Discovering Buddhism: Establishing a Daily Practice (21 January 2010)

· · · silence, 10 minutes

9:32 Princess of the Pea. So Report an error in the passage at 9:32 Highlight the passage at 9:32

9:52 we're going to start the meditation and Report an error in the passage at 9:52 Highlight the passage at 9:52

9:59 set a motivation for tonight's collab. Report an error in the passage at 9:59 Highlight the passage at 9:59

10:08 So I'll just start with reviewing the posture. For some of you it will be reviews, some of it might be an introduction. And if anybody else is chilly, I think we do have some throws out there. Report an error in the passage at 10:08 Highlight the passage at 10:08

10:26 So I'll just start with taking some nice deep cleansing breaths, letting go of the rain, letting go of fighting for parking or riding the bus or walking on the streets, letting go of your work day, whatever you did today. You're shopping for Soap Day. That was for Charles. Whatever you've been doing all day, even things that you know you might have to do later or tomorrow, just imagine just leaving them at the door and picking them up when you go out. Report an error in the passage at 10:26 Highlight the passage at 10:26

11:04 And you just take some nice deep belly breaths and imagine those breaths moving through your mind and your body and dissolving tension in either. Report an error in the passage at 11:04 Highlight the passage at 11:04

11:16 And then breathing out that tension or negative states of mind, any discomfort in your body, just imagine breathing it out like smoke coming from a chimney. And Report an error in the passage at 11:16 Highlight the passage at 11:16

11:32 imagine every in-breath is just bringing in pure, fresh awareness, alertness in the form of white light. Report an error in the passage at 11:32 Highlight the passage at 11:32

12:08 And then I'll just start by reviewing the posture. We're going to go through the posture tonight, so I won't spend much time on it here, but just especially extending your spine. Report an error in the passage at 12:08 Highlight the passage at 12:08

12:26 Rolling your shoulders back, Report an error in the passage at 12:26 Highlight the passage at 12:26

12:30 slightly tucking your chin. Report an error in the passage at 12:30 Highlight the passage at 12:30

12:37 For this simple meditation, your eyes can be either open or closed. Report an error in the passage at 12:37 Highlight the passage at 12:37

12:46 Tongue is just resting on the roof of your mouth. Report an error in the passage at 12:46 Highlight the passage at 12:46

12:54 Hands are either on your knees, face down, or in your lap, right over left, thumbs touching lightly. Report an error in the passage at 12:54 Highlight the passage at 12:54

13:11 Be crossed in any position, whatever works for you. Or if you're in a chair, just... Having your feet level, flat on the floor, and moving away from the back of the chair so you're not too comfy. I'm Report an error in the passage at 13:11 Highlight the passage at 13:11

13:36 just going to start with a few rounds of watching our breath, either at the level of your belly as it expands and contracts with each breath, or at the level of your nostril, a little patch of skin inside the tip of your nostril, and the sensation of the breath passing over that patch of skin. Report an error in the passage at 13:36 Highlight the passage at 13:36

14:01 Count one in breath and one out breath as one. Trying to count to ten and then starting over. Just try three sets of ten. Every time your mind wanders, just place it back on the breath and start over. When Report an error in the passage at 14:01 Highlight the passage at 14:01

· · · silence, 3 minutes

17:12 we first start hearing the teachings, there's this big gap between our mind and these deep separation. And the goal of practice is to gradually close that gap. We Report an error in the passage at 17:12 Highlight the passage at 17:12

17:36 start by recognizing the attitudes or the states of mind that aren't so... Healthy, aren't so skillful, might be causing us suffering, might be causing other people suffering. Report an error in the passage at 17:36 Highlight the passage at 17:36

17:52 And we try to work on those states of mind, gradually, slowly, over time. Report an error in the passage at 17:52 Highlight the passage at 17:52

18:02 For example, if we still keep blaming others for the problems that we have, even after a really long time of studying and practicing the Dharma, it's a sign that there's still a big gap. Report an error in the passage at 18:02 Highlight the passage at 18:02

18:25 If our hearts can't soften even after years of studying and practice, it's a sign that there's still a gap. Report an error in the passage at 18:25 Highlight the passage at 18:25

18:38 But if we practice, eventually there'll be no more gap. Our mind will be the Dharma. There'll be no separation. We become our own refuge. We become our own guru. We develop our own wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 18:38 Highlight the passage at 18:38

19:06 All the other trappings of Buddhism are to help us to get to that place. They're just bridges to help us get to that place. Report an error in the passage at 19:06 Highlight the passage at 19:06

19:24 So whether something becomes a Dharma activity or not, whether anything becomes a Dharma activity or not depends on our motivation. So we start with setting a motivation for this class. Report an error in the passage at 19:24 Highlight the passage at 19:24

19:40 Why are we listening to these teachings? Why am I here? Why am I making this effort? Report an error in the passage at 19:40 Highlight the passage at 19:40

19:49 So think about that. Report an error in the passage at 19:49 Highlight the passage at 19:49

19:58 Maybe it's simple. Maybe it's just to calm our minds down. Become happier or become more helpful. Understand the Buddha's teachings. Whatever it is, look at it, think about it, embrace it. Report an error in the passage at 19:58 Highlight the passage at 19:58

20:25 And then think about all the people in this room, the people in this class, and how every one of us here also wants to be happy, wants to avoid pain. Report an error in the passage at 20:25 Highlight the passage at 20:25

20:48 And this is something to think about too. I've been thinking about this one this week. Is this true? Does everyone want to be happy? And what is happiness? Report an error in the passage at 20:48 Highlight the passage at 20:48

21:01 And does everyone want to avoid suffering? Report an error in the passage at 21:01 Highlight the passage at 21:01

21:13 If we think of happiness as just the opposite of dukkha or suffering, a sort of sense of well-being, a contentedness, Report an error in the passage at 21:13 Highlight the passage at 21:13

21:27 being free of that restless, dissatisfied mind of dukkha, then yes, we do. We all want a mind that's calm and content and stable, but we don't know how to get it yet. Report an error in the passage at 21:27 Highlight the passage at 21:27

21:48 So try expanding your motivation to include just the other people in this room. Report an error in the passage at 21:48 Highlight the passage at 21:48

21:58 By the virtue of making the effort to listening to these teachings tonight, may everyone in this class be free of pain. May everyone in this class have happiness. And Report an error in the passage at 21:58 Highlight the passage at 21:58

22:23 then start spreading it out towards the people of this neighborhood, the people of this town, the people of this country, this planet. The people in areas that you know are suffering, like in Haiti, Iraq, Report an error in the passage at 22:23 Highlight the passage at 22:23

22:49 try to motivate for their happiness too, for them to be free of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 22:49 Highlight the passage at 22:49

23:03 Some of the Buddhist teachings are that all of these people have once been close to us, maybe not in this life, but in some life they've cared for us like a mother, like a sister. Report an error in the passage at 23:03 Highlight the passage at 23:03

23:18 And even if we can't remember it, we've had that relationship with every living being. So Report an error in the passage at 23:18 Highlight the passage at 23:18

23:31 we just think. By the virtue of making the effort of listening to these teachings tonight, may every living being be happy. Report an error in the passage at 23:31 Highlight the passage at 23:31

23:43 May every living being be free of pain and Report an error in the passage at 23:43 Highlight the passage at 23:43

23:57 the Dharma become one. May I close the gap, slowly, slowly, as they say in Nepal, gradually over time, with practice, so that I can be of benefit. Report an error in the passage at 23:57 Highlight the passage at 23:57

24:25 And as you're ready, you can end your meditation. Open your eyes and we'll start with opening prayer. Report an error in the passage at 24:25 Highlight the passage at 24:25

24:43 So we'll do on page 8, Report an error in the passage at 24:43 Highlight the passage at 24:43

24:55 we'll do this prayer by His Holiness the Dalai Lama based on Shantideva's text and then we're going to do another prayer on the back of it, which hopefully you all have. Report an error in the passage at 24:55 Highlight the passage at 24:55

25:08 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 25:08 Highlight the passage at 25:08

25:41 Oh, actually we can do the one right across. Does everybody have a page that's called Sunday Morning Service Prayers? So we'll just do, do you have it? Report an error in the passage at 25:41 Highlight the passage at 25:41

25:56 It's kind of catch-as-catch, yeah. We'll do, yeah, thank you. We'll do the one that's refuge in generating bodhicitta. Each time we'll add some more of these. So we'll do it in, I'll do it once in Tibetan and twice in English, and we'll play around with that each time. Report an error in the passage at 25:56 Highlight the passage at 25:56

26:20 And typically... Typically, I'm going to tell you, those of you that are new, usually the umze does the first two words. So I'll say sangye and then you guys all come in on shu. Sangye chudan sugi chunam la Jangshu bardu dadni khyapsu chi Da gi chun niangyi pe sonam gi la penchir sangye druparsho 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. Report an error in the passage at 26:20 Highlight the passage at 26:20

27:11 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. Report an error in the passage at 27:11 Highlight the passage at 27:11

27:31 So welcome, I see some other new faces, that's great. Report an error in the passage at 27:31 Highlight the passage at 27:31

27:37 We went around last week and kind of introduced ourselves, but I see some other new faces, so, sorry, I'm seeing, Kara's making faces at me. Report an error in the passage at 27:37 Highlight the passage at 27:37

27:49 So maybe what I'll do is right when we get to the break, I might do that again so that people can all hear. Even if we don't remember, it's okay. We can all hear everybody's names. Report an error in the passage at 27:49 Highlight the passage at 27:49

28:01 So first, any questions from the week? And I apologize. I just sent out the handouts. I just sent it to everybody today. Report an error in the passage at 28:01 Highlight the passage at 28:01

28:15 I couldn't think of a better way to do it, so I actually sent out an electronic version of the reading and the handout I was talking about from Venerabina, the one on the lamrim, and all you that are new, I'll get your emails and I'll include you on that. And then I also sent, what was the other thing I was going to say? Oh, the meditation, how to start a meditation practice. So I just sent it to all of you, and so that way everybody can just decide what they want rather than... Report an error in the passage at 28:15 Highlight the passage at 28:15

28:44 This one wanted this one, and this one wanted this one. I figured that was easier. We did make... Maria made the binders. We made ten binders and three without binders, and then we'll just make more because that probably won't be enough. Report an error in the passage at 28:44 Highlight the passage at 28:44

29:03 And you guys now all will have the electronic version, so you can still read the first two little things. The two little things, I think they're each like two pages each. It's pretty short. Report an error in the passage at 29:03 Highlight the passage at 29:03

29:15 So at the break, if there are people that are new, we just need to make sure to get that written down. Maybe tell Kara that you want a binder made and then we'll just make sure that we make binders for next week for people because I don't know who's sitting in and who's planning to do the class. Report an error in the passage at 29:15 Highlight the passage at 29:15

29:32 So questions about anything that came up thinking about the class last week? Any questions? Report an error in the passage at 29:32 Highlight the passage at 29:32

29:48 But before you do, we have to... We have a rule that you have to have the talking stick in your hand. You can disguise your voice, it's okay. Hello. Should the woman in the back please? Report an error in the passage at 29:48 Highlight the passage at 29:48

30:04 It's just so that when we upload the teachings that people can hear. I was every evening going through the visualization. One thing I found was difficult was I was trying to read it and then remember it. Yeah. But one of the questions is, is it... Hello. Yeah, there we go. Report an error in the passage at 30:04 Highlight the passage at 30:04

30:20 Is it a complete literal interpretation of it or is it more just, I think I was overthinking it. Yeah, and we'll talk about that. Yeah, there's a lot of words coming at you. So it's kind of like the more that you learn it, it'll become easier. For one thing, you won't have to peek at all the words. And then another, you can kind of play around with it a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 30:20 Highlight the passage at 30:20

30:40 So for example, for those of you that weren't here, we did a visualization of Shakyamuni Buddha. And we did some visualization of light rays. Some mantra and things like that. You'll have actually the same exact practice this week, but I'm adding some things to it. So we kind of will add on to it each week. Report an error in the passage at 30:40 Highlight the passage at 30:40

30:59 And as you get to know it a little bit, then you can work with it. So if you, for example, if you, to some degree you can't change it, and to some degree you can. So let me back up a little bit. But sometimes... It might make more sense to you with a visualization meditation, for example, to have Shakyamuni Buddha on your crown or to have Shakyamuni Buddha already in your heart. Report an error in the passage at 30:59 Highlight the passage at 30:59

31:24 And that's all okay. You can kind of play with that a little bit. Were you thinking about, I mean, was there a specific aspect that you were asking if it were literal? No, I think because it was so new, I was like, well, maybe I'm not following it. Yeah, yeah, no, you're not going to go to hell for that one yet. Just assume that we, clearly you haven't been in my mind for the last 10 years. Report an error in the passage at 31:24 Highlight the passage at 31:24

31:52 No, I know there's always this fear of like, oh my God, I'm going to do it wrong. But let's just kind of be cool and just assume. It's all we're playing now, so it's kind of like we're learning how to use visualization, how to meditate. And we have to stay light about it, because otherwise we can definitely get really like... Report an error in the passage at 31:52 Highlight the passage at 31:52

32:08 And I have. Yeah, you want to have fun with it. And this time it's even more amazing because I'm adding in six preparatory practices. And I don't want it to be rigid and overwhelming. So it's kind of like how to introduce... You know, so... Report an error in the passage at 32:08 Highlight the passage at 32:08

32:30 The traditional teachings in a way that's still kind of fun and massageable. So that's kind of the predicament I'm in. And then hopefully we can, if it feels overwhelming, you guys can come back and then everyone can share with you, not just me, but how you might make it less overwhelming. Because I know some people can get overwhelmed by, Tibetan Buddhism has a lot of information. We're good at that. And we're good at lists. And you're going to get some lists tonight. Report an error in the passage at 32:30 Highlight the passage at 32:30

32:56 And then it's like, how do we take those lists and then let go of them? And that's what this is all about. It's like taking this information and making it experiential. Report an error in the passage at 32:56 Highlight the passage at 32:56

33:11 But good question, yeah. Anybody else? Any other questions after the week? Okay, I'm sure you'll have questions after the night. Report an error in the passage at 33:11 Highlight the passage at 33:11

33:24 We're going to talk about how to make... Your meditation practice, because we're going to start the first two classes. Well, the second two classes, this class and next class, we'll be talking more about your formal practice. And then after that, we're going to be talking about all the other hours of your day that you're not doing formal practice. So you're going to take it out to the field, or you're going to, however we want to call it, your post-meditative session. Report an error in the passage at 33:24 Highlight the passage at 33:24

33:54 So these... These two classes, we're going to talk about a couple of different things that have to do with your formal meditation, including the posture. We're going to talk about these six practices that help us have more successful meditation practices, how to be more effective in our meditation. And they include the whole gamut of arranging the body, space and mind in a very neat little list for you. Report an error in the passage at 33:54 Highlight the passage at 33:54

34:26 And then next week we're going to talk more about the object, what you're going to spend the time meditating on, because it isn't always the breath. I wanted to give you a little experience. Actually the meditation, well it was a little meditation, meditation slash motivation tonight, was a little bit of each type of meditation that we do. Report an error in the passage at 34:26 Highlight the passage at 34:26

34:49 The meditation on the breath. Our meditation on a single object trying to keep just strong concentration or as strong as any of you had. And we were using the breath for that object. And then we were sort of analyzing stuff. We were analyzing, do beings want to be happy? Do I want to be happy? What is happiness? And that's beginning to look at analytical meditation, which is another type of meditation that we particularly do in this. Report an error in the passage at 34:49 Highlight the passage at 34:49

35:19 Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, where we'll take a concept, an image, an experience, we'll take something and we'll analyze it, we'll use our analytical powers or our powers of reasoning, suss something out, try to gain some experience, hold our concentration on that experience. And then when we get distracted, we'll move on with the analysis. That's what analytical meditation is like. And that's really mostly what we're going to be doing in this class, is that kind of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 35:19 Highlight the passage at 35:19

35:52 That's mostly what we do in this particular tradition. And, but and, I always think it's important to learn both types and to kind of incorporate both types of meditation into your practice, even if you only do two and a half minutes. Which is about what we did tonight of concentration meditation. Because every time you do, you build your concentration. And that can only be helpful. Report an error in the passage at 35:52 Highlight the passage at 35:52

36:19 It allows you to actually listen in class. It allows you to read the newspaper. It allows you to do anything that you do to have a little bit more concentration. Report an error in the passage at 36:19 Highlight the passage at 36:19

36:35 um... These teachings that I'm going to give you tonight come straight from the lamrim teachings, and they are described in quite a bit of detail in Pabanka Rinpoche's commentary on the lamrim called Liberation in the Palm of Your Hands. He goes into such detail that it can be thoroughly overwhelming, as a matter of fact, especially when he's talking about setting up the merit field and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 36:35 Highlight the passage at 36:35

37:04 All of that will come in due time. We're fortunate in this particular class that our merit field is going to be fairly simple. It's Shakyamuni Buddha. We want to think about how to liven up that merit field so that it's lively and it's awake and it's not just like a statue that we're meditating on. It's supposed to be kind of energetic and alive and we're supposed to build some relationship with that image, which is hard enough. Report an error in the passage at 37:04 Highlight the passage at 37:04

37:35 But we don't want to throw in, you know, the typical merit field in Galupa tradition is this, but life size and like the size of the sky. So it's like all of these little beings and they're all holding things and they all are interacting with each other. And you can't even see them all from here, but you actually memorize them all and where they are and all this stuff. Report an error in the passage at 37:35 Highlight the passage at 37:35

37:57 It's a bit overwhelming. So we're not going to do that yet. We're going to just start with Shakyamuni. Just like everything else, it takes time to develop our capacity to visualize various things. So we start out with one thing and we try to get it pretty good and then we start adding on to those things. Report an error in the passage at 37:57 Highlight the passage at 37:57

38:15 So that's kind of the way it works. It's also good to remember if we are reading that particular text of Liberation in the Palm of Your Hands. Report an error in the passage at 38:15 Highlight the passage at 38:15

38:29 Or liberation in your hands, which is another translation of the same teaching. That he was speaking to an audience of primarily monks whose main activity in life was study and meditation. So these guys had some time and this was really what they were aiming to do with life. So how do we take those teachings and we work with them in our lives where we might be... Report an error in the passage at 38:29 Highlight the passage at 38:29

38:57 You know, moms or be working full time or have three jobs or partners or whatever. And we're trying to figure out how to take these teachings and still gain the essence of them so we aren't lightening them up too much. But we aren't getting overwhelmed by them either. So we'll talk about that a little bit more as we go along. Report an error in the passage at 38:57 Highlight the passage at 38:57

39:23 With the visualization that we did last week, what we'll keep doing, that will become sort of like our sadhana. Who was here this weekend for any of Geshe-la's? So, yeah, just a few of you. So you have a little bit of experience with it. Geshe-la did a retreat this weekend on a thousand-armed chenrezig, developing compassion, and we had something called the sadhana, which... Report an error in the passage at 39:23 Highlight the passage at 39:23

39:48 that Charles and I created and had a few errors in it. But. The basic idea is that you had a regular practice that each time you sat down you kind of went through. There are certain things that were included and some of it was spent visualizing, some of it was spent reciting a mantra, some of it was spent making requests, some of it was spent making offerings. Report an error in the passage at 39:48 Highlight the passage at 39:48

40:11 You know, there's some basic things that go into it. So the little sadhana that you started getting to know, that will become the basis of our sadhana for this particular class. It doesn't mean that you always have to do a sadhana when you sit down to do formal practice, but it's just kind of a way to look at practice. Report an error in the passage at 40:11 Highlight the passage at 40:11

40:28 It's our foundation. Report an error in the passage at 40:28 Highlight the passage at 40:28

40:33 So we'll also talk about this particular practice that we're going to do. It's based on words, so it's just like, tell me your name again, what's your name again? Eric? Eric, Eric. So, as Eric was pointing out, you know, is there wiggle room, basically? I mean, I'm paraphrasing, but is there wiggle room within the sadhana? Or do we have to follow it literally, exactly, like word by word? No, we actually want to get to the point where we aren't looking at the words at all. Report an error in the passage at 40:33 Highlight the passage at 40:33

41:06 That's ultimately it. I still haven't gotten to that point with a lot of my practices, but... We aren't even really supposed to memorize the words and just recite the words, although most of us do, especially in the West. But we're supposed to actually just, if we say it enough times and experience it enough times, then when we enter that experience, we don't even need the words. Report an error in the passage at 41:06 Highlight the passage at 41:06

41:29 The words are just our jumping off place. What we're gaining or what we're trying to gain is the experience, and the words just help us get there. But we don't want to trip so much over the words that... It's not fun anymore. And that's often, I think, what we do do, especially in Tibetan Buddhism. People end up with hours and hours of chanting a bunch of practices, and we forget the words of those practices are just to get us to certain states of mind, like, what is compassion? Report an error in the passage at 41:29 Highlight the passage at 41:29

42:01 How does it feel in my body and mind? Who am I thinking about? Why am I doing this session? What do I want to become? What does that feel like? What could that possibly feel like to have no afflictions in my mind? And just trying to experience those conditions, not just da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da, which is the way a lot of people, including myself, sometimes do our practices. Report an error in the passage at 42:01 Highlight the passage at 42:01

42:28 We don't really want to do that. So we're aiming for experience. Report an error in the passage at 42:28 Highlight the passage at 42:28

42:38 And deeper and deeper and deeper experiences. And the more times that we do something, it does become like an onion. We do go deeper and deeper into it. And often, especially in retreat, even things that we have done many times become completely different. And we have different experiences with them. And that ultimately is what we hope for. Report an error in the passage at 42:38 Highlight the passage at 42:38

43:02 For our entire life to just be constantly going deeper and deeper and deeper into our experiences and our meditations. Even if we're doing some of the same ones that we've been doing, you know, we've done before. So you can never just say, well, I did those meditations on impermanence. They're done, check, you know. It's more like you just keep returning to them and our life experiences change and so then we gain more out of it. Report an error in the passage at 43:02 Highlight the passage at 43:02

43:28 And our understanding of the various words in it. have changed and so then we gain more out of it and you know blah blah blah like that so it's it's like our various Everything about us is constantly changing. It's good for impermanence, right? Everything about us is constantly changing. Our body, our mind, our life, the people around us, our losses and so forth and we bring that into every meditation that we sit in so then it becomes a different experience. Report an error in the passage at 43:28 Highlight the passage at 43:28

43:55 It should never just become same old, same old. So every teaching that you will ever receive on meditation in Tibetan Buddhism begins with these six preparatory practices. They're sometimes called the six preliminary practices. I'm calling them preparatory because there are these things called nindro that we'll talk about a little bit more later that are... Report an error in the passage at 43:55 Highlight the passage at 43:55

44:27 Often translated as the preliminary practices and those are preliminary practices in order to do Tantra. So I don't want to mix up the two. These are not preliminary practices to do Tantra. We talk about these a lot in the Discovering Buddhism class called How to Meditate. And I talk about them actually in some of the drop-in meditations too. Report an error in the passage at 44:27 Highlight the passage at 44:27

44:50 Once we've been going for a while, I often will bring up some of these. So some of you have probably heard these before and some of them. They'll be new and we'll talk about what they're about and why we do them. It's not so much just like thou shalt not. You should understand why. Why you would want to do something rather than well Chokyi said so. Report an error in the passage at 44:50 Highlight the passage at 44:50

45:09 It's not like that. Even if I were His Holiness. Even if you're saying His Holiness said so or Geshe-la said so. It's not enough. We have to understand that there's some purpose for it that'll help us meditate better. That has to be there and we have to understand why on earth we'd want to do it. So the very first one is I should ask. Does anyone know the very first one? Report an error in the passage at 45:09 Highlight the passage at 45:09

45:35 I just put on top of the mic. Clean your room. There you go. Clean your room. I know now it's definitely like Mama Chokyi said so. Report an error in the passage at 45:35 Highlight the passage at 45:35

45:46 Cleaning the place where you're going to meditate and arranging the altar. That's the way it comes out. Cleaning the place. And this is the one that often we'll just skip, right? I'll skip this one too. It's like, well, that's boring. Who wants to do that? Report an error in the passage at 45:46 Highlight the passage at 45:46

46:00 It's really important because obviously I think even when we're thinking about where we study or where we live or anything, we want to think about how the space, and don't look at my desk when I say this, but we want to think about how the messiness of the space is going to affect our minds. And if our whole purpose is to sit down and become familiar with various teachings of the Buddha or the mind itself, we don't want it to be... Report an error in the passage at 46:00 Highlight the passage at 46:00

46:28 Cluttery and dusty and, you know, kind of a yucky place. We want it to be a place, first of all, that's inspiring to our mind. And secondly, that has some, that feels good. It feels good to sit and meditate, you know. So there's this story of this. Poor old monk. He was very old and he was very dull and the Buddha tried to work with him at his level and tried to keep giving him different texts to memorize and he couldn't memorize them. Report an error in the passage at 46:28 Highlight the passage at 46:28

46:59 Of course all the other monks laughed and stuff. There's always these stories and you're like, God, how could they be so mean? But the Buddha finally just said, look, here's your practice. You're going to clean up this courtyard where all the monks left their sandals. And he would start at one side of the courtyard and he would sweep it all and by the time he got to the end it would be dirty again so he'd just start over. And that's really all he did. And the only, almost like a mantra, the Buddha gave him this phrase, dirt be gone, stains be gone. Report an error in the passage at 46:59 Highlight the passage at 46:59

47:32 Dirt be gone, stains be gone. And he would just sweep the whole thing and then start over. And he did this for years before anything really happened. But ultimately he got it that he was thinking about his own mind. It was his own mind that he was sweeping. It wasn't something separate from his mind. It wasn't like he got to do this for a while and then he got to do real practice. Report an error in the passage at 47:32 Highlight the passage at 47:32

47:54 He got it and in fact he got it so much so that he became an arhat. In other words, he attained nirvāṇa in one lifetime. I love this story because I have a hard time memorizing too. Report an error in the passage at 47:54 Highlight the passage at 47:54

48:09 So, um, So I'm just counting on Lama Zopa Rinpoche to give me a simple practice like that. Dirt be gone, stains be gone. Dirt be gone, stains be gone. So cleaning the place is really important. And in fact, Riva Rinpoche once said when he was teaching, one of my teachers who's since passed, When he was teaching the Lamrim, he actually said that we should get the smallest broom possible so that it took us a long time to clean the place. Report an error in the passage at 48:09 Highlight the passage at 48:09

48:38 And while we were cleaning the place, we'd actually think about our mind and the meditation. So it's not like something you want to rush through, which is, of course, the way I do it. Report an error in the passage at 48:38 Highlight the passage at 48:38

48:48 This should be an important part of your sitting down. It doesn't mean also, which I've also done, where you spend so much time cleaning that you never sit down. You don't want to get out the vacuum and start polishing everything because then you're just basically using it as a distraction. Report an error in the passage at 48:48 Highlight the passage at 48:48

49:08 You want to use the time as part of your preparation. So now, you have... I guess we want to go back to the idea of, first of all, setting up a place in our homes or in our rooms that we're going to meditate. And if you all don't already have an altar, the first couple of readings in the text are talking about setting up an altar. Report an error in the passage at 49:08 Highlight the passage at 49:08

49:34 And we'll talk a little bit about that. But assuming that you have an area... Assuming that you've already leaped past that for a moment, assuming that you have a meditation area that makes you feel good that you want to sit down, which is the idea of a meditation area, it should feel good to you. It should inspire you. Then you want to take a little bit of time to make sure before you get started that it's clean, it's not cluttered. Report an error in the passage at 49:34 Highlight the passage at 49:34

50:09 When I say arrange the altar, We're going to talk about, right now, we're going to talk about how you set up an altar, and there's more detail again in your readings too. And again, there will be much more detail on the day that we do, there's a February 6th that we're going to do the morning workshop on the various beginning Buddhist rituals, and one of them is setting up an altar. Report an error in the passage at 50:09 Highlight the passage at 50:09

50:37 But, um... Take some time to sweep the floor. If you have a hardwood floor, then actually get out a broom and sweep it. Some of us, and I have done this too, I actually just get a special broom that I only use for that. Right now I actually have a carpet in my room, so I use a little carpet sweeper, not the vacuum, because Jane might not be so happy if I started turning on the vacuum. Report an error in the passage at 50:37 Highlight the passage at 50:37

51:04 at 5.30 or 6. But even the sweeper probably makes more noise than she would like. But it's just kind of like to get the basic stuff off the floor and then kind of arrange, make sure that the place where I'm going to sit is clean. There's no cups of tea sitting in there or something like that. Make sure that that's clean. And again, thinking about it in the same way. Report an error in the passage at 51:04 Highlight the passage at 51:04

51:30 As you're sweeping, as I'm sweeping the carpet, really thinking, that's my mind. Boy, it's gotten cluttered, hasn't it, overnight? Okay, I'm just going to straighten that up. I'm going to clean it up. Report an error in the passage at 51:30 Highlight the passage at 51:30

51:46 I had one teacher also who said if you were really serious about developing a meditation practice, you would also just start sorting through all the stuff of your life and just starting to get rid of some stuff. It doesn't mean we have to call goodwill and get rid of everything we own, but everything that we own takes up space in the mind in some way. Report an error in the passage at 51:46 Highlight the passage at 51:46

52:07 You know, if we have a billion pairs of shoes, they take up space in our mind. If we have a billion books, it takes up space in our mind. And one way to make it easier is just thinking about when I die, somebody else is going to get stuck with going through all this crap. And if you've ever had to do that for somebody else, it's like, why did she save all this? You know, it's just kind of like I'm sure there was meaning to that person, but... Report an error in the passage at 52:07 Highlight the passage at 52:07

52:33 Garbage bags and garbage bags and garbage bags later. And I see David's head going up and down. Once you've done this for a few people, I mean, of course, there's like the sadness and all that stuff, too. But by the third day, you're like, did you have to save every single card you ever got? Report an error in the passage at 52:33 Highlight the passage at 52:33

52:52 When I got ordained, there was a process, because I had no idea, of course, I'd still be in San Francisco ten years later, but I assumed I might have to go at a moment's notice, so I just got rid of everything, and there's something quite freeing about that, although, you know, later I was like, why did I give the camping equipment away? Report an error in the passage at 52:52 Highlight the passage at 52:52

53:10 But still, there's this kind of nice feeling of just that spring cleaning kind of feel, like getting rid of some stuff, and if it's hard for you, just do a little bit once a month, you know, just like start going through, All the books on your shelf or whatever it is that you're a collector of. And we each have our areas, you know. Maybe you don't need 79 scarves, you know. Report an error in the passage at 53:10 Highlight the passage at 53:10

53:32 Everything you own takes up space. So just beginning to kind of reduce the clutter of our lives begins to reduce the clutter in our minds. They are interrelated. Report an error in the passage at 53:32 Highlight the passage at 53:32

53:46 So cleaning the place and arranging the altar, that was cleaning the place. Now arranging the altar. There's three basic components to an altar in Buddhism. We end up having three main things that are on there, and they can be actual physical things, or they can be pictures. When I was first getting involved in Buddhism, I just had three postcards. Those were my three things. And then if I was living in a sublet, my altar was like, I actually literally used a windowsill in one place. Report an error in the passage at 53:46 Highlight the passage at 53:46

54:21 Then if you're traveling, you just stick the postcards away and that's your altar and it goes on the road with you. Or you can become incredibly elaborate and get these amazing statues and put them up on pedestals and all that stuff. But just know that you don't have to. That's a choice that you're making. You can also keep it incredibly simple. The three things that we're trying to have on our altar are representing the Buddha's body. Report an error in the passage at 54:21 Highlight the passage at 54:21

54:47 So for that, we have an image of the Buddha. It can be a statue. It could be a tanka. It could be an enormous tanka. It could be a little tiny postcard. It can actually even be a picture of a teacher that represents the body of the Buddha, right? Because that's the part of the Buddha we see, is a teacher. We don't necessarily, I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I don't necessarily walk out of my house and see Shakyamuni Buddha. I'm really happy I get to see His Holiness and Lama Zopa and Geshe-la. Report an error in the passage at 54:47 Highlight the passage at 54:47

55:17 So for me, that's the Buddha. That's the Buddha I see. And then a text is the speech of the Buddha. It can be anything. And for years I used this little tiny pocketbook of Pema Chidrans. You know those little ones that are available? You can actually write Om Ahung on a piece of paper. That's the text. You could write a mantra. Report an error in the passage at 55:17 Highlight the passage at 55:17

55:38 You could write down the Heart Sūtra. Or copy it. There's no reason not to. Just wrap it up. Put a piece of ribbon around it. There you go. Report an error in the passage at 55:38 Highlight the passage at 55:38

55:48 Or you can use, what we use, what a lot of people will use are the Tibetan Pesha style texts, only because they're prettier, to be honest. I can't read it like that, so maybe Charles can, but my Tibetan is not good enough. I actually have a couple of English texts that are written, and they're both sutras. Report an error in the passage at 55:48 Highlight the passage at 55:48

56:11 They actually say sutras are the best. There are incredibly short sutras, but I actually have the Heart Sūtra and the Diamond Cutter Sūtra that were very nice versions that were given to me by a teacher. And they are in English, so I can actually read them. But they're wrapped up in nice cloths, and that's what I actually have on mine. But like I said, for years I just used a little pocketbook. Report an error in the passage at 56:11 Highlight the passage at 56:11

56:34 And I think those pocketbooks are really, really cheap. And they're small to fit on that window. and then... This should be on the Buddha's, this should be on your left, so the Buddha's right. It's so confusing. Yeah, okay, so the Buddha's in the center, yeah, or whoever it is that you have representing the Buddha. And then on the Buddha's, I always get confused, it's your left, the Buddha's right. Report an error in the passage at 56:34 Highlight the passage at 56:34

57:07 And then the final thing is the stupa, and that's on your right or the Buddha's left. And how to remember that? There's something about the stupa is the mind of the Buddha is what it's representing. So it's body, speech and mind of the Buddha. And a stupa. What is a stupa? Do we have a stupa? Can you go grab a stupa from the bookstore? A couple of them actually. Report an error in the passage at 57:07 Highlight the passage at 57:07

57:36 Oh, there you go. Sorry. We can pass it around. It doesn't have to look like that, but this is one example. Yeah, this is one example of a stupa. Report an error in the passage at 57:36 Highlight the passage at 57:36

57:48 There's actually a book out there on stupas. They're incredibly complex and they are often reliquaries but they don't need to be. Report an error in the passage at 57:48 Highlight the passage at 57:48

57:59 The structure of them actually represents the mind of the Buddha and I couldn't begin to tell you how. I have been told and it hasn't gone in or stayed in very much. I know right now Vajrapani. Our sister's center in the Santa Cruz Mountains is building a stupa where Lama Yeshe was cremated. And so Fabienne, who is the director there, is probably knee-deep in stupas, and she could probably tell you just about everything you needed to know about stupas. Report an error in the passage at 57:59 Highlight the passage at 57:59

58:30 They have another stupa there that holds the relics of Lama Yeshe, and now they're building one at the site that he was actually cremated. In fact, they're building... Four. One main one and then three little ones around it. Again, it can be a picture. For years I actually had a picture of the stupa that they have at Vajrapani on my altar and that was my stupa. Report an error in the passage at 58:30 Highlight the passage at 58:30

58:56 And then as I began seeing other stupas that were inspiring to me, for example, there's a huge stupa outside of Kathmandu which is just incredibly beautiful. You can go inside it. Report an error in the passage at 58:56 Highlight the passage at 58:56

59:08 There's also, of course, Bogaya stupa. If anyone's been to Bogaya, which is billions of stupas, but the main stupa, Mahabodhi stupa, they all look different. Report an error in the passage at 59:08 Highlight the passage at 59:08

59:20 There's different types of stupas. But the main thing is that it represents the mind of a Buddha. You want to pass it around, actually? And it can be, like I said, it could be a snapshot, or you can even download. They all like, Report an error in the passage at 59:20 Highlight the passage at 59:20

59:34 Do a Google image search on Stupa and find one that really speaks to you and just stick it on your altar. So you can have it be as simple or as complex as you'd like. The main thing is that it should inspire your mind. Report an error in the passage at 59:34 Highlight the passage at 59:34

59:51 Number two of the six practices is obtaining offerings and arranging them beautifully. Kara? Wait, wait. Report an error in the passage at 59:51 Highlight the passage at 59:51

1:00:05 I like that there were several voices who said wait. Would a prayer wheel on your altar, would that act as like text? Oh, interesting. Because they have all the mantras inside. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:05 Highlight the passage at 1:00:05

1:00:19 It's better to have a sūtra, but in a jif, yeah, you could definitely use. Yeah, until you got a sūtra or something like that, just like you could omaho. Yeah, yeah. Ultimately have the goal of getting a sūtra. I think there's more power to it because it's the speech. It's like the speech of the Buddha, right? And sutras actually do represent speech. Did you have a question too, Maria? Oh, since you got it, why don't you go for it? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:19 Highlight the passage at 1:00:19

1:00:51 There's stupas, like metal stupas, right? Okay, and that's okay to use. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is it super, super inauspicious to have it on the wrong side of Buddha? Oh, yeah, man. Really? Because I just realized it's on the wrong side. Can you get some of those little stupas from the bookstore? Yeah, because just to show how bizarre they're all like different looking. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:51 Highlight the passage at 1:00:51

1:01:15 No, but can you turn it around tonight? No, and in fact, the last two times that I've taught this, the text actually had it in the wrong place. And I had to give a correction in the homework, despite the fact that it says this, change your text, and that's kind of hard, yeah. So you're not alone. It's confusing. It's that whole, like, his left, my left, yeah. So look at these, all these interesting stupas. I love this little guy. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:15 Highlight the passage at 1:01:15

1:01:46 This is my favorite. I know, this is my favorite. It's so gorgeous. So these are all stupas. Not one of them looks the same. No, none of them. Actually, because even that other one that went around doesn't even look like that. So you can see similarities, right? They all have the little thing on the top and like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:46 Highlight the passage at 1:01:46

1:02:06 Apparently there are nine levels to each of them and that I'm not getting and that has to do with the nine. I don't know, but anyway, there you go. Just to see that they're all different. I don't know. I was going to say that and then I thought, you know, you better not say that unless you check it up because I don't know that it really does have to do with those nine levels. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:06 Highlight the passage at 1:02:06

1:02:04 that Report an error in the passage at 1:02:04 Highlight the passage at 1:02:04

1:02:25 Meditation. Were you going to ask that question? I think John had a question still, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:25 Highlight the passage at 1:02:25

1:02:34 Well, I was just going to ask, with the emphasis on detachment and desires, why symbolically are there so many colorful, ornate, really beautiful images? And we'll get to that, actually. The main thing is that we are, we want to become Buddhas. This is making an assumption that you guys are all Buddhists, so I'm going to make that assumption. These things are representing what we're going to attain. So we're going to attain enlightened mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:34 Highlight the passage at 1:02:34

1:03:06 We're going to attain enlightened body. We're going to attain enlightened speech. And the reason that we want to attain them is that we have all of the powers that we can help others with. Because our whole underlying motivation is compassion, taking away the pain of others, and love, which is bringing them happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:06 Highlight the passage at 1:03:06

1:03:25 And the best tool is enlightenment. That's the only reason we want to get enlightened. It's not to become golden-bodied or green-bodied or blue-bodied and have a thousand arms. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:25 Highlight the passage at 1:03:25

1:03:38 That's not the reason. So all of the images that we see in Tibetan Buddhism, as you mentioned, is filled with images, filled with color, filled with mudrā, filled with implements, filled with... These things, it's not so much about attaining the things, it's attaining what those things represent. So you use as little or as much of them as work for your mind, but the ultimate goal is to get you enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:38 Highlight the passage at 1:03:38

1:04:10 So some, you know, in the Zen tradition, there's like no iconography at all. And in Tibetan tradition, we're like overlay iconography. It's just for different minds. The end result's the same. We all get enlightened. So it's just kind of what works for what kind of mind. I love over the top, so I'm clearly in the right place. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:10 Highlight the passage at 1:04:10

1:04:34 But it remains for you to see whether that works for you. It's not to get attached to the things. And in fact, it's really good form if you get things and then you give them away. You change your altar every year, six months or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:34 Highlight the passage at 1:04:34

1:04:53 Because then you're also practicing generosity. So as you'll see when we're talking about setting up the altar, everything has to do with working with your mind. It all looks like a lot of things and external things, but it's all about working with our minds. Setting up water bowls is working with our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:53 Highlight the passage at 1:04:53

1:05:11 Doing prostrations is working with our minds. Setting out offerings is working with our minds. It's just elaborate ways of working with our minds. It's like physical meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:11 Highlight the passage at 1:05:11

1:05:31 All right, so the altar I have set up at home has a central statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, a little stupa and a copy of the Dharmapada. Well done. Round of applause. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:31 Highlight the passage at 1:05:31

1:05:47 And I also have a picture of Lama Zopa and a smaller statue of green Tara and a tzatzah of white Tara. Now for... Thank you. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:47 Highlight the passage at 1:05:47

1:06:00 The Taras and for Lama Zopa, where should they go? Yeah, I mean, where do you start getting like a bunch of llamas? I've got llama pictures like falling out of everywhere. I don't even know what to do with them all. So I kind of put some of them on another altar and I kind of felt bad about those guys, you know, and then I was like, but you know, you can only do so much, you know, because then it's just, you can't even see the altar anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:00 Highlight the passage at 1:06:00

1:06:25 So it's okay. I think you do what's going to inspire your mind. And that's great. And you put anything on there that's going to inspire your mind. And if it becomes too cluttered, then it stops inspiring your mind. So then you kind of move things around. And you can have more than one altar, as you can hear. I mean, I actually have quite a few things. Wherever I can put a holy object, I create altars, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:25 Highlight the passage at 1:06:25

1:06:51 But then you have to be careful, because then I do the thing of, like, putting the new packs of incense that people give me. It starts getting cluttered. So then I have to... clean up everything. But you can have more than one altar for sure. I just wanted to share this with the class because when I heard it, it was absolutely just an experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:51 Highlight the passage at 1:06:51

1:07:20 I was eavesdropping on Charles. Charles. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:20 Highlight the passage at 1:07:20

1:07:27 Out of the room. Yeah, I know. Teaching a volunteer how to do water bowls. And he didn't know he was also teaching me because I was eavesdropping. But one of the things he said that just struck me was these offerings as far as water bowls and everything else aren't for the Buddha. Buddha is enlightened. Buddha doesn't need this. We're doing this. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:27 Highlight the passage at 1:07:27

1:07:53 For our benefit and for, like you said, working with our minds so that we may make those offerings and maybe experience or realize something. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:53 Highlight the passage at 1:07:53

1:08:06 We'll talk about what you would experience. Yeah, exactly. But it was absolutely just, for me it was mind-blowing because that made a huge shift. Whereas I stopped thinking about, I started thinking about this is... That's another way to work with my mind. He doesn't need them. It's respectful, but it's also bringing something else for me to learn. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:06 Highlight the passage at 1:08:06

1:08:33 Totally. So that just shifted my whole mind. It's all about our own mind, yeah. So that if we have tightness, we don't offer that because that's too nice, or I really wanted to eat that later, or, you know, that's watching our mind, right, hopefully. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:33 Highlight the passage at 1:08:33

1:08:48 And even, we talk about, one of my friends actually says, it's actually better to offer something that you absolutely love and then give it away. So that way you don't have that whole attachment of like, now I get to take it off the altar and eat it! You know, it's not like that. You don't even have that kind of attachment growing. Believe me, it happens, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:48 Highlight the passage at 1:08:48

1:09:08 So it's almost better to just like, whatever you've offered, give it to... Give it to somebody that you actually don't like and you're trying to like. Use that as another way to change your mind. I mean, really remember going back to Rubina's explanation of practice last week. Practice simply means changing your mind. It begins with the altar. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:08 Highlight the passage at 1:09:08

1:09:36 Oh, yeah. Quick question. What is the meaning of emptiness? Yeah, right. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:36 Highlight the passage at 1:09:36

1:09:48 It seems pretty clear and concrete how an image of the Buddha would represent his body and a text would represent his speech. Yeah, what's the thing about the stupa? But the mind is fairly intangible, so what's this thing about the stupa? I think, yeah, I think it's, we'll have to research that. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:48 Highlight the passage at 1:09:48

1:10:07 I don't really know. It does represent, and there is a lot of details in the representation, and I don't have it in my mind exactly why. And I will find out. I will come back and tell you. There's actually a book on stupas that has a lot of details in it. And that's what I can tell you. Does anybody else know? Charles? I mean, no. John, do you want to pass in the mic? I was going to say, like, I also, I read somewhere that instead of a stupa, you can also have, like, a doge and or a bell. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:07 Highlight the passage at 1:10:07

1:10:42 I haven't ever heard that. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:42 Highlight the passage at 1:10:42

1:10:48 Quote your source. Do you remember where you read that? Report an error in the passage at 1:10:48 Highlight the passage at 1:10:48

1:10:56 I think there's a FPMT thing on water bowl offerings. Yeah, I've never seen that. I can find out. Bell you can put in for the music offering of your water bowls. I think the bell is actually mentioned in Pabanka Rinpoche's book, I think. Find it and bring it. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:56 Highlight the passage at 1:10:56

1:11:20 Okay, I'm going to move on a little bit because we have a few to do. All right. Yeah. . Report an error in the passage at 1:11:20 Highlight the passage at 1:11:20

1:11:26 And we can always talk about these more. I'll just introduce them to you. So traditionally in Tibetan Buddhism we do these offering bowls, but you could actually just offer anything. It is good to make an offering because an offering is about developing a generous heart. That's really all it's about. So you can offer, as I've been doing lately, especially during all these events, I'll offer a candy bar or I'll offer... Report an error in the passage at 1:11:26 Highlight the passage at 1:11:26

1:11:55 Emergency, you know, the little packets of emergency. I'll offer a box of Tetley tea, you know, I'll just put something fresh on the altar every day. The water bowls, which we will get into more in that morning workshop on Saturday the 6th, the water bowls represent the kinds of offerings that you would give to a high or a holy visitor in ancient India. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:55 Highlight the passage at 1:11:55

1:12:20 So they're water for drinking. You first come in off the dry streets, they're water for washing because you've got all dusty on the way over. Flowers, they traditionally use lays or garlands they would offer. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:20 Highlight the passage at 1:12:20

1:12:33 Incense, and all these things mean things too. Light, Report an error in the passage at 1:12:33 Highlight the passage at 1:12:33

1:12:42 perfume or perfumed water, or sometimes people say massage oil. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:42 Highlight the passage at 1:12:42

1:12:51 What am I missing? A food, right? You've buttered them up and now you get to feed them and then music. So did I leave anything out? I think that's right. Gende, Nude, Shabda, yeah. So it's water for drinking, water for washing. You'll get all this in the homework too. Flowers, incense, light. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:51 Highlight the passage at 1:12:51

1:13:20 Food. Why do I forget food every time? And music. But they all were just water bowls. And part of the reason was because you didn't get so excited or attached to those offerings. You just had these bowls of water that represented all these things. And in your mind, you thought of that as you put them out. But you didn't actually have the things themselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:20 Highlight the passage at 1:13:20

1:13:41 If you want to get more elaborate the way we do, for example, for pujas or for retreats, then we might put... Fruit in the food one or we might actually put some perfume in the scented one or we actually put sticks of incense in the incense or light. Light's a good one to do all the time. But the idea is that you're offering them as a way of developing generosity in your own heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:41 Highlight the passage at 1:13:41

1:14:09 So that's what you're doing. As was said, the Buddha doesn't need anything. It's not like Santa. It's not like you're leaving something for the Buddha that the Buddha's going to come in the middle of the night and take. You're coming and going, oh good, he came. It's not like that at all. It's like each one of these things is, they actually say the practice of water bowls helps our concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:09 Highlight the passage at 1:14:09

1:14:32 And I think it's all the mindfulness that we're supposed to be using while we're... Setting up the water bowls. His Holiness says don't just slosh it around, you know, I know. We're supposed to be setting them up in a certain way, a certain, you know, amount of space apart, not touching, that they're a certain amount full, you know, and all those things aren't just mean to, you know, take all your time up so you don't have time to sit. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:32 Highlight the passage at 1:14:32

1:15:01 It's to actually prepare you to sit by developing know. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:01 Highlight the passage at 1:15:01

1:15:06 Mindfulness and concentration before you've even sat down. So you're already developing some of the skills that you're going to need to meditate. As I said, if you don't have time for that or if you're just not ready for that because it's too weird and you just don't want to have a bunch of water bowls on your altar, just offer a piece of fruit. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:06 Highlight the passage at 1:15:06

1:15:25 Offer a can of beans. It doesn't matter. The idea is giving. The idea is like learning to give, opening up our heart. If we're placing offerings in front of these images, right, we've done an image of the body, an image of the speech and an image of the mind representing those qualities. We want those qualities. What would we give for those qualities? That's why we want to give. You know, we're trying to develop this mind of wanting to, it's like this energy of wanting to put it out there to the universe that we want these same qualities of enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:25 Highlight the passage at 1:15:25

1:16:05 And so they're representing that energy. Just like money represents a certain energy, right? This offering is representing a certain energy of wanting to attain these levels of qualities in ourselves. What would I give for wisdom? What would I give for limitless compassion? So they say, for that reason and that reason alone, the better the offering, the better. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:05 Highlight the passage at 1:16:05

1:16:29 The nicer the offering, the better. The better the quality, the better. That you can afford. However, if you can't afford it, don't trip on it. Just get that can of beans. Just offer the orange. As long as you offer, every time you offer, you're opening your heart. You're developing some amount of generosity. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:29 Highlight the passage at 1:16:29

1:16:53 Courtney, do you want to? Just real quickly, when you say better quality, do you mean to, like, say my favorite candy is, like, cheapo Snickers, but the better candy is, like, whatever, Godiva chocolate. So is it better to put Godiva? You could probably play with both of those. That's a good question. Yeah, if your favorite is, yeah, I'm trying to think of, like, one, Baby Ruth. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:53 Highlight the passage at 1:16:53

1:17:16 Yeah, think of, like, a cheap one. If that's your favorite, that might work on your mind in terms of attachment, right? To offer that and then give it to somebody else. But then there might be a time that it would be like, say, on your birthday or the anniversary of your mom or passing or something like that, that you want to do something really sweet. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:16 Highlight the passage at 1:17:16

1:17:35 And then you might just pick like a really, really fancy, even if you just got one tiny truffle from one of those places where they cost an arm and a leg. Yeah. Then it's just kind of like there's no reason other than opening your heart to do it. You know what I mean? Like it doesn't change anything except you're just going a little bit farther to make a nicer offering. And so it's just kind of like opening your heart a little bit more. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:35 Highlight the passage at 1:17:35

1:18:03 Especially if generosity is a hard one for you. This is how we play with it. This is how we begin kind of going outside the box. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:03 Highlight the passage at 1:18:03

1:18:15 And they say, and it's important to mention this, even though hopefully you guys aren't going to be doing this. These offerings that we put on our altar should be free of what they call the five wrong livelihoods. We should not have obtained them through these means. Hinting, flattering, forcing, baiting or bribing, or pretense. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:15 Highlight the passage at 1:18:15

1:18:42 So you shouldn't have said, for example, Report an error in the passage at 1:18:42 Highlight the passage at 1:18:42

1:18:50 those cookies you brought last week were really nice. don't With the idea that hopefully he's going to bring me some cookies this week. Or, you know, that kind of flattery or forcing, I guess, I don't know, sounds kind of violent in some way. Bribing, you know, like if you bring me some of those cookies, I'll give you that job I was talking to you about. Or pretending to be something you're not. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:50 Highlight the passage at 1:18:50

1:19:19 And this one I think comes down to where... For example, you want to look like the really super meditator. So there's this story of this monk that knew that his benefactor was coming. So he went in and cleaned his altar and cleaned his place. And then he realized what he was doing and he messed it all up because he realized that he was pretending to be something that he wasn't. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:19 Highlight the passage at 1:19:19

1:19:43 In the hopes of impressing his benefactor so his benefactor would give more money. So he purposefully messed up his whole altar and messed up his whole sitting area again because the main thing again is what's going on in our minds. It should also not be stolen. So it's not good if you don't have any flowers to go and run to Golden Gate Park and rip down a tree. That's not so good. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:43 Highlight the passage at 1:19:43

1:20:06 Or that you don't get it through... Money earned through any of the traditional wrong livelihoods. And the traditional wrong livelihoods, the way they're taught in the scriptures are, selling alcohol or guns or livelihoods that bring harm to others. And I know this is, I know, Kara, I'm so sorry. This one comes up and it's just sort of like... No. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:06 Highlight the passage at 1:20:06

1:20:41 I know, it's... It doesn't mean we're there yet, it's just that that's kind of what we're aiming for. So now we all have to give something for Kara's altar. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:41 Highlight the passage at 1:20:41

1:20:55 The next step is adopting the meditation posture. And so there are traditionally seven or eight points. I actually learned it as eight, and so I like to do eight, but seven is also good. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:55 Highlight the passage at 1:20:55

1:21:13 They start with... good the The legs should be traditionally in what's called full vajra or full lotus posture. Most of us can't do that. It's kind of a yoga position. You can actually work into it over time and some of us have reached the point where we just know we aren't. And that's fine too. You can also sit in a chair and that's fine too. The main thing if you're picking out the position of your legs is that you are able to sit. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:13 Highlight the passage at 1:21:13

1:21:44 And not fidget for 15 or 20 minutes or the length of your meditation. So I'm assuming 15 or 20 minutes. You don't want to start fidgeting around looking for a better position. So you want to be in whatever position works for you. And you're probably, during the course of the next six weeks, if you haven't already, going to figure out what that position is. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:44 Highlight the passage at 1:21:44

1:22:03 You might not know that position yet. And that position may change over time. So just don't be attached to your position or your posture either. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:03 Highlight the passage at 1:22:03

1:22:14 The hands in this position are traditionally resting in the lap right over left, thumbs touching lightly. And you'll have all this, too, on your homework. But if you guys want to write it down, it sometimes helps to remember. In the meditation, the drop-in meditation, I'll go through the posture like every single time. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:14 Highlight the passage at 1:22:14

1:22:34 And it probably becomes old hat for a lot of people. But for me, when I sit, I actually review, am I remembering? Because every single one of these postures is... It's meant to align our subtle body. So in Tibetan Buddhism, at least, we have a gross body. And then we also have this system of energy or sort of winds and channels. It's very similar to meridians and points and energy flowing through. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:34 Highlight the passage at 1:22:34

1:23:06 It's all happening. This is what Tibetan medicine is based on. So it's very similar to that system of meridians and points. So the posture that we sit in when we meditate is meant to align these winds and channels so that our concentration is increased. So they aren't just silly ideas. Actually, there's a purpose to them that will increase the meditation. So sitting in a certain way with our thumbs like this actually is to increase our concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:06 Highlight the passage at 1:23:06

1:23:38 I need as much concentration as I can, so I try to do as many of these as I can to try to increase the concentration. You'll notice sometimes people, for example, your arms are different lengths and it actually feels more comfortable to have your arms on your knees. That's okay, but experiment with it. Don't just write it off, like try it a few times and maybe even try it repeatedly until you finally give up because your arms are like this or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:38 Highlight the passage at 1:23:38

1:24:06 The back. Or the spine should be extended, which doesn't mean, you know, rigid. It just means imagining like there's a cord right in front of your spinal cord, which energetically, according to Tibetan Buddhism, there is. And that that goes right out through the crown of your head. So you spend a little bit of time. And this is, I think, the most important one in terms of concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:06 Highlight the passage at 1:24:06

1:24:33 As soon as you start sliding like this, your concentration goes. So spend some time like really in your mind aligning that spine. And I like to say extended because I think it's less rigid sounding than sit up straight. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:33 Highlight the passage at 1:24:33

1:24:51 Again, mommy took you sick. So you're extending that spine up from your pelvis and out through the crown of your head. The shoulders kind of roll back. And they're level. I know for me and for many of us, our shoulders tend to be a lot around our ears. We have a lot of tension in our shoulders. And in fact, before you even start, it's really good to just kind of roll them out, stretching your neck, stretching your shoulders, letting them drop. But basically, it goes back a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:51 Highlight the passage at 1:24:51

1:25:25 When I was reading some Alan Wallace, who's... Who's got some great books on meditation out there. He talks about this as a posture of vigilance. It opens up the sternum. It's like sort of the way we're going into our meditation. We're wide open. It's kind of like you're preparing for battle or something. Which we are with our minds. Because our minds are so unsubdued. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:25 Highlight the passage at 1:25:25

1:25:48 So it's not about... Meditation is not for the wimpy. you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:48 Highlight the passage at 1:25:48

1:25:55 The mouth and the jar relaxed, again an area that we hold a lot of attention, but the mouth is closed in this tradition. I know in some traditions the mouth might be open. The tongue is just resting on the roof of the mouth, but it's sort of forward and a little bit behind the front teeth. That allows your mouth to stay moist and it allows you not to have to swallow so much, which matters when we get into longer and deeper meditations. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:55 Highlight the passage at 1:25:55

1:26:25 Traditionally in this tradition, so that was one, two, three, four, five, what's a six? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:25 Highlight the passage at 1:26:25

1:26:39 Mouth is all one. Mouth and jaw and tongue are all one, yeah. Sorry? Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, but I heard more numbers than I had said, so I'm just trying to figure out what people are combining. Yeah, so the chin is tilted slightly, which opens up the back of the neck. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:39 Highlight the passage at 1:26:39

1:27:03 If you do it too far forward, you get sleepy, and too far back, you get really, the mind gets really excited. So you have to figure out what, Gina, what works for you. Can you wait till I just finish these last three? Okay, in this tradition, the eyes are actually open, which is hard for a lot of people to get used to. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:03 Highlight the passage at 1:27:03

1:27:24 It was for me. It took me a solid year to switch gears, and I refused to for the probably five years before that one. I don't need to do that. But again, it has to do with concentration and it has to do with absorbing past the sense consciousnesses. So the eyes are open and unfocused about two or three feet in front of you and you're not using them. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:24 Highlight the passage at 1:27:24

1:27:51 This isn't a visual thing. Even if you're having a visualization, the visualization is happening with your mental consciousness, not your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:51 Highlight the passage at 1:27:51

1:28:02 If it's too difficult, then do it with your eyes closed and just know at some point you're probably going to have to learn to do it with your eyes open. So just stay open. And then the final one to make it eight is the breath. So that's why a lot of traditional teachings on it will just stop at seven. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:02 Highlight the passage at 1:28:02

1:28:25 But the way I was taught was breath and to include the breath as an actual part of your posture, the breath. Breathing should just be natural and relaxed. A lot of times when people first start meditating on your breath, it's so loud in the room because everyone's trying to go, you know, they're like breathing really deep. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:25 Highlight the passage at 1:28:25

1:28:41 They're, you know, breathing out really deep. We don't really, nobody needs to know when you're meditating. It should be pretty quiet. So it's just relaxed. You're just bringing your attention to the breath as it is and sort of unforced. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:41 Highlight the passage at 1:28:41

1:29:01 In an unnatural way? It should be a natural way. Gina, do you want to pass Gina the mic? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:01 Highlight the passage at 1:29:01

1:29:12 This may be getting to the point you made about the subtle body and how the posture relates to the subtle body. But when Venerable Antonio was here in May, speaking on non-conceptual meditation, he actually went through the points of the posture. And they said that they're designed to combat certain things, like each point on the posture. And I didn't catch all of them. So I was wondering if you were familiar with that list where some of them were, he said the straight spine can help you combat confusion. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:12 Highlight the passage at 1:29:12

1:29:43 The hands in the lap can help you combat anger. And I think he said crossed legs could help you combat jealousy. But I didn't get the other ones. And I was wondering if you had heard something like that before. No, but it's interesting. He is coming again, you know. He's actually coming again in April, I want to say. And he'll do an evening talk here and then a two-day workshop up at Jack and Judas. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:43 Highlight the passage at 1:29:43

1:30:08 And hopefully we can arrange rides for people and stuff. But yeah, I haven't heard that. I know that they all combat various things. I had actually heard that the spine being extended, and my personal experience has been to do with concentration, but that's interesting. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, I wish I had been able to kind of follow the rest of it. I missed it for some reason, but I remember being really interested at the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Getting it all. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:08 Highlight the passage at 1:30:08

1:30:36 Yeah, yeah. Well, there's a text by Kamala Shila, The Stages of Meditation, and it may be in that, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:36 Highlight the passage at 1:30:36

1:30:49 I have a commentary on it. I don't think I have the actual text, but I can check in that commentary. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:49 Highlight the passage at 1:30:49

1:30:56 Venable Antonio. But it was a full weekend, right? Yeah. But, I mean, it wouldn't hurt us to listen to it. And, in fact, one should. I heard wonderful things about that weekend. That was when I was out of the country. The other thing I wanted to mention about the posture is not really a posture thing, but it has to do with if your mind is, whether temporarily or... Report an error in the passage at 1:30:56 Highlight the passage at 1:30:56

1:31:23 And ongoingly, by nature, dull and sleepy. It's really good to have the room darker. I'm sorry, lighter. To have the lights on full blast and to, even if it seems a little odd, to have all, you know, your overhead light on and maybe several lights on and maybe the windows open. You definitely don't want it to be... Report an error in the passage at 1:31:23 Highlight the passage at 1:31:23

1:31:47 Too warm if you're dull and sleepy. If you have a distracted, excited mind, then it's better to have a darker room and a cooler room. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:47 Highlight the passage at 1:31:47

1:32:00 And I experimented with this one. I've told this story before, so some of you have heard it. But when I was meditating, I think it was actually Vajrapani. Actually, I noticed this at Copan too when I was doing a meditation retreat. I actually had to cover... The windows for the session that began at 9 o 'clock in the morning because my mind was like, okay, time to go to work. It was just kind of that mind of like just too alert and too kind of hyper. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:00 Highlight the passage at 1:32:00

1:32:28 And the work world is actually quite useful, but it isn't useful at all when you're doing a day-to-day retreat. So I needed to calm my mind down and have the whole room be quite dark. And I actually noticed that some of my best sessions were late in the day. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:28 Highlight the passage at 1:32:28

1:32:44 Even early evening and nighttime sessions because my body was beginning to get tired and so I was a little calmer, a little less excited. So you can work with that too. You also have to try to figure out sort of does it help to have a cup of tea or is that just attachment speaking? Report an error in the passage at 1:32:44 Highlight the passage at 1:32:44

1:33:04 If I have too much tea, whether it's... Is it caffeinated or uncaffeinated? Does it affect my meditation? Does it affect my meditation if I eat a little something before? Or is it better for me to wait and have something afterwards? And so you just have to figure that out. Is it good to have a shower or does that wake me up too much? And then little Miss Chattermind is going to take off. So I give you guidelines and then you have to play with what works for you. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:04 Highlight the passage at 1:33:04

1:33:30 And we all have to sort of figure that out. And certain points in our lives, certain things will be true. So you're not going to... Suddenly figure it out and never have to change it again. You're constantly analyzing how it's working for you. Oh, you're not getting a break. Let me do this next one and then we'll take a quick break. The fourth one is called Generating the Mind of Refuge and Bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:30 Highlight the passage at 1:33:30

1:33:59 And that includes taking refuge, which, I mean, there's a whole... class. We just did on taking refuge, what that even means. What are we taking refuge in? Who do we go for comfort and protection when we're upset? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:59 Highlight the passage at 1:33:59

1:34:20 Is it something or is it someone? And then ultimately from a Buddhist point of view, if we do take refuge in the Buddha and the Dharma and the Saṅgha, what does that mean? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:20 Highlight the passage at 1:34:20

1:34:34 How do we decide whether we even... You know, do take refuge. It's kind of a huge subject. But basically, just giving you a little, an overview of it, there are two causes for refuge. They say traditionally there are two causes for refuge. This sort of fear or recognition of the situation that we're in, that our unsubdued mind has basically gotten us into this mess that we keep... Report an error in the passage at 1:34:34 Highlight the passage at 1:34:34

1:35:06 Following that unsubdued mind and creating negative karma due to ignorance and then that negative karma ripens and it ripens as our suffering. That's how our suffering is created. If we want happiness, we have to create the causes. That's how karma works. So recognition of that situation that we're in is what makes us want to reach out for help. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:06 Highlight the passage at 1:35:06

1:35:28 And that's what refuge is all about, is reaching out for help. We're entrusting ourselves, but who are we entrusting ourselves to? We have to spend the time checking up to see whether the Buddha and the Dharma, which is his teachings, but also the way that they are realized in our minds, and the Saṅgha, those serious practitioners on the path who can help us, whether they... Report an error in the passage at 1:35:28 Highlight the passage at 1:35:28

1:35:55 Actually are who they are, what kind of qualities they have, whether they can really protect us from this unsubdued state of mind and this kind of mess we've gotten ourselves into. That all takes time. At first, what you could just think about, one of the coolest ways of taking refuge is taking refuge in what you will eventually develop, like the qualities that you'll eventually develop. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:55 Highlight the passage at 1:35:55

1:36:24 Because that's what's called resultant refuge. Causal refuge is when we take refuge in the Buddha who lived 2,500 years ago, was just like us and developed these qualities and we take refuge in the Buddha. And then he showed us how to become enlightened. But when we take refuge in what we ourselves will attain, then it becomes a little more juicy. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:24 Highlight the passage at 1:36:24

1:36:50 Then it's like we can spend a little time thinking, well I'm going to take refuge in the time that I'm going to attain this direct perception of the nature of reality, the direct perception of emptiness. Or I'm going to take refuge in the generation of bodhicitta in my mind, how that's going to feel. I'm going to take refuge in developing single-pointed concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:50 Highlight the passage at 1:36:50

1:37:13 Because I'm going to gain all these qualities. And so I'm going to take refuge in that, that this is the path that's going to get me there. So it becomes a little bit more of our experience rather than something out there that I don't have any relationship with. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:13 Highlight the passage at 1:37:13

1:37:33 And generating the mind of bodhicitta, again, it's like condensing these incredibly vast, dense subjects into a soundbite. But generating the mind of bodhicitta. Bodhicitta sometimes gets reduced to a mind of compassion or sympathy or something like that. Bodhicitta is like this incredible mind that is based on the mind of love and compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:33 Highlight the passage at 1:37:33

1:38:03 Like that's the purpose. That's why we want to help all beings. We want to help all beings. We want to take away their suffering. We want to take away their pain. And we want to bring them... Report an error in the passage at 1:38:03 Highlight the passage at 1:38:03

1:38:16 Bodhicitta is where it becomes so unbearable that not just one living being is suffering, but all living beings are suffering. That we feel it so much, we feel it the same way as if it were our child or our mother having that suffering. We want to do whatever we can to remove that suffering and the way that we can remove that suffering is by getting enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:16 Highlight the passage at 1:38:16

1:38:41 Having that Overpowering wish so that everything you do is part of that wish. That's bodhicitta. So just saying, bodhicitta is the wish to become a Buddha for the benefit of all sanny beings, it sort of misses that. Like it's bigger than that. It's like every moment of your waking life becomes this. So then even if you're just going into the kitchen and getting a cup of tea, it's to simply fuel you. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:41 Highlight the passage at 1:38:41

1:39:09 To be able to help more beings, like it all becomes part of this wish. So it's really, really this huge, all-encompassing, powerful, courageous mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:09 Highlight the passage at 1:39:09

1:39:20 But what does that mean to get started? It has to kind of start with wanting to feel even a tiny bit of that for one being. So if you've felt it for one being... Then you can extrapolate, right? So if those of us who have felt it for a child or for a parent or for a sibling or for a partner or for somebody who has been very ill or in pain or has died, then we can extrapolate what that feels like. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:20 Highlight the passage at 1:39:20

1:39:52 So if we've loved anybody to the point where we would want to take away their suffering, even just for a minute to think that, that's all we need. That's how we get started. Because Lama Yeshi basically says if we can do it for one minute for one person, we can do it for all beings without exception. We just have to practice to get there. It's the same as saying if you can do one push-up, well then you can do 200. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:52 Highlight the passage at 1:39:52

1:40:16 It just may take you a while. So this is the same way. So you think about an experience where that happened for you and then you build on that. That's how you start developing this mind of bodhicitta. And this requires some study and this requires, this is more than the scope of this class can do, but we can kind of begin to experience it. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:16 Highlight the passage at 1:40:16

1:40:39 Sometimes what I'll do to build this mind of bodhicitta is think about one person that I love who's suffering and I'll do the meditation for them. Just the same way as you might do a yoga class for somebody. You're pushing past your own resistance and trying to do it. For somebody else. Or you think about somebody, even if you don't know the person. Maybe you just saw them on the news last night and they just touched you. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:39 Highlight the passage at 1:40:39

1:41:07 I was thinking about one of the nurses that I was reading about in Haiti who was texting out that she was stuck underground and nobody was saving her and she's texting. I mean that's so modern, you know. It's just like any of us could have been underground with our phones trying to get somebody's attention and they couldn't. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:07 Highlight the passage at 1:41:07

1:41:26 I don't know if she ever got out. So this nurse is in my mind, and it's been in my mind since I read that story. I do my meditation then for her. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:26 Highlight the passage at 1:41:26

1:41:36 So it doesn't even matter if I know her. It's irrelevant whether I know her. Or you can think about somebody that you deeply, deeply love, who's suffering or has even died and can no longer meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:36 Highlight the passage at 1:41:36

1:41:51 Do the meditation for them. Anything that opens our heart, anything that works with our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:51 Highlight the passage at 1:41:51

1:42:00 So then, that's all I'm going to say for bodhicitta. I mentioned these four immeasurable thoughts, which we'll read before class next time, but that's fine. They just build this mind of bodhicitta, that's all. Why don't you guys take a five-minute break, because I've just been blah, blah, blah, blah, blah out at you, and you just need to just not hear me talk for five minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:00 Highlight the passage at 1:42:00

1:42:26 And then come back in, and I'll try to finish this. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see. If we don't get it finished, it's okay, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:26 Highlight the passage at 1:42:26

1:43:05 Sure. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:05 Highlight the passage at 1:43:05

1:43:12 Sure, yeah. I forgot to bring down the... Oh, maybe I'll just run up and get it, actually. That might be good. We had a roster last time, so then everyone just filled in their name, and Report an error in the passage at 1:43:12 Highlight the passage at 1:43:12

1:43:32 there's somebody whose email address I couldn't read. it might work to do with certain nebulas. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:32 Highlight the passage at 1:43:32

1:43:39 I'll bring it back down. I'll just run up right now and get it. Or I'll get it at the end of class. That's what I'll do. I'll get it at the end of class. Yeah, and then I could send you... So you weren't here last week, right? So I'll send you last week's, and including the homework. So we do homework, too. And then if you can't come, I can send it to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:39 Highlight the passage at 1:43:39

1:43:59 Clearly you get more if you're here, but... Yeah. What's your name? Jeremy. Jeremy. Nice to meet you. Chokyi. Nice to meet you. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:59 Highlight the passage at 1:43:59

1:44:16 have a Vajra and them, they should stand as a symbol Well done. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:16 Highlight the passage at 1:44:16

1:44:32 You can actually take a shower if you want. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:32 Highlight the passage at 1:44:32

1:44:40 No, not necessarily. That's why I said you've got to just make it your own because sometimes you need to actually have a full breakfast. You know, it totally depends on the person. For me, that would put me straight to sleep. shouldn't do anything else but why should I pick people? No, Report an error in the passage at 1:44:40 Highlight the passage at 1:44:40

1:44:55 But if, you know, sometimes people are just really, yeah, exactly, yeah. And I often just have to take a full shower. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:55 Highlight the passage at 1:44:55

1:45:11 Or if you're hyper, you can even take a bath. And that might calm you down. But it depends on the person. I have known of people that just immediately wake up and just sit. Like nothing between them and them. But yeah, it's like the recipe for disaster. Yeah, totally different. Yeah, different years are different too. This is definitely a shower year. One question I did, if one has X, Report an error in the passage at 1:45:11 Highlight the passage at 1:45:11

1:45:52 that's going to affect you? Report an error in the passage at 1:45:52 Highlight the passage at 1:45:52

1:46:02 Well, that's your physical spine. I don't know if it will affect your channels, you know. So I would just carry on as if. Just figure out what posture works for you. figure out the position that works for your back and all stuff. I have read of people, and I've had to do this actually sometimes, I've actually read of people who had such severe back issues that they had to learn how to meditate lying down. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:02 Highlight the passage at 1:46:02

1:46:39 So hard for me, but I have done it if I have been really sick or something, I've tried to meditate on it, because at some point we'll have to. be dying and we'll have to be as concentrated as we can. So try to use that as an experience. So you just have to train yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:39 Highlight the passage at 1:46:39

1:47:01 For this person that I'm thinking of particularly, there was an article in, I think, Shambhala's son, and he was, maybe it was, it might have been Bodhi, he was talking about such severe pain that he would just have to lie down, and he was in a sitting group, and at first, of course, everyone was kind of like, so you just have to train yourself Report an error in the passage at 1:47:01 Highlight the passage at 1:47:01

1:47:21 What's he doing? And then they got used to him. And so he would just go. He's still doing it. It's like 25 years. He would just go and just lie completely on the floor. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:21 Highlight the passage at 1:47:21

1:47:32 If there's a will, there's a way. And after I hurt my knee, I began experimenting with what kinds of chairs and what kinds of stools. And I came up with, for me, it was better to actually sit on a stool because there was no comfort. It was just kind of like I could feel my pelvis connect with the seat of the stool. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:32 Highlight the passage at 1:47:32

1:47:54 And my feet were flat on the floor and it worked. But I just had to experiment with probably about four different chairs before I reached that. And that was actually a huge breakthrough because then I thought, okay, if the knee never comes back, then I'm okay. Then I can meditate. So you just have to figure it out. You just have to try it. It may take you a while. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:54 Highlight the passage at 1:47:54

1:48:23 Next week? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:23 Highlight the passage at 1:48:23

1:48:27 I'll send you an email like what I should read or work on. Okay. Yeah, just send me a reminder email and I'll send you the notes after the next class. Okay. You know, and until you get it, you just keep working on this one. Okay, yeah, because I have a lot of, you know, always, you know, when I go on the road, Now it'll be this one. Oh, good. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:27 Highlight the passage at 1:48:27

1:48:55 You did get it. Good. Yeah, well, you know, just pick that calibration upon your Report an error in the passage at 1:48:55 Highlight the passage at 1:48:55

1:48:59 then on the 6th, have something to schedule. Oh, to that. Yeah, my kid's in his last semester of law school, and he's in their moot court team, and so it's like they're doing a big or something. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:59 Highlight the passage at 1:48:59

1:49:17 And he's out of town, so I don't know if I'll and work something else. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:17 Highlight the passage at 1:49:17

1:49:24 On the 6th or on the 20th? The 20th I'm going to take up and work the 6th I'm going to be out of town. Okay, yeah, yeah. Well we'll see if there's a good reaction we might just offer another one. It's the first time. I thought about doing this for a long time, and I just finally decided to do it this year. So if there's a good response, then I'll just offer that. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:24 Highlight the passage at 1:49:24

1:49:47 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:49:47 Highlight the passage at 1:49:47

1:49:53 it was longer ago than last month, for sure. I have done just water bowls before. think they said there was one month. was just on doing the water roll? was on a Saturday or something? Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:49:53 Highlight the passage at 1:49:53

1:49:59 And I have done just, mandala actually takes quite a bit of time to do. We're just going to do like the mudrā and kind of get used to what the visualization is. I just try to think of like a bunch of things that people, like we've done frustrations and it's actually been a day long, believe it or not. There's a lot of things that you're thinking about with frustrations. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:59 Highlight the passage at 1:49:59

1:50:21 But I've never just tried to do kind of a catch-all like this, just like everything that a lot of people want to know. I mean, there may not be enough time. We may discover that we just can't do it all. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:21 Highlight the passage at 1:50:21

1:50:33 It's like when you do anatomy and then you've got the lab. Right, right, right. No, it's true. Actually, for this class, a lab is probably not a bad idea. That's sort of the beginning lab, at least. We might have to do a lab every week. I like that. I like that idea of lab. it all. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:33 Highlight the passage at 1:50:33

1:50:52 Yeah, we're supposed to end at 9. Okay, you guys, we need to start. Oh, luckily five is really short. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:52 Highlight the passage at 1:50:52

1:51:05 Come one, come all. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:05 Highlight the passage at 1:51:05

1:51:14 So number five is invoking the merit field, which I had said before is very simple in this case. It's going to be Shakyamuni Buddha. You can go into a lot of detail with Shakyamuni Buddha, but how do you make Shakyamuni Buddha juicy? How do you get excited about Shakyamuni Buddha? If you've never met Shakyamuni Buddha, one of the things that I do, for me, my teachers move my mind in a way that Shakyamuni Buddha doesn't, which is actually often the case. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:14 Highlight the passage at 1:51:14

1:51:48 We see and are inspired by our teachers, and so we sort of see them. That's why I mentioned that pictures of our teachers can be on our altars as representatives. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:48 Highlight the passage at 1:51:48

1:52:01 Representations of the Buddha's body because those are the aspects that we see in our daily life. So sometimes I'll kind of do this thing of like making, you know, I'll see Shakyamuni Buddha or Tara or Medicine Buddha or whoever it is and I'll put Lama Zopa's eyes or something like that, you know, so I'll make it like a living representation. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:01 Highlight the passage at 1:52:01

1:52:25 It's that energy, you know, you're just thinking, it's almost like shape shifting. So it's like that. You can play with that. So invoking the merit field is in this case basically Shakyamuni Buddha. Number six, we can move right along. Number six is what's called offering seven limb prayer. So some of you that have taken other classes with me will know what that's like. It's basically seven little steps that we do and you can read them. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:25 Highlight the passage at 1:52:25

1:52:54 There is a seven limb prayer actually in the prayer book. It goes through those seven steps, but the main thing is the experience of them, and I like to lead you in that experience so that you have a feel for it and it's not just words. I'm going to say what they are, and you can either just listen or you can kind of almost do it like a little meditation. I'll just right now do those seven. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:54 Highlight the passage at 1:52:54

1:53:21 These seven come up all the time. We start teachings with them. We we this is If you do no other prayers, except maybe you have to do refuge in bodhicitta, if you do no other prayers, do these seven. These seven steps are just ways of working with our minds. So the first one is prostrating. So you saw when I come in, I can't prostrate right now. My knee is, I've torn the... Report an error in the passage at 1:53:21 Highlight the passage at 1:53:21

1:53:45 Meniscus a couple of times and it's just not prostrating. So I do a mental prostration. I did this when I stood in front of the altar. You can just do this. That's okay. You don't need to do like the whole thing unless you want to and it's great to do. A prostration has to do with bowing down or honoring to or respecting something about the qualities of the Buddha's body, speech and mind that you have in front of you on your altar. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:45 Highlight the passage at 1:53:45

1:54:13 With this idea that I want those qualities too. So the aspiration has to be there. So it's not just like, oh you have so many qualities. It's not unrelated to me. I want those qualities too. Chakselo in Tibetan means I want what you got. I want it. So there's this idea that if I'm going to do this practice, I'm going to get those qualities. So they aren't separate. So prostration has to do with that. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:13 Highlight the passage at 1:54:13

1:54:41 It's also a remedy to pride, and there's a lot more I could tell you about prostrations, but that's enough. Offering is the second one, and that's again what we just were talking about with offering. Offering is about us opening our hearts. It's not about what they need. It's what would I give to have this mind of limitless compassion? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:41 Highlight the passage at 1:54:41

1:55:00 What would I have to have the kind of wisdom that understands reality? What would I give to become a Buddha? And then we visualize those kind of offerings. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:00 Highlight the passage at 1:55:00

1:55:12 Again, you're just opening up your heart and your mind to these visualized offerings, which I often will just visualize the most beautiful scenes I've seen, my favorite sunrise, my absolute favorite place in the world, my favorite food. It can be whatever you want to visualize, and then you just multiply it and fill skies with beautiful images. Incredible. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:12 Highlight the passage at 1:55:12

1:55:40 Skies or oceans or moon sets or something like that. It can be anything you can offer in your mind. And making offerings is a remedy for miserliness. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:40 Highlight the passage at 1:55:40

1:55:53 Confessing. We're going to talk more about confessing in the purification practices later on. I think it's in the fourth or fifth class. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:53 Highlight the passage at 1:55:53

1:56:04 This is about before you're sitting down to meditate. I mean, the Buddhas, if they know everything, right? If they are clairvoyant, they already know what we've done. This is us getting it off our chest. You know, it's us clearing our mind before we sit and meditate. There are these teachings that are called the three higher trainings. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:04 Highlight the passage at 1:56:04

1:56:25 The first one is ethics. The second one is concentration. And the third one is wisdom. Ethics is the foundation of concentration, which is the foundation of wisdom. If we don't clean up our lives, it's going to be eating us when we're trying to meditate. I mean, it's that simple. That's why people become ordained. It's not like we just want to become killjoys, you know. We are trying to apply these teachings on ethics so that we can learn to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:25 Highlight the passage at 1:56:25

1:56:56 It's like that, really. So that those things that we do that harm others and ourselves aren't eating at us while we're sitting on the cushion trying to meditate. It's really like that. So confessing is like a step towards that. You actually just think about one thing that you've done, you own it, and you get rid of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56:56

1:57:15 You're confessing it almost to yourself. It's as much to yourself, owning it. And again, we'll talk about this more in purification. Rejoicing is the opposite. Equal airtime. If you're admitting something that you've done right, well now admit something you've done. I mean, if you're admitting something that you've done wrong, now admit something that you've done right. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:15 Highlight the passage at 1:57:15

1:57:38 So think about something positive you've done. Maybe you're trying to create the habit of meditation. Rejoice in that. Just be really happy. All rejoicing means is be really happy about something. If you can't think of a single thing that you've done that's worth rejoicing in, first of all, you're probably not thinking hard enough. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:38 Highlight the passage at 1:57:38

1:57:57 But then think about something that somebody else has done. I mean, you could spend years thinking about what His Holiness the Dalai Lama has done. Just feel happy. We actually get a portion of their merit just by rejoicing in all the good works that they do when we think about these amazing teachers. Think about the regular people, people who work in hospice or people who are firemen, people who bring... Report an error in the passage at 1:57:57 Highlight the passage at 1:57:57

1:58:20 Food into places where they don't have food. People that are down in Haiti trying to dig that nurse out. So there's tons of people who are doing amazing things that we can just be happy in. And all it is, it's for our mind we get happy. It's actually a great way to stop being jealous and it's also a great way to stop being depressed or to have self-pity mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:20 Highlight the passage at 1:58:20

1:58:44 It breaks that. Then there are two that you can join together, requesting to teach and requesting to stay. We're requesting Shakyamuni Buddha to stay with us or our Lama if we're seeing our Lama there. We're requesting all the teachers to stay with us and we're requesting them to teach us. They actually say it doesn't have to be formal teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:44 Highlight the passage at 1:58:44

1:59:10 We're just asking them to teach us in whatever way works for our mind. You know, it's any person you ever come into contact with can become your teacher. So once you start asking for this, then you've got to be careful because all those teachers, they start popping up. And you may not be expecting them, so just start expecting them. The seventh of the seven limbs is dedication. You can do the dedication at the end of your meditation, or you can do it right there for just dedicating that little prayer. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:10 Highlight the passage at 1:59:10

1:59:46 Then we usually follow those two together, offering six is offering seven limb prayer and offering the mandala. The mandala we'll spend more time on the six when we're doing the different rituals, but we'll start doing it as part of our prayers each time. So I'm kind of incorporating all these different prayers into what we do at the beginning of class so that you become more familiar with them. But the mandala offering, whether you know the mudrā, whether you have one of those little... Report an error in the passage at 1:59:46 Highlight the passage at 1:59:46

2:00:14 Cool Tibetan kits where you build this little 3D image of the universe. The main thing, again, is what's going on in your mind. You're offering. It's all about offering. You're offering the whole world. You're offering your future pure land once you become a Buddha. You're offering beautiful, limitless skies of flowers and light and your favorite cups of tatli tea. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:14 Highlight the passage at 2:00:14

2:00:37 Whatever it is, you're offering it with that idea of, again, just opening your heart. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:37 Highlight the passage at 2:00:37

2:00:47 And finally, the very last one, the seventh of these seven practices is making requests. There's prayers you can say. The main thing is, you know how we did, for those of you that were here last week, we asked the Buddha to help us with whatever problem we were facing. That's what it is. It's like we're buttering them up. We're giving them all these offerings. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:47 Highlight the passage at 2:00:47

2:01:12 We're invoking, you know, we're doing the seven limb prayer, we're doing the mandala, and then we're like, now please help me, you know, and that's really what it's like. We're praying for that help because they do exist. Buddhas and bodhisattvas do exist. And we need those, we need their blessings in the form of inspiration, in the form of teachings that suddenly we find when we've been looking at the same book for 400 years and we suddenly open it up and we're like, Or you open up the New York Times and it's something that triggers something. However they help us in whatever form that takes, it's always called a blessing. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:12 Highlight the passage at 2:01:12

2:01:51 It just means that they inspire us. And whatever it is that they do, it's helping us get closer to our goal of enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:51 Highlight the passage at 2:01:51

2:02:00 So I'm sorry I threw that all at you, but it's exactly 9 o 'clock. Can we have a round of applause with that one? Report an error in the passage at 2:02:00 Highlight the passage at 2:02:00

2:02:10 So I'm going to hand out homeworks. And I know Courtney needs to go leaping out the door for her little one. And I did 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. And I've got a badly copied one, too, I can give to somebody that's not stable. Oh, yeah, I did it upside down because I didn't know how to do it. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:10 Highlight the passage at 2:02:10

2:02:45 Yes. And actually for those people that want to get on the class roster, so you're adding the class this time and you just brought it up, I have to run upstairs and get the roster and then people can just join. Is there somebody in the class named Maria? Not my Maria. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:45 Highlight the passage at 2:02:45

2:03:07 No. Somebody, yeah, somebody signed the list and her email's off. It came back to me. So anyway, I left a message for her. Hopefully she gets back. No, her name is Revital. It's spelled like revital, which I just love. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:07 Highlight the passage at 2:03:07

2:03:27 Oh, right. Okay. Okay. So I'll go through Marcella and get her email address. Okay. Who does not have a homework? One. Okay. Yeah. You can, and just be careful with the back, because I did. It's actually four pages, because it's basically this, it's everything I just gave you in some sort of form that you can begin to work with, and the underlying message is don't freak out, just have fun. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:27 Highlight the passage at 2:03:27

2:03:57 Okay. Sorry? I think we needed four more, didn't we? Report an error in the passage at 2:03:57 Highlight the passage at 2:03:57

2:04:06 Yeah, okay. If people have questions, you can come up, but let's go ahead and dedicate the class so that people can leave. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:06 Highlight the passage at 2:04:06

2:04:15 So it's a lot. Just be open to it and be comfortable with it. It's a lot of information, but it's basically new ways and time-tested ways to begin working with your mind. And so then we'll just see what happens with it. So we dedicate anything that you may have gained out of this class, even if all it is is a headache. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:15 Highlight the passage at 2:04:15

2:04:39 a headache. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:39 Highlight the passage at 2:04:39

2:04:42 To seeds being planted that karmically will ripen into everything you've ever dreamed of and more. Become your most amazing wish that you'll gain the kind of skills that you need not only to be happier yourself but to give happiness to others and to show them how to eliminate all their pain and suffering. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:42 Highlight the passage at 2:04:42

2:05:06 So we dedicated to that. And we dedicated to that nurse in Haiti. Thank you. So if people can't stay, I need to run upstairs and get the roster, but if you can't stay, then just put your name on this little piece of paper if you need to run out the door. Otherwise, I'm going to run upstairs right now and get the roster and free the kitties. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:06 Highlight the passage at 2:05:06

2:05:35 Bodhi caught a mouse today. We're calling her Capone right now. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:35 Highlight the passage at 2:05:35

2:05:45 Of course she did. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:45 Highlight the passage at 2:05:45

2:06:01 No, that's the prayer book. You're going to have, I can send you an electronic version of the binder that will hold you over. and two in the binder. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:01 Highlight the passage at 2:06:01

2:06:09 And then if you, so the people that are signing the list tonight, I'll have to know whether you want a physical binder if you're okay with the electronic version. Is that what you sent me earlier? I said yes, and I got you already. All right, good. But other people that are adding the list now. You have me on the roster. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:09 Highlight the passage at 2:06:09

2:06:27 I'll put you on the roster. You know what? Wait. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:27 Highlight the passage at 2:06:27

2:06:34 Does anyone want to volunteer? Is this tomorrow or Saturday? Either, both. If anybody has any time either tomorrow afternoon or evening or Saturday morning until like 2 or 3, then let me know. We have a big puja happening on Saturday for Geshe-la's long line, our resident teacher's long line. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:34 Highlight the passage at 2:06:34

2:07:09 check? Just know. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:09 Highlight the passage at 2:07:09

2:07:18 So send me an email. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:18 Highlight the passage at 2:07:18