Discovering Buddhism - Mind and Its Potential (30 October 2008)

0:02 Hey, Rose, how are you? I have a bunch of prayer books. Report an error in the passage at 0:02 Highlight the passage at 0:02

0:14 It was pretty good. I was guessing eight. She was guessing ten. I'm closer. We might have a couple people circling looking for parking. Report an error in the passage at 0:14 Highlight the passage at 0:14

0:27 So let's start with a little meditation. Report an error in the passage at 0:27 Highlight the passage at 0:27

0:41 Some water would be good, yeah. I actually grabbed some tea. Report an error in the passage at 0:41 Highlight the passage at 0:41

0:49 All right, so if you've never meditated before, and even if you have, you're going to still hear my little review. Report an error in the passage at 0:49 Highlight the passage at 0:49

0:58 The most important element of meditating, I think, is just trying to extend your spine. So I usually use the word lengthen or extend your spine rather than straighten because that sounds like straighten up and sit right. Report an error in the passage at 0:58 Highlight the passage at 0:58

1:15 Might bring back really bad memories of the dinner table. So here we're just trying to lengthen our spine. It's almost like you can kind of feel it almost from your hips all the way up. You just start lengthening. Or you could kind of imagine somebody's holding a cord that's running your spinal cord all the way up through the crown of your head. Report an error in the passage at 1:15 Highlight the passage at 1:15

1:44 And then I'll review the posture, the points of the posture later. But that's the most important one. That one, and you might roll your shoulders if you're like me and you've been sitting at a computer for a little too long. Report an error in the passage at 1:44 Highlight the passage at 1:44

2:05 And then you might just take some nice deep cleansing breaths and let go of your day. Report an error in the passage at 2:05 Highlight the passage at 2:05

2:12 I like to imagine sort of with each deep belly breath that you're just dissolving all the things that might keep you from being here. So all the conversations you've just been having or things you've been thinking, things you've been doing today at work or at school or in your home, just imagine them just dissolving into thin air. Report an error in the passage at 2:12 Highlight the passage at 2:12

2:46 And then imagine with each in-breath that you just come more and more alert, present, concentrated, curious, Report an error in the passage at 2:46 Highlight the passage at 2:46

2:58 awake. Report an error in the passage at 2:58 Highlight the passage at 2:58

3:03 So I just imagine with each in-breath you gain more concentration, more alertness. Then Report an error in the passage at 3:03 Highlight the passage at 3:03

3:23 we'll just start with a really short meditation on our breath, just to bring our mind to neutral. Report an error in the passage at 3:23 Highlight the passage at 3:23

3:33 So you can place your attention at your belly as it expands or contracts with each breath. Report an error in the passage at 3:33 Highlight the passage at 3:33

3:43 Or at your chest as your lungs fill and empty. Or at the level of your nostril. Just imagine a little patch of skin inside your nostril and the sensation of the air coming in and going back out and coming in and going back out. Report an error in the passage at 3:43 Highlight the passage at 3:43

4:03 And every time your mind wanders off, sounds in the building, sounds in the street, ideas, memories, thoughts, just gently extract it, place it right back on the breath. Report an error in the passage at 4:03 Highlight the passage at 4:03

· · · silence, 2 minutes

6:14 Let's begin with... Setting a motivation, Report an error in the passage at 6:14 Highlight the passage at 6:14

6:20 thinking about why we're here, what we're seeking tonight, why we came. Report an error in the passage at 6:20 Highlight the passage at 6:20

6:31 We'll start with just looking at our own mind, just trying to watch the feelings and thoughts, any kind of perceptions that might arise. Report an error in the passage at 6:31 Highlight the passage at 6:31

6:46 We're seeing them arising like waves on an ocean. Report an error in the passage at 6:46 Highlight the passage at 6:46

7:01 The medium holding all those mental moments, those mental actions is the mind. Report an error in the passage at 7:01 Highlight the passage at 7:01

7:16 Mental moments are actions of the mind. They aren't an innate part of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 7:16 Highlight the passage at 7:16

7:27 They arise from the mind and then they dissolve back into the mind. Report an error in the passage at 7:27 Highlight the passage at 7:27

7:42 It's important to think about why we want to get familiar with our mind. Report an error in the passage at 7:42 Highlight the passage at 7:42

7:49 The Buddha taught that the key to our happiness and to removing our suffering lies in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 7:49 Highlight the passage at 7:49

8:05 If we never penetrate deeper than the sort of gross mind that we work with every day, we'll never understand how to reach that happiness. We'll never understand how to remove our own suffering and then we'll never be able to teach anyone else how to do it. Report an error in the passage at 8:05 Highlight the passage at 8:05

8:25 And the Buddha said not only is it possible but it's our true potential. Report an error in the passage at 8:25 Highlight the passage at 8:25

8:35 Our true potential is to be happy, free of suffering and to be able to help others. Report an error in the passage at 8:35 Highlight the passage at 8:35

8:47 So it begins here tonight in this class, our own journey into our minds and Report an error in the passage at 8:47 Highlight the passage at 8:47

8:59 we start discovering what's possible which might be beyond our wildest dreams. Report an error in the passage at 8:59 Highlight the passage at 8:59

9:08 So whatever seeds are planted here tonight, whatever understandings or insights, whatever we might gain from this class or these classes, may we use it to get to know our own minds. May we use it to find happiness. May we use it to remove our suffering. And may we use it to benefit all living beings. Report an error in the passage at 9:08 Highlight the passage at 9:08

9:36 In Report an error in the passage at 9:36 Highlight the passage at 9:36

9:49 your own time, when you're ready, you can end your meditation. And we'll start with an opening prayer. Report an error in the passage at 9:49 Highlight the passage at 9:49

10:04 So in the white prayer book in front of you on page 8, those of you that have been away will see that some things don't change. Report an error in the passage at 10:04 Highlight the passage at 10:04

10:15 I only ever use this prayer. It's such a great prayer. So of course the prayer is just basically, well prayer, I mean that's the topic of a whole different class I guess. But prayer, the way I see prayer, prayer is like making something in your mind. And according to Buddhism, that's the first step in making something real. Everything begins on the tip of a wish, Rinpoche says, Lama Tsongkhapa Rinpoche. Report an error in the passage at 10:15 Highlight the passage at 10:15

10:49 And it's also a way of connecting with the energy of all those on the path and all those who have completed the path, all the Buddhas. So I think prayer is pretty cool, actually. Report an error in the passage at 10:49 Highlight the passage at 10:49

11:02 So we're going to just say this. We'll say it just once tonight. I like to say it three times usually, but we'll just start with once. We'll just warm you guys up. Report an error in the passage at 11:02 Highlight the passage at 11:02

11:10 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain. Report an error in the passage at 11:10 Highlight the passage at 11:10

11:35 Until then, may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 11:35 Highlight the passage at 11:35

11:44 This is the one that His Holiness the Dalai Lama always uses when he is allowing us to either generate the mind of bodhicitta or renew our mind of bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 11:44 Highlight the passage at 11:44

11:59 I just think it's so great for sort of putting concisely why it is that we do this. Report an error in the passage at 11:59 Highlight the passage at 11:59

12:06 actually Geshe-la's. Yeah, so maybe on the break, I'm just going to, yeah. I just feel funny using. You didn't get you this fancy little mug. Report an error in the passage at 12:06 Highlight the passage at 12:06

12:20 So hi, welcome. My name's Chokyi, and we'll actually have a moment, you know, there's always that moment in the first class, right, where we go around and say who we are, and everybody's kind of a little sheepish, or some people are actually so proud that they go on for hours and hours, and I'm like... Report an error in the passage at 12:20 Highlight the passage at 12:20

12:36 Hopefully we'll be somewhere in the middle. I always think it's... Yeah, really. Find some reason to go running down the hall to stay in the bathroom for 15 minutes. I always find that useful because it kind of tells me where you guys are in terms of experience and teachings and things like that. So I like to put it in there. It also, of course, takes the attention off me so I can drink my tea, kick back a little bit, send a few emails. Kidding. Report an error in the passage at 12:36 Highlight the passage at 12:36

13:11 Yeah. Then I start sending an email to you. you know. Report an error in the passage at 13:11 Highlight the passage at 13:11

13:16 I make sure you sign the list first so I have your email address. Next week, could you please not? Wouldn't that be horrible? So tonight we're going to introduce the subject of the mind and, of course, ourselves to each other. And I'm also just going to give you a little bit on the logistics of the class, kind of what we do. I usually kind of give a little of that each time. Report an error in the passage at 13:16 Highlight the passage at 13:16

13:23 Go on. Report an error in the passage at 13:23 Highlight the passage at 13:23

13:43 I mean, each at the beginning of each course, just so people kind of know what to expect. So I'll start with that and then we'll take a moment to go around. You guys can be thinking the entire time I'm talking now, it'll be like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Where you're thinking, see, my name is David and I getting out your calendar, thinking about when you first started coming. Report an error in the passage at 13:43 Highlight the passage at 13:43

14:05 make, no. Right? I was born in a small cabin in North Dakota. So this is a class on mind and its potential. If you expected something else, you're in the wrong room. It's a six-session class. I'm adding an extra session this time I'm doing it. I usually do it in five. And it ends, the last of the classes is going to be on the 13th of December. Report an error in the passage at 14:05 Highlight the passage at 14:05

14:36 And then that very week, we're going to do the retreat day, which is the 13th. So it's like we have the class on the Thursday and then we do the retreat day on the 13th. I'm trying to get ahead of the holidays because I'll tell you in a second about the retreat day. I see the puzzled brow. Report an error in the passage at 14:36 Highlight the passage at 14:36

14:53 Often we're going to get into the holidays and things like that. And so I thought I'd just get well ahead of it by choosing that day. The retreat day is just a day long. Um, um, Report an error in the passage at 14:53 Highlight the passage at 14:53

15:04 That follows every one of the Discovering Buddhism classes. And basically, we'll learn more about it as it gets closer, but basically, the morning is a time to do a lot of the meditations that by now, by that day, you're familiar with. In a sort of retreat setting where we try to keep silence and we all sort of gather here on a Saturday and take that time. And then in the afternoon, we watch a little film. Report an error in the passage at 15:04 Highlight the passage at 15:04

15:31 Together on the mind, and then it's time. If people want to, they can do student presentations. It's just like a 10-minute presentation about something that meant something to you in the class or something that shifted your mind or spoke to you in some way. And it's not like formal. You don't have to do PowerPoint. Nobody has to wear a suit. You don't even have to stand up. You can, in fact, lie down because you're usually all the way down on the floor at that point. Report an error in the passage at 15:31 Highlight the passage at 15:31

16:01 So, but it's actually every time we do one, I think you guys have all come, right? I don't know if anybody else here has ever done one, but I think the consensus is that people really enjoy them. It's a great way of connecting with each other. It's just a nice ending for each class. It's kind of a way that we figure out if we learned anything. Report an error in the passage at 16:01 Highlight the passage at 16:01

16:22 Certainly good feedback for me to see if I taught anything. Although the worst is, you know, I'm like sitting back listening to you guys and you're expecting me to actually correct you. So, yeah, so that we'll talk about more about that as it gets closer in the final couple of weeks after Thanksgiving. Report an error in the passage at 16:22 Highlight the passage at 16:22

16:42 So there won't be a class on Thanksgiving. I think that's probably obvious, but I'm going to say it anyway. No class on Thanksgiving. Otherwise, no breaks. And then the retreat day still this year. The Tantra class retreat day ended up getting flipped to 2009. Report an error in the passage at 16:42 Highlight the passage at 16:42

16:59 Homework. See, I'm starting right out on the... Yeah, look at the eyes widen in fear. Homework. I do give homework for my classes. I don't want you to run away. The homework is all reading and meditation. It's not... Word problems. I don't even do, I mean, I think Emily and Geshe-la both do more like, you know, five questions about something that we covered in class or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 16:59 Highlight the passage at 16:59

17:29 I don't do that. I just give you, usually we'll do a meditation in the class and then you'll do that meditation as your homework. So you'll already be familiar with it. Report an error in the passage at 17:29 Highlight the passage at 17:29

17:39 Sometimes we don't get to it and then you'll have to do it and then we'll do it the next week. So you'll see how you didn't do it. But meditation is such a huge part of these teachings and these classes that I just feel like that's your main homework. There are some reading assignments. They're interesting and they aren't long. Report an error in the passage at 17:39 Highlight the passage at 17:39

18:02 We will I will have a binder for you next week. I like to wait to the second week now so that I see how many people are in the class and then I make them getting a little smarter in my old age. Report an error in the passage at 18:02 Highlight the passage at 18:02

18:12 But I do also have a free book for you guys, sponsored by Janet Hinterman, one of our members. She sponsored a bunch of books from Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archives for the classes that we had coming up. So this is a great book. And this, as far as I'm concerned, is sort of the main text for the class. This is Lama Yeshe's book. It used to be two separate books on becoming your own therapist and make your mind a notion, and then they just combine the two. Report an error in the passage at 18:12 Highlight the passage at 18:12

18:36 So you guys look at that. And that's a really readable book. I just read it again. Last month. Also, I'm sure give you lots of questions. So that's that's the main homework. If you don't do it, just come anyway. I don't don't use your lack of not having done the homework to not come. You'll still get so much of the class just listening and also hearing other people's questions about probably what you have questions about and also having some chance to ask your own questions. Report an error in the passage at 18:36 Highlight the passage at 18:36

19:07 And never feel afraid about asking a question. Usually the way I do it is I'll kind of have periods where I'll ask for questions. And I prefer that only because it doesn't take much for me to forget where I was. So rather than calling out a question, just waiting until I ask for questions works. Great. And what I usually try to do is start each class with a check-in, you know, like how are people doing? Do people do their homework? Do people have a question about their reading or something like that? Report an error in the passage at 19:07 Highlight the passage at 19:07

19:37 So that's usually how I start. Then we have them periodically. And then, of course, at the end. And I always am very open to you guys sending me emails. Report an error in the passage at 19:37 Highlight the passage at 19:37

19:49 If you want, I put my email address on the syllabus so you can contact me. I also am happy to meet with you. At some point, if you feel like you, you know, want to talk about stuff that's coming up for you and it's taking up, you don't want to talk about it in class. And yeah, like that. Or if you want to just talk on the break or talk right after class, it's okay too. Report an error in the passage at 19:49 Highlight the passage at 19:49

20:17 And the other thing I always like to say is when the Buddha got enlightened, he... He didn't decide to teach every single thing that he knew. He actually was omniscient, so he knew everything. So that would have been kind of difficult to teach everything that he knew. He just chose a few things, quite a few things, because he taught for a number of years. Report an error in the passage at 20:17 Highlight the passage at 20:17

20:37 But he just chose those things that he felt would help our minds and help us get enlightened. That was his big goal, was to help us get enlightened. So in that same spirit... Report an error in the passage at 20:37 Highlight the passage at 20:37

20:52 There are a lot of ways we could go with the information that is out there on Buddhist theory and thought and some of it just creates what one of my teachers used to call Dharma monsters, which are basically people that just collect a lot of information but aren't really trying to work with their minds. Report an error in the passage at 20:52 Highlight the passage at 20:52

21:09 My goal and certainly the goal of the Discovering Buddhism program is to actually... Get you enlightened. I was like trying to figure out another way to put it, but really that's it. Certainly to give you a taste, which is why the meditation homework and why we try to do meditations each class, to give you some taste of this material, to give you something to work with. Report an error in the passage at 21:09 Highlight the passage at 21:09

21:33 And hopefully if you do a lot of these classes, you'll have like sort of enough information that you can, you know. I mean, that's really the goal. It's definitely an experiential program. So if I feel like questions are sort of going off in some direction, that's not really going to either be in the scope of the class or allow us to kind of get through the material that we'd like to get through, then I might kind of, you know, cut it off a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 21:33 Highlight the passage at 21:33

22:02 It doesn't mean, of course, that you can't continue to talk to me on the break or afterwards or by email or in person or that a bunch of you can't go into the... To the cafe and take it up and discuss it. But that's kind of where I'm coming from. Report an error in the passage at 22:02 Highlight the passage at 22:02

22:21 Yeah, so that's sort of the basic logistics of the class. Oh, and I do try to give you guys a break. I usually go for about two-thirds of the way through. So if we start at 7, I usually go for about 8.15. That's what I'm aiming for between 8 and 8.15. Report an error in the passage at 22:21 Highlight the passage at 22:21

22:39 At any time that you feel like you need to leave, then just please leave. Don't feel like you're in grade school and you have to hold your hand up, especially not in the middle of meditation. But just feel free to come and go as you need to. And as you can see, it is fine to actually bring your drinks from the cafe and things like that in here. Report an error in the passage at 22:39 Highlight the passage at 22:39

22:59 That is how we differ from other centers. We are a Tibetan center, so there's a little bit of laxity in that one. So please feel free to do that. Report an error in the passage at 22:59 Highlight the passage at 22:59

23:10 So I think I'll start now with just kind of going around and introducing ourselves and I'll start with me. So I was born in a small cabin. No, I'm kidding. Report an error in the passage at 23:10 Highlight the passage at 23:10

23:20 So my name is Lobsang Chokyi. I go by Chokyi. It's a little bit confusing right now because we have another Chokyi here. We have an Australian Chokyi, otherwise known as Chokyi 2. And we have the American Chokyi, Chokyi 1. So Chokyi 2 is helping out with the Happiness and Its Causes Conference coming up. Report an error in the passage at 23:20 Highlight the passage at 23:20

23:44 And actually, I've asked her to say a few words to you guys next week just to let you know anything that you might or answer any questions that you might have about that. Report an error in the passage at 23:44 Highlight the passage at 23:44

23:55 Let's see. So my new title, I used to be the Spiritual... Program coordinator. Now I am the spiritual care coordinator, which means I finally got an insight as to really what my job is when I was in retreat recently. It means I'm responsible for the spiritual care of the community in the center. So that means anything related to practice. I teach, of course, but... Report an error in the passage at 23:55 Highlight the passage at 23:55

24:18 Also, if students have concerns and want to meet with me, you know, about life or about their practice or whatever, then I'm available for that. And, of course, if they have big life issues in terms of death and dying and things like that, then I try to help. But also, of course, it means that I set up for pujas. There's the practical thing, too. I try to get people to run the pujas. Report an error in the passage at 24:18 Highlight the passage at 24:18

24:41 I try to get people to shop for the pujas. I try to get, you know, I try to help people understand how to lead the meditations and help with the meditation program. We have drop-in meditations a few times a week. We also have teen group and I help with that. So they're sort of the practical and the mystical aspects of my job. Report an error in the passage at 24:41 Highlight the passage at 24:41

25:03 I have been here, I've been a Buddhist for about 13 years actually. I've been here and a nun for about eight and a half. Report an error in the passage at 25:03 Highlight the passage at 25:03

25:10 Notice the correlation of coming here and being ordained. I started working here right after I got ordained and I wasn't really here that much before that. Report an error in the passage at 25:10 Highlight the passage at 25:10

25:24 And my main teacher is Lama Zopa Rinpoche who is the spiritual director of this center and all the centers that are connected with this center. In an organization that's called FPMT, which is the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahāyāna Tradition, which is a mouthful. And that's probably at this point I think about 150 centers, projects, hospices, clinics, worldwide, schools. Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

25:59 And so most of what I know about the mind also comes from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Also, of course, from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Rinpoche Geshe-la, who is our resident teacher who is now in India for three months. Venerable Rubina, of course. Lama Yeshe, although I did not have the pleasure of meeting him. Everything I've ever read by him has connected with my mind, so I think maybe past life. Report an error in the passage at 25:59 Highlight the passage at 25:59

26:25 Or in my own experience in working with my mind, of course, over the years and in retreat and in meditation. I have studied low rig, which we are going to touch on a little bit, I think third or fourth class, mind and its functions. But I am not a scholar. I am not a teacher with a capital T. I'm just a senior student who's happy to like sort of help you on your path a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 26:25 Highlight the passage at 26:25

26:58 And if we ever hit a question that I don't know the answer to, I'm very happy to say I don't know the answer to that. And if we collect some, we could see if maybe Geshe-la or if Venom Arbina would come and answer some questions for us or something at the end. If we are left with some hanging questions that feel vital, I think that's totally fun to do and it also connects you with them if you haven't already connected. Report an error in the passage at 26:58 Highlight the passage at 26:58

27:25 So that's my little... A little bit. Do you want to go next? Sure. Report an error in the passage at 27:25 Highlight the passage at 27:25

27:34 I should say actually what to say, right? So just say a little bit like why you're here, what your background is, and also why mind, like what drew you to that, if anything, because it's Thursday night, you know, sometimes it's that, so don't feel like it has to be a big answer. Report an error in the passage at 27:34 Highlight the passage at 27:34

· · · silence, 1 minute

28:18 No, later you can, how's that? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 28:18 Highlight the passage at 28:18

28:24 That'll be your homework assignment, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 28:24 Highlight the passage at 28:24

28:45 Excellent. Yeah, I think probably wise choice. Good. Yeah. Great. Welcome back. Report an error in the passage at 28:45 Highlight the passage at 28:45

28:56 Yeah, we are. There's a spiral. I know. And then he's probably expecting to go and then I'll like, you know, psych him out. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 28:56 Highlight the passage at 28:56

· · · silence, 1 minute

29:53 Oh, drag. Report an error in the passage at 29:53 Highlight the passage at 29:53

30:05 Cool. What's your last name? start over. And I can't sing it. Oh, drag. Report an error in the passage at 30:05 Highlight the passage at 30:05

30:08 Because I just know that, you know, I'm sure I would know the name. Yeah, so thank you. I'm glad I do recognize it. Well, welcome back to everybody. This is great. This is a welcome back night. All right. Report an error in the passage at 30:08 Highlight the passage at 30:08

30:29 You're the email. You emailed me. Excellent. Report an error in the passage at 30:29 Highlight the passage at 30:29

30:36 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 30:36 Highlight the passage at 30:36

· · · silence, 1 minute

31:12 Cool. Cool. Yeah. And have you also contacted Saring? That'll be next. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. That's probably better, actually. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 31:12 Highlight the passage at 31:12

31:26 Oh, okay, yeah, actually, and he will be. I think, actually, he's probably the one. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah, Him first, and then maybe it's Aaron. Maybe everything simultaneously, yeah. Yeah, cool. Well, welcome. Report an error in the passage at 31:26 Highlight the passage at 31:26

31:58 Madison, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 31:58 Highlight the passage at 31:58

32:21 So worry about Hell Realms or... I'll make sure I mention them at least once for you. yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 32:21 Highlight the passage at 32:21

32:35 This is Tibet Buddhism, so we do try to bring that up. Report an error in the passage at 32:35 Highlight the passage at 32:35

32:40 Especially if we see your face tighten and you begin to rock. Then I'll just go on and on. I am Lama Tsongkhapa student. Report an error in the passage at 32:40 Highlight the passage at 32:40

32:52 Welcome back to YouTube. Do you want to go, Christy? Report an error in the passage at 32:52 Highlight the passage at 32:52

33:13 Great. Did you do Karen's class as well? you know. Report an error in the passage at 33:13 Highlight the passage at 33:13

33:16 No, the Buddhism in a nutshell. Welcome anyway. Rose, do you want to go? I'll let Jane go next. Report an error in the passage at 33:16 Highlight the passage at 33:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

34:04 Do you mean, you were at Tenzin Chokyi's class as well on emptiness, right? Do you mean also Veneral Munlum's class? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 34:04 Highlight the passage at 34:04

34:33 And if you ever want me to just give you my notes right afterwards, I can do that. Because I know we had... right. Report an error in the passage at 34:33 Highlight the passage at 34:33

· · · silence, 1 minute

34:39 Remember Tiziana? Were you here when Tiziana was here? We had an Italian nun who was living here and she had a hard time sort of following every word. And then it was interesting when she gave her final presentation, she used my words exactly. It was just odd. I was like, that sounds really familiar. I can totally memorize the way I said it. Report an error in the passage at 34:39 Highlight the passage at 34:39

34:59 But yeah, so I'm happy to do that and sometimes it might make it easier for you. And I can also send them to you. Because you'll miss the last two classes, so I can just email them to you. Cool. Great. Are you going back for good? Yeah. Okay. Is that old visa thing? Yeah. Okay. We can do some practice for you on our practice day. Clear some obstacles. Report an error in the passage at 34:59 Highlight the passage at 34:59

35:25 Jane, do you want to go? Report an error in the passage at 35:25 Highlight the passage at 35:25

· · · silence, 1 minute

36:11 So you're starting both at the beginning and at the end because she's doing the tantra class too. Great. Perfect. And they actually, as you'll see, they really interconnect. So it's kind of cool. But I think at this point, you're the only one doing both. We'll see if we can lure some other tantricas over. Report an error in the passage at 36:11 Highlight the passage at 36:11

36:28 Cool. Thank you. So that was the only time that you're allowed to speak without holding the talking stick. I didn't figure that your life story needed to go out over the internet. But we do. Of course, mine did. But we upload. We record and we upload all the classes or as many of them as we have the means to do. And then they are available to be downloaded by anyone, basically anywhere in the world who has the means to do it. Report an error in the passage at 36:28 Highlight the passage at 36:28

37:01 So I really try to make a point to have people talk into the mic anytime that you do a class with us because then they can actually hear the question, which... In my retreat recently, I actually brought some downloaded teachings. I brought Tenson Chokyi's class on emptiness, which is brilliant, by the way, if you have a chance. It's a weekend class she gave in July or August or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 37:01 Highlight the passage at 37:01

37:24 And if people don't talk into the mic, it's like... And everyone's like... And then you're just really stuck because you don't know, unless the teacher nicely repeats the question, which often doesn't happen. So for the listener at home, we like to use the talking stick. So if people can help me remember that. So mind. We're going to start with mind. Report an error in the passage at 37:24 Highlight the passage at 37:24

37:53 Mind in Sanskrit is chitta, you know, when we talk about bodhicitta. Or sem in... So when we talk about sentient beings, and we use this term for living beings, often we use it sort of interchangeably with living beings. It actually is literally something that possesses a mind. It's a mind possessor. That's how it's defined. Report an error in the passage at 37:53 Highlight the passage at 37:53

38:26 So when we talk about wanting to work for the benefit of all sentient beings, for example, it's a funny word and sort of like, But literally it actually comes down to a mind possessor, someone who has a mind. So it includes insects and animals as well as humans and of course non-human beings, which we won't get into those right now, in other realms that the Buddha said existed, even though we might not have memory of those or experience of those right now. Report an error in the passage at 38:26 Highlight the passage at 38:26

39:00 so This sem or mind contains, I should say, it has within it something that's called Buddha nature. And we talked about this a little bit in the tantric class. But Buddha nature, we'll split it up, there's actually sort of two forms of Buddha nature, conventional and ultimate. And Shakyamuni Buddha said that Every sentient being or every being with a mind, every mind possessor has Buddha nature. Report an error in the passage at 39:00 Highlight the passage at 39:00

39:39 So every sentient being can become enlightened. So we can all become enlightened, basically. This is good news. Starting out with the good news. So what is it about mind that even allows this to happen? First, like any good Tibetan class, we get into a definition. So what is mind? Mind is defined as mere clarity and awareness. And there's, you know, a meaning behind each word. Report an error in the passage at 39:39 Highlight the passage at 39:39

40:13 Nothing is left out. No part of it is unnecessary. So in some ways we could say, I'll get into that definition in a second. In some ways we could say that mind is the mere process of reflecting and engaging with everything it is. Comes into contact with. Report an error in the passage at 40:13 Highlight the passage at 40:13

40:35 So clarity here refers to how things arise in our mind. And in Tibetan we actually say that. I mean often it's described that way of things arising, almost like a moonrise or a sunrise. Report an error in the passage at 40:35 Highlight the passage at 40:35

40:52 And they often use the analogy of a mirror. And our mind is like a mirror. For the objects it comes into contact with, such as, you know, forms, but also, you know, sounds, smells, tastes. This all goes through the filter of mind. Colors. And it's reflected. Um, so, um, Clarity here isn't talking about the fact that it is invisible or that it lacks color, although that is a quality of mind, that it doesn't have color. Report an error in the passage at 40:52 Highlight the passage at 40:52

41:33 It has more to do with its ability to reflect what it comes into contact with, to mirror it. So our words don't work so well. English doesn't work so well with some of this stuff. And so I sometimes give you several different ways to think about it. I just actually was talking by email with a student and I was just saying, you know, there's still so many faults with the way English fits with Tibetan and Sanskrit, which is, of course, really connected with Tibetan. Report an error in the passage at 41:33 Highlight the passage at 41:33

42:11 So I can hardly wait until I get enlightened and then I can go back and make these corrections to these terms because I know we aren't quite hitting it because the words don't exist in English and we're trying to make English words fit experiences that we haven't had yet. But once we've had those experiences, we can either create a word that fits it with a full precise definition or we can figure out why that word isn't the right one and this one is actually better. Report an error in the passage at 42:11 Highlight the passage at 42:11

42:38 I think the more we... attain these levels of realization the more accurate our language will be to um swiss So in this case, clarity. It's good for us to know that in the Buddhist approach to mind, that mind isn't an agent that's willfully doing something. Report an error in the passage at 42:38 Highlight the passage at 42:38

43:08 And that all the power isn't on the side of the object either. There's sort of a relationship between the mind doing the perceiving and the object being perceived. Report an error in the passage at 43:08 Highlight the passage at 43:08

43:22 So a mind gives rise to sight, they often will say, or gives rise to a dream, gives rise to a memory, gives rise to a thought. and it doesn't necessarily mean that we Report an error in the passage at 43:22 Highlight the passage at 43:22

43:38 That it's clearly appearing. So that's, it doesn't, clarity doesn't mean that, because it could be fragment of memory, right? We have fragments of memory, especially the older we get. We have fragments of a dream. We, you know, we can only remember parts of a dream. We don't necessarily have a really vivid, clear dream. Report an error in the passage at 43:38 Highlight the passage at 43:38

43:59 We might have a vivid, clear dream, but clarity here isn't referring to that. It doesn't mean it's like a snapshot. A photographic snapshot or even something that's coming into focus the way a camera lens would work. It's more about reflecting or coming into contact so that it arises in our mind. So that's an important kind of that already gives you an idea that's slightly different than the way we see mind. Awareness here is referring to is sometimes translated as knowing, but that sounds more like understanding. Report an error in the passage at 43:59 Highlight the passage at 43:59

44:33 So I like awareness in this sense because understanding, because just where it's actually engaging with the object. So awareness here is talking about the mind's ability to engage with or apprehend an object. It doesn't necessarily mean that we get it yet. Right, so we're just connecting with the color blue. Report an error in the passage at 44:33 Highlight the passage at 44:33

44:56 We don't yet know what it is, you know, so it's slightly different. Engaging I actually like because again apprehending in our culture often means that you somehow understand it and we don't actually understand at this point or necessarily I should say don't necessarily understand it because our mind engages even if we're like spaced out or watch you know like kind of distracted or even asleep our mind is still engaging so I like engage and actually kind of fits. Report an error in the passage at 44:56 Highlight the passage at 44:56

45:30 And then mere here is talking about this is the minimum needed, minimum experience needed for, I should say, this is the minimum needed for an experience of mind to occur. Report an error in the passage at 45:30 Highlight the passage at 45:30

45:46 So mind merely needs to give rise to something and then engage with it. And then that's a mental moment. That's a mental experience. It doesn't have to be... We don't have to have any strength of concentration. As we all know, that takes some effort and we may not have that, certainly not have it all the time. Report an error in the passage at 45:46 Highlight the passage at 45:46

46:07 It doesn't even have to be attentiveness involved, understanding, emotion, any kind of evaluation, discernment or anything like that going on right now. It's just simply an object is arising and our mind is engaging with it. Even if it's with one hundredth of our mind. This is what mind does. And so this is how mind is defined. Report an error in the passage at 46:07 Highlight the passage at 46:07

46:37 Mere clarity and awareness. So mere also refers to... Report an error in the passage at 46:37 Highlight the passage at 46:37

46:51 Rose was talking about emptiness and emptiness will come up. We will get into a little bit about what this means, this idea of emptiness. But Mir here is also referring to the fact that there is a lack of any independent or concrete me or mine having the experience or out there being experienced. You know, the object is not independently arising either. It is empty of those things. And there is no independent or concrete experience that's occurring. Report an error in the passage at 46:51 Highlight the passage at 46:51

47:29 So all three elements of that, they call it often the three spheres, despite the way it feels. So even if we have a very strong sense of... The I who is having the experience or a very strong sense of like the home that's being the object of my experience or a very, very strong, you know, often we get totally terrified about our thoughts, right? Report an error in the passage at 47:29 Highlight the passage at 47:29

47:52 They feel really heavy and real. We can be incredibly oppressed by our thoughts. So this is referring to the fact that all three of these things are actually ultimately speaking empty of any kind of independent experience or independent existence. And we'll spend more time on that later, but that's a touch. That word mere is usually sort of code word for that. And it comes up again when we are analyzing the self, you know, the lack of an independently existing self. Report an error in the passage at 47:52 Highlight the passage at 47:52

48:25 We'll talk about the mere eye. Report an error in the passage at 48:25 Highlight the passage at 48:25

48:31 So mere clarity and awareness. And then we talk about, well, what is mind made of? And it's fairly obvious that mind is, but I'll still state it anyway because it's always taught this way. Mind is not physical matter. Mind is not the same substance or stuff as our, you know, bodies are made out of. It's not the same as form. And therefore, mind isn't created in the same way that form is created. Report an error in the passage at 48:31 Highlight the passage at 48:31

49:04 Bodies come from the substance or stuff of our parents, the sphagnum, the egg and sperm. You know that sphagnum, you've got to keep it away. Report an error in the passage at 49:04 Highlight the passage at 49:04

49:23 So that's the direct cause of our body, our physical body, but not our mind. The Buddha taught that our mind doesn't come from our parents. Our body comes from our parents and all the physical, you know, the genes and things like that come, at least conventionally speaking, from our parents. But mind is something else entirely. Mind is colorless, shapeless, formless. Report an error in the passage at 49:23 Highlight the passage at 49:23

49:59 It has no dimensions. It's not physical in any way, not the way that our body is. In fact, we can't actually locate mind, but yet we all know we have one. You know, it's kind of, it's difficult, it's a tricky, mind is a tricky thing. And one phrase that one of my teachers used, Venerable Neil or Tutundundrup, he said, mind is the mere process. Report an error in the passage at 49:59 Highlight the passage at 49:59

50:20 Um... Report an error in the passage at 50:20 Highlight the passage at 50:20

50:32 And experiencing which arises moment by moment. And the more that I think about that one, it's a little freaky, but it's also most accurate. It really is, I think we create a lot of story about our minds, but actually if we get right down to it, mind really is just this process arising moment by moment. Report an error in the passage at 50:32 Highlight the passage at 50:32

51:04 And from the Buddhist perspective, mind is actually permanent, which doesn't mean that it's unchanging. Mind is totally changing, right? We've had three minutes of constant change. If you guys were having any kind of mind similar to mine, watching our mind for three minutes at the beginning when we were setting our motivation, the mind is constantly changing. Report an error in the passage at 51:04 Highlight the passage at 51:04

51:27 Thoughts are rising, ideas, old memories. You know, fragments of faces that you were just talking to, things you want to buy for Christmas. I mean, everything is coming up in our mind in a three-minute period. They actually say thousands and thousands. It's almost like popcorn. So mind is constantly changing, but in the Buddhist terminology, we use the word permanent, meaning only that it lasts forever. Report an error in the passage at 51:27 Highlight the passage at 51:27

51:58 It is also changing. So it's important to know kind of how we're defining certain terms because they aren't always the same as we would use them in our everyday speech. So in this case, mind is constantly changing. It lasts forever. And according to the Buddha, it is beginningless and endless. It's like the number line, you know? Report an error in the passage at 51:58 Highlight the passage at 51:58

52:29 I like that because we accept it with the number line, right? I mean, maybe we didn't at first, but there's some element that we accept. We also accept it in other religions when we talk about a creator God. We don't really have that many problems thinking about it, that God lasts forever, that God is beginningless and endless. Report an error in the passage at 52:29 Highlight the passage at 52:29

52:50 But when we think about the fact that my mind is beginningless and endless, it's sometimes a little trippy. And this is really, really a huge tenet of Buddhism, actually, that mind is beginningless and endless. And you're not necessarily going to resolve it in this class. But you're going to peek at it. Just peek. Report an error in the passage at 52:50 Highlight the passage at 52:50

53:13 And I'll keep repeating that, too. I'm sort of giving perspective from the Buddhist, especially the Tibetan Buddhist perspective. And these are ideas, and you just check up, you bounce around, you look at them, you meditate, you think about them. Um, um. And the Buddha actually said, don't just accept them because you honor me, meaning the Buddha. Don't just accept them because you like me, meaning Chokyi. Report an error in the passage at 53:13 Highlight the passage at 53:13

53:40 Check up on your own as much as you can, especially through meditation. So if everything has a cause, which is also a huge tenet of Buddhism, then every moment of mind has to also have a cause. And according to the Buddha, the cause for mind is the previous moment of mind. So each moment of mind begets a moment of mind, and each moment of mind is the result of a moment of mind. Report an error in the passage at 53:40 Highlight the passage at 53:40

54:16 And the earliest moment of mind of this life is the last moment of mind of the fetus. And then the earliest moment of mind of the fetus is begetted or began, created by the last moment of mind of the previous life. And so on. And you just go back and back and back. So according to Buddhist thought, it's the same continuum. Report an error in the passage at 54:16 Highlight the passage at 54:16

54:48 There's no gap. It's just the very next moment. And they say, too, there's no gap. The very next moment, you know, our very last moment of our life is the beginning of the next life without any gap between the different moments of mind. Report an error in the passage at 54:48 Highlight the passage at 54:48

55:15 So according to Buddhist thought, this mental continuum or stream of thoughts that come actually Comes from our previous incarnation and then before that the previous incarnation and then the previous incarnation. And our mind after this body dies, this body that we got basically conventionally speaking from our parents, when that ends then this mind goes into another life. Report an error in the passage at 55:15 Highlight the passage at 55:15

55:48 So that's why it's considered permanent because it just keeps going. It just keeps going. The different kinds of thoughts that you might have been having arise in your meditation, if you're anything like me, like they're called afflictive thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 55:48 Highlight the passage at 55:48

56:05 For example, irritation, jealousy, attachment for that cup of tea, things like that. anything, anything that disturbs the mind what's called a klesha in Sanskrit or, um, Mental affliction, sometimes also called delusion. Lots of different ways of calling it. I think His Holiness the Dalai Lama calls them afflictive emotions. Report an error in the passage at 56:05 Highlight the passage at 56:05

56:38 But they are not actually part of our mind. They sort of arise in the surface of the mind like waves and then they absorb back in. But the way they describe it, it's more like pollution and water. They aren't actually an innate. Part of the mind, which is the good news because that means that we can actually remove them. We can actually, you know, it takes a lot of effort, takes some serious effort, but they are not part of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 56:38 Highlight the passage at 56:38

57:07 The basic nature of the mind is clear, just like the basic nature of water is clear and you can remove pollution of the water. So the idea is that it's possible for us to remove all these things that disturb our mind and harm our mind and cause us to harm. Based on these, we harm ourselves and others. It's possible to remove them and then our mind, what's left, is clear and blissful and content. Report an error in the passage at 57:07 Highlight the passage at 57:07

57:42 And that is the state of Nirvāṇa. That's what Nirvāṇa is, is the removal of all this garbage that we have in our minds at all times. So they say that the subtle mind, and there's actually several layers of mind, there's several levels of mind, just like there is a body according to Buddhism. These teachings actually come from Tantra. Report an error in the passage at 57:42 Highlight the passage at 57:42

58:08 There's gross, a subtle and a very subtle level of both body and mind. The aspect that goes from life to life is the very subtle level of mind. Report an error in the passage at 58:08 Highlight the passage at 58:08

58:22 But subtle mind, they say, can know everything. We have the capacity to know everything because mind knows. Mind can know and mind can know infinitely if it is unobstructed. Report an error in the passage at 58:22 Highlight the passage at 58:22

58:38 Our problem right now is that it's quite obstructed. But that's why one of the qualities of enlightenment, of enlightened mind, is omniscience, is knowing all. Report an error in the passage at 58:38 Highlight the passage at 58:38

58:51 So then we defined what is enlightenment. One simple way to define enlightenment is perfect mind or perfected mind. Really, that's all it is. I mean, the main aspect of the Buddha... Is the Dharmakaya, which is basically perfected mind. And then the nirmanakaya, you don't need to memorize all these, all these emanation bodies come out in forms that they can work with us. Report an error in the passage at 58:51 Highlight the passage at 58:51

59:24 That's really, as Venerabhina always says in the morning puja, that's the only reason to have a body. That's the only reason to have a body is to help others. So it's sort of like you've reached this incredible, blissful, single-pointedness. You know, stability, perfection. And then one of the incredible qualities of enlightenment is that you're able to emanate in whatever form is needed by whatever being is needed without effort or thought. Report an error in the passage at 59:24 Highlight the passage at 59:24

59:51 So no conception is needed, which is actually my personal favorite of all the Buddhist qualities. That's the one I like to bow down to, actually, every time. I think it's so cool. Report an error in the passage at 59:51 Highlight the passage at 59:51

1:00:06 Perfected mind is simply saying it has two aspects, right? The qualities are completely perfected to the point where there's no way to perfect them any further. So the good things, love, compassion, wisdom, skillful means, you know, whatever. Good qualities that you can possibly even think of, plus about a billion more, are completely perfected and developed. And the mind is completely freed of all these kleshas or delusions, all the things that disturb our mind, whether it's the tiniest amount of ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:06 Highlight the passage at 1:00:06

1:00:52 About how things actually exist, all the way up to, of course, all the huge things that cause World War III and road rage and stuff like that. So it's anything that disturbs the mind in any way. And, of course, it becomes more and more subtle the more you're working on your mind. You know, the things that very highly evolved beings are working on are really different than those of us that are still in the more gross levels of getting pissed off at the printer not working. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:52 Highlight the passage at 1:00:52

1:01:18 Which is actually my favorite one to get pissed off at. Or at ourselves, right? We waste a lot of energy with these deluded states of mind, not even harming other people, you know, yelling at inanimate objects and ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:18 Highlight the passage at 1:01:18

1:01:33 So enlightened mind, which is fully perfected, doesn't have any of these negative states, completely remove them, and has perfected all the good qualities, all the positive qualities. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:33 Highlight the passage at 1:01:33

1:01:50 And it's not like they have to even summon them up. You know, it's not like, you know, when we were about to give a talk and we have to sort of get brave or, you know, whatever it is that we have to do to prepare our minds. They don't have to. They're just present all the time. You know, all the good qualities are just present in their mind all the time. They're already there and they're already perfected. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:50 Highlight the passage at 1:01:50

1:02:10 So it's not like they have to, you know, psych themselves up. It was a big day. I got to go out and help David today because he's looking a little down. And, you know, they don't have to think that way at all. They don't have to. Plan how to help because their mind is to the point where they don't have to use conception in the way that we do. Because there are all these other ways that mind can work that doesn't have to be based upon figuring out what to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:10 Highlight the passage at 1:02:10

1:02:36 And they've transcended all these sort of ordinary and mundane ways that we use our mind. So it's important to say that the mind is not the brain. Although each lifetime... We are, you know, our mind becomes, the subtle most mind comes into the body as it's forming and becomes dependent upon the brain to be able to think, becomes dependent upon nerve impulses and things like that, the rest of the physical body. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:36 Highlight the passage at 1:02:36

1:03:05 But when the physical body begins to end, when our karma for this life begins ending, and we will talk about karma in this class a little bit too, the mind doesn't end. The mind, just like when we're sort of taking form, when we're going through the process of our body is beginning to develop in the womb, and our mind is also getting grosser again. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:05 Highlight the passage at 1:03:05

1:03:35 And then we go through our life, and we mostly are living in our gross mind. We're mostly using our gross mind, except at moments in our sleep, in our dream states. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:35 Highlight the passage at 1:03:35

1:03:49 Sometimes if we learn to meditate deeply, we can get into subtle most mind. But then at the moment of our death, our body begins to dissolve. You know, the elements of our body begin to dissolve as this life is ending, as this body is ending. Then the mind also begins to dissolve and become more and more subtle. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:49 Highlight the passage at 1:03:49

1:04:10 So that then at the point of our death, Which according to Buddhism is slightly, actually significantly different than the point of death from a Western point of view. But as that body ends, then the mind becomes more and more and more subtle until it becomes incredibly subtle. And then that subtle most mind moves from that body and into its next body, dependent upon karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:10 Highlight the passage at 1:04:10

1:04:38 And we'll talk about that too. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:38 Highlight the passage at 1:04:38

1:04:43 Yes, the mind is dependent upon the brain during the lifetime. It certainly helps us in the way that we think, especially conceptually. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:43 Highlight the passage at 1:04:43

1:04:57 But it is not the mind according to Buddhism. And mind according to Buddhism involves a lot of the things that in Western thought we tend to separate. Into heart and mind, you know, we do that kind of heart and mind separation. Tibetans, when they say me, they usually point to their chest, you know. For most, and I can only really speak from Tibetan Buddhism. If we ever have Zen questions, we'll go to Rose for that. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:57 Highlight the passage at 1:04:57

1:05:31 But in Buddhist belief, mind includes Both conceptual thoughts as well as feelings, emotions, any kind of perceptions, including sense perceptions. There are sense consciousness within our mind. So, you know, our ability to perceive color, you know, the cold feel of the surface, the taste of that tea and so forth all come through our minds and it's all considered part of our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:31 Highlight the passage at 1:05:31

1:06:07 So one more thing and then you guys can take a break. I said I would tell you with Buddha nature a little bit something about Buddha nature. So they say that there are two forms of Buddha nature. One is, and we will talk about this, every once in a while I use sort of these code words, conventional and ultimate, and that's really referring to the nature of reality, the way the Buddha observed it. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:07 Highlight the passage at 1:06:07

1:06:28 And we will talk a little bit about emptiness, as always in all the classes we talk a little bit about emptiness. But the ultimate nature of our minds... Report an error in the passage at 1:06:28 Highlight the passage at 1:06:28

1:06:40 Is referring to how our minds actually exist or rather in some ways how they don't exist. How they don't exist in this sort of hallucinated, unchanging, independent, concrete way that we feel like they exist. So it's free of that. And that's really what emptiness means. It's empty of that. It's not saying that the Buddha is like chopping away something that was there. He's simply, you know, shining a spotlight and saying, well, actually, it's never existed that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:40 Highlight the passage at 1:06:40

1:07:13 I'm just trying to show you that. So that aspect of our mind, the fact that it's free of those characteristics, means that, I mean, I'm sorry, that characteristic of our Buddha nature means that it can never be destroyed. destroyed. It can never be stained by anything that we think or say or do. It can never be taken away from us. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:13 Highlight the passage at 1:07:13

1:07:40 And so from that aspect, it can be something that we kind of have some confidence in that we, we can never lose this aspect of our. The other aspect of Buddha nature is talking from a more conventional sense in terms of the fact that It involves all the qualities of our mind that we can perfect, that we can develop. That's the stuff that we're working with in the day-to-day when we're trying to have patience with somebody who's annoying us or we're summoning our courage before we speak in front of a group or we're trying to develop the good qualities that will actually carry us to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:40 Highlight the passage at 1:07:40

1:08:25 That's the sort of conventional, that's working with the conventional nature of our minds. So that's what's called evolving Buddha nature. So there's natural Buddha nature, which is the ultimate nature of our minds, and evolving Buddha nature, which is an affirmative. It's what we have in our minds. And that's this, you know, quality of it being mere clarity and awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:25 Highlight the passage at 1:08:25

1:08:53 So, I mean, you could, Geshe-la actually taught. on the topic of Buddha nature for months and months and months in a text. There's a text actually called Uttara Tantra, which has nothing to do with Tantra. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:53 Highlight the passage at 1:08:53

1:09:06 It's also incredibly dense. I sat in that class and I have a clue what it was about, but I took a lot of notes. The topic of Buddha nature is incredibly complex. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:06 Highlight the passage at 1:09:06

1:09:25 This point I think is important for this class and so I sort of pulled that out. It also is important because I think every lineage of Buddhism sees it slightly different and this is of course from the Galupa point of view. It's different even from the other lineages of Tibetan Buddhism and it's definitely... Report an error in the passage at 1:09:25 Highlight the passage at 1:09:25

1:09:44 Definitely different from other lineages of Buddhism. Because sometimes there's this thought when you say Buddha nature that it means some people will actually say, which is considered wrong view in the Galupa approach, that it means that we're already enlightened and we sort of have to just uncover it. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:44 Highlight the passage at 1:09:44

1:10:01 That's not at all what this particular tradition believes. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:01 Highlight the passage at 1:10:01

1:10:09 It's more talking about our potential, that we have that potential. To be enlightened and that every one of us has it no matter what, which is a useful thing to remember. So if anybody has any questions, we could do some questions now and then you guys could just take a break. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:09 Highlight the passage at 1:10:09

1:10:33 And remember, this is the beginning of a class. I just had a question about the, I'm not sure I understood what you meant by the evolving. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:33 Highlight the passage at 1:10:33

1:10:45 Aspect of mind and then was it the natural? Yeah. Yeah. It was more the evolving and natural Buddha nature. But yeah, it does refer to the evolving is the conventional nature of our mind. So when we are developing qualities, for example, or removing negative states of mind or at least diminishing them like our, you know, um, uh, Ability to get angry at the drop of a hat, so we're trying to diminish that, right? And our ability to have deep compassion or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:45 Highlight the passage at 1:10:45

1:11:25 So those are sort of qualities of our conventional mind that we can work with. And those qualities will, in our Buddha mind, when we get enlightened, will be fully perfected. I mean, the good ones and the bad ones will be fully removed. So that aspect of our mind actually does continue in a continuum all the way to our enlightenment. We don't lose those. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:25 Highlight the passage at 1:11:25

1:11:44 So that's what evolving is meaning in that sense. And then natural. Natural is one of those code words that actually just means emptiness. So it's just talking about the emptiness of the mind, really. I was avoiding that word, but yeah. It's like the ultimate nature. Ultimate is another code word for emptiness. So I was talking about how the mind exists actually, which means that when we talk about emptiness, I think a lot of times people immediately think huge void, nothing exists. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:44 Highlight the passage at 1:11:44

1:12:19 And so it's definitely not that. So what I like to do is to talk about the fact that It is free of that way of existing. We have this idea of the fact that things exist in this concrete, solid, permanent, unchangeable way, including our mind. A lot of times it's like, well, I'm just like that. I can't stop that now. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:19 Highlight the passage at 1:12:19

1:12:48 Good God, I'm 50. I can't give up that habit. And so we often have this really solid permanent view of our mind or ourselves. And so this is touching on the fact that actually it's never existed that way. It's constantly changing from moment to moment. It's completely fluid and changeable. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:48 Highlight the passage at 1:12:48

1:13:09 And it limits us to think that way, to think that it's permanent like that. So I'm permanent in that sense. Permanent in the sense of unchangeable. So that natural quality is just referring to the fact that it actually is this really light, fluid, spacious existence. Is that the permanent aspect? Was it Lama Yeti that you mentioned? Or is the natural Buddha mind the permanent aspect of the mind that you were referring to earlier? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:09 Highlight the passage at 1:13:09

1:13:50 It's not looked at in that way. Yeah, you mean that it goes on and on and on? Yeah. I mean, that's one aspect of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:50 Highlight the passage at 1:13:50

1:14:03 The fact that it exists in a continuum. We will get into that a little bit. It exists in a continuum and that actually allows us to... And it also allowed us to have past lives before this one and allows us to then have a huger view of reality once we start understanding that. It's not the entire thing that he meant by the fact that it's permanent, but yeah. Did you, Stephanie? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:03 Highlight the passage at 1:14:03

1:14:39 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:14:39 Highlight the passage at 1:14:39

1:14:44 there's a lot to think about. So one thing I'm trying to understand is the separation of the physical. Which is the brain and the neurons. And then there's the mind, which is separate. But interdependent. Right. So then that, I guess what I'm wondering, as you were talking, I was thinking about the different states of the physical mind as we age. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:44 Highlight the passage at 1:14:44

1:15:11 You know, if there's Alzheimer's or when you're a baby. I mean, the mind is, I'm just wondering, the mind is there. So... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:11 Highlight the passage at 1:15:11

1:15:21 But when you've got Alzheimer's, you're not able to perceive and you're not as aware. So then where's the mind hanging out? It's still there. I mean, think about it in terms of an insect, too. You know, think about it in terms of one of the cats upstairs, as much as I love them, you know. They are obscured and they can't, you know, they can't come down here and discuss the mind with us, for example. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:21 Highlight the passage at 1:15:21

1:15:45 But they have minds too? They have mind, exactly like our mind. It just ends up being obscured karmically. And in this life, if we have, say, mental damage, you know, brain damage, you know, in a car accident or something like that, it's the same situation. Karmically, we have obscurations, but that mind at its base is still pure and clear. It's just so obscured now that, you know, most likely we can't do a whole lot with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:45 Highlight the passage at 1:15:45

1:16:14 Unless something happens. You know, sometimes people suddenly awake from a coma or something like that. Or some medicine suddenly invented. You know, I'm sure that there was like a huge period of time that people who had a lot of mental illness were just written off. And now many of those people are now able to live a productive life. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:14 Highlight the passage at 1:16:14

1:16:20 Same. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:20 Highlight the passage at 1:16:20

1:16:35 And same with Alzheimer's who knows what they're going to suddenly invent even within our lifetime. You know, I have one friend who's just totally devoted his entire life as a scientist to working on Alzheimer's. You know, you just never know. And there's tons of them out there and they're like trying, you know. So, but from a Buddhist perspective, the base mind is still the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:35 Highlight the passage at 1:16:35

1:16:54 What happens is there are obscurations, there are heavy obscurations, there are little obscurations, you know. And so when we do things within Buddhism to remove, Karmic obscurations and there are purification practices. We, of course, try to change our behavior so we don't create more and things like that. That's what we're trying to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:54 Highlight the passage at 1:16:54

1:17:13 We're trying to allow our mind to actually get more and more purified. It's like working at the conventional level of working on the good qualities and removing the bad and things like that. Once you get into that accident, you're not going to be able to do any of those. And that kind of gets into some of the teachings on you never know when. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:13 Highlight the passage at 1:17:13

1:17:32 Like if we really recognize the conditions that we have in this life, we don't know when it's going to send the end. And it may not end with death. It may actually end with somebody running into us on the way home, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:32 Highlight the passage at 1:17:32

1:17:46 And then we have the situation where we still have mind. We may even still have a body, but we no longer have the ability to sort of cognize and understand objects and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:46 Highlight the passage at 1:17:46

1:18:01 That they would say is karmically caused. The base mind is still the same. Here's another question. So you spoke about the mind being permanent and it's continuous from life to life. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:01 Highlight the passage at 1:18:01

1:18:19 So as the population grows and grows, I mean that's more and more minds. Not necessarily. I mean, remember that minds exist in all different forms, including those realms that we're not allowed to talk about tonight. And I mean, from a Buddhist point of view, this universe isn't necessarily the only one. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:19 Highlight the passage at 1:18:19

1:18:41 So there's an endless supply. There's just endless supply. We could just, if this planet even ends, we would just karmically create another place and we would just be there. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:41 Highlight the passage at 1:18:41

1:18:53 And just having more humans doesn't mean anybody's at all measuring the amount of insects. So we don't know how many insects there are. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:53 Highlight the passage at 1:18:53

1:19:06 Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's interesting, isn't it? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:06 Highlight the passage at 1:19:06

1:19:13 Is that it? Oh, you were going to... Oh, she took it around to her right hand. Sometimes when I hear in Buddhism speaking about mind, then I'm asking myself, what's then the difference between soul and mind? It sounds for me so similar. Soul has a very strong tendency of being unchanging. It's like sort of the root of who you are, from my understanding, from being raised in a Christian background. So when we're talking about mind, when we talk about what goes from life to life, you still are carrying karma, you're still carrying qualities that you haven't yet perfected. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:13 Highlight the passage at 1:19:13

1:20:03 So imperfect love, which is that kind of graspy crap that we do a lot of times. And all those kind of negative states of mind, we still carry the seeds for them because we haven't perfected them in this life or we still have sort of these negative states of mind. All of that gets kind of carried from life to life. So it's not like some sort of pure view of who we are. Now the base mind is pure, it's true, but we've got a lot of work to do to get down to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:03 Highlight the passage at 1:20:03

1:20:31 The idea of soul tends to be... From my understanding of soul, which is, you know, I didn't spend years studying the Christian view of soul or any other view, the Ātman, I think, also in other non-Buddhist traditions. They also have this view of sort of a self. But soul tends to be sort of like some sort of perfected... Report an error in the passage at 1:20:31 Highlight the passage at 1:20:31

1:20:58 view of who I am, who I really am, and that's the one that then goes to heaven or other place. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:58 Highlight the passage at 1:20:58

1:21:10 And that's a permanent depository for it, too. It doesn't leave. Once it goes to one of those two places, according to Christianity, it stays there. So it does have a sort of reincarnation, but only one. And then it doesn't leave that place. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:10 Highlight the passage at 1:21:10

1:21:27 And in Buddhism, it's constantly going from life to life. And each lifetime, things are perfected and things are removed from it. And it's just constantly changing until you attain enlightenment. But even enlightened mind constantly changes because enlightened beings are thinking. I mean, they aren't conceptually thinking, but they're doing things with their mind. They're having mental moments with their mind. But fortunately, they're constantly thinking of others. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:27 Highlight the passage at 1:21:27

1:21:56 Positive is so, that's all they, they only have the ability to create more positive. So they are constantly creating blissful experiences for themselves. They have no choice because they're constantly working for other beings. So my understanding of soul is that it's a little bit more solid, a little bit more, it's almost more physical. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:56 Highlight the passage at 1:21:56

1:22:21 You sort of see it in those images that you see sort of coming out of the... They even try to weigh it, right? Is it 23 grams or something like that? Between a live body and a dead body. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:21 Highlight the passage at 1:22:21

1:22:35 There's some sense that when it comes out of that body, it only does it once, right? Because you only have one life. And then it goes somewhere permanently where it stays. So there's a lot more permanence to it. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. I'd love to actually read a little bit more about souls, though. To understand. But probably it's different in each religion. Some slight difference between them. Anyway. Do you guys need a break? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:35 Highlight the passage at 1:22:35

1:23:08 Let poor Chloe go, huh? Oh, and also you guys all should take one of these books. David, you want to? We have to talk about why it's important to understand the mind. And then we'll talk later. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:08 Highlight the passage at 1:23:08

1:23:33 Yeah, dang straight. Yeah, that's what we do. I mean, that's one of the woo-woo things about Buddhism, too. That's why we do things like, you know, chanting mantras for them and trying to give them good imprints so that their next life won't be as a cat, you know. Actually, I think karmically they have really strong, you know, to be owned by a nun and living in a Dharma center, you know. Shanti doesn't come out so much, but Bodhi comes down into puja every morning, you know, and she like, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:33 Highlight the passage at 1:23:33

1:24:02 She runs when you get on an instrument, but still. So they definitely have minds and they will definitely get enlightened at some point. Because of course the karma for this life for them could end at any moment and their next life could be really, really positive. So that's kind of why we try to give them all these imprints. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:02 Highlight the passage at 1:24:02

1:24:24 Yeah, so that's just going around. It's a quick way if I need to reach everybody for any reason. If there's some scheduling change or, you know, I get ill or if I have to hand the list to Jane and Jane has to call everyone. It's like everything is in one place. Also to remind you guys of the practice day at the very end, although at least there's not a gap for you. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:24 Highlight the passage at 1:24:24

1:24:47 With the other class, there's this couple week gap. Everyone, I can guarantee you, will forget that the practice day is even happening. So why do we even want to understand the mind? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:47 Highlight the passage at 1:24:47

1:25:02 Because we have mind, we can have happiness, according to the Buddha. And the Buddha said, actually, nothing outside of our mind will ever produce happiness, even though, of course, we look desperately outside of our own mind for happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:02 Highlight the passage at 1:25:02

1:25:19 Lama Yeshe says, When we study Buddhism, we're studying ourselves, the nature of our own minds. Instead of focusing on some supreme being, Buddhism emphasizes more practical matters such as how to lead our lives, how to integrate our minds and how to keep our everyday lives peaceful and healthy. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:19 Highlight the passage at 1:25:19

1:25:39 That's our advertisement for Buddhism, right? It sounds so great. He doesn't talk about how hard it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:39 Highlight the passage at 1:25:39

1:25:50 The objects that we crave. right. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:50 Highlight the passage at 1:25:50

1:25:52 Like whatever it is that Chloe's baking don't contain happiness in and of themselves. Happiness is actually a state of mind. And we can actually think about that if we think about times that we have, you know, like maybe three people have been traveling together and we've had completely different experiences of the same situation. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:52 Highlight the passage at 1:25:52

1:26:16 Traveling in India is a good one for that kind of thing because it's such an extreme thing. Venerable Amy, who at that point wasn't a venerable, was traveling when she was in her 20s in India with another woman of about the same age and from California also in India. And Amy was eating it up, totally happy, you know, thrilled, everything. She just loved everything about it. This other woman. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:16 Highlight the passage at 1:26:16

1:26:44 Just wanted to catch it in and go home, hated it, hated the people, hated the trains, hated the language, hated everything that she could possibly hate about it. And what they were doing physically with their bodies was the same, but their mental experience was different. You can also just think about five of us going to dinner, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:44 Highlight the passage at 1:26:44

1:27:06 We could have five completely different experiences of the restaurant that we go to. A lot of that is actually karma, according to the Buddhist perspective. But karma is a working of the mind. So mind ultimately is also responsible. Somehow we feel like that food or that restaurant or that trip is going to give us happiness. But we can't actually get happiness from somebody else. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:06 Highlight the passage at 1:27:06

1:27:37 Sorry, that's kind of the killjoy message of the day. Happiness is in our own minds. It's something that we have to unlock. We have to cultivate. We have to put effort into. It's actually inside of us. It's not even doing anything physically or verbally that's going to bring us happiness. It's definitely cultivated contentment within our own minds. So we talked a little bit about these different levels of mind, gross, subtle and most subtle. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:37 Highlight the passage at 1:27:37

1:28:14 And what that means in terms of our mental continuum that goes from life to life, this very, very subtle most level of our mind is what goes from life to life. And if we think about it in terms of reincarnation, if we think about the fact that if our mind is, you know, and this is not resolved right now, this is just... Report an error in the passage at 1:28:14 Highlight the passage at 1:28:14

1:28:38 The idea on the floor. If our mind is beginningless and endless, and if this is just one lifetime out of, you know, they often use the phrase limitless lifetimes, which is almost like too much to bear. It's too much to think about. But if this is only one little lifetime out of many, many, it's like a little, it's like a finger snap in our total existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:38 Highlight the passage at 1:28:38

1:29:05 Distance. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:05 Highlight the passage at 1:29:05

1:29:08 It sort of behooves us to look at what we're doing with our mind during this finger snap because this particular finger snap happens to be fairly positive. We have some amount of health of body and mind and conditions that we can do something with it, which according to the Buddha isn't always the case. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:08 Highlight the passage at 1:29:08

1:29:27 We could have had a much more difficult. And we have had and we will have if we don't watch it. We won't get into that, though. A more difficult existence is possible. So right now we actually have some great conditions. And so thinking about what we do with our mind becomes more and more important. If we think this very mind, at least its subtlest level, is what goes on to my next life, watching Jaws, for example, may not be what I want to do with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:27 Highlight the passage at 1:29:27

1:29:59 Thinking about what we put into that mind begins to matter. Thinking about what we do with that mind during this little blip, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:59 Highlight the passage at 1:29:59

1:30:10 It behooves us to sort of take this longer view and to think about what we're doing with our mind. Often, because mind is just moment after moment after moment, following one after another without any gap, our life just sort of gets eaten up. Think about how you spent today. Think about how we think today. It's like our mind just sort of gets eaten up by these little obsessions and problems and, you know, really, really small. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:10 Highlight the passage at 1:30:10

1:30:39 It's very rarely spent sort of cultivating a bigger mind, as Lama Yeshe always calls it, big mind versus little mind. And so it's part of the practice within Buddhism to try to think beyond. The sort of sea of all these little problems and neurotic obsessions that we normally spend so much of our time and our mind on. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:39 Highlight the passage at 1:30:39

1:31:08 Because actually none of that really is going to go with us. If our life were to end suddenly, you know, really... Working and worrying about the printer, like getting so upset about the printer would not be a useful thing. It wouldn't be useful at the moment of death for sure. It wouldn't even be useful in the long term. It doesn't mean I can't fix the printer. It just means the stuff we spend our time and mind on, we might want to look at. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:08 Highlight the passage at 1:31:08

1:31:37 This is the point. This is one of the reasons why it's important to understand mind. Because if our mind simply is just... Moving forward thought by thought by thought and there's no gap into our next life and then our next life goes on. We should think about what propels us into that next life and also think about what creates that next life. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:37 Highlight the passage at 1:31:37

1:32:05 And so we will talk a little bit about karma. Discuss reincarnation in this culture so much, although some individuals do, some individuals have some sort of memory of it, and some of them we sort of discount immediately as being quacky, especially if they have only been really kings and queens in their last life. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:05 Highlight the passage at 1:32:05

1:32:28 I remember my parents were actually really into reincarnation in the 70s, but whenever they had, they actually had parties. They actually had, thankfully they were both gone, so I can actually talk about this over the air, but they had these parties that they would go to and they were called Come As You Were parties. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:28 Highlight the passage at 1:32:28

1:32:47 There was never a slave. There was never like the doc guy. There was never a garbage man. You know, it was all like Nefertiti and, you know, yeah, exactly. The Pope. They all had high positions in their past life. How they ended up in suburban Virginia, I don't know. I don't know exactly what happened with that one. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:47 Highlight the passage at 1:32:47

1:33:09 But we don't discuss it very much, although I have heard that in some of the sort of missing books of the Bible that apparently reincarnation was discussed and then it got cut out during the Reformation period. Interesting, I didn't know that. But it's never really been disproved. There are definitely stories that I think are quite interesting when I have read some stories where... Report an error in the passage at 1:33:09 Highlight the passage at 1:33:09

1:33:37 Especially with little kids, kind of before they get quite as jaded as we get when we get older. And interesting stories where you just wonder, you know. It just leaves you wondering. I remember stories actually that I heard about this young girl in India who had very, very strong memories of her former life. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:37 Highlight the passage at 1:33:37

1:34:02 And everybody thought she was just, you know, being silly little girl, but she just kept mentioning it and finally asked to go to this town, which was close enough that the parents knew. And so they took her and she was able to recognize the... The house and the man, she began yelling at him, why did you paint the house? It used to be this color and it had and he knew that and he was freaked out and it was her husband and her past life. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:02 Highlight the passage at 1:34:02

1:34:26 So it was kind of interesting. She like recognized things. She yelled at it, why did you? And then he had married, of course, again and things like that. There's many lessons in that story. um but it And it's difficult to prove, you know, and I think a lot of scientists just toss it out because it's really difficult to prove, but it's also sort of like, how did she know, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:26 Highlight the passage at 1:34:26

1:34:50 And like we can kind of discount it if we want to, but it's sort of like, how do these kids know these things? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:50 Highlight the passage at 1:34:50

1:34:58 And, you know, again, we get back to that point that I'm presenting things from a particular Buddhist... Which you guys don't have to take, you don't have to accept. But it is interesting to think about, what if, you know, what if the subtle most aspect of my mind goes to the next life? Wouldn't I want to work with it in this life as much as I could? If that's all I could take with me. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:58 Highlight the passage at 1:34:58

1:35:22 Wouldn't I, and also wouldn't I want to work with it, and this is something we get into in the class on death and impermanence, wouldn't I want to work with it to the point so that when I had that final moment, I wasn't yelling at the printer, you know, because they say the state of our mind at the moment of our death is quite significant to our rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:22 Highlight the passage at 1:35:22

1:35:41 You know, it's like a lot of different conditions that go into what creates our rebirth. So even if, even if I just take that as the idea on the floor. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:41 Highlight the passage at 1:35:41

1:35:53 It's an interesting thought. Why wouldn't I want to work on my mind a little bit? Why wouldn't I want to understand how it works? Report an error in the passage at 1:35:53 Highlight the passage at 1:35:53

1:36:03 So meditation is the tool that we end up working with our mind with. Scientists use a lot of instruments. external instruments, we tend to use in Buddhism. Although now, of course, they're doing all these studies. But, yeah. I've actually had one of those done it's so odd you're trying to meditate on compassion and you're all like hooked up and stuff and you're like you know it's just bizarre um but um Our instrument is our mind, so it's like we're looking at our mind with our mind, and we do that in meditation, in the practice of meditation. So we're actually going to end with a really short meditation tonight, and this is the meditation you're going to take with you and you're going to work with at home. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:03 Highlight the passage at 1:36:03

1:36:58 Because in the short term, it's useful in this life, hopefully, and then it also begins developing the mind. That we were just talking about that can go forward. So meditation is actually really, really important. Meditation, and we will talk more and more about meditation. Meditation, as I always say in the drop-in meditations, we have a couple of drop-in meditations on Tuesday night and Saturday morning. It's not about feeling peaceful and it's not about sort of instant happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:58 Highlight the passage at 1:36:58

1:37:31 It's not about... Finding instant peace of mind. It's a transformational process. And it sometimes is uncomfortable, which surprises people. And it's more about becoming familiar with your mind and becoming familiar more and more with the Buddhist perspective on reality. It's relating to reality in a different way, which is not what we think of. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:31 Highlight the passage at 1:37:31

1:37:59 When we think about meditation, I think a lot of times we think it's like we're going to just get a taste of peace. And then we're surprised when we get up and we go out and yell at the cab driver, you know. So it's like it's not integrating the two together. What's happening is you're actually transforming your mind so that when you're in the second situation... Report an error in the passage at 1:37:59 Highlight the passage at 1:37:59

1:38:20 You react in a different way because your understanding is different because of your meditation. So it's like that. So your life should change because of your meditation or something's not right. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:20 Highlight the passage at 1:38:20

1:38:32 So who can I ask, and this is not to embarrass anyone, but just so that I know sort of how much attention to give to meditation. How many, who doesn't already have some sort of a daily practice of meditation in here? Yeah. Only one. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:32 Highlight the passage at 1:38:32

1:38:59 So everybody else has some form of meditation practice. Okay, that's good. I will just touch on a little bit at the beginning and then you and I might spend a little bit more time just to make sure that you know. Sometimes it's useful to talk about because different traditions look at meditation differently. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:59 Highlight the passage at 1:38:59

1:39:20 And so. I'd like to sort of state a little bit what meditation in this tradition is and is not. So we'll start with that next week. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:20 Highlight the passage at 1:39:20

1:39:31 But basically, we usually use two forms of meditation stabilizing, which is where you place your mind on something like we were trying to do with the breath. Whether it's stable, that's another story. And what's called analytical meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:31 Highlight the passage at 1:39:31

1:39:51 And so that's where the mind moves and tries to analyze something. And that's the one that we'll use the most in this class. And so actually maybe what I'll do, Tony, is I'll actually email you a little document that tells you a little something about meditation too. And then we'll take it from there. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:51 Highlight the passage at 1:39:51

1:40:09 We'll see. But it is really, really important if you don't already, and I'm assuming most of you probably... Do have a special time and place that you meditate every day and that that place inspires your mind in some way. We'll talk about sort of traditionally what you might have on that altar or whatever, which could be a windowsill. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:09 Highlight the passage at 1:40:09

1:40:35 That might do that for you, but that's the basic idea of setting up a place to meditate is that there's some constancy to it. It's kind of the same. You do it about the same time every day and that it always sort of lifts your mind, makes you want to sit and meditate. It doesn't have to be, you don't have to spend a lot of money in a shop in order to make it a nice altar. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:35 Highlight the passage at 1:40:35

1:40:58 It can be very inspiring with just a few pictures or quotes or something like that. So are there any questions? Because I think this is a really, really quick meditation. So we could just do a two-minute version of it and then at least have a feel for it. Because it's a pretty easy one. I'm giving you an easy one on your first one. I don't think I'm giving you any reading, although I'm sure you just will die to dive into that one. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:58 Highlight the passage at 1:40:58

1:41:26 Anyway, so why don't we just end with this little meditation. This is a little meditation on the body and the mind. And you can make it as extensive or as brief as you need to and in our case we'll do it briefly. I would say for you guys to try to give it a little bit of time. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:26 Highlight the passage at 1:41:26

1:41:48 And you just start again the way we did and we won't spend that much time. Normally at home it's really good to do what we did at the beginning where you check your posture and go through the points of the posture when there are eight points of the posture. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:48 Highlight the passage at 1:41:48

1:42:08 I won't go into them because of time right now, Tony, but I'll send that to you. And I'll start with it. In every other class, I'll start with it. So you take that time to relax your mind, especially whether you've just gotten up or whether you have just come in from work or whether you're just getting ready to go to bed. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:08 Highlight the passage at 1:42:08

1:42:30 Whatever time of day you're choosing to do this, to always take a few moments of transitional time where you're taking some deep breaths to release whatever you're just doing. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:30 Highlight the passage at 1:42:30

1:42:40 You know, check your alignment, your posture, and then do some amount of meditation on the breath the way we try to do it. So whether it's a three minute, five minute, something like that on the breath. That just allows your mind to sort of come to neutral and it builds your concentration a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:40 Highlight the passage at 1:42:40

1:43:00 So we're just going to pretend we've done that. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:00 Highlight the passage at 1:43:00

1:43:06 And then you just... For the beginning of this meditation, you're just, without looking around, just becoming aware of your physical surroundings. So here you have, here we're sitting in a meditation hall in a Buddhist center, but at home you'll be sitting in your room or your house, somewhere in your house, just becoming aware of the sounds that you're hearing, the smells of the apple pie. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:06 Highlight the passage at 1:43:06

1:43:41 The temperature of the room, the way it feels on your skin, Report an error in the passage at 1:43:41 Highlight the passage at 1:43:41

1:43:52 the way your cushion feels underneath you and the floor beneath that. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:52 Highlight the passage at 1:43:52

1:44:02 Maybe you're aware of the walls and the ceiling, the Report an error in the passage at 1:44:02 Highlight the passage at 1:44:02

1:44:10 things hanging on the walls that you may have seen on your way in, textures, shapes, colors, fabrics, and Report an error in the passage at 1:44:10 Highlight the passage at 1:44:10

1:44:29 the way that experience of this matter around you feels. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:29 Highlight the passage at 1:44:29

1:44:52 After a few minutes of doing that, bring your focus to your body and Report an error in the passage at 1:44:52 Highlight the passage at 1:44:52

1:45:01 just feel its weight, its solidity, shape, awareness of your own skin and the organs. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:01 Highlight the passage at 1:45:01

1:45:15 You can fill in the details. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:15 Highlight the passage at 1:45:15

1:45:20 Sort of experiencing your body as mass, as form. And Report an error in the passage at 1:45:20 Highlight the passage at 1:45:20

1:45:35 then step back and realize that there's a knowing of all this. Ever present, formless, clear. And try to focus on that which is knowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:35 Highlight the passage at 1:45:35

1:45:54 Rather than what's known. When Report an error in the passage at 1:45:54 Highlight the passage at 1:45:54

1:46:19 you return to the breath, you're breathing. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:19 Highlight the passage at 1:46:19

1:46:26 Notice your body breathing, the sensation of the breath, the way it comes in, fills your lungs, all the things involved in your body as you breathe. And Report an error in the passage at 1:46:26 Highlight the passage at 1:46:26

1:46:47 then again, step back and try to catch that which is merely knowing the breath. And Report an error in the passage at 1:46:47 Highlight the passage at 1:46:47

1:47:12 then do this with your thoughts, noticing the thinking, thoughts arising and falling away, and Report an error in the passage at 1:47:12 Highlight the passage at 1:47:12

1:47:29 then step back. And try to see that which is merely knowing the thoughts instead of the thoughts themselves. And Report an error in the passage at 1:47:29 Highlight the passage at 1:47:29

1:47:52 do the same with your feelings, any emotions that are arising. Just noticing the feelings arising, falling away. And Report an error in the passage at 1:47:52 Highlight the passage at 1:47:52

1:48:11 then step back and try to catch that which is merely knowing those feelings. So Report an error in the passage at 1:48:11 Highlight the passage at 1:48:11

1:48:32 it's like a series of looking at the object. And then stepping back and trying to see the knower of that object. Trying to see the mind that engages that object. It's like you kind of have to try to catch it. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:32 Highlight the passage at 1:48:32

1:48:51 And then at the very end, just end with concentrating on the awareness of that more fundamental level of mind, which is mere clarity and awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:51 Highlight the passage at 1:48:51

1:49:03 The nature that never changes, despite whatever thoughts or feelings arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:03 Highlight the passage at 1:49:03

1:49:12 At the deepest level, it's always still and clear. Concentrate on that. And Report an error in the passage at 1:49:12 Highlight the passage at 1:49:12

1:49:32 we dedicate. At the beginning, we spent some time motivating this class. So now we take whatever energy or insights or ideas, understandings might have arisen for you, and we dedicate them to each one of us, getting to know our minds better and better. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:32 Highlight the passage at 1:49:32

1:49:56 And ultimately transforming our minds. That's the ultimate goal of meditation is to transform our minds so that we can become of more benefit to ourselves and everyone around us. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:56 Highlight the passage at 1:49:56

1:50:14 And ultimately so that we're happier and can help others around us become happier as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:14 Highlight the passage at 1:50:14

1:50:34 Your meditation and open your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:34 Highlight the passage at 1:50:34

1:50:45 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:45 Highlight the passage at 1:50:45

1:50:48 So that was a quickie version of it. You can take more time and kind of play with it, but you kind of get the idea to experience the object and then to look back and try to see the knower of the object. So everybody got a book, right? Now you get your homework. I know. There's always one in there. But it's just this. This is what you just did. So you can start reading the little booklet. Yeah, if you guys. And this is also the syllabus. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:48 Highlight the passage at 1:50:48

1:51:17 For those who want it. Next week you'll have a binder to put these in. So sorry about that. I always like to wait and see how many binders to make so we don't have all these extra ones kicking around. So I'll have some for you next week. Thank you. And have a great week. You know what? If we... Report an error in the passage at 1:51:17 Highlight the passage at 1:51:17