← Lobsang Chokyi

Discovering Buddhism: Establishing a Daily Practice (11 February 2010)

Lobsang Chokyi · 11 February 2010 · 2 h 2 min · Tse Chen Ling via Internet Archive

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  • 18:31

    Basically, how we create our entire world and our experience of that world through the actions that we do with our body, speech and our mind. That's it in a nutshell. There's no such thing as a creator god in Buddhism. We create karmic potential or karmic imprints or karmic seeds, depending on how you want to think about it. Geshe-la prefers the word imprints, but I think sometimes seeds are useful to think of too.

  • 22:37

    And the Buddha said basically that's the cause of our suffering, is not necessarily even seeing it that way, but as Rinpoche says, believing that it exists that way. So it's like that believing, that extra layer of misperceiving reality is what does it. That's what causes our suffering. But karma and emptiness work together.

  • 27:19

    Because understanding karma allows us to understand how we create our world, and understanding emptiness allows us to let go of that solid, self-existent world that we believe exists. So one of them sort of gives us more power and the other one loosens up that kind of tight, constricted grasping that we are constantly doing. Karma and emptiness basically means that it all comes down to us. So I find them both very exciting and juicy and powerful for that way.

  • 30:10

    One of the things that, for example, this week, the next two weeks, you're going to be meditating on the precious human rebirth. From the idea that we have these great conditions right now. And to notice them, to like go, wow, you know, no matter what, because we're always waiting, we're always thinking, you know, maybe I'll have a better job, maybe I'll have more time, maybe, you know, maybe I'll retire soon enough. I knew a longtime Buddhist who used to always talk about, well, when I just retire, and I was like, girlfriend, you know, you don't even know that you're going to live that long, you know. Like, it's really carpe diem.

  • 39:06

    So all of those things should be there. So what we're going to experiment with in the meditation that you guys are going to work on this weekend, next week is using a lamrim. Prayer, in this case Foundation of All Good Qualities, as a way to kind of like a review of the whole lamrim. So we're going to start reading it. We'll stop at our section, Precious Human Rebirth. We'll do our little meditation on Precious Human Rebirth. We'll have our little aha moment, hopefully.

0:00 We're trying to avoid that ever happening. Report an error

0:13 She's serving herself tea. Okay, so we're going to actually start with... I'm actually a little bit early. Oh well, we'll just start. We're just going to do a little short meditation, but we're going to do a longer meditation at the end, so we're just kind of doing just enough to bring you guys down, but not enough to... Report an error

0:35 We'll spend more time on the final meditation. We actually, of course, have quite a bit to do tonight, so... Just going to go lickety-split. We'll see how we do. But I do have some announcements to make after we finish the meditation, so we'll just start. Report an error

1:07 So just take some nice deep breaths and allow your day to just kind of dissolve. Really start feeling your body and mind coming into this room. You might take some cleansing breaths and just wash away anything that might keep you from being here. Report an error

1:56 His Holiness the Dalai Lama always talks about the way, the fact that... All of us want to be happy and we want to avoid suffering and that's one way that we connect or one thing that we all have in common. Not just with all people but with all living beings. So for a moment just try to get in touch with that in yourself. Report an error

2:25 Try to see how you want happiness and how you try to avoid pain and suffering. How that might manifest in your life. Report an error

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3:10 Everything from... Report an error

3:15 Grasping onto people or objects or experiences or places. All the way down to just shifting in your seat, trying to find comfort, trying to avoid pain. Report an error

3:39 The Buddha taught that there's nothing wrong with this wish. The Report an error

3:46 problem is that the way we go about it is all wrong. Report an error

3:53 We spend our time running after happiness and creating the causes for suffering. Report an error

4:02 We're running from suffering and creating the causes for more. Report an error

4:20 So may this class, whatever insights you gather, whatever new thoughts, experiences, insights, Report an error

4:34 may whatever comes into your mind tonight plant the seeds of actual realizations that can bring you that happiness that you seek and completely eradicate all the pain and suffering you've ever had in any lifetime since beginningless time and even more. Report an error

4:57 That it gives you the tools to take away the pain and suffering and bring happiness to all living beings. Report an error

5:16 All it takes is one mind, one karmic seed to begin. So let it start here. And Report an error

5:35 then as you're ready, you can open your eyes. And we're going to start with the opening prayers. I didn't get a prayer booklet. Report an error

5:56 We'll do the one on page 8, but we're also going to do... The ones on the opposite side, just so you can have an experience of saying those prayers that we refer to in the meditations that we've been doing, for sure, religiously, the whole time I've been to Pop Quiz. Report an error

6:20 So we're going to start with the one with a picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. 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. Report an error

6:46 As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain, the spell of the miseries of the world. So we'll do Refuge in Generating Bodhicitta. We'll do it once in Tibetan and then twice in English. Oh, we don't have Tibetan, so we'll just do it all in English. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. Report an error

7:13 By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma. May I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. Report an error

7:41 By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings, free from hatred and attachment, may they abide in equanimity. I myself will cause them to abide in equanimity. Please, Guru Buddha, bless me to be able to do this. How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings had happiness and the causes of happiness. Report an error

8:12 May they have happiness in its cause. I myself will cause them to have these. Please, Guru Buddha, bless me to be able to do this. How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were free from suffering in its cause. May they be free from suffering and its cause. I myself will cause them to be free from suffering and its cause. Please, Guru Buddha, bless me to be able to do this. Report an error

8:39 How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were never separated from the happiness of higher rebirth and liberation. May they never be separated from these. I myself will cause them never to be separated from these. Please, Guru Buddha, bless me to be able to do this. Report an error

8:58 Reverently I prostrate with my body, speech and mind. I present clouds of every type of offering, actual and imagined. I declare all my negative actions accumulated since beginningless time and rejoice in the merit of all holy and ordinary beings. Please remain until the end of cyclic existence and turn the wheel of Dharma for living beings. I dedicate my own merits and those of all others. Report an error

9:27 To the great enlightenment. So if you like having the prayers, this is a nice version of them. I snuck in while we were doing those prayers. This is a nice version of it and people are welcome to make copies of this. The way that Lama Zopa Rinpoche does it, when he gets to that fourth line, the rejoice, he stops us all and we all just spend a while rejoicing. Report an error

9:51 And I say a while rejoicing, rejoicing, rejoicing. So he really can spend, he can spend, no kidding, like up to an hour rejoicing there. In the morning when we do it in the puja, we'll stop and we'll do maybe a minute. But just taking real time to really rejoice about all the good things you've ever done and all the good things anyone's doing. And I wanted to mention too, there's a reason that we do three repetitions of the first one. Report an error

10:25 Because they say that maybe by the third time we're paying attention. I noticed I did that too by the time, by the third time I was like, I really go for refuge in Lama and Lama. Like it finally caught my attention, so there's something to that I think. All right. So a couple of announcements. For those of you, I think most people know, but we have a couple people sitting in I think too. The Getting Started Basic Buddhist Rituals was postponed from the 6th. Report an error

10:54 It's now going to be on the 27th, which is a Saturday. Also a Saturday. Same hours, 10.30 to 1.30. If people want and can't make that time, please let me know because we're thinking about doing another one in April and May. So we'll set up another one at that point. But I just want to get some input from people that actually want to do it so that I can kind of help make that happen. Report an error

11:25 Yeah, 10.30 to 1.30. Report an error

11:31 Let's start that over. So the basic Buddhist rituals class will be happening. Getting started. Basic Buddhist Rituals, 10.30 to 1.30, Saturday, February 27th. Report an error

11:51 I like what Elizabeth put, with a tea break, like you have to have tea, like we all just sit down and someone serves us. I thought that was cute. If people want coffee, they can have it. Report an error

12:03 I did want to mention Geshe-la is teaching a class that's called Enticingly Preparing for Tantra. It's open to everyone, and what it really is is a commentary on Foundation of All Good Qualities, which you guys are going to be spending the next couple of weeks getting familiar with, the Foundation of All Good Qualities. Report an error

12:22 It's part of your meditation, and we're going to do the meditation at the end of class. It's actually just a short lamrim. It covers the whole lamrim from beginning to end. He's calling it, preparing... Sorry. My lozenge is shooting. Report an error

12:52 should actually move over so you can take the bullet no I meant the lozenge he's got a really weak stomach he probably doesn't need to hear that Report an error

13:13 could, but I think it's just, you Report an error

13:18 anyone has a better idea on type of tea that I could use, too. Report an error

13:28 Tail end of a cold. Anyway. It starts next Friday night, the 19th at 7 to 9, and then the following Friday night. So it's just two Fridays, and he's going to go through the whole Lama room. So you can't beat it, you know. Report an error

13:45 Great bargain. So we're just calling it Preparing for Tantra because, of course, the best preparation for Tantra is the Lama room. That's why, of course, you guys are all in this class. Report an error

13:57 Not necessarily to take Tantra, but just as it's a great preparation. Report an error

14:04 Geshe-la is offering refuge at a refuge ceremony on Sunday morning the 21st. And a few of you in this class have expressed interest. I'm meeting with one of those people next Wednesday at 5.30. If anybody is interested in discussing what that means to take refuge, what the commitments are, or if people want to take lay vows, if you've already taken refuge and you're ready to take lay vows, and you want to talk about that some more. Report an error

14:33 We're going to meet Wednesday, probably 5.30 to 6.30, so just tell me. I would like to know if you're coming, so we wait for you if you're planning to come. Report an error

14:44 And if you're not planning to come and you want to just come watch, that's fun too. You can cheer on your sister and brothers who are becoming refugees, who are deciding this is the path for them. Report an error

14:59 So it's definitely a really sweet thing to do. I always get teary-eyed every time. For me, it totally changed my life. It was like you just engage at a really deep level with the path. I think it's really exciting. Even if you're not ready yourself, if you just want to come and see what it's all about, that's Sunday morning, the 21st. That's a week from Sunday. Report an error

15:27 We need volunteers. I remember. We do need volunteers. We need all kinds of volunteers. We need volunteers. To do regular shifts, we need volunteers who want to be trained to be subs. We need volunteers who want to just help out at the children Rinpoche events. We just need volunteers. So if you're interested in being a volunteer, what should I say? Email? Yeah. Report an error

15:56 Email. You could talk to Gina, or you could email office at, or you could email Chokyi at, and eventually we're going to create a new one called volunteer at. Barry's helping with that. The volunteer coordination, he's just starting to learn it now as a volunteer. Yeah, so those are, I think, the main announcements, unless anybody else thinks of something else. Report an error

16:18 The February calendar did come in while you guys were gone, so there's a February calendar out there. Are there any questions before we get started about anything from the classes prior to the last Report an error

16:37 question? Report an error

16:41 Three of them. My question is just that. Yeah. Oh, really? Oh, I thought you really had one. Okay. She's just testing. Report an error

17:00 Oh, well, you have to remind me if you don't get them. Yeah, so if anybody ever misses a class and you don't, and you've, like, nudged me and you still don't get them, just send another email, especially now. I mean, that email inbox is very scary right now, so just contact me and I'll send you notes and homeworks. Report an error

17:18 The first and the second and third homeworks are very similar, so if that's the case, then I'll probably just send you the third. Report an error

17:29 We're going to talk a little bit about Carmen emptiness because last time what we talked about, we started getting into a little bit about what we would meditate on in the session that we had spent the first couple classes setting up. We had spent time talking about the sort of correct way to set up a meditation session in order to have it be an effective meditation session. Report an error

17:58 And, um... I just thought it was good for us to mention karma and emptiness because one thing that Lama Zopa always says is that it's really good to think about karma and emptiness every day. But of course if you don't know what it means, then it won't mean anything to you. I think karma and emptiness are sort of the two juiciest things in all of Buddhism. Report an error

18:26 And what I mean by them is this. Karma is referring to... Basically, how we create our entire world and our experience of that world through the actions that we do with our body, speech and our mind. That's it in a nutshell. There's no such thing as a creator god in Buddhism. We create karmic potential or karmic imprints or karmic seeds, depending on how you want to think about it. Report an error

18:55 Geshe-la prefers the word imprints, but I think sometimes seeds are useful to think of too. We create that every time we do anything and we're creating it at the rate of 65 finger snaps per moment or something like that. But anyway, we're creating a lot of it all the time. So by the time you actually even just come into this class and sit here for a couple of hours and leave, you've already created karma. Report an error

19:23 Most of it has been mental, right? Unless you're like hitting your neighbor or something or screaming at me or something. Report an error

19:31 Your mind is distracted. Maybe you're irritated that I'm rambling on. You're thinking about something. A lot of it is probably neutral, almost neutral karma, not really creating bad or good. But mostly, for the most part, we end up creating negative karma to some degree because we haven't really learned, we haven't trained our minds. Report an error

19:53 A lot of Buddhist practice is actually about training our minds. So karma. Karma is talking about this, I mean how we create, karma is actually incredibly empowering because karma is how we have the power ourselves to create our reality. So it's a little heavy at times when we think about it, but if you flip it, it's the same thing. Report an error

20:23 It means that we actually have the to create our own reality and to create what we want just through. Learning to restrain our actions of body, speech and mind. We'll talk about this a little bit more in terms of vowed morality. That's what refuge and the lay bells actually play right into. Report an error

20:43 That's sort of like the first level of restraining ourselves. As Benarabina would say, you know, the zip your lip and keep your hands to yourself. It's the first level of vowed morality, just trying to stop doing negative things to each other. Report an error

20:59 And then it goes up from there. And then we start actually trying to do positive things. Report an error

21:10 Emptiness, I think, gets a lot of hype. Emptiness is talking about the fact, simply put, you know, it's an incredibly profound subject, but simply put that things don't exist the way they appear to our sense perceptions to exist. Things are empty of existing in that way. That's what emptiness is referring to. So it's not talking about the fact that people are all just space and we're somehow moving through that space and nothing exists and nothing matters. Report an error

21:43 That's not what emptiness is referring to. Emptiness is talking about the fact that things are empty of existing in the way that they appear. How do things appear? Things appear to be solid, unchanging, concrete, absolute. Report an error

22:00 If I see something in a certain way, I expect everyone else to see it in that way. If I like a certain song, I expect everyone else to like that song. If I like a certain person, I expect everyone else to like that person. Report an error

22:13 If I see a person in a certain way, I think that person is never going to change. I think they're always going to be exactly the way they are, and I limit them in that way. We limit each other and ourselves constantly and all objects. Our entire experience of reality is limited by this incredibly narrow, tiny little way. And all of us do it, and all beings do it. Report an error

22:37 And the Buddha said basically that's the cause of our suffering, is not necessarily even seeing it that way, but as Rinpoche says, believing that it exists that way. So it's like that believing, that extra layer of misperceiving reality is what does it. That's what causes our suffering. But karma and emptiness work together. Report an error

23:00 They actually work together because things aren't absolute. How we perceive certain things, anything, is dependent upon our karma. So if we've created the causes to see things in a certain way, that's how we see things. If we've created a positive karma enough to have a positive experience, we'll have a positive experience no matter what's happening out there. Report an error

23:29 And we all know, we've all experienced this, right, to some degree. If you have the experience of traveling with somebody and there's like three of you traveling together and one person's having a wonderful time, one person's having a horrible time, one person's having a neutral time, and it's the same exact experience. Report an error

23:45 You don't even have to travel, but I just know what comes up with traveling. You could be at a restaurant, right? Everybody goes to a restaurant, one person thinks it's the best place in town, one person hated everything, and one person's just like, you know, it's karma. How we experience it. They use this experience in the scriptures. They talk about three beings. It always sounds like a bad joke. Report an error

24:08 Three beings. Three beings go into a bar. Report an error

24:14 Three beings are experiencing the same vessel of liquid. The human being is seeing it as water, as a glass of water. She's trying to distract attention from me. Thank you so much. I'll pay you later. The Prada is experiencing it as a vessel of pus or some disgusting thing because that's just what they have a karma to see. Report an error

24:41 And a Deva or a pleasure being is experiencing it as nectar, ambrosia, nectar. The raw data is the same and the mind is perceiving it in different ways based upon which one is right. There's no absolute right or wrong. And with this, with reality actually being this way, this is what allows us to become beings of light. Report an error

25:12 This is actually what allows it to happen. We are not fixed absolute creatures. Most of us in our minds think of ourselves as pretty bad. But we're not absolutely anything. And that's that fluidity. Just like in the last meditation, we spent some time thinking about how our mind is spacious and fluid. Report an error

25:31 and pure and clear, all of us is. Report an error

25:37 So Rinpoche says to really think about karma and emptiness every day. There's a little book. Did anybody buy that last little book, How to Be Happy, that was out there? Can you go get it? Would you mind? I mean, we didn't get it on purpose to offer it to you guys, but I actually use this every day to help me just think about stuff. Report an error

25:58 It's a great little pocketbook. Rinpoche's quotes are pretty amazing. Clearly I have the karma with Rinpoche to think so, so it may not be across the board. But it's just these incredible little blurbs that just make you stop and think. And it's literally sometimes one line and sometimes it's a paragraph. For example, if an action harms any other being, even your enemy, it harms you. Report an error

26:24 So just like starting the day and you're just thinking about these various things. When there's no anger inside, there's no enemy outside. Report an error

26:33 It's almost like I just go through it. I'm going through it probably about the tenth time. He has a whole section in here, of course, on emptiness. He has a whole section on meditation, which is incredible. He has a whole section on karma. He has a whole section on death. It's a brilliant little book. And in terms of a daily practice, it's actually a really powerful one. Report an error

26:53 If people are interested, and I don't think we have any more than this one at this point, but we can order more if other people are interested. So take some time and look through it. Report an error

27:04 But that's a way to think about karma every day, is to just start getting an idea about what karma is like. Those of you that have studied karma know a little bit about what karma is like, but if you haven't, then really start to think about it. Because understanding karma allows us to understand how we create our world, and understanding emptiness allows us to let go of that solid, self-existent world that we believe exists. Report an error

27:32 So one of them sort of gives us more power and the other one loosens up that kind of tight, constricted grasping that we are constantly doing. Report an error

27:44 Karma and emptiness basically means that it all comes down to us. So I find them both very exciting and juicy and powerful for that way. Report an error

27:59 The thing that makes us grasp, the things that make us grasp, are these two kind of minds. In Shantideva, he talks about self-grasping. I think he talks about self-cherishing mind as combined with self-grasping mind. They're really two separate minds and they both cause us a lot of trouble. Self-cherishing mind is this really kind of selfish, self-absorbed mind. Report an error

28:24 That's the opposite of bodhicitta. Self-grasping mind is this mind that sees me and mine as inherently existent. I am what I am. I can't be changed. And I totally exist. And that leads to self-cherishing, right? We have to have self-grasping before we're going to start pampering and cherishing and looking out for number one. Report an error

28:49 So we start with self-grasping and then we turn into self-cherishing. And those things actually have kept us from getting enlightened lifetime after lifetime. Report an error

28:59 So we have to kind of remind ourselves. Remind ourselves of our goals, which I talked about last time, on a regular basis so we don't forget. Keep your eye on the prize, if anybody has a civil rights song. It's keeping your eye on enlightenment, remembering what we're in this for, and also remembering what holds us back. Because if we want to get enlightened and we need bodhicitta to get enlightened, which means we just need to cherish others, what keeps us back? Report an error

29:30 It's that constant me, me, me, me. So then it's sort of like you want to take a little bit of time every day to seek and destroy. Honestly, that's part of what I start my day with too, is just like, you know, just go on a seek and destroy mission for the self-cherishing mind. It's so entrenched, lifetime after lifetime. Report an error

29:58 When we're doing these lamrim meditations, and we haven't talked about it entirely, we started getting into it a little bit last week, doing meditations on the various topics on the stages of the path. One of the things that, for example, this week, the next two weeks, you're going to be meditating on the precious human rebirth. From the idea that we have these great conditions right now. Report an error

30:22 And to notice them, to like go, wow, you know, no matter what, because we're always waiting, we're always thinking, you know, maybe I'll have a better job, maybe I'll have more time, maybe, you know, maybe I'll retire soon enough. I knew a longtime Buddhist who used to always talk about, well, when I just retire, and I was like, girlfriend, you know, you don't even know that you're going to live that long, you know. Like, it's really carpe diem. Report an error

30:46 Grab it. You've got great situation right now. You've got the most incredible conditions right now to practice no matter what your life is like. No matter what your life is like. Report an error

30:57 And so these meditations are like to make you sort of sit up and say, wow, I'm free of all those things that could be keeping me from practicing, you know, bringing that awareness, that kind of like, wow, look at that. I have... Basic intelligence. I have a basically healthy body no matter what my situation is. I have an interest to develop my mind. Report an error

31:22 Beyond an interest, I actually want to develop my mind. I can study the path. I can use intellect and reason. Report an error

31:32 And so I have a great situation. The reason that we're reminding ourselves of that is so that we'll actually use that situation and we'll stop procrastinating thinking that things will get better. you know, um... Report an error

31:43 And so this meditation on precious human rebirth, and in fact you can do the same thing when you're thinking about the suffering of the lower realms, which you will get into in the next DB class, which we have to think about in order to develop compassion. Report an error

32:00 But you can also think of it there. You can be like, wow, with every realm that you think about, you're not there. And you might be, next slide, you know, depending on what your life is like. So you've got the best situation right now to practice. I actually was thinking about that when I was really, really sick sometimes and I would be up in the middle of the night and I would just kind of look about my room and I would just think, wow, you know, if I have to be this sick, I can't sleep, this is the perfect place to be sick. Report an error

32:30 It's a really nice room. I got these two cats, which Bodhi started doing this great thing where if I would have this major coughing, loud coughing fit, she'd get on the bed and sit next to me and purr. I think it was like a comfort thing. I've never seen her do that because she's usually such a tweaker. It was really cute. It was like this whole side of her. Report an error

32:50 I'd never seen her. But I was just thinking, you know, the room is warm. I have a roof over my head, especially the nights that it was raining. People stick their head in, not in the middle of the night, but they stick their head in and they see if I need anything and bring me things. People text me to see if I need anything. Report an error

33:09 And so I just was really, really rejoicing. I was just like lying there feeling like crap and just thinking, you know, it's not so bad. I actually, it's just like if I got to be sick, I'm purifying old stuff, I'm exhausting negative karma and I'm doing it in a really, really cushy way. You know, like it could be much, much worse. You know, the way you can practice when you're sick like that too is... Report an error

33:34 Really trying to, and I tried to do this a lot, is take it on for all beings. Just like, okay, let me take it for all those people who don't have this. Can you imagine being sick with the flu and being homeless on the streets? I just can't even imagine, to be honest. It's just beyond what I can imagine. Report an error

33:54 Or being really sick with the flu in some country where it's just impossible to get gypsy cold care. you know, or, know, Thermaflu, or, you know, like all those things that people can just walk down to Walgreens and get for me. Report an error

34:12 they already have something, and then they get the flu on top of it, you know. There's so many people out there who are really, really struggling. So I was trying to remember every day, let me take it on for them so that they don't have to have this, you know, that I can just take it on for them. I mean, it's not really going to take it on for them, but it allows me to build that courage to want to take it on for them. And I have to admit that I didn't remember to do it every day, but it's a good way to practice when you're sick. Report an error

34:54 And it's scary too. It's like a scary way to practice. But it isn't actually going to change your illness to make it any worse. It's basically building your mind. It's like a mind builder. When we're talking about meditating on the Lamrim, Pabanka Rinpoche actually suggests really, he actually suggests spending time with each topic until we gain some experience of the topic and then moving on to the next topic. Report an error

35:25 I think a lot of Westerners, we just kind of speed meditate, right? So we speed through the topics and we're like, okay, got it, you know? I got it, you know? So it's really important to constantly remember an intellectual understanding of a topic doesn't mean that you've realized a topic. It just means that you intellectually understand it. And a good example of that is death. It's easy for us to get that we will die. Report an error

35:54 It's hard for us to realize that we will die in a way that actually will help us change our life and make us live more meaningfully and kindly and all those things. Report an error

36:06 So the same is true really for all the topics. There's not, I think some of the more profound aspects of emptiness might take a lot of study. Most of the topics are fairly understandable. But what we have to do is get it, as Tenzin Chokyi says, get it below the neck. We need to get it at a gut level. And the meditation on a repeated basis is what does that. Report an error

36:33 So he said, don't move to the next topic until you gain some experience. And when you feel this, then you'll know. Because people are always like, well, how do I know? How long do I stay on it? It's not necessarily the first emotional reaction that you have, but there's nothing wrong with having an emotional reaction to something that you're meditating on that might be your lead-in it is with me I'm definitely an emotional person it's don't stop there like then like it's not like you're aiming for an emotional reaction and then you get it and you're like okay that was it I got it It takes time. Ultimately, when you gain realizations of this stuff and when you've meditated on it over a number of years, Just reading about precious human rebirth, just those words, or even death and impermanence, it brings up, or bodhicitta, it brings up an experience that you have had in meditation. Report an error

37:37 And then it's like immediately you can get to that place. Now we have to review for a while and get to know them, and it takes a while to get, and it's a little clunky at first, you know. Report an error

37:50 But as we know, hopefully, from... Studying meditation a little bit, when we, with analytical meditation, as we're analyzing a certain topic of the lamrim, when we gain a little moment of insight, an aha kind of a moment, we stop the analysis. So don't just keep barreling through, you know, got to finish this, got to get to work. It's like stop at that moment. Report an error

38:22 Just stop all the conceptual everything and hold your full concentration on that insight, even if it's just for one second, however long your level of concentration is, hold it, and then the moment that the mind kind of begins twitching and starting to get distracted again, then continue the analysis to the end. Report an error

38:44 And you should be hopefully generating some sort of a conclusion. So analytical meditation isn't just free-form thinking. You're actually having a clear beginning, middle and end and you're having some sort of, even be it tiny insight and you're having some experience of holding your mind on that insight. Report an error

39:06 So all of those things should be there. So what we're going to experiment with in the meditation that you guys are going to work on this weekend, next week is using a lamrim. Prayer, in this case Foundation of All Good Qualities, as a way to kind of like a review of the whole lamrim. So we're going to start reading it. Report an error

39:27 We'll stop at our section, Precious Human Rebirth. We'll do our little meditation on Precious Human Rebirth. We'll have our little aha moment, hopefully. Somebody will in the room anyway. And then we'll continue reading the prayer to the end. And you just do that every day. And it's kind of like... At this point we're only going to do the Precious Human Rebirth, but you could do it over a period of a couple of weeks and stop at each of the topics of the Lamrim and do the same thing, meditate. Report an error

39:57 You have to get to know those topics, and that takes time. We have to get to know the various topics, and that takes some time and some study. Report an error

40:08 So at the beginning it seems like... There's a lot of sort of learning and studying involved, but it's to get you to the point where you don't have to have any books in there at all. So at first we kind of use the words as a bridge, and then we have the experience without all the words. Report an error

40:32 So let's see. One suggestion is to have a lamrim outline, and there is one in the binder. That goes through the whole lamrim, or to use a prayer like this that goes through the whole lamrim, and to spend time on each of the topics, you know, maybe a few days on each of the topics until you get to know them, and then take a few weeks on each of the topics, or even a few months on each of the topics that kind of expand out a little bit. Report an error

41:08 Reba Rinpoche, one of my teachers, actually suggested spending years on each topic, which is just like... Frightful to most Westerners. Like we definitely don't want to hear this. But that's actually how we have the kind of experiences that are going to change our minds. I mean that's when His Holiness the Dalai Lama talks about taking this long view. That's what he's talking about. Like really just kind of relaxing and knowing that it takes us, it's going to take us lifetimes in some ways to change our minds. Report an error

41:39 You know our minds have been going at it. For lifetime after lifetime. So just relaxing into this phase of really getting to know the lamrim. And the cool thing is that we don't really know what our karma is. We could suddenly have an amazing insight and not expect it in meditation just through softening the mind and getting to know these topics. Report an error

42:02 So it's sort of like taking the long view but then they always say there's this balance between taking the long view and also... Creating this urgency so you don't get too complacent. So you want the long view, but you don't want complacency. Report an error

42:22 And we also were talking about when you're thinking about analytical meditation, it brings up that idea. There's two main types of meditation. And the other type is stabilization or concentration meditation. Well, clearly we need that for our analytical meditation to even work. We actually need that for even just study to go anywhere. Report an error

42:44 We need it just to be able to attend a class, right? Because if you're too distracted, you'll just be out in the night somewhere and planning a trip to Bali or something. So you need a certain amount of concentration just to be successful in this world, actually. So even though some Lamas, I guess you'll laugh sometimes if I talk about trying to do calm abiding or concentration meditation, even just a little bit. Report an error

43:09 But some of my teachers have said, Even in the city, even if you don't have the greatest conditions, because calm abiding or concentration meditation really demands extreme silence. Report an error

43:22 But the first couple of levels of the absorptions actually are possible to do in the city. And so most of my teachers have said, yeah, you don't have the greatest conditions, but do a little bit every day. Because then it's kind of like... You ever get those conditions? You've got the nice setup for it and you can just kind of move into working with that. Otherwise, you know, who knows when we'll get those conditions. Report an error

43:46 We may never get those conditions, so we might as well plant the seed for next life if that's the case, you know. So adding a little bit of concentration and meditation to your daily practice as well as the analysis is really, really important. Report an error

44:06 And there are lots of ways, too, because some of these meditations I know... They seem a little bit complex, these ones that I'm giving you to practice with. Play with them a little bit. Maybe you don't want to do the whole thing because it's overwhelming, but maybe you want to spend more time with the seven-limb prayer. Report an error

44:23 Maybe you want to spend more time with the analysis on the lamrim. Maybe you want to set it up really well in the morning, and actually then just keep the Buddha on your head, and then just go about your day, and then just go into it at night, go into analysis at night. I tend to try to do everything in the morning because I'm just useless at night. I do enough at night in order to purify all the crap that I've done wrong. Report an error

44:50 But that's basically, it's like three quarters of all of my prayers and practices and everything I do in the morning. And at night, it's just the simple cleaning up the bad stuff and going to bed on that. So you go to bed with a nice, clean mind. And a lot of people like it the opposite way. Actually, I would say not a lot of people. Some people like it the opposite way, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it. You can actually have a bottom-heavy practice, too, if you're a night person. Report an error

45:20 And I actually know of one person who's a total night person, and that's what works for her. She actually has a really, really heavy evening practice and a very light morning practice. She's just horrible in the morning, so that's fine, too, for those of us who are not so much morning people. Report an error

45:40 Or you can just split it. If you have that kind of life, that you have that kind of balance, and some people actually do, I find that surprising. Report an error

46:00 If your mind is feeling a bit like my vocal cords, which is kind of tight, while you're doing this kind of a meditation and your mind is constricting and getting all tight, stop. Just stop. Report an error

46:15 It needs to be spacious and interesting and kind of fun. Keep the curiosity and fun about it. If it just feels like, oh God, this is just too much, just cool out. Just be relaxed about it. Just decide maybe to just focus on a smaller section of it. This is all about you exploring. It's the same as you exploring different kinds of cushions, you know what I mean? So you wouldn't freak out about the kind of cushion, hopefully, that you're choosing. Report an error

46:44 So just keep that kind of lightness about whatever meditation you're trying out to. Report an error

46:52 I want to talk a little bit about what to do between sessions, and then we'll take a break, and then we'll spend some time doing a longer meditation. Report an error

47:03 So as I mentioned at the very beginning of this course, The Tibetans call basically anything that's not on the cushion post-meditative state. So there's meditative state and there's post-meditative state. And of course, for most of us, the post-meditative state is the 23 and a half hours that we're not on the cushion, right? Report an error

47:33 So it's not that much. I think when you're in a long-term retreat, your meditative state and your post-meditative state, probably becomes pretty equal. know, you're spending a lot of time on the question. Report an error

47:45 So these are some ideas on how you might bring some of those ideas out. It's not all of it. We'll get into more of it in the next couple of classes, but this is just some ideas on how you might bring some of the ideas so that you don't have such a huge gap between the time that you're meditating and the time that you're Report an error

48:12 There shouldn't be that much of a gap. I don't want to use the word shouldn't, but you know what I mean. One thing is to think of it in terms of protecting your mind in some way. Report an error

48:28 And this involves us actually thinking about what it is that we're doing with our mind all the rest of the time and whether or not it supports our practice. And this is a constant kind of analysis. It's not so much thou shalt not. I'm constantly thinking this too. I go through a big movie phase in the winter. I really love watching movies in the winter. And I think it's this idea that stems from like the old school days where you would have like a winter holiday or something. Report an error

48:55 I haven't had a winter holiday in years. But it's like this idea that there should be a winter holiday. So my way of making a winter holiday is to like to watch a lot of movies. And I actually don't think there's anything wrong with that. But there's a certain point where I begin realizing that I'm just watching a lot of movies and that it's starting to affect my meditation and even my willingness or desire to meditate. Report an error

49:17 It's almost like you're shoving more and more things, especially when I had this fever. And I was kind of watching these movies and it would almost be like this hallucinogenic state, except it was like images from like, you know, the big chill and stuff going through your head. And you close your eyes and there they'd all be and they're singing those songs and stuff, you know, it's like. So there's a point where you kind of have to examine your life a little bit and think, hmm, maybe not. Report an error

49:46 I think I'll just give that one up for a while. And that's where I am on that one. And you have to be the judge. There's really nobody else that knows your mind and knows what's going on in your session, thankfully. But it's something that we have to look at. I mean, it's something that we have to think about. I have known teachers who have been incredibly strict and just like, don't read anything, don't read the newspaper, blah, blah. Report an error

50:10 And I think there's a point for all of us that we might want to do that. I don't think necessarily all of us in the room are at it. I'm certainly not. I actually love the Sunday New York Times, but I can see how I can also become a newspaper addict if I'm not watching all those movies. So we just have to see, is it really affecting my practice? And if it is, be willing to maybe just like experiment and give it up a little bit. Report an error

50:38 Obviously, if you're doing something bigger than that, you know, I'm a nun, so my biggest things are like movies and newspapers. So you can think about ways that you might be using your mind or ways that you're spending your mental energy that aren't really supporting your practice and just think about those and your attachment to those and whether or not it's just a habit. Report an error

50:58 Sometimes it's just habit and you're not even liking it anymore. I mean, I've certainly done that one before too. Maybe it's trashy novels, I don't know. Report an error

51:08 It's kind of an interesting situation because we are in a world that's really, really different than the kind of mind and world and reality that Buddhism is teaching. Report an error

51:21 For example, this whole thing on karma. There's this huge view in our culture of blame. If I'm hurting, if I'm in pain, if I had something bad happen, even if I get sick, there's someone else to blame. That someone is not me, it's someone out there, and if I could, I'd sue them, you know? Don't worry, I'm not going to sue you. Report an error

51:46 We all know that you gave me that flute, but I'm not going to hold that against you. We'll go get Michelle. Report an error

51:57 So it's kind of like our whole culture is going in this one particular direction, and we're trying to go in this other different direction. It's completely 180 from... The way that we're sort of training our minds to think. This idea of blame, especially this whole lawsuit thing, but even just this idea of blame is completely counter to Buddhism. Report an error

52:19 It's completely wrong view, actually, according to Buddhism. It's not that there's nobody out there to blame. If I'm experiencing whatever I'm experiencing, I created it through my actions of body, speech and mind. Report an error

52:36 So in a lot of ways, a lot of those voices from our culture are disempowering us. They're going against the empowering process of understanding how karma and emptiness work. And even here in the Dharma Center, this comes up quite a bit. There's somebody out there that caused my problem. And it comes up, of course, in ourselves too, right? That's enough. Report an error

52:56 But I'm just thinking external to us, the people that we surround ourselves with. So you have to constantly catch it. You have to watch it. You have to notice it. You don't have to judge others if you see them constantly blaming, but just watch. It's that idea. Again, Venerable Bina used to do this great thing of, it's not interesting what the mind does. It's just that catching. It's almost like this analytical idea of watching the mind without identifying with it. Report an error

53:26 Either their mind or mine. My mind immediately is like, Well, he had at last, you know, the immediate blame or, well, I wouldn't feel like this if it weren't. Or you kind of catch yourself and you're like, isn't that interesting? So instead of thinking, oh, my God, I'm such a horrible Buddhist or something like that, just kind of thinking, oh, isn't that interesting what my mind was doing? Report an error

53:46 It's just immediately going to blame, you know, just beginning to catch it, which is half the battle. It's really half the battle. Report an error

53:56 So it's almost like we're, because we're going to 180 from the way that culture... is around us, almost like we're a little bit crazy. What we're doing is a little bit crazy, and we're actually training ourselves to be even crazier. As I said at the very beginning, Buddhism is very, very radical. It's not to make your life easier. It's not necessarily even going to be comfortable because you're kind of stirring up stuff that's been complacent for a long time. Report an error

54:29 Suggestions that many, many teachers give is training in verses, this idea of training in verses. And this is really talking about training the mind. For example, in the Lojong, the mind training teachings, they actually have these different slogans that we memorize and we think of those slogans throughout the day and so forth like that. Report an error

54:51 But this is talking about it in a regular way, a regular way, and not necessarily a mind training way. I mean, really all Buddhism is mind training. To be honest, if you didn't know that by now, then it's definitely something you're going to find out. But you're basically just finding any quotes. It could even be your own insight, something that came to you after meditation. Report an error

55:12 It can be any little phrase that you might have gotten out of a book or even out of a class. A lot of my favorites actually came from... That Copan course that I've mentioned a couple of times in 98 that I just took profound notes and then used that notebook repeatedly for my lamrim meditations over the years. Report an error

55:32 And I can still hear Venable Neal's voice very clearly saying certain lines out of that book. And I sort of memorize those lines. It'll come to me if I'm in a meditation and it just like moves my mind in a certain way. It'll also move my mind off the cushion. So if I have a certain thought or catch myself blaming somebody or that whole mind wanting to be happy all the time, he said, one of the ways that he said it, and I actually work it in some of my meditations or motivations, when I'm thinking about the way we all want to be happy, he talked about how the mind wanting to be happy is like our sort of baseline motivation in that way. Report an error

56:22 Whether we're trying to commit suicide or whether we're trying to get a new job or whether we're getting a new relationship or whether we're leaving a relationship, everything in the history of the planet has been done with this desire to be happy. And then he paused and he said, it hasn't worked, of course. And just the way that he built this whole momentum and you've got it that I'm like caught up in this too, right? Report an error

56:44 I want to be happy too. And everything I've ever done in my entire life, if you examine it, is with this baseline motivation. And you realize it's all been for naught and since beginningless time and we're all just following it crazily like that. So those little phrases, you find your own little phrases. Report an error

57:02 You might actually literally put them on little post-its and put them up around you. I've definitely done that, especially in retreat with a few meaningful quotes. Stick them on the light switch so when I turn on the light, you know. Put them on the door so when I go out the door I remember, you know. Report an error

57:20 Especially those ones on death. Death can happen now or something. Report an error

57:27 Just to kind of remind you because you're just kind of like, God, that was a horrible session. Oh, God, it could be the last one. All right. And it just kind of keeps you alert. Report an error

57:37 So basically, this is just a way to kind of keep your mind constantly reminding your mind of the stuff that we want to remember. For an example, here's a good quote from Rinpoche. you know, and you're like, oh, you know. Report an error

57:52 What is appearing is merely a manifestation of imprints in my mind. I created this. What is appearing is merely a manifestation of imprints in my mind. I created this. It's almost like it becomes a little mantra. Report an error

58:13 There's a verse that's called... A short text that's called the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation by Lengri Tangpa, again from the Lojong or Mind Training section of the Lamrim. And the third verse, one of my personal favorites, is, In all actions I will examine my mind, and the moment a disturbing attitude arises, endangering myself and others, I will firmly confront it and avert it. Report an error

58:44 In all actions I will examine my mind, and the moment a disturbing attitude arises, endangering myself and others, I will firmly confront and avert it. Report an error

58:55 I used to say the eight verses all the time. I read at one point that His Holiness the Dalai Lama said the eight verses every day, and I thought, well, it's good enough for him, and that's certainly a place to start. So that actually was one of my first daily practices. I just would read the eight verses every day. Report an error

59:11 And then I remember actually one year, probably about five years ago, we were reading it in the morning puja and when Rubina said, after we said that one line, she said, of course that's assuming that you know your mind, that you'd even catch it. And I kind of was depressed after that. Because often it's like you read that in the morning and you're like, yeah. And then you just get off the cushion and go scream at somebody, right? Report an error

59:36 But I think it creates the imprint. To want to catch it. And it will eventually, I believe, allow you to catch it. Even if you catch it after the fact for a long time before you catch it in the moment. So just try that one out. Try to find some verses that mean something to you. And this is like a lifetime thing. It's just ideas that have worked for me and that are taught by people who I think we can respect. Report an error

1:00:10 You can also stick them in your car. I don't drive, but I definitely have been in cars of people who are long-time Dharma students, and they have all sorts of things going on there, you know, especially if you spend a long time in your car, you know. It could have a Tara Tsatsa, you know, it could have a... Report an error

1:00:28 A couple of quotes it could have. I mean, if anybody's seen Rinpoche's, the car is from Rinpoche's house. It's like they're covered with these amazing quotes and mantras and all sorts of things so that when they're stuck in traffic, anyone that sees that car has to think about stuff, whether they intended to when they left the house or not. Report an error

1:00:48 It's actually very, very amazing. Another idea is an idea called putting on lamrim colored... amazing. Report an error

1:00:57 Glasses. These are ideas, actually, the way they're phrased. They're coming from Kendall Magnuson, one of my personal heroes. Lamrim colored glasses. And that's basically, if you're meditating on something like the Precious Human Rebirth or Death and Impermanence, then that's the glasses that you put on for the rest of the day. Report an error

1:01:16 So then it colors everything that you see, think, do. So any experience, anybody in line at the bank, you're looking at that experience. Even the most mundane situation in terms of or in the context of the meditation that you're doing. I'm assuming too that you're meditating on the same topic for a certain amount of time. Report an error

1:01:40 So for example, if you're doing a meditation on precious human rebirth and you see the people in line at the store or something and they just seem incredibly tired and worn out by life. Really just thinking about like, wow. I actually have this incredible condition that I'm not just beaten up by life, that I don't have energy left to think about the spiritual life or developing my mind. Report an error

1:02:08 A lot of these people don't have that. They don't even know that the Dharma exists for the most part. Most people don't even have hope that there's any other way. Report an error

1:02:21 And it's incredibly profound and disturbing. And so forth to see that kind of sadness in people's faces. Not necessarily to fall into that, their suffering, but just to see their suffering. Bring their suffering into your meditation and bring your meditation into their suffering, just seeing their suffering. So even when you're reading, if you're watching a movie, if you're watching or reading a magazine or the New York Times, Report an error

1:02:56 Again, you have your little lamrim colored glasses, so you're seeing things in terms of this precious human rebirth thing. I used to think my mom was really bizarre for reading the obituaries, and now I do it definitely. Of course, the New York Times obituaries are very interesting. But you see people's entire life, and some people, amazing things that they did. Report an error

1:03:18 I mean, you think, especially in New York, you're just like, wow, these people that came from... Somewhere and with nothing and did all of this and then they still died, you know. So you just like see this entire life and they created all this and that and the other thing and sometimes it goes on and on. Report an error

1:03:35 And then in the end they still died, you know. Report an error

1:03:41 Just stop and think, you know. Just stop and think. You can use it as part of your meditation. Report an error

1:03:49 And then there's a walking meditation, and I don't mean the walking meditation in the sense of the Theravadan tradition where you do that really, really slowed down, you know, feeling the left leg and the right leg rise and all that stuff. I'm thinking about using as you're walking, maybe slowing it down a little bit so we're not just running somewhere, but really thinking about whatever it is that you're meditating on. Report an error

1:04:17 on you're moving. There's something about moving, like your body actually moving to have a different experience of your meditation. So maybe you're moving along on, I remember actually there's this one quote, I think it's in Pachro Rinpoche's Words of My Perfect Teacher, where something about this road or the path is also impermanent. Report an error

1:04:44 And I remember thinking about that one as I'm walking. This road itself or this sidewalk is also impermanent. It didn't always exist. It won't always exist. It was created by a bunch of different causes and conditions. Report an error

1:04:58 And it's constantly changing moment by moment by moment. Or you see all the different people around you. All of these people are changing moment by moment by moment. They're just moving through their lives and they're moving towards their death. Everyone around me is moving towards death, you know? It totally changes the way you see things. You're not just moving to go get a coffee at Starbucks. Those few moments of walking somewhere are bringing back up what you thought about or what you meditated on that morning, so it keeps it a little more fresh in your mind. Report an error

1:05:33 Another one of Rinpoche's quotes is, This is my karma. Whatever I see, hear, smell, taste or touch, this is my karmic projection. I am creating this. So some variation on that as you're moving through. This is my karma. Especially now if you're going into this mind of like, I hate this city, you know. This is my karma. Report an error

1:05:57 I created this. All my thoughts, the sounds, the vision, whatever I'm seeing, all the experience, I created this with all of my actions. You know, and just thinking about that as you're seeing things and as you're experiencing things. The same if you're having an incredibly wonderful day. Report an error

1:06:15 You're like on top of the world. Usually we go off the other end. It's like one or the other, right? The yo-yo mind, as Lama Yeshe calls it. We're having an incredibly wonderful day. We forget that we created that too. We created that karma too. This is my karma. And that's kind of cool to think of too. Report an error

1:06:36 I created this too. you know. Report an error

1:06:39 He also said at one point to this one group that he used to send us, I think he probably still does this at Copan, send us out to do these little walking meditations where you just sort of walk around and are thinking as you're moving. Report an error

1:06:54 He said, go out there and just think about everything as a hallucination. It's not the way it appears. So then you're just like walking around. It's like a trip. And I mean mind trip. It's like a drug trip of some sort. You're like looking at bushes and you're like, wow. It's a hallucination. It's kind of wild, actually, because you begin to really see that things aren't solid and fixed, incredibly fluid and changing constantly, which energetically is absolutely true. Report an error

1:07:28 So any questions about any of those things, and then we're going to take up Report an error

1:07:35 some sort of shifting going on over there. Any questions, any ideas or thoughts? Report an error

1:07:50 Well, why don't you guys take a break? And then come back and we're going to do that meditation and see how that goes. If anybody would like to look at this how to be happy, do so. Report an error

1:08:15 I am, yeah. The nights are still long. I can't quite lie down for the whole night, but yeah, it just is what it is. Report an error

1:08:31 It's going on in the back of the room there. Report an error

1:08:39 in there. Report an error

1:08:52 Oh, so did you get? And it has made such a difference. Excellent. Yeah, I was just talking about that in the drop-in meditation, actually. I said it's great for you to spend a long time figuring out what your sitting is, you know, what your cushion and all that, and then be willing to give the whole thing up if your body changes or if you have an accident or if you age or just something changes in your body. Report an error

1:09:11 And then figure out a new one. Exactly. It's infinitely changeable and we are infinitely changeable too. We can keep up with it. Report an error

1:09:26 Yeah. How have you been? Oh, it's Report an error

1:09:36 been... Report an error

1:09:53 Oh, Report an error

1:10:01 right. Report an error

1:10:04 Oh, Report an error

1:10:07 my God. No wonder you're hip with her. Tomorrow, I guess I have my father now, so she's Report an error

1:10:23 I'm glad you could fit us in. Report an error

1:10:32 I appreciate it. Are you able to do the 27th? Oh Report an error

1:10:45 wow, that's cool. Oh wow, that's cool. Report an error

1:10:53 I did think of you when I had to, because I felt horrible. I really didn't want to, I didn't want to cancel that, but it's just no choice. But I thought of you and I was like, I wonder if David's going to be able to do the 27th. One woman was so, yes, that's it. You found it. That's it? No. That's it. That's it. Report an error

1:11:12 That's okay. Whatever. I hope you didn't affect Geshe-la. Actually, get Report an error

1:11:38 some rest. Get some rest. Report an error

1:11:49 Are you experimenting with a cushion? There you go. lot, actually. Report an error

· · ·

1:12:04 think the guy at the street is when he walked in and he had one Report an error

1:12:10 the stupid hole for me That's great. Is it big? I mean, you're going like this. Yeah, it's about that tall. Wow. Report an error

1:12:21 Yeah. Oh, yeah. Report an error

1:12:27 Oh, and you know what? I keep forgetting. I actually printed, I downloaded some great information on stupas from the 100,000 Stupa Project. L &B is doing a 100,000 Stupa Project. And they have a great description. And I actually... I downloaded it and I just keep forgetting to bring it to class, so I'll try to remember to bring that next time. Report an error

1:12:52 I Report an error

1:12:57 never read that, but I love his book, the one he's really famous for, just for a treatise on Guru Devotion, I think it's the most incredible. Report an error

1:13:22 So incredible. So this is just like, this one looks like some sort of a nuclear, doesn't it? Report an error

1:13:35 Yeah, it's funny though how different that looks from this one. Where's this one? Report an error

1:13:43 Oh, Sri Lanka. Report an error

1:13:47 You know, could you, maybe some hot water? I think this stuff is drying me totally out. No, I think just dump this and just put some hot water. It's like had five different, I mean, probably I've had it. I think I've had it for like a week. Maybe get another cup. It's probably better. But that's what they're doing on the... Report an error

1:14:02 Yeah, maybe. It's probably getting ugly. Report an error

1:14:08 Volunteering? Report an error

1:14:12 Well, they did that at once at Safeway. Like the person in front of me gave to some charity. And like all these things went, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And I was like, how mortifying. I would be mortified if that happened. Does she want Tuesdays? She said pushing her into it. Report an error

1:14:36 Does she say what day of the week you wanted? Or do you just anything? You should be like a bell that we rang. I know, really. Report an error

1:14:41 Subbing is great. We love subs. Report an error

1:14:57 Well, I tell you, Tuesday night has had this very interesting karma. Well, it isn't even Tuesday night. It's Emily's class, period. When it was on Friday, it had the same karma, and then it moved to Tuesday, and then it's got this karma, too, where it's just we have a really hard time having a steady, strong... Report an error

1:15:14 I shouldn't say that, actually, because one of those people in the class might hear it, but... Just a volunteer that really owns that night and just that's their day and they care for that as though it was their day. Report an error

1:15:29 Her class is 6.30 to 8.30. It's an earlier class. So it would be, what do we say, like 5.30 to an hour. Report an error

1:15:44 So it kind of is like... start coming in like within a half hour, so it's just a little Report an error

1:15:54 5.30 to 8.30 or 9-ish, like that, so that you're there to kind of help break it down, too. Most of the people in the class, you just direct them, you know, like, can you guys help me? And then you just do it. Most of the people in all of our classes are like that, but they kind of need that person to say, can you guys help me, like, do all these cushions, you know? But that is definitely a day that needs love. Report an error

1:16:16 But if you want it right now, just sub and think about it. Just let us know. I think that would be great. Report an error

1:16:29 Okay. So if you have other people that kind of deal with the last minute, I'll show up. At 9, 9.30? 9. 9, okay. Okay, great. Yeah, it doesn't have to be a weekend. It's just that's what's easy sometimes for the year. Yeah, yeah. Report an error

1:16:58 I know, we're so excited. It's like I just want to pet you. I know. I don't know if I can commit to everything. No, that's okay. Report an error

1:17:08 can figure out, yeah. I don't want to commit to something I can't do. no no no that's cool and one thing too you could think about like it could be your oh thank you and it's like multicolored yeah thank you um anyway yeah let's talk about Report an error

1:17:28 you. That's great. exciting. Oh, wait. Is this for me? Yes. Are you letting me keep it? Is this your, like, special homework assignment? this is all about stupas. I actually want to, um... I actually want to bring, I had a, I found a lot of great information, I just keep forgetting to bring it in. I'll bring it, try to remember next week to bring it in. Report an error

1:17:54 But here's one that says, the analogy with the symbolism of the stupa. The seed of highest enlightenment also depicted as the tongue of flame to be realized above the double symbol crowning chortan. Chortan is the Tibetan word for a stupa, actually. Report an error

1:18:15 The 13 steps of enlightenment. So there's actually 13 levels, not 9. I think I said 9 before, and it's 13. There's 13 steps of enlightenment. I don't know what those 13 steps are, though, because I haven't heard that one before, except in the other thing on stupas. Yeah, so there's a lot of details, but I don't know how much it actually helps me to figure out why it represents the mind. Report an error

1:18:42 I think it's probably the levels of enlightenment. That's probably it. Enlightened mind, right? Okay, well. I'll study that one and get back to you on that. Report an error

1:18:55 Did anybody else have any questions or any thoughts that came up on the break? Report an error

1:19:01 Oh, okay. Thank you for calling out, too, because I got water in my eye, and then I was like, there's too much stuff happening here, so I needed to hear my name across the room. It's more of a scheduling. Is the retreat day the same, or is that going to... I know, isn't that funny? It is kind of odd, isn't it? Report an error

1:19:22 At this point, I still have it on the 20th because I was afraid that people may have arranged their life around it. And so that's a little odd. What do people think? Do we want to move the retreat day so that it follows the final day of class, which now is the 4th, which is right before Rinpoche, so we would have to do it. Report an error

1:19:43 I'd have to check the schedule, so it would have to be. And I know the following weekend is Guy Newland. So that's unfortunately what we're going to hit is that it would probably have to be two weeks. What do people think? We do a quick vote right now, but just who's here. Except I don't know if it's open. Why don't we do that next class? I'll check to see if the date that I'm thinking of, which is March 20th, right? Report an error

1:20:08 It's the same. If March 20th is open, we could do our retreat day that day. And then... Move it from the 20th of February. That way it follows the final day of class. So it kind of makes more sense. The spring? Are people leaning towards that? If it is open, do people just want to go ahead and say yeah? Yeah? Is that across the board? Report an error

1:20:39 I thought you were knitting. Oh my god, another knitter! Report an error

1:20:49 Can I have a show of hands, those who would like to move it from the 20th to the 20th, if the second 20th is open? Yeah? This is the retreat day. Yeah. You don't care. So those who aren't raising their hand don't have a strong feeling. Is that what it is? Okay. Okay, good. Then I'll check. If it's open, then that makes sense, too. I was feeling bad already having one day and then having it move two days is a bit much. Report an error

1:21:20 So I just have to check. It doesn't ring a bell in my mind, and usually I can remember dates for programming, and I don't think we would have done anything for Guy Newland, after Guy Newland, so I think it's pretty assured, but I'll confirm that next week. Can you ask me next week? Okay. That would be great. Report an error

1:21:46 No, but... His book, Appearance and Reality, which is also on emptiness, was really highly recommended by Tenzin Chokyi. That's how I first heard of him. So I went out and got that book and sort of kind of began looking at it. I haven't read it cover to cover, I'll admit. But it is accessible. It's pretty accessible. He's an academic, and it's the first time we've ever had him here. But his work has been highly recommended by... Report an error

1:22:17 Emily and Tenzin Chokyi, so I was just kind of like, cool, you know. Yeah, I mean, I just felt like it was kind of worth it to just check it out. It's kind of fun to do something, invite somebody different, you know, he's outside of our sort of regularly scheduled teachers, so, yeah. It'll be on emptiness, and he really, you know, he definitely is a professor rather than a Lama, and he really wants to make that work. Report an error

1:22:45 Perfectly clear. He doesn't, the whole thing, he's looking at it more like a philosophical thing. So I think it'll be interesting to see what he's like, actually. Report an error

1:22:58 Okay. So we're going to do this meditation, which is the same meditation that you guys will have as your homework. And it's basically, again, the Shakyamuni Buddha practice, but now we're inserting meditation on precious human rebirth. You can still suck your tea if you need to, right? A couple of seconds. So what I'm going to do is guide you through it. So the whole thing for you will just be a guided meditation. If you're one of those people that actually likes to read along, I can give you your homework now. Report an error

1:23:27 So if there's anybody, somebody like that who wants to, Kara does. Did I do enough? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. I did. So one of them will have to go and make copies of. I think I have something like 11. But, Kara, do you want to? Does anybody else want their copy now? Sorry? Report an error

1:23:51 Isla? I don't think you need to do the mantra. No. No, there's the thing itself, the prayer or this text I'm mentioning, the foundation of all good qualities is in there, but I'll just read it. So if you don't have it in front of you, then I'll read it and you can just contemplate it is the way that we'll do it. And then when you're at home, then you'll read it. And some of these, it's like they look like they were pressed. Report an error

1:24:14 I don't know exactly what happened with my printer, but it kind of, it really, really liked this. It mushed itself to it. Report an error

1:24:22 We'll make a copy of copies for the people who aren't in a hurry afterwards. Just stay and we'll make some copies. Okay, so you might want to spend a few minutes just kind of taking some deep breaths and letting go of any thinking and analyzing that you've already been doing, any sluggishness in your body and your mind. Report an error

1:24:43 Just kind of imagine breathing it out, dissolving it, and Report an error

1:24:55 just kind of resurrect your motivation, the motivation that we thought about. At the beginning, I wish to be helpful to others and to bring happiness to them. And Report an error

1:25:28 then imagine all around you in Report an error

1:25:33 space, all mother and father sentient beings, starting with your own mother and father of this life, whether they're living or not, Report an error

1:25:47 and then spreading out in all directions. Report an error

1:26:06 You just imagine almost like a sea of humanity. You don't need to visualize them individually, but if you want to remember that certain... Report an error

1:26:16 If people are there, then you can do that. Remember that we're doing this meditation for all of them on their behalf. Report an error

1:26:31 And try to cultivate this wish to see this opportunity in our lives that we have, this really precious opportunity, and to grab it, not to waste it. Report an error

1:26:43 For this reason, we do this meditation on precious human rebirth. Report an error

1:26:58 And imagine inviting all of your teachers to this place. And imagine that they somehow merge all together into the form of Shakyamuni Buddha, remembering Report an error

1:27:21 again that his body, his face, everything about him is made of this sort of rainbow-like light. Report an error

1:27:37 And again, even if it's late and you're tired and you can't really visualize him, just know that he's there and just be aware of this amazing light and all this positive energy that he represents. Report an error

1:28:04 And then generate this mind of refuge by remembering this condition that we find ourselves in, creating our experience and our reality through our actions of body, speech and mind. Report an error

1:28:22 And that reality, all those seeds, all those imprints ripening is our world. What Report an error

1:28:36 we fear, if I were to die right now with all these crazy afflicted states of mind, these negative seeds that I haven't purified, What would come next? Report an error

1:28:59 We go for refuge to the Buddha because he was able to transcend the cycle of suffering. Report an error

1:29:11 So we have some trust that he could show us. It doesn't have to be any holier than that. Report an error

1:29:24 He gives us this sign of what's possible and we know that he can show us. Report an error

1:29:43 Rinpoche always uses this word, entrust yourself. Entrust yourself to his care. And trust yourself to these teachings, especially the teachings on karma and emptiness. And Report an error

1:30:00 then think about all the suffering of those living beings that surround you and take responsibility for them too. Report an error

1:30:14 Make some sort of determination, some sort of wish to be able to help all of them. Report an error

1:30:25 That's generating bodhicitta. Report an error

1:30:35 Then thinking of a quality within the Buddha that you yourself want. Report an error

1:30:44 Whatever that quality is, you know, maybe it's his ability to manifest wherever needed in whatever form for whatever being needs it, simultaneously with every other being, limitlessly, without effort, spontaneously, Report an error

1:31:07 without thought, which is my absolute favorite of all the qualities of a mighty mind. Thinking about one of the qualities that you yourself would like. And bow down in your mind to that quality. That just means respecting it, honoring it with that thought, I want that too. Report an error

1:31:37 And then what would you offer to have this kind of capacity? And imagine offering it, giving the world skies of the most incredible flowers or the most incredible mountains or the most incredible sunrises. Report an error

1:32:11 Then admit something that you did that might have been harmful to somebody else or to yourself. Report an error

1:32:24 Again, with this idea of understanding how karma works. When we do stuff that's negative, we just end up harming ourselves. Report an error

1:32:34 We're the ones that carry those imprints that create the causes for us to keep doing that thing over and over. We're the ones that create the causes for us to experience suffering. Report an error

1:32:46 So when we regret stuff, it's not with the thought of guilt. It's more with the idea of, I don't want to do this anymore. Report an error

1:32:56 It's wasting my time, it's wasting all those living beings that surround me, their time. Report an error

1:33:13 And then rejoice in some little goodness inside of you. Maybe it's the desire to have a daily practice. Maybe it's what little attempts you might have done this week to have a daily practice. Maybe it's just coming to class tonight when you're retired. Then Report an error

1:33:42 request that your teachers and the Buddha stay and that they teach you. Whatever form that takes, whether it's formal teachings or books or DVDs or crazy people that you see on the street or somebody in your office, just be open to those teachings wherever they may show up and Report an error

1:34:11 dedicate this little prayer to your own enlightenment. Report an error

1:34:22 And then make a heartfelt request to Shakyamuni Buddha to bless your mind, to eliminate all your negative states of mind and all the obstacles that you are facing right now on the path. Report an error

1:34:35 And help you generate whatever you need, whatever realizations you need to be able to help others. Especially this one of precious human rebirth. Report an error

1:34:58 And then imagine that Shakyamuni Buddha comes to the crown of your head and that's where he stays throughout the remainder of the meditation. Report an error

1:35:14 So as I recite these verses, just start reflecting on their meanings or what their meanings might be. Report an error

1:35:27 This entire prayer was actually a heartfelt request when Lama Tsongkhapa wrote it. Report an error

1:35:37 Imagine that as I recite the verse and try to imagine that from Shakyamuni Buddha you receive both white nectar of purification, clearing away everything that keeps you from realizing this, and gold and light that gives you everything that you need to realize it. Report an error

1:36:01 The foundation of all good qualities. is the kind and venerable guru. Correct devotion to him is the root of the path. clearly seeing this and applying great effort, Please bless me to Report an error

1:36:20 generate the mind that unceasingly, day and night, takes its essence. rely upon him with great respect. Report an error

1:36:44 So we stop here to contemplate this verse. Recognize the situation that you have right now. You have a human life. You have intelligence. You have some strength still in your body. You have an inclination for spiritual practice. Report an error

1:37:06 Not just interest, but some interest beyond simple curiosity. Some feeling that you want to put this into practice or you wouldn't be in this class. Report an error

1:37:24 And you're free from being involved in any kind of extreme negativity. Report an error

1:37:33 You live in a place and a time where the sun of the Buddha's teachings still shines. His teachings are still in the world. They say that there'll be times that it's like the Dark Ages where you can't find the Dharma. And that's true for places in the world right now. Report an error

1:37:55 And not only do they still exist in the world, but people are still gaining realizations from those teachings in retreat and in the world. Report an error

1:38:06 There's still places to go to get authentic teachings from authentic masters who have realized them. There's still people who support the teachings that allow us to come. Report an error

1:38:26 There's still people who get ordained and devote their lives to spiritual practice. Report an error

1:38:35 So first you just think about what you do have, what still is existing. These are called the richnesses. Report an error

1:38:46 If you think about all this richness in our lives, there's nothing to stop us from gaining liberation. There's nothing standing in our way. Report an error

1:38:57 It's only a matter of our own effort. Report an error

1:39:13 If we think about it, even just the human beings of this world, over 6 billion human beings in all the various countries and circumstances, out of all of those people, how many of them even live in a place? Where they can meet the Dharma or hear words like enlightenment or liberation. Report an error

1:39:44 And in all of those countries where Dharma is available, it's just in little pockets. In San Francisco we might have a lot of Dharma centers, but really in terms of the entire population, how many people even really come across the Dharma in actual qualified teaching or have it register in their mind? Report an error

1:40:17 In places like India where Buddhism was born, such a tiny percentage of their population is still Buddhist. Report an error

1:40:30 And in so-called Buddhist countries, often it's degenerated and it's hard to find actual practitioners. Report an error

1:40:50 Of all the living beings and all the places where pure Dharma can still be found, how many ever hear the teachings? And of those, how many have interest to practice? Report an error

1:41:06 And of those, how many have time and freedom to practice? And of those with the time, how many have found a teacher with the qualities that they actually want themselves? Report an error

1:41:25 And of those who have met the teacher, how many have actually recognized that teacher? Report an error

1:41:35 And of those who have all of these things, how many are actually pursuing and practicing the teachings? Report an error

1:41:48 many living beings? Are actually devoting their lives to liberation and enlightenment. Report an error

1:41:56 Think about all the people you know in your life and have ever known. How many even think enlightenment is possible? Report an error

1:42:11 And even in this city and even in this center, even with all the classes that we offer, how many have really settled down to do the work? Report an error

1:42:30 The situation that I find myself in is so rare. It's not even common in this world to think like this. So what am I going to do with this? Report an error

1:42:50 What's possible for me to achieve with my life? Report an error

1:42:59 I've met the method. What am I going to do with this? Report an error

1:43:10 People all around me are suffering from sickness, old age, dissatisfied mind and death all the time. And I've come into contact with teachings that tell me they can actually stop these sufferings forever. If applied consistently and wholeheartedly, how can I not try to pursue them? Report an error

1:43:43 If there's some opportunity to stop the death of all living beings, to stop war, famine, disease, and I were not even to try, how unfortunate that would be. Report an error

1:44:04 It's said in the teachings that a precious human rebirth comes about only with causes. Report an error

1:44:13 Having practiced generosity, morality, patience. And especially making prayers. So I prayed to receive this life. I prayed to have this opportunity. Report an error

1:44:32 I prayed to have this particular view. To meet these teachings. To have a method to fulfill my deepest longing. I prayed to perfect my mind. And all these causes and conditions have come together. All of my prayers have been answered in this life. Report an error

1:44:59 So what am I going to do with it? Report an error

1:45:19 So ask Shakyamuni Buddha from the bottom of your heart to bless you to recognize this precious opportunity that you have in whatever way works for you, Report an error

1:45:34 recognizing that nothing stands in the way of your own liberation and enlightenment except you. All you have to do is make the effort, Report an error

1:45:48 asking to remind you of this as often as you need to be reminded. How Report an error

1:45:59 amazingly lucky we are. Report an error

1:46:10 Understanding that the precious freedom of this rebirth is found only once, is greatly meaningful and difficult to find again, please bless me to generate the mind that unceasingly day and night takes its essence. Report an error

1:46:28 This life is as impermanent as a water bubble. Remember how quickly it decays and death comes. After death, just like a shadow follows the body, The results of black and white karma follow. Finding firm and definite conviction in this, please bless me always to be careful to abandon even the slightest negativities and accomplish all virtuous deeds. Report an error

1:47:00 Seeking samsaric pleasures is the door to all suffering. They are uncertain and cannot be relied upon. Recognizing these shortcomings, please bless me to generate the strong wish for the bliss of liberation. Report an error

1:47:17 Led by this pure thought, mindfulness, alertness and great caution arise. The root of the teachings is keeping the Pratimoksha bells. Please bless me to accomplish this essential practice. Just as I have fallen into the sea of saṃsāra, so have all mother migratory beings. Bless me to see this, train in supreme bodhicitta, and bear the responsibility of freeing migratory beings. Report an error

1:47:50 Even if I develop only bodhicitta without practicing the three types of morality, I will not achieve enlightenment. With my clear recognition of this, please bless me to practice the bodhisattva vows with great energy. Report an error

1:48:08 Once I have pacified distractions to wrong objects and correctly analyzed the meaning of reality, please bless me to generate quickly within my mind stream the unified path of calm abiding and special insight. Report an error

1:48:26 Having become a pure vessel by training in the general path, please bless me to enter the Holy Gateway of the Fortunate Ones, the Supreme Vajra Vehicle. Report an error

1:48:37 At that time, the basis of accomplishing the two attainments is keeping pure vows in Samaya. As I have become firmly convinced of this, please bless me to protect these vows and pledges like my life. Report an error

1:48:53 Then, having realized the importance of the two stages, the essence of the Vajrayana, By practicing with great energy, never giving up the four sessions, please bless me to practice, to realize the teachings of the Holy Guru. Report an error

1:49:11 Like that, may the gurus who show the noble path and the spiritual friends who practice it have long lives. Please bless me to pacify completely all outer and inner hindrances. Report an error

1:49:24 In all my lives, never separated from perfect gurus, may I enjoy the magnificent Dharma. By completing the qualities of the stages and paths, may I quickly attain the state of Vajradhara. And Report an error

1:49:44 then this request, imagine making this request and I'll read it. Glorious and precious root guru, please abide in the lotus and moon seed in my heart and taking care of me with your great kindness, bestow upon me the attainments of your body, speech and mind. Report an error

1:50:05 And then imagine that Shakyamuni Buddha is extremely pleased. And promises to remind you of your precious human rebirth and take advantage of it. And Report an error

1:50:24 imagine that he melts into a stream of golden light and that descends to your heart, inseparably mixing with your own mind. And your body and mind are pervaded by this golden light and all of its potential for your life. And Report an error

1:50:45 that you're completely transformed into a being made of pure golden light, abiding in this world solely. For the purpose of benefiting others. Report an error

1:51:01 This is your true potential. Report an error

1:51:06 Imagine what this would feel like. And Report an error

1:51:28 we dedicate any merit that we've created through this meditation to each of us actually achieving that potential in however many lifetimes it might take so that we can truly benefit all sentient beings including ourselves. Report an error

1:51:58 And then in your own time as you're ready you can end your meditation and open your eyes. Report an error

1:52:19 And if anybody has any questions. So that's the text that Geshe-Lo will teach on the foundation of all good qualities. It's a complete lamrim. It's one of Lama Tsongkhapa's shorter lamrims. Lama Tsongkhapa, of course, is the one who also wrote the Lama Tsongkhapa, the three-volume big set. This is the complete essence of that in one short text. Report an error

1:52:49 And this is exactly the meditation that you'll have for the next couple weeks. Report an error

1:52:59 There's one spazzy one in here. I don't know what I did, but it something malfunctioned. I think I may have given it to you, Kara. Report an error

1:53:13 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you got that one. Okay, there you go. That's good of you. Report an error

1:53:24 Yeah. Report an error

1:53:28 These can be handed out. Report an error

1:53:37 I did? Yeah. Really? Report an error

1:53:44 Wow, you're special. Report an error

1:53:49 But you know what, you might not be able to do it. Do you know how to do front to back on that one? Okay, cool. Sorry. I'm sorry. Report an error

1:54:08 I know, and then at the end I'm having a major breakdown for the people at home so they can develop compassion. Report an error

1:54:19 Actually, I suppose somebody could just use, well, I was going to give this to Christine, but it's all in there. It's the same one, so you could actually just use that as your homework if you wanted to. Report an error

1:54:28 She's making copies, so that's okay. Report an error

1:54:33 All right. Yes. Report an error

1:54:43 No. I mean, most people just take notes, and some people, if you miss it, then you get the notes. It's kind of like that, yeah. If you want the notes, I can send them to you. You can just email me and I'll send it to you. Report an error

1:55:00 Christine just asked me to hand it to her every day at the end of class. So I do that. I do that for her. It's a help to me because then I can just give it to her instead of having to worry about what to do with it. You have to talk it to the talking stick. Report an error

1:55:23 When you confess, does it actually purify? Or do you have to do the four? You have to do all four. It's a beginning. But sometimes what I use that for is like, oh yeah, I should purify that. And then I kind of hold it to later and I do all four steps. We'll actually talk about that because we do talk about Wajir Sapa in this class. Report an error

1:55:43 One more question. Is there like a, I don't know, maybe a top ten list of wrong view? Or just, you know, or, yeah, because I always think a wrong view is just rejecting the karma. But when you're talking about blame, there's so many other things that don't, maybe don't fall in the ten, or they do fall in the ten non-virtues, but they fall into wrong view that I don't always. Report an error

1:56:07 Well, I'm sure actually wrong view is, yeah, it has like multitudes of all these different things. But usually a simplified version of wrong view is just rejecting that karma exists or that it works and also rejecting certain levels of emptiness. Report an error

1:56:25 So it's not doubting them as you're studying them because all of us are still kind of like, yeah, this karma thing sounds great, but I'm not sure. That's okay because we're still studying it. We're trying to gain information about it. To eradicate that view, you know, or to prove it to ourselves. But this is talking about just like out and out rejecting it and kind of like this stupid Buddha never said that, it doesn't work, you know, it's just kind of like that's where it becomes a wrong view. Report an error

1:56:52 But yeah, actually there's all sorts, you could break it out. I think it actually breaks out into like another five different types of wrong view. And I should have that memorized and I can't remember this. But yeah, it's like, it's all related to emptiness. Report an error

1:57:10 And how things exist. So like thinking things are permanent would be a wrong view? Well, we all think things are permanent. No, I mean, so it's a level beyond just misperceiving reality. It's actually, it's solidifying that view and really like believing in it 100 % and not even questioning it and having no doubt about it and just like, I mean, to be honest, all of us are constantly pervaded by wrong view, but it becomes wrong. Report an error

1:57:38 I think it, I think to some degree, actually, even just the basic way that we do see reality is a form of wrong view, but usually when they're talking about wrong views, it's like a heavier form of that. It's like a more aggressive form of that, so that you're just like, you're feeling it really, really strongly. We all misperceive reality. Report an error

1:58:02 That's why we're all in this mess. Report an error

1:58:07 And I think, to be honest, at some level, we all... you know, but... Report an error

1:58:12 So I think I'm just actually deciding, as I say that, that it is all wrong views, yeah. It's not just the heaviest forms of it. I think it all is considered wrong view. But we're trying to, you know, to make it one of the ten, when you're talking about the ten non-virtues, that one you're definitely talking about harboring and feeding that wrong view. Report an error

1:58:35 So when you're talking about the ten, in that particular context, you're talking about like... It's like feeding the flames of that wrong view. That's a really extreme negative form of wrong view. The kind of wrong view that we all have all the time, we're just trying to examine what it is and figure out what it is, but we aren't necessarily feeding it, right? Report an error

1:58:56 It's just kind of the way I see the world. It's kind of like that with a lot of things with the ten non-virtues. you know, it's like Report an error

1:59:04 There are these really myriad and complicated ways of looking at it, and then there's like the really simplified way. And when you think about the ten non-virtues way, it's usually a simplified way. Report an error

1:59:17 Yeah, sorry. Thanks. Yeah. Anybody else? Any last questions? He's like out there. All right. Thank you. I knew that other shoe had to fall. Yeah, so I don't think there's any other. Oh. If anybody wants to come to the refuge discussion, it's next Wednesday, 5.30, and just email me and let me know that you're coming. Report an error

1:59:57 Oh, okay. I'm going to be Yeah, yeah, yeah. think like at Right, right, right. Report an error

2:00:07 Absolutely, yeah. Do it, yeah, exactly. Do it, do it just as soon as you get home and get settled. Because I usually don't like to send it out in advance because I do usually make changes to it. Yeah, that's right. So I'll just email you when I get back. Okay. Because I get back late to that night, I think. Okay. The next day. Absolutely, yeah. Sorry, I'll miss it. Report an error

2:00:28 Yeah, but it's the same homework the whole time. right, all right, all right, all right. Report an error

2:00:32 Yeah, so you just have that. Okay, great, thank you. Thank you. Report an error

2:00:42 No, no, no. Report an error

2:00:49 Really? Okay, good. Well, you and I already talked, so I feel okay with it. Report an error

2:00:56 I mean, unless you have any questions or anything. Yeah, so I would come a little bit ahead of time just so I can kind of brief you on all that stuff. Report an error

2:01:08 I know, Maria. Thank you. Maria's going to bring Allie. I think she may bring her mom, too. She's just going to pray that Allie behaves. You could add fuel to the fire and bring yours, too. I don't know. Report an error

2:01:24 Okay. That's exciting. It's very exciting. Thank you. Thank you. Report an error

2:01:47 Just in case. Report an error

2:01:54 Is there any... Report an error

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Talk by Lobsang Chokyi, recorded 11 February 2010. Original at Tse Chen Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/LC_Practice_201001. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US. Transcript generated automatically and may contain errors; the audio is the authoritative version.

Recorded at Tse Chen Ling Center, San Francisco, and archived by the center on Internet Archive. More from Tse Chen Ling

Listen on Internet Archive · CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US