Discovering Buddhism - Mind and Its Potential (6 November 2008)

0:00 Let's get this truck, let's get this. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:12 Namo Maju Namo Su Sriye Namo Uttama Sriye Soha Report an error in the passage at 0:12 Highlight the passage at 0:12

0:44 Our class halved itself somehow. I hope there was nothing I said. It's been kind of like that this week. Tantra glass was definitely like about half its normal size too. Report an error in the passage at 0:44 Highlight the passage at 0:44

1:01 So I have your binders. No, sorry. Yeah, because you guys will just be sitting there reading them and then nobody will pay any attention to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:01 Highlight the passage at 1:01

1:13 I'll sneak it to you on the break. And I've also got, I had mentioned to you that one. The Wish Fulfilling Golden Jewel. And I'm going to give you the first handout from that. The second handout will come a little later. So I have that tonight too. Report an error in the passage at 1:13 Highlight the passage at 1:13

1:36 So we'll start with just a little contemplation of some of the stuff that we went over last week. Report an error in the passage at 1:36 Highlight the passage at 1:36

1:48 Just to review it in a way and let it kind of, let our minds sort of mull it over a little bit. So just take some nice deep breaths and let go of your day. Whatever it's taken for you to come here tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:48 Highlight the passage at 1:48

2:10 Let go of all of our discussion of the election. And just imagine whatever might be distracting you just dissolving into thin air. So just visualizing it, just sluggishness, distraction, whatever might keep you from being present. Report an error in the passage at 2:10 Highlight the passage at 2:10

2:33 And then just breathe it out. When you breathe in, imagine a fresh awareness coming in, curiosity, alertness and his presence. Report an error in the passage at 2:33 Highlight the passage at 2:33

3:02 So I'll review the posture again just so we sort of get in the habit of that, just reviewing our posture. Your legs can be in whatever position feels good to you. Traditionally, of course, we sit in full Vajra posture. Some of us cannot do that or haven't yet. We haven't been able to return to what was once so easy in our youth. So we just sit in a posture that we can hold with our legs. Some people just sit cross-legged like you were if you were going to sit on the floor and watch TV or something. Report an error in the passage at 3:02 Highlight the passage at 3:02

3:35 I like to sit with one leg in front of the other so that there's nothing crossed, so nothing gets cut off. Your cushion definitely makes a difference. Report an error in the passage at 3:35 Highlight the passage at 3:35

3:47 So you might want to experiment with different cushions while you're here. And also sometimes people need something under their knees. So you can just play with that. Report an error in the passage at 3:47 Highlight the passage at 3:47

4:01 The most important element of the posture, I think, is your spine. Your spine should be extended or lengthened. Sort of imagine like a cord running up in front of your spinal cord and going out the crown of your head. Report an error in the passage at 4:01 Highlight the passage at 4:01

4:25 And then you can lengthen the back of your neck by just putting your chin just slightly forward. Report an error in the passage at 4:25 Highlight the passage at 4:25

4:37 The eyes in this tradition are closed. I mean, I'm sorry, are open. We usually have them about two feet, two and a half feet in front of us, just unfocused. Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

4:57 Sometimes I notice in groups it's harder for me to meditate with my eyes open and so sometimes in groups I'll meditate with them closed but when you're at home definitely try to develop the skill. They say that it actually builds a much stronger concentration. Report an error in the passage at 4:57 Highlight the passage at 4:57

5:17 The tongue just naturally rests at the top of the mouth behind the front teeth but not touching. Report an error in the passage at 5:17 Highlight the passage at 5:17

5:31 The shoulders are sort of back so if you use your body to... Hang over a desk or a computer. You might want to roll your shoulders a few times and then just sort of leave them back a little bit. Not in an overextended way, but just so that your back has a slight arch at the top. Report an error in the passage at 5:31 Highlight the passage at 5:31

5:55 And in this tradition, we also have our hands in our lap right over left, thumbs touching lightly. And you just sort of rest them in your lap. Report an error in the passage at 5:55 Highlight the passage at 5:55

6:06 If you're sitting in full Vajra posture, they would rest on your feet. And since most of us aren't, you just let them rest, relax in your lap. Report an error in the passage at 6:06 Highlight the passage at 6:06

6:20 Sometimes what I'll do if I'm doing a lot of meditation, like in retreat, and definitely when I'm doing my own practice, then I will put something soft in my lap to hold them up a little bit so that there's room for air between your arms and your body, which also keeps you from getting too hot. Report an error in the passage at 6:20 Highlight the passage at 6:20

6:47 And then the final element of the posture is your breathing itself, your breath. So you don't need to change your breathing at all. You don't need to make it deeper or more rhythmic or less rhythmic. We're going to just start with a really short meditation on the breath. Just one round of ten out and in breaths. Just trying to keep our mind focused. And every time it wanders off, you just gently but firmly place it back on the breath. Report an error in the passage at 6:47 Highlight the passage at 6:47

7:25 And you can watch the breath either at the level of your belly or your chest or a little patch of skin inside your nostril. Report an error in the passage at 7:25 Highlight the passage at 7:25

7:35 And you just feel that sensation of the air moving out and coming back in and focus all of your attention on that. Try to keep your mind there, but just gently keep returning to that every time you need to. Report an error in the passage at 7:35 Highlight the passage at 7:35

· · · silence, 1 minute

8:34 Once the mind sort of calms down a little bit, we'll just contemplate a few of the statements that... The Report an error in the passage at 8:34 Highlight the passage at 8:34

8:52 Buddha said that mind is both beginningless and endless. It is mere clarity and awareness. Report an error in the passage at 8:52 Highlight the passage at 8:52

9:07 Mind is the mere process of reflecting and engaging with everything it contacts. Report an error in the passage at 9:07 Highlight the passage at 9:07

9:24 Mind is constantly changing. It's the process of experiencing moment by moment by moment. Report an error in the passage at 9:24 Highlight the passage at 9:24

9:44 Everything exists. Everything that exists comes from a cause. Therefore, mind has to have a cause, which is the previous moment of mind. Report an error in the passage at 9:44 Highlight the passage at 9:44

9:56 The earliest moment of mind in this life also had a previous moment. That previous moment comes from the final moment of the prior life's mind. Report an error in the passage at 9:56 Highlight the passage at 9:56

10:21 If mind is indestructible and beginningless and endless, then this life is like a finger snap in the totality of our existence. Report an error in the passage at 10:21 Highlight the passage at 10:21

10:36 So we need to look closely at what we're doing with this moment in time. Report an error in the passage at 10:36 Highlight the passage at 10:36

10:45 If mind carries us moment by moment forward with no gap, just the next moment, then death is just the next moment and rebirth is just the next moment. Report an error in the passage at 10:45 Highlight the passage at 10:45

11:17 Afflictive thoughts or delusions are impermanent and can be removed. They aren't part of our mind innately. Report an error in the passage at 11:17 Highlight the passage at 11:17

11:30 They're like pollution in water. Report an error in the passage at 11:30 Highlight the passage at 11:30

11:36 The water's nature is pure and clear and once the pollution is removed, you'll have clear water. It's the same way with our mind. Report an error in the passage at 11:36 Highlight the passage at 11:36

11:49 Once the delusions are removed, our suffering can also be removed because these delusions cause us to create suffering. Report an error in the passage at 11:49 Highlight the passage at 11:49

12:13 Mind can know everything if the obstructions are removed because mind knows and can know infinitely. Report an error in the passage at 12:13 Highlight the passage at 12:13

12:30 Understanding the mind, working with it, Transforming it allows us each to awaken fully. Report an error in the passage at 12:30 Highlight the passage at 12:30

12:45 This is our motivation for this class. Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

12:51 May it become the cause of our own enlightenment so that we can each perfectly help others. Report an error in the passage at 12:51 Highlight the passage at 12:51

13:13 So that when you're ready you can end your contemplation and we'll start with opening prayer, which is the same one that we did last week. Report an error in the passage at 13:13 Highlight the passage at 13:13

13:29 We did quite a bit of activity there so we got to strengthen our concentration. Trying to stay focused. Report an error in the passage at 13:29 Highlight the passage at 13:29

13:38 So it's on page 8 in the White Prayer Book. We'll just do it once. It's the one with a picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And it's also a way of setting our motivation for why we do these things, why we want to study the mind. With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Report an error in the passage at 13:38 Highlight the passage at 13:38

14:04 Until I reach full enlightenment, inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 14:04 Highlight the passage at 14:04

14:39 Hey, no, it's alright. You just missed the exact key to enlightenment, but that's okay. I'm sure you can catch it up later. Report an error in the passage at 14:39 Highlight the passage at 14:39

14:51 Oh, we didn't record it? Oh gosh, I'm sorry. Report an error in the passage at 14:51 Highlight the passage at 14:51

15:02 So welcome. I know. It was so pretty, I decided to leave it up. Today is the day that we normally do Tara Puja. It's sort of called Tara Day, and it's her day of the month, lunar calendar. Report an error in the passage at 15:02 Highlight the passage at 15:02

15:17 We've been doing a lot of tarapujas to sort of remove all these obstacles that the center has right now. But this is the regular one. This is the one that we do every month. So we did that this afternoon. And right before, one of our members' sister is very, very sick right now and probably going to pass away this week in Taiwan. Report an error in the passage at 15:17 Highlight the passage at 15:17

15:37 And right before she left, she got the green kata and offered it to Tara. So I'm just leaving it on Tara for a little while, I figure. Sort of extra positive energy to remove obstacles for Yifang's sister. Report an error in the passage at 15:37 Highlight the passage at 15:37

15:55 So does anybody have any questions? Questions? Hey, Chad. David's just been waiting for that. He's like chomping at the bit. Do you want to use the mic? Yeah, the talking stick. So if anybody has not been in the class before, we just request that you use the mic if you ask a question because we record it and upload it to a website and then people can download it. Report an error in the passage at 15:55 Highlight the passage at 15:55

16:18 And if they don't hear the question, it's frustrating. I actually had that personal experience in my retreat. I was listening to some of the teachings from here and people weren't using the talking stick. And I was like, hmm. You could tell when Janet was in the class, she was like, hey, wait, wait, wait, the mic. I just had a question if you could repeat the quote that you actually mentioned during the meditation, mind is the mere process. Report an error in the passage at 16:18 Highlight the passage at 16:18

16:46 Mind is the mere process of reflecting and engaging with everything it contacts. Report an error in the passage at 16:46 Highlight the passage at 16:46

16:56 I actually don't know if that's a quote from somebody else or myself. It's just from my notes from last time. I think it's probably from the second Copan course that I did with Venerable Neil. If it has a kind of Australian-y sound to it, then I know it comes from him. But I just sort of copied my notes from that. Report an error in the passage at 16:56 Highlight the passage at 16:56

17:21 Did you have another one? Yeah, related to that quote. Is mind then dependent on an object? Because this quote's talking about, it's the process, but it's everything it contacts, so it's an object. Yeah, we'll talk about that, yeah. It's very interesting, actually, that, yeah, there has to be an object there. Report an error in the passage at 17:21 Highlight the passage at 17:21

17:50 But, of course, the object could be very, very subtle, or it could be itself, or it could be, you know, and again, remember last time we were talking about the fact that it doesn't have to be super concentrated and highly alert. You could just be, you know, and there's some, but there's some object in your mind at that point. So, but we'll talk about that. We'll talk about that a little bit more. Report an error in the passage at 17:50 Highlight the passage at 17:50

18:12 Wait. Report an error in the passage at 18:12 Highlight the passage at 18:12

18:15 Talking stuff. Mirror or mirror? Yeah. Mirror, I was saying. M-E-R-E. I should have said that actually. Well, you weren't here for the meditation anyway. But yeah, it's true because... Report an error in the passage at 18:15 Highlight the passage at 18:15

18:29 Last time we were talking about that analogy of the mirror. But I'm from the South, so we take mirror for everything. Yeah, mirror, mirror process. Report an error in the passage at 18:29 Highlight the passage at 18:29

18:43 Simply the process, I guess you could say. What's the actual definition of mirror? It's like nothing else. It's nothing but, I guess you could say, nothing but the process of reflecting and engaging. Report an error in the passage at 18:43 Highlight the passage at 18:43

19:01 Any other questions either about that meditation or about your homework this week or reading? Report an error in the passage at 19:01 Highlight the passage at 19:01

19:14 I know we went over this last time, but I feel like I still need more explanation. So in the meditation, it says try to focus on that which is knowing rather than that which is known. Yeah, it's not easy, is it? it Report an error in the passage at 19:14 Highlight the passage at 19:14

19:33 There's not really answers, you know. That's just an experience. Yeah, I mean, it's more to just think about it for the first time, kind of, or maybe not the first time, but it's more just bringing your awareness. We almost always are focusing on the object of the mind rather than the subject, the one doing the... Report an error in the passage at 19:33 Highlight the passage at 19:33

20:00 Perceiving. And so, yeah, it's just to sort of step back and try to remember that there is something, something seeing this. There's something experiencing this. And what is that? So it's just to begin asking those questions. Yeah. And it isn't going to be easy and clear. So that's okay. That's just part of it. Yeah. Yeah. So just keep playing with it. Report an error in the passage at 20:00 Highlight the passage at 20:00

20:27 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 20:27 Highlight the passage at 20:27

20:32 So it took me more than 10 minutes to do the meditation. I had always about a half an hour because my mind was going elsewhere. Going elsewhere, yeah. And the difficulty I had also with counting, with starting with out-breath. I'm usually... Go with the way you're used to, that's fine. Okay. Yeah, I learned out-breath and I know more traditionally it's in-breath and the teacher that I learned how to meditate from was actually preparing us for Tantra and so that way of breathing is different and so that was kind of where he came from. Report an error in the passage at 20:32 Highlight the passage at 20:32

21:11 So I just, it feels more natural to me but I wouldn't change. I think it's almost like... It's more difficult to change at this point because then you only can breathe. You can't meditate. So don't do that. We can make it much more difficult. So that's not important in the scheme of things. Yeah, definitely. That's a good point, actually. I should offer choice when I do that one. Report an error in the passage at 21:11 Highlight the passage at 21:11

21:38 So it is more traditional. Anybody else? Anybody else have any comments about the homework? Report an error in the passage at 21:38 Highlight the passage at 21:38

21:49 Isn't it? Isn't it? It's great. Yeah. I have a couple extra copies, so if you guys would like. What are your names, by the way? Not to put you on the spot, but to put you on the spot. Linda and Fred. Hi, I'm Chokyi. Welcome. So you're in from out of town, is that right? Or New York City? Well done, I'm from D.C. Welcome. Report an error in the passage at 21:49 Highlight the passage at 21:49

22:12 Welcome. Um, so. So if you guys would like a copy, these are actually free books that were sponsored for us by one of our community members. But it's a reprint of two, originally there were two books that were Make Your Mind a Notion and Becoming Your Own Therapist by Lama Tupten Yeshe, who looks a little friendlier here than he does up there. Report an error in the passage at 22:12 Highlight the passage at 22:12

22:39 Many states of his mind, or maybe my mind. And these were all based on different talks he gave at the time that he was teaching in mostly in Australia, a lot in Australia, actually. And also in California, yeah. And then they were compiled and then they were re-edited, I mean, re-published this year. But it's just great. It's just, I love his writing style. Report an error in the passage at 22:39 Highlight the passage at 22:39

23:04 He passed away in the mid-80s and was recognized to be reincarnated as. This young boy who's now older and probably 22, I think, something like that. But anyway, if you like this, you could, yeah. Or you can get on the break if you'd like. You can't sit there and read now. If I catch you, you're like curled up. It was interesting. Report an error in the passage at 23:04 Highlight the passage at 23:04

23:29 I had a very interesting experience this afternoon. I was asked to come and give a little talk on doing visualization meditation at USF. Which those of you who know me well know how terrified I get speaking in front of people. I've gotten a little bit better in this scene, but I do get really, really terrified. Report an error in the passage at 23:29 Highlight the passage at 23:29

23:47 So this is a group of probably, I don't know, 30 or 40 students or something. And the professor was like, you know, you can just stand here. We have audiovisual. I'm like, I'm sitting, first of all. Second of all, no, nothing, just me and my notes. That's it. But it was very interesting because, you know, these are whatever, 18, 19 year olds. So there was the cross between and, you know, one guy was totally down and one woman just kept fidgeting with something in her bag and I'm like, what is it in that bag? Report an error in the passage at 23:47 Highlight the passage at 23:47

24:22 But some people were like totally egging me on with a smile and encouragement, you know, and excited and came up and talked afterwards and then some were just completely like, and then you saw too, they're like, you know, this kind of thing and you're just like, Keep on trying. It was very, it was interesting. I did it only because I wanted to push myself through sort of a little, yeah, out of my comfort zone. Report an error in the passage at 24:22 Highlight the passage at 24:22

24:44 So, yay, I did it. But anyway, it went well. And maybe we might get some more volunteers. I also told him about the drop-in meditation, so hopefully they'll come to that. One guy said afterwards he asked me more about it, so that's kind of cool. tears Report an error in the passage at 24:44 Highlight the passage at 24:44

25:01 I mean imagine, I can't even imagine studying Buddhism in college actually. I think it's so cool that you can now. A lot of people come to us from that, from learning about it in college or high school even. This is California. So I thought actually, last time I sort of took account to see how many of you were already meditating and then I thought afterwards I would, I decided I would talk about it a little bit even though... Report an error in the passage at 25:01 Highlight the passage at 25:01

25:28 All of you have some sort of practice and some of you have done classes with me, just so that we're all in the same boat. And so I just am going to say a few of the things that I normally say about meditation in here. And then if anybody else would like, I sent Tony a document about how to start a meditation practice, but if anybody else would also like that, I'm happy to email that to you. Report an error in the passage at 25:28 Highlight the passage at 25:28

25:51 So just shoot me an email privately and, you know, nobody else has to know. so So, the one thing that, there's a couple things I like to bring up about meditation. One is that we have, in this tradition, we have two types of meditation. And we just did both of them, actually. Concentration or stabilizing or stabilization meditation. Report an error in the passage at 25:51 Highlight the passage at 25:51

26:18 And that's where your mind is, you're trying to get your mind to stand still on the object. So you're just... actually, um, um, Report an error in the passage at 26:18 Highlight the passage at 26:18

26:24 Parking it on the object and then it'll sort of get pulled in various directions and then you just keep bringing it back to the object. The ultimate form of that or the highest form of that is what's called calm abiding or shine in Tibetan or shamatha in Sanskrit where you're able to hold your mind on the object for as long as you want. Report an error in the passage at 26:24 Highlight the passage at 26:24

26:51 Which is amazing. Minimum four hours. Without movement, without any movement in your body, actually without moving your body at all, not even an eyebrow. So, you know, I haven't quite gotten there yet, but they say that it is possible and it's just like with everything else. It simply takes discipline and practice, you know. So it's just like if we want to learn how to ice skate, if we want to learn how to play the piano, we have to. Report an error in the passage at 26:51 Highlight the passage at 26:51

27:18 Put in the time and once we do put in the time that it's very, very possible to reach this. This is actually an attainable goal. We need to concentrate like that in order to have a direct perception of emptiness, which is the nature of reality, the way the Buddha observed it. So we need to be able to focus that deeply with that much strength to our mind and that's the main purpose. The side effect, there's side effects to it, but that's not the goal. Report an error in the passage at 27:18 Highlight the passage at 27:18

27:46 The side effect. Our calmer mind, more peaceful mind, you know, more stable mind, not the yo-yo mind that at least I have. Report an error in the passage at 27:46 Highlight the passage at 27:46

27:59 Not, you know, having a sort of more ability to concentrate even on worldly things like preparing a class or setting up a display. So there's side effects and also actually even more amazing side effects on your way. To attaining this, but the main goal of it is to have a really sharply strong tool to be able to place it on the object of our choice, which the main object is the nature of reality. Report an error in the passage at 27:59 Highlight the passage at 27:59

28:32 So that's the first kind. And then the second kind, so that's stabilizing so it stays put. The second kind is what's called analytical meditation, and that's where the mind moves and analyzes its subject. So that's kind of what we were doing when we were contemplating. Our mind is sort of thinking about these things and going in and out of them. And sometimes you'll be doing, it'll be using some quotes or some logic and sometimes it'll be analyzing, for example, something like impermanence or the certainty of death or the uncertainty of the time of death or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 28:32 Highlight the passage at 28:32

29:08 So your mind would move through it. And then in that type of meditation, you also employ concentration meditation when you have a moment where you gain some insight. So I'm, you know, meandering through the fact that anyone can die at any time and I go, you know, I suddenly get it. Then I try to employ all my concentration to that insight. Report an error in the passage at 29:08 Highlight the passage at 29:08

29:32 For as long as I can, which is, you know, maybe 15 and a half seconds or something, if I'm lucky. And then my mind kind of gets distracted again and then I start the analysis and I continue the analysis, continue on and then. So it's a lot of sort of movement, stop, movement, stop, like that. So analytical is like that. We don't want to forget that concentration part. Report an error in the passage at 29:32 Highlight the passage at 29:32

29:53 And I think a lot of times that's also what keeps it from being just thinking, you know, because we're trying to... Integrate or absorb whatever that insight is. Analytical meditation could also be what we were doing today, which was a visualization with the students at USF. A visualization meditation where your mind, at first your mind is reviewing everything. So it's moving. It's thinking about like, what is this Buddha? Report an error in the passage at 29:53 Highlight the passage at 29:53

30:28 How is he sitting? What's he doing with his right hand? What's he doing with his left? What is he holding? What's up with his hair? What's he wearing? What color is he? So your mind is reviewing all this. It's not with your eyes open because by the time you're working on it, you actually already have it in your mind. So you're trying to just review all the details and then hold. Report an error in the passage at 30:28 Highlight the passage at 30:28

30:51 And then the mind gets distracted again and then you start reviewing, oh wait a second, he's holding, that's right, he's holding a sword, okay. You know, so you're just kind of like holding it all and then you hold. And when you hold, it's very important to not be upset if it's just a gold blob. It's okay to just be a gold blob and just to hold with as much strength because at that point all you want is to stabilize that image. Report an error in the passage at 30:51 Highlight the passage at 30:51

31:18 You're not going to get a lot of clarity at that point. So yeah, so that's a form of analytical meditation too. In this tradition we tend to do, well you have to really work on both. You have to work on both simultaneously. So often, even though I'll just say, you know, just plan to do 10 or 15 minutes each week, at least try to do a couple of minutes of the concentration, you know. Report an error in the passage at 31:18 Highlight the passage at 31:18

31:47 And then build on that as your mind gets more stable so that you're kind of working on that at the same time. Knowing, of course, I mean, Geshe-la always laughs at me when I talk about problems that I have in meditation because he's always like, he just points to this corner, which is in his room, and he's just like, many problems, you know, because it's so loud. Report an error in the passage at 31:47 Highlight the passage at 31:47

32:09 It's just so loud. This is a very loud corner. And that's where, unfortunately, that's where his room is, right above us. But still, I feel like it's important to try to exercise the mind muscle, to try to build it so that it's very strong, even if we don't have the proper conditions here to attain these high levels of realization. Report an error in the passage at 32:09 Highlight the passage at 32:09

32:34 It is comforting when you leave. A really loud place and you go to a quieter place and you realize actually you do have more concentration than you thought you did because you were exercising your mind in a really extreme environment. It's also really good to decide that you're going to meditate every day. Report an error in the passage at 32:34 Highlight the passage at 32:34

32:58 And just kind of make that commitment to yourself, if this is what you decide to do, to just decide, I'm going to do this at least for the next six months. Make it a good chunk of time and just say, I'm going to sit every morning for some realistic amount of time for you. And then you don't have that thing come up where it's like the baby mind that's like, I don't want to do it. Report an error in the passage at 32:58 Highlight the passage at 32:58

33:21 You just do it. You don't have to discuss it with yourself anymore. You just do it. And it's like anything else that we do. If we're learning how to play the piano or do sports or even just starting to go to the gym, if we don't do it with some consistency, we won't be able to go for the gold. We definitely won't be able to go for the gold. We won't even be able to, you know. Report an error in the passage at 33:21 Highlight the passage at 33:21

33:50 Hold her head up. So we have to, we really, if we really want to see something, if we want to just experiment, you know, like use this as a time that you're just going to check it out and just say, okay, I'm going to try this for six months and I'm going to try it every day and I'm going to try it for 15 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 33:50 Highlight the passage at 33:50

34:06 And then how does it feel at the end of that? You know, does it, do you feel like it affects your life? Does it affect your life off the cushion? Because it should. It shouldn't just be like this really special holy little time and then you go out and scream at somebody, you know. It should be something that affects the rest of your life. Because the main aspect that I always say to the drop-in meditations, the main aspect about meditation is not that it's holy in and of itself. Report an error in the passage at 34:06 Highlight the passage at 34:06

34:37 It's simply a tool for us to get familiar with our mind and familiar with reality as the Buddha observed it. We're sharpening the tool to mix metaphors here, but we're also creating a laboratory. So I guess the mind is both the instrument and the laboratory. Report an error in the passage at 34:37 Highlight the passage at 34:37

34:58 But it's definitely, we have to create that space. Report an error in the passage at 34:58 Highlight the passage at 34:58

35:04 And Rubina has just returned. The plane has just landed. Um, so, um, If we don't sharpen that tool, if we don't create this space to really look at these teachings and to go deeply with them and to look at them experientially, then it'll always stay an intellectual exercise. It'll never actually change our life. It'll never actually change our mind. And meditation is a place where that can happen. It can actually begin to change your life. It can be that big. Report an error in the passage at 35:04 Highlight the passage at 35:04

35:37 and also Of course, we're not supposed to go into it with any expectation. So don't be imagining that it's, you know, in your little 15 minutes every morning that you're going to like break through some amazing, you will have insights, you will gain insights, you will just, just seeing how your mind works is useful. Report an error in the passage at 35:37 Highlight the passage at 35:37

36:00 And it might surprise you the kind of insights that you have. And then also just be easygoing as Lama, as she always says, you know, just be easygoing. It is what it is. Whatever it is, is great. You know, so not sitting down and thinking that we're going to have the direct perception of emptiness tomorrow morning at six. Report an error in the passage at 36:00 Highlight the passage at 36:00

36:19 I also mentioned that it's useful to have a place in your room or your house or your closet as I do. To sit and to make that space inspiring for your mind. There are certain guidelines and it's also just as important to not get really fixed on that and make a big deal out of it. It's basically just creating a place where you feel... Report an error in the passage at 36:19 Highlight the passage at 36:19

36:50 good and it makes you want to sit. Um, and then you jazz it up every once in a while, you know, you change your altar, um, change how it looks, how it feels so that it constantly, I mean, not like every day, um, but you know, just occasionally just to mix it up a little bit so that it continues to feel special to you. Report an error in the passage at 36:50 Highlight the passage at 36:50

37:11 Um, Report an error in the passage at 37:11 Highlight the passage at 37:11

37:15 Traditionally, what we would have on the altar is some sort of represented... Representation of the Buddha's body, which is either, it could be as simple as just a picture of the Buddha. It could be a picture of a teacher that makes you feel like a Buddha, you know, like the Dalai Lama. It could be a statue. Report an error in the passage at 37:15 Highlight the passage at 37:15

37:36 It could be a tsatsa, which is a certain kind of little statue. So it could be, it could be drawing. You know, it could be a postcard. I had postcards for a while when I was like sort of living in sublets and didn't have much space. My entire altar was like half the size of that windowsill and it was a windowsill. Report an error in the passage at 37:36 Highlight the passage at 37:36

37:54 So it doesn't have to be like this. So I think a lot of times people think that they have to start out big and it's true. It's great if you want to get really beautiful things. It's good for your mind, but it doesn't. It doesn't have to stop you from doing it. You can also do it with just snapshots. The other thing is the, so it's representation of the Buddhist body, representation of the Buddhist speech, which is just like a text. Report an error in the passage at 37:54 Highlight the passage at 37:54

38:21 I had one of those little Pema Chodron pocketbooks that worked totally. You could also even just write Om Ahung. You know, doesn't have to be anything really special. Or it could be one of those amazing, you know, Pesha style. style tibetan text that's wrapped in fabric and all that stuff so you can go as little or as big as you'd like um and mind enlightened mind is And they often have... Report an error in the passage at 38:21 Highlight the passage at 38:21

39:03 um, um, uh, um, Relics of holy beings inside, along with other things inside. But they're just a representation of mind, and so you can also use, again, a drawing or a picture from Google or something. You know, it doesn't have to, again, it doesn't have to be a really big deal. And some of these, of course, are quite small, too. There's some little crystal ones in there that are very tiny. So that's the traditional three that you put on your altar, but it doesn't have you don't to make those really really um It doesn't have to be the expensive version. Keep it fun, like whatever. You can offer something. It's great to offer something. Again, you don't have to go like this. Report an error in the passage at 39:03 Highlight the passage at 39:03

39:44 You don't have to do water bowls or something like that. It is traditional to do, but it's also just as nice just to do a candle, offer a candy bar, a piece of fruit. Report an error in the passage at 39:44 Highlight the passage at 39:44

39:55 It's not for them. It's not like Santa Claus. They aren't going to come and eat it in the middle of the night. You know, like just something. Report an error in the passage at 39:55 Highlight the passage at 39:55

40:03 It's for our mind to want to offer. That's what it's about. So it actually creates the karma for generosity in us. It allows us to create the karma to have enough, to have abundance in our lives. So it's all about, again, working with our minds. Report an error in the passage at 40:03 Highlight the passage at 40:03

40:25 And then the final thing is just to be really gentle with yourself because if you were going to sit down and master the piano, you'd assume that it would take you. It would actually take you, I hate to say it, but 20 or 30 years. It's probably going to take about 20 or 30 years to really feel like, I mean, imagine if you wanted to become a concert pianist. Report an error in the passage at 40:25 Highlight the passage at 40:25

40:48 You know, first it would take a lot of discipline. Daily discipline. Then you'd have to find a teacher that would get you there. And then you'd just, then it would just be the time, right? So there's no like shortcut then, it would just be the time. And so meditation's a lot the same way. You know, it's gonna, it takes time, but it also just takes, you know, showing up each day. Report an error in the passage at 40:48 Highlight the passage at 40:48

41:12 And so it's sort of like just showing up each day. And so one of my... It's sort of like the combination of being disciplined and firm with yourself, but also being really sweet and gentle, because this is the first time we've done this, I mean, in this life. Report an error in the passage at 41:12 Highlight the passage at 41:12

41:28 And so I have this one teacher, Venmo Rene, who is the resident teacher at Vajrapani, and he said to imagine your mind is a cat, and it would relax if you were sweet and stroked it kindly and sweetly. But if you get all impatient and tight and bossy, then it like... Darts, you know, and takes off and it won't cooperate at all. So just imagine that cat-like thing and just be really sweet with it. And then before you sit down, there's just a couple things that you should do. Report an error in the passage at 41:28 Highlight the passage at 41:28

42:01 One of them is to make sure that the area that you sit in is clean and uncluttered. It doesn't mean you have to spend 14 hours vacuuming it. It just means just straighten it up. You know, I mean, traditionally we would sweep. Most of us have carpeting. So I don't get out the vacuum. I actually have a little quiet. What do you call it? No, not even. It's not even plug in. It's like a sweeper rug sweeper. Report an error in the passage at 42:01 Highlight the passage at 42:01

42:35 I don't know. Something like that. It's not it's not electric. And I just kind of do like that. And I just kind of pull up. A few thousand cat hairs. But it's mostly because at the time that you're doing that, you're beginning your practice at that moment. You're actually looking at, it's like that cleanup is part of cleaning up my mind. So that when I sit... Report an error in the passage at 42:35 Highlight the passage at 42:35

42:57 That cleaning will reflect in my mind. It'll make me less crazy. And this one I know because I'm the clutterer. I come from a long line of clutters. Actually, I'm kind of proud of that. I inherited that one from my mom. We like to stack things. And so I do that one. And that's one that you can feel it when you do that. Report an error in the passage at 42:57 Highlight the passage at 42:57

43:17 When you clean it, you can feel it. If you don't, then it's just like things are there and your meditation definitely suffers. The second thing is to put out some sort of offering, whatever, like again, candy bar, light. And then sit down and do what we did when we started, just kind of, where is my body? Report an error in the passage at 43:17 Highlight the passage at 43:17

43:38 Like do something transitional from, you know, either you're coming from work to the cushion or you're coming from bed to the cushion. But allow something for that transition. So I like to do those cleansing breaths to kind of just visually dissolve. Whatever might be distracting me. Also, maybe shoulder rolls and reviewing the posture mentally. Something little transitional like that so you don't just plop yourself down and go into meditation. Report an error in the passage at 43:38 Highlight the passage at 43:38

44:10 It won't work that way. It's like going to the gym and immediately picking up the 50-pound thing. You've got to warm yourself up a little bit. The other thing, we do a simple motivation, which is just... Putting our mind, this intention of why we're doing this, which kind of makes it bigger than just, you know, because Chokyi said so or something. Report an error in the passage at 44:10 Highlight the passage at 44:10

44:36 But then there are additional things that we do, and we won't get into them here, but you might see me sneaking them in when we do meditations. Report an error in the passage at 44:36 Highlight the passage at 44:36

44:46 There's especially, probably the two main ones are, you know, at the beginning when we did that little prayer, It was a way of taking refuge and generating bodhicitta, but it's like a really sweet way. I think the wording of that prayer is really pretty. Report an error in the passage at 44:46 Highlight the passage at 44:46

45:04 And we aren't going to get into what that means right now because this takes too much time. But then the other one is what's called a seven-limb practice. So if you're familiar with those, you can begin with that. I like to do those without looking at words. I like to do them by trying to generate what's going on in my mind. Report an error in the passage at 45:04 Highlight the passage at 45:04

45:24 It begins by looking at words. So at first we look at the words, like these words by His Holiness, and it inspires our mind. But then if we stay too much with words, then we forget that actually it's supposed to be a mental experience that we're having. And this is true for all of the Dharma. Like we begin with studying words and talking and discussing like that, but then it... Report an error in the passage at 45:24 Highlight the passage at 45:24

45:49 Then the words kind of get in the way. So we have to be aware of that. The words are the way in and then at some point it gets beyond the words. Report an error in the passage at 45:49 Highlight the passage at 45:49

46:01 So that was my little spiel on meditation. Does anybody have any questions about that before we talk a little bit more about the mind? Report an error in the passage at 46:01 Highlight the passage at 46:01

46:12 How important is the posture? The posture comes from... um it's According to, especially Tibetan Buddhism and especially tantric Tibetan Buddhism, there is a gross body and a gross mind and a subtle body and a subtle mind. So the posture is aligning our subtle body, which allows the energies. It's very similar to the Chinese system of meridians, you know, like enchi. So it's kind of like that. Report an error in the passage at 46:12 Highlight the passage at 46:12

46:55 So the posture is a lot about allowing that energy, they call it the winds, to move freely. And so the effect, because, you know, body-mind correlation is not anything that... It came about in the 80s, despite what we might think in America. It's something that many Asian religions, as well as the correlating medical traditions, Report an error in the passage at 46:55 Highlight the passage at 46:55

47:29 Have felt for a long time that if the body is in alignment, then the mind can begin to calm down. If the mind is in is is relaxed and subdued, the body will calm down like the two are really in sync. So that's where it comes from. So every element of the posture is with that in mind. Report an error in the passage at 47:29 Highlight the passage at 47:29

47:52 So it is important. However, it's sort of like, you know, sometimes you'll go to Geshe-la and you'll be like, you know, what's the very, very best day for me to start this? And he's like, he looks, he spends time and, okay, Thursday. And you're like, oh, I can't do it, Geshe-la, Thursday. And he's like, okay. So this is how it should be. Report an error in the passage at 47:52 Highlight the passage at 47:52

48:12 And then there's room for flexibility, you know, which is the cool thing. So yes, it is ideal. We should be. It probably would help us a lot to be in full position and many of us can't. I used to be able to sit in full Vajra posture no problem. Unfortunately, that fades as we age and my legs aren't so great at that anymore. And also I have a couple of car accidents and things like that. Things change in time. Report an error in the passage at 48:12 Highlight the passage at 48:12

48:41 So you just do what you can do and you go with that and you work with that. And then actually as you sit more, your body gets more. Able to, and you never know. It's sort of like six of one, half dozen of the other. Try, but don't let that limit you. I have heard stories, I read an amazing story about somebody who had horrible, horrible back pain and back problems and they had to learn how to meditate lying completely flat. Report an error in the passage at 48:41 Highlight the passage at 48:41

49:11 It was just the only way they could do it. And they would literally go into sittings and things like that and sit that way. And that was just the only way they could do it, so they did it. So I think there's a way to do it. Of course, you have to keep your mind really alert. That's the main thing. And actually, all the elements of the posture are designed to increase their concentration. So, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 49:11 Highlight the passage at 49:11

49:35 And of course, it's different in each tradition, too. Somebody who had trained very much in the little seats, really, really liked the little seats. Go with the little seat. I'm not going to say not to. Report an error in the passage at 49:35 Highlight the passage at 49:35

49:50 know. I can only teach from my tradition and this is what's taught and then we just work with it if we can do it. Report an error in the passage at 49:50 Highlight the passage at 49:50

50:02 So we're going to get into a couple of sort of main, I mean really important tenets tonight of Buddhism for as long as we have. Past and future lives a little bit, karma a little bit and kleshas or delusions a little bit. And then if we have time, we're going to do what your homework assignment is. That meditation will end with that. So that's kind of what we're going to try to cover as much as we can. Report an error in the passage at 50:02 Highlight the passage at 50:02

50:33 So this idea that we started with last week, where I'm thinking about the beginninglessness of mind and the endlessness of mind. Report an error in the passage at 50:33 Highlight the passage at 50:33

50:45 You know, moving forward, the fact that it's not a physical substance, the fact that it's... Um, um, Report an error in the passage at 50:45 Highlight the passage at 50:45

50:51 A different substance than the body is made of. The fact that it has a different source than the body, the body comes from the physical substances of our parents. The mind doesn't. The mind is created by the previous moment of mind, according to the Buddha. So it arises sort of repeatedly. That's why this idea of process, I think, makes more sense to me. Just this arising of process. It's very subtle, actually, what the mind is. Report an error in the passage at 50:51 Highlight the passage at 50:51

51:28 And it's colorless, and it's formless, and it's completely non-physical. So if we think about the fact that it comes from the moment, each moment of mind comes from the moment before, which comes from the moment before, we can experiment. And that's what your assignment is going to be this week with trying to follow our mind back, which is, of course, impossible to follow every single moment back. Report an error in the passage at 51:28 Highlight the passage at 51:28

51:55 I mean, first of all, it would take us, it would be real time, right? If we want to go back 10 years, it would take us 10 years. But you can still experiment with it by following the mind back. And with some of the bigger moments, you know, like just looking, just, just looking at today, imagine just looking at today, some of the bigger moments, you know, the, the way all the different things that our minds have already gotten into today, because our mind changes so much. Report an error in the passage at 51:55 Highlight the passage at 51:55

52:22 And each one preceded by another moment, and then another moment. So you're going back and going back. Report an error in the passage at 52:22 Highlight the passage at 52:22

52:32 And even if we just think about... If we're trying to understand sort of this idea, mental continuum, you know, we use these terms, mental continuum, the continuation of this stream of consciousness or river of mind, you know, it's like that, this moving forward and if we're thinking moving backwards of mind, how it exists. Report an error in the passage at 52:32 Highlight the passage at 52:32

52:56 We can use these terms, but these terms are... It's still hard to put our finger on exactly what it is. It's these moments of process or mental moments. But if we're trying to think about, think about in your own life the different stages of your life when you were a baby or a toddler, a little kid, a teenager in your 20s and 30s and keep on going for many of us in the room. Report an error in the passage at 52:56 Highlight the passage at 52:56

53:29 It's clear that there's something that's the same. You know, we look at our, we look at pictures of ourselves and we're like, that's me, you know, and there's nothing, you know, there's like this baby there and it doesn't look at all like you and probably didn't think so much like you, definitely didn't speak like you. Report an error in the passage at 53:29 Highlight the passage at 53:29

53:46 But there's something about that that was me, you know, and I can remember doing things at these different ages. So what's me? You know, like, what is that? We don't want to get into the self here at this point, but. Report an error in the passage at 53:46 Highlight the passage at 53:46

53:59 You know, that mind was there for all of that. So there was some continuum and that's that mental continuum. You know, the body is, of course, changing around it and all that. So just trying to follow that, you know, trying to follow your way through those different stages of your life, you can kind of gain some understanding, some experience of this meaning mental continuum. Report an error in the passage at 53:59 Highlight the passage at 53:59

54:24 Just trying to figure out what was the same. What continued? Report an error in the passage at 54:24 Highlight the passage at 54:24

54:33 And then also thinking back to that first moment that your mind was in your mother's womb and imagining if you don't have any understanding or any experience with past lives, imagining what if the previous moment to that moment. of mind was the moment, the final moment of the previous life's mind. Just what if, just being open to that. Report an error in the passage at 54:33 Highlight the passage at 54:33

55:07 It sort of gets us into this idea of just imagining, even if we don't have confidence in it yet, about this idea that we had past lives before this one and that we were in different forms. It wasn't like, you know, Stephanie was in. It wasn't Stephanie who was in a cat body. It wasn't Chokyi that was chasing Stephanie in a cat body and a dog body. Report an error in the passage at 55:07 Highlight the passage at 55:07

55:36 It wasn't like I was the exact same me. The way they kind of do it in movies where it's almost like Chevy Chase is with his dog or something. It's not like that because I think that's still really clinging to this sense of I. That's this really strong sense of I. We're talking right now this very subtle mind. Report an error in the passage at 55:36 Highlight the passage at 55:36

55:55 Very subtle mind. So there might be some aspects that are very strong habits that would be the same. Like with me, I definitely love to lie in the sun. So maybe I was a cat and you were the dog. But it's not like I had the same identity or the same personality because those are changed with each life. Report an error in the passage at 55:55 Highlight the passage at 55:55

56:19 That's gross mind. That's more gross mind. Subtle mind is very, very, very fine. Very, very, it's almost like energy. It's just points of energy. Report an error in the passage at 56:19 Highlight the passage at 56:19

56:32 And each of us has our own distinct or unique mental continuum too. So it's not like there's one big mind and it's not like when we get enlightened, there's one big sort of enlightenment mind that we all sort of fall into some big pot. Report an error in the passage at 56:32 Highlight the passage at 56:32

56:50 Individual Buddhas remain individual Buddhas. But of course remember that Buddhas, it gets a little confusing because they can emanate in other forms. But that's not actually the Buddha, you know? So if they're emanating in this form of Manjushri like this, which most of us wouldn't have the karma to see, that's for a purpose to benefit. Report an error in the passage at 56:50 Highlight the passage at 56:50

57:14 If they're manifesting in the form of Stephanie kind of faking that she's like a student so that she can help me explain the mind, then we wouldn't necessarily recognize that as a Buddha. But that would still be enlightened mind manifesting in that form. If they're manifesting as a holy object that looks like Tara in order to inspire our mind, we wouldn't necessarily recognize that as a Buddha, but it could very well be a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 57:14 Highlight the passage at 57:14

57:40 They can manifest in whatever form helps beings. But that's not like us. But they do have just a distinct mind. It's not like their mind just kind of merges with some sort of big blob of mind in the sky. Report an error in the passage at 57:40 Highlight the passage at 57:40

57:59 And it's important to remember that because we have our own mind, we've created the causes for the experiences that we're experiencing now, which we're going to get into next is karma, which is also considered to be a working of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 57:59 Highlight the passage at 57:59

58:18 One of the best, I think, quotes of the Buddha is, I can show you the path and what you do with it is up to you. Um, we, Report an error in the passage at 58:18 Highlight the passage at 58:18

58:28 It's very much our responsibility to do the work on our own minds. The Buddha is omniscient but not omnipotent. So that if he was, then he would have already enlightened all of us because of his complete, perfect compassion. He wants to remove our suffering. He wants us to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 58:28 Highlight the passage at 58:28

58:52 They all do. And there are many, many enlightened beings. But ultimately, we have to do that work in our minds. We can't. And the same is true. Even if I have the most incredible compassion for you, I can't take away your, I can't change your karma. And I can't change your mind even. And I can't, you know, help you. I can help you get enlightened, but I can't enlighten you. You know, I can't do that work for you. Report an error in the passage at 58:52 Highlight the passage at 58:52

59:20 Ultimately we have to do it, which is empowering and it's also sobering. Report an error in the passage at 59:20 Highlight the passage at 59:20

59:28 But it's reality within Buddhism that you can't do the work for somebody else. Yeah, sure. That's a good place for one. I have a question that sort of, I started thinking about it. So, um, Report an error in the passage at 59:28 Highlight the passage at 59:28

59:45 Last week when you were talking and then I really started thinking about it while I was reading Becoming Your Own Therapist and just coming from a clinical psychiatric background. Report an error in the passage at 59:45 Highlight the passage at 59:45

59:57 What was difficult for me in reading this is that it is possible to become your own psychotherapist from a Buddhist perspective and that I understand. Report an error in the passage at 59:57 Highlight the passage at 59:57

1:00:11 If you're not severely mentally ill, yeah. Right. And even in here, you know, there's a question of what do you talk, you know, how do you approach mental illness? Well, even if these lectures or whatever talks were given 20, 30 years ago, a lot has changed since then. And we know, for instance, I mean, on one end you might have just a major depressive disorder that is non-responsive to SSRIs or SNRIs. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:11 Highlight the passage at 1:00:11

1:00:40 And on the other end, you can have a deep pathology that is structural. Yeah. I mean, it's not, this book is a collection of his speeches or his talks, but it's not necessarily end-all, be-all. At one point, he actually does say, and I can't remember the exact quote, but it's sort of like, you know, you need to have, you need to be mentally healthy in order to practice Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:40 Highlight the passage at 1:00:40

1:01:05 I can't remember the exact quote, but it was sort of like, You know, you can work on this to a certain degree on your own, but becoming your own therapist is mostly talking in terms of working with our mind and working with our karma and having a relative amount of mental health in order to do it. If there are extreme or there are, you know, chemical imbalances and things like that, most of the lamas that I've ever... Report an error in the passage at 1:01:05 Highlight the passage at 1:01:05

1:01:37 speak and I didn't have the good fortune to meet Lama Yeshe but Lama Zopa for I've heard him say, definitely if it would help you to be able to think more clearly or whatever, definitely take the medication if it would be useful to you. I think fundamentally that's not my question. I'm just sort of wondering what do Tibetan Buddhists do or how do they view? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:37 Highlight the passage at 1:01:37

1:02:06 The mind of someone who falls along this continuum and people that I deal with. It's always different. It's always different. It's never the same answer. I mean, and I know that that's really difficult with Western because we usually have set answers and set approaches. But it's always different because sometimes actually... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:06 Highlight the passage at 1:02:06

1:02:27 I've heard that many high lamas will look at things like schizophrenia and even bipolar sometimes. They'll see spirit possession, which is something that we don't talk about at all in the West. And they'll say, actually, most of the people in here actually are possessed by other beings. So they would have a completely different approach for that than they would if it was just some, just, if it was... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:27 Highlight the passage at 1:02:27

1:02:55 The result of karma, my karma ripening, like a mental illness, sometimes can be from karma. And so that would have a different, you'd have a different approach with that person than you would if you perceived that there was another being, a non-human form, causing that person to act in a certain way. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:55 Highlight the passage at 1:02:55

1:03:15 And they actually see that because they have a whole pantheon of these other realms that we'll get to in one of the later classes. So then in Tibetan Buddhism... And that is possible. In Tibetan Buddhism, is it sort of divided into those who are working on karma are mentally ill and those who are possessed? Say that again, say that again. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:15 Highlight the passage at 1:03:15

1:03:35 Well, I guess what I'm hearing from you is that there's two ways of looking at it. There's probably more than two. On one end of the spectrum, we can look at these human beings as being possessed. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:35 Highlight the passage at 1:03:35

1:03:48 At the other end of the spectrum, we might think that that is more karma. And is there... Is there any room at all for the medical? There's all sorts of room. No, there's all sorts of room. I have the karma to have migraines, and I still also have the karma to have medication that works and to be in a place where I can get it. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:48 Highlight the passage at 1:03:48

1:04:09 It's all karma. So just saying karma doesn't mean, okay, we just let her lie there and writhe on the ground and vomit. Karma is changeable, thankfully. So I can approach a problem knowing, understanding. And I would approach it then in a lot of different ways. And we were having this discussion too, Jane and I. One of the ways that I would approach it would be conventionally speaking, which would mean let's try Advil. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:09 Highlight the passage at 1:04:09

1:04:34 Let's try something stronger. Drugs, great. Let's try. Doesn't always work though. And that's the unfortunate thing with karma too. If it were the drug, then it would always work. But it doesn't. And that's my particular karma. But I'll try it. And I'll try it and see if it works, and sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. And I can also then approach it from the karmic perspective, which is that having that kind of a physical thing is usually the result of having created the causes by causing physical harm to somebody else. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:34 Highlight the passage at 1:04:34

1:05:11 So then I'm going to really watch what I do with my body in terms of harm, and in fact even take vows to do that, or something like that. I'm using that myself as an example for that one, but it could be, we could do it with any negative karma. So I would approach it in both ways, and I might approach it in lots of ways in both of those ways, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:11 Highlight the passage at 1:05:11

1:05:33 And there's lots of gray area, too, because this is me doing it, and I might not have the wisdom to really suss it out properly. And if I'm not getting results from doing that, then I might actually go to a teacher and get his advice, which I did once, and he said something like, Report an error in the passage at 1:05:33 Highlight the passage at 1:05:33

1:05:52 Migraines are the karmic result of, I think it was, I think the correlation was that you should keep your morality, keep everything incredibly purely, is the way he said it. This is one particular teacher who also had migraines, and so he had researched it. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:52 Highlight the passage at 1:05:52

1:06:14 And it was kind of one of those answers you didn't want to hear. It wasn't just like simple, like how about just like not eating beans or something, you know. But it was like keep all your vows like totally, purely and sweetly. And you're kind of like, oh, thanks, you know. But that was what he suggested to do. So, I mean, I would approach it in lots of different ways, especially if it's something like. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:14 Highlight the passage at 1:06:14

1:06:36 Mental illness, but also with something like this where it's like huge quantities of time can be lost and stuff like that. So I would want to investigate it. So it's never one with Buddhism. It's never one answer. There's always all these other things happening and things are changing constantly. Karma changes constantly because we purify karma and we're getting into karma before I've even discussed it. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:36 Highlight the passage at 1:06:36

1:06:58 So I kind of would like to not do that anymore. But and it's also, of course, the subject of. Another entire like class in and of itself, which doesn't even begin to touch it. They actually say karma is the most complex of all the Buddhist teachings and the hardest to get. Harder even than the nature of reality, you know, emptiness, the emptiness teachings. And the reason is with that is that it's so complex because it's not just like I yell at you and I, you know, this nice neat little package of karma is created and then. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:58 Highlight the passage at 1:06:58

1:07:36 It's like it's what was going on in my mind when I yelled at you. Was I concerned about you or was I pissed off at you? And was it like a long simmering hatred or was it, you know, all these different things that come into about was I really harsh with you? Was I just firm and to the point? You know, there's so many variations and all of those aspects create different karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:36 Highlight the passage at 1:07:36

1:08:00 You and I could both scream at poor Stephanie and we could get two completely different karmas. I could have been like, get out of the street, you're going to get hit. And you could have been like, get out of the street, but you're actually all pissed at her. And our minds are creating completely different karmas. Our intention is so completely different that we're going to create these completely different karmas. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:00 Highlight the passage at 1:08:00

1:08:23 So it's really hard. It's really hard. They say that we don't really understand karma until we get fully enlightened ourselves. But you can see more wisdom in long-term practitioners. They have more understanding of all the variations in gray areas for everything that we don't. It still seems quite simple to us, and we try to get it. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:23 Highlight the passage at 1:08:23

1:08:44 But all we can do is try to get it. So there's lots of gray areas, mental as well as physical illness. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:44 Highlight the passage at 1:08:44

1:08:59 But not impossible. Yeah, at some point could be, yeah. At some point could be. And I have known, I mean, we have a couple, we have Karuṇā Caton has been a practitioner for like 35 years and works down in the Santa Cruz area and SoCal area. And I think it just is, again, just years and years of, you know, how would this be useful and would this be useful? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:59 Highlight the passage at 1:08:59

1:09:26 And even then it's totally dependent on the person, you know. Yeah, but all good questions. Can I move forward a little bit on karma and then we'll take a break? Okay, so let's talk a little bit. So you got some of the main points of karma there. Nice segue. We'll have to pay Judith later for being the plant. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:26 Highlight the passage at 1:09:26

1:09:48 The most important aspects of karma, karma just means action, which in this case is talking about an action of the mind and then whatever actions of the body and the speech. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:48 Highlight the passage at 1:09:48

1:10:02 So it's like movement. It's like movement of the mind that's causing us to act or speak or just simmer if it continues to stay in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:02 Highlight the passage at 1:10:02

1:10:16 And it is considered to be a working of the mind. So we actually create karmic imprints. Some people use the word seeds. I like to use the word seeds when I'm briefly introducing the ideas of karma. Geshe doesn't like that word. He often will stop bakchak. It is in Tibetan. He'll always correct and say imprints. He likes imprints better. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:16 Highlight the passage at 1:10:16

1:10:46 And I think it's because this idea of seeds sounds physical, doesn't it? It sounds like... It's like, great, the mind is all energy, but then it's hanging on to these weird pomegranates or something. And then I think it's more confusing in a way to think seeds in that respect. If we're just thinking about how it works, I think seeds sometimes works well, but really think more imprints. So those imprints are created. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:46 Highlight the passage at 1:10:46

1:11:10 And, um... And then we carry those imprints forward in our subtle most mind, which is what goes to the next life, which is what goes to our next rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:10 Highlight the passage at 1:11:10

1:11:27 So we'll talk about it in a second, we'll talk about kleshas, which is those mental afflictions that arise in our mind. And then the karma is not necessarily the thought. You know, the thought arises in our mind almost unbidden. Often it's because of strong habit and that can cause karma and it can intensify. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:27 Highlight the passage at 1:11:27

1:11:59 It's sort of like if this mind of jealousy arises because I see two of my friends together and they're leaving me out. That could be a habit. And then I, especially then if I intensify it and strengthen it and stew in it, then it becomes mental karma. Then I can make it worse. But just having the thought arise, that's just a mental affliction. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:59 Highlight the passage at 1:11:59

1:12:25 That's just blip, it's coming up. And I can kind of just go, oh, look, it's jealousy. You know, look at that. You know, I mean, Venerabina will often do that. She'll just be like, oh, look what my mind is doing. You know, and that's more the attitude. Rather than, oh my God, I'm so horrible, I can't believe, I feel jealous. You know, which is what we do. Because then we begin beating ourself up. And then we increase that and we stew that. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:25 Highlight the passage at 1:12:25

1:12:52 And I'm a horrible person. I always have been. I'll never get this Buddhism thing. I'll never get enlightened. And that's just all more negative mind. We just are creating this negative mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:52 Highlight the passage at 1:12:52

1:13:02 So having the thought arise. That isn't the problem. The problem, of course, is that we grasp onto it and then we act on it. And usually then I'll, you know, you scream at them because they're always together and they're leaving me out. And then I'll like, you know, I'll act on it in some way that then creates this negative energy around it, which is called karma, which would be bad enough if we just did that, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:02 Highlight the passage at 1:13:02

1:13:29 But then what happens is then we create these imprints that then... Come with us and they actually intensify over time, strengthen. We won't go into the different aspects about karma, but one of the biggest ones is that whatever, even just screaming at you guys for leaving me out again and just kind of being pissed off about it, it could be a minor karma like that, sits in my mental continuum. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:29 Highlight the passage at 1:13:29

1:13:57 And if I don't purify, which thankfully there are methods to purify it, It follows me then into my next life, maybe even a couple of lifetimes. And then the conditions come together and then that ripens and that ripens as my suffering. So it ripens as my own suffering. So in Buddhism, there is no creator God. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:57 Highlight the passage at 1:13:57

1:14:20 The closest thing we have is karma. And who creates the karma but me? So it ends up once again falling on me. To do the work to remove the negative karma, to act in ways that are more positive, to stop harming, to stop giving in to those negative states of mind when they sort of arise, to stop stewing them up, strengthening them, intensifying them, to try to actually turn away from those negative states of mind and trying to create positive states of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:20 Highlight the passage at 1:14:20

1:14:57 Karma isn't... It's fixed in the sense that it's totally changeable. It's fixed in the sense of it being if you create a positive imprint you'll have a pleasurable result. If you create a negative imprint then you'll have a suffering result. That part is constant. That part is fixed. Um, so, so there. The reverse, if you think, if I'm having an unpleasant experience or I'm having a pleasant experience, I created the causes. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:57 Highlight the passage at 1:14:57

1:15:38 And we'll often look for it for the negative, especially once we get into Buddhism. We don't usually question why we won $1,000 in the lottery or why somebody picked us to give this present to you or something. It's just sort of like, oh. But actually we created those causes too. So the good things about our life, it's also really important to remember that we created those causes too. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:38 Highlight the passage at 1:15:38

1:16:03 We created the causes to be here now. Like we created this. Our collective karma created this center. Our collective karma created... you know Report an error in the passage at 1:16:03 Highlight the passage at 1:16:03

1:16:15 Being here studying karma right now in San Francisco, where not that many people are doing. So that's really positive karma. Just being in a place where the Dharma is so available is also a positive karma. Having basic health in our body and mind is positive karma. It's all positive karma too. So, um... Report an error in the passage at 1:16:15 Highlight the passage at 1:16:15

1:16:42 Karma creates every experience that we have, even from the tiniest, you know, kind of irritation with the yellow in the carpet all the way up to, you know, the different experiences that we have throughout our lives, you know, extreme negative as well as extreme positive. It doesn't mean it's not about blame at all. And that's where I think a lot of Westerners kind of get off track. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:42 Highlight the passage at 1:16:42

1:17:12 Yes, we create the karma, but remember that the other major tenet of Buddhism is compassion. So if you see somebody suffering, not to just go, well, that's her karma. It sucks to be her, you know. It's all about really caring about them, you know, whoever it is that's in front of you that's suffering, you know, really developing that concern and that really developing. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:12 Highlight the passage at 1:17:12

1:17:41 The same amount of care and cherishing that I have for myself, for Rose, especially if I see her suffering, you know, and wanting to take away that suffering, which is the Buddhist definition of compassion. So karma is very, very changeable. Karma is not, and there's nothing about karma, and karma of course is one of the basic teachings of Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:41 Highlight the passage at 1:17:41

1:18:04 There's nothing about karma that's ever fixed in terms of permanent. It's always changing. So that's the good thing to remember when things are going really bad. But it's also useful to remember when things are going really good that this is the result of karma, so this is going to end, you know, so that we're not so surprised all the time when things end, when things break, when relationships break, when people die, when our own body ages, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:04 Highlight the passage at 1:18:04

1:18:34 It is the result of karma, which is a changeable. thing and and karma changes and so when we begin going through the process of aging it's the same as when this cup gets a chip in it or you know So the other thing about karma, it's very, very complex, which is what Judith and I were just talking about. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:34 Highlight the passage at 1:18:34

1:19:08 Partly because we are creating karma at such an incredible rate all the time. I mean, we tend to think the big stuff, yeah, you know, like stealing that candy bar when I was eight or something like that. But it's not just the big stuff. It literally is as small as like, God, I wish they'd do something about this carpet every time I come in here, you know, like just really. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:08 Highlight the passage at 1:19:08

1:19:32 You know, I can't believe they still have this thing on the floor. And that's just stewing in that negative state of mind. It's creating that mind of critical judgment, you know, and then we just are getting used to that habit in our mind. That's creating karma. It's not huge, but because we do it every time we come, then it gets stronger and stronger. They say with like idle speech, speech that's just meaningless. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:32 Highlight the passage at 1:19:32

1:19:58 In and of itself, it's not so huge, but because we do it all the time, which of course several of us were doing right before talking about the politics of the election. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:58 Highlight the passage at 1:19:58

1:20:11 I mean, that's a form of idle speech, especially if we'd gone on for hours, which of course people do. And there's not necessarily any gain and nobody's necessarily going to be benefited by it. There's lots, I guess, in that. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:11 Highlight the passage at 1:20:11

1:20:26 In that example, there's lots of reasons where it could be beneficial if I was going to visit my old aunt. You know, Millie, and it would make her feel better to kind of talk about some light things, you know, like the weather or, you know, Bob's surgery or something like that. Then that's totally skillful means because I'm making her feel comfortable and I'm, you know, keeping her company and it could be really, really kind. But if Chad and I are just blah, blah, blahing about the election for 79 hours, then it's not so useful to either one of us, much less to the rest of the sentient beings that we're supposed to be helping. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:26 Highlight the passage at 1:20:26

1:21:00 So there's lots of ways that we can use our speech that's perhaps not so useful. And the way that that's spelled out in the teachings is because we do it all the time, then it becomes stronger and stronger and it creates the habit to do it again. And so that's where it becomes harmful and negative. It's not so much one time discussing. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:00 Highlight the passage at 1:21:00

1:21:27 You know, that Obama won or something. It's not like that. It's just, it's constantly doing that. And it's important for us to understand how karma works because they actually, you know, I mean, the Buddha actually called it the law of cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:27 Highlight the passage at 1:21:27

1:21:46 Using that word law is more like it's a natural thing, like gravity, rather than some sort of philosophy that he was trying to put forward. If we begin to understand how karma works, we can use it like a tool to how we live, you know. So actually the very basic thing that we would... take on as a buddhist or even as somebody who would like to be a buddhist is trying to follow the law of cause and effect trying to think about the ramifications of my actions of my body speech and mind trying to think to correct those actions before i do them trying to stop and think That's really what Buddhist morality is all about. It's like getting this Concept of how karma works and how it creates my own suffering, you know, even without... Report an error in the passage at 1:21:46 Highlight the passage at 1:21:46

1:22:47 Thinking about all you guys being saved from me ranting and raving the way I am, just screaming and running through the center and throwing things and breaking things. Even if I'm not thinking about the fact that it might scare you guys or anything like that, if I'm just thinking about the fact that this action is actually going to cause my own suffering in the future, that's huge, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:47 Highlight the passage at 1:22:47

1:23:15 That's huge. Because that's getting it. That's getting how karma works and that we actually have a choice in how we react to something that's happening to us. We create the different experiences that happen to us, but how we react to them becomes our choice. So if we have the experience of somebody screaming at us, we have the choice to scream back and keep it going for eons, for more and more lifetimes, or to stop it. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:15 Highlight the passage at 1:23:15

1:23:44 Even if your only way to stop it is to go into the bathroom, just to end contact with that object screaming at you, it's still an incredibly useful thing to not feed the cycle anymore, to end that cycle, to break it. And that's really the way that we end up shifting our karma and changing our life, is beginning to... Report an error in the passage at 1:23:44 Highlight the passage at 1:23:44

1:24:13 Look at how we're acting in terms of karma. And look at the results, like what we were just talking about, what Judith and I were just talking about, the correlations, looking at what my problems are and thinking about how I might have karmically created them. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:13 Highlight the passage at 1:24:13

1:24:27 And then trying to work on that. You know, how did I get this one in my life? If I'm really, really broke or in debt, then I need to look at my generosity. It's like the exact opposite. of what you would think it would be sometimes. So there are ways that we work with karma where it's, karma is not destiny. You know, karma is not fate. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:27 Highlight the passage at 1:24:27

1:24:51 Karma is not set like that. Karma is, it's simply this way that whatever we say, think and do has a result and it's getting that. And so it's trying to work with that so that we get the results that we want. And if we don't like the results that we have, it's thinking backwards. What might have been the cause? And then how can I not do that cause again? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:51 Highlight the passage at 1:24:51

1:25:21 So karma is actually incredibly juicy. I think karma is like one of the most exciting things about Buddhism, actually. But I do say that for a lot of the things. But I do think that karma is really, really... Report an error in the passage at 1:25:21 Highlight the passage at 1:25:21

1:25:36 It's exciting because it does put the reins back in your hands. It does make you have to think, okay, if I'm, you know, like I think I said last week, that one comment that really came through to me in this book this time, this reading through, your mind is your responsibility. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:36 Highlight the passage at 1:25:36

1:25:58 Our mind is our responsibility. So if my mind's unhappy... Then I have to look at it. I have to figure out what to do. I can look at it karmically or I can look at it, you know, in how I'm reacting to whatever is going on around me. I can look at my own mental habits, you know, which might have been, okay, slightly some resentment or blame. You know, so there's lots of ways I can look at it, but ultimately it does come down to me doing the work, the work on the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:58 Highlight the passage at 1:25:58

1:26:29 So that's... That's just a really small amount on karma. And we will continue to talk about karma. Karma does definitely come up. But karma, karma is what is created. There are two main causes for what our situation is right now, which is what's called saṃsāra, you know, this thing of taking repeated rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:29 Highlight the passage at 1:26:29

1:26:55 Without any control at this point that the Buddha is observing that we do, that we have done and that we have done for limitless lifetimes. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:55 Highlight the passage at 1:26:55

1:27:06 The two main causes are karma and kleshas or delusions, these afflicted states of mind. So very, very briefly about kleshas. And I like that word. I like kleshas. I like that better than delusion. Delusion, I think, has a lot of loaded. It's definitely loaded in our culture. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:06 Highlight the passage at 1:27:06

1:27:24 Mental affliction sounds very technical, so I'm not so into that one. But kletia I like. I like kletia attack. You know, that's the way it feels when one comes on. A kletia or a delusion is anything, it's defined as anything that disturbs the mind. So it's, again, anything from being annoyed by the mustard yellow in the carpet to, you know, road rage. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:24 Highlight the passage at 1:27:24

1:27:50 You know, it's any amount of disturbance. So if you think about the mind sort of as a body of water, it's the lightest wind over that all the way up to like, you know, complete storm. And it does feel that way, doesn't it, when our mind gets like that. So ecclesia is anything that disturbs our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:50 Highlight the passage at 1:27:50

1:28:15 So it can be, you know, irritation, it can be frustration, it can be out and out anger, it could be hatred. They're all forms of the same affliction, but just more and less extreme. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:15 Highlight the passage at 1:28:15

1:28:28 It can be jealousy, it can be depression, it can be, you know, turn outward, turn inward. You know, her mind is very, very creative in what it creates to disturb it. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:28 Highlight the passage at 1:28:28

1:28:45 These afflictions arise in our mind and we follow them, you know, we act on them, and then that's what causes us to create the karma. So they're intimately connected, but they say of the two that these kleshas are the actual cause of saṃsāra or this suffering realm, this suffering condition that we're in. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:45 Highlight the passage at 1:28:45

1:29:09 Because it starts with that. If they don't arise in our mind, then we don't act on them. If I don't have anger that arises in my mind at something that you say, then I won't punch you. It's like I have to have the anger first or I wouldn't punch you. So I wouldn't create the karma if my mind was subdued, which is why they often use this word subdued. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:09 Highlight the passage at 1:29:09

1:29:34 And I think a lot of times it sounds like people kind of react to subdued. I don't know, a bit extreme, doesn't it? It sounds kind of like bondage or something. But once you start getting familiar with your mind, you realize how accurate it is. I wish my mind were more subdued. That's what it's talking about. It's talking about Kalashas. It's talking about these afflicted states of mind. It's talking about having the power of your mind through, you know, repeated... Report an error in the passage at 1:29:34 Highlight the passage at 1:29:34

1:30:03 Meditation, strengthening your mind through concentration and ultimately through having a direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:03 Highlight the passage at 1:30:03

1:30:12 To not be at the mercy of these mental afflictions. Because these afflictions as they rise, that's what makes our lives so yo-yo, you know, as Lama Yeshe calls it, yo-yo mind. The ups and downs, like even within one day, you're just like the peak of bliss and the depths of hell. I mean, it's just, you know, and we say, oh, it's because of, you know, what's happening, what's, you know, it's because of so much work or it's because of, you know, the election or it's because of whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:12 Highlight the passage at 1:30:12

1:30:40 But then you watch people like, You watch holy beings like His Holiness the Dalai Lama or Lama Zopa Rinpoche and you see the chaos totally surrounding them for years and years and years, sometimes in manifesting suffering, being beaten like Riva Rinpoche and being tortured in prison camps. And their mind is completely subdued. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:40 Highlight the passage at 1:30:40

1:31:11 Even not just not getting angry, not just not getting depressed or despairing, which of course would be my reaction, but actually loving, loving the people that are, because they understand, that are torturing them, because they understand karma and they understand that those people are creating complete hells for themselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:11 Highlight the passage at 1:31:11

1:31:34 That's where their compassion and love comes from. It's not just like this really sweet, beautiful... Mind of sweetness, it's like coming from wisdom, but it's coming from the Buddhist wisdom, you know, it's from understanding how karma works. So because their mind is so subdued and so strong in terms of their ability to subdue these afflictions and not give in to them the way we do, even in our one little like 10 round breath meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:34 Highlight the passage at 1:31:34

1:32:07 We all had plenty of time to have many afflictions arise. They may not have been incredibly strong ones, but our minds go in all the different directions. It's like popcorn. And normally we just follow it. We just follow our mind. We don't even think about not following our mind. And so the Buddha is actually saying this is actually one of the hugest causes, not just for our suffering in that moment, not even just our suffering in this lifetime, but our complete condition of constant suffering for lifetime after lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:07 Highlight the passage at 1:32:07

1:32:37 Again, with the idea that suffering in this case is not necessarily severe mental illness or severe physical illness. It's simply dukkha, our dissatisfied mind, is what usually the suffering... When the Buddha said, there is suffering, he wasn't talking about the most extreme, gross forms of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:37 Highlight the passage at 1:32:37

1:32:59 He was, but he wasn't merely talking about those forms of suffering. He was talking about... All forms of suffering, including that mind of dissatisfaction, which is our baseline for everything that we do so that we can never find our own happiness because we're always, the minute we find, the minute we get in that relationship that we want, the minute we get that job we want, the minute we get the carpet, we begin, the dukkha arises and we begin, you know, getting bored with it or dissatisfied with it or finding fault with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:59 Highlight the passage at 1:32:59

1:33:34 You know, noticing the way that person eats or, you know, like, you know, all the things that begin to irritate us about the things that we grasped at. So I will, I did see you put your hand up, but I'm going to just finish this one thought and then you can ask. So there are three main delusions or afflictive emotions, and these three are usually called the three poisonous minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:34 Highlight the passage at 1:33:34

1:33:58 Aversion, which is anything, like I said, from the slightest. Irritation, you know, the slightest frustration or, you know, dislike for something all the way up to like extreme, you know, maniac anger and hatred, you know. So it's like all those points on the spectrum. That's aversion. And one of my teachers also said you could also call that not liking things ignorantly. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:58 Highlight the passage at 1:33:58

1:34:37 Because I think aversion sometimes sounds like, well, I never have aversion. Maybe once in my life I had aversion. But actually aversion is something that rises every two and a half seconds in some way. It's like, oh, no, that's aversion. That's starting to get uncomfortable. Immediately I kind of don't like it. So aversion can be very, very tiny. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:37 Highlight the passage at 1:34:37

1:35:03 Attachment. Which includes all forms of attachment. It could be craving. It could be selfishness. It could be desirous attachment. It could be all sorts of attachment. And ignorance. And they say that the root cause of the other two, of aversion and attachment, it's ignorance. And ignorance... Report an error in the passage at 1:35:03 Highlight the passage at 1:35:03

1:35:32 In here, it's not talking about not knowing something, like I don't speak Russian. It's talking about misperceiving reality. This is really what the Buddha said is the base of all of these delusions, is the way that we perceive things to exist, which we'll talk a little bit more about in the later classes. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:32 Highlight the passage at 1:35:32

1:35:59 Especially misperceiving how this thing I call I exists. Because then we base everything on that, right? Because once I have this idea of how I exist, then that I likes a certain kind of tea. That I doesn't like Chad. That I, like the I begins to dominate. And so all of these other things begin to arise. And that's simply, the Buddha said, A misperceiving of reality or a misunderstanding of how things actually exist, which is why ultimately we have to have this direct experience ourselves of emptiness, of how things actually exist according to the Buddhist observation. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:59 Highlight the passage at 1:35:59

1:36:50 Because of this misperceiving of reality, then all these other things begin to arise. Attachment, aversion, all these other delusions, and there are billions and they're all cataloged. It's amazing, actually. These Tibetans had way too much time on their hands. I mean, they have lists and sub-lists and subsets within of all the various gradations of these various states of mind that cause us suffering, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:50 Highlight the passage at 1:36:50

1:37:14 So all the colors of the rainbow in terms of the states of mind, That cause us to act, that cause us to create karma, that then we carry with us and that ripens as our suffering. And the Buddha said the cool thing is, we didn't say it like that, but he said the good thing, the good news is, is that all these afflictions that cause us so much trouble and feel like sometimes they do, like they are part of our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:14 Highlight the passage at 1:37:14

1:37:43 They feel so solid and unchangeable sometimes when you're caught in a really bad khalisha attack. Especially certain of them, I think, even more. They feel almost like sludge. You're in it and you can't get out. And I think depression is one like that, where it's just so heavy and so treacle-like. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:43 Highlight the passage at 1:37:43

1:38:03 But he said, no, actually they aren't an innate part of your mind. They can be removed. Just like we were saying in the meditation, they are simply like pollution. And they can be removed from the water. And the basic nature of our mind is still clear and pure and calm. And it is possible to get to that. They can be removed. So that's the good news. Do you want to ask your question, Jane? Do you want to pass her back the mic? Report an error in the passage at 1:38:03 Highlight the passage at 1:38:03

1:38:34 And then we'll take a break. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:34 Highlight the passage at 1:38:34

1:38:41 Yeah, I just had a question about, and maybe you've just explained it and what you just said about the three different types of cliches. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:41 Highlight the passage at 1:38:41

1:38:51 So where your belief structures, so your ideas about reality or yourself, the way things are and how that would obstruct your ability to respond and just see and be and not to create karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:51 Highlight the passage at 1:38:51

1:39:18 Negative karma. Yeah. Positive is okay. Yeah, right, exactly. So you're taking to, I mean, the subtlety that you're talking about in the different states of mind is like way beyond just, you know, a really strong belief that I have about I don't like yellow in carpet, you know, or... So you're talking about this like a whole other... Yeah, because, yeah, you're right. It's like it's layering that. So I would think, I, of course, am thinking if I have this ignorant belief, which all of us do at this point, unless all of you are somebody other than I think you are, if I don't like this yellow in the carpet, I don't leave it at that. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:18 Highlight the passage at 1:39:18

1:40:01 It's not something, usually we don't leave it at that. I mean, sometimes we will. It doesn't become so neurotic. But I'm using this as an example because we won't get too upset by it. It's layered with this idea, first of all, that this carpet inherently exists, that everyone hates this yellow. You know what I mean? Report an error in the passage at 1:40:01 Highlight the passage at 1:40:01

1:40:20 So then I'm like, David, don't you think that yellow is horrible on this carpet? I mean, we do that right with our favorite song. We do it with introducing people to our best friend. And we think they're all going to love them too. Or we take them to our favorite restaurant and then they're complaining about it the entire time. Karma is different. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:20 Highlight the passage at 1:40:20

1:40:39 People have different reactions to things. So it's layered with this idea that this thing inherently exists out there, that my perception has nothing to do with it, that it's objective, right? Everyone hates this yellow. And that I inherently exist. I mean, there's so much complexity in that, that there's this whole idea that there's this huge, important I that's the center of the universe and that, you know, so all of this is all... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:39 Highlight the passage at 1:40:39

1:41:08 All complicating this issue of whatever the deluded state of mind is. And the Buddha is saying that if you, which is what Manjushri is all about, if you cut that ignorance with wisdom, if you have this direct perception of emptiness, especially if you have this direct perception of emptiness, that's the ultimate cut. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:08 Highlight the passage at 1:41:08

1:41:31 Then nothing else, these delusions don't have anything to stand on. Because they're all based on ignorance. So it's sort of like all of a sudden the ground gives way. There's nothing. It's just gone. It's not like we have to. Until then, we kind of work on them through, you know, trying not to yell and trying not to, you know, watching my mind. Why am I feeling like this? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:31 Highlight the passage at 1:41:31

1:41:52 You know, like these are tools that we use until we have that experience. But once we do, it's like we don't need them anymore because we see the folly of our. It's not, there's no leg for it to stand on once we cut that. So ultimately that is our goal and then we have to work in these smaller ways until we get there. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:52 Highlight the passage at 1:41:52

1:42:15 And so does it go from like a gross to a much more subtle levels of experience of the cliches? Even, yeah, I think even just in when you first get involved in the path. I mean they say work with your most, Your heaviest mental afflictions first, you know, and I think we just automatically do that, right? Because those are usually the ones that give us the most trouble. If we easily get angry at just every little thing, then that would probably be a really useful one to work with. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:15 Highlight the passage at 1:42:15

1:42:49 So whatever our heaviest mental affliction is, then we do start working with. So even just in the experience of just having, when you start coming to Buddhist classes and you start doing meditations and stuff, the stuff that you're working with is much more gross. And just after even, you know, six years, eight years, ten years, the stuff you're working with is a little finer. And I had this one experience I use as an example of that where one of my teachers, I was at a class, some of you have heard this story, I was at a class that he was teaching and somebody began heckling him, you know, kind of yelling out things like, about the hell rules. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:49 Highlight the passage at 1:42:49

1:43:28 I don't think it was you. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:28 Highlight the passage at 1:43:28

1:43:32 You know, come on, you don't really believe that. That's literally what he was talking about. It was really kind of shocking. It was that Sechen Ling, too, which I didn't attend at that point. I just remember I was like, you know. And he was so cool about it. He just engaged the person in conversation. He was talking about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:32 Highlight the passage at 1:43:32

1:43:49 And then the next day, I was down at Vajrapani for a longer course with him. And he said, you know, he was talking about kleshas. And he said, you know, I had a kleshas attack last night. I got so angry. And I thought, oh, he must have. Must have afterwards, you know, like back at the hotel kind of thing. And then as he was talking about it, I realized he was talking about the teaching, but I never saw it from the outside, never saw it at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:49 Highlight the passage at 1:43:49

1:44:14 So he was aware of his mind. He knew when it had hit that, and he knew that he had to respond to it in a way that wasn't going to perpetuate it. But it was all internal, like I didn't see any of it at all. So it was interesting to see, and that kind of... Report an error in the passage at 1:44:14 Highlight the passage at 1:44:14

1:44:31 That kind of subtlety, I think, with years of really working with your mind, I think, does show. I remember, actually, I had this experience, too, when I was with a friend who is from a very loud, boisterous, passionate Italian family. And I got angry. It was actually, again, here's the migraine thing. I had a migraine. We were trying to set up a tent. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:31 Highlight the passage at 1:44:31

1:44:56 I wouldn't even go there. It was like this midwifery conference, and there was a... It was just like my worst idea of a nightmare. And she was totally into it. She was all happy and she's like, you know, and I just, I know that I just felt like I just have to get this tent up so I can go to sleep. So I was just like, Lisa, we just have to get this up. And afterwards I apologized to her and she goes, You were angry. It's such a different view of what anger is in her mind for an Italian family. So even in a non-Buddhist setting, you can have various gradations of different afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:56 Highlight the passage at 1:44:56

1:45:32 But I definitely do think that that's the case. I think you start with really gross ones and you just keep going subtler and subtler and subtler. And they say the very last one that you give up is this subtle view of having this inherent. This truly existent self. That's the very, very last one that we give up. So why don't you guys take a break so poor Chloe can go home. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:32 Highlight the passage at 1:45:32

1:46:08 So just beginning to think about your mind like a river flowing through time with each moment of your mind leading to the next moment with no gap, no interruption. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:08 Highlight the passage at 1:46:08

1:46:28 The mind is flowing along ceaselessly day and night. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:28 Highlight the passage at 1:46:28

1:46:35 A stream of countless momentary experiences always changing. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:35 Highlight the passage at 1:46:35

1:46:43 Thoughts and feelings arising and abiding and disappearing. But leaving imprints. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:43 Highlight the passage at 1:46:43

1:47:05 And these imprints create our experiences in our next life and they create our personality. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:05 Highlight the passage at 1:47:05

1:47:16 And whatever we do and think now determines our future experience. So it's up to us. We can use this understanding. To cultivate our future experience. And the way we do it is to understand our mind a little bit more. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:16 Highlight the passage at 1:47:16

1:47:39 So you start with just looking at your present state of mind right now. What's happening in your mind? The different thoughts and distractions, sensations that are rising. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:39 Highlight the passage at 1:47:39

1:47:56 And just in a detached way, just observe them without any clinging or pushing away. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:56 Highlight the passage at 1:47:56

1:48:14 And then... And slowly just start traveling backwards through time, Report an error in the passage at 1:48:14 Highlight the passage at 1:48:14

1:48:21 just to the way what was happening in your mind when you first arrived in this class, in this building tonight, Report an error in the passage at 1:48:21 Highlight the passage at 1:48:21

1:48:36 the state of your mind earlier today, this afternoon, Report an error in the passage at 1:48:36 Highlight the passage at 1:48:36

1:48:50 the state of mind when you woke up this morning. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:50 Highlight the passage at 1:48:50

1:49:04 Are these part of the same stream of consciousness as your present experiences? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:04 Highlight the passage at 1:49:04

1:49:27 And before you woke up, you might have been dreaming. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:27 Highlight the passage at 1:49:27

1:49:35 If you can remember, try to remember some of your dreams, were they part of the same continuum, the same mind stream? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:35 Highlight the passage at 1:49:35

1:49:57 And then go back to yesterday and the kind of minds that arose for you during the day and keep sort of following your mind back, first to yesterday and then the day before, Report an error in the passage at 1:49:57 Highlight the passage at 1:49:57

1:50:22 watching the ups and downs, the different kinds of mental states that we get caught up. Without getting too distracted by the stories, just watching how one moment of mine created the next and Report an error in the passage at 1:50:22 Highlight the passage at 1:50:22

1:50:50 just continuing to follow back to earlier this week, Report an error in the passage at 1:50:50 Highlight the passage at 1:50:50

1:50:58 all the excitement around the elections, Report an error in the passage at 1:50:58 Highlight the passage at 1:50:58

1:51:04 all the ups and downs, and just following it back slowly at your own pace to last week and Report an error in the passage at 1:51:04 Highlight the passage at 1:51:04

1:51:27 even to a month ago, Report an error in the passage at 1:51:27 Highlight the passage at 1:51:27

1:51:44 the things that were absorbing us. Pre-occupying our mind several months ago, even Report an error in the passage at 1:51:44 Highlight the passage at 1:51:44

1:52:16 last year. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:16 Highlight the passage at 1:52:16

1:52:40 Just keep following it back even a couple of years. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:40 Highlight the passage at 1:52:40

1:52:48 Things that we thought were so real and so heavy and so unchanging, the different states of mind giving rise to the next. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:48 Highlight the passage at 1:52:48

1:53:09 Even following it back five years or ten years ago and Report an error in the passage at 1:53:09 Highlight the passage at 1:53:09

1:53:36 even twenty years ago. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:36 Highlight the passage at 1:53:36

1:53:52 Just meandering back into our twenties or into our... Report an error in the passage at 1:53:52 Highlight the passage at 1:53:52

1:53:59 The things that absorbed us, how our mind worked, Report an error in the passage at 1:53:59 Highlight the passage at 1:53:59

1:54:06 the mental states that dominated our minds, and Report an error in the passage at 1:54:06 Highlight the passage at 1:54:06

1:54:20 then back into our teens and Report an error in the passage at 1:54:20 Highlight the passage at 1:54:20

1:54:38 even into our childhood. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:38 Highlight the passage at 1:54:38

1:54:52 And if you can, just back into your babyhood or toddlerhood, even if you can't remember it, you can just go back imagining what our minds were like at that point, Report an error in the passage at 1:54:52 Highlight the passage at 1:54:52

1:55:06 continuing to follow the stream of our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:06 Highlight the passage at 1:55:06

1:55:21 And some people can remember their infancy, but even if you can't, just imagine that mind being Report an error in the passage at 1:55:21 Highlight the passage at 1:55:21

1:55:33 held by our mothers, our fathers. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:33 Highlight the passage at 1:55:33

1:55:47 Some people can actually remember their own births. They have birth memories. They may not be complete memories, but fragments. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:47 Highlight the passage at 1:55:47

1:56:03 And keep trying to follow that mind on into that womb, into the womb of your mother, that waiting, growing, developing, Report an error in the passage at 1:56:03 Highlight the passage at 1:56:03

1:56:16 that being had a mind. That's your mind, your continuum. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:16 Highlight the passage at 1:56:16

1:56:31 And then what happened before that? Report an error in the passage at 1:56:31 Highlight the passage at 1:56:31

1:56:38 What happened before the moment that the egg and sperm came together? Report an error in the passage at 1:56:38 Highlight the passage at 1:56:38

1:56:48 Imagine that it might have been a final moment of a prior life, a final breathing out and not breathing in. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:48 Highlight the passage at 1:56:48

1:57:08 And then gradually start following it back in this river of mental moments back to the present. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:08 Highlight the passage at 1:57:08

1:57:22 Again, observing the thoughts. Perceptions and feelings that are arising right now in your mind Report an error in the passage at 1:57:22 Highlight the passage at 1:57:22

1:57:34 and how it leads to the next Report an error in the passage at 1:57:34 Highlight the passage at 1:57:34

1:57:40 and to the next. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:40 Highlight the passage at 1:57:40

1:57:45 And where does it go from here? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:45 Highlight the passage at 1:57:45

1:57:51 Imagine it moving forward in time to tonight, the morning when you wake up, moving forward to the coming days, Report an error in the passage at 1:57:51 Highlight the passage at 1:57:51

1:58:11 weeks and months, even years until Report an error in the passage at 1:58:11 Highlight the passage at 1:58:11

1:58:22 your own death. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:22 Highlight the passage at 1:58:22

1:58:26 And then what happens? Does it just end? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:26 Highlight the passage at 1:58:26

1:58:35 Does it change into something else? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:35 Highlight the passage at 1:58:35

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:59:17 And finally, just imagine Shakyamuni Buddha, who is the embodiment of perfect mind, sitting in front of us. And imagine that he melts into golden light and absorbs into us through the crown of our heads, mixing his enlightened mind with our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:17 Highlight the passage at 1:59:17

1:59:47 Like Lama Yashi says, like pouring water into water. No separation, no difference. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:47 Highlight the passage at 1:59:47

1:59:56 And imagine that he fills you up with all his qualities, all the qualities and wisdom and compassion and subdued mind that he has and that you're completely one with him. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:56 Highlight the passage at 1:59:56

2:00:28 Just take a moment to dedicate this class, this experience of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:28 Highlight the passage at 2:00:28

2:00:38 But also all the things that we talked about tonight, the things that might have come up in your mind, even if it raised more questions than answers, which is often the case. We just dedicate any positive energy that we created from this to being able to become familiar with our own minds, understand how mind works, so that we can actually use that understanding to transform our minds. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:38 Highlight the passage at 2:00:38

2:01:06 So that we can be of benefit to everyone around us, including ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:06 Highlight the passage at 2:01:06

2:01:22 On time, as you're ready, you can end your meditation and open your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:22 Highlight the passage at 2:01:22

2:01:35 So we had to do that very quickly. But at least you got a little taste of it. Does anybody have any questions before we end? You can also stay afterwards if you want. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:35 Highlight the passage at 2:01:35

2:01:53 This will be your homework. And I would advise just taking... A relaxed amount of time with it. And try not to get caught up in the stories about what happened when you were 17. Because we do. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:53 Highlight the passage at 2:01:53

2:02:09 Any opportunity. If your mind does get sort of distracted like that, then just pulling it back to this experience of trying to follow this continuum. Because that's what we're examining. That's the object of this. We're trying to examine how mind might arise. From each moment of mind. So that's what we're investigating here. But yeah, just have fun with it. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:09 Highlight the passage at 2:02:09

2:02:38 Here we go. So this is the homework and attached to it is that little printout from Wish of Filling Golden Sun. You probably don't need this many. And then everybody gets one of these too. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:38 Highlight the passage at 2:02:38

2:03:07 I can give you guys one if you want, if you just want to share one. This is just a binder of reading. If you don't have enough. No, we do. I think we do. I made an extra one in case somebody else came, so that's fine. Or I can also send you an electronic copy, if that's easier. Hard copy? I'd love a hard copy. Okay. Yeah, that's good. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:07 Highlight the passage at 2:03:07

2:03:27 No, I think he was just here, because he was uploading, I think, the computer. Yeah, it's just spare. Oh, so they can have that, actually. yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:27 Highlight the passage at 2:03:27

2:03:37 David, do you mind doing this one too, the honors of this one? So everybody gets one of these, and they'll just share, yeah. Oh, I see, I see, I see, yeah, I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:37 Highlight the passage at 2:03:37