Discovering Buddhism - Presenting the Path (22 January 2009)

0:22 Good to see all of you. I'm a little jet-lagged. I just got in last night from D.C. Like the whole thing was just too much, but also good. So if I'm a little, if I begin slurring my speech, that's what's happening. Report an error in the passage at 0:22 Highlight the passage at 0:22

0:43 So we're going to just start with a little meditation. Bring us all down a notch. Or at least bring me down a notch and you guys get to come along for the ride. Report an error in the passage at 0:43 Highlight the passage at 0:43

0:55 So we'll just start with... Um. Report an error in the passage at 0:55 Highlight the passage at 0:55

0:56 Finding a good posture for you, and that really basically just means extending your spine, kind of rolling your shoulders back a little bit, and starting to take some nice deep belly breaths. Report an error in the passage at 0:56 Highlight the passage at 0:56

1:13 And just with each breath, just imagine dissolving away any distractions that you might have within your body and mind, and imagine breathing them out into the night. Report an error in the passage at 1:13 Highlight the passage at 1:13

1:34 Just imagine with each in-breath that you're bringing in fresh alertness, awareness, curiosity. Report an error in the passage at 1:34 Highlight the passage at 1:34

1:45 Presence. It's kind of like with each breath you're breathing yourself more and more into this room. Report an error in the passage at 1:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:21 Just start with, normally we start the class with a little short meditation on the breath and then we'll start with a motivation. Report an error in the passage at 2:21 Highlight the passage at 2:21

2:35 So for those of you who haven't done a meditation on the breath before, basically it's placing your awareness at one of two places. Your belly, as your belly expands and contracts with each breath. Or a little patch of skin inside the tip of your nostril. The sensation of the air passing over that as it comes in and goes out of your nose. Report an error in the passage at 2:35 Highlight the passage at 2:35

3:00 I'm just trying to place all of your awareness there. So anytime your mind wanders off, you just gently bring it back. You just do that repeatedly. Sometimes it helps to count the out-breath and in-breath. Sometimes it doesn't. So just do that for a couple of minutes. Report an error in the passage at 3:00 Highlight the passage at 3:00

· · · silence, 2 minutes

5:13 Now that your mind has calmed down a little bit, we can start thinking about our motivation for being here tonight. Report an error in the passage at 5:13 Highlight the passage at 5:13

5:26 Start thinking about some of the suffering that you see in your own life. You know, whether it's friends or family members who are struggling with some sort of pain, illness, addiction, grief. Report an error in the passage at 5:26 Highlight the passage at 5:26

5:43 Maybe it's the people that you read about and watch on TV, the people that you pass on your way to work, Report an error in the passage at 5:43 Highlight the passage at 5:43

5:54 people who are affected by war, poverty. Chronic pain. And think about how much we'd like to relieve this suffering if we could. Think about how unbearable this suffering is for us to see every day. Report an error in the passage at 5:54 Highlight the passage at 5:54

6:23 Think about how amazing it would be to be able to remove this suffering from everyone and to bring them all the causes for lasting happiness, to give them the methods, the tools. Report an error in the passage at 6:23 Highlight the passage at 6:23

6:47 And first imagine this wish in your heart. To remove this suffering and to bring lasting happiness, imagine it in the form of white light, like glowing at your heart center, feeling it filling you up, warming you. Report an error in the passage at 6:47 Highlight the passage at 6:47

7:09 It's like you're glowing with this wish. And Report an error in the passage at 7:09 Highlight the passage at 7:09

7:19 then as it begins to fill you up, it begins to flow out of your pores, out to all the beings around you, Report an error in the passage at 7:19 Highlight the passage at 7:19

7:31 filling each one of them up Report an error in the passage at 7:31 Highlight the passage at 7:31

7:36 with not just happiness, but the causes of happiness. It's like a spring inside of each person. Report an error in the passage at 7:36 Highlight the passage at 7:36

7:54 Just keep imagining this warm, glowing light flowing out of you into every living being around you, Report an error in the passage at 7:54 Highlight the passage at 7:54

8:04 feeling it spreading into all the living beings as far as your mind's eye can see, like an ocean of people and animals and insects until Report an error in the passage at 8:04 Highlight the passage at 8:04

8:19 every single one is filled. Report an error in the passage at 8:19 Highlight the passage at 8:19

8:32 And just for a moment, rest in this complete connection with all living beings and the courage. The power of this exciting mind of bodhicitta. And Report an error in the passage at 8:32 Highlight the passage at 8:32

8:55 when it starts to fade, just come back into this classroom and try to feel real joy that we've come together for this class to Report an error in the passage at 8:55 Highlight the passage at 8:55

9:16 learn the steps to being able to attain in reality this state of mind, this mind that takes us all the way to enlightenment, the ability to perfect our own minds and to help perfect the minds of others, to help them perfect their own minds. Report an error in the passage at 9:16 Highlight the passage at 9:16

9:34 May it start here. May whatever insights or understandings, whatever inspiration we gain from tonight's class and all the classes in this series, may it become our own seed for each one of us to fully awaken to perfect enlightenment for the benefit of every living being. Report an error in the passage at 9:34 Highlight the passage at 9:34

10:08 I'm as you're ready. You can end your meditation and open your eyes. We'll start with an opening prayer. Report an error in the passage at 10:08 Highlight the passage at 10:08

10:29 So in the prayer book in front of you, on page 8, Report an error in the passage at 10:29 Highlight the passage at 10:29

10:36 there's generating the wish for the mind of enlightenment by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And it sort of helps us get our minds around this wish, the desire for enlightenment in order to be able to benefit every living being. Report an error in the passage at 10:36 Highlight the passage at 10:36

11:02 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Until I reach full enlightenment, inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel So great. Report an error in the passage at 11:02 Highlight the passage at 11:02

11:42 That was a little intro, kind of get our minds opened up to this kind of amazing mind that each one of us will develop in time. If not this slide, next slide. I'm going to talk a little bit about the logistics of this class. I'm also going to talk a little bit about my own story as it relates. And then we'll also have time to go around and meet each other. So you guys can start planning that now if you want. Report an error in the passage at 11:42 Highlight the passage at 11:42

12:09 And And then we'll take a break and then we'll get into some of the subject matter. I didn't do, there's a binder of readings for this class like there is for every other class. And I didn't make the binders until I kind of had a better head count as to who was actually doing the class because I tend to do the wrong amount and then it's hard to cover at the last minute. Report an error in the passage at 12:09 Highlight the passage at 12:09

12:32 So you won't have any readings from that for a while. So I'll have them for you next week. And I do. I have a roster that I want to send around. I'm going to go ahead and start that now. The roster is basically for me so that if something should happen, like it actually did the class right before I went to D.C. Report an error in the passage at 12:32 Highlight the passage at 12:32

12:54 where we had to cancel. I got really sick last minute. It's just easier if Jane has a list like this and she can call everyone. So that's really what this is about. And also for reminders or something like that. There will be one class that we miss. We don't have one week that we don't have a class. So just to remind people of that and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 12:54 Highlight the passage at 12:54

13:18 On the syllabus that you'll get next week, too, you'll have my email address, and please feel free to always use it. Hey, Cindy, how are you? I missed you first time around. Report an error in the passage at 13:18 Highlight the passage at 13:18

13:28 Just sort of hiding back there in your little seat. And please feel free to use it. I am not as good at email as I once was. I have to admit, there's sort of an overload of... information these days but eventually I will get back to you and if it's important please say something like I really encourage people to use that form of communication. Report an error in the passage at 13:28 Highlight the passage at 13:28

13:56 Ask me questions. If you miss a class, one of the sort of joys of the modern age is that I'm very happy to send you. I make out my notes of what I intend to say. in the class. And I'm happy to send those to you by email or even give them to me at the end of class. You don't feel like taking notes. So I'm very happy to do that. Report an error in the passage at 13:56 Highlight the passage at 13:56

14:19 I'm also happy to send you homework if you are not able to be here. So it's just a way that you can keep up if you happen to miss a class. Of course, you notice that we also record things and we do upload, but it's not always every single week. We have a volunteer that does that, so it's just kind of... Report an error in the passage at 14:19 Highlight the passage at 14:19

14:37 You can't count on that, unfortunately. We're trying to get better. I think we are getting pretty good at it, but it just, you know, if his life gets busy, then it kind of gets put on hold. Report an error in the passage at 14:37 Highlight the passage at 14:37

14:50 So the basic logistics is class meets on Thursday nights, usually goes 7 to 9. We usually take a break about two-thirds of the way through. If I miss that time and you guys are, like, desperate, just, like, make signs or, you know. Something or just get up and go or whatever. That's totally fine. And then we usually have somebody in the cafe. Report an error in the passage at 14:50 Highlight the passage at 14:50

15:18 Tonight we have Cedric. He's the manager. He's trying to get more volunteers so that we have a volunteer in there every evening during class time. If you go back there, like say after class and there's nobody around, just ask me and I'll... If I can't figure out how to use the register, then I'll go get married. Somebody who lives here will help you, or if you want a coffee to go or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 15:18 Highlight the passage at 15:18

15:40 But usually we are trying to have somebody here at least through the break during class time. The one class that we're missing is going to be the 19th, and that will be on your syllabus too. It's just that we have something else that night with Geshe-la, and so I just would prefer not to teach at the same time. Report an error in the passage at 15:40 Highlight the passage at 15:40

16:01 If I have a choice. And then our last class is the 12th of March, and then that weekend we have a Saturday class for those who can make it. It's definitely a really great way to end the class. It's called a practice day, and what it really is is like a little mini retreat. So we just kind of at the end of the class we do... Report an error in the passage at 16:01 Highlight the passage at 16:01

16:22 I think the morning we do all the meditations that we've done all the way along. So we have sort of a little meditative morning where we're all in silence and trying to sit. I give you breaks between them all so you don't have to worry. Panic there. And then we kind of talk about if anything came up for anybody. And then we all have lunch together. Report an error in the passage at 16:22 Highlight the passage at 16:22

16:41 And then we watch a little film. And then people do presentations. And the presentations are literally... Like five minutes about something. You know, it's not like PowerPoint or anything big at all. In fact, you can just sit and you don't even have to stand up and you don't even have to look at anybody. Report an error in the passage at 16:41 Highlight the passage at 16:41

16:59 You can face the wall if you wanted to. If people are totally freaked out by that idea, you don't have to do one. It's totally fine. It's optional. And some people, what they've done, especially if they had to miss it, they've just done something else. Like they've either sent me a long email, which I have to still read Brian's actually. Report an error in the passage at 16:59 Highlight the passage at 16:59

17:17 Just remember that. Or they make an appointment, have a cup of tea with me and do the same thing. So we'll talk more about it as it gets closer. I give you ideas. You pick out things. But as you're listening to the classes, see if something grabs your mind. And that's usually what people choose is something that shifts your mind in some way. Report an error in the passage at 17:17 Highlight the passage at 17:17

17:38 Or sometimes people choose to lead a meditation. So the other thing is that every week you'll have homework. And mostly the homework is meditation homework. I'll give you a meditation. I'll suggest a meditation. I also might suggest contemplation, which would be just like on your ride to work, you know, think about this. Report an error in the passage at 17:38 Highlight the passage at 17:38

18:02 And then there'll be reading assignments as well. So you might choose something from one of those too. I always opt for the meditation ones because then you can have your eyes closed and everybody can have their eyes closed and nobody has to stare at you. I get totally shy about teaching, which people are shocked by since I've been teaching for a few years, but I get really quite nervous about leading, so I understand perfectly. Report an error in the passage at 18:02 Highlight the passage at 18:02

18:24 I would have dropped the class immediately if I had heard that, so that's cool. Some people get totally into it and do poster boards with glitter paint and stuff like that. Whatever turns you on. The content of the class is to really go through an overview of the path, including the Buddha's life, the life story, especially his life story as it's kind of a blueprint for our practice, for our own spiritual practice. Report an error in the passage at 18:24 Highlight the passage at 18:24

19:04 And the entire teachings of the Buddha... So many different masters have come and gone in the last 2,500, 2,649 years since the Buddha lived. And so many of them have sort of taken these teachings and worked with them in different ways. And in the Tibetan tradition, there is this thing that's called the graduated path to enlightenment, which is in Tibetan, it's called lamrim. So you might hear people talk about the lamrim. Report an error in the passage at 19:04 Highlight the passage at 19:04

19:36 The lamrim is just basically taking a number of the... Concepts and teachings of the Buddha and putting them in a methodical order and then those things you meditate on. Then you gain some sort of insights or understandings and then you move on to the next one. So it's like a series of those. Each of the Tibetan traditions has their own versions of the lamrim, but they all have lamrims. And our root text, the thing I'm calling our root text, is a little tiny. Report an error in the passage at 19:36 Highlight the passage at 19:36

20:06 It's like the briefest. of the long rims, which... Lama Tsongkhapa, the middle one, who is missing his robe right now, who is our founder, the founder of the Galukpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He wrote a number of Lama Rims, including this one, and this one is called The Three Principle Paths. And so he took the whole lamrim and he condensed it into like 14 verses or something like that. So that will be our root text, what I'm calling our root text. Report an error in the passage at 20:06 Highlight the passage at 20:06

20:38 But it's basically talking about three main concepts. And so we'll go over those in the different classes. Report an error in the passage at 20:38 Highlight the passage at 20:38

20:48 This class is the third of the Discovering Buddhism series, which has 14 modules, 13 classes. And you can either take them in order. you much. Report an error in the passage at 20:48 Highlight the passage at 20:48

20:59 If you're patient and organized, don't go anywhere. Or you can just take whatever interests you as it comes up. And then, you know, like those things that really interest you, you can take over and over and over again, which one woman has done. Report an error in the passage at 20:59 Highlight the passage at 20:59

21:14 So either way it works. They do build on each other, of course, if you do. Take them in order. They do help you understand. Each class does help you understand the next class. But most people, I don't know of anyone that ever has in our tradition here. Report an error in the passage at 21:14 Highlight the passage at 21:14

21:33 And in fact, the way we used to do it with... And Malum and I teaching, we just taught the ones we felt comfortable with. So they were kind of all over the place until I became the SPC. And then I said, no, let's start doing them in order and just do the best we can. And so since then, this is our third time through. So just so that you're aware, that 14-module program... Report an error in the passage at 21:33 Highlight the passage at 21:33

21:57 You can actually get a certificate and get a little thing in the mail and all that stuff. And in order to do that, there's a lot more reading. And I'm not really probably going to assign that reading. I'll tell you about it, and then it'll be up to you. That's just... For the two and a half people that are actually trying to do it for that. If you're just really hugely interested, that will also help you to know where can I get more information. Report an error in the passage at 21:57 Highlight the passage at 21:57

22:24 But I'm not assuming that all of you are doing it for that little piece of paper. But you might at one point. If you do want more information about the whole program, I'm happy to give that to you. Or I can give you a link and you can look it up online. Um, um. Report an error in the passage at 22:24 Highlight the passage at 22:24

22:43 The whole purpose of the Discovering Buddhism program and my whole purpose when I teach a class like this is to try to give you tools so when you leave the class you have enough basic information that it begins to change your life. That's my purpose. My purpose isn't to give you a lot of intellectual information. Report an error in the passage at 22:43 Highlight the passage at 22:43

23:05 purpose is... Is not to create what I call Dharma monsters. Those people who just collect a bunch of information and it never really moves their heart. Or their mind, because in Tibetan Buddhism it's the same thing. Report an error in the passage at 23:05 Highlight the passage at 23:05

23:20 So this class, that's why the emphasis in this class on meditation. And we'll talk more about that the second half. But it's mostly, I mean, the whole point, of course, of Buddhism is to get enlightened ourselves, which means what? It means basically that we can become happier, more capable, more beneficial people. Report an error in the passage at 23:20 Highlight the passage at 23:20

23:48 I mean, that's really the goal. So if we're not, then we're missing something. We're definitely missing something. Report an error in the passage at 23:48 Highlight the passage at 23:48

23:59 So a little something about this lineage and the teachings themselves. Clearly the Buddha was a historical person and he lived and died about 2,500 years ago. And after he passed away, Buddhism flourished in India for about 1,500 years. During that time period it started spreading into neighboring countries. Report an error in the passage at 23:59 Highlight the passage at 23:59

24:27 Thankfully for us, because after about 1,500 years, it went out of practice in its country of origin. Although I think there's something like 1 % now, Buddhists in India. It's starting to come back. Before that happened, in about the 8th century, the first... Um, Report an error in the passage at 24:27 Highlight the passage at 24:27

24:48 of Of Indian Buddhism came across the border into Tibet, what's now called Tibet. And the person who did that was called Padmasambhava, sometimes called Guru Rinpoche. And his lineage is the Nyingma, which is the oldest of the... The Tibetan schools. He actually lived 730 to 805. I like to give the dates because it sort of helps us figure out what we were doing in the West at these time periods. Report an error in the passage at 24:48 Highlight the passage at 24:48

25:25 Following him, there were a couple of really strong anti-Dharma kings that ruled in Tibet, and they pretty much trashed it. And so it began to degenerate in a lot of ways. And so there was a very pro-Dharma king, and that's a whole story in and of itself, which I won't tell, who arranged after many, many false starts to bring the Dharma back to Tibet and to try to clarify how it had degenerated. Report an error in the passage at 25:25 Highlight the passage at 25:25

25:54 Questions answered, find out exactly how things should be done. So they brought a great master by the name of Atisha, Master Atisha, into Tibet. He lived 982 to 1054. Don't worry, this will not be on the quiz. There isn't a quiz, actually. Report an error in the passage at 25:54 Highlight the passage at 25:54

26:14 But he came back into Tibet. He actually started in Western Tibet and taught there for 20 years. He taught for a long time in Tibet, all over Tibet, traveled everywhere. He's the first to do the lamrim. He pulled a lot of... He found the Tibetans to be a very lively group to try to teach. I think they sound very similar to us. Somewhat more wild. Report an error in the passage at 26:14 Highlight the passage at 26:14

26:41 So he's the first to do a lamrim. He took a lot of the teachings that the Buddha had taught and put them in this really orderly fashion that I was just speaking about. And he published, well he didn't publish, that's not very, wrote a book, wrote it all down and it was called The Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 26:41 Highlight the passage at 26:41

27:01 Those of you that were around, was it last year? Or the year before, Chodin Rinpoche came and taught that text a couple years ago. Report an error in the passage at 27:01 Highlight the passage at 27:01

27:13 From him, his disciples were called the Kadampas or the Kadampa Geshes, or the old Kadam school. And from them... And they practiced for about 300 years, and out of them came Lama Tsongkhapa. Lama Tsongkhapa studied with both the Sakyas, which is another school of Tibetan Buddhism, and these Kadam masters. Report an error in the passage at 27:13 Highlight the passage at 27:13

27:40 And the Kadam masters sort of became what's now called the Galupa school. So there's four lineages that came out of Tibet. The Nyingmas are the oldest, we're the youngest, the Galupas are the youngest. And then in the middle there are the kagyu and the sakyas, just to give you a little piece of information. You see these terms around, and so sometimes it's good to know what it's talking about. Report an error in the passage at 27:40 Highlight the passage at 27:40

28:05 They're all Tibetan Buddhists. They all want people to get enlightened. They all get people enlightened. Just different methods, slightly different methods, slightly different interpretations of various teachings, and all wonderful. wonderful. Report an error in the passage at 28:05 Highlight the passage at 28:05

28:22 J. Rinpoche, or, um, um... Jai Tsongkhapa, sometimes called Jai Rinpoche. Jai just means like Lord. Rinpoche just means precious, so like precious Lord. Sometimes you'll see. Master Tsongkhapa lived 1357 to 1419, so right about the time of Columbus, in the 14th century. And, um, he... He actually ended up writing about 10,000 pages of commentary on both the Buddhist teachings and, of course, all the teachings that came before him. He also wrote what's called the Lamrim Temmo, which is like the Bible of this particular tradition. Report an error in the passage at 28:22 Highlight the passage at 28:22

29:04 It means the great Lamrim. Three volumes. It's been translated now into English. Three volumes of text. Going through all of these in quite great detail, Pabanka Rinpoche then taught a commentary of this about 500 years later, which was published as Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand or Liberation in Your Hands, two translations. Report an error in the passage at 29:04 Highlight the passage at 29:04

29:28 And that's also like one of our Bibles, you know, it's just like such a clear, easily readable piece of work. He passed away in 1941. He gave a 20... A four-day teaching, oral teaching, that his disciple, who happened to be one of the tutors of the present Dalai Lama, wrote down. And that was published in his lifetime and was like a bestseller in Tibet in the 20s. You can kind of see what Tibet was like in the 20s. Report an error in the passage at 29:28 Highlight the passage at 29:28

29:57 um um The very briefest of the lamrims that Jason Kapo wrote is our root text, but then this liberation of the palm of your hand is sort of the root text of the whole Discovering Buddhism program. But we just kind of go through it by days because different days he, of course, taught different things. And this class is days one through three. Report an error in the passage at 29:57 Highlight the passage at 29:57

30:22 So it's right there at the beginning where he kind of gives the overview. A little bit about me and my relationship with all of this. I've been studying Buddhism for about 13 years. I've been a nun for about, this year will be my ninth year as a nun in May. And I've been here at the center about nine years. There's a correlation there. I thought I'd go somewhere really, really exciting. But of course, my main teacher, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, keeps saying, no, no, you have very strong karma here. Report an error in the passage at 30:22 Highlight the passage at 30:22

30:56 Very strong karma at Sechunli. I actually met the Dharma in the West. A lot of people meet it in the East. I met it in California. My first teachings on the lamrim came from Geshe Michael Roach, and also I attended a couple of one-month lamrim courses taught by Venable Neal Houston, who's an Australian teacher, monk, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who's my main teacher. Report an error in the passage at 30:56 Highlight the passage at 30:56

31:24 And those were given in Nepal. Um. My main teachers for the Lamrim have always been Geshe-la, who's upstairs now, came home today. Chodron Rinpoche, Riba Rinpoche, Riba Rinpoche and Kirti-senshap Rinpoche, two of my main teachers have passed away now. Report an error in the passage at 31:24 Highlight the passage at 31:24

31:46 Venibur Bina, I'm trying to think of ones that people might know. Venerable Renee Fusi, who's down at Bajrapani. Venerable Sarah Thresher, if anybody knows her. Venerable Sanghi Kadro, who wrote How to Meditate. Amazing teacher who's now in Italy doing the master's program. So I've been very, very fortunate in my life to study the Lamrim a lot. Report an error in the passage at 31:46 Highlight the passage at 31:46

32:09 And the thing about the Lamrim, and I think that we... It sort of has been reduced to kind of like people think of the lamrim as like the baby food and then they get to go off and do something more exciting. The lamrim is like, it's part of our life of this particular practice. We just keep circling through the lamrim and our life experience changes and our understandings change and then the next time that we study something, it goes in deeper. Report an error in the passage at 32:09 Highlight the passage at 32:09

32:40 So we'll start out studying, for example, impermanence. And we sort of understand it to some degree, but then the next time through, maybe we've lost somebody, either through a breakup or through death or we've lost a job. For example, Report an error in the passage at 32:40 Highlight the passage at 32:40

32:58 Or we've had to leave a house that we love or something. So our own personal experience has changed. So then we go a little deeper into it. And then the next time around, then we maybe have lost our dog or something. So each time we go through it, we just go deeper and deeper. So instead of it being a linear thing, it tends to be more of a spiral. And so I just think that's important to mention just because I think a lot of times as we get older in... Report an error in the passage at 32:58 Highlight the passage at 32:58

33:28 In Buddhism, there's this kind of thinking that you study the Lamrim for a while and then you move on to the exciting world of Tantra or something like that. My personal experience was the more I got into Tantra, the more I turned to the Lamrim because I had no idea what I was doing. So if this should happen to you, the Lamrim is a great place to go. Report an error in the passage at 33:28 Highlight the passage at 33:28

33:55 Where I first had this experience, especially with talking about these three principal paths, I'll just touch on quickly what they are. The first is renunciation. Report an error in the passage at 33:55 Highlight the passage at 33:55

34:09 When I first got into Buddhism, I started doing little retreats and then longer retreats. I did a three-month retreat on Vajrasattva, which is a purification practice. Report an error in the passage at 34:09 Highlight the passage at 34:09

34:26 I didn't necessarily know what I was doing. I just thought it was the thing to do, and so I sort of leapt into it. From my tiny experience, this is called taking refuge in the Dharma, and from my tiny experience it actually works. Report an error in the passage at 34:26 Highlight the passage at 34:26

34:46 Because you're in that situation, I think this is why retreats are so powerful. You're in the situation where you've cut off basically all your normal distractions. No TV, no phone, no email, no phone calls to friends, no going out with friends. I definitely had taken strong refuge in friendship. Report an error in the passage at 34:46 Highlight the passage at 34:46

35:07 And so you're just kind of forced to look at your mind and what comes up and how you're dealing with what comes up. And it's not always pretty. Um, so Report an error in the passage at 35:07 Highlight the passage at 35:07

35:18 So as the result of my first long retreat, I decided to get ordained, which is like an outward form of renunciation. But just like with all the other aspects of the lamrim, you just keep going deeper and deeper. Yeah, I can put on the robes. I can cut my hair. I can change my name. But for me to actually have a realization of renunciation, that's going to be years and years and years away. Each year that I live my vows and each year that I try to understand really what renunciation is, I go deeper and deeper and deeper into it. Report an error in the passage at 35:18 Highlight the passage at 35:18

35:57 And renunciation, we will talk a lot more about each one of these. Renunciation isn't about giving up things. It's about realizing what our condition actually is. And then opening up to the possibilities of what to do about that. So for me, it's almost like diving in. It's like diving into this wide open pool. Report an error in the passage at 35:57 Highlight the passage at 35:57

36:17 It's not really about depriving ourselves of things, which I think is the way it's seen in the West. The second principal path is bodhicitta. So we got a little taste of that in the motivation. My experience with that, I was part of... Report an error in the passage at 36:17 Highlight the passage at 36:17

36:35 This training that was called the Compassion Training, it was a particular study that was given by a cognitive scientist from UC who contacted Lama Zopa Rinpoche and asked him to supply the names of various people in the area that he could work with. Actually, not even just in the area, I guess in the country. And I, of course, assumed that there was some error that my name was suggested. Report an error in the passage at 36:35 Highlight the passage at 36:35

37:04 Because I was way early in being ordained and I was way early in working at the center. But what I discovered in this study was I think my understanding of compassion and my understanding of bodhicitta was a lot wimpier than it actually is. Compassion and bodhicitta... That don't mean that you're a doormat. It doesn't mean that you just kind of go, oh, isn't it terrible that that person's really, you know, struggling or angry or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 37:04 Highlight the passage at 37:04

37:43 It's actually this huge courageous state of mind of that person's suffering is unbearable to me and I myself will do something about that. So it's actually like, it's like this huge. Heart opening that has to happen gradually through a lot of meditation and other methods. Report an error in the passage at 37:43 Highlight the passage at 37:43

38:08 And the mind of bodhicitta, I think, is like the fuel that gets you through when the practice gets really hard. Which, of course, it does at times. Emptiness is the third, or the correct view of emptiness is the third of the three principle paths. And my relationship with that goes back to the very, very beginning. When I first heard my now main teacher, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, speak, it was in 1992. Report an error in the passage at 38:08 Highlight the passage at 38:08

38:37 And what did he teach about that night? It was emptiness. I had no idea what he was saying. But fortunately, I had a good friend who said, you know, don't have any expectations. Just go. Don't freak out if you don't understand anything. Just drink it in. And that was such good advice because I saw people leaving left and right. He's not the easiest teacher, although I love him dearly. Report an error in the passage at 38:37 Highlight the passage at 38:37

39:02 He does teach in a very circular manner and he coughs a lot. So I didn't necessarily get anything out of that night, but definitely seeds were planted. The very first teachings that I received from another one of my teachers, Gashi Michael, were... On emptiness and in much more detail. And those teachings just really, it was like an earthquake in my world, just shifted my world. Report an error in the passage at 39:02 Highlight the passage at 39:02

39:32 So, and they say actually even the tiniest understanding of emptiness, which is really the Buddha's experience of the nature of reality, I mean, in a shortcut. That things don't exist the way we think that they do. And we'll definitely spend a couple classes on that one. Even the tiniest understanding of emptiness can totally shift your life. Report an error in the passage at 39:32 Highlight the passage at 39:32

39:57 It can totally shift how you relate to other people, how you relate to yourself, and so forth. So that's kind of... That's kind of been my experiences of these three principle paths and of the lamrim that they represent. I mean, they really embody the whole lamrim. And I have found that the deeper that you go with these, which you kind of have to do in meditation, we can study them, we can read them, but we have to be able to go... Report an error in the passage at 39:57 Highlight the passage at 39:57

40:32 Below the neck. We have to be able to go in a way that it's almost like it becomes non-conceptual. We may get there conceptually, but it has to become a non-conceptual insight or understanding before it really begins to shift the way we think and the way we interact with each other in the world. Report an error in the passage at 40:32 Highlight the passage at 40:32

40:53 And that has to happen in meditation. So we'll start right now with just kind of going around and introducing ourselves, and then we'll take a break. And then the second half of the class, we're going to spend more time on meditation and why we need to meditate and how it plays into this, because meditation is such an important aspect of all of these classes, really, not even just this class. Report an error in the passage at 40:53 Highlight the passage at 40:53

41:16 So that was a little bit about me. And now you get to talk a little bit about you. Normally for this class it's great if you talk into the mic, but for this part it's okay if people don't understand what you're saying. Report an error in the passage at 41:16 Highlight the passage at 41:16

41:30 So sorry everyone at home who wants to listen to this and can't quite hear it, but I think it's too embarrassing to have to hold the mic and say your whole life story. So don't give me your life story. Just tell me like in maybe a few minutes. Report an error in the passage at 41:30 Highlight the passage at 41:30

41:45 Just something about you and maybe your relationship with Buddhism and why you wanted to take this class or why this class kind of, it could be just that it's Thursday night, so that's okay too. Report an error in the passage at 41:45 Highlight the passage at 41:45

41:55 But just something about why you're here. That would be great. Courtney, do you want to start? Report an error in the passage at 41:55 Highlight the passage at 41:55

· · · silence, 1 minute

42:37 Another drop Report an error in the passage at 42:37 Highlight the passage at 42:37

42:55 -in meditator too. Report an error in the passage at 42:55 Highlight the passage at 42:55

42:59 name is Ian. Report an error in the passage at 42:59 Highlight the passage at 42:59

43:03 But I guess I Report an error in the passage at 43:03 Highlight the passage at 43:03

43:16 had several experiences. Report an error in the passage at 43:16 Highlight the passage at 43:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

43:54 Cool. Yeah. Great. That's perfect. Thanks. Welcome. Report an error in the passage at 43:54 Highlight the passage at 43:54

44:04 Welcome Report an error in the passage at 44:04 Highlight the passage at 44:04

44:15 back, Tony. Report an error in the passage at 44:15 Highlight the passage at 44:15

44:33 Cool. Kara. Kara. Great. Welcome. Is this your first time at the center too? Excellent. Good. Cool. I Report an error in the passage at 44:33 Highlight the passage at 44:33

44:56 love that. It was like a 10-day retreat, right? is David. Report an error in the passage at 44:56 Highlight the passage at 44:56

· · · silence, 1 minute

45:12 Excellent. Great. Good to have you back. Cindy? Report an error in the passage at 45:12 Highlight the passage at 45:12

45:24 We started with the last three. That's great. No, we did the mind. We did the mind and how to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 45:24 Highlight the passage at 45:24

45:40 And you started also as a drop-in meditator. So there you go. Yeah. That's good. Report an error in the passage at 45:40 Highlight the passage at 45:40

46:05 Excellent. Report an error in the passage at 46:05 Highlight the passage at 46:05

46:28 Oh, wow. Report an error in the passage at 46:28 Highlight the passage at 46:28

46:39 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 46:39 Highlight the passage at 46:39

46:45 That's brilliant. I love it. Report an error in the passage at 46:45 Highlight the passage at 46:45

47:00 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And if you ever get overwhelmed, just show up. You don't need to do the homework. Just show up. That's not true for anyone else. Report an error in the passage at 47:00 Highlight the passage at 47:00

47:13 It's great to have you here. Oh, great. Good, good. I know I've also gotten emails from at least a couple other people, so we may have some new people that join us, and that's fine, too. Report an error in the passage at 47:13 Highlight the passage at 47:13

· · · silence, 1 minute

48:04 Cool. Good to have you here. You've come a couple times. I recognize you from the drop-in. Okay, okay. Yeah, that's great. I keep mentioning the drop-in meditations. We have a drop-in meditation on Saturday mornings from 9 to 10 plus, a little time for Q &A. And then also on Tuesday nights from 7 to 8, a little time for Q &A. And those are great for everybody. Everybody should come to those. It's half and half. Report an error in the passage at 48:04 Highlight the passage at 48:04

48:30 The way that I usually lead it, and Scott, I think. It does a variation but pretty much covers the same thing. We try to do 10-15 minutes of meditation on the breath. And that's not guided, obviously, other than just leading you into it. And then a little talk about meditation and then go into a guided meditation. And the guided meditation is on the lamrim. And we kind of loosely follow. Report an error in the passage at 48:30 Highlight the passage at 48:30

48:54 So we're just starting. Both of them are somewhere around the mind at this point. We're just starting over again on both of them. So, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 48:54 Highlight the passage at 48:54

49:04 I think those are just by donation. Yeah. Yeah. So it's just, just come. Yeah. Cool. Why don't we take a break and then come back and talk about meditation. Okay. Cool. Report an error in the passage at 49:04 Highlight the passage at 49:04

49:31 I'll save your binder for you. Are you, yeah, maybe email me because then what I'll do is, I don't like to send it out ahead of time in case I make some. Okay, cool. Report an error in the passage at 49:31 Highlight the passage at 49:31

49:43 Drastic change, like right before the class. But then that day, I'll send it out to you. Report an error in the passage at 49:43 Highlight the passage at 49:43

49:54 Oh, yeah, sorry. Yeah, go ahead. If Jane's around, it's good to ask her. If she's not, just go ahead. And then you don't have to dial. No, you don't need to dial. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 49:54 Highlight the passage at 49:54

50:12 I so don't, and you so think I do. I've just used it as too many times as an example. It's like all the people who try to bring me chocolate cake because I use that as an example of attachment. It's like, no, actually. Report an error in the passage at 50:12 Highlight the passage at 50:12

50:26 And busy. Report an error in the passage at 50:26 Highlight the passage at 50:26

50:37 And happy. I was the night group that's now coming out about the Third Street Tunnel. I was in the purple tunnel of doom. busy. Report an error in the passage at 50:37 Highlight the passage at 50:37

50:51 That would be me and Michelle. That would be me and Michelle. Yeah, I know. It's because so many people know that I went and everyone's like, how was it? It's like, you know, it was so extreme that it was funny. To me, it was just like so, because we were so trying to follow the rules and do exactly as we were told and all that stuff. Report an error in the passage at 50:51 Highlight the passage at 50:51

50:57 So. Report an error in the passage at 50:57 Highlight the passage at 50:57

51:01 Yeah, I know. Report an error in the passage at 51:01 Highlight the passage at 51:01

51:21 There we were, shut out in the very last minute. But we just decided, you know, because we got there way early and we were on the mall for like seven hours in extreme cold and then they locked the gates and we couldn't get in and there wasn't enough time to try to find another place to go in at that point. Report an error in the passage at 51:21 Highlight the passage at 51:21

51:37 So we just hopped on the metro and in 15 minutes we were back at our hotel. We like turned the heat up, full blast, ordered room service and watched the whole thing in bed. It was like... Okay, we get the picture. This is what's happening. And we caught it right before he did his oath, so we still saw that line. Report an error in the passage at 51:37 Highlight the passage at 51:37

51:57 So I was like, okay, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 51:57 Highlight the passage at 51:57

52:01 No. No, I was just saying that I was in the purple tunnel of doom. We were some of the purple ticket holders who got shut out. We were in the Third Street tunnel for hours. I mean hours. It was just with like thousands of other people. I think ultimately there were probably 20,000 people in that time. Report an error in the passage at 52:01 Highlight the passage at 52:01

52:20 About 5,000 of us didn't get in. Yeah, I just joined it today. I wanted to be part of that. They had already had, the last count was like 3,500 people had joined. So I think we're going to find out that it's quite a few. blogs are famous, yeah. Yeah. I Report an error in the passage at 52:20 Highlight the passage at 52:20

52:35 And right now the Capitol Police are offering us a free church of the Capitol. I'm like, no. Been there, done there. I want to actually see Obama because that was like the point. So I'm waiting to see what they offer. Diane Feinstein is actually trying to start an investigation on it. Report an error in the passage at 52:35 Highlight the passage at 52:35

53:00 I know, I know. Whatever. It was our particular karma. I was telling Michelle, I was like, okay, let's just believe we're taking on all the negative karma of this administration so they don't have any problems. We'll just take away all the obstacles. Yeah, there was the purple ticket holder. We had tickets. Report an error in the passage at 53:00 Highlight the passage at 53:00

53:19 We actually had tickets, and we're so excited by our little ticket. Report an error in the passage at 53:19 Highlight the passage at 53:19

53:25 We had written to Pelosi's office the way we're supposed to. We got the lottery. We got the tickets and all that stuff. That's so big, You're right. Report an error in the passage at 53:25 Highlight the passage at 53:25

53:32 And then they just, it was just a screw up and they had us all go into this tunnel. The line never moved for hours and hours. And then finally, suddenly it was like this, we all began sort of, and all these people from behind us ran around. And then they panicked, I think, by the number of people. And then they closed the gates in the last maybe 5,000, 6,000. It was all underneath the mall. Report an error in the passage at 53:32 Highlight the passage at 53:32

53:56 I mean, it stretched for like a mile underneath the mall. It was scary only in that if there was like some sort of problem and suddenly everyone came running the other way, there was really no way. It was kind of a weird, that was kind of weird, but it was also there was no police, there was no port-a-potties, there was no services, there was just a traffic tunnel. Report an error in the passage at 53:56 Highlight the passage at 53:56

54:18 No information. No information at all. We were making jokes. I mean, people's attitudes, to be honest, was very good natured. We were all good natured because, of course, we assumed at the end of all this we'd get in. You know, so we were all just like, you know, we're making jokes about, you know, I don't know, you know, purple power. Report an error in the passage at 54:18 Highlight the passage at 54:18

54:42 I was telling Michelle, I think all the purple, like, gate holders were, like, drunk or something, and all the blue ones showed up on time, and they were all, like, you know, sober and gone to bed at 10 o 'clock. The purple ones were like, yeah, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 54:42 Highlight the passage at 54:42

54:55 And then we're watching the speeches and Dianne Feinstein comes out in a purple coat and I'm like, how dare she? Rub it in our face. Pelosi comes out in a purple dress and I'm like, ooh. Report an error in the passage at 54:55 Highlight the passage at 54:55

55:08 Now they're trying to figure out. I mean, you know, I just feel bad for like the really old people and stuff like that, you know, because there are people there that really, this was like their, you know, and I just felt like we were part of it, so I was fine with it, but some people were like in tears and stuff, you know. Report an error in the passage at 55:08 Highlight the passage at 55:08

55:26 You know, because, I mean, they travel a great distance. We had two. We come to California for it, you know. I don't Report an error in the passage at 55:26 Highlight the passage at 55:26

55:49 know. I mean, the one thing that was interesting is Michelle's mom and sister were in the blue group, of course. They got in like by 1030. They were perfectly in their little position. Not that we're bitter or anything. But they said when we finally got a hold of him later, they said, actually, we couldn't understand what he said. We couldn't see him. So Michelle hangs up and she goes, actually, I guess it's six of one. Report an error in the passage at 55:49 Highlight the passage at 55:49

56:25 If it doesn't have the other, at least we could understand him. So many people. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 56:25 Highlight the passage at 56:25

56:43 Oh, I didn't see that. Well, I would have already had the tickets, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think there were rumors that it was going to be like three and a half million and four million. There's no way they could have. They couldn't have done it. I think that would have led to chaos. This was like borderline chaos in a few places, but it was mostly good-natured people. Report an error in the passage at 56:43 Highlight the passage at 56:43

57:07 Totally. And they were repeatedly, like, sort of like when it would go to sort of the baser side of life, there would be a couple, somebody would stand up and go, oh, come on, you guys, you know, let's remember what we're hearing, and then everybody would kind of get back into it, you know. But, you know. Report an error in the passage at 57:07 Highlight the passage at 57:07

57:23 And it's always like this. I'm from D.C., which is why I wanted to go back. So I got to see my family, too, so that was kind of cool. And I got to go in the city a few times, so I felt like I really got to drink and the vibe of it and stuff. But it always happens like this, like the federal police and the state police and the D.C. police and the Virginia police. They just don't communicate. Report an error in the passage at 57:23 Highlight the passage at 57:23

57:44 Park police. There's no communication with the various factions. I mean, it happens like this a lot, but this was... Nobody knew where we should go or how we should get there. So that part was just kind of par for the course. But I think, yeah, I just kind of feel, I feel really bad for the people that, you know, I mean, there were people that were just really in tears. Report an error in the passage at 57:44 Highlight the passage at 57:44

58:09 And they were really, really, they had traveled a great distance. They were old. They really wanted this moment, you know, and they were trying to follow the rules and get there. So that was really heartbreaking. I felt like, you know. Let's just go back and order up to room service. Turn the heat up full blast. We'll be all right. Michelle was really bummed, actually, but she got over it. Report an error in the passage at 58:09 Highlight the passage at 58:09

58:28 She's okay now. Anyway, it was definitely a good opportunity to work with my mind. I found it to be quite useful that way, actually, and it felt like it paid off. I felt like I was able to sort of navigate what was happening and be good-natured about it, and I really felt the use of practice. Report an error in the passage at 58:28 Highlight the passage at 58:28

58:54 So meditation, are we all back? I think we're all back. Everybody's caffeinated and you've all gone. Potty break. Report an error in the passage at 58:54 Highlight the passage at 58:54

59:03 Just in time to learn about meditation. So meditation, a little something about meditation. For those of you that have come to the drop-ins, this will be kind of familiar, but that's okay. Just kind of let it in again. How many people right now do some form of meditation, at least on a regular basis, if not every day? Report an error in the passage at 59:03 Highlight the passage at 59:03

59:27 That's pretty good odds. That's good. We're going to do meditation homework and then we're going to talk about the different kinds of meditation. At the beginning of the class we did a little meditation on the breath and that's one form of what's called stabilization or stabilizing meditation to stabilize the mind basically. Report an error in the passage at 59:27 Highlight the passage at 59:27

59:51 And then the other form is what we're talking about, analytical meditation, where we go through a point, usually of the lamrim, and we try to go in deeply to that point. And so we often go in in a conceptual way, and then we apply whatever amount of concentration we have at that moment, which may be only a tiny ounce, and try to gain some, it's almost like you're trying to fix. Report an error in the passage at 59:51 Highlight the passage at 59:51

1:00:20 That insight into our mind. And then our mind begins to think about what's for dinner or whatever and then we just continue with the analysis a little bit longer and then we'll have an insight and we try to hold it. So it's kind of like that. So analytical meditation is a little bit of both. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:20 Highlight the passage at 1:00:20

1:00:40 Meditation itself. Lama Yeshe often compared meditation to creating a laboratory in our mind. Sort of creating the space, first in our physical world, setting up a space that we meditate in, but then within our mind creating the space to look at things, including our own mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:40 Highlight the passage at 1:00:40

1:01:04 And of course the nature of reality and all the teachings of the Buddha as well. And he often said too that it was sort of like all the different phones are ringing and we finally begin to realize that we get to choose which phones to answer if at all. Because normally when all the phones are ringing we sort of have this grasping at each of the phones that are ringing. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:04 Highlight the passage at 1:01:04

1:01:29 And it's just chaos. But there's a lot of chaos in our minds. I hate to be the one to tell you, normally we don't notice it until we start to meditate and then we think, oh my God, I was actually better off before I started to meditate. Well, we're not. We're simply seeing it for the first time. A lot of times people will actually say that. So, yeah, but that's not the case. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:29 Highlight the passage at 1:01:29

1:01:52 The case is that we actually are, it's almost like we're holding up the microscope to... All the bacteria of our mind and that bacteria are all these crazy thoughts and just the fact that our minds are thought machines. They're just creating all these different, I'm just saying thoughts that could be feelings, emotions, memories, plans, you know, it's all the different things that our mind likes to do all the time and what we're used to is chasing each of them as though it was the most exciting thing on the planet. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:52 Highlight the passage at 1:01:52

1:02:23 It's not actually, it's just habit. We just have the habit of chasing all of our thoughts like that. So meditation is a way of first seeing that and then sinking a little past that and realizing that those things just arise and fall away, arise and fall away. Whether we do anything about them or not, they arise and fall away. And so a lot of meditation, a lot of what meditation is about is getting to know our own minds, really getting to know our own minds and all that that means. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:23 Highlight the passage at 1:02:23

1:02:57 The Buddha didn't want us to meditate just to relax, despite what the YMCA may tell us. The side effect of meditation is a calmer mind and a more relaxed mind and a more relaxed body in some ways. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:57 Highlight the passage at 1:02:57

1:03:13 But believe it or not, that's just a perk. That's a side effect. The main goal is actually to become enlightened. That's really the main goal. The main goal is for us to wake up. To perfect our mind, to develop qualities like kindness and compassion and love and wisdom and all these really great qualities that we want. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:13 Highlight the passage at 1:03:13

1:03:36 That's the purpose. That's the function. The Buddha said that actually all of these things are possible and it begins with looking inside and not outside, which is where we normally look for happiness. All the other good things of our life, right? We want the new job or the new boyfriend or the new car or the piece of chocolate cake. I did that for you, John. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:36 Highlight the passage at 1:03:36

1:04:03 Or the opposite. We look outside of ourselves for removing our suffering. Um, um, Report an error in the passage at 1:04:03 Highlight the passage at 1:04:03

1:04:11 For cutting our suffering. If I'm suffering, you're the blame, right? I don't look at the fact that my mind is creating all the stories about you that I'm believing, you know. And so his point was, you have to look inside. Everything is there that you need to be enlightened. That's really all that's there, and it begins with meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:11 Highlight the passage at 1:04:11

1:04:32 So I know some of you have heard some of these quotes, but I went to a great, great teaching with a woman, a nun by the name of Tenzin Palmo just after Thanksgiving, just after the conference last year. And she just said some really amazing things about... about meditation. So those of you that were in the mind class and some of the drop-in meditations, I've used these quotes. I'm going to do it again. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:32 Highlight the passage at 1:04:32

1:04:57 She said basically that there are two purposes for meditation, to become the master of our own mind and to know our own mind, to understand its nature. She said, normally people aren't aware of how busy our minds are until we try to meditate. We actually think we are in control of our minds. But if we were, we could set our motivation to keep our minds calm, loving and peaceful all day, and so they would stay. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:57 Highlight the passage at 1:04:57

1:05:25 I'll let this one pass. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:25 Highlight the passage at 1:05:25

1:05:30 The fact that we don't manage to spend our whole day being loving and good-natured is because we are not in control of our minds. Instead, we have minds that go up and down depending upon external and internal stimuli. We are the slave to our minds. We allow it to be in charge. The closest thing to us is our own mind, our mental states, and this isn't under our control. If we had a loudspeaker attached to our mind, wouldn't everyone want to learn to meditate? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:30 Highlight the passage at 1:05:30

1:06:01 We spend a lot of time on external appearances, but little on internal reality. We never can escape from our own mind. We must make the mind a place we can live in happily. Forget enlightenment. Is our mind what we want as our closest companion? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:01 Highlight the passage at 1:06:01

1:06:18 First, we must learn to deal with our mind skillfully. The first step of this is to learn to quiet the mind. It's like someone driving who doesn't know how fast they're going and we don't even have a license. We must quiet and calm the mind and get it to be single-pointed. So that's the first advertisement for meditation. Meditation in Tibetan is gom, which is why we call this a gompa, a meditation hall, a meditation place. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:18 Highlight the passage at 1:06:18

1:06:48 And it means literally to become familiar with something. So to become familiar with our own mind, become familiar with the teachings. Become familiar with everything that's positive within our minds, all those positive qualities. As well as becoming familiar with what's harmful and actually unskillful that we just do by habit. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:48 Highlight the passage at 1:06:48

1:07:11 So becoming familiar with that too. Which most of the time we just distract. We distract a lot in our culture. And in this culture... In this tradition of Buddhism, emptying the head of all thoughts is not meditation. When we meditate, we have an object. Our mind has an object, and we're trying to stay on that object, whether it's single-pointedly or whether it's simply trying to understand, for example, impermanence through reasoning or through example or through quotes or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:11 Highlight the passage at 1:07:11

1:07:51 So, um, When all the thoughts begin to arise, it's not like we've repressed them. We don't push them down and we're not a bad person if we still have thoughts, which is the good news. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:51 Highlight the passage at 1:07:51

1:08:06 The point is to stop giving those thoughts so much energy and to realize that they're just thoughts and that if we don't give them energy, they will fall away. And that's really powerful for when you're not meditating. And your meditation should have some effect on the rest of your life. It should. There shouldn't be such a huge gap between what we do on the cushion and what we do when two million people are around you and you're stuck in a tunnel underneath them all. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:06 Highlight the passage at 1:08:06

1:08:36 Should be some sort of connect. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:36 Highlight the passage at 1:08:36

1:08:43 Ultimately, we want to strengthen our force of concentration so that it becomes like this tool that we can use towards whatever we want, which will ultimately be our ultimate object is going to be the nature of reality as the Buddha experienced it, which is this thing that we call emptiness. People all think it's so great and don't really understand. But it's just basically the nature of reality. And what we'll do with this tool that we create with our mind is to go deeper and to penetrate into that until we gain realizations into it and all the way up to full enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:43 Highlight the passage at 1:08:43

1:09:22 In this class we're going to do both, but mainly I think the main type of meditation that we're going to do is analytical meditation. I think it's really important, if you're not already, to do a little of each. Even if, like one of the first students that I ever had, who's still coming actually, which is certainly encouraging, he had to start at two and a half minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:22 Highlight the passage at 1:09:22

1:09:48 That was like... His max, that was all he could do. And it just gradually grew. It gradually grew. And so if that's where you are, then you start where you are. Do two and a half minutes, you know, but just do a little bit. We need to strengthen the force of concentration as well as we can because we need it for analytical too. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:48 Highlight the passage at 1:09:48

1:10:09 We need it for everything we do. We need it for our work, right? We need it for our study. We need it for conversation, you know. It's a failing art right now. We need it just to be able to listen to somebody. So we need concentration, and it's really important to work on that a little bit each day. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:09 Highlight the passage at 1:10:09

1:10:28 So I'll review, every time we meditate in class, I'll go through the posture, mostly just to remind people. To remember what the points of the posture are. We aren't going to spend so much time other than that on the posture. There's a class happening right now called How to Meditate that's on Wednesday nights. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:28 Highlight the passage at 1:10:28

1:10:49 And if you are interested, you're welcome to come into that class or you can come to any of the drop-in meditations to get more help. It's really important if you don't already to have a regular time and place that you meditate. And for those people that would like, I can email out a little document. I think it's just a one-page document that I did that's just sort of developed. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:49 Highlight the passage at 1:10:49

1:11:15 I can't remember actually if it's one page or two, so I won't say that. Maybe it's two pages. Setting up a regular meditation. I think it's just like a preliminary sheet on... What meditation is in this particular lineage? So if people are interested, tell me after the class and I'll email it to you. I'll just mark it on their roster. But the main thing is to just do it on a regular basis at a regular time. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:15 Highlight the passage at 1:11:15

1:11:42 To just sort of set your mind, your determination that I'm going to do this every day. And if I can't do it in the morning and something stops me, then I'm going to do it at night. Just so that you don't have to debate with yourself. I don't like it. You know, it's just like, just do it. You know, just do it. I was really trying when I was in D.C. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:42 Highlight the passage at 1:11:42

1:12:01 to do it no matter what. And there were sometimes CNN was on and people were screaming at each other in the hotel room. And I'm just sitting there attempting really hard to just do it. And there's something to be said, even if it sucks, even if it's a really bad meditation, you're just like. I'm so proud of myself that I even tried. It's so insane. There's something to be said for that discipline, and that discipline will pay off in the end. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:01 Highlight the passage at 1:12:01

1:12:28 It won't always be easy in the moment, but it'll definitely pay off. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:28 Highlight the passage at 1:12:28

1:12:35 In our tradition, there are certain prayers and things like that that you do to prepare your mind. It's really taught that... so Report an error in the passage at 1:12:35 Highlight the passage at 1:12:35

1:12:47 If you don't prepare your mind to do meditation, that you're not going to have the effects that you want. Because it is related to the overall path. It's not something outside of that. And so I am, for those people that are interested, we will do some of those preliminaries. And I was actually going to start those tonight, depending on time when we do the final meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:47 Highlight the passage at 1:12:47

1:13:19 When I do them now, to be honest, when I do the preliminaries, it takes less than five minutes. It usually takes me just like literally only like two minutes. I do it really, really fast. You know, I go for refuge. I generate bodhicitta and I do a seven limb prayer in like two minutes, you know, because I basically I make it real. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:19 Highlight the passage at 1:13:19

1:13:41 I don't read anything. I just go through it in my head and I make it real for me so that it it's like a direct. Prayer really is like plugging in. I think Sarah actually said that one time in a teaching on prayer. A lot of us have sort of bad associations with prayer. Prayer is really plugging in to like all the energy that's out there. So it's all the energy of all the enlightened beings. It's all the energy of all of our teachers. It's like for that one moment that you're praying, whether you're praying, you know, you know, on your own or whether you're reading a prayer or whatever, it's like you're. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:41 Highlight the passage at 1:13:41

1:14:17 You're plugging back into the system. So it's actually like this really invigorating thing to do. It's not necessarily like a sort of a holy thing to do. It should give you a little fuel or a little inspiration. But anyway, we'll talk more about that. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:17 Highlight the passage at 1:14:17

1:14:36 Some people I know do get overwhelmed. The only reason I spend a little time on that is some people do get overwhelmed by all the preliminaries. Make it work for you. If it's too much... Then just do some really quick, simple version of it. Or just at least touch on them, but then spend more time on the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:36 Highlight the passage at 1:14:36

1:14:58 I don't want to dissuade you from the meditation, so that's really, really important. But it is, I think, to have a really strong practice, I think that preliminaries are really important. So that's why I teach them. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:58 Highlight the passage at 1:14:58

1:15:14 So as His Holiness always says at the end of His teachings, if it helps, you use. If not, you toss out. Again, here's another quote from Tenzin Palmo, who is clearly one of my idols, and not just about meditating. She talks here about the function of meditating and also the urgency of meditating. She said, Ordinarily, mind is like a waterfall. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:14 Highlight the passage at 1:15:14

1:15:37 We can't stop the thoughts or separate them one from another because they are jumbled together coming down. The challenge is to take the object with great patience and perseverance, repeatedly placing the mind onto the object again and again. If our minds are not centered, our speech and actions reflect that. If our minds are filled with negativities, of course everything else is caught up in that vortex. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:37 Highlight the passage at 1:15:37

1:16:02 Our planet is run by people who do not control their minds, so we owe it to the planet itself to control our minds. It's not some quirky little New Age thing. I love that. Meditation is a way. I should say, too, this is, of course, my notes of what she said, so it could be slightly wrong. I apologize, Tens and Palma, if I got it wrong. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:02 Highlight the passage at 1:16:02

1:16:23 Meditation is a way to learn to uproot negative qualities and to develop the good. If we really want to do something well, we must give it time and attention so we have to believe it's important. Otherwise, we'll give up. Even one person with a mind that is clear and peaceful and sees things well ripples out and affects so many others. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:23 Highlight the passage at 1:16:23

1:16:43 We must really want to meditate. We must really see the need. Whether or not we feel like it without ever asking, do I feel like it? It's the same as with yoga, so you just do it. You make a routine for yourself. It's no good sitting only when you feel like it. It's leaving it up to the ego and it makes it sporadic. Meditation is to cut the machinations of the ego, so we must recognize it and continue to bring the mind back. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:43 Highlight the passage at 1:16:43

1:17:11 Don't just think, oh, I'm a distracted person, I can't meditate. Your distracted mind shows how much you need to meditate. With meditation, the mind should be spacious and peaceful, but also clear, bright and aware. Our awareness should be vivid, unwavering, shining and sharp. There is a sense that a light has gone on in the mind, very bright and clear. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:11 Highlight the passage at 1:17:11

1:17:35 When we get up from the meditation, we should be vivid, clear and bright, not spaced out. We are not becoming a bliss cloud. We are trying to connect more and be present more and more crisp and more aware. Is this happening for us? If we're just getting blissed out, hazy and cloudy, it's not working. Our thoughts are serious business. Everything we say and do comes from our thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:35 Highlight the passage at 1:17:35

1:18:01 People kill for their thoughts, so it's very important to step back and see that thoughts are just thoughts and feelings are just feelings. You must see the urgency of this. You must want to do this. You have to see our mind being out of control is one of the causes of our problems, and in fact is the cause of our problems. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:01 Highlight the passage at 1:18:01

1:18:21 We're so used to blaming others, to seeing things outside of us as the problem. Millions have done this. It is possible. As results begin to come and we gain confidence in our own abilities, we can view problems with some dispassion and even compassion. Self-confidence is essential. We must trust or we won't even try. It's like a baby learning to walk repeatedly trying again even though it fails. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:21 Highlight the passage at 1:18:21

1:18:48 This is like us. We must believe we can do it. The baby never thinks, oh, it's good for them. They can walk. I can't do this. It never doubts itself but keeps on trying. This is like us. If others can do it, it means it's possible. We put so much effort into so much else. Why not this? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:48 Highlight the passage at 1:18:48

1:19:09 Isn't that great? Don't you just want to go out there right now and meditate? So we are going to meditate, but first I'm going to ask if there are people who have questions about anything that I've babbled on about tonight, except Third Street Tunnel. I'm not going to go into that. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:09 Highlight the passage at 1:19:09

1:19:29 Before you do, you have to grab the mic now. I let you get off the hook for the introductions, but not for... You mentioned earlier renunciation, saying that it was more like learning what... The issue isn't diving into it like a pool? A little. It's more about learning what the conditions that we're in are and then learning what our potential is to come out of those conditions and diving into that, diving into that potential. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:29 Highlight the passage at 1:19:29

1:19:59 So is renunciation, what is renunciation? We're going to spend a whole class on it. We're going to spend a whole class on it. Okay. Yeah, this is just your overview, but we'll spend more time on it for sure. Anybody else have questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:59 Highlight the passage at 1:19:59

1:20:17 Never heard of such. All right, well, let's just end with a quiet meditation. Well, actually, I won't, of course, keep babbling on. You'll have to deal with that, but we'll end with a simple meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:17 Highlight the passage at 1:20:17

1:20:32 And I'll start with just reviewing the posture, just so that you have that experience. Some of you, this will be your review, and then some of this might be new, or it might be different than what you're used to. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:32 Highlight the passage at 1:20:32

1:20:46 So I always like us to transition to just take some nice deep belly breaths and let them go. I find that useful for wherever. If you're getting up and you're sitting down, transitioning between sleep and meditation. If you're coming in from work, in this way we're transitioning from the class and that energy into a meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:46 Highlight the passage at 1:20:46

1:21:08 Just taking some nice deep belly breaths and imagining them dissolving any sluggishness, sleepiness, distractedness. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:08 Highlight the passage at 1:21:08

1:21:21 Over conceptualization. And just breathing that out into the night. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:21 Highlight the passage at 1:21:21

1:21:36 And breathing in just fresh alertness, awareness, curiosity. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:36 Highlight the passage at 1:21:36

1:21:59 The most important element of the posture is extending your spine or lengthening your spine. So if you're seated in a chair, just pulling away from the back of the chair so you're not too comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:59 Highlight the passage at 1:21:59

1:22:15 And if you're seated on a cushion, just kind of trying to extend up. You can almost imagine. Like a cord in front of your spinal column going out the top of your head, like somebody else is holding that cord. And it's almost constant adjustment to that as gravity sort of pulls you down. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:15 Highlight the passage at 1:22:15

1:22:42 The shoulders are sort of rolled back and level. Often, especially those of us who are on the computer, we have our shoulders up around our ears, so just relaxing them and having them back slightly. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:42 Highlight the passage at 1:22:42

1:22:58 The chin is just slightly tucked down, which opens up the back of the neck. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:58 Highlight the passage at 1:22:58

1:23:12 The eyes in this tradition are open. So you're sort of gazing an unfocused way off the end of your nose and then just letting it, your eyes just sort of unfocus. The Report an error in the passage at 1:23:12 Highlight the passage at 1:23:12

1:23:43 tongue just rests naturally on the roof of your mouth behind the front teeth and Report an error in the passage at 1:23:43 Highlight the passage at 1:23:43

1:23:52 that just sort of keeps your mouth and throat moist. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:52 Highlight the passage at 1:23:52

1:24:02 If you feel that you're holding a lot of tension in your jaw, you want to take a moment to just relax that tension. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:02 Highlight the passage at 1:24:02

1:24:15 In this tradition, we have our hands in our lap, right over left, thumbs touching lightly. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:15 Highlight the passage at 1:24:15

1:24:26 And if we have our feet in what's called full Vajra position, which would be where the feet are resting on the opposite thighs, Report an error in the passage at 1:24:26 Highlight the passage at 1:24:26

1:24:40 Then our hands sort of rest on top of that, and it ends up falling about four finger widths below the navel. For those of us who don't sit in that position, and I would encourage you to just be really gentle if you decide you do want to sit in that position. It's like a yoga position, so you have to kind of work into it slowly. Otherwise we just have our legs sort of crossed. Whatever way feels good to us to hold a short meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:40 Highlight the passage at 1:24:40

1:25:11 Then the hands can either just rest lightly in the lap or you can actually decide to hold them at the level of your navel. Or you can put something underneath them like a cushion or a rolled up sweater and have them rest on that. And that allows a little bit of air to move between your arms and your body, which is useful especially if you're in a lot of heat. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:11 Highlight the passage at 1:25:11

1:25:36 It keeps you a little bit more alert. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:36 Highlight the passage at 1:25:36

1:25:45 And the last element of the posture is actually the breathing itself. It's just the breathing being relaxed exactly the way it is. You don't need to make it really deep or rhythmic. It will become deeper and more rhythmic as you go, but you don't need to do anything for that to happen. You're just observing it as it is. So we usually start with meditation on the breath, just observing the breath as it actually is. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:45 Highlight the passage at 1:25:45

1:26:27 So we're going to start with a really short meditation on the breath, just the way we did at the beginning where we took a moment to either have your focus at the level of your belly as it rises and falls, or you can feel it kind of opening and closing with each breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:27 Highlight the passage at 1:26:27

1:26:47 And that's really good if you spend a lot of time in your head, if you're overly analytical, or if you're upset. It can be a more calming or more grounding. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:47 Highlight the passage at 1:26:47

1:27:03 A more subtle meditation is focusing on a little patch of skin at the tip of your nostril and trying to feel the air as it enters and leaves your body. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:03 Highlight the passage at 1:27:03

1:27:18 Focusing all of your attention there and then being willing to repeatedly bring the mind back to the object as it wanders off. We're just going to do this for a couple of rounds. If you'd like to count to ten, meaning ten rounds of in and out, Report an error in the passage at 1:27:18 Highlight the passage at 1:27:18

1:27:34 That's sometimes a way of anchoring your mind to the object. But without any judgment on how often your mind goes off, just trying to keep bringing the mind back. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:34 Highlight the passage at 1:27:34

1:27:47 And we'll do this for a couple of rounds of ten. And Report an error in the passage at 1:27:47 Highlight the passage at 1:27:47

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:30:12 I'll do a simple version of the preliminaries, at Report an error in the passage at 1:30:12 Highlight the passage at 1:30:12

1:30:21 least the way I do them. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:21 Highlight the passage at 1:30:21

1:30:27 Each of these things, of course, could be really, really deep. You could go very profoundly into them. But in this case, we just sort of do an overview. It's like preparing the soil before you plant. And Report an error in the passage at 1:30:27 Highlight the passage at 1:30:27

1:30:47 the first is taking refuge. Taking refuge has to do with recognizing the situation that we're in. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:47 Highlight the passage at 1:30:47

1:31:01 According to the Buddha, we create a reality through the karma that we create by the different acts of body, speech and mind that we do. The physical acts, the speech. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:01 Highlight the passage at 1:31:01

1:31:16 And even the thoughts, especially the habitual thoughts, the stories we tell, the stories we think. We create karma with each of those and we carry that karma from life to life and that karma ripens as our experiences. Every experience that we have is created by our karma. So understanding that we can realize that whatever situation we're in now, we have created. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:16 Highlight the passage at 1:31:16

1:31:47 And can create exactly what we want to experience. We can change whatever our experience is by really beginning to work with our understanding of karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:47 Highlight the passage at 1:31:47

1:32:03 So taking refuge in that. Seeing that the Buddha was exactly like us. Seeing that he was able to transcend all this. We take refuge in him and his teachings as the guide. As the method of being able to transcend this situation we found ourselves in. That's really what taking refuge is all about. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:03 Highlight the passage at 1:32:03

1:32:29 Just deciding, okay, I don't really like the situation I'm in. I want to get out of it. Who do I turn to? What do I turn to? Report an error in the passage at 1:32:29 Highlight the passage at 1:32:29

1:32:40 Generating bodhicitta is realizing that not just everyone in this room, but everyone across the planet, and even beyond that, everyone in this realm. It's in exactly the same boat. And some of us are suffering so greatly and deciding to do this for them. Do it for all of us. So if we're meditating like we are tonight, whatever it is that we're doing, to do it with that in mind, doing it for all other beings as well as ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:40 Highlight the passage at 1:32:40

1:33:22 And the seven limb practice begins with just imagining a teacher or the Buddha in front of you. So you can just picture a teacher like His Holiness the Dalai Lama or somebody that you really, really honor and respect sitting in front of you in the sky. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:22 Highlight the passage at 1:33:22

1:33:42 And then we begin just like we did when we did the prostrations at the beginning of class. Think about some quality that he has that you want. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:42 Highlight the passage at 1:33:42

1:33:52 So maybe it's his ability to laugh at whatever comes up, his lightheartedness. Maybe it's his ability to be completely present with every person who comes into his life. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:52 Highlight the passage at 1:33:52

1:34:09 Whatever that quality is, think of it and then bow down, meaning just to respect that quality in your mind. That's prostration. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:09 Highlight the passage at 1:34:09

1:34:30 And then think about what you would give for that quality. So if it is this lightheartedness all the time, remember, just imagine that it's not like he just does this. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:30 Highlight the passage at 1:34:30

1:34:45 On good days. He does this all the time. His mind is always light like that. So if we really wanted a mind that was always light and humor-filled and friendly like that, what would we give for that? It can't just be one or two things. It could be like an entire sky filled with offerings. So just imagine like clouds and clouds and clouds are the most incredible. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:45 Highlight the passage at 1:34:45

1:35:13 Flowers are the most incredible. Light offerings or fireworks or the most incredible things you've ever experienced. Sunrises, sunsets. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:13 Highlight the passage at 1:35:13

1:35:27 And offer it up with your heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:27 Highlight the passage at 1:35:27

1:35:41 And then the third stage is Report an error in the passage at 1:35:41 Highlight the passage at 1:35:41

1:35:52 generating regret for something that we've done. So thinking about just something that you've done today, something that may have been harmful. Maybe it was getting angry at somebody. Maybe it was saying something that you now regret, especially with this understanding of karma. So it's not about guilt, it's just about getting it that we can create our own suffering and we can also create our own paradise. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:52 Highlight the passage at 1:35:52

1:36:18 So with that in mind, just regretting something, getting it off your chest. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:18 Highlight the passage at 1:36:18

1:36:41 And then in the same with the same, it's almost like the flip side of that same coin is rejoicing in something that you've done. And maybe it's coming to this class. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:41 Highlight the passage at 1:36:41

1:36:51 Maybe it's coming here tonight. And just being totally happy from the depths of your heart about that, whatever that action is that you're rejoicing in. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:51 Highlight the passage at 1:36:51

1:37:17 And then we just make a request for this teacher or this Buddha in front of us to stay and to teach us. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:17 Highlight the passage at 1:37:17

1:37:29 Just requesting them to always be with us, always to guide us. And to teach us in all sorts of ways. So not just formal teachings, but, you know, the lady next to you on the bus. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:29 Highlight the passage at 1:37:29

1:37:43 The situations we find ourselves in. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:43 Highlight the passage at 1:37:43

1:37:48 You know, the person that cuts you off in traffic. All the different opportunities we have to work in our minds, those can also be teachings. And we have to keep working with all of those. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:48 Highlight the passage at 1:37:48

1:38:07 And then we just dedicate any merit from that little prayer to the benefit of every living being. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:07 Highlight the passage at 1:38:07

1:38:20 And then bring your awareness to your own heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:20 Highlight the passage at 1:38:20

1:38:26 And imagine inside of your own heart is a seed, like a tiny apple seed. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:26 Highlight the passage at 1:38:26

1:38:41 And imagine surrounding this seed like a coating or all the teachings of the Buddha and all the masters that followed him all the way up to our own teachers. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:41 Highlight the passage at 1:38:41

1:38:59 And imagine this seed starting to take root inside of your heart, into your heart and mind and Report an error in the passage at 1:38:59 Highlight the passage at 1:38:59

1:39:09 beginning to sprout. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:09 Highlight the passage at 1:39:09

1:39:18 Visualize whatever conditions you know that you need for this to happen, like good classes, good teachers, discussions with your fellow students. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:18 Highlight the passage at 1:39:18

1:39:31 Your own diligence in studying, your own diligence in meditating. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:31 Highlight the passage at 1:39:31

1:39:38 All of this is acting like the moisture on the good soil and the fertilizer for the seed to grow, Report an error in the passage at 1:39:38 Highlight the passage at 1:39:38

1:39:52 the rain and the sun. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:52 Highlight the passage at 1:39:52

1:40:00 And imagine all of that surrounding this seed and allowing it to grow. And Report an error in the passage at 1:40:00 Highlight the passage at 1:40:00

1:40:14 imagine this seed beginning to put out leaves and roots and Report an error in the passage at 1:40:14 Highlight the passage at 1:40:14

1:40:26 buds and fruit. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:26 Highlight the passage at 1:40:26

1:40:31 The fruit being the actual realizations in our minds with practice and with understanding that come. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:31 Highlight the passage at 1:40:31

1:40:45 This sprout is your own potential to become a Buddha, a fully awakened one, somebody with perfect mind, with no negative states of mind at all and only positive states of mind. And each of these positive states of mind being fully developed. And each one of us, the Buddha said, has the potential for us becoming exactly like he did. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:45 Highlight the passage at 1:40:45

1:41:20 The Buddha said that everyone has this potential within their mind, but only some of us are able to actualize it. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:20 Highlight the passage at 1:41:20

1:41:32 So imagine being surrounded by all living beings and each one of them having this seed in their mind. And realize that some of those seeds fall on bad soil. Some of them don't get any warmth or moisture or fertilizer. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:32 Highlight the passage at 1:41:32

1:41:57 And so they can't grow. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:57 Highlight the passage at 1:41:57

1:42:08 So make a determination now to help the seedling grow until you have the power and ability to help every living being around you also become enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:08 Highlight the passage at 1:42:08

1:42:26 You do have the power to do this. And feel how amazing it will be to be able to do this once it's fully developed. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:26 Highlight the passage at 1:42:26

1:42:52 And then we just take a moment to dedicate this class, this meditation. Whatever we might have gained from this class tonight, to each one of us being able to do this, to develop our minds fully so that we can perfectly help ourselves and every living being around us so that this tiny little seed in our heart really takes root and grows in Report an error in the passage at 1:42:52 Highlight the passage at 1:42:52

1:43:34 your own time. You can end your meditation and open your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:34 Highlight the passage at 1:43:34

1:43:58 So, I have the homework. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:58 Highlight the passage at 1:43:58

1:44:07 I'm going to hand out, and you'll have a couple weeks to read them both, but there are two handouts, so everybody should get one of each. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:07 Highlight the passage at 1:44:07

1:44:19 Tell me if we run out of one. One of them, there's a book for this class that's actually, if you decide you want to do it for credit, it's called The Awakened One. This first handout is a good bit of that. um, hmm. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:19 Highlight the passage at 1:44:19

1:44:38 Sort of condensed. It's like, you know, it was like all put into one little tiny article. I have a feeling I may have left something out because it's sort of chopped off at the end, but it's a good way into it so you can at least get that far. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:38 Highlight the passage at 1:44:38

1:44:55 So that's the life of the Buddha in a short way. That's what we'll talk about next week. The second one is a teaching by Venerable Urbina Korten. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:55 Highlight the passage at 1:44:55

1:45:07 That was actually the introduction from Lama Yashi's book, Becoming the Compassion Buddha, where she goes over the entire lamrim. So it's just a really useful, very concise format to just give you an overview. Just take a few weeks to read that, so don't feel like you have to read it all at once. But it'll give you more information about renunciation as well. It'll give you more information about how it all sort of fits together. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:07 Highlight the passage at 1:45:07

1:45:36 So everybody will get one of each of these. And then this is your homework. See how little it is? Report an error in the passage at 1:45:36 Highlight the passage at 1:45:36

1:45:49 Actually, I'll have you hand this up. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:49 Highlight the passage at 1:45:49

1:45:55 Any questions for anybody? And tell me if you don't, if we run out. Because I can actually, I can't give you this one, but I can give this one out. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:55 Highlight the passage at 1:45:55

1:46:26 And she should get one too. Yeah, cool. Oh, good. So we're all right on that. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:26 Highlight the passage at 1:46:26

1:46:44 Should we one of each? Yeah. It's pretty safe. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:44 Highlight the passage at 1:46:44

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:46:47 Are we cool? Report an error in the passage at 1:46:47 Highlight the passage at 1:46:47

1:46:51 We have an extra. Yay. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:51 Highlight the passage at 1:46:51

1:46:56 Very good. So just play with this, read a little bit, and bring questions for next week. And thanks, you guys. Have a great week. All right. If people want to help, we'll just stack all the questions, too. Maybe somebody could go around first and collect all of these. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:56 Highlight the passage at 1:46:56

1:47:34 You'll see some more on the black bookshelf right behind the throne. You'll see more of them back there. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:34 Highlight the passage at 1:47:34

1:47:51 get folded up, and there's like a, the window seat, perfect. I was like, let's see, how do I say that word again? Report an error in the passage at 1:47:51 Highlight the passage at 1:47:51

1:48:01 definitely have just long enough to get used to these. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:48:01 Highlight the passage at 1:48:01

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:49:51 yeah, yeah, I'm so sorry. I totally forgot to mention that again. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:51 Highlight the passage at 1:49:51

1:50:07 Can you teach me how to knit? Yes, super easy. I would love to. I've been wanting to learn for years, and I was like, going to do it, and then I didn't have the money to pay for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:07 Highlight the passage at 1:50:07

1:50:18 Then I'm sitting there on the plane to DC, and this 12-year-old is knitting, and I'm like... I know, and then I sit down in the next waiting area and somebody else brings out hers and I'm just like, what is this? Yeah, something purple. That would have been on the way back. Cool. Anybody else want that email? Yes, I would. All right, see you. Bye-bye. Yeah, I think you already have it. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:18 Highlight the passage at 1:50:18

1:50:48 I'll send an email to everyone. I forgot to mention it again. You can always hit delete. late. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:48 Highlight the passage at 1:50:48

1:51:01 Oh gosh, I totally forgot to turn this off. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:01 Highlight the passage at 1:51:01