report an error in the passage at 20:12 Highlight the passage at 20:12

20:15 the week or just your own meditation practice or anything. So when trying to get better at visualizing Tsumrasik, is it better to look at him as a whole or just parts and then do some to parts? Parts, actually. Yeah, that's a good question. Report an error in the passage at 20:15 Highlight the passage at 20:15

20:34 I was thinking that I had mentioned that, but maybe not. I probably forgot. Yeah, looking at the different parts and then beginning to put them together. And in fact, they usually say to just focus on one or two parts in the sitting, so you're not trying to look at every single thing. Try to perfect his hand, you know, for example, try to really look at his fat, so you're not trying to take on too much. Report an error in the passage at 20:34 Highlight the passage at 20:34

21:12 So one thing I mentioned, we were... Gina had actually asked that we do emptiness meditation and unfortunately we won't be able to do that tonight because there's kind of a lot of material. We will do it on the practice day. But one of the ways that we sort of get closer to understanding emptiness is spending time thinking about impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 21:12 Highlight the passage at 21:12

21:36 Have you come on Saturday? Report an error in the passage at 21:36 Highlight the passage at 21:36

21:42 Oh, dry. um, Well, I think actually what happened, Scott's been covering the meditations for me for a little bit, and Munlum did for me when I went down to Bajrapani, and so there were two, out of sort of a little bit of confusion, there were two impermanence Saturdays back-to-back. But of course, none of us have realized it yet, so it was actually fine. So I just kind of wanted to know if anybody had come to any of those, if they were different. Report an error in the passage at 21:42 Highlight the passage at 21:42

22:14 We decided to go ahead and let Scott do it when we realized the error. We just was like, that's fine. Usually the way I do impermanence is really starting to get down to the cellular level because I think that helps us get closer to more subtle impermanence. It helps us get closer to emptiness because then we begin to realize that there is no solid existence. Not in a scary way, but just exploring that a little bit, especially experientially in meditation. Report an error in the passage at 22:14 Highlight the passage at 22:14

22:45 And then there's that meditation and you probably remember where we've done looking for the eye. Yeah, yeah. And so we'll do a little bit with that one on Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 22:45 Highlight the passage at 22:45

22:56 We spent some time at the retreat that I went to where we were talking about the dominant eye. So we were talking about the difference between the eye that's sitting here, the eye that's meditating, the eye that will go and get enlightened, the eye that goes to the store. Versus this dominant I, as Renee calls it, it's not technically called that, but I think it's a good term for it. It's that I that seems like it owns the body and mind, possesses the body and mind, it's bigger than the body and mind, and certainly is more important than anyone in this room, to some degree, and is the basis for all these afflicted states of mind to arise. Report an error in the passage at 22:56 Highlight the passage at 22:56

23:39 So if somebody puts this I down, And usually it's like this puts this body or mind down because the eye associates so heavily with that. Then it rears its ugly head. It gets defensive or it gets resentful or it gets angry. So it's all these negative states of mind arise on this so-called dominant eye. Report an error in the passage at 23:39 Highlight the passage at 23:39

24:01 That's the one when we go looking for it, we realize it doesn't actually exist. So that's the one that will sort of go peeking. Report an error in the passage at 24:01 Highlight the passage at 24:01

24:13 Do you want to ask your question or do you want to just... No, it's not really a question. It's just a... Puzzlement. Yeah, it's just a block I have because to me that's the one that feels. So I think that's the one with me running the show, very reactive. Report an error in the passage at 24:13 Highlight the passage at 24:13

24:34 That's why the Buddha said that we have to explore, that it doesn't actually even exist. Yeah, it's because it's so strong and because it's the reason that we get into trouble. That's why it seems so real. And because we believed in it for lifetime after lifetime without ever looking. And so in this time we just begin to look. And it's not to say that after a few meditations you're going to be convinced either. Honestly, you know, it's going to take some time before you start. Report an error in the passage at 24:34 Highlight the passage at 24:34

25:05 You know, there's an experience that happens in a meditation. It really does take time after time after time where you literally feel like the ground sort of moves. And that's kind of what you're shooting for, but of course it's not comfortable in the least. It's actually uncomfortable. But if we go back to that original, I think at the very beginning in the opening class when I said that the real reason that we meditate is to get closer and closer to reality, that's what we're shooting for. Report an error in the passage at 25:05 Highlight the passage at 25:05

25:38 And it does make you, it isn't necessarily going to make you comfortable. The Buddha's reality that got him out of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 25:38 Highlight the passage at 25:38

25:57 it's good to to meditate on the same topic. Report an error in the passage at 25:57 Highlight the passage at 25:57

26:07 So since you started talking about would you suggest that kind of like building blocks that maybe work on impermanence for a couple of weeks or months, then maybe move up to looking at the dominant eye or just like jump right in and just do activities all over and over Yeah, I mean there's... Traditionally they are taught as the lamrim. Report an error in the passage at 26:07 Highlight the passage at 26:07

26:29 So traditionally they are taught in a certain order. And of course it helps if you study them, so that you know whether you study them in that order or not, so that at least you know what the different topics are. Report an error in the passage at 26:29 Highlight the passage at 26:29

26:42 And that's what I'm trying to do on the Saturday and the Tuesday night meditations, is have them follow that order. Not everybody comes to all of them, but that you have some basis of impermanence before you get to, for example. Either Refuge, which you kind of do it for there too, or... Report an error in the passage at 26:42 Highlight the passage at 26:42

27:05 In fact, sometimes they'll even bring it back in in the teachings. But there's actually quite a big gulf between those two teachings because impermanence is actually pretty close to the beginning. Report an error in the passage at 27:05 Highlight the passage at 27:05

27:15 Because it's one of the first things that we get that makes us want a spiritual life, right? Somebody dies, or we get really sick. That's what usually leads us into some other spiritual pursuit. So it is pretty early, actually. But yes, the two together work really, really well. And in the wisdom in the class on... Report an error in the passage at 27:15 Highlight the passage at 27:15

27:48 Feelings are actually thoughts in Buddhism. You know, there are stories that come out of thoughts. So they're conceptually based actually. It feels like they're more. It feels like they're more. Because we associate all these different bodily functions with them. You Report an error in the passage at 27:48 Highlight the passage at 27:48

28:09 know, get sweaty and sandy. Report an error in the passage at 28:09 Highlight the passage at 28:09

28:14 Or our breathing may change or something like that. Buddha would... Buddhist teachings would say that those are just effects within our subtle body, you know, because of the thoughts that work on the story. The way you would, like, if you're sitting around a campfire, you know, and you get yourself all excited. I'd sort of like that. Report an error in the passage at 28:14 Highlight the passage at 28:14

28:39 But yeah, they're really just thoughts. They are simply, I should say that they are simply workings of the mind. They are mental moments. And there are a lot of different mental moments that happen in our mind, different kinds of things. excited. Report an error in the passage at 28:39 Highlight the passage at 28:39

28:55 But they aren't the I. As we would look at, if we look at this I and we start really examining this I to try to see what it is, where it is and so forth, we begin to see that it is really mostly made up of these concepts. You know, we create it with this concept. Placing those concepts on the body and mind, you know, as they are. So it's like there is a basis and there's a valid basis. Report an error in the passage at 28:55 Highlight the passage at 28:55

29:24 But we just sort of elaborate. Report an error in the passage at 29:24 Highlight the passage at 29:24

29:27 But yeah, so that's what started. Report an error in the passage at 29:27 Highlight the passage at 29:27

29:33 Let's close that door. We have residents now in the hall. That was the director. But just so that way. Anyway, I know that that's probably more information than any of you need. Put it on the back burner. Know that it's there. And then we will do a little bit with it on Saturday. We'll also have some more time for questions on Saturday. And then, of course, the more classes that we do on emptiness, the better. Report an error in the passage at 29:33 Highlight the passage at 29:33

30:06 Whether I'm teaching them or anybody else is teaching them or whether or not you download them or stream them. It's great. And in particular, if you decide you really want to go in deeply to this or deeply an accessible sort of first deep swimming pool that you want to try. There's a teaching on emptiness on Archive.org that was taught here by Tenzin Chokyi. Report an error in the passage at 30:06 Highlight the passage at 30:06

30:41 And it's great. It's really, really great teaching. And it's very accessible for all levels. She made sure. But I think it's a Friday night and an all-day Saturday. So I think it's three sessions. And it's super awesome. Yeah. C-H-O-G-K Report an error in the passage at 30:41 Highlight the passage at 30:41

30:59 I actually have listened to it a couple times already. I think it will be one of those ones that's quite useful as a resource. So it's a good one. I would highly recommend it for a little bit. And she leads meditations too. So Report an error in the passage at 30:59 Highlight the passage at 30:59

31:16 here we are. Okay. Another quick quote, another long quote from Tenzin Palmo. And this one is about developing calm abiding, which is what we're going to talk about for the remainder of this class. Report an error in the passage at 31:16 Highlight the passage at 31:16

31:34 Unless we become one with our spiritual practice, it won't work. It's like we're waxed paper and oil is poured onto us and it just rolls off. If our mind is absorbent, the Dharma can become one with it. Unless our mind is quiet and concentrated, it won't work. No matter what the practice is, you won't become the practice. Our brain is by nature dualistic. It will always experience the meditation and the meditator as separate and looking at each other. Report an error in the passage at 31:34 Highlight the passage at 31:34

32:05 When they become one, the focal point becomes the heart and there is no division between the practitioner and the practitioner. This won't happen until we quiet the mind and become one point in our absorption into that practice. For all the effort you put into calm abiding, the rest will go like a snap. You must put effort into the deep foundation. Not only will the walls in the building go up fast, but it stays strong. Report an error in the passage at 32:05 Highlight the passage at 32:05

32:32 Digging a deep foundation isn't very exciting, either doing it or having it. But without it, the rest of the building won't endure. The mind becomes very pliable and flexible, and then we can do anything with it. It's like what yoga does for the body. It's just such a great advertisement for common abiding. So we're going to talk about common abiding meditation. Report an error in the passage at 32:32 Highlight the passage at 32:32

32:56 Sine in Tibetan and Samanta in Sanskrit. So this is a really deep... State of meditation, that's concentration meditation or stabilizing meditation, if we're talking about the two types of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 32:56 Highlight the passage at 32:56

33:22 And actually normally you, traditionally you would go into retreat to try to develop the state of mind. And then I realized after many years of sort of waiting for that perfect time to arise and continually working in a Dharma center in the city. I finally decided that actually you can get fairly, you can actually, in theory anyway, I'm not saying that I have, but in theory anyway, you can actually get a few stages along the path, living in the city, living in a group house, living in a, you know, kind of a loud neighborhood. Report an error in the passage at 33:22 Highlight the passage at 33:22

34:00 And so there was no real reason to wait. Might as well just start. And in fact, one of my teachers, Venobo Rinne, really, really encourages everyone to just start now. Even if you just do a little bit each day, even if you literally only do two or three minutes, but you try to really have those two or three minutes be really, really strong and focused. Report an error in the passage at 34:00 Highlight the passage at 34:00

34:23 So, Kama Abiding isn't something that's unique to Buddhism. It's in many, many Eastern practices. In fact, I believe that the Buddha actually attained Kama Abiding. Of course, he didn't create Buddhism, it was called Kama, but he had other traditions. And it's sort of... It's a single pointed meditation and there are certain attributes that are associated with it but it's basically this single pointed meditation that can focus with this incredible amount of stability, strength and clarity and then we use that as a tool to see reality. Report an error in the passage at 34:23 Highlight the passage at 34:23

35:09 So we spend all this time trying to attain this really deep, strong, concentrated state of mind but our real purpose It's not to get all the bliss and happiness that come out of it. It does. There are side effects, as they put it, of all this calm, peace, stable, blissful mind and body. But our real reason is so that we can attain nirvāṇa and enlightenment. This is just the tool to get us there. Report an error in the passage at 35:09 Highlight the passage at 35:09

35:42 Calm abiding is defined as... That mind which is imbued with the exceptional bliss of cliancy due to deep single pointed meditation on its object. I'll repeat that. That mind which is imbued with the exceptional bliss of cliancy due to deep single pointed meditation on it. Report an error in the passage at 35:42 Highlight the passage at 35:42

36:06 So it's single pointed and it's blissful. Those are the two aspects about it. Report an error in the passage at 36:06 Highlight the passage at 36:06

36:16 We start with... Trying to keep our mind on the object and we're going to go through the stages of calm abiding and when you know whether or not you've had it. But we're going to go through what those stages are. In the end, calm abiding meditation and how you know when you've got it, in the end it's when you can keep your mind on the object, whatever your object is, for as long as you want but a minimum of four hours without any movement of your body. Report an error in the passage at 36:16 Highlight the passage at 36:16

36:51 For your mind. So that's the goal. In that coming, in that development of this state of mind, as the mind gets more and more serviceable, that's what the pliancy is referring to, as the mind gets more and more serviceable or flexible, in that it can do what you want it to do. That's what it's meant, serviceable is meant here. The bliss comes. Report an error in the passage at 36:51 Highlight the passage at 36:51

37:20 And the same is true with the mind. And so that's why she's referring it when she says it's like what yoga does for the body. The more yoga that you do in a really consistent, regular way, the body, within reason, I guess if you're working with a good teacher, just say, I think you could actually just wear yourself out. Report an error in the passage at 37:20 Highlight the passage at 37:20

37:39 But with a good teacher, if you're working with somebody who is working so that it's something that suits your body and so forth, the body becomes more and more serviceable. In that it can do what you want it to do, and it actually becomes pleasurable to do what you want it to do. In the beginning it's not, and the same is true for meditation. Report an error in the passage at 37:39 Highlight the passage at 37:39

38:02 The physical bliss that they describe that comes with calm abiding from the Buddhist point of view is the subtle body, the winds moving through the channels in an unobstructed way. And that that actually is what's causing the bliss. So the mental pliancy or the mental bliss comes from a couple of places. Report an error in the passage at 38:02 Highlight the passage at 38:02

38:36 One is simply having the mind so subdued that all those mental afflictions aren't arising, which gives us the experience of peace. Usually our mind is so distracted. And so busy and so afflicted, unfortunately, that it's not a very fun place to be. So when the mind is able to just be so concentrated, it actually feels good. There's that bliss involved. Report an error in the passage at 38:36 Highlight the passage at 38:36

39:11 And, um... It comes from the mind, from that actual subduing of the mind. Subdue sounds like, I remember when I first started studying this and I remember thinking, what an odd word, it sounded really oppressive somehow. But it really is talking about, it's very much they compare it to working with a wild horse. And there's some amount of subduing necessary for the horse to begin to do what you want it to do, go when you want it to, and to not be so wild that you can let it run. Report an error in the passage at 39:11 Highlight the passage at 39:11

39:49 And so they compare the mind to that. They also compare the mind to a wild elephant, which I've never seen, but I can only imagine. Traditionally, you would enter a retreat for a long time to develop calm abiding. And they say that it's possible to develop calm abiding if you have all the proper conditions and clearly lots of effort in 6 to 12 months. Report an error in the passage at 39:49 Highlight the passage at 39:49

40:18 So it is like an attainable goal. I think, I have an agreement with Tessa Chokyi, I think she's the one who said that, I think at 6 to 12 months, once the mind is already somewhat subdued, because the people that they were normally referring to were like people that have been monks for 20 years. So it's already like somebody who's been working on ethics. Remember we were talking about ethics and the foundation, practice for concentration being ethics. Report an error in the passage at 40:18 Highlight the passage at 40:18

40:45 Again, the reasoning is... Um. Report an error in the passage at 40:45 Highlight the passage at 40:45

40:53 We can get some on the break. The biggest obstacle to attaining calm abiding is attachment, particularly this attachment to the world, especially independent me, mine, I. So that becomes a really big obstacle. And then all the things that me, mine, I would have. Property, gain, honor, respect. You know, all those things. And so actually developing contentment and sort of this lack. Report an error in the passage at 40:53 Highlight the passage at 40:53

41:34 And that actually plays into, of course, why, again, you know, why the Buddha even would have talked about monasticism. It was really at the base to develop Kamabadi. And that was like the biggest reason, because out of Kamabadi we can get or gain at least nirvāṇa. It wasn't so much just to create a lot of rules. Report an error in the passage at 41:34 Highlight the passage at 41:34

42:03 So in the meantime, even if it takes quite a bit of time and we can only work on it in a small daily practice, still what ends up happening is it does spill over into your daily life and you just have more concentration to deal with your work or your study or your relationship or your conversations or whatever, your artwork or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 42:03 Highlight the passage at 42:03

42:30 So there are worldly reasons why it's also useful. And they say as you are on the path, and I'm going to give you guys this great little drawing of the path to attaining calm abiding. The byproducts are that you start attaining these little lesser cities. They say these lesser attainments like clairvoyance and bliss. Report an error in the passage at 42:30 Highlight the passage at 42:30

42:58 Don't get excited by them, keep heading towards the goal. Report an error in the passage at 42:58 Highlight the passage at 42:58

43:09 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 43:09 Highlight the passage at 43:09

43:13 there are ways down the road though. Choosing an object. A lot of times traditionally people use the breath, which is what we've been doing when we're just doing meditation on the breath. Morris and Bliss comes Comma Report an error in the passage at 43:13 Highlight the passage at 43:13

43:09 sounds really fun. Report an error in the passage at 43:09 Highlight the passage at 43:09

43:28 You can choose basically any object. They say Tenzin Palmo used a stone. He chose a stone. They say because we spend so much time on it, just like we were talking about last time when we were talking about the visualization, that it's really nice to choose a virtuous object because you're already imbuing your mind. Report an error in the passage at 43:28 Highlight the passage at 43:28

43:50 It might as well be with Shakyamuni Buddha, for example, or Ten Resik, rather than a stone. But the interesting thing about something like a stone or your breath, the fact of it being neutral actually is helpful for some people, and I find that to be true. For some reason, even though I feel like I can visualize, like sort of naturally I can visualize things, but there's a lot, the mind gets more excited about an image, you know, just like coming up with it or not being able to see it, like you have all these different reactions to it, whereas the breath... Report an error in the passage at 43:50 Highlight the passage at 43:50

44:24 It doesn't have that for me. So I ended up coming back to the breath after trying other objects. There are also a couple of different teachings on this. The main traditional one says that you should choose an object and stick with it until you attain Lama Biding. Now. That's horrifying to a Libra. I mean, actually for years I just thought about what object I might use when I did start because I was so terrified to commit. Report an error in the passage at 44:24 Highlight the passage at 44:24

44:55 I was like, oh my God. And then one of my teachers said, no, that's okay. They really just don't want you to bounce around. But if you work with something for 6 or 12 months and then you feel like you want to, for example, you want to work with your breath for a while and then choose a virtuous object, that's okay. Report an error in the passage at 44:55 Highlight the passage at 44:55

45:12 Traditional teachers still say you stick with one object and go for it. But I do think it has more to do with that mind of just constantly switching around because, of course, that's the kind of mind you're trying to get away from. Report an error in the passage at 45:12 Highlight the passage at 45:12

45:24 Of course, it's also great to work closely with the teacher who's actually attained comma binding, which none of them will ever admit to. It's sort of a catch-22. Report an error in the passage at 45:24 Highlight the passage at 45:24

45:40 Traditionally in Buddhism, and especially in Tibetan Buddhism, but I think it's probably true for all of the traditions, nobody will ever admit to having any positive qualities. You know, in America we find that interesting, like we sell ourselves even when we don't have positive qualities, right? We make them up, you know, but they just, it's humility. Report an error in the passage at 45:40 Highlight the passage at 45:40

46:01 Sometimes we make them up. They feel, well humility of course is a really huge reason. Look at His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. I'm nothing but a simple monk. Clearly, he's something slightly more than a simple monk. And that's the way they all are. But you can actually look at them, watch them for a while, watch how they are during, even just as simple as setting up for an event. Report an error in the passage at 46:01 Highlight the passage at 46:01

46:29 You know what I mean? You can see how I am. Watch Geshe-la when... I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off. It's a terrible thing to say in a room full of Buddhists. And he's just like, steady as they glow. I mean, no, he's just steady. And I can watch my teacher, Lama Tsongkhapa Rinpoche, in the same way. Report an error in the passage at 46:29 Highlight the passage at 46:29

46:57 You can kind of see this just solid steadiness. And I feel drawn to it, like a moth to a flame. Wow, I'm going to be like that. Or Tenzin Palmo, for a great example, the one who I've been quoting from quite a bit. She has this, and even Tenzin Chokyi, for example, somebody who's meditated for a good amount of time. Report an error in the passage at 46:57 Highlight the passage at 46:57

47:19 There's like this clarity and this like, I mean, it's actually almost, I call it intensity to some degree, and I don't mean that in a negative way. I actually think intensity could be a good thing. But that kind of where they just zoom in and they just, Talk directly to you, you know, and it's just, they cut through kind of all the crap and they have that sort of ability of really focusing, which a lot of us have lost because we're so multitasking all the time. Report an error in the passage at 47:19 Highlight the passage at 47:19

47:48 So kind of watch people. Also, of course, does that person, it's just like with art or anything else, you know, sometimes the person might be a great meditator, but they can't tell you how to do it. You know, they're two different skills sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 47:48 Highlight the passage at 47:48

48:05 I think listening to some of their teachings is a useful thing too. How are they describing it? There are some great books out there. We are very blessed. We may not have as many amazing teachers that we can have these great relationships with, but there are a lot of books out in our time period. And most of us can read, so that's also quite useful, which wasn't true in Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 48:05 Highlight the passage at 48:05

48:34 There's a book called Calming the Mind by Gen Lam Rimpa, which I found, I still think it's like one of the best books on calm abiding meditation. It was, he taught a calm abiding retreat, a one year calm abiding retreat up in Washington State. And the translator for it was Alan Wallace. And it's, I mean Alan Wallace, sorry, Alan Wallace. And it just sounds like an amazing retreat. And so of course in each section he talks for a little bit and then there's questions that come up. Report an error in the passage at 48:34 Highlight the passage at 48:34

49:05 And it's a very little tiny book, but it's a great, great resource. I'm also reading a book called Attention Revolution that I think I mentioned by Alan Wallace. That's sort of his approach to concentration, meditation, not necessarily calm abiding, but I think ultimately getting us there. But then he's doing it for the general population, not for Buddhists. Report an error in the passage at 49:05 Highlight the passage at 49:05

49:29 So he uses these other terms, but I think it's so accessible. It's such a great book. It's really, really, again, very narrow, very readable. And then a couple of them that I'll just toss out there. The Bridge of Criessence, which I haven't read by Alan Wallace, is also on this subject. Alan Wallace is kind of making this his life's work. Report an error in the passage at 49:29 Highlight the passage at 49:29

49:49 I don't know if you guys are aware of his work in the world. He actually runs a center now in Santa Barbara. And it's all about concentration. Developing Concentration and Consciousness Studies, I think. But he's also doing all these meditation tests, you know, doing these retreats and teaching people over repeated retreats in the same area over time, teaching people the steps. Report an error in the passage at 49:49 Highlight the passage at 49:49

50:18 A friend of mine is Walking Through Walls by Geshegedan Lodro, and that was one that was recommended by Venable René, which I haven't read. It sounds great. Kama Biding and Special Insight by Geshe Gendin Lojo. And then Guide to Shamatha Meditation by Changgu Rinpoche. Report an error in the passage at 50:18 Highlight the passage at 50:18

50:41 Clearly working with a live teacher is best because when you're, these are great for beginning because you're, you know, thinking about it, you're getting started and so forth. When you get to a certain level, you might have experiences that aren't in the list of questions at the end of each chapter. In which case, of course. Report an error in the passage at 50:41 Highlight the passage at 50:41

51:02 Being able to bring them up to a teacher is more useful. Yeah? Before you started reading a book list that I wanted to mention at some point about Lama's retention revolution, there's going to be a bunch of funny teaching on that book. Report an error in the passage at 51:02 Highlight the passage at 51:02

51:23 Yeah, that's right, that's right. What dates? I think it's May. I think it's a three-day. I think it was a time that I could go, so I immediately just like it fell back out of my head again. Hopefully I made enough. Report an error in the passage at 51:23 Highlight the passage at 51:23

51:44 So the little elephant is actually our mind. And it's a wild elephant at first. And it begins to be more calmed down the more that we work with it. Report an error in the passage at 51:44 Highlight the passage at 51:44

52:00 So... It's a long road. It's a long road. It's a long road. And the thing I find interesting is that there are like 20-something steps, or maybe even 30-something steps. I don't have one, actually. Can I peek at yours really quick? so... Report an error in the passage at 52:00 Highlight the passage at 52:00

52:13 When I was looking at it, when I copied it, I was just like, huh, wait a second, how come there's all these extra steps? It's like 30 steps and there's only supposed to be nine. So I guess they break them out. And of course it's all in Tibetan, so we don't really know. But you can see that it's going from being this black elephant and then it starts getting like more and more white as it's being purified. Report an error in the passage at 52:13 Highlight the passage at 52:13

52:33 And then it's like this white, then it begins calmly and it's like, then they can start riding it. And so it's kind of like that. Anyway, but that's the idea. The monkey gets purified too. Thank goodness. We don't want any impure monkeys on our back. I'm going to give you the nine stages of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 52:33 Highlight the passage at 52:33

52:55 And this leads to calm abiding. Calm abiding is not one of these nine stages. You attain calm abiding once you've mastered these nine stages. Report an error in the passage at 52:55 Highlight the passage at 52:55

53:06 The first is placing your mind on the object. Makes sense. Samjogpa. That's where we're able to keep our mind on the object for little short moments. We can't keep it there. We can't keep putting it back. Keeps going back. Just little moments of passing. When you first start this one, you think your mind is more wild than you've ever thought it was. Report an error in the passage at 53:06 Highlight the passage at 53:06

53:32 But actually you're just seeing it for the first time. They represent that one with these little row of dots. That's our mind getting onto it over and over and over again. The second one is placing your mind on the object in a stream. Report an error in the passage at 53:32 Highlight the passage at 53:32

53:49 At this level, you're able to keep it for little short amounts of time, but then it goes off again. So it's more like, instead of a dot, it's a dash. You can stay on it a little bit. They say the short amount is, I mean really a short amount of time is somewhat long. It's described as the amount of time needed to repeat a mala of manis. Report an error in the passage at 53:49 Highlight the passage at 53:49

54:09 Just a fair amount of time. So I think I'm still on the first one actually, I hate to say. There are times in retreat that I feel like I've gotten farther and then I come back to the city and it sort of gets a little tarnished. Report an error in the passage at 54:09 Highlight the passage at 54:09

54:26 The periods of distraction are longer than the periods of concentration for this one. I guess in the first one it's not even like, it's not mentioned. Not even worse. Not even worse, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 54:26 Highlight the passage at 54:26

54:41 And they describe it as you keep your mind on the object for a few minutes and then distractions surge back in great force, which disappoints you. So accurate. Dullness and agitation are frequent. Fixation is infrequent. So your biggest problems are dullness and agitation. The first one you're basically just able to keep it on for just momentary. Report an error in the passage at 54:41 Highlight the passage at 54:41

55:10 Not even for any amount of time. They don't even give you an amount of time. No continuity, just single moments of concentration. So is that just any one, basically, for starting out? Report an error in the passage at 55:10 Highlight the passage at 55:10

55:26 Well, I suppose it could be even more chaotic than that, but I would assume that's probably most of us. We've at least tasted this one. We may have even tasted the second one by now. Um... Report an error in the passage at 55:26 Highlight the passage at 55:26

55:39 know. You know. . Report an error in the passage at 55:39 Highlight the passage at 55:39

55:43 But they say, of course, that with all of these steps, we may taste them, but it kind of has to be regular before you can say that you've attained this. Yeah, there have actually been points where I've been like, even, well, no, I don't even say it. Report an error in the passage at 55:43 Highlight the passage at 55:43

56:00 It hasn't been regular enough to feel that confident that I could ever even fake it. And of course, I wouldn't. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Report an error in the passage at 56:00 Highlight the passage at 56:00

56:09 The third one is called patch-like concentration. You can imagine. Len, Te, Jokpa. They're all Jokpas. At this level you're patching your continuity. So you have some continuity or stream of concentration and then it breaks and then you patch it with more continuity. Isn't that interesting? Like I would never have thought to describe it that way but you can tell these people have spent a long time meditating. Report an error in the passage at 56:09 Highlight the passage at 56:09

56:34 This level is characterized by shorter breaks in concentration. You've gained pretty powerful mindfulness or recollection at this stage, a strong ability to go back to the object. Report an error in the passage at 56:34 Highlight the passage at 56:34

56:48 You're pretty trained to go back. You're not likely to be one of those ones that you're just wandering off aimlessly, planning your day. You catch it because you're so well trained. The fourth one, placing your mind closely on the object. Report an error in the passage at 56:48 Highlight the passage at 56:48

57:09 The Drenpa or mindfulness is especially strong in this level, so your mind can't lose the object completely. This is, I would think, a huge breakthrough. Your mind, let me just repeat that, your mind can't lose the object completely. That's pretty amazing. It's crappy. You may have lost clarity and intensity, but you don't lose fixation. So that's a good one. Report an error in the passage at 57:09 Highlight the passage at 57:09

57:39 Lots, of course, dullness and agitation, though. You no longer struggle to keep the object, but you struggle with the quality. And this is the one, they actually say it's possible for us to get to this level, living in the city, and just doing it incredibly, it's possible for us to get to this place, or at least a couple of my teachers. Report an error in the passage at 57:39 Highlight the passage at 57:39

58:08 Your recollection at this point is completely mature. Your recollection is mindfulness, drum pop, remembering the object. It's completely developed. The tendency here is to bring the mind inside too forcefully, which results in subtle dullness. And this is a great danger. So subtle dullness that we talked about last week, that one that it feels like we're having a good meditation because we can hold the object, but we're just zoning out. Report an error in the passage at 58:08 Highlight the passage at 58:08

58:38 This is a dangerous section for that. Report an error in the passage at 58:38 Highlight the passage at 58:38

58:43 Number five, bringing your mind under control. Dull water, shepa. At this level, you need very strong watchfulness. This is the vigilance that we talked about, the guard dog, to catch the subtle dullness. So when you're sliding into subtle dullness, the guard dog, part of our mind, sends off an alarm that catches us. Report an error in the passage at 58:43 Highlight the passage at 58:43

59:08 So we don't just zone out and sit there for an hour or something. At this stage, at number five, watchfulness or vigilance, let's call it the same thing. Vigilance gets very, very strong and powerful. At this level, we have fixation and clarity, but not intensity. So at four, we have fixation, but not clarity and intensity. Report an error in the passage at 59:08 Highlight the passage at 59:08

59:32 At five, we have fixation and clarity, but not intensity. Report an error in the passage at 59:32 Highlight the passage at 59:32

59:38 Number six, Siwar Jepar, Jepar, making the mind calm by correcting subtle agitation. Report an error in the passage at 59:38 Highlight the passage at 59:38

59:50 Subtle agitation results from over-correcting the dullness. So we just kind of... Keeping the mind slightly agitated because we keep correcting. So you sometimes have to sober your mind. But you don't have a lot of subtle dullness at this level anymore. Report an error in the passage at 59:50 Highlight the passage at 59:50

1:00:09 Watchfulness or vigilance is, we completely mature at the sixth level. So vigilance and watchfulness are similar. Mindfulness and recollection are similar in this transition. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:09 Highlight the passage at 1:00:09

1:00:29 Seven, Namparshiwar Chepa. Making the mind totally calm. Believe it or not, so we're only at seven, right? So we still have a ways to go. One that's called making the mind totally calm. Because your mindfulness and vigilance or watchfulness are totally mature, it's difficult for agitation or dullness to occur. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:29 Highlight the passage at 1:00:29

1:00:52 But you still have to use effort towards subtle dullness and subtle agitation. They're no longer attacking you, is the way it feels, but you're attacking them. This is what distinguishes this step. Subtle agitation and dullness can still occur, but it's not a big problem. It still requires energy and effort to wipe them out. So you still have to use an Report an error in the passage at 1:00:52 Highlight the passage at 1:00:52

1:01:24 effort less. The eighth level, say check two, bringing the mind to one pointedness. So it's taken us this long to get to one. At the start of your meditation session, you make a slight effort to bring your mind to the object. And it effortlessly stays there throughout the session. The earlier sessions can be compared to having a powerful enemy and then having a weaker one and initially having a disarmed enemy. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:24 Highlight the passage at 1:01:24

1:01:58 You still have to wipe. Now at this level you no longer need to actively, Report an error in the passage at 1:01:58 Highlight the passage at 1:01:58

1:02:06 because it's effortless at that point. Once it becomes effortless. But you still have to have effort at the very beginning. So number eight is characterized by being able to place it in one corner. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:06 Highlight the passage at 1:02:06

1:02:25 The ninth level is... Nampar Chokpa, placing your mind in deep meditation. At this point you effortlessly enter and abide in deep meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:25 Highlight the passage at 1:02:25

1:02:38 This is the foundation for developing Shime or Kamabiding. So you're not at Shime. You haven't reached it yet. When do you reach it? When you can hold this level of meditation effortlessly on the object for four hours and, this is the important second part, You have generated bliss of body and mind. You haven't gotten there yet. So you don't have to ask anyone if you've gotten there because you have to have both of those two things. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:38 Highlight the passage at 1:02:38

1:03:13 No pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:13 Highlight the passage at 1:03:13

1:03:20 Now you're in bliss. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:20 Highlight the passage at 1:03:20

1:03:24 And they actually say you could go for days. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:24 Highlight the passage at 1:03:24

1:03:39 So related to this are these things that are called the four forms of attention. And these are just these, I'll tell you where they're used in the different. The nine levels. Forceful attention, which is where I am right now. Forceful attention, it's present during the first and second levels. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:39 Highlight the passage at 1:03:39

1:04:00 This form of attention is required at the beginning of the practice and requires the beginning of the practice of meditation, not the beginning of your session, beginning of your entire meditative practice. It requires gross effort. It's a forceful placement, holding and maintaining of the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:00 Highlight the passage at 1:04:00

1:04:21 I found that interesting, just that description, forceful. It wasn't what I expected with meditation. It sounded really different than what I expected, but it actually correlated really well with my experience. And one of my teachers said actually that the force that you are using to hold the object in the early levels, the early stages, is what becomes the bliss in the later. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:21 Highlight the passage at 1:04:21

1:04:47 And I don't fully get that, but for some reason it made sense to me. So I'd like to repeat it. This is Venable Rene. He said, the force that you use to hold the object at the beginning is what becomes the bliss in the later stages. I guess it's just the effort. In the middle five stages you have what's called interrupted attention from the third to the seventh levels. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:47 Highlight the passage at 1:04:47

1:05:14 The mind is by and large on the object. Here the attention is interrupted by excitement and laxity. So this is a less intense form of forceful attention. So it's heavy forceful at the beginning, then it becomes a little bit, it's more just like periodic forceful attention. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:14 Highlight the passage at 1:05:14

1:05:32 Uninterrupted attention is by the 8th level. The mind is no longer interrupted at all by laxity and excitement. That's only in the 8th level. In the 9th level it's called spontaneous attention. No effort is needed. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:32 Highlight the passage at 1:05:32

1:05:56 I think because, I think to some degree you are always in it. I think to some degree you are. That's a good question. For example, if you're ever in the presence of, well, like Lama Tsongkhapa Rinpoche, sometimes when he's teaching, he'll just go into meditative equipoise. And you'll just be like, oh. You know, or you come to him for some advice or something and he'll go into this, you know, this series. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:56 Highlight the passage at 1:05:56

1:06:27 And I think it's because he's just at that place all the time. So he's just periodically kind of going in there. I actually think he's sort of checking out what's happening all over the planet simultaneously, but that's my own thing. So I'm just kind of like, okay, whenever he's ready, he'll come back. But I think it's just, I think that there, I think there is to some degree, you're just constantly operating out of that place. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:27 Highlight the passage at 1:06:27

1:06:53 And it's almost probably more effort. To speak and function in the world once you reach this level. But I think there's still intention in your mind. And so your intention, say you're sitting down and you decide you want to sit for two or three hours, you still have the intention that then I have to go to work or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:53 Highlight the passage at 1:06:53

1:07:15 And so that intention still is available in your mind. It's not like you just settle now. Because you're still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, remember, you're still really alert, you're still really present, you're still, it's not zoning out in any way, or hazy, you know, you haven't lost your ability to think. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:15 Highlight the passage at 1:07:15

1:07:40 You're scratching in there. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:40 Highlight the passage at 1:07:40

1:07:48 Yeah, you just, you just touched on, Report an error in the passage at 1:07:48 Highlight the passage at 1:07:48

1:07:54 let's say when you, when you get to, Report an error in the passage at 1:07:54 Highlight the passage at 1:07:54

1:08:02 I mean, I'm at least like four blocks around me, through sounds and going on, but I'm still, that's still coma-binding, right? No, I mean, not once you've actually attained Lama Binding. You actually, you know, that's what they call the meditative absorptions, I think, because you actually literally absorb beyond your sense faculties, your sense consciousnesses. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:02 Highlight the passage at 1:08:02

1:08:31 So first your visual as well as your audio as well as your touch, which is probably also why you don't feel the things in your knees and your back and stuff. You're just literally absorbing into deeper and deeper levels of your mind. And I've actually heard that when you attain the upper levels of meditation, Report an error in the passage at 1:08:31 Highlight the passage at 1:08:31

1:08:59 this one is harder to describe, you know when you're thinking about the different realms of existence and you're thinking about them in three realms, desire realm, form realm and formless realm, that the higher states of meditative absorption you are actually out of, your mind is out of the desire realm. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:59 Highlight the passage at 1:08:59

1:09:22 your mind is actually in a different realm in your body. kind of freaky, but um, but yeah, You're literally absorbing past that, so that those noises and things don't bother you at all. Oh no, I'm not saying don't bother, but you're still present. No, but you're not even aware of them, which is why people could literally fire a gun next to your head, which they've done for the monk in the lab tests and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:22 Highlight the passage at 1:09:22

1:09:47 You guys could get up and move furniture and that would be completely... But you're still aware of that sound. You wouldn't even be aware of it, that's what I'm saying. There's no awareness of any... But then it feels like you're not present. You're not to some degree. You're not to some degree. You're in a deep, deep state of meditative equipoise on your object only. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:47 Highlight the passage at 1:09:47

1:10:09 The only thing that's existing for you is your object. And the reason is you want to be able to take that tool and to meditate on emptiness, the nature of reality. And at that point, when you do that meditation on emptiness and you actually attain the path of seeing, when you have a direct experience of emptiness, nothing else exists except emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:09 Highlight the passage at 1:10:09

1:10:29 So there's not any subtle awareness of everything that's going around you. You just go into that incredibly deep state of emptiness. For that experience to happen, you may only need 20 minutes. But to lead up to it, you have to have this ability to go into these deep states of meditation and absorb past your sense consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:29 Highlight the passage at 1:10:29

1:10:49 I was just going to kind of add on. So you can take, like when you have shamatha, there are practices then too that... Build up that and use that calm abiding to then become aware of what's going on around you, like formless meditations. So you can use it as a basis for clarity of mind, like what we were talking about earlier. Which is different than what we're talking about. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:49 Highlight the passage at 1:10:49

1:11:16 Which is kind of what you're saying is like more of a clarity of mind meditation. So it can be like building your muscles to do that more effectively. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:16 Highlight the passage at 1:11:16

1:11:27 I think it's a different type of meditation. I think it's a different type of meditation than what you're describing, where it's an awareness of. And I think those are skills that could lead you into Mahamudra, meditation is on the nature of mind and so forth. But in this case, calm abiding meditation is really, it's like a really precise meditation on an object that we have to choose to decide what your object is. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:27 Highlight the passage at 1:11:27

1:11:55 But it's different than just the breath meditation we do at the beginning of class. And the reason is because you're really trying to hone this deep, strong, powerful tool of concentration. So I think people sometimes confuse it with other forms of meditation where you're just awareness of the breath or awareness of different states of the mind and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:55 Highlight the passage at 1:11:55

1:12:24 But this is like literally... I'm trying to really hold an object, whether it's the breath or, I mean, I think it's confusing because we sometimes use the breath for all of those. Yeah, exactly. So in this one, you're just trying to like, yeah. Right, and this isn't that. Hold them all at once. Yeah, which is why I think why, even though I haven't developed calm abiding, I still say I'm doing calm abiding meditation when I'm doing calm abiding meditation because I'm really trying to do, That strong, focused, really powerful meditation. Yeah, and I think that there are lots of other meditations out there that this is not it. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:24 Highlight the passage at 1:12:24

1:13:12 And there are reasons for those meditations. They're quite useful. They're useful for different ways for you getting to know. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:12 Highlight the passage at 1:13:12

1:13:21 I mean, think about the uses of Vipassanā meditation or acceptance, for example. of without trying to change it. things like that. I mean, there are different ways that you would use different kinds of meditation or even just to calm Report an error in the passage at 1:13:21 Highlight the passage at 1:13:21

1:13:40 there are different ways to use other kinds of this is a Report an error in the passage at 1:13:40 Highlight the passage at 1:13:40

1:13:47 where it's like trying to hone It's much more like... trying to get to this point where you're trying to What Report an error in the passage at 1:13:47 Highlight the passage at 1:13:47

1:14:15 I thought the other meditation that is an awareness meditation that involves the breath and all the senses. And being in such deep presence in the moment that you actually develop clairvoyance. I think you can develop levels of clairvoyance in that kind of meditation. And I don't know, there would be something I could ask a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:15 Highlight the passage at 1:14:15

1:14:39 But this you're saying that on common writing you also... On the path to common writing, yeah, yeah, you do, yeah. So, and those are called side effects. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:39 Highlight the passage at 1:14:39

1:14:52 That was that in the toilet. And clairvoyance in this isn't always talking about, there's all levels of clairvoyance. I think literally there's like more than 20 levels of clairvoyance too. When we think clairvoyance, we think of one, but actually there's reading people's minds as well as being able to perceive, they have like direct perception, you know, where you can actually see subtle impermanence in a tabletop for example or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:52 Highlight the passage at 1:14:52

1:15:16 So there's all these different levels of clairvoyance. Not to mention all the other cities where you're like flying through the air and things like that. Someone Report an error in the passage at 1:15:16 Highlight the passage at 1:15:16

1:15:32 said that you can only get to the fourth level if you live in the city. So does that mean that you have to? Were you joking or like do you really... No, I actually, one of my teachers actually said that it would be possible to attain that fourth level into, you know, under these conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:32 Highlight the passage at 1:15:32

1:15:48 Not for everyone, I don't think. I think it's just, it is possible in the theory of things that with enough determination that you... But you couldn't get to stage 5 and beyond if you're living in the city. I think you can if you're living in the city, but I think you have to go somewhere else. And actually that's the next thing we're going to talk about, I think, in retreat. Oh, is that you? Gina, who said that? I'm like looking at Carla. And I'm looking at her. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:48 Highlight the passage at 1:15:48

1:16:16 I know, and I'm like, why isn't she looking at me? Yeah, actually really quick and then I'll give you guys a break. There are these, what's called these six conditions, six necessary factors or conditions that they say we need to develop calm abiding. And usually of course this would be done in retreat, but I also was thinking about these and also one of my teachers was thinking about these in terms of... Report an error in the passage at 1:16:16 Highlight the passage at 1:16:16

1:16:49 What we could start developing now, because not all of us are really ready to go off to a cave, basically. That's why, actually, people did meditate in caves. We'll see, actually, why these things point to that. But not all of us are at that point right now, including myself. And so there are ways that we can kind of build up to it if we know kind of what we're headed for. Because a lot of them are mindsets. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:49 Highlight the passage at 1:16:49

1:17:17 You know, we're actually... Preparing our mind to do this kind of meditation. And so that's stuff we can work on now. Not as easy living in the city. You'll see why. Okay, so the location has to be conducive. And this has five points. Traditionally, these are the traditional things. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:17 Highlight the passage at 1:17:17

1:17:38 The location has to be completely quiet. Not even birds or water. This is why meditators went into caves. um... This kind of solitude is supposed to drive you into your mind more and more. And they say that when you're doing retreat, even if you're doing just like one day retreat, to try not to distract yourself so much, you know, to try not to do like to bring cards and journals. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:38 Highlight the passage at 1:17:38

1:18:08 And I'm not saying that I haven't done this. But there's a reason for even memorizing because sometimes you're so excited to get away, right? You bring every book you've ever wanted to study and they aren't all on. If you are literally trying to attain some concentration, it's really better not to read at all because you're just basically distracting your mind and believe me, I'm like the queen of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:08 Highlight the passage at 1:18:08

1:18:34 I remember actually one of my teachers in Long Retreat was saying how just repeatedly he would just read. The vitamin bottles, because that was the only thing that was left in the cabin. And you're just like, how many times are you going to read the ingredients of this particular vitamin? But you just do, because your mind wants to read. So what can we do now? We can start just having some time that we aren't doing anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:34 Highlight the passage at 1:18:34

1:19:02 Because that's really rare, right? I mean, we always feel every moment. So just taking some amount of time, even if you just like... Maybe just take some Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon or something like that where you just have some quiet. You don't necessarily feel it and you don't necessarily use it even for studying or for your lists. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:02 Highlight the passage at 1:19:02

1:19:28 Just taking more quiet time and also trying to do some little retreats. Doing a day long here or doing a day long or a weekend at Vashapani or just make your own retreat by just deciding to be in silence or turn off the phone. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:28 Highlight the passage at 1:19:28

1:19:48 The second point is that the location should be blessed by holy beings or at least have a good feeling to it. It seems in some way kind of obvious that we would go by that, but why? I think it's kind of interesting. They say actually that the more people that have actually meditated and of course clearly attained certain levels of realization, the better. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:48 Highlight the passage at 1:19:48

1:20:19 And I think it's interesting actually, I mean when you think about it, we've had many many holy beings just in this space here in the city, so it doesn't have to be, there are actually many places at Zen Center, they've had many many holy beings meditate. So we don't have to even leave the city to kind of visit these places. But if you do go to different places like Vajrapani, there were many many many, like for the last 30 years, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama went to Vajrapani, which I just think is so amazing. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:19 Highlight the passage at 1:20:19

1:20:49 And meditated. I've meditated and practiced. So you can spend time in the city just going to different temples and just sitting, you know, having some time to sit in their meditation hall. Or you can visit retreat centers and see what feels good, you know, even if it's just for a day. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:49 Highlight the passage at 1:20:49

1:21:13 Location must be easy for sustenance or retreat support, meaning it... It should have some sort of access to good food and safe, abundant water. And again, this sort of makes sense on what we would want to have, but it's possible. I actually have a good friend who always does retreat. She's one of the members of our community. She was doing retreats at a retreat center that got too expensive for her, so then she just decided, you know, that's fine. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:13 Highlight the passage at 1:21:13

1:21:44 I live in my own apartment. I'll just do it in my own apartment, which I think would be so amazingly difficult, but she's now done it. Probably four or five years in a row. One year she did a three-month retreat and she organized this entire schedule of women who brought her food. And we did it for the entire three months. We all kind of rotated. I think there was mostly four or five of us that just did it every once a week. And then the occasional backups when everything failed. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:44 Highlight the passage at 1:21:44

1:22:09 And it did. But it actually worked really, really well. And my mom actually has done that. We've done a song-song retreat that way. We just went around the clock just doing these. It's not self-practice. And people just dropped off food. So it is totally possible to do it. Again, Vajrapani, I think, does this as a fine art. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:09 Highlight the passage at 1:22:09

1:22:29 They're really, really good in the way that they support you when you're doing a retreat. And there's literally nothing else for you to do except your retreat, which is kind of annoying, but it's true. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:29 Highlight the passage at 1:22:29

1:22:42 The location must have no dangerous animals. I love that that's one of them. Not a problem right now in the city. Um... Report an error in the passage at 1:22:42 Highlight the passage at 1:22:42

1:22:50 I did retreat in a place that had bears and that definitely weighed on my mind. I was terrified to go to the bathroom before it began getting light at like 5 something in the morning. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:50 Highlight the passage at 1:22:50

1:23:03 But I think it has to do of course with, these all have to do with things that would affect your mind. Good Dharma friends around to support you. And that's where actually these kind of classes are really useful. If you guys start connecting in these classes, these become your good Dharma friends. Some of the friends that I have now that I consider my best Dharma friends are people that I just met in classes like this and I just connected with and we kind of got together and did our homeworks together and stuff like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:03 Highlight the passage at 1:23:03

1:23:35 Or did retreat together in a group retreat setting, which can definitely make you become either best friends or worst enemies. But it happens... It happens over time and you begin to realize how you can support each other. And sometimes it just takes, I'm going to go down to that retreat, are you going to go? Report an error in the passage at 1:23:35 Highlight the passage at 1:23:35

1:23:56 And that's sometimes really helpful. And then you kind of start beginning to build those Dharma friendships. So that's all location. The second of the six points is keeping moral discipline. And so that we were talking about with the three higher trainings. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:56 Highlight the passage at 1:23:56

1:24:16 That has to do with both non-harm, you know, not harming anything or anyone, but also learning how to purify. So I'm going to do the Pasha Safa on Saturday, and we did the four opponent powers last week. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:16 Highlight the passage at 1:24:16

1:24:31 But an idea of how to start now is just to meditate at sort of at least close to the regular time every day, sort of keeping a regular schedule. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:31 Highlight the passage at 1:24:31

1:24:45 Setting time to both meditate and also time to study. You know, if you're going to do any study at all, try to do it on a regular basis. That's actually a form of discipline, which is a form of... And sort of the more regular your life is, the better for your mind. I mean, that makes sense. Sort of, you know, like, if we're all over the place and we're kind of, you know, our schedule is completely... Report an error in the passage at 1:24:45 Highlight the passage at 1:24:45

1:25:13 I actually began to figure out it's actually better. For me to always get up at about the same amount of time, even if I have to just nap later than it is to constantly change my schedule because my hours are crazy. So even though my night hours might, I might have to work really late or something to get something out, which I'll have to do tonight. But to try to stay pretty much at the same time in the morning, just to sit, even if I'm sick or something, and then go to sleep afterwards, it still works better than it does if you're like... Report an error in the passage at 1:25:13 Highlight the passage at 1:25:13

1:25:43 9 o 'clock one day, 6 o 'clock one day, you know, like all over the place. I think I'm doing something wrong sometimes. Sometimes I read and then I try to do the meditation. But if you're saying that coma biting, you really don't want to stimulate your mind with reading. So I shouldn't read, right? Did I say that? Well, I mean... I mean, I think it's actually a good idea. I don't, but I don't think I said that. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:43 Highlight the passage at 1:25:43

1:26:12 Well... Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It's like avoid reading and stimulating your mind. Yeah, yeah. Definitely. Yeah, if you're doing like a co-abiding retreat. But they say that's true for deity retreats too. If you're in a deity retreat, they say really just have some commentary on the practice and that's it. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:12 Highlight the passage at 1:26:12

1:26:33 Maybe someone won't run, you know, and that's it. So don't bring every book you've ever wanted to read into retreat with you because you'll do what I've done. Which is to read all those books and not really to do what you came there to do. So if I'm just trying to do a little calm abiding? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:33 Highlight the passage at 1:26:33

1:26:53 That's okay. I mean you're allowed to still read now. It's more like if you're in retreat. But I guess it's kind of to notice. I try to do analytical and calm abiding each day. So I start with calm abiding because I think my mind wants to do the analytical more. That's just what I'm drawn to. I can think, I can, you know, it's like I can figure. It's like the kind of, that's the way my mind works. But I wouldn't do it first. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:53 Highlight the passage at 1:26:53

1:27:20 Unless there's some reason, like, I'm not going to have time for the calm abiding at that point or something like that. Because, again, it's going to stimulate your mind and you're going to be thinking about death the whole time you're trying to think about your meditator. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:20 Highlight the passage at 1:27:20

1:27:35 It definitely does kind of stir up the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:35 Highlight the passage at 1:27:35

1:27:47 Maybe do it right after. Yeah, go ahead and do your calm abiding. And then just read a little bit, or read it the night before. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:47 Highlight the passage at 1:27:47

1:28:02 Develop the next two, three and four, is all part of one section, and that's developing a contented mind. Three is have few needs, and four is develop an attitude of being satisfied with whatever you have. So they're really related, but they aren't quite the same. One is not feeling like you have to go out and... Report an error in the passage at 1:28:02 Highlight the passage at 1:28:02

1:28:29 get a bunch of things so it's reducing desire basically which we can believe it or not in the city it's it's harder in some ways than it is when you're like locked up in a cabin for six months and there's nothing else that you can get but believe me you can write The second one is just being satisfied with whatever you have, and actually that's a really interesting experience, especially if somebody else is making your food. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:29 Highlight the passage at 1:28:29

1:28:59 To just accept. And if you're on a special diet and it comes and you just go, okay. I remember saying one time, and I've always said this actually, I've said it for like 30 years, I'll eat anything except for sauerkraut. So what did they bring me? Vajrapani, one time, one retreat. I'm like, okay. Because I wanted to work on this. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:59 Highlight the passage at 1:28:59

1:29:22 Just being satisfied with what, it's not going to kill you for one meal to have. to have, um, sauerkraut. So... So fostering that contented mind. The first one is letting go of always wanting more and more and more and the second one is really fostering this mind that's just happy with whatever you get, whatever you have. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:22 Highlight the passage at 1:29:22

1:29:43 The fifth one is avoiding the distractions of a lot of activities and this is supporting what we were just talking about, this trying to keep only one focus to your retreat. Only reading what you need to. And allowing time, and this is really important to me because I actually do a lot of activities in my regular life, is allowing time to just stare at the sky. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:43 Highlight the passage at 1:29:43

1:30:06 And I actually build it into every retreat now. I do my little tea time and I go out and I stare at the sky. And it's great. Because they say that our mind is very much like a sky. And to look at that and to really just contemplate, my mind's like this. This is what my mind is. And it's this vast unfolding. And it's really powerful for your mind to do that. And I don't do it much here. I don't know about the rest of you guys. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:06 Highlight the passage at 1:30:06

1:30:34 I mean, I rarely even... It's great when I'm walking and I actually see the sky. But really, honestly, days can go by and I don't see the sky. So it's something that I build in. To my retreat to just be able to see this guy. And I actually choose a place to do retreat where I know that I can see this guy. And I know there are retreats that you do where you block in all the windows. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:34 Highlight the passage at 1:30:34

1:30:57 Elizabeth just did one of those. I'm going to find out what it was like tomorrow. Where they, literally, you just are staying in one room and you're not leaving and your meals are brought to you through the little slot in the door. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:57 Highlight the passage at 1:30:57

1:31:10 Too much for my mind at this point. She actually did it in Lama. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:10 Highlight the passage at 1:31:10

1:31:22 But the idea for all the books that I've ever read in terms of trying to have an even retreat is whenever your mind gets agitated, whenever your mind gets worried, whenever your mind gets, you know, you start getting all like, just go stare at this guy. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:22 Highlight the passage at 1:31:22

1:31:44 And just the whole thing just opens up. So giving yourself time to that. Do it now. You know, so since I started doing that in retreat, I actually look for the sky. You know, I'll look out and I'll be like looking at it and thinking about taking that time. Same here, just allow yourself time that you're not doing anything other than just relaxing the mind. Because we just tend to do a lot and sometimes we'll layer it, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:44 Highlight the passage at 1:31:44

1:32:10 There's, I'm always so shocked when I'm in people's lives and they're like, the radio's on, the TV's on and there's that music and there's like people talking and it's just like. Could we turn off one of these? It's just too much for me at this point. And I used to do that, but I just don't now. It's too much, I think. So just allowing yourself time in regular daily life to come. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:10 Highlight the passage at 1:32:10

1:32:32 And then the final one is have a mind that's given up worldly concerns. So this one they say, you know, not to worry so much about what other people say about you or to worry about too much about your own comfort beyond. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:32 Highlight the passage at 1:32:32

1:32:47 Most of my teachers really, really stress. Being in a place that makes you feel uncomfortable and a temperature that makes you feel comfortable. No wild animals that makes you feel uncomfortable. Like there is a certain amount and then just foster contentment, you know, then you just have to let it go because you can just stress about that kind of stuff for a long time. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:47 Highlight the passage at 1:32:47

1:33:09 It'll never be perfect if we just leave it up to our minds. But to a certain degree there is certain, you know, like the weather in California in August, you know, It might not be conducive for you. Maybe you can't function very well in the heat. I don't like the heat too much. I would much prefer cold. So really think about that. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:09 Highlight the passage at 1:33:09

1:33:29 But beyond that, just allow your mind to not be so obsessed by all of that. And the way we work on this one now is just starting to understand, are we still really grasping to this life? Are we still acting out of concern for what people think about us? and about us and whether or not they admire us and things like that. So getting back to the eight worldly concerns. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:29 Highlight the passage at 1:33:29

1:34:04 clinging to this life only. So, let's take a break. I'm seeing some eyes starting to get hazy and rolling back in the head and stuff. The ears opened up, actually, so you're okay. You took your little nap earlier. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:04 Highlight the passage at 1:34:04

1:34:23 Reset button. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:23 Highlight the passage at 1:34:23

1:34:29 Oh, and also you guys get... A little present for Losar. You get some Losar candy. So you wrapped it up so that we wouldn't know because otherwise we'd be distracted. Like Effie doesn't put their snacks out for Sunday school. That's right. Because I've been watching small children and I know how you'd be. No, actually somebody just presented, a single just presented it to me with work class and I thought I would share it with you guys. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:29 Highlight the passage at 1:34:29

1:35:00 Entirely out of an altruistic motive is also to get it out of my life. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:00 Highlight the passage at 1:35:00

1:35:09 Everybody grab two. Or maybe even three if you get so designed. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:09 Highlight the passage at 1:35:09

1:35:18 I wasn't sure what you needed so I'm going to show you your options and then I got small white lemons. I like those. Those seem good and easy somehow. These are really visible. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:18 Highlight the passage at 1:35:18

1:35:41 How many? There's five in there? There's five here and I got two of those. Especially on oak that might be good because people are growing really fast. You just want to show what your plans were so I can get more or different but I figured I'd at least show you some of these. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:41 Highlight the passage at 1:35:41

1:36:01 So, I bet if we did, yeah. I didn't know where you were going to put them. Well, that's something we have to talk about. I think probably, like if we have it right, we could have it on both sides of Oak, like as you get close to the intersection with Webster. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:01 Highlight the passage at 1:36:01

1:36:20 Both sides of Oak as you get close to the intersection with Webster. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:20 Highlight the passage at 1:36:20

1:36:28 I think you should put some on Fillmore because people just walking around, like even Fillmore a little south of Oak, where it starts the restaurants. I both know those, they're big on the streets, so all of those, that'd be four right there, I would say. Big ones. Yeah, the big ones. So maybe I'll get another pack of big ones. Maybe even one big one on Haight. Yeah, I would think about Fillmore Haight because that's where your foot traffic is. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:28 Highlight the passage at 1:36:28

1:36:48 And then maybe just around us in a block with some of these. And you already have another pack of these? There's two packs of the little ones and one pack of the big ones, so there's five big ones and six little ones. I bet that's enough. Okay, do you need markers? No, we can have a bunch of big markers because you're not going to do that much. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:48 Highlight the passage at 1:36:48

1:37:04 This is for the garage sale. Do you want to leave them in the office? Yeah, or even here. Up here is okay? In the closet? Yeah. You know, I bet if you had candy at the garage sale, it would lose some wallets. We're going to have a bake sale. Ah, that's very smart. Yeah, I know. Yeah, it's good for the people working it, too. Now, how did this get back? Report an error in the passage at 1:37:04 Highlight the passage at 1:37:04

1:37:34 Wait, and there's certainly not three candies per person. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:34 Highlight the passage at 1:37:34

1:37:43 I think all of these are milk chocolate rather than dark chocolate. Do you prefer dark? Yeah. I'm going to have one of these. This looks like milk chocolate and nuts. Is that mint? Caramel. There's another one of those. But I'm content with what I have. There you go. Actually, this is a perfect... Thank you very much. There's a jar of sauerkraut that's been in our refrigerator for a billion years too. You know, sauerkraut's better when it comes in a bag. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:43 Highlight the passage at 1:37:43

1:38:23 What does that mean? Bustic bag of sauerkraut. Fresh. Oh. The jar really does not... I'm thinking of an air sickness bag. I'm going to book, but make it go away now. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:23 Highlight the passage at 1:38:23

1:38:42 I'm going to Report an error in the passage at 1:38:42 Highlight the passage at 1:38:42

1:38:59 book the day of the garage sale, so I can't help out. But I have a car, so if you need to do goodwill runs after the garage sale is over, the next day. Oh, that's good to know. That's good to know. I think we're going to just do it that night. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:59 Highlight the passage at 1:38:59

1:39:16 Singalana, I worked at a deal. She's going to help me if I cook for Geshe-la. It was great. She said, I will help you, but we have to negotiate. And I'm like, oh, okay. I thought it was going to be something really big. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:16 Highlight the passage at 1:39:16

1:39:36 So she's going to help me all day, and Cindy Fong is going to help me all day, and then a couple other people said they'll come for hair and hair. If something falls through, I may be able to do our time. lot. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:36 Highlight the passage at 1:39:36

1:39:47 Hopefully we're done by then. I purposefully said it has to end by two, knowing that that would mean we'd still be messing around with it till four. But four feels doable to me compared to like six or eight, which is what it's usually dragged on because I stupidly had it end at like five. And then it's like this mad dash to the dump when you get stuff that, you know, just must not even go there. So I decided to make it much earlier than I really intend to be done with it so that it feels good. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:47 Highlight the passage at 1:39:47

1:40:17 just bake instead. Maybe that was too close to you, actually. No, but that's good to know because you're just coming the very next day, so that's an idea. I also told Mary that she has to help just that part with that final round, Report an error in the passage at 1:40:17 Highlight the passage at 1:40:17

1:40:36 and I think she's going to help with this setup. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:36 Highlight the passage at 1:40:36

1:40:43 And then I have one person that's going to come right in the middle of the day, and so that's great because I can just take a break and kind of not be there for a little bit and come back out. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:43 Highlight the passage at 1:40:43

1:40:54 That's always a good thing to do. I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:54 Highlight the passage at 1:40:54

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:40:58 But actually it's fun though, you know, you're just like chatting with people and you know, it's not, as long as it's not raining. Good luck. I know, I know. Are you holding it whether it rains or, whether it's rain or shine? That's actually a good question. We haven't chosen a rain date and I think we need to before we send out the E-news this week, let's have a secondary date. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:58 Highlight the passage at 1:40:58

1:41:23 How are we going to schedule it to rain for the next week? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:23 Highlight the passage at 1:41:23

1:41:30 When does it usually become more sunny in San Francisco? April. April? Okay. You know when it rains. But don't hurry it along. Don't hurry it along. No, we still need more water. We need a lot more water. Oh, okay. He's not convinced. I need less depression. Well, you're not in some far northern place that has no light at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:30 Highlight the passage at 1:41:30

1:41:58 That's true. I don't know how I do. I would have to be one of those people. I always used to make jokes. And actually, there's a joke. He sent me this ad one time with this. One of these lights that you like hook onto your forehead. The sad lights. Yeah, the sad lights. I would totally have to be one of those. It totally affects my mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:58 Highlight the passage at 1:41:58

1:42:15 It's so dark for so long. I mean, I can only imagine actually. I've never really lived somewhere where it is. But whenever I get sort of depressed by our three and a half weeks of rain, which really that's all our winter is, it's so not bad compared to anywhere else. Usually it's worse though. Usually it's November to like much. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:15 Highlight the passage at 1:42:15

1:42:32 Yeah, yeah. This year I think we had at the beginning and not so much in the middle and then a little at the end. Then you look at the green hillsides and stuff. This time of year is actually the grass and everything looks so gorgeous. It's actually in the summer that it starts looking all brown. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:32 Highlight the passage at 1:42:32

1:42:50 If you were born there, that looks beautiful. The brown? Yeah. No, I've gotten used to it now. I like it. But I actually really love like February hills. Yeah, they are gorgeous. It's like my favorite time. Yeah. And going out. Like this time of year we also have like the new lambs and stuff like that being born. It's nice. And up in Northern, I guess, Sonoma and stuff like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:50 Highlight the passage at 1:42:50

1:43:14 Yeah! You won! While you were gone, we voted for you. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:14 Highlight the passage at 1:43:14

1:43:23 We all drew straws and you got a short one. You have to bring that into retreat and meditate on it. For six to twelve months. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:23 Highlight the passage at 1:43:23

1:43:38 Oh my god, that'd be so hard. But I Report an error in the passage at 1:43:38 Highlight the passage at 1:43:38

1:43:46 think Report an error in the passage at 1:43:46 Highlight the passage at 1:43:46

1:43:57 you can develop a practice, a regular daily practice, and you can also take the opportunity when it arises, and we're really fortunate with some of the teachers just in this area, that there are people who teach home abiding in really general ways, so it's not like you have to be their student to come. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:57 Highlight the passage at 1:43:57

1:44:20 Where you learn more techniques and then you go, just like with that one, you learn more techniques in a group and it's in a retreat environment and then you come back and you work with it and then you do another one. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:20 Highlight the passage at 1:44:20

1:44:33 So, I mean, that's something actually that somebody in, for example, a small town. So even though our life is a little bit crazy, we still have actually, really actually very great. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:33 Highlight the passage at 1:44:33

1:44:54 You actually go outside. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They have cabins on the ridge. They have six, seven cabins, I guess now. And they bring up the food in, you have your own food for breakfast, so they have stuff both in the cabin and in the fridge. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:54 Highlight the passage at 1:44:54

1:45:16 They have bread and granola and oatmeal and things like that, so you just have a simple breakfast. And then they bring a hot meal and it's in kind of a padded case for lunch, but also in that case there's soup that you can heat up and salad for dinner. So you're basically at that. And then you can also have, like if you have special foods or something that you really want that they don't have. They have other things in the fridge, like cheese, fruit and Report an error in the passage at 1:45:16 Highlight the passage at 1:45:16

1:45:50 krout. Obviously, once in 17 years is pretty good. I've never seen that before. I hope never to see it again. So you do leave the room, it's not like, stay and sell it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I wouldn't be able to do that, actually. I'm not, I just not subdued enough. I need to be able to walk. I actually build in walks in my retreat. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:50 Highlight the passage at 1:45:50

1:46:11 But yeah, it's a solitary cabin, so you don't share it with anyone. But you see the other cabin, and everyone really respects their silence. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:11 Highlight the passage at 1:46:11

1:46:22 Some people are really from the background of... I'm trying to think of what content. In Tibetan Buddhism, I can be silent, but I can look at you. There's nothing against that. I can look at you with my eyes. But there are a lot of people that are coming from a really strict, more, I guess, the Vipassanā background, where they'll just turn their head or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:22 Highlight the passage at 1:46:22

1:46:47 And that's fine. Because some people are not necessarily Tibetan retreat, they're just doing their retreat. Some people are just working on a book or something. They just want the silence and the meals and the enforced sort of discipline of being there. I think there's enough electricity to plug in a laptop, but phones don't work there. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:47 Highlight the passage at 1:46:47

1:47:13 Just a few pointers, and then we're just going to end with our attempt at a two-minute meditation online. These are just some pointers from... From my own experience, but also other teachers. We had talked about last time with visualization meditation, really studying an image and getting to know it, and you do that, you know, over and over again. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:13 Highlight the passage at 1:47:13

1:47:37 If you're doing, for example, a virtuous object by image of Shakyamuni, Report an error in the passage at 1:47:37 Highlight the passage at 1:47:37

1:47:48 you just study with it, study it in between sessions, and then when you sit, of course, this is, you're using your mental, so you're not staring at it. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:48 Highlight the passage at 1:47:48

1:48:05 I always mention this when we're talking about the posture, that you are observing your breath as it is. You don't need to change it in any way. And I say that because I ran into trouble when I was working on meditating on my breath and I was trying to really make it deeper, which is great to do off time. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:05 Highlight the passage at 1:48:05

1:48:26 That's fine. There are exercises you can do off time. If you do it while you're in meditation, you can actually just make yourself agitated. And I did. It's called Lung. I mean, we could do an entire class on that, which I'm not going to. But there's a wind imbalance that you can do if you force yourself, if you work too hard, if you're a type A personality, which does happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:26 Highlight the passage at 1:48:26

1:48:51 There are also ways to avoid it very naturally. And one of them is staring at the sky and relaxing your mind. Like coming up with ways to relax certain dietary changes you can make. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:51 Highlight the passage at 1:48:51

1:49:04 And walking, exercise. Lots of exercise. So I build in exercise and staring at the sky every retreat now. But don't change your breathing, even if you notice that it's shallow. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:04 Highlight the passage at 1:49:04

1:49:18 Just breathe naturally and watch that. That's fine. Doing the preliminaries, really good, really important to do, even if you do it incredibly fast. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:18 Highlight the passage at 1:49:18

1:49:31 Don't try for clarity if you're using an image at first. Try to be able to hold the image. Remember how we were talking about you don't get clarity and intensity until some of the later stages. We're just trying to get fixation. We're trying to be able to hold the mind up and then the others. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:31 Highlight the passage at 1:49:31

1:49:53 Even virtuous thoughts can't be. That's one that Mary and I always say. No, that's a virtuous thought. We can't talk about that one. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:53 Highlight the passage at 1:49:53

1:50:03 So at this point, you have one object. Know what that object is before you begin and keep your mind on it. Even if you have the most incredible insight into something, set it aside. That's not your object. It's a really difficult one to break if you don't Report an error in the passage at 1:50:03 Highlight the passage at 1:50:03

1:50:27 try to... Report an error in the passage at 1:50:27 Highlight the passage at 1:50:27

1:50:31 Keep your mind really alert. Like when your mind, you know, gets distracted, try really hard to apply the antidote, even if you have to do it again and again. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:31 Highlight the passage at 1:50:31

1:50:47 And also deeply, like practice really deeply accepting. As it is, like, you know, there's a balance between the two. Our minds are not perfect at this stage. Ultimately, they are. But they need some work. And so, just to accept that that's okay. And start with really, really short sessions. This is why, for calm abiding meditation, you really would start with a session of, like, you know, two, three, four minutes, even five minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:47 Highlight the passage at 1:50:47

1:51:20 There's actually two schools of thought. Alan Wallace suggests 24 minutes, which I believe comes from tradition. And in the Tibetan tradition, they would do really, literally very, very short sessions. And if you were doing a common biting retreat, you would actually do 18 of those sessions a day. And the reason is because you would just do some tight little thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:20 Highlight the passage at 1:51:20

1:51:45 You do your preliminaries, you might do some other prayers, but then you just do your little tiny session, and then you're going to take a break. And then you're going to do a lot. So that your mind is always fresh. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:45 Highlight the passage at 1:51:45

1:51:57 I believe they actually start at 12 minutes, those sessions, the way they're usually done in the Tibetan tradition. I started using Alan Walls as 24 and I thought, how on earth would I ever do 24 when I was going from 12? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:57 Highlight the passage at 1:51:57

1:52:15 But what really happens is, I think it takes our mind a good 10 minutes just to calm down. So it actually can be quite powerful to start with a higher amount. And then to tighten it up rather than to start with a tiny amount and to get longer. But you can just see, play with both of them. If you have really, really, really strong obstacles, just stop and deal with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:15 Highlight the passage at 1:52:15

1:52:40 Like don't just keep thinking you have to just soldier on, you know, like just force your way through it. Sometimes it's really necessary for us to just deal with whatever's coming up. So if whatever's coming up, for example, is just like you're totally exhausted. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:40 Highlight the passage at 1:52:40

1:52:54 Just go wash your face. Don't just keep thinking, I have to make myself do this. Sometimes you realize that you just really need more sleep, and that's important to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:54 Highlight the passage at 1:52:54

1:53:09 And same, of course, if you have other, we talked about different antidotes for different afflictive states of mind. If you're just fuming angry, it might work to calm your mind down to do so. Actually, I think more breath awareness meditation actually could be more calming. But you might have to just do an analytical meditation and try to release some of the anger before you meditate. So to really look at those anecdotes. And then as you go in and out of meditation, the more you're doing this, to try to practice some of these things like just in your everyday life in between the sessions. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:09 Highlight the passage at 1:53:09

1:53:47 They call it the post-meditative sessions. Not running around doing too much. Not distracting yourself too much. You know, staring in. At the sky more and so forth. But if you do decide that you want to relax and read a book or something, think about, or watch a movie or something, this is not in retreats, it's in your everyday life. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:47 Highlight the passage at 1:53:47

1:54:12 Think about that you want to do something that's going to calm and relax the mind, not agitate it. So just to remember that whatever it is, especially if this is something that you really want to work on, you want to work on Kamify, you want it to be... You know, a part of your life for the next, you know, however long. Really to try to think about whatever you're doing on the breaks to support what you're doing in the sessions. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:12 Highlight the passage at 1:54:12

1:54:35 You know, so that's not something that's so totally, you know, like, that was great, let's go out and watch, you know, a movie that's going to completely agitate our minds. 300. Yeah, because I think we just are not aware until we start really working with our mind in a kind of fine way how much this stuff really... Report an error in the passage at 1:54:35 Highlight the passage at 1:54:35

1:54:55 Affects our minds and continues to affect our minds. And actually the less TV and music and movies you watch, the more you realize that, the more that you begin to notice how long a stupid song stays in your mind, for example, or how long the image of the dresses that they wore at the Oscars stays in your brain and stuff like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:55 Highlight the passage at 1:54:55

1:55:20 So just to be aware of whatever you're feeding your mind in between sessions. So I don't think we have time, actually. It is right at 9 o 'clock. Should we just try two and a half minutes? Let's do two and a half minutes to end. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:20 Highlight the passage at 1:55:20

1:55:41 Sure. What's the meaning of emptiness? It seems like it's more like a fixation or intense. Like, why is it calm? Yeah, because we're abiding calmly. Eventually we will be abiding calmly on the object. Yeah, at the beginning it is more forced. But you don't want to be so forced that you're just like, you're, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:41 Highlight the passage at 1:55:41

1:56:08 Yeah, they often compare it to like the strings on a violin or something. So it has to be tight enough to get a sound, but not so tight that it's going to break. So yeah, our mind is the same. So it's like we need this balance in our body really too. So our body is in this posture, but we're not like this, you know. So it's like this kind of balance between alertness of body and mind and relaxation of body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:08 Highlight the passage at 1:56:08

1:56:33 And you're just constantly going back and forth between them because it's not like you ever get to one, you know, and never have to kind of go back and forth. But then the more that we work with it and the more that the crazy thoughts, you know, the agitated mind becomes relaxed because we're focusing on this one object. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:33 Highlight the passage at 1:56:33

1:56:52 Everything else just begins to relax. Then we're calmly abiding. Good point. And I definitely don't want you to be like... You know, so. I'm going to calmly abide now. What were you going to say? Well, I was just thinking, I think part of what is Report an error in the passage at 1:56:52 Highlight the passage at 1:56:52

1:57:32 more focused. It is. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Calm abiding isn't the best word, but I've heard other ones and they mean nothing to me like quiescence. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:32 Highlight the passage at 1:57:32

1:57:43 Let's do some quiescence meditation. You know, it's just, it doesn't, and I think it's because we just don't have this, yeah, I think we just don't have this mental state in our everyday life. Right. And so we don't really have an English word. I think the more of us that actually attain calm abiding, we'll probably come up with a better translation. And it won't be calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:43 Highlight the passage at 1:57:43

1:58:03 Well, maybe it will be, actually. It might be more like blissful abiding. Yeah, it'll be like, yeah, it'll be like, oh, that's a great name. And maybe that's why a lot of people just use shamatha. They don't even attempt, you know, or shine. Because it's just kind of beyond, it's like nirvāṇa. Liberation kind of cuts it short, too, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:03 Highlight the passage at 1:58:03

1:58:23 I mean, nirvāṇa is something so... Report an error in the passage at 1:58:23 Highlight the passage at 1:58:23

1:58:28 We'll come up with our own words. I'll get back to you in 25 lifetimes. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:28 Highlight the passage at 1:58:28

1:58:37 So again, I'm not going to review the posture, but just to try to be aware of the posture, especially your spine, Report an error in the passage at 1:58:37 Highlight the passage at 1:58:37

1:58:49 and also your deep breathing, and at least one tiny little motivation as to why you're doing it. I Report an error in the passage at 1:58:49 Highlight the passage at 1:58:49

1:58:59 don't have to settle for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:59 Highlight the passage at 1:58:59

1:59:05 And then just try to allow your breathing to be normal. Try to just set your mind on the breath. With as much focus as you can, Report an error in the passage at 1:59:05 Highlight the passage at 1:59:05

1:59:24 just try to fix it. And so every time it begins to wander off, you're going to bring it back. But one of my teachers says, start the session thinking, okay, I'm going to do two minutes of calm abiding meditation. My mind is not going to wander. It's kind of like you're fixing your mind, you're determining. And he says that's very, very important. I have to admit, I don't always remember to do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:24 Highlight the passage at 1:59:24

1:59:48 But I think it is. It's like you're setting your motivation, you're setting that intention really strongly. So I might hear some noise in a moment because I think the class is about to end downstairs, but let's try really Report an error in the passage at 1:59:48 Highlight the passage at 1:59:48

· · · silence, 3 minutes

2:02:42 differently. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:42 Highlight the passage at 2:02:42

2:02:48 All right, so practice day Saturday. For those who can't make it, if you would like to set a time and talk to me about one of these over a cup of tea, I'm totally happy to do that. Or if you want to just write me about it in an email, that's also okay. And that way you can still feel part of the class. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:48 Highlight the passage at 2:02:48

2:03:15 And then of course you still get homework even though the class is done. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:15 Highlight the passage at 2:03:15

2:03:23 Everybody would want to be. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:23 Highlight the passage at 2:03:23

2:03:32 To be honest, I've only read parts of his other ones, so The Tentrum Revolution I'm just really happy with. It's such a workbook style book, but I'm sure his other books are great too. That's just the one that I've spent more time with. Anybody else? Anybody have a recommendation of Ellen Wallace's books? Report an error in the passage at 2:03:32 Highlight the passage at 2:03:32

2:04:00 I was so impressed by that one, though, that I wanted to do, I was trying to do a week's workshop with him in Colorado, but interesting karma where the people at the retreat center didn't know anything about it, even though it was clearly on his website, and so I just went ahead and made other plans, and then they contacted me and said, okay, now we've got the information. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:00 Highlight the passage at 2:04:00

2:04:20 Too late. But, yeah, I've never actually heard him teach before. And I think we also have Stella and we'll teach them, so you could check and see if there's some audio teachings out there. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:20 Highlight the passage at 2:04:20

2:04:37 We should find out when that one is. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:37 Highlight the passage at 2:04:37

2:04:50 Show off. Okay we're ending the class now. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:50 Highlight the passage at 2:04:50